Baby got back.

Yesterday, yes there were trucks. We've established that. But it was also a VERY LONG DAY at work, with no fewer than 3 major crises occurring that I wound up coming up with solutions for. After the trucks and the blogging, at 11:30pm a just-before-bed check of messages revealed that things had gone poorly with one of my recovery efforts, and there was a very good chance that 70 people would show up to a meeting Wednesday AM and not have a system for their demos.

Most frustratingly, at the root of all of my crises yesterday was HUMAN ERROR. People not doing what they were supposed to, or not asking questions before acting, or unilaterally deciding they were done for the day in the middle of a process... PEOPLE.

Fortunately, by 6:30am, things had been resolved more or less - those same humans causing the problems did pull it together to help solve them, so that was good. So around 7:30 I was good and ready to strut into work, knowing things were under control.

I was in mid-shower when Bella ran upstairs to say "Mommy wants you to know she is stuck and can't move". I rinsed off and sprinted downstairs to find her splayed awkwardly on the couch: Apparently she was picking up Isaac and her back popped out grandly. I had to help her upstairs, and she was in a LOT of pain, and couldn't move at all.

Happily, Grampette was on tap and ran over to take care of the kids while I went to work. I checked in frequently: Around 2pm, the tornado sirens went off and Pamela crawled all the way to the basement (despite the fact that this house is so solid it'll be the last thing standing on Scott Terrace in the year 3000... her storm warning training is deeply ingrained and I respect that).

By the evening when I returned, the torch was passed to JeMae, who was helping with Isaac while Bella played with Jenny. I got food... fed everyone... put Isaac to bed, put Bella to bed after everyone left, am blogging, and am preparing to haul Pamela back up to bed. She's got some "good" painkillers, which I'm hoping help her regain SOME movement (or at least allow her to move a little which COULD help that back pop back into place). Tomorrow she has another appt with the Chiro, and Grampette and MaeMae are willing to help out with the kids. I can steal away to take Pamela to the doc as needed, but it's another busy day planned at BOTH clients, alas, and I won't be able to skip work.

I tell you, between the bum finger and the bum back, I'm going to DEFINITELY need to check my extended warranty options on Pamela - see if I can get a full drivetrain extension to 100,000 miles or so.

Of course American Idol finished tonight, and I got to hear the "Song" that won the contest. A very generic chest pounder, and it's no wonder Jordin was able to knock it out better... and now she it our idol. Please don't directly worship her, however, as that is forbidden in the commandments. I will say that MY Idol song (which I abandoned as too trite) was certainly competitive with the one that won. But since I never finished it, you'll just have to take my word on that.

Finally, as I put Bella to bed tonight, the bedtime story was a book called "Paris" from the 1960s, in French, which shows all sorts of things you would find in Paris. I read it in French to her, and translated each page as we went. Bella thought it was pretty cool to hear it in the language, and I think she would like to visit Paris. She was particularly interested in the Louvre - imagining just HOW MUCH ART could be in a building that big... and the REAL MONA LISA is there? WOW!!!

So it's off to bed early for me, since I'll be on duty all night with the 3x a night wake-up monster. Wish me luck... and send good wishes to Pamela's lower back. We could ALL use a miracle there.