LaurenandLloyd.com
where our wasted time becomes your wasted time
The car was out of gas when we were leaving Lincoln, so we went to the gas station where Lloyd gets Icees (or as he calls it, ‘The Happiest Place On Earth).
He also decided to check the oil, so I stood beside him to be helpful. It was low, so he poured in a quart. As he took the empty container to the trash he called back to me, “You can put it down.”
I looked at the engine and said, “…..You’re not all that.”
Lloyd’s dad had some foot surgery recently, so they are companions in pain. Raise a glass of pain killers to each other, gentlemen!
My own dad is doing well, and to go back and answer my Mom’s question about toys, let me show you a terrible ipad drawing of my childhood bed.
In the parsonage where I grew up, one of the back bedrooms had two closets. I guess it was the master bedroom? My sister and I shared it and my dad designed and built an awesome floor-to-ceiling bunk bed that divided the room and gave us each our own space.
My sister’s side was called Keren’s Kave. She had the lower bunk, some drawers, and I think mirrored tiled on at least one side of the top. When she went to college my brother Mark moved in, he was the drum major for the marching band and he would wear headphones and practice his directing in those mirror tiles. I could tell the beat of the music by his breathing.
On my side it was Lauren’s Loft. It was fantastic! I used a Holly Hobbie sleeping bag instead of a blanket. I kept an umbrella up there so when I was done reading at night I could reach out with it and hit the light switch on the wall. I kept an envelope taped to the top brace by the ceiling so I could hide money.
The top of the ladder was built so I wouldn’t roll out. My cat would climb the ladder to sleep with me and the first time she did I almost screamed at the scrabble-scrabble of her claws on the ladder.
I had two drawers underneath but the middle space was open. I would set it up like a little dollhouse for the cat, complete with bedside lamps made from chess pawns and toothpaste caps.
I also had mirror tile on one side, and I would stare often at the weird little girl in there. She was creepy.
Thanks for the cool bed, Dad!
(Mom update: Dad told me mom might actually have severe bronchitis instead of pneumonia. She coughs so much she can’t sleep, so hopefully they have her on the right medicine. Thanks again for your prayers.)
Ok, on to the post. Yes, it’s another cat one, but cut me some slack – I have a very boring life.
In preschool we have journals: three-prong binders filled with papers that the children draw a picture in and then dictate their story. Cayden is a boy who really doesn’t like to work in his journal, but I asked him to draw a picture of Shirley, his cat. (By the way – Best. Cat Name. Ever.) He perked right up and drew a circle for Shirley’s head with radial lines out all over as whiskers – which I deeply regret not photographing for this post – and we swapped cat stories. ‘Shirley gets chased by Duke, but runs away through a hole that’s a square. He doesn’t know why she’s so fast.’ (See, Cayden? That is gripping journalism right there. Keep it up, buddy.)
I shared with him that Wally likes to steal straws out of cups if you don’t put them away when you’re done. (Ever since the cats made their visits to preschool, they have become local celebrities/legends. In fact, Cayden and Evie like to play ‘Wally’ early in the morning. They crawl around on the floor and bat at stuff asking, “Is this what he does? Is this it?”)
Cayden didn’t quite understand what I was talking about, so I pulled out my pocket paper and drew a little sketch.
I also sometimes show them videos of the cats in the early morning before breakfast. Cayden, this one’s for you – right out the cup! Such gall:
Name that saying!
One of my absolute joys is to help little kids figure out how to draw stuff. Coming from an artistic family, a certain brother of mine who shall remain nameless (Phil) made fun of my drawing skills when I was but a wee one. (Another story for another time.)
Anyway, in preschool we work on breaking things down into easy shapes, and focus heavily on the idea that we are just practicing this skill. We know that what we draw is not going to look exactly like the real thing and that is OK. (Phil)
We’ve been visiting Concordia for some walking field trips, and since this weekend is Concordia’s Homecoming, I decided we should make some window decorations to cheer them on.
Nice, eh? Check out those Bulldogs! Lemme show you how to make them:
1. A swoopy capital G
2. A lazy on-its-side S
3. Nose
4. Eyes
5. Angry eyebrows
6. Two fangy teeth
7. Two bent ears (ears are hard)
8. A spiky collar.
Done and done! After practicing, this is what we can do!
And…… this is…also what some of us can do.
I groove on its eyeless-zombie vibe, as I do the hallucinating panda in the banner photo.