New Layout, Stuffy Farewells and the World Cup

Toot checks out the new scheme of things

Blogger now has more options for layouts... what do you think of this one? Let me know if you like it or prefer the old one. What I like about this one is that the sidebar on the right doesn't take over half the blog and cut the YouTube video embeds off.

I've been a lazy blogger again and haven't posted about the recent goings on. Alex rode Sparrow in our local Memorial Day parade on Memorial Day weekend and and... um, I guess a lot of other stuff happened but I forget. It's part of being old.

Our big graduation bash was really cool. My aunt borrowed a chocolate fountain and a soda fountain so we got to pig out on chocolate fondue with strawberries, angel food cake, bananas, etc. Here's a shot from the party. Since I don't have a camera anymore, I don't have pictures of the chocolate fountain in action, but my sister does, so if I ever stop being lazy, I could always get those from her.

The graduates. I was going insane at this point, though I don't know why.

This clip is kind of old, but I keep forgetting to post it. Comanche and Teyla sleep in the garage together (Cheech in his bed, Toot in her crate), and Comanche comes inside to eat dinner (around 9pm or so) and stays in the rest of the night for two reasons: 1) he will bark his head off and annoy everyone every time he hears a deer and, 2) there have been plenty of local mountain lion confrontations lately, and in one, the cat waited under a deck until the owners let their little dog out to go potty then nabbed the dog. The cougar had observed this at the same time every night and calculated it. It was pre-meditated murder! So we don't want our dogs out late or anywhere in danger of being eaten or attacked.

Yet these precautions still don't protect Comanche from cats inside the garage. Look at what happened one night when the Commie decided to try out Chee Chee's bed for himself. The poor dog was traumatized.

Here he is with Teyla on Father's Day, waiting for the mail. The mail is the highlight of their day in many respects. They hear the squeaky breaks, bolt down the driveway barking, then the mailman makes them sit before he gives them each a big dog bone. They then trot off to eat their respective treats in privacy while the mailman sticks the mail in the mailbox. Unfortunately, the dogs don't understand that there's no mail on Sundays, so they waited anyway.

Hope springs eternal

Teyla is allowed in the kitchen, and since she is sometimes inside in the afternoon, she misses the mail. On those occasions, we try to reenact the mail delivery by running around the coffee table making car sounds, stopping by the kitchen, and throwing her a little treat.

Recently I decided to go through my stuffed animals and weed out the ones that I don't have a strong emotional attachment to. I have so many stuffies in my closet that my dresses can't properly hang. I've been putting off going through my stuffies for about 10 years now, so it was time. Among those I said goodbye to were two of my oldest friends who have literally begun to fall apart with age.

Goodbye, Elephant Helephant. I used to hug your cool body on summer nights.

Bye, tub ducky. I still remember chewing on your beak when I was a baby.

In the end, I kept far more than I intended, but at least it's a start. I got in touch with a friend who has two little girls and she said she'd allow her girls to keep one or two stuffies each, which made me feel better about getting rid of them because I knew they'd go to a good home. It's silly to personify fabric and stuffing and plastic eyes, but I do it all the time and don't think I'll stop any time soon. I still share my bed with a bear named Ben!

Bye, guys!

Anyone else remember Puppy Surprise?!

This one didn't come with any puppies because I got her at the Goodwill when I was little, but I had a dalmatian Puppy Surprise and a... pink cat Kitty Surprise. And am now puzzled over the fact that the gender-obsessed marketing of childrens' toys saw it fit to make a stuffed cat PINK. Like when I got Barbie's horse and it had eyeshadow on. I was appalled, even as a kid. Good thing there were always Breyer horses, of which I still have many and will keep if I can!

Actually, Puppy Surprise reminds me of how demented I was, even as a kid. So was my best friend, Katie. Kitty Surprise had three kittens, 2 girls (pink) and a boy (blue) and one of the girls was small like a runt. So when we played with them, the runt was always the annoying little sister who would tag along and try to look cool -- a role we both played in real life with our older brothers. Only the big difference between us and the kitten was the fact that the kitten wasn't actually a little sister, she was the big sister. 21, to be exact (ancient to us back then) and every once in a while she'd have a tantrum and reveal that she was secretly old and the other cats would laugh and call her a deform. I think her name was Beano. Yeah, like the stuff that keeps you from farting. Wait, nevermind. Beano was a dog. Her name was Demento. Actually, she might have been the runt dog, not the runt cat. That doesn't really matter, but I owe Beano and Demento some accuracy.

There are many more bizarre stories... like the mentally insane My Little Pony I named "Mr. Parasol" who went everywhere with a tube of toothpaste that he thought was his BFF. Mr. Parasol could do anything in the world because he was insane and therefore didn't know that there were things he "couldn't" do, like fly. Since he never had any self-doubt, he could fly and pull a million tons and break down walls, etc. Now that I think about it, Mr. Parasol was rather existential...

So anyway, that was a lot to say for being lazy and not having the discipline to write.

Oh yeah. The World Cup. Having played soccer as a child and a teen and growing up in a soccer family, the World Cup is always fun. This year it was a source of passion and pride. The US played amazingly and that 90th minute goal by Donovan against Algeria was rapturous. I'm still bummed that we lost to Ghana (with the Ghana team being such poor sports that they didn't fight to hold their lead but instead laid on the ground to eat up OT) but am still so proud of our boys.

Check out the world's reaction to Donovan's goal last Wednesday.



My sister and I went out to celebrate in our red, white and blue by having lunch downtown but all we got were remarks from panhandlers. No matter how much support soccer has in the US, it's nothing compared to what it has in the rest of the world, and it's frustrating to have so few to celebrate with.

Awkward

After watching Germany whoop England's ass yesterday, I hope Germany wins. Their control of the ball is amazing and they played clean. They're one of the few teams I've seen thus far who blatantly deserve their advancement, as they've proved every world cup since 1954. I could go off about soccer for a long time, including the fact that I'm sad that our national team was practicing at my school and eating at restaurants I drove by every day to get to class yet I lived my life obliviously unaware, and that I love our lads, but I'll resist. For the moment, anyway.

What did you all think of our new SGA movie?