School's out.

The governor of Missouri has declared school done for the year.  So, admitting that a full quarter is useless in terms of information taught. 

The kids' private school has gone along with the public school order. 

I am...less than pleased.  I'm also trying to figure things out. 

I was hopeful that the kids were going to go back to school at the end of the month, for four weeks.  I really was.  Not totally for my sake, either.  For theirs.  They desperately miss their friends, and they miss their teachers. 

This is horribly unfair to them, especially given that we don't live in a hot spot. 

It's unfair to us, as a family, because some portion of a full quarter's tuition has not been, and will not be, used.  And I have heard nothing about it being credited toward next year's tuition. 

And, given the way the government keeps moving the goalposts, I'm dubious of the value of paying next year's tuition in the first place.  Where's the guarantee that school will start back up in August?  Or won't cut the last however long the twats in charge feel is "necessary for the good of all?"

It's really bad for my imp.  My imp who does not do well without an externally-applied routine.  He's been all over the place...with the help of his meds.  He misses his friends, he misses his teacher, he misses...well, everything except the school work. 

The pixie...well, she's not a whole lot better, but has a much better handle on controlling herself and her reactions to her disappointment and misery. 

I'm contemplating what should be done, and what can be done.  And how is best to do it.  Because while the murder of the nation's economy has pissed me off something fierce, my kids are far more important.  I need to figure out how to get them through this mess with their knowledge base as well-supported as I can manage, and their emotional needs as well-met as I can manage.  I need to figure out how best to set a routine on them to help them settle into adapting to the sudden knowledge that a government large enough to give people things is also large enough to successfully take almost everything away. 

And I'm worrying about their physical and emotional well-being for the short, medium, and long term. 

Convince me I'm wrong.

Convince me that letting your kid go to public school isn't implicit or explicit abuse.  Convince me that there are still arguments in favor of public education still being allowed to exist.  Convince me that "socialization" is more important than building a foundation of knowledge and understanding for a later development of critical thinking.

Oh, wait...

You can't.

Today, the neighbor's grandkid hustled up at 8:30 a.m. to see if my kids could go out to play.  When I asked him if he was aware of what day of the week it was, he got an utterly blank look cross his face, and he stuttered, "but...but...Thanksgiving Break!" 

My kids are in private school because of shit like this: the kid gets half days every fucking Friday, and full days off three or four times a month.  There's no emphasis on spelling or on math.  The kid doesn't know history, and barely started learning science my pixie learned last year (in 2nd grade, and this kid's in 4th or 5th grade).  So.  What are they learning?  Just...social justice and brainwashing.  I don't think he reads on a 2nd grade level, either. 

And...he's not stupid.  He's actually pretty damn bright and creative.  BUT. 

That school system is geared below what I consider the minimum (my own education--he's behind where I was in the same grade in an utterly shit rural district).  I'd blame Common Core, but Joplin schools were already bad.  Common Core has simply exacerbated an already existing problem. 

And the area "good district?" 

Well. 

Clearly, the middle school has been used as a pedophile grooming station for a while.  At the very least, this school year.  Someone was reported as having inappropriate sexual contact with their middle school students.  One--only one, but there's likely more--came forward.  The event happened last Tuesday.  The district called him into the office on Friday to allow the city police to arrest him. 

Not Tuesday, the day it was reported.  Not the next day after surveillance camera footage was reviewed. 

Friday. 

When socialization in public school districts starts Lord of the Flies style and devolves from there (and it does), when kids are warehoused rather than actually educated, when they're groomed for sexual exploitation...you cannot convince me that letting your kid attend public school is any less than negligence. 

And, anymore, the case can easily be made for outright abuse. 

Free is worth what you pay for it.

I think I've figured something important out. 

A few years ago, before I had the kids, I worked with the football team.  I tutored, and helped them correct, their writing about five hours a week.  Was paid about $10/hour for it.  I'd've been happy to do it for free, but for something a colleague (the one who set the whole thing up) said: "You have to set a price.  If you don't, they won't value what you're offering."

Most of my students don't pay for their own college tuition and/or fees.  They get grants, scholarships, and loans for that.  They don't have to bust their asses at work, trying to earn the money to pay $300+ per class, plus the approximately $700 for all the other assorted fees and textbooks.

From what I've seen, few of the traditional students--those who take out the most in loans and grants--don't value their classes.  They love classes like the "university experience" class (what used to be Freshman Orientation, and was a 1 cr hr 6 week course, but is now a 3 cr hr 16 week course), because they're "easy A" classes, or classes that it's "okay to skip because the professor doesn't care." 

And Bernie Sanders wants to make all undergraduate work "free." 

The thing is, most people see the grants and loans as "free" money.  They don't think about how much it's going to take to pay off the loans.  They don't think about the future.  And they damn sure don't think about what others have to do to earn the money for the federal grants.  It's "free."  Not worth anything.

I think I'm beginning to understand why so few value their voting rights.  Free is worth what you, yourself, pay for it. 

Because, with most of these kids, if they're not the ones earning it, then it's worth nothing.  They don't see others' sacrifice, and absolutely don't look toward the future. 

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

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.

Well, now.

If this doesn't go over like a shit-filled lead balloon, I don't know what will.  People who care about their families enough to bust their asses to move to the suburbs do so because they want to get away from inner-city dwellers.  It isn't a race thing--I had a black student last semester that desperately wanted to move their mama and younger brother out of Chicago, who had more of what it takes to get  and stay out than some of my lower/middle class white kids.  It isn't race, nor is it racism that makes people leave the cities. 

