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Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Today's the Day: Happy HALLOWEEEEEEEEEEN!

Stay tuned for me in this costume this year!
 Hiya, Friends!  Well, today's the day!  It's Halloweeeeeeeeeen!  I'm so excited!  It's been such a week already, and today's finally the day, and I'll tell ya what, I'm not sleeping through it this time!  I'm not sleeping at all, by golly!

Anyway, I haven't put on my costume yet.  I'm going to put it on later today, and Mommy will take pictures, and I'll put them up on this blog tomorrow!  How about that?

You know what I like about Halloween, Friends?  I mean, what I like about it already?  It's a day when you can really be anything you want to be.  If you want to be a princess, you can be a princess.  If you want to be a piglet, you can be a piglet.  Why, if you want to be a vampire or a zombie or a ghost or a computer programmer or a butcher, you can be all those things, too for the day! 

I like clothes that double as anatomy charts!
Halloween is a day of endless possibility!

When else can you just open up your imagination and make it so?  When, Friends?  You can be ANYTHING you want to be on Halloween!  You don't even have to be in your own species!  Look at me, for instance.  I'm going as a piglet today!  That doesn't mean I want to be a piglet for real!  But it's fun to try it out for just the day!

But what if next year, I dress up like a doctor, and I like being a doctor, and I like it so much that I decide I'm going to work really hard in school and college and go to doctor-school, so I can be a doctor every day?  Why, that'd be something, wouldn't it?

I don't have to decide what I want to be everyday when I grow up, not for a long time.  So I have lots of Halloweens to try lots of things on.  I have lots of days in lots of years to open up my imagination and explore the possibilities, and you bet that I'm going to!
Pumpkin for a day, on my first Halloween!

Halloween just seems like a door.  A door for my imagination, and all I have to do is walk up to it, bold as brass, and knock, or maybe push the doorbell, then when the door opens up, I'll say 'Hiiiiiiiiiiiiya!' and walk right through, and just sit down with Possibility, and flip through the pages and pages of what Possibility has to offer! 

I think it can work for any of us like that, Friends!  It doesn't have to just be little people like me who gets to have endless possibilities!  I hope that today, you knock on Halloween's Door to your Imagination, and flip through all the Possibilities it has for you! 

And, too, I here there's lots of candy to be had on Halloween.  Here's to endless possibilities, and a bottomless bag of candy!  And always remember: Zoe loves you, Friends!  Muah!

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Hallowheeeeeeeeeee!

Life as a ladybug is fabulous!
Hiya, Friends!  Well, you haven't all blown away in the storm, have you?  It's quite windy out there! 

As you can see, I'm in another of my bubble costumes.  This time, it's my ladybug costume.  I like it.  Aunt Colleen calls me her "little ladybug," so I think of her every time I see a ladybug!  When I dress up like a ladybug, then I REALLY think about my Aunt Colleen!

Daddy's a fan of ladybugs!  How nice!
I wore my ladybug costume when we took Rozzie to get her bath at the vet's a couple weeks ago and then I wore it in to the Texas Hot in Downtown Wellsville.  I think it made the day more fun for everybody.  It definitely made the day more fun for me, and my days are always lots of fun to begin with! 

It made me wonder what ladybugs eat.  I suppose ladybugs in real life eat leaves and stuff.  Meh.  That's kind of expected.  What I wonder about is what ladybugs would eat if they could eat anything they wanted!  My guess is red Jell-O with lotsa whipped cream up on top, because that's what I ate when I was dressed up like a ladybug.  I bet ladybugs also would like cake.  I just get that feeling.  And because they're ladybugs, they don't have to worry about eating too much sugar like people do. 

Boy, wouldn't it be great to be a ladybug and not have to worry about that?  I bet it would.

Well, Friends, if I still have my electricity and Internet from Outer Space tomorrow, I'll see you!  In the meantime, remember that Zoe loves you!  Muah!



Monday, October 29, 2012

Happy Halloweek!

