Matilda woke JZ up this morning with requests for cold water and general chattiness and wakefulness. I lingered in bed waiting for the alarm, which went off at 6:30, the radio playing "This is not your beautiful house. This is not your beautiful wife."

"That's just not fair," I muttered as I hit the snooze button. Seriously, could there be a more cruelly apt song to wake to on the day you return to work after a long, holiday weekend? Maybe "Take this Job and Shove It" or Peggy Lee's "Is That All There Is?"

Two minutes later Jacqueline came in to deliver the kicker: "We're out of coffee."

Well played, Monday. Well played.

Cream of wheat buttermilk pancakes it will be.

xpost from Bitches: I just clicked a bunch of friend-ing links over at Facebook, so if you see a request you can't quite place from someone with the initials EE, that's probably me.

I have skipped, so Happy Belated Thanksgiving, everyone. We were in LA just long enough to get knocked off East Coast time, and we have been unable to explain it to the dog, who is obviously confused.

Cream of wheat buttermilk pancakes it will be.

I had fresh banana bread and an orange but this sounds really good.

I also have coffee in my Buffy travel mug. Sorry, Hec.

My children are being lunatics this morning. I need to get them out of the house where they can run off some of this energy before it kills me.

The cafeteria had cornmeal porridge this morning. Om nom nom.

Has anyone had an Amazon seller contact you and ask you to remove feedback? I gave the seller a three stars because it took them over a week to ship an envelope with 2 packs of colored pencils. I thought a rating of "fair" was fair, rather than "good" or "excellent."

I didn't realize that 3 stars is a poor rating--but rather average. Do people inflate ratings?

Peers warily at Monday

So far, no major problems. Knock on wood.

Raps knuckles on side of own head

am not loving being at work. Although, I feel much much better than yesterday. boss is out which is also helping. I am getting to the papers on my desk now. My plan is to take breaks between each completed pile. My personal to do list is at least as long as mine from work.

I didn't realize that 3 stars is a poor rating--but rather average. Do people inflate ratings?

Yeah, Cash-- that doesn't surprise me at all. The amazon ratings are an absolute joke-- with books, there are authors who have what they call "Clicky cliques" who are fans/readers/family members who will click the five star ratings and if an honest reviewer happens to leave a a less-than-favorable review, say, anything less than a four, then those same "clickers" will constantly click "no" on the "Was this review helpful to you" and will do so on any other review that that reviewer has left. They'll also slam the reviewer on the amazon forums.

It's an ugly, ugly business and absolutely shameful to know there are authors out there who are perpetuating this sort of behavior. It's just sad that it's extended to all of the products/vendors. That said, I wouldn't remove the review. It's fair, based on your experience. If they can't handle it, tough.

I have coffee in hand, but apricot Ceylon tea in my mug. The pancakes were pretty good! I cheated and used vegetable oil instead of melted butter, and therefore skipped the egg-separation step and used fewer containers, but it was still good.

Doesn't stop me from coveting the banana bread, though. I shall supplant the orange craving with a clementine anon.

Am I right in thinking "prodigal" is often used to mean long-lost-but-now-returning and not spendthrift?