Grocery Store Casting

I saw a woman in the line at the grocery store today who was a dead ringer for Dame Judy Dench. It made sense to me because Dame Judy seems to pop up in all kinds of places. But then I thought, “Why would an older woman with a British accent be required to play ‘woman buying avocadoes at Safeway’?” No, they could have gotten anybody for that role. Heck, I’ve played it before.

Judy Dench should be kept available for playing roles like: persnickety housekeeper, or snobby aristocrat, or hard-bitten head of British intelligence, or The Queen.

Posted in around town, fun, fun, fun, shopping | 2 Comments

Easter Show and Tell

In his Easter basket, or rather under it, Magoo got a gigantic illustrated Lego Star Wars encyclopedia. In a plastic sleeve on the bottom corner of the book was a tiny Lego Luke Skywalker. So Sunday night he’s talking to some friends of ours about his Easter and he says, “You wanna see the awesome thing the Easter Bunny brought me?”

“Sure,” they say. What else can they say? The entire evening’s been a frantic show and tell, the likes of which only a second child with a captive audience can pull off. I am a second child. I would know. They know that he’s gonna show them the present whether they say, “Sure,” or, “Why don’t you take your pathetic Easter present and shove it where the sun don’t shine?” so they might as well be gracious.

At this point they’ve already seen his gaping tooth orifice and the way his tongue can slide through it, heard all of his jokes, learned how you can amputate the legs from multiple Lego guys to make stilts for one lucky Lego guy, and been subjected to detailed descriptions of multiple video games. What’s one more exhibit? Besides, we’re holding them hostage and if they want pie, they need to play along. Also. He is adorable.

So he brings out the tiny Lego guy and goes off about all of its many amazing properties (hair, moving limbs, painted-on medallion, relation to Star Wars) and its deficiencies (lack of light saber or weapon of any kind, representation of a part of the movie that involves kissing). He loves this Lego guy and is so glad that he got him for Easter.

“Oh, yeah,” he adds as an afterthought, “And he comes with a book.”

Posted in holidays, scaring the neighbors, unbearable cuteness | Comments Off on Easter Show and Tell

Mom Congress

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I’ve spent the last 4 days in D.C. at the Mom Congress conference and I’m inspired and exhausted.

Click here to read how I stayed close to Dan and the kids while hanging out on the opposite coast.

Here is a bit more about my impressions of the event.

Posted in Blogging, education | 3 Comments

Vor-each-iss Reading

I tend to get a bit overwhelmed when I read about the process of getting my novel published. Yesterday I wrote half a chapter and then spent a good chunk of time reading and researching. I’m reading The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published, a book that came highly recommended by a published friend, and I also stopped by Query Shark and several other sites.

Venting to Dan, I said, “I don’t know how I’m supposed to find time to write if I’m worried about attending conferences, formulating pitches, developing a social media presence, networking, maintaining the status of “voracious reader”, and you know, being a mom and having a life and stuff.”

“What’s a vor-each-iss reader?” Laylee asked.

“It means you read tons of books all the time.”

Then today I got cozy on the couch with my laptop and Laylee curled up on the floor beside me with book #1039 from the Guardians of Ga’hoole series.

“Are you gonna read with me while I write?” I asked.

“Yeah. You worry about writing. I’ll do the vor-each-iss reader part for you.”

Sweet. So now I need Dan to attend conferences for me, Magoo to work on the pitch, and Wanda to tweet and post to Facebook after her nap.

This post was originally posted on KathrynYoungThompson.com

Posted in writing | 3 Comments

Melting Down In the Grocery Store – A Cherished Milestone

It’s time to break out the die cuts and vibrating-uvula-shaped punches because Wanda just had her first full-scale grocery store melt down and I’d like to capture this special moment properly.  [Read more at Parenting.com]

Posted in around town, baby stuff, disasters, shopping | Comments Off on Melting Down In the Grocery Store – A Cherished Milestone

Dream Crusher

I shot down every aspect of the plan, only to find her shooting back an answer for how my objection could be overcome.  In the end I had to refer to city code and tell her I didn’t think a foundry was legal in a residential area, like the one in which we live. [Read more at Parenting.com]

Posted in aspirations, parenting | Comments Off on Dream Crusher