according.to.kim

Good ol' Facts of Life

 
  I didn't know what to call this hair style
  last night, but it came to me today...
  It's: Jo from The Facts of Life!

  Hmmm, what other 80s television hair
  can we recreate -- without hairspray?!

September pics (20)

The suggestion for today was to capture something I watch, so I made this little collage of TV shows Neil and I are enjoying this month. (Heroes starts Monday; no doubt we'll enjoy it.) Have you seen Numb3rs? It's in its fourth season now, but we hadn't seen it before. We've been recording and watching the second season lately. Love it! Fringe is looking good too. It reminds me of X-files.

Thanks to TV.com for the three images on the right. (I added the titles.)

Update

I just learned CTV will be airing the From Scratch Kitchen segment today.

Update, 7:35 p.m. Nevermind! I just got home from volleyball and was told it wasn't on. (Our babysitter saw a promo for it today, so she thought it would be on tonight.)

From Scratch Kitchen

My friend, Sheralyn, invited me to go to the From Scratch Meal Assembly Kitchen last Tuesday for a private session (there were seven in her group). It was great! In one evening, I had seven six-serving meals assembled and ready for the freezer -- and ready to be used in a time crunch or anytime we just want something good and easy. Since Neil does most of the cooking in our house, these meals will be a nice break for him.

Here's how it works: At the website, www.fromscratchkitchen.com, you book your time slot and select the meals you want from the current menu, as well as the serving size (three or six). Then when you arrive at the kitchen (on Vic Ave), all the ingredients you need are ready for you. All you have to do is follow the recipe, measure, and assemble. And the best part: when you're finished assembling each meal, the staff clean up after you! The work stations were clean and nicely set up, so it was fun to work there too.

These were my selections:

• Chicken Broccoli Divan with Tea Biscuits
• Easy Cheesy Tortellini Bake with Sausage
• Lime in the Coconut Thai Chicken with Basmati Rice
• Sesame Chicken with Orange Sauce and Rice Pilaf
• Slow Roasted Beef Enchiladas
• Spinach Feta Artichoke Stuffed Chicken with Roast Potatoes
• Sweet and Saucy Saskatoon Berry Ribs with Crunchy Baked French Fries

All the side dishes were already prepared (except the potatoes are not cooked, and the tea biscuits require the addition of milk, and baking, of course). You just need to make sure you take the appropriate side dish home and cook it along with the rest of the meal. Also, I think another vegetable or salad is needed to complete the meal, so that's up to you.

I couldn't resist trying one of our meals right away, so on Wednesday, we had the Lime in the Coconut Thai Chicken. It was delicious! (And I didn't put banana in it because Neil hates bananas.) I think that one in particular was a bit more work to cook at home than the others because the chicken needed to be browned before it went into the oven. The others I selected just need to be defrosted and then baked in the oven.

I chose to do six-serving meals because we like having leftovers for lunch or supper the next day; however, the side dishes are probably too small for us to have any leftover as our kids will want to eat those the most. That was the case on Wednesday, so we had to make more rice on Thursday to have with the leftover Thai chicken.

I think the prices are reasonable for the food you get and the service. After all, they do all the grocery shopping, ingredient prep, and clean-up. It's about $6.00 a serving (not including the extra veggies we need to add at home). That's about what we'd pay for a crappy fast food meal, so I figure if these yummy meals can replace some crappy fast food meals (that we don't have very often anyway), then it's all good!

P.S. CTV was there on Tuesday to interview the business owner and film us assembling our meals. I think it will be aired on Thursday, Feb 14. I really hope I don't appear very much, or at all! I found it a bit distracting to have the TV camera pointed at me or my hands as I worked. When I was making the enchiladas, the camera guy warned me, "the camera will be right here under your elbow." Oh - great!

Backtracking on...

Sophia's hair cut... Heather had asked if it was her choice or mine. I'd say both. Sophia had said "four inches" and when the hairdresser held her fingers at four inches on Sophia's hair and looked to me for approval, I silently motioned to move her hand up (i.e., cut off more). I'm glad I did. I love Sophia's hair at this length! It suits her very well. She seems to like it too.

