A first for me. The weather has been bad (ice) overnight, so we got a call this morning that church was cancelled. I can't recall church ever being cancelled before. But the roads were getting bad as I was taking the babysitters home last night, so maybe not a bad idea. But, since we had no plans, we went out to McDonald's for a late breakfast with the kids and let them play out some energy that they didn't spend in Sunday School.

Today we took the kids to Concord Mall in Elkhart (because Beth said it was mostly empty and a good place to run the kids, also it was near the Burger King with the playland the kids like a lot, also near Hobby Lobby which was what Beth really wanted in the first place) Later on, Beth and I had our first real date in a while tonight. No bowling or anything, we just got a babysitter and went to dinner (Mad Anthony's) and a movie (Ghost Rider...mainly due to lack of anything else we wanted to see, but that one didn't do much for us either).

I was getting some pop today at the gas station down the road. There was a guy there as I arrived that was holding a gas can and looked lost. As I was getting back into the car he asked for help, said he had run out of gas and had no money. I bought him a gallon and a half. He was walking away with it as I drove off.

Beth is gone today, has been all weekend. I've been constantly coughing for several weeks now and today I felt a pop in my side and was in some serious pain. Called Kate to watch the kids while I went to MedStat. Got some chest x-rays, which were negative, and a bunch of pain medications. There were no cracked ribs or pneumonia, but I did pop the cartilage somehow or other. Nothing to do for it except let it heal, which it will, but apparently it is going to hurt for a long time.

Tonight was the Super Bowl. We watched it at Wilhite's. Left just after halftime, while the game was still close, and by the time we got home and got the kids in bed the game was out of hand for the Bears. Well, as a Lions fan I guess I'm closer to being a Colts fan than a Bears fan. Anyway, earlier in the day we went out bowling with the Churchills and Boschains...and the kids...great is our reward in Heaven for taking the kids bowling. They had a good time, but keeping them under control in a bowling alley is just not fun and it is all-consuming. We had no chance at all to talk with our friends, and they finished well before us. Missy came close to beating Beth, by the way, and Beth also did take advantage of the bumpers in our lane a couple times. I bowled better than I had the previous night, which was our regular league night.

I finally took the van in to a shop to get the recurring low coolant...and resulting no heat... problem fixed. It has been very very cold lately. The damage for a leaking water pump was $130, which was not nearly as bad as I had feared.