Paper, Scissors and Laughter

I don't know if you have childhood memories of making paper doll chains with your mom as a child, but I do! Here is a link for you in case you don't know how, or never have had the chance to enjoy this simple childhood pleasure. Paper doll chains. The Pea was delighted the first time I made her some. Today she was asking for her mom to do it and the Princess needed a lesson, because while she remembered doing it as a child, the mechanics of it were escaping her. Here is her first attempt.



After unfolding to this and handing it to the Pea, my granddaughter said, "is it Dora?"
Anyone who has been exposed to Dora the Explorer will instantly know why she thought that!







I laughed so hard, I hurt her little feelings and then I had to lie and tell her I was laughing at a funny story her mommy had told me.

And the final product, modeled by the cutest.








Paper doll chains, a forgotten craft, but one that will be passed on through my generations. Bet you can't wait to get the paper and scissors out and give it a try, huh?
On the Little Man news, he did much better yesterday and today, I am really thinking it is related to some sort of seizure activity. I am still playing phone tag with the neurologist, but since he hasn't done it again, I am a lot less worried than I was. Seizures, yuck, I hate them!

Spoiled My Lines!

I blame Kristina, Deb, a new pal Joy and most of all, Deb from Dirty Socks and Pizza. I have pretty much spent my whole life saying as I enter a contest that someone else has asked me to participate in with, "I don't know why I am doing this, I NEVER win anything!"
The last thing I remember winning was a plant cutting in a styrofoam cup at my biology club meeting. Everyone won something! I was a freshman in high school, it was over 30 years ago and I STILL remember it. I am pitiful, what can I say?
But now, NOW I can say, I won something!!!
What did I win? I won a complete blog makeover from Blog Candy Designs. You really need to check out her designs, cause she rocks! I am so excited, even if my lines are ruined for the rest of my life.
You have to help me come up with a new one. "I don't know why I am entering this contest, I almost never win"?
"I don't know why I am entering this contest, I am unlikely to win"?
You know, those just don't sound as good as my original line. Ah well, the things you sacrifice when you are a WINNER!!!
I would like to thank my blogtourage, and my bloggy buddies, everyone who has ever read my blog, or even thought about reading my blog, and most of all the ones who gossip about me. Yes, this was made possible by all your good and bad thoughts. Thank you, thank you.

Another Mountain Monday

And ain't it great? I was mostly just being silly with the last post about electronic jinxes. While it isn't fun to have to replace the stuff that Little Man breaks, honestly it is just the reality of raising a child with disabilities. I was pretty freaked out until I was able to replace our respite worker's Ipod, then I was fine.
So on to the mountains. It has been raining the last two days, and I waited til the last minute to get out and take the pictures today. But I am not sorry. The clouds were kissing the tops of the mountains and I think the pictures turned out well. But I will let you be the judge of that.

















And now, some other pics to entertain you.



You haven't seen many picture of our Squidling. She has been just about the most miserable baby I have ever seen. She has really bad reflux and pretty much all she does is cry and puke. Thank goodness the doctors decided to give her some medicine for her poor little tummy and she is doing so much better now. We are even getting some smiles! Now if she will just put on some weight.




She has a dimple in her left cheek, just like her big sister!



The cousins had so much fun playing with each other yesterday.









I know, I know, the cuteness is off the charts! But I can't help if my grandbabies are the cutest ever, can I?
The only downer today is that Little Man is having some sort of neurological issue. I am not sure if it is seizures, or what, but he is definitely off. I had to pick him up from school today and I had the Pea with me. One of his teachers asked him who that was, and he could not remember her name! Normally he is fine with names, but this was a bit disconcerting, for me to have to tell him her name, when he lives with her for heaven's sake! I am not sure what is going on, but his teachers said he had been like that all day. I will leave his neurologist a message tomorrow. I am concerned, but I hope it just goes away on its' own, so we don't have to deal it.
And how was your weekend and Monday?

Electronics Jinx?

Electronics and I are just not getting along lately. And when I say that I mean my son. First it was a Wii game. Dang, those things are expensive. Little Man loves his Wii and there are just a couple of games that he and his dad both enjoy. Of course one of those is the one that bit the dust.



