Day Seven: Pretending to Be a Porsche

It was a rather quiet day today. Nothing special to report, but of course I must fulfill my daily recognition of gratitude - so here goes.

First of all, I'm thankful that I wasn't the woman driving the grey Nissan something or other (my husband would be so disappointed that I didn't get the make and model) when the woman in the grey minivan backed out of her parking space either, a.) without looking or b.) just not noticing said Nissan in the Toys R Us parking lot. Instead, I had a front row seat as I came out of the store and the minivan backed right into the Nissan - the plastic bumper on metal door (taking with it some nice paint) made me and the other half dozen or so people in the parking lot cringe. I'm glad I wasn't that woman in the Nissan or the one driving for that matter.

I'm also grateful that three days ago I had hardly done any Christmas shopping and now all I have left is to shop for a few adults and I'm done!! That's right. A couple of power shopping trips and I am nearly finished. And what I do have left to buy I already know what I want to get - so easy peasey.

I got a chance to talk to my sister today - the one who lives far away in Florida. She sounded lonely and said she was missing home. Oops, I wasn't supposed to tell anyone that :) But who wouldn't miss home at this time of year? After all, she was telling me it was like 80 degrees there today - not exactly Christmas-like weather. I wish she could come visit. Christmas is great around these parts and with every passing day I get more and more excited. Maybe that will be my Christmas wish for 2007.

I also got to talk to Ms. Kookabura tonight. It had been a while and it was so great just to hear her voice (even though she is getting a bit of a cross between a Midwest/New England/Canadian accent going. She'll kill me for even insinuating such a thing, but it's true, Cherlito!!) Her dad is doing much better after his heart attack and has begun his recovery with a bang - no more smoking and he's giving up the junk food; It was vegetable something for dinner last night. I was paying attention mind you, but I have no idea what the dish entailed seeing as how my favorite foods are Mac 'n Cheese (from the box) and french fries. He said it was all right though, so maybe I should change my own poor menu choices . . . Nah! Who am I kidding? But it's good news for her dad :)

I'm also grateful for the time my four year old and I got to play together while my little one was taking his afternoon nap. We played "Cars" - yes that's pretend play based on the Disney movie "Cars." I was assigned the role of Sally, the electric blue Porsche who is also the female lead and I probably got the part simply because I'm a girl, too.

Anyway, we're playing and pretending when the subject changes to villains. My four year old picks up another action figure (something I believe he got in a McDonald's Happy Meal) and tells me that this villain is the most evil villain ever. He tells me that this guy is the worst villain in the universe and that he's even meaner than, gulp, GEORGE BUSH!!!

No!! Anything but that!!!

So not only am I grateful for playtime, but for yet another confirmation that my kids actually listen to me and they are quite possibly the smartest kids on the planet :)