Happy Birthday, D. Griswold!

We just took Annabel out into the back yard to roam around. The neighbors to our north (the ones we only vaguely know, as opposed to our good friends on the other side) were there cooking dinner on the grill. Their 5-year-old, Fiona, came over to talk to Annabel through the fence. She asked if Annabel could come over to play when she's 3, and then again when she's 5, "but I'll probably be 12 or 10 by then."

We also plotted out the first expansion of our house, if the purchase works out--extending it out 12-15 feet or so in the back. We'll still have a decent-sized back yard by urban standards, and can greatly expand the kitchen/pantry area and add a bedroom for Annabel. And in a few years, we can think about expanding upward, and have an upstairs master suite with 2 bedrooms for kids and an office downstairs.

At least that's the dream.

JZ, I'm so sorry to hear of your grandfather. And also quite appalled at the behaviour of his wife.

Owen's new favorite show is The Koala Brothers (and mine, too, I admit). There's a pair of koalas (the brothers), an emu, a platypus, an echidna, a crocodile, a kangaroo, an oppossum and a wombat. Very cute with the accents.

Oh lord, that's fantastic. And I feel obliged now to share the information that an enclosure for platypi is called a platypussary. And that I just clicked on a website (http://www.platypuscomputing.com/platwhat.html) that played the sound of kookaburras laughing, and it made me very happy. And I just refreshed the page, so they'd do it again.

I mistakenly tried to hand Kara her hot chocolate to take to the table instead of carrying it myself. I didn't intend to have her carry it at all and caught myself, but as I was realizing what I'd done she said, "I'm not a mommy! I don't carry hot things! but you stuck my HOT cocoa IN MY FACE!"

Laughing like a loon here.

And apparently Cosmo believes I'm "coyly sexy" and need to "Acknowledge men more often on dates and hint at certain moves that bring you pleasure in bed." Which would require going on dates, of course, if only so I could say, "Oh, there you are!" at various points in the evening. But how does one "hint" a "certain moves"?

Pull out the Pictionary set! Or charades! "Three words, first word, um, sounds like big bee, er, figtree, giggly, Igby-- Oh! Ok, Igby. Second word, leaves, exits, goes... Ah! Ok, Igby goes... No, I'm sorry, I'm just not getting it." [muttering] "You're not the only one."

t tacklehugs billytea

congratulations on the woodpecker

billytea! Good to see your shiny typeface here.

Happy Birthday, Gris. That is indeed some nice sister.

Tell Kara and Ain-Kor happy bluebird feet. I'll see if I can find tiny blue and white stuffed birds to tuck into her marabou-trimmed "glass" slippers. And yay! for birthday dinners, kids down (or out) and front doors barred against intruders.

Carrot cake is veg, right?

No. It is sugar, fat, and some shredded veg that is cooked long enough that its starch is converted to sugar. I can't fake up carrot cake.

:: cries::

today Carrot cake can be a veggie, but only because it is saturday.

::is happy! throws confetti! gives beth carrot cake. does NOT share with cindy::

Actually, in our family, carrot cake is wedding cake. And proposition cake. "C'mon, honey-bunny. I'll make you a...carrot cake..."

This grocery store carrot cake was not worth the candle (heh) and after one slice, DH passed it onto Mom.

"Why should she get your cast-offs?"

"Is it sweet?"

"Yes."

His eyebrow goes up. He waits. The penny drops.

"Oh. Okay."

[link]

stares openmouthed with a slight line of drool

Wow, that's pretty. It makes me want to set a story in 1877 so I can write about a woman wearing it.

I'm not quite sure what I think of myself - if I had unlimited funds, I would literally collect clothing.

And did you see this one? [link]

If I had unlimited funds, I'd collect clothing plus a little bit of everything else my imaginary people use. I'm not quite sure what to think of myself when the mere act of writing a novel with a Rifleman hero has taken me from, "Guns? But I'm a liberal!" to "I want a reproduction Baker rifle, and I want to take it to a gun range and learn to shoot it."

if I had unlimited funds, I would literally collect clothing.

Aims, I'm stunned. Just stunned.

Susan, that gown is gorgeous. I could do some serious covetting there.