The master at work.
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Archive Posts (Page 39)
When you have little kids you have to plan lots of activities for their parties to keep things moving. When you have teens you just have to get out of the way of the party. But with tweens I think by law you have to provide activities that you know they will ignore as they giggle and scream in a pack in a bedroom or in the back yard.
Helmet construction part 1: make a pattern.
Helmet construction part 2: turn the pattern into flat pieces.
[skip a million steps because dad was distracted] Helmet Construction part [N]: assemble cut foam.
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Her exact words: “So what if there’s an arrow sticking out of my arm. Soon there will be a Carthaginian flag sticking out of Rome!”
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She made the sword from insulation foam, air dry clay, batting, and leather strap. The helmet is EVA foam.
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Sophia’s Hannibal costume, which she made herself. Lots and lots of work and I think it came out great.
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Needs an editor:
“The quarantine attempt is shaping up as the nation’s biggest test case yet in the struggle to balance p̶u̶b̶l̶i̶c̶ ̶h̶e̶a̶l̶t̶h̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ fear of Ebola against personal freedom.”
Fixed that for you.
Also, thank you, your honor.
Sophia made these super-cute mummy cupcakes for her school Halloween party tomorrow. Eyeballs too.
I think the mummies were Isabel’s idea.
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Apparently I drive the same car as Maple’s mom so when I pull up to the school she sometimes jumps up and I have to roll down the window and yell, “It’s just me Maple.”
Also, Maple is tall and thin like a maple tree. This has nothing to do with my story but it always makes me smile.
Ok, I make a lot of jokes about irrational reaction to Ebola but I’ll be serious for 5 seconds. If you are worried, the best thing you can do to protect America is go here and make a donation:
Link
Of course there’s no reason for Americans to be worried about their own health. But there are many reasons to help stop the current outbreak in West Africa. Every American who has contracted Ebola got it while selflessly helping incredibly sick people.
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Sophia doesn’t always cry, but when she does it is because someone else is sad. It’s hard sometimes to be a little person with such a big heart.
This is what happens when your gun laws are reactionary and poorly thought through. Real, credible threats of violence, and the university believes that by law they can’t stop people from bringing guns to an event.
Utah, get your crap together. Utah State University, don’t be such legal weenies. Post a sign and don’t let guns in. Let the state sue you if they want. It is obviously the right thing to do.
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Sophia learned she can get a free college education in Germany and immediately began studying German. Clever Germans.
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Taking half a day off here to get some personal things done and get a little needed rest. Oh and to make Creme Brûlée.
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Sophia: You’re the best thing that ever happened to me!
Me: I didn’t really happen to you. You just came into existence and there I was.
Sophia: Yeah but I could have come to…like…Hitler.
“People often say that same-sex marriage now is like interracial marriage in the 60s. But in terms of public opinion, same-sex marriage now is like interracial marriage in the 90s, when it had already been legal nationwide for 30 years.”
Mamie: “You pigged out and ate all yours even though I told you to save some for tomorrow.”
Sophia: “I live in the moment.”
But we got some neat slow-motion video of this cool acts-wet-but-is-really-dry non-Newtonian sand stuff.
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Tried to get a picture of these munchkins on our date last night but Sophia was in her own world.
Also, Angie, don’t ask me what she was wearing.
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Sophia: [jokingly] “You just wish I would go away and leave the family.”
Me: “Oh no no. If I wanted someone to leave our family you wouldn’t be my first choice.”
Isabel: “Who exactly would be your first choice?!”
Me: “Me.”
This is why my children need therapy.
Isabel and I went to the rare book room at Burton Barr branch of the Phoenix Public Library today. We got to see awesome little tiny cuneiform tablets, a Shakespeare second folio, a 16th century Eclogues of Virgil, a first edition of Twain’s first widely successful work, a (rare) certified first edition of Origin of the Species, and a bunch of other cool stuff. Oddly, there were no kindles.
