Who Wants to Buy a Fabulous Chicken Chair??

Ahhhhh Chicken Chair.  You've had a long and not-so-successful run at our house, with all of your failings documented here on our family blog.

• Chicken Chair introduced...
  http://markandestelle.blogspot.com/2009/12/best-and-worst-traditions-of-our.html
• Chicken Chair snubbed...
  http://markandestelle.blogspot.com/2010/01/chicken-chair-update.html
• Chicken Chair tossed...
  http://markandestelle.blogspot.com/2010/03/christmas-chicken-chair-update-2.html
• Chicken Chair revived…
  http://markandestelle.blogspot.com/2011/10/tis-season.html (scroll down quite a bit)

And so, for the past few months since the last update, Chicken Chair has resided in the corner of Noah's monster room, completely ignored and neglected.

About 2 months ago, I finally brought Chicken Chair downstairs to give away.  *sniff sniff*  However, Chicken Chair never quite made it out the door (I was still distressed that it wasn't the most wonderful thing ever to my kids because it's soooo stinkin' CUTE!) and indeed, it seemed that bringing it downstairs into our hotbed-of-activity-living-room revived interest in it!  The kids even fought over it!  My Mommy heart was happy! (And the fact that it totally does NOT match our decor didn't even bother me anymore!)

Here's Noah enjoying Chicken Chair.  And Shelby NOT enjoying Noah enjoying it.

Shelby taking matters into her own hands.

Shelby enjoying Chicken Chair.  And Noah NOT enjoying sitting on the couch.

Chicken Chair enjoyed a prestigious run as our preferred video-gaming seat.  Even if it was upside down flat on its face.

Chicken Chair was even used for stunt practice.  Ordinarily I would have balked at the thought of beautiful Chicken Chair being treated in such a manner (remember from the first entry that this was a stupidly expensive item).  But by now, 2 1/2 years later, I was just grateful it was being used again.

Shelby, when she is older, will most certainly hate me for putting this photo on here.  But I must, because I love it so.  And it cracks me up every time I see it.

This one cracks me up, too.  I have no idea what stunts she and Noah were trying to accomplish.  I was just ecstatic that Chicken Chair was their soft place to fall.

And then, after a glorious but all-too-brief run, Chicken Chair was again ignored and neglected.  Look at it, all sadly crumpled up there, while Noah has now moved onto the much more UNcomfortable ottoman for TV viewing.  Why????  (And don't ask about his hat because I don't know.  Noah makes….interesting….fashion choices.)

Our dog Tiki was VERY happy to take over the now-free-and-never-in-demand Chicken Chair.

I can't blame Tiki, seeing as how her dog bed looked like this.  HEY, no judging!  That was the THIRD supposedly indestructible wears-like-iron dog bed that she actually HAS destructed.

*sigh*  Despite Tiki's love for it, Chicken Chair was once again designated as a give-away-soon item.

And then, a fabulous opportunity presented itself!  A friend of mine is raising funds for a service dog for her son with autism, and is holding a garage sale this Saturday, and Chicken Chair will be there!  No, NOT as a celebrity guest, but FOR SALE!  For more information, click here: https://sites.google.com/site/alec4paws/

And Tiki will be fine, since she now sits on whatever stuffed animals the kids bring downstairs.  Oh, and since that pathetic photo above, she is now on her fourth supposedly indestructible dog bed.  Tiki will be fine, folks.

Now, even though it took me 2 1/2 years to admit it and accept it, Chicken Chair is finally moving on to its inevitable destiny - to be in a garage sale.  Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.  But hey, it's for a GREAT cause!  So, who wants to come out and give poor Chicken Chair a new lease on life??

Farewell, Chicken Chair.  I loved you, even though no one else did.

Another Summer Surprise! Wednesday - NAILED THIS ONE!

Does a surprise get any better than a new kitten, I ask you?  NO, it does not!  Last Tuesday I was absent-mindedly looking around Craigslist in the pet section.  Because those of you who know us know that we need more pets, right?  RIGHT!  (I not-so-secretly want to be a cat lady when I grow up.)

I wasn't really serious about a new pet right now (and we did just adopt 7 more fish last week), but nonetheless I was commenting to Mark that I really wanted a fluffy cat again and Mark replied that he really liked calico cats.  And the VERY next Craiglist listing was…..a fluffy calico kitten!  It was meant to be!

