Off to Kindy!

Kira went to her first day of Kindergarten yesterday. I really thought I'd collapse in a heap of tears, but all the psyching myself up for it seemed to work. I didn't really fall apart till I went to Starbucks afterwards and felt sad that I didn't have my little coffee buddy with me. ;0 And she cried when she heard that I went to Starbucks without her and made me promise her I'd never do that again....um.... sure. ;)

First let's reminisce for a minute:

This is a rare picture of a sleeping Kira. Don't be fooled - she didn't do much of this. And now...

We just arrived in the parking lot....

This would be right before she said "So, when are you going to leave?"

YAY! The first day is done!!!!

Happy Birthday Little G!!!

Little Miss Greta Giselle turned 1 this Labor Day weekend. Where in the world did the last year go? I know it sounds cliche, but I do think this is the fastest year of my life. Wasn't she just this big yesterday...

Apparently that was an entire year ago. Here are some pictures of Gigi's birthday:

Check it out - I baked a cake. I can't bake as a general rule, but managed to pull off a gluten free birthday cake...

And here is the birthday girl:

And one of her sister enjoying the party:

And all ready for bed after the big day!

Paging the tooth fairy...

My baby girl has her first loose tooth! Kindergarten and a loose tooth all in one week. WOW!!

Boxer of the Day - action shot!

Thursday's boxer of the day is a great advertisement for why I'll leave the ears alone. How cute are floppy ears!!!

The Crapometer is back!

I'm submitting my query and first page to Miss Snark's Crapometer tomorrow. She has a 12 hour window for accepting entries and then chooses her favorite 100 to filet on the blog. I'll let you know if mine's been chosen.

If not, I think I'll go ahead and submit to Evil Editor. I've held off on EE's services so far because I'm really not at the querying stage, but I the Crapometer only comes along every so often so I polished mine up and am putting it out there.

Wish me luck!

In other news...

The title of this local news story is Psycho Killer Racoons Terrorize Olympia.

I don't think it needs any more of a plug than that. Those first four words together in one sentence pretty much have me hooked!!

Thanks to my sister for the link. ;)

A very special Boxer of the Day

This is a very special boxer because it belongs to my Aunt. I haven't met this little sweetie in person (yet) but can't wait to!! How cute is that face?!

This particular color combo is called "Flashy" because of the "flashes" of white on her chest.

Cliches

Here are a couple of addictive web sites by defenders of words and their intended useage. If you ever bristle at an overused analogy or trite cliche - these are for you:

http://tommangan.net/banned/

http://www.newswriting.com/groaners.htm

Some of my favorite entries:

Motorists - Where have all the drivers gone? Don’t fall into the DMV Handbook trap.

Plunge, Plummet - Ever notice that nobody just falls anymore? Newton’s Law applies. No matter what word you use, you hit the ground just as hard, so keep it simple.

White Supremacist - Putting aside its obviously non-conversational tone, “white supremacist” sounds too lofty. It’s more than those lowlifes deserve. Most of them probably don’t even know what “supremacist” means. It’s also inherently racist. Somehow we never use “supremacist” without “white” before it. Violent radicals of different hues tend to be called “separatists”, as if no member of any non-white race would dare think in “supreme” terms.

Why We Fight

I just saw Why We Fight. It's terrifying. I saw Farenheit 9/11 and was able to dismiss a lot of it as Michael Moore being Michael Moore (I think he's pretty irresponsible with his facts in order to make his points). This movie isn't something you can dismiss.

What I found really troubling was how the private sector that manufactures weapons is so integrated with the government - now we have contractors doing the work of military - it's just peeling potoates and shining shoes now but it's a scary trend.

They also talk about how an aircraft carrier is sold. And did you know that a piece of the B-52 is built in every state in America so that if the government tries to discontinue these there will be outcry?

It's disturbing.

Here's a good sound bite "when war becomes this profitable, you're sure to see more of it."

I'm not saying there aren't just wars. I'm not saying that I wish Saddam were still in power - I think he was horrible - but the term "power corrupts" seems very apt after watching that film and it seems that the locus of power is in wealthy corporations more than anywhere else.

The Corporation is another good film talking about corporations being the new United Nations.

Comments welcome - I'd particularly like to know how some of you reconcile your feelings about any good outcomes from a war that may or may not be just. For example, I've heard people say that of course Saddam was bad and it's good that he's gone but that the war in Iraq was still unjust.

Things I'm mulling over these days...

Novel update

So, the word count meter hasn't moved in a few days. My characters ran off and did some things that weren't in the outline and I have to regain control. It's all good, but I hate to not see that meter moving forward. Stay tuned!

Monday's Boxers

So, no boxers over the weekend. I tried, but Blogger was having issues uploading photos, so I'll give you a twofer today. :) Needless to say, Boxers like to play with other boxers.

I'll just add that I took an unexpected detour on Sunday to Greenlake, aka "Dog Mecca" and I was treated with seeing two, yes TWO, boxers being walked right past me. They were identical brindles with white stripes down their noses and on their chests with floppy ears. Ahhhh....!!! Much like the fawn boxer in this photo, but brindle where this one is fawn.

Friday's Boxer of the Day

For today's Boxer of the Day we have this little beauty, a brindle flashy looking very inquisitive.

Notice the natural ears. Boxers have traditonally had their ears cropped so that they stand up straight. I just learned that this was because they were bred to hunt and hold wild boar. It was very likely that the boar could rip an ear, which would have been a very serious injury before 24 hour emergency vets. Now that they don't hunt, people are leaving their ears floppy which I love.

I hope you're all enjoying this new blog feature. The "find a boxer" quest continues. I've found 2 potential breeders in British Columbia and one right here near me. I'm creating my list of breeder questions and the investigation begins!!

Thursday's Boxer of the Day

This sweetie is a brindle boxer. It looks like she's waiting for her friends to come over and play. Don't you just want to give her a cuddle?!

Another party in the blog!!!!

