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Along the left sidebar, you'll now see a box that says "Followers." This will replace the old Blogarithm subscription feature... You can still use that if you already are, but the link isn't working anymore from this page, so I'm going to get rid of the box. Thanks, Kathy, for following us! Just click "Follow" if you want to join her!

South Area art show

Emilyn's great work is once again featured in the district art show, on display right now at Parkway South High School. Good chance for a 10-year-old to have some "teen dreams" about the big school she'll be attending someday! We saw the pool... the big gym... the cafeteria... the whole wing they have for art classes... the whole wing they have for music classes... Big stuff!

Anyway, here's her beautiful lighthouse... If you click on the picture and look closely, in the sand, there's a crab. No one is better at crab drawing than Emilyn! She even taught some friends how to make them!

Also yesterday, I met with Emilyn's teacher and got her report card... All A's! Her grade for science went up to an A from a B. She and her science partner Grace made the most amazing four-room house, wired with electricity -- a light and a switch in every room! It was outstanding, and furnished with Playmobils. Eerily accurate... Mommy lying on the couch, dirty dishes in the sink, Daddy on the toilet... Hmmm. Way to go, kiddo! I'm sure a trip to Krispy Kreme (free donuts for A's) is on the agenda.

Sick, drugged and unpaid

There's a reason February is the shortest month.

When I was in college, it was always April that we dreaded most. TONS of work in classes. But now that I'm a grown-up, I have to say it's February that is the toughest to endure.

I really don't remember what green leaves look like. This happens to me every year.

To top it all off, this year I've been sick all month. And then some. After three weeks of my cough, on Valentine's Day I was feeling better. Rode the bike a little. The next day I got some exercise at the pool. Then, on Monday, it all came crashing down, and I felt just as bad as ever.

That setback sent me to the doctor, who pronounced: "Bronchitis. Or early pneumonia." Cripes. So, I got Zithromax, a super-potent 5-day antibiotic, and Tussionex, a codeine cough syrup. So, I started taking them both, like a good patient. Well, I sure didn't like the way the antibiotics made me feel. It was even tougher to breathe sometimes, and I felt anxious... my heart often pounding.

I did some research online and found out that these are some of those "generally mild" side effects the drugmakers are compelled to warn us about! Good thing was, the course is only a few days, and I think it's out of my system now. I'm feeling much more like myself again. Coughing still? You betcha! But it's preferable to the hinky feelings I got on those meds! Next time, I'm asking for plain old bread-mold pills, thank you very much.

In amongst all this, the members of my union, the Newspaper Guild, voted in favor of Lee Enterprises' plan to furlough all union employees. It was a resounding vote in favor, actually. Myself, I voted no. The company refused to offer anything in return, such as an extension of our current contract, or a guarantee of no layoffs in exchange for the furlough. So, in effect, we volunteered to take a pay cut, and for our trouble, we can still be fired! Yay!

So, I have to take five days off, unpaid, in either March or April. This, in itself, is not bad, of course. I like not working. But, it's the principle of the thing. I requested 3 days in March and 2 in April, so we'll see how that works out. They want to do this all with no overtime, to which I say: Good luck with that! Just means we'll all be stretched to the breaking point while our colleagues are forced to stay home. Sheesh.

Anyhoo, March is right around the corner, and hope springs eternal, as they say! Without a doubt, I am looking forward to this spring more than ever. Bruce Hornsby was spotted at camp with Tony and the Redbirds in Jupiter, Fla. Grapefruit League games start today! The beach house is booked, Steve is getting the car serviced for the trip, and, thanks to Lee, I may have a few days off before vacation to get the house in tip-top shape. Life is beautiful! (Hack-cough-hack-hack. Somebody get me a Hall's!)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Just remember: Heart-shaped pizza really can make a young man's dreams come true. At least, this young man.

