Grab a chair and a couple of root beers...

Okay, so... today was the usual trip the library so the kids could go to Animanga Club, and I could write. After I threw the Impossible Son in the shower (this is becoming a regular occurence, it seems, as the Boy Who Lived For Any Excuse To Get Wet has developed an aversion to showers), I went to get my stuff together. It was going along swimmingly, even tossing the Impossible Son back in because he "forgot" to wash his hair (HA!! A likely story!), until I was checking to make sure all three USB flash drives were in their pocket.

There were only two. And the one with the story I've been working on most lately was... gone.

I dumped everything out of the laptop bag and searched it. Nope.

I dumped out my purse, every pocket. Nope.

Okay, I thought. I took it out to work on the story a bit, so I must have left it on my desk. So, I looked.

Nope.

Trying not to hyperventilate at this point, I rushed out into the kitchen to start checking drawers, etc, and the Impertinent One asked me what was wrong. I told her and she helpfully lifted stuff to look under, checked the floor, and made good suggestions of where to look, considering that she knows how my mind works better than I do sometimes. Which is a scary, scary thing, my friends.

Anyhow, no dice here. I had a vague hope it might have fallen out in the car, but really, what I was leaning toward was the horrifying thought that... I might have dropped it... at the library.

*weeps*

We left for the library, and I held out hope that some excessively responsible person might have turned it in at the desk. Heh. What I really wanted to do was wail, weep, and, you know, be generally over-dramatic. I think I'm allowed, considering I was in a grumpy, cranky mood most of the weekend thanks to sleep deprivation brought on by the Impossible Son's inability to sleep when freaked out.

Don't EVEN get me started on that one.

Anyhow, we got to the library, and after the kids took off for Animanga Club, I went to the desk and asked if anyone had turned in a flash drive.

Someone had!

And it looked almost, but not quite, like mine. However, the librarians seem to all know now that I'm a writer and I'm working on something, so... she told me to take it anyway and see if my files were on it.

Fine. So I did, hoping I wasn't going to find some high school (or college) student's illicit porn stash.

Seriously, have you seen the porn high school and college age kids look at? It's sad. Really, really sad. They have no clue, really. They just don't. I don't want to look at their sad, sad porn stash, especially the version of porn that would be found in this extremely Baptist area.

*sigh*

So, anyway, I set my crappy laptop up and noticed schmutz all over the keyboard because somebody (looks accusingly at Impossible Son) was eating crackers (I'm generously hoping it was crackers) while watching Skyrim videos on YouTube. So, I opened this inside pocket that I keep a microfiber cloth, and nothing else, in. It's black, and when I shook it out... guess what fell out of it?

Yes! It was my flash drive!!

Y'all have no idea how hard it was to not do a whooping Happy Dance right there in the middle of the library!! Imminent Mental Breakdown AVERTED!!! YAY!!!!

It was awesome, and I was a very happy woman, and I'm sure the Husbandly One was very happy, too, as this means no copiously weeping Auntie who needs to be plied with copious amounts of chocolate heretofore unheard of, amounts that would put an entire platoon of female Marines in a coma for at least six months.

That's a lot of chocolate.

I have a lot of admiration for Marines, by the way. Just sayin'.

Anyhow, after I finish this post, I'm going to back up my novel... er... I mean... story on the desktop, and on the other extra drive. Just in case. Because, you know, stuff happens.

*sigh*

You know, after watching this... I feel better...

Wow, has this year flown by or what?

It's been pretty cool having the Husbandly One home, and we've gotten a lot done over his vacation. We've rearranged the living room, and bought a shelving unit to go around the television that makes us feel more like grownups and less like college students making do with whatever they can find in garage sales and on curbs. Heh. What's nice about it is we've finally managed to corral the hordes of books, dvds, and games that seemed to be continually scattered around the living room with no set place to keep them, and what we did have was inadequate in the extreme.

It was also a good excuse to purge those movies and games nobody watches or plays.

Now if we can just figure out how to arrange the couches so that we can watch tv/play games without getting cricks in our necks, or cutting off the ability to walk straight from the front door to the kitchen, something of vital importance when one's arms are full of groceries. Normally, when we have a movie we want to watch, we just pull the big couch around and pile up on it and push it back to the wall when the movie is over. But sometimes, that's a pain in the neck.

