random ramblings

I tried something, yesterday.  I let my son go without a nap, and go play in the back yard by himself while the pixie was sleeping.  This morning, most of the morning, he was very, very well behaved.  Much, much more so than his sister (who's prone to earache if there's the slightest hint of a cold breeze, so hasn't been allowed outside).

So, when I put the pixie down for a nap today, I booted him outside again.  Check on him ever little bit, only to find the happiest little imp in the whole wide world.  He's being incredibly good.  I'm thinking that, once it's time for him to come in, he's gonna have the opportunity to watch Thomas the Tank Engine a little more.

The pixie, on the other hand...has been a handful.  To put it mildly.  She's been trying to get up for the past hour (we put her down at 1:00 for her nap, and she's been trying to get up since 2:15).  Not gonna happen.  The time would pass quicker for her if she'd just go the fuck to sleep.

The kids had a blast on Halloween.  The pixie tried acting like the pirate she was dressed as: she'd grab some candy out of the bowl, put it in the imp's bucket, and while the people from whom she was begging candy were melting and going "Aww!!" she was going back to try to empty their candy bowls into her bag.  My imp went as a ghost.  We wound up draping a chain leash around him to try to keep his costume on a bit better...didn't work, but people loved the little ghost rattling his chain.

The dog was...pretty well behaved, for all of the strange people coming to the door (people that she desperately wanted to meet and play with, since I was home and handing out candy).  She was rather impossible to walk until long after the last trick or treater was gone.

The cats...vanished.  They don't like it when the doors are opening and closing frequently.  

We're not too far from the end of the semester.  Thanksgiving Break starts the Wednesday of the last week of November, and the last day of class is the first Friday of December.  I'm really kind of looking forward to it.  I'm gonna miss my office hours, but I'm looking forward to having an extra half-hour before I have to get up.

I'm trying to finish up the edit/revision of Highway to Tartarus this weekend.  This is aided by the fact that I literally can't do anything else.  I woke up with a twisted and painful back, and it's spent the day getting worse.  So...my plans for the rest of the day include laying flat on my back on my couch and writing.