I am sure that there are many wonderful toy stores online but recently I have come across two stores in particular that I love. First you have to understand that I have a love for simple toys. Did you know that there are some toys that do not make one single sound or even light up that can keep a child’s attention? Yep, I know that this is hard to believe especially in this day and age of the Energizer bunny but it is true. I have always loved the more simplistic toys but I appreciate them so much more now that I am a parent and get to listen to all the little beeps, bonks and songs all day long. Second you must know that I like things that are a little different. All this to say I love these toy stores that I have stumbled across there is just something so wonderful about them! The first link is Oompa Toys with so many cute and creative things! Be prepared to let your child’s imagination run wild! I could spend a large chunk of time just browsing around this site. The second link is Gumylump, which has some fabulous wooden toys! Oh quality! I have even come across a few things that I would not mind to have myself. I am not sure that I will ever fully grow up! Anyways, enjoy some browsing time and I am sure that you might even find a little something for your inner child that refuses to grow up or maybe even something for your child!

Charis has been teething again lately getting in her one-year molars as well as her incisors (sharp pointy teeth), which has been causing her to wake up a little earlier than desirable. She does not cry when waking early though she just lies there and chats with herself. I love listening to her chatter or whale talk, as I have grown accustomed to calling it. Her little voice becomes quite high pitched and goes up and down the scale in these little squeals. I have decided that she truly is telling one whale of a tale in her very own whale voice. It sounds just like a recording of whales chatting in the ocean. She almost sounds like she is singing. It is a precious little thing to my mommy ears.

I have decided that Miss Charis is truly southern! She has been saying baby for about two weeks now but when it comes out it is more like byebye. Now she does know bye bye and she says it normally so I am pretty sure that she has a good handle on the two words and what they mean. She usually just says bye for bye bye and waves with it or goes to the door to leave. When Charis says byebye (baby) she will point to a baby or go and get her baby doll. It is exciting to have another southern drawl in the house. Maybe the northern chat will not wear off on Charis too much from her DaDa. I like the little extra southern around as I find it quite homey!

Charis has learned how to sign the word please! She could not say the word but we knew that it needed to at least start making an appearance in her grunting demands so we introduced her to sign language. I tried to start signing with Charis at an early age but as Brad says I tried way to early and I gave up way to fast. It is so incredible that Charis understands that there is this magic word that at this point will get you all the Goldfish that you want plus just about anything else. We are working on the whole please is not quite as magic as you may have thought thing now. The sign for please is fairly simple but sometimes Charis ends up looking like a little monkey scratching her armpit but she generally gets the motion of it. It is very exciting to have this new little trick we just have to keep working on the not so magicness of please. It will get you what you need but it will not always get you what you want.

I called our utility company yesterday because I smelled gas pretty strongly around our house. I could not figure out where it was coming from but I did notice that as I went around the side of our house the smell got stronger and that is the side of the house where our gas meter is. Better to be safe than sorry especially with a little one! The utility man came and don’t you know that by the time he got here the smell was totally gone. He told me that he sprayed some kind of crazy stuff around the meter that shows leaks and nothing showed up and he also used his magic wand thingy (sorry I do not know the technical names for these things) and found no traces in the air. It had started to rain while I was waiting on him to arrive so I just mentioned that the smell started to fade as the rain came. He pretty much told me that gas smells get worse when there are changes in weather since gas is heavier than the air and it gets trapped in or something or other. He explained it all to me in great detail but at this point I felt like I was trying to defend myself and just share with him that I was truly not crazy and I really did smell it. Now feeling totally crazy and out of my mind he decided to share with me that we were in violation of one of their company laws and he was going to have to turn our names in and have the company call us. What company “law” did we break you ask well, our bushes were not trimmed away from the gas meter. Don’t get me wrong I know that this is their work environment and all but our bushes are not that bad at all! He told me that there could be bees in there or stickers on the bushes. You can see through our bushes and see that there are no beehives and we do not have sticker bushes there are just plan normal leaves on the bush. I did kindly share this with him and he could tell that I just really did not want my name turned in so he tried to assure me that we would not be fined or anything but it is just their way of making sure the bushes get trimmed. I really wanted to hand him a pair of clippers at this point but I did refrain. I am not sure why this frustrated me so but it just did. I do try to take good care of the yard and all I wanted to know is if I had a gas leak. I did not care to know that I needed to trim my bushes and that I am going to get called by some person making sure that I trim my bushes. Gee! Well, just a heads up if you ever smell gas at your house make sure that your bushes are trimmed by the time the utility company arrives.

So usually you can just cut off the solicitors and just say nope not interested or however else you would like to phrase that little statement which usually depends on how persistent that voice on the other end of the line is. However when the firefighters call or the police and they are trying to put on a concert or raise money for this and that you kind of have to listen to their spiel. Why do you have to listen because you want the fireman to put out the fire at your house and you do not want the cop to pull you over! All psychological but still! They are always so nice and trying to win you over so they can be the ones who bring in the most money etc. Well, tonight I got the firefighters! He was a super nice guy (it was his job I know he was trying to get my money)! He was also quite funny! The funniest line in the whole conversation came as he was asking me if I was surviving the heat wave. I said that I was but it sure was hot out. In reply he says, “Yea, it was so hot when I walked out this morning that the hair on my toes caught fire.” I know that this is rehearsed and I know that he has said it to about a hundred other people tonight but it was quite gross and funny all at the same time. I am still chuckling! Yes, he is a firefighter and yes it is humorous since he is a firefighter and he made a joke about fire but who in the world says such a thing. In my own little world I just find it funny! He was even nice when I told him that I was not going to give him money. What a funny little phone call!