What a beautiful day.

Today was one of Missouri's rare, perfect spring days.  And it's actually in the springtime.  The temperature, wind speed, and everything were just...wonderful. 

We opened the windows in the main living areas.

And the kids spent a lot of the day playing outside.  I spent half an hour on the patio with my Kindle and the dog, sitting in the sun, enjoying the (relative) quiet and the breeze.

The pixie is learning how to ride a bike without training wheels.  Her bike is hot pink and turquoise.  The imp's bike is faded neon green (he's been riding without training wheels for two years, now, but she just wasn't really interested until recently).  While she's learning, she'll be wearing a helmet.  Once she's got it, though, they ride on a long, u-shaped, gravel driveway and grass--no real need. 

Her bike was one her grandma (Odysseus's mom) found at an end-of-Christmas season sale for about what we'd be able to find a second-hand one for.  The only problem is that the back tire had a leak.  As in: aired up to totally flat in like, four or five hours.

So, today, in this utterly beautiful weather, we ran to Sam's Club for a couple things, then Walmart for a patch and a couple more things.

When we got home, I got beans started* and cleared my desk a bit more--enough to be able to use it.  Which meant disappointing the cats.  Actually, I'm pretty sure Shadow was really, really pissed off at me. 

A couple of weeks ago, I'd gotten the kids' study table in the library rearranged for both of them to use.**  I wanted my desk back.  Part of that was getting the bean-bag ottoman under my desk pulled out and getting all of the stuff the imp had knocked down behind the desk out from under and behind it.  Then, the ottoman got tossed on top of my desk, right in front of the picture window in the living room.  And the cats found it. 

I moved it today.  Back to where it goes, on the floor in the knee-hole.  And I used my desk a little while, working on editing the kids' librarian's dissertation (and yes, she really is piling it higher and deeper).  While the cats looked around wondering where their comfy thing in front of the window went.  And while Shadow glared at me over my laptop screen from where she sat between my laptop and the window...before she edged behind the curtain and sat pressed against the screen. 

 The kids are both mildly sunburned, but happy.  Despite getting called in to do homework before dinner time. 


*I love my instant pot.  I can take beans from dry to done in a little more than an hour in it.

**I still have more to do with the study table. There needs to be a tall divider (like, the width of a posterboard--which gives me an idea) between the two halves.   And the imp needs a ball to bounce his foot on instead of on the trestle leg, which vibrates the whole table.

Dumb dog.

So.  Yesterday, we got up as usual on weekend mornings, and found that the kids had let the dog out (also like usual on weekend mornings).

What wasn't like usual was that either the imp or pixie had messed up.  The gate was ajar.

And the dog...got out.  And vanished.

We looked for her, ran the mower (partially because it needed it, partially because we thought it'd bring her out of hiding), looked for her again, left a message with the humane society.

Found out from the neighbor that the dog catcher had been just east of us, very early yesterday morning.  So I checked the Humane Society's page again, where they post pictures of lost pets.  Sure enough--she was there.

They're closed today.  Sad dog in doggie jail's gonna have to wait for her bail-out until tomorrow afternoon.

And then, directly following, she's getting a bath and shorn like a kid going into boot camp.

Maybe not a dumb dog...maybe she planned it?  Because the bath and haircut were on the schedule for yesterday. 

Update:  Dog has been bailed out, and is home sleeping on her patio.  She rode home in the back seat of the Subaru, alternating which child's lap she was in at any given moment.  Lots of giggles and doggie kisses.  

Random ramblings

The kids continue to be massive little assholes.  Granted, I'm still working on getting a good routine built for them, but it's difficult with trying to do the things I have to do while trying to ride herd on them.  I've taken to chasing them outside and telling them to not tattle to me, and to resolve things themselves.  Most of the time, this resolves by one of them coming in and taking their Kindle Fire to their room, and shutting the door.  Most of the time, that's the pixie. 

The imp has transitioned from riding a bicycle with training wheels to riding without, and then transitioned into a bigger bike that fits him better, and that goes through mowed grass easier than the little bike he had.  And he now has a bell on it, which pleases him immensely. 

The pixie has learned to ride her bike with the training wheels on the room-sized patio just out the back door, with Merry-dog running alongside.  She's starting to want to transition to a bike without training wheels because she can't ride her bike anywhere off the patio. 

Both kids are spending something like 3/4 of their time outside.  Drawing with sidewalk chalk, playing on the patio, running all over the mowed part of the yard and pasture, riding bike (imp) up and down and around the driveway...

And they've made a friend.  There's a little boy--our neighbors to the east have a grandson who's over a lot--who's a LOT like the imp in interests and personality quirks (including ADHD, which is medicated, while imp is off his meds for the summer).  He's over on the weekends a lot, but not a lot during the week days (he's in summer school).  And when they're off playing, I have to CALL them in to eat, because they won't come in when they're hungry. 

The dog needs bathed and shorn.  She needs the Marine Boot Camp cut.  She REFUSES to be an inside dog, especially since she's got that wonderful room outside with a ceiling, cement floor, a ceiling fan, and no walls.  And it's forecast to be a hot one, this summer.  But she hates--HATES--baths and grooming.  I did get her bangs trimmed, and a couple of matted bits cut off of her back fur, but she stayed out of reach after I got those few things done. 

You'd think she'd appreciate the whole "I can see, now," thing, but no. 

Cricket has taken to lounging on the end of the table in the library/living room.  She loves that spot.  Especially when the pixie leaves the desk lamp on, and kitty has a warm spotlight for her fuzzy self. 

Shadow has delighted in the fact that the kids have a hard time getting their bedroom doors to fully latch.  She shoves the door of her choice open, goes in, and sleeps on the child of her choice.

Often, this results in the comical view of a 40 lb 6 year old pixie carrying a 13 lb cat out by her middle because she doesn't want the kitty sleeping on her, but Shadow is not deterred.  She just goes and either shoves the imp's door open (which she prefers, normally, because of his 4' high loft bed) if she can, and cries outside it until he opens it if she can't get it herself. 

We are pulling books out of storage.  We're limited on how many we can bring out, because we just don't have the shelf space.  Yet.  Odysseus is going to be building bookcases after we get everything out of the old place, and get repairs going on it.  We've got almost everything, but still have a bit more to go.

As for the new place, I love the house.  I love the house, the patio, the yard, love the space, the quiet, and the fact that we have six full acres to ourselves, and have so very much to explore. I love that I can shoo the kids out without worrying about the pedophile a block up from the old house anymore, or the nasty white trash kids that moved next door to the old place teaching my kids language and attitudes that would get them in trouble at their Christian school.   I don't care for the ticks, but that can be dealt with a lot easier than the problems at the old place. 

