And if you're meeting the Feds, bring a lawyer.

Heh. I think it will be OK.

And yeah, I guess the pants are safer in some way. Eh.

Conversations with Matilda today have been like an old Allen and Burns sketch.

Matilda: [flourishing her stuffed animals] The dog is named Rita and the cat is Cat.
Me: Seems like the cat ought to have a better name than that. Though Holly Golightly named hers Cat so there is precedent.
Matilda: No.
Me: What? There is so precedent!
Matilda: No! I don't want my cat to be president!
Me: .....

We just put Fellowship of the Ring on and she's peppering me with questions.

Matilda: Who's that?
Me: That's the Nazgul. The Dark Riders, the Ring Wraiths...
Matilda: Which one are they?
Me: Uh, they have a bunch of names.
Matilda: But they melt if you splash water on them, right?
Me: No, that's the Wicked Witch of the West.
Matilda: But the girl comes to help the boy. And the riders are chasing her and she puts water on them, and they melt.
Me: Well...Arwen does rescue Frodo and summons up the river to wash away the Nazgul...
Matilda: She melts them!
Me: No, it's just that evil things can't cross moving water.
Matilda: Why?
Me: Because...they're stinky.
Matilda: Oh.

You'll laugh at my reasoning for pants suit: you have fewer occasions calling for a pants suit, so use it when you can! A gorgeous Jesse in a hot looking black dress? Wear that ALL THE TIME!

I too have a formerly everygreen monstronsity. It was halfway onto the front walk and was this irregular egg shape. You couldn't get to the faucet. I've trimmed it and its less offensive neighbor into so semblance of acceptable. Only shrubbery on the top foot or so, and I took out a TON of main branches. Not quite gigantor bonsai, but closer to that than what was there. My neighbor and I were both complaining about our bushes. They don't flower or anything, and this area is rife with azaleas, why didn't they plant that instead? A couple streets over, it's like a frilly explosion all summer. Just gorgeous.

I'd wear the dress, but then, I have no fed trepidation.

Yeah, suit. It's the occasion for more formal. Hot dress? Alla the other times.

I got climbed on and snuggled by a Ticky today. Was awesome.

and it seems like her life goal is, literally, to become white trash. Married at 19 to a high school dropout, pregnant two months later and broke. I don't get it.

I swear this is my sister's goal. But still to have stuff because other people rescue her.

Oh, and there was a woman at one of the booths who was blind and spinning beautifully!

And pronunciation/regional accent question: on the way back we stopped at Ollies for custard and somebody behind us ordered a "sunda" - I'd never heard sundae pronounced that way. Any idea where that pronunciation comes from?

You'll laugh at my reasoning for pants suit: you have fewer occasions calling for a pants suit, so use it when you can! A gorgeous Jesse in a hot looking black dress? Wear that ALL THE TIME!

Ha! I'm sad, because this is the suit I had made, and I'm just not that crazy about it. I don't like pants! At least the pants have pockets, I guess.

The dress isn't hot, per se.

The baby needed changing at one point and he announced that was a "mother's job" which did not sit well with me.

I think he's the one who's missing out there on a chance to bond with his baby. Dad's don't get to nurse the babies, so changing diapers is one of the key moments to just check in with the baby and get to know him/her. And okay, there's still bottles, bedtime and baths, but bottles and baths aren't necessarily daily, and bedtime often defaults to nursing, so... that leaves diapers at the most frequent opportunity to be with baby.

The baby needed changing at one point and he announced that was a "mother's job" which did not sit well with me.

A friend of mine once began work as a receptionist for her husband's little company, and at the end of the week he announced that he expected her to clean the office bathroom because it was "women's work." Very soon after that, there was some sort of plumbing issue and the sewage was flowing all over - when he turned to her to ask her to start mopping she announced that plumbing was "men's work" and went home.

I think he's the one who's missing out there on a chance to bond with his baby. Dad's don't get to nurse the babies, so changing diapers is one of the key moments to just check in with the baby and get to know him/her. And okay, there's still bottles, bedtime and baths, but bottles and baths aren't necessarily daily, and bedtime often defaults to nursing, so... that leaves diapers at the most frequent opportunity to be with baby.

I agree, and it's still a great time to chat with Ryan even at age 2. He has some learning aids stuck to the ceiling above the change table, letter-animal combos (e.g. an 'R' with a cartoon rhino). He likes running through them (with sound effects where appropriate). Also a good time to learn the names of body parts. (He likes to pat his own arm/hair/tummy etc, then pat mine too.) Now that he's noticed that his nappies have pictures of koalas or kangaroos on them, all bets are off.

Afterwards, if it was just a wet nappy, he'll pick up the waste basket, march it into the toilet, and dump the nappy into the waste basket therein. Then he lifts both arms and announces, "Hooray!" (Then he takes the basket back and washes his hands.)

In conclusion, that guy is really missing out.