Hi from the midwest; as Matthew said below (or was it on Facebook, or Twitter, or skywritten with an airplane or scrawled in wet cement...so many media outlets these days, hard to keep track) -- I'm in St. Louis for the week for work. Just woke from a so-so night's sleep...disappointing. I'm ALONE in a huge bed, no crying kiddo, no snoring dogs or husbands. And yet I toss and turn. Well, I expect it to get better -- can't let this opportunity go to waste. In other words: hello, artificial sleep aids! Anyone want to come say hi?
And ... well, I have nothing at all intersting to say, but the blog is very photo heavy these days and so I wanted to at least pretend that I still know how to use my words. In some way other than losing repeated Scrabble games to Law Mommy.
Lucy is in her new daycare room; she had to transition at the beginning of September to the next class up. It was rough. Remember the transition from home to daycare, this time last year? The non-stop tears for 8 hours/day, for NINE weeks? Well, she's getting better. Week 1 was horrible, week 2 was good because they had one of her old familiar teachers subbing in there, week 3 was mixed, but the end of week 4 -- awesome. Good sweet happy girl. God, I love her.
I've been reading a lot on my beloved Kindle. Some silly crap (spy books, mysteries), some recommendations to pass along. Agnes and the Hitman -- light, sharp, sexy, entertaining, credit to Law Mommy for recommending it. All the Steig Larsson "the girl who..." books...there are two of the trilogy published so far; the third any day now. Ultimately mysteries, but incredibly engaging and engrossing. Just a bit into Audrey Niffenegger's lastest, Her Fearful Symmetry (LOVE the title) but like it very much so far. Also, re-read one of my old favorites, Good Omens, hilarious and by one and a half of my favorite authors (not totally in love with Terry Pratchett yet but I think I could become so -- halfway through the first Diskworld novel). It's given rise to a strange but, I think, ultimately irrestible compulsion to re-read all the old Sandman graphic novels. So I'll have to hit Powells to start re-collecting those...had them all at one point, but got rid of them. Moral of this story: never throw anything away.
What are you reading?
And on that note, out into the midwestern wilds to find coffee and work.
Have I told you lately how cool my brother is (well, "brothers are," but you'll have to wait a while before you get the Ben profile). My youngest is Jacob -- or, a nice professional grown-up sounding "Jacob" to the rest of you; I get to take advantage of the grandfather clause and he'll always be "AJ" to me. He designs and builds his furnitere line at http://www.skramfurniture.com/; beautiful striking pieces. He's been getting some nice press recently; most recently a snippet in the London Financial Times. A nice picture overview of his stuff on a single page (on his site you can view by type and collection) is here. 
An optical illusion chair. Again, maybe just for me. I guess it takes a little time for my head to get out of straight lines and into an artier space.
