Gypsy Rose Melanie?

David is out of town this week.  He is in Louisiana looking at trees (for work), and then will head to New Orleans on Friday.  He is getting ready for Mardi Gras ... he and his buddies are putting their "throws" together (the beads and toys and junk they throw off the parade floats) and moving them to the float barn (a warehouse where they park the floats until parade day.

Oh ... yes, David is a member of the Krewe of Thoth, one of the parades that rolls on the Sunday before Mardi Gras day, which falls on Feb. 8 this year.  He grew up in New Orleans (actually lived in Kenner) and it has always been a dream of his to ride in a parade.  When a buddy asked him a few years ago if he'd be interested in joining the club, he jumped at the chance.  I don't always go every year, but am planning to go this year, leaving the two older boys at home (with a sitter) since they shouldn't miss school.  So we are setting off on the 3rd with the the three younger ones.

The other morning it was something like 13 degrees and I didn't have the heart to make Quentin, Christian and Lisa walk to the bus stop.  Since David is gone, I had to wake Melanie up to go with us ... about 2 hours earlier than when she normally gets up.  So, of course nap time was moved up too ... which means that around 7:30 she was melting down and exhausted.  So .. I put her to bed early.  When I went in to check on her at 10 before I went to bed, she was standing up in the crib, TOTALLY NAKED!!!  No diaper, no pajamas ... just nekkid as a jay bird.  Wonder how long she had been in there playing -- she hadn't made a peep in all that time.  Sheesh.  I got her dressed, and laid her down, but worried all night that she was in there having a striptease again.  (She didn't).  What a hoot.

I had a nice chat with the surgery scheduler from University Oral Surgery the other day, and have an appointment to meet with them on Feb. 2.  They have their "cleft team" meeting on February 18, but I wanted meet them to see if there was "chemistry" between us, and to see if I felt more confident with them than Dr. M.  I'm wondering what will be involved in the insurance process if we stop with Dr. M in mid-stream and go with the University guys.  Oh well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.  I'm going to go in with a completely open mind.