Yes, the house has issues.  It was built in '70, so it's an older house.  The chimney on the fireplace needs work (the liner's rusted, and the dampers are rusted shut), the plumbing drainage needed fully replaced (done), and we've got some roof leaks (flashing around one of the turban vents, and a hole that was plugged with expanding foam both leak during monsoon downpours)...and the garbage disposal has decided to leak through the bottom as of the other day.  The garage doors need replaced (so do the tracks on one), and I need a strap fastened to them so I can reach them to close them when they're up.  Most of this, though, is livable while we wait until the other place sells. 

I am feeling immensely better.  The inflammation has not resolved, so I've still got issues with joint discomfort, but a whole lot of other symptoms have eased or disappeared.  The difference is that the endocrinologist that my primary care doc referred me to put me on a different formulation of thyroid meds.  I'd been on the generic for seven years.*  And I'm now on a name brand specially formulated to be hypoallergenic.  There are four ingredients to it.  And after a couple of weeks on it, my brain fog cleared.  A lot.  Not totally, and if I overdo it even a little, I get nasty brain fog regardless of any other symptoms (but they do tend to come back in full force if I do overdo it). I have a bit higher energy level as a starting point (it's still not back to normal, and likely won't be for a while, yet), but still wear down quickly without being able to build back up without a full night's sleep, and less activity for a few days.   I need 8 full hrs of sleep per night to function instead of 10 hrs.  (I do still need around a half a pot of coffee, regardless.)

All this means I'm keeping up with housework a bit easier, with a little more mental energy left at the end of the day. 

Unfortunately, my laptop seems to be having issues, now.  I'm starting to lean toward a different brand, because this is the second Acer in two years developing hardware issues early.  It needs a new keyboard (half the time, it won't register that I've pressed a key, which makes writing an adventure in misspellings and typos), a new wireless card, and needs the power jack re-soldered, none of which I can do because of the laptop's design.  I'm eyeballing a few different machines.

Odysseus is also looking at new laptops.  He's looking at bigger ones, since he's not hauling it back and forth to college anymore. 

Me?  All I want is a full size keyboard that works reliably. 

In the meantime, I'm getting a LOT of use out of what Odysseus got me for my birthday: a TWSBI piston-fill fountain pen that holds about three weeks' worth of my writing output in ink. 

Anyone know if there's some type of adapter that will let me plug a very old ergonomic keyboard into a new laptop that only has USB ports? 

*And apparently, people with a wheat allergy can react badly to the inactive ingredients in the generic levothyroxine, because some manufacturers use wheat starch to as a binder, and others use something else that people with wheat allergies react to. 

Musings

I wish my university would tell me whether someone has been dropped involuntarily for non-payment, or whether they have voluntarily dropped my class from terror/not wanting to work.  It would make filling out my roll book way easier if I didn't have to add names out of alphabetical order because of an accounting mistake.

Ever have a day where your child is standing there, eyes and mouth wide open, because they can't remember what to do next in their morning routine?  The morning routine that they've been following for two and a half years?  There are times I find it harder than normal not to swear at my children...

I know you're not supposed to change the dog food around, but what if your dog hates the food and won't eat?  Do you make them keep eating the food they hate, or do you switch around until you find something they like?

I didn't vote for Trump in either the primary or general election, last year, but if he keeps doing the same job he's been doing for the past six days since inauguration, I may well vote for his reelection.

Finally found some of my draft books, yesterday--the one with the random-ass short stories* I've been working on when I get stuck on something else, and the draft book for The Schrodinger Paradox. Since my classes are working on writing their papers, today, I will be working on getting stuff transcribed from the draft books, and more written. 

One has to wonder how Lzzy Hale of Halestorm can possibly channel rockers who are still alive like she does.  I mean, the dead ones make sense--how does she channel the souls and capabilities of those still living?

One also wonders about the soul-destroying apocalyptic break-up voiced by Starset's new album Vessels.  Is it metaphoric, or literal?  And did it happen between albums, or was it a formative event in the lead singer/songwriter's life?  Either way, it's a gorgeous, powerful album that you cannot judge without listening to the whole thing. 

I currently have five students doing their writing in the classroom, two drafting long-hand, and three on laptops.  All the rest took off to go find a computer elsewhere, or a comfy spot to write. 

Shadow the cat wound up getting her wish, a few nights ago.  We forgot to retrieve her from sleeping on her boy.  She had mild regrets in the morning--a full bladder and an empty belly will do that--but not enough that she hasn't tried to repeat her accomplishment.

A few weeks ago, I made a knitted wool-blend yarn headband for the pixie in Lion Brand's Wool-Ease (worsted weight) Rose Heather.  And my mother in law asked me "Where's mine?"  So, I made one for my mother in law.  Then my mother, sister, and all three aunts asked where theirs were...so my sweaters are going to wait while I make smaller projects. 

I have one sweater almost finished (Wool-Ease Avacado green), but messed up counting rows on the sleeves.  The left one is an inch too short, and the right one is an inch shorter than that.  Thankfully, it's a pretty simple thing to undo the cuffs, and add a bit.  I just need to finish the projects for family, first. 

I still need to remake a couple other sweaters I messed up on, too...

I got the pixie a plastic loom for Christmas (then had to get her a better one, since there was no way to keep the nylon loops from flying off of the one I gave her while she worked).  The imp was so intrigued by it that he went and spent his own money to get one of his own.  They're both doing excellent work on their various projects--and have finished about four or five apiece.  (Or rather, I've finished off the projects for them, since they lack the dexterity to bind their projects off.)

Last week, I tried easing back from taking an equivalent amount of Aleve tablets to equal prescription strength naproxen that I'd run out of.  My body says, "I'm sorry, I can't do that, Dave."  Come to find out, chronic, systemic inflammation is part and parcel of CFS/ME, and I wind up feeling like somebody hit me with a Mack truck.  So, it's back to the full dose.  I hate taking pills...

I need to stop procrastinating by writing the blog post, and start writing fiction. 





*Short stories are being gathered for another collection, tentatively titled Normalcy Bias.  So far, I've got about 25K words, plus a few more stories I need to transcribe (and one I need to finish). 

Our adorable little Scotty-dog

Don't mind the mess in the kitchen, please.  I'm still working on it.

Argh...

It's way before eight on a weekend, as I start writing this.  And I am up with a massive sinus headache that hurts from the top of my head, down my face, through the roof of my mouth. 

I know why I've got it, too.  I spent the last three days either cleaning (i.e., stirring up dust), or outside with the kids at the zoo (Odysseus took Friday off, and that's what we did).  Sudafed PE--which isn't really Sudafed, and only sort of works--is about the only thing I can take.  Actually, no, that's not true: Midol Complete works better, but the new bottle is in the bedroom somewhere with sleeping husband. 