I grew up around poverty.  And it's a whole different mindset than middle to upper class.  One of the biggest differences is courtesy, and the ability to defer gratification. 

When I say courtesy, I don't mean fancy manners, nor yet the whole treating others well.  I'm talking about knowing what not to overshare.  No, people don't want to hear about your poop problems in public.  No, we don't want to hear about your ingrown pubic hair problems.  Nor yet your toenails, kidney stones, or any of your other various nasty health complaints.  Yuck. 

My mother does not have any sense of when this is and isn't appropriate, nor for who she can/should discuss this with. 

I think I've already discussed the inability to delay gratification and plan for the future being a strong predictor of a person's socioeconomic standing; however, this isn't limited to financial choices.  It's the choice to gang up and bully someone because they're the wrong color in the wrong neighborhood.  It's the choice to vandalize someone else's property.  It's the choice to get pregnant because there wasn't birth control available when somebody wanted some (and yes, that is a choice: even as a teen, I was entirely capable of choosing to do something else when life-altering consequences were possible).  It's choosing to disrupt class because somebody passed someone into a grade they weren't ready for, and can't keep up with, several times in the name of "social promotion" and "self-esteem," because they can't stand that other students want to learn. 

"Rich" families in "rich" neighborhoods (that aren't "rich" enough to pay the shake-down money that this will likely attempt to gather) left the inner cities to get their kids away from behavior like this.  I do not think they'll be happy when King Putt insists on bringing the inner city to their neighborhoods, and infecting their culture with the same rot.

And they sure as hell don't want it in their schools that they paid through the noses with property tax to get their kids into.  Schools are bad enough without disruptive influences that cannot be punished because "racism."

random ramblings

We're down to the last week of the kids' school, next week...and the first week of summer semester for Odysseus.  I think the class he's taking is advanced cost accounting. 

Next week, though...Monday, the imp will be participating in a kindergarten spelling bee on Monday, a track and field day on Tuesday, and a field trip to a skating rink on Wednesday.  I'm not sure what, if anything, is planned for Thursday; Friday, the last day, lets out at 11:00. 

I'm honestly not sure what-all the preschool is doing next week. 

The imp will be repeating kindergarten, though, next year.  Were he in a public school, he'd probably be ready for second grade; however, the curriculum is incredibly advanced, and I don't want him set up for failure by being passed with his classmates before he's ready.  And he's just not ready.  It's mostly a maturity thing, but not totally.  He just doesn't grasp a few of the concepts, and doesn't see the point in focusing and not half-assing the things he finds easy. 

I have a lot of work to do with him this summer, teaching him to focus on everything, not just what he finds interesting. 

I also have a lot of work to do with the pixie.  She has, for some reason, started putting everything into her mouth again.  I had to flip her mouth this morning because when I got up, she had a penny in her mouth.  I'm beginning to wonder if I'm gonna have to tape her mouth shut except for meals when I can't watch her every second. 

She's been cute recently, too--she's taken to picking up a kitty and wandering somewhere to sit down with them and snuggle them.  Cricket won't stay on her lap, but will walk all over her and shoulder rub and purr.  Shadow...half the time, Shadow flops over onto her side on the pixie's lap and luxuriates in the attention.  Another quarter of the time, she'll flop next to the pixie and luxuriate in the attention.  The rest of the time?  She hauls ass into the window to quiver as she watches the birdies.  

I've gotten another 5K words written on my current project, bringing total word count up to 12K words.  I have it all planned out--it's going to be in three, possibly four parts.  I started out writing on the second part (2.5K words), and then realized that I needed to back up and work on the first part (10K words).  I've been working fairly steadily, and I have about the first quarter to third done for part 1.  Part 2?  Maybe the first tenth.  Or so. 

If you're curious about the inspirational music, you can hear it on Amazon Prime, or you can hear it here.  

I'm fairly happy with the current state of the housework, nothing that needs the kids out from under foot/elbow to get done without the delays of "helping," so I'll probably spend the last three days I'll have three or four hours with no children around writing.  See if I can't double or triple my current word count (and maybe finish part 1).

One of the things slowing me down a bit is the lack of ability to print.  Yes, you read that right: our printer--the one we got less than a year ago to replace the one we bought less than a year before that--has died.  Again.  Doesn't even register that it's plugged in.  I've found a couple of possible repair places in the next big town over, so I'll call and find out if they can fix the printer(s).  I like printing to edit when I get stuck.  I can't print to edit.  And so, when I get stuck, I have to stop until I get enough sketched out in my draft book to really kick-start things again.

Not that I truly mind drafting out longhand.  I've got pens that I dearly love that I can use.  :)

random ramblings

Sometimes, I really hate not home schooling the kids. 

Both were sick on Wednesday (which meant that the pixie missed her class's Easter party), but the imp was good to go for Thursday...just in time for his class's party.  Where they served Easter colored treats.  Like sugar cookies with orange frosting, and (probably) kool-aid. 

Both of which had red food coloring, judging by his behavior. 

We've asked his teacher, and asked his teacher, and asked his teacher to make sure he doesn't  get anything with red food coloring in it, and pointed out that his behavior becomes uncontrollable, and it's not his fault.  And it still happened, and he still got in big trouble, and we didn't realize what was going on until I found the remains of his goodie bag in his backpack. 

