Last week, David was out of town at the World Fantasy Convention in Austin on a day when I had three hours worth of conference calls and my son had been sent home sick from school. We have portable phones, and so I was walking around trying to keep up with the kids while I was on the phone. But this effort was not entirely successful. The following is a series of emails I send David that evening:

6:42 PM: Peter came home sick. Will probably be home tomorrow because he had a low fever at school. 3 hours+ phone conferences  . . . Kids fighting. Put in jamas. Will feed them soup soon.

6:44 PM: Oh, and someone ground all the bay leaves in the house in the spice grinder and Elizabeth just tried to roast a lollipop on a light bulb.

6:54 PM: Oh, and Belinda [the cat] is apparently the culprit with the spice grinder, at least as told by Liz. And then there is the potion involving camphor oil in the bathroom and the devil mask glued to the dishwasher. . . .

Now that a week has gone by, I am better able to see the humor in the situation. (Don't try this at home!)