Our Halloween Costumes

More things that make you go hmmm....

Riding on cars with boys - Yesterday after I dropped Bubba off at work, I was driving down Hohman Avenue (a fairly busy thoroughfare), and noticed that there was a woman sitting on the hood of the car driving next to me! The sight of a woman nonchalantly perched upon the hood of a moving car made my think, "what the?," and then I immediately called Bubba to have someone to share my incredulity with.

Goose on the Loose - I don't know if geese lawn ornaments are endemic to Northwest Indiana, but I certainly don't recall ever seeing so many of these lovely home accents anywhere else. My favorite part is that people actually dress these ceramic geese when the weather turns cold - take, for example, this specimen decked out in witch hat and cape. I'll know I'm really turning into a Hoosier when I purchase one of these geese for our own doorstep.

Free? Credit Report.com - Who would have guessed that checking your credit report on freecreditreport.com isn't really free? Okay, probably most people. Maybe the company's catchy jingle lulled me into stupidity and forced me to skip over the small print, but I swear when I checked both mine and Bubba's credit reports on the site I didn't see anything about enrolling in a $14.99 per month credit protection program. So, our free credit reports ended up costing $30 and a very annoying phone call to cancel our membership in the program. Stupid misleading jingle.

Mixed-up Marquee - The message on the marquee for Munster Christian Reformed church has me all confused. It reads: "Christ will turn you life "upside down" - displayed upside down. Does this baffle anyone else? I do not think the sign means what they think it means. To me, the phrase "upside down" connotes catastrophe - as in, "our finances are upside down," or "the divorce turned her life upside down." I think the better phrase to use here would be "rightside up." Unless, of course, I'm missing something. Maybe I'll have to attend the service to find out...

Let me see your toilet roll - Why is Henry completely fascinated with throwing things into the toilet? The other day I went in the bathroom to find this - a brand new roll of toilet paper soaking in the toilet. I swear the thing weighed 10 pounds and had absorbed about 2/3s of the the water. It wasn't as bad as the day I went in to see him dipping Bubba's toothbrush into the bowl and then brushing his teeth. Yuck! Now that's something that really makes me go hmmm.....

It's a girl!

Fast, Furious, and Frustrated

If the question "Play cars?" doesn't fill you with a sense of impending dread, then you've probably never been the parent of a two-year old boy. Like many boys before him, Henry has recently developed an obsession of sorts with playing cars. I categorize his affinity for the activity as an obsession because his requests to play cars are insistent, persistent, and resistant to the suggestion of any other activity. I have been awaken in the morning more times than I care to count by Henry thrusting a matchbox car into my hand and pleading "play cars?"

So, how does one "play cars", you ask? The activity sounds harmless enough. Normally all it involves is sitting next to Henry, holding the car he selects for you, and scooting the car around the ground. Henry is quite deft in detecting the difference between when I am just sitting there and when I am indeed moving the car around. If I disengage for only a moment, he'll instantly notice and demand "play cars!"

For me, playing cars is like watching a sporting event: I enter a sort of time-warp where the minutes pass slower than I thought humanly possible. I tell myself, "yes, I can play cars for 20 minutes with Henry," and after engaging in the activity for what seems like hours, I look at the clock and only 5 minutes have passed.

Despite how boring I find playing cars, I really think it is good for Henry. It seems to be an activity that exercises his imaginative and verbal skills. He talks a lot when we're playing cars. He'll say funny things like "Hey car, what you doing?", or exclaim "Oh no, my wheels hurt!" when a car turns over. Playing cars is definitely better for Henry than just sitting on the couch watching the tube all day.

If only I could convince myself it's good for me, too.

If it sounds too good to be true...

I just received a call from a very polite gentleman informing me that I'd won a $1000 gift card.
He informed me that I was eligible for the prize because I have either a Mastercard, Visa, Discover, or American Express card. All I had to do was confirm which of the cards I carry and verify the card number....

I have a feeling I'm really going to enjoy spending that $1000....