I am seriously so angry about it I could spit.  And I am inclined to ask for him to be sent to the office for all parties next year (with treats being given when he gets home). 

It's a damn good thing that he doesn't have a life-threatening allergic reaction to red food coloring.  Otherwise, I'd have had to sue the school, and I hate the thought of that.

I'm really thankful the pixie doesn't have any similar problems with food coloring. 

I'm going to have to work with her on the alphabet, though.  She's missed enough school to be a bit behind her classmates.  I hate that she gets so sick so easily, and I'm beginning to think I'm going to have to get her a boys' coat next fall, and save her cute little wool-blend coat for special dress-up occasions.  Because the imp's coat has an elastic band that keeps the hood close around his ears, and hers doesn't.  And she is the one with ear trouble.

We had a tornado warning that sent us to shelter, Wednesday night.  Unfortunately, I'd given the imp a dose of Benedryl when he went to bed, and couldn't get him to wake up.  I wound up walking him down the hall by kicking his heels because he's too big for me to carry, now.  He's over four feet tall, and I'm four feet eleven inches.  He wound up curling up on the bathroom floor and going back to sleep.  Odysseus had to carry him back to bed. 

Cricket flipped out and wouldn't settle while we were in the bathroom, but Shadow found a comfy spot and refused to move.  She was still there when we went looking for the cats to put them in the utility room for the night. 

I'm still really angry about having my chalkboard taken out of my room.  Worse was that they'd already taken it down before class started, and I'd needed the damn thing.  I wound up only able to do about half of what I'd planned to do, because I didn't have a chalkboard.  And Monday, I'll have a piece of shit dry erase board to work with.  If I'm lucky enough to have anything at all.

I'm about two thirds of the way through with another short story.  I've got just over 20K words in the short story collection I've tentatively titled Normalcy Bias.  I've got maybe a quarter done on Detritus, and it's just under 20K words.  And...I forgot the draft book at my mother's, last week, so didn't get any work done on it last week. 

I think that's it, for the time being...I'm waiting on the mail to run, because there's another 12 fountain pens coming today.  One of them is the first cartridge pen that Parker made, and I'm a little excited to see it, and test it out.

random ramblings

The kids have been home all week.  Home and a little bored.  We've gone through several coloring books. The pixie has been using a kindergarten curriculum workbook as a coloring book (completely ignoring all instructions and expecting praise for a job well done).   And the imp has done a good number of worksheets in a grade 1 workbook--which is about where he is in school.  I think he'll probably be well into, if not finished with, the stuff in the book long before the end of the school year, since they have a full quarter left. 

Yeah, and he's been working through the worksheets on his own.  He just needed help with figuring out the word search and the crossword puzzles.  I'm hopeful that, with this latest leap forward in maturity, he'll be ready for first grade by the end of the year.  If he's not, he's not--I don't want to push him past his capacity--but I think he will be.

The pixie is finally recovered from her latest round of nasty.  She's done with her antibiotics for her ear infection, and she's not hacking and stopped up (which I'm not sure if that was a virus or allergies--I'll be starting her on Claritin tabs before school just like I do with the imp).  Last night, she came to me whining that she needed help blowing her nose.  So, I helped her, and she got rid of the last of the problems: a wad of nasty about twice as big as a jellybean.  Since then, she's been fine. 

The cats have had a new version of entertainment, this week.  The birds have well and truly returned, and seem to really love the maple trees out in front of the house.  Shadow really, desperately wants a birdie.  She'll sit on my end table, staring out the window, chin quivering, and tail sweeping everything off the table.  Never makes a sound, though.

Cricket, on the other hand...yeah.  She talks constantly, and when she's in the window, talking, with the same chin quiver as Shadow has, she sounds ridiculous.

Odysseus and I have been on Spring Break this week, too.  We've gotten some things done, but not a whole lot.  Mostly because he managed to overload and overheat our washer in doing laundry.  It never finished a spin cycle, and now, it won't.  I'm not sure if it's dead, or if there's just a belt slipped half off.  We've called the repair guy, and he'll be out sometime Monday to look at it. 

I suppose in the meantime, I'll just focus on the kitchen.

I found out, this week, that I can't really focus on writing a whole lot after the kids go to bed.  I'm usually too fried from watching them--even when they're watching TV, they're often poking at one another to start fights.  I won't have any grading next week, so my office hours should suffice for some writing, at least.

I've not given up, people.  I promise.  It's just taking a lot more time than I'd figured on.

Random ramblings

So, the imp went back to school, last week.  He did fairly well, from what I can tell.  Four days blue with only one green.  He got 8/10 on his spelling test, and from what I gathered, got everything he was supposed to do done in class, during the time set to do it. 

We're pretty proud of him.  Everything's continuing to improve. 

The pixie went to class on Monday, and popped a pretty significant fever on Tuesday.  She spent Tuesday and Wednesday sick and lethargic, and we took her to the doctor on Thursday.  Turns out the fever was being caused by an ear infection (as was the nausea and other tummy troubles--which she'd been having for about a week).  We've got some antibiotics for it, and she's been perking right up.  Today is her third of five days of antibiotics. 

Hopefully, we'll get her respiratory crap under control, too, since she's got this next week to recover. 

