My Meebas

Keith has been asking for a My Meebas for the past few weeks. Well, he's been asking for a lot of things over the past few weeks; Moon Sand, Bendaroos, that remote controlled Dinosaur, anything hot wheels, you get the idea. Gotta love endless advertising during Spongebob.

He's had a cold for the past few days, and I was trying to keep him indoors to recuperate. Of course he was bored out of his mind and making me crazy, so I decided to get him one. I figured it would keep him busy while I got my weekly cleaning and cooking done. We dropped off some stuff for work and headed out to Target for a My Meebas.

Now, I know My Meebas is directed at Girls. I'm fully aware of this, but I had no problem getting my kid a "girly" toy. He picked out a Purple Tube, and started playing right away. The premise is that if you "love" and "Nurture" the ameoba enough, it will "evolve" and grow. Grow it enough, and the Tube opens up to reveal that the ameoba is "real" and you get a stuffed critter. Okay, fine. It's a virtual pet with a definative end. I kind of liked this idea.

However, the "Meeba's" can't die. Remember the virtual pets; you HAD to feed them and play with them, else they would electronically perish and you would have to start over. The idea of the game was to make them live as long as possible. "My Meebas" don't die. There is "food" in the game, but it's not required. When you play a game to earn "hearts" required for evolution, and you fail the game, you don't lose any of your existing hearts. Things go on as normal. You can't Devolve.

I was kind of annoyed by this. It wasn't a challenge. Is this the kind of shit being peddled to girls? Weird pseudo sciencey crap, sure. But weird pseudo sciencey crap coupled with non-challenging warm-fuzzy pseudo games? Thank god I have a boy.

And of course, I was the one who got the critter to Evolve to the point where we could get the stuffed critter out of the tube. When I hit the final level, the tube didn't "pop open" as promised, so our dramatic moment of truth was devolved into me prying it open with a kitchen knife and Keith asking, "mommy, why didn't you save the destructions?"

"Well, Keith, since I was the one who played with it the most, don't you think we should share Meeba?"
Keith thinks about this for a moment. "Yeah, we can share."
"Can I take Meeba to work with me?"
He thinks harder about this one. "Only on Mondays."

So, Meeba is here with me. He wants another one. A pink one. Go figure. I'm tempted to start stitching my own Meebas to save myself $15.00 a pop and three hours of pointless gameage.

I did my Chicken Trick this weekend, so I have roast chicken in the fridge and about a gallon of stock to use for Thanksgiving. I can't believe that it's next week! FOUR DAY WEEKEND!!

This weekend I met Anne and one of her friends out at Cesar's for a big margarita, and we discussed the staff cuts at several lighting companies. I said that the oversaturated Chicago market was going to be competing for a smaller pool of business, and that I was anxious to see who made it through to the next economic upswing. Anne said she might not wait and move to Vegas. *sigh*

January will be tough.

Snow flurries all week this week, perfect nights for popcorn and hot chocolate. Whoot!

belated Halloween Pics

Sorry about the delay, the Awful Technology Tyrants (AT&T) decided to shut off the internet for a few days thinking that I had somehow telepathically authorized them to pull me out of Autopay which is the only way they will provide high Speed DSL Service. Makes perfect sense, I know! Right?! RIGHT??

Anyway, here we go with Halloween...

Here we are as a little ghoul, complete with blood all over himself. The alligator is Candy Gator, which is a game we play... kind of an inside joke..

And here we are at Suburban House Number 50, where the decorations were festive and not too scary. The mothers are all polite and friendly, and yes, we did get an Organic Lollypop or three. We ran into a few of Keith's Classmates, which was a little awkward. I still haven't gotten used to living in the suburbs.

This weekend we had a cold snap, complete with snow flurries, and this makes me think that this is the end of our Indian Summer. I put on Keith's coat and the sleeves were far too short, so we headed out for a new winter coat.

Lord O'Mighty but things are cheap!! Kohl's had some great OshKosh Coats for $30!! I got him a great pair of boots for $20!! My Cheap Side was screaming to buy more, but I held off. Prices WILL fall futher as we approach the holidays. Har har, Depression! SCORE!

And Obama won!! Our boy won!! GoBama!! I stayed home during the rally. Reports from the Loops said that the rally made Taste of Chicago look like a Kindergarten Field trip, and I don't do well in crowds. Yes, it was history, but history is going top be made every day for the next four years. I had copious amounts of wine, several tears, so glad that the Imperial Presidency was finally over, and now we can move forward as a nation. *sigh*

Ah, and I think I finally found a solution to the deluge of paperwork coming home every week - THE SCANNER!!

I spent an hour scanning everything that Mr. New has sent home. And now I can share!

According to Keith, this is myself and him on that day we saw the double rainbow. Cool!

Okay, far too much enthusiasm for one night. Time for bed!

Run! Run home, Charlie! And don't stop till you get there!"

I have that music playing in my head as I'm sprinting for the train station. It's been a long day and it will be a long night.

I was up at 5am to get out the door and vote. I got there at six, right at opening time, and there was a half hour wait. Never have I waited so long to vote! I can't say how wonderful it was to vote for the man who I voted into the Senate not too long ago.

Work was a drag. Everyone was out voting I guess, as it was slow and quiet.

But I sprinted out the door and now I'm on the train home. Metra has cancelled many trains in some places and running extras in others. CTA will be running all night to the Obama Rally.