Yes, I surprised Steve tonight with heart-shaped pizza from Papa John's. Great promotion! Several women at my office had it delivered to their sweeties. For my part, I got a nice lunch at Cracker Barrel with the men in my life (Emilyn was playing at a friend's house). Saturday is chicken and rice day! My favorite!

Good Valentine's Day! Hope it was a happy one for all of you.

Flutter by

Long weekend this weekend... Emilyn has Friday and Monday off. So, we made a trip to a favorite wintertime destination: The Butterfly House.

It's good for the winter because it's so darn tropical in there. No jackets required! Plus, there's lots of other cool bugs to see. Even cockroaches!

For flings and wings and other things, click here.

"Let's go see me be awesome!"

That was her quote as we piled into the car Saturday for Fourth Grade Strings Day, the districtwide orchestra event held at Parkway Central High School. Fourth-graders from all the elementary schools came together to show their stuff and fill the gym with joyful noise! (Actually, there were so many kids that they had to split the day into two concerts. We were in the latter one.)

Some weird things: We saw Miss Amy, Allen's teacher, there... She apparently also has a fourth-grade stringmeister at home. She came all the way across the gym to tell me that Allen can hand out valentines this week in class! Now that's dedication... I kept seeing people that I recognized, then I realized: These were parents of kids Emilyn went to preschool with!!! Freaky to think of these kids all grown up. Emilyn really wanted to go up to her old friend, Ellie, but it got kind of awkward... What do you say to a kid you last saw when you were 5?

Mommy was the cinematographer again, but with one wrinkle: The unrelenting coughing fits!!! Been there, done that. My middle name is Halls. So, much of my footage was ruined. But, we do have some great clips from calmer moments... You can see them all here.

Allen's turn in the ER

He's OK.

But it was a fun night last night! I got home from work, got out of the tub and heard Allen gasping and crying in his bedroom. When I went to get him, he was red-faced and rasping with every breath.

Now, I knew he had been hoarse earlier in the day, and I knew he was whipping himself into a tizzy because he was coughing and had no voice... But he really couldn't get a breath. And he really wouldn't calm down!

So, I told Steve that we were heading to St. Luke's ER. I figured Allen really needed someone to look at him, and maybe they had medicine that would help. So, at midnight, off we went. Deja vu...

He was still pretty upset in the car, but his breathing calmed somewhat. We listened to Classic 99 (which is actually very peaceful in the middle of the night!) and Mommy rocketed up 141. I dared those Manchester cops to pull me over!

We got there, and of course, Allen is starting to realize what's going on, and he gets a little upset again, but I told him that we were there to see if someone could help him breathe better, and he really calmed down after that. So much so that when we got in to Triage, and we saw Larry (!) the RN, Allen was quiet and breathing normally. Great! Now I look like Psycho Mom.

Allen was still in the computer, from being born, so the check-in went smoothly. Larry took his temperature (just a little high) and measured his pulse and blood oxygenation (a perfect score of 100, Psycho Mom!) using a little lead on Allen's big toe. Cool! So now, I'm a lot calmer, and of course a little sheepish because the kid seems totally fine. Still voiceless, though. Staffers would ask him about that limp, gray thing he was holding... He whispered: "Shark."

So, in we go, to Room 20 (sorry, buddy, no 5), and who should stroll in but... Dr. Alison Bedell! The wonderful pediatrician who saw Emilyn in the same ER when she had appendicitis. Now I know everything's going to be OK... She looks Allen over, listens to his lungs, checks his throat and ears and pronounces that he as croup. He's doing better, she says, probably because of the trip into the cold night air. A virus is attacking his vocal cords, which, in little ones, can cause a scary and dangerous narrowing of the airway. The scary episodes always come at night, she says, and kiddos make it worse by getting upset.

She does have medicine that will help, hooray! A steroid that Allen can take by mouth (chased by apple juice to kill the taste). He was so good, and of course, quiet, through all of this, and he drank his medicine right down. For good measure, he got some Tylenol to help with the throat pain. An hour and a $75 co-pay later, and we're on our way, with instructions to try steam or more cold night air should this happen again.

