My daughter has been kid-nap-ed

This happens every so often. Amy Tokash will get a wild hair, decide she needs two daughters and call me up to demand I give Alison over to her until she's ready to give her back.

I almost always say yes because every so often, I get a wild hair, decide I need two daughters and call Amer up to demand my Jenna rights.

Alison is in heaven at Amy's house where she gets fed her fill of white bread toast and gets introduced to exotic things like Ho Hos, Hot Pockets and chicken and rice. She'll go over there regardless of season but summer offers the neighborhood pool, so I'm lucky I see her at all from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

Here's how you know your kid is in good hands with your friend: Amy almost always plans to pick Alison up before she gets Jenna so she can have some alone time with her Cat. (shortened from Ali Cat back in the day.)

"If I don't do that, I'll never get a word in edgewise once she gets with Jenna," explains the elder Tokash.

Alison, of course, loves Amy, and lately she loves an audience, so I'm sure she didn't stop talking from our driveway to Amy's. Had I cocked my head to the left, I would have heard the squeals and screams as Amy pulled into Chez Tokash, which is about five or six miles north of us. 

Which would have been the only peep I've heard from that pack of losers since Amy absconded with my only child. Well that's not true. She DID text me, asking if I still have a waiver on file with the local Sky Zone for Alison. She and Jenna were going to trampoline for a couple of hours while Drew and Fralich took in a hockey game.

As for me, Jeff had left me, too. He and Duane Jasheway went off to Bloomington to see a band so I was left to my own devices.

It was WONDERFUL. I did work out and grocery shop. I even started laundery as my chore-girl wasn't going to be here to do it. A quck shower and it was me with the big screen, a bottle of wine and treats that wouldn't negate my work out but would still make feel like I was indulging. 

My friend Jodie had treated me to a pumpkin pie blizzard that morning after we'd done our Indy Do Day tour of duty. 

It was before noon, but there's a Dairy Queen right across from the Keep Indianapolis Beautiful office where we worked on a fence. It seemed like kicking fate in the teeth to pass up the ice cream when the sun had finally come out and the "open" sign was on.

This is one of those walk-up DQs that close for the winter season. So really, it was almost a requirement that we stop in. I mean, they might have been left with unsold inventory. So really, it wasn extension of our community service work. Plus, they have a kid-size portion you can buy that makes it practically guilt-free to have full-fat ice cream.

And, everyone knows (or should) that calories consumed right after doing a good deed are burned at light speed. 

I get Ali back tomorrow in time to get her to her football game where they'll get to use the banner she and her friends made a couple weeks ago.Then, it's a basketball game. The football team is undefeated going into the tournament. The basketball team? Well they're undefeated to.When it comes to winning that is. They have a perfect record of defeat.

But it doesn't seem to be getting the girls down. They only lost by 1 point last week, and it was in the final seconds that the other team scored to go ahead. 

So go Tigers!  And go Sox. If Boston gets into the Series tonight, they'll go up against Godfather Bob's STL Cardinals and suddenly my annual angst over what to buy Jeff for his birthday will be easily resolved.  

And now for the Great Plank Challenge of 2013 Update:  I went up to 1:45 yesterday. Times three. Thanksgiving can't come soon enough for me.