random ramblings

Odysseus took the kids up to visit their grandparents on Thursday, while I was at work.  The imp stayed Thursday night and last night.  He comes home around noon today.  I'm looking forward to seeing him.

I made cookies last week--chocolate with peanut butter chips.  I left them setting on top of the stove in their sheets to cool, and the next thing I know, I hear the folding, two-step ladder I use to reach stuff (and that the imp uses as a personal picnic table) sliding around, and then the pixie comes running into the living room holding a cookie in each hand, waving them above her head in triumph with a dimpled grin that wrinkled her nose and made her eyes disappear.

Smart as a whip, she is.  I asked her if I'd told her she could have a cookie, and she holds up both of her prizes: "I got two cookies."

Since I hadn't told her she couldn't...the  only thing I could reasonably get her in trouble for was going into the kitchen without permission.

The imp really doesn't like them.  He tried a bite of one of the pixie's cookies that she left on the coffee table while she went to the bathroom, made the most horrible face, and then started wiping his tongue.  Then he licked the couch, since he couldn't get it all with his hands.

We've managed to sell our non-running Ford Ranger to someone who wants to fix it for his own use in beekeeping, and who can do all of the work on it himself.  He brought the money by yesterday, took possession of the title, and took his wife home.  He came back around dinner time, messed around, and took the starter out of the truck to go buy a new one.  Said he'd be back today to try to get the truck started to get it home.

And we've taken it off of our insurance.  The Lexus is next.  That's gonna happen on Monday or Tuesday.

Speaking of Tuesday, Odysseus and I are going to get some range time.  I've arranged with the friend of ours we've handed the Lexus off to to come babysit for the afternoon, and we'll help him get the registration paid for.  He doesn't need much, just about what babysitting two kids for four or five hours would pay.

We'll be taking TinCan Assassin to the range with us, partially to show him where it is, since he's new to the area.  Partially to let him play with some of our toys.

Cricket, our black and white cat, has taken to eating so fast she throws up.  Not in the bowl, thank goodness, but anywhere else is fair game.

Shadow has become a heat-seeking creature.  Anywhere warm is where you'll find her.  Yesterday, that was in the back room, in the two-level cat tree/scratching post, in the top curve.  Under Cricket.  Last night, she took over the footrest of my recliner while I was grading.  Slapped my legs until I folded them up under me.  I'd have done something about cognitive recalibration,* but I had a set of papers in my lap that would have ended up scattered all over the place, and I really needed to get my work done.

The dog has been gleefully taking advantage of the oncoming spring weather to spend every waking moment outside in her pen.  We has a sad dog today, though.  We had a mild thunderstorm roll in around five thirty this morning, and it's been raining since.

I managed to get one of my two classes finished last night.  Most of the papers were good--as the semester goes on, they're getting better, and taking less time to grade.  I'm hoping to get the other one done today.  If not today, then definitely tomorrow.  I have eighteen left in that class. And midterm grades are due by 10:00 Monday morning.  I'm hoping to be able to enter everything Sunday night.

With grading taking up my time, I haven't had any time to write after I put the pixie to bed since Thursday.  I got some done Thursday night, just before I started grading while watching a movie with Odysseus, but nothing other than that.

I've noticed that falling action is a lot harder for me to write than the rest of the book. 

Oh, well.  I'll have this done in first draft before Spring Break--which runs from the 17th to the 21st--and then I'll revise it.  Second draft is what gets passed to my beta readers.  So, it's coming.  Hopefully, I'll be able to publish by May.

*Hit her really hard in the head--an Avengers reference.