My head is buzzing with numbers, having set out to clarify for Gillian the base 12 explanation in the "Little Twelvetoes" video from Schoolhouse Rock. This segued into an explanation of binary, took a slight detour into how a symbolic representation of a thing (e.g. written numbers and letters) is not the thing itself, and then wound up with a ( Read more... )

Though my schedule is tight right now, I made time today to take my yearly Christmas picture of the kids so I can make my holiday cards. Since we had to go to Winter Garden for Gillian’s voice lesson, we took the pictures there, around the historical museum. They have a decommissioned caboose, tractors, and a fire truck that make nice props/ ( Read more... )

This morning, motivated by the inestimable copperbadge's awesome writeup project for all of Doctor Who ever -- specifically, the the twelfth season, with a brand new Tom Baker -- I started to watch "Robot" on YouTube. My kids showed an interest, and that is how I came to have the pleasure of watching "my" Doctor with my children for the first time ( Read more... )

Elliot is still in school, so Gillian and I spent her first day of summer vacation sharing some Mommy-Gilly time. First we dropped off her brother, and she got to say hi to some of her preschool teachers, who were appropriately admiring and nostalgic. The we headed downtown to the main library ( Read more... )

Gillian was cranky and tired this afternoon, and needed to eat about a half hour sooner than we fed her. When she tried to serve me some wooden play food and it kept rolling off the tray, she completely unraveled. I tried to convince her to use a plate with edges that would prevent the food from falling off, but she would have none of it. She sat ( Read more... )

7:01 am

"Maaammaaaaa!!"

8:01

The arrival of the traditional Krispy Kremes, with attendant fanfare. (I've spent a week being deliberately obtuse while rt_hon_rackman and my non-secret-keeping daughter made plans for decorations ( Read more... )

A jumble from the past few weeks.

I have been gardening more this spring than I have in the past three years. It feels really good to see beautiful plants and flowers out my window, especially the Florida native species I'm trying. The Virginia Willow or Sweetspire is a fantastic new addition, with its red branches and spires of small white ( Read more... )

rt_hon-rackman just took Gillian to her first dance, a father-daughter dance at her school. Watching the two of them depart, all dolled up, was ununtterably sweet.

We now have a new front door, with an extra deadbolt built in to the frame. We have painted it so our neighborhood SS won't send us a nasty note. While the contractor installed the door, our kids and their friends danced on the old one as it lay on the lawn. The door is dead, long live the door ( Read more... )

You know what's not fun? Straightening your underwear drawer after someone has rummaged through it. You know what else? Finding out that your wedding band is gone. I tend to think of my engagement ring as my wedding ring, because my actual wedding ring is too big for me so I rarely wear it. But that doesn't mean I don't want it anymore ( Read more... )