This is my Zebra Vest!  Halloween, I'm ready!
Heya, Hiya, HIIIIIIIIIIII-YA! Friends!  Zoe here.  I'm back.  I. Am. Back.  Just in time for this Frankenstorm thing.  So we'll just take it one day at a time, whether I'm here throughout the storm.  I'll be here.  Yeah, I'll be here.  I just might not be able to get online.  Our Internet comes from outer space, and when there are too many clouds up in the atmosphere, sometimes our Internet can't get through them to us.  And there's also the matter of electricity.  Frankenstorm might be knocking out our electricity.  I hope not, but if it does, you'll be having another few days of a break from me.  But let's just not think about that happening.  Everything's going to be fine.  And I'm not going to talk about Frankenstorm anymore.  You know why?

IT'S HALLOWEEK!  HAPPY HALLOWEEK, FRIENDS!  I've been waiting all year for this!  The week that has Halloween in it!  No matter what the weather, I'm going to be celebrating Halloween all the ding-dang ol' week, because Halloween is SO MUCH FUN!  I'm not sure how I'll celebrate.  Maybe I'll wear all my Halloween gear.  Maybe I'll have Mommy read me my Berenstain Bears Halloween book all week.  I bet she'll like that!

I don't know what I'll do all week for Halloween, but I'm sure in the Halloween spirit.  I even have three costumes!  That's right!  Three!  My zebra costume that's in my picture up above, my ladybug costume that I wore a couple weeks ago, and my piggy costume I wore last year that I'm going to wear again when I go to Gramma's house trick-or-treating on actual Halloween, weather permitting.  I'm not really a diva or anything.  I mean, I sort of am, but I'm not.  I have three costumes because I still fit my piggy costume from last year, and the zebra and ladybug bubble costumes were a 2-fer, and Mommy says I can wear them for outside-vests until it gets too cold!

There are some Big People who'll think it's ridiculous that I'm riding around in a shopping cart, wearing a zebra or a ladybug bubble-vest, but you know what?  I'm little.  I'm going to dress outrageously for as long as I can, and I think that any adults that might say I'm ridiculous for wearing my outrageous clothes are just jealous that they can't wear zebra bubbles out and about like I can.  And what I say to THAT is, "Why not?!  If you like to wear zebra things, run your freak-flag right up the flagpole and let the freak-flag fly!  Wear your zebra outfits!  Wear your tiger stripes!  Wear your glittery-ball antennae!  Whenevertheheckyawant!  Do it!"

That's what I have to say about THAT, Friends!  Celebrate Halloweek with me by wearing something outrageous, even just once this week!  It'll be fun!

Mmmmmmkay, Friends!  I've gotta go for now.  My East Coast Friends, let's all stay safe in the storm!  My Friends from Everywhere Else, live it up for Halloweek!  And remember that Zoe loves you!  Muah!

Friday, October 26, 2012

I'll Be Back Monday!

Hiya, Friends!  Zoe here.  Well, I've got to tell you, they went and did it.  The carpets came, and my office got all torn down, and then they put me up a new office.  Everything has been both heltered and skeltered.  I don't like it.  I don't like it at all. 

But I did talk to the Powers That Be, here at The Daily Zoe, and they said I could take this weekend off to put my office in some kind of order that makes sense to me, and I can start my regular daily posts back up on Monday morning.  So I haven't gone anywhere and I'm not sick.  I'm just trying to make sense of my new surroundings and get my coworkers all settled in to our new space.

I'll be thinking about you all this weekend, and please remember: Zoe loves you!  Muah!  At least I can find my 'Muah!' in all this mess!

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Sister Crazy Hair!

What a blast from the past! This is my first wig!
Everywhere I go, people comment on my hair.  The overwhelming majority of people say they love it.  I have to say I love my hair, too.  It's CRAZY!  Back before I even had hair, Mommy worried that I wasn't going to get knitted me a hat out of Fun Fur yarn, so it would look like I had hair, and it looked like I had crazy hair.  I've got to say, back then, I saw me with the knitted wig and liked it and knew that if I ever got hair someday, I'd have to wear it crazy. 

