Bloggone it!
Been so busy the past few days my left index finger actually started to ache from all the typing I've been doing, what with two long-term projects and the never-ending slew of one-shots. Not to mention that Sage has been undergoing some kind of separation anxiety-- her yaya is on vacation, and she seems to think I'm also going to disappear on her if she doesn't see me at least once every two hours or so. So I've been running around like a headless chicken, and have wrung out my brain to such an extent that this is the only time I've been able to write anything coherent that didn't have a deadline.


The good part is that I'm pretty excited about several of the things I've been working on. They're still in the hush-hush stages, though, so I can't tell y'all about them yet, even though I'm dying to!


Sage the sophisticate
Dean and I have been taking Sage with us to our various meetings and errands around the city the past couple of days. Satisfyingly, she has proven to be a very pleasant and not-at-all difficult companion (except for her exhausting tendency to want to be carried only by her mother...), comporting herself with courtesy and charm even in technically non-kiddie environments like restaurants.


Our secret agenda is to take her around to various toy stores, so we can see what she might want for her upcoming birthday. To my combined amazement and delight, she seems most attracted to those car-racing tracks generally targeted at young boys. When I told her I thought it was great that she didn't feel compelled to submit to outmoded gender biases (not in those words, of course), she looked at me matter-of-factly, and pronounced, "Tama!"


That's my girl.

TRIVIA QUIZ
What is a 'hagazussa'?


answer to last Monday's question
Despite what you may have heard in that song sung by Bette Midler, the bra was invented neither by Otto Titsling nor by Philippe de Brassiere. Primitive bras were used as far back as 2500 B.C., when Minoan women used a very similar garment that lifted their breasts out of their clothing, leaving them exposed. In 1893, a woman named Marie Tucek patented a 'breast supporter', which featured separate pockets for each breast, over-the-shoulder straps, and hook-and-eye fasteners in the back... but she never marketed it. The bra never truly became a hit until New York socialite Mary Phelps Jacob created one of her own design to wear with a sheer evening gown at a social affair. The bra-- instead of Mary-- turned out to be the hit of the evening, and the brassiere finally took its rightful place as the preeminent support system for women everywhere.