Ok, I'm not a weapons expert but in today's Mega Tokyo strip, is Miho's (the dark-haired girl) back-pack shaped like a 'Claymore' anti-personnel mine? That sure beats a Pikachu back-pack for coolness. : )

So there I was, procrastinating about getting back to the bloody novel. The reason? No matter that the basic story is a good one I have only the vaguest notion of how I want to present it. Tch. It's all very well getting starry-eyed and saying 'I'm going to write a novel' but it pays to have some clue how go about it.
So anyway, there I was, shying away from anything that could be considered 'work', chatting to Joules - or rather, whinging to her about how the novel just wasn't gelling - when my brain suddenly staggered sideways and I had an idea.
Heh, I've now got a revised break-down of the chapters and a whole new emphasis for the story direction. Well, not new, exactly, but re-discovered, and an actual plan this time to implement it. I think I'll still be able to use most of what I've written so far - there's not a lot of it, really, maybe 40 pages - but I'll need to shunt it about a bit.
So, on the whole I'm feeling a teensy bit more positive about the whole thing, and I have to *glomp* Joules for being the wonderful sounding-board/devil's advocate/voice of reason that she is. : )

One of the cubs' teachers spoke to me today, to tell me she's noticed they've started socialising outside of themselves. This is a definite step forward.
*g* I saw them playing with one of their classmates this afternoon, kicking a football around… except it was an Aussie Rules football, which is oval, and they've only really played with soccer balls! Was quite funny watching them trying to do that run and kick thing you can only do with round balls, and as for drop-kicking - forget it!
Ah, I'd much rather they got into soccer than AFL anyway. : )

Woohoo! GoodTwin's got a blog! (Can I post the link, please?)
*g* Now it's Sue's turn - though given the probs Joules' has been having…

You know what I really like about my cubs? When they've finished watching telly or a video/dvd, they turn it off and walk away. I was never able to do that when I was a kid, always had to have the damn thing on even if I hated what I was watching.
About toilet-training… Sorry, Talon, I don't think I can really be any help there, I don't actually remember any of the strategies I used with the cubs. I know it only took about a month before they got the hang of it, but at that time they were going to a day-care centre two days a week and the staff there did most of the groundwork. I was a bit annoyed at the time though, the centre's policy was that the children would/should start toilet training before they turned 3, around about the age my cubs were when they started attending. I'd planned to leave it a little longer seeing as they'd shown no interest in toilet training - ie: totally ignored my half-hearted attempts : ) - and to have something so fundamental to my babies' development summarily decided for me made me cross. But, I could see the point and ultimately the cubs benefited so I'm not annoyed any more.

Stumbled across an old episode of The Muppets last night on the Holy Rodent Empire channel. Joan Baez was the special guest and I found myself singing along with all her songs… *shakes head* I spose there has to be some benefit from having folkies as parents…

The cubs and I were talking tonight about visiting the UK - we all think it's a fabulous idea. *g* Let's forget for the moment the cost of it, let's be wildly optimistic and say we'll be travelling over in September next year... *heh, another flare-up of that 'sunny optimism' gland?*
Guess I'll just have to pull my finger out and write that best-seller.