Storage solutions... Thanks for all the advice! I do use a lot of plastic containers and sometimes Ziplock bags (I have since put all of the girls' hair bands into a large Ziplock bag), but my problem is more about finding the right place to put those containers and bags. There's just not a lot of free space in my house. And convenience is important. It's like retail -- location, location, location! Frequently-used things need to be accessible and handy, especially when it's time to put things away -- or else they won't get put away. That's what bothers me most about our play room; its too far from where we spend most of our time. Toys brought out of the play room won't make it back there for a month (at least). I would prefer to store things closer to where we use them, and not just wherever they fit. For example, I don't really like having the hair brushes and accessories in the linen closet but that's where they live because there's no where else to put them right now. The Container Store, mentioned by Sally, is practically a fantasy world for me. (I think I had heard of it before, but had not seen the goods.) I would love to outfit all of my space- challenged rooms and closets with ultra- efficient, functional, and attractive storage solutions! I will definitely peruse that website more in the future. Whether I purchase items from there or not, I can get some good ideas.

Vacuuming itty-bitty toys... I would certainly make that threat more often if the vacuuming occurred when the children were available to run and pick up their prized possessions ahead of the nozzle! However, it seems most of our vacuuming occurs when the kids are in bed or not home. I guess we haven't figured out how to make them pick up their stuff before we head out the door or put them to bed. There's rarely a moment to spare at those times!

Eliminating naps at the sitter's... We don't want to make a big deal of it with our babysitter. We've been down this path before (with Sophia), and it's just not worth it. I guess our babysitter feels that if a child falls asleep in the afternoon during "quiet time", then she must need the rest. And we are happy with the care she provides otherwise. At least Madeline doesn't nap every single day (we're pleasantly surprised that she didn't nap Monday or today). I always remind myself: it's only temporary.

Watching Lost... Since we learned that Season 3 isn't available and the writers' strike may be over, we lost our enthusiasm for taping the current season and then trying to watch previous seasons first. We may watch it someday, but I don't think we're going to make the effort right now.

Bedtime. But first...

What an excellent evening! I attended A Reading By Leeann Minogue at the Shu-Box Theatre (U of R campus), hosted by the Saskatchewan Writers Guild. Theatre students and a local actor read a couple scenes from Leeann's hit play, Dry Streak, as well as some partial scenes from a play she's working on. The new play sounds fantastic! Leeann also answered some questions, discussed her writing process a bit, and explained how and why she started writing Dry Streak. I enjoyed it very much. (By the way, Access filmed this event, so those of you in Regina with Access can see it on the community channel.)

It was great to see Leeann again and it was also cool to meet a fellow blogger, Sally, whom I hadn't met in person before (you may have seen her comments here lately). When the Regina Little Theatre produced Dry Streak last fall, Sally played the role of Denise. (I didn't see that production, but I saw Dry Streak performed in Milestone earlier in 2007.) We all went to the Hotel Sask for a drink afterwards, along with a few other friends and family of Leeann's.

***

I was hoping to start a new project on this blog Feb 1, but due to technical difficulties and mostly a serious lack of time this week (especially tomorrow), I probably won't be able to post the first of this project until Saturday. Stay tuned...

***

P.S. (6:55 a.m. Feb 1) I should mention, Neil didn't have such an excellent evening while I was out. He had a terrible time putting all three girls to bed. In the past, Neil has been able to put them all to bed quite successfully on his own; much more quickly than I ever could. It seems this has changed. He had the same problem last Thursday when I played volleyball. The problem is none of them will stay in their bed or their room, so it's much more difficult for one parent to put them all to bed. Thankfully, we're both here almost every night. Georgia does not need a long nap in the afternoon anymore, but she usually has one at the babysitter, and Madeline doesn't need one at all, but since she goes to preschool in the morning now, she often falls asleep in the afternoon. Sophia has never needed much sleep. The result is three kids who are determined to stay up much later than we'd like. One can only hope this is temporary, although it may be years, not months, before we can eliminate the nap problem altogether! At least we know Madeline will be in afternoon kindergarten in the fall.

Random stuff

I need storage solutions for hair bands, play jewellery, and teeny tiny doll accessories -- among a gazillion other things.

I have a new appreciation for Webkinz since the girls' birthday parties. Webkinz have NO packaging, other than one little tag (most toy packages are like Fort Knox, and so wasteful); and they are ONE piece; i.e., they don't come with a bunch of things that are easily lost or scattered all over my house.

I miss my big camera. It's been gone for four weeks now. The little one is good, but it's just not the same.

I need to create something. I need a project. I was much too busy in January, but I hope to find time in the near future. I still want to do some sort of regular feature on my blog.

