ION, Cupcake chardonnay? Pretty decent. (Does not taste like cupcakes. I wouldn't have bought it if I thought it did.)

That sounds very tasty - just what I'd look for in a Chardy. (I tend towards Sauv Blancs these days for my white wine needs; NZ is a grea source.)

Incidentally, 'cupcake' is one of the latest additions to Ryan's vocbulary. (More precisely, 'cup-a-cake' is one of the latest additions to his vocab.) We've also been teaching him his Chinese name. It's going well.

"Ryan, can you say 'Fāng'?"
"...Fāng!"
"Good! Now, say 'Yŏu'."
"Yŏu."
"Now 'Rén'."
"Rén."
"Very good! Now, all together: 'Fāng Yŏurén'."
"Fava bean!"

He's getting there. Baby steps.

Plus, I discovered that my local library has Mad Men DVDs. When that show started, my cable system didn't have AMC, so I never really got into it, but everyone keeps telling me that I should watch it.

I just watched Season 1 last week. It's a great period piece, though it has a touch of the melodramatic about it.

Ryan's so cute!

The latest cuteness from E is "pinano" for piano. Also I talked to him briefly today "Hello Lala. I love you. I ride my bicycle in the puddles. I go downhill fast. Bye bye! I love you Lala".

He has a tricycle but he says it's his bicycle and it rained in Charleston last night and Mom said as soon as E could he got my Bro to go riding in the puddles with him.

"Fava Bean!": this is a useful interjection, much like Matilda's random yelping of "Fairies!" during Apples to Apples.

I must report that tonight's game of Apples to Apples deteriorated completely from last week's surreal, Dadaist episode, as Emmett grossly pandered to Matilda's judging, and JZ made pathetic appeals to her sentimentality. ("But you love Mommy, and Mommy is losing!")

It was sad. However, Matilda still got crazy riled up which lead to this somewhat manic exchange:

Matilda: {all riled up mode} "No, no, no you Boodly! I love you, I love you, I love you, I hate you!"
Emmett: {rolling eyes, addressing JZ and me} "You better put that in your...blog."
Matilda: {manic monkey mode} "Blog blog blog blog blog!"
JZ and Me: {....blink...}
Emmett: "What rolls down stairs, alone or in pairs, it's blog, blog blog. It's blog, it's blog, it's better than bad it's good...:

Then she named her stuffed polar bear "Bloggy" and wore him on her head.

I really like the Cupcake brand of wines. It's reasonable priced and yummy. Apparently they make vodka now too.

They do. Jilli needs the Devil's Food, at least. They also have [lemon] Chiffon and plain. For flavored vodka, they're very good - there's definitely notes of rye, so the flavorings aren't super-syrupy.

Vortex NEEDS to live in SF. In North Beach. Yes.

Like, it's somehow her fault she didn't specifically ask if he had a girlfriend in another town? No.

He deserves removal of a tender part of his anatomy with a rusty chainsaw.

Vortex NEEDS to live in SF. In North Beach. Yes.

It would be the end of sobriety as we know it.

He deserves removal of a tender part of his anatomy with a rusty chainsaw.

I'm all for taking the rusty chainsaw and shoving it up his ass... sideways. What a tool.

I can't really say enough good things about the PNW. Vote Portland! Choose Portland! Rain! Sun occasional enough to make it a veritable holiday when it peek out! Two competing cupcakeries! Local wines/breweries/distilleries aplenty! With decent insulation, the interior of my non-ac-equipped house has not yet gone above 74%. Last year it got up to 78% during that really hot week when it didn't cool off enough overnight to take the interior temp down with open windows and fans. 'Tis a lovely place. And my VA -residing parents only fly out for big events, like the purchase of my first home.

Vortex, sorry to hear about the job thing. Maybe this is a sign for you to move to LA. What? If everyone else is vying for you, how could you not expect the LAistas to put in a vote!?!

ION- I made a small batch of cookies. To share at work. To celebrate the moves (new workshop for me, new office for the Production Dept). Hopefully I won't scarf them all down like Garfield and lasagna.

I got the kitties microchipped just in case something happens. But there are a lot of outdoor cats around here so I'd hate for them to get in a fight.

I can say, from last night's experience with poor Milo, that it's very scary! Glad your kitty is OK. We have ours microchipped too. I briefly wondered whether I should keep the cats indoors, but Milo in particular is clearly very used to being outside and loves it, and I can't deprive him of that. He's just going to have to learn not to start fights he can't finish.

He deserves removal of a tender part of his anatomy with a rusty chainsaw.

This. Your poor sister. What a complete tosser.