quick update

 
Quick update:

• I am going to see editors from The Onion speak tonight with a couple of Pat's library buddies (who are crossing into territory where I can probably simply refer to them as "my friends," but I don't want to be bold). Anyway, I can't wait.
• I joined a book club. This is very unlike me. I'm not a joiner. However, a good friend of mine asked me if I was interested, and I started responding to her about how I'm not a "book club kind of person" and how I work through most lunches and don't sit down in the evening usually until after 9 PM and yadda, yadda, yadda. As I was typing it to her, it seemed kind of sad because, really, I'm too busy to read one book a month and get together with a group a couple hours a month to have adult time? Sort of, yeah, but I need to make some time for myself (and I can probably just spend less time trolling Facebook and the rest of the Internets every night. Hello!) And usually my rationale for not joining a book club is that I want to read what I want to read, not what someone else decides I should read, but first of all, I'm not reading what I want to read, so some motivation would be good (even if it's not something I would otherwise choose), and come to think of it I actually do like people telling me what to read. I loved school and assignments. So there you go.
• Greta has brought manipulation to a new level. A while back she started being super whiney. Even when she needed a napkin, for example, she would just go from the thought of I need a napkin to then crying almost incomprehensibly, "I need a napkin!" as if she had asked sweetly five times in a row and we screamed NO and threatened to throw her stuffed monkey, Georgie, into the Genesee river. We have been super diligent about telling her she needs to ask nicely and then not giving her whatever she wants until she does just that. It has been a slightly painful process, but I'll be damned if I have a whiney kid. We seem to have turned a corner, recently, which is great, but I have visions of future manipulation. The other day, as we were leaving day care, another mom mentioned something about getting together Friday and getting pizza. When she did, Greta gently put her hands on my cheeks and said in the sweetest little voice, "Momma, please can we get some pizza for dinner tonight?" I was powerless to say no. At this point I think she deserves the positive reinforcement, but I'm just saying she's so darned cute it could get dicey.
• With Greta's recent bout of sweetness, I recently had this actual thought go through my mind: If we could start at this age and I could be guaranteed they were all as sweet as Greta, I would have five kids. Now, this is notable because, well, I'm actually not really a "kid person" per se and I've never really seriously considered having more than one child (other than this two-span day a while back, but then I squashed that pretty quickly). Anyway, I had this thought, and then later that same day Greta was such a handful my thought quickly changed to thinking I would never have five of these devil children. Yeah, I'm fickle like that.
• I'm excited for the $8,000 tax credit for home buyers in the stimulus plan. I wish it ended up being the full proposed $15,000 amount, but 8K is way better than a kick in the pants. Looks like we will definitely be moving this year!
• Greta and I were working on her Valentine's last night and this morning, and we're having lots of fun (unlike the Crafting Debacle of Thanksgiving '08). I'm really happy with how they turned out, and I'll be sure to post pictures. (Hint: they involve plastic dinosaurs and say things like, "You're the triceratops!") Oozes cute.

 
If anyone has read this monstrosity in full you're a better person than I.
 
Fran