Speaking of, this week is Spring Break for the kids, and for us.  I have a week off where I can work on the housework, and work on finally getting enough rest and maybe get to feeling human.  The pixie has a full week where she's not around the other little snot-gobbling germ factories.  And the imp will have a break from the expectations of school.

I'm sure the cats will be happy to have the kids home.  Shadow has been desperately wanting the imp, in particular--she tries to sleep near him in the afternoons and evenings, and tries to claw her way into his room to sleep on him at night.  Needless to say, that gets her tossed in the laundry room with the door closed.

I begin to be tempted to toss Cricket when the pixie is sleeping.  When I go use the hall bathroom and close the door, Cricket is instantly there, clawing and yowling for me to let her in (the pixie's bedroom door is about four or five feet from the bathroom door), which makes me afraid that the dumb, codependent cat with severe separation anxiety will wake the pixie.  I do love the cat, but I swear she's got less than a third of the smarts of a normal cat.  She's three years old, and still plays like she's six months old (and is as clumsy as a small kitten), and talks to her toys the whole time she's playing with them--sometimes up to two hours at a time. 

As I mentioned, I finished grading papers and got midterms turned in...just before the pixie and my other half took sick.  The pixie's was an ear infection--Odysseus's seemed to be a mild flu.  I'd been planning to go out to eat Wednesday night, but...yeah.  We went today for lunch, instead. 

Odysseus is finishing up the last bits of class work due before his Spring Break officially starts.  And I've got projects lined up for myself, and I think he's got a couple lined up, too.  Not sure what (beyond a couple of requests on the housecleaning front). 

Part of my intended projects for Spring Break is another 18,000 words written on Detritus.  I've got a bit over 17,000 words done, and I think this is going to be a longer book than I've been writing.  I think 18K more words might get me to the halfway point.  Might.  It might only be about a third of the way done, at that point.  It's kind of slow.  More character than plot driven. 

Another project is to finish the cover art and get "Bar Tabs" Kindle published. 

I still don't know when my cover artist will have art ready for Fire and Forge.  I've been feeling like I'm taking advantage of her, since all I'd been paying her with up to now is a hard copy of the book her work appears on.  I'm hoping she'll give me something I can do for her to pay her for this art. 

Any case...I should have some time (and maybe some mental energy) this week, so I'm going to see what I can get done on the fronts that teaching school has pushed to last place in my priorities.

random ramblings

The imp had his first spelling test, last week.  He got every word right, including the extra "surprise" word at the end.  We are very, very pleased. Unfortunately, they somehow managed to run out of time, this week--it's not surprising, since they had Friday off for a teacher development day.  They'll have Monday off, too, as that is President's Day.

He finally got a purple day* and got his toys back.  Including the blocks that had been in the pixie's room.  We had to find a set of blocks for the pixie--a small set of small, painted shape blocks, something that won't get mixed up in the imp's blocks.  Unfortunately, the blocks are so small and light that they won't build up on carpet.  I managed to adapt something for her (a 1" x 12" x 14" rectangular board), but she got awfully frustrated, at first.

We met up with some friends, last night.  My six year old son is almost as tall as her nine year old son.  They were a bit shocked.  My daughter is almost a foot taller than their son, who's only about a year and a couple months younger than she is.  Hell, to be honest, I  was a bit shocked.  I didn't realize my kids were that tall.

Anyhow, they're homeschooling, and she complained about her youngest daughter's handwriting.  I offered the loan of the fountain pen I fixed yesterday--kids, especially, are forced to slow down and think about what they're doing until they're used to it, and even then, are often so pleased with having something special to write with that they take more care.  My kids desperately want a fountain pen each, for example.  I've promised that I'll get each of them their own pen once they learn to write with one.  And I sent my friend the link, because the fountain pen I found is designed for kids: the grip part is molded, and there's a smiley face engraved in the nib to teach them how to hold and use a fountain pen.

My kids had their Valentines Day party at school, last Wednesday.  The pixie brought home a paper heart that she'd glued decorative puff balls to...badly, since all of the balls came off.  The cats...the cats just love those things, and have been routinely stealing them to play with in the kitchen where they slide and roll around on the linoleum.  I'm not sure what about them has attracted the cats' attention so firmly, but both cats have been acting like kittens with them.  Which makes me wonder if I shouldn't get the cats some new toys.

I picked up paper 2 yesterday, and one of my students told me they had a friend in a different Comp II class that hadn't even written one paper, yet.  They also told me that they'd picked my class for convenience (my class is in the library, in the middle of campus, rather than way off away from everybody but the business majors), but were incredibly glad they did because of how much they were learning, and because of the laid back environment, and the way I let them choose the topics.  (I rarely have two papers over the same topic, and almost never from the same point of view--which makes things a damn sight more interesting as I grade papers.)  Pretty much everyone in the classroom agreed with that student.  And they're planning to have a lot  of fun with the evaluation essay--they can review a movie** or a book** or a video game** or music, or anything else they can think of.

Writing hasn't totally stalled, but I've had less time than I'd prefer--I'm still trying to catch up with the housework that I couldn't do for almost six full weeks.  I've gotten caught up with taking care of the cats, but I've still got laundry (and clean clothes to put away), the kitchen (although I've banned the use of real dishes until further notice), and the living room to deal with.  Not to mention the master bedroom.

And I'm still waiting on cover art...

