Forty-five minutes, 36 seconds 'til bedtime. Yep, I'm counting.

As I type the phone is ringing (home equity line offers out the wazoo), the children are hanging on me (Kate is repeating "I wonna nuggle wif' you, Mommy" incessantly; India saying "sit by ME, Mommy" over and over) and Tracy is upstairs on his back, legs in the air (picture dead beetle). Yes, Janice, there is a BIG glass of red wine right by my left hand.

Tracy threw his back out about an hour ago. He was walking down the stairs and I was handing him the phone...suddenly he seemed completely paralyzed! I had to manouver the children past him to safety, tell the home equity loan specialist (the 14th one who called today) that we had an emergency, and help Tracy balance on our narrow old staircase until he could crawl back upstairs. Scared me pretty good...he couldn't catch his breath from the spasms. I called our friend Tom, who is also Tracy's doc, and Tom has called in a scrip for muscle relaxers. I'll be picking those up as soon as I get the kids to bed (did I mention that bedtime is now 44 minutes away?).

Kate's cold is better, but now India has it and she coughed and cried until she threw up at nap time. ALL OVER HER BED. ALL OVER HER "BEST LOVEY". ALL OVER HER BLANKET AND DRESS. ALL OVER.

What a day. That's all I can say. Long Day With Short (and tall) People. Good thing I love them all!