O Frabjous Day!

Both my children are now back in school full time, with the bus taking them to and fro. I am humbly grateful.

Zohar had her first full day yesterday. Some of you may remember the dreaded Summer of 2007, when I received phone calls from Zohar's day camp two or three times a day (in the end , she got expelled. From day camp. At the age of four and a half. My daughter -- the overachiever). Anyway, you can imagine my trepidation when I received a call from Zohar's teacher yesterday, in the middle of the day. My immediate reaction was "What did she do?" -- not "What happened to her?" but "What happened because of her?" Fortunately, the teacher was just calling to ask about the school bus.

Jacob started Grade Six today, which places him in high school, according to his particular institution of learning. It makes me feel kind of old to have a kid in high school already but Jacob looked very young in his shirt and tie (they have to dress up for the first day), with his pen in his shirt pocket (so much for him getting to be Prom King).

Before I know it, they'll be back home, clamouring for food and television time and all the other luxuries they were deprived of during the school day. Meanwhile, I'm enjoying the silence.

Home Stretch

It's the Friday before Labour Day. Summer vacation is almost over. The kids have been home all week because for some reason, there is no camp the last week of vacation, just when beleaguered parents need it most.

Today, my children are engaging in an ongoing insult contest. Zohar is now wailing because her unusually benign toast, "Cheers to God!" (don't ask me where that came from -- she is usually an atheist), prompted Jacob to respond with "Cheers to Zohar being a baby." Normally, he'd get in trouble for that but seeing as Zohar called him an octopus head just a few minutes ago, I thought it best to let it pass. Zohar is now in her room sobbing because I didn't punish her brother. I am trying to maintain my stated policy of ignoring everything but blood.

Anyone who would like to rent some children for the long weekend, please e-mail me at eden.nameri@thomsonreuters.com. No reasonable offer refused.

Tooth on the Loose

Since I last posted anything on the LWG blog, I have been to New York and back twice, my brother and I gave my dad away at his wedding and I traveled to the UK to meet a long-lost uncle for the first time. All in all, it's been an interesting summer. To cap it all, yesterday, Zohar discovered her first loose tooth.

The fact that this is a big deal to my five-and-a-half-year-old will not be a surprise to anyone who remembers the thrill of wiggling a tooth until it was ripe for harvesting by the Tooth Fairy. Despite the fact that a loose tooth leads to its possessor sticking fingers in mouth dozens of times a day, it is a badge of maturity -- the grade-school equivalent of needing a shave.

For a parent, the filling in of a baby's gummy smile with hard, shiny little nubs is already quite an adjustment. The endearing gaps left by fallen baby teeth are filled all too soon with oversized teeth that shout "You should have chosen the Gold dental plan!"

According to J. M. Barrie, one of the things that made Peter Pan so enchanting was that he still had all his baby teeth. Now, as she grows up, Zohar will be dropping pearls before Time.

Considering an IV With a Caffeine Drip

This morning, as I was walking to the subway after dropping the kids off at their respective camps, I bought some iced tea at Second Cup. I thought it would be more efficient to get caffeinated before I got home. Somehow, I managed to drop the cup hard enough to crack it. So much for that beverage.

By the time I got home, it was closer to lunch than breakfast, so I made myself a sandwich and poured myself a Coke. I promptly knocked the Coke all over the dining room table.

I am such a zombie today that I can't even figure out how to get enough caffeine into my system to allow me to actually drink something. This may have something to do with the fact that Zohar was up from 1 a.m. to 3:30 a.m. for no apparent reason. Maybe I should ask Zohar for advice. Apparently, her caffeine consumption is quite efficient.

O (Passsport) Canada

Granted, I'm a week late but I am now about to wax patriotic. I went to Passport Canada today to try to get new passports for Jacob and me. I went armed with cases and highlighters and pens and paper, convinced I'd be waiting for hours. I had visions of being stuck there just when it was time to go get the kids from camp and wondering how much longer I could wait before Children's Aid picked them up instead. I imagine my surprise when I got through the pre-screening and the application process in just over an hour.

