Cody & Puppy Part II

I'm still MIA, but my son has informed me tonight that I MUST post the next installment of Cody & Puppy.  So here goes:

Slide 1: This is Cody & Puppy. Cody is the one on the left with the hair and the blue eyes.  

Puppy is the one on the right with the fur.

Slide 2: They have fought bad guys

Slide 3: Cody and Puppy usually went to their treehouse

Slide 1: One day Cody and Puppy heard a sound

Slide 2: So they went to check it out

Slide 3: There they found ANOTHER plane

Slide 1: It had a label this time

Slide 2: Kidnappers have arrived

Slide 3: So Cody & Puppy disguised as them

Slide 1: The kidnappers thought there were new members so they kidnapped someone from the kingdom of puppies

Slide 2: But then

Slide 3: So Cody and Puppy went to get help

Slide 1: So an officer told them they will try and stop them and if they failed Cody and Puppy will have to fight them.

Slide 2: So the officers went in their offiplane

Slide 3: The officers failed. (Cody note: the dot does not count as part of the painting)

Slide 1: So Cody and Puppy went to fight the kidnappers

Slide 2: The End

Good work Cody!  Don't forget to write about the Treehouse of Doom & Boris the Puppy Boss!

Break Time

I'm on hiatus again -- something had to give and blogging drew the short stick.


Back soon, I hope!

Completely Random Facts

My son won't wear pajamas.  He sleeps in his regular clothes most of the time.

For some reason, when I hear 180 days I always think it's 3 months.  That would mean each month was 60 days long which I don't even want to THINK about.

I started using a computer back in the day when file names couldn't be longer than 8 characters.  As much as I hated being limited back then, I feel like I'm being wasteful when I have to use a really long title now.

Anyone remember floppy disks?

When I get mad, I always picture a red exclamation point over my head -- filling up from bottom to top like a thermometer.

My librarian in first through fourth grade (can't even remember her name) used to chastise us for not finishing books so often that I STILL feel guilty if I don't finish one.

Did you know that if you accidentally transpose digits to a popular investment company, you will be connected with a sex line?


No, I won't tell you which company or which digits.

I'm making THIS for breakfast tomorrow.

Got any randomness of your own you'd like to share?

Getting a Little Perspective

I've been thinking about perspective a lot lately -- if I weren't so lazy, I would do a week long series on it. I found this in my drafts from 2010.  It's from a class I took a couple years ago.


The scene:
It's early morning--just starting to get light.  A car parks up the street and a figure in black exits the car, very carefully closing the door so as not to make any noise.


The man sneaks down the sidewalk, carrying a package of some sort in his hands.  The figure seems very nervous, he keeps looking around, to see if anyone is watching.  As he nears a particular house, he crouches lower, and makes a bee line to the mailbox.  He slips the package into the mailbox and then dashes back up the street to his car and speeds off.


Despite his attempts to not be seen, there are two witnesses.  One is the man who lived across the street who had been sitting on his front porch enjoying his morning coffee.  A retired detective, he found the behavior to be highly suspicious.  


The other witness is the woman who lived in the house.  It was her birthday and she was delighted to see her boyfriend leaving a surprise in the mailbox.


I imagine if there were more witnesses, we could have even more perspectives to play with. 


To be perfectly honest, I struggle with this in practice.  I'm too nice to ruin my character's lives...and even when I do let things do go wrong, they make the best of it.  I need to face the fact that not everybody sees the world like I do...and I should quit meddling and let them speak for themselves.

Adventures of Cody & Puppy

I love my son's school.  His teachers and helpers go out of their way to keep him engaged in his school work every single day.  And if they happen to be reading this over his shoulder (because he's my biggest fan, don't you know?) then THANK YOU for all you do!


I love kids' creative efforts - whether they're painting, writing, or acting out stories with their toys.  There's something pure and joyful about a child's art and so when I received copies of Cody's illustrated puppy stories he's been writing on the iPad at school, I had to find a way to share it with the world.  


Enjoy!

Slide 1: Once upon a time, there were two people, Cody and Puppy

Slide 2: Every day Cody and Puppy played

Slide 3: Until...

Slide 1: The bad guys have come

Slide 2: To take over the Kingdom of Puppies

Slide 3: This immediately made Cody and Puppy fight the bad guys (note - they turned red, it's important later)

Slide 1: Once the bad guys were cleared, Cody and Puppy changed back to black

Slide 2: Cody and Puppy did it!

Slide 3: The End

Slide 1: The plane

Ode to Snow

I hate winter.  I do.  It's cold, the roads are slick and mucky, and you have to wear 600 layers to stay warm because it's cold...(oh, I already said that)


But since today is the day of love, I thought I'd turn it all around and put a positive spin on winter for you.  Self-delusion if you will.  Here are TEN good things about winter:


1. The snow is pretty when it's falling
2. Snow days.  They're not just for kids...
3. It's a super-fast way to chill your Diet Coke (sub-zero days or a snow drift on the deck will cool your Coke down faster than your freezer.
4. Winter is the best time to wear BOOTS!  (And I love love love love boots)
5. No one asks why you're hanging out inside
6. Christmas happens in the winter (at least for us in the Northern part of the world)
7. This isn't possible in the rain: 

Someone turned around in our driveway

8. There are more holidays in winter than any other season
9. Winter comfort food...mmmmm
10. It comes right before SPRING!


What would you like to add to the list?

Mock Me Monday - Jelly Roll

I want you to do me a favor.  If I ever mention any craft, recipe, or "idea" that involves rolling something up "like a jelly roll" I want you to smack me hard and fast to bring me back to my senses.


A few years ago daughterling wanted to make a yule log for school -- an edible kind, not a papier mache replica.  In just a couple short hours we completely destroyed the kitchen and our log looked like it survived a tornado, a hurricane, and a blender.


I wish I was kidding.


But that was a couple years ago and the pain and suffering has faded.  That's the only explanation I can think of that explains my delusional belief that I could make this:

SOURCE

It looks good doesn't it?  The recipe and directions can be found over at A Delightsome Life Blog 


So, I got up this morning and mixed up the eggs, sausage, and cheese.  I rolled out my bread dough into a large rectangle, just as instructed.


That's where the similarities end.  Eggs are slippery little devils, my friends.  I TRIED to roll the damn thing up, but it kept unrolling itself.  I stretched the dough and tucked it under the roll only to have it come undone again.  


Meanwhile, egg and sausage leaked out the ends which I gotta tell you was kinda gross.  It looked like my bread had a sudden and persistent case of diarrhea and that is a BAD association to make with your breakfast. 


I tried pinching the ends closed, but it's like they were coated in baby oil.  No way were those things going to stay put.


And so in the end....this is what my sad bread looked like:

Which kind of reminds me of a trilobyte, don't you think?

SOURCE

I'll have to blindfold my family before breakfast...I wonder if they'll think that's weird?