Show Off

...

I can say the alphabet backwards. Really fast. I can sing the alphabet backwards, too. This actually came up today because I took DS2 to story time at Border's, and instead of the usual (which is really fun), there was a concert by Ralph Covert of Ralph's World fame. Ralph is an absolutely amazing children's singer... I am ashamed to say I had never heard of him before today. I like him even more than I like the Wiggles, and that's saying a lot, because the Wiggles are miles above Barney in the kid entertainment world.

Anyway, the concert is going along just fine when one of Ralph's guitar strings breaks. He finishes out that song (of course the kids are oblivious), then sits down to re-string. To distract the kids (I am not exaggerating, there were at least 50 kids there, all below the age of 4), he had them sing the ABCs. Then (frantically tying and tuning), he asked the grown-ups to sing the ABCs... backwards. So we all start out OK with "Z, Y, X, W..." but then I just kept going: "V U T S RQ P, O N M, L K J..." Ralph looks at me and keeps throwing out letters to try and screw me up! Perhaps this is the first time he has encountered someone who could actually say the alphabet backward.

It's a completely useless skill but fun to make a point (or win a bet, but I don't think I've ever actually done that). I learned to say the alphabet backward about 30 years ago. My cousin (I was related to her through her mom) and her cousin (my cousin was related to her through her father, so we were not cousins to each other) were all about the same age and we used to spend our summers together. One year, we were about 10, my cousin's cousin makes a big deal to us about the whole alphabet-backwards thing. She had had a teacher that challenged them to really know things that people often just learned by rote. To make his point, he would randomly call on kids and ask them to do things like... say the alphabet backwards. So, my cousin's cousin learned it just so she wouldn't be caught in the lurch -- and if she could do it, so could I.

It still freaks out my kids that I can do it, but it's nothing, really. Just takes a little practice.

One of the best things about the Ralph concert was that Ralph flirted shamelessly with all the moms there, including me. Especially me, after the ZYX's thing. It was fun to sing along to his songs and try to get DS2 to do the dances, but there were too many people there for him to do anything other than cling to me. One of the songs I got a big kick out of goes like this: "M - O - M - M - Y needs her C - O - F - F- E -E..." hehehe.
I'm not sure it was exactly flirting but there was a lot of eye contact and laughs and smiles, which constitutes flirting in my book. A big "isn't this fun?" non-verbal communication, along with "I'm glad you're here for this," too.

We didn't stick around to buy a CD or DVD and get it signed because there was too much of a mob and we had to go get DD from school, but I will definitely pick up both the DVD and CD, maybe for the Easter Bunny to put in the family basket...

After the lovely morning, I got productive this afternoon and actually put up the CD rack I bought about 2 months ago. I got out the drill and put in the mollies and made sure it was level and everything. It looks great. Then, I had to do something about the stacks of paper all over the desk, because with the CD rack holding all the computer games, I had that much more incentive to get the desk completely clean. I ended up throwing out a ton of stuff, as could be expected, and creating a few new files, and now it looks great. We'll see how long it lasts, though!

I'm definitely fighting a losing battle on the kitchen island counter everyday. It seems as if I spend the afternoon clearing it, and DH comes home and dumps his stuff all over it... which I put away, etc the next day. Lather, rinse, repeat... if I just let it sit there until he does it -- he doesn't! It just piles up. And since I'm the one who cares, I just do it. Can't stand having all that clutter around.

Speaking of clutter, I am making slow progress on getting our closet mucked out. Then I'll move onto setting up the kids' playroom. Our closet comes first because, frankly, I have to go in there everyday as all of my clothes are in there (even my dresser). DD asked me why we haven't had our party yet, since her room is finished. I asked her to look around and tell me if the house was ready for a party? Even she agreed that we're not ready, so you know how bad it must be!

OK, I'm off to work on my new project: taking digital shots of all my Al Ford artwork. I have no idea what to do with it all. I spoke to a curator at the ASU art museum and she said they do accept donations, but they are very selective about what they take. So I told her I'd send digitals of my collection (one huge oil, 4 hand-colored woodcuts) so she could see whether or not it was suitable material for a donation. I'm lucky in that I found this great Al Ford virtual show at "A Space Gallery". I actually have 2 of the pieces in this exhibit, "Venus" and "The Wise Men". So, anyway -- time to break out the camera and snap pictures of everything (I think I have one of the oil already digitized), and then compose an email to the curator and see what she thinks. I would really like these to go to a good home.

DS2 did really well on the potty thing today, only one (unfortunately very messy) accident. All in all, I'm pleased with how well he is doing -- it's only day 4, after all.

It doesn't seem possible since I was up till 2 last night working, but today was a very good day. (Yay, Vioxx!)