*The imp's class has a behavior chart, graded by colors.  Pink is spectacular, purple is excellent, blue is good, green is "ready to learn" and is the minimum acceptable, and yellow, orange, and red are bad behavior.

**For the movie review, they have to watch something they haven't seen; however, since books and video games take a lot more time to get through, I don't require fresh eyes on that.  I don't want to hamper them with getting stuff done for other classes in doing homework for mine.

random ramblings

So.  Wednesday, the imp told us he'd gotten a green day (minimum level of good behavior that we'll accept).  Thursday morning, Odysseus found that the imp's clothespin was on yellow, not green. 

The imp had lied.  For the lie, he got spanked.  A yellow day only gets TV privileges revoked.  Had he chosen to tell the truth, that would have been all that happened; as it was, he'd gotten a yellow day on Thursday, so he didn't get to watch TV that day, either.  He hasn't lied since, and usually won't for about two or three months. 

I will not raise a politician.

The pixie had a good week, this last week.  We took her to Walmart's salon, this past week, and she's been delighted about having her bangs trimmed and shaped.  The beautician did a brilliant job--the pixie's hair is unevenly curly, and you'd never know that looking at the job she did.  And she handled a squirmy little four year old who'd never been to a salon incredibly well.  Yep--the pixie is four years old, and had never had anyone but Mommy or Granny (my mom) trim her bangs before, and has never had her hair so much as trimmed in the back.  And she has no split/dead ends. 

Her hair is naturally curly enough that when it's dry, it comes to her waist, but when it's wet, it's all the way down to her butt.  We keep it long to keep it semi-manageable. 

We hit Sam's Club, today.  I made the mistake of noting the clearance things on the end caps--and got three boxes of soup.  Marie Calendar's makes an awesome chicken chili, and the boxes (6 cans) were nearly $9 normally, but were marked down to $5.  I also noticed that Frank's Red Hot sauce was marked down from $5/2 bottles to $3.  And the imp and I are almost out of hot sauce anyway, so...yeah. 

We ended up with a cart so full that I had a hard time maneuvering it around corners.

Last night, the cats decided to be downright adorable.  Cricket walked a circle on the imp's lap, then snuggled down to sleep curled up as tight as the big kitty would go (she's about 14 inches tall at the shoulders, with most of that leg length, and about the same in the length of her body--the tail adds another 12 inches--but isn't more than about 10 lbs).  Shadow (who weighs in at about 12 lbs despite being two inches shorter than Cricket at the shoulder and in length) snuggled as close as she could get to the pixie, and wound up curled around her hip, half behind her, and half beside her.  And both kitties and both children were still and quiet watching Transformers for about two hours after dinner.

I think I may have lost my dog for good...my sister's beagle and my mom's Scotty dog (my dog's mother) are both about at the end of their normal lifespans for healthy dogs of their breeds, and neither dog is healthy.  And my mom and my sister have fallen in love with my dog...who is still put out at us for having taken her to my mother's because of the shitty neighbor.  By the time we're able to afford to sell our current house and find someplace out in the country, our dog will have been my mom and sister's house dog (something she wasn't willing to be for us) for a few years.  Possibly even the only dog. 

I suppose it's for the best...the Scotty was so hyper, and is so hyper, that the kids are as scared of her as they love her. 

I just picked up my first set of papers from my classes, yesterday.  I've got my 8:00 class's papers organized, and I'm ready to start grading after I put the kids to bed tonight.  I  need to do 12 papers per night from tonight through Tuesday night, so that I can get them handed back on Wednesday.  I've picked back up with being a teaching assistant, grading a colleague's student work to save his eyes, and he's assigned a paper for them to turn in on Sunday night/Monday morning, so his stuff will be off my plate until Wednesday.

Writing is going.  Slowly, but it is going.  I think I won't manage this one until I've got time this summer, since my plate is a bit more full this semester. 

random ramblings

We had a conference with the imp's kindergarten teacher, this past week.  The imp is doing incredibly well with the academic aspects of kindergarten (what was first grade when I was small); however, he's very weak in the maturity needed to actually succeed at school.  He's not very good about working independently--tends to drift off in daydreams when he's not got someone standing right over him--but I think that's as much because he doesn't see the point.  I think if he has a clear goal that he wants to work toward, things will clear up. 

We have a plan for that.  Now, we just have to put it into action.

The pixie has caught another cold.  She was sick from late September through the first part of Christmas break.  I'm betting she's going to be sick from now until Spring Break at the earliest.  She's having so much fun in preschool, though, that I honestly think it's worth it.  She's asked for every day classes next year with pre-K-4.  I've started tweaking the budget to allow for that.

The kids tried getting up at 6:30 this morning.  If they'd been quiet, I might have tolerated it, but since they were screeching at each other (and I was too tired to be able to tell if it was joyful or angry, and too tired to care), I made them go back to bed.  Yes, there were tears and tantrums.  No, that wasn't tolerated.  They woke me up again around 8:00.  And since I'd had a bad night anyway, I was really, really unhappy with them when I got up.

So, last night, I was relaxing in my recliner, with the footrest up, and I feel a warm weight settle in between my ankles.  I assumed it was Shadow, because it settled and dozed off, instead of spazzing around on my lap.  I was wrong--it was Cricket.  She's almost never snuggly, so I ended up staying up about an hour longer than I'd planned. 