Whew! I guess I knew about croup, in theory, but these kids have never had it. And who knew it could seem so scary! At least we got good medicine that we couldn't have run out and picked up at Walgreens.

Needless to say, it was another night of no sleep for Mommy, so I'm barely functioning (and still trying to get over this same virus myself!). So, we'll take it easy today. More props for St. Luke's! Thanks so much for the great care.

Allen's Paint

Look what Allen drew on Microsoft Paint! He's been messing with it for a few days now, but I just thought this was truly fun and beautiful to look at. So, it's here for posterity!

Allen's projects

It's been "Dino Time" the last two weeks at Allen's school. Last Thursday, they were encouraged to dissect a Jell-O mold (orange) filled with plastic dinosaurs. They had an array of tweezers and grabbers and got to go to town on that thing!

Today, Allen brought home this:

And here's what he had to say about it:

"It's my fossil. I made it. It has dinosaurs, shells and rocks. It's my best thing."

He wanted to carry it all the way to the car, AND hold it in the car. He was very careful with it, so no more pieces would fall off. I'd say he's pretty proud!

He also made pteradactyl. If you want to see that, head on over to DropShots.

Playing in the snow

We had a two-day wallop of winter here... I had the misfortune of driving home in the snow Monday night, driving to work in the snow Tuesday afternoon, and driving home in more snow on Tuesday night! ARRRGH! And they just don't plow the roads here like they did in New York.

But today, at least for a little while, the kids had fun outside... Emilyn was on her second snow day in a row... She says she doesn't want to go to school tomorrow!

For more photos and video, click here.

More friends saying goodbye

Some of my colleagues made the choice to take retirement and severance, in order to allow some of the fired people to return to work. We lose either way!

Geof and Kathryn (center, front) are leaving after more than 30 years each at the Post-Dispatch. Great journalists and great people. We will miss them dearly. Not pictured is Gary, who also chose to retire.

From left, we are: June, Colleen, Luke, Lacey, Jim and Jennie. We get to stay behind and trudge bravely along. I'm wondering if we should start calling ourselves "the Remainders," or possibly the cooler-sounding "Residudes."

Something new

No one has seen Allen in his shark towel yet!

Deer in the backyard

Not something you see every day on Asilomar Court (and, frankly, not something you can see very clearly in this picture), but there were three deer beyond our back fence yesterday morning. Here's one, blurry, dun-colored beast (right in the center, behind the fence... Blow it up on DropShots to see it better):

It has been very cold this fall and winter, and maybe they're just so hungry that our backyard brush looks good to them!

Micro-bug

Well, it took 6 days, but my little guy finally caught my stomach bug. But, I guess since he's 1/5th my size, he's 1/5th as sick, for 1/5th as long!

He woke up at 6 (same as I did when I got sick), throwing up and crying... The whole thing surprised and appalled him... If you know Allen, you know what I mean! "Sick? Me? The very idea!"

He threw up a couple more times, crying that he wanted to do something fun... that he wanted a drink... that he wanted breakfast... that there was nothing to watch on TV... Daddy and Mommy did our best to keep him happy. Then, he built a magical nest on the kitchen floor. No joke. Here's a video as proof:

Soon after this, he ran off to play Magtastiks with Daddy and hasn't used his bucket since. He clamored for some toast with sugar, and I went to the store to get him some fruit juice ice pops. So, not a 24-hour bug... a four-hour bug? And one relieved Mommy.

NOT the birthday I'd planned!

So, yeah, the stomach bug was not the present I'd planned on getting, and it is now 1.5 degrees outside, but I am OH-SO-GLAD to be 37!

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes... Thanks to Ellen and Jeanne for the cards and gifts. My family got me a wireless mouse for my laptop (currently still trying to make that work...). We went out to Oberweis for ice cream (since my weigh-in was such a success!). The ice cream was good, but getting up and around was totally draining.

