Thursday, August 30, 2007

Smilemakers. The Makers of Smiles.

A few days ago, my place of employment receiveda catalogue from Smilemakers, an emporium of cheap toys and goods given to children to make them feel like a visit to the dentist was worth it. I've been flipping through it, trying to decide what wonderful things we should order for our young patients. Which Barbie stickers? Glitter Barbie Fairytopia or Mermaidia Barbie? What about Wooly Spike rings?

Stretchy Silly Heads?

Basketball Glasses, perhaps?

Just a sampling of the junky toys athat accompany quality items such as tiny bottles of bubbles, rings so cool that I wish I had tiny child fingers, or these pencils.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Suit Up!

Some exciting news- apparently suits with midcalf length skirts are in! There were two different ones at Tall Girl downtown, so they even had matching blazers with sleeves that covered my wrists! Maybe we won't have to get all my clothes made after all.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Drinks on the Terrace

My parents' new house is brand new. As in surrounded-by-dirt, our-street-is-a-construction-zone kind of new.
For the last week, however, we've been getting some retaining walls and a patio put in, and already the yard looks great. Tonight I arrived home and noticed for the first time that we have grass! And trees!
My sister and I went out and sat in the yard. It was so easy to imagine a few years from now, when the trees have matured a little and all the flower beds and vegetable gardens are planted. The circular stone patio will be surrounded with flower and a few trees. It will be the perfect place for a quiet dinner for two on a summer evening, which I'm sure my parents will use often once we're all gone. The picture in my head reminds me of the photos my parents brought home from Italy and evoke images of little European sidewalk cafes.
I'm going to love my parents' yard.

Thursday, August 2, 2007

ibbi

I have some very cute nephews and a niece. My niece and nephews all have blond hair and are really the sutest children in the universe. I spent several days with my niece and two of my nephews, and had a riot chasing them around, playing in the lake and the sand, and hearing about LIGHTNING McQUEEN! and SHREK! as well as endless "Auntie, why...?" questions.
The annoying thing about the English language is that there's no word for nieces and nephews together. When you have a group of brothers and sisters together, you have siblings. Other languages have words for a group of sibling's children in mixed gender. So our family created one. They are ibbi. My ibbi (consisting of niece and nephew) are crazy fun, tiring, and downright adorable. The only thing that bugs me is that other members of the family use ibbi in the singular. Would you say, "My sibling is being annoying"? Only if they were a hermaphrodite. So, family, unless you are referring to a group which includes ibbi of both genders, please use the gender specific terms niece(s) and nephew(s).