The curly-fin! I remember this!
 My crazy hair started with the curl on top of my head, and at first, I thought it was a trick.  See, I fell asleep on Mommy, and when I woke up, I had this funny little curly fin on the top of my head.  I didn't think it was very funny.  But the more I looked at my hair with the funny little fin on top, the more I started thinking yes.  Somehow, I felt like I was starting to get a style.  A style all my own!
Do I look all right?
If you saw me, would you make fun?
Confidence!

 You know how it is when you're just putting your style together, don't you, Friends?  The first time you go out with your new style, you can get kind of nervous.  I know I was.  The first time Mommy did my hair with my curl on top, and we went out in public, I ALMOST wanted to wear one of my stupid hats Mommy is always trying to get me to wear.  I was afraid that people would make fun of me for having crazy hair.

But you know what happened?  Somebody said my whippy-dip hair reminded them of a Kewpie Doll, and somebody else said they LOVED my hair, and I started to feel really comfortable going out with my hair the way it is.   It's me.  It's my thing.
My crazy hair can be sporty, for when I swim!

Now, my hair's "crazy," not "messy."  "Messy" hair just means that somebody rolls out of crib and doesn't do anything to their hair.  That's not what I'm about.  See, when I get out of crib, I go straight to the bath.  Some days, I just wet my hair, and other days, I get out the shampoo.  And then, I use some of my gel and comb all my hair straight up.  Then I comb my bangs and some of the front of my hair forward.  But not too much!  I don't like my hair pasted to my head!  It makes me look like Squidward!  Sometimes, I get out the pick and fluff my hair, but usually, it gets fluffy around the back, all on its own, two minutes in my high chair, tops.  So you see, I put some effort in to my crazy hair!  I really do!
My crazy hair is also office-appropriate!

 I've noticed that when I see other kids my age out and about, most of them don't have crazy hair.  I can't help but wonder if it's because they're afraid to go out with crazy hair, if they think people'll make fun of them.  I'm here to say that most people won't make fun of the little kids, if they want to go out with crazy hair.  And you know, if they do, the little kids don't have to pay them any mind.  The important thing is to figure out your own style and then let it shine, shine, shine! 

So that goes for you, too, Big People!  You don't have to go out with crazy hair to have your own style.  Maybe your thing is colorful sweaters, or silly socks, or neat shoes, or maybe you like to wear all black, or a baseball cap everywhere.  Whatever makes you feel like You, don't worry about what people think, and just be yourself!  It's crazy how good it makes you feel when you're Yourself!  Take it from Zoe Crazy Hair!  Having a style of your very own just rocks!




Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Then Let Me Eat Cake!!!


This is me at my birthday party, with my CAKE!
 Hiya, Friends!  Today, I want to talk about something that I love, but my handlers think I ought to dial talking about it back a little, so people don't think I have a problem. I don't have a problem.  I'm just passionate.  What about?

Well, yes, I'm passionate about helping the Little Giraffes, but who in their right mind would think I have a problem, being passionate about helping the Little Giraffes?  Jeez. That's not a problem!  The problem with the Little Giraffes is that not enough of us are helping them!  How about that?!
I like to balance out the cake with a glassa milk!

No, what I'd like to talk about today is CAKE!  I just love cake!  I didn't get to have any cake until my First Birthday Party.  It was a week ahead of time from my Real Birthday.  Mommy made me pink and purple cupcakes with Swiss meringue-based buttercreme icing!  Oh, my goodness, they were the BEST cupcakes I could have imagined!  And I'd been imagining cupcakes and how they'd taste for my Whole Life before then! 

What I really liked best about my birthday cupcakes was the cake, and the icing!  It was all the best!

