I have to say in defense of my brother that I do know that when I absolutely need him he will be there for me in a way that my other brother is not.

However, I have also thought that not wanting to pick me up is the excuse he gave me for maybe something not totally in his control. (Because I could have taken a cab from the train station but his voice was so final I didn't feel like I could offer that suggestion.)

And thank you for the blessings on my friends - they totally deserve them. And they are my second and yet more trustworthy family. It makes me sad that I don't have that relationship with my family by blood.

It think having chosen family says more about you, though -- a great blood family is luck.

Yes, what Jesse said!

a great blood family is luck

Underlined, with an exclamation point.

Target has the same price as Amazon, and it's in the same mall as the Eyemaster's -- we have to go see if they can fix M's glasses today, and I can only find the Belgian waffle mix I like at Target.

Plus, I got a Target gift card from my MIL, so I wanna see if I can find some sexy shoes that will work with my NYE dress.

Then it's grocery store, making chili, homework before any more play (seriously? A 13 page pack of math homework, 3 1 page book reports on chapter books (not WHOLE books; just what he's read) with rough drafts, and final drafts in cursive, over XMANAKKAH?! for 3rd GRADE?! WTFever -- and I'm an ex-teacher...) and then starting to do laundry and put away the Xmas gifties.

Sumi, I take back the nad jab. Maybe he was caught up in a tough sitch.

homework before any more play (seriously? A 13 page pack of math homework, 3 1 page book reports on chapter books (not WHOLE books; just what he's read) with rough drafts, and final drafts in cursive, over XMANAKKAH?! for 3rd GRADE?! WTFever

That's too much. More and more research is showing that this kind of homework is (a) not helpful; (b) incredibly burdensome on home family life. Emmett probably had more homework in 3rd grade than at any other point in his life.

the shift in homework with the move to Texas has been really great for homelike. Of course, I think here it is not enough, but in NYC it was way too much and not effective at all IMHO.

I am still in bed. I really need to motivate. BUT, I did pay bills and correct some stuff in my mint account, so at least it hasn't been all fb games all morning.

I expect to be updating with a done list as the day goes on since it makes me feel more productive to tell you all.

So far today we've welcomed my parents' dog for the rest of the week, which should be interesting. He's never met a cat before, and won't even walk past Cortez, although Cortez isn't doing anything but sitting there looking offended.

Miles is a sweetheart, but he's twelve now, a purebred English cocker my dad adopted when Miles was four and his owner was too elderly to keep him. They've spoiled him rotten, for one, and after they moved, he went a little neurotic -- he now gets into the garbage and last week found a bag of chocolate chips up on the counter, got it down, and managed to open it and eat it.

So now the trash can is inside the door to the basement, and the cats' food is up on the breakfast bar, and Miles is barking at the cat.

This might be a long week.

We had omelets for breakfast.

Matilda and I just had ham and cheese, but for JZ I did one with fresh baby spinach, roasted bell peppers and goat cheese.

Then I gave her a fancy English muffin (extra puffy!) with Devon Cream and strawberry jam.

Decadence, thy name is butterfat!

I have a question for people. Does anyone here have progressive or bifocal lenses? My eyes have turned the corner to middle age, and I need reading glasses in addition to the regular ones. Especially with all the reading and grading I do, it's a must. I just need to decide if I want to go the two glasses route (reading and regular) or the progressive lens route.