Things That Make You Go, "AAAAUUUGGGHHH!!!!"

The Missus is leaving at the crack of dawn tomorrow to go visit her family in Florida (pronounced "Flaahr-duh" by all those transplants from New York and the greater Tri-State area), and will not reappear until late Tuesday evening. She is not taking the Llama-ettes with her.

Now I love my children dearly, as I hope I've made clear in my many, many posts here about them. Nonetheless, I've no illusions about them whatsoever. They combine the stubborness of a string of mules, the exuberance of a troupe of baboons and the refined decorum of a longboat full of Frisians landing on the shores of Britain. I always reckoned that as they grew older they would grow out of these attributes. As it turns out, so far they've simply become more clever and sophisticated in expressing them.

Patience has never been one of my strong suits, even in the best of times. And as it turns out, I've got a serious boat-load of work to deal with this weekend. (Summarizing depositions. Heigh, ho.)

Yep, I picked a heckuva Lent to quit drinking.

Thank God for that Sunday loophole, however. Don't think I'm not going to be ready for it by then.

SOOPER SEKRIT YIPS to Kathy the Cake Eater from Literary Critic and Man About Town Fitzwilliam Steve-O: This might shed some light onto the extreme antipathy that Robbo (aka "Mister Bennet") the LLama has for Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice...

Of course, that would make me Mister Collins, so.....

WELL, IF WE'RE HEADING IN THAT DIRECTION YIPS! back from Robbo:

As a matter of fact, the Missus has on several occasions told me that I remind her of Mr. Knightly, perhaps the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me. Now we all know that Mr. Knightly was immensely fond and indulgent when it came to his nephews:

However, we leave his and Emma's story before it comes to the point: How would he have felt if the boys were his own and there was no escape from the little blighters? (Hint: The Missus has also noted that in all our years together she never saw me lose my temper until after the Llama-ettes came along. Hint Two, of course, is that I'm writing all of this with my tongue more or less firmly planted in my cheek, even though you can't see it.)