10, 9, 8...

It's not working.

7, 6...

Still not working.

5...

My blood pressure is going up.

4, 3...

The minor words that demonstrate increasing frustration are starting to come out.

2...

My voice is getting louder

1...

It's reached dog-whistle pitch.

Moral of the story:  Counting backwards from 10 does nothing to relieve your temper when your 9 year-old is still up at 11:30 on Sunday night because she decided that 10:30 was the right time to start her weekend homework.  And it's not even like she normally has weekend homework.  This is homework that was rejected because she did such a poor job of it last Wednesday.

So now, the power cord to her computer is mine.  Time for her to re-prioritize.

Overall it's been a frustrating weekend.  I spent four hours getting 5000 hand-written words into my manuscript file, only to realize that I had transcribed them already.  So I'm no further along than I was last week - 20 handwritten pages left.  Should only take 6 hours or so.  I hope the kids have enough underwear to last them the week.  Come to think of it, I hope I have enough underwear to last the week.

On a brighter note, at 3:00 in the morning I submitted a fully revised version of the China Medical Mission article, complete with 7 captioned pictures and 600 fewer words.  Now all I need are the permission slips for the people in the pictures and I'm all caught up.

I'm feeling ferclempt, so I'm abandoning my post.  It's only fair that I should spare you from the miserable swirl of tarry, black emotions I'm feeling right now.  I'll be back when I'm worthy of your company.