The floors, though, are mostly decluttered in the living room and kitchen.  Yes, I still have the back room to do, and I need to find a better spot for the dog food to restore easy access to the washer, but that, and the vacuuming in the living room and sweeping in the kitchen, will have to wait until this headache lets go.  Hurts a lot worse when I'm moving.

We have let the Scotty dog come into the living room to play with us, though (even though we have to send her to bed when she starts questing about on the floor for fear she'll find some crumb of chocolate that Odysseus gave the pixie, and she lost track of).  She loves tug-o-war, shake the rat, and make the hedgie grunt. 

I'm just glad we finally got her to eat.  We brought her home on Wednesday, and she'd only eaten a few mouthfuls before yesterday morning.  It took bacon grease melted and stirred in to get her to eat yesterday morning, and chicken broth (past its best by date on the can, but still good) last night.

Last week, early in the week, I had my new laptop on the table next to my chair.  I thought it was stable, with all four rubber feet gripping the table (and it was), until Cricket hopped up on the table to watch the world go by through the window. 

Cricket.  The stupid and easily startled one. 

In any case, as it so happened, a bird came in to land on the porch railing, pretty much exactly opposite where Cricket sat.  And she came totally unglued.  Scrambled to run away, and managed to dislodge the stability of the laptop's rubber feet on the table.  My laptop wound up kicked off the table to land actually on the cord charging it. 

That did to my new laptop what had happened to my old one (which is what I'm actually working on right now): the charger connects only sporadically, because the prong that the cord plugs onto is a bit loose.

Thank God I spent the extra on the two year protection plan.  I've sent it in for repairs as of Friday morning.

Oh, great.  Now, she's found a toy, and is yowling in the hall.  That's probably going to go on for the next half an hour or so (or until she loses it).  And since the kids are outside, I can't just put my headphones on and ignore the cat.

Adventures in pet care

The plan I had for this morning was derailed by well-meaning relatives: I had planned to go up, have Mom help me wash the dog, then take the dog to the vet's in a nearby town.  What happened was that my mom and aunts had washed the dog by the time I got there to wash the dog. 

I was left with an hour on my hands.

So, our delightful little super-intelligent dog snapped at the vet twice.  She didn't want him handling the hair around her eyes, and didn't want him to pet her after he'd given her three shots.  She ended up costing over a hundred bucks for a well dog visit and weigh-in (19.88 lbs, if you were wondering, in a front wheel drive dog), with a shot package, worm treatment, and flea and tick treatments. 

She loved the little vet tech, though.

I got her home, gave her a bowl of water and let her sleep for a while, while I fixed something to eat and collapsed.  About an hour later, she woke up and whined a bit, so I figured she needed to piddle, and let her out the back door.  I got distracted for a few minutes (no more than about three), and came back to the dog going batshit insane.  Jumping at something, then jumping back.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  I thought, "oh, shit--she's cornered a snake" and ran outside to get the dog in the house so that the snake could get away. 

Nope.  She'd cornered--and pissed off--a box turtle.  I have never, in my life, seen a box turtle as pissed off as the one our dog had spent no more than three minutes with. 

The turtle was hissing.  I have never heard a turtle hiss, not even the big snapping turtles that lived in the slightly swampy area in my maternal grandmother's pasture. 

So, I pulled the dog back by her harness, and stepped in to pick up the turtle--at which point, it hisses at me, probably for taking so long to make my dog start irritating it--and put it outside the privacy fence gate.  It actually sat there and glared at me for about fifteen seconds before turning to turtle off. 

The dog?  Spent the next half a minute while I hunted for something to block under the gate sticking her muzzle under the gate to see what I'd done with her marvelous new toy.  The marvelous toy that was hissing at her, and tried to bite her. 

After that incident, I went to go rescue my mom from my kids.  She'd been wonderful enough to watch them so I didn't have to control both dog and kids at the vet's office. 

And then, after dinner, Odysseus and I heaped indignity upon injury (blood draw to check for heartworms and shots), and sheared a Scotty dog.  Since my family, who grew up around dogs and other animals, are incapable of reading animal body language, they haven't been able to keep the dog's hair cut, and she had four inches or so of hair length over parts of her body.  And mats.  And embedded dirt within the mats.  We took a Walmart bag full of dog hair off the dog. 

Grooming our particular Scotty is a two person job: one to hold her, and one to man the clippers. 

I will say that after the long snuggle while she was being sheared changed her attitude and behavior.  She went from ears and tail down miserable to ears up, and tail acting like a flag, with a happy doggy grin when she went outside for a walk. 

Right now, the dog and the kids have gone outside to play.  I think the dog has calmed down enough (and the kids grown up enough) that she's not scary to them even at her happiest and bounciest, anymore. 

Random ramblings

No, I'm not dead.  Just...yeah.

A week ago Thursday, I had the appointment with the ear/nose/throat specialist...then got sick with a mild, short lived bout of something that had me aching all over and spiking a fever, but fine the next day.  

This week alone has been horrifically busy: the kids were out on Friday (but I wasn't).  I arranged with my mother in law to meet her at the halfway point between their house and ours, and hand the imp off for a couple days' overnights.  Then Friday morning, I ran the pixie up to my mom's before busting ass to get to my classroom in time to hold class. 

We had a parent-teacher conference with the imp's teacher on Thursday.  She says he will be thoroughly ready for 1st grade this fall.  The pixie's teacher said that she didn't feel a conference was particularly needed at this point, so...yeah.

Today, we buzzed around getting a few things, looking around at a few things (like the baby chicks, ducklings, and guinea fowl at a nearby farm supply store), then Odysseus went to the halfway point to snag the imp.  I managed to get the dishes done (well, loaded--the imp actually put the soap in and started the dishwasher for me). 

Tomorrow?  Last Monday was Odysseus's birthday.  We'll be going up to my mom's so she and my sister can stuff him with pork roast sandwiches, butter and herb potatoes, and chocolate cake. 

The cats have been...well, cats.  Cricket's still nervous and jittery, but incredibly affectionate, and Shadow's still fat and lazy.  Shadow is currently curled up sleeping on the imp.  Cricket's as still as I ever see her, stretched out sleeping on the arm of the couch.

So far the semester has been rather...uneventful.  The students are better writers than last semester, with a few exceptions that aren't so bad as to be notable.  They've reassured me a few times that they love the idea I had to change up the class.