A special bonus came in the afternoon when I learned that my friend at work, Josh, and his wife, Yoli, had had their third baby girl that morning! We share a birthday! She's sweet... Her name is Josie Miriel.

I don't think about birthdays as getting older... Since Mom and Dad died, particularly, I have begun to realize that each day is a precious gift and to complain about getting older is, well, kinda sacrilegious.

So, in celebration of my life, and life in general, I ask you to go out and hug someone you love! Tell them what they mean to you! And find the beauty in all things around you... even the frost on a FRIGID winter's day.

Lunch with Steve's cycling buddies

The P-D Posse had reason to celebrate today... A successful cycling season (many members, including Steve, rode over 2,000 miles in 2008!) -- AND, for those in attendance at lunch at the Tap Room, we all still have a job!

Karen, a former P-D photographer and now a sometime sculptor, made this excellent award for Luke, the Posse's skipper and principal motivator:


The riders told some bike stories and some woeful work tales, and we had some yummy pretzels and beer bread, and Steve had onion soup.

Later on, the posse headed outside for a group photo (from left, Karen, Steve, Marcia, Luke, Lisa and Stephan):

THISCLOSE, but still employed

The paper cut 39 jobs last night, including 14 in the newsroom, where I work... It was a very surreal scene. I got into the lobby at 4 to see one of my direct desk colleagues, who sits right behind me, being detained by the guard. The guard was checking people against a list... it was crazy!

So, I made it upstairs, then told my shop steward what was going on in the lobby... She was totally floored and had no inkling this was coming. Then, the ball was rolling, and our bosses began tapping people on the shoulder and escorting them to HR. A sick feeling for all of us as we watched another direct desk colleague head out, then a couple of editors who we work with very closely... And another former colleague who had moved to sports.

In all, we lost four copy editors, two assistant metro editors, an assistant sports editor, a couple of secretaries, an editorial writer, a photo assistant, and three people who worked full-time on the website.

As I said on my Facebook page, these cuts bleed. This is different from firing all the clerks because we've decided that we don't need anyone to answer the phones. These people did hard work every day to put out the newspaper.

SO, now more than ever I am ready and as prepared as I can be to lose my job. I thought, in the shower the other day, that I'd be very good at medical imaging. I can make nervous people feel at ease, I know quite a bit of something about the body, and I can be taught to use ANY machine. Salaries are pretty good, too, and people always need tests...

Radical, life-altering stuff. I know my friends are thinking these thoughts this morning. I feel for them.

Check out the NEW Magic House!

The Magic House, the St. Louis Children's Museum, has more than doubled in size, and BOY is it cool. Just check out the overhead shot on their website. I heard they would be open until 9 p.m. on New Year's Day, so I figured that'd be a great time to head over.

We had fun! Right when you walk in, you can tell it won't be the same old cramped mansion it was before...

First, you see a new open area for playing and exploring music... Then, between the levels of the new building, there's Jack's Beanstalk for climbing...



Other new stuff: the three branches of government downstairs (we got a picture of Emilyn in the Oval Office!), a big new construction site, a forensics lab... Well, you'll just have to click here to see the rest!

Christmas morning videos

What a fun morning here at the Crabbe Trap! Click here to see all our videos.

Cookies for Santa, a tradition

Daddy didn't get home until very late, but there was still time for him to help us make cookies for Santa. We had sugar cookies with Christmas trees and snowmen, plus lots of sprinkles and chips for decorating! The Guy in the Big Red Suit surely loves our tasty treats. Click here to see all our pictures and video.

Later on, Mommy and Emilyn made Christmas Eve dinner happen while Daddy got his rest... Turkey breast in the oven, real garlic mashed potatoes, mushroom stuffing and green beans with bacon. Yummy! Then, we headed out to see some lights. We left cookies and milk for Santa, and green peppers for his reindeer. In all, it was a great holiday. Thanks to all of you who sent wishes and gifts. Merry Christmas, one and all!