Check out that word count, baby, I'm halfway done!

WOOO!!!

It's all downhill from here! :)

Just for fun, let's do a little word count recap. I picked the novel back up this year with 17,000 words done. I beat my head against the keyboard for the next 6 months and in mid-June had a whopping 21,000. Now, two months later, I'm at 45,000.

I think the lesson I can learn here is that as much as I hated taking the time to outline the book in June, it was clearly time well spent. It's about as much fun as coming up with a new system to do laundry or getting the baby to sleep in her own bed, but worth it. (Not that I've conquered those other two things...)

A note on white boxers

First, today's Boxer of the Day:

Seriously, how cute is that.

So the scoop on white boxers is this.

First of all they are not albinos - as you can see with this little beauty, they often have a spot here and there and certainly have pigmentation even without spots.

Second, they can't be shown. This is very similar to white German Shephards. The difference between the white boxer and the white shepherd is that Shepherds are truyly just a different color. Whites can be bred with whites, but are usually not bred with black and tans or other shepherd colors. They are almost a sub-bread with their own unique personality traits. (They tend to be more lively and willful. I can attest to this from personal experience.)

White boxers on the other hand are not bred to be white because they have a higher tendency toward deafness and blindness. I don't know if this was just bred in along with the color like the willfullness in the shepherds, but the incidence is high enough that it is considered irresponsible to breed specifically for the white color. That said, a boxer can be shown with up to 25% of white on it's body - breed two of those dogs together (they're called Flashy when they have white on them) and you're likely to get an all white boxers.

Sadly, these used to be euthenized (the horror), but now are more often sold to pet homes. So long as they are not born deaf or blind, their health is not compromised by their color in any way and they make fantastic pets.

Needless to say, I'd be more than happy to be a mommy to a white boxer should the opportunity present itself. :)

Just as Elmo was wearing a little thin...

Sesame Street has a new fairy-in-training!


Our household is very excited about the new addition! Welcome, Abby Cadabby!!

Boxers

I can't explain it but I've suddenly become obsessed with boxers. Those who know me might not think this is completely out of the realm of what's normal for me, but I assure you - this is another level, completely above and beyond my normal puppy obsession.

Here is my boxer picture of the day. There will be future boxer pictures as I try to hold on till I can buy my own.

Nate the Great

I went to pick up a few books for Kira to enjoy her last few days of summer with late nights staying up reading. Soon I'll be enforcing bed time and getting her up early for breakfast... but not just yet.

So, I decided to try a chapter book series for her. I think The Magic Tree House is a little beyond her and I don't love Junie B. Jones, so I found Nate the Great. We love Nate!

Here's why he's so great - I'm admit to being a little bit of a literary snob. I love genre fiction and fun reads but if the prose is bad I can't get through it. So many kids books keep the sentences short and simple, but I worry that it's hacking away at the part of their brains that develops a literary sense of style and that they'll never learn proper sentence composition if they're reading stilted, cropped sentences.

The beauty of this series is that the sentences are short and simple, but it's in the style of the hard boiled detective, so it works. Nate is a miniature Sam Spade. The whole book is fun to read, firmly rooted in a literary style, and endearing.

Here is an excerpt from Nate the Great and Me: The Case of the Fleeing Fang:

"Where is Fang?" I asked.

"He ran away," Annie said.

Rosamond nodded.

"Now you have a new case," she said. "Nate the Great Finds Fang."

I, Nate the Great, did not want to do that.

Fang's teeth get bigger every day.

Esmerelda spoke up.

Esmerelda is wise.

"Nate can't solve cases today. This is his day off."

"No problem," I said.

"I will teach all of you how to be a detective. I will teach you how to find Fang. Come in."

I, Nate the Great, said to Annie, "First you have to remember. Remember if there was anything different about Fang today. Any reason why he might run away. Then remember where you last saw him. Remember what he was doing. Remember who was there."

Annie said, "I got Fang ready for the party. I didn't have time to give him a bath. So I feather-dusted him."

"You feather-dusted him?"

"Yes. It makes his fur nice and clean."

Party in the blog!

Robin got promoted today. WOOO!!!

Update

It's been a while since I've posted some pics of the kids and I know I have friends and family viewing the blog... so here are some udates.

Miss Greta just turned 11 months old last week and has been walking for about 2 months now. She can stand up without holding anything, pivot, sit down and get back up, and do most of the intricate walking maneuvers. She still only goes about 10 feet at a time, but she's finessing it.


Miss Kira starts Kindy in exactly one month. (Picture of her in a uniform coming soon!) We're all very excited and I keep having to remind myself that I'm not going with her. She's enjoying these last days of summer with abandon before she starts the great adventure that is school.


... 4th of July - can you see the attitude in that girl?

and Kira as Flower Girl...

Now this is encouraging

Agent Kristen tells us today how a killer query letter (and of course a good manuscript to go along with it) got her brand new author from sending a query to receiving a contract from Bantam in TWENTY FIVE DAYS!

She links to her new author's blog where she posts the query letter for the rest of us to learn from. I think lore has it that Stephen King was rejected 75 times or something atrocious like that and this lady hooked an agent and sold her book in less than a month.

I know I'm feeling better about the world of publishing today!

EWWW!!!!!

I'll sum up for those that don't want to read the whole story, here.

The bottom line is that according to the UK's Dailymail, cell phones have more bacteria than toilet seats and you should swipe them regularly with antibiotic wipes.

Three guesses as to what I did just before typing this post.

More bacteria than toilet seats... think about holding one of those up and talking into it. EWWW!!!

Warning

Doing an image search on Google for "white boxer" doesn't just bring up dogs. Who knew they came in see through mesh?!

Book Review

Robin's recommendation for best book of 2006 is...

Swing, by Rupert Holmes. (Techincally the hardback may have come out in 2005, but lets not quibble...)