We've also tossed out/gotten rid of things in the kitchens that were cluttering up the counters, and I did a major cleanout/reorganization of the cabinets last night. That was both awesome and terrifying. Awesome, because it felt good to see those shelves neatened up and with so much more room on them because of the stuff I threw out. Terrifying, because we had stuff in there from when we were first married, I kid you not! In fact, some of it was older than our marriage, stuff from my great-aunt's house that somehow just kept getting shoved in boxes and moved with us over the years. I mean, seriously, I found a bottle of Karo syrup that had to be nearly thirty years old!! We never use Karo syrup!! And I found the source of the odd little moths we keep finding fluttering around the house. It was in a canister of ancient anise seeds my great aunt must have bought years ago that was more caterpillar husks than it was seeds!! There was also a jar of rancid ground nutmeg that had ... fermented and smelled... eurgh!!! I mean, why was I keeping this stuff? WHY??

I think the last time I was that horrified, I was cleaning out the cabinets in my great aunt's house and found two cases full of vials of sheep's placenta that my great aunt had apparently been using to keep her skin soft and wrinkle free. One case had been half used, but she had economically put the empty vials back in place. I'd been finding those odd little glass vials all over the place and had been greatly mystified by them up until that point. YUCK!! I'd opened one and it smelled horrible, and I thought, well, that explains why she smelled the way she did.

*shudder*

So, it was wonderful to get rid of all of the out-dated stuff, the inexplicable stuff, and the just plain gross stuff.

Still have some stuff left to do, but I think we can tackle most of that on the weekends coming up. Definitely need to clear off the disaster area that is my computer desk. It's become it's own gravitational anomaly, I swear. Miss Impossible puts all her artwork on my desk, both kids put important papers there, the Husbandly One deposits things there, and of course, so do I, and right now, it's a jumbled mess. It's like a hoarder's house... just on a desk. Empty picture frames, drawings, my sketchbook, hand lotion, lens filters, various articles of clothing, packages, papers, papers, photos, more papers, drawings, pencils, pens, more papers, a POS camera, bottles, earrings, even more papers, boxes, books, more books, a few dvds, hats, even more books... I ought to take a panoramic shot of my desk just so y'all can see.

On second thought, I might be too embarrassed for y'all to see my desk.

Oh, what the hell... here...



Sad, isn't it?

*sigh*

I'm sure the mess is contributing to my writing issues. Yes, I'm still having writing issues. And let me tell you, it sucks. It sucks big time. I mean, I'm writing, I am, just... not anything I can post, really. My head is still crammed full of ideas that are literally just... screaming to get out. And... I just can't. I'm blocked, and it's frustrating. It's been, what, two years now?

And as I've mentioned before, I know what one of the principal causes is (not my desk), and I'm still having trouble moving beyond it. Because the doubts that were seeded have just... overgrown. I guess it's time for a huge mental weeding or something. I know I can write, and I know I'm pretty damn good at it. I even know what I'm good at writing, and you know what? The world has already had one Erma Bombeck, it doesn't need another, and I'm not her, anyway, so... no, I won't be writing that. I have my blog for humor writing, and that's just fine with me.

I mean, come on, I'm even having writer's block where my goddamned blog is concerned, let's not make it worse, all right?

So... mental weeding, and... mental floss, whatever it takes. But dammit, I need to write because it hurts not to!!

So... if I'm going to have any sort of list resembling a vague outline of New Year's Resolutions, this is what it would look like:

1.) Clean off toxic waste dump disaster area known as "desk" and create an art dump for the daughter.

2.) Write, dammit.

3.) Write more, dammit.

4.) Write and get paid for it, dammit!!!

There. I feel better now!

I want to thank everyone for wishing the Husbandly One and I a happy anniversary! And I wish to thank kathrynthegr8 for the snowman cookie!! Hee!!

The kids and THO are on Christmas break, which means we've been busy, busy, busy pretty much since Saturday! We've mostly finished up Christmas shopping (most of our shopping for the kids was done online) and have bought and assembled a new shelving unit for the living room that will help corral the DVD's and games that were threatening to take over the entire house. Not to mention make us feel a little bit more like grownups and not so much like college students only pretending to be grownups!

Now we just need to replace the aging, wheezing, nearly dying refrigerator, and we'll be good!

