mood rings and an apple
FavoriteSon has had to write a short story (aka a paragraph) the last few Mondays. He’s given the main theme for the story and then he has to incorporate 10 of the week’s spelling words. This week, he had to write about a fad, incorporating words which end in “ble” (able, ible). After spending WAY too much time researching fads, lamenting about the fact that he didn’t know enough about any to write a paragraph without learning (NO! Anything but THAT!), he finally agreed to write about my first suggestion: mood rings. He has a song on his mp3 player by Relient K called “Mood Rings” with the lyrics “Let’s get emotional girls to all wear mood rings, so we’ll be tipped off to when they’re ticked off . . . ” Here’s this week’s paragraph:
“Mood rings were a notable fad in the 1970’s. They were capable of changing colors depending on the wearer’s emotions. The color of the ring was as changeable as the wearer’s mood. A sensible person could look at a ring that somebody was wearing, and tell if they were approachable or not. The color of the ring was a visible sign of how the wearer was feeling. If the ring was the color blue, it meant that the person wearing it was calm or relaxed. If the color was blue, it was more probable that you would have a favorable encounter with that person. Mood rings are still available today. Do the responsible thing. Buy one for your sister today.”
(emphasis added)
Who’s he kidding? HE needs one. I need one.
PinkGirl on the other hand does NOT need one. She needs to eat something every 3 hours and she’s pretty easy. Unless someone deliberatly picks on her for entertainment. If she passes that 3 hour mark, we know what’s coming without the aid of any jewelry. A diatribe. I actually looked that up to see exactly what it means: thunderous verbal attack. That about sums it up. After years of not getting it, we finally made a connection. When she hasn’t eaten in a while, she melts down. After we started paying attention, we discovered the 3 hour limit. At first, we attempted to combat low blood sugar with a piece of candy. BIG mistake. We got immediate relief, but then (imagine the sound of a falling jet plane) CRASH. The aftershock was even worse. Finally, we figured it out: If it’s been three hours and a meal is not forthcoming, she needs to eat a complex carb or a protein (preferably both). We explained all this to the doctor and asked him if she could be tested for hypoglycemia. He said yes, but we’re talking blood tests (in a pretty small arm). He asked if we really needed an official diagnosis and suggested that as long as the treatment is working, we continue it. So far, it’s working. Hopefully, she will grow out of it, and maybe by then, she will have established healthy eating habits.
Every year, we buy a charm for PinkGirl’s charm bracelet for Christmas. It was Christmas eve, PinkGirl and dad were standing in line for Santa and FavoriteSon and I were in a jewelry shop behind them. FavoriteSon and I looked and looked and only came up with one charm that would represent something from the past year. I sent a text message to FirstHusband:
Me: “How about an apple for starting school?”
FirstHusband: “Not bad. It’s got the double meaning thing too. You know, a complex carb.”
FavoriteSon and I BURST out laughing in the store. A gold apple it is.
