Daddy is the cookie alpha dog, although his bark is worse than his bite

Tonight I gave the kids each four little cookies as a bedtime snack. After I brushed their teeth, I got four cookies for myself. Just to stack on the desk and eat later tonight. Olivia ever-so-sweetly asked me for one of my cookies. "Coo-kee? Mommy?" I said no and explained that these were (placing right hand on chest) Mommy's cookies. Mommy's cookies for later. She persisted, and when she started skipping in place and escalating her volume, I told her to wait because they were Daddy's cookies. Daddy's snack cookies for Daddy to eat later. She said, "Okay, Mommy." Then she breathed in and walked away.

Incommunicado, mostly

A few weeks ago, I left my cell phone in New Jersey. I´d forgotten it druing my final sweep through my mom´s house, and we were half way to Newark before I realized it was still charging on the kitchen counter. I haven´t had service on it lately, but it´s an iPhone and I use it almost every day anyway (for playing music and shows, as an alarm clock, camera, etc.). So, leaving it in Jersey was (and still is) a bummer. My computer died about a week and a half later. Then, yesterday, our living room television set fizzled out. Boo, boo, and boo.

My technology/communication situation is not quite as pathetic as it sounds, though. We still have what I like to call ¨tv on the computer¨ in the main office, and I can still check my email and whatever else. And I don´t know if it´s coincidence, but around the time my computer lost all signs of consciousness, I lost interest in the computer in general. There´s no real plan to fix my six-year-old laptop. We´ll take it to the repair people eventually, try to retrieve the data; right now I am just not in any hurry. If you don´t hear from me in the immediate future, rest assured that I still adore you all and I´m perfectly fine down here living in the moment.