Sunday Sabbath

Well, we took a Sabbath, but we also went on a Peter Pan date... Here's a synopsis of the date:

It was all themed around this map:


We started near-ish the Manor and then flew off to Big Ben for a Wee Lunch



Then we followed our shadows to a reading a Wendy Tale in the Bookshop.


After that it was time for a duel. Like Hook and Peter... We battled it out over a game of Scrabble.


We then chatted in the Park, and being sure not to let go of the pram and lose a child to Neverland...


And then it was time to make like a Pirate and dig up some treasure.



And then it was time to relax in Neverland.


There it is.

Created by OnePlusYou

Saturday Snapshots

Here's the pictures of the day:

Today's theme is famous people I've seen on my travels...



An Oompa Loompa


Josh Groban


Johnny Depp's Foot(prints)


Brooke Shields


Tina Fey


The Survivor Guy


Sara Ramirez


Reuben from the Biggest Loser


The guy from the show with Sara Ramirez


and Yoda

Friday Fears

Yes, its that time again.

So here is my biggest fear: Being tricked.


Farah can testify to this one. I always keep a wary eye on how people treat me. For if something seems out of place, I believe I am being tricked. Maybe it all started with watching people get tricked on TV. Maybe it started from being the youngest kid. I'm not sure where all of this stemmed from. But maybe it was due to my poor eating habits. You see, I am convinced people will sneak a food I hate into my meal and then upon biting into it I will cringe with disgust.

Or, like my dream last night, I will be tricked into teaching a class I don't like, while the two other teachers get a simple and typical class. Tricking. That is a big fear. So you can imagine my confusion on Halloween (my favorite holiday). Children ringing my doorbell... Threatening to trick me unless I give them treats. I always give a little extra candy, just to be safe.

Well, I can't fully explain this one, but I am most always certain that people are trying to trick me.

Thoughts of Randomness of Thursday

Today's thought: Dreams.

This morning I woke up early because I was having a bad dream where I was being attacked by the LZG gang (who for the sake of this dream only exist in Michigan). They stole my wallet while I was attending some sort of reunion at Righetti High School. The only reason I cared was because I thought, "Oh no! We need to go to Rome! All of our money is in there!" Why it was all in there is beyond me, but hey, that's dream Michael. So then, the thief called my cell phone to set up a meeting to return it at the Edward's Movie Theater.

Well, I told the secretary at RHS this. And the secretary at RHS told me I better not go because that gang killed people in front of the movie theaters because their gang color was pink like the theater. Did I mention it was an all girl gang? I tried to get Parker to help me but he was in training down south. So I was just angry and said, "What's this world coming to! Pink gangs!" I didn't know what to do, so I remember in the dream my solution was, "Oh, I know. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up!" Eventually I woke myself up and found my wallet safe and sound. Lame. Now I am up before 7 AM all because I was worried I wouldn't be able to pay for Rome.

So there it is. My random thought. My dreams.

Wonderful Woments on Wednesdays

So tonight we had "the new couple" from church over, Matt and Miriam. They were very nice and quite fun. He's from Wisconsin and she's from England. We had a great dinner, a la fauf, and a great dessert, a la Trader Joes. After that it was time for some game playing. Well, this was a first people. Last night we played...



HERE & NOW Monopoly: World Edition. It was great, very little set up and the best part of all was you got a credit card. Secondly, on this Monopoly they have a built in auction feature, so a property that is worth 2.3 million can be auctioned for as little as 10K! It was a lot of fun. I almost won, but Matt took the lead in the end and won with a 28 million dollar net worth, I wasn't far behind with 23 million. Blast his Orange Monopoly with three homes on each!

At any rate, if you get a chance to indulge in this new fan-dangled contraption, I recommend it. And yes, Jon, that means you. You're on buddy! In addition to that I have been checking the computer ever few hours hoping I would get notice on Farah's books... None yet. Though it seems they have printed the bulk order. Hooray! More to come on that soon.

Tuesday Top Ten

Yes! I nearly fell over with delight when I realized today is time for a Tuesday Top Ten!

