So, this is what happens when my mind strays while walking down the stairs with Taran in one arm.

We fall.

So, I'm all bruised from the waist down (and mostly on the right); he's got a nice bruise, but he should be okay.

Yeah. I won't be able to move tomorrow - but wow, I'm glad dh was home.

No writing today, but I got to spend time with my husband, and got to see Transformers.

It was a good day.

dh forwarded this from his brother, and I thought I'd share.

Little Tony was 9 years old and was staying with his grandmother for a few days.
He'd been playing outside with the other kids for a while when he came into the house and asked her,
'Grandma, what's that called when two people sleep in the same room and one is on top of the other?'

She was a little taken aback, but she decided to tell him the truth. 'It's called sexual intercourse, darling.'

Little Tony said, 'Oh, OK,' and went back outside to play with the other kids.
A few minutes later he came back in and said angrily,
'Grandma, it isn't called sexual intercourse. It's called Bunk Beds. And Billy 's mom wants to talk to you.'

I got out of the house, away from the kids. Dinner and a movie!

Maybe I'll write something tomorrow? I've been insanely busy this week!

My dh is a better housewife than I am.

He managed to do the laundry I have been avoiding all week, all today.

AND he's letting me go see a movie with a friend.

I am SPOILED rotten.

I need to learn, that when i sit here and stare at the screen, it's time to get off.

I read a book today - I read one yesterday, too - and had forgotten how good both of them were.

The first (finished yesterday) is called "Rose Daughter" by Robin McKinley, a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. It's her second; I don't think I have the first (an oversight I intend to correct). I love her writing; I'd just forgotten how much.

The second is called "Dearskin", also by Robin McKinley, and based off a fairytale called Donkeyskin (which I would like to read, just once, to see how true her story is). I really liked it, but there were unclear parts, which is to be expected, a little, because the main character was a little out of it, but still rather irritating. I don't know if she killed her father (and he deserved it, believe me).

Next, I think I'm going to read "Jane Eyre", because I haven't yet, because my mother loves it, and because I want to read "The Eyre Affair", and would miss out on a lot if I haven't read the actual book. I say think because I've irritated my poor dh enough by being buried in books instead of what I should have been doing (cleaning the house).

So, dh put in a cd of oldie Christmas songs, the first of which was "I saw Mommie Kissing Santa Clause."

And we danced around the kitchen. It was fun. We don't do that enough....

Writing group today - that was fun! I didn't get much written, but we had such a huge group that it didn't matter. We had three girls from the High School, and a young man who was one of the Municipal Liason's students. It was a blast. We really had fun! It was a much needed break from the seriousness of Nano, and no one seemed to care that I had decided not to do it.

I'm sad, yes, but I think it's a necessary thing.

I have this list from skyangel2009 - well, that I helped her creat prompts for, she did most of the work - that, if I can come up with a storyline, and finish the other pending challenges, I'll do a janowrimo, and see if I can't get 50k words in January. I might put it off to February (although that would be HARD, hello, short month), but if I can just get these done, that will help.

This afternoon, Scott went shopping for electronic stuff. He picked up the digital converter boxes, and shopped for the big screen tv he's wanted for about a year. So, after dinner, we went to get it. We found the tv, and the table to set it on, and now we get to rearrange the family room by next week some time.

This is good. It means we will need to clean up the room. Clean out the book cases, things like that, and find places to put thing.

Oh. Joy. But it has to be done, and we can do it.

Scott came home so I could go to the adult session, so I've got a little kid-free time.

Mom will be here in a while to pick me up, so I should get my notebook off the table and put it in my purse. I'm already in a skirt, and just need to slip shoes on; everything else is good.

So, we were talking about what to do this weekend - Maggie has the next three days of school off - and she insisted on the Butterfly Pavilion. she kept insisting on it.

Scott said, "you've been already."

And Maggie said, very intently looking at him, "but not with you."

It was very much an "awwww" moment.

I'd forgotten this.

I'm going through my old entries, and found something I'd forgotten about.

My husband, often, is a genius. And here are some wonderful ideas for crossovers.

I'd completely forgotten about them....

I didn't mention this on the last post, but this is something Scott told me about, and I wanted to look it up.

It's a "how to make S.M.A.R.T. goals" tutorial - how to make effective goals.

I found this article, and in reading some of the links - the 7 Steps to Powerful Goals - I found that I had left out a rather serious category. They have six (which completely destroys the five by five idea). Their areas of life are as follows:

Family and Home - Financial and Career
Spiritual and Ethical - Physical and Health
Social and Cultural - Mental and Educational

Hm. I'll have to think about this....