It's set in 1940 on Treasure Island in San Francisco and full of detail about swing bands (of course), the world's fair, prohibition, and other things that I can't mention without spoiling the plot. I've honestly not read a mystery in a very long time that does such a fine job of holding my interest on every page. Although it's a page turner, this isn't a book that you read quickly to find out who dunnit. You'll enjoy each and every sentence. And the writing is tight. Everything matters. Nothing is filler. Run to the library today!!!

Also... the author is a composer among other things and you can dowload the score to the book at www.rupertholmes.com - complete with musical clues. And he's serious, there are musical clues.

Disturbing realization

I just realized that all of my favorite singers/musicians have one thing in common: Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Chris Isaak, Brian Setzer, Lyle Lovett, Chet Baker...













all have a pompadour hairdo. How is it that my musical taste is defined by hairdo? That's just odd.

Bert's It

The classic Ernie and Bert routines are up on You Tube:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search=sesame+street+bert&search_type=search_videos

Kira nearly hyperventilated watching "Bert's It". I also recommend "Heeeer fishy fishy fishy!"

Kira's gonna love surfer boys

All four Lemkes are in the car, being quiet, a rarity for Lemke's, when Kira says...

Kira: I think Chet should have blonde hair.
Me: Oh really, why?
Kira: Because boys with blonde hair look good.
Me: Oh...?
Kira: Yeah, especially when it's kind of low, you know?

On facing fears

A conversation had in the kitchen over a cantelope.

Kira: Mama, you can cut a whole cantelope now!
Me: Yes, I can
Kira: You faced your fears! And the knife didn't break.
Me: That's true, it didn't.
Kira: So we can get whole cantelopes now. That's good because the half cantelope was more expensive then the whole cantelope.
Me: Ok then (thinking that I still really hate cutting cantelope)
Kira: You know, sometimes I have to face my fears.
Me: Really, what are your fears?
Kira: Oh you know, getting the Cellar Ghost in Squeegie's (Luigi's) Mansion, or eating red peppers at dinner. When I grow up I'm never eating a red pepper again. Bleh!
Me: OK hon.
Kira (sighing in delight at the cantelope and walking off muttering): Mama cut a whole cantelope.

Clearly the key to impressing your kids is to set expectations very, very low....

Fun links for the day

Set your coffee cup down before clicking - you've been warned. This lady reads POD's (publish on demand books) to find the diamond in the rough... needless to say it's mostly coal out there and here's her list of opening lines that make her close the book and not read any further.
http://girlondemand.blogspot.com/2006/07/opening-paragraphs-of-recent-pods-that.html

This one may use some naughtly language, again, you've been warned. If you want to know what your web site would soung like in jive, just gizoogle it.
http://gizoogle.com

And, on a not so humorous note (although looking at them does make me chuckle) check out the wave of the future:
http://www.commutercars.com I see these all over Seattle - seems like a great idea, although the idea of assembling a car does have me a little worried. A crib is one thing, but "honey, let's put together the car!" makes me twitch a little bit.

Film Noir podcast

For anyone who loves Film Noir, check out Out of the Past - a podcast that takes it's title from the 1947 film starring Robert Mitchum and Kirk Russel by the same title.

They have a fun academic banter going (complete with "academic humor") and seem really energertic about Film Noir. It's fun to listen to if you enjoy the genre or the cross over hard boiled detective stories of the same era.

Coffee *is* a drug!

This morning I managed to require only one half cup of coffee to stave off my usual caffeine headache. I haven't gotten by on this little coffee since I was trying to get pregnant with Kira (and I felt like a wreck). Even when I'm down with the flu or recovering from surgery I manage to get some coffee down my throat. So today, I was very proud of myself. So happy with myself, in fact, that I thought if I needed another half cup in the afternoon that would be fine. So I did have that second half cup. And I could *feel* it - not in that jittery over caffeinated way, but I could actually feel the blood vessels constricting through my temples, and feel my jaw tensing up.

I recently learned that the reason we addicts feel a caffeine headache is that caffeine restricts the blood vessels in our head, thereby letting through less blood. So, when we don't have coffee, the blood goes rushing through making our heads throb. Of course, better circulation is a good thing if you can handle it.

I feel like I just discovered my best friend has been robbing me blind while I had my back turned. How could my beloved coffee be doing this to me?! The very things I've complained about, tense jaws, pounding headaches, whacked out metabolism... seem to have some roots in coffee.

So, this week should be my last caffeinated week - after that, it's decaf all the way, baby!

How to cut a key in half without breaking a sweat

First, open your trunk by inserting the key

Next, pull out your back breaking humpback producing laptop bag

Put said back very precariously on shoulder

Now (this part is important) slam the trunk shut by grabbing ahold of your keys and pulling

If done with enough force this should dislodge the laptop bag from your shoulder while your hand is still connected to the keys

The bag should then fall straight to the ground, separating your hand from the trunk.

Look closely, you know have a key in your hand, and the other half neatly lodged in the trunk.

*To make your morning extra fun, do this on a day when you experimented with a soy latte and the EMT's arrived at work, shutting off the elevators so you have to climb 6 flights of stairs with the above heavy bag. Also, you should have a key that needs programming and costs well over $100 to replace

Pet Peeve #386 (approximately)

When writers give their character a cell phone and then make said character's significant other #1 on speed dial. Does no one who writes actually own a cell phone? Number 1 is always voice mail, people!!!

I suppose there may be some carrier somewhere that doesn't preprogram their phones with #1 as voicemail, but for the rest of us in the country - how about you make "Sweetie" #2.

This is very closely followed by writers who think that their readership has never seen a computer and say things like "he moved his fingers across a black square in front of the keyboard" (that would be a touchpad) "he hit it twice over a little picture of a file and a list of documents appeared on the screen" (translation: he opened My Documents).

Probably your reader ordered your book from Amazon with her very own fingertips. Give us a little credit, please!

