October 5, 2008

Dragon-Con

Okay, so when we were kids, my brother and I used to totally make fun of Dragon-Con science-fiction conventions. The commercials would come on with someone shouting "Dragon-Con" in what sounded like an echo-room: "DRAGON [dramatic pause] CON CON CON con".

And then, of course, the guests of honor would be listed in Star-Wars-ish font, receding across the screen.

I mean, what was there not to make fun of? Never mind the fact that the only reason we were seeing the commercials was because we were watching Star Trek reruns.

More recently, Tim and I have seen a Simpson's episode that takes cracks at sci-fi conventions, and a Freaks and Geeks episode that treats the phenomenon quite affectionately.

Well, I've decided to mend my ways and stop making fun of DRAGON CON CON CON con.

It brought us two great things this year. When it happened a few weeks ago, we got to visit from our dear friend Karen, Tim's old college pal. She's a dealer--making and commissioning her own very cool Firefly-related memorabilia. We went to pick her up, and at first watching the people file out of the conference in their sci-fi-themed costumes seemed a little odd. But it was downtown Atlanta--vampires walking out in broad daylight aren't the strangest things you'll see there!

So, we rescued Karen from the Ghoulies and Ghosties and Long-Legged Beasties, and took her to a little Southern diner.

And, during our discussion with Karen, in which I was poking fun at Dragon-Con a bit, she informed me that Sean Astin was there, and she heard him speak. Sean Astin. Adorable little Samwise.

I am somewhat of a Tolkien geek snob afficionado. I mean, our daughter's named Elanor!

I was actually rather upset when I heard there were movies coming out, because I knew everyone would say that they were Tolkien fans, even if they hadn't even touched the books. I even predicted that in the commercialization of the books, they might even come out with buy-your-very-own-rings-of-power (and unfortunately, I was all too correct in that prediction). But I ended up absolutely loving the movies, and especially Astin's portrayal of Sam.

Karen recorded the session with Astin, and mailed us a copy. He's as endearing, down-to-earth, funny, and transparent as I thought he would be. The perfect Sam. And he talked about his daughter playing Elanor in the film, which made me "awwwww" out loud. So, thanks so much, Karen, for the Sean Astin goodness, and inspiring me to mend my sci-fi-con-bashing ways! Come back to Dragon-Con again next year!!!

Posted by Tim and Jo at 11:42 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Convalescence in Three Acts

Act I: "Tit for Tat"

Elanor: *plays with toy*
Ian: *takes toy*
Elanor: Wahhhhhhhh!!!!
Ian: Wahhhhhhh!!!!!!

*Reverse roles and repeat*

Act II: "Survival of the Fittest"

Elanor: The Boy is slow and weak. The perfect time to push him over. Plus there's the whole throwing up on my head thing for which I need to exact my pound of flesh.
Ian: *is pushed over*
Ian: Wahhhhh!!!!
Elanor: Wahhhhhh!!!

Act III: "The Nap"

*After Elanor stays up for hours in the middle of the night, and together the twins have exhausted their parents beyond belief with their whining and crying, the two protagonists fall asleep for a nap*

Ian and Elanor: *sleep*
Tim and Joanna: Finally we get some sleep!
Tim and Joanna: *eyes close*
Ian and Elanor: *eyes open*
Tim and Joanna: Wahhhhhh!!!!!

Posted by Tim and Jo at 2:12 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

September 22, 2008

Hansel und Gretel (aka Ian und Elanor)

Ian and Elanor (hand in hand): Let's go eat the goodies, the goodies, the goodies, let's go eat the goodies, la-ta-ta-ta-ta!

Ian: Ist good ja!
Elanor: Ja! Ja! Ist good!
Ian: Und yummy!
Elanor: Ooh ja! Und yummy ja!

Tim: So the twins are ten months old now. Their main preoccupation these days seems to be food. As far as Ian goes, Joanna refers to him as a "social eater." Anytime we have food near us, there he is waiting for a bite. In the last few weeks he has been going to Joanna, pulling himself up on her legs and begging until he gets some, but more recently he's been accosting me with his cute puppy look as if he's saying "Look how cute and little I am. Why don't you give me a little bite of that."

Elanor can't quite pull herself up yet so when she sees we have food, she frantically crawls towards us and implores us with her "starvation wail." If the "starvation wail" doesn't cut it, she lays her head down in her hands in an attitude of despair. Unfortunately, her chubby little thighs belie her protestations of ravenous hunger.

