Parking Wars and other games -- you're addicted to WHAT???

P.L. is not yet the owner of a car. She doesn't even have her driver's license. But she routinely parks vehicles of varying shapes, sizes, and colors in streets -- often illegally -- and then attempts to move them before they are ticketed or impounded. Even stranger, she takes delight in writing tickets on her own friends' cars!

What madness is this? It's Parking Wars, an online game she plays through the social networking site Facebook. The game was inspired by the A&E television series by the same name. P.L. has several friends and a few unknown neighbors who compete to get badges and higher scores by outwitting each other. (They also help each other, as P.L.'s best friend Emily could tell you!)

Of course, P.L. has now adopted Pet Pupz and Cute Catz, and the Hatchery Eggs which turn into funny little monsters when she and others nurture them.
She has planted a Lil' Green Patch so she can tend environmentally-friendly plants and help friends with their own virtual gardens. She sends hugs, wild animals, and SuperPokes to others, so she always has a lot to keep her busy when she gets online.

But probably the most annoying thing she has done with all these social networking games is to infect me with the darned things. Weren't Solitaire and Bejeweled II Deluxe enough? Now I have to check my account, even before I open my email, to see if someone's parked in an illegal zone on Lorilei Street. Worse yet, I have to worry that the parking signs will have changed while I was away, and someone may have ticketed one of my cars. Oh, no! Another violation!




What can be done? I'm sure the fever for the game will cool after a while. In the meantime, it's all good fun that keeps us off the streets -- so to speak.








I'm making a new mousepad for P.L.'s computer desk with the Addiction to Online Games design on it. In fact, she's getting a t-shirt like this, too. You can get one to remind yourself (or your roommate) to get back to work! You can check your cars after a few hours, as a reward for keeping on task.
(That's right. It's only a game....)

Now Accepting Applications for New Daddy

It's a fact: more and more children are being raised in single-parent families.
Most custodial single parents are female.
You can say kids get married too soon, you can say children shouldn't give birth to children... you can say any number of things regarding this single-parent phenomenon, but it will not stop it from being true.

Teenage pregnancy aside, this can still happen to anyone, at any time. It happened to me, after several years of marriage and three children. Now it is happening to my daughter. Although she is a mature young woman, with nearly 10 years in the US Army, and she first met her husband when they were in grade school together, she has recently become the single parent of her own little boy.

My daughter is braver than I am. When my marriage ended, I said I would never love anyone again. She is in no hurry to be romantically involved, but she isn't going to hide in a shell the way I did.
This design is inspired by my daughter and my little grandson, who both deserve to have someone else to love them. -- Maybe not tomorrow, but some day in the future.

Now accepting
applications for
new daddy.
Please send current
resumes to Mommy

Generally speaking, this design shouldn't be taken too seriously!
But, still, you never know when the right person might see this and arrange for you to meet their husband's brother, or whoever.
There are good men in the world, too, you know -- the kind you want your son to be someday.

Jr. Jersey T-Shirts sale!

Artist at Work offers t-shirts in a variety of styles. From time to time, we add different styles, replacing others we currently use. One such tee is known as the jr. jersey.

We'll be replacing this item soon, so it's available for a limited time at a $4 savings off the original price.

• Coupon code: 4JRJERSEY
• Sale starts: Immediately!
• Expiration: While supplies last*

Stock up on these sweet tees now, before school starts!