What to Buy (according to Ben)

It's been far too long since my last installment of "What to Buy". Today's suggestion comes directly from Benjamin Charles Mayfield who wants to assist you in taming that jungle of clothes and extra bedding in your closet.

I'm not sure if Ben and Don have come up with the perfect birthday gift for me or if Ben is just watching too much Cartoon Network. (Before watching the video, you can view the real commercial here: Space Bag Commercial.)

Secretly, I'm delighted by his desire and interest in organization and efficient storage solutions and his fascination with info-mercial programming. Proof that my genes win again! I am the person who spent months obsessed with any info-mercial with Ron Popeil. You know, the man who brought us the "Set it and Forget it" Rotisserie with the "Flavor Injector." (He also brought us the inside the egg scrambler, spay on hair in a can, the RonCo pasta maker, and the pocket fisherman). I bet you can get any of those items right now(!) for the low, low price of $19.95. And, I bet they'll even throw in a free set of knives.

Holy Gert-amole

One of my favorite blogs, Dooce , has a daily feature called the "Daily Chuck" in which she takes pictures of her very tolerant dog balancing crazy things on his head. Sometimes it's a whole box of dog treats, sometimes it's a tea cup and saucer. Whatever it is, they are always funny. While cramming Gertie into a small box (just to see if I could), it occurred to me that Getrie was at the perfect age not to know better and thus "The Weekly Gert" has been created.

Just a bird away from a three-ring-circus

A week ago, I got an email advertising a darling kitten in need of a good home. I forwarded the email to Don suggesting that she would make a perfect anniversary/30th birthday gift. Now, a kitten is not a new suggestion in our house... it usually goes like this:
H: At Petsmart today they had the cutest kitten.

D: In the yellow pages, I found the cutest divorce attorney.
-or-

H: Ben, wouldn't it be fun if we had a kitty at our house?
B: Yeah. It would be so sweet.
H: Tell Daddy.
B: Daddy? We need a kitty at our house.
D: Sorry, buddy. It's a kitty or me, but we can't have both.

Imagine my surprise on Friday when Don emailed me back to agree. Let's set up a play date with the dogs, he said. If it all goes well, we can keep her. The play date went well. (Well: an adjective meaning "neither dog ate the kitten and the kitten didn't draw blood from any living things or poop/barf anywhere".)

The next important step was deciding on a name. Ben suggested Shawna. (I know, what 80's movie has he been watching... Shawna? Seriously?) The name list got narrowed down to "Penny Lane" (for Kate Hudson's character in Almost Famous, not the Beatles song) or "Gertrude". We've settled on Gertrude, but we call her "Gertie" or "Gert".

Gertie is 8-weeks old and weighs in at a whopping 2.2 pounds. Harper is terrified of her and gives her lots of space. Yesterday, Harper actually stayed in the same room with Gertie for a few minutes... definite progress. Abby is obsessed. We can't decide if it's a playful obsessed or a carnivorous obsessed, but the two have come to an agreement... Abby can follow Gertie everywhere and drool on her head. If she gets too close, Gertie swipes her nose and Abby backs off. Ben is in love. He hugs her, chases her, hugs her, SQUEEZES her, and chases her when she runs away. Then he repeats that sequence until we tell him to LEAVE THE POOR CAT ALONE.

ESP

Yesterday, while returning from the swimming pool, we had to stop at a train crossing. As I slowed down, I mumbled under my breath something about waiting for a train with $4 a gallon gas in the tank. From the backseat, I hear:

B: Awww, crap. A train.

Baby Aidan

At long last, we finally know what "kind" of baby Miss Amy (or just "Amy") and Aaron (or "Ernie" as Ben calls him) are having. IT'S A BOY!! Baby Aidan Dean Pennington made his entrance today at 11:17am weighing in at 7 pounds and 10 1/2 ounces and measuring 21 inches "tall".

H: Ben! Guess what? While you were at school today, Miss Amy had her baby!
B: Wow, Mommy! Awww, a cute baby girl.
H: Nope. Miss Amy and Ernie's baby is a boy. His name is Aidan.
B: But wait. I thought she was having a Baby Hannah. (Ben calls all baby girls "Baby Hannah" after Hannah Davis)
H: No, sweetie. He's a boy.
B: (long silent pause) Well. That's good, too. Now he can be a Power Ranger. (suddenly excited) Mommy! I'm going to invite him to my birthday party. My birthday party at Pump it Up. My Power Ranger Red Ranger Party. (giggling) That's just great. Little sweetie. We should play with him and kiss him soon.

Yes, yes we should.

Visit Aidan's website and see pictures of the little man here.

Captain Perceptive

While Don and I were in San Antonio earlier this week, Ben spent time at Camp Mimi and G-Dad. While they were at DeAnna Rose Farmstead, Ben told a stranger that his parents were gone because they were "taking a vacation from me." Smart little thing, isn't he?

San Antonio was wonderful. We relaxed, lounged at the hotel pool, and spontaneously went to 2 movies. We even spent more than 25 minutes eating dinner and NEVER ONCE did we have to move a Power Ranger or a Ninja Turtle to reach our food. Several people have asked, "So... why San Antonio?" or "What do you DO in San Antonio?" Clearly, those asking are the DO SOMETHING sort of vacationers rather than the DO NOTHING sort of vacationers of which I am an expert. Let me sum up or vacation with an example: Our plane arrived in San Antonio around noon on Sunday. By 8:00 that night, we had already purchased and consumed $60 worth of margaritas and I had eaten my weight (and added some!) in guacamole. Add in the sun and time at the pool and that is a perfect vacation.

We returned home on Wednesday, just in time to pick Ben up at school. When he saw us he said, "HUGS!" I was touched until I realized that he meant "HUGS!" for a little girl in his class, not us. In fact, he said, "But I wanted Mimi to pick me up. Not you." Later, he confessed that he missed us, but "just a little bit... not a lot."

They got married on a TUESDAY?

Today, Don and I have been married 8 years. What did we do to mark the occasion? Well, Don did a site visit to a Sprint call center and listened in on customer service calls all day. I worked on some curriculum resources, took the van in to the dealer to have the air bag malfunction fixed, and played Power Rangers with Ben.

At about 9:30 this morning, my cell phone rang.
D: I can't believe you let me out of the house without telling you 'happy anniversary' today.
H: Yeah, I know. A few minutes ago, I just realized what the date was.
D: Well, Happy Anniversary.
H: Yeah, you too. Happy Anniversary.

Awww, the romance. I can hardly wait to see what our 50 year anniversary is like.

Wondering about the title of this blog? A few years ago, Don and I were on the phone and he told me it was his co-worker's first anniversary. I immediately flew into a rant that went something like this:
H: THEY GOT MARRIED ON A TUESDAY? THAT IS THE MOST STUPID THING I'VE EVER HEARD. WHO GETS MARRIED ON A TUESDAY? HOW DOES THAT EVEN WORK? YOU ASK ALL YOUR GUESTS TO TAKE A SICK DAY? WHAT, IS IT CHEAPER? JEEZ.
Don: I'm just going to give you a minute.
H: Huh? (pause) OOOOOHHHHHHH. Oops.

That little exchange pretty much sums up why we work so well together.

This weekend, we are heading to San Antonio for an anniversary vacation. Ben will stay at Camp Mimi, thus making it a "vacation" and not a "trip."