The Bouncy Castle in Space

Halloooooooo!

'Twas a long day at work, culminating in a small child covered literally head to toe in a mixture of clay and worm castings (aka poo).

Me: I want you to think about something. Since you did what I asked you not to do and splattered that stuff all around you, you've got worm poop all over your face.
Small filthy child: But I don't want poop on my face!
Me: That is a great thing for you to think about for next time.

Clay clogs the drain, so the kid had to be hosed off in the garden. At least she did not get so grossed out by her messy hands that she gagged all the way to the bathroom, like the last time.

In completely unrelated news, I had to stop off to buy beer on the way home.

I'm not sure if I like the rainbow tu-tu or the pink laces more--let's call it a draw. Though the tu-tu strictly party or birthday fair.

Great Photo, Kitty!

Stopping in for a bounce because it's my birthday! I've brought cake to share with everyone

Happy birthday Spiral! Birthday hug!

Happy birthday Spiral!

Hope you have an awesome day!

Have a great day Spiral

This is birthday season in my family - mine, my husband's, my father's, my niece, my brother and sister-in-law and all so soon after Christmas!

Happy Birthday, Spiral!!!!

You won't believe me, but I woke up in the night and said, "Oh, no! I forgot to wish Spiral a happy birthday."

I thought I had missed it, so I'm glad to know I didn't.

I hope you have a fantabulistic day - month - year. We were born in the same month, you know. Mine was the 1st. That makes us some kind of sisters in my book.

Me, too! I'm a January sister! Mine's next week, the 24th. And my 17yo son was on the 3rd.

I gave him $$. He was happy.

Oh, happy birthday!!! Happy bouncings to all!

My sweetie's birthday is January 3rd, too. I'm usually too tired and hungover from New Year's and broke from winter holidays to feel properly festive, but we try to have a small adventure every year

Happy birthday, Spiral!

Happy birthday.

Happy birthday, Spiral!

Happy birthday, Spiral!!!

My daughter's birthday is February 11th, and she already has it all planned out, including her premiere viewing of the first Harry Potter movie. (She's turning six, and while we've read all the books, we wanted her to hold off on the movies, so she made the plan that she'd watch the first one when she turned six, and then one each birthday after that.)

I'm feeling pretty bouncy - finished our taxes today (refund!) PLUS I just hit my goal of 30,000 words for my WIP. My original goal was first draft by February 1 -- that's feeling possible but not probable and will depend somewhat on how my freelance work shapes up this week. But still, I'm excited!

So, I know you can't submit children's work, but does anyone know anything about L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future?

I think there is a thread about it in the Bewares, Recommendations, and Background Checks forum, and maybe in the SF & Fantasy forum too. An AWer friend of mine, fenika, is very big on submitting to them, if you had any specific questions she would probably know the answer!

For myself, I am very wary of them because of their ties to Scient0l0gy, an organization with troubling practices, but YMMV.

Thanks for the birthday wishes! Part of my day yesterday (well, the best part, really) included a trip to the bookstore, where I ended up coming home with 8 new books.

Ooh, birthday books! That's a good way to extend your birthday for weeks and weeks.

Mware - The other day my 16 year old daughter had a friend over and we were talking about zombie apocalypse of all things. The friend said she figured the best place to hang out during a zombie attack would be Walmart, because of course they have everything. My son and I got real excited and we're like - Funny you should mention that, we just read a book where the MC's hung out at Walmart to fend off zombies!

Who's planning to watch the ALA Newbery & Caldecott etc. announcements tomorrow? Here's a link to the live webcast!
I will be in the car at the exact moment it begins (7:45 am central) but I'll check it out as soon I get there.

Anyone down for a new year's resolution for the board?

I was thinking maybe we can all agree to try to edit/give criticism/give ideas for 2 stories in the Children's Literature SYW a week? Would anyone else be down for trying this out?

Hello.

RuthD said:

Who's planning to watch the ALA Newbery & Caldecott etc. announcements tomorrow? Here's a link to the live webcast!
I will be in the car at the exact moment it begins (7:45 am central) but I'll check it out as soon I get there.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads up. I just googled and saw the list:

2012 Medal Winner - Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos
2012 Honor Books - Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai and Breaking Stalin's Nose by Eugene Yelchin.

Has anybody read any of them?

Also, the Edgar nominees for Best Juvenile -

Horton Halfpott by Tom Angleberger (of Origami Yoda fame)
It Happened on a Train by Mac Barnett
Vanished by Sheela (she spells her name wrong) Chari
Icefall by Matthew J. Kirby
The Wizard of Dark Streets by Shawn Thomas Odyssey

On a side note, how awesome is the Kindle? One click and I'm reading the openings of these books for free.

SheilaJG said:

Thanks for the heads up. I just googled and saw the list:

2012 Medal Winner - Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos
2012 Honor Books - Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai and Breaking Stalin's Nose by Eugene Yelchin.

Has anybody read any of them?

On a side note, how awesome is the Kindle? One click and I'm reading the openings of these books for free.

Click to expand...

Inside Out and Back Again also won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature, and it is a totally gorgeous verse novel. The writing is stunning, and the immigrant experience is crystal clear. I do wonder, though, if actual middle grade readers would be engaged by it.

And yes, the Kindle is awesome. I loooooooove the sample feature so much, and since the library started carrying Kindle books, my bank account has been much happier.

Hmmph. Despite my pre-Newbery reading marathon, I managed not to read any of their picks. I'm happy for Jack Gantos, though. I need to read Dead End in Norvelt and figure out why the committee picked it over Okay for Now.

Awesome that Maggie Stiefvater's The Scorpio Races is a Printz honor book. I haven't read it yet.

I'm glad Me...Jane is a Caldecott honor book. I'm a big fan of Jane Goodall, and I love the illustrations.

And yes, kindle = awesome.

Beyoncé Knowles would be more appropriate for this thread if she had of married the traditionalist Roy Castle rather than Jay-Z.