Of Ogres and Clowns

MAIN STREET USA: This morning we needed more mineral oil for conditioning our new butcher block counter top. I knew the hardware store in Magnolia would have it, because they have one or two of most everything, including things that have little if nothing to do with hardware (think cookie cutters, odd toys, As Seen on TV products, etc.). It makes for interesting aisle wandering. When CJ and I are killing time in the store, we'll play a game where I make him guess what a certain item might be used for. One of the things I spied today was a wooden ruler. But this was no ordinary ruler! This was also an oven tool to shove and pull cookie sheets and other pans. What will they think of next? ;)

For CJ, the highlight of the store is in the back, next to the resident lovebirds' cages. They have an old fashioned, serve-yourself popcorn machine. I loaded him up a paper cone and after we paid for our mineral oil and fancy frosting tips, he sat on the bench outside and snacked happily.

FISTFUL OF DOLLARS: After Bee finished ballet, we came home and walked Kirby before setting off for points North. First stop: Toys R Us. Bee had some cold hard Tooth Fairy cash and she was jonesing to spend it. Though you wouldn't know it by looking at the wad she's holding below, the Tooth Fairy went to great, loving lengths to craftily origami each of the bills into hearts and a butterfly. I don't have a photo for you because Annabelle was in such a hurry to see what denominations the bills were, that she ripped right into 'em.
It's worth noting that a tooth doesn't usually warrant such a ridiculously high premium ($20), but a precedent had been set in the household as CJ scored $20 for his first tooth. (Christian and I surmised that the Tooth Fairy must not have had any quarters or any smaller bills on that particular night.) I told Annabelle that the first tooth is special and subsequent teeth won't warrant such a prize.

So Annabelle was flush with cash and ready to part with it right away. I should note, however, that within 2 minutes of counting her booty she said, "CJ, I could buy you something too!" Seriously, how sweet is THAT? So off to Toys R Us we went. After walking the whole store, she finally settled on some pink plastic Tinkerbell play set, and she gifted CJ a sensei from Club Penguin.

THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS: From Toys R Us it was just across the street to new territory for us - the Northgate branch of Seattle Public Libraries. But before going in, we had to check out the adjacent small-but-nice Northgate Community Center playground. After about 10 minutes we headed into the library. I didn't like the way the children's section was laid out at all - it didn't make sense/have flow. It made it really hard to find what you were looking. Bad, bad feng shui. And they had a puny selection of DVDs - not a single one that CJ was interested in, which is a first. Their one claim to fame was an extensive collection of children's books with accompanying narrative CDs. They had dozens and dozens - way more than any other Seattle Public Library branch I've seen. I selected about six titles for the kids.

But CJ left the library bummed and empty-handed. From the backseat he groused about their lack of DVDs and complained, "I need action!!!" :)

OGRE OOGLING: When we got home, I popped in one of the CDs from the library and plopped a book on the desk in front of the kids. Their eyes grew wide when they saw it was "Shrek!" Now I had their attention. :)

The timing was great because just a couple of nights ago, their big brother Kennedy took them to see "Shrek: The Final Chapter" in 3-D on the rockin' 6-story IMAX screen at the Pacific Science Center.

So, they read along with the book and loved every minute of it. After it was over, we talked about what we'd heard and read, comparing it to the original "Shrek" movie.

"It's different than the movie," CJ noted right away.

I asked them to list ways it was different. "The princess looked different," noted Annabelle.

"The princess was not Fiona," added CJ. "In the movie, she looks like a human, and then turns into an ogre."

I asked the kids which they thought came first, the book or the movie. CJ immediately said, "The book."

"The book looks like it was made first because it's not 3D," said Annabelle. "Most 3D things come after."

"They didn't get the idea of 3D until after the book," agreed CJ.

I asked the kids how we could find out when the book was written. CJ thumbed through its pages until he found that it was copyright 1990. Good ol' Wikipedia let us know that "Shrek" the movie was released in 2001 - confirmation that the book came first.

Via Wikipedia, we also learned that "Shrek" is from a German and Yiddish word meaning "fear" or "terror." That prompted CJ to remark, "It's like 'shriek.' " An astute observation, I thought.

We compared and contrasted some more. CJ noted that there was a donkey in both the book and the movie. Annabelle observed that other characters had been added to the movie (Puss N Boots, the Fairy Godmother, Gingy the gingerbread man, for instance).

So as it turned out, despite the fact no DVDs were gleaned, the trip to the Northgate library wasn't a total loss. ;)

LOVE AND HATE: When driving back from the Northgate area today, I spied a black Prius sporting a bumpersticker with a scary clown face on it. The sticker read, "Can't sleep, clowns will eat me."

"See! See!!" I hissed at the kids. "I'm not the only one!!!" Of course then I had to dart through and around traffic to catch up to the Prius so they could see the sticker, too.

The incident reminded me of the artwork Annabelle made for me a few days ago. It reads, "Mom I love you and you love me and hate clowns and we're family." How sweet and true is that? :)