Midweek Miscellany: Four Trees, the Wrong Trousers, and a New Five

It seemed like such a good idea: Plant a tree for each child in our backyard. My seven-year-old son has a silver leaf maple that is now over twenty feet tall. My daughter has redbud that bloomed for the first time last year, but has not grown much lately because of the Georgia drought. I haven't decided which trees will be the twins'. I planted five trees last year, and we will probably wait before assigning trees. Two weeks ago my eldest informed his mom that we can't move until he has grown up and saved enough money to buy our house so he can have the tree. Last week was my Spring Break.

Since my seven-year-old son was not off, I helped get him ready for school each day and walked him to the bus stop. On Thursday I picked out his clothes for him. Something didn't look quite right with the jeans, but we were in a hurry. He came home having had a bad day (he got a red star). His Mom looked at him funny, examined his jeans, and laughed for fifteen minutes. The jeans belonged to his five-year-old sister. I feel like such a heel. I fear that my lack of child-wear savvy was somehow the cause for his red star.

In the true spirit of Miscellany: Some bits concerning my daughter. She has just turned five, which means that she is now in her third year of the terrible twos. She is a sensitive and opinionated child. She has asked me to teach her to read, and she is picking it up very quickly. The flashcards I made for her brother and that he didn't need because he already knew all of the words are coming in handy. A couple of weeks before her birthday, she was setting up her Barbies for a wedding when she realized that something was missing. She asked, "Daddy, are there boy-Barbies?" After telling her that there was such a thing, she asked for a "Wedding boy Barbie" for her birthday. Princess Bride has become one of her favorite movies. In spite of my fumbling attempt to properly raise a girl, she gives excellent and frequent hugs. I look forward each day to the enthusiasm with which she greets me when I return home.

I have shared before some of the unusual google searches that bring people to my blog. Some are slightly icky. Some are funny. Some are so suggestive of a story behind the search that I wish I could contact the person who made the search. Here are some of more interesting recent ones with my comments in italics (I was going to hyperlink each one to each post that it lead to, but I decided that I was much too lazy for something so time intensive):

"going commando school"
"name tag silver magnets"
"jury duty excuse note for teachers"
"changing a child's surname of pumkinhead"
"lego nomenclature"
"does your wife mow the lawn"
"marathon mowing"
"Spring Zephyr"
"how long does Publix keep security tapes"--I really want to know what this person did at Publix to make them so concerned
"letter with curses"
"stomach fat survival"
"goose or pope"--Interesting choice. I favor the pope.
"smartboard hyperbole"--I am probably guilty of a bit of this, but I love my SmartBoard!
"why did I marry a nerd"
"ice age theme of redemption"
"the wiggles get busted for drugs"
"kennesaw mt lord of the flies"--I wonder if the seeker ever found a connection?
"sergent york's achievements"
"what is truett cathy's favorite sport as a kid"
"American English supermarket deli conversation"
"leg braces crippled lover"--Should there be a comma after "braces" or did the braces, in fact, cripple the lover?
"a guy roasting marshmallows on a fire with a tornado"--My personal favorite; I don't know why
"poe, about monkeys"
"tofu grinder"

Peace
..._