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The BallroomVet had her baby!!! Another boy - I think everyone who has given birth this year has had boys. If you want name and details, email me and I'll forward the link and password to you. Yay babies!

And not-yay for toddlers. Yesterday was a tough day, and today has just been progressively worse and worse. Elena's getting over a cold, which she gave to me, so I feel slightly rotten. We're all in bad moods. We're leaving town tomorrow for a week, so I've been trying all week to get stuff done before we go, and everything's been more difficult than it needs to be. And the poor sick girl has been acting out and driving me crazy. <---understatement of the year. We will all be fine, and we will get on on an airplane and go see Grandma and Grandpa and Linda (my dad's wife) and Emily Dog (Dad's dog). Unfortunately it is hotter than blazes there, has been and will continue to be so. All my Dad can say is "Well, it's pretty nice in your mom's basement." Great, I'm flying 2000 miles at great expense to sit in my mom's basement for a week. :P

I'm just not going there anymore in August. What was I thinking?

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I am feeling a little better now. The toddler is sleeping. Phone calls have been made. I even cleaned out all the little plastic containers of Things that were lurking in the refrigerator (and most of them weren't too bad).

Book reports!

The Case of the Missing Books: A Mobile Library Mystery by Ian Sansom - this started out pretty good - even riotously funny on a few pages, but it just couldn't sustain itself. The bleak setting, grim situation, and dorky (not in a good way) protagonist all added up to a big Meh from me. This might have been a mood thing, I suppose - but something just didn't set right with this book, for me.

The American Academy of Pediatrics' Guide to Toilet Training - This caught my eye in the children's section of the library. I'm not terribly worried about this, but we also aren't really making any progress. This was awesome - well-written, clear, concise, easy to understand. Their general attitude is "it will happen, don't worry too much, and try to see your child's perspective", which I wholeheartedly agree with. There are sections on training older toddlers, children with special needs, everything. In the future, I'll definitely look for books from the AAP on other topics.

And now..... I should go pack, or clean out the vegetable drawer of the refrigerator, or something. We head out to Montana tomorrow, and will be gone all week. Toodles!!

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Having said goodbye, of course (oh-so-predictably) I'm back. First, because I had to share this amazing map-or-poster-or-drawing. Just too cool for words.

Secondly, all my painful agonizing phone calls have proven victorious, and we have someone lined up to paint our house! (He is the only person - out of 4 painters - to call me back, and show up when he said he would to do an estimate. The rest just can't be bothered, apparently - so screw 'em. They don't get my money. I'd rather hire someone reliable and punctual, frankly.) And I *haggled* on the price, and he agreed. I'm so cool.

Now, about that packing.....

Still not packing; doing memes instead

( Which ancient language are you? blah blah blah )