T4, T3, T2, and other things my body isn't making correctly

So apparently my thyroid numbers are all pretty normal, but I'm getting worse. He surmised I may have Lupus (I don't think so), Rheumatoid Arthritis (I know I don't), Candida, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, or who knows what else. Great. I was pretty discouraged till my darling husband whipped out his new book, Ultrametabolism. Apparently, I'm nowhere near alone in this phenomenon. Many, many woman have undiagnosed inflammation, infection, and underactive thyroid.

Starting Monday, I'm going on a detox plan to eliminate all the possible culprits from my diet (the most likely offender is evil gluten). Not even my beloved coffee is safe (it's a drug, Randy says, and I'm an addict - well, true). Next, relaxation techniques (which I've always thought were silly - who needs to relax when you can get a latte?), exercise is already in place, supplements, herbs, and a new thyroid medicine - Armour Thyroid.

And the Robin Renaissance continues!

Authors are wonderful people

On Thursday, I went to hear Susan Kandel talk about her new book, Shamus in the Green Room.

As it turns out, there were only a few people at the reading, and although I didn't intend to tip my hand, with my first question she asked if I was a writer. Well, yes, I'm working on it.... so she asked all about my book and was very encouraging. She spent a lot of time talking to me about her process and what worked and gave me some great advice.

Then Kira and I went up to have our book signed and she pulled out a picture of her youngest, Maud. Naturally I had to say what a fantastic name Maud is, which is when she asked Kira her name and lo and behold her oldest is Kyra. A connection over names is a true connection if ever there was on! So, she signed my book with very encouraging words and I left walking on air thinking that if she could do it, I could do it. I didn't even want to see which other writers were coming because how could I duplicate that.


Well... Saturday night we found ourselves back at Third Place Books and I noticed that the room was set up for another reading - in 15 minutes. Trevor Scott was coming and he wrote thrillers which are very similar to mysteries, so why not stay and listen. I did, and again, there were only a few people and again, he talked mostly to me about process and the business and all about writing for an hour.

Then came the book signing... at which point he pointed to his business card and said that if I sent him some pages he'd be happy to look at them and offer suggestions.

That's pretty much the equivilent of the book signing lottery. It NEVER happens. People try forever to make a connection with a published author and it just doesn't happen. I think my jaw is still on the floor of the bookstore.

Mental Head Smack

Tonight I get to hear author Susan Kandel talk about her new book, Shamus and the Green Room.

Not a Girl Detective came out last year. I'm borrowing the synopsis from Powells.com rather than link to it. This is one of those things that makes me smack my head and wish I'd thought of it. I would have so loved to have written this book. I'm a big, BIG Nancy Drew fan. At least I get to read it and hear the author:

Biographer and amateur sleuth Cece Caruso freely admits that she spent her youth idolizing girl detective Nancy Drew, a fantasy that undoubtedly influenced her grown-up job writing biographies of dead mystery writers. But as Cece will discover driving down the highway in her Jackie O. sunglasses and a borrowed baby-blue Cadillac, some fantasies die harder than others.

Researching the life of Carolyn Keene, the pseudonymous author of the Nancy Drew mysteries, Cece meets a flamboyant collector of Blue Nancys, the original books with blue covers. When he finds out that she is taking a road trip to Palm Springs to snoop around at the annual Nancy Drew fan convention, he offers her the use of his swanky vacation house. But the last thing Cece expects to find lying around the swimming pool is one very dead body.
In a race against time that takes her from a secret enclave of restored Victorians near downtown L.A. to the driest stretches of California desert, Cece will have to channel her former idol and then some to unmask a sly killer — before he comes after her. Of course, it helps to have a knockout collection of vintage clothing, though Cece prefers Azzedine Alaï a semigloss knits and Halston silver sequined berets to Nancy's prim suits and gloves.
Filled with wit, energy, and clever twists, not to mention one smart, hip heroine, Not a Girl Detective is pure entertainment.

The new book is right up my alley also - it features a biography of Dashiell Hammett, allusions to The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man, and a leading man named Rafe. Oooooo....

A new Sister in Crime

Agent Kristin just recommended Sisters in Crime for mystery writers. Hm, I checked it out. Looks good - it's for published and unpublished female mystery writers. That's me! WOO! But, not only that, they have just one local chapter in Washington State and it happens to meet on my day off, five minutes from my house.

I'm doing a happy dance and signing up right now. WOO!!

Oops

According to Agent Kristin starting a novel on a plane is terribly overdone. Guess where my novel starts. ARGH!!!! Admittedly, there is no "place scene" like she talks about. I pick it up as the plane lands, still, I'd been thinking I needed to add a chapter zero, now I really think that.

I've had to take a mini-break from writing to read a book on plotting. I knew I was having trouble getting to the next scene and now I know why. Also, now I have to change the plane scene. I like to move forward, and quickly at that, so I'm not really enjoying this little break to analyze the plot, but hopefully the novel will be all the better for it.

OK, back to plotting...

The Robin Renaissance...

has begun. Today marks day one with my new personal trainer, Kiel. The pantry is being emptied of all temptations. I've learned how I was doing the exercises all wrong. Let the games begin!!

(look for a ticker being added to the sidebar...)

Pet peeve

The first entry on the agenda for the meeting I'm headed to is:

Review of Agenda

Um, you sent the agenda out ahead of time, presumably so we wouldn't need to take time to review the agenda. Plus, it seems like some sort of crazy circular universe when things exist in order to be reviewed... or maybe I should have eaten breakfast this morning.

Happy 30th!

My baby sister turns 30 today! Lots of merriment was had tonight and I know she has a fantastic decade ahead of her.

Her kitty, the famous Cosmo, seems less than thrilled that she was out all night and didn't invite him along.

The Evil Editor

He's almost as fun as Miss Snark... almost, no one quite compares to her.

If you need a laugh this morning, go to evileditor.blogspot.com and check out Tuesday's post - hilarious.

Poor Barry

When you reach this level of uncool, I'm not sure what help there is for you:
http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=12425111

Apparently Barry Manilow is to teenagers what salt is to slugs.