Gramma made me a birthday cake, too!
Then on my real birthday, a week after my birthday party, Gramma made me a birthday cake.  It was a Bonnie Butter yellow cake with hot pink icing!  And it was shaped like a teddy bear!  It was the best Real Birthday Cake I ever could have imagined!  The icing was so nice and sweet!  It was decorated up so pretty!  I just loved that Bonnie Butter cake!

I have been DREAMING of that teddy bear-shaped Bonnie Butter cake in my dreams, both day and sleepy, ever since my birthday, and that was almost two months ago!  Boy, I loved that cake!

Umm... This is me on my birthday.  I'm not proud of this pic.
But I don't have a problem.  I love cake.  I love everything about cake, except that I don't seem to have any cake right now.  But that's not a problem.  Not a problem-problem.  Not really.  I mean, I can have cake, and love it, and in times like right now, when I don't have cake, it's not like I get all twitchy.  Would I like some cake right now?  Would I LIKE some cake right now?  Why, yes, I would.  Do you have some?  Do you have my address, so you know where to send the cake you have?  I'm not asking because I HAVE to have cake.  I can not have cake any time I want.  I'm not having cake right now, right as I write my blog, and you sit reading it.  I was just saying, if you had some cake, and were willing to spare it, well... I wouldn't turn it down.  I would never turn down cake.  It's rude to turn down cake, isn't it?  Yeah, it's totally rude to turn down cake, and I'm not rude.  So if you want to send me cake, I will send you a thank-you note!  A thank-you note that looks like CAKE!
This is what my face looks like after I eat cake!

But I clearly don't have a problem.  I'm just a girl that knows what she likes, and she likes cake!  I can't help it if I have eight sweet teeth!  Cake just makes me happy.  Cake and icing and a nice, tall sippy cup of milk.  I just love it! I can smell cake whenever I go to the grocery store with Mommy.  Sometimes, I imagine my Imaginatron 2100 is a big cake that I can hop in and drive to Magic Cakeland, where everything is cake and cake is everything. I think about cake day and night, and if I could draw, I'd draw lots of pictures of different kinds of cake.  Chocolate cake, rainbow cake, yellow cake, tall cake and short cake.  I'd fashion a Devils Food couch with Red Velvet cushions and a fondant throw-blanket.  Boy, oh boy.  Wouldn't that be a great world to live in?  I think it'd be a great world to live in.

But I don't have a problem!  I swear! I can quit cake any time I want.  I just don't want to yet!

I LOVE CAKE!






















Tuesday, October 23, 2012

I Want to be a Jukebox Hero!

Why's the jukebox always out of order when I'm here?
 Hiya, Friends!  Today, I have a Very Serious Topic to discuss with you.  It's Very Serious because I would like to put a quarter in the jukebox at the Texas Hot in Downtown Wellsville, and play some music, but the thing is, whenever I have a quarter to put in the machine, the jukebox is out of order!

Daddy and Mommy say that I have all kinds of music I can listen to on the iPhone, and that all I have to do is say which song I'd like to hear, but it's not the same.  I think it'd be quite a thrill to put my quarter in the jukebox, and push in the number of my selection, and have music, just like magic.  Mommy's gone so far as to say I can just give her my quarter, and she'll make her iPhone play "Sweet Pea" for me.  That's just insulting!  That iPhone is pretty fun, but it's not a big, light-up box that hangs on the wall in my booth at the Texas Hot in Downtown Wellsville!  No!  The iPhone is a little electronic device, barely bigger than a deck of cards!  Who listens to music from a device barely bigger than a deck of cards, when they can listen to music from a light-up box on the wall?  Get with the program, Mommy!

Look at my face. I want it to be the face of a jukebox hero!
I've been thinking a lot about the song 'Jukebox Hero.'  We have the song in the iPhone, and sometimes when we're riding in the car, I hear it.  Riding in the car is our listening-to-music time.  I enjoy some good music.  But it makes me wonder what I can do to be a Jukebox Hero, myself.  I think that as far as the jukeboxes at the Texas Hot in Downtown Wellsville are concerned, I could be a jukebox hero to them if they'd allow me to arrange for a jukebox repairman come and fix whatever makes them out of order.  Wouldn't that make me a jukebox hero, Friends?

