The females in my life are getting a little bossy ...

... The other day Carmen brought home a children's book called Little Goblins Ten. As soon as I walked in she shoved it into my hands and demanded that I read it to her. Being a sorta New Age kinda guy I immediately said "Of course,dear." And I read the first verse.

Over in the forest
Where the trees hide the sun
Lived a big mommy monster
And her little monster one.
"Scare!" said the mommy;
"I scare," said the one.
So he scared and he scampered
Where the trees hide the sun.

I thought I'd done a great job, capturing the true pathos of being a monster AND a single mom off where the trees hide the sun. But no. That wasn't good enough. "No, you have to make your voice sound like ..." followed by very specific instructions on how to read it. She wasn't much impressed by my next effort either.

A few day earlier we had had Maire with Maeraed and Miggs (or Katara and Aang as they were for the evening) down for their trick or treating. After we had gone around the neighborhood holding everyone up for treats we came back and Maeraed helped me give out candy to the children coming to our house.

I was giving out some candy to a cute little witch, fumbled a bit, and when I turned back inside Maeraed said "Well, you blew that one." I suggested she do it herself. So she did. She gave out the candy to the next group of kids and turned back to me "That's how it's done! No mess, no bother."

Oh.