Monday Mumbers

Elizabeth at Three Channels has an hysterical post you must read - honestly, if you have time to read just one, skip this one and read hers.

Are you still here? Okay, the theme is numbers - how many times a particular thing has happened as a way to describe recent events in your life.

Here's mine - we've had quite a day so I'll just limit it to that

0 = number of keys waiting for me when I arrived at my new office today just in time for a conference call (they moved us to a new floor on Friday night).

11 = minutes I was late for said call after calling security to let me in.

140 = the decibel level of the HR executive next door to me, while she was discussing whether or not our health insurance covers colonoscopies.

1 = conference call that was cancelled today because the other side still hasn't bothered to read the agreement.

8 = days until the end of the quarter at work.

1 = emergency phone call received by yours truly from school today, telling me we had:

1 = potentially broken elbow attached to Two.

120 = my heart rate as I flew down the freeway to pick up the boys.

80 = approximate speed of the minivan.

5 = minutes we waited before the nurse rushed us in to see the doctor.

45 = the number of gray hairs that grew on my head while we were waiting for the x-rays.

3 = shouts of joy when we discovered his elbow was still intact!

4,000 = pieces of popcorn eaten by Two as part of his "unbroken-elbow" celebration.

2 = hours before I can put the boys to bed and actually start to relax!

A post-script: the funniest part of the whole day came when a colleague called while were were waiting for the x-ray tech. He started laughing as soon as I picked up the phone, since he'd seen my flurry of emails as I started this crazy fire drill. I told him not to laugh at me, and Two interrupted with "who is laughing at me!?" I told him it was Mr. B, who he's talked to before, and he yelled "give me that phone!" He then proceeded to give my colleague a dressing down, shouting "B, are you listening to me? This is NOT FUNNY! Do you know why it is not funny, B? Because I might have a broken arm, that's why!" All the time he was addressing him by his last name only, like some 4ft tall Drill Sergeant. I could only lean against the wall of the x-ray room and laugh.