Daniel loved doing study abroad this summer at LAMDA in London, despite treating unexpected Lyme disease at the same time! He will be graduating from BYU this spring, and, as mentioned, getting married! Ellen will turn 5 this January, and will go to kindergarten next fall. I can’t seem to get my strength back, such as it was ;-), after this last emergency neurosurgery (in October). It *did* help with the worst pain, thankfully! But, with all the damage to the base of my skull this past year, I still struggle with daily migraines. However, I’m more thankful than ever before in my life for my family. I am in awe that we get to have a new family member, and such an amazing one! And, I find, as always, that humor helps with the ups and downs of life. –Lesli
Music
Ellen- Burn, turn, those rhyme! Light, fight, those rhyme. Why did them make up that silly story? Them was just fighting a fire, but it was just still burning! And they were cooking marshmallows on the fire!
Doug- Daniel, you don't
understand because it's always been so easy for you to find the music you want,
but, back in the day, it was just randomly picking up a cassette of The Planets
from the library because it looked interesting, and just going 'OH MY GOSH!
THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE! IT'S JUST BANGER AFTER BANGER!'
[Later, Daniel plays Ellen 'Jupiter'.]
Daniel- Isn't this a good
one?
Ellen [with all the contempt of a seasoned aficionado looking down their nose
at a new fan]- Daniel, I already knowed this one. It's the music from
Bluey.
Growing Up
Lesli- Did you know I'm
going to turn 50 on my birthday?!
Ellen- Yeah—but will you
grow up when you turn 50?
Lesli [pausing slightly]- Yeah—I guess I will grow up when I turn 50.
Ellen- Because I growed up
when I turned 4. And now I wear underwear!
Doug- Did you know if you
didn't have a toothbrush, you could use your finger? Did you know that in the
jungle, they would break off a branch and use the end to brush their teeth?
Ellen- Yeah. I know.
Doug- Really? Because I
didn't know that when I was four.
Ellen- Poppy, I'm four and a
*half*!
Lesli- Yeah, seriously,
Doug!
Ellen- Can I invite Rosie to
my birthday?
Doug- Sure.
Ellen- Hooray!
Doug- But you know your
birthday is not until January. You'll be turning 5. You're getting older.
[pause]
Ellen- Yeah, but can I still
live with you guys?
Doug [reading a comic book with Ellen]- What's this guy's name?
Ellen- Superman!
Doug- Right! And what's her
name?
Ellen [whispers]- You tell me.
Doug- That's Wonder Woman.
Ellen- Right, cause her
wants to know what all the things do.
[I loved that she thought the superpower of this Amazon princess was an
insatiable curiosity about the world.
–Doug]
Ellen [VERY distressed about Pooh book that makes phone calls]- Mommy, I'm
missing the phone!
Lesli- And how long have you
been missing the phone?
Ellen- 10 years!
Doug [reading a bedtime story]- There is a MONSTER at the end of this
book! Please do NOT turn the page!
Doug [in an aside]- This is a parable about AI.
Ellen
[playing with Hogwarts castle]- Will
you play with this baby Jesus set with me now?
[Ellen gave Doug the felt Mary holding Jesus.
Doug moved them towards the castle.]
Doug-
Here, baby Jesus. We can go to Hogwarts. This is the potions room. Here you can
learn to turn water to wine.
[Then he moved them to another room.]
This
is Professor Mungo’s classroom, where you can learn healing.
Ellen-
And what about this part with food?
[She gestured to the magic banquet table,
that turns around so it has no food, or lots of food.]
Doug-
Here you can learn to make loaves and fishes.
Ellen-
Or other types of food!
Daniel-
Professor Mungo is kind of a deep cut. I’m impressed.
Doug [reading a pop-up book about
the ocean]- What is that?
Ellen- A sea a-e-mone.
Doug- And remember, an enemy
of my anemone is my friend.
Doug [to Ellen, very over-the-top excitedly]- Ellen, I brought you some
board books!
Ellen [sounding very bored]- You got me some board books. Bored books are
boring.
Toys and
Games
We've only opened stockings
so far and Ellen's level of excitement is at the pitch and volume of a steam
whistle-
Ellen- AHH! CANDY! A PINK LLAMA UNICORN! I WANTED THAT! STICKERS! MORE
STICKERS! AN ORANGE! A PINK CAT AND LOOK IT HAS SPARKLY FEET! THAT'S JUST WHAT
I WANTED!
Ellen- Lola is not a robot. Her is a ladybug. Her doesn't speak English. Her speaks Spanish. [Lola is Ellen’s ladybug droid that just beeps and boops.]
Daniel [showing his old merit badges]- That one's for camping, that one's
for archery, that one's for forestry, that one's for chess...
Ellen [laughs]- That one's not like the others. That's just a toy. [She had similar thoughts on cycling.]