 The thing is, unlike the Little Giraffes I've met, the jukeboxes are not able to speak up and talk and tell me what's wrong. Plus, Mommy and Daddy won't let me take apart the jukeboxes at the Texas Hot, to find out what's wrong with them.  How am I ever going to get to be a jukebox hero if I can't take the jukeboxes apart to see what's wrong with them so I can fix them, so I can put in my quarter and play myself some music?  How?  I may never know!

Monday, October 22, 2012

Where No Little Giraffes Are

This chair looks almost like my size!
 Hiya, Friends!  As you know, I recently visited the Jeep dealership.  Now, usually when I'm out and about, wherever I go, I like to network and seek out Little Giraffes and find ways of helping them.  It's my personal responsibility as a Tiger Baby to help the Little Giraffes.  You know all this.  But guess what- there are no Little Giraffes of the Wild Steppes of Erwin at the dealership.  Not, at least, that I've met.  Yet.

So with no networking or helping or problem solving to do for my work with the Little Giraffes, I avail myself of the playing facilities!  Even Tiger Babies have to unwind sometimes, and there's lots of room for me to do just that, in the play area!  Mommy usually pulls my stroller across the doorway to keep me in, and I can wander all over the whole room! 
But ooooooh- what's this? A monster truck!

 I've shot a few reports for The Daily Zoe over on the Facebook from this very play area.  It's easy for me to think there.  The carpet's a nice, bright red, there's lots of bright light- not pretty lights like I was talking about yesterday, but regular fluorescent lights, which get the job done, and that's all we can really ask of them.  But that's okay.

And then there are all the brightly-colored toys!  I love the bright colors on the toys!  I like all the colors, and it's hard for me to pick a favorite.  Some days, it's red.  Some days, I like yellow.  I like to wear purple best, mostly, and that's Mommy's favorite color, but as for what color I like best, I like them all best right now!

Mommy says this is a Sit'n'Spin, but I have a better name for it!


Some of the toys, I'm not quite big enough for yet.  There's a neato pinball machine in the one corner.  I'm just big enough to reach the flipper buttons, but not big enough to play.  That's all right.  I'll be big enough someday, and besides, there's all kinds of other things I like to play with right now.  There's a police jet-ski-looking rocking toy that I featured on a report on Facebook.  And then there's this other thing:

Mommy says it's a Sit'n'Spin, but I've always called it a Spin'n'Spew, because the idea is that you sit on it, and turn the wheel in the middle, and the whole thing spins you around and around.  Now, I have a really strong constitution, and I don't get dizzy very easily, but I know some people do, and it just seems a little dangerous to have a thing where the whole idea is to sit on it and let it spin you around and around and around and around.  Especially if you've just eaten a lot of corn-dogs or whatever people eat before they ride the Sit'n'Spin. 

That's not to say that it isn't kind of fun.  I wanted to ride it the other day, and Mommy let me.  I think she was going easy on me, because I didn't spin around and around and around all fast-like.  I had a more gentle ride that offered me 360-degree views of the play area.
I work hard for the Little Giraffes, but I also play hard!

You know what they need in that play area?  Maybe a mural!  That'd be great!  But I like it with plain white walls, too, because when I'm in there, I can imagine whatever I want to see on the walls, and make the play area anywhere I want it to be!

Woah.  You know what I just realized, Friends?  That designated play area at my Jeep Dealership is kind of like a great big Imaginatron 2100!  Wow!  How about that?!  And you know, my Imaginatron 2100 is my favorite toy ever!  I wonder if the dealership people know about this.  Should I tell them?  Should I keep it to myself?  Either way, it's a pretty neat thing, to have