First dentist appointment in the books!

Check out this cute photo of Evey getting ready for her recital at Eudora High School! I have (expensive) studio photos we bought of her in this outfit that I'll scan and post soon.

Speaking of expensive, let's talk about Evey's first dentist appointment!

Like I said, I didn't go, so this is all a second-hand report from the lovely Mrs. Adro Jones.

The appointment only took ten minutes. The dentist's assistant (is that what you call them?) looked at Evey's teeth, said they looked good, then quickly did a cleaning and applied some fluoride. The gal then went to get a dentist, any dentist, but they were all too busy to see my daughter. So the assistant asked Adro if they really wanted to see the dentist, and Adro was like, "Well, if they're not available... I guess not."

So Evey then sat back again, prepared for what was described to her as a scrubbing. This is when the assistant told her, nope, she was done! She already had the "scrubbing," that was the cleaning/fluoride.

So Evey got off even easier than she expected! Nice.

Me and Adro, however, didn't get off as easy. That 10-minute trip cost $80. We didn't sign up for dental for Evey this year because we figured it would cost less than paying the monthly premium for just one or two appointments than paying cash for the one or two appointments she went to... which will turn out as true (knock on wood, barring any tooth accidents) as long as she doesn't go back for a while... and Adro smartly scheduled her next appointment for early January.

So, there you go! Evey thus far has the Weibel/Romero teeth, lucky girl. Let's hope the baby boy gets the same teeth, along with dad's vertical leap, humility and awesome taste in music and sense of humor.

Coloring with Papi

Here's a photo from when we were at Roaring River State Park. Evey and her Papi taking some time to color some pages.

I've discovered a new flavor drink at Sonic that is really quite amazing. It's my new favorite drink and I'm addicted to it.

It's a cherry limeade with grape flavor added.

It sounds simple, but that is the beauty, and brilliance of it. Try one. Today.

Adro tried it and didn't like it. She said it tasted like "pop rocks."

I don't know what pop rocks taste like, but if they taste like magic, then yep, she's right.

Piggy bank money

I asked Adro to pick up a new car seat for me yesterday. I told her I'd pay for it, she said we'd take it out of our joint account, you know, the usual pleasantries.

Then Evey came out of her room holding her piggy bank.

"Here, Dad," she said. "You can take it out of my money."

I told her that was sweet, but that mommy and daddy had it covered.

========

Oh, how did the dentist appointment go?

Stay tuned.

First dentist appointment

Evey has her first real dentist appointment Monday morning. Judging by these photos, she'll be ready.

The cousins, Jett and Marina, spent the night at our house a few weeks back... I snapped these photos as well as a few others I'll share this week.

Evey has already had two "happy visits" to the dentist where they just sat her in the chair and let her check stuff out. They also counted her teeth. I'm told this freaked her out a little bit. I'll wait for a report from Adro on how here first real, non-happy visit goes. I'm nervous for both of them, but I won't tell her that.

And no, I'm not going to be there at this memorable event. There are no happy visits for me at the dentist, only sad visits, so, to quote the late Layne Staley, I stay away.

Weather

Here are some more weather photos from southern Missouri the other day. At one point I did start videotaping because I thought the clouds were about to drop... thankfully that didn't happen.

Evey is starting to read everything around her. Today she tried reading the random French wine posters we have in our dining room. She did pretty well sounding things out phonetically, sadly, there was no reward for her because the words were nonsense to her (and me.) But it's cool to see her mind trying to arrange the letters correctly.

I got a nice voicemail from my pal Damon yesterday. We're playing phone tag right now, but I'm flattered that he still checks Evey's blog. Hopefully he makes it down for the Laugh Olympics in September... I'm sure he will, he's been a long-time supporter of the event, and this year will mark the 10th anniversary. Plus, he is living in the states now, which will make his flight easier.

And the coolest letter we've received recently was right before I left for the U.S. Open -- my cousin Melissa sent Evey a "congrats" card on the news that she would be a big sister... also included was a $25 gift certificate to Applebee's, with a note saying, "Take you mom and dad out to dinner!" Very sweet, very nice. Hopefully Evey follows the directions and does indeed take us out!

