I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed today. I realized this afternoon that I have about 17 frying pans in the fire and I’m trying to keep my hair from burning as well.

School has started back and I always forget that, even for pre-school aged children, the wheel starts turning again come fall. Eli and Liza had their two days of Mother’s Morning Out this week. Things were great except for lunch time, which I always thought was the easiest subject. We bought everyone bento boxes while we were in Japan. Cool, right? Wrong. Eli’s cup leaks so bad he isn’t allowed to return to school with it. The teachers in Liza’s room were confounded today by how her bento box stacks. I’m only slightly worried about the stacking training Liza is receiving from these sweet ladies since her box is keyed and will only fit together one way. I guess next week I’ll just go back to good ol’ American plastic bags and hormone-coated sippy cups.

This week also brought our first week of soccer practice for Eli. We returned home on Monday from Kansas City and Stephen took Eli straight to soccer practice. I took him tonight since Stephen needed to do some work at home. I think Eli’s going to have fun and I’m completely impressed that the coaches are teaching them actual fundamentals of the game, but I can already tell that the schedule is going to kill us. Games are on Saturday — wait for it — at 8:30 a.m. Everyone groan in chorus with us. I know that soccer is going to be great for him and he will make some friends that he will hopefully go to school with next year, but holy cow, 8:30 on a Saturday. And that’s what time the game starts. We have to be there between 8 and 8:15. I guess it’s also good practice for getting him up for school next year.

We also brought a lovely parting gift from our trip. All four Granade children have colds. Liza had it first, so I’m guessing it’s from when she licked the floor at the Nashville airport. Now Eli has it, and even Sam and little Noah have it. When I talked with Joy today, she wondered if we would be able to get together and not share germs before the kids are 15. I’m guessing it ain’t gonna happen. When Eli sneezes he sounds like a squeaking mouse. When I told him that in the car on the way home from soccer practice this evening, he nearly fell out of the car laughing.

Stephen is preparing talks for Dragon*Con. His involvement gets larger every year. I expect in about five more years he’ll have staged a coup and taken over the whole system. I’m guessing that when that happens, there’s going to be a sharp increase in the number of SciFi authors invited. I’m proud that he’s found his niche there and is having a good time, but the alternate schedule around our house for July and August while he is prepping makes for some crazy late nights. That schedule in combination with the above mentioned children’s colds is not a good thing. You might ask, “Misty, why are you staying up with him? You aren’t going to Con so why not get some sleep?” My answer, this Con anyway, is “Michael Phelps and Beach Volleyball.”

Next is work. Wha? Yes, I have some work going on right now. Some is Dragon*Con related; some is regular church stuff. Today I spoke with some folks for a new short term freelance job which I’m hoping, if I do a bang up job, will turn into more freelance work. Regardless, this first piece is cool and I’m excited to get to work on it. I actually used this morning while the kids were at MMO to do work. I sat at the computer for multiple hours in a row and worked. It’s amazing how much I can get done when I’m not tending my chicks.

Lastly, I have turned into a one woman craftapalooza. I’m working on the birds. Still. I made the first batch and then realized that I wanted to give a few more. Then I added to that list and then I just wrote down the names of pretty much every woman I know because I thought it would be a nice gift to get so I wanted lots of you to have one. So if you haven’t gotten a bird yet, you probably will. Be patient with me, though. I’m working on them off and on since I am also making a purse (pictures forthcoming as progress is produced), cloth bookmarks, paper bookmarks, storage containers from recycled tins (if you have any, I want them!), a new DIY planner for myself, and I’m in the process of updating my work portfolio so it looks a bit more cohesive. My latest brainstorm is to collect plastic lids off of bottles (soda, OJ, milk, etc.) so that I can carry them to Eli’s school for an art project. (OK, so I saw this on one of the crafting blogs, but I don’t remember which one so don’t yell at me for not having a link.) I’ve always found it funny that when I am busiest, I feel energized to work on projects for myself.

If I have two coherent thoughts to string together after all of that (and my usual child rearing and house chores) all I want to do is watch Dr. Who or sing songs from Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. I find it really funny that my two favorite actors right now are men with very expressive foreheads. I’m sure that says something about me but I don’t think I want to examine it too closely.

Anybody else out there obsessing about anything or enjoying their own chaotic life?

This past week has been c-r-a-z-y! We went to Kansas City to visit Andrew and Joy and we had a great time! Eli and Sam played nonstop from the moment they woke in the mornings until we carted their tired butts to bed. I hatched evil plans to send Eli to Kansas City by himself in another couple of years — I’m sure Andrew and Joy won’t mind.

We got to see and play with the newest Granade. He’s a cutie and already quite the talker.

We also visited the T-Rex Café. We were all a bit overwhelmed by the noise and the sites but Liza learned to roar like a dinosaur while we ate dinner. We took turns taking the boys around the restaurant to see the fish and different mechanized animals.

I wanted a picture of everyone but we got separated and then it started to rain so we headed for home.

On Saturday morning we went to Kindermusik class. All the kids, even the big ones, got into it.

We played games.

We jingled.

The class was a lot of fun and reminded me that I wished our Kindermusik here in Huntsville were better.

While I was packing our suitcases, Liza decided a diaper from the stack would make a great hat.

We had so much fun and we were sad to go but we had to get back home for soccer practice and the first day of school.

Physicists have something to be ashamed of.

Toilets are really complex.

We’re visiting family all weekend, so in the meantime, here’s me talking about whether or not you can improve your gas mileage by keeping your tank half full for a MarketWatch story.

Pocari Sweat’s taste matches its name.

Number of searches for “Misty May nude” or “Misty May naked” on our site as a function of time:

May 2008: 0-20
June 2008: 0-20
July 2008: 60
August 2008 to date: 260

Happy Olympics, everyone!

Since I just got through flying a bunch, here’s a funny story that lightened my mood. It turns out the TSA has been creating a database of some who have flown without an ID and “adding them to a database of people who violated security laws or were questioned for suspicious behavior”.

You actually can fly without an ID, thanks to Gilmore v. Gonzales. This is a boon to those whose wallets are stolen while they’re traveling, and supports the ability to travel anonymously without being tracked. But according to the USA Today article, TSA chief Kip Hawley confirmed the database, then later told the paper that they were changing their policy and would no longer be keeping records of ID-less people if the TSA screener can determine their identity.

The TSA blog dances happily around the issue. They don’t deny the story, but they are happy to invoke the image of 9/11.

This USA Today story perpetuates exactly the type of misperceptions that damage the credibility of a system designed to protect the traveling public in a post 9/11 world.

Funny thing: their system as it stands has a big gaping hole in it. As any number of people have pointed out, their system of ID checking is an open triangle.

When you buy a ticket and it’s issued to you, your ID is checked against the no-fly list. When you go through security, your ID is checked against the printed ticket. But your ID and printed ticket aren’t checked against the actual records of who’s supposed to be on the flight. And since the airlines and security accept tickets printed out at home, you can create your own fake boarding pass.

Let’s say I’m Phil the Terrorist, and I’m on the no-fly list. The government’s watching me. How can I ever get on a plane again?

I get an accomplice who’s clean to buy a ticket. Then I create a fake boarding pass that matches my actual Phil the Terrorist ID. I go through security with my fake boarding pass, and then swap that for the real ticket my accomplice bought.

So, yeah, tell me again how you’re protecting me in this post-9/11 world while you’re leaving open a security hole that’s been identified for at least three years.

A lit cigarette is carried at the height of a child’s face.

Play in the tub for a really long time.

Click on the photo to see the whole bath time set.