So, right on time for my next summer Surprise! Wednesday schedule, Wednesday morning found us all piled into our car heading out to retrieve our newest family member - FLUFFERBALL!

 

Yeah, about the name.  After the boys named our black cat Meatball and I was outvoted on our dog's name Tiki (I was even outvoted on Shelby's name, now that I think about it!) I swore that the next pet's name would be MINE.  But lo and behold, I went blank on a name for this one.  The only names I had in my current "Pet Names Idea" list (yes I really keep a list like this) were Mayhem and Rene-Angelil (I'm saving this one for a goat, it's such a goat's name, don't you think?  Yes, I want goats someday, too.).   Anyway, at the time, she was too cute to be a Mayhem.

I love the name Memphis for a pet, but we already have a lovebird named Memphis.  I didn't think naming another pet with the same name was a big deal, but evidently it WAS.  After much screaming (adults included), I decided pure diplomacy was the only way to go, so we each submitted a name in a bowl.  Here were the contenders:

And viola - Mark announces the winning name, Flufferball! 

ugggggg.  I couldn't come up with anything better than Squee, but still...  Noah, naturally, was overjoyed that his name was chosen. Noah, the kid whose stuffed animals have names like Otter-Wotter, Carebear, Pink Monkey, and Monkey Doo.  I hissed at Mark later, "WHYYYYYYYYYY didn't you sneak a peek first and pick any name but THAT ONE???????!!!!!!"

Flufferball was switched to Fluffernutter at some point.  I'm not saying that was a good thing.  Mark didn't believe me when I said Fluffernutter was a food, but I proved him wrong.  Again.  Hee hee.  I love it when that happens.  Proving Mark wrong, that is, NOT having a dumb pet name.

Yep, can't wait to register her at the vet with that name.  I was more than a little of envious of my friend Carrie, a fellow cat aficionado, who gets to name her own cats and has uber cool names like Frodo and Zeddicus.  Is there a cooler name than Zeddicus?!?   Me, I have to show up with a Meatball.  And now a Fluffernutter. uggggggggg.  "Why yes, I have small children, thank you for asking, because at least you know that *I* would NEVER give a pet those stupid, embarrassing names!!"

And you can definitely bet that my Pet Names Ideas list is going to get fleshed out nicely so that the next pet to join our family has a COOL name.

Here's Connor and Shelby introducing Fluffernutter to two of the hundreds of stuffed animals that also reside with us:

The kids make sure she's never lonely, even when sleeping.  There IS a live kitten in this photo, I promise.

Shelby and Connor are usually sort of disinterested in the pets (so very woe is me over that), so having them go gaga over this kitten is sooooo heartwarming.  It's hilariously (to me) frustrating to Shelby, though, that Fluffernutter is NOT an obedient toy.  Look at FN's face here - she is soooo over Shelby's diva behavior.  Whatevs.

And so far, Fluffernutter is a people cat.  WOO. HOO.  She actually seeks the kids out and wants to be with them!  Unlike our other two cats, who without fail spend every single day lounging upstairs in the master bedroom, and then at 8:00pm at night like clockwork, come downstairs after the kids go to bed.

I just love Connor's face here.  He NEVER does this with animals.  *sigh* It makes my mommy heart all warm and fuzzy.

Fluffernutter plays with everything that she should.  But, in true cat form, plays mostly with things that she should NOT!

Dog toys…

Curtains!….  Bad cat!

Cute little pink toes!…

Clawing on my favorite rug.  Ugggggg!  As if it weren't already clawed enough by the other cats!

But gave a polite "No thanks" to the Rubik's cube. Sorry Connor.

Basically, this little half-pound sassy cat has taken over the Ritchie household and loves to sit right here in the middle of it all.   (Yes, that's Dance Moms on TV in the background.  HEY! This blog is a no-judging zone!!!!)

She's ferociously putting the dogs in their place - cats rule, dogs drool, got it??

Bullies Tiki out of the way to eat her dog food... (notice Tiki looking at me to help her!)

Is taking over the library books basket….

