Emmett celebrated the last day of his summer job and his paycheck by taking his family out to dinner.

He was ravenous (he's having another growth spurt) but the rest of us weren't that hungry. Still JZ and I split fries and a beer, while Matilda got into a milkshake and tried out some new expressions of exasperation on us. To wit:

"Awww, dangersnaps!"

...and also...

"Awww, Doctor sauce!"

We're already working these into the rotation.

Now we're all hanging out on our various electronic media devices and listening to Al Green.

Dang, Matilda. She's got Whedonesque levels of linguistic ingenuity. I'm kind of jealous.

Dangersnaps! I'm totally going to use that. Thanks, Matilda!

Dangersnaps is pretty great.

dangersnaps is super cute.

Le Nubian, I totally get it. I've never been in a teavana, so I don't know.

Eggplants should totally be seen and not tasted!

I harvested figs and now I have a lot of figgy mess. Also some of the figs went direct to trash. I also picked up the downed lemons. Man, my life is NOT glamorous at all.

I do think it's hysterical the squirrels keep trying to eat the quince unsuccessfully. We find downed quince with teeth marks.

Random question based on super long convo I just had: is my unwillingness to let Grace go through random procedures all a response to the crap we went through at CHLA?

Ita,

You might be in a good store. The try to upsell me ALL the time. Extra teas, more of what I have, pots, sugar, ponies, timeshares, junk bonds, etc.

Get the pony and run, clearly.

They are definitely the hardest sell in the mall, and their shit ain't cheap to start out with. But they're distractable, especially if you walk in card out with your order on the tip of your tongue.

I think you are right to be cautious and ask a lot of questions, Kat. I think CHLA probably made you more inclined for that, given how fucking awful and ...damn, what's the word I'm looking for? not engaging, treating you guys like idiots? Not engaging you as primary caregivers? Being petty tyrants? ....yeah, I don't think even german has a word for that. But while is a persuasion learned hard, I don't think it is an all bad one. You were already inclined to be an educated parent for Grace. You're just extra moreso because CHLA really fucked up every which way, and they were supposed to be good at this shit.

Hey--people that have done art history. I am toying with drawing a picture of someone that's been shot with a lot of arrows. What iconography do I have to call on aside from St. Sebastian? And does Sebastian have to be gay in its subtext?

Kat--she is your child. I will literally show up for random procedures, but I don't know if I'd do it if I had a kid, and I'd stop them from doing it to a kid. There's no way they can be their advocate. Overadvocate. Fuck them.