Furlough Eve

We went to Madison on Saturday to watch L's dance school (Kalaanjali) perform at the Overture Center. They did several pieces depicting Lord Krishna's early years. It's a very festive time, with Diwali ocurring on the 17th, though the parties and celebrations were held this weekend.

We went to Barnes & Noble after that, which is a very dangerous place for our family of book addicts! I had fun picking out some books for Terrance & Ginu's newly arrived baby girl, Jessica. We threw a baby shower for them last Monday. The baby was due on the 18th, but she had the baby early Weds. morning. I have such a passion for books, and really love high-quality children's books, so that is my preferred new baby gift. It's fun for me to try to find beautiful, timeless books that both the parents and the child will enjoy. We walked out of there with two bags full of books!

We had reservations to stay at a hotel in Madison, so we checked in and got settled after we left B&N. We went to Maharaja--the closest Indian restaurant to our hotel and enjoyed some wonderful food. L & I both got aloo chole and mango juice. YUM!!

Back to the hotel then for swimming and movies with our girl.

I had purchased tickets for Dej (and her current piece) to go to the movie, "Paranormal Activity". It's only playing in select locations, and Janesville is most definitely not a "select" location. I purchased the tickets online several days before, and it's a good thing, as the movie was sold out well ahead of time. The theater was packed (and it was quite large), and when the movie ended, there was applause.

It was very good. It was what all 'scary' movies should be. There were three people in the entire movie; no special effects; no gore. It was strictly psychological terror. If I were capable of being scared by movies, that would have done it. I totally enjoyed it, but have come to terms with the fact that I can no longer be frightened by movies.

It really makes me sad. It's a feeling I miss, which is very ironic since I spent most of my childhood and teen years lying awake in terror and sleeping with my lights on! Dej asked me why I would miss feeling that way. It is kind of weird. I'm thinking about why. Not exactly able to verbalize it yet though. Terror, like pain, is a very pure, unmuddied feeling. When in terror or pain, my mind can't wander to the ugly real terrors that it usually plays constantly. Maybe that's the reason? That's the best my armchair psychology has come up with so far.

Poor Dej didn't sleep until 4:00 this morning, and she had Luke with her, because she was too frightened to be alone. I'm so envious of her. I didn't even have a scary dream!

I got back to the hotel room to find L still awake at 11:45. Not at all unusual for her.

We came back home this morning and were happy to see the rest of our family. Chores took up the rest of the day for M & me. We also missed Hunter. I feel very guilty about not including him, even though I know he wouldn't have enjoyed those activites very much. :( The kids played cat town for most of the day, only cleaning it up when it was time for our bedtime reading.