Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

So…my 12-year-old got braces yesterday. Only UNLIKE me or her older sister, she got a palate expander, and not only do I have to turn the thing twice a day for a week, well–her efforts to eat make her older sister’s troubles with her bumpers look like child’s play. (The 12-year-old also has bumpers, by the way.) Luckily, she seems to be doing slightly better today than last night…although while the rest of us had leftovers, she heated up a can of baked beans and blended it with the hand blender for dinner. (To be fair, there WAS last night’s soup. She like the idea of the baked beans better, and tonight I let her make that choice.)

In other news, I got my friend Britt to help me work on my belated Christmas cards today. (And by help, I mean she sat at her computer with my Facebook open and messaged person after person to see if their addresses were current, while I stamped and addressed cards and wrote “Better late than never” on the back.) As ridiculous as this might seem–it being January 27th and all–it was a huge relief, because I don’t want to lose touch with my RI friends and family, but once we started swapping beds in bedrooms the week before Christmas, any other card activity pretty much went out the window. I’m actually excited to address more tonight, since I have quite a few new FB messages!

Anyway. Lastly–because my alarm just went off to turn the thing on the palate extender and then I need to shower my 6-year-old–I finished Remy Lai’s Pawcasso this week, and I ended up enjoying it more than I thought I might. I’ve always hated the “I lied and then got caught in the lie and let it snowball rather than telling the truth” sort of plot, but the leash law conflict distracted me from that some, and it resolved rather well. The human relationships in the book aren’t fleshed out as well as the varying dog perspectives are, but that seems intentional to me. Jo’s actions also do make sense given her family and friend struggles, even if watching the consequences unfold is like watching a train wreck. MY favorite part of Pawcasso, however, is the differing but fairly represented views on dogs, their leashes (or lack thereof), and what people should and should not be able to do and expect about dogs. (It’s an issue worth exploring, because both sides have valid points.) I’d be interested to know what you think!