The Trouble with Apostrophes

Fair warning: this is a rambly one...

UPDATE: We did not win the gingerbread house contest. :-(  See below if you have no idea what I'm talking about.

I am never more productive than when I have edits to make.  By that I mean, I will do nearly anything around the house to avoid them, but I do it in a weirdly sneaky way.  It's like I'm trying to lie to myself even though I am very aware of the truth.  I won't go out shopping or play video games because that's way too obvious a distraction.  I will, however, reorganize the rubber bands in the junk drawer and do the dishes and cook food to eat at some later date.  It's like I'm trying to trade one type of productivity for another.  This blog entry may or may not be another example...

Nevertheless, I have begun the editing process.  Huzzah!  It actually hasn't been too bad (my editor is fantastic!), but there's one big issue I'm having at the moment: apostrophes.  The nature of possession when it comes to these little snip sized marks is baffling to me.  Case in point, you have a family, the Smiths, and the Smiths own a house.  The family is a singular noun, but the Smiths is plural.  If you say the family owns a house, it's the family's house.  If you say the Smiths own a house, however, it's the Smiths' house.  It gets even crazier when you get a word that already ends in S like Hawkins, because the plural of Hawkins (as in multiple members of the Hawkins family) is Hawkinses <-- My spell checker is calling shenanigans on this craziness right here.  The possessive form of this pluralized name is Hawkinses', though some lunatics would argue Hawkinses's, which is just absurd.  I swear, I am never going to write another book with names that end in S's.  I hate you, apostrophes.  I hate you so much.  You make my life difficult.

*And don't even get me started on the comma-too issue!

It’s now three days later, and this post is officially late.  Well, officially in the sense that I don’t like the weekend to pass without getting a new post up.  Sorry, folks.  Let me show you some cool pictures to make it up to you!

That, my friends, is a gingerbread (okay, graham cracker) lighthouse!  We’re having a Christmas in July week at work right now.  This includes a gingerbread house competition, which my team won last year (see pictures below).  We’re hoping to win again, but there’s some pretty stiff competition.  The judging is scheduled for tomorrow, so I’ll add an update here when we get the results .

Yes, a confectionary (not at all to scale) replica of Bodiam Castle.  Try not to be too bowled over by our architectural prowess and construction skills.

Speaking of great pictures and winning teams…

Now you’re really jealous…unless you too own one of these fetching outfits.  Thursday is the Adventure Science Center’s quarterly Way Late Play Date*, and this quarter’s theme is Star Trek vs. Star Wars.  I’ll write my review of this one in the next entry, but you can bet I'm going to be dressed appropriately.

*A bunch of adults are given three drink tickets and set loose on a children’s science center.  What can go wrong?  Some of the best times of my adult life have been had at these things.  Seriously, if you live in Nashville, you must go to one of these. 

Okay, the next entry will be longer than this.  And I promise it will be on time.