Over the past several years, English departments nation wide have started complaining that the rest of the university seems to think they're...irrelevant.  Horrible thought, I know.*  Part of the reason, I think, is because of how we teach writing: English departments seem to think it's adequate, timely, and relevant to all majors to teach research papers...done only in MLA format. 

I don't agree.  The only departments on campus that use MLA are English and foreign languages.  No one else.  Social sciences use APA, history and journalism use CMS, and the hard sciences use some variation of CSE.**  What are we doing to help the students majoring in other disciplines write better in their own? 

Not much.

I'm trying to change that in my class.  This semester, I'm teaching three research papers--one each in MLA, APA, and CMS.  Next semester, I'll add CSE to that. 

Right now, I'm trying to rewrite my textbook.  I've gotten some of it done, and gotten most of the chapter over how to do an APA paper done.  I still lack an explanation of the different parts of an APA paper, and the sample essay.***

Unfortunately, with the textbook, I've not had time to more than rough out one of the handwritten drafts for one of the stories.  All of my writing time has been focused on trying to fix things for my students, with regards to teaching them what they actually need to know.

*Not really.  As it just so happens, it's actually true.  English departments that do what mine is doing--shoving writing instruction off onto the other majors to teach to their own requirements--are more and more irrelevant.

**APA--American Psychological Association; CMS--Chicago Manual Style; CSE--Council of Science Editors

***Yes, I have to learn three new styles so I can write the chapter for them.  And so I can write a sample research paper actually using said style.  If anyone would like to offer me a persuasive paper in APA, CMS, or CSE for inclusion as a sample in my textbook for my students, leave me a comment with an email addy where I can contact you.

Silly cat tricks

So, last week, we had one of those nasty looking translucent brown crickets come in.  Shadow found it, just inside the back door of the kitchen (between the utility room and the kitchen), and was playing with it.  She had her head cocked all the way to one side, the cricket on the floor between her front paws.  Eyes dilated to the point where all you saw was black, with a thin rim of amber gold.  And then, she gently poked the cricket in the butt, just to see it jump.  She was very, very careful not to harm the funny jumping bug. 

Then Cricket, the cat, got scared half to death of something in the living room, tore through the kitchen, and ran over Shadow...squishing her funny jumping bug in the process. 

Shadow's head crooked the other way, her pupils shrank, her ears laid back...and she went after Cricket.  She chased her all through the house, running on her hind feet only while she beat the thunder out of Cricket with her front paws.  I have never, in my life, seen a cat chase and beat another cat like that: running only on the hind paws while giving alternate slaps around the head and ears with the front paws.  Slow, hard slaps that actually knocked Cricket half off her feet a couple of times.

All over a nasty, wet-looking brown cricket that Shadow thought the most marvelous funny jumping bug she'd ever found to play with.

Random ramblings

We went up to my in-laws' house, yesterday.  Odysseus's much-older sister and her grandson (our kids' second cousin) visited yesterday, too, and the bigger boy brought water guns.  He'd obviously put significant thought into matching his water blasters to my kids' sizes.  The three kids had a blast, although the pixie wasn't happy with the aftermath: she got stripped down to the skin, and dry shorts put on (with no underwear).  She told me she was "terribly not comfortable" and wanted to go to the store for dry panties.

The imp...well, we had recently watched Guardians of the Galaxy with him.  He loved it.  Loved Groot, and loved Rocket.  The other boy had the refill bucket covered, and squirted the imp every time he tried to reload.  The imp, however, was using a watergun with a magazine.  Odysseus showed him how to detach it, reload it in the garage bathroom sink, and put it back.  The imp slaps the magazine home 'til it clicks, gets this huge smile, and says, "Oh, yeah."  Just like Rocket in the movie when he got ahold of a blaster (which the imp's watergun resembled). 

It was hilarious.

The imp also had a milestone this week: he lost his first tooth.  Poor little guy lost it at recess, and lost it in the rocks on the playground.  He bawled.  A lot. 

(The tooth fairy left him a note that she'd found his tooth on the playground, and brought him money anyway.)

I ordered a 10 pack of Hero 616 pens.  They arrived this last week--some of the nibs are slightly off-center with the hood, and in one or two, the nib tines were misaligned, which will make them scratchy and unreliable (but which is easily fixed).  I have two of them loaded with ink--green and red--and I'm very satisfied with the quality.  The pens themselves are slightly smaller than the 616 my mother bought for me, and have stainless steel nibs, rather than gold (like the one my mom gave me has).  They write incredibly well, and seem like they'll be nice, reliable writers. 

The cats are still trying to adjust to a different lifestyle and schedule of most of us being gone most mornings.  Sometimes, Shadow gets clingy, and sometimes she gets mad and won't interact with us at all.  Cricket...I'm not sure she remembers we've been gone after we get home. 

I've picked up my first set of papers from my students.  No, I haven't started grading yet.  I'll be working on grading starting later this afternoon; we'll be going to the local range after babysitting gets here for the pixie.  After that, I'll be much more relaxed, and in a far better mood for actually figuring the grades (which is the part I HATE).   We'll also likely be watching Clint Eastwood comedies later this evening, after the pixie goes to bed. 

I've got about four pages handwritten of The Schrodinger Paradox.  I've been too busy this week to sit down and type them up--the handwritten bits were written during a few minutes snatched here and there, while I was waiting for something, or when I had the draft book at hand and nothing else that needed done at the moment.  I should hopefully have some time for transcription this coming week.

random ramblings

The kids had a good week, this past week.  The imp is really shaping up, behavior wise.  I'm really proud of him.  His new kindergarten teacher knew him last year, and says that there's a huge difference in his emotional and mental maturity and readiness for school.  I'm thankful for that.

The imp is settling into his new routine fairly nicely; however, he's starting to get up at five thirty or earlier to play before school.  And he gets just loud enough to wake the pixie so that she comes to play with him. 

It's not as big of a problem on school days: I get up sometime between 5:30 and 6:00.  However, he also did that this morning.  And got loud enough, more than once, to wake us up.

I put him down for a nap when I put the pixie down.  And I explained to him that he'd gotten up far too early for him to have gotten enough sleep.  He isn't happy, but I think he gets it.  And he grew about an inch over the summer, when I was making him take naps every day, so...yeah.  I think he's not getting enough sleep, not because his bedtime is too late, but because he gets up too early. 

The pixie managed to hurt her foot--she tripped over one of the imp's toys, and managed to scrape between her littlest toe and the slightly bigger one next to it.  She's been subdued and whiny, since--apparently, it hurts.  A lot.  Most of the time.  Whether she's playing or sitting still. 

Last weekend, we got a laser pointer to try to get the cats to play a bit more (especially Shadow, the fat one).  It was...a dismal failure.  Even Cricket didn't care to play with it.  I might take it up for my sister to try out on her cat. 