Today's Ten is brought to you by: Disney Princesses

10. Jane and Meg--Yes, I know neither Meg nor Jane are really princesses, but in order to get the list to a 10 level I had to include them. I like Jane, a lot. I think she is a smart girl, tough, but very feminine. Dare I say it she is a little Fauf-ish. However, she is not Fauf, so she doesn't get a high ranking for that reason, and well because she fell in love with an ape. A chiseled ape, mind you, but an ape. I appreciate Meg, but something about her waist to hip ratio drives me crazy, and not in the good way. I always want to throw her a bagel so she will gain a pound or two.




9. Pocahontas--OK, she can paint in the wind. Whatever, but really, come on. We all know she didn't resemble a Barbie Doll, why did they portray her that way? Plus her skirt is at the hoochie length. No hoochies for Ig, come back one year! I have to say if I were completely honest here, I would move Pokey here to number 10, but since (in some circles) she is classified as a princess she gets spot number nine.


8. Sleeping Beauty--Not much to say here. She sleeps. A lot.



7.Mulan--I like that she has a progression in her story, but she is not very feminine at all. But she sings pretty great. Overall I like her, but I think she needs to fem up a little bit.



6. Jasmine--She's a little crafty one. Always sneaking out. Ug. If she were my teenaged daughter I might scream. She needs to learn some boundaries and stop showing off her bellybutton. But she does have some spunk and I admire that.



5. Tiana--As you can tell by her middle of the road placement I have somewhat high hopes for a princess who we have never met before. At any rate, we will see how she handles her role.


4. Snow White-- A good princess for sure, but in contrast to Mulan I just want to scream, "Come on already!" I mean, I like her as a sweet, soft spoken girl. But I think she missed her first day of preschool when they said don't go in a strangers house, and once your in a house don't let strangers in. I think she would do well to watch Home Alone 1.



3. Cinderella--Helpful? Yes. Pretty? Yes. Willing to risk it all for true love? Yes. Crappy family? Yes... well that's a minus. But at least she got 3/4 questions right.



2. Ariel--There is something to be said for sacrifice. And Ariel, though her sacrifice is a bit premature, is great. She gives up her biggest gift to be with the one she loves. That is a good girl right there. Yup, she deserves this number two spot.


1. Belle--Ah. She is just delightful. I think she wins out. Every girl, boy and sane person will tell you that.

Monday Musings

In case you didn't know, I took Sunday as a sabbath and rested. I went to see HP6:HBP with my wife. Then we discussed the intricacies of the book's plots for about an hour and a half. With that said, I had two energies left, and quite frankly I used them brush my teeth, not blog.

But today I will muse about work. No, not school work for I am in the dead heat of summer. Yes, that's right I still have one more month of summering to go, so I thought I would blog about my work this summer.

Mainly (this past week that is) I have been assisting my lovely author-wife in completing her book. We have spent hours discussing, drawing, formating, submitting, and taking orders for her new book. So far things have been fantastic. The buzz on the street is good, and quite frankly I am gearing up for a BIG release party. Think Harry Potter Burrow minus annoying people and plus family. It will be good times. Though I am sad to report we will be planning the party while Ky and Li are in the 50th state. However, they will get a shout out at the event.

Here are few photos of people who we shared the prototype with. The real books will probably come in sometime next week. Check with me for details on the release party if you are interested in attending.

The Shelf Says, "Hey, there's a new Sherlock on the block!"


Rose says, "Oh dear! You've written a book and I'm still in my robe!"

More pictures to come...

Saturday Snapshots

So today is all about a picture or two. Since a picture is worth a thousand words I thought I would express at least two thousand today. Two walls I painted in the Shaw House:

Ignore the clutter. I was about to paint over it so everything was in the middle of the room.


Ah. This was my relaxation center for playing chess/checkers.

Friday Fears

Yes, tuck the kids away... it's time for: Friday Fears.

As many of you know I have many obscure, somewhat ridiculous fears. In all honesty I think they are things that creep me out mainly because of personal experiences... these are not total blown phobias. However, I thought I should share these fears in this public forum so I can perhaps get past these problems and realize these are really things of the past.

