My absence can be blamed on many things. A nasty cold, laziness, too much new tv to watch, facial pain from the cold, (that was strange-never had that before) napping, and most importantly, it's spring time and the state of our basement is on high arachnid alert. I think (pray) I killed the biggest one yet yesterday. You never know with spray what happens to them after they limp off to a dark corner. Probably building an army.

I made the best meal ever yesterday. It's not from PW's book, but it is her recipe. I may have even mentioned it before. Ranch Style Chicken. Make it with potatoes and beans. It's about a million calories, that's why the beans are important. It takes all the guilt away.

One of Dan's homework assignments was to write the sentence "Dad sat in the sun."

First he wrote "Dad sat on the sun." And he was determined that that was more correct because how can you possibly sit in the sun?

After I explained to him that while that may be so true, especially when speaking about a human's proximity to the hottest celestial body in the universe, we needed to write the sentence as it says in the directions.

Then he wrote some words squished together at a severe diagonal angle because the lines I drew for him were now erased. So I made him try again, emphasizing the need for spaces.

Then he wrote "Dad is in the sun" with huge spaces. Funny.

I think we finally got it right. But only after I pretended what he did was amusing. Such a boy.