Real Time at 7:30 A.M.

As many years as I've told children the proper place for such activity...

Annika just came out to the kitchen and in a slightly exasperated tone said, "Mama, Luci's doing her penmanship inside of a bin."

Sure enough. The best place in the house for tidy cursive writing is a giant plastic bin half-filled with winter clothing.

(And now you know that I did NOT finish switching clothes over last week, and, if you're clever, you can probably guess the state of affairs in our house. That picture's from several years ago, but the general theme holds true.)