This is why god made guns. If there is no residence over you, get a .22 and shoot the fucker. The trick is, put in a movie with a lot of gunfire. Godfather. Saving Private Ryan. Scarface. The .22 will be nothing compared to all that, and that way the neighbors won't call the cops.

Really taking to the TX way of life, eh, o_a?

Oh, I've been kvetching in LJ, but I don't think I have mentioned here, but Tom accepted a job for the company on the North Shore (easy commute from where we live, like his previous job) and will be starting on December 15. YAY!

This is why god made guns. If there is no residence over you, get a .22 and shoot the fucker. The trick is, put in a movie with a lot of gunfire. Godfather. Saving Private Ryan. Scarface. The .22 will be nothing compared to all that, and that way the neighbors won't call the cops.

I was thinking more BB ala Christmas Story actually-- except at 3AM I kept hearing some variant of "Be careful you don't put your eye out, kid."

Really taking to the TX way of life, eh, o_a?

I was gonna say

Yay Tom! But why have you been kvetching about that?

I slept in today, but should probably spend the afternoon doing research. That'll require actually getting out of bed and getting dressed. That requires effort. I'm not sure I have effort right now.

WindSparrow, oy. That reminds me of all the "if we just brought back corporal punishment" stuff we always end up hearing. It comes down to this: if it didn't solve all the problems before, how will it help now? There's a very strong sentiment in a lot of people (hell, in me, so I'm always struggling against it) that if you're just strict enough, or punishing enough, or repeat yourself enough, you'll get the behavior you want eventually. But it ain't so. Definition of insanity, right?

Apparently, my brother and SIL were decorating for Christmas yesterday. As part of this, they hung their stockings in the doorway between the living room and dining room. There were a few nails from last year, but my brother needed to add a few. So, he did so. While doing so, he set the hammer down on the floor. Cooper (who is now walking!) came to collect it. My brother said, "No, Cooper. That's Daddy's hammer." Cooper walked off to his toys, and Ben finished up and went to put away the hammer and nails. While he was putting them away, my SIL called, "Ben! Get over here NOW!"

Ben went running to find that Cooper had gone to his toy box and found the hammer he got from his uncle last week, came back to the doorway, and was hammering the wall with it.

He's so brilliant!

(who is now walking!)

What? No. You must be mistaken. Wasn't he born, like, yesterday?

There's a very strong sentiment in a lot of people (hell, in me, so I'm always struggling against it) that if you're just strict enough, or punishing enough, or repeat yourself enough, you'll get the behavior you want eventually. But it ain't so. Definition of insanity, right?

Well, yes. Of course. A few weeks ago I had one of the teachers walk in on me while I was trying to validate the feelings of one of my preschoolers who was throwing a tantrum. She watched in amazement as the little girl pulled herself together, sniffled a little, and went back to play.

She told me later that she was about to step in and "help," but commented that clearly my technique was more effective.

Why is this so hard? Because, yes, yelling at the screaming toddler always makes them stop.

What? No. You must be mistaken. Wasn't he born, like, yesterday?

I KNOW! It's insane! I just saw him in October, and he was just crawling. And then on Thanksgiving I got to see him on the webcam, and he's not just walking, he's running!

Yay Tom! But why have you been kvetching about that?

Heh, well, there were some shenanigans in the interim between the offers and the official offer letters and the negotiating and the acceptance of offer.

Definitely not kvetching about the job, just had some anxiety right at the end before it was finalized.

Nora, I'm glad that all got worked out, and he's set to go. That's SUCH wonderful news.

So, today at work we're doing a group project. I got a big, long piece of paper, and we're going to make a piece of graffiti (or I'll call it something else...blanking at the moment). I've got crayons, markers, and colored pencils for the kids to use...now I just need to come up with a topic. I was actually thinking that I'd put a bunch of topics in a bucket and let one of the kids pull one out. The problem? I have no topics. These group projects are always fun because they have to be of interest to kids ages 4-12. So, any thoughts?