Ok. I bitched and moaned about work in yesterday’s blog entry. Rough day. Today was rough, too. But I don’t have the know that I had in the pit of my stomach that I had yesterday. Perhaps I’m starting to develop a thicker skin. I hope so. It’ll be easier to deal with the coming onslaught if I manage to take things in stride.
Category Archives: Treasures from the Archives
Lego Chloe
While at our neighbors’ Halloween party the other day, Chloe decided to make herself a “Chloe” sign out of legos to pass the time (she was surrounded by lots of little kids and didn’t have much else to do).
Halloween Post-Mortem
After two years in a row, I think Chloe’s Cleopatra costume is heading to temporary sabbatical until Sophie is tall enough to wear it. The costume was a big hit and surprisingly enough, we only saw one other girl wearing it even though we bought it at Target.
After minimal wear, however, Sophie’s Daphne costume is going to be permanently retired. Although she wore it to school the other day, Sophie reverted back to last year’s Minnie Mouse costume for actual trick-or-treating. Daphne was too small on her anyway. Fortunately, Papa got some use out of the wig, as evidenced by the photo. And, no, it’s not blurry. He thought it’d be funny to wear Sophie’s tights under the wig. The effect was a little creepy, to say the least.
Happy Halloween 2009!
Cleopatra and Minnie Mouse are at it again…
Happy Halloween!
Halloween Preview
Papa took this photo of Sophie at her pre-K Halloween parade this morning. She was very surprised to see him there and proudly walked the parade route with a smile on her face the whole time.
She’s Daphne from Scooby Doo. She refuses to wear the accompanying orange wig, however. I don’t blame her. It’s too small and it’s made of really cheap and itchy synthetic fiber. Unfortunately, though, the costume just isn’t the same without the wig. I’d be very surprised if anyone knew who she was supposed to be, other than a cute curly-haired kid wearing a pink dress with a green chiffon scarf accessory.
She’s already announced that she’s going to wear her Minnie Mouse costume tomorrow. We’ll see how that goes.
Wants & Needs
“Wants and Needs” by Chloe.
Well, everyone has something they want. And everyone has something they need. For example, I want more erasers, but do I actually need more erasers? No. What I do need is water. An I bet that everyone else needs water to. In fact, all living things need water.
Also, I want books to come out sooner. I’m pretty sure that other people also want this to happen but first of all it’s not going to happen. And second of all, it’s not something I need. What I do need is sleep. It’s okay if you have a sleepover and you don’t go to bed until 2 in the morning. But if you do that all the time you’ll die. Also, if you want to take a nap during the day that’s fine. But don’t do it too much or people will consider you lazy.
There are a few other things I want including the whole “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” series, a really cool series. All of these are things I want. Some people don’t know of all this. And all of this I don’t need. But before I get to the stuff I need, I want to explain what those other things are. “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” is a TV show. And it’s my favorite. Most kids have a favorite TV show. Now “Nancy Drew” is a book series and it is my favorite book series. Finally, you’re probably wondering when I’m going to mention what a treehouse is. But most people know what a treehouse is so I feel there is no need to explain.
And now for the things I need, which are food, one brain and one heart. I need food because if I don’t eat anything I’ll starve myself to death. And if I didn’t have a heart and a brain I wouldn’t even exist. And there are a few other body parts you need. And one last thing I need is to wrap this story up. So those are most of the things I want and need.
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This wonderful little essay by Chloe got her into a tiny bit of trouble at school. The teacher liked what she wrote, but didn’t like that she neglected to follow the “one paragraph only” rule for the assignment. Which further stipulated that kids write at least five sentences, but did not give an upper limit for the number of sentences. Does that mean it would have been ok if Chloe had written the same thing as part of one long run-on paragraph? I understand that the teacher wants kids to follow instructions. Fair enough. But how many 8-year olds are there today who love to write? What’s the harm in encouraging it? The system is all about the testing now and it sucks. Thanks, President George W. Bush, for your contributions to American education. Aargh!
Almost November
The year is winding down and I can’t believe how quickly time passes. My boss just gave his notice today at work, and I’m expecting a roller coaster ride for the next couple of months, at least, if not longer. Not sure what they’re going to do for his replacement.
Happy for him. Not so happy for me – he’s been a great boss and I’ve enjoyed working with him. But life is full of challenges and this is just another one in a long line. That’s what makes life interesting, I suppose. Although I sometimes long for less interesting and more mundane.
Anyway, we’ll see what the upcoming weeks bring. I’ll be doing two jobs for awhile. I keep reminding myself to look at this development as an opportunity. Not sure how successful I’ll ultimately be at convincing myself of that. Time will tell.
Quadruple Play
We had a very busy afternoon. Grammy came over and we all went to the local museum to see an art exhibit. Sophie liked the paintings of the naked people (although she admonished me not to say the word ‘naked’ too loudly). Chloe was interested for about ten minutes and then pulled out a book and waited for the rest of us to finish.
After the museum, we went to a local renaissance fair – a fundraiser for one of the middle schools. The girls played with chain maille and Chloe bought a peacock feather.
From there, it was off to see “Where the Wild Things Were.” I enjoyed it immensely. Chloe liked it ok, but Papa and Sophie were not all that enthusiastic. And finally, on the way home, we stopped at the local haunted house. The owners must spend thousands of dollars every year on decoration and animatronics. Chloe loved it. Sophie was afraid that everything moving was real and would kill her. We reassured her that it was all fake and she felt better after that. We’ll see how she sleeps tonight.
Happy Birthday, Pink Me Not!
Two years today. Two years since I decided to document the lives of Chloe and Sophie on an obsessive basis.
I posted the first entry, about Sophie mistaking cooked Mexican beans for chocolate chips, on October 24, 2007. I’ve written 600 entries since that fateful day, and I’ve had more than 6,000 visits to the blog, most of which are probably just automated web crawlers or the same five family members, but no mind. 6,000 is a cool number.
I can’t believe I’m still writing this much. I’m normally not one to persevere with a project. I tend to get bored quickly and want to move on. But I continue to have this need to write about the girls and when I don’t add their latest news to the blog, I feel like something’s missing from my day.
In the time since I started this project, a lot has transpired. I started working again, Chloe started a new school, Sophie started pre-K, my grandmother died, we elected our first African-American president, the economy tanked…lots of great things have occurred, along with the not-so-great.
But through it all, Chloe and Sophie remain my steady beacons of light. They continue to entertain us and drive us crazy. Here’s to another two years (at least) of documenting their antics on www.pinkmenot.com.
A, My Name is Alice
Chloe reintroduced me to a game from my childhood. Remember taking the hi-bounce Spalding ball and going through the alphabet:
“A my name is Alice. My husband’s name is Alan. We sell apricots. B my name is Bonnie. My husband’s name is Bob. We sell boots.” And on and on and on.
I made it to U. Not in one shot, mind you. Those legs and my reflexes aren’t what they used to be. Chloe made it to E. As we all know, she’s not very coordinated. But she was having fun. And if she has fun, I have fun.
Unfortunately, bouncing the ball under her leg and catching it hasn’t prevented Chloe from failing the first part of the Presidential Physical Fitness Test at school, the shuttle run. Apparently, she wasn’t very good at hitting the target on the floor with the block. Let’s face it, no big surprise there. Let’s hope Chloe can manage the sit-ups and push-ups.