Of course, he was on American Idol this year, so maybe he's not so far gone.

Dada

Guess who learned to say "Dada" on Father's Day. Yes, Gigi is already learning the art of fantastic timing.

Update

Wow it's been a long time since I've posted. So I'm going to update on many things!

1) Miss Kira had her ballet/tap recital. She considers herself a bonefide star since she and her classmates were the group on the cover of the program. She considers the pose to your left her "Cleopatra pose" and apparently put much thought into trying to look like a pharaoh, inspired by her gold eye shadow.



2) On May 17th Gigi said her first word: Mama - smart little girl that she is. She can now call the cat by saying "Nono" (for Norah) and making two quick kissing sounds. And according to my mother says "cracker" perfectly though I have yet to confirm this. She's crawling ...kind of... but runs everwhere so long as she has one of your fingers to hold onto.

She also has learned to use her sweet little kisses as currency, given when she wants something (the glasses off your face) or to thank you for something she wanted (letting her kick her legs in the hot tub). Yes, we're worried already.













3) My dear iPod, Podswald, was stolen from the women's restroom at work. I've worked at this client site for 3 years and have never worried about anything being taken. Not only am I grieving for Podswald, I'm mourning the loss of my confidence in mankind (really womenkind in this case). Of course, I won't be grieving for long since Randy said he's going to Apple today to get me a new one, but still, it stings. ($299 + tax it stings!)

4) As I've mentioned to my friends I'm addicted to Miss Snark and have been devouring her archives. Yesterday I was so bold as to send her a question and got an ANSWER in my e-mail today. Wow. I feel like George Clooney himself just e-mailed me. Well, not quite, but it's close. An actual agent and a semi-celebrity at that. This is almost as much fun as having my email read over a podcast on air.

5) Word count update - so sadly, I'm only up to 21,475 words (out of 90,000). Not quite the 30,000 I was going for by June 1st. I got distracted by writing a book proposal for a non-fiction book. We'll see if that takes off and in the meantime I'm redoubling my efforts. Halloween is my deadline for finishing the novel.

Word count

I'm clearly not talented enough to figure out the sidebar issue, so the word count will get updated in posts instead. It's going to be a marathon to hit 30,000 words by June 1, but I'm trying!

20,505 / 90,000 (22.8%)

Househusbands

My husband has the week off this week, so he's watching the kids while I'm at work. Although I was distressed much of the day wondering how they were doing, I did get a taste of what it must feel like to be a man. I left the house before Kira was up so no "don't go mommy!", no crying, no feeding of breakfast. I didn't have to drop the kids off so my commute took half the time, and I got back to a lovely, cleaned house and the knowledge that he actually put the baby DOWN for a nap and she slept just fine. I called once and he accused me (rightly) of checking up on them and called out to Kira "Do you have all of your fingers and toes?" To which she replied with I'm sure a furrowed brow "Yes, but they aren't all painted perfectly!"

.... and just when I was thinking "hey, why is he better at this thing than I am" he mentioned that the baby wasn't eating much milk. Odd. She loves milk. I got home and saw that virtually all the milk I'd left was still there. Odder yet. And then he told me how much baby food she ate (a ton). Hmm... finally he asks if he was supposed to warm the milk before he gave it to her. Good Lord. Fortunately, she's a chubby little thing and seems to have survived.

Glenn A. Robertson
Feb 1, 1926 - April 14, 2006

I received a phone call at 8:46 in the morning on Good Friday. It was my husband asking me where I was. At home of course, where else would I be at this time? He said he had to tell me something. And then he told me that my Grandpa Glenn had died in the night. He didn't know the details, but my mother hadn't wanted to wake us up. So the landscape of my life changed with a phone call.

It doesn't seem like news should come that way. A morning phone call should be to invite you to coffee or check that the girls are doing ok, not to tell you that someone you know is gone. And so I hung up and had to adjust, had to look at my life and say, your life is now less one person who loved you, who you looked to, who you modeled and admired. It was sudden and unexpected and everyone is still grieving. My Grandmother knew him her whole life, married him at 16, was saved with him, baptised with him, raised her family with him and is now facing life without him at the end. It's hit us all very hard. I love you, Grandpa. I can only imagine all the people you've met already in Heaven. You've made friends everywhere you've gone and I'm sure your final trip is no different. Save me a place by you. I love you.

Mini update

I've updated the word count meter - it sure is moving slowly. But, I got another plotting problem solved, so it should pick up from here. If I could convince Gigi that she doesn't have to only sleep *on* me, then I'd have a little more time to write. Parenting problems colliding with writing problems.

Still working on the sidebar issue. I think I have a potential fix. Hopefully things line up properly after the next update. But any HTML gurus are welcome to propose solutions!

Once again, all the kiddos are sick at my house. I can't imagine why they get sick so much. They take vitamins! They eat healthy! OK, that's all and it wasn't much. Check back tomorrow!!

Novel Update

So, I found a ticker of sorts for word count. In it's honor, I revamped my blog to help me focus on writing a little bit. This is the "scribe" template. :) Sadly, I'm not good enough with HTML to know why I can't get the sidebar to line up, but I'm working on it.

Novel update:
1) Edited Chapter 8 - I know, no editing till the end of the first draft, but I needed to edit to get my head back in the game
2) I realized I was stuck on plotting because I needed to do a little research. I found a great person to talk to and set up an appointment to talk. YAY!
3) Got back on track with writing daily and found the word count meter to help me stay motivated. Gotta love graphics.

Expect to see my favorite podcasts coming to a sidebar near you soon. Mur Lafferty's "I should be Writing" and Michael Stackpole's "The Secrets" really keep me on track. "The Kissy Bits" is good fun, too.

Religious Freedom

I think Afghanastan doesn't quite understand it yet:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/03/21/afghan.christian/index.html
Rahman's case illustrates a split over the interpretation of the Afghan constitution, which calls for religious freedom while stating that Muslims who reject Islam can be executed.