Their favorite things to eat these days are corn puffs, rice puffs and Cheerios. To keep Ian occupied, we line up a row of these finger foods on the couch and he works his way from one end to the other. We do this with Elanor too but we put the Cheerio trail on the floor to encourage her to crawl more.

We should start calling them "Hansel und Gretel" and write a parody of the Grimm fairy tale. Even better we could write a parody of "Bewitched Bunny," a parody of the Grimm fairy tale. A parody within a parody. And we'll leave you with this...

Posted by Tim and Jo at 8:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 14, 2008

Joanna of Green Gables

Tim: You all know that Joanna is a big fan of literature, especially novels. Unfortunately, she suffers from a rare condition that causes her to morph into certain characters from novels. For instance, here's what happened when she was eleven while reading Anne of Green Gables.

The doctor told her to cease reading AOGG immediately and she eventually "got better." Everything was okay until we went on our honeymoon to Prince Edward Island. I was unaware of her condition until we spent a day in Cavendish, the area where Lucy Maud Montgomery lived and wrote her novels. You can see in the photo what happened. It got so bad that one day she accused me of calling her "carrots" and tried to break a slate over my head. Needless to say, our honeymoon was a bit unusual.

I've consulted with Joanna's doctor and we've agreed that Joanna can read novels, but only one sentence per day. Anything more is just too dangerous. Joanna has been reading War and Peace a sentence a day for almost three years now, and is already up to page 22. And she hasn't turned into Natasha Rostova at all. Yay for Joanna!

Posted by Tim and Jo at 10:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 9, 2008

potty humor

Thanks to a far spreading accident, Elanor added a whole new dimension to her Winnie the Pooh book.

Ummm, yeah, that was fun to clean up.

Posted by Tim and Jo at 9:17 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Double trouble!

The other day I put the kids in their swings for their morning naps. I was just drifting off to sleep when I heard a shriek. Startled, I listened again, and realized it was not a shriek of pain but of hysterical laughter.

I crept down the stairs to see what was going on. I didn't want them to see me, so I hid behind the couch to videotape it. It was totally their moment, a brother-sister moment that had nothing to do with me.

Ian had crawled completely out of his straps (still don't know how he did this--it must have taken a lot of skill and at least five different moves to get out). He was making monkey faces at Elanor, and periodically grabbing her swing to swing along with her. She responded by giggling incessantly.

Posted by Tim and Jo at 12:28 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

August 3, 2008

Peek-

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July 15, 2008

Tim's Behemoth Bachelor Burritos

Tim: So all of you In Search of Lost Time readers out there know by now that Joanna is an excellent cook. One needs only to go to the "Categories" list on our blog and to click on "cooking stuff" to view a veritable smorgasbord of virtual vittles. Well the time has now come to reveal my own cooking skills. Joanna suggested that I share one of my "recipes" from my bachelor days. I thank her for using the word "recipe" so loosely and for allowing the high standards we have for our blog to sink so low.

Nevertheless, I give you Tim's Behemoth Bachelor Burritos.

Ingredients:

• Two flat round tortillas


• Refried black beans (homemade is terrific)


• Onions and bell peppers


• Olives (sure, you can use the ubiquitous green olives, but a nice mix of gourmet olives or kalamata olives really raises the bar here)


• Corn (preferably: canned mexicorn with jalapenos and stuff)


• Salsa (again, the kind of salsa you use really makes or breaks these tortillas. Experiment! Green, red, smoky, fruity, whatever floats your boat)


• Cheese

Spread the black beans even on the tortilla. Chop up onions, peppers and olives and pile them on with copious amounts of corn. Spread on lots of salsa and cheese. Place another tortilla on top and microwave for 2 1/2 minutes. (Okay, so it's not really a burrito. But it's yummy!) The top tortilla gets kind of crispy. Joanna has tried doing this on a griddle, but the microwave is better (the tortilla burns by the time all the ingredients are warm, unless you want to do some kind of combo cooking method, but that takes away from the bachelor simplicity of the whole thing).

