Payment

The other night, as I put my five-year-old to bed, I told him: "If you go to sleep without waking up in the middle of the night and stay in your room past 7 a.m., I will totally pay you with cookies."

He thought for a moment, looked at me, and said, "I'd rather you paid me with real money."

Drat.

Creative careers

I like this:

That is all.

The Wicked Witch of the West

When I turned five, my mom made me a birthday cake that looked a lot like this:

I love witches. The Wicked Witch of the West terrified me and quickly became my favorite character in all of Oz. Dorrie the little witch (from Patricia Coombs's lovely picture books) inspired me to play for hours, running around and shooting evildoers (read: little sisters) with magic from my hands. I'm not a huge Wicked fan, although I wanted to be, but I am curious about the Wicked Witch in Oz, The Great and Powerful. I hope she gets to throw fireballs.

I doubt she'll be everything I remember.

From a list! Because everyone loves lists?