Today was the Creep's first day of school. He was very excited, which did not, unfortunately, translate into being stoked about having me take his picture.



We found a cooperative preschool that we are super excited about, part of the deal is that someone from your family volunteers once a month. I volunteered to help the first day because I thought it would help ease the transition some. We had a pretty good day. Thanks in no small part to the insanomundogrande box of cars and tow trucks.



By the end of the day he was a preschool pro. We made it through the day with only a minimal amount of crying (him, not me). The sobbing will come in on Monday (me, not him) when he goes off to school by himself.

Instead of saying "by myself" the Creep says:

"I can do it my berself"

How cute is that?

The Pratchgan 2008 has landed!

The Pratchgan was the brainchild of a bunch of knitters on the The Ankh-Morpork Knitters Guild (sorry non-ravelers, you will have to join to use that link). You can read about how it came about on Shirley's Blog. I am ecstatic to say that I was one of the 97 knitters and crocheters that took part in this project. I am the proud creator of The Luggage (pictured above, you can see it three squares above the "A" in the finished blanket) and the lower case "d" in the word "Dead".

Terry Frickin' Pratchett has an item that I made for him. May the blanket bring him humor and joy, and may he stay in good health for a long, long time.

ETA: Shirley got an email from TP:

Dear Shirley,

I’m sorry not to have come back to you earlier, but there seemed no time at all between Edinburgh and the Discworld Convention from which I returned only yesterday.

I am amazingly touched by all the work that has gone into the Pratchgan and in the fullness of time hope to get a letter out to every single contributor. I must confess to you that we are having real problems positioning it here in the property! As a throw it could cover several chairs at once. As a wall hanging it would have been fine except that we would have to move the built in bookcases on those walls big enough to accommodate its width. That’s the thing about flat walls - they grow bookcases. Currently it is hanging in a doorway in my library and even then (bookcases again) we can’t tease it out to its full width and depth. I really am beginning to wonder whether it should be carefully rolled onto an ornamental scroll and brought out to be demonstrated to special visitors - you know, like the Tora or Magna Carta, although obviously more sacred. It seems an awful shame and I think we’ll see what we can do with the doorway version. We are also going to experiment hanging it from the ceiling in the way of regimental banners you see in cathedrals. At the moment the doorway is pretty good, although I am worried about the weight of the material distorting the Pratchgan.

I really am sorry to tell you all this because I know it was a labour of love and kindness and is accepted as such. I do kind of like the idea of having a sacred scroll in my office and will ensure that it gets a box of suitable dignity. Rob is going to put
your photos and, if you do not object, this letter on www.terrypratchett.com. In the meantime Patch, the office cat, is asleep on the Librarian, who she seems to find quite attractive.

Again, many thanks and best wishes.

Terry Pratchett

And Demdike spoke to him about the luggage:

I spoke to Terry about the Pratchgan at weekend and asked why he hadn’t brought it along to the UK Convention, his reply, “have you seen the size of the thing”. lol. He is very pleased with it and it’s now going over the sofa in his office, and no, he didn’t know the luggage opened, I didn’t tell him what was inside it, just that it wouldn’t jump out and bite him.

Er...how cool is that?

Our camera is acting up, so no pretty pictures of our happy family with this post. Rest assured that aside from some fairly normal goings on we are all alive and well and I do have pictures locked away on a...thingy...in the camera...the card thingy...to prove it some other day. Which brings me to my first musing:

Musing #1 "Pregancy Makes Your Brain Shrink"

I am no longer amused by my complete inability to remember words. In any given conversation I feel like I am struggling to...whatsit...articulate what I am trying to say at least every other word. Even while writing this I am having to pause at least once per...sentence to try to figure out what the hell that...word idea sentence funny thought was that I was trying to write down. I found it funny during the pregnancy, amusing the month after the Twerp was born, and now I swear it has driven me almost to tears on more than one occasion. Enough already, I am sick of playing that one game...you know...with the gestures and the "sounds like" and the party thing...CHARADES. Dammit.


Musing #2 Pirates

Let us talk about my Moby.


"Although inspired in part by a true photo, the preceding photo is fictional and does not depict any actual person or event."

I love my Moby Wrap more than any mother has ever loved some...waddayacallit ...thing...that makes her baby stop crying and go to sleep. It is comfortable. It is versatile. It is easy to use and attractive. I get many comments on it when I am out and about with the baby girl. The problem I am finding, however, is on those fairly frequent occasions when I take the Twerp out of the wrap and hand her to someone. Then I am suddenly transformed from adorable baby-wearing mama into a strange women with a pirate sash, parrot fetish, and a bad case of scurvy. It is especially unfortunate when that friend/husband/potential kidnapper wanders off with the baby because then I am standing there by myself unable to prove that I am not a pirate when they come to take me away. Argggh.


