Tornadoes

Wow--it's been quite a day in the south and midwest--I'm rooting for everyone out there, and hoping it all gets better, but what a frightening day!

(btw--Twitter is a trip on a day like today--people from all over the country are in a big, group convo, and when the weather gets weird, you suddenly KNOW SOMEONE who is ducking in their bathroom for a tornado warning. It's like Fear Inc. on the Twitter board--and also sort of like Prayer Inc. too, because EVERYONE is sending out good wishes!)

Now, I know I promised pictures of the kids on Easter--and Mate took some really good ones, swear!--but he put them in one of those slide show formats and it doesn't download individual pictures. I know I sent the slideshow to some of you, but if you didn't get it and you want to see my kids on Easter, gimme a holler off line, and I'll hook you up!

Okay--I have a confession to make. I had salacious thoughts for someone who was not Mate. Now, don't get all upset--it was a complete accident. A package arrived at my doorstep Monday night, a beYOOtiful amazon.com package, with THE best gift inside, and in spite of being warned by the giver (*eeeeee* Mary who rocks!!!) that the package was coming, my first thought when I opened the box and saw the shiatsu foot massager inside was "Oooooh... someone's gonna get lucky tonight!" Mary completely understood, but when Mate saw the foot massager, I think he was wondering what he was going to have to do to top that! I told him he didn't have to. His father sent us a carton of frozen meat that day--since it was obvious I'd married a man who could provide frozen meat, he didn't have to compete with a foot massager for attention. I don't know if he was flattered or not.

And in other news? Well, uhm, Squish has actually been getting on my last frickin' nerve--but she still has shining moments of cuteness. Example?

Her sister was helping her with her dance steps.

"Squish, what's a passe de deux?"

To which Squish answered hopefully, "Spaghetti with meat?"

Chicken and I laughed heartily--and then wished we'd asked her to plan dinner. (Taco Bell was actually what was on the menu. Alas, no spaghetti with meat!)

So that was cute. But the three hours she keeps demanding to sit on our laps? No. Not cute. We don't mind spending time with her--but one of the things she's got to learn is a little bit of independence. I know it saved MY sanity as a kid--and it's a self-defense mechanism that has helped ALL my kids. Unfortunately, she's spoiled rotten-- she doesn't NEED to be by herself because someone will ALWAYS play with her. It's rough being cute and charming and articulate and the youngest of four kids trained to bow down to the baby god, isn't it?

But the good news is that my neighbor is feeling MUCH better and actually came over to my house and asked if I would want to bring Squish over twice a week again. I was overjoyed. Oh boy oh boy oh boy--TIME TO WRITE that I don't have to feel guilty about! yeee! I might actually get housework done if I'm not fighting Squish for every moment spent in front of the keyboard.

And Zoomboy read to me about frogs today. That's not really so exciting, but you have to HEAR him do it. I'm surprised the doc didn't get some OCD diagnostic tests for him, because GEEZ is his explicit attention to enunciative detail frightening. He hammers EVERY WORD of what he's telling you, just like it was a school presentation. He really is an odd duck, but he's MY odd duck, so, of course, I'm assuming he's perfection.

And really, that's about all! My NEXT post I'll be announcing the winner for Locker Room-- a LOT of people have entered--both here and on the goodreads.com feed, and I'm very flattered. I just printed out "I Love You, Asshole" for the nice lady who won the last contest--it should go out this week! (Okay--late, way late, I know--once again, I SO did not expect it to be published!)

And that's about it--or about all I've got while I'm still awake. I must away--early mornings awake!

Ciaou!

(Oh yeah-- the picture? I was fishing around on Bing images, and there were all these totally charming covers for these regency era e-books. I snagged one, because they're awesome, or at least I thought so!)