I'm dreading income tax time. I wish I could just do it myself and get it overwith, but 2007 was much too complicated (esp. re: farm partnership wrap-up; I don't know the implications). I hate gathering the info, handing it over to accountants and then having no idea what's going on or how long it'll take.

I should get cracking on the business of school Valentines so we're not doing it the night before.

I want to know what you think of the show "Lost". Neil mentioned it as something we might try to watch during the writers' strike. Thanks to friends' blogs, I know there are many other good ones we could try too (e.g., Damages, Dexter).

I'm half-way through my temporary position and I'm having a career crisis. I may write more about that sometime.

I have come up with a pretty good solution to help me consume more water -- at work anyway. I have purchased four 700ml bottles (four for the price of one, I might add), so I always have a clean one to take to work. I fill it up at the beginning of the day and I must drink it all before I leave. (I know that's not a lot, but it's more than I used to drink!)

I'm looking forward to summer. Actually, any temperature above zero will do. (For those not already intimately familiar with our current weather in Saskatchewan, it feels like -52 Celsius outside today.)

Daily pic: 25 Nov 07

We're off to watch the Grey Cup at our friends' home and we're taking bison ribs and pork ribs for supper. Neil also made a special barbecue sauce for them. Mmmm!

Kick-off in 56 minutes. GO RIDERS GO!

Daily pic: 21 Nov 07

Guys, I'm tapped. Well, almost tapped. I'll make it, but it seems like I've taken pictures of everything around here! I played volleyball this evening, I'm tired, and the last thing I felt like doing when I got home was wandering around my house looking for something to photograph. So, when Neil said we have a couple episodes of The Next Iron Chef to watch, that's all I wanted to do. And that's all I could think of for my daily pic. I'll try not to make a habit of photographing the TV!

I only watch three shows right now (always recorded; I never watch when they're aired): Heroes, Kitchen Nightmares, and The Next Iron Chef. Love this show! Suspense, drama, food, and even Alton. What's not to love?

P.S. The roads were terrible tonight! On my way to volleyball, three cars were in the ditch along the Ring Road near the university, and then on Arcola, two more cars were on the boulevard and the car in front of me slid off the road too. It took me 30 minutes to drive what normally takes 15. I was late, but so was everyone else.

Daily pic: 11 Nov 07

I caught the last few minutes of the game on TV as the Riders won the West division semi-final. All the sweeter as it was their first home playoff game in 19 years. In fact, the mere occasion of hosting a playoff game was enough to precipitate a 32-page preview in yesterday's local paper. This is major excitement in our province. Even I can't ignore it. Well, I do hope they go all the way! It's nice to be surrounded with glee.

Random Thursday

(Thanks for the title/idea, Jodi. Hope you don't mind!)

• I'm painfully behind on my email. I'm very sorry I haven't replied to some personal email messages!
• I've been working on my brother's company's website as much as possible lately because I need to get it done ASAP. We've booked our floor refinishing for June 18 and I have a lot of house stuff to do before then.
• I freecycled Martha. I had 62 issues of Martha Stewart Living ('97 to '03) and when I offered them on Regina Freecycle, four women jumped at the chance to make a new home for them. I couldn't decide who should get them, so I divided them into four batches. They all came to pick up their share within five minutes of each other on Tuesday evening.
• It's extremely rare for Madeline to put her shoes on the right feet. Statistically-speaking, you'd think she'd get it right more often. She must be mixed up, even though I have switched her shoes hundreds of times over the past couple of years! It's remarkable.
• My photography class ended today. Sadly, I didn't have time to do the last few assignments (they didn't have to be submitted or anything). I still have the lessons and assignments though, so I can do them anytime. I learned a lot and I'm very glad I took the class.
• After two years of wanting a PVR, Neil finally got one last week. Tonight we're going to watch my new favourite show, TLC's The Real Deal, which was recorded on Saturday. We're entering a new dimension.
• My age plus years of pensionable service only add up to 48 which means I'm not eligible for early retirement. Darnit.

Daily pic: 30 Apr 07

Neil and Georgia watching hockey playoffs. This has become an almost-daily ritual. And Georgia actually likes going downstairs to "watch hockey" with her dad. She sits on his lap most of the time but gets off every once in awhile to go get a toy or other object from the playroom. She takes it back to explore while she sits on Neil's lap again. The nice thing about this is that I usually get a couple of minutes of peace and quiet while Georgia is downstairs with Neil and Sophia and Madeline play outside. I've got to find the good in this hockey playoff business -- it's not going to disappear anytime soon! (As I wistfully recall the NHL strike of '04/05...)

