Thanks to Allie of Hyperbole and a Half...

WHAT IF THE HOKEY POKEY REALLY IS WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT.

For providing me the perfect image of an eye twitch when Google failed.

See Sneaky Hate Spiral for more of this all too appropriate imagery and the perfect explanation of how life crams 11 cookies into the VCR and ruins itself.

That's what he said.

In the car after school...

T: [mumbles incoherently] ...Ladador.

Big Sister: What did you say?

T: Ladador.

Itsy Sister: What's a "ladador?"

Big Sister: It's like Aladar!  I love that movie.

Kate: Dinosaur?

Big Sister: Yeah!

[Big Sister and T start to quote it]

Big Sister: Did you know that now they're saying that pterodactyls didn't actually flap their wings, but that they just spread them and then would glide?

Kate: Like a flying squirrel.

Big Sister: Yeah.  Then after the continents started to separate, they started to grow feathers and then had to flap their wings to go a farther distance.

Kate: That's what "they" say, huh?

Big Sister: Yep.

T: I took swimming lessons.

Kate: You did?

T: Yeth.  My teacher would throw rings in the pool and then I'd have to swim and get them.

Big Sister: But you were too afraid and clung to daddy the whole time.

T: I did not.

Big Sister: Yes, you did, sweetie.  So it wasn't even useful.

Kate: Well, yes it was.

Big Sister: Useless has the word "use" in it, but that's about it.

T: You're useless if you're mean to me.

Kate: BAHAHA!  Good comeback, T. (I know.  I'm such a good babysitter.)

T: [smiles] Yeth.

Big Sister: [laughing] What did he say?

Kate: "You're useless if you're mean to me."

Big Sister: BAHAHAHAHA!  Is that what you said, T?

T: Yeth. Yeth, that'th what I thaid.


Now the three of them are sunbathing on the beautiful new deck.  Well, except T.  He was lying on his stomach in the shade next to the girls.   

Out of the mouths of babes

I picked up T from gymnastics this afternoon, and his gym happens to be on the edge of one of the worst hit parts of T-Town.

As we drove past the rubble on 15th Street, he looked out the window, pointing out everything "that got hit by the tornado."

After a moment, he exclaims, "CURSE YOU, TORNADO!"

There's another moment, and he says, "I hate Mother Nature."

"Yeah," I said, "Sometimes she's not very nice."

"Hold On."

Michael Bublé.  Martha Sowerby.  Wilson Phillips.  Scads of other characters/singers.

They all tell me to hold on.

When I need help to hold on, I of course turn to Jesus.  On him I lean.

I turn to my friends.  They lift me up.

Then I watch Ally McBeal.

'Cause she's weird.

And so am I.

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Ally McBeal: I like being a mess. It's who I am.
❧
Ally McBeal: The real truth is, I probably don't want to be too happy or content. Because, then what? I actually like the quest, the search. That's the fun. The more lost you are, the more you have to look forward to. What do you know? I'm having a great time and I don't even know it.
❧
Ally McBeal: Whenever I get depressed, I raise my hemlines. If things don't change, I am bound to be arrested.
❧ 
Ally McBeal: Even if I did get past all my problems, I'm just gonna get out and get new ones.
❧
Ally McBeal: Remember, when you're with me, it's the only time you're not the strangest person in the room. So go ahead, get weird with me.
❧
Richard Fish: "Problem" is just a bleak word for challenge.
❧ 
Elaine: She's two-thirds of a Rice Krispie treat. She's already snapped, and crackled, and she's ready for the final pop.
❧
Elaine: Oh, forgive my bluntness. It's a device I use to cope.
❧ 
Georgia Thomas: Ally, what makes your problems so much bigger than everybody else's? 
Ally McBeal: They're mine.

These Are the Days [1.23]

John "The Biscuit" Cage: If you think back, and replay your year - if it doesn't bring you tears of joy or sadness, consider the year wasted.

Don't Stop...

... Believin'.
... Thinkin' about tomorrow.

Keep going.  Don't stop.

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True Stories

One day T is walking around the house.  Then he stops, shakes his head, looks at his mom and says, "I'm a nerd."
❧

T was bothering his mom about something.  I'm terrible and can't remember what it was specifically, but he followed her around, repeatedly asking, "Can we, Mom? Can we, Mom? Can we? Can we?"

Then Little Sister (a.k.a. Itsy Sister) stops wide-eyed and asks, "Do you think T has short-term memory loss??"

Did I mention she's seven?
❧

We went to a Mexican restaurant after an evening soccer practice with T and Middle Sister.  It's a tiny little local spot, decorated with the traditional cultural trimmings and trappings. After we'd been seated in our booth, T looks up and says, "I wish I had a ukelele."  The three gals look at each other, then burst into utter guffaws of laughter.  (Zack Morris Time Out:  I know, I know, it's redundant to say "guffaws of laughter," but you try reading just "guffaws" out loud and see how strange it sounds to you!)

