Blossoms: Large buds on the dogwood and apple trees. Forsythia is still blooming, but those exposed to full sun are showing green leaves.

Watching: Lots of late night TV while I worked, including Titanic, which was airing on HBO from 2 a.m. to 5:15 a.m. I recognized Ioan Gruffudd, A&E's Hornblower, as a ship's officer. He was the one who returned in a small boat to look for survivors and rescued Rose.

All-Nighter

8:00 p.m. Well, I did something I haven't done since college: I pulled an all-nighter. As a matter of fact, in my four years there I only ever had one all-nighter. And it wasn't even necessary for me to work all night on that paper, since it wasn't due until later in the week. I was one of those appallingly punctual students who always finished projects ahead of schedule. At the end of my senior year I realized I had never stayed up all night to finish a paper, so I did it once just to have the experience.

Of course, in those days I was young, foolish, and resilient, and I could sleep all day after handing in the paper at 9 a.m. Now I am 16 years older and have lots of driving to do during the day, not to mention the little guys to watch. Staying up all night was probably not the wisest move; however, I had promised to turn the book in by mid-week, and I wanted to fulfill the commitment.

I started work in earnest at about 9:00 p.m. last night after getting back from my evening out with Daniel. At 5:30 a.m., I had finished setting the entire 300-page manuscript and started printing the pages while I went off to take a shower. Then I had to turn every page, number those without folios, label the pages that ran short and long, and look for any obvious problems that I had missed on screen. I was done at 7 a.m.

After dropping off Tab and Daniel, the twins and I returned home. I told them I was tired and lay down on the couch while they watched PBS. They wanted to cuddle with me, so Matthew squeezed in next to me, spoon fashion, and Stephen lay on top of me. They switched positions a couple times. Despite all the shifting around, I managed to doze a little. That episode of "Noddy" seemed like it lasted for hours; I lost all sense of time while I was drifting in and out of sleep, but every time I woke up Noddy was on. When the twins got bored lying down with me, they got up and tried to play quietly, bless their little hearts. They covered me up with a washcloth and with Stephen's "blankie," a tattered old cloth diaper, the threads of which kept tickling my nose.

Tab decided to come home at 12:30 today. He said it was because he needed to mow the lawn before it rained tonight and package some boxes for shipping, but I think he wanted to be kind and give me a chance to nap this afternoon. So after I put the boys in for their nap at 2, I fell into bed and slept until after 4. Though somewhat refreshed by the nap, I am still very tired. I'm giving myself the night off from work and heading off to bed now. Nighty-night!

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