This morning I was walking on the treadmill while checking in with my boys via Tivo.

I'm no fan of Barry Manilow, but he was on the Colbert Report on Monday, and he and Stephen sang a duet. During Stephen's bit I noticed that the treadmill had slowed way down. I looked down at the cardio monitor and sure enough, my heart rate had spiked.

I'm just sayin'.

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One of C's chores is to feed the cats in the morning. This involves pouring the excess stale food from the bowl into the trash can. This has been made a little more difficult in recent weeks because we've put a gate between the kitchen and dining room, where the bowls are kept, and she can only carry one bowl at a time. The other day I heard C pour the leftover food from one bowl into another. R said, "Yes, she realized that she could pour the food into one bowl and carry it in rather than make two trips."

Granted, I can carry two bowls at once, but HOW many years have we had these cats and not made that connection?

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While we're on the topic of working smart, I am resuming teaching Sunday School this Sunday, and a few weeks ago I found myself saying to R, "While my kids are young, I am vowing only to teach from a curriculum." It was one of those extroverted moments in which the thought didn't exist until it came out of my mouth, but the moment it did I thought, Yes. I love teaching, and I like coming up with my own stuff, but I was not loving the late night cram sessions, trying to synthesize content from a bunch of different books. Not gonna do it. This felt like a very positive step toward mental health.

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I've heard people have already been camping out for the hot new toys--Extreme Tickle Me Elmo and the latest video game system which I can't even remember the name of.

Get.
A.
Life.

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Twice this past week the divine miss m slept 7 p.m.-6:30 a.m. without waking. Last night she woke twice. SO inconsistent!

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Yesterday was supposed to be the day that my poem would be published on the online literary magazine written by and for mothers. But they still have not updated their poetry section. Ah well.

I also finished my "audition" piece for Christian Mainline Magazine and they will get back to me later in the month.

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Specifically for the Presbies:
A got a call from an editor of Presbyterian Outlook, who got my name from a friend of a friend. They are wanting to broaden their readership to a younger generation in the church and are exploring, among other things, an online presence. He was calling me because "I'm told you've done some work with blogs and building networks of people online and so forth." I haven't had a chance to call him back yet.

My initial thought is that the issue with the Outlook isn't format but content. I'm a big believer in the mission of the Outlook--an independent source of news about the denomination--but it has a very stodgy feel to it.

So, fellow Presbyterians, if you read the Outlook, why? And if you don't, why not?