RATS

I thought I'd found the scanner cord, but it was a mirage. *sigh* I'll keep looking. Maybe I can take a picture of the drawings? Will that work w/ a cheapo digital camera?

Today was, in general, a test of my ability to be a kind human under pressure. I failed miserably for the majority of the day, finally gaining some redemption this evening. I don't think it was enough. Tomorrow should be better. I hope so.

The vacuum cleaner died today- twice. It's now been thoroughly repaired and works wonderfully. Then the carpet cleaner died. Twice. It's still laying dead on the floor, its innerds strewn mysteriously around the living room. *sigh* I don't know what happened to it. I don't think I can repair that one. And so, we have a partially cleaned, partially just wet living room right now. Ewww.

We finished The Tale of Despereaux. It never got any better. I don't even feel better for having finished it. The boys quit caring about the characters about halfway through. That didn't do much to spark the fires.

I finished Cat's Cradle. That was worth reading, although I must say that I'm glad I did not read it as a teenager. Considering I considered myself to be quite the existentialist at one point, Bokononism would have been very appealing when I was, say, 17. Scary thought. Reading it at this point, however, was thoroughly enjoyable.

Spent the better part of the evening cleaning. The downstairs is relatively decluttered (four trash bags later...) and the bookshelves are once again returned to their utilitarian and anally organized structure. *happy sigh* We are looking forward to this coming week. Let me rephrase that, I am looking forward to this coming week, at any rate. The rest of them just have to come along, willingly or not. We'll see how it goes.

John built a "launcher" for his helicopter toy today. It's very cool. He used a long stick and tied a clothes pin to it at the bottom. The rubber band is at the top. Clip the 'copter to the pin, pull the band down, release, and WOOHOO- airborne! Plus, since the stick is straight up, the helicopter comes back down relatively nearby. Less shaking the trees to rescue it.

James continued his crafty streak today by making paper dolls. He's never seen paper dolls, but he made them up and cut them out. They're very neat. They even have voice bubbles over their heads. The Mommy says, "I love you, you're a great kid." The James says, "You're a nice Mom. I love you, too." And their legs are split, so they can walk! Like I said, very neat.

One full day tick-free boys, but talk about psychological warfare. Every stray hair that falls across my arm, everything that bumps against my skin... *shudder* I've been a walking mass of goosebumps all day.

We also went to look at a house today. It's on a lovely acre. The house needs about $30K in work done to it, but it may be do-able, certain requirements all told. The neighbors seem nice. It's *relatively* in our price range. But then, getting back into the car, I knocked not one, but two ticks off me! BAECK!!! If y'all have watched many Steve Martin movies, then you can imagine the dance I did. We hauled the boys out and did a thorough tick-check on them, too. Yuck.

Here's to a twitch-free week!
Dy