[Playing with the 'Winnie-the-Pooh' toys with Ellen]
Doug [in Eeyore voice]- Oh well, I guess it's better than 'Pin the Tail
on the Donkey.'
Doug [in Roo voice]- You don't like ‘Pin the Tail on the Donkey,’ Eeyore?
Doug [in Eeyore voice]- No. People always pin it on my face.
[a pause]
Doug- Come on, Ellen, this
is top-tier comedy.
Ellen- Poppy, have the bad
stuffed animals try to come into my fort, and have the rabbit stop them.
Doug
[Voicing bad stuffed
animals]- Who are you?
Doug [voicing Velveteen in a tough
voice]- Who do you think? I'm the
bouncer.
Inventions
I bought a remote control
dinosaur because I wanted a remote control dinosaur, but it turns out to also
play an upbeat techno tune (think Hamster Dance) and flash brightly colored
LEDs. Ellen is delighted. She decided that it is best to play it in a
completely dark room as a “glow party,” dance, and eat Pez while playing the
music. I think she has independently invented the rave. -Doug
Ellen- My sword is called Circle Mirkle Dirkle. If you want to not hurt your hand, you need to get a stick like this [a PVC pipe she found], and stick it inside the sword, and then you hold onto it like this. [She invented boffers.]
Lesli- Can you imagine being
a life coach for a job?
Doug- I would be awesome at
it.
Doug got an email at work
advertising for the position of Inspector General.
He forwarded it to Daniel- Do you think I should apply?
Daniel- Really, you needn't apply. Just start going places and
implying you might be, and you'll get all the benefits.
[Lesli looks at Doug’s ‘Department of the Army Civilian’s Service
Commendation’ medals.]
Doug- How come we never go
to any parties where I can wear that?
[Playing with Fisher-Price toys]
Doug- Here is a dragon that
can live in the zoo.
Ellen- Dragons don't live in
a zoo! Dragons lived in the 80’s, in castles!
Ellen- Rhinoceroses do not live in today's world; them lived in dinosaur times.
Doug- What does this spell?
FFF AAA RRR
Ellen- Far
Doug- And this word?
Ellen- Far, Far
Doug- Right! It says Far, Far Away on Judea's Plains.
Ellen [laughing]- They didn't have planes back in the 80's!
[Ellen watches Hilda climb on the roof on the show ‘Hilda.’]
Ellen- That's not safe!
Lesli- No, it isn't. Never
do that.
Ellen- I won't. I always
remember to not climb on the roof!
[Lesli and Daniel are watching a grown-up show while Ellen pretends to be a turtle] Lesli- Just let us watch the last two minutes of our damn show, Turtle.
[Watching 'Story Time' TV show saying there are sweet people all over
the world]
TV show- There are sweet
people in Iceland and in Russia…
Ellen- And in Kay street! That's
where we live!
Gateway Automotive, in trying to explain that we needed a new
timing belt, said on the phone, “You lost some time.”
I was really confused for several moments, thinking about the Spiderman: Far From Home movie we were
currently watching, where they lost time by being blipped for five years. -Lesli
I really wanted to take a couple of family photos right before Daniel went back to college. But, due to fatigue and headaches, didn't get to it until it was super dark outside. So, we only got a couple, and they are super blurry. In one of them, I look like a blurry ghost, and Daniel said, ‘In this one, it's almost like our Mother is still with us.’ -Lesli
Food and
Water
[Lesli was concerned that the large piece of cucumber Ellen put in her
mouth could become a choking hazard.]
Doug- What do you call
something silly you put in your mouth? A joking hazard.
Ellen- We’re making cookies!
Know what my job is? To lick the spoons.
Ellen- You have to be a
werry cold mountain because I am in Artistica. I need food in my pack. I got
one French fry for my snack on the way.
[On impulse, Ellen gave Doug the Bluey lunch box her grandma gave her
that she absolutely loves.]
Ellen- Grandma gived it to
me. Then I gived it to you. But it's still mine, too, ’cause it's got my food
in it.
Ellen [Coughing after a pill]- Some of the medicine went to the wrong place inside. To the wrong tube inside me, where the bones are.
Daniel- Are Cheerios really
your favorite Halloween candy?
Ellen- No, I was just making
a joke.
Daniel- What is really your
favorite Halloween candy?
Ellen- ALL candy!
Ellen- But not yucky candy!
Ellen is crying because she thought I said 'peaches' with cheese and pepperoni, and she was disappointed when I brought her food. -Doug
Lesli- Could you please
drink some water?
Daniel- I'll drink some
water when I bloody well feel like it.
Ellen [whispering to Daniel]- Don't say bloody.
Daniel [whispering back]- Can I say damn?
Ellen [to Lesli]- Mommy, is damn a good word?
Doug- Do you want lemonade
or ice cream?
Ellen- Lemonade! ... and
then ice cream.
