he got MAIL!

Wednesday, the mail was for FavoriteSon, and he was a HAPPY camper! His GameInformer magazine, a birthday check from Gram and Granddad and his birthday present from . . . everybody!

On Monday, FavoriteSon committed ALL his birthday money by signing up for a subscription to gamefly.com. He picked his first two games and they arrived in the mail on Wednesday afternoon.

He and his dad are in the playroom right now, playing Prince Caspian on PS3 together. FirstHusband is actually walking on the treadmill with the controller in his hands. Quality time and cardio, at the same time. How pragmatic.

Rollerblade Jedi vs. Vader Girl

Rollerblade Jedi and Darth Vader were having a light saber duel at the kitchen table last night when Darth Vader got whacked with a Jedi light saber. As Vader burst into an exaggerated, tearful, whining fit, Rollerblade Jedi said:

“Come on dad, don’t be such a girl. You’re Darth Vader, for crying out loud.”

And yes. That is a lazy black cat asleep on top of the black bookcase.

mahi mahi good.

FavoriteSon had a good day. A very, very good day.

First, he caught the only bait fish we got. Which is what the shark hit. The second shark, that is. The first shark was only a baby, so after PinkGirl and FavoriteSon got to touch it, FirstHusband threw it back. The second shark, the one that hit the bait fish, was only about 3 feet long, so we threw it back too. But right after FavoriteSon reeled in the second shark, he had to hand the rod over to his dad because he had to reel up a second line in an attempt to get the mahi mahi that was checking out the activity. (We can’t call it Dolphin anywhere around PinkGirl.)

He got the mahi. And we did NOT throw it back. So FavoriteSon had a little mahi for dinner that night.

We’re saving the rest for later. Not too much later, I can tell you.

We had grilled king mackerel for lunch on Sunday. We didn’t catch that one. It was given to us by a couple who had a VERY VERY good day and caught too much. We just happened to be cleaning our boats right next to each other at the marina. FirstHusband grilled it and, let me tell you. Grilled king mackerel is very, very good. Melts like butta.

PinkGirl is 50.

Inches, that is.

And that is a GOOD thing. It is a VERY good thing. We’ve been WAITING for this for a VERY long time. Thank. You. GOD!!!!!

We went to Disney Quest this weekend and for the first time EVER, PinkGirl didn’t go home angry or in tears. DisneyQuest is a 5 story arcade. For a VERY long time, for our family, it has been a 5 story source of sadness. Weepiness. A 5 story source of frustration and . . . temper tantrums. Because the COOLest things to do at DisneyQuest (according to PinkGirl) require the cool “enjoyer” of such cool things – to be a minimum of 51 inches tall.

Today, PinkGirl is . . . .

50 and 1/2 inch tall. But she wore the right shoes.

Again. May I thank God for a moment.

shhhhh.

still thanking Him.

(pause)

okay. I’m done. for now.

I wrote about Disney Quest this weekend over at Pragmatic Compendium for the “peace. love. mickey.” page.

summer music

FirstHusband was talking to FavoriteSon about the summer. So far, FavoriteSon is only signed up for two basketball camps. That’s it. So FirstHusband was asking him what else he planned to do with the rest of his summer.

“Idunno.”

“You know, son, your mom is going to want you to learn something.

“noooooo!”

FirstHusband knows me so well. After only a few days of summer vacation, FavoriteSon was required to call his UncleP and set up a long discussed guitar lesson. One week into summer vacation – one lesson down. He’s been practicing the guitar every day. Without nagging. It actually sounds like music when he practices now.

PinkGirl is learning something too. She is practicing her 5 finger piano scales. My goal is to have her playing her scales in all eight keys with both hands – and chords in the transitions. (And no. I don’t know how to play the piano. Just scales and plucking for site reading.)

summertime & the temperature’s rising

It’s HOT here in Florida, but the kids are making due.

the cure for blue lips.

We got our redneck (above ground) pool set up and ready for swimming last weekend. Completely Tadpole-free and clean!

PinkGirl spent most of the afternoon in there with FavoriteBrother, but when he finally bailed on her, she asked me if I could invite some friends over. I did and they hadn’t been in the pool together for 10 minutes when PinkGirl started shivering. Her lips were actually BLUE, but she did NOT want to stop swimming. Her friends were swimming and she didn’t want to miss the fun!

So she went inside and got in a warm shower for about 5 minutes, came back out and swam for another 1/2 hour!

My little problem solver.

split ends.

So last month, I finally took PinkGirl for a L O N G overdue trim. She has long, blond, “Alice in Wonderland” hair and the bottom 2 or 3 inches were a split-end fest. I should have warned her. Really. My fault.

Years ago, my hair dresser explained that if you don’t cut a hair above the split, it will continue to split. She compared it to a split fingernail. If you don’t cut the nail down to where the split begins, it will just keep splitting.

So I knew.

I knew PinkGirl’s hair needed to be trimmed to a “healthy” length. The split ends needed to be trimmed about 2 to 3 inches. And I didn’t warn her. I should have warned her.

In the middle of the haircut, PinkGirl asked if she could go tell her mom something. She came to me, leaned in and whispered, “She’s cutting too much.” And that’s when I explained about split ends. I even drew a little picture. PinkGirl went back to the chair, finished the haircut with a smile and some friendly giggles.

But I knew.

The MINUTE we get outside, she starts to cry. (She didn’t want to cry in front of the ladies in the hair salon.) I comfort her and apologize. More than a few times. But she’s in the back of the car, crying and lamenting. In the end, she dubbed herself:

“a short haired loser.”

Nothing I could say would make it better.

The next day, at school, “everybody” liked it and I thought maybe, just maybe, I was forgiven. Until I asked her a question later that evening, at dinner. I was getting up for some reason and I asked, “PinkGirl, can I get you anything?” In a light, but definitely sarcastic tone, she replied:

“Yes. The hair I had YESTERDAY!”