I found it broken, on the floor, next to the Wii. I am guessing, someone, (no one will fess up) left it on the floor instead of putting it back in its' handy dandy storage case.

It only get worse. This one is a bit of a puzzle. I went to move some laundry from the washer to the dryer and found an Ipod nano in the washer. No one that lives with us owns an Ipod. Girlfriend, does. Hmm, could it belong to Girlfriend? It looks just like hers. The next clue was a ring. After checking the ring out, I determined it was a man's ring, so I called Oldest Son to ask if he had borrowed Girlfriends Ipod and had it somehow ended up in our wash? I was assured that Girlfriend's Ipod was in her possession. Hmmm, I went back to thinking.
I do know that Ipods sometimes survive being washed. I know someone who washed theirs three times and it went on to play. BUT, being trapped in Little Man's pocket, in the washer with a sharp edged ring, took care of any hope of a recovery. The Nano emerged from the wash, much, much worse for the wear.



I had a horrifying thought! Little Man had respite yesterday. What if Little Man had taken them from his respite worker? Oh horrors, my excellent Sherlock skills were correct. It belonged to our beloved respite worker. I was really upset.
By rights, I could probably say, you were working, you should have been watching him better, oh well, sucks to be you. But I couldn't do it. We love this respite worker. He is genuinely caring about our boy, and for the first time ever, Little Man goes out the door without a backward glance. When I tell him he has respite, he is instantly excited and can't wait to go. That says a lot. Because of this, I feel really, really awful about the Nano.
I was able to locate a used Nano for a reasonable price to replace the broken one. But while the game and the Nano have both been replaced, my pocketbook is looking a bit slim. I wonder if Little Man will mind getting a broken game and a very used Nano for Christmas? I am just kidding, of course, but still, OUCH! If anyone knows how to break this jinx, feel free to share that info with me, before I end up spending all my Christmas money before Christmas!

Words, Words, Words!

I love words. All kinds of words. I have been reading since I was about five years old and have NO memory of not having a book I am currently reading. My recreational reading was severely impacted when I was in college. But no fears, it bounced right back as soon as I was done. One of Pygmy Child's roommates a few years ago gave me the GRE (the test to get into graduate school) vocabulary test and was quite impressed when I passed without having to study. It is a shame that my vocabulary and reading skills have done little to improve my very poor spelling skills.
I love the spoken word too! If any of you have actually had a chance to speak with me, you will know I am not exaggerating when I say I love to talk!
Words are amazing, words are awesome. Playing with words is even better. I have a really fun word thing to share with you called a wordle. Described as a "word cloud" you can put your own blog, your own words, or other words that mean something to you and watch it grow into a piece of visually appealing art.
I made this one for my feelings about blogging: Blogging

And I made this one of parts of Obama's acceptance speech: Acceptance Speech
Go on, go play with words. Serious words, words that speak your heart, words that make you laugh, words that make you cry. Words that make you angry, words that lift you up. Please, if you wish to share, put your link in your comments and I will link them upfront later. Go on, you know you want to!

Friday, Now With A Game!

Our long suffering dog, JACK, was totally bribed willing to pose for these picture puzzles for you. Now remember, JACK, doesn't enjoy this very much, but he is given many treats for his participation in my little torture picture sessions.
The game involves seeing what word puzzle JACK is posing for. Good luck.
Let me repeat, these puzzles involve words and our dog JACK. Ahem, got that?

One To Tell Your Children

When I was a little girl, around 7, we were living in California, San Jose to be exact. (This was the late 60's) I was walking home from school with two little boys from the neighborhood. A large black car stopped on the curb next to where we were walking. (I suppose all cars are large when you are seven, but that was my impression, large, and black) A man leaned over and asked if we three kids wanted a ride home. The part I remember most vividly were two things. One, the first one, was, my mom saying to me, DO NOT TALK TO STRANGERS! I didn't know this man, he was a stranger, therefore I wasn't allowed to talk to him. I was a very obedient child, (big surprise, but I was, really! Ask my mom!) And two, we were almost home, why would we want a ride? I was really surprised when the two little boys I was with hopped in the car. I just shook my head, and backed away. I finished my walk home by myself.