What I'd end up having to do is have a list of goals to draw from, things I want to do/get done, etc. Which I have, as I have already started my 101 list for the next round.

And now, my husband is cleaning the kitchen. I will go assist.

I'm going to try something Scott... created for me. Well, not for me, so much, but created and I'm going to try.

He dubbed it a Five by Five (and I might add a "by Five", but we'll see).

The idea is to have five goals under each of the five elements of a balanced person (or something, I don't know what they are). The categories are:

spiritual, mental, emotional, social, and physical.

So I pick five things in each category:

Something I want to do daily
Something I want to do weekly, or in a week
Something I want to do monthly, or in a month
Something I want to do in a year - an extended goal (like reading a difficult book, or something)
Some event that will only happen once.

The ides is to make them rotating events - like, the daily thing would be, for me, a habit I wanted to establish/get rid of. Once it's mostly established, I'd find something else I wanted to do in that category.

So. I had some goals, and then we developed them further, so I have to go redo them a little.... Some of them will be things I want to do for my 101 in 1001 - those are still valid goals - and some will be new.

I'm not sure I'm ready to give up on the 101 in 1001 yet, so we'll see.

1. I should have jumped in the shower as soon as Scott left with the kids.

2. Outlined through chapter five. I have a LOT of work to do, since I have no idea where it's going. Still, having it up on the wall helps. It means I see where there are holes.

2a. I need a way to specify between the Koreans and the Japanese (on the notecards). And I need to change the names of the companies. Arashi just won't work any more, and I will need a new corresponding name in Korean.

3. My dh with a microwave and popcorn downstairs is dangerous. It smells up the whole house.

So, Scott has a cell phone now, through the company, which means the cell phone we had before is now all mine.

But now, I don't need it as much, because people are calling him on the cell phone, and leaving our land line open.

Well, whatever. I... kind of wish it'd go back the other way. He doesn't need an electronic leash. At least, not to anyone other than me. ^_~

Yes.

It is good to have Scott home.

I cannot even BEGIN to tell you how wonderful that is.

Which is massive. It will cover the week, I think.

( A lot of stuff to do )

Well, now that my morning is completely shot - crap! - time to put Taran down for a nap, and get on this list. I'll update it as I go.

Maggie had a little family party this evening, after a wonderful dinner that Scott made up on the fly (he's good at that), in which we gave her gifts. Obviously.

She got books: the magic tree house one and two (Dinosaurs before Dark and the Knight at Dawn), a book on Dinosaur babies, and an I spy (a butterfly) book, a Sleeping Beauty doll to add to her collection (a small one, with dresses, shoes and a bird), Sleeping beauty and Cinderella porcelain figures, and a sleeping Beauty... other thing. I don't know what to call her.

The crowning glory, however, was the bike helmet, and the REAL BIKE. Scott is so good.

The porcelain figures and the plastic sleeping Beauty figurine used to be Kathryn's; her mother didn't want them any more. But if she ever wants them back, we have them. there are more, and I'll give Elyssa the two she likes either at Christmas or on her birthday.

In all, a very nice celebration.

We talked about father's blessings briefly tonight - a tradition we want to start - and then Scott gave each of the girls one.

I don't remember what he said, exactly, but they were nice. He's going to give more... complete blessings later, when Mom can be here. And we were going to wait on Elyssa's until she starts, but she really wanted one.

I remember him mentioning being good, able to learn, things like that, but I didn't have my notebook, and I did have little girls on my lap (Taran was in bed), so I couldn't have taken notes anyway.

I am going to like this tradition, I think.

So, Scott ran in the Georgetown Half-marathon this morning; we went up to watch him run at about the halfway point. He said he was doing really well, timing wise.

I was a little nervous, we got out later than I'd planned, and then I realized I'd probably want to fill up the car, but we got there around 9:00 like I'd planned, found a nice place to pull off, and waited for about 30 minutes, cheering for people as they ran by.

Maggie said the weirdest thing: I wish I was a boy so I could run.

I spent the next half hour - until we saw Scott - pointing out all the girls, and even the girls in skirts. Where she got the idea that she had to be a boy to run, I have no idea, but I'm not going to let her think her options are limited because she's a girl. That's so self defeating it's not funny.

But it was fun, nice to get out and do something on a SAturday morning, before it got too hot.

And the mountains are beautiful right now.