What Color is Nothing? And Other Random Thoughts

Kara's and my extended Christmas in Wisconsin came to an end on Tuesday when we came back to Indiana.

First off, we just had to stop at Glenn's Market in Watertown, WI for cheese curds. I had been in the day before to get them, but they were sold out, so I placed an order for a gluttonous amount to be ready the following day.

The snow set a pretty picture, but we had to reroute in getting to the interstate because of a crash at the normal exit.

50mph was about all that felt safe with the road conditions until Milwaukee, then we turned south to Chicago and could go about 60mph. Through Chicago and on the toll road in Indiana, the normal pace for flying on a rainy road was fine.

Kara makes a good traveling companion. She slept most of the time, was anxious to get where we were going, and was fine eating the cheese curds from Glenn's for dinner.

After we left Watertown with a full tank of gas and armfuls of cheese curds, we didn't stop once on the way home for a pit stop. It was nice just to drive and not have to look for the next Kwik Trip station or an Oasis in Chicago.

Cheese curds squeak when you eat them. At least they're supposed to. We don't have good ones in Indiana that I have found. And Culver's? Good, but not the same as Glenn's. And the last bunch of cheese curds from Culver's was fried in the same oil as onions. Blechk!

---

And it's the next morning now. I started this last night.

Kara's cousin came over to spend the night. How they spend the night is anybody's guess. They're old enough that I just go to bed when I'm tired. They told me they talked until 2:00 in the morning, and kept themselves up pondering such questions as: what color is nothing?

That reminds me: the kids can get about anything they want if they ask while I'm asleep. Not long ago, I apparently gave permission, at 4:30 IN THE MORNING!, for Kara to have a bowl of ice cream.

My recollection of it is fuzzy, though I do remember granting her request. What parent does that?

---

Today, if all goes according to plan, which I don't really expect, I'll finish up some real estate work then paint the remaining closets and cabinets that need it. Don't take my low expectations of the plans coming to fruition as pessimism.

All this, of course, after I'm dressed and ready for the day. And it's almost 11:00, and I'm in my pajamas still.

---

One more random thought: what games do you play in the car when the kids are bored on a ride. Last night, during the arduously long ride of an entire hour and a half, which is eternity in a child's world, I told them to play a form of an alphabet game.

You start by saying the leading phrase, then repeat the items of the alphabet, adding on the next letter with each person's turn. Here's what they came up with for the game; naturally, it became increasingly silly.

I'm making a pizza, and on it, I will put:

• Anchovies

• Beans

• Carrots

• Donuts

• Eggplant

• Fried chicken

• Grapes

• High-fructose corn syrup

• Ice cream

• Jelly

• K-cups

• Lard

• M&Ms

• Nickels

• Ostrich eggs

• Pistachios

• Q-tips

• Race car nuggies (this is how a 11- and 13-year-old girls refer to chicken nuggets)

• Smoothie

• T-bone steak

• Umbrellas

• Vitamin gummies

• Whipped cream

• X-rays

• Yogurt and

• Zebra stripes

Thank goodness they're not cooking for me today.

If you need other versions of this game, try:

• I cleaned my room, and in it, I found...

• I'm opening a store, and in it, I will put...

• I'm making a sundae, and on it, I will put...

• I'm going on vacation, and I'm packing...

• I cleaned out my purse/backpack, and in it, I found...

And now on to the day and whatever surprises are ahead of me!