I discovered, when I got up to go to bed, that Shadow had ensconced herself between Odysseus's knee and the back of the couch, and was curled up and snoring.

So, I made it in last week for my classes.  I've got an 8:00 and a 9:00, both Comp II.  Wednesday, we went over thesis statements, and Friday development.  I discovered I can't lecture long, and can't write up on the board for long; when I try to combine the two, I run out of breath really fast.  But I got the point across both days, and got to watch the lights coming on like nobody's business. 

Which is why I'm still doing this.

I've actually got two writing projects going on at once--Detritus, which is finally picking up on the writing pace (the plot pace is much slower than I usually write), and a collection of short stories I've tentatively titled Normalcy Bias.  Most of the stories are set in our world, but with a small twist that takes them just slightly out of the norm.  One of the stories is about a veteran who buys a new house and land, and discovers that his place is home to a group of gremlins; another story is that of an amoral dragon who decides to clean up a neighborhood.  When I get stuck on Detritus, I pick up with one of my many short story ideas, and write that.  Usually, after the random story is written, I'm good to go with the novel. 

We had our scanner--which was mainly used to scan in the cover art created by my friend--die on us last month.  We just got the replacement delivered, so all I'm waiting for now for Fire and Forge (and for "Bar Tabs") is the cover art. 

random ramblings

So, we took the imp up to his grandparents for a two-night stay.  He took his bike because they spoil him by moving the cars out of the two-car garage, and putting a heater in there so he can ride comfortably. 

The pixie was very quiet, yesterday.  Didn't wake us up.  We finally woke up at around 9:30, and found her playing in her brother's room, building a castle with blocks.  I begin to think we need to get her her own set...

Monday starts the next semester for the kids.  I'm hoping to see the same improvement out of the imp as we've seen between first and second quarter between second and third.  He went from a low C average to a high C average.  I'm hoping to see that nudge upwards a bit more.  I'm really hoping his teacher will deem him ready for first grade. 

The pixie is just missing her friends and teachers something fierce.  I dread what summer will be like.  For both kids, honestly.

My mom got the pixie a huge, wide-brimmed, semi-floppy hat with feathers all over the brim for Christmas.  There are pink feathers scattered through the house, and the pixie is in a constant fight with Shadow about whose the hat really is.  It's sort of comical to see a slightly pudgy black cat trying to make off with a hat that's three times her size, and to see the pixie running after her to take it back.  Maybe it'll teach the pixie to keep her toys put up, and her bedroom door closed...

We've had to change the cats' food, recently.  The healthy metabolism that we'd been feeding the cats (which got Shadow playing right after eating, but didn't keep the weight off despite her not eating but a third of what Cricket--who's never totally still--ate) vanished from the stores.  We switched to an indoor formula Purina One, which claims to include the greens that the cats would be eating were they outdoor cats...and Shadow's been a little more active, her fur is silkier and healthier, and Cricket has calmed down just a little.  Hairballs have been going down rather than coming up, too, for both cats. 

Semester for Odysseus and me starts on the 12th.  We have a week where the kids will be in school, and we aren't, so I'll have three half-days where I don't have a pixie underfoot, and we can get some more furniture-moving and some Insect Growth Inhibitor put down.  So far, Odysseus says he's got Tuesday/Thursday free.  I do, too--I teach at 8:00 and 9:00 on MWF, and plan to hold office hours until 11:30 on Monday and Wednesday, and until noon on Friday when I'm not needed to pick the pixie up from preschool.  He says he's planning to try to keep TTh free for a once or twice a month jaunt to the local shooting range. 

I think I have an idea for writing that stubborn book that's not wanting to come, despite not letting anything else out, either: since the Rolling Stones album I want is out of stock on Amazon, I'll look for a used copy at the local music stores.  Failing that, I'll get the memory upgrade on my laptop done so I can find a playlist on Amazon.  Or at least listen to the music I have on Amazon Prime, which the laptop won't play without an updated Adobe Flash (which is what was crashing everything).

So, at least I now have a plan...

random ramblings

Happy All Soul's Day, everyone.  Or All Saint's Day, if you're Catholic. 

Odysseus took the kids trick-or-treating last night.  The imp was an absolutely adorable Captain America, and the pixie was a sweet little Princess Sofia (from Disney's Sofia the First series).  The imp was really good about mostly choosing things that didn't have red food coloring when offered the choice.  When they got home, Odysseus went through his candy, and traded him Kit-Kats (his new favorites) for the stuff that was red, orange, or purple. 

I went through the pixie's candy, and took out the worst of the choking hazards.  Do you know how many years it's been since I'd had Runts candy?  Or Gobstoppers?  Yeah, and I didn't get many of the Runts--I broke them up until they were no longer choking hazards, and fed them to the pixie.  The imp ate the green ones. 

Over the last week, I'd gotten two emails from school: the imp acted inappropriately early on, and the pixie threw a fit over being told it was time to pick up the colored pencils and put them away.  So, it has been a not so good week for the kids, and not so good for us, either.  We're apparently rare in that we discipline the children at home for what they've done at school.  Their teachers appreciate it, but are shocked when we do it. 

To be honest, I'm shocked that it's apparently so rare.  I guess I shouldn't be, but...yeah.  Supporting and reinforcing the teachers strikes me as common sense, though.  At least where private school with their carefully vetted teachers are concerned.  Public schools' brainwashing factory is a bit different.

