What You Ought To Do

Okay, this may come across at bossy or controlling, but please let me take a minute of your time and tell you what you ought to do. We Perkins have officially been residents of the Evergreen State for one year this month. We love it here and have made it our personal mission to explore every square inch of Washington. Well, at least the square inches that run along this side of the mountains. We love it all, from the rustic quaintness of Hobart to the absolute zaniness of Fremont (hello? Have you guys all visited the Lenin statue?). Every once in awhile we come across things that are really, really cool though. And, much like the gospel, when we find these pearls our first desire is to share them with you, our friends. Which brings me to my topic at hand...Archie McPhee.

Archie McPhee is pretty much the coolest store ever. Actually, it's two stores right next to each other. That's right. Archie McPhee has so much awesome junk that one mere building couldn't contain it all. What, you may ask, do they sell? Pretty much everything. They've got dashboard ninjas, yodeling pickles, dueling nuns, a Van Gogh action figure complete with interchangeable heads (one with two ears, one with a single ear and a bandage), and gummy mustaches (see below). I simply don't have the skill necessary to describe in words how incredible this place is. Instead, I will quote their website:
"Archie McPhee has been supplying gifts and toys to Seattle for over 25 years. Located in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood, it's a one stop shop for party supplies, crafts, costumes, miniatures and the weirdest collection of toys and candy that you've ever seen.

Widely considered to be a Mecca for connoisseurs of the strange and one of Seattle's top ten weird destinations, it is truly an attraction without a parallel. Not only that, with over 10,000 items and prices as low as 1 cent, no one leaves empty handed."

Okay, now on to my next topic. Weather day with the Mariners. I saw it on the news while I was at the gym (post treadmill accident) and it's meant to be a fun field trip for school aged kids, but it's open to any group. It's June 4th (which is a Wednesday). The tickets are $11 and they include a little weather lesson for the kids with Channel 4's weather man, a ticket to the game that day, and a meal voucher for a hot dog, chips and soda. It sounds really fun and I'm trying to get a group to go. If we all buy our tickets together as a group, they will get us seats next to each other. I realize it's a school day, but it's educational, and every kid deserves to play hooky once in awhile (in my opinion, anyway!). Kids 3 and under are free, but they won't get a seat of their own or a meal voucher without a ticket. Adults are $11 too. Email or comment me if you'd like to go. It'll be fun!

So, then, here's what you ought to do. You ought to run out to Archie McPhee this weekend and stock up on really cool toys. Then you ought to email me and sign up to go to Weather Day with your kids. Ready? Go!

I finally did it

I knew it was only a matter of time. The day I signed up for my membership at Meiko's Gym, I knew it would happen eventually. What with my coordination and history of being extremely accident prone and all. I just didn't know when it would happen. Well, folks, it was today. Today I fell off the treadmill at full speed, sending my precious ipod crashing into the treadmill next to me. Nothing like a billion curious eyes watching you collect yourself and your belongings off the floor to make you feel like a million bucks. Did I mention that Chad thought it was hilarious? Well, he did. Oh well. I signed up for the gym in October, and it's April now, so that means I had 6 1/2 accident free months. If I follow that pattern, I should be okay until next October. Thank goodness for that.

Alright, You Got Me!

I like to watch the news while I'm exercising at the gym. I've found that it's a great way to kill two birds with one stone. I'm working out, so I'm taking care of my body. And, if I watch the news while I'm sweating my way through the half hour weight loss setting on that silly elliptical machine, then I'm also catching up on current events. Which makes me feel much better about myself. Honestly, I wouldn't have known Sept. 11th occurred if I hadn't have accidentally stumbled past the news on my way to Nickelodeon that morning. It's pathetic how little I know about things happening outside of my home. But, if I watch the news while I work out, then at least I know the current weather and the biggest news stories everyday (yes, I do exercise 6 out of 7 days. I'm there so much, I'm starting to make “friends” with the other regulars. But, have I lost any weight? No. That's another story for another day though).

