Fraction put this hat on Applejack (and another on Claude) to make me laugh. The dogs wandered back to the kitchen but I somehow didn’t notice. Hats came off and that was that.

Except… Captain Applejack started whining at the table in front of “his” hat. Fraction put it back on him and he was content. Apparently all he wanted was to be a dog walking around a house wearing a child’s dinosaur hat.

Of course.

In my list of good things yesterday, I forgot to mention a couple of goodies from earlier in the week — namely:

• We attended the Kansas City Obama rally and it was *packed*. Good sign.
• Shaun White took the gold in Superpipe at the X Games!! Woot!! I also hear he’s going to have a line at Target soon. Sweet. (Not that a 37 year old woman wants to dress like a 20 year old extreme sports athlete… but I can still be pleased, can’t I?)
• EDITED TO ADD: Fraction was nominated for a Golden Loeb. (As were Ed, Brian, The Order (!!), Iron Fist… Don’t let me influence your vote. Ahem.  But if you wanted to, you could write in Matt Hollingsworth for best colorist.) Polls are open until tomorrow…

• Henry slept well last night, consequently so did I.
• Warren Ellis made me laugh like a hyena. [See LOLBABEZ above.]
• Kara came over and entertained HL.
• She brought Tony with her… for a little while anyway.
• I spoke to Amity, Courtney, Lisa and Lisa again, but still managed to get work done for the first time in days and days.
• No diaper leaks [Er... spoke too soon.]
• Applejack cried when we took the dinosaur hat off of him so Fraction gave it back to him and now he’s walking around the house wearing it.  (Applejack is a dog.)
• E-mailed back and forth with Andy MacDonald about upcoming project.  Saw his thumbnails.  Damn.
• Got the back issues I ordered from Mile High Comics.  Woo hoo.  Guess what I’m reading tonight?
• Nikol sent Henry Leo a bunny hat.
• Audrey Wood is getting pink Vans.
• I saw a picture of Liana dressed like a giraffe.
• Fraction cut the fun squash for me.
• That is not a euphemism.

Okay, back to dinner prep, then back to work.

Breaking Marvel news and great conversation. I can honestly say I love eavesdropping on these two. It’s clear that they both love comics, but it’s far more interesting than fan service.

Also, YOUNG AVENGERS news. I heart the YOUNG AVENGERS.

Henry, NO! Originally uploaded by Kelly Sue

First, let me thank Dennis Culver again for the amazing Henry, NO! sketch you see pictured above. So. Awesome. (Dennis is one of those guys who has really upped his game over the last few years. I admire his work ethic tremendously. It’s obviously paying off — check out that THING!)Next, a big thank you to the N3rds for having me on their show and being so kind in light of my caffeine-fueled chattering. I screwed up my courage this morning and listened to the whole thing and — surprise, surprise — it wasn’t as bad as I feared. I do hate my voice, particularly at first, but as I start to relax it’s not as bad. Anyway, I figure my horror is just a symptom of my rampant self-obsession and no one else is going to notice.

Kwip has a lovely voice, doesn’t he? Something about him reminds me of my friend Ryan Olson, who is similarly melodious. (Speaking of voices, do you watch The Wire? I want Slim Charles and Norman to have their own radio show.)

I was bummed to hear in their review of THE IMMORTAL IRON FIST #12, they referred to Misty Knight and Colleen Wing as “peripheral bitches.” Setting aside the general ugliness of using “bitches” as a sort of plural pronoun for “women” (which is an uphill battle I’m not going to win, so I’ll just register my dissent politely and move on), I felt as though Misty and Colleen as Heroes for Hire (and with Misty being Danny’s ex, to boot) had earned a distinction beyond arm candy. I think this feeds into a larger discussion we could have on the problem with CONTINUITY and the big two in general, but that’s a can of worms I don’t have time to open today. More when Fraction’s not waiting for me to take the baby, you know? (So… when HL’s 25, we’ll get back to this.)

Speaking of HL, Kara is busily trying to buy a house (YAY!! Go, Kara!) so, alas, she won’t be coming back to look after the boy. That means I’m back to not really being able to work during the day, and any progress I made before the holidays is rapidly coming to naught. SO: Fraction and I are going to go check out some Montessori schools with day care this week. Wish us luck. If we’re not in love with any of these, I guess we’ll start looking for another nanny who can do 2-3 x a week, but I’m hoping for the schools as I’m having to cut down on my work schedule anyway and we can only afford so much. Anyway, cross your fingers for us.

I’m such a dork: I got a little thrill this morning receiving an anonymous shout out from the Babies and Moms Radio Moms in show #42. (I’m the mom who sent Nancy the picture of me reading her book to my son.) I get so much out of their podcast, I really do. Go, BABIES AND MOMS! Love them.

I just finished a podcast interview that wasn’t really a podcast interview with Fraction with me popping on for a minute.

I was so nervous about it that I got up this morning and made a list of things to talk about… I opened links in browsers in case names escaped me, got prepared, you know? Then I drank too much coffee, and ended up pacing in the kitchen the whole call, completely ignoring my list. What did I talk about? Poop, farts, sharts, dog vomit and health insurance. [Not for the faint of heart, btw. It's called Cringe Humor for a reason.]

I’m not even kidding.

WTF is wrong with me…? Le sigh.

