My eyes stopped here the other day, and all I could do was sigh...long and rather dramatically:

Let me explain.

It used to be that having a set of encyclopedias was reserved only for the fairly well-off. I remember watching the television show, "The Price Is Right," as a young girl. I would gaze dreamily at all the fun prizes offered up for the winners. Occasionally, the prize would be, or include, a set of encyclopedias. That told me a lot about their worth -- both monetarily and in terms

This is what it looks like when six of seven of us are lined up on the couch watching the Superbowl game:

Yes, we finally woke up from our Sunday slumber to take a peek. I felt pretty neutral about the whole thing but thought some of the moves by the Saints were pretty remarkable, so...I think the best team really did win. To all our cousins and friends in the South, congrats!

As for the commercials, the ones with the chickens flying the coop were

"Shhh...The Superbowl's on...naptime calls..."

It's a pretty relaxed day around here -- the most laid back I can recall in recent Superbowl history. Outside, the snow is lightly falling; inside, we're waiting for the pizza delivery guy to arrive. There's a great sense of calm permeating our household. Earlier, I got in a bit of necessary shopping and didn't have to fight off any large crowds.

I have to thank the Vikings for this. If their final game of the year had turned out differently, the tension would