I left work last night at an hour where I got to watch them changing the direction on the HOV lanes (between 12-1am) and I got blood on my favorite pair of underwear today. Yeah, it's been one of those days. But, I took a two hour nap after work, my undies are in the wash and I've spent the evening sorting Easter candy. So things are looking up. Easter Sunday went amazingly well. We had several house guests that were a blast to entertain (w00t to Susie and David and their stellar Easter basket skills). Since it was just us "kids" for dinner we made individual pizzas so that Rich's brother could create his own Meat Master special and the vegetarians could cover theirs in basil, olives and mushrooms. Special thanks to LauraSiobhan for helping in the cooking, clean up and general good vibe of the holiday.

Since the Matriarch, Patriarch and Uncle-arch didn't come, we received our Easter baskets in the mail yesterday. I would have been more excited about them had there not been such a stink over why they couldn't be delivered in person. But I'm not letting it get me down and I'm certainly not having any trouble wolfing down the marshmallow bunnies even if they're sprinkled with bitterness.

In other news, I've recently signed up to send packages to military members overseas. I got the address from Operation Military Pride and while I still have some cynicism about being called a "patriot" for sending candy to strangers, I figure it's a good idea to send packages to people who are in shittier situations than I have to deal with on a daily basis.

This first package is mostly full of Easter candy (hence the sorting tonight) but I also threw in some essentials and the mandatory book of Sudoku puzzles to help spread my addiction to others across the globe.

I was talking to my mother on the phone about what suggestions were given for items to send and what items we couldn't send. Mom and I were comparing what she used to mail to Dad back in 1968. She used to put Smithfield ham in wax paper and mail it to him in envelopes because it would keep and actually get to him in only a few days. But I told her my instructions said "no pork" so the days of Smithfield ham packages were over. She asked about the other restrictions and I started rattling them off.

Genie: "no pork, no porn, no explosives" Mom: "no porn?" Genie: "Yeah, no porn." Mom: "Well, that seems silly."

Uh, yeah, my mom is pretty awesome, but this is definitely not a conversation I need to have with her about what she used to send Dad in the 60's.

Genie: "All I know is what the form says." Mom: "I don't know why they would care." Genie: "I don't know, Mom, but there's a long list of other things I can send. So I'm not really worried about it."

So the next day I was at their house and was talking to Dad about these same restrictions. My father is a big fan of the pig as a menu item in pretty much all forms.

Genie: "There are some things they won't let you send. So no more ham like you used to get, Dad." Mom: "Yeah, and no corn!" Genie: "Hunh?" Mom: "Isn't that what you said? That you can't send corn?" Genie: "No, I said you can't send porn." Mom: "Oh! Well, that makes a lot more sense!"

I think Mom is getting hard of hearing in her old age.