Fraction says I did fine [That's his job, yo.], but I’m sitting here staring at my list with regret. So here’s what I didn‘t talk about, everything I jotted down and meant to bring up:

• What I’m reading: Dakota North Investigations, CBR file of Sweet Chastity, Screamland, Young Avengers;
• UClick – comic books on cell phones [because of something I'd heard them say on a previous podcast; I had a great opening too -- they asked me about my friends having multiple jobs. I could have brought up Harold and plugged SCREAMLAND at the same time. Coulda/Shoulda/Woulda... Didn't.]
• Fraction — Iron Fist Special coming out w/Lewis Larossa and Russ Heath. [Russ. Heath. And I've seen the Larossa pages. Damn.]; Chaykin starts PWJ with #16; Order #7 — the Namor issue — is out next week; Casanova #12 goes to the printer next week;
• 1987 Wonder Woman reboot;
• Kathryn Immonen at Marvel;
• Girl Farts project;
• The War of Art by Steven Pressfield;
• Don’t believe everything you read on the intarwebs; and
• the Tori Amos Anthology.

…That’s what it said on the page THAT I NEVER LOOKED AT. There was another note about a Fraction book but we figured out later that he’d promised that news to Siuntres and his most recent Wordballoon interview hasn’t posted yet, so it’s actually good that I didn’t get to that bit.

Yay…?

Henry Leo did wake up and coo into the phone though, so that’s delightful.

Oh, and after some thought: my favorite word is “yes.”

Tax Time

Originally uploaded by Kelly Sue

Kill. Me.

The first of many babies we’re excited to meet this year, Sam was born to Theron and Jennifer on Dec. 30, 2007, at 11:46a.  He was 7lbs, 3 oz, and 18.5 inches long.  He’s home now and doing great.  (I’ve seen pictures — he’s beautiful!)

Capt. Apples Jackson
Originally uploaded by Kelly Sue

Update on CAJ’s condition:

It’s a good thing Fraction braved the cold to take CAJ to the hospital last night. The bloody stools continued when they got there and CAJ soon began vomiting. He’s now on IV fluids, antibiotics and an anti-nausea drug.

They don’t exactly know what’s caused this but they’re diagnosing it as hemorrhagic bacterial something-something. (Our regular vet is going to talk to them and get us the scoop. I didn’t have a pen and paper when I was on the phone with the emergency vet.)

They’ve given us no reason to think his life is in danger, but he’s clearly a sick puppy. They originally thought we’d be able to take him home or at least transfer him at noon today, but as of 8:00 am this morning they decided they want to keep him. We’re supposed to call the hospital at 5:30 this evening to get an update.

Keep him in your thoughts, will you?

EDITED TO ADD:  Okay, the diagnosis is hemorrhagic gastroenteritis (“H.G.E.”) and it is, in fact, a very good thing Fraction took him in — untreated, it can be rapidly fatal.  However, because he got prompt attention there’s no reason at this point not to think he’ll make it through.  The first 48 hours are apparently the most dangerous. My understanding is that it’s the rapid dehydration that causes most of the fatalities.  Since CAJ is on IV fluids, we should be okay.  Thanks for the good thoughts.

W/R/T the Laurenn’s Twitter: Fraction is a goddamned hero for taking the dog in last night when the wind chill was 4 below.  HL, Claude and I stayed bundled up at home, waiting by the phone.

W/R/T Claude: He had some runny stool yesterday morning as well, but appears to be fine.  We’re watching him closely and have asked K-9 Club to do the same.  He was clearly upset that CAJ was gone last night — he whined and cried until Fraction got home — but he seems okay this morning, if a little lethargic.

• This was saved to drafts: “Lots of birthdays today! Best wishes and big love to James Lucas Jones, Heidi MacDonald, Kathleen Hudspeth and John Cecil.” That was more than a month ago. Doesn’t do me much good to wish them happy birthdays now, but what the heck. I hope they were lovely days, all.
• Rich and Maki just promised to take us to Fresh Flours on our next visit to Seattle. Look at those muffins! I’m already scheming.
• See that new badge down there? I posted some new videos of Henry Leo to Vimeo. Vimeo seems to be having issues, though, so they’re also on YouTube.
• Good News! Babies are good judges of character.
• I’m going to make an uberlist this year. I sat out last year and, well, last year turned out kind of shitty (excepting HL, of course). I’m not saying there’s a cause and effect relationship there, but, well… it couldn’t hurt. I love making lists, anyway. I’m not promising to track the list, but I’ll make it. Nikol’s is here. The livejournal community is here. I’ll post it when I’m done.
• We’re in the market for some cubicle track. Anyone know a good source? (Also called “hospital track.”) We have a wall in our bedroom that we want to cover with a large curtain and my decorator friend tells me cubicle track is the way to go. I’ll probably give these folks a call if no one has a better suggestion.
• We’ve used those UA bedspreads as curtains throughout our home — Fraction’s parents just put new ones up in our foyer in fact. I’m not crazy about their clothes, but I love their housewares and particularly their SALES. I have a wall grouping of theirs waiting to be hung in HL’s room and I think I need these for the kitchen.
• Speaking of home improvements, Fraction and I may have settled on a new couch. Well, I’m 90% sure we’ve settled on a new couch. We haven’t decided whether or not we’re ordering the loveseat that goes with it. We could use the extra seating but the loveseat isn’t on sale and it’s speeeeeendy.
• I GOT AWESOME LOOT FOR XMAS. I’ll post photos after a bit.
• Deadlines are passing me like assholes on the freeway. More on this later, too.
• I’m feeling flush with gratitude this New Year’s Day, despite the work stress and all the crap around the house begging for my attention. I have a good life, a good family and good friends. Thank you.
• EDITED TO ASK: Visited links turn blue for some reason.  I’d like them to turn dark green instead.  Is there an easy way to make that change?