doughnuts for teeth

I've probably mentioned this, but in our family we don't get money for teeth. We get doughnuts.  When G's bottom teeth were coming in behind his baby teeth, doughnuts were the only thing we could imagine to bribe him with.  Then a month ago M got over her fear of having a tooth that was hanging by a thread/sinew, with the hope of doughnuts (I don't make promises).  Last week I pulled her other bottom incisor which had a little more cling to it, but again, doughnuts, Win!

I believe in God.  And any other magical being, I am not interested in promoting.  We don't do santa, leprechauns, witches, etc...  We do believe in ghosts, but call them spirits.

Another tradition that is finding its way into our heart is the "washing machine" massage.  You have to spray the clothes, agitate them, drain the dirty water, spin cycle, and take out the clean clothes.  These actions are all done communally on someone's back, who spends the whole time giggling.


I just finished reading "The Pushcart War" by Jean Merrill.  I really liked it and since I have a really high threshold for disbelief, I thought it was real.  I even said to P, "I can't believe this really happened" at one point.  Then later that night he said "It's just made up."  I was pretty bummed.  I hate it when books begin by saying "This is a true story".  I absolutely hate that.

Perhaps that is why I am such a scrooge about all the childhood magic.

Still, it was a good book.

Wiki says this about it:

The opening sentence says,"The Pushcart War started on the afternoon of March 15, 1976 when a truck ran down a pushcart belonging to a flower peddler." Later editions changed 1976 to 1986 then to 1998 so that the date would still be set in the future.[4] Post-millennium editions of the book have been published with the date 2029.

I unfortunately had an old copy and didn't get the joke....

And on the subject of jokes, I hate them too.  Sheesh, I'm so hateful.  The other night P was reading some jokes and I had to ask him to stop, it was too painful to me.   In a class setting, the teacher asks a question and I love that.  It gets me thinking.  In a joke situation, a question is always setting you up.  Why did the x y the z?  To get a drink of l.  No, to put an m on the n!!!

So I'm the 9th of 10 children and my little brother was precocious.  So I'm what you might call a sore looser.  Or just a looser.

We worked out a compromise.  P will now ask me "Hey E, do you want to know why the x y the z?" To which I can without anxiety respond, "Sure."

The P family plays group solitaire and I really like that.  Some members are more emotionally involved than me.  Ok, they all are.  Somehow this game has my mind per-occupied enough with just trying to play anything, that I don't have time to feel like anyone is "ganging up on me".  It helps that play is constant.  So unless you are P, you don't have time for malicious strategy.  And P married me so when he wins, I feel like it was a team effort. 

Anyway, I hope my kids have a great childhood.  We don't do things very often that cost money, so I hope they remember what we do.  2 years ago, we took them bowling 1 time in the summer.  Then in the winter we went to Legoland.  Then in the summer we went mini-golfing once.  This past winter we went on a road trip and the highlight was a day at Monkey Joes (think Chucky Cheese with bounce houses).  This summer I think P will take the kids to the giant waterslide at the beach.  They see it from the splash park and wonder....