Hello Clarice.

Seriously, I heard this in Hannibal Lecter's voice from the movie The Silence of the Lambs when I picked up my latest offering from Minot Public Library this weekend, Sage Stossel's graphic novel Starling. The life of Amy Sturgess in this story (ISBN 9780425266311) is complicated enough – you know, even without the flight, super-strength, speed, and electric shock touch – without the reappearance of her brother and the marketing career preparing to go belly up because she frequently has to leave in the middle of a presentation to become the crime-fighter Starling. The story's a great one, well-plotted and twisty with the kind of hero you could imagine existing in our world.

As I was writing that paragraph I thought of an even older use of the title phrase – it's from a Chip and Dale cartoon where the titular chipmunks are rivals over a woman named – ta da! – Clarice. I remember watching that again and again on videodisc (which may age me) and NOW my kids and I besides the occasional Johnny Test and Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse are getting into the likes of Tom and Jerry, Pink Panther, and – this one's a shock – Popeye! Last night we were sitting in front of the laptop (we use that or the iPad now to watch any TV since we disconnected our cable, saving some money) watching them after, with their aunt Mary's help, we put together the Valentine's Day boxes for the kids to be receiving their cards in this week!

Proceeding from work Friday night, Martha and the kids bought our usual pizza from Papa Murphy's – half pepperoni and half black olives – and rented Hotel Transylvania, a movie none of us had seen before that was a lot of fun! The next morning while Martha was at her early morning McDonald's shift , I brought Jeffrey over to his friend and fellow Cub Scout Jasper's house for a play date for a few hours. The first time he'd ever been to a non-family member's house without the rest of us, seriously. And evidently it went well, for Jasper asked if he could come to our house this weekend; this will be really good for all of us, I think. I just won't wake the kids early like I did to go with me to Breakfast with the Boys – truth be known, I wasn't a fan of it this past Saturday. I need my sleep too ;)

As we got to church Sunday, in Sunday school I had seven second and third graders for “Daniel and the Lions' Den” and my nephew Brandon's help with the class. We did well enough; I brought the kids home with me, but first we stopped for a great lunch special at Marketplace going on for the length of the Winter Olympics (which I didn't know about until we got there, of course) – for $10.99 get eight pieces of fried chicken, a pound of cole slaw, a pound of mashed potatoes, and four dinner rolls. We all got fed, and apparently I'm the only one who eats cole slaw in the family. Nuts. Well, tonight after work we're doing pork chops and I have leftovers for the next few days in my work fridge!

I find the world a better place with you in it, David