The Right Thing To Say

My mom and dad sent Eleanor a Wizard of Oz t-shirt for her birthday. Here's what Eleanor had to say:

"This shirt even smells like Grandma Sheila. It's like an extra bonus gift!"

Vacation Notes #3

Did you know that there is an entire store in Chicago dedicated to Hello Kitty and her works? Eleanor said, "This really is girl heaven."

Did you know that you could purchase a Hello Kitty cross-cut shredder for $40? We did not.

Vacation Notes #2

On the one hand, "Mary Poppins" the musical had amazing production values, great performances, interesting dancing, and a good story. I mean, at one point, Bert was dancing around the proscenium, tap dancing upside down while singing!

On the other hand, some of the songs were not so great. In the heat of our enjoyment, Mom and I purchased the soundtrack for Eleanor. Now we're paying the price. In her case, it's a song called "I'm practically perfect in every way" that's running through her head while I'm enslaved to a truly wretched number called "Feed the birds."

We're not sure if we need to be exorcised or put out of our misery.

Vacation Notes #1

My brother Luke and I make a good child management team when visiting child-free houses. As Luke puts it, he works on the micro level, picking up the trail of crumbs left by children, surreptitiously washing juice cups and running the vacuum. On the macro level, I prevent large-scale pillaging of the house we're in.

If Luke has children in his future, he will be a great dad. He is amazing with small children, keeping them occupied and dignified without them even knowing it.

I'm afraid that our many road trips with him may mean any children in his future will be "accidents." I don't know if it's good to see children in such real-life detail before having them. On day 7 of the trip, when we fool-hardily were determined to get from Chicago to Rising Sun in one afternoon and evening, Luke requested a vasectomy appointment for the following Monday.

Thanks, Uncle Luke, for making our Chicago trip possible and enjoyable.

Book It

#39 -- Skeleton Key by Jane Haddam

#40 -- True Believers by Jane Haddam

#41 -- Deep Waters by Kate Charles -- a new Callie Anson mystery!!

#42 The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart -- It's like Kafka for middle schoolers but with a happy ending.

Good grief. I have read a book approximately every 4 days this year. Do you think I need a 12-step program?

Jenny's naivete

When I was in early elementary school, I had a bout of warts on my hands. At the time, the general pediatrician did not do the dry ice thing to get rid of them. You had to go to a specialist. I dreaded visits to this specialist, whom I called "The Wart Doctor." I hated the smell of the dry ice, and it was painful.

I had forgotten about these doctor visits. I hadn't thought about them in years until Eleanor got a wart on her foot.

It's only now that I've realized that the doctor must have been a dermatologist, that there is not a medical sub-specialty called "Wart Doctoring," and there is no doctor's office devoted solely to the eradication of children's warts.

I don't know if the internet is a good thing or not...

if I waste time reading a wikipedia entry on Laff-A-lympics.

It was one of my favorite cartoons as a small child. I saw it in reruns, I learned from reading this article.

Also, I owned a Laff-A-Lympics transfer scene. Do you remember those? You'd get a panoramic scene on a piece of paper and then another paper with transfers on it. You'd place the transfers where you wanted on the scene. I can't remember what those things were called. Not colorforms.... Don't know.