I have two classes full of engaged, interested students, this semester.  I'm pleased.  I'm much less pleased to have three or four single Muslim men between the ages of 17 and 40 in my classes, partially because I trust them a whole fuckton less than my colleagues do, and partially because they don't understand, speak, or write well in English.  I mind them a lot less when they have no problems understanding the lecture, and can write a decent paper, because then I can interact with them a lot less.

So.  This week was rather non-productive for office hours.  Monday, I had to spend the first forty-five minutes rushing to the department to sign my contract, then back to the library...only to find that there was already a Comp II class in my classroom.  Wednesday, I needed to run to IT, but couldn't on foot (and wouldn't in the car because campus is batshit insane for the first three weeks or so).  It was raining.  So, I scouted around and found a good place for office hours.  It's the same as a couple of semesters ago, a cozy nook in the bottom floor that's fairly quiet and out of the way.  Friday, since it was dry, I had to run over to the IT department and get them to set me up with internet access.  Took up the first hour of my office hours again, but worth it.

I'll be starting standard office hours--and back into the writing--as of Monday.  I'll have next week to go through and write, and then the week after, I'll be picking up papers.

Tuesday and Thursday, I drop the pixie off, come home, do housework that I can't do with "help" quickly or efficiently, then go pick her back up at noon.  I haven't gotten caught up with that to the point that I can write, yet.  I'm sure I'll eventually get there.

Yup.  Routine.  Settling.  Getting frustrated, because the most I've been able to write is a few words here and there in my various draft books on three or four different projects.

Random ramblings

So.  Week one down of school.  Yeah, I know: two days is hardly the first week, but I think it counts.  Both kids did well, according to their teachers.  I'm hopeful for the rest of the year, in some respects, but the imp went into it sick and subdued (a cold), and the pixie picked it up from the imp as of yesterday. 

For that matter, so did I.  As I'm sitting here, typing this, an hour after the kids went to bed, I have a lemon and honey and honey whiskey hot toddy at my left elbow. 

I think the imp is settling into the new routine (and school is incredibly helpful with that).  Yes, he's still whiny and a little prone to weeping and tantrums, but it's lessening as the boundaries don't change, and he gets used to Daddy going to work just before he leaves for school, and getting home right around supper time. 

He's getting bigger, and some things that used to bother him worse in the past don't seem to bother him as much anymore.  Others...not so much.

One thing the imp is absolutely delighted by is his first loose tooth.  He spends a lot of time wiggling it.  

How is the pixie taking the changes?  Quite well, I do believe.  She hasn't seemed upset by anything.  In fact, she loves seeing Daddy in his work clothes: "Oh, Daddy, you look so handsome!"

I think she's also adjusting well to the five day per week pre-K.  She doesn't thrive in daily routines like the imp does, but it certainly does her no harm. 

The cats...are adjusting.  Both of them get a little bit clingy with the kids as soon as they get home, but that doesn't last too long.  I mean, yeah.  Cats. 

Speaking of cats, Cricket forgot how to cat yet again, yesterday.  She flung herself from the arm of the couch into the kitchen (crossing around four feet of carpet without touching the floor), skidded all the length of the kitchen, and body-slammed the bottom of a folded-up stepstool...which toppled over and squished a kitty.  I chased her down and ensured that nothing was actually hurt but her non-existent dignity (and it wasn't...seriously).  And after ensuring that she had nothing worse than bruises, I had a good, hard laugh at the scramble. 

Monday, I start back.  I've got both sites all set up, so all I have to do is get the kids dropped off, get myself in and parked, then walk across the campus--twice--to check in at the department, then go teach my classes.  Think I'm wearing these instead of these for that first day.  I also have the stuff I need printed already stuck in my class binder.  I'll need to take in a couple of books to leave in my classroom for student use and reference. 

I'll also need to figure out where I'm holding my office hours.  I do not want to share a large space with many desks and many leftist leaning, well-meaning morons with whom I get along (for the most part) until politics comes up.  I'd rather have a small room all to myself...maybe I'll talk to the library secretary about reserving one of the small study rooms for a couple of hours per class day...

I'm still working on writing.  It's taken a bit of a back seat to the mad scramble to get the new routines set.  And we're still working on that--it's a bit of a change to have to get up a bit before six to get myself ready, then the kids, then the kids' and husband's lunches (one kid eats at the school, the other in the car on the way home from school), and then get my coffee and catch my breath.  I've been crashing by ten or before for the past week, and that cuts into my kids are sleeping writing time.  Thankfully, office hours will fix that.

Once I get my music transferred from either the old laptop or the flash drive acting as a music player in the Subaru, that is.  I got most of it transferred, but somehow missed grabbing Starset's Transmissions album.

Random ramblings

So, apparently, my imp is way more perceptive that even I thought.  He's been really insecure and upset about the rapid changes happening around here, and spent all of last week testing boundaries.  As of last month, Odysseus graduated college with an accounting degree, and was employed less than two weeks after graduation in the accounting department of a large local employer.  I think getting into a solid routine will help immensely--if I can manage to not strangle him beforehand.

I can't tell whether the pixie has noticed the changes or not.  I'm pretty sure that the cats either don't notice, or don't care.

Odysseus starts Monday.  He's got to be in by 7:15, which means he needs to leave between 6:30 and a quarter till seven.  He should be home by about five, most days--enough time for me to pick up the imp, feed the kids small snacks, get homework done, and start supper.

School starts for the kids next Thursday.  We have a back to school night at six on Tuesday (which means my dinner plans will have to be fairly quick and easy, since Odysseus will get home around five), and then the kids start back at 8:05 a.m. on Thursday.  The pixie will have a four hour day, five days a week, and the imp has a full school day. 

And I will have those two mornings in a row to myself.  I'll need to get my class sites built before then so that I can use those days to work on housework. 

I start back the next Monday.  I'll drop the kids off, then go find somewhere to set up for office hours.  I'll have about an hour and a half per day, then two classes, and will be done to go pick up the pixie at noon.

Tuesdays and Thursdays I'll have free.  I'm planning on doing what I can to keep up with the house on those two days.  Grading and writing will happen during my office hours.

It's going to be a hell of a juggling act.  We'll just see how well I can keep the balls in the air.  Hopefully, it'll be easier with both kids in school every day.

As for writing...I have the first part (of three projected) of The Schrodinger Paradox nearly done.  I've got three more chapters, and about 27K words.  I think part 1 will be nearly 40K words, if it doesn't tip all the way over.  Part 2, I've got 2.5K words done on, and have it set up to really take off when I can focus on it.  It should be about the same length.  Not sure about part 3.  I've got it semi-mapped.  I'm pretty sure this is going to be my longest work, to date.  Also my most complex. 

