Now That's Amusing

A couple of weeks ago I created the above smiley with nothing but my son's doodle pad and a simple pencil. In and of itself the smiley doesn't have any interesting story behind it; rather it was simply something that I did to amuse myself for a few hours.

It is a fact that what amuses one will certainly bore another to tears. Point in case, while I enjoyed the monotony of making the above smiley, my husband would have rather used the pencil to stab his eyes out. While we all share some basic concepts of what we find amusing (humor, music, literature, movies, baby animals, sports, games, food etc.) the degree of amusement varies once you break the surface.

I recently discovered that some of the odd things that amuse my little boy also amuse my husband, probably because it triggers a memory from his own strange boyhood.

Simple things, magical things and strange things easily entertain our son. While most things that he finds amusing are humorous to both my husband and I, the strange things tend to leave me feeling as if I'm not part of a super secret club. When something strange occurs, I nod my head and wonder "why?" Whereas my husband has a glint in his eye and a "knowing" nod that seems to be saying "ah yes, I remember doing that." For example, I went to empty the trash can in our powder room and noticed about an inch of yellow liquid pooling in the bottom of the liner. I knew what the liquid was without having to think too hard and I immediately went to talk to its source.

Me: "Have you been peeing in the trash can?"
Son: Says not a word, but guilt is written all over his face and he's looking down at his toes.
Me: "I asked you a question, have you been peeing in the trash can?"
Son: In his most quiet voice, "No..."
Me: "I know Daddy didn't do it and Riley (the dog) didn't do it, so who did it?"
Son: Still looking down, but now he's fidgeting, "It must have been the cats."
Me: "I know the cats didn't do it. Who do you think did it?"
Son: No Response
Me: Growing impatient, "It's not nice to lie. Why did you pee in the trash can?"
Son: No Response
Me: "Have you been peeing in any other trash cans?"
Son: "Well.... when I was in timeout I may have..." he had stopped talking, but his eyes told the rest of the story as they moved toward the little blue bucket next to his dresser.
Me: Walking over to the bucket and discovering dried pee at the bottom I said again, "Why are you peeing in the trash cans?"
Son: Giving me direct eye contact and trying to sound matter of fact, "I had to go to the bathroom and I didn't think you would let me out of time out... so I went in the trash can."
Me: "What? That's disgusting, I would never keep you from going to the bathroom?" I then left his room to check the trash can in the upstairs bath and shouted, "Oh Gross" as I recognize the tell tale signs of urine at the bottom of the can. I am now exasperated to the point that I need to pull my husband away from his movie and ask him to speak to his son.
Husband: In his stern father voice says, "Why have you been peeing in the trash can?"
Son: "I don't know."
Husband: "That's not an answer. You can stay in timeout and think about it some more."

After 10 minutes and three attempts, my husband came to find me and as he recounted the reason our son was peeing in the trash cans, I swear I saw a glint in his eye and perhaps a trace of a nod.

Husband: "Why have you been peeing in the trash can?"
Son: "Well, um, I thought it seemed like it would be sort of fun."
Husband: “Now that’s a reasonable answer. Just don’t do it again.”

Signs, Signs...

Last week my Family and I took a road trip from South Carolina to Michigan. We traveled through 7 states in less than 24 hours and as our son watched Peter Pan for the 3rd time in a row, my husband and I chatted about various things, including some of the usual and the not so usual road signs that litter the highway. After 7 days, we made the return trip to South Carolina and I think we are all pretty pooped mentally and physically. I don't have the will power to write a story today, but I did create a smiley using some of the content taken from the numerous signs that I saw while traveling. ~ Enjoy ~

For Beavis - Yes, yes, fire, fire, fire

Do campfires bring out the pyro in everyone or is it just me? Isn't it unnatural to sit around a campfire and not poke and prod it with a firestick? (firestick: a stick deemed worthy of poking, prodding and/or stirring a fire.)

Not always the brainiac, I once fell into a campfire while poking at it, but that's another story... I'll just say it was my bachelorette party and I did not get burned, but I did get some pretty bad bruises.

This charred beauty was made while camping with friends sometime in May. Although it may not look like it, we had a torrent of rain that weekend, so we only had one puny campfire before the monsoon hit. As you can probably tell, I doctored the image by placing a black outline around the chunks of burned wood. I know, I know - doctoring the image makes it lame... but I don't have any more smiley images at this point in time, so it's this or nothing.