Jukebox update, 6/20/11

Removed:

Jethro Tull, Greatest Hits Vol.1
The Crow Soundtrack
Elliott Smith, XO
Elliott Smith, New Moon Disc 1
Elvis, No. 1s
Incubus, A Crow Left of the Murder
Nine Inch Nails, Downward Spiral
Pearl Jam, 10
Powerman 5000, Tonight the Stars Revolt!
R.E.M., Best of Disc 1
Roy Orbison, Black and White Night
Stone Temple Pilots, Purple
Sponge, Wax Ecstatic
Spoon, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Soul Coughing, Ruby Vroom
Toadies, Rock Show (Live)
Tool, Aenima
White Zombie, Astrocreep 2000
Stone Temple Pilots, Thank You (Greatest Hits)
Something's Gotta Give Soundtrack

Inserted:

L.L. Cool J/Cool Kids mix
Beastie Boys, Hot Sauce Committee Part 2
Chevelle, Wonder What's Next?
The Flys, Holiday Man
Gnarls Barkley, St. Elsewhere
Foo Fighters, Wasting Light
Seether, Disclaimer
Pearl Jam, Vitalogy
Muse, Absolution
Michael Jackson, Number Ones
Lil' Kim, La Bella Mafia
Ludacris, Word of Mouf
Sublime, Sublime
Slipknot, Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses
Starsailor, Love is Here
Manchester Orchestra, Simple Math (plus Silversun Pickups, Pickul)
Marilyn Manson, Greatest Hits
Tool, Undertow
Vampire Weekend, Contra
War, The Hits

Father's Day

I had an awesome father's day weekend!

My girls got me some great stuff. Highlights include some new adidas (which I really wanted/needed... I neglect to buy myself clothes, as is evidenced by proudly wearing my 1998 Aquabats T-shirt like it looks good) and the ESPN "30 for 30" series on Biu-Ray.Hot damn!

We went after the yard on Saturday morning and got a ton done. Started at 8:30 a.m., done by 1 p.m. Then I got the slip and slide out and me and Evey got crazy. Afterward I called a mandatory trip to Peking Taste, so we went. And something about that visit to Peking was just... perfect. Evey loves the place, as do I, it was 95 degrees out, and we're throwing down buffet. Good times.

Saturday night I played with the jukebox. Swapped out 20 CDs. Also, watched V for Vendetta.

That night, I dreamed about my Dad. The dream wasn't a very good one. Me and Dad were at a karaoke party together. I wanted to sing a song that would please the older crowd... but I didn't know many of the songs that were in the book. Eventually I decided to sing an Eagles song, but the one they played for me wasn't the one I picked, nor did I know the song. So I bombed it.

Why was I at a karaoke party with my Dad? No idea. You might guess that me and Dad never hit a karaoke party while he was living... the mind is a strange place. Perhaps the dream was about trying to please my Dad? That seems like the obvious place my mind was going.

Sunday, we took it easy all day. Grilled some dogs and brats while I admired the yard. Evey has definitely been a daddy's girl all weekend. We played a lot of Uno and "tree frog" over the weekend. She also refused to take a nap on Sunday, until she came downstairs and cuddled with me while I watched the U.S. Open... she was out in 5 minutes... and I was content to lay there and watch the blowout win.

A great father's day weekend. Thank you, girls!

Done with D.C.

Photo is of Luke Donald hitting a drive at last week's U.S. Open.

I spent more time lost in D.C. than found. I'll be happy not to return for a while. I always thought it was kind of a petty/small-minded thing for people to say things like, "Oh, I really hate that part of the country, I'd never live there..." Well, hate is a strong word, but I really disliked the D.C./Baltimore area. It also seems that most of the people who live there wished they lived elsewhere. That's saying something!

Anyway, let's talk about my last poll... I wanted to say that I agree with the 8 of you who voted that we wouldn't know color existed, if we were all totally color blind. How would we have a concept for color if we had never perceived color?

Which leads me to my next thought... what are our human brains missing out on right now?

As I take a drink from my beer, how about this one: the ability to sense harmful things that we might consider putting in our body. For example, being able to know, instinctually, that a cigarette was harming you. Maybe a bad example, but only because that one is common knowledge... Take it to a bigger picture... what if you could sense something around you would, over the long-term, going to give you cancer? OK, smaller picture -- the last time you got food poisoning? What if you could have sensed that the sweet and sour chicken would have made you ill?