Anyways, so I was watching the news while I worked out earlier this week when I saw a story on the Tulip Festival out in Mt. Vernon. It showed fields of tulips blooming in all their colorful, spring heralding glory. I didn't have my earphones plugged into the tv (I was listening to some aggressive rock 'n roll to get me through the last agonizing ten minutes of my cardio), but the little text box at the bottom of the tv assured me that it was, indeed, the Tulip Festival. So, I told Chad that it was time to pile into the car and make our annual pilgrimage to Mt. Vernon. We charged the camera battery, cleared off our memory card and piled into the car to make the 90 minute drive. We hit a little traffic and nearly ran out of gas, but eventually made it. We stopped at the Pickle Barn to use the “loo” (as Mikey would say) and pick up a map. A few more minutes of driving, a small detour through a very rural neighborhood after getting slightly lost and we finally arrived at our destination. We spilled out of the car to see fields and fields of...green. Green, blossom-free stalks. As far as the eye could see. The tulips hadn't bloomed yet.

Ha, ha, ha. Alright Kong 5 news. You got me good. I totally fell for your trick. Playing footage from last year's Tulip Festival, huh? Very clever. I wasn't the only one you fooled either. We ran into another poor soul dragging his camera and tripod through the field of tulip stems, completely perplexed by the lack of flowers.

In the end, it wasn't a completely wasted afternoon. I had a great time with my family. And we did see several gorgeous fields of daffodils. All the same, I'm switching to Channel 4...

Am I the Only One?

Alright all you moms out there, do your kids ever say something that totally frightens you? I had a couple experiences this week that made me realize that Mikey and Natty are apparently taking in every single thing that I say, think or do. Which realization immediately sent me into a panicked frenzy, searching through my mental Rolodex for anything I may have said/done in the past week that I wouldn't want my kids noticing and repeating. I don't think I fully comprehend just how much these little munchkins understand. I often catch myself talking to Chad about "grown up" things under the assumption that the kids aren't listening, and if they are, that they won't understand anyway. Hey--get your minds out of the gutter guys! I'm not referring to anything like that. Just conversation about things that they don't need to know or be worried about. Here's some examples from this week alone:

We went to dinner with some friends Tuesday night. Their family consists of a stay-at-home mom, a dad and a five year old boy, who we'll call Chris. This week Chris announced that "If Hillary wins, we're moving to Canada" and later "Hillary is evil." Chris is five. Chris' dad is an AP Government teacher. Yep. I'm guessing Dad and Chris share a lot of the same political views.

Later on in the week, Chad was sitting in his office, working. Natalie ran in and asked, "Dad, did you send your work to Max?" Um...what? Max is Chad's immediate supervisor at Lynda.com. Lynda's main offices are in Ojai, California. Natalie hasn't met Max. Natalie hasn't been to the Lynda offices. I can barely remember Max's name, and Chad talks to me about his work all the time. How on earth did Natalie know that? She can't remember what comes between "R" and "T" in the Alphabet song, but she knows the names of all of Chad's supervisors? Maybe I need to put more effort into this whole "home schooling" thing.

Last example. Chad and I LOVE to watch "The Soup" with Joel McHale on Friday nights. If you've never watched it, you totally should. It is so incredibly hilarious. And Joel is a Seattle native, so you have a moral obligation to support his career anyhow. Anyways, we totally love the show and never miss a Friday night. So, Friday morning Mikey bellies up to the counter for breakfast and says, "So, you watching The Soup tonight?" Yikes. That show is on at like 10:30 pm. Mikey goes to bed at 7pm. How does he know what we're doing 3 1/2 hours past his supposed nightly retirement? Scary. Which begs the question, what else does he know?

I guess I'm rambling. It's really not that big of a deal. So, my kids know a few names and habits from my life. Not that serious. It just makes me wonder how much else they know. What all are they noticing, processing and regurgitating? Am I going to have to pay thousands of dollars in the future for therapy to treat things they're picking up on now? Thank goodness I don't cuss. Heaven knows I don't need one more thing to worry about them picking up on!