Special play, men dressed in skirts, and sad events

Saturday when I got home from the Twin Cities, I got to go shopping for Special Play items. What is "special play" you ask? Special Play is when a child is given a box of random items and is told to be creative, make up stories, and play like any normal child would, except it is done with one parent sitting directly in front of them. The parent is instructed to ask questions like, "And then what?" "How does that work?" "What are you going to put with this?" And to say things like, "You're making a very nice sculpture." "You are good at story telling." And the like. The point of this play is to unite parent and child in special play that is meant only for the two of them, for that moment in time. Nobody gets to interrupt, and nobody else gets to join in. I have a client to whom I am going to teach special play tomorrow and I had to get ready for it.

I bought the following:
a plastic orange
a paint brush
metallic pipe cleaners
pom poms
a tucan bobblehead
paper cups
shower curtain rings

This should be interesting!

On Sunday my husband and I went to Barnes and Noble. We were sitting in the comfy chairs. Now picture this: There are four comfy chairs. Two are occupied by the Bjurs and the other two are occupied by a college age looking girl, and a middle aged woman. The college age girl gets up from her comfy chair to go look at something, and leaves her book on her chair, in order to save her spot. I didn't think anything of it. Suddenly someone comes up beside me, and in a gruff voice, says, "Is someone sitting in that chair?" I look up to see before me a large, middle aged man dressed in a skirt, with a five-o-clock shadow and a purse slung over his shoulder! I smiled and said every-so-calmly, "Yes, I believe a girl was sitting there." "Harumph," Mr. Cross Dresser says, "Figures." And walks away. I looked at my husband...he looks at the man/woman walking away, and suddenly his eyes about pop out of his head! It was the funniest thing I've ever seen! (Not the cross dresser, the look on my husband's face!!)

I was speaking with my mother on Sunday afternoon and she told me that a sophomore from my high school died the other night from alcohol poisoning. I will never understand high schoolers who do this to themselves. A sophomore! It's so sad.