Beyond Binkies, Code and Make-Believe

Schoolhouse Rock - ala Bob Dorough, still a favorite

The more time I spend online the more I see an entire generation who missed Schoolhouse Rock.  The songs from Schoolhouse Rock on ABC each Saturday stuck with me and helped me through tests all through high school.  Any fan can recite the US Constitution's Preamble to the beat.

Our children keep playing it.  As an entire collection it's a bit overwhelming to spend hours listening, but the songs are still better written than most of the dribble for children.  These actually teach them science, math, grammar, history and more.  Disney now owns this too, like the Muppets. So sad.

But, you can still go to Bob Dorough's site. Who's Bob Dorough?  Are you silly?  He IS Schoolhouse Rock. You can get details here.  Some of Bob's links don't work.

Our son is four and already knows what a noun and verb are - because he likes the songs.  They both love the ones with history and science and I catch them singing the songs.  This is SO much better than anything Disney has to offer.  I still don't count this as Disney because they only bought a winner, they did not create it!

About 12 years ago I had the pleasure of seeing this original "cast" sing the songs from Saturday Morning at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano.  The entire audience sang along. It was one of the happiest shows I ever attended.  I'm grateful to Bob Dorough and his group.  I was able to thank him, as I once was able to thank Chuck Jones for being such a great "babysitter" who taught me sight gags and to appreciate classical music.

I'm sad for the more current saccharine offered to our children.  I'm grateful Disney has recognized this treasure to allow some of us to pass it on.

Sleepover Game - The Jelly Belly test

I had wonderful memory of my friend, Janie.  One day after school in 1981 her mom had a new candy on the table.  They were amazing - JELLY BELLIES.  I hated jelly beans until that day.  Now I'm a snob.  We tested each color against the "map" on the package and gave our opinions like we were in some sort of focus group.

Last night one of our daughter friend's came over to stay the night. I had the idea of the Jelly Belly Test.  They squealed with excitement all day in anticipation.  My husband picked up two boxes: the original 20 and the soda pop selection.

I printed the map from the Jelly Belly website to use as the score pad.
I divided up even numbers of the colors where I could.  The mix isn't an exact science. We learned that when we watched Food Network's, "Sugar Unwrapped" to see how they are actually made.

Bowls in front of them I yelled a color. They found the color (white bowls work best - my mistake using Ikea plastic ones) and then popped them in their mouths.  They were a riot. They would close their eyes and really concentrate.  Whomever yelled the flavor first, the other two copied - except in cases of extreme differing opinions.

As a result - it was a tie.  They matched all but two.  Two of them got one right the other didn't, and visa versa.  Their prize - finishing the Jelly Belly candies and walking to Burgerville for dinner.  The children at the school prefer them to all fast food because they are such a green company.

Give it a try!  It's fun for any age.

Broiled Garlic Mashed Potatoes - Like the Crab Cooker

We use the roasted garlic mashed potatoes from Sunset Magazine 1993 and gave them a twist.  We missed the Crab Cooker restaurant in Newport Beach so we recreated a few favorites.  After you have your mashed potatoes done (we use goat cheese instead of basic cream cheese), we put lumps on a cookie sheet, sprinkle with shredded Parmesan cheese and paprika for color and a bit of flavor.

Broil on the third level at 500 for just about 5 minutes. Keep an eye on them, don't leave the kitchen.

We served this with grilled lemon, garlic shrimp, homemade coleslaw and a crusty artisan bread. It was a hit with company the other night.

Golun Globus - Sleeping Beauty

Yesterday was a lazy day watching free On-Demand movies on Comcast.  We ended up with Golun Globus', "Sleeping Beauty" and "Snow White" instead of my choice, "To Kill a Mockingbird." I saw the production company name and couldn't remember what it was about it that I was forgetting.  I looked on Wikipedia and found it - They made the most horrible, campy movies during the 70's and 80's.  About 10 minutes into these I was reminded of this fact.  Oh my gosh they were bad.

They sang at every opportunity, used the same cast of dwarfs in both movies and had REALLY bad actors.  Each boasted of one key actor or two:  Billy Barty and Morgan Fairchild or Diana Rigg and Billy Barty.

Here is a link to their forgettable list of bad movies: http://www.imdb.com/company/co0206391/

The children actually enjoyed them and they were a nice change from Disney because they were closer to the Grimm Brothers' tale.

Now they are hounding me to get:  Rumpelstiltskin, Little Red Riding Hood and Hansel and Gretel.

I had an idea and dragged home a 20' branch

We don't have much room in the house for more large, tall toys.  Doll houses in particular.  I'm constantly building with blocks to create temporary housing.  This isn't very practical, as they are not very durable with all of the residents and vehicles.

I had the idea to make an outdoor tree house large enough for Barbie, Han, Luke and Leia.  Poor Tom.  Savannah and I dragged home the 20' branch the other day from the neighbor's yard.  These will be the supports underneath and for the 3rd level roof. 

The rest of this will be painted/sealed on the inside and then the outside will be covered in split logs from the infamous wood pile that arrived one snowy afternoon.

We have a trap door, rope ladder with a pulley planned and some other touches.  We'll update photos as we make more progress.  Since it is snowing again -- WAAAAA and our daughter will most likely NOT go to school -- double WAAAAAA, I'm sure Tom will make a lot of progress tomorrow out of self defense.  He even has a propane heater rigged up since the garage is about 38 degrees at the moment

PROGRESS January 17, 2009:

Today we painted.  It was, "today I painted" until they realized what I was doing in the garage and came running with paintbrushes in hand.  It started subtle and then each room took on a new personality.  It's a bit more Patrick Nagel than I would have liked but we were using sample paints from the house.  Our house isn't going to be any of these colors; thankfully we got over the purple idea and have moved on to blue and brown.  Back to the tree house. These are from today.

We love Skippyjon Jones

I had so much fun tonight using my very best "Spanish accent" to read a few of the Skippyjon Jones books by Judy Schachner.  Her books give us an opportunity to let go and just giggle with our children.  We can't wait for the next one and my have to buy one of her prints while they are still available.

I don't know which we like the most; each is sillier than the previous.  Thank you Judy Schachner for giving me a giggle at the end of the day.  We've been enjoying your books for nearly three years - keep them coming, please!

Countdown to California via Paper Chain

Our children hit the floor running this morning with creativity.  Before 9 they had each made a paper chain to count down the days until our trip to see family and friends in California; they had made birthday cards for a favorite cousin, tried to make their own breakfasts and managed to let me sleep until 8 and their dad until 9.

I appreciate their innovation with the paper chains. They realized yesterday that asking me several times a day, "When are we going to California?" was going to put me over the top.  But as Jay says, "What doesn't put you over the top?"  These days, that seems to be true. 

We have more toys in time-outs, clothing that is in boxes because SOMEONE thought it was too hard to clean up her stuff.  I'm hoping we can all get through this back-talking, attitude-filled period quickly and without injury!

Counting down the days to see friends and family. I like the paper chain.  It helps me see that a great adventure is coming soon.