Now...to get the complete bachelor experience while eating the behemoth bachelor burrito, it is helpful to simultaneously be engaged in one or more of these activities:

1) Watch a WWII movie, or perhaps a football game (preferably the Steelers)
2) Drink a beer (a "proper" beer of course, not Budweiser)
3) Wear no more apparel than shorts, possibly socks also.
4) Listen to loud music (Wagner or progressive rock). Did I mention the music was supposed to be loud?
5) Argue theology vehemently with your favorite Sicilian (but more than likely, you'll be eating his bachelor spaghetti sauce during this activity)

Posted by Tim and Jo at 10:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 8, 2008

Mouth Strumming

This has been a source of endless amusement lately--for us and them. Enjoy!

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June 27, 2008

Babies laugh

In case the sound of laughter might brighten up someone's day...

Posted by Tim and Jo at 10:06 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

The Pacifier Swap

Remember this?

The pacifier games get more elaborate as time goes on. Sometimes we can't even keep track of whose is whose.

Posted by Tim and Jo at 10:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 22, 2008

rasslin'

I heard an angry cry from Elanor and rushed into the living room to find this.

It's WWF baby style! Ian the Enforcer is hulking up with his no holds barred approach. Will Elanor the Baby Faced Diva pull a two-and-a-half count or is she busted open? Is this flat back bump the end of her wrestling career, or will she come back with a flair flip? Stay tuned next time...

Posted by Tim and Jo at 10:20 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 2, 2008

Overalls: Not Just for Rednecks Anymore

or "How I Convinced Tim that Overalls Are Cool"

Posted by Tim and Jo at 9:28 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Grabbing grandpa's beard

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March 28, 2008

"By this time I'm ready ta sock'em"

This elderly woman is hilarious. Hope I'm that feisty when I'm her age...

Posted by Tim and Jo at 11:23 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 26, 2008

different perspective

Kid on the side of the street (as I pushed the kids by him):

"Where did you get a two-headed stroller?"

Posted by Tim and Jo at 4:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 26, 2008

I married Bob Dylan?

Posted by Tim and Jo at 7:41 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Chubby

This post is dedicated to our dear friend Doris who taught us the multitudinous joys of Chubbiness.

Hi. My name is Chubby.

My momma's chubby.

My daddy's chubby

My brother's chubby.

I guess we's all chubby!

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February 22, 2008

Daddy's beard is fuzzy...

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February 20, 2008

Ian & Elanor Celebrate

Ian: Why do they have us dressed up in our adorably coordinating duds?
Elanor: I think it's for our third month anniversary.

Ian: I'll toast to that [with non-alcoholic milk]!
Elanor: And I'll second the motion!!

Later on...

Elanor: Woohoo!!

Elanor: Yeah, baby!!
Ian: Are you sure there wasn't anything in that "milk" they gave you?

Ian: Put that arm down. This is embarassing both of us.

Posted by Tim and Jo at 3:09 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

February 11, 2008

Poll: Who does Ian resemble?

Posted by Tim and Jo at 3:07 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Poll: Who does Elanor look like?

Posted by Tim and Jo at 3:04 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Accessorizing

Uh-oh, she's starting early!

And she knows exactly which finger her daddy is wrapped around...

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January 24, 2008

Super-Ian--caption time!

Any suggestions??

Posted by Tim and Jo at 9:59 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 11, 2007

Library humor

Okay, so I still can't get used to "pimp" being a part of normal conversation, but this blog post is pretty darn funny-- Pimp My Bookcart

Elaborate and geeky! We're both big fans of the hippie "Support Glitteracy" entry, though I also have a fondness for Mater (in the honorable mentions).

Posted by Tim and Jo at 11:04 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

July 10, 2007

Heightened pregnancy olfactories...

...are not a blessing when you have to drive past an experimental poultry laboratory to get to school/Tim's work.

Phew-wee, those chickens stink!

Posted by Tim and Jo at 8:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 9, 2007

Why pregnancy and dissertating don't mix

As I was typing books into an annotated bibliography, I looked down at "Changing Tunes: The Use of Pre-existing Music in Film," and read "Changing Twins: The Use of Pre-existing Music in Film."

Posted by Tim and Jo at 1:56 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

October 26, 2006

More YouTube Fun

Heee!! People keep on finding funny things and showing me.

Weird Al meets Anakin and legos.

Posted by Tim and Jo at 10:29 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 24, 2006

LOTR humor #2

Thanks again to Karen for finding this little oddity on YouTube. Hee!

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