A new family motto
The old family motto came from a comment by my mother:
We’re not crazy; we’re just mean.
Too true. But since I’ve either disowned my family or been disowned by them (and good riddance either way), I want a new motto. Today, in a text to my wife, I may have hit upon it.
If I’m going to be a fluffy pink poodle with purple sequins, I’m going to do it the right way.
Context might help you understand it, but why worry about that? Should probably make it first person plural, though….
Ambiance 
LouiseM said,
September 11, 2014 at 7:50 pm
Am trying to replace the word/idea “right” with “healthy” or “natural” in thinking about my own life choices, to see where that leads.
What does the right way to be a fluffy pink poodle with purple sequins involve? Dyeing to self? An adorning other?
Icepick said,
September 11, 2014 at 9:08 pm
A four year-old daughter who insists I play the part of said poodle, a female named Confetti.
To that meddlesome old woman at Sam’s a couple weeks back: don’t tell me I don’t pay enough attention to my daughter!
Icepick said,
September 11, 2014 at 9:15 pm
“Healthy” and “natural” would not apply here. “Correctly” would more precisely replace “the right way”, but that just sounds stuffier to me.
Icepick said,
September 11, 2014 at 9:20 pm
Let’s just say that today a cranky, middle-aged white man became a cheerful young black girl (about nine yo) for about an hour.
If you know what I’m talking about, I know you spend time around a lot of small children!
LouiseM said,
September 11, 2014 at 10:10 pm
From Confetti to Icepick; Chipping away and celebrating with tiny bits and pieces of something dropped from a height. Sounds about right to me. Healthy, natural, and correct too, with a bit of good thrown in for glitter.
Yes I know what you’re talking about. It includes dying to self and being adored by another. Which can feel like being used, yet when faithfully done, it forms the foundation for future interactions and relationship. Is Confetti allowed to “speak” and growl some, or required to strictly adhere to the role of glamour bearer? Dependable consistency with some sparkles of improv thrown in help young brains learn how to trust and play.
Good dog, Confetti! Great name too!
Icepick said,
September 11, 2014 at 11:47 pm
Confetti started out as a purse purchased at Target. As my daughter inevitably does, she broke the strap, and Confetti went to the top.of a bookcase and got forgotten for a few months. Then she got pulled down and had the other end of the strap removed, and viola! A new stuffed toy, who has been getting heavy rotation the last three months.
But that broken strap led to stitching coming out, and Confetti’s little stuffed brain was coming out. I knew there was another busted seem on a leg, but didn’t realize that one foot was half off until this morning.
Confetti is a talking dog. And as true with most toy poodles, she is very excitable. So I do a lot of barking, jumping, yipping and doggie kisses to go with a lot of speaking in falsetto.
Confetti usually plays with Janna, a cocker spaniel and a more traditional stuffed toy. Janna also speaks, and despite also being a female, she’s usually the father of Confetti’s child, a baby tiger named Little Darling Me. All names chosen by my daughter, from wherever it is that small children get these inspirations.
Confetti is a veteran of about nine months in the household, maybe more like a year. Janna came in early June as a b’day present, and has been a BIG WIN for Daddy. Little Darling Me came later in June from a business conference my wife attended, and was a BIG WIN for Mommy!
Anyway, this morning I realized how bad a shape Confetti was in and broke off play for an emergency operation. About an hour later, she was healed, and aDaddy had taught himself to sew. I had never had need of that skill before. The stitches weren’t great, but they’re tight, and with pink thread no one will notice them anyway.
And I stuffed Confetti’s purse pouch, too, to stiffen up the body. Now she stands and sits MUCH.better. And that was what prompted that comment to my wife, who suggested I tweet it, and then I decided it should be the new family motto. It’s absurd on the face of it, but it cuts to the heart of things in context.
Icepick said,
September 11, 2014 at 11:57 pm
So now Confetti is a more proper stuffed animal, I don’t have to be as careful when handling her, and I can put her in better poses when I need my hands to be an elephant or a koala or a lion or, no kidding, Minnie Mouse. My daughter LOVES me as Minnie Mouse. She gets to play Mickey. I drew the line when she wanted me to be a Barbie doll, however. I do a lot for my daughter, but I’ve got to draw the line somewhere.
