The Author Who Shall Not Be Named

Recently, I've been reading novels by a local Louisville author who writes well-constructed romantic thrillers - good love stories with a serial killer or rapist or spy thrown in. I enjoy them and get the romance experience without the guilt of reading a trashy, slutty romance novel that has no real plot. Somehow the existence of the cops and robbers part gives the books some dignity. And they don't have mostly naked people on the cover that I'd have to try to hide in public.
So when I found some other books written by her (ages ago) at a nearby used book store, I snatched them up - all 15 or so. (I am one of their best customers.) As I've noticed with many authors, she definitely is a better writer today than she was at the beginning of her career, but still much better than the average romance author.
What I don't understand is what on earth, as a woman, she was thinking writing about young (usually 17 or so) girls who fall in love with criminals or men who RAPE them (but they really liked it). And most of them -men and women- are married and cheating (but that's okay because the spouse paid for their abduction or the spouse is really an evil person who is only interested in their fortune...). How can a female person write about rape as a romantic thing?!?!?!
I love her recent books. She is an excellent writer. But I cannot give her name here and send her the publicity in good conscience.

I do not want to have 4 kids

I now have experience with having 4 children. Not actually bearing them, of course, but taking care of them for 3 hours. And my conclusion is it makes me tired even remembering the experience.
A friend moved this weekend. Just across town, but moving is always a huge endeavor, so I offered to babysit for an afternoon while she got a chance to pack. So, for 3 hours on Friday I had 2 extra daughters, both almost the exact same ages as my girls - which makes the whole job easier as each has a playmate. We decided to go on a walk. Okay, I decided we should go on a walk - I figured it would make the time pass more quickly.
I got out our double stroller and put the two one-year-olds in it. The three-and-a-half-year-olds had to walk. We headed out with the destination of our ice cream store about 5 blocks up and one over. We got there, ate a child's cup each and headed home. The 3-yr-olds set the pace with their slow feet. And they were worn out when we got back. The whole thing took an hour and 25 minutes.
We were about half way home when I realized we were missing a sandal for the one-year-old guest. I backtracked to the last place we'd turned and looked back down that street, but no luck. Knowing we had already exhausted the older girls and I was going to be blessed to make it home without carrying someone, I did not turn back. I called in reinforcements - my mother-in-law drove the route and recovered the sandal just before my friend was leaving my house with her girls.
I really needed a nap. Too bad there is some law of the universe that if you have more than one child, they will not nap on the same schedule (or the older one will give up naps entirely). I think the law of the universe related to having 4 or more children ... well, it must be pretty scary and I don't want to know.

Childhood Milestones

This has been a big milestone week for my younger daughter, Diana 1.0. First, her fifth tooth popped through. Then she had her first reaction to a vaccination (big rash and fever). Then on Friday she took her first steps. She also had her first ice cream; yes, it was vanilla.

Have a Snack, Mommy?

I was singing a hymn in church on Sunday and holding Diana (her first birthday is tomorrow!). She was playing with my necklace - once you have kids, jewelry is mostly worn for the entertainment value you can get out of it. She is a very curious, experimental little girl whose favorite new tricks involve putting shapes through similarly shaped holes and then getting them out and repeating the exercise.
I guess my mouth looked like a good shape hole or I looked hungry; she reached up and stuck my pendant into my mouth as I sang!

Innocent Children's Songs

Once you become a parent and your child reaches 2 or 3 years old, say goodbye to listening to your personal preference in music. :-)
In the car, we have an entire CD case of selections for our listening pleasure(?), all consisting of kids' songs. Raffi, Wiggleworms, Philadelphia Chickens, Ralph's World, Dr. Seuss recordings, .... They are not too bad at first, but since they are relatively short songs, you quickly find yourself listening to the same songs for the second and third times.
Some of the songs are original and are actually entertaining. And then there are the albums of all the songs you have known forever like "Mary Had a Little Lamb", etc. In fact, we have one just titled Childrens' Favorites Sing-A-Long. It contains the basic fare of songs like "She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain," "This Old Man Played Knick-Knack," "London Bridges", and others. Seems like a very innocent CD, sung by a children's choir in very impressive harmony and with good enunciation. The words, for a group, are very clear. And this is one where they've really researched and have multiple verses to songs that most of us have only ever heard one verse.
So it all seems innocuous enough until we get into "Row, Row, Row Your Boat." The words to the second verse are as follows:
Rip, Rip, Rip your pants,
Gently down the seams,
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Hear the Ladies scream.
What???!! And, of course, the best part is that I reacted with considerable surprise to this, resulting in the immediate memorization of every word of the song by Rebecca 3.8 (that means 3 years, 8 months old, a convention borrowed from my favorite blog for entertaining reading: dubiousquality.blogspot.com).
She sings along with it and cackles in amusement every time that song plays. For the second and third and gazillionth time.