9/30

2 p.m. -- Whew. I just ate three times more pasta than anyone should be allowed to eat in a month. It was so good. In fact, it wasn't pasta, it was pass-ta -- learned by Eugene's Brother from Jamie Oliver. Pass-ta (spaghettini?) with olive oil, olives and tomatoes. And chicken. E's B ate a banana and an orange with his peanut butter-no-time-for-jelly sandwich. So he probably has all kinds of good energy bouncing around in him right now whereas I am staring at this screen all sleepy-like.

But yeah. It was damn good. Goooood pass-ta.

5-ish p.m. -- Just got back from nice walk to Safeway with Brother Mart. The thing about walking to buy groceries is that I always overestimate what I can carry. Or just plain forget I have to carry the stuff home. All the things I needed were on sale (well, Safeway's version of a sale, which is actually just bulk buying with not-that-reasonable breakdown prices. I'm big on bulk shopping -- something about having 200 rolls of toilet paper and 50 packs of gum makes me feel so secure. Maybe I was a POW or some kind of refugee in a former life.) If I had planned more carefully I would have taken the car, but it was just such a beautiful day for a late-afternoon walk. We ended up lugging home a half-gallon of milk, two boxes of oatmeal, 12 cartons of yogurt, eight frozen dinners and four cans of dog food. Luckily I had brought my Bank of Canton old-lady shoulder bag, which my brother found embarrassing until I fit half our purchases in it.

Shortly after Brother Mart and I got back, Katie and Baby Diva stopped by to drop off my sunglasses which have been lying on her kitchen table for a long time. She was dismayed that I was eating and feeding my brother frozen dinners and recommended the new Costco's deli section -- ready-made dinners with fresh ingredients. She recommended the caesar salad and barbecue pork ribs. She said to call if my microwave broke down. Katie and the Divas, collectively, are definitely at the top of the top 5 things I came away with from kiddiepark. Incidentally, our walk to and from Safeway took us by Kiddiepark, where I ran into a parent (and two-thirds of his brood.) He asked why I didn't work there anymore. I told him. He laughed and told me that almost the entire staff that had replaced us quit before mid-September. So there's already been a turnover. Now there needs to be a revolution!

8:54 p.m. -- Sunday is Zac's baptism. I have a lot of thoughts about this -- such as, I know Ryan and Jen asked me to be his godmother probably because I am one of the only (if not the only) Catholic friend or acquaintance they know on this island who qualifies according to the new stricter rules of the diocese, but I feel so blessed to be a part of this -- even though I'm more than a little intimidated. I hope, and quite appropriately here, I pray, that I actually do have some qualities (oh please, God, at least a few) that will make me some kind of meaningful spiritual presence in Zac's life, in whatever capacity I'm called to be. They both said "thank you for doing this," and I wanted to say, "thank you for thinking I'm a good enough person to do this."

Okay, that was one thought, and it didn't come out exactly the way I wanted it to. And there are others, but I have to go think about them some more.