And that’s a good chunk of every day.
And the cheerful young black girl comment referred to the TV show Doc McStuffins.The Doc is the girl in question, and she’s the world’s foremost doctor for stuffed animals and toys. It’s a cute show that’s been around for a couple of years now on Disney & Disney Junior. Although with the needle work I was a bit of Doc’s mom, who’s a people doctor.
Icepick said,
September 12, 2014 at 12:03 am
I play so many roles now it’s getting easy to slip in and out of most of them. The last week I’ve been granted a reprieve of sorts, and I get to play King, who’s a lion and the father of three baby humans, and occasionally a small plastic tiger. That’s nice because I get to go for more of the Mufassa/James Earl Jones thing. Pluss, King, being a lion , is a touch on the cat side of the lazy scale. King gets to roar and scare people some, but he hasn’t eaten anyone yet. Maybe when she’s five…..
Icepick said,
September 12, 2014 at 12:12 am
The biology in my daughter’s universe is a bit confused, but she is only four!
Oddly enough, Icepick isn’t really a role. The full name is Stabmaster Icepick, and it’s both an homage and a joke. But good bad and ugly, that’s all me in my combination of prickliness, sharp edges and proclivities to verbal blunt force trauma. I’m pretty much the same when I’m occasionally either … (Elipses, and my one attempt at creating a specific online persona – which failed miserably because I couldn’t keep my opinions to myself) or Outis, the nobody I’ve occasionally been.
At least I don’t think I’m different as a crank in any guise. But like most people, I’ve got many facets to show the world, depending on the vagaries of the now.
Anyway, when I’m a stuffed pink poodle with purple sequins, I do it up right.
A said,
September 12, 2014 at 8:27 pm
Little Darling Me is a wonderfully straightforward name!
wj said,
September 13, 2014 at 12:45 pm
I admit to a fondness for one of my father’s saying, which practically functions as a motto:
“It’s better to be lucky than good. For skills may fade, but dumb luck goes on forever.”
Of course, there was also a solid family tradition of building skills, whether academically or for anything else. But it serves as a reminder that, when skill is not enough, there is still hope for success. Certainly that has been my experience in life.
mockturtle said,
September 15, 2014 at 2:50 pm
Confetti’s little stuffed brain was coming out.
:-O I hope that doesn’t happen to you, Ice!
Icepick said,
September 17, 2014 at 12:21 am
No worries on that front: No brains left to spill.
karen said,
October 18, 2014 at 8:32 pm
When our youngest was 4, we had a woman from Preschool visit our house to work w/her on her speech. I don’t think she needed it- i think her issues were more about maturity than any impediments, but what do i know.
These visits consisted of much imaginative play, especially w/little plastic animals and dinosaurs. one day i played along with them- and it was the most exhausting thing i had ever done. I was so tired when that woman left i probably took a nap. My hat is off to you, Ice.
And i am also very jealous of your initiative to sew. If you feel any affinity to create and learn to sew further- you could quilt. Then i’ll really, really envy you. My Grandmothers- both- were such good quilters. That’s building, iMhumbleO. Beautiful stitches- tiny and even. My clumsy fingers cannot manage the intricate placing of those precise threads. Or, my mind the workings of the machine!
Icepick said,
October 19, 2014 at 10:38 pm
My sewing ambitions at the moment are limited to fixing the hem on the living room curtains and creating a pad for the rope strap I have on my canister vacuum cleaner. (One of the plastic mounts for the old strap broke, so I’ve just used a doubled back and quadruple knotted rope as a new strap. That all makes sense when I look at it!)
But after that, who knows? Disturbingly, I’m turning into my mother in some ways, but some of that will have to wait. I’m hoping to start writing more (solely for my own benefit), and I’ve got something in mind.
Anyway, It’s great to hear from you Karen. I was a little worried by the silence. I hope you and yours and all your cows are doing fine heading into the colder months.