mac could get cereal by himself, he won't. Just as he will not just get dressed and turn on the tv. I have told him many many times. you can always turn the tv on in the morning, once you are dressed.

now we are off to karate. more importantly, I get coffee on the way.

summer dress day - one of the old vintage ones. also wearing slides - Yay! also also, hair in pigtails.

I love pigtails!

Also WRT making breakfast: Frances is quite able to make a bowl of cereal for herself and her brother. She's more likely to try to feed herself later in the day, which is fine when she goes for something healthy, but I often find her rummaging around for cheese puffs or cookies. Isaac's self serve choice is usually fruit.

You guys had to go and have the writing discussion after I'd passed out from exhaustion?

When they say rewriting, do they mean a fan rewrote it the way they thought it should be?

Yep. They think it's very kind to show the writer how they would have written the story. So no, no flattery there.

As far as "bumpin' uglies" I actually used that in the current WIP and it totally fits the character who said it. Then again, the current WIP isn't a romance.

The thing about romance as a genre with its set of constraints, is that those are loosening and shifting all the time. Things that would have been unheard of even ten years ago are rapidly becoming far more common. The one place you'll find the "rules" as such being enforced is within the parameters of the various Harlequin books. Each imprint has its own set of rules in terms of the characters and the situations and the level of sexuality that may be done within a prescribed word count. And to do those well isn't easy. But outside of a Harlequin category novel, the sky's rapidly becoming the limit, in a lot of ways.

But as Amy said, you have to know which rules you're breaking before you go all Thor on them. And even then, there's no guarantee. For example, write a book about the spouses of cancer patients who fall into an intense love affair and no matter how romantic it is, it's not a romance, period.

Write a book about a woman whose husband has been in a coma for twelve years who falls into a love affair with the former pro baseball player next door-- that's okay. Infuriating, but okay.

Mac is developing a habit of freezing when nervous or afraid. Not sure how to break that, it is so frustrating.

At home he is even starting nervous laughter.

It would be so bad if he wasn't so quick to be nervous and/or afraid.

Bo Obama is going to be in a comic book.

Poor Mac. And poor msbelle. Maybe it's something that will improve over time as he gets less nervous/afraid and more trusting.

Yeah, I did the freezing thing, too, I think. No idea how I broke out of it eventually, but I did. It was just, something scary or upsetting started this feedback loop in my head and I couldn't get out of it enough to process what to do next.

Msbelle, I hope these are signs that he's about to make an emotional growth spurt.

Dylan had his first swimming class today! He was a real trooper even though he didn't enjoy most of it at all - he loves water, but only when his feet are on the ground. He's really not a fan of floating, but he kept his protests to a calm but constant request to "stand up now?" No crying, no screaming. 30 minutes was exactly the right amount of time, though - I think any longer and we would have seen some tears.

Awww, good job, Dyl!

OMG, how is Dylan old enough to SAY "stand up now"!?!?!

USAID rep. said, "These figures show that, beyond the participating members, we have a number of non-participating people on the site. We call them "lurkers". And a number of them have sent emails supporting our project."

The lurkers support USAID in email?? Dear lord.