Me? I will be home with my popcorn and box of wine. Keith can stay up as late as he wants. I'm hoping for the best, but today I got a deep twinge of Deja Vu, a feeling that usually precedes bad things. Usually. Not always.

The city is vibrating. Literally. I want to be home when things start happening. And I want Keith to see it. He may not fully understand, but...

Halloween

I have never been more exhausted than I am right now.
I took pictures.

I will post them tomorrow.

Tomorrow might be a trip to Chinatown, too.

Zzzzzz.

"Is it Friday yet?"

Keith wakes up every morning and asks if it is Friday. I have to remember that Halloween is right on par with Christmas for him, and he's thrilled about the prospect of an all-night candy grab. He's turning into a boy; somewhat devious and just a bit greedy!

Last night I made chicken stew with dumplings and I'd have to call it a success. Keith said the dumplings tasted like sand, but he might not have liked the herbs in them. Patrick said they were perfect. He took the leftovers for his lunch today.

Keith has "Story Store" today. The school sells donated, secondhand books for a few cents to the kids, and the choose what they want. I'm curious to see what he picks out.

Patrick is loading in some show this week... It doesn't sound like something I want to take time out to see.

The Wii should be here tomorrow.... Yipyip!

Reading!

Keith has been promoted from reading level "aa" to reading level "B" in his class. He still has some trouble sounding out some things, but he is trying VERY hard, and he gets better at it every day. He will sometimes stop in stores, pick out a word from a nearby sign, and ask me what it means.

Today's homework was a story about making cookies, and Keith and I bake together quite frequently. So, this was a breeze for him. I had to run to the store to get some staples I missed on Saturday, and while I was there I picked up some "Molli Cools" Ice cream beads for Keith doing so well with his homework. You would imagine that ice cream "beads" would be a cleaner alternative to ice cream, but you would be wrong. The child puts his spoon in the cup, tilts it out like a lever, and then ice cream beads get catapulted all over the kitchen floor. Instead of falling to the floor in one glop, the beads scatter everywhere and under everything. The child then shuffles over all the beads, melting and smearing chocolate everywhere else. The Molli Cools were a failed experiment. Patrick's comment was, "It looks like we have six cats, and all with the same pooping problem." Needless to say, Keith loves them.

We read a few chapters of "Goosebumps; The Haunted School" instead of playing Zelda. Tomorrow we will play Zelda! Patrick is shopping for Wii games, and we're both getting excited about the Wii.

It's getting colder around here. Yesterday we had record winds and even a scattering of sleet in the afternoon. Fortunately it was short-lived, and temperatures should rebound before Halloween. I will be getting off work early to head up the craft project at the class Halloween Party. Mister New drafted me.

Anyhow, time for me to get to bed. Work is work, but at least I have work!

Holidays

I almost forgot -

In the interests of economy, and because I have no idea what kind of toys would be best this year, I have decided that we are getting a Wii for Christmas. I have already ordered one online; found on "gently used" and it includes Wii Sports for about half the price as new. Remember, I bought the Gamecube used, and it has served us very well for the past five years.

It should arrive in the next few days, and when it shows up, Patrick and I will make sure everything works and then rebox it all until Christmas. (that will be hard!)

Keith doesn't know, and it will be hard not telling him. He loves Mario, and now we can play Mario Super Sluggers together!

Everyone I've talked to has told me I've made a great decision.

The Wii is THE BIG GIFT for all of us. Everything else will be candy and trinkets. I think this was the best way to go. I always try to choose things that Keith will be playing with six montsh after Christmas, and I haven't struck out since!

So, there we are!

Busy Saturday

We had a busy day today, starting with grocery shopping. I always plan ahead the meals for the week nd buy accordingly, and I find that it saves us quite a bit of money. I can stick to the list and avoid extraneous purchases. I never knew how much those added up until I stopped the leak in our wallet!

We bought our pumpkin, and Keith was anxious to get carving the moment we got home. BUt he had to wait, as it was housecleaning day and we still had some fun to do.

The apartment was cleaned to shining, and we left the wet floors to dry while we went shopping in Evanston with our Treat Money, graciously provided by Grandma Helms! I had bought Keith a small jar of bubbles earlier in the week, and he wanted to take the Small Train so he could blow his bubbles on the walk to the station. It was blustery out, and the wind could blow some of the bubbles for him!

Our first stop was World Market, where Keith bought a bucket of Gummi Eyeballs. He had seen them last week, but I was holding off for a time closer to Halloween to go nuts like that. They're absolutely vile, and usually I have a strong constitution for that kind of thing.

Anyway. We then went to Border's to get a new Goosebumps Book, as Keith says he likes Scary things. And it's Halloween. Fortunately we wandered in on a story reading time, and so we were treated to a reading of a few Halloween books. I was reading the NYTimes on my Blackberry, so whatever....

After that, we headed home to carve our pumpkin. (oop, and we stopped at the antique bookstore for our last treat; a Snoopy Book!)

Pumpkinhead has a scary face on the front, and a BOO! on the back, which I very nearly botched but saved. I'll get a picture of that when it gets dark.

Tonight Patrick and I are heading out, and the babysitter is due in soon. Hooray!

That was our very busy Saturday. Tomorrow I plan on decking out the apartment for autumn!