vroom vroom.
Guess whose car has a ‘check engine soon’ light on the dash again? Didja guess me? You win a lollipop! This makes the fourth time in a month the car will go to the mechanic, and it is still doing the same thing it was the first time. This time, I’m going to get a mechanic to sit in the car with me so that I can verify that yes, they can feel it doing what I say it’s doing. This is just crazy-go-nuts.
Lest anyone think this guy’s just trying to soak me, they haven’t asked for any money since the initial fix – which did cost nearly a thousand dollars. I think they just genuinely have not figured out what it’s doing, which feels and sounds very fuel-related to me.
Knitting-wise, the hot water bottle cozy is nearly done. Looks like a sweater for a Pomeranian, doesn’t it? This is for my daughter, who sleeps with a hot water bottle every night, regardless of how warm the weather is. That’s Mama’s Little Weirdo.
A note came home from her teacher today. Apparently my daughter had a huge screaming fit during math this morning. This is a major issue, but I can’t help but feel that if her former teacher were back, things would have gone better. I think the substitute (regular teacher went out on maternity late last month) makes allowances for her behavior, but doesn’t try to get to the root of it. As long as she’s treating the symptom and not the cause, it won’t get better. It’s frustrating. We’ve met for my daughter’s IEP (individual educational plan) and talked then, and I’m also sending a note suggesting strategies, but I don’t know that it’ll help. Fortunately there are less than two weeks of school left. We’ll continue to work on staying calm over the summer. It’s just tough to remember to use words in stressful situations when trying to use words is one of the things that creates more stress.
Not much exciting going on in the world of knitting, really, as I attempt to wind up some unfinished projects and plow through the Jayne hats. My budget tells me I need to keep up my yarn diet anyway, so finishing old projects is a smart idea. The Jayne hat wait is still down below a month. That makes me breathe easier – when the queue was up to 40 hats and eight weeks, I always thought, “what if I broke my hand tomorrow? I’d be done for.”
In Dragonrealms, weddings proceed, and other projects also proceed. I could tell you more, but then I’d have to kill you.
Psychonauts is proving to be a truly excellent game, one that the hubby and I are spending way too much time playing when we should instead be sleeping. It’s definitely in the tradition of Grim Fandango and the Monkey Island games. Highly recommended.
Jayne hats up next for Ohio, Minneapolis, and San Diego.
And now, to bed!
Hey, I have a crazy kid-related tangent that I was wondering about. If I wanted to write a (stop me if you’d heard this topic) piratey children’s book, suitable for bedtime and with a happy ending, what kinds of things does your daughter like? Do you read to her? What kind of art does she like, if any– does she like really bright colors, or nontraditional things like collages, or pictures that are just plain funny, or comic book type things?
This isn’t for anything serious, just a small competition on my pirate forums 😛 But it’s being targeted at a picture-book population, so I thought you might have some ideas. (I’d totally show it to her when I finish. We could even name a character after her.)
Hey, I have a crazy kid-related tangent that I was wondering about. If I wanted to write a (stop me if you’d heard this topic) piratey children’s book, suitable for bedtime and with a happy ending, what kinds of things does your daughter like? Do you read to her? What kind of art does she like, if any– does she like really bright colors, or nontraditional things like collages, or pictures that are just plain funny, or comic book type things?
This isn’t for anything serious, just a small competition on my pirate forums 😛 But it’s being targeted at a picture-book population, so I thought you might have some ideas. (I’d totally show it to her when I finish. We could even name a character after her.)
I do read to her, although at seven, she’s capable of reading to herself. You’re never too old to be read to. 🙂
She likes books with illustrations better than those with black and white photos of people. She likes all kinds of illustrations, although sometimes comic books are a little confusing, since she sometimes has trouble telling which panel comes next, especially if the word balloons are staggered up and down and left and right.
She likes things that are ridiculous, people who do unexpected things – if someone wore spaghetti on their head as a hat, for instance. She often but not always likes stories that have kids in them. For instance, Amelia Bedelia isn’t a kid, and she likes those books, mainly because Amelia takes things very literally and it leads to humorous misunderstanding.
In an adventure theme, one book we recently got from the library and liked was Tarzanna! by Babette Cole, about a girl who lives in the jungle and visits the city. My daughter doesn’t care so much about the president being kidnapped in the subplot, she just cares about the crazy things Tarzanna does, like free the animals in the zoo. The illustrations there are comic-y watercolor style.
Books that rhyme are always enjoyed. Books that are funny or surprising. Books that have odd things going on in the background of the picture that we can talk about – like a mouse to find on every page, or a little bug doing some tiny sight gag.
I’m happy to elaborate or answer other questions. Sounds like a fun project. 🙂
I do read to her, although at seven, she’s capable of reading to herself. You’re never too old to be read to. 🙂
She likes books with illustrations better than those with black and white photos of people. She likes all kinds of illustrations, although sometimes comic books are a little confusing, since she sometimes has trouble telling which panel comes next, especially if the word balloons are staggered up and down and left and right.
She likes things that are ridiculous, people who do unexpected things – if someone wore spaghetti on their head as a hat, for instance. She often but not always likes stories that have kids in them. For instance, Amelia Bedelia isn’t a kid, and she likes those books, mainly because Amelia takes things very literally and it leads to humorous misunderstanding.
In an adventure theme, one book we recently got from the library and liked was Tarzanna! by Babette Cole, about a girl who lives in the jungle and visits the city. My daughter doesn’t care so much about the president being kidnapped in the subplot, she just cares about the crazy things Tarzanna does, like free the animals in the zoo. The illustrations there are comic-y watercolor style.
Books that rhyme are always enjoyed. Books that are funny or surprising. Books that have odd things going on in the background of the picture that we can talk about – like a mouse to find on every page, or a little bug doing some tiny sight gag.
I’m happy to elaborate or answer other questions. Sounds like a fun project. 🙂