And has even taken over the coveted top tier of the kitty condo next to the birdcage, previously ruled by big black (but tragically wimpy) Meatball.

That does have its perils - she got stuck like this one day.  Look at her sitting on her little tushie like a person!!  Squeeeeeee!

Sometimes she still lets Noah sit there, though.

So, welcome to little feisty Fluffernutter Ritchie.  In retrospect, I think the name Mayhem would have suited her just fine.  But no matter what I try to bribe Noah with, he refuses to allow her to be renamed.

Meatball's remarks - Bah humbug.

And guess what?  YOU just read an entire blog article and looked at like 20 photos about Estelle's new cat.  10 minutes of your life you'll never get back AND that you'll never admit to, so I'll do you a favor and won't expect any comments on this one.  :)

** In memoriam to our recently passed family members, Indiana and Pequop, both of whom were with us for 15 years each.  And notice their cool names??  That *I* picked.  BC.  Before Children.

Friday the 13th Goosebumps

You know I couldn't let Friday the 13th go by unnoticed, right?  Nopers, no way.  I decided to surprise the kids with a family living room slumber party, usually only reserved for our little annual Valentine's party.  I did a bit of research on family-friendly but still scary movies, and came up with the Goosebumps series.  Add in a bunch of movie-type treats like popcorn and candy, and we were ready to rock n roll.

I love Connor and Noah's faces here.  Meanwhile, in typical Shelby fashion (she's a tough little nugget, takes a lot to scare her) she is more worried about the status of her popcorn.

About 10 minutes into our scary movie fest, the scene looked like this.  What's missing?

Yup, you got it.  Connor.  He spent most of the rest of the movie watching it like this:

You may remember from our Creature Feature day (blog link here) that my boys….well, let's just say my boys need some toughening up.  I'll work on that.  Heh heh heh.

Well, yes ma'am, there ARE free popcorn refills here.  But only if you say please!

I have to admit, it WAS fun to see Shelby get a bit rattled.  And Noah spent most of the evening just like that, clutching his beloved blankie over his eyes. 

Now, in order to make this activity count as Artsy Fartsy Friday (from my summer kid activity plan), I explained to the kids that movies are considered a cultural art.  And they should be thought of in a critical manner and analyzed for relevance and application to real life. Be sure to think of the context in relation to current events. And most importantly, the essence of critical thinking centers not on answering questions but on questioning answers.  After that little lecture, the scene was this:

Nah, just kidding!  Can you really imagine ME spouting off some long, pompous speech like that?  Oh, Mark would for sure, but not me.  Just pass me more popcorn, please, and let's have some FUN!

But I did make the kids give their reviews.  Shelby gave it a thumbs down, commenting "I weally liked the kids.  But the ghosts were scwary."  Noah, surprisingly, gave it a medium thumb, but he explained later that was only because one of the kids in the story was named Noah.  Yup, correct character naming is a VERY important element to storytelling.

Connor insisted on giving his review in a written manner.  Four and a half stars! 

After a round of sitting in the dark and telling ghost stories, we realized Noah's head was about to explode. We DID give him the choice - he could either go upstairs (to the DARK ALONE upstairs) or stay downstairs with us and tell ghost stories.  Poor kid.  We should probably consider saving money for the therapy he'll need, during which he'll most likely blame his problems on his twisted mommy who took too much joy in scaring him.  So, we finally turned the lights back on and then practiced our zombie faces! 

Connor, of course, giving us the famous Connor eye-roll.  Do zombies' eyes roll?  We weren't sure if he was participating or not.

Mark's zombie face was pretty good.

But *I* definitely won the zombie face contest:

Zombied-out, we had a good round of watching Scooby-Doo's Creepiest Capers.  For some reason, Noah can embrace Scooby Doo's creepy stuff, no problem.

I couldn't leave it at that, though, could I?  I had Mark put a white curtain over his head and go outside and tap and rap and scratch the windows.  Tiki (the dog) was completely freaking out and barking.  I pretended to be scared.  Noah could barely unglue his eyes from mesmerizing Scooby Doo, despite having watched it a million previous times.  Connor rolled his eyes.

And Shelby summed it up best:  "It's just Daddy.  He's messed up."    BWA HA!  They think it's Mark behind all this.  Heh heh heh.