Any case, the imp's teacher has been sending home the handwriting practice and worksheets he refuses to complete during the class days.  He hates homework, and has been bringing home less and less as he does more at school.

The cats have been extra-squirrelly, this week.  It's resulted in them getting shut in the back room during naptime, most days, and sometimes as soon as the kids go to bed.  Because the fuzzy idiots like to run up and down the hall, flinging each other into walls and doors, and trying to climb door facings.  Usually on the pixie's bedroom door. 

My mother says my dog has completely changed how she behaves in the house, going from rude little bitch to a wonderful little dog that follows Mom around.  I'm honestly not sure if I'll still have a dog in a few years, when we're able to take her back.  She's sort of becoming my mom's dog. 

I picked up papers on Wednesday.  I was planning to grade them a few at a time between Wednesday (got them printed on Wednesday, and organized on Thursday) and next week...and then I was informed that Odysseus had a test coming up in auditing next Thursday.  So, I graded half of them Thursday night, and the other half of them on Friday, during my office hours.  Handed them back on Friday. 

My classes were shocked.  That's the fastest turn-around I've had this semester.

I suppose it's mostly to my advantage--I've got all of November to draft Detritus. 

I have finished the final edit of Fire and Forge, including moving the text into the CreateSpace template, and going through and making sure it didn't FUBAR the formatting.  I'll probably go through one more time before I get the cover art--probably sometime during Winter Break (I'd say Christmas, but it goes from the second week of December to the second week of January--much more than the Christmas Breaks of elementary and high school).  I'm probably not going to get F&F published until sometime late December, or early January--my cover artist is getting married around Thanksgiving, and doesn't have time to do much between now and then that isn't related to wedding plans and arrangements.

Random ramblings

So, the imp tells me that he has trouble with the "spelling" tests they're doing: the teacher says a blend, and they're supposed to write down the letters that make the sounds.  I guess that that's one of the things we need to practice. 

Fair enough.  We can do that.  But I think he needs to do more practice with the individual sounds, first.  I'll work with him on that, then move on into the blends. 

But that's keeping him at an F in the reading/language arts stuff. 

On the other hand, he's sitting at 100% on his math.  And is ahead of the rest of his class.  He's adding.  They're doing that in games only, not in graded work. 

The pixie, as a preschooler, isn't graded yet, to my knowledge, on anything other than behavior...and I haven't heard any complaints from her teacher about that. 

So.  Their teachers had a couple of in-service days, last week.  Odysseus and I were off on Monday and Tuesday, and the kids were off on Thursday and Friday.  I was able to care for them on Thursday, but Friday?  I had teaching and tutoring to do, and had no way to deal with them.  So, Thursday afternoon, Odysseus took them to the halfway point to meet his parents, and then we had a bit of a date night.  Friday, after classes for us were done, we went to visit his parents and pick them up. 

The cats expressed their distress at having been left alone all day yesterday, last night.  They were incredibly clingy and annoying.  Usually, they stare at us in disapproval from a distance. 

My students tore through the concepts I'd had to introduce them to much quicker than I'd expected.   Most of my classes in the past have tried over-complicating things that are simple because they assume it can't possibly be that simple.  These classes...haven't done that. 

Because of that, I spent four hours revising Fire and Forge. I'm working on writing an addition to one of the chapters--Spitfire--to expand some of one of the couples' stories.  I should be finished with it sometime within the next week.

I've had a couple of short stories that don't quite fit anywhere pop to mind.  I've gotten them written, and gotten one written out long hand (and still needs typed).  I'm considering putting them out as another collection.  So far, with three stories, I've got about 15,000 words (and one of those will probably be rewritten from first to third person, and expanded).  It won't be put out until I've hit around 80-120,000 words, but I keep coming up with these shorts demanding written, and don't know what else to do with them, since they're too long to post on the other blog.

This should be a nation-wide requirement.

Missouri is contemplating passing legislation to make passing the citizenship test administered to immigrants mandatory for high school students to graduate.  The students will be required to make a 60%. 

I had no trouble making a 60% at fourteen, and 97% at eighteen, so I see nothing wrong with this.  In fact, I think it's an excellent idea to making this a requirement to vote.  As in: you have to pass this test every election cycle for five cycles in a row before you become permanently enfranchised. 

Random ramblings

Well, the imp missed a solid week of green or better days at school, this week. The school we chose tries to teach more than just curriculum--they try to teach responsibility, too.  Unfortunately for the imp, his mind works like mine does, kinda chaotic, and he's having trouble remembering to put his finished stuff in his takehome folder, and his not-finished stuff in his work-at-school folder--he just shoves it all willy-nilly in his desk.  Yesterday, his teacher cleaned his desk out and off, and told him where to put what.  Twice. 

Which meant he got a yellow day. 

Which, in turn, meant that he didn't watch TV after homework (and yes, I made him do his homework last night--I want to get him into the habit of doing it immediately, not waiting until the last minute). 

And which means that I need to figure out a system in his room for putting away his toys to help him get into the right mindset.

The pixie is starting to not call me to clean her up after using the bathroom.  This led to her having a small smear in her undies yesterday, which the preschool teachers spotted, and changed her bottom half out from the clothes kept in her backpack. 

So, instead of the full-length leggings she wore to school, she came home in capris under her dress.  And got cold and stayed cold all day. 

