Observations, culinary and otherwise

1) I actually almost kinda like Pepsi One. It uses Splenda as the sweetening agent, so it doesn't give me headaches OR cause me to have to cough and clear my throat a lot (as normal soda does -- damn that high fructose corn syrup). I have been drinking it at home for a while now, and I'm pretty pleased with it overall. I don't hate it yet and I didn't have the whole adjustment period that normally goes along with switching to diet. Now if only restaurants had it on tap....

2) I have found a wondermous recipe for oven-baked pork chops. My kiddos aren't really into large hunks o' meat on their plate. I made it once and they liked it, which shocked me, but I didn't realize that it was something they both really enjoyed. Imagine my surprise, then, upon learning yesterday that it has become a request dish. Go mommy. I rock.

3) Rosie is home. She's not happy, the poor thing. I wasn't happy last night, either, as she'd been sent home without one of those cone-shaped collars. I didn't realize this was a problem until about 10:30 at night, when I realized she'd been licking at the wound on and off and it looked as though one of the stitches had given way. Cue panic. We got in the car and drove her to the emergency vet, wherein we learned that the incision hadn't actually opened, the vet had just used a slightly different method of stitching. She had been licking it, though, so we bought her one of those collars. She HATES it, even more than she hates having a wound. I've got painkillers for her, so I'm giving them to her as prescribed and leaving the collar off of her when I'm around and able to watch her. That still leaves putting it on at night and when I have to go out, but at least it's not constant.

Love springs eternal

My children are in love. Each of them have women in their lives now, to whom they feel an urgent need to express their feelings. These are their Valentines' Day stories.

Will: William is in love with a cute athletic little girl named Piper. They are openly acknowledged as boyfriend and girlfriend, and he's told me that he loves her. Yesterday, I was informed that they'd kissed. More specifically, she kissed him on the cheek. When I asked if there'd been kissing on lips, he told me that no, they weren't to that level yet. He was prepared to rethink the whole kissing=icky decision, though.

Al: Alisdair really likes a little girl named Crystal. She's in his class. She wears glasses, and he thinks that's really cool. For her, he created a Valentine's Day card from scratch with paper hearts and everything. Inside reads his own original verse; I'm posting it here for posterity:

"Roses are red, violets are blue,
everyone else is worse than you.

Love, Alisdair."

What else is there to say, really?