I've been having a splendid week so far, and I mean that sincerely. People constantly ask me how I occupy my time at home with Little Miss Muffet who sits on a tuffet and couldn't even run away of her own volition if a spider sat down beside her. I tell them I end up killing a lot of the spiders. And thinking about blog posts that make sense to a Cheshire cat. Anyway. So this splendid week kicked off with buckets of rain which prompted a jaunt to the mall for some marathon mall-walking, and subsequently satisfying the curiosity of strangers over and over with, "It's a girl. Yup."

Do you know who we saw at the mall? I'll give you a hint: MONKS! Oh throw some sand on me and call me a mandala. What's better than a monk? Monasticism in general = fascinating. Meditation, eating sparingly, living communally? I would flunk out of Monastic Living 101 after 45 minutes. Ergo! Monks are awesome to me. Particularly ones that shop at major places of commerce wearing sandals and man bags. I noticed one was inspecting some flashy wallets and I wondered maybe if he had a weakness for posh change purses pre his monastic life. I don't know if I've conversed with a monk before, but if I had had the wherewithall to speak with these monks, I would have had the following Q's for them:

- So, what brings you here today? - Did you try a free sample at the pretzel stand? Or does taking free things that are not necessarily gifts cause an imbalance in the universe? - Have you SEEN the prices on those all weather parkas? Who do they think they're kidding? I should probably read up on monk life a bit more in case I ever have the opportunity to interview one...In the meantime, I enjoy living with an equally zenned out baldie. And her dad.