The end of the story? No one ever saw those two little boys again. That is how close I came to being a face on a milk carton, although, more likely, a little corpse that wasn't ever found. The only good part of this story is that it has worked well as a backup story when I tell children, DO NOT TALK TO STRANGERS! Next time you want to scare your children or grandchildren into good stranger safety, feel free to say, I know a lady named Jo, and when she was a little girl....

A New Hope Dawns

Our President Elect:

America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves -- if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time -- to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth -- that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:

Yes We Can. Thank you, God bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.
Read the rest of his speech, personally, I wept. My heart is filled with a hope I thought had almost died. Obama's acceptance speech

We The People

"Should things go wrong at any time, the people will set them to rights by the peaceable exercise of their elective rights. " Thomas Jefferson

First Mountain Monday of Nablopomo!

Amazing how much everything changed this week. I think Halloween was our last really nice fall day. It was 70 something, can you believe it? We have had the most prolonged beautiful autumn, remind me of that when I am complaining this winter. The storms the last couple of days brought snow to the tops of the mountains, and knocked the leaves off the trees. The day was gray and pretty cool today, definitely needed a jacket.













Bald Man and Oldest Son did some really nice tilework and I promised Deb from Postcards From the Edge pictures. Here ya go Deb!









And here are some of my favorites from the park on Saturday


















In spite of my lousy weekend, when I look at those pictures, I realize how very blessed I am!

Nablopomo Day 2

Yesterday, Bald Man and I had respite, which always rocks. We finally were able to take in Body Worlds. Ever since I first heard about it, I have been wanting badly to see the magic of it. First, the stuff I didn't enjoy. It was too hot in the building, and too crowded for my taste. As a very fast reader, being behind someone who is reading slowly is pure torture. The stuff I loved. Wow, mind blowing. As a midwife, I have had a opportunity to work closely with the human body, but seeing the insides was just, well, incredible! My favorite part was the babies. From just a week or two, wow, just wow. The most incredibly formed tiny parts. I couldn't believe the tiny, miniature fingers on the NINE week fetus. 9 weeks! I was mind blown at the miracle of life in death.
After we got home, we took the kiddos to the park to run off some of their energy. I took some fun pics including some with my new Lensbaby.












This was one of my favorite pictures of the day. I am really getting the hang of my Lensbaby.



This was just a random little girl at the park, but she had the most exquisite blue eyes, so I asked her mom if I could take her picture.

A Post A Day Is All We Ask

Nablopomo
This is the third year Nablopomo has been around and this will be the third year I have participated. Hopefully I can do it again.
Lucky for me, today's post is easy, it is just a post Halloween wrap up.














The Boy went as the Incredible Hulk and the Pea was a the cutest lion you have ever seen. Little Man didn't have school yesterday and he spent the whole day rather off, which made it fairly unpleasant. We trunk or treated instead which I LOVED. Our neighborhood has it so cars are lined on both sides going up a street and on a cul de sac, so you just walk up and down and get candy from people's car trunks. The best part was it started before it got dark. It was great, although Little Man was a bit confused because he kept wanting to go to people's houses, but he still got a boat load of candy. He just kept wandering away and not not listening until I thought I would lose my mind. We took Jackie Boy with us in his Woody costume. At first, Jack was not amused with the costume and looked like he did in his picture, all stiff and unhappy, but as soon as we arrived and saw all the people, his little tail started going and he was raring to go. He had a great time, he is such a social little doggy and he was quite the hit! Especially with the two Buzz Lightyears we ran into. The Pea started off very shy, but worked up her courage and by the end was a veteran trick or treater. Cute as a button. We were happy to be home before dark, and Little Man was sound asleep before 8. Whew.

My favorite costume of the night? I was able to snap a pic of the sexiest man alive!!!





A bald man who cleans and is the maker of Magic Erasers. Is there anything sexier?