Thanks, Hec. The kids have been eating a few of them, but they're not quite sweet enough for me (they must be early up here).

I do have some blueberries, though, which are perfection.

I'm in fruit heaven at the moment with peaches, blueberries and raspberries. It's small consolation for the end of the strawberry peak.

Btw, hugs to javachik for her comment earlier. I feel that way sometimes, too.

Thanks, Pix.

I core apples, fill with a pat of butter, a teaspoon of sugar, and raspberries, and bake in the oven (or sometimes wrap in foil and set on the grill), and then slice down the middle for a yummy delicious dessert.

ION, my job is so on the brink I can't even tell you. I worked ten, eleven hour days all week, have to come in on Sunday, and my boss still says I'm a disorganized mess. Today he said he shouldn't have to give me direction on planning his academic symposium, that it would be below my pay grade. Even though I've never even been to an academic symposium, let alone planned one.

That's a good idea, Allyson--I have some nice macintosh apples that would do for that recipe.

Your boss continues to suprise me with new lows of jackholeness, Allyson.

I'm watching Romper Stomper now but should really, really go to bed.

Yikes, Allyson. I'm extremely sorry for the jackassyness you are experiencing.

I'm all insomnia-y. Last year on this day Grace had surgery to get her trache. Sometimes I still feel like a failure, even though she is doing so much better these days. She had an appointment out at UCLA today and she was just so adorable and happy (even though she and her team were over 45 minutes late which gives ME palpitations).

I'm jobsearching, since I'm in a place where I think I could be canned at any moment.

This was on Craigslist.

I'm appalled.

[link]

I know people who get $300+ for helping kids with college app essays. I'm not surprised by that. (And I shouldn't talk, as I might be teaching a weeklong seminar to 15 kids about how to write college app essays and making very good money doing it).

Teaching a kid how to write an essay, and writing the essay? So different.

And seriously? People can't write an essay? It's SHORT. it's your OPINION. The hell?

Woof.

Man, did I ever pull a disappearing act last night. This is what I get for being a Greedy Gus with the BBQ-- I paid and paid hard.

Thanks guys, for the compliments on my beautiful girl. And Hec, I know-- isn't that yard just stereotypically South Florida? It's actually the side yard between the house I grew up in, which you can't see, and our neighbors'. I desperately wanted to bring both kids to SF, but the logistics behind it were only just this side of nightmarish, what with the fact that I'm also ostensibly there for a professional conference. And lest anyone think I don't think as highly of my boy, Nate's gorgeous thing too, he's just a twelve year old boy and I have to practically nail him down to take a picture where he's not making a face. At any rate, I've promised them a west coast trip in the next year and I think they're going to seriously hold me to it. Besides, they're getting to an age where they're a lot of fun to travel with.

Oh, and speaking of conference, I got my moderator duties and am giggling wildly-- partially, because it has the potential to be an... interesting workshop.

Workshop: The Romance of Alternative Lifestyles

I just hope the rightwing nutbars don't show up to protest every damned thing-- wonder if I should bring a fire extinguisher?

And seriously? People can't write an essay? It's SHORT. it's your OPINION. The hell?

Seriously, they can't, Allyson. Sad, but true. Did you see the story some months back about the little kid who had won Hannah Montana tickets for the essay she wrote about her father who allegedly died in Iraq-- turned out it was total bullshit, her father wasn't even a vet, IIRC, and it was the mother who had written the essay, saying "We never said this was a true story... We do essays all the time. My daughter does essays at school all the time. It never did say it had to be true..."

So yeah, an essay writing course doesn't seem that absurd, actually.

Essay-writing course could be supremely valuable, and worth every penny -- I wish I'd had that when I was applying to colleges all these many years ago, and I was more than average in my writing then, IIRC.

I was shocked beyond belief when I heard that a well-intentioned friend was writing all the essays that her sister owed for a night course. Especially because said friend is a teacher who should damn well know better. In fact, I'm still in shock, and it's years later.