P.S. The tooth fairy is visiting again tonight. Sophia's fifth tooth came out during her dance class today.

Heroes -- holy crap!

Heroes is awesome. It's the only series I'm watching and I'd hate to miss a second of it.

Curious Georgia

She's really crawling and exploring every nook and cranny now!

(Did you know that Curious George is on back on TV? It started this month on PBS and CBC. Brings back memories for me, and the kids love it too.)

Canadian Antiques Roadshow

On Friday May 26, Neil and I went to the Canadian Antiques Roadshow. (We took Georgia along, while Mom stayed with Sophia and Madeline.) It was held at the Regina Armoury which was a great location. It's a neat building, full of history.

I'm glad we went. Over the years, Neil and I have watched quite a few episodes of the Antiques Roadshow (either American or British), so it was fun to be there in person. There was the same familiar din of people chatting while waiting in line for their turn with an appraisor.

We were allowed to take two items each. Neil took a WWII military compass (which he found inside a rifle case he had purchased at an auction a few years ago) and a needlepoint sampler made by his great great grandmother when she was 11 years old, circa 1863-73. I took a porcelain moustache tea cup and one of two oak armchairs that came from the Mantay farm (my maternal grandfather's side).

It was great to learn more about our "treasures". For example, I learned that the chairs are North American and date around 1900. They were probably ordered from an Eaton's or Sears-Roebuck catalog and delivered by train. They were affordable chairs (i.e., not high quality, which is evident from their construction of small pieces of wood glued together, rather than solid wood).

Neither of us were filmed for the television show which is fine with me. The second season of the Canadian Antiques Roadshow starts on Wednesday October 3 on CBC (or CBC Newsworld?). I didn't even know about the first season. Oh well. I'll try to catch it this fall, especially the Regina episode.

Here are a few photos I took at the show (that's a cardboard cutout of Valerie Pringle; we saw her several times as we waited in line but I didn't take a picture of her):

Odds 'n' ends

House hunting dreaming
I've been preoccupied lately with thinking about moving to a different house -- one that's larger and perhaps newer (maybe even brand new). I'm not in a huge rush though. I do think we're outgrowing our house, but it's still adequate in many ways. I fully expect to reach our 10th anniversary of living here which will be May 1, 2007. Besides, there's no way we could increase our mortgage by even one cent right now. That doesn't mean I can't dream about it though! It's good to start preparing anyway. There are many things we need to do in this house before we'd put it on the market and those things will take time (and money). There are many decisions to make too. Are we willing to move out to the 'burbs or should we stay in our more central and mature neighbourhood (which we love)? Should we buy a pre-owned home or should we build? How big of a house do we need? How much can we afford (a question we can't even answer right now)? Bungalow, split level, or two story? It's a good thing I kinda like thinking about this stuff! I have lots of research to do; right up my alley.
***
Too many ticks
There are too many ticks this year! Sophia and I have had two each since Wednesday. We've had several over the past few weeks too. So gross. I'm sure Sherlock brings some ticks into the house, but I think we also got some when we went for a walk in the park Thursday evening. It's kind of a waste of water, but we enjoy flushing them down the toilet. If you just throw them in the garbage, they'll get out again (I've seen them crawl out!).
***
Busy preschoolers
Sophia had a big day yesterday with a swimming lesson in the morning, preschool in the afternoon, and then a birthday party from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. It seemed all I did at home yesterday was feed Georgia and get everyone ready to go out several times. There's a boy in Sophia's preschool class who's in her swimming class and came to the birthday party too. His mom toted around an infant and a three-year old as well, so she had the same kind of day as me. We exchanged moral support.
***
Classic toys
Last evening after the birthday party, Georgia and I went to visit some friends as they were scrapbooking together. (Neil came in from the farm and took Sophia and Madeline home from the party.) We were talking about retro toys such as the hula hoops and lemon twister. I was reminded of another classic this morning: Spirograph. Sophia got one for Christmas and she also has another small Klutz version she got at Wendy's. She asked me to do some Spirograph drawings this morning and it brought back how much I loved doing that when I was a kid. I enjoy playing with her Lite-Brite too!
***
Antiques Road Show dilemma
Several weeks ago, I requested two free tickets for the Canadian Antiques Road Show which is coming to Regina May 26. There was a draw for tickets, so I wasn't sure we'd get them. Well, I just learned yesterday that we did! We have a bit of a dilemma though. The tickets are for the morning session, 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Sophia also has a swimming lesson that morning and her preschool "graduation" party is that afternoon at 1:15 p.m. (I've also volunteered to supply crackers and cheese for the party.) Plus, though it doesn't coincide with the road show, Sophia has dance rehearsal for Mosaic at 6:00 p.m. (Hmmm, could we cram any more events into one day?!) We're not sure what to do. Neil and I would really like to go to the road show and we'd have to take Georgia along, of course. The only way we could go is if we find someone to babysit Sophia and Madeline in the morning (and ideally, take Sophia to her swimming lesson), and then we would leave the road show in plenty of time to take Sophia to her last day of preschool -- even if we haven't seen an appraiser by that time. Well, if we can't go, then we'll have two free tickets up for grabs.
***
End of the TV saga
After six weeks (minus two days) without our main floor TV, we finally got a brand new RCA TV/DVD combo from Visions on Monday, completely under warranty. I'm glad to have it. While I didn't miss the TV that much and I enjoyed the silence most of the time, I really do like having the option of turning on the TV, either for me or the kids.
***
Summer holidays coming soon
I can hardly believe Sophia has only two weeks of preschool left! She'll have three months off before kindergarten. The principal just called the other day to confirm that we want Sophia in the afternoon class (yes!). Sophia has only three weeks of Irish dance classes left too. Nine months of dance classes will end with a performance on each day of Mosaic, June 1, 2, and 3. They have two rehearsals at the venue before June 1 too. The first one is tomorrow. Both Sophia and Madeline have only three weeks of once-a-week swimming lessons left, then they're taking daily lessons the first two weeks of June. What else...? Only six more weeks of soccer. Wow, our family calendar looks pretty bare after June 20!