Link
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Me: “Why are you yelling at me?”
Sophia: [grhrhrhrhrhr]
Me: “Is it because I’m solving your problem for you before school even though you didn’t tell me about it until the last minute, and I didn’t give you the slightest hard time about it?”
Sophia: “NO.”
Me: “Then help me understand why you’re yelling.”
Sophia: “BECAUSE I’M GRUMPY.”
Well now, that’s something I can totally understand.
Me: “Hop in the shower and try to calm down, sweetie.
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Yesterday Isabel got Orville Redenbacher and Arnold Schwarzenegger confused.
Same basic thing.
I’m not pre-ordering an iPhone this time, but I happen to be up working and I see the apple store isn’t up at all right now. There must be some heads rolling over there…
I have mystery water in my closet. Coming from a wall that has no plumbing. And once we tore the carpet out and investigated, it went away and now I have no idea if I should recarpet and call it good, or burn the house down.
Sophia livin’ the dream.
Thanks, Todd Stangle, for the picture! CC: Metropolitan Arts Institute
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Sophia finished reading The Wind in the Willows tonight and now we’re watching the old 1987 ABC television special movie version. I haven’t seen this in years. It is so great.
Found this on my iPad. I think Taylor’s afraid of the cat..
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DELETE FROM facebook.posts WHERE posts.title like "%you won't believe%";
Whenever I see a raft of Facebook birthday posts, I think if this old gem: Link
What if an extra-terrestrial intelligent civilization has found us, but the only data they can interpret is Youtube comments.
I’m so excited for Sophia to come home from her first day at a new school that I can’t concentrate on my work.
Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to feel anything as deeply as Sophia feels everything.
She is really going to miss Maïa.
I accidentally threw back before thursday. I hope you don’t all unfriend me at once.
I get tons of call from some spanish-language telemarketing who-knows-what lately so I’ve taken to talking to them in my 20-years-forgotton high school spanish. It is fun:
Caller: [uninteligible fast spanish]
Me: ¡Claro que si!
Caller: [more spanish I don’t understand]
Me: Oh si, si si.
Caller: [blabbity-blah-blah]
Me: ¡Es muy importante para abrir la boca!
Caller: [confused sounding spanish]
Me: Me gustaría un taco, por favor. ¡Tengo mas hambre que un elefante!
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Ok, One more. My other sister with her husband and kids at her wedding 5 years ago.
“Go through the world with open eyes, and listen not only to your own pains and interests, but also to the pains, interests and longings of others. … Man doesn’t live in the world alone; in that there is great happiness, but also a tremendous responsibility."
—Milada Horáková
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One more old picture tonight. A candid shot of my compassionate, fun loving, beautiful sister.
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The online book store where I’m supposed to order my daughter’s school books for next year has been down for three weeks. Today I found this in their F.A.Q. I don’t understand how otherwise-functioning companies can be so incompetent regarding I.T.
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I’ve lived in this house for 10 years and we’re moving out soon so it seemed like as good a time as any to finally have a locksmith fix the fact that there are fully seven visually identical but actually different keys to various doors in this house. I feel like Sauron now. One key will open them all.
My house has been on the market for 4 days now. This is 4 times longer than it took my last house to sell. So like what’s the holdup?
Just drove by a house to check it out from the outside and my old neighbor popped out the front door. So we got an easy impromptu tour.
Isabel took their babysitting charges to the Science Center on the Light Rail today, and now they’re taking them home, then riding the train back to our house. Such a metropolitan young person.
Also, they got their driver license today. Alas, in Arizona they can’t take passengers (with a few exceptions) for six months.
Anyway, a fun transportation day all around.
“Dear sir or madam, It is glad to write to you with keen hope to open a business relationship with you. I obtained your company name and email address from the Internet.”
Isabel and I made the best of our short time together before they leave on their next outing. Fault In Our Stars and then dinner at Pizzaria Bianco.