word of the week

Our Word of the Week

that I added to the fish bowl on my desk

is...

roughhouse (noun) 1. rough, disorderly playing, especially indoors.

a win/win situation

I got this tent  for my toddler and he doesn’t like it.

But here’s the good news: My cat LOVES the tent.

And considering for the past year Calvin has suffered swats, pushes, and fur-pulls from Henry, it seems as though things have worked out perfectly. Calvin totally deserves a safe place away from the grasp of a mischievous toddler. And, Henry is thrilled I’ve stopped forcing him to go into the tent.

Don’t you just love it when things work out in ways you never planned?

sandman

I can't wait to read this book.

(Yes, I'm a diehard Red Sox fan, but there has always been something so wonderful about Mariano Rivera. I think he sets the bar for how to be an intelligent, focused, hardworking, thoughtful athlete.)

word of the week

Our Word of the Week

that I added to the fish bowl on my desk

is...

southpaw (noun) 1. someone who is left-handed; especially: a baseball pitcher or boxer

good morning

Henry hobbled around the kitchen this morning and instead of looking like a toddler, he reminded me of an old war veteran with stiff knees. That’s when I realized he had a small piece of raison bread stuck to the bottom of his foot.

“Henry,” I said.  “Is there bread on your foot?”

“Bread, foot,” he said.

“Let’s put the bread in the trash,” I told him.

Ignoring my suggestion, he stared at me. Then he peeled the piece of bread from the bottom of his barefoot and shoved the food into his mouth.

“Or you can put it in your mouth,” I replied.

That’s when he took the disgusting glob of bread out of his mouth, placed it on the ground, and for the second time of the morning, stepped on it.

“Ah,” I said. “So that’s how you got it to stick.”

He smiled and went back to his hobbling.

what a month of birthdays!

Did you know the following authors were born in March?

Dr. Suess (March 2)
Patricia MacLachlan (March 3)
Mem Fox (March 5)
Elizabeth Barrett Browning (March 6)
Jack Kerouac (March 12)
Carl Hiaasen (March 12)
Sid Fleischman (March 16)
Lois Lowry (March 20)
Louis Sachar (March 20)
Tennesse Williams (March 26)
Robert Frost (March 26)

some of my best work

March 17, 1986

I had a good time at school. First, we did morning work. And then, we watched a movie. And then, we had math. But when I got home, my cat was eating my fish. I said, "No, don't do that" and put him outside. I watched TV. And then, I had dinner.

March 18, 1986

My best part of school is lunch. 

I wrote these journal entries twenty eight years ago. I was in third grade. While my penmanship and grammar leave room for improvement, the writing cracks me up.

The day went by sort of ho-hum, and then my cat ate a fish. Oh no! It's a good reminder that conflict works in even the shortest of passages. I also love that there's no reflection about the fish dying. Nope, I simply put the cat outside. Then, I watched TV and had dinner. End of story.

The next entry begins with the best part of school. Lunch, of course.

I wish I had kept more writing from a time in my life when the good ideas were just pouring out.