That and catch up on sleep.

I'm enjoying having THO home, and it's going to be difficult when he goes back to work. Of course, it's throwing me off my schedule, but you know what? I don't mind it one bit. Because I really like having him around. It's like having my own personal man-candy wandering around the house... wait a minute... he is my own personal man-candy...

*dies laughing*

Okay, now y'all know exactly where my mind is, don't you?

We made the decision not to try to drive in to Houston on Christmas day this year. As much as I love my mom and would like to see my family, the truth is we've gotten used to having our own tradition of watching the kids open their presents and having a sort of lazy day at home, thanks to freezes and weather that made driving not so great an option. And you know, we're always so sleep deprived on Christmas day, thanks to Santa's elves waking us up at ungodly hours of the night to tell us Santa hit a whiteout in Omaha, or NORAD decided to scramble fighters because they thought Santa's sleigh was a bogey coming in to bomb New York and thus threw him off his schedule. So the elves wake us up, because Santa's dropping the presents off and WE have to set them up, because he has to hit New Mexico before 3:30 a.m. or he'll be late... yeah, I hate that.

Seems like that's been happening more and more often, lately.

Those elves have damn hard, knobby fingers, too. And they leave wet spots in the carpet from the melting snow. Damn it.

Anyhow, we're pretty sleep deprived, between that and the kids getting us up way before we're ready to get up, and making the three hour drive into Houston, staying for two or three, then the three hour drive back just... doesn't look so attractive, know what I mean?

We'll go sometime next week. I hope.

*sigh*

In the meantime, we have our own thing, and... I'm pretty darn okay with it. Just so long as we get the tree up between now and Christmas!

Don't. Even. Ask.

So, today we have a bit more shopping to do, and then we're done! And I need to do a bit of wrapping, and figure out what to get the Tall Blonde as thanks for taking me out for a girl's afternoon out and getting my hair cut as my Christmas present from HER, and... man, I am so stumped!!

Chocolate. Can't go wrong with chocolate, right? Lots and lots.

I'll figure it out. Hopefully sometime BEFORE Christmas. Which is... in two days.

*head-desk*

Okay, time for me to get up and get busy! Happy Holidays to you all if I don't get to post again!

So... it's been awhile, hasn't it?

Part of that's been because we had the Stomach Virus from Hell, which was possibly a norovirus. Well, the Husbandly One got it on a Wednesday night, threw up and had... um... well, let's just say he drove the porcelain bus, too. Yay. He had me worried to the point of hovering.

I don't hover. Unless someone is really sick.

He got better Thursday afternoon, which was a good thing, because that's the day the school didn't call me when the Impossible Son had been attacked at school.

*sigh*

By Friday, I had a meeting with the principal, informing her in no uncertain terms that she would be seeing both myself and the Husbandly One for a meeting, it was not going to be postponed to a more convenient time because as far as we were concerned, since she and her staff dropped the ball, her convenience was irrelevant to the situation.

I will say this about the Impossible Son's principal. Confronting her is like bashing yourself into a brick wall surrounded by fluffy pink blondeness. Seriously. First, she tried to blame the lack of calling on the counselor. "I told her to do it immediately," Mrs. K. said. "She knew she was supposed to inform you first thing!"

"Except she was in the office with you, because according to your own words, the student was out of control."

"Well, yes, but she should have called you the minute she left my office, and I reprimanded her for it, telling her that her priority is always to inform the parents..."

"Mrs. L. has always called me when there is a problem," I said firmly. "That has never been a problem for us before."

Yeah, that kind of threw her.

And... she tried to turn the Impossible Son's esteem issues back on us. Ohhhh, don't even go there! Don't... even.

We announced our intention to transfer Mr. Impossible, and THO tried to couch it diplomatically, saying that sometimes, just changing an environment can be good (he's had personal experience with that), and of course, she tried to discourage us because they really, really don't want to lose the Impossible Son from that particular school, which is the "flagship" of the district.

*insert eyeroll here*

And finding out what measures they were taking, in the meantime, to protect our son was like... pulling hen's teeth. She kept citing privacy laws to us and I finally snapped and said, "Look, I just want to know if my son is going to be safe! I want to know what guarantee there is that this won't happen again. I want to know what you are doing to make sure he's safe! Are you moving this kid to another class? Are you separating him out and putting him in in-school suspension? Are you sending him to the alternate school? Are you fitting him with a shock collar? What??"