The TV saga

I mentioned that our main floor living room TV was in the repair shop for the third time in 18 months... Well, it was there for a full month: March 21 to April 21. Neil had called Visions (where we purchased it) and the repair shop about twice a week during that time. Finally, last Friday (the 21st), Neil called and was told they had decided to fix it rather than give us a new one (or credit toward a new one) and it was ready. (Why no one called to tell us it was ready is another issue!) They also said if it happens again, we'll get a new TV. Neil immediately went to the shop and picked it up. Well, wouldn't you know it, but a mere 48 hours later, the same problem happened again.

The TV has a built-in DVD player which was the source of the main problem (the TV itself had other annoying problems that were never fixed, such as turning itself off two seconds after you turned it on--oh yes, but it would stay on the second time you turned it on). The main problem was that the DVD player's region code setting would suddenly and inexplicably flip to Europe or something, so it couldn't read/play any of our DVDs (and it's not something we could change at home). That's what happened again on Sunday afternoon after we had used it to watch DVDs on Saturday and Sunday morning. So Neil took the TV back to the repair shop on Monday and despite several more phone calls to Visions, we still don't have a bloody TV!

To be continued.

(BTW, it's a Philips TV and Visions doesn't carry that brand anymore because they had so many problems.)

Five posts in one

I won an auction on eBay for the first time this evening. (I feel so 21st century now!) I bought a set of 29 used books called Help Me Be Good by Joy Berry. The last time we were at Public Health, Sophia picked up a book called "Being Selfish" and asked me to read to her. I thought it was a great way to teach her about that subject, so decided to track down a set. The series covers a myriad of behaviours (such as disobeying, being a bad sport, whining, tattling...) that all children need to learn about sooner or later. Looking forward to getting these books. We have a few issues to tackle.
***
I watched some of the Academy Awards this evening. It's the only award show I ever watch (or half watch). I don't see many movies, so I like to see what's nominated and then try to watch some of those movies over the following year. Not surprisingly, I haven't yet seen any of the movies nominated this year. And looking back at last year's nominees, the only ones I've seen are Million Dollar Baby, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Incredibles, Shark Tale, Shrek 2, The Polar Express, and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. There are several I still want to see, so I'm a little behind.
***
I really miss having the Olympics on TV. Other than a few shows on the Food Network, there's very little I like to watch (probably because I'm just really out-of-touch with what's on, plus we don't have all of the channels upstairs). On the upside though, I've read an entire book while nursing Georgia since Monday: I'm Just Here for the Food by Alton Brown. Neil gave it to me for Christmas. Gotta love Alton. Neil and I are both fans of his show, Good Eats. He's also on Iron Chef America, another show we both like to watch.
***
Neil and Sophia completed their solar system project yesterday. It's from the Childcraft book, The Universe, which we've been reading to Sophia at bedtime for the past week. Neil crafted the mobile structure, I cut the circles from bristol board, and Sophia coloured the planets and the sun. It's now hanging in a corner of her room. Sophia loves stuff like this and we think it's great! I've been enjoying reading about the universe too. It's so completely mindboggling and fascinating! Listen to Read this: "They believe there are about 100 billion galaxies in the universe. Each galaxy may hold billions of stars...The Milky Way is made up of billions of stars that are trillions of kilometres apart." How about that to put things into perspective?
