Things going on

Update on things:

The storefront is open for beta testing. For the next week I get to create a system for using the store to ship books. Hopefully all will go as I have planned. If all goes well, then we’ll be opening pre-orders next week.

I finally made a dental appointment for Link’s crooked teeth. I’m sure I’ll be referred to an orthodontist. Link will probably be wearing braces inside a month. Good thing pre-orders for the next book will be opening soon, we just might have the money to pay for the braces.

The jury is still out on whether Gleek needs to have her tonsils removed. The doctor says he believes having them out would reduce her incidences of croup and possibly improve her sleep. But she sleeps fine when she doesn’t have croup and I’m wondering if the croup might be more related to allergies than to enlarged tonsils. So today I gave her a loratadine and we’ll see how that affects her sleep before going to the pain and expense of having a body part removed.

Today I have parent teacher conferences for all three of my kids who are in school. Between now and then I need to make notes of all the things I want to discuss with the various teachers. Link was nervous about this conference. I managed to pry that information out of him when he got out of bed last night. I also managed to elicit a series of confessions about his in class distraction and behaviors. I assured him that no matter what his teacher told me I would not be mad at him about it, but that there might be some things which need changed. Kiki wants me to use the conference as a chance to intervene on her behalf because she doesn’t like the way this one boy treats her during math. I assured her that if I see a problem I will completely go to bat for her to the extent of putting her into a different school. I then told her how that level of intervention was like using a cannon. I’d use it if I had to, but I was pretty sure that this boy is just a fly and I’d much rather use a fly swatter. What I didn’t say out loud, because Kiki was too upset to hear me correctly, was that I fully intend to hand the fly swatter to Kiki and let her swat her own flies.

On Monday I set up some healthy living rules for myself. Mostly they have to do with getting some exercise daily and not eating treats outside of social events. The goal is for me to lose about 10 lbs. I’m currently heavier than I’ve ever been, except when I was hugely pregnant. If I meet my goals, then I’m allowed to buy myself a new swimsuit come spring. Hopefully that will be sufficiently motivational. Even if I don’t lose any excess fat, I’ll be a happier and more stable person for eating healthy and exercising.

I’m in a revision process for two stories right now. They’re almost ready for readers. The revising is going slowly because I keep using my time and brain space for other things. I also need to finish up the Tayler Family storybook which will contain all the stories the kids wrote this past summer.

I’ve discovered TV episodes on the web. The show Heroes interested me, but we don’t have cable or even broadcast TV so I figured I’d have to wait for DVD. It turns out that each week they post the latest episode in full for people to click on and watch. So I watched it. Several other NBC shows are getting the same treatment. As are some ABC shows. There are still commercials, but not as many, only about 4-6 per episode rather than 20 and the commercials are shorter.

I’ve also had some of my time sucked into the land of Sudoku. It is soothing and satisfying to figure out where all those numbers fit into the boxes. It isn’t productive, but it is restful.

Halloween is coming. I’ve already had a couple of costume requests. Apparently I’ll be sewing again this year. I’d probably better get my office table cleared to make space for it.