Camp Rain-A-Lot

Just before Memorial weekend, my family and some friends went on a short camping trip at Table Rock, SC. All week before the trip, the forecast called for rain, and as the weekend approached, my excitement turned to dread. Our friends said "Don't worry, we have tarps and if it rains, it will still be fun." So with the fun-factor clarified, I dutifully packed everything necessary to live outside for the weekend and tried to look on the brighter side.

We arrived at the park near dusk, setup our smallish tent then began to cook our tinfoil wrapped dinner. After dinner we grouped around the campfire and toasted (burned) some marshmallows, and for 30 minutes or so it seemed that everything would be hunky dory.

As it began to sprinkle we folded our chairs and put them in the car to stay dry, then we made our way to our smallish tent with its queen size mattress, 2 adult sleeping bags, one pint size bag, and one largish damp dog.

At first the sound of tiny raindrops pitter-pattering against the tent was very soothing. It could be compared to an international coffee commercial, where little things like a crummy cup of coffee make you feel all warm and cozy inside. Personally, the rain lulling me to sleep is much better than sickly sweet coffee, but who am I? "I'm Johnny Cochran in a knit cap..." (I couldn't resist...)

As I tossed and turned again and again, I noticed that the raindrops seemed to be larger and falling at a much faster pace. Within minutes it had gone from a lite shower to a heavy downpour. I tried to sleep, but I couldn't. Once while trying to find the evasive comfy spot, I bumped the side of the tent and with that I became preoccupied with how wet I was going to be if I did it again.

At some point during the night I had to go to the bathroom, but I ignored the urge for hours because If I didn't, that would mean I'd have to go out and risk getting soaked to the bone. At sunrise I felt damp (from the humidity, not pee...), uncomfortable and sleep-deprived, but the rain had slowed so I bolted toward the community bathroom, or maybe it was the woods... Anyway, while walking back toward the tent, I noticed that our friends were up and about and soon learned that they too had a bad night. While they had the comfort of a pop-up, it had sprung a leak and soaked their mattress.

After some hot coffee and a tasty breakfast we set about making a shelter with the "tarps" that our friends had mentioned. Our spirits lifted as the rain slowed then stopped and we took that as a sign to go on a short hike. While walking, we found a pavilion that boyscouts and other campers use on organized trips. The pavilion was locked, but it had a large veranda and we half joked about moving our tent / pop-up to the porch. As we strolled back to our camp, it started to rain again but thankfully, the deluge didn't inundate us until after we were under the sacred tarps that were sure to keep things fun.

It rained torrentially for the rest of the morning and spending the day under the tarps (or in our cars) was becoming inevitable. It was nearly impossible to keep ourselves, 3 small children and 1 largish dog from getting wet. Fortunately, our friends had a couple of portable heaters that helped to dry little socks and dog fur. As the kids colored we ate, drank and talked, but mostly we sat there and tried to keep our sense of humor.

The words "It will still be fun" echoed in my ears and I have to admit that constantly rearranging tarps to account for leaks and emptying the large pools of water that collected was a little entertaining, but mostly in that I'm so bored I could pick a scab sort of way. We were all starting to get a little edgy around 3:00 Pm and by 3:30 we decided to leave no matter what. Then as if on queue, the heavens parted and gave us one last dry spell to pack-up our possessions as quickly as possible.

While this trip won't go down as one of my most fun outdoor experiences, it was not a complete failure. Being trapped under a tarp for several hours lead to decent conversations, good eat'n and during one dry spell, I was able to entertain the kids by getting them to help me find acorns and pine cones to make this rain-drenched smiley.

Nature's Art

A few months ago, I went to look at the smiley that I'd previously made from field stones. To my surprise, I could no longer see the stone smiley because the grass in and around it had grown to nearly 4 feet tall. Anyway, I'm fascinated with the symmetry that can be seen in nature, and I picked a bunch of the grass specifically the stalks, thinking that it would make an interesting smiley.

Besides stalks of wheat or grass, some of my other favorite things to look at are: turtle shells, octopus tentacles (the suckers are so cool), a multi layered zinnia, sea urchins, the inside of a kiwi (the fruit, not the New Zealander) fish scales, and fiddlehead ferns.