Thank you notes are a big deal on one side of my family. I've recently transitioned from handwritten thank you notes to emails.

-t, I LOVE LOVE LOVE your haircut! So awesome!

Burrell, thinking of you and your sister. Fingers crossed that this treatment does more good than harm. Much more.

My new stylist asked what I wanted to do and I said I didn't really know, just something different and she was all "Yay I get to be creative!" I am very pleased.

Minus-t, you look so pretty with that haircut! Total win.

If it's any consolation, continuous IV infusion is sometimes less hard on the patient, because concentration in the blood is lower. It's a lower level over a longer time.

Thanks yes, Ginger, that's a huge consolation. I was reading on how hard it is to tolerate as an IV push 5 days in a row so I was very worried. Now I can just think of it as roughly equivalent. Plus it means they'll keep her under observation

How are you doing?

The short answer is I'm fine. I'm getting a bit rough around the edges, as are the kids, but we are all fine. If I could make it happen, I'd like a few good nights' sleep in a row and an entire day off from both work and Liz duty. But in a weird way, this kind of thing also brings out huge wells of gratitude, so I am also feeling incredibly grateful for all the bounty in my life.

Burrell, I truly hope they find the right cocktail for your sister.

I always remember to schedule my haircuts when I catch up on the b.org.

I also have a colonoscopy in two weeks. Um, yay?

-t, that is a great haircut! Looks great, nice and sleek and cool.

Kat, it is my firm belief (as one who has no children, so here, have a grain of salt to take it with) that good parenting is not about perfect and making things smooth and easy for the kids, but about teaching them how to deal with life's screwed-up nature.

Burrell, lots of ~ma for you and your sister.

I am pretty sure that I'm not being a great parent to my kids right now. Loving, yes. Supportive, yes. But also pretty short tempered these days, and I know that they need patience.

I also have a colonoscopy in two weeks. Um, yay?

Not fun, but hey, at least you're in good company. May you have a clean bill of health.

Ugh, I have hit that point of the evening where I have suddenly been awake much longer than intended and am like a rat in a cage, hitting the lever hoping for more cocaine (aka: refreshing the same websites again and again hoping something will magically be new, and not just getting up and going to bed). I need to be better about STOPPING. It's not that the internet is bad, I just need to know when I'm DONE with internet.

I just need to know when I'm DONE with internet.

Right now. All done!

Sleep is better than hitting the Skinner bar.

Kat, it is my firm belief (as one who has no children, so here, have a grain of salt to take it with) that good parenting is not about perfect and making things smooth and easy for the kids, but about teaching them how to deal with life's screwed-up nature.

My husband's fond of saying, "we prepare the child for the path, not the path for the child." He must have read that somewhere--he's not that pithy.

Supportive, yes. But also pretty short tempered these days, and I know that they need patience.

The owner of our comic shop sponsored a family game night at the local children's museum this evening. We attended and a had a blast. But he doesn't have kids and pulled me aside at the end to ask me (jokingly, I think) how I am not an alcoholic. I just laughed.

I'm pretty sure my salt and pepper shakers came from a room service tray nearly 20 years ago. They're tiny. I like them.

In high school we were all about re-locating yard art. It was funny, but I do feel a little bad about taking some of the homemade stuff. I don't feel as bad about taking my HS locker number (the number was my graduating year) or the engraved "property of" tag from a coat rack at a summer job (which happens to be a particularly hated federal dept). It seemed like such a silly thing to put that tag on.

I feel like I spent the day herding petulant cats. Then I came home and watched There Will Be Blood. What the hell was that?