I mean, she wouldn't even tell me if this kid was bigger than Mr. Impossible!!

I found out later through a friend who works at Mr. Impossible's school that Lug has a "shadow." A teacher who is assigned specifically to him who is with him at all times, and that he isn't allowed to come into contact with the other children.

It was a most unsatisfactory meeting on all sides.

So, THO and I made an appointment to talk to the principal of the school across the street from our backyard. She was pleasant and calm, asking for our son's name and taking notes when we told her why we were there and wanted to transfer him. Then she dropped the bomb.

It seems that the fifth grade class in our district is the largest ever, and the fifth grade classes at all four elementary schools in our town are literally jam-packed to the gills. In fact, the class at the Impossible Son's school is the largest in the district, to the point that they had to hire a fifth teacher just to handle the overload.

I already knew this. It started in second grade, when they had to hire a fifth teacher (there are normally four teachers at each grade level at his school) and let her go at the end of the year, then hired a fifth 3rd grade teacher the next year... and let her go, and so on and so forth. I just didn't realize it was district wide.

Anyhow, the principal, Mrs. O. told us she would give us a call after reviewing the situation with the fifth grade teachers at her school, and as soon as there was an opening.

That was Friday. That night, the Impossible Son got the stomach bug, and threw up continuously for several hours. He wanted his Papa with him, so THO stayed up with him while I went to grab some sleep, only to be shaken awake at 2 a.m. "We need to take Mr. Impossible to ER," THO said. "He's dehydrated."

So, I got up, got dressed, woke up the Impertinent One, grabbed a blanket, a towel, and a bowl, and drove to San Marcos and the ER there. That's when we found out it was possibly norovirus, and that we weren't the only ones. There were a lot of people with the same thing there.

Fun, fun, fun.

The Impertinent One, in the meantime, trying to stay awake and to not starve, raided the vending machines and consumed Dr. Pepper, a slice of carrot cake, a Coke, and Doritos. This... made her incredibly hyper and it was exhausting just to look at her. When we got home, the Impossible Son crashed on one couch, THO passed out in our bed, and I went and curled up in the Impertinent One's bed.

I was too tired to process that my teenage daughter was hyper and had nothing to do!!

When I eventually woke up several hours later, I staggered into the dining room and stopped, frowning. Something was missing. The feeling increased as I moved through the kitchen, and then into the living room.

She had cleaned the dining room, the kitchen, and the living room. She did dishes and several loads of laundry and... and... then she... she...

...FOLDED IT ALL AND PUT IT AWAY!!!!

I am still gobsmacked. Still.

Needless to say, our weekend was pretty mellow after that.

Well, Monday, Mrs. O. called and informed me that she had talked to Mrs. K., who had assured her that measures were in place to protect my son. And Mrs. O. was hesitant to transfer my son, but not because of Mrs. K's assurances. She said, "The thing is, we have a group of boys in our fifth grade classes and there is a lot of... ahem... drama going on with them. Normally, this is a problem with the girls, but this year, for some odd reason, it's the boys. And I'm really concerned that if we transfer your son here, we will be taking him from one ... dramatic environment... and dropping him smack-bang into the middle of another dramatic environment with the added bonus that he would be The New Kid. And Mrs. J.... that would be like tying meat around his neck and dropping him in a shark tank."

"I can see that," I said with a sigh, and I do. Great.

I haven't called the other elementary just down the street because that's the school we transferred Miss Impertinent away from when she was being bullied, and the same woman is still principal. She didn't protect Miss Priss, and I don't have a lot of confidence in her protecting Mr. Impossible.

*sigh*

That night, the Impertinent Daughter had a choir concert at the school, and I... wasn't feeling so good. But I went, leaving THO with the Impossible Son, and sat through the junior high choir's unenthusiastic and uninspired droning (no, you can't possibly call that singing) and was relieved when it was the high school choir's turn, because they actually can and do sing, and... drove home after, hoping the rock in my stomach would go away.

Yeah, I spent the night throwing up and ... driving the porcelain bus. Let's put it this way, THO didn't change out of his work clothes until the next afternoon.

