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Monday Teeny Poll

Monday, March 21st, 2011
By Glinda

It seems that I am going against the grain, as a whopping 88% of you re-read books!  I rarely, if ever, re-read a book.  I figure there are so many new books out there that I haven’t read yet, so why spend the time on something I’ve already done?  There are not all that many books (that I have personally already read, which of course isn’t everything!)  that I would consider worth reading twice.   However, if I’m desperate to read anything, then of course I’ll grab whatever is nearest. 

As for today, I’m curious about your cell phone habits…


Cars of the Future

Thursday, March 3rd, 2011
By Glinda

As Ford introduces an inflatable seat belt for children, can a car that simply puts your kid in a bubble be far behind?

Forgive me, dear readers, as I deal with my own skyrocketing body temperature and a vomiting 16 month old.

And, in case you haven’t already seen it, (although you probably have) here is Tom Hanks as Pageant Dad.


Monday Teeny Poll

Monday, February 28th, 2011
By Glinda

Because of the holiday last week and a suspended poll, we are still on Valentine’s Day.  Good grief.

36% of you are all about the chocolate.  Agreed.  Although really, is there ANY holiday in which chocolate is not involved?  32% don’t care one way or the other, and 19% refuse to be told which day of the year love should be celebrated.  Agreed on that one, also.  6% of you love Valentine’s Day, and 4% of you think Valentine’s Day can suck it.

Today my question involves summer vacation time, which is coming up faster than you would think.  Although the stretch from April to June can feel pret-ty long sometimes.


DON’T PANIC*

Thursday, February 24th, 2011
By Glinda

 

On Monday night, the Munchkin was sick.

He was being given acetominophen, but at about 9:30pm, his temperature clocked in at 103.6.

Now, I’m normally not one to panic but he was looking pretty peaked and I thought to myself, hmmm, 103.6 is pretty freaking high.  And that’s even taking into account that his system already had fever reducer in it.

We have a health plan that has a 24 hour nurse hotline, and I figured since we pay for it, I might as well use it.  I was considering taking him in to urgent care, but usually I like to stay home as much as possible and just sort of ride the illness out.   I’ve found that just as much harm can be done hauling kids out of bed in the cold of night and sitting in a waiting room just to discover there’s not a whole lot that can be done. 

Been there, done that.

So I’m on hold waiting for the nurse and she finally comes on the line.  She has to ask me some prescribed questions about the Munchkin’s condition, and I answer them in a very calm and serene manner.  I tell her his temperature, I inform her that he is not fainting, nor is he having problems moving his extremities.

But then she asks me, “What color is his tongue?”

Good question.

I make him stick it out, and I answer, “Well, to be honest, it looks sort of gray.”

She replies, “Gray? Did you say his tongue was gray?”

Still looking at it, I answer in the affirmative, as there is sort of a grayish coating on it.  Sorry if that’s gross-sounding, but if you’re a parent you’ve heard and seen much, much worse, I’m sure.

I hear the nurse say, “A gray tongue is a possible sign that he isn’t getting enough oxygen.  I want you to hang up right now and call 911.”

Me, “Huh?”

Her, “Yes, I want you call 911 right now.”

Me, “Uh, yeah, OK, whatever.”

Because dude, I know that he is getting plenty of oxygen and it is the NURSE who is now panicking, not me.

I’m sure she hung up the phone thinking my son was surely headed to his doom because his mother was so nonchalant about his oxygen-starved brain.

But I’m pretty sure I made the right decision.

Although the Munchkin sure was disappointed he didn’t get to ride in an ambulance.

Tough luck, kid.

*Ten points for the title of the book this is from.


Monday Teeny Poll

Monday, February 14th, 2011
By Glinda

image via

Oh readers of Teeny Manolo, you are ladies after my own heart. Not one of you chose veggies with dip as your favorite appetizer, and that is why I love you so. As for the winner of the poll, there was a three way tie! Mini-sized regular food, chips and cold dip, and something with cheese all had 19% of the vote. The next-highest category was nachos, with only 12%. If push came to shove, I think I would have to vote for an appetizer containing cheese as my favorite. You just can’t go wrong with cheese, you know?

Now, I would be totally remiss if today’s poll had nothing to do with Valentine’s Day. It’s there, it’s a gimme, so I’m going for it.


