Ginger's K5 School Picture

Quote of the Day

This past Thursday, after each of the kids had their weekly dance class, we treated them out for dinner at an Italian fast food restaurant. Near the end of the meal Ginger asked Lisa the following question:

"Do you like piss?"

Everyone stopped eating in shock. "What did you say?" Lisa asked.

"Do you like piss?" she repeated. LuLu started giggling and Smiley was living up to his nickname.

Ginger, for her part, couldn't understand what all the fuss was about and was getting angry. "Do you like piss? Lot's of people like piss. Stop laughing! Dad likes to eat piss, lots of people eat piss!"

LuLu and Smiley were laughing outright by that point, and Lisa, mindful of the people dining nearby, was frantically trying to quiet Ginger while at the same time understand what she was saying.

(YaYa was involved in a frantic text back and forth regarding an upcoming school dance and was oblivious until we repeated the story. Pre-teens. Sigh).

Finally, it dawned on me.

"Fish? Are you trying to say 'fish'?"

Ginger's shoulders sagged with relief. "Yes. Piss, like the little pissies that swim in the ocean."

Yes. Just like the little pissies that swim in the ocean. :)

Mix and Match

In keeping with a longstanding tradition, I have started my fantasy football season 0-1. Eli was lethargic and my running backs . . . well, damn them all. My WR, TE, K and D all did well, and I crept close to the century mark in points. Break 100 pts in a given week and you'll win more games than you lose, so not all is lost. Yet.

 ***
 Last night we watched the premiere of Matthew Perry's new sitcom "Go On". I liked it, which was a pleasant suprise if I'm being honest, but I don't see it surviving long. It's a little dry and at times a little serious for a primetime network sitcom. We'll watch it again.

 Shows we've taken to recording/watching: "Oddities". "American Restoration". "Great Lakes Warriors" We started watching "American Gypsies" but grew tired of it, or at least I did.

 The kids have taken a shine to Full House, the old ABC sitcom from my youth. They really like it - just as they really like Psych and enjoy The Nanny and American Dad (the latter I object to and ban from their viewing, but a sitter has allowed them to skirt the rule. Ridiculous.) They occasionally watch the Brady Bunch too. YaYa is also into anime, and last week, with my permission, watched the Japanese film 'Battle Royale'.

 ***

 I walked the kids home from school Monday, a good 45 minute walk, and to my surprise three of the kids did it without so much as whine or a whimper. I say three because Olivia was pooped 5 minutes into the walk and was not the best company for much of the route. I had been warned; my sister was so sure she was a 'lousy walker' that she asked Lu to have me photograph the event just for the shock value.

 In addition to walking them home from school I've been trying to walk a lot lately just for exercise. There was the epic hike in the rain with Ginger and Smiley, and the other night Smiley and I walked to the store and back around 9pm, with Smiley carrying a bag of laundry detergent and soda home without once asking me for help. The next evening LuLu and I walked to my friends house and back. I like the idea of getting more exercise and of including the kids in that routine.

****

Saturday I finished reading "Fire in the Streets: The Battle for Hue, Tet 1968" by Eric Hammel. As the title states, it's a detailed narrative history of American efforts in Hue during the Tet offensive. It is very detailed at the small unit level, up to and including estimates of how many rounds were expended during an action, and there's plenty of eyewittness accounts to hold your interest. Some flaws: I think the depth of the detail numbs you after awhile, and certainly puts it out of reach of the casual reader. It's also devoid of any overall context or analysis of the battle, reducing it to just a record of a shoot-em-up. Still, I enjoyed it. Grade: B

Book #74 of 2012

****

Best finale of Bachelor Pad imaginable. What a great, shocking moment! All hail reality TV, and all Hail King Jeff!

How Ginger Spent Her 5th Birthday pt 1

Hard to believe but it's been five whole years since little Ginger/Lump came into our world. This years event was held at Chuck E Cheese.

  We had the party at noon on her actual birthday, hoping weekday crowds would be far smaller than their weekend equivalents. We were right. While we didn't have the place to ourselves, it was close enough - it felt like our own private playground.


The party started off with the kids just playing and using their allotted tokens for a good 45 minutes.

Of course, some grown ups had to get in on the act too.

 











Meanwhile most of the grown-ups chilled.





At one point all the kids joined Chuck E for a dance along - including YaYa!







Then it was time for pizza!





The grown-ups, meanwhile, had a veggie tray and sandwiches.

Then it was time for cake:



and to sing happy birthday!





Ginger was loving it!



So was her Daddy!




Then Chuck E came out to visit her again





and we sang happy birthday AGAIN! (oopsies!)



not that she minded



Then they put her inside a booth that blew tickets into the air around her. The goal was the golden 1000 ticket prize, but the manager cheated and told her to step on it before the wind started :)







Mission accomplished!



Then it was time to open presents.



We got her a zebra print hassock





a Cuddle-Up-It (her favorite gift of the day!)






YaYa got her a princess movie DVD .



LuLu got her lipgloss




I got her a whiffle ball/bat and baseball mitt, and she got scads of other stuff from friends and family:












Smiley got her AppleJacks, a My Little Pony

and with her tickets from the games she got herself a gumball machine. It was a great time and a swell birthday party (oddly, very relaxing for the grown-ups too) and her day was only half done . . .

LuLu and Ginger's Room Re-Do pt 2

Early on Father's Day Lisa disappeared upstairs, and when I went to track her down I found her applying decals to the newly painted walls in LuLu and Ginger's room. That was bad timing on my part. They weren't sticking on the textured walls, so Lisa sent me back downstairs to find a paint brush, and to mix a water and glue solution to essentially decoupage the decals to the wall.

Guess who got stuck decoupaging? Grrr. :)

The results were pretty darn good. The decals were high quality sets produced by IKEA that my lady had bought for a $1/sealed pack at a local second hand store, but Lisa theorized that their age (six years since manufacture) had diminished the adhesion.

Oh, we also got around to replacing the closet light and buying the bolts to secure the bed rail on the bunk bed, but the bolts were the wrong size so I'm afraid I can't take much credit for that purchase.

What do you think of the work?