while reading blogs today...

- The Boy slips, rolls down the tiny slope at the base of our front yard, and scrapes up his forehead and cheek on the sidewalk.

- Then I make them come inside.

- Reading, reading...

- Several different bloggers (and their commenters) are writing about things other bloggers do that are irritating. I did not realize there were "right" ways to do things.

- I come to realize that the front door is open. It turns out Middle Girl has gone out and is on the neighbors' front porch.

- I make them play in the back yard instead. (Lecture number 457 about not playing in the front yard unsupervised.)

- The neighbor rings the doorbell, because her daughter can see through the back fence that "Middle Girl is stuck by the pool."

- Then she presents me with Mom of the Neighborhood Award.

- Middle Girl and The Boy are both inside the gated pool area. The Boy is sitting with his legs (and therefore, sweatpants) in the pool. They have brought the bathroom stepstool outside and it is still sitting by the pool gate (it is a tall fence & gate, with a self-closing latch at the top) as evidence of wrongdoing. But it is on the outside of the gate and the children are now stuck on the inside. Lecture number 1 about using the step stool to open the pool gate (but not the first time we've discussed pool dangers; Dear Lord, I did not want to buy a house with a pool!).

- The Universe is trying to tell me something.

- Point taken. Posts in draft will stay that way.

- Please don't call the authorities.