So far, the Impertinent One has avoided it. *knocks frantically on wood* This stomach virus is ripping its way through town, and I just hope it doesn't come back for a second visit because... eurgh!!

And then this week, I had a checkup with the endocrinologist. During my last appointment, there was concern that the Lump on my thyroid seemed to be growing, so I was scheduled for an ultrasound, which ended up being rescheduled several times due to circumstances beyond my control (i.e. sick kids). Well, I finally got it done, and when the doctor saw me, he had a pleased smile on his face. The Lump has apparently been reabsorbed, and while they are going to be keeping close tabs on me (I go back in December), they're pretty certain this is just one more part of having Hashimoto's thyroiditis (anybody know Hashimoto? I'm sure he's missing his thyroiditis, and I really wouldn't mind giving it back...).

So... there we are, all caught up. And now, it's time for me to pick the Impossible Son up from school!

In a few minutes, I will leave to run a couple of errands, one of which will be to go to the local theatre to pick up tickets for tonight's midnight showing of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Pt 2."

As my daughter said this morning, sitting on my bed in shock, "I'm so excited to see it, and yet I'm not because... I'm not ready for it to be over."

We've been following Harry Potter's adventures since she was very, very small. We've laid on the floor with a box of crayons and a huge 18"x 24" tablet of paper in front of us, and drawn Harry, Ron, and Hermione, Hagrid, the blue Ford Anglia flying through the air, Fluffy the three-headed dog, and Professor Dumbledore with pointy toed boots and sparkly purple robes, because Miss Impertinence had gotten glitter sparkle crayons from Aunt Blonde Sister and thought they'd be perfect. We've sewn felt people and made Harry, Snuffles, and Mrs. Weasley with wild curly red hair. We've experimented with making Butterbeer, some of which were awful, and some which were... okay. And when the Impossible Son was born, we tugged him into it, too. We've dressed him up as Harry, and dressed Miss Impertinent as Hermione, and as Luna. We've had Harry Potter birthday cakes and spell battles. We've made up ridiculous spells for very silly things, and we've made a game of looking around when we're in public and spotting people we either think look like the characters in the books, or that we think are secretly witches and wizards slumming it with the Muggles.

In other words, we took the world of Harry Potter and ran with it. And it's been fun!

But... it's sad to see the last movie. Because, according to J. K. Rowling, that's it, there is no more. One can hope she will eventually come around to writing about the next generation of wizards and witches and the challenges they will face, but... that day may be long in coming, or may never come at all.

Still, I'll be leaving to get the tickets. And I'll probably pick up a box of tissues to take with us because... I have a feeling we'll need it.

Well, what a very intense two weeks it's been! Let's see... the Impertinent Daughter got cleated in the ankle during a game four weeks ago, and has never gotten better, despite rest (okay, as much rest as you can force on an active 14 year old), ice, and ibuprofen. So, I took her to our regular doctor, who immediately benched her and after reviewing x-rays, determined that while there were no stress fractures, she needed to see an orthopedic specialist.

In the meantime, soccer season opened for the recreation league on Saturday, so the Impossible Son had his first game. And it was cold, extremely windy, and a brief shower. Which meant we were cold, wet, and miserable at first. It only rained for maybe 8 minutes, but it managed to soak me from the knees down, and the wind blew it up under the hem of my jeans and completely soaked the ankles of my wool socks, which then seeped down into my shoes. Mr. Impossible was soaked through to his Under Armour cold gear and was shivering, even after I shoved his hoodie on him, yes, I literally shoved it on him because he didn't want to wear it!. The Husbandly One, being such a Killer Macho Dude, chose to acknowledge that it was chilly by wearing jeans instead of shorts, and only wore his light coach's shirt instead of putting on a jacket. Needless to say, he spent a great deal of time either rubbing his hands together, shoving them into his pockets while hunching, or shivering.

*insert eye-roll here*

Mr. Impossible started off as a forward, but seemed to slow down more and more as the first half went on. And the kid the coach had chosen to play goalie had never played it before and had all the attention span of a gnat, so he only noticed a ball coming into the goalbox after it got shot in. So, 5 goals later, she switched out GnatMan with Mr. Impossible.