Then again, she's also a little bit sick.  Not enough to run a fever, but enough to be a little miserable, and throw her appetite off.  I've been a little more understanding of bad behavior, but not a whole lot.  And not by letting her get away with it.

I measured the two of them against a wall last week.  The imp has grown about half an inch in three months.  The pixie?  An inch and a half.  No wonder we can't seem to keep her in dresses that go to her knees--it seems like all the height added has been in her legs.

The cats have gotten squirrelly as the temperatures have cooled (yesterday didn't quite make sixty degrees for the high).  Shadow, in particular, has been acting out of character--she's been tearing through the house, batting a toy between her front feet like it was a soccer ball.  She's also been picking up the catnip fish and carrying them somewhere more comfortable (read: warmer) to snuggle like a small child with a stuffed toy. 

Mom tells me that our dog is still making trouble with the other dogs (read: she's an alpha personality settling into place among beta and omega dogs), but that she's just pudding sweet with my mother.  A very, very loving little dog that likes to curl up at my mother's feet. 

And that she's got great manners in the house. 

I really, really wish she'd shown that here. 

So, unfortunately, the racist twit turned her paper in by the extension time I gave her, and unfortunately, it was a good paper.  I can't fail her or boot her out of class for sheer stupidity, and she's not given me any more reason.  And she's too dumb to realize just how ostracized she is now.  I strongly doubt she's going to get anyone to workshop her paper, next week, and strongly doubt that anyone's going to let her read theirs. 

I got the first paper graded and turned back by Friday--a week after I'd picked them up.  The upcoming Monday is freewrite day, Wednesday is Workshop day, and next Friday I have another paper coming due.  So I have a week with no grading, then I've got paper two to pick up and organize and start on. 

This week, I had a short story come to mind.  I started fidgeting, just playing with words while I was waiting for the class platform to cycle (in vain, as it turned out--it never did work that night).  Started out by describing a match and what it's useful for in general terms, and then had a character butt in and assert "I ate them like candy." 

Um...what? 

I gotta know more.

Four thousand words, and that makes three stories that don't fit anything or anywhere else.  I'm thinking about just collecting those and popping them out in a collection once I've got enough.  Right now, those three make up about 13,000 words, or so. 

At least that story is out of my head, and has let me go, now.  Next?  Revising Fire and Forge for a second draft. 

I'm hoping to have that done by the end of the month, and have it out to beta readers by the beginning of next.

Random Ramblings

The imp has started bringing home correctly done work, with stickers and good job written on them.  He's started coming home daily with green or better on his calendar (with one notable exception, where the teacher said he'd been very good all day, right up until the end when he seemed to start feeling bad, and told one of his classmates that they were annoying him--his allergy med had worn off, and it's ragweed season).  I'm very, very pleased with him.

His speech is better, from having spent days with other kids who speak more clearly.  I had the feeling that he'd simply mastered it to his satisfaction, and refused to try harder on it.  His teacher has noticed the same, but still feels (as do I) that he would benefit from one-on-one instruction and speech therapy.  He's already benefited from one on one help with fine motor control.  And our adorable little imp doesn't really need his Grotto grips anymore. 

Yesterday morning, dropping him off, his teacher described him as a wonderful little boy, very loving, very sweet, and very well behaved.  All I could think was, "Is she talking about my son?"  Apparently she was--our reinforcing of her authority has worked.  And worked well.  She actually thanked us for backing her up. 

And the pixie is sad because there's two mornings a week that she isn't going to school. 

Although...I got an email from her preschool teacher last week, reminding parents that children her age need 10-12 hours of sleep per night, and that preschool starts very early.  It bothers me that it was necessary for that email to go out.  Bedtimes are important.  For both my kids.  And it's one of the things I'm strictest about.  It...bothers me that parents apparently don't.  Either they don't know, or don't care.  I don't know which it is, but either bothers me. 

I've been working on getting their old frame jumper cleaned up.  It was a sixty dollar piece of equipment--and one of my colleagues, of whom I am quite fond, is due to have a baby girl in December, a few days after the pixie's birthday.

Shadow the cat has decided that the perfect sleepy spot is the little girl's high chair/booster seat (much like this one, but with the padding stripped out, and without the tray, which puts her at exactly the right height at the table), as of yesterday.  When the pixie was actually using it, the cat curled up in the jumper seat and slept there. 

Cricket has been very jumpy, lately.  And clingy.  She's too big to really snuggle down on my chest like she did when she was a kitten, so she plants her fuzzy butt on the arm of the chair where I sit, then lays on my arm, and puts her front end on my chest, with her head tucked under my chin.

Mom tells me that the dog isn't settling.  She randomly attacks the other dogs, but the way she's describing it makes me think alpha dog asserting her place.  Because both of my mom's dogs are solid beta dogs.

And neither my mother nor my sister are capable of asserting themselves as the dog's alphas.  And that...is something my dog is smart enough to see.

I planned a treat for my students with the due dates around the first paper.  Yesterday was a freewrite day...and Monday is Labor Day, which we all have off.  I told them that I count emailing a valid check in for where they're writing, and the ones with very long drives left Thursday night to spend the weekend at home.

And my office hours have been spent grading a colleague's online lit class, then writing.  Writing has gone...strangely.  I've been having real difficulties getting the chapters out, because I've felt pulled in a dozen directions at once.  But...I did get two chapters written.  So it is happening.  Just slower than I'd have liked.