YEAH!

Amanda went to our local fair this week with her school. While there she was asked if she would like to help change the tire on a go-kart. When you ask Amanda if she wants to do something and she does she always answers with a loud "YEAH!"

Last night she sat on the couch and imitated the sound of the impact wrench. It took it minute or two for me to figure out what was going on but I was relieved when I did. She has started burping on purpose and I was concerned this noise was going to enter into her vocabulary.

Her latest activity is she will be a cast member of the local youth theatre's performance of "A Christmas Carol"

She has been in three school plays and thinks this will be fun. She is venturing out more and that is enjoyable for all of us.

Something on my mind

I have a topic on my mind that has dominated my thinking the past few weeks and it can be summed up like this: CRAP is CRAP

What I mean by that blunt statement is this; do not deny people their pain.  I believe the worst thing that I have ever been told or have ever heard anyone say to anyone else who is having a hard time with a personal issue is: "It could be worse."

Everyone is aware that things can always be worse, that is not the point I am trying to make.  What I am say is this.

Imagine you are about to be served a meal at a restaurant and the food is brought out and placed before you and your family or date or whomever you care to share a nice meal with.  The food is everything you want it to be and then all of the sudden a squirrel that is hanging from the rafters poops onto your meal.  The food is ruined by this small amount of fecal matter, as is the outing.

Now the manager of the restaurant is demanding that you pay for the meal.

Customer: I'm not paying for this meal

Manager: But why?

Customer: Because a squirrel crapped on it

Manager: But it was just a squirrel.  It's not like it was a buffalo

Customer: No, crap is crap.

So what I'm saying in my round about way is this, when a person has received bad news, don't trivialize it by saying it could be worse because we all know that is true.  Don't be a squirrel or a buffalo, be a human being.

Turn about

As you know Tina will not save me from an attacking frog.  Well she learned something very important about me the other day.

I was sitting in the living room a couple of evenings ago playing Words With Friends on my iPhone.  This is one of my favorite aps and games and it keeps me occupied in a positive manner.

While sitting there minding my own business trying to think of a four letter word that ends in either C or J Tina screams from our master bathroom.  It's a blood curdling scream that conveys pure terror.  So naturally I think it is either a zombie, Jason Vorhees, or a frog.  I pause the baseball game that is supplying background noise for my scrabble like game and then charge to the bathroom at a light jog.  Tina and Amanda are on on side of the bathroom which measures twenty feet across and are pointing towards the other side.  I don't see the walking dead or a hockey masked murderer so I look down and see...

Yes, that blur is the worlds smallest lizard.   I had my iPhone with me so I was able to capture the creature with my camera.

I then put it in some tissue and took it outside and released it to the wild.  Tina and Amanda were safe and I was able to return to my games.

Now, I'm not saying I'm better than my wife, because I'm not.  I'm just saying that when it comes to small little creatures you're better off with me than with her.

No need to panic

I answered my phone yesterday afternoon from a number I did not recognize.  I love caller ID, but have you ever had an anxiety rush from not recognizing the number?  That doesn't happen to me, but I'm just wondering about you..

Anyway, I answer the phone and of course say "Hello."

The person on the other phone identifies herself as Agent Britney.

So now I'm trying to remember what I could have done that would require an agent to contact me.  Nothing comes to mind  for the last few years but then again I am over forty and starting to loose years of my life, especially the ones where New Orleans was part of my sales territory.  I don't panic but start to form an alibi just in case.

Then Agent Britney tells me she is from the Geek Squad and my Blu-Ray player has been diagnoised as dead.  I'm cool with that because now I get to go pick up a new one from Best Buy.  So, I get my trusty sidekick, AKA Amanda, and off we go.

When I bought this player last year it cost $249.  I am allowed to pick out any player that costs less than that.  Funny thing about it is Blu-ray players have gone down on price so much that I get one better than the one I'm replacing.  I telling Amanda that very piece of economic windfall and we have to high five in Best Buy.  She likes it when Daddy has things go his way.

The only bad thing about this is, I think Netflix had to get rid of the last five movies I watched because I reported them as damaged.

School and the end of summer vacation

School has started and Amanda is loving it almost as much as Tina and I.  Her homeroom class is small this year and we hope it can stay that way.  During the day Amanda attends a lot of other classes and activities.  Her favorite is art followed by adaptive PE and dance.

She also has therapy sessions throughout the week and is helping in the front office, so she is constantly on the move.  A major benefit to all of this mobility at school is how relaxed she is in the evening.  She just likes sit and visit or play a game of Uno instead of committing 100% to dominating her known universe.  It makes for a nice evening.  Then by 8:00 is actually demanding to go to bed.  She is asleep by 8:30 and then Tina and I have an opportunity to watch a movie, read or whatever.  I just love school.