Of course, after the game, we found out why he wasn't playing like himself. He changed clothes, curled up on the couch to play his DS, then came to me an hour later saying, "Mom, I have a headache." The next thing we knew, he was hotter than a baked potato. I stuck a thermometer in him and whoa, it was 102 F!!!

An hour after that, I was peering into his throat and wondering just how the hell he was breathing, because his tonsils were so swollen, they were almost touching! And everything in there was bright red! Hello, Benadryl!! I was pretty sure at that point our old friend Steve, the Strep Bug, had made yet another visit to our home.

So, Monday rolls around. Monday was the day the Impertinent One was supposed to go to the orthopedic doctor. So, bright and early, I started calling our regular doctor to get Mr. Impossible in because, yes, still sick, with the added attraction of a lovely bumpy rash covering his stomach, groin, and back. WOO-HOO!!!

They couldn't get him in until 1:30.

Miss Priss had an appointment in San Marcos at 3.

Oh, yeah, THAT was fun!

Dose Impossible with Benadryl for itching, run to freshman campus to pick up Impertinent, take both to Dr. W. here in town. Sit in the waiting room, twitching and looking at time, thinking, "I have to be out of here at least by 2:30 to be even close to not being late." Finally get in, they swab his throat, and he's so positive for strep, the tester starts changing the second they put the swab in the medium. So, I called the ortho, Dr. S, told him what was going on and said, "Okay, so... do I bring her in with Impossible in tow, or do we cancel and make another appointment?"

I hear a brief flurry of conversation in the background, and then he says, "Bring her in, but your son needs to have a mask on, and if you've got hand cleaner, use it!"

So that meant a swing by the pharmacy to pick up a small package of masks, and turn in Impossible's prescription, and I love my pharmacy, because they let me grab what I needed and not pay for it until I was back in town.

Dr. S, after an extremely paranoid look at my son, poked and prodded Impertinent's ankle and peered at the x-rays, and confirmed no breaks, no stress fractures... it was a badly sprained ankle that hadn't been allowed to heal, and he gave her a very stern look at that. She's off athletics for four weeks, and she's to go for physical therapy during that time. Seems the ligaments and tendons in her ankle are loose and need to be built back up and if she doesn't do it now, she'll be chronically prone to injuries in that ankle.

*sigh*

When we finally got home, I was ready to collapse. Two nights of little to no sleep, and then all of that? Yeah, I was wiped!

The Impossible Son went back to school today, and I'm hoping like heck the rash he has now is still from strep, and not because he's developed an allergy to the antibiotic he's on. And I'm hoping like heck I didn't get it from him, because I've got a fever and I haven't had a chance to buy new toothbrushes yet.

Oh, and the high school soccer team had their last game last night, which Miss Impertinent could not play in, and it was killing her to have to sit on the bench and have the coach turn to her, about to put her in, and remember that she couldn't play... she was not a happy camper when she came home after.

I need to call the therapy center today to set her up and get her started. And email her coach again about starting her on Pilates.

I think I'll be incredibly stubborn and just refuse to get sick. That'll work, right?

*falls face-first into bed*

Okay, so... maybe shouting myself hoarse through two games in an open air stadium while the temperature drops into the forties and only wearing a hoodie because I left my jacket in the car wasn't the smartest thing I could have done.

Lesson learned? Carry the damn jacket and make the Impossible Son carry the blankets.

Oh, and next time I drive by the farmer's stand, buy the big jar of local honey.

I spent the weekend curled up in bed on the Husbandly One's orders, because I woke up Saturday morning with no voice and a nasty, rattling cough. Yeah, I probably had the bug already, and Friday night just made it worse. Fortunately, THO didn't have his usual trouble keeping me in bed because keiramarcos had a lovely new fic up, and it pretty much kept me engrossed for the entire weekend.

When I finished that, there was Netflix and movies.

And when I get back from seeing the doctor, there will probably be more movies and such until it's time to pick up the kids.

I hate being sick. Of course, this is a good opportunity to do things like finishing up crochet projects I've been putting off, or making more jewelry to sell, or ... writing.

*sigh*

Or I could read that book about Julia Child and Avis DeVoto I'd started reading Saturday, but had to quit because they mentioned food and Saturday, me and food... no, not so much.

Did I already warn you guys about the ultimate nastiness of chicken chili? Smells great, but looks like barf. Avoid at all costs. Do. Not. Go. There.

