Random ramblings

The kids got mean mommy, this morning.  Loud giggles and slamming doors waking parents brings mean mommy down on them.  They got yelled at and put in opposite corners of the couch, under strict orders that they're not to make any sounds or speak until Mary Poppins  is over.  And that's two and a half hours (an hour past when I'd have preferred to get up). 

They made out like bandits, this Christmas.  The imp got a Tonka firetruck from Grandma and Grandpa that's nearly as big as he is (about six by six inches around, and nearly three feet long).  Yes, it's a noisy toy, but he's got rules around noisy toys that let him play with them without irritating the hell out of Odysseus and me: he can play with them in his room, with his door shut.  It's let him keep a wooden train whistle toy without us being driven crazy.

We got the kids each a stick horse for Santa gifts.  They have plush toy heads (to do less damage to each other when they inevitably get into a fight and use them to hit each other), with wispy manes.  The pixie's is purple (and she's named it Purple Magic for whatever reason), and the imp's is a black and white paint. 

And they will each be getting a bike and a helmet with Christmas money.  Both have asked us for a bike, and now that we've got the Forrester, and can take them somewhere safe to ride, we'll get them each a bike. 

I got Odysseus two seasons of Scrubs, and my younger sister got him one of Futurama (and a nerdy coffee cup, much like the one I have, only a lot smaller).  He has watched quite a bit of both shows, and is very, very happy with them.

He ordered three fountain pens for me.  One is still on its way from China, but the other two arrived in good time.  I've put blue ink in one of the two, and turquoise in the other.  I'll probably put the quick-dry blue in the last.

And last, I found a cordless screwdriver--something I'd been wanting for ages--at Sam's Club, in their Christmas gift displays.  Their price was much lower than Amazon's, at a hair under $20.  It's about the size of a 1911, with a grip angled like a Ruger or Glock (but it has a safety, so it can't be a Glock).  I'll be using that today, to put the clock back up in the imp's room. 

We recently had to try a new type of food on the cats.  It's still Purina One, but their usual Healthy Metabolism food was nowhere to be found.  We've tried them on the Indoor formula, which is supposed to contain grasses and things that outdoor cats supplement their diets with (rather than supplementing the diet with mice, like Shadow does.  She swallows them whole, judging by the near-complete skeletons I've found encased in poop in the litter box).  Cricket seems to like the food a lot better...and Shadow's gotten more active.  She's started playing with me, instead of just climbing on me and cuddling.  Shadow has this thing where she'll lay on her back and pull a hand down to pet her belly.  Yesterday, she pulled my hand down to her belly, started rabbit kicking me (carefully without claws), and bit my shirt sleeve a few times. 

We saw the dog on Christmas.  She's a shaggy, stinky little catfish smelling dog that spins circles in place in happiness at the very sight of us, yipping this excited, high-pitched "come play with me" bark.  We did play with her a bit, and I loved on her a bit (and fed her some of my roast chicken). 

We are going to have to do something to get our dog back, before my mom decides to keep her.

I've still got about three weeks before I go back to work.  One of those weeks will involve practicing going to pick the pixie up from school, since I will be doing that at least two of the three days during the week, due to Odysseus's class schedule.

I'm trying to get going on Detritus again, but it isn't easy.  I'm going to have to order a CD to help me set the right mood.  It seems to want to be written to the Rolling Stones, not anything I already have.  I'm strongly considering ordering a four gig memory stick to boost my laptop up from two gigs to six.  Odysseus says that four (which is what his laptop has) helps greatly, but I'd rather not have to deal with this again for a while, since the entire bottom of the laptop has to come off, rather than a specific part of it like Odysseus's laptop has.  The small section to access memory would make things a lot easier, but...yeah.  Mine is two years older than his, despite being the same model.  And things like convenience for upgrades weren't considered when putting mine together.