Out of the mouth of babes

Sorry for my radio silence ... I've just been busy and/or lazy. ^_^

Last week, I was reading to the munchkin brigade. We were reading I Have a Sister. My Sister is Deaf.
As I read the title, Bucket exclaims, "Oh, what a PRETTY name!"
And then, I had to fight off near-hysterical giggles as I explained that the girls name wasn't "Deaf."

I mean, it's not like she's had no experience with deaf people ... some of Michael's relatives have a type of nerve deafness (most have had cochlear implants and can hear now). My dad and his eldest brother both have Ushers Syndrome (and, thus, are legally blind and hard-of-hearing).

Still, it made me laugh. And worry that she might try to name her next stuffed animal "Deaf."

Besides that, I've gotten caught up on dishes and the laundry (but not getting it put away ... at least, not the kids' laundry. It's all folded, though) ... and I've made some good dinners this week (I had NO idea that Stroganoff was TOTALLY easy to make! Now I can make it ALL THE TIME!) ...

But

Right now, I'm in Bandon at a beach house with family. It's great. Very pretty place. We're going to walk to the beach later.

(NOTE: If you're a would-be robber, I'm totally lying. We're at home, cleaning our guns. A rifle and two shotguns. ... I'm not lying about the types of guns. And Michael says that I'm a decent shot with the rifle. Fo' sho'.)

Oh ... I should mention this -- Bruise is CRAZY about Michael's iPhone. (Which makes me so glad that we don't have it acting as a phone. He'd probably end up calling up someone in Beijing or Helsinki ... and then we'd have the phone bill to deal with. And I don't even want to THINK about that.
BUT, he's crazy about it. He loves the Star Wars lightsaber app and some basketball application ... and we have to watch him as he looks up YouTube videos. When he's watching Transformers made of cigarette boxes trying to .... um .... gain carnal knowledge of each other (WITHER THE FRIES?!?!?!?), that's when we have to wrestle the iPhone away and change it so something safe, like CuteOverload or something.

Bruise and Bucket got some AWESOME clothes. My Mom's great at eBay. And so they now each have a huge shipment of clothes to grow into. And Bruise's has CHURCH CLOTHES!! Bucket's thrilled with her dresses and hair pretties and a Snow White Ballerina-style costume and a little tutu ... Bruise is very happy with his Transformers Underoos (No, REALLY. UNDEROOS. I'm a little jealous. I didn't have Underoos. But I've dealt with it. ... You know, that's probably why I was so thrilled with the Hello Kitty panties that I bought at a Sanrio store in Santa Rosa when I was in high school. Well, that and the fact that Sanrio products are inherently AWESOME ... and JAPANESE.)

(And, hey, if I lose, like, 50 lbs, I could maybe fit in the biggest size of Underoos. I think. Maybe.)
(Maybe I could even buy some of those REALLY ADORABLE Sanrio shirts on sale at Le Target. ... Maybe.)

We had a good time at the Aquarium. I learned that the fish that I like to watch swimming in their tank -- the ones that gasp SO big as they swim in their school that you can TOTALLY see their little red rows of gills as they swim by -- are anchovies. I know that I should have realized this before, but I never realized that they'd be that big! I always figured that they'd be all small, like sardines, since you eat them on pizzas and all ... I somehow never thought about the fact that they're cut up for that. Probably because I never have (and never really plan to) eaten anchovies.

Okay. I should close this up and be all social and be ready for the rest of the family to show up. ^_^

(Unless you're a robber. And then I'm cleaning the rifle at my house. And, dude, our neighbor is SO watching our house. Fo' realz.)