Dash at the Dentist, with Shoggoth

No, I don't have any whacked out, drugged up vid of my boy, post dentist. Just a good report, xrays, cleaning, fluoride treatment, all the good stuff, minimal screaming. He must have his father's teeth. Mine have been drilled, filled, root canalled, scraped, and braced over the years in so many ways; I hope I don't pass much of that on.

Dash brought Shoggoth (per my suggestion), because he has soooo many teeth (36, in fact) and the dentist might want to look at them, too. I'm such a geek!

Dash told the dentist, "Shagga' is a sea monster! He's a Kraken! He's very scary!" (note: we've told Dash Shoggoth is a Kraken [as seen in Fellowship of the Ring] because that's easier to understand than protoplasmic hell-creature created by the Elder-Things)
The hygenist asked, "Oh, should I be afraid?"
Dash said, "No, he's only a toy."
The dentist asked, "He has so many eyes, too, does he watch over you?"
Dash said, "Yes, he keeps my nightmares away!"

Background on Shoggoth (originally from a tale by H.P. Lovecraft), according to Wikipedia:

"The shoggoths were created by the Elder Things as living bioengineered construction equipment. Being amorphous, they could take on any shape needed, making them very versatile within their aquatic environment. Though able to "understand" the Elder Things' language, they had no real consciousness and were controlled through hypnotic suggestion.

The shoggoths built the underwater cities of their masters. Over millions of years of existence, some shoggoths mutated and gained independent minds. Some time after this, they rebelled. Eventually, the Elder Things succeeded in quelling the insurrection, but thereafter watched them more carefully. By this point, exterminating them was not an option as the Elder Things were fully dependent on them for labor and could not replace them. It was during this time that, despite their masters' wishes, they demonstrated an ability to survive on land.

Within the Mythos, the existence of the shoggoths possibly led to the accidental creation of Ubbo-Sathla, a god-like entity supposedly responsible for the origin of all life on Earth, though At The Mountains of Madness brings up the possibility of the Elder Things being the creators, having made early life as discarded experiments in bioengineering."

Shoggoth, being a nightmare creature himself, must know the scene pretty well; I'm glad he's on Dash's side in the nightmare business. Woot to healthy teeth!

A flower family

Rosie sent this drawing of hers in to work with me today and it just makes me all warm and mushy inside every time I look at it. We all have little hearts flying next to our smiling flower faces (except Dash, who got more of a teeny blossom than a bloom). Weegee the "bard" is flying nearby, too. I'm sure he'd love to be able to fly, poor domesticated, clipped pet that he is. Her teachers at school are encouraging the kids to sound out their words and take a crack at
independent spelling before resorting to assistance. That's where we get "mam" and "bard," I'm gathering.

(Sorry about the awful lighting--d@mn fluorescents.)

Wanting to be more gracious

Broken flower
Originally uploaded by julius_cesar713

For Valentine's Day, this past weekend, Rosie gave her (our) dance teacher, Mrs. H, a valentine's card and a flower. The flower was a small purple and white flower Rosie chose from a larger bouquet at our house. I noticed as I was holding it after we arrived at ballet that the stem had broken in transit and started to apologize to Mrs. H. She replied, "Oh, no! It's gorgeous! I love it! Thank you so much!" with such conviction that I really believe that she meant it. I don't think I could pull that off, personally. Mrs. H works with all ages, from 3 years old through well-past retirement ages and must get all sorts of tokens from her students all year long. All I've ever seen her show is graciousness and appreciation for any gifts.

I find myself surprised by this! And shamed, slightly, that I am surprised and don't express how grateful I am for overtures people have made to me. I'm quick to think that a gift has strings or a hidden meaning and pause to grind gears in my head rather than just give plain and sincere thanks.

Something to reflect and work on. Give me a spindly, broken, cheap fragile, beautiful blossom, and I'll enjoy it for its moment in time and let the loveliness of nature and the gesture enrich my day. Really.

Something to meditate on.

A bubble bath? Sure!

The kids asked for a bubble bath; I pretended to misunderstand and blew bubbles at them during their bath.

They didn't mind at all. While popping bubbles, Rosie pointed out that I'd got it wrong, but didn't insist that I fix anything. ;-)

Getting excited about gardening!

seedlings.JPG
Originally uploaded by Purple Goddess

I really want to have a garden this year, a raised garden with several plants (within reason!) that we love to eat, and that the kids can help sow and care for.

I just found this blog on homesteading where Tiffany the Homesteader is starting her garden with folded newspaper pots! What a fabulous idea (I'm sure it's not new, just new to me). She has all sorts of ideas for her garden planned out and it's got me dreaming, on a smaller scale.

Here's a tutorial on the origami pots:
http://www.geocities.com/newspaperpots/

Weird weather in NoVA

It was 70 degrees yesterday. Kids were out in t-shirts and shorts, riding bikes.

Two weeks ago (around the time I skidded out on ice, hit another person's car and got mine put in the shop AND STILL DON'T HAVE BACK YET!!) it looked like this:





Before anyone goes off on "women drivers" or "snow sheep," I'll let you in on what happened. I learned to drive in the suburbs of Chicago and also lived in Michigan for a while. I can handle driving in snow. My car has new tires and is a well-known model for safe driving in poor weather. The morning of the collision (around 7:30 a.m.) it had started to snow, the first snow of the season. I drove to Dash's daycare, dropped him off, and by the time I left the building, the snow was sticking and it was getting colder. I saw a snow plow drive by with its plow up, heading somewhere more important. When I turned off on a side street, I was thinking about the coffee I was going to purchase before I met Rosie's kindergarten teacher for our conference. The speed limit on the road was 25 mph and there was a Jeep ahead of me by a few car lengths, stopped at a stop sign. I was decelerating and braked, but my car kept moving forward as if the brakes weren't there at all! It had already iced over! When I realized that my brakes weren't making any difference and I was going to hit the Jeep, I checked to see if there were any pedestrians on the sidewalk and pulled up onto the curb. I still grazed the Jeep and rammed the stop sign.

One saving grace? Since I haven't had a collision on my insurance policy in at least 10 years (probably more), I get amnesty and the premium won't be going up. Whew.

What Dash thinks of the Little Gym

Anyone for craft night?

Inventory of materials I have for craft projects:

Beads and findings GALORE!
Sewing materials/machine, ribbons, fabric scraps
Paints, watercolors, paintbrushes, paper, easels
Origami papers & books
Several colors/sheets of felt
Decoupage materials for 6 (for a failed craft night)
Embroidery floss, embroidery ring, needles
Yarn, knitting needles (knitting for dummies book)

I can teach the beading, embroidery, or origami and lead a decoupage craft, but I suck at knitting and could use some instruction. I am currently experimenting with felt and am wowed by all the fantastic felting work I've seen on Etsy (and coveted the felt ring Linda Hesh was wearing at her party 2 weeks ago!).

Email me and let's set something up!
(P.S. Sundays are good & our table seats 8.)

Foto Friday

Dash is "helping" me out at the office today. We are SO! leaving for
home imminently.