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...

Just got word that all the mortgage stuff has been submitted. The appraisal will happen sometime soon, and I should know within a couple of weeks or less. If this stays on track, new mortgage will come on the same time as the first car payment.

Man.

What kind of crazy person times things like this?!

Sara, I bought my car three weeks before I put an offer in for my house. Now, I didn't see the house-buying coming AT ALL (my landlady decided out of the blue that she wanted to sell it) and I really wish I had known, as I wouldn't have purchased a new car. I'd have done what I'd always done and bought something 5 years old for half the money. Oh, well.

I had a mammogram last Friday, they said they'd get word to me by mid-week. If a minion of Cthulhu was lurking in my left tit, they'd let me know quickly, right?

Granted, this was a choice for me, and the two were/are actually complimentary. Well, one helps with the other. And while still a choice, kind of one that was taking on more urgency.

Put it this way: I'd rather go to the dentist than haggle, do financial paperwork, spend lots of $ or make financial choices with long term implications. Even crownwork.

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

They only work on misbehaving cats when used by people who understand the nature of operant condition and are able to consistently put a behavior program in to practice.

Y'all have no idea how damn close to saying "able to implement a behavior program". I hate that bit of jargon as much as I hate the use of "impact" as a verb in other than a dental setting.