I guess I shouldn't get too excited until the passports are ready. We're leaving for New York on July 18th and I've been promised them by the 17th. I have had months to get this done but never got around to it, even though I live right across from the passport office. Apparently, I am less efficient than the government of Canada. It's a sobering thought.

Ice in July

It is sunny and hot -- perfect weather for Popsicle Day. Pity the Popsicle-less at-home writers. When we look in the mirror, a pale, wan image is reflected while those of you at the office have lips a healthy shade of pink, purple and orange.

Most of the time, working from home has clear advantages. Exceptions include snow days, which do not apply to those who do not commute, and Popsicle Day. Apparently, whether slick on the street or sweet on the stick, ice cuts no ice with Carswell work-at-home writers -- or is it vice versa?

More Joys of Working From Home

In a building known for frequent plumbing repairs and maintenance, today I am once again without water all day. Panic sets in. There's water in the kettle for tea, but what if one of the dogs makes a mess that needs to be cleaned up? What if the toilet won't flush? Why does this keep happening??? Next it will be more power outages, I can just tell...

Happy Summer.

Camp At Last!

With all due respect for Canada Day, today is the real day of celebration for me. This morning, I dropped BOTH my kids off at their respective day camps. Zohar's day camp did not start until today, so on Monday, she helped me drop Jacob off at Shakepeare camp (yes, my 11-year-old son is at Shakespeare camp. If there was a camp t-shirt, it would read "Why doth thou beat me up?") Jacob's camp happens to be held at Bloor Street United Church. Later that afternoon, Zohar asked me "Is it time to pick Jacob up from church yet?" I could practiclally hear all four of my grandparents turning over in their graves.

Legal Lyrics

I came across an item in yesterday's New York Times that I thought people might enjoy. If anyone else took Constitutional Law with Mr. Justice James MacPherson (known at the time as "Jimmy Dean"), you may recall him saying that the SCC always reminded him of "All Along the Watchtower," looking out to make sure that all was well. He cited Jimi Hendrix as the artist, but in fact, the composer was Bob Dylan, who heads the list as most popular lyricist among jurists in the U.S.

It would be nice to know what the breakdown is among Canadian decisions. Perhaps it could be a new Carswell feature; an audiolink to any referenced song could be embedded in the judgment.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/29/weekinreview/29dylan.html

Engineers at Work

As of today, my kids have been out of school for a week and camp does not start until next week. Sometimes there is not enough Valium in the world...

I found leftover toothpicks and mini-marshmallows, so now Zohar is ensconced at the dining room table, building structures from sweet nothings. It's only been a couple of minutes and she's already built a 3-D rectangle you could practically drive a car over. And now Jacob is getting started. He's building a person.

I'm hoping that between the focus on building and the stuffing of marshmallows into their mouths, they will stay fairly quiet. Oh, and world peace. I also want to wish for world peace.

Sending an @home writer's shout out to Kim in honour of her first day of doing tax cases while in her pyjamas.

I sympathize about the toilet. We had a similar problem two weekends ago, so four humans and two cats were sharing one bathroom.

Yikes! I hope it wasn't a messy task to clean up

Murphy's Law continued

Apparently near-tornado touchdowns aren't the only thing that can interfere with a work-from-home writer's ability to concentrate on the job. Try a blocked toilet that overflows onto the whole bathroom floor (and you have only one bathroom)! It's kind of hard to care about a legal summary when that happens. Fortunately a plumber was in the building on another job and my super convinced him to help me gratis as a favour, but the clean-up ate into my writing time.

Apparently, a tornado touched down right near my apartment this afternoon. I was arguing with my five-year-old daughter Zohar at the time, so I didn't notice.

WELCOME to the LWG blog for writers @ home!

I have finally managed to setup a blog for the @ home writers. A blog is an online diary; a personal chronological log of thoughts published on a Web page.
This blog is not just limited to the @ home writers, but it's a place where all writers can share their thoughts, comments, and suggestions. Enjoy, and happy posting!