I'm having a blast with it.  The problem is finding the time and mental energy (and right headspace) to write.  Thankfully, 90% of the time all it takes is picking up my draft book, picking out and picking up a pen, and drafting longhand. 

Random ramblings

This weekend is my mother-in-law's birthday.  Two weeks from Monday is my mother's birthday--she's two years younger.  Ironically, Odysseus's mother and mine had both of us at almost the exact same age to the day: he's almost exactly the same amount older than me. 
 
Yeah, we went to see my in-laws today, and permitted the pixie to overnight with them.  The imp chose playing outside for a while, then his Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes cartoon series, then playing a kids' computer game on the desktop over watching a movie.  The imp has just gone to bed with a book, and with the door cracked to let the cat in to sleep on him if she wants to.

We had some cooler weather this week.  It wasn't bad weather, just a cool front with drier air coming through--no storms for us. 

The kids enjoyed it a bit, but the nicest day was one where neither Odysseus nor I really felt up to taking them outside to play.  So, today, they took advantage of being at Grandma and Grandpa's (and the weather still being halfway decent) by playing outside until they were content with it.

The cats have been discomfited, yet again.  I got one of the things I'd intended to do done: I pitched the old printer, and got a pair of shelves to hold a bunch of stuff on top of the long set of heavy wooden shelves that act as an entertainment center/storage unit.  I'd cleared the clutter, first, so Cricket thought she'd found a wonderful, new sleepy spot. 

Sad kitty.  I won't even let her climb into the new shelves to sleep.

I discovered that I hadn't gotten all of my music off of my old laptop.  I may or may not be missing files, as well.  I'm going to ask Odysseus to try the trick that had it working all day the first time it started in with this little trick, and see if I can't get the rest of my stuff off. 

As I've done research on what may or may not have been going on, it seems like the cooling fan is going.  It may be fixable, at least enough for the kids to play with it.  I'm probably not going to trust it for writing and work, though. 

One of the things that didn't transfer was the album I've been writing to for the past couple of months.  I really do need that--it helps me think in this particular world.

I've pulled through and finished the chapter I was working on for the current Project.  Yes, with a capital P.  It's bigger than the short story I thought it was at first, and it's a lot more complex than the other things I've worked on, and has me jumping to research things more than once per chapter.  And it's getting more and more complex all the time.  I'm having fun with it, but I'm probably going to try shopping it out with Baen after I finish it.  It's...yeah.  It's some hard science, some social science sci-fi.  I'll probably finish sometime within the next six months or so, then go back to work on another project for a while.  After that, I'll do the edit thing, and send it off to whomever wants to beta read for me before I submit it to a real publishing house. 

I've got other news to announce next week.  Don't want to announce it too soon, though.

random ramblings

Odysseus had his last final exam this past week.  He is now finished with his Accounting degree.  I am incredibly proud of him--all of his classes were A's and B's, with two semesters of straight A's. 

We got a big box of sidewalk chalk a couple of weeks ago...right before we had a long period of mid 90s for highs, with heat indices in the low to mid 100s.  It's nowhere near that hot at either grandparents' houses, but it certainly is in town.

I took them out to go play with the sidewalk chalk anyway, yesterday morning.  Odysseus had a short telephone interview set up for yesterday, and the kids were really loud and restless. 

They did really well on the cleanup--there were half a dozen pieces left out, and the imp ran out and got five of those.  The last one was half-buried in the grass, and he just didn't see it.  I didn't see it, either, until we were getting back from doing grocery shopping late yesterday evening.

After the interview, Odysseus took the imp, the imp's bike, and two changes of clothes, and drove up to the barber shop that the imp likes--the one his grandparents take him to.  Both of my guys needed haircuts, so it seemed like a case of time and effort saved. 

Right after they'd left, one of the jobs Odysseus had applied for (not the one he'd interviewed for) called to set up an in-person interview.  And an hour later, the place he'd interviewed with called back to set up an in-person interview.  Either job would be fantastic, and either commute would be about the same length, where time is concerned.  Both jobs are simple, entry level positions, and Odysseus would rock either of the two.  

Needless to say, Odysseus feels lots better, and much, much more hopeful. 

Shadow has picked up an odd new habit: her spine is really, really itchy, and she loves having fingers dug through her plush-toy thick fur and given a good scratch up and down her spine.  She loves it so much her ears go limp, eyes fall half shut, and she starts licking the air.  If she gets an arm within reach, she whips around and starts licking the person doing the scratching, and purring as loud as she can. 

Cricket absolutely hates this, and will turn wrong side out, lash out with no-claw slaps, and run away to hide. 

The cats are nearly complete opposites where personality is concerned. 

My dog has begun trying to knock me off my feet as soon as she sees me, so that she can climb in my lap and roll over and over and over--it's a little weird.  I don't mean just rolling onto her back to get belly rubs.  No, I mean all the way over as fast as she can squirm, as many times as she can, until she gets dizzy from it. 

Dog is nuts.

Next weekend is our state's back-to-school sales tax free weekend.  So this coming week, I've got to try all of the imp's jeans from last year on him to see just how much too short they are. 

They go back to school on the 13th of August. 

I go back the next Monday. 

I'm finally caught most of the way up with the housework I fell behind on while I was sick, so my focus for reading and writing is returning.  I should be finished with the book I'm editing within the next day or so, and then will be getting back into my own writing.

random ramblings

The various UTI problems I've had were triggered by an underlying issue: a small kidney stone that had decided it was time to go.  It was uncomfortable, yes, but not intensely painful, which says it was very small. 

The very day I started feeling better, I managed to food poison myself at lunch.  I spent Thursday and yesterday sicker than a dog. 

The kids have (mostly) been good for me this week, but not perfect.  In fact, the imp was a rancid little shit all day, yesterday.  I think the problem was that he hadn't gone to bed (and to sleep) until an hour, hour and a half past bedtime the night before...yet still got up yesterday morning at the stinking ass-crack of dawn.  And, since we'd gone up to my mother's to give Odysseus quiet to study because the library was closed yesterday, the imp also did not get a nap.

Today, Odysseus is taking the pixie up to visit his parents.  There's a live on stage version of Cinderella that they're taking her to go see.  She's spending the night. 

Last weekend, the imp spent the night, and Odysseus took the pixie to watch the new Minions movie.  The last time the pixie spent the night, we watched the first Captain America movie with him.  I think we may watch The Avengers tonight for the first time.  I think he's gonna love it, and he's going to be mesmerized.  He was with Captain America.