They Don’t Make Them Like They Used To

Thursday, February 3rd, 2011
By Glinda

The other day on Manolo Beauty (and if you haven’t gone over there yet and checked it out, it is a rather good site, if I do say so myself) I had mentioned a lunch box I used to take to school every day.  Being the 70’s/80’s, it was of course made out of metal.  That post got me thinking about those old metal lunch boxes and how different they are to the ones kids use today.

The one my son takes to school is fantastic.  It is insulated, big enough to fit everything he needs but small enough to still fit in his backpack, has a front pocket, and just does an all around good job of keeping his drink and whatever fruit I pack in there cold until lunchtime. 

So very different from the metal ones, which did a crappy job of keeping anything warm or cold, but damn, did they look good.  We didn’t know it then, but we were toting around compact works of art.  Sure, a lot of those lunchboxes were just advertising disguising themselves as something useful, but they were so much more visually stimulating.

Today we definitely choose function over form, but I can’t help but be a bit nostalgic about those metal boxes.  And really, they were useful as weapons, too.  I love things that can do double duty.  Today’s lunch boxes are soft-sided and useless in a fight.

Join me as I take a trip down memory lane…

I would have loved to have this lunch box!

Never knew anyone with one of these, but I covet it even now.

It seems out of all the recycled 80’s characters, Holly Hobbie was totally left in the dust. Confession, I had this lunch box. And I hated it. And I hated Holly Hobbie. She stood for nothing other than her dumb patchwork clothing.

I NEVER got into Strawberry Shortcake, but I was totally in the minority. I guarantee you someone in my class had this lunchbox.

Yes, we all watched Mork & Mindy, but I don’t know anybody who liked it enough to own a lunchbox with it. Maybe I was hanging with the wrong crowd.

Yes, I owned a Cabbage Patch Kid, who was inexplicably a boy.

I can sing the theme song to this show to this day.

Anybody else think the Sleestaks were pretty lame?


Talk to the Hand

Thursday, January 27th, 2011
By Glinda

My one year old daughter received many, many toys on Christmas. 

Some would say too many.

I wouldn’t necessarily say that, but I do think she got way too many toys that talk to her.

Oh for the good old days when your toys didn’t say phrases at you all the time!  When you could stare at your stuffed dog and you could pretend it said anything you wanted, not one of twenty canned, pre-recorded phrases.

The one I hate the most is a dog made by Fisher Price that will talk and sing when you press it’s ears/paws/tummy.  The songs are fine, I never have anything against a good rendition of the ABC song.

But I think I hate it because the voice is one that is dripping with saccharine.  The actor who performed for the recordings deliberately pitched her voice much too high, and almost emotes too much, if you know what I mean. 

And personally, I feel it is just wrong for inanimate objects to ask to “Be my friend.”  Am I alone on this?

By some particular quirk of fate, the dog we have is apparently possessed, as it will say the phrases while it is lying on the floor and no one has touched it in over ten minutes. I will be sitting there on the couch, and suddenly a disembodied voice will rise up from the floor.  “I loooove you,” the dog will coo in an annoying singsong way.

That dog had better watch it’s back, because if it keeps spontaneously spouting creepy phrases, I just might find myself spontaneously throwing it in the trash.

 

 

 


Why I Refuse to Buy My Son a Kindle

Friday, December 31st, 2010
By Glinda

Or any other type of e-reader, for that matter.

Because I am a curmudgeon? Quite possibly.

Because I am a Luddite? Or technophobe? Hardly.

I think it is because there is just something so wonderful and tangible about holding a new book in your hands.  The feel of the cover, the crispness of the pages, the actual turning of the pages and the particular noise that makes.

Reading is such an immediate and personal act, and  not teaching my son about the intimacy of a reading a book seems wrong.

Let’s face it, by the time he is in high school (or sooner) the bulk of reading will probably be done on e-readers.  I get the pros of an e-reader, I really do.  You can store many more books than you could carry in a backpack or luggage.  Not to mention not having to store a bunch of books in your home that take up space.  Although personally, I love having books in my home. Plus, it’s probably harder to lose an e-reader than a book, although I have no first-hand knowledge of this.  And, I’m going to guess that an e-reader is better for the environment overall. Insert large sigh here.

So I’m just trying to hold out as long as I can against the technological tide that is surely turning against me.  I’m sure that eventually books will go the way of newspapers, which is to say waning readership of an actual newspaper, but tons of online readers.

Pretty soon I’ll be babbling about how telephones used to have circular dials and long cords attached to them, as well as how we used to have to get up to turn the television station.

Oh right, I already do that.

Fine, curmudgeon it is.









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