Friday, February 27, 2009

What I Would Give to Have Been There


Yes, that is a picture of a Christmas wreath...and yes, it is still hanging on our front door in February. In my defense, it doesn't have the big bow on it anymore which makes it just a 'winter' wreath in my mind; and since our homeowners' association says we can only have seasonal door decor, I'm pretty sure that I can get away with it for another week or two (unless the weather stays this nice).

What I would have killed to have witnessed is my husband's reaction as he looked out our peephole this morning. He has a habit of doing that, which I just don't understand. I mean there's a window right there - unless you're trying to be sneaky and spy on someone..which is what he did I guess. Apparently when he peeped out the peephole, there was someone peeping right back at him..a bird! I can just imagine the way he jerked back and wondered who was uttering that sissy-girl scream if it wasn't his round-eyed daughter? (who promptly decides the door is 'bad'...oh the intolerable cuteness!) Apparently my realistic wreath is the cool bird hangout, I guess it's too bad for them that the spring wreath going up next isn't nearly so comfy.

P.S. - On a side note I guess it's not so weird that Joe peeks out the door whenever he walks by. It might have been useful if he'd spotted the person STEALING our car's front license plate. We didn't realize it was gone until he got a parking ticket for not displaying it. It's interesting to speculate about the uses the thief could have for a single license plate, possibly using it in a robbery, as wall art, or maybe as a really cool cookie sheet.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Rock Star Baby



(she put the sunglasses, hat, and tiara on all by herself....this makes me worry about her future fashion choices in kindergarten when she insists on dressing herself)









So I finally gave in and bought Joe a new game system. I wasn't planning on it since he just started his first semester of college (full-time too!), but I felt obligated. You see, Joe committed what he considers to be one of the ultimate sacrifices this past Christmas:

Joe is a gamer, a hard core gets-lost-in-them-for-hours kind of gamer. They came up with the title "Ever Quest widows" for women who are married to men like Joe (just insert name of his current black hole/game). In the past, I have actually asked him to get ready to go to the store while he was playing, got frustrated with the "Ummhumm.....just let me get to a save point baby," left, gone to the store, and arrived back home in time to be greeted with "Ok, I'm ready to....oh $@#*, you already went ......I'm in trouble, right?" The advice most people give: if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Sadly, I am the worst gamer on the entire planet. For those who understand, I can't get past world 1-2 in the original Mario bros. My coordination is so poor that my consumate gamer spouse threw his hands up in frustration years ago. Since he can't control his addiction and I can't think of anything more *fun* than spending a few hours getting sore thumbs, I have ignored his pleas for the latest game system for almost a decade now. That is, until the introduction of the Nintendo Wii. Advertised as a game platform for the unskilled masses, it sounded like the perfect way to meet in the middle and actually spend some quality time with Joe doing what he loves (making it less likely that he'll bail on the 'us' time as soon as I turn my back). So I bought him one for Christmas. It was difficult to get my hands on, but it was going to be a complete surprise. And it was...when I told him that we were going to have to return his best-present-ever to the store because we couldn't justify spending that much on a gift when money was so tight. And I'll be darned if that poor man didn't go and return his own Christmas present, with minimal sulking too!

So, to make it up to him, I saved up enough money and went out one night in January to buy him another Wii. After going to several stores I found one, along with the game he desperately wanted (Guitar Hero). I set it all up as a surprise waiting for him when he got home from work. And it is AWESOME! We have so much fun, I'm even ok with how much I still manage to suck at these silly games.

Now getting to point of this post. Gillian has received many electronic games in her short life. They involve hooking a controller designed for babies up to a TV, and helping them play games that 'teach' them something. Well Gilli never really watched TV when she was younger, so these games don't even hold her attention for 30 sec (making them useless junk as far as Mommy is concerned). The only reason we even still have them is because a few of the controllers themselves have entertainment value. A big, bouncy horse controller works as just a big,bouncy horse. **Yes, there really is a full size bouncy horse that doubles as a game remote** Maybe she'll be more interested when she gets older, but for now, she has decided that the Wii is the COOLEST NEW TOY EVER. Needless to say, Daddy is not in the least bit thrilled with his Gilli-Monster's tendency to hide Wii bits all over the house (oh but it's so fun to watch, let me tell you! talk about karma :). She also actually understands that the action of the remote affects the image on the TV, so I decided to teach her to play. Unfortunately there are no games available for the under 2 set, and the ones that we do have just frustrated her. Until one night....as I was practicing the vocals on Guitar Hero she came up to me and indicated that she wanted the microphone. I handed it to her and proceeded to watch in stunned amazement as my 21 month old little girl made it thru an entire Bon Jovi song without getting boo'ed off stage. Admittedly, it was set on beginner but she was dancing around singing/screeching like the little rock star baby Joe always says she is. If I can figure out how to get the video off my camera and post it, you'll all get to see how funny she is.