The cats have been sweet, this week.  Shadow has been "sneaking" into the imp's room and perching in a dark corner either of his shelves or under his chair (sneaking doesn't really work when she strops my legs before she goes to hide.)  Then, when he goes to bed, she sleeps on him for a few hours before she knocks to come out.  She usually wants out around 9:30-11:00 pm.  Cricket's been sitting on the arm of my chair, draping herself up and over my arm and shoulder, and purring in my ear.  It's been fairly nice...until she starts trying to eat my hair.  She has enough trouble with hairballs from her own hair, and she's a domestic short hair cat.  She really doesn't need to eat my hair, too, since it's about waist-long. 

My dog's been happily taking baths when my family gives them--she's figured out that the Dawn that they add to the water when they run the water (making bubbles that she plays with) kills fleas.  She loves baths, now.  And, since she's getting more frequent baths, she's not the little stink pot she used to be.  So, I sat down on the floor and scratched and petted my dog, who just half-smothered me with affection. 

I am past the writer's block--and the editor's block--now that I'm feeling a lot better than I have since the end of last month.  Kinda sucks that I'm so far behind on my housework, but I'm not so far that it's interfering with creativity levels.  I've got a bit done on my book, some more written out long hand, and a little bit more edited on DaddyBear's newest book draft (I'm about halfway done, and loving it).  I strongly recommend it, when he gets it up and published.

random ramblings

So.  Sick imp was no longer sick when he woke up yesterday.  Ate two sausage links, and then ate well for lunch.  Which meant that we were able to go ahead and keep up with our plans yesterday to drop them off with Odysseus's parents, then go out for lunch.  He spent last night, and will be spending tonight, too.  And Grandma took them to the water park yesterday, and will be taking the imp (or already has taken, probably, by this point) back today.

Since the imp is at their grandparents' house, the pixie's here on her own.  I usually let her watch a lot of the things she likes that the imp doesn't, when he's gone, but today's a bit different.  Today, Odysseus took the pixie to her first movie theater movie: they went to see the new Minions movie. 

I've posted a half a dozen pens on my Etsy page.  Most of them are fairly inexpensive, but one is fairly rare, and it's rare to find another of the pens I've posted in as excellent of condition as it's in.  I've still got four more pens to fix (three to sell, one to keep as an exemplar of filler type).

My family has discovered the Dawn dish soap trick for fleas, and my little dog loves her bubble baths.  Mom says she huffs on the bubbles to blow them around. 

Shadow has been spending the early parts of nights sleeping on the imp for a while, now.  Last night, she spent most of the evening looking for her boy before she gave up and slept on his desk.  She's been sleeping on his desk for most of the day...and then decided she'd sleep on my recliner's footrest.

Cricket has been playing "the floor is lava" throughout the carpeted areas of the house.  Odysseus has three big, heavy plastic trunks in the hallway.  She jumps from the one closest to the living room doorway onto the pixie's desk, then from there to the back of the couch.  She jumps from the couch to the kitchen.  Does not seem to like carpet at all.

I've got just about one more month off before fall semester starts.  The kids' school starts on the Thursday before, sort of to give the kids a chance to get back into (or into for the first time) the swing of things.  And during this last month I have off (and once I've finally got this stupid UTI kicked to the curb), I'll see just how much I can get done.  The house has gone from debris field disaster area to a mere train wreck.  I'm not sure it's going to get better than that, given that I've got the kids following me and working on making new messes as I clean them up.  And eventually, I'll have to take time off and rework my textbook (again) and work on revising/revamping the class for next spring.  I've got a lot to learn for my plans, which should make my students better prepared to write in whatever their major is.

I'm just under a third of the way through the book I'm proofing.  It's slow going, because I hadn't been able to focus for long periods of time.  Too miserable.  I'm hoping I'll feel less like I have the flu tomorrow.

As for writing...I think I got through the most recent block, but I'm not entirely sure.  We shall see.

Random ramblings.

I am an idiot.

In the course of trying to keep a UTI under control until I could get to the doctor's office, I wound up giving my self a mild case of water intoxication.  With symptoms of nausea, lethargy, and dizziness, and a weight gain in one day of ten pounds.

A night and a day of mild diuretics fixed it, but it was a little unnerving to realize that the UTI wasn't the only thing wrong, and the other thing was something I'd done to myself.  No more drinking more than a gallon a day, and only that much when I'm busy and sweating (which I don't do much...which really sucks during hot weather).  

The kids are the worst of monsters for night owl parents: they're morning people.  Doesn't matter how late I put them to bed, they're up no later than 6:30 in the summer, and often emerging from the imp's room, where they're supposed to play and be quiet until at least 7:00.  No, it doesn't seem to matter if they can't see the sunrise--I think they feel it like vampires feel the sun setting in fiction. 

Why, no, I didn't get back to sleep this morning.  Why did you think to ask that?  ;)

Yesterday, the kids and I went up to Mom's.  I had Odysseus take us and leave us there, so that he could join us for supper, after he'd had a chance to take the unit test for the online class he's taking. 

It did not work out that way.  The kids had a ball, but the fucking course website was buggy as hell, and he didn't want it to freeze in the middle of taking his test and boot him out.  Here's hoping it works today, during the hour I have the kids playing in the front yard with bubbles and sidewalk chalk. 

But in any case, we did go to Mom's yesterday.  Where I found that yes, Mom actually did order me a pen that had been on my Amazon wish list.  It's a Hero 616, with a gold filled cap and a gold nib.  I'm pretty sure it's a reproduction of a Parker 51.  It's an extremely fine nib, very pretty, has an old fashioned aerometric filling system, and has a clear, plastic ring between the section and the filling system and barrel that shows ink level--something few of my other pens have.  It's a very nice feature. 

I've read in Amazon reviews that some  of these pens have a(n easily fixable) problem with leaking, but mine needed no tinkering before I could fill it.  And it hasn't burped yet, like some of my pens do when they're one of the older ones and get shaken about. 

Once we got home, the cats were incredibly possessive and clingy.  I don't know if it's because they missed us, or smelled my sister's and aunts' cats on us.

There wasn't much writing done, this week, and what was done was done longhand.  I need to get that gathered up (three different notebooks), and get that transcribed.

I am alpha-reading and helping with the first edit on a friend's book.  I can advise this: when it comes out in the Amazon stores, go buy it.  So far, it's really hooked my attention, and I'm only a few pages in.  Which I read while I was feeling my worst, wasn't interested in much, and still got hooked.

random ramblings

I need to start getting to bed earlier.  Especially since I need to cut back on the caffeine while I'm trying to stave off getting a UTI. 

