update of the general variety, there will be bullets

• It took 10 months, 2 weeks and 1 day but Nate asked me what it would be like if Nora wasn't alive and just he was alive.  Ahem. 
• Nora is stepping.  With her feet.  In the direction of humans and toys.  Sigh.  
• Both kids start their fall school schedule next Monday which is fantastic (we love our school) but unfortunate because THE WHOLE REST OF THE WORLD STARTED school this week.  (So many cute back to school photos just staring me in the face!)  
• Karl was gone all last week (Park City, UT from Sunday afternoon to Saturday morning) for a conference.  That's a whole lot of bedtimes and wakeup and meal times all alone with two small children.  It started off SUPER rough - I picked up the world's scariest looking case of pink eye and both the kids were running low-grade fevers Sunday night.   Monday was not my best day.  All in all, it was intense but not quite as terrifying as I thought it was going to be. 
• I am currently repainting Karl and my bedroom a GLORIOUS shade of white.  Project White Out began last night at 9 p.m.  The walls in our bedroom are textured (read: we painted textured paint over classy wood paneling several years back).  We sort of forgot how that texture sucks up paint so we ran out of our meager one gallon around 11 p.m., not an opportune time to procure more paint as the paint store = closed.   We both forgot to get more today so, uh, two walls are 'Frost' and two remain 'Atmospheric.'  (Maybe if I confess this it means it will get done tomorrow?!  Must. Not. Stop.)  
• The dogs were definitely more difficult than the children while Karl was out of town, escaping multiple times and breaking the fence in the same spot we keep fixing.  Fortunately, I have fantastic neighbors who open their gates, lock them in and call me.  Then I have EVEN MORE fantastic neighbors who come sit with my sleeping baby while I round them up.  (Not that they go far; if Arlo escapes alone he just walks around to the front and sits at the carport door.) Also, Arlo and storms do NOT get along.  It hasn't rained in months, there is a drought in Arkansas but, HOW MANY TIMES DID IT STORM while Karl was gone?  Three.  (Clearly all in the middle of the night.)  
• I am hosting book club this month - Book Club #34.  We're going to have a party for #50.  What should we do? 
• I am also (sshhhhhush your mouths) coaching Nate's soccer team.  Don't tell anyone.  Full post to follow on THIS SUBJECT.  Ahem. 
• My friend Jaime and I recently took a photography class.  It was fantastic and I was all amped a and practicing and, well, then my camera broke.  (d40).  And I took it to The Camera Place and they said I should let it die and go to camera heaven.  (Did you know cameras - in general - have a shutter life?  I did not.  Shutter Life Expectancy.  Apparently, it's a real thing.)  So now I am unsure of what to buy.  
• My eldest child is obsessed with salmon.  
• My youngest child is obsessed with, um, no food.  She hates real food (pureed or of the table variety).  Except broccoli.  She likes that.  And rice cakes.   And crayon tips.  Surely she can exist on these alone, yes?  
• I am off work all week!  (See above bullet about school starting a whole week after everyone else!)  

Wait?  What?  No pictures?!!?  Scandalous.

Fine.

The two photos, though drastically different, have the same caption:  Business in the front, party in the back!

I should just give her a little trim, right?