Ela is having a sleepover with her friend Lily Kelly – sweet kid. Benjamin, on the other hand, is totally pumped up because he absolutely LOVES Lily. So, for sleeping arrangements tonight we have the giggly girls who go between laughing, needing water, whispering, getting scared of every little noise and emerging from the room with another excuse to not sleep, and Benjamin who is totally exhausted, clingy, jealous, trying to act grown-up and ending up acting half his age. So why do I need a knitting needle? I have a theory: if I take a nice long knitting needle and put in one ear and guide through to the other ear, I will give myself a rudimentary lobotomy – which should give me some peace. Yeah, it might be a bit messy, but I probably won’t even notice. Yeah, I know it’s not the right place on your head, but I bet it’s a hell of a thing!

We had some killer pizza tonight. Lou Malnati’s Pizza here in Highland Park is awesome. www.loumalnatis.com There are several locations throughout the Chicago area. If you get a chance, try it and you won’t be disappointed. They got this thing here called deep dish pizza, which I thought to be the Sicilian pizza that we got in NY. It’s not that. It is cooked in a deep dish, but the crust is relatively thin. They pile the stuff on the pizza and the high crust on the sides hold all the junk inside. It’s pretty good stuff. This place’s crust is made with olive oil and it’s crispy and has that lovely extra virgin (extra virgin – a topic for another blog – I got lots to say on that phrase) olive oil taste.

Okay, Bones (Benjamin) is finally asleep. I layed (lied, lain, lay – which one is it?) next to him in his bed and he passed out within 2 minutes. Man, was he tired! Ela is still awake. She’s convinced that the little light from cars passing the house that shines on her ceiling is/are ghosts. Boy was she pissed at me when I told her that it was just cars, “You don’t believe me!!!” No, I don’t…I’ve seen too many movies and ghosts do not show up like that. They aren’t that sneaky and show up as full body apparitions. Lately, they’ve been showing up in HD and 3D. Yeah, they’re hip too! Just because you’re dead doesn’t mean you have to be all gothic and old-fashioned.

Tomorrow is soccer day for Ela and Lily. Dawg, I hope they cancel the game. It’s raining pretty steadily, it’s cold, and the field is going to be a swamp again. I had to wash Ela’s uniform twice this week to get the mud out and practically had to take an oxy acetylene torch to it. I don’t know about up here, but from growing up in the south, all I could think about was ringworm and fungus in that mud. I threw her in the bathtub as soon as she got home. Maybe all that stuff dies off in the cold winter, but not down there. Ben’s field on Sunday was worse. My car still smells like a malange of wet dog and feet. I know I drive the “ghetto flyer,” but I really don’t need it to smell authentic.

Benjamin and I had a great time after I picked him up from school today, we went to a place called Baker Boys – a bakery run by two brothers. It’s a little place right by the Ravinia Metra stop. Bones and I stopped there to get dessert for tonight and tomorrow night (Movie nights at our house). While we were there, we got a half-dozen for desserts and Bones and I got a little cupcake each for right away. We sat and watched it rain from the bar stools they have in front of the shop windows. I like to watch Ben eat. He just takes is easy and slow. He savours every bite. I generally inhale everything I eat. It makes it hard to do portion control when you create a vacuum that just sucks everything within a half-mile into your head. Okay, I’m tired now and I think everyone is asleep. I haven’t heard a sound for at least 10 minutes – it’s quiet…too quiet. Maybe there is a ghost…wooooooooooooohhhh!