random ramblings

The imp broke through a problem he'd had with speech, last week.  He and his sister have a few shows from Nickelodeon that they love--one of which is Bubble Guppies.  For the longest time, he could not follow the front-of-the mouth sounds made with lips and tongue with the back-of-the-mouth, back of the tongue gutteral.  So, he called it Bubble Puppies. 

Last week, he made a breakthrough, and now is delighted to be able to say it.  Sadly, it's a young child's delight, which means it's repeated ad nauseum, loudly, and at inappropriate times (like breaking into the middle of a conversation, or yelling at the top of his lungs in the car, or both).

The pixie's speech is coming clearer--from what I gather, she's closer to being on a three year old level than an almost two and a half.  

The pets are doing pretty well, right now.  I'm sure the cats are going to be incredibly distressed when the kitchen remodel starts.  And the dog is going to be upset and confused after she gets fixed on Wednesday.  Yes, she's pure Scotty.  We don't have, nor are we interested in getting papers, and we really don't want to breed her.  We got her to be a member of our family, and she's very much loved for that reason.  We will not be using her as a money machine like her momma's former owner thought of her momma.

I've met breeders that loved their animals and treated them as beloved pets.  That creature wasn't one of them.

Later this summer, we're going to be taking down the deck, extending and repairing the fence, fixing the gaps in the gates so that a dog can't get out, and putting in back steps and a paving stone patio.  Once we get the deck down and the fence fixed, the dog will be permitted to romp in the entire yard, rather than the sixteen foot section of pen-fencing we've got looped around and attached to a couple of the fence posts.

And I'm sure the kids will love playing fetch with her.

We are three weeks away from the end of semester.  Three more weeks and I can turn in grades and shake the virtual dust of this stupid, horribly designed class from my feet.  But, I will admit that I've kind of already given up on the class.  I'm not spending any mental energy worrying about the class, the work, or my students anymore.  I can't, not without throwing a screaming and kicking things fit before tracking down the course designer and telling her exactly what a miserable excuse for a teacher she is, and that she should quit and go find a job pushing an idiot stick, since that's all she's suited for mentally.

However, that refusal to spend mental energy on things I can't do jack shit about means I have the mental energy to write.  I wrote a draft of a chapter, last night--about 1,500 words--on the novel I'm currently working on.  If I can keep that level up (or better) for the next three weeks, I could have a draft done before summer break starts. 

And I think I'm gonna try.

As for Pendragon...I finished the draft with an extra four or five thousand words, sent it off to TinCan Assassin (MSgt B is way too busy with his move for me to want to bother), and he's already read it.  He's trying to get one of his friends to create some cover art for the book.  So, really--it's done.  It just needs that last...little...bit before publishing. 

(And MSgt B--if you want to read the new draft, just shoot me an email and let me know you have time.  It's probably going to be a few more weeks before it goes to publication.)