02.23.2003 | 5:38 pm

Time in the nut tree was tough this week. All the little squirrels had assorted viruses, bacteria, and unknown ailments, which somehow descended upon me the same night as I was experiencing all my post-menopausal woes. School on Thursday was torturous at best. I couldn�t breath, my tummy was nauseated, my joints ached, and I was lacking tons of sleep. By Friday, I was so ready to be �outa there!�

Yesterday, Saturday was a total waste of Saturday industriousness. I usually get crackin� and have the house spiffed up, the shopping completed, and my lesson plans written for the upcoming week. Garrison Kellior changed all that! We had tickets to attend the �live� taping of A Prairie Home Companion in Phoenix. We needed to stop at the Chinese Cultural Center on the way across town to check it out. It seems as though all the first grade squirrels from B..C..Elementary School have been studying China and Chinese New Year. We are taking their little lives in our hands, and shuttling them across the valley to visit the center. I was appointed, or rather I volunteered, to check out the accessibility of the shops and grounds, and report back. All the parents of the squirrels will be happy to know that there will be PLENTY of trinkets for purchase under $5.00, and that they can peruse and shop to their little heart�s content. We needed to leave about an hour early to stop there and then battle traffic out to the pavilion where the show was being held.

I have to say that the whole Prairie Home set-up is easy on the eyes and ears. The show was two hours long�and the audience was able to watch all the acts set up, warm up and perform. Garrison Kellior was such a good story teller. The way he got on with all us Conservative Republicans, one would never guess he was a Democrat. He had some good jokes about that fact and about all the old folks living in the Phoenix area. He had more jokes about Lutherans in Minnesota, to which many in the audience related. By the time we headed back toward our stretch of the desert it was late, and I had to get started on my lesson for today.

I have mentioned before that I teach the ladies in my �congregation� (we call them Wards) once a month on a Gospel topic. Because it so much different than preparing for the squirrels, I always feel compelled to prepare twice as long, twice as intensely, so I don�t fall on my face. I never do flop, but I somehow never feel like I do everything I should have�covered all the areas to be discussed and studied. Today was no different. I was very well prepared, but I should have had a bottle of water with me. I am never nervous in front of the squirrels and am usually not the ladies either. Today, however, my mouth died up like and old fallen leaf, and I was a little tongue-tied. I hate when that happens. I received tons of compliments, though, so I guess it was well received.

.

My mouth felt something like these leaves.

James is playing �Leibesraum� on the piano. I can�t think of a nicer setting, unless the little M�s were to be here with us at this particular moment in time. Just three more weeks... they will be here, and I will be looking for a quiet corner every now and then.

catsnapples~ on a Sunday evening

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