when I started this blog five years ago, I was a pet sitter and the name animal-crackers made sense. now I'm a stay-at-home-dad and freelance writer, but rather than confuse everyone by getting a different blog, it's just easier to keep posting things here.

It's been a few weeks. Busy busy.

Dylan had a rough time adjusting to school. Nothing major -- just not sleeping through the night. But that seems to have worked itself out.

Mom and Dad are settled in. Mom seems to be getting the hang of her new bookstore job and Dad's been fixing stuff around the house. Josh and Dylan love having them here, and it's nice to have an extra set of hands.

Andrea's working hard. First, it was the State Schools project. (State Schools is a Texas euphemism for institution. It's where mentally handicapped adults often end up.) But before she could finish that, Hurricane Ike hit.

Andrea has been working overtime writing about the crap-ass shelters Austin provided the hurricane evacuees. Yes, we're proud of our crap-ass disaster relief efforts.

And I've gotten a few freelance assignments. (I should probably be writing a case study, instead of this blog.) One of the online banner ads I helped create looks awesome (thanks to the designers). Hopefully, I'll get a copy to post here.

Oh, and finally a shout-out to my cousin, Erin. Last time I saw her, she was 12. Now she's a student at Messiah College in Pennsylvania, and she has her very first blog.

Check out Erin at: blogs.messiah.edu/ek1204