It's gonna be a really, really pretty day.  I'm thinking about taking the kids to the back yard for a while.  I'd just kick them out, but because of neighbor complaints, we no longer have a yappy little dog that gives an alarm if someone approaches that she doesn't know, and we live in town. 

It really sucks.  I dimly remember having unsupervised outside time at their ages.  I wish I could give them the same in their own fucking yard, but it really is a different world of dangers: if it's not the dangers of stranger kidnapping (which actually does happen, no matter what people who quote statistics would say--and has happened near here within the last two years), it's the dangers of some shithead bully calling the cops for what they consider neglect.

And, given the whole issue with somebody calling the cops on the dog, I'm not willing to risk my kids.

We'll be taking the kids and going to PetSmart for some cat food within the next hour, hour and a half.  They'll have their pet adoption days going (i.e., kennel cages with dogs and sometimes cats) set up where the kids can coo over and pet the dogs), and the pixie loves watching the small rodents.  The imp loves the lizards (which seem to love him, too). 

We'd recently gotten the cats some catnip mice, and Cricket loves them.  She carries them around in her mouth, yowling with her mouth full of toy, then jumps up to play with them around the arm of the couch.  I don't mind so much with the toys.  It's when she does it with a real one that I get miffed.

Shadow doesn't care so much for the toy mice.  She'll play with them when she's bored, but she prefers these furry little craft fuzzballs that the pixie brought home after an art project.  They're like pom-poms, but...well, they've got a semi-solid center, and sparklies worked into the fibers sticking out in all directions.  She found one, day before yesterday, and...yeah.  Chaos in the kitchen.  She'd found it at lunchtime for the kids, and it was difficult and took several minutes to get them to stop squealing and giggling over the cat and back to eating their lunches. 

I've got the nibs, feeds, and sections cleaned up on the Parker VS, the Sheaffer White Dot lever fill, and have started on the Sheaffer Touchdown.  I'll need a small clamp before I can put new ink sacs in them--it's probably a bad idea to use my teeth to hold the sections while I stretch the sacs over the section nipples.  Other than that, I've got one more pen (a Sheaffer Fineline lever fill pen--one of their student pens) to fix.  To be honest, I'd kind of forgotten about that one. 

I have two pens I need to do writing samples for, six to take pictures of, and then three to write out of ink and clean up.  Then I'll have six more pens to post on my Etsy page.  After that?  There's the three more I'm going to go ahead and sell to finish fixing, test, write out a sample for, take pictures of, and post. 

Last month, I had someone from Taiwan buy three of my pens.  It came out to around $102 brought in, and I'm beginning to wonder if I really can turn this into a business.  It's kinda going to depend on my time, and how much I can find the pens for, vs. how much I can sell them for. 

Writing...I've hit another block.  I'm up to just almost the halfway point (and up to 21K words in part 1), and I'm wondering if I'm going to have to skip ahead and come back to write the filler up to the good part later.  It's a bit of a slog, and I'm thinking it has less to do with the actually writing, and needing more sleep.

Which takes us back to square one: I need to start getting to bed earlier.

random ramblings

Last week was fairly quiet.  My imp spent two nights with Grandma and Grandpa, and then they both went up to my mom's yesterday. 

Yesterday...yeah, I had big, fun plans for yesterday, since I'd gotten so much done last week (enough that I can't really do a whole lot more until either just before or just after the trash pickup on Tuesday).  I'd planned, since my shoulder had recovered from being strained doing laundry on Wednesday, to take advantage of the weather causing our local range to be deserted, and go play with my rifles, as a reward to myself.  That didn't happen; rather, I woke up really sick.  As in: I didn't know from moment to moment whether or not I was going to throw up.  It didn't ease until nearly 11:00 am. 

The kids have been really sad since we got the blu-ray player.  The thing hooks to the TV through a HDMI cable, with no options for any other type of hookup.  The ROKU box also hooks in through an HDMI cable, with an option for a single-plug A/V out (I not only don't have one, I haven't been able to find one).  The TV has only one HDMI port.  Therefore, the option for TV (only available through Amazon Prime on the Roku box) rather than DVDs has been worse than usual. 

I tried an adapter--HDMI on one end, A/V on the other--but it didn't work.  Finally, I stumbled over a solution: a HDMI hub that takes three devices hooked in through it, and switches around with the push of a button.  It automatically defaults to the Roku, since that's always on, but will switch automatically to the blu-ray player when that gets turned on. 

This morning, the kids are watching their beloved Wild Kratts while I'm drinking my coffee.  Why, yes, it drives me crazy--but I'm wearing headphones, so it's tolerable. 

The microwave has been less reliable than usual: night before last, I tried to make chicken nuggets for the kids for dinner.  It worked fine for the pixie's, but the number pad ceased working right about the time the imp needed to make his own.  Temporarily.  It was working again by the time I'd fixed his supper and mine. 

Yeah, we're going to replace that SOB today.  We went shopping around for one yesterday.  The one I want is at Home Depot.

The cats have been absolutely silly, this past week.  I'm not sure if it's because their world was rearranged yet again, or if it was the weather, or something else entirely unrelated, but both have been as easily spooked as hell--even Shadow, who's usually the one doing the spooking. 

Saw my dog, yesterday.  She is the funniest little creature--really.  I opened Mom's back door to let her in, and called for her.  She came bouncing--not running, bouncing, like Pepe Le Pew--around the corner, dashed through the door, and flung herself onto the floor on her back between my feet.  Wagging.  So, of course, she got a belly scratch.  Then, she spasmed, reappeared on her feet about three feet from me, licked the imp on the face, and ran into the living room to kiss the pixie. 

I think she was happy to see us.  Maybe I'll get to bring my dog home when we get outside of city limits after all. 

Over the course of the week, I got another 2K words done on The Shrodinger Paradox.  I'm still working, as we speak.  Between straining my shoulder and back badly enough Wednesday as to be mostly non-functional on Thursday, and only having gotten over my writer's block for what I wanted done on Tuesday night (with the draft book), I'm counting that as not too bad.  Word count is up to about where I got stuck/lost interest on Detritus.  Paradox is sitting at 19K words on part 1, with only about a third to half of it done.  I've got 2.5K on part 2 typed, with probably another 500 words in a different draft book.  I think there's maybe 5% done on that part.  Part 3 is mapped out, and I'm pretty sure there will be a part 4, now.  I'm projecting this one at somewhere around 95K-120K words.  I'm thinking I'll probably submit it to Baen's slush pile, then forget it for a year. 

My goal for tonight is to finish the chapter I'm working on, and get the next one written.  The end of the next one will mark the halfway point of part 1.  I think.

My goal for tomorrow?  To start mapping out the other half of part 1.