Summer, Slithery Dee, stuck, smiley

WCK and I have been having lots of fun summer days. Sometimes I feel like I'm re-living the summers from my childhood. We've been playing in the wading pool, "helping" Jay grill, bringing home stacks of books for the library's summer reading program, riding trikes with friends, and going to the "real" pool. (Yes, we actually made it to Splash 'n Play TWICE this week, so I think I've officially made up for the two big Splash 'n Play disappointments earlier in the summer.) The only thing missing is Kool Aid and/or homemade popsicles. I bought the Kool Aid, but I worry a little about combining WCK and red liquid. We'll do it as soon as I work up the courage.

On Thursday, WCK and I went to a puppet show at the library. It was at a library that's further away from our house than our "regular" library, but the Puppet Show Lady absolutely cracks me up, so I'm willing to drive a little farther when she is performing. She's an older lady who looks exactly like my Great-Grandma Nina. She always performs a puppet show that has a storyline, and then she brings out two frog puppets who tell really bad (in this case "bad" means "good") knock-knock jokes. (Knock, knock. Who's there? Little old lady. Little old lady who? I didn't know you could yodel!)

WCK and I just crack up.

At the end of the show, one of the frogs always recites "Slithery Dee." My dad used to sing me "Slithery Dee" all the time when I was little. Maybe this explains why I'm not quite right; I don't know, but I love "Slithery Dee." I didn't know anybody else even knew "Slithery Dee" until the Puppet Show Lady entered our lives. It goes like this:

Oh, Slithery Dee, he crawled out of the sea
He ate all the others, but he won't eat me
No, he won't eat me, ol' Slithery Dee
He may catch all the others, but--
(BIG SLURPING, CHOMPING SOUND)

I've gotten way off topic.

After the puppet show, I decided to stop at a nearby Wal-Mart for a few things we needed. It is not a super Wal-Mart, so it is even LESS CLASSY than the Wal-Mart right by our house, which I didn't think was possible. I put WCK in the cart, buckled the little seat belt, bought our stuff, and went back to the car. And then ... I could NOT get the seat belt unbuckled. WCK was trapped in the Wal-Mart cart. I struggled with it for a few minutes, and WCK started to panic and scream, "GET ME OUT!! GET ME OUT!!" Maybe she had visions of having to spend the rest of her life in a Wal-Mart cart. Maybe we would have to live at Wal-Mart. That thought would make me scream, too.

As we struggled, an SUV slowed to a stop nearby. The driver looked like a nice young mom. "Ah," I thought, "someone is stopping to help us." Turns out she just wanted our parking spot. When she saw that we were going to be there for a while, because my screaming child was obviously permanently tied to a shopping cart, she moved on. Thank you, fellow Wal-Mart patron!

Finally, I decided to go back into the store to see if the employees could help us. I expected them to be surprised, but they acted completely un-surprised and bored, as though small children are getting trapped in the shopping carts ALL DAY LONG.

"Oh, yeah," said the Wal-Mart Lady, "I have some scissors right here."

One snip, and WCK was free. She was ecstatic. She keeps talking about the Wal-Mart ladies and how they helped her. As we walked back to the car, she asked, "Can we go back and say thank-you again? Can we go back and say thank-you again?"

That's sweet, but a brand-new Target opens right by our house tomorrow. God willing, I never have to set foot in a Wal-Mart again.

Final topic: WCK and I made scrambled eggs for breakfast this morning, and we both noticed that the cracked eggs formed a smiley face. What do you think?