Category: Family (Page 26 of 27)

Magnetic Poetry: Horse Names Edition

June 2, 2009 / Katie L. Carroll

The running of 135th Kentucky Derby and the 134th Preakness Stakes, got me thinking about how horses get their names. The filly (you go girl!) who won the Preakness, Rachel Alexandra, has a normal enough name, but Mine That Bird is the name of the horse that won the Kentucky Derby. What exactly does Mine That Bird mean? (I feel like it must have some crazy subliminal message, but I just can’t quite figure it out.)

Some other Kentucky Derby winners include Burgoo King, Gallahadion, Tim Tam, and Lil E. Tee. It’s like they throw a bunch of two-year-olds in a room and show them pictures of pretty horseys and whatever comes out of the toddlers’ mouths becomes a horse’s name. (Actually, I take that back…I wouldn’t want to insult my two-year-old nephew, who is actually quite an eloquent speaker.)

In honor of the running of the 141st Belmont Stakes this Saturday, here’s a list of some horse names. Some of them I made up by randomly picking words from my magnetic poetry set and some are actually the names of horses running in the Belmont. Can you guess which is which?

Light Heart
Mr. Hot Stuff (Also a good name for a male stripper.)
Full Rhythm
Chocolate Candy (Very tasty.)
Pickle Fight (I’m so naming my next cat this, just so I can call him P.F. for short…and if he ever gets lost, I can drive down the road shouting “Pickle! Oh, Pickle Fight, where are you!”)
Flying Private (I think I saw this movie in the adults-only section at the movie rental place…not that I ever go into that section!)
Memory
Luv Gov (This sounds like a political scandal in the making.)
Sour Thought Drink (Don’t try to order this at a bar…I promise you it won’t taste good!)
Summer Bird (Call me crazy, but I would’ve thought this name would’ve been better for a parrot.)

Did you guess correctly? See the comments to find out. Oh, and my pick for the Belmont is Mine That Bird because I think his jockey, Calvin Borel, is going for his own kind of Triple Crown.

Finding the Chicken Hawk

May 25, 2009 / Katie L. Carroll

My husband may be handsome, but he has a nickname that reveals more about his personality than his looks: Chicken Hawk (after the little chicken hawk from the Foghorn Leghorn cartoons).

Some of his co-workers gave him this nickname, but it made sense to me on several levels. I seem to have an affinity for chickens. I was moved by a particular video about hatchery chicks and “Money for Nothing” was my favorite song as a kid (I used to sing chickens instead of chicks!).Just the other day my mother found this stuffed animal that she said was my favorite when I was really little, like under three years old. I’ll leave you with a picture of it (I don’t think I need to point out how much it resembles the Chicken Hawk…even though I just did!!!).

Adventures at the Baltimore Orioles Game

May 18, 2009 / Katie L. Carroll

Highlights from my first day in Baltimore include catching up with my sister, watching my nephew (the 9-year-old) chase after cars that potentially held Yankee players, getting a ball signed by Andy Pettitte, seeing A-Rod whack a home run off the first ball pitched to him in 2009, and listening to a couple of old ladies chatter away while paying very little attention to the baseball game.

So these ladies were at the game with their husbands. I’m not sure if they had ever been to a baseball game, but they did have some astute observations. For one, they noticed that some of the K’s that were posted on the scoreboard were forwards and some were backwards. They didn’t know what the K’s meant (one of their husbands explained that a K was posted for each strikeout the home team’s picture recorded), but they thought it was nice that some were backwards so the scoreboard didn’t ever show three forward K’s.

(Not that I disagreed about it being nice that there was never three forward K’s in a row, but that’s not the real reason why some of the K’s were backwards. A forward K indicates the batter struck out swinging, and a backward K indicates the batter struck out looking.)

They also noticed how cute some of the baseball players are (hello, Derek Jeter!!!). No arguments there. At one point they asked me if my nephew was my brother, which my nephew found pretty hilarious. I wanted to say to them, “Didn’t you notice my nephew calling my sister ‘Mom’? If I was his sister that would make her my mom as well…not really feasible!”

Then towards the end of the game, they called my husband “the best looking fella” in the stadium, and they also said that they “may be old, but they can still look.” My nephew again found all of this pretty hilarious, so the ladies turned their attention to him. “But you’ll give him a run for his money in a few years. You have beautiful eyes.”

I guess it’s not so bad having the same taste in men as a couple of old ladies. They’ve seen a lot, so they probably have good taste, right? (Let’s hope so for my husband’s sake.)

