Nice, mellow morning. I slept like a log like last night, except for a few hours of Max (3) jabbing me in the ribs. When it got out of control, I went to the living couch, but discovered that Jack (10) and Michael (8) had taken all the afghans to sleep on the family room couch. I then opted to sleep with Tess (19 months). That worked out well. She takes up virtually no room and when she lashes out with her foot, it barely jars me.
Today, I have nothing to do. Well, I have a few things. Marie's parents are down, and they're going to Shipshewana, Indiana for the day, leaving me with the four boys, including a toilet-training Max, so there could be horrors awaiting. I also have to write my weekly column for Catholic Exchange, and we're having my parents over tonight for dinner with Marie's parents. They probably think that we're going to announce that Marie's pregnant, but she's not.
There's a group of stories this morning that you need to know about if you want to be a complete person:
The Easy-Bake Oven and Lionel model trains joined Mr. Potato Head, the Frisbee and 32 other classic but watt-free toys Thursday in the Strong-National Museum of Play's eight-year-old hall of fame.
A freaky storm two-thirds the diameter of Earth and unlike anything ever seen has been spotted on Saturn.
Gerald Ford is poised to break Ronald Reagan's record as the longest-living US president on Sunday, 121 days after his 93rd birthday.
Stories that good don't need commentary. You can just read those blurbs and think, "My day is complete."
But in case you need more: It's St. Martin of Tours' feast day. As a young man, he was a legionary in the Roman army (the first Legionary for Christ?). And an odd one, according to Henry Gheon:
The young officer who did not drink, left women alone, ate the poorest food and gave away all but the minimum, who devoted his leisure time to prayer, reading, and visiting the sick, who cleaned his orderly's boots, passed for more than slightly mad. But he disarmed all who mocked him by his serenity, his patience and his friendliness; he showed them genuine affection, and in the end his comrades were constrained to return it.
Maybe that little anecdote, at least combined with news about the Easy-Bake Oven's honor, makes your day complete.