This Friday I bring issue up with: Kuwait.


Yes, it was once proclaimed during a game of Scattergories that I was afraid of Kuwait. It was laughed at (Farah), scoffed at (Morgan), and dismissed (all the rest of you who participated in this life altering game). However I have to admit if I were to list the places in the world I would be most fearful to travel to it would in the Top 5(ish).



This fear may be illogical, but it is based in childhood realities. (Yes Jon. I know this goes against the 1 Corinthians verse about being a man, but still. At least I know where Harbor Freight is.)

In 1991 we joined the Gulf War and I was merely a 9 year old boy. Just your innocent boy who was sitting on the ground of his living room while he heard Dan Rather, Ted Koppel, and Tom Brokaw discuss this breaking news event.



I, being a young lad with little historical reference (Yes, I thought Lincoln was black) and very little understanding of basic distance (I mean come on, Kuwait is 7,939 miles away from Santa Maria) assumed the whole war was being caused by... Hitler's Ghost. This troubled me. But it troubled me more when I thought Hitler would want to bring the battle to my backyard. Because, in my mind all terrible things would end up plaguing the beloved Orcutt.



I know that is a lot to take in. But it all came to a head when one sunny afternoon in 1992 I sat in my garage thinking about how horrible Kuwait, all Ghost-Infested and evil, really was.



Suddenly, out of no where, I heard an old airplane fly over head. And then another. And another. What was it? I didn't know. So logically, like any kid would do, I turned on the transistor radio and listened for the airport radio frequency. After turning the knobs I finally found the airport's station. It was then I heard the word "bomber" and I panicked! The Kuwait War Lords and Hitlet's Ghost had found their way to the land of Orcutt. I ran inside and screamed, "It's the end of the world! I think Hitler's back!"

In the end it turned out to be the Santa Maria Air Show. Who knew? Not 9 year old Michael, he assumed Kuwait was to blame.

And that's why I fear Kuwait.



...That's also why I should get a point for that answer in Scattergories.

Thoughts of Randomness on Thursday

Well today is the first day of my daily-weekly posts. I am going to start my themed blogs for the next few weeks and see how they go. So be sure to check my blog daily for the new update.

Thursdays I will focus on: Thoughts of Randomness.


Why do we call hot dogs, hot dogs? It seems to me we could have selected a different animal to fulfill the role/roll (he he he—punny) of the hot tube-shaped processed meat. So I did a little research to find out why we call it a hot dog.


In fact, when we eat a hot dog we are actually eating a sausage. The hot dog was initially called a frankfurter after the German city where it was created. The story goes that the frankfurter was compared to a dachshund hound (wiener dog). No doubt some bumbling English teacher first made the analogy and included it in some ridiculous metaphor or simile during a lesson. Well, from that point on (though the English Teacher part was made up) people started calling it the dachshund sausage.


Moving across the pond, rumor has it a vendor who sold ice cream and soda found out about these sausages and the owner, “had his vendors hawk the sausage, instructing them to sell it by yelling, ‘They're red hot. Get your dachshund sausages while they're red hot.’”


From this there was an apparent cartoon made where the vendors were selling actual dogs and the caption said ,“Get your hot dogs!” Since then the name stuck, and millions of children since then have wondered, “Am I really eating a dog?”


So there it is. Random? Perhaps. Happy Thursday.

HP6

Sure we had to wait a year, but sometimes you have to wait awhile for a delightful experience.

I'm sure I'll have a lot more to say. But I got home last night around 3:30 and all I could think was how satisfying Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince was. It was like eating that Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake at The Cheesecake Factory. Simply delightful. I found myself feeling as though the movie was tuning pages of a book. In some ways I equated it to a fine dinner. Quality art, beautiful presentation, and a great sense of fulfillment.

I figuratively (see, I didn't say literally) saw chapter headings swoop across the screen like Hedwig on a clear night. It was very well done from the coloring, music and editing (I dare say the editing was the best yet). I loved the added heightened romances and I really loved all of the references to the subtleties (fan favorites) from the book.

Well done David Yates. You did it again.