random ramblings

Every time TinCan Assassin shows up over here by himself, he gets mobbed by imp and pixie, who then immediately ask, "Where's [Progeny]?"

You would swear that these three kids grew up together.

The pixie spent Thursday night with her grandma and grandpa.  Early Thursday morning, she'd told me that her ears hurt, so I packed some Benedryl and ibuprofen in her backpack...which she insisted on putting on her back and carrying around for an hour before it was actually time to leave. 

The imp...has been a small monster for the past three days.  I think he needs some outside time, which I'm planning for him to get tomorrow (assuming the wind doesn't make fifty-six degrees feel like fifteen). 

Last night, there was a house fire not far from us, judging by the sudden onset of sirens around midnight or so, and then the smell of smoke permeating the area.  It disturbed the pixie's sleep...and mine...and, oddly enough, Shadow's.  Our little black cat has been nervous and twitchy all day since she's been let out of the back room.

Cricket is her normal self, but then again, if she'd been upset at midnight, she'd probably forgotten by seven-thirty when I let them out.  She isn't the brightest bulb in the box.

The dog is happy, happy dog, today.  Last night, she got one hell of a treat for supper: instead of dry kibble, she got eight pizza rolls.  See, I'd fixed them and cut them up for my imp's supper...then promptly dropped them on the floor.  I got him a second batch prepped right quick (hard not to, when he started crying like his little heart was broken about Mommy dropping his supper on the floor), then looked at the mess.  Sixteen bites, sauce, cheese, and pepperoni thickly covered about eighteen inches by eighteen inches of floor.  It would have been a stone bitch to clean up, and I have a bit of a hang-up about throwing away food.

So, I went and got the dog, and let her clean it up.

Happy puppy.

Happy puppy today, too: the weather is nice enough that she's out in her pen until dark.  Or maybe until her dinner time.

Next week is going to be interesting--Tuesday will be the first workshop day for my spring classes.  Thursday will see the first paper due.  I have one student that I think I'm going to have to keep an eye on: the student acts like they've been bullied by English teachers to the point that any attempt at instruction is taken as a personal attack.  This student has decided on a topic for the first paper that not only doesn't fulfill assignment guidelines for the first paper (but does for the second), but is a fairly complex topic that their skills don't suggest that they'll be capable of.  If the paper turns out to be good (effects of drilling for natural gas on human and animal health), then I'm going to have to check every damn line in the paper to make sure it's not plagiarized.

As for my writing...well, I'm still at it.  I really want to finish my book, since I'm so close to having a draft done, but...yeah.  Life.  I have ordered a new power cord for my laptop, so I shouldn't have a repeat of Thursday's disaster.  All it will take is time.