This Wednesday for youth night, I had the girls over for ‘S’ night – Sushi, Scrabble, and Soda. There was 3 Sock awards for the 1) longest word, 2) wackiest word, and 3) most points earned.
I think that the girls really enjoyed it – especially since most of them had never tried sushi, never played scrabble before, and never tasted the bliss that is Jones Soda.
This week I bought Natalie Merchant’s new album “Leave your Sleep.” She says on her website that she set out to capture the universal experience of childhood through music and poetry. I haven’t had a chance to listen to all the songs yet (there are 20!) but so far I really love the music.
There’s just something about the album that reminds me of when we were kids dancing around the family room to “Joy to the World.” I can’t remember the other records we used to play – but I remember that song and I remember standing on dad’s feet as he pranced around, swinging us round and round.
Probably my new favorite song on the album is a poem written in 1924 by Nathalia Crane – who at the time was only ten years old and experiencing her first boy crush….on a red-head!
“Oh I’m in love with the janitor’s boy,
And the janitor’s boy loves me;
He’s going to hunt for a desert isle
In our geography.
A desert isle with spicy trees
Somewhere near Sheepshead Bay;
A right nice place, just fit for two
Where we can live alway.
Oh I’m in love with the janitor’s boy,
He’s busy as he can be;
And down in the cellar he’s making a raft
Out of an old settee.
He’ll carry me off, I know that he will,
For his hair is exceedingly red;
And the only thing that occurs to me
Is to dutifully shiver in bed.
The day that we sail, I shall leave this brief note,
For my parents I hate to annoy:
“I have flown away to an isle in the bay
With the janitor’s red-haired boy.”
I’m in love with the janitor’s red-haired boy too!
I accidentally feel asleep at my desk at work. By the time I woke up, my boss had gone home for the day but had taken down the cubicle walls so that everyone else could see me sleeping at my desk. He also left a note saying that if I wanted my computer back – it was sitting in the VP’s office. When I went to get my computer, it was not the skinny greek man I was expecting to be sitting there in his office. It was my high school basketball coach (a big, tall black man). I still called him JP, though. When I asked for my computer back he told me that I would have to tell him a nursery rhyme first. I was surprised at the request but quickly rattled off the story of the tortoise and the hare. Once I had my office back in place, I ran out of the office to head home for the day. Problem was: I wasn’t in Texas anymore – rather in Bulgaria. As I was walking to catch the underground metro like I usually took home in Bulgaria, a teenager and his girlfriend walked by. I turned my head to avert my face from the cigarette smoke, but when the young man saw me do that – he spit not only the smoke into my face. So I turned the other way and ran as fast as I could to catch the bus home instead of the metro. When I made it to the stop, I jumped on the first bus that pulled up. But since I was too busy worrying that the teen gang was following me – I failed to see that I got on #33 rather that #37. Now I had to figure out what stop to get off and what other bus I’d need to catch home. But as we were traveling through the city, I suddenly realized that it must have rained ALOT while I was at work. There was water everywhere. In fact, I think that the city was flooding. When we went across this one street, it was like we were crossing a river on the ‘Ride the Ducks’ tour in Branson and the windows of the bus were open allowing the water to splash inside all over me. So instead of focusing on the bus route map in my hands, I finally looked up to gauge what was going on with the driver and if we were going to drown in the bus. Turns out, when I looked up I saw these huge, funny looking rocks in the water a little ways away from us. I was confused, so I looked closer and realized – those are NOT rocks. They are huge, scary water beasts that look like a cross between a gorilla and a whale. Before I could blink, one was coming out of it’s disguise as rock and started chasing after the bus. His eyes were bulging out of his head and I felt like he was staring right at me. He kept getting closer and closer as I was screaming at the bus driver to go faster! Just when the gorilla water beast was about to pull me by the hair and drag me out of the bus kicking and screaming…I woke up.
That’s how my Tuesday morning started.
My mom posted this picture on her blog today and it invoked some feelings worth blogging about.
(First, though, for anyone here in Dallas – I’m going to shamelessly advertise for a photographer friend at church. This photo reminded me of her recent blog post saying she’s offering mini-shoots in the bluebonnets and I love her work!)
This photo makes me happy and more specifically proud to be a Thompson. My name may have changed, but I still carry with me everything that these two are and are called.
Recently my dad reached out to me and WE to ask for some family advice. Not that I was surprised….but He’s still the patriarch (even though we’re all grown up and gone) and still considering the needs and desires of every last one of his kids. There are certain times when you pause for a moment and see your parents for who they really are - the people that sacrificed everything to get you to where you are today. Seeing this picture for some reason was one of those moments for me.
I love playing Scrabble! I like the real board game and I like the iphone app ‘Words with Friends’ too. It’s the perfect combination of skill and luck.
Today, though, I heard appalling news: (more…)
I’m not an Oprah watcher, nor am I really a B.E.P. fanatic. But this is pretty cool to watch, in case you haven’t already seen it…
WE and I drove by Crossroads Mall a few weekends ago when we were in OKC for the NCAA. It was a pathetic piece of property. Come to find out, the Fed owns it as part of the Bear Sterns bailout a few years back.
NPR did a planet money on it, and aside from the brief synopsis of the podcast (including references to Oklahoma, JCPenney, and Toxie) – I was highly amused by the reader’s comments. On that note, I just wanted to let you know that NPR has officially named their toxic asset:
I must admit, that I’m disappointed that Tulip didn’t win…and Kenny? Come on, seriously?
In case you didn’t know, you can track Toxie to the bitter end on npr.org
Q: Have you ever had a headache so bad that it induced vomiting?
A: I have. For the first time last night.
Weird.
