cleolinda | There was a lot of hot chocolate, though

Arghhh. It was 17 F this morning (we finally got up to a high of 40 by late this afternoon), and may I remind you, I live in Alabama. I couldn't let the dogs play outside very long, so they spent most of the day driving me crazy. Thanks for all the get-well wishes for Mom, by the way; she's weak and a little feverish, but she seems a lot better, and hasn't thrown up since about five this morning. She spent the day either in bed or sacked out in the recliner in the den watching The DaVinci Code, which would have been fine except that she kept asking who this was and what was he doing and did they know who she was. I wouldn't have found this annoying, except that I was trying to read one of my Black Ribbon books, and I wouldn't have found it odd, except that she's already seen the movie three times. But, you know--after all the years she took care of us when we were deathly snerfy, taking care of her was the least I could do. I think it would have been all right if the dogs could have played outside; as it was, they were constantly fighting or barking or chewing or bodyslamming the back door to get in or out, and there was a point where I just ate lunch standing up, plate in hand, because it was just easier to deal with them that way. So, because I was downstairs early to look after Mom, and because George seems to be coming home later than usual this week, it was a very long day, and I felt very tired afterwards. Do you ever feel tired from not getting to do things? I don't mean the the sluggishness from being lazy; I mean the frustrated weariness of trying to do something all day and being continually interrupted. It's the tiredness of sitting in a waiting room all day, or waiting in a line, I guess.

But I did finish Virginia Rounding's Grandes Horizontales, which is something. I need to write up some book reports, as it were, but I'm too tired just now.

Meanwhile, at Snopes: The Webkinz Murderer? You know you've arrived when an urban legend springs up. I confess, also, to being totally addicted to Webkinz, which is even worse than Neopets (where I also have an account. SHUT UP) because it doesn't even have the excuse of having been originally developed by/for bored college students. Speaking of which, apparently the fictional "Webkinz murders" are being blamed on Neopets, Club Penguin or (that old standby) a disgruntled employee, and the gruesome descriptions of virtual pet e-murder are hilarious:

As to what happens to Webkinz who encounter the "killer," rumor asserts they "have their heads chopped off" or are set upon "with chainsaws." The killer(s) "hides behind trees and kills Webkinz" or "comes after them with a knife if they clicked on them in a certain way." Or the innocent playthings meet their gruesome ends by stooping to pick up "some kind of gift on the floor or some kind of bomby thingy." Others describe that the attack or virus "makes slashing noises on your computer, and then the lights turn on and your webkinz are dead on the floor with blood on them." Blood and gore appear to play large roles in these virtual deaths. [...] As the [alleged] Webkinz Killer, Dr. Quack supposedly "will appear with red eyes and a knife and will kill the Webkinz" or take after them "with a chainsaw." Likewise, Mrs. Birdy (the penguin who helps new owners through the online registration process of their pets) is also said to come after Webkinz with a chainsaw or to chase them down with a knife after her eyes turn a fiery red.