We attended the Japanese-themed MiNoHi event yesterday, and had a great time.

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PITTSBURGH -- A fast-moving line of severe thunderstorms moved through southwestern Pennsylvania early Wednesday evening with wind gusts in excess of 60 mph, leaving thousands without power.

WTAE Weather Watch 4 Chief Meteorologist Stephen Cropper reported that a wind gust of 92 mph -- a Category 1 hurricane strength wind -- was recorded Wednesday ( Read more... )

One of the ways you can tell my kids do not go to a public school is that the teachers are taking the middle schoolers to a nearby sports bar for lunch today, so they can watch the inauguration ceremony on a big screen TV.

Presumably they will not be drinking beer.

In other news, I stole this from foxxydancr  because I couldn't resist. Apologies to the handful ( Read more... )

Being off school for MLK Day, my 9-year-old is playing a Star Wars-based computer game while I am working, sitting at the desk across from him. Out of the blue, he asks me "What happened on Kashyyyk during the Galactic Civil War?"

Huh? WTF is he talking about?

But of course, since I am the Mom, and I did watch those movies once or twice (as opposed ( Read more... )

Good thing I worked from home today. At 10:00 I got a call from Robert's teacher. There was a water main break and they were sending the kids home from school. Fortunately the bus company agreed to go get him. Even if they had not, his teacher, who lives one exit south of us off the highway, offered to bring Robert to his house so I wouldn't have ( Read more... )

The radio says it's 8 degrees this morning. The thermometer on my deck says 12, but of course it's a bit sheltered from the elements under the eaves of the house. Either way, that's a mite cold ( Read more... )

So, even though I promised my kids and sweetie the rest of the week "off" after the New Year's Day party, we still managed to accomplish the following:

• Watched Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull on DVD with the kids (thanks, almondroy , we'll return it along with WallE next time we see you)
• My sweetie installed the programmable thermostat at the ( Read more... )

Well, much was accomplished this weekend, though much remains to be done.

( Who helped and what we accomplished )

Like most everyone else, I am home from Pennsic and happy but tired.

At this Pennsic our camp had many anxious moments, the worst of which was when
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Work continues to be crazy. Been putting in lots of overtime (for me, though it pales compared to some of my friends, but then they don't have kids to drive to and from summer camp, feed and chivvy through chores and bed time etc.). This has eaten into my time to work on the old house, and forget about any Pennsic prep or additonal unpacking at the ( Read more... )