Musing #3 Ego Books

My mother flew into town on Sunday - which I can prove with happy family photos at a later date - and we are having a grand old time. It has been made grander by the fact that I cleaned out my office so that she could have her very own room. I cannot tell you how many time I have made my mother sleep on my couch. Comfortable couch, but still...bad daughter. One of the ways that I was able to squeeze her into the room was by finally going through and getting rid of years worth of accumulated crap. Fueled by the voice of Niecy Nash in my head, and the just as persistent (but not quite as famous) voice of Christi who was holding the baby and giving me encouragement, I tackled the biggest and baddest hurdle of them all...

I cleaned out my Ego Books.

Ego Books - for those of you who have not heard my newly minted phrase - are books that you keep up on your bookshelf for the sole reason of proving you have read them. Mine included Candide by Voltaire, the collected short stories of Mark Twain, everything Tom Robbins had ever written, and one copy of Les Miserables (which isn't really an ego book because I never actually finished it), and on and on. I weeded out seven grocery bags of books. Now I have come to understand that some people do not have this sickness, they are able to read a book and turn around and sell them or give them away, but this is a huge deal for me. Some of these books I have been hauling around with me for 15 years (if anyone is counting I am 33 years old). You would think that I would be freaking out right now but the whole experience was rather freeing. Of course talk to me at 3am when I am feeling an insatiable need for some Mark Twain...

Musings completed, carry on

I tried not to let it get me down, but out of 3245 people who have so far met the Creep, 3243 of them have said "wow, he really looks like the EP". The other two had not yet met the EP but still didn't think that he looked anything like me.

Well I am here to tell you that I got mine. Look at that comparison picture. The hair, the nose, the cheeks...we even have the same eyebrows! This is fair warning to all 3245 of you that you better come at me saying "wow, the Twerp really looks like you huh?" Granted I had more neck and she has more cheek, but other than that I think we can all agree that the similarities are striking. This likeness should serve her fairly well until she turns 13, or as I like to call it "My Summer of the Bad Perm", at which point I think she should strike out on her own because no one should follow that fashion nightmare.

I wish I could say that I didn't know where the time has gone since I last checked in with you. Unfortunately, I talked the EP into letting me order Crazy Cable* for the last month of the pregnancy and the first month of baby. This means that I have been spending quality time with Law and Order (regular, SVU and CI), Clean House (very inspiring), Eureka (season 3 just started!), The Cleaner, HBO (and HBO on demand!), CSI, Project Runway (full day marathons of past seasons!), America's Next Top Model (full day marathons of past seasons!), America's Best Dance Crew (go Fanny Pak!), ad infinitum. Uh yeah, there is a really good reason that we don't normally have cable - probably something to do with lack of willpower or some crap like that. I have the cold sweats while writing this because I know that at this very moment Mariska Hargitay is grilling a perp or Heidi Klum is saying "Auf Wiedersehen." It may be time to send the Crazy Cable packing.

Of course the good times are coming to an end anyways now that the EP has gone back to work full time. Gone are the leisurely air conditioned days where the Twerp and I could hide out in the bedroom with the television, blissfully shirking toddler responsibility while the Creep and the EP filled their days with (in the words of the Creep) "golf and fishing and tennis and golf and fishing and golf and tennis and baseball and golf and...um...golf and fishing."



Oh yeah, and camping. Despite the fact that he looks like he has a black eye (it is actually soot from the firepit) the Creep and the EP had a terrific time camping with two other father/son teams. More than anything else about having to go back to work, the EP is missing his one-on-one time with the Creep.

Baby girl is a darling, only wanting to nurse 2 or 3 times during the night, so I am getting more sleep than I feel like I deserve. Though it is not in any respect good sleep, so there are moments of irrational crankiness. Since I hate naps and will fight tooth and nail not to take one, I have created a Golden Rule:

If I feel like Everything in my life is horrible...
And I am convinced that it is all the EP's fault...
it means that I need a nap

So far it has proven to be a good rule, both for me and for other interested parties.

* Crazy Cable: Anything more than the 13 Channels that God intended us to have. Crazy Cable needs a box on top and a piece of paper on the bedside table to keep track of which channels are which.
___________________________________________________________________

In Other News: Many thanks to the EP for brainstorming with me on the new banner design. What do you think?