LaurenandLloyd.com

where our wasted time becomes your wasted time

Archives for February 2010

My famous nephew

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To honor Peggy’s request for a video, and to get out of doing any actual work for it, Mark and Rachel – I’m stealing yours. Ladies and Gentleman, meet my nephew, Matthew! He is obviously extremely gifted, with a fine future in public speaking.

To honor Peggy’s request for a video, and to get out of doing any actual work for it, Mark and Rachel – I’m stealing yours. Ladies and Gentleman, meet my nephew, Matthew! He is obviously extremely gifted, with a fine future in public speaking.

Mr. Churchill, you have the floor –

Mr. Sommerer goes to preschool.

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Lloyd dropped me off this chilly morning, and about ten minutes later I got a phone call.

“Lauren? I’m kinda in a ditch.”

“What? What?” Immediately I proved my worth in a crisis situation, which is to repeat myself. A lot.

Apparently he had slid on a bit of ice and wound up across the road just off the shoulder. Nothing major – no spinning out of control – just a blessedly injury-free slide, but one he couldn’t drive out of on his own.

We decided I’d go home to get the truck and go get him, but actually Kate was able to pick him up on her way in and bring him to school. Oh, the children were excited when they saw him walk by the window! “Mr. Sommerer’s here!” (Maybe they thought it was already late afternoon – that’s usually when he arrives.)

So, Lloyd came inside and we called a tow truck, thinking that surely it would just be a few minutes.

Um, no.

After waiting half an hour, he took off his coat and joined us for breakfast. Mmmmm…. breakfast pizza. He had to sit at a tiny, knee-whacking table, but the children had the Best. Manners. Ever. He should eat with us every day.

He used his restaurant manners.

“Surely the truck will come soon,” we thought after breakfast.

Um, no.

He was there for songs. He was there for calendar. He was there for our story. He was there for centers.

He arrived at 7:30 and the truck (disappointingly not a tow truck, since those were off helping people in real accidents) drove in at 10:15. So, while Lloyd was probably quite pained on the inside, it was awesome having him around. The children were good as gold, and one little girl likes him very, very much, but can’t express it. She would skip-dance by him like a hummingbird with two homemade valentines clutched in her hands, but she never gave them to him. She finally expressed her devotion, though, when it was time to Call A Friend for a birthday treat, and she got to quietly say, “Mr. Sommeheh.” Oh, the joy.

Lloyd got picked up just before we served the cake. Sorry, man, but thanks for your help today. I’ll be sure to report to your mom that you have excellent cuttting skilz.

He was helping to make Valentine mailboxes.

Six months….

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….. that’s about right.

On August 12, 2009, Lloyd tried on his first pair of reading glasses in ShopKo. It was quite a shock to his ego, but I think enough time has passed that he’s willing to accept that he’s not immortal.

I needed some things from Wal-Mart this evening, and we happened to walk by the reading glasses. He was willing to browse, then willing to try on, then willing to purchase. Then we had to go to the magazine section so he could get something to read. It was a big day.

I think he looks rather dashing, but he still grumbles a little bit. “They’re a little fatiguing,” he just mumbled from the couch. Yeah, that 1/2 ounce of metal and plastic is soooooo heavy. Er, maybe he meant his eyes…. I, for one, am thrilled to have another four-eyed person around.

Brainy specs.

Of course, now that he’s actually worn them and has some experience, he thinks it would be better to get the bifocals that are plain glass/plastic plus readers. Great. We’re going to have the world’s biggest glasses collection.

There can be only one (more or less)

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Lauren says that this post will only be interesting to Brad. You have been warned.

Harken back with me to 1986 when The Highlander came out. It was a glorious movie –loved by all mankind. Now fast forward 4 years when Highlander II: The Quickening came out. It was a loathsome movie –universally despised and hated. Jump forward 4 more years and we get Highlander III: The Final Dimension where the second movie is quietly swept under the rug –completely ignored.

The second movie was so terrible. So illogical (captain). It completely defied understanding. Roger Ebert summed it up this way, “Highlander II: The Quickening is the most hilariously incomprehensible movie I’ve seen in many a long day—a movie almost awesome in its badness. Wherever science fiction fans gather, in decades and generations to come, this film will be remembered in hushed tones as one of the immortal low points of the genre.”

Now jump ahead 3 more years (1997 for those of you keeping score at home). The producer and director absolutely hated Highlander II, so they completely rewrote the story using the original footage.

One final fast forward 13 years (to yesterday). Netflix delivered Highlander II: The Renegade Version (that’s really what they called it). It is still a fabulously bad movie, but it makes sense. It fits in with all the other films. I no longer have to pretend that Highlander II was never filmed and they, for some inexplicable reason called the second movie Highlander III. There’s more information about it at Wikipedia if you’re interested.

Now if someone could just make a sequel to The Matrix.

Oh, and Happy Birthday to Brad. Welcome to middle age.

It was only his 22nd birthday.

He’s harder to draw now.

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Well, Lloyd completed his transformation this morning with an early morning visit to Bob the Barber. The middle schoolers had completed their survey,

So many choices!

and they chose a crew-cut and the Wolverine beard. They raised a thousand bucks for Haiti with this face, and I hope it was worth every penny.

The lack of keratin has made him a little goofy.

He looks like an old-timey president, doesn’t he?

I do declare, I weep -I say weep - for our great nashun.

Even more so here:

Go Mar-tin! You're Van Bur-en! Go Mar-tin! You're Van Bur-en!