Anyhow, hopefully, I'll be well in time to go sit in the cold and wet on Friday (since tomorrow's game has been canceled, due to the other school's team not having enough players to make up a junior varsity and varsity team, long story) where the long range forecast says, "It ain't getting out of the forties all day plus SNOW FLURRIES, folks!"

YAYS!!

Texas, folks. This is Texas. Where the weather can't make up its mind. Ya-hooo.

*sigh*

Someone who had "friended" me recently just un-friended me this morning.

I didn't add him or her back, mainly because when I checked his/her LJ, it was filled with photos, some interesting, some not, and on every entry it said, "If you like my photos and you wish to give present for me, you can send some LJ Tokens to me from..." and then had a link the page where you can gift someone with LJ Tokens.

Um... sorry, no. Don't think so. Beside the fact that we had nothing in our interests in common, this... "begging" really annoyed the crap out of me. Granted, this person was posting photos as an... exchange of sorts. Tokens for photos, but... no. Sorry, just... no.

I'm glad they bailed. I was going to give it another week and ban them anyway. Same with someone who added me on Flickr. Not that I don't share that person's interests, but... my kids like to look at my Flickr page, and like to look at the photos my contacts put up (it is so COOL to see what Wil Wheaton posts, I mean... the guy just bought bagfuls and bagfuls of gaming dice at a convention and posted photos of them. TOO COOL!!). I'm not so sure my kids need to see photos of saggy man tits wrapped up in rope, know what I mean?

Heck, I'm not so sure I need to see saggy man tits wrapped up in rope!!

*is squicked*

Why does this make me suddenly want to draw naked Filch tied up shibari style...?

*is doubly squicked*

Okay, I need to head out for my morning walk, before I end up getting back in bed and hiding under the covers!!

Last year at this time, it was very very hot, and very very dry. The temperatures were in the triple digits, our garden was slowly burning up, and the crops in the fields around town were drying up. The ground was so dry, it was driving the temperatures up, and we were in the epicenter of a catastrophic two year drought.

Today, it is pouring down rain. We have a 70 % chance of rain and thunderstorms, and have already had over three inches of rain. Though the Lower Colorado River Authority warns that we could be back in a mild drought by the middle of summer, right now, things are looking pretty good and very green!

What sort of changes has drought brought into our lives?

My kids have learned not to complain about rainy days. Rainy days are to be celebrated and enjoyed to the fullest! This includes rain dancing, breathless games of soccer or frisbee, running around in the rain and laughing, and then flopping down on the ground panting just to enjoy the feeling of rain pattering on our skin.

We're not doing that today, though, thanks to the thunder and lightning!

It's 8:50 a.m. here, but it's so dark, you'd think it was 5! Part of me wants to go back to bed, but my brain is in "awake" mode, so... *shrugs* So, instead, I went outside and laid out my rain necklace to charge. It was way overdue, poor thing, because instead of being cool and soothing to the touch, it was dry and almost hot! This is the first good thunderstorm we've had in ages, so I'll leave it out for a few hours and let it go. It was made by a dear friend many years ago, and I have kept it carefully in its little bag, only taking it out on special occasions. I like to look at the bag from time to time, because she put so much work into it and it's truly beautiful. Perhaps I'll take pictures of them later to show y'all.

As you can probably tell, I'm in one of my moods. Probably because I was a bit "writing deprived" yesterday. The Husbandly One killed the computer's mouse night before last out of frustration, because the thing was seriously on the fritz. It was a wired mouse, and the wiring had frayed where it connects to the mouse, and this made the use of it erratic at best. With no mouse, the Mac was useless, and though I have a laptop, I don't do any writing on it that I can't save to a USB drive (which are all full) because we take the laptop with us when we go on trips.

The kids kept me busy and distracted, but... oh, how I wanted to write!!

We now have a Magic Mouse, which happies me greatly! No more wire, no more struggling to keep the wire from getting caught in the tray or the keyboard shelf, or away from the cats, or the kids... I love my Magic Mouse!! Hee!!

That's all for now. I mean, it's been a busy few days, but for now, I want to sit back and contemplate the things I'm working on, and see about writing something I can post maybe later in the week. I also owe someone a drabble.

*picks up Coke and leans back to look out the window at the rain while pondering stories*