***
Back to our little speck of the universe... We took the girls to a new indoor playground called It's a Blast today. It cost a small fortune, but the kids definitely had a blast. We won't be doing that very often, but it was a good reward for the girls getting 20+ magnets on their 'responsibility charts'. We've been using these wooden Melissa & Doug charts since about mid-January and the girls have earned more magnets each week since we started. It really seems to work as an incentive. Their goals right now are to share, brush/floss teeth (an automatic seven per week because it's not optional), get ready for bed (quickly and cooperatively), bath (without crying and complaining), say please and thank you (without being prompted), help mom, and put toys away. They have to do some of them pretty well all day to earn a magnet. A couple of weeks ago, we took them to Dairy Queen for supper when they achieved 15 magnets in one week. They'll have to earn 30 in a week to earn the next big reward. (Yes, we have one for Georgia too.)

Loving the Olympics

What a bonus to be on maternity leave when the Winter Olympics are on! I'm able to see quite a few events live during the day, and then in the evening I can catch replays of some of the events I missed. I'm in front of the tube quite a bit these days since nursing Georgia still takes a considerable amount of time, and I tend to linger a bit longer when watching the Olympics. (It's kinda funny since I really don't care to watch sports on TV otherwise.)

I like watching most of the Olympic sports, and I've really enjoyed some of the new or altered events such as moguls, speed skating team pursuit, and snow boarding cross. Good stuff! For the most part, I focus on watching Canadians compete (naturally), but boy was it exciting when Sweden beat the U.S. in women's hockey today! Amazing! I must admit I wasn't very interested in the game at first when I expected the U.S. to win easily.

It's fun to watch the Olympics with Sophia and Madeline too and to get them cheering for Canada along with us. It's also a great way to get them excited about sports. It's so beneficial for girls to participate in sports--studies prove it (just a quick glance at those studies and I feel like signing my daughters up for every sport available!). I like pointing to athletes in action and saying to the girls, "you could do that too!"

Oh, and we're up to 11 medals now. Go Canada Go!

Bedtime stories

Why is it that the only person who will fall asleep when I'm reading bedtime stories is me? I was really falling asleep while reading to Sophia this evening. Several times I realized I had no idea what I had just read, and I wasn't sure if I had been saying the right words. Aside from the annoyance of falling asleep myself, it bugs me that Sophia won't fall asleep while I'm reading to her. She will often fall asleep when Neil's reading to her, but never when I am.

This evening when I was getting the girls' teeth brushed, Sophia decided to run away and she was giggling and thinking it was a fun game. Well, I get very upset when the kids try to go anywhere with a toothbrush in their mouth.

Probably a dozen years ago, there was a TV show about real emergency calls. I think it was called "Emergency 911" or something like that. Well, there was this one incident where a toddler fell forward with a toothbrush in his mouth and the toothbrush went through the back of his throat and into his voicebox or something. He survived, but it was really bad. I will never forget that. And I don't remember a single other incident from that TV series. Just the toothbrush in the throat.

Anyhow, I caught up with Sophia and I really got it through to her that I was serious when I said no walking, running, spinning, dancing, or anything with a toothbrush in her mouth. She cried for a minute and said I hurt her feelings. I said I'm glad you're upset about this because maybe now you'll remember that you're not supposed to do that. When she was finished crying, we talked about how bad it would be if she got hurt, and so on. After a pause, Sophia said "sometimes I get a little carried away." I almost laughed out loud. A little?! Plus, I'm sure I haven't said that to her before, so she must have learned that euphemism from Sharon.