On a Power Trip with my Snow Village

January 21, 2009 / Katie L. Carroll

While I was originally—as an eight-year-old—attracted to the bright colors and shiny finish of the Snow Village, I find—as an adult—there is another appeal to having it: control. I have all the power in my village. I decide where all the buildings go, where the people go…I’m in charge of everything. Bwahaha!!! (That’s evil laughter in case you couldn’t tell!)

This doesn’t really surprise me. As a kid, I used to play with the vintage Fisher Price Little People. Remember how the people had no hands or legs. We had a school, a castle, houses, a barn, cars, all kinds of things. (By the way, my mom still has all these toys, and looking over these pictures and prices, I think she could make a bundle selling them!) I always loved setting them up and figuring out all the backgrounds for all the people, and then once that was over, I would hardly play with them. The fun was in the back story, and it was all mine to control.

I get that same sense of power from setting up my Snow Village. When all else in the world is out of whack, I have my quiet, peaceful, twinkling village. It’s as beautiful and perfect as I want it to be. So, here’s some pictures and commentary on this year’s Village.

I decided that this year the Tudor-style log cabin is my home. I imagine it’s next to a big snow mountain, but within walking distance to the center of town. (That is the Town Hall behind it.)

That’s me in the wagon…the little blond girl holding the present. In previous years I have lived in the lighthouse (it’s kind of small living quarters, though).

That’s my nine-year-old nephew and his dog, Cashew. (My nephew gave me that piece.) He’s in front of the Center for the Arts because he has my sense of creativity.

The clown always goes near the Hospital…in case there’s any sick kids stuck there for the holidays. Notice the Library and Church in the background. Also, that’s my dad (sorry I cut him off a bit) leading his horse, Beau.

My brother decided he wanted to be the kid in the party hat (he thought the kid was a wizard). It’s more likely that my brother is actually the kid throwing the snowball! The lady with the balloons reminded me of my grandmother (and she is the one who started this whole Village, so I guess she should be in it!)

I decided that my husband is the delivery man this year. We met at Harrison’s Hardware when we were in high school and the Gift Shop reminds me of that. (He wanted to be the fireman, but my brother-in-law is a fireman in real life, so he got that designation this year…maybe next year the hubby can be the fireman.) I love how the proportions of the people are way off compared to the buildings, doors, and vehicles.

This picture came out kind of psychedelic, which I thought was cool…and below is what this part of the Village (there’s more than just this table!) looks like in the dark.

All those who stop by the house while my Village is still up are welcome and encouraged to find themselves in it.

Finding Winter Warmth in a Village Display

January 15, 2009 / Katie L. Carroll

More snow fell this morning. Worse than that, we’re experiencing an extreme cold snap here in New England. My outdoor thermometer is reading 7.7 degrees right now (yes, that’s Fahrenheit!). Winter is getting a bit old…and there’s still over two months left of it.

A spot of winter brightness comes from a little collection of mine. My grandmother started a collection for each of my sisters and me on our eighth birthday. My two older sisters both collected Madame Alexander dolls. My younger sister ended up with a porcelain animal collection (I think made by Lennox).

When my turn came about, my grandmother took me to a store called Happy House in the mall. It was just the two of us, which made me feel very special (when you grow up in a family of seven getting one-on-one attention from an adult is a nice treat). And she was letting me pick out my collection all by myself.

Something caught my eye when I first walked into the store. It was a winter village with buildings that were bright colors and shiny. They were so pretty, and they lit up! I didn’t want to be hasty, so I made sure to walk all around the store to see what else they had to offer. My eyes kept wandering back to that village, though, and that’s what I picked.

Years later, my grandmother told me she tried her hardest to get me to pick almost anything else in the store. There were pewter figurines, Precious Moments figurines, and a bunch of other small collectibles to choose from. Apparently, my grandmother thought it would be better for me to pick something smaller than a village, seeing as there was seven of us living in a tiny two-bedroom house.

But I was eight and didn’t care about practical matters like space, and besides my collection was starting with just one building. I may have been small myself (and I was even small for my age…I always said if my siblings and I had been a litter of dogs, I would’ve been the runt that got drowned), but I certainly wasn’t thinking small. I now have over twenty buildings and countless accessories in my Snow Village. It’s still growing too, although not as rapidly as when my grandmother used to add to it twice a year (once on my birthday and again on Christmas).

I currently have it displayed in two different rooms on a total of three different surfaces. I’m a bit more discriminate when I add a large piece to it these days because I don’t want to have to buy a second house just to accommodate the village. There’s just something about the yellow lights radiating from all the windows and all the smiling people bustling around town that projects a warmth…even though it’s the Snow Village.

Stay tuned for pictures!