First Love

Ernie.

The One Where I Posted Something Dirty

I have no recolection of this time in my life. Apparently I was funny.









Later this summer I would repeatedly unlock the front door and make my way to the water while my parents were waking up. One night, they were watching a thing about masseuses. I saw it too. Saw how they used lotion. So I promptly went to the fridge, took out the tub of butter, took off my clothes, and put it everywhere. And I do mean everywhere. I think I had to have three baths.

No. There are no pictures of that. How about something else that's dirty?

It's the Sweater

A local radio station keeps playing the Mister Rogers "Proud of You Song". It's stuck in my head. And it makes me happy.

IRRATIONAL FEARS: Or, how the escalator really did try to eat me

So one day when I was about 13 I was at the department store with two lovely ladies. We'd piddled about on the top floor and were headed back downstairs. All of my life I have always been a bit wary of escalators. Getting on and off of them seemed like a skill, and while riding them I felt like I had accomplished something. But most importantly is the approach and the dismount. The approach should not be rushed, nor should it be interrupted for any reason. Sudden movements during any interaction on the escalator should be avoided at all costs. And now I will tell you why....
We made our way towards the escalator and I was the first one on. I made a nice approach and bounded my way on. I was carried down about a step and a half when I hear behind me "Wait a minute!" and a hand reaches out to grab my shoulder and turns me around. At this point I was shocked. SHOCKED! And wondering what could be going on when I plummeted to a bloody confrontation with the escalator monster. And by escalator monster I do mean the one that eats kids. I had turned around and fallen on the escalator as it was going down. Scared and nervous, I tried to keep the escalator monster at bay by running/crawling up the escalator. This did not work, for the faster I went the more bloody my knees became. By the time I was hauled back onto the top floor (and by hauled I mean that the hand that grabbed my shoulder was the same one to grab my shirt and yank me off of the escalator and onto the soft carpeting)(the soft carpeting that added rug burn to my already bloody knees) and to safety. I was shaken. I had just come face to face with the escalator monster and I was thirteen years old! Not three or six, but a freaking teenager! I felt humiliated! I was crying! And the nice sales lady was applying tissues from one end of my body to the other.
Is there a lesson in this? Yes, before you get onto the escalator, wait until the rest of your party is on ahead of you. Or, take the stairs.

P-I-R-A-T-E!

I found a perfect theme for a kid's room!

With Dread Fear, She Asked Me...

I feel a dire need to get this book. You see my grammar school library never had any books on unicorns. I know because I made sure to ask our librarian every time I was in there for an entire year.

Behind Every Door

One of my favorite seasonal treats as a child was an advent calendar. What can I say? I'm a chocolate fiend! Well, I found a much more healthier one online!

The post about Pee Wee's Playhouse

I believe that Pee Wee's Playhouse was one of the greatest children's shows. It allowed a child to be imaginative and used common household objects as toys - sometimes friends. It was fun. It was crazy. And there was always something to do. There is an underlying theme of paying attention to people. Noticing others. Being nice and generous to someone even if you don't exactly understand them. The characters on the show were exceptional, but what I feel makes them so great is their tangibility. There was also a real sense of community in the show. Pee Wee knew the entire neighborhood, from the mail lady to the cowboy. The only person who he turned away was the annoying salesman. Can I just say that Wikipedia is truly awesome? It totally has the hook-up for Pee-Wee info (moreso than the 'official' website for the show). Not only separate character pages, but separate episode pages as well that focus on certain characters.

• Pee Wee-a wiry adult child with an over-active imagination and sometimes thrower of the tempter tantrum.
• Penny Cartoon-an original cartoon of a girl who had two pennies for eyes, also named Penny. What I loved about this cartoon was that the voice was of a real little girl (or sounded like it) and she would just talk and go off on tangeants. Here is a link to watch one of her cartoons.
• King Cartoon- he also had his own taxi driver, Dixie. King Cartoon seemed to be the old retired man that lived down the street who would start every sentence with 'Back in my day'. I guess instead of listening to a story, the producers had him show an old time cartoon.
• Penpals-remember the days of penpals? I remember the ads for pen pals in the back of teen magazines. I guess no one really writes a letter to a stranger in a foreign land anymore, instead they just meet up in a chat room. Apparently ads still exist.
• Animated food-anytime Pee Wee opened his refridgerator to get something to eat he would first watch them perform some kind of trick. It was always a circus in there, although they never really addressed the issue of eating the food.
• Dinosaurs in the mouse hole-a Fraggle-esque world existed beyond the mouse hole in the Playhouse and every so often Pee Wee or one of the kids would check on the tiny dinosaurs, who always seemed to be having about as much fun as the food in the fridge did. Forget about being extinct, they were living the good life with Pee Wee.
• beatnik hand puppets - even when Pee Wee didn't understand their poems, he still appreciated their creativity.
• Magic Screen - one of the few technically advanced toys in the Playhouse, a computer of sorts that Pee Wee could jump into, mostly just to play Connect the Dots (let's not forget the song that goes with it that I have had stuck in my head: la la la connect the dots, la la la connect the dots...).
• Miss Yvonne-her claim to fame was being the most beautiful woman in Puppetland. I like her. I can't help it. Today being obsessed with being beautiful is a bad thing, and whereas Miss Yvonne is a beautiful woman she always treats everyone well and acknowledges that it is important to be beautiful on the inside. She was always a nice gal.
• Jambi the Geni - who to me looks like a young Lauren from 'Angel'. I think you can see the resemblance. You know, I used to have a purse that said 'Mekka Lekka Hi Mekka Heini Ho.' Those were the days.
• Captain Carl - played by Phil Hartman, which was kind of a surprise to see. Maybe because he acted so gruff.
• Cowboy Curtis - played by Lawrence Fishburne. If you never thought Morpheus could act goofy or do-see-do, think again. There is a video or two out there of him. He was quite a regular on the show and looked like he enjoyed the role.
• The Lifeguard - somewhat startling, somewhat funny, somewhat alluring (especially when he and Miss Yvonne would make eyes at each other - oh yeah, we knew why she came over to Pee Wee's Playhouse).
• Today's Secret Word of the Day-this show let kids be loud and rambuctious by giving them a specific screaming time. One thing that I've heard is that kids like rules, it gives them boundaries to explore and the Secret Word did just that. You want to scream? Okay, but you're gonna learn while doing it!
• Conky-the lovable robot.

