The kids are here. KIDS are here! Kids are HERE. And we've been having fun. The grown-ups, I mean. Example: I spent about twenty minutes yesterday playing with Rachel and a Magic 8 Ball. It's those little occasions of one-on-one time that mean the most ( Read more... )

Turkey Day went swimmingly. It actually went far better than I might have expected. There were precisely the number of people who would comfortably fit in my house. The food was, quite predictably with Miss Java at the helm, amazing. We produced the projected offerings, plus some Maple Spiced Nuts and some devilled eggs. Nobody went hungry, ( Read more... )

We'll be brief: Hemingway once wrote a story in just six words ("For sale: baby shoes, never worn.") and is said to have called it his best work. So we asked sci-fi, fantasy, and horror writers from the realms of books, TV, movies, and games to take a shot themselves."Longed for him. Got him. Shit." - Margaret Atwood ( Read more... )

Selah just came in here and requested that we look at pictures of owls again. I think the little booger has realized I never turn away an intellectual inquiry. The surprising part is, she can identify five different types of owls by sight: barn, spotted, screech, great horned, and snowy. She also knows that 'owl' starts with 'o' and can spell it ( Read more... )

I was just looking at common owls of Southern California online, and having a didactic-yet-fun conversation with Selah about why each owl has the name that it does. "A barn owl is called a barn owl because they like to live in barns. Why do you suppose they call this owl the 'Great Horned Owl'?" And then we talked about Screech Owls and Spotted ( Read more... )

Occasionally I get a twinge of guilt for sending the girls on a wild goose chase all around the house looking for something that I know is in a drawer three feet away from my chair.

But not often.

Why am I still awake?!

DAMN YOU, PAT!

http://shygypsy.com/farm/p.cgi?state=

This evening the children and I are going on an overnight camping trip. It's my sister's birthday weekend and she made a reservation at a campground on the beach. We'll be meeting her there. Jimmy is jamming like usual, (he missed last week because of my being sick), then he'll come to the campsite afterward to sleep so he'll be there in the ( Read more... )

Jimmy went to jam tonight. The band has a gig tomorrow night, so they're going to get in as much practice as they can leading up to it. He was going to spend the night up there, but we couldn't find anyone to take the kids early enough for me to make it to work on time, so he's coming home and going back up tomorrow after he drops the kids off ( Read more... )