Mama Laura: "What makes you say that?" [T points to the wall] "How do you know what that is?"

T: From school.

[Glimmer of hope for music education shines in the grownups' eyes]
❧

I have been spending evenings hanging out with tiny dancers (it's recital week), and the other night after a few communication hiccups and other schedule-related "oopses," we went out to eat to celebrate surviving it all... and... to bribe the children.

I asked the girls where they wanted to go. They'd volley ideas, never agreeing on one (of course), and Big Sister says, "Oh!  That cafe place Mom took me to that one time."

K: "Thank you, Big Sister.  Please be more vague."

Big Sis: "Ya know... that cafe... umm... Café Du Monde?"

K: (Baha!) "That's in New Orleans."

(Through the phone) Mama Laura: "Haha! I love that she knows that! [chuckle] What kind of food do they want?"

K: "What kind of food would you like?  Mexican? Italian? Wings?"

Both girls: "WINGS.  The one by our school!"

[cue "Miracle of Miracles"]

T wants to go back to Disney World reeeeeeeeeeeally badly.  This prompted Disney vacay anecdotes.  I was sitting at the restaurant with Mama Laura and the girls, and they began to ask me if I'd been to Disney World, if I like roller coasters, etc.  Then we discussed our favorite Disney attractions, one of them being The Rockin' Roller Coaster.  Mama Laura doesn't particularly like to ride roller coasters, thus has never experienced the epic-ness that IS The Rockin' Roller Coaster. So, Big Sister says, "Mom, you've got to ride it before you're too old and might have a heart attack!"

Possibly the be-all and end-all

http://alabamapossible.org/2011/04/tornado-relief-how-you-can-help/

GO.

Places that are constantly updating info on Alabama's needs!

http://www.facebook.com/jamesspann

http://www.facebook.com/myfumct

http://www.98txt.com/main.html

http://www.recovertuscaloosa.com/

And the following on Twitter:

tuscaloosanews
HelpTTown
tuscaloosacity
spann
firstwesleyan
UA_Greek_Relief

or search trends:

#ALHaves, #ALNeeds, #WeAreAlabama

This is not a comprehensive list in the slightest.
Please add to it!

Thank God for the children

This shall be included in the section of my book, co-authored with Laura Woolf, entitled Conversations with Thomas Woolf FTW.

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My handsome prince, T, puts on a plaid shirt and says, "I'm going to college.  Bye!"

He walks over to his mom, she gives him a high-five and says, "Bye! Make good grades!"

Then he chuckles, shakes his head and says, "I'm just kidding."

When we began discussing possible dinner options, he shouts, "Strawberries."

Laura: T wants strawberries.

T: And broccoli!

Laura: T wants strawberries and broccoli.

T: [holds up imaginary sign] This is me holding up my sign for strawberries and broccoli!

The grownup conversation ranges from what's for dinner to childcare rates to the evening news, and in the midst of all this, we'd missed him going out into the garage, supposedly to get ideas for what to have for dinner tonight.
He walks back in with a catcher's helmet on and declares, "I don't know what kind of soup you like!"

He also suggests dirty rice.

"But dirty rice isn't actually dirty."

Thank goodness for that!

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T: One time I went to a condo.

Me: You did?!

T: Yeah.  And stayed the night.

Then he goes and tells his mommy the same thing.  Describing the colors of the different condos surrounding them.

Laura: How do you remember the colors of the condos??

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T, now sporting his plaid flannel pjs with the shirt unbuttoned, walks toward his father and says, "I ate all my salad.  Feel how much salad is in my tummy," and sticks out his belly for his daddy to feel.

"Wow!  That's a lot of salad."

Well, I'll say.

Don't know what to say

As all of you know, per my last post, the weather a week ago from yesterday (Already?!/It's only been a week?!) was in fact a "doozy."

So much so that it's changed my perspective on all social media, including Twitter.  As I told my friends, "I get it now."

I'm trying to use it to retweet any information put out by our city and others who are working so tirelessly in the recovery efforts for Tuscaloosa and the entire state of Alabama.  I'm going to try to do the same with the blog for a while.  I honestly don't know what else I have to talk about at the moment anyway.  It's definitely a day-to-day kinda life right now, and I didn't personally suffer a loss of property or loved ones.

If you see any information on here or on the Twitter that might be useful to anybody anywhere, please share it.  There are numerous groups on facebook with the same aim-- getting the word out.

I know I don't have enough followers on here or Twitter to really make a difference, but hey, ya gotta start somewhere.

Peace & blessings.

♥