overheard

I spent some time weeding and watering the yard today, and here are some gems I overheard as the neighborhood kids walked home from school and played at the playground...

Boy 1: BYU stinks!
Boy 2: BYU is AWESOME!
(repeat)

All boys: 1, 2, 3, not it!
(repeated x1,000,000 so quickly I'm not sure what "it" had to do - maybe say "1, 2, 3" the next time?)

Boy: I'M A PUPPY DOWG!

Boy: Hey, sweet! I found a rotten corn dog over here!

Girl: Partly because I'm your sister and I... (unintelligible)
Boy: (unintelligible)
Girl: Well, daddy long legs are poisonous.  You can ask someone you trust even more - Dad.
Boy: Don't snap talk at me.
Girl: I AM NOT SNAP TALKING AT YOU! YOU SNAP TALKED AT ME FIRST! [At this point they were right in front of me, and I can't imagine her ever being able to scream any louder.]
Boy: Fine.
Girl: Do you know what you just did?  That was snap talking, when you said "Fine."
Boy: (sigh)
Girl: That was snap talking.
Continue snap talking examples.  Fade out.


As you can see, I live in a neighborhood with some awesome kids, some of whom don't know what snap talking is.  (Although I have to admit, I'd never heard the phrase before today.)  The corn dog boy's excitement even made me want to go over and see that tasty food!  I'm also proud of the BYU boy.

(And Girl, if your brother was snap talking at you because he didn't believe that daddy longlegs spiders are poisonous, then I'm afraid to inform you that he is in the right here.  The idea that they are the most poisonous* spiders in the world but have mouths too tiny to bite humans is, in fact, false.)



*Also, Girl, it may interest you to know that poisonous ≠ venomous, and spiders who kill by biting fall into the latter category.  ( ≠ ladder)

My dad, my dad's the smartest guy around

I'll never be too old to call my dad first when the toilet breaks.

The boy who lived

The first person who introduced me to Harry Potter was my grandma.  She sent our family the first book.  I'd heard of it, but didn't know many people who read it and had no interest, really, in reading it.  But hey, free book!  Why not read it?  Since then, there have been four (I think) midnight book releasings and two midnight movies.  T-shirts, hours of conversation, hundreds of hours of listening and reading and watching, Harry Potter food experiments, nicknames, reenactments (with and without sparklers), magic wand finding, and party planning.  Although it may sound dramatic, it is 100% completely true that my life has never been the same.  I owe you big, Grandma.  :)

I may or may not have just spent a lot of time looking at Harry Potter-related videos, interviews, pictures... you get the drift.  I love it, you guys.  Seriously.  I LOVE Harry Potter.  The books, the movies (except #6), the actors, J.K. Rowling... They hold such a huge place in my heart and in my life that sometimes I can hardly stand them not being real.  Get over it.  Yes, I may be obsessed.  Not that weird.  Anyway, if you've never read them, READ THEM.  or LISTEN TO THEM.  and WATCH THEM. (Notice that's not an "or" - you should always read them, whether or not you also decide to watch them.)  And ponder on the greatness that is J.K. and the amazingness that is her creation.

I could keep gushing.  Really, I could.  But I'll allow you to keep the amount of respect you still have for me regarding my love of fictional ideas.  (That should be an insanely huge amount, considering how great these fictional ideas are, but I know some people just don't love them as much as I do.)  So goodnight.  Sweet dreams.  I hope they're about a boy in a scar who finds out he's a wizard.

fairy tale wisdom part II

Delayed is not forgotten.

"Delaying is not forgetting"

...for no goblet of life is all bitterness; no good man would pour out such a draught for his fellow-man, and how should He do it, Who is love personified?

A Story From the Sand-hills

He, who had been so grievously afflicted, the outcast, thrown upon the world, could not remember his sufferings.  The Lord our Creator is wise and full of loving kindness - who can doubt it?

A Story From the Sand-hills

The storm raged over the town of Skjagen; there had not been such a terrible tempest within the memory of the inhabitants, not such a rough sea.  But Jürgen was in the temple of God, and while the darkness of night reigned outside, a light arose in his soul that was never to depart from it; the heavy weight that pressed on his brain burst asunder.

A Story From the Sand-hills

[This quote reminds me of my dad :D ]

Here, from time immemorial, a screaming swarm of crows and rooks had built their nests; it was a regular bird town, and the birds were the owners, the manor's oldest family.  - the real lordship!  The people below meant nothing to them; they tolerated these crawling creatures...

The Gardener and the Noble Family

Have you really seriously given a fleeting thought to that grave and mighty last hour we shall spend on earth?

On Judgement Day

[On how fables began]:

Wise men of ancient times ingeniously discovered how to tell people the truth without being blunt to their faces.  You see, they held a magic mirror before the people, in which all sorts of animals and various wondrous things appeared, producing amusing as well as instructive pictures.  They called these fables, and whatever wise or foolish deeds the animals performed, the people were to imagine themselves in their places and thereby think, "This fable is intended for you!"  In this way no one's feelings were hurt.

This Fable Is Intended For You