hallmark moments and mudders pocket

yesterday i was having a tough day because i was missing my mom. i love my mom. but i am not one to miss her in the sense that i NEED her so yesterday was kind of special. i called her and missy answered the phone. she said she and the kids had gone over there to see if mom and dad had anything better for breakfast. of course they did. mom and dad's house is always good for powdered or chocolate covered donuts. they had found waffles. i asked missy if she could get mom. when mom answered the phone i kinda choked up because, like i said, i was really missing her. i said through chokes "i miss you today and you guys are all there eating waffles together and i'm all the way out here all by myself." it was really kind of touching because i just am not like that. mom's response was so sweet it made it all melt away like butter on a hot summers day. mom's can do that. she said with love and affection, and i could tell she was missing me as much as i was missing her, "who's eating waffles?!" *sigh* i'm SURE she was missing me, but she had to hurry off the phone since her mosaic tile was pulling up in the drive.

she promised she would call me back later. the only thing better than mom calling you back is mudders calling you at all. later in the day when my caller ID popped up that "Arthur Zimmerli" was calling me my heart skipped a beat. not because he's been dead for 5 years, but because i knew the only other person that would call me from Arthur Zimmerli's phone is mudders. I answered really excited: "hello!"...nothing on the other end. "hello?" then swooshing. "hello?! HELLO!?....MUDDERS, can you HEAR ME!?" i got louder and louder in desperation before i realized. it wasn't mudders that called me at all. it was her pocket. i can rest easy knowing that her pocket does not have my number memorized so i have to assume i was on her speed dial. that should make me feel loved in some strange sense. sort of like the battered woman that says "he'd only get that jealous if he really loved me." right? so i'm savoring that thought.

on cute news, last night i cleaned the house from top to bottom. all but vacuuming because tatum HATES the vacuum. so our system is that paul takes her for a walk while i vacuum. it works out well. although sometimes i feel like we are coddling her fears. she's our first, what can we say. last night when i was cleaning our tub it got clogged so paul got me the plunger and went back to emailing. i started plunging and plunging and plunging and RIGHT as i was about to get it i heard a faint little scared bark behind me. tatum never barks unless she wants to play, and apparently unless she gets so scared she pees. yup. so i had to stop plunging and clean up her little potty all the while explaining to her that mommy is safe, i'm just plunging. but i'm in charge of that plunger she doesn't need to worry. then i picked up the dust pan that was right next to her little puddle only to find more puddle in the dust pan. so then i had to clean up THAT spot because i dripped it all the way from the puddle into the bathroom. paul said "so now we can't plunger around her huh?" i said "no that's too far, she'll get used to it." i think i'm a little more tough love than paul. but i gotta go vacuum because he's about to take her for a walk.