Can't someone stop this execution? I was haunted for years after reading of the women condemned to death by stoning in Kenya under Sharia for having a daughter supposedly as a result of adultery (more likely rape). I recently read in O that her case was tried and won by a woman taking on Sharia from within in Kenya. I'm hoping she visits Afghanastan.

More Kiraisms

On the phone to my mother regarding her parents being sick:

"My daddy has a tummy ache and mama is lying down with Greta so it's up to me to take care of everybody. I mean, they're my parents so they are raising me. But I'm taking care of everyone."

Poor neglected child. ;)

While Randy and I were discussing something...

"Excuse me, but I need to squeeze my way into this conversation."

Me - you do?

"Yes, I can help you understand the angles better. A conversation is like a triangle. It has a point at the top. I can help you understand the angles and get to the point."

How do you turn down that type of help?!

Kindergarten

We’ve just decided for certain where Kira will go to Kindergarten. After spending three years researching educational styles, I had decided to homeschool Kira with a classical curriculum. I felt great about the decision and knew that she’d love the structure and would learn so much about her world. And then, my husband very gently said that he thought she’d really like a teacher that wasn’t “Mom”, that she responded very well to teachers and interacted with them differently than she does with me. And he was right. I saw that even though I didn’t want to. And I couldn’t quit my job just yet, so I really wouldn’t be able to homeschool her the way I wanted to, which in my mind would be something like a moneyed Victorian family that took their children on archeological digs and trips to the British museum. I might come up a little bit short. But I knew how I wanted her taught and I conceded that if I could find a Christian school with small class sizes, that used the curriculum I had picked out, that was nearby and reasonably priced, I’d send her. A likely scenario.

I plugged it all into Google, and it was the first hit. I visited the classroom and I loved it. I sent my husband to the open house to find something wrong with it and he went twice and couldn’t find anything. We went to the interview and they loved Kira. She showed them all that she knew and at the end they said, “You must be so pleased with how you’ve raised her.” Well, yes, thanks. I am. J

Now, I am excited about her school and how much she’ll learn and how well she’ll do. I have to remind myself that she’s going, not me, and I’ll have to content myself with her reports of her day. I can’t wait to help her with homework and chaperone the field trips and volunteer in the classroom and hopefully I”ll get a chance to do all of those things.

I look at her, and my eyes well up now. I see my new baby and look forward to her turning 1 and 2 and 3 and at the same time miss so much those years with Kira. She’s such a mature, well spoken little girl already and not the quirky, crazy toddler she was. She used to be so obsessed with ice cream, that when we’d play Chutes and Ladders she’d lick the ice cream card whenever it came up. It’s all crinkled and warped now. Once, at my friend Heather’s house, she asked if Squeegee could come home with us when we were leaving. Squeegee was her imaginary friend, and how she said “Luigi” as in Mario and Luigi. We asked her where he was and she said “he’s that little green guy in the corner.” So we winked and nodded and said “Oh sure, he can come.” Then all ran to stop her as she started to roll a watermelon out the front door. And at two, when Randy was working two jobs, and couldn’t get time to go Christmas tree shopping with us, we picked out a tree and brought it home ourselves. We put the lights on it together and then I plopped down in a chair. But she grabbed my hand and pulled me away from my computer and in front of the tree. She said “Oh, Mama, isn’t it beautiful?” and I stopped and paused and looked at her and said “Yes, it is.” That was the year she called me “Christmas Girl” and learned to sing “Up on the Housetop” with motions I made up and begged to go to the North Pole.

And now she’s going to Kindergarten… in 6 months, but it might as well be tomorrow. I remember being 16 and lying in bed at home and thinking how I’d blink and be headed off to school, and I was scared to live on my own. But I was wrong, I blinked and I’m sending my daughter to school and I’ll blink again and she’ll be in college.

Let the chewing begin

Miss Gigi's first tooth has broken through! She's been teething since 2 months, and now has something to show for it. A lovely, sharp, little incisor on the bottom right side. YAY Gigi!!!!

Finallly...

I got my stuff together and uploaded all the pictures on my camera. :) Here are a few of the first *cough* or second *cough* feeding. :)

Clearly, she's not completely thrilled. She did all she could to tell me she wanted a cupcake, not mushed up bananas or rice cereal, but mean old Mom didn't listen.

And in case anyone is wondering, yes, her hair *is* turning red! (Note the shock of black hair still hanging on by a thread!)

Bananas Shananas

Forget the rice cereal and mushed up bananas. Gigi likes cupcakes!

I was holding her yesterday with my fresh French Vanilla cupcake topped with homemade buttercream vanila and orange icing. I turned my head and "CHOMP!" Little baby Jaws had her mouth full of cupcake and icing all over her nose and forehead. I stared in disbelief in time to see her going for another chomp. Let's just say it wasn't the same scrunchy little face she made at the banana. She knew I'd been holding out on her!

(And yes, I did try to get all the cupcake and icing away from her sweet little face. Hopefully the damage was minimal)

Who's that eating with a spoon?!

GIGI!!! I took the hint that she was ready for solids when she tried latching on to my chocolate chip cookie today. I think that's probably discouraged as a first food, so I dutifully pried it out of her mouth and mixed up some rice cereal. No spoon confusion here, she downed the whole feeding! (No skinny babies here, either, for that matter).

Do I have pictures? No. She's the second baby and I'm the typical mom of a second baby. I need one more arm to hold the camera!

Who woke up in Peoria today?

The Mariners pitchers and catchers! That's right, baseball season is here for all intents and purposes. Ichiro is still in Japan and Joel is still playing for Puerto Rico. Our Venezuelan players are still with the VSL, but pitchers and catchers are where they belong!!!

I'm very excited about Kenji "Joe" Johjima - he's one to watch. We haven't had a strong catcher since Danny Wilson and he's been needing a good protege for a very long time. Those will be big shoes to fill, but I think Joe is up to it.

