random ramblings

I have survived the first week of the kids' summer break.  We had the imp write a letter to his paternal grandparents and he's been reading quietly to himself on the couch every so often. 

Interestingly enough, I've started making him take a nap when the pixie does, and he no longer minds.  He's realized that he feels better afterwards. 

We took them to PetSmart, today.  The local one hosts "adoption days" every Saturday, where local humane societies bring in dogs and cats for people who won't bother to go to the actual buildings.  Today, there was a female boxer, seven months old.  Cute as a button and very, very friendly.  Her tongue went faster than her tail, and my kids each got a hand washing (and the pixie almost got her face washed).  There was a little dog with a stub tail, square head, short muzzle (like a boxer, sort of), and prick ears that was absolutely adorable.  The lady said he used to have a long, whippy tail, but he had a habit of chasing it...and then, he caught it.  And then it had to be amputated.

No, we didn't come home with a dog.  We'd have sooner come home with one of the utterly charming Chinese Water Dragon lizards.  There was one that kept jumping off of the lounging perch and flinging itself toward the glass when we stopped to look at them. 

The pixie wanted one of the cute little "fuzz-balls": a dwarf hamster.  I had to tell her that the kitties would want to eat it, the rat, the gerbil, and/or any guinea pigs, so we couldn't have one.

Shadow got herself tossed into the back room, yesterday.  She decided to scratch at the imp's bedroom door and yowl to be let in to walk all over him and poke him until he woke up to pet her, so she could curl up on his legs and go to sleep. 

Cricket has taken to waiting on the arm or back of the couch for me to walk past, then standing on her hind legs and wrapping the front paws around my arm and laying her head against me.

Yes, my cat has been giving me hugs.  And this is the dumb one, too.

I am back to working a bit more steadily on my current project--we now have a functioning printer.  I highly recommend Brother printers: the company has customer support throughout the life of the machine, and a one-year replacement warranty from purchase.  We got a refurbished model of the last printer that died (refurbished rather than new because this printer is no longer manufactured).  Our next printer, probably purchased ten or fifteen years from now, will also be a Brother. 

So, since getting the printer replaced on Tuesday and printing what I had written, and with not getting enough sleep (through my own fault), I've only added another 2K words to the current project.  I will be adding to that tonight, though.  And I do know where it's going, and how it's going to get there.  I am actually enjoying the crafting process quite a bit.  It's pretty different from my previous work--it's hard science sci fi (as well as a bit of sociology in parts of it).