A Little Bit of Everything

So, the kids didn't have school this morning--they're off Monday, too--and, as usual, that automatically makes the morning hectic. My daughter was the first one up. It's funny: when she dresses for the day, she almost always chooses something filthy first. She picked a baby-blue pair of gym pants and a once-was-white T-shirt. It looked as if she had slid into all four bases, and then did it again the other way to make it even. So, I point it out. She says "So?" Then the oldest boy gets up, at his parents' beck and scream, and fumbled around for twenty minutes finding pants and taking his morning whizz. My wife's going around like a shark that just knows it scented blood, trying to find the cubscouts manual--which I asked her a question about. (Foolish me, I should know better when her powers are not yet at full capacity.) Then I pry the oldest off of his @$$ and make him go outside and play catch with me for an hour. Now my shoulder's feeling it. I played catch with my wife the day before and she has an arm on her! Now, the daughter's gone off to Mass. for the weekend (Yayyy!), the little one's having a typical day (either screaming his head-off or laughing hysterically), and the oldest is back on his butt, watching Mythbusters. The wife's approaching maximum strength (and she's found the bloody handbook), probably playing Runescape.

I have sent a more characterized first chapter/prologue off to my collaborator, Nancy Greene (She says I can use her name), though I'm waiting to hear back. And she has yet to send me her first chapter. (Think I'm nudging her with the guilt-stick?)

I've got a challenge up at Hatrack: the "Apocalyptic Taco Mix" short-story-challenge, that I'm writing a story for. Rules are simple: come up with a story--inspired by said phrase--that has a word count between 500 and 7000 words. 14 of us are going at it. I only have about 700 words at the moment, but I've had an idea brewing. I might even polish it for my WOTF 1st-quarter entry. It has an interesting flavor.

Artistically, I've been working on a painting of a pheonix for the last couple of days. I think it's almost done. Of course, I could show my wife--maybe get another "What is it?"--before I claim I'm done. I always love that. As usual, it's been a love-hate process, and I'm not sure where I stand, yet. It's not signed yet, so it's not done.