The new hobby.

Laura just taught Emma and mom how to cast off, which is something fundamental to knitting, I believe. The three of them are in the living room, chatting happily about knitting. Shaky picture, but too cute of a scene ... can't resist.

Tulip Jo.

By the way, Jolanda, if you're reading this, I got locked out of my old Yahoo! e-mail account, so I lost your e-mail addy ... Please e-mail me at dianalmurphy (at) yahoo.com. It's been way too long and I'd love to "chat" again.

Emma's surgery.

OK, briefly, Emma's surgery last Monday went well. She was in the hospital until Friday, when she came home to my house. (She'll go to dad's on Tuesday evening.) She's handling the pain well and it's getting better every day. We're ironing out the kinks in daily life stuff, but again, it's better each time.

I'm so proud of her.

Here's a hospital snap of Em and the beautiful flowers sent by the Crumps.

Field Day!

Spent the morning at A-West, where Em's school had its annual field day. A good time was had by all.

I did nearly end up Em's partner for the three-legged race -- she picked me! -- but, at the last minute, some jockeying took place and Tawny was freed up to pair with Emma. They were quite cute together.

Oh, and as you can see, it was a stunning morning for field day. Hard to believe it's now overcast and close. Ugh.

Recreational fun.

OK, I downloaded the pics from the Detroit trip. This is where we spent nearly four hours on Saturday afternoon - the Livonia Community Recreation Center. Woohoo! If the kids weren't good and tired by the end of the day, at least Derbs and I were.

The center, by the way, was also the site of KK's and Kyle's soccer games, held earlier in the day. In the rain. Those soccer leagues are hard core, let me tell you. Snow, sleet, rain. They still play. Kyle scored a goal, by the way. And KK was a fantastic player, too! It was cool to see them do so well ....

Resisting time.

Not much to say at the moment. Don't even have a fresh pic to post. Well, I would if I got off my lazy butt and downloaded the snaps I shot while Em and I were in Detroit last weekend.

By the way, fabulous visit with My Typing Sucks and I Don't Care. Oh, how I love that little sis o' mine. And her wonderful family. Seriously. My niece and nephew are so amazing ... and Mr. My Typing Sucks is such a good man. We just didn't want to come back ... except for that part of the back of your brain that reminds you what it's like to sleep in your own bed. That part wanted to get back to Denver on Sunday. :)

We're heading into the final stretch before Surgery Day. Oh, dear. Emma's been anxious and, though I would never admit this to her, I've been a wreck. I'm distracted all the time. I cry for seemingly no reason. I just don't want her to go through all the pain and discomfort ... I hate thinking about the actual procedure.

However, I was cheered after we took the presurgery tour on Tuesday. The family coordinator told Emma that the surgery would go by in a blink to her ... she'd go to sleep and then seem to wake up with no time having elapsed. Now, this won't be the case for those of us (me, Laura, our mom, Emma's stepmother and, possibly, her dad) waiting for her in the family area. But it made me feel better to remember that when you're the one having surgery, time flies.

Small comforts, right?

Anyway, field day is tomorrow and I'll be going. Got my morning deadline sorted this afternoon so that I can go straight to school instead of the office. I'm in good shape to get all my work for next week filed, too, so it's nice I won't have to worry about that stuff. The June issue is put to bed after some frantic last-minute editing. Yay.

The weekend ought to be busy. I'll be on my own tomorrow night, which will be good for a little extra downtime. And then mom will come in on Saturday. Emma will return and we'll have her best friend for a sleepover. Several of us are planning on dinner at the Mexican joint across the street, which I just learned is closing that night. (Ran into the owners at the Safeway this evening.) Laura and Denny will pop by Sunday evening on their way home from the Dem gathering in Greeley.

Don't you hate it when you want so much to slow time ... just for a little bit?

View to a Daughter.

Emma now reads entire chapter books. As such, this is the view I see of her with increasing frequency.

Last Saturday, we got her a new book, "The Good Dog," which will be her longest book read to date. We popped into the Boulder Bookstore, which was one of the places that sold me on living in Colorado when I would vacation here in the early 1990s.

At the checkout, Emma was chatting with the clerk and I mentioned it was Em's first visit to the shop. So the young woman graciously said that such an occasion called for a discount. On the way out the door, I told Emma how kind it was she gave Emma a discount and Em said, "Oh, yes, that's so sweet. What's a discount?"

She thought it was the little bookshop bookmark tucked inside the pages. All together now: awwwwww.

Wet dog.

I smell like wet Rex. Ugh.

Just gave Rex Pester a major bath - lots of dog shampoo, lots of lathering and rinsing, lots and lots of brushing.

He really needed it. Late last week he started shedding and just looked so raggedy. Completely nappy dog.

Now he seems much happier, though I'm sure a lot of that was all the concentrated attention. I have to believe he feels better. I got most of his winter coat off ... well, the stuff that was noticeable and whatnot.

Now I need a bath.

Oh, and here's today's fun coincidence: today I spent several hours writing a feature story about the Denver architect who designed Red Rocks Amphitheater ... and in tonight's previews for the finale of "The Amazing Race," it sure looks like the finish line is back where the race began: Red Rocks Amphitheater.

Woohoo!

Polar bears. Awwww.

Emma and I spent Saturday with an old friend of mine from The (Shreveport, La.) Times. Had a lovely brunch, spent a couple of hours at the zoo and then headed over to Boulder, where we strolled the Pearl Street Mall and had dinner at an Indian restaurant called Himalaya's.

Emma's fave thing at the zoo: the tigers, of course. Joe and I decided the polar bears were the cutest. They were quite entertaining this visit ....