word of the day

My new word today is "actually." I had to correct my dad because he thought he had a water cup but I told him it was "actually" the cup my mom puts her smoothie in. I sure like smoothies but they were all sold out of organic cherries at Whole Foods today; we will have to try a different combination of fruits tomorrow when we make our smoothie and I am pretty fussy.

wish I was there

While I played in the park in 82 degree heat this afternoon, this is what they had to contend with in Victoria. This photo came from the Times-Colonist website. so pretty.

I have about had it with this hot weather. It is so muggy. It would be one thing if we would get extra cold days in the so-called spring but summer is about to begin once Christmas passes. We might get two cool spells but that is about it. not fair.

Somebody please mail me some snow.

my new shirt

This is my new shirt. I bought it today so I could impress my sister when she comes for Thanksgiving dinner. I have new shoes and new trousers too. I hope no one minds if I wear my tractor socks even though they won't match.

The sad thing about today was that I called out everywhere for my sister when I got to the mall. We usually only go shopping with her but she had school today. She got more than 90% on her Spanish test! YAY! Well, she got 90% but will get a higher mark because the professor has to mark on a curve. My sister is almost as smart as I am.

Since I have such a cute outfit to wear on Thanksgiving, I will take lots of photos. We have a yummy meal planned for Thanksgiving. I helped my mom plan the menu. I like to read recipes and look at the photos in cookbooks and cooking magazines.

chicken pox and tractors

I started my day by constructing this Lego tractor for my kitty. (Don't worry, it is Duplo, not regular Lego since that would be a choking hazard for a boy of my age.) After we played with my creation for a while, we ate a hearty breakfast of oatmeal (my new breakfast favorite), cantaloupe, and smoothies. yum.

And then I went to the doctor. I love my doctor and all of the nurses even though they confirmed for me today that I have my second bout of chicken pox. Yes, I was vaccinated (against our better judgement and don't even get me started about how dangerous vaccines are now) but the doctor said all kinds of crazy things are happening with chicken pox since the vaccine was introduced. What happened to me is rarer than rare but, then again, I am a left-handed ginger baby so what can you expect? Also, when I was born, they said I have a rare blood type and I will be able to save lives with blood donations. I am just special in every possible way.

When I got home from the doctor today, there were two trucks parked in front of Jack's house. One had a trailer. There was a tractor in the backyard. I stood with my forehead pressed against the back window for a long time and watched it work. You should have heard how loudly I yelled "WOW" beep beep beep. My mom also took me out to see the tractor when it was on a break.

Another good thing about today: I helped my mom make lasagna for dinner.

I had so many play dates lined up for the coming days - including one today. We have to cancel them all. I miss my friends.

crayons

Today we decided to try coloring again. We wanted to make a picture for my great-grandmother because she goes home from the hospital tomorrow. If you look closely at my photos, you will notice a blue circle around my mouth and then you will know how our coloring project ended.

I have three crayons: green, reddish purple, and blue. The blue is the yummiest because it is the same shade as the frosting on my puppy dog birthday cake.

I got lots of bites from my crayon because I kept suckering my mom in by telling her "try" so she thought I was sincere about wanting to color but really I just wanted another taste.

football

Even my dad has stopped betting on the Eagles. Yesterday, he missed his one and only chance to ever win a bet against my mom. The Eagles beat the Colts, just barely though. In a normal season, that would certainly be something to brag about. Not this year though; even the Texans have beaten the Colts. What a crazy football year it is.

Today, we decided that my dad should not be allowed to pretend to follow football anymore. He doesn't even know who Wade Phillips is/was. My dad must be living under a rock since all people care about lately is Cowboys Cowboys Cowboys and when will Coach Wade Phillips ever get fired. Well, he got fired. And now people will realize that the Cowboys are just a crappy team this year and no coach can save them.

If only people cared half as much about the election . . . and put this much effort wishing that Rick Perry got fired.

breadtruck (aka tractor) found

We found my breadtruck! It was underneath my mom's dresser. I will hold onto it every minute of every day for the rest of my life so it never gets lost again.

