No news is good news

I had such a hard time getting through my work email today. There's a late-night lull right now where most normal people in the U.S. are not online (but I can see a few on my IM list) and my colleagues on the other side of the world haven't started tomorrow yet. But if I don't get off the computer soon, people in the other hemisphere will start emailing me.

Sometimes I wish I could just stop working at 5:30 p.m. and not have to go back after I do the mommy shift. It would be so nice to just read a book (or write one!) or even watch a show.

Tonight we had scouts again and it was a brief reprieve from my middle son's very grumpy mood (which he finally owned up to) since he doesn't like to be wretched in public. He did sell out his older brother with one of his friends, though, which led to a brief discussion about family loyalty on the way home.

I insisted he apologize to his brother.

"Sorry."

"Apologize like you mean it."

"Sorreeee."

"Wait until you can say it sincerely."

"SORRY!! There! I apologized. But what good is it gonna do, he's not gonna forgive me!"

"Give him time. You can't expect to snap your fingers and undo what you did." (He's actually not the one who can snap.)

Ultimately and fortunately his older brother forgave him because I could tell that he (middle) felt really guilty and he was already wallowing in enough self-pity and misery. It would have put him over the edge.

We are having a storm warning tonight/tomorrow, another good reason to clear the decks...in case I wind up working around the kids.

There, I just tempted fate and pressed F9 and nothing new came in. No news is good news!