Family Matters: Week of 10-30-05

Okay everybody, another week of Family goings-on. Let’s get to the post-Halloween goodness:

Annie

Annie decided to be a lion this year. Here’s the result:

See the wide-eyed, woe is sorta me, can we please go get candy now look? Yup, she’s a master at it I tell you.

The funniest was the way she said Trick or Treat. Or, rather, how she didn’t. An example:

*knock knock*

The door opens.

“Give me some candy,” Annie says. The other person usually smiles and gives it to her while I chastise her for her bad manners.

“Annie,” I say, “next time someone opens the door, you say ‘Trick or Treat’ okay?”

“Okay daddy.”

A few moments later…

*knock knock*

The door opens.

“Trick or treat,” Annie says. “Give me some candy.”

Oy vey

Abby

Abby is just as wonderful as ever, and (seemed to) have a blast during Halloween. This little girl is fiercely independent. And I know you’ve read that and think “Oh, sure, she wants to take her own clothes off for her bath, help feed herself, etc” but no. This girl is balls to the wall It’s My Way Or No Way, including screaming whenever we touched her halloween bucket.

It was cute and sad as the night went on and her bucket filled up with candy. After about 10 stops or so, her bucket was so heavy she was walking sideways.

Any heavier and she’d be walking in circles, I think to myself.

But even with this setback, she wanted to carry the bucket. I could carry her…as long as she carried the bucket. Which, of course, was dropped after a few hundred feet. Splat.

However, in the grand scheme of things, this didn’t matter much as Abby has stealth like you wouldn’t believe. While Annie would chat and charm her way to the folks giving out candy, those same folks made a fatal mistake: They kept the candy bowl at Abby Level, meaning mass Thievage occurred. That girl can rob a candy bowl blind in just a few minutes, I swear.

No wonder that bucket got so heavy so fast.

Ericka

Ericka, my wonderful and devoted wife, has been working almost every weekend to help us try and catch up the finances for the holidays. You know, as a kid I didn’t realize the amount of money and time Christmas (or rather The Holidays) require, but I’m dutifully reminded each year by Mrs. Wonderful. She kindly lets me know that No, spending this money here is stupid and I try to hem and haw my way through it.

She also spent some time last night making some baked treats for a local business, hoping to drum up some cake-making/baking business. All fingers crossed on this one, and they sure looked amazing.

Etc

Okay, two weeks of links have been backed up here. Let’s see if I can distill them:

– Jim has a fantastic and touching post today about losing an Aunt who he had lost contact with.

Favorite quote: “Going to her funeral will not recover this mistake nor ease this regret. It would be like going to the train station to look at the railroad tracks and say goodbye to the train you know you already missed.” Very nice, Jim. I’m sorry for your loss.

– Make your own Super Mario World levels – Very cool.

– Set – I officially want this game for Christmas or to share at Thanksgiving.

– Steve Wozniak's math trick – It’s apparently called magic squares. But I’d still love to be able to do this on a whim.

– The Advertising Slogan Generator – Evan Erwin. It’s Australian for Beer.

– Baby Got Back (mp3 link) – The best cover you’ll hear all year. I promise.

– We call em cokes around here. See what the rest of the country calls a “soft drink”.

– Halloween ‘06 Official Policy – No Costume No Candy. Ya damn hooligans.

I saved the best for last:

– Game-Oldies.com – Play old video games for free, in your browser. Fun stuff.

You should have seen that sunrise with your own eyes
It brought me back to life