Kids these days don't know what they're missing....

So the other day my dad randomly said, "Do you remember that story about that dog thing that was a spy, and he was known for his disguises? And something about he was a dancer to catch the bad guys?"

... it took me a few minutes to realize that Dad had meandered back about thirty years in the past, but I realized that he was talking about one of my very favorite childhood authors: Richard Scarry!! I had forgotten how much I loved him-- in fact, all of my copies of the Richard Scarry books that I have have no covers whatsoever, and various pages were scribbled on by Little Me, and there are ripped pages and pages missing and the spines are all broken... evidence that our family read these books until they could no longer hold their shapes.

So without further ado, I present.... COUSCOUS!

(Click to embiggeren!)


Which one was Couscous? There is a clue in the picture where Couscous is meeting with his cat and mouse assistants...


Although there are many quality kid's books written today, none compares to the awesomeness of THIS.

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My (Or The Day We Saw Some Melted Animals)

Since today is a snow day, so I've decided to go back through some summer pictures and share them with you!

One of the best days I had was when I took my buddy E to the zoo. He had been bugging me and bugging me to take him, so we took an afternoon and went out there. Turns out, this was one of the hottest days this summer, so the animals weren't nearly as perky as they could have been, but it was still fun.

The first things we saw was this little cutie, being all cute and napping in the shade.


After oohing and aawing over him for a little while, we visited with the goats.


The goats made us laugh-- E had a handful of treats, and was being bravely feeding them to the little goaty goats...



... when this HUGE FOUR-HORNED GOAT came out of nowhere, and started whacking his horns against the fence to get to the treats. E was briefly terrified, and so was I.


But we had to laugh when we saw a horizontal kangaroo. The vertical kangaroo kept going up to it and annoying it-- "Hey buddy, hey buddy, hey buddy, lookit, lookit!" and the horizontal one was like, "Dude. Leave me alone! It's too HOT to play!"



I kept asking E if we would get in trouble for trying to sneak a piglet out of the zoo. He told me I could go ahead, but he wouldn't help me do it. Even when I told him I'd let him keep one. He's no fun.



Then we got to the Big Cat section. E liked this sign:


The Big Cats were mostly just Big Cat Puddles due to the heat, but they were still fascinating. E liked the bobcats and the mountain lions...


...while I like thed lions and tigers. This tiger was lying so close to us that I could get a good idea of how big his paw was-- if E got too close to it, the paw would easily cover his entire face. You tend to forget just how big the Big Cats are until they are right next to you.



And then we found the lions. Mr. Lion says, "Dear, I know it's hot, but please...you're embarrassing me... people are watching us."



Mrs. Lion says: "I don't care. Too hot."


Mr. Lion says: *SIGH*


Okay, now let me tell you something about my buddy E. He can be a very serious little guy, on the solemn side, very thoughtful and quiet. But when we rounded this corner, he burst out laughing-- and he laughed so hard that tears were coming out of his eyes. "What's the matter, E?" I asked, as I had not seen what he had.

He looked at me, and between giggles, said-- "Look! The bobcat MELTED!"



Tee hee! After the Big Cats, we came to the random animal section: Lizards...



...parrots (E even got it to say "Polly want a cracker"!)...



...bears...


...monkeys...


...peacocks and peahens and peachicks...


The tortoises were funny. We saw only one first, then another, then another... and they all started moving in the same direction-- towards a door. So E and I started making up voices for them: "Hey, is this the way to the bathroom?" "Is this the line to get tickets?" "No, I think it's where we get autographs." "Lemme in, lemme in!"


Then it was time to go, so we said one last goodbye to all the animals, and we went to get ice cream at Tubby's. Mmm. And of course, when we got back to civilization, all E wanted to do was this:


"Look, I'm a bobcat!"

Wait.... I actually have horizontal surfaces?

It weirds me out a little that people live inside boxes called houses, and those boxes are a reflection of who these people are. If that's so, then what does my house say about me?

Today it says that I must have gone a little insane, because it's CLEAN. For me, that's a huge deal. I like things very messy. But sometimes, and only sometimes, I need to purge and scrub and vacuum and find places to put things. Interior decorating, in the sense that a place can be pretty AND functional, is an odd concept for me. Horizontal places are only meant for collecting rubble, right?

However, Santa brought me a really nice Swiffer thingy for Christmas, and you can't just swiff and leave the rest of the place a mess.

So here's the hallway. Hmm. Will we come around the corner and see something out of "Hoarders"?


No, not today. Huh.


I do spy a cat, though.


Me: "I will put this plastic up to keep the cold out and the warm in." Julian: "Who put this forcefield here? How can I do my neighborhood spy patrols now? I'll have to take drastic measures and rip through this ridiculousness! Seriously!"


But back to the tour. A clean kitchen? This is UNTHINKABLE!!


And of course no living room is complete without a gigantic baby carriage. I love the thing, but what to do with it or where to put it is the question..... thus I just parked it in the dead middle of the room and hoped for the best.


Ooooh, there's Julian! I have an idea...

I can always put cats in it!


Hee hee.... Ahem. And over here's the monstrous jade plant...


...and the china cupboard...



...and those random pottery animals Ellen and Kate gave me...


...and my grandmother's antique writing desk.


And finally, here we have a clean bathroom. And since no one wants to see pictures of a toilet (even a clean one), I aimed the camera upwards so you can see my "conservatory". These spider plants are a little over a year old and they are already making lots of babies. And the aloe plant likes it in there too, as long as it doesn't get too cold for its liking.



Now the question is, how long will this clean state LAST??