Go M's!

Where are all the tickers?!

So many goals, so few tickers. Why are they all about weight loss or counting down the days? If I could really write code, I'd create my own, but I can't, alas. So, here are my goals. I'll be updating progress frequently. Maybe I'll add a sidebar for them. Hmm....

Weight loss:
Today, 2/14, zero pounds lost
By June 30, 10 pounds lost

Conservative, yes, because I'm still nursing. I'd rather say 30 pounds, but that's probably not healthy.

Novel:
I'm at 18,712 words today - by June 30th I need to be at 30,000.

Debt:
I'll just go with percentages. No need to tell the world how much I have. Needs to be 25% paid off by June 30th.

Stay tuned for fun little graphical representations of all of the above. :)

This just in... from Stars Hollow

Even Lauren Graham thinks the feud was a mistake. Of course, she also thinks Lorelai should end up with Christopher, so her word isn't exactly gold, but it's something.

Recent Kiraisms

On School...
"I think that going to school two days in order (in a row) will be a bit challenging, but I can handle it"

On choosing between tap and ballet...
"Well, when I try to do dances from the Marvelous Musical Mansion (her favorite video) I can tap dance pretty easily, but I think I need more help with ballet so I should have a teacher if I want to do ballet every time I'm onstage"

On her sister...
"Gigi is my treasure"

On my hair...
"You should take a few inches off the ends so you can see your shirt more and color it. But don't do all blonde. Leave some brown in there for interest."

On her hair...
"I like it down better than in a ponytail, don't you? That way you can see more of it."

On What Not To Wear...
"They can turn anyone around!"

Go Hawks!!!

I can't really claim to follow the NFL well or be very knowledgeable about it, but I grew up knowing the names Chuck Knox, Jim Zorn, Kurt Warner and Steve Largent. I thought you were part of the family.

Matt win this one for all of us!

GO HAWKS!!!!!

You're next, Mariners. ;)

I'm it!

I've been tagged by HB, so here's my four!

Four Jobs You've Had:

1. Eddie Bauer Salesperson
2. Marine Insurance Adjustor
3. XBOX games tester
4. Assistant to crabbing vessel owner

Four Movies You Could Watch Over and Over:

1. The Philadelphia Story
2. When Harry Met Sally
3. Dirty Dancing
4. What About Bob?

Four Places You've Lived:

1. Santa Barbara, CA
2. Bury St. Edmunds, East Anglia, UK
3. Seattle, WA
4. Pasadena, CA

Four TV Shows You Love to Watch:

1. Gilmore Girls
2. Lost
3. Without a Trace
4. 24

Four of Your Favorite Books:

1. The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
2. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
3. Absalom, Absalom (William Faulkner)
4. Persuasion (Jane Austen)

Four Places You've Been on Vacation:

1. Hawaii
2. Disneyland
3. Whistler
4. Paris

Four Websites You Visit Daily:

1. CNN
2. Baby Name Board
3. Ebay
4. iTunes Music Store

Four of Your Favorite Foods:

1. Yellow Curry
2. Filet Mingon
3. Pad See-ew
4. Maytag Bleu Cheese Salad

Four Places You'd Rather Be Right Now:

1. Santa Barbara's East Beach with ice blended vanilla in hand
2. The massage room at in Spa
3. Jerusalem's, the old city market sipping some Turkish coffee
4. In an English classroom

All the bloggers I know have already been tagged. ;)

Coffee anyone?

I just learned on Oprah that coffee... drum roll please... makes you younger! Yes, coffee shaves years off of your "real age" and keeps you younger and healthier. I should be about 16 in that case.

And so it turns out that one of my vices is actually a virture. Hooray!

Work Life Balance Seminars

I find it ironic that the work life balance group at my firm is holding a seminar after work next week on how to juggle work and your personal life. Here's a thought... how about attending less afterwork seminars?

And yes, there is a whole group devoted to this that has extra meetings, deliverables, and seminars to talk about work life balance... it's like holding a chocolholic convention at Hershey's headquarters.

Pet Peeve

Robin: Is there coffee?
Randy: In the world? Yes.

Grrrr.....

Kira's Christmas List

I asked Kira what she wanted for Christmas. This is her list:

1. To be princess of Lynnwood, Washington.
2. For Greta to learn to talk now.
3. For all of us to get over our colds.
4. For us to be able to relax all the time.

I'm not exactly sure how to gift wrap those...

Growing up

My girls just turned 3 months and 5 years on the same day a couple of weeks ago. And I realized that suddenly Kira has changed from a toddlerish sort of girl to a real kid. I can see that she'll be ready to go to school and start tackling the world without me by her side every moment. I know I should be glad about that, and I am, but part of me wants to cuddle her up and make her a baby again. It's a good thing I have a new one to start all over with. :)

You can see for yourself. Here is Kira six months ago, and Kira today - when did this happen?!:

And - a picture of my little three month old in case she ever accuses me of never taking her picture... (I've heard second children can do that when they grow up... ;))

On sleeping in her own bed...

Kira: I do not want to discuss that
Randy: Why not?
Kira: Because my feelings are like glass about that. They will break and shatter into a million little pieces.

Guess where Kira is sleeping tonight...

Just your average night at home...

Going to bed in my house is a Saturday Night Live skit on an average day. There's me, finally with a sleeping baby at her natural bed time of 1am slipping her into her Nest, Kira over into the middle of the bed - making sure that she's not just *leaning* that way or she'll flip back the moment I get in. Scooting Randy all the way to his side so I have room to scoot Kira over, and inevitably the baby wakes up and I pick her up and let her lie down with us all for a while as my shoulder goes to sleep because she's using it for a pillow again. That's everyday.

