various and sundry

* The savant's "spam be gone" comment refers to the war we're carrying on with the porn spammers. However, it will affect any of you that post without a password since you will now have to read and retype some letters, then preview before you can actually post to the blog. Perhaps if Pat had done so, he would have caught his spelling error... :P Sorry for the extra hassle. If you want to do a password thing, e-mail me.

* The kids had their first soccer game today. Even though there is no formal scorekeeping, they still keep score. The boy had a little weep because he didn't get to score a goal, but I was able to remind him that he spent half the game as goalie, which was just as important as scoring, if not more so. The girl does best when we tell her to "Run with your filly legs!!" and narrowly missed being hit in the head by a couple of throw-ins because she was watching the other kids instead of the ball. Nonetheless, they are feeling like 'real' soccer players since we bought them cleats yesterday.

* Also laid out some money to get one of those new-fangled 'trailbike' [(one-wheeled child bike extension)](http://www.trail-a-bike.com/interface/adams.php?loc=a&sku=oa7&col=gransilv)so that we could 1) give the girl the confidence/balance she needs to ride her own year-old, hardly touched two-wheeler (she fell a couple of times last spring, then refused to get back on,)
then 2) tow the boy, who has all the reckless confidence to ride a two-wheeler, but still lacks a little balance and a lot of common sense, in order to 3) reduce the amount of gas we use on piddly little trips to SYC and the rec center and 4) give me some more (highly needed) exercise while making sure that we can get home in a decent amount of time if I have to go to a birth. The savant and I each took both kids for a ride around the block to see how the thing worked. I was a little hesitant since I've barely been on my bike since we bought it at a 256 garage sale years ago, but it was okay, except for the in-my-face realization of how out of shape I really am. I imagine that the rec center will be as far as we go for awhile.

* Swamped (and this is no mere metaphor) out our bedroom last weekend. It took ~ 6 hours, with both adults working and the kids helping and doing the running. It was entirely worth it, and I want to spend all my time there since the contrast to the rest of the house is painful. However, we are under a slight deadline to reclaim the rest of the territory since both of the savant's sisters (and their partners) are descending upon us, either the 3rd or last weekend of April. really wish you'd call them to confirm, dear

So with that, I have to get off my butt and get moving. Scooter---I'm sorry for not getting back with you---you're next on the list. And the girl loved the kookaburra pic; the sounds took, like, a half-hour to play, so she lost interest. But it did spice up my laundry chores, as I'd wonder "What was that?"