Off to bed now. This daylight savings time nonsense is like a prison sentence. I woke up at 3:20am and losing the daylight at the end of the day when I normally love to frolic in the front yard ruined my fun.

the real Halloween

This is how cute I was on the real Halloween. It cooled off to 77 degrees in the evening so I braved my fuzzy puppy suit so I could show off to all of the people I planned on visiting. I really was not impressed when my mom squeezed me into this costume. It was hot and itchy and tight. Before too long, my cheeks turned bright red from being overheated. But I sure was cute. I even had a tail! (If you look at the photo of me with the tail, DO NOT look at how messy the kitchen is. My mom made lasagna YUM and we were in a hurry to get out to Halloween activities so we didn't clean up until after we got home.)

I suppose it was all worth it since I got the bread truck from Terese. It is still missing, by the way. Tomorrow we will tear the house apart to find it. I really have too many toys but I enjoy them all.

The first photo is me and Terese clowning around how we do. We are both funny. You can't even tell that I once held the deepest of grudges against her for trying to torture me by feeding me a bottle. I don't even know why we ever thought that was a good idea.

Halloween (part 1)

Just before Halloween when we realized that the weather was never going to settle down enough for me to wear my full-body fuzzy puppy suit, my mom went to the store and bought me another costume. It was still hot but a bit more tolerable. Now I feel sorry for dogs.

The evening before Halloween, we went to the Parsnip Path. It is an annual fundraiser for the Waldorf School. It was on a ranch this year, close to my house. The highlight was a big red tractor and a trailer. If I would have still been there at 9:00pm instead of at home in bed, I could have gone on a hayride! Next year.

preparing for Halloween

The Sunday before Halloween, we visited the pumpkin patch. I bought a lot of pumpkins and, sadly, it was too hot for them to really survive until Halloween. My dad came home from work early one day during the week so we could carve them; by Halloween, they were caved-in moldy messes.

It was way too hot (90s) the day we visited the pumpkin patch. This weather takes all of the fun out of fall.

bread truck

For Halloween, we had planned to visit Terese, Beverley, and Buddy and Betty. We did not get past Terese's house. She gave me this toy in lieu of yucky candy. I call it a tractor (what isn't a tractor???) but my dad calls it a bread truck. So I put it on my piece of bread at dinner.

You might wonder why I have my tractor (truck) on the tray with my food (look at all of my organic veggies!). That is because I am obsessed with it. I have fallen asleep clutching this new toy of mine and it travels in the car with me too. It is too precious to part with even for a minute. But I maybe misplaced it today when I put it somewhere for safekeeping. We will search everywhere for it tomorrow.

This evening, my mom finally figured out how to get photos from her digital camera onto the computer. So, if you want to see photos of me dressed as a puppy on Halloween, come back tomorrow! I can't believe how cute I am.

peas

This morning, I was supposed to have a playdate with my good pal Jensen. We had planned to go to Zilker Park and I had already packed a picnic to share. When Jensen and I get together, I eat his lunch and he eats mine.

Then we got a message from his mom (also named Stephanie) that they had been in the ER until the wee hours. Playdate cancelled.

Apparently Jensen decided that it would be a good idea to stuff peas up his nose; it wasn't. The peas got sucked up into his sinus cavity and had to be . . . ugh I cannot even talk about what poor Jensen had done to him but it took two parents and three nurses to hold him down. It was terribly painful and he bled a lot.

My mom has sized my nostrils and it looks like a pea would not fit. For precautionary measures, though, we are not even talking about peas and noses in the same sentence.

it sure is red in here

Election day, again.

As we listen to the election results coming in, we are getting some bad bad news. Stuck with Rick Perry for another eternity as he blows through another 21 billion dollars that the state doesn't have.

It is republican straight across the state, across the country.

Most sad is that we will lose our beloved friend Patrick. If not for him, we wouldn't have water. He and his family endured death threats and all kinds of nastiness to first get water trucked in to our neighborhood and then to have the pipeline built. We will also lose our dear friend Karen; she is losing the election to the #%**&+ who designed our hunk-of-junk water system decades ago.

We hope that this is all some bad mistake. I am going to fall asleep clutching my truck that Terese gave me for Halloween (my new obsession) and I will wake up and everything will be fine. Right?