Rest assured, dear reader, LMA is doing fine. Sorry to keep you in the dark for days upon restless, eternal days, but physically there wasn't anything the medical professionals could pin point. The tried and true methodology that is Wait-n-See has proved again to be the mighty sword of ambiguity that has solved our pained questions with a definitive "Huh?"

The tests they took came back negative and after another day of favoring it, she was back to her old hyper jumpy self. The whole thing is a memory at this point. No body knows what it was either; pulled muscle, sprained/strained/twisted knee, end of a virus that caused some joint aching, who knows.

So we set up the Christmas/Yule tree last night. Well, we partially set it up. We started around 6:30 and had to deal with a bath, a headache and dinner at the same time, so the tree with lights was done by about 9:00.

I'll tell you what, as much as I like the idea of setting up holiday decorations, the actual act of putting up the tree makes me crazy. I turn into everyone's dad. I get grumpy and short and loud. No one helps the way I want them to so they might as well not help, but you can bet your ass I'll make them feel guilty about not helping. "I had to set up this whole dang tree myself, thank you!" I'm such a Nazi when it comes to lights and stuff, but I'm seeing someone for help now. It's getting ok.

Seriously, it wasn't bad and the tree looks ok with the lights off. LMA calls it the Santa Tree, which is fine with Mrs. Austin and myself, avoids the Yule vs. Chirstmas debate. And MAN does her face light up when she sees it. She came out this morning and got all bent outta shape because Santa himself wasn't sitting on the couch waiting for us. "Ohhh, Santa's not here. Where's Santa?" Looks like our next purchase is a calendar.

Some killer news from Mrs. Austin. As you know she's been going to school to get her psych degree and her first class is Texas History. The professor has ties to the legislature in some capacity and is so impressed with Mrs. A's love for all things Texas and most things Governing, he suggested her for an internship with the next session of the Texas Congress in 2005. Pretty cool stuff. It's not the West Wing, but I'm sure she'll love it.

With this in mind, I'll be setting up a paypal account going to a donation site for when she runs for President. It'll be used to pay bills in the mean time, but consider it a political contribution. ;)

Yes, yes, need to get more pics up.