Some animals do this already... they can sniff out food that's going to cause them trouble... yet some animals will eat poison unknowingly...

If you read a lot of science fiction, you see all sorts of different ideas on things we can't perceive... time, space, color, etc. I read (and by 'read' I mean 'started and never finished') a mildly interesting Isaac Asimov book once where a species of alien could perceive the entirety of its life all in one vision... there was no today or tomorrow, it was just one whole, and these guys knew the day they'd die, but there was really no concept for it.

Anyway, if you're still with me, I want you to know that I believe that there are aliens out there who can perceive much more than humans can... and it was this alien race that designed the highway system in the D.C./Baltimore area, and that is the reason the whole thing is one giant clusterfuck.

Thank you.

Wake up for a tornado

We were in southern Missouri when the Joplin tornado hit, visiting Adro's family (Alan's side.)

We had to wake up Evey from a nap so we could sit in the hotel hallway for an hour while the tornado sirens went off. Joplin was hit, then the same storm blew through where we were 40 minutes later.

No tornado, but it was spooky. And I'm not just talking about Evelyn's hair.

So proud of Evey

This weekend was Evey's recital from her dance class... she performed in front of about 300 people on both Saturday and Sunday night along with the other six kids in her class... and she nailed it two nights in a row!

She looked so cute in her costume... all yellow with a miner's helmet (they danced to the 'heigh-ho' seven dwarfs song, "it's off to work we go...") I'll have photos from the event soon (photography from parents was frowned upon, my one cell phone photo is really crappy.)

It was weird sitting there waiting for my daughter to come out from behind a curtain... for 30 minutes I was bored, agitated, disgruntled, but keeping on a happy face... then for two minutes I was thrilled... then back to angry at the world that I was spending my weekend and my money at the Eudora High School auditorium (the whole show was around two hours long, and varied greatly in quality and cuteness, depending on if your kid was or wasn't involved in the performance.)

But, seriously... Evey nailed it. On Saturday, she was a little delayed getting into the routine, but once she got going she was awesome. On Sunday, she almost lost her helmet, but it stayed on her head... she was the second tallest girl on the stage at the time, and her lankiness made me smile. She really stretched those arms and legs out.

My very favorite part of her performance was when she'd lean over and hold her hand to her ear (imagine Hulk Hogan pumping up the crowd.) I don't know why, but she did this one move especially well compared to her almost-as-talented colleagues on stage.

GREAT JOB EVEY! WE'RE SO PROUD OF YOU!!!

Bella and Evey contemplating a kid's book

Big weekend coming up... Evey has her first recital for her dance class (Saturday and Sunday), it's my sister's birthday (Sunday), we're watching the Johnson kids (Friday) and my mom is also coming up for the weekend.

And tomorrow (Thursday) I'm going to the first ever soccer game at the new Livestrong Sporting Park. Exciting!

Killed a few beers and a stogie with Neuty on the back deck tonight. For some reason, the temperature doesn't seem as hot as they say it is. Good times.

Adrianne and the baby are doing well. Evey wanted to buy the baby yogurt the other day. Adro told her that the yogurt wouldn't last that long in the fridge. Still, nice of big sister to already be looking out for little brother.

Shout-out to Solo

Not only did he celebrate a birthday recently, he also scored a sweet new gig teaching high school journalism/yearbook at Mulvane High.

Congrats, Mike! I think this is the beginning of your true career. I'm proud of ya.

GARAGE SALE WEEKEND

Stop by the Jones casa tomorrow or Saturday, from 7 a.m. to noon, and buy our junk, I mean treasures!

Lots of girly stuff! An armoire! A bedroom set! NO comic books!

What a game in the NBA tonight. I thought the Mavs were DEAD. I mean, they were giving up dunk after dunk. Just pathetic. And yet they pull out the win. This series has life in it again!

Evey, Boom & Boom

Here's a question for you to ponder:

If humans were universally color blind -- and I mean, we could only see black, white and shades of gray -- do you think we'd know that color existed?

Let's make it a poll!