random ramblings

So, my pixie has yet another cold (not nearly so bad, this time, thank God), and the imp had a short-term, indeterminate lower tummy bug.  Both kids are tired, cranky, and all-around bad tempered and clingy.  The upside to this is that the imp has been much more affectionate and cuddly (something he rarely is with me).  The downside is that both kids only want Mommy, and there's only so much Mommy to go around.  The imp is 37 lbs (at nearly four feet tall!!!), and the pixie is 31 lbs.  The two together make up about half my weight.  And they're both tall.  I literally cannot have both kids on my lap anymore. 

Kinda sad, really. 

I've ordered a few things for the imp on Amazon--a new pair of headphones that won't let him damage his hearing by turning his tablet all the way up, and a new game cartridge.  They should be arriving today, and he's definitely looking forward to them. 

I'm also going to get onto the VTech site and order a couple of other games for download--the pixie needs alphabet games, and the imp needs phonics.  I'm thinking about possibly some language things, too, but am having trouble deciding which languages. 

I'm also needing to download some learning goals for the kids, and try homeschooling them this summer along with the VTech games.  I've heard rumors that the private schools in the area are heading toward Common Core with everything else. 

Oi vey.  Our poor kids.

My roach issue inherited from a nasty, evicted neighbor's rental house being stripped back to the studs is currently in another one of the lulls--the numbers have fallen off a bit.  I'm placing more baits* around where the cats and kids can't get into them* in anticipating the numbers increasing again in a couple of weeks.  The high point will be lower than it has been, if my research is correct.  We may be bug-free by spring, especially if Odysseus can lay down a barrier around the foundation outside.

We spent Wendesday trying to get stuff done.  We got the Walmart shopping done, then realized that we'd forgotten to drop off the big, black trashbag full of charity clothes.  While on the way to do that, I noted that Odysseus's window was cracked a bit.  I drew his notice, and he tried to put it the rest of the way up...only to have the cable between the window motor and the window break.  Window dropped about two inches.  We got it edged back up, but got no more shopping done.

We also checked out an SUV...but didn't buy it because it needed about a grand's worth of repairs, and the seller wasn't willing to drop his price at all.  Yeah, not a buyer in that case.

Our cats have been demonstrating their utility with much enthusiasm, over the past week.  I think they've caught half a dozen mice, each.  Around Wednesday, I found Cricket and Shadow fighting over a mouse that had been half disemboweled.  I took it and threw it away, noting absently that it looked like it had been nursing a litter. 

Well, Thursday, Odysseus told me that the cats had done in two more, and I found a third as soon as I got home--one that looked like it had been in somebody's mouth, and was missing a hind leg.  It was maybe an inch long: a very young one.  Odysseus said that the other two were no bigger.  Yesterday, each of the cats caught another tiny mouse.  Shadow demonstrated that she prefers her meaty treats a bit bigger, with more meat.  She ate the back half, and left the front. 

The dog has been quite grateful that she's an indoor dog, yesterday and today.  It's raining, here, a cold, fine, sometimes-freezing precipitation that's been near constant since it started sometime either late Thursday night or early Friday morning.  I've given her fresh bedding, and she's wanted to spend most of her time in it.  With a smoked pigskin chewy. 

So, I didn't manage to get any grading done.  I had clingy, sick kids, a dog that knocked over a semi-broken bottle of mopping solution**, and laundry to do.  By the time I was done, I was feeling too brain dead to be able to get any done.  I still have 42 papers to grade.

I haven't managed to get any writing done, either.  I should be able to do some next week, though.  The next paper isn't due until the thirteenth.

*My baits--the ones that work--are a mixture of boric acid and powdered sugar, in a milk jug lid.  One of the cats has a massive sweet tooth, and I can't keep the pixie out of the kitchen.

**Since there was mopping solution on the floor, I got the mop, squeegeed it up a bit, then rinsed the mop in the sink.  Then, I mopped most of the rest of the kitchen.