From Doug's Twitter
I'm sure all the Republicans
are thinking now- huh, I guess the Democrats *didn't* have a way to control the
election. So I guess it all was a big lie after all. Boy, I sure was wrong
about that. I'll be more careful what I believe in the future.
I find life is like a box of chocolates. If you are willing to read and to look for the labels in the lid of the box, you will generally have a pretty good idea of what to expect.
I'm trying to teach Ellen how to sound out words, but she often doesn't want to. So I told her my password to my computer. If she wants to get on and play games, she has to figure out how to type it.
Could an answer generated by an AI, no matter how many parameters or how well trained, ever truly be considered numberwang?
True Detective is the story of some eccentric folks seeing evidence of an apparently supernatural horror, only to discover after a lot of running around that in the end it was just a normal crime. In other words, the exact same plot as Scooby Doo.
Lesli- Is it social pariah
or social piranha?
Lesli- Ellen, be good!
Ellen- Why?
Lesli- What do you mean,
why?!
Lesli- What is the
difference between a bay and a lagoon?
Doug- Since my entire
experience with the term revolves around an amusement park and The Creature From the Black, I can't
really answer your question.
Twilight Sparkle = ‘moonicorn’.
Ellen- I'm just so flopping
tired.
Underdog push on swing by
Doug = underdoug
Telescope = ‘skelescope’
Ellen- Sometimes Rocky says,
‘Green beans go!’ [from Paw Patrol-- he
really says ‘Green means go’]
Lesli- I love your
Valentine’s card you made me.
Ellen- I know.
[Reminded me of Han Solo. –Lesli]
Doug- Remember that story I
told you about the cave, and how Jesus was dead, but then he came alive again
and they opened the cave and it was empty? Well, that's why they made this
plastic Easter egg empty.
Ellen- Jesus was in this
EGG?!
Ellen- Help me mess wif da dust, Poppy! Poppy, help me catch the dust!
[Before they left for Utah for Thanksgiving]
When Ellen was hugging me on
my lap, I told her I would miss her, and she said, “I will miss …,” and I
thought she was going to say, “You!,” but, she said, “my bed! I LOVE my bed!” -Lesli
Lesli- That shirt is so cute
on you! But it doesn't...
Ellen- ‘...matter if you are
pretty or not because your body is an instrument, not an ornament.’ Yes, Mommy,
I know.
[Lesli goes back upstairs]
Ellen [to Doug]- That gingerbread girl on
the Christmas tree is an ornament though.
Ellen [making a joke]- Are you
taking me to Ellen's house or to Funky Town?
Rosie [Ellen’s friend]- Can we jump on the trampoline?
Julie [her Mom]- Not today; I have a wedding to attend this evening.
Ellen [whispers to Doug]- Her is getting married!
Lesli- Will you label
Ellen's painting?
Doug- Probably not.
Lesli- You know I label
99.9999% of the drawings.
Doug- I'm not sure there are
a million works of her art that are labeled.
Lesli- Did you seriously
count all the nines?
Doug- If you had said “most”
I wouldn't have done any math.
When I visited Oxford, all the beautiful, historic colleges tried to charge you a couple pounds to go in and look around, but, if you just slip to the porters privately that you're a prospective student, not only do they let you in for free, but they treat you like royalty for the rest of your visit; it's great! -Daniel
Lesli- I think Ellen looks
like a Summers.
Daniel- That could be because the way you hold
tension in your face, you learn from your parents.
Lesli- Really? That’s neat!
Daniel- That's why when my
face is at rest, I look sad all the time.
Nurse- How are you doing
today?
Lesli- My pain is being
managed well, at a 4-5 level, even after I discontinued the Dilaudid at 5 PM
yesterday. I only had 2 cc’s of draining in my left drain, so I'm ready for
that one to come out....
Nurse- It's like you're
reading my mind; those are all the questions I was about to ask you!
Doug- Yeah, this isn't our
first rodeo.
Kathryn- Lesli thinks she
had a mini stroke.
Marti- How do you prevent
having more mini strokes?
Kathryn- You don't have
brain surgery.
Marti- Okay. Write that
down, Lesli. Put it on the fridge.
Lesli- I want to cuddle.
Doug- You won’t be able to.
You always think you do, and then you can’t.
Lesli- I know, I know. I
hate my stupid neck. I want to be able to go back and correct my stupid
mistakes. Why can’t we correct mistakes that ruin our lives if we made them
when we were very young?
Doug- It would be like that
movie About Time.
Lesli- What movie?
Doug- About Time.
Lesli- Oh.
Doug- You would correct some
things, but mess up other things.
[pause] If you hadn’t had that accident, you would have been too
much of a jock to marry me.
Lesli- I don’t know. –But,
I’m glad I married you. I love you, Doug.
[We celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary this past year.]
Happy New Year All! -End-
