Seahawks Day at school

LaGrande came home asking if I had any Seahawks gear she could wear for Seahawks Day at school.

Do I..? Huramph… Do I wha?… I wi… She…hea…
[[looks directly into camera with a quizzical look]]

Brownie-points for anyone that can correctly identify the best* Seahawk player to wear this number.

Easley

GO SEAHAWKS!

*Hint: this jersey is from my Seahawk-fandom-heyday, and is probably older than most of the staff at LaGrande’s school.

My new office shoes

Good for Office Hobbits

No I didn’t break them…but I am breaking them in around the office. I might wear them all the time if they are comfy enough.
I know I can wear them for up to two hours around the house.

I couldn’t wait to wear them.
Oddly, I’ve already gotten a number of questions at the office, I’m sure you will have many of the same questions so, being the nice little office hobbit that I am, I’ll answer them in advance.

Q: Does the stuff feel weird between your toes?
A: No

Q: Are they going to let you wear those around the office?
A: I’ve worn bowling shoes before and fancy aqua-socks are just like a close cousin…to bowling shoes, I mean.

Q: How hard are they to get on?
A: Not hard, once you get the hang of inch-worming your toes into your shoes.

Q: Won’t they smell?
A: Not s’posed to – they have anti bacterial stuff made into the material. But…if…anyone is qualified to test the quality of anti-bacterial chemical warfare, it’s me.

Q: Are you going to start running in them (they are ostensibly running shoes)?
A: Only to get away from bad guys.

Q: What about your crooked toe?
A: What about it?
(okay okay nobody at the office…until now…knows I have a crooked toe so I made that question up since I am sure knowing family and friends want to know just how much these shoes can take…they can take a LOT of crooked.)

Q: Do they come with painted toe-nails? (actual question by the way)
A: Actually…no, I am not aware of a model that simulates that. There are a ton of other styles, pink ones etc. Besides, no self-respecting office hobbit would be caught dead with painted toe-nail-shoe-things on their feet.
How garish.

Starbert

Tonight, The Mermaids, The Mommy and I sat scattered around our cluttered table, eating our own dinners on an evening when dance went late, work went late and the collective day felt long.
Being the male lion that I am, I fixed my own meal, and began eating – my blood sugar level rose first.

TheWeeOne was impressing us with her secure knowledge of left and right while LaGrande was giving mnemonic tips for how to remember left from right; something TheWeeOne clearly already grasped.

I had another idea.

You know your “L” on your left hand only works for you, from where you are looking at it. WeeOne doesn’t see an “L” on your left hand but rather on your right…how can you decide, using the “L shape” which is left and which is right when you are facing different directions?
Huh?
On a ship…do you know what they call ‘left’?
No
Port
Huh?
But the port side is the SAME side no matter which way YOU are facing because it is the same side RELATIVE to the front of the ship.
Hm
Do you know what they call the ‘right’ side?
Right?
No, it’s called starboard.
Starb…?
Starboard.
Oh.

Now that they had the basics I started quizzing them. TheWeeOne caught on very quickly and where she stumbled LaGrande caught her hand.

If the ship is facing THIS way…which side is this?
PORT!
And what do you call this side!
STARBERT!
Right!

We did that for a few minutes, they had it down pat.
So I added fore and aft.

Now, if the ship is facing THIS way what do you call this side?
STARBERT!
And this side?
PORT!
And this way?
FORE!
And…

…you get the picture.

Ahh, it was good and easy game; some new words. But we tired quickly and soon we sat there breathing deep from our moments of explosive learning, content to soak in our new-found wisdom.

TheWeeOne, did not come down from this high quite so quickly and thereupon educated us all on a little-known and clearly superior directional.

So…if a PRINCESS is facing THIS way (pointing forward)…which way is her dress?!
Wha…Which way, what? (truly dumbfounded)
It’s THIS WAY!!

…and she made a big hoop shape with her arms and yelled

IT’S POOFY!

So there you have it.

On a ship:
< – Port
> – Starbert
^ – Fore
/ – Aft

On a princess:
O – Poofy

New Year 2011

Happy new year!

After a long day, several movies, skipped meals, a long late nap, and a Skype chat with The New Havens ringing in the new year EST style we headed off to bed before the advancing timeline.

But…

The WeeOne persisted and when the fireworks started blasting she sprang to the window like a holiday story.
For the next fifteen minutes we got the four year olds guide to the cut, color, clarity, and carat of each bang.
In the end she gave the spectacular only one thumbs up,

I wanted to see more.

oooooohhhhhh

Magine’s

After a successful Christmas showcase last night we were leaving the parking lot and querying The Mermaids

Did you have fun?
Was it worth it?
You did a great job!

You know the drill.

So TheWeeOne gave us a straightforward review.

I ran out of magines!
You what?
I ran out of magines; I just couldn’t imagine anymore. It came into my brain and through my head and then into my stomach…oh!…I just couldn’t imagine anything more.

I defy any critic to put so fine a point on the evening.

A coke and a smile

I saw a short posting on Facebook the other day that reminded me of this brief, yet informative, conversation I had with LaGrande Mermaid the other day.

She noticed an old-looking advertisement for Coca-Cola where Santa was illustrated having a Coke and a smile. Interesting story there by the way.

I digress.

Dad!!
What?!
Look! Over there!
Ok?
What is Santa doing?
Uh….laughing?
He is drinking a…a…soda!
Yeah?
He doesn’t drink coke, he drinks MILK!
Ahhh, yeah. Some people will do just about anything in advertising to make you try to buy their product.
hmmm

There was a pause for a few minutes as we drove down the road.
I broke the silence with the following question?

Do you think he drinks milk in every country that he visits? In every house?
Yeah.
Well what if they don’t have milk?
Uhhhh.
He might get kinda tired of the same thing all the time anyway…I mean some countries may serve him WINE for all we know? Or goats milk maybe?

Well, at least he doesn’t go all around the world all at the same time – b’cause different countries have Christmas at different times. I mean, he has to come and visit here for like a week and have kids sit on his lap and ask them what they want for…hey?!
What?
How does he talk to all the kids that don’t speak English?
You think Santa only speaks English?
Well…
He speaks every language known to man, just like that mermaid in your movie.
Oh…hmmm
I mean, to be totally fair…language doesn’t even really apply to Santa – he ‘understands’ and ‘speaks’ in feeling and intent and in goodness and badness. He doesn’t really even NEED language.
Yeah. …and did you know that in my dance…

She moved on as adroitly and as suddenly as she had started the discussion not 5 minutes earlier.
I had a lingering feeling; like I was just…getting…warmed up, but I need to remember; Santa is what he is for her.

I like Christmas-time.