One night this week, all of the above had occurred as usual and then I hear that cough that every mother knows, right in my ear. The cough that comes from the *stomach* not the chest. I flick the light on, lauch the baby into the nest, grab Kira and run to the bathroom. And yes, she's throwing up the whole way. I get her cleaned up. Get her changed. Get her back in bed. Look in the Nest and there's the wide awake baby. I get the baby who is now hungry and nurse her in bed. She finishes nursing and... hmm... there's that cough again but this time it's Gigi's turn. Randy, who had successfully faked sleep through the last escapade, flicks his light on this time and says "Can I get you anything?" and with perfect timing Gigi then throws up ALL over me, and the bed, and herself. And I say "Yes, a towel". And it keeps coming. This event is made all the more perfect by the fact that I'd just washed and changed all the bedding this afternoon.

Randy takes the baby (at arms length) and proceeds to act like the perfect father while cleaning her up... "Nothing comes out of this baby but love!" Hmmm, where were you an hour ago?

So, baby gets cleaned up. I get cleaned up. Bed gets as clean as it's gonna get at 3 am. We all get ready to get back in bed and Kira says "My tummy doesn't feel so good." Uh oh.

Rush Kira to the bathroom - more throwing up. Put her in the bathtub to keep her warm and close to the toilet now.

Finally, everyone is back in bed and keeping their insides to themselves by 4:30. Ahhhhh....

Movie Review

My Date With Drew

One man and his dream, to get a date with Drew Barrymore.

Seriously, this is a guy whose had a crush on Drew Barrymore since he was ten and, finding himself unemployed and with time on his hands picked up a video camera at Circuit City because he could return it in 30 days and get his money back and video taped his quest to get a date with Drew. He used the $1100 he'd just won in a game show to finance the quest - and by the way, "Drew Barrymore" was the winning answer.

It's funny, uplifting, encouraging and if you watch this before you go to bed instead of Law and Order you won't keep imagining yourself as the body in the opening scene. (Um, not that anyone would do that...right)

Coming clean

After years of avoiding daytime television and anything really with a studio audience, I've become one of those people who talk about what was on Oprah. I confess. My sister got me hooked a few weeks ago and I might have even poked fun at *her* for liking Oprah. Now, I'm not only addicted, but really feel like people should *know* that she just sent her entire staff of over 400 people and their families to Hawaii, or just gave some random fan a new house, then remodled it, then furnished it, then promised to send her 10 kids to college.

I'm one of them now. The Oprah viewers. Oprah's on, people.

Kira's Question of the Day

Kira (out of the blue while playing Dora game on my computer): Mama, does an anteater have a prehensile tail?

Me: Um...

Kira, sensing the pause: Prehensile means it could hang from it

Me, defensively: I knew what it meant! (right) Um, yes, they do, they definately have a prehensile tail.

Me: Why?

Kira: Well, I was wondering if an anteater could eat an ant in a tree, because ants climb trees, and if it had a prehensile tree it could.

Oh, well sure. Clearly we've been watching too much of animal planet...

31 and counting...

Today was my birthday and I have to say that I found 31 a touch harder than turning 30. There's so much buildup to 30, it's like a novelty number. Woo hoo! I made it! I survived turning 30!!!

But now, I'm 31 and thinking, "Hey wait, I was good and did that whole turning 30 thing just fine. Can't we go back to my real age now?!" But no, the numbers keep getting bigger.

And then we went out and celebrated and my beautiful girl sang happy birthday to me all by herself in front of everyone at the restaurant, and my husband gave me sweet cards and presents (one of which actually required him going into Sephora and picking out makeup with only a 4 year old to help him!) and I thought that maybe 31 isn't so bad. ;)

product review

I would like to report for all moms and moms to be my new favorite diaper:
Seventh Generation Diapers

Aside from the warm fuzzy I get every time I look at them thinking a certain friend of mine would be so proud of me (unless you go all the way and use cloth, do you Jen?) they are the best diaper I've tried to date and I think I've tried them all. They really DO feel like cloth on the inside, almost never leak, and don't leave any sad little red marks on the babe. And of course, are eco-friendly, or as close as you can get with a disposable diaper.

Malaprops

Kira has a few words that she doesn't quite get right on a regular basis...

1. Otherwise: "I need my coat eitherwise I will get cold"
2. Crutches: "Grandpa Rick used crunches to walk when his ankle was broken"
3. Rest Ye: "Mama, listen to me play God Rescue the Merry Gentlemen on the piano"

But the one I refuse to correct...

Wife: "Daddy, listen to her, she's your LIFE!"

Things I've learned from my daughter...

On food...

Kira: Can I have a bedtime snack?

Me: Sure. What do you want?

Kira: Something sweet that's healthy for you.

Me thinking "Hmm... well, we have nonfat vanilla ice cream..."

Kira: You know, like carrots or broccoli

Yeah, um, exactly what I was going to suggest... I've somehow created a child who's very health conscious and I can promise you that it's nothing I've imparted to her on purpose. I don't know how these things happen. On the other hand, she hates cats, and I don't know how that happened either!

On relationships...

While watching tv at my mom's house she turns to my mom and says she thinks she's had enough tv and they should go to the yarn store.

Grandma: But you haven't seen this show before

Kira: Yes, and I would like to watch it, but loving someone means doing what they want to do, not what you want to do and I know you want to go to the yarn store.


And other times, she locks the cat in the pantry. Life is a mystery.

The Bachelors and the Bobbysoxer

Upon donning the costume:

Kira - "Let's play Movie!"

Randy and Robin - "Ok" (having no idea what this game is)

Kira - "I'll be the movie, and you be the audience."

Hmm.....

After winning third place at the costume contest:

Kira - "But Mom, how could I win without even having an act?"

Robin - "What do you mean?"

Kira - "Well, I just stood so still up on the stage. I didn't have an act or anything!"

Two Months Today

Miss Gigi is two months old today. I'd like to say that it feels like yesterday that I was having her, but in reality, it feels like yesterday that I was saying "Why are there two lines on the stick if I'm not pregnant?"

I'm sure tomorrow I'll be sending her off to kindergarten and the next day Kira will be going to college.

Here is the little two month old.