You can now watch the show on the Cartoon Network's [adultswim] at 11pm CST, and you can even watch clips from the shows. The dvd's are also for sale on Amazon.com.

The Shooting Star

I guess because it's the Halloween season, people would expect scary things from us bloggers. Instead, I'm going to post about something that is a little more seasonal for autumn. I saw a meme asking about a book that meant a lot to you when you were younger, and a lot of memories came flooding back to me. Including one book that was flooded, and then lost in a fire. Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs. I don't think there was ever I time that I read this book and did not cry, much less a time when I looked at the cover and started to brim with tears. Even now, the screen in front of me showing the book cover on Amazon has me all misty.

Autumn is a time of relection, cherished memories and the changing of ages. This book is a perfect reminder of that.

Mr. Snuffleupagus

His character has not been matched. Perhaps I loved him because I could never think of a good imaginary friend for myself. Or because he looked like a hug waiting to happen. His first name is Aloysius ( I *really* love that name). Supposedly they have brought him out recently. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Everyone called his best friend a liar, and I can relate to that. But now it feels like part of his mystery is lost. I actually wanted to call him Gus.

I want to spend a day getting lost here. Especially the 'Articles Needing Attention' page, Section H. I recently caught an episode with Natalie Portman where she sang a cute little song with Elmo. Yes, she sang and actually has a nice voice. I'm really sad I missed the episode with the elephant.

*Now considers making her blog a Snuffy layout.

Sorta Fairy Tale

No no no no no no no! They've got it all wrong! Christopher Robin was one of my three favorite characters on Winnie The Pooh, now they've gone and messed it all up!

Today is World Nap Day

I didn't know this either. But it's the only reason why everyone is so smoopy today. I'm tired, you're tired, we all deserve a nap. So lets all just turn down the lights, grab our blankies and pillows and lay down *yawns*

The Comic I Should Have Read Growing Up

Calvin and Hobbs. If anything, just for the snow days.

Web Site of the Day

Ever wanted to build something really cool with Legos? Ever wanted to build a mural? How about a mural of your favorite arcade game characters? Yes, with Legos. And...your wife likes it? This guy did it. He gives directions so you can do it too!

The Brown Tree

I remember the exact moment when my imagination was corked...and by a wonderful teacher. In kindergarten, one of the first days of class, we were supposed to color the tree brown. I thought that I would be creative and color the tree many different colors. Yes, I knew which color was brown, but I wanted my tree to be unique! It was calling out to me from the page, gasping as I was about to bring down the point of my fat brown crayon to it's virgin paper bark, and said "No!!! Color me different! Make me shine!" So, enthusiastically, I used every color except brown! I believe it eventually became this pink & silver & yellow vertical lined colored tree. When my teacher inquired as to why the tree was not the regimented brown, I shakily declared in defense: "Trees aren't brown in Rainbow Brite Land." "Well," she replied firmly, "this is not Rainbow Brite Land." I was crushed. From that point on, I was a disciple of the rules. I felt that because I had failed at this one kindy-gartner task, that I was doomed to fail at the rest of my schoolwork. That, and I felt lame for referencing a cartoon show in my defense and horrified with the result. Now, I've come to a point in my life where I want to learn how to be creative again. I'm hoping to attend a drawing class this fall. Since grammar school, I never had an art class. I took one about five years ago and absolutely loved it!!! I feel like even my hands have been rejecting my attempts at creating. Carpal tunnel syndrome is horrible! So far, it has turned me away from two new crafts that I quickly learned to love. So now, it will be art!