Hey Jakey,

Big sigh. Poor momma. August is not my month. The Ranger's in the shop with some kind of clutch problem. Hey, good thing daddy's UNEMPLOYED and doesn't need his car, so I can get to work. L at work let me use her AAA to get a tow from here in Incline down to the dealer in Carson. The mechanic here, I don't know what kind of Mickey Mouse operation he's running, but he couldn't figure out what was wrong with it. If I had actually paid for a tow, it would've cost me about $400. I gotta get my own AAA membership. Yah right. Just as soon as I pay my doctor bills, and the IRS, and catch up on my med insurance, and buy groceries and pay the electric and gas, and-- and-- and...

L pissed me off BIG-time this week. She's been staying over again while she works a couple more weeks here at the paper. Everything was going fine, we were taking you for walks every night, making dinners, having great conversations (even tho she gets drunk as a skunk on Jim Beam and Vicodan EVERY night). Then she gets on her big ol' high horse, bagging on your daddy again. She told her BF about the Marcia/daddy situation, and her BF said that your daddy is "a stupid man," and that's why she loves him so much, because her BF would back her up no matter what. HELLO?!??! Her BF's 21-year-old daughter has been ruining L's life and making her miserable for close to a year now, and BF won't say boo to her. L says F is the best thing that's ever happened to her in her entire life. Yeah, she's drinking more than she ever has, she's practically unemployable, she's hooked on over-the-internet painkillers, she's miserable at home because of F's daughter, but MY husband is a "stupid man." Okay, okay, I've got to get over this, because she's coming to stay again tomorrow night, and I just need to get along with her. I just wish I had the guts to tell her how much she pisses me off when she bags on your daddy. *I'm* the only one who's allowed to do that.

I've been working on the magazine at night. Whew. It's like working two jobs. I'm doing the whole thing by myself this time around because T backed out. Good, more money for me, but twice the work. With the paycheck from this project, I hope to pay off the rest of my doctor bills from when you were born. Ha. When I first started working on the magazine a couple of years ago, I was hoping to maybe buy a pool table and some new furniture for the front room, and start saving for that cruise to Alaska. What a difference a baby makes. I'll NEVER have a pool table now!

Maybe this *is* the best time for your daddy to not be working. I can get a lot done while he's watching you. He's turning into Daddy Day Care. You've been having a pretty good week, BTW. You've gotten pretty proficient at entertaining yourself and playing quietly, especially in the morning. Have I mentioned before that you're cutting teeth? Not fun when I'm trying to nurse you. I'm not quite ready to give up on that yet, but this just might be the beginning of the end if you can't control yourself a little bit better.

When I left the house this morning, you were curled up asleep with daddy, and your fingers were twitching, like you were thinking about waking up. I love watching you and daddy sleep. You look so alike, like sleep just snuck up on the both of you while you were playing X-Box.

Well, back to it. Job #1, that is. The sucky one. Love you!