More Amusings Monday Musings

Happy Monday to you! And Happy "First Day of School" to everyone who is starting today! We start next Tuesday.

The weather finally broke from hot and humid to cooler and less humid, which means we can open up the house again! Yippee! It's so nice to have the windows open and smell the fresh breezes. I'm still not sure who decides what smells make up "fresh breezes" in air fresheners. They never smell like the air that comes in when the house is open.

I've added in a "cute" photo of the Chaucer kitty...don't be fooled by his relaxed composure though. He's definitely settled comfortably into our house during the past week or so. I think the atmosphere has unleashed the devil-cat inner "kitten" in him. He tears around the house at warp speed and attacks anything in sight. I thought it might be the catnip toy he found in the basement...so I threw it out a few days ago. Whoops! There he goes! A striped flash. Guess the catnip isn't the culprit. It's all him.

I put a new video on the sidebar player. This one is from The Last Goodnight, a band we saw opening for Rocco et al. earlier in the month. Their first album comes out tomorrow. We saw the band members milling about in the audience during the concert. They have an interesting "look" -- *grin* -- but we really did enjoy their music.

I haven't heard about any more delays in 24 production....so maybe they'll really start in a few weeks? Only 4 1/2 months until the premier. Of course, Kiefer was sighted in New York late last week so... We've watched nearly half of The Closer - Season 1. We love it! Kyra Sedgwick does a fabulous job. Prison Break's second season comes out on video next week.

You gotta love Babel Fish and its online translations. I found this headline on a photo from an Argentinian magazine cover: Areceli: de Kiefer me sedujo su timidez. I typed it in the translator and got: Areceli: of Kiefer it seduced its timidity to me. Hmmm...what exactly does that mean? I guess she was "seduced" by his shyness?

Heard this weekend from the 6-and-1/2-year-old: When he said he needed a bathroom really badly...I suggested going outside to use a tree. He giggled and looked incredulous, saying, "What? Are you crazy?" Then he ran off with a laugh to tell his sister the "crazy thing" Mommy suggested. Gee...I thought that was a rite of passage for boys. Glad mine is too "couth" for it.

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5 THINGS TO BE HAPPY ABOUT
• fast scribbling
• biplanes
• finding little creatures in tide pools
• jumping rope
• chatting on the front stoop

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You have to wonder who came up with the songs and chants we used to sing when we jumped rope.

"Cinderella, dressed in yellow, went upstairs to kiss a fellow. Made a mistake, kissed a snake, how many doctors did it take? One, two, three"....and so it went until you tripped over the rope.

"Bubblegum, bubblegum, in a dish. How many pieces do you wish? One, two, three..."

Or "A my name is Alice And my husband's name is Arthur, We come from Alabama, Where we sell artichokes. B my name is Barney And my wife's name is Bridget, We come from Brooklyn, Where we sell bicycles. C my name is _________ And my husband's name is ___________ We come from __________ Where we sell ___________. (Continue throughout the alphabet)." We used that one more with a bouncing ball.

Or "Bluebells, cockle shells, Eevie, ivy, over; I like coffee, I like tea; I like the boys, and the boys like me. Tell your mother to hold her tongue; She had a fellow when she was young. Tell your father to do the same; He had a girl and he changed her name."

I found this site with jump rope rhymes on it and realized how much we learned while we played. It wasn't organized. No one told us we were "using our knowledge." It wasn't incorporated into the school program, or even mandated by the Department of Education or NEA.

It was just plain ol' playtime...jumping rope on a sunny day.

Sigh. How much our kids need to learn...