She was lying next to him, holding his hand and saying "don't cry Fico, Mommy be right back" and then just telling him about going to school today, basically repeating stuff that I had been telling her. It was so sweet it almost killed me.

Sweetness! I have a little blood blister on my pinkie from baseball practice and whenever Matilda notices it she kisses it better.

I started mowing lawns when I was 9 - and this was in Florida where it's fairly arduous (grass gets very thick with all that rain) when you're pushing the mower. Babysat my nephew and mowed lawns all growing up. When I was 15 I got my first afterschool job cleaning boats at Starboard Marine. Did office temp work the summer before college and worked during college (washed dishes, did campus mail) and typed papers. Worked during the summers as a maintenance man or grounds crew and later did construction work. Switched to office work after college and got my first editing job in my mid-twenties. And I still don't have a good work ethic. But I do know something about working.

JZ's being a good citizen and volunteering at the homeless shelter today. She's meeting with the HR director next week and I expect she'll get a job offer. [knocks wood] She's done about five interviews there in the last two weeks.

Next Monday my soon-to-be publisher will be back from vacation and I hope we can finalize my contract and get my advance.

Oh! And I really need to see a picture of lisah as the beehive queen.

And if Sox wants to grace us with a picture of the new bangs I think we can disabuse her of the Seinfeld comparison.

Oh yeah, despite my dad's efforts to ingrain a good work ethic in me, I still have a crappy one.

Chalk it up to laziness. Or the fact that I'm easily bored. Or that I'd like to focus on the really interesting things to the exclusion of everything else.

Oh! And I really need to see a picture of lisah as the beehive queen.

I was trying to see if there were any pics online but it looks like no dice. I'll have to see if I can scan some sometime.

Yay for Aimee's sister!

Okay, I want to read that like Strong Bad. Aimee...Aimee's sister. Aimee...Aimee's sister.

So happy for your sister's good news, Aimee!!

{{{S and S}}}

Ellie is too precious. That story reminded me of a time when I was around 7 or so and my mom had pissed me off about something. I was sitting on the front steps mumbling to myself, "It's so unfair. Why won't she let me? I'm going to run away and then she'll be sorry!" and the like. My mom was around the corner listening to the whole thing and eventually came to the front steps laughing. I couldn't help but laugh, too.

I didn't work in high school, but in the summers I was usually taking summer school or going to camp (or working at camp) or what have you--not just sitting around all day for weeks on end, usually.

Summer before college, I was a cashier at the grocery store. That was plenty of "glad I'm going to college" right there, believe me.

....clearly the work ethic is but so strong, given that I am typing on here, eh?

I used to write angry notes on tiny scraps of paper and throw them down the stairs at my mother: "I hate you" "You're so mean" "It's totally unfair and you are too" and the like. My mother seems to have valued it as a commitment to literacy and kept them.

Summer before college, I was a cashier at the grocery store. That was plenty of "glad I'm going to college" right there, believe me.

One summer I worked a second shift job at a pickle factory. Got paid a little more than minimum wage, but got some overtime. There was a guy there who was in his 40s or so, and he was just so bitter at the fact that he had this crappy factory job. (Oh, and he had the worst work ethic of any of us there.) He took a strong disliking to me when he found out I was a college student.

was trying to see if there were any pics online but it looks like no dice.

lisah, are they on the honfest site? where my brain goes when I hear "beehive"

[link] (a couple at the end in here)