I'm tired of parenting toddlers. Not sure what I've done wrong, but they refuse to act their ages and I'm no longer responsive in any kind of effective way to daily temper tantrums.

I have a call in 20 minutes to talk to someone about how much my manager sucks. (The guy is talking to the whole team one-on-one.) Even though I am leaving in August, it's still kind of weird and stressful.

May I suggest squirtguns? Hey, they work for misbehaving cats...

I think with kids a squirtgun would exacerbate the situation, but thanks for the suggestion, Matt. t insert emoticon here

I once dumped a bucket of water over Dylan's head because he was misbehaving in the bath. It didn't exactly help, but it sure felt good.

A co-worker once came in, years ago, looking completely wrecked after the worst morning ever -- her second-grader, stripped down to underwear, socks and a tank top, pitched an epic tantrum over every single item of clothing she had on offer, and finally, with the clock ticking, co-worker just said, "And we're done here," slapped a pair of shoes on the kid and dumped some clothes in a paper bag, and dragged her off to the bus stop just as she was.

She said it was the longest, sobbingest bus ride in human history. But she also admitted, later, that at least that particular tantrum never, ever happened again.

I remember a few times telling my kids that I was putting myself on timeout just so I could go in the other room and calm the heck down.

Dad reports they got on the bus just fine. I'm glad I could hand them off to him.

Well it sounds like my iron levels do indeed suck. I'm going to the infusion clinic this afternoon to get a fill up. After I paint a fancy palm tree this morning while I drink a mimosa.

I have no idea if the advice therein is any good, but Lifehacker has an article up about handling your children's tantrums: [link]

Aside from resolving fashion conundrums, what I actually need to do is resolve a corner of my living room. Right now I have a very ad hoc and sprawling "work" area, where paper and electronics are scattered willy nilly. It's lit well enough for TV watching and conversation, but not really well enough for drawing. And never mind storage space. You're stepping around scanners, over tablets, and trying not to trip on cables.

It's not a desk place, because the core of it is the cuddle lounge facing the TV. If I am going to do desk work, I'll do it at the desk in my bedroom, or fake it at my dining table.

Thing 1 I need is a better light for working by--I have an upwards facing floor lamp that's controlled by light switches at each entry to the living room, so I'm thinking of an additional light, not replacing that one. Which means I need to commit to an area of the lounge to draw in, I guess.

Thing 2 is storage. There's a kinda coffee table off to one side--sometimes one of the laptops is kept on it (I can lean over the edge of the lounge and work that way--not the most comfortable, but for lazy browsing not the worst) and two low things (one mini table, one lap tray) on the other side, but they're all pretty bad storage wise.

I guess this is where I go stare at the Container Store website and then shop somewhere else.

Friday mornings seem to be an unofficial holiday here. I come in between 8 and 8:30, and although one co-worker is in the building, I haven't seen him yet (and no meetings are on his calendar). The guy across from me came in ten minutes ago, so now we're only missing four people. This will look really professional if I leave the department...