I've had lots of thoughts that I believed would turn into blog posts this week, but none of them did. So, for your enjoyment, the crap going on in my head, in my favorite writing style.

• I read The Tenth Circle and I found it to be incredibly meh. I know lots of people who love Jodi Picoult. Should I try another or move on?
• I made the mistake of looking Salem up on Petfinder. He hasn't found a home yet. I'm desperately sad about it.
• Alliclaus loves timeout. Maybe too much. We don't really use it for punishment, as she rarely does something that warrants that. Mostly we use it to help her calm down when she's worked herself up too much. But lately, if we say no to something she wants, she'll show the beginning of a tantrum and then walk herself to her room and sit on the timeout chair. Should I be worried?
• Mimiclaus was the last of us to get the illness that we passed around the family upon our return from San Diego. She also seems to be the person who's got it the worst and for the longest. My doctor's office made it very clear that babies get, like, nine colds a year, but Alliclaus never really got sick like this while she was nursing. Her well-baby check isn't until the 19th, so I can't decide whether or not to take her in.
• Mimiclaus is sick. No one is sleeping. Send help.
• Help is, in fact, on its way. My mom comes out to help us through my two-week intensive this Monday. She doesn't do overnight childcare, but I'm thinking I might be able to occasionally squeeze in a nap.
• Oh my god. My two-week intensive. The professor has scheduled content mastery exams over the reading for each night. And the reading is 120 pages of doctrinal history. Each night. I did one day's worth of reading and it took me four hours. I do not have this kind of time. Particularly since the class is in the evenings. I'll have to try to do the reading during the daytime, when my children are awake. Un-freaking-likely is what I'm saying.
• I weighed myself this morning. And after a week of Weight Watchers-esque eating and occasional exercise, I lost seven pounds. It's all water weight, to be sure, but there's really nothing like that first week loss to motivate you, is there? A couple of you mentioned being lifestyle-change buddies. I'll email you directly, but I think that would be great. Let's think of how we should do it.
• I would like, momentarily, to make excuses publicly about exercising. Dude! Exercising when you have a baby is HARD! In Kansas City lately, it's really only been cool enough to get out to walk or run in the early morning, but Mimiclaus does not sleep at night. It's all I can do to drag myself out of bed in time for work, much less an hour earlier so that I can get out and walk. Which is to say, I'm in the market for an at-home workout option. Anyone have a particular DVD they love?

Okay, that's it. Not that it's anything unusual, but I'm not so sure how much I'll be around these parts for the next three weeks. School is calling and since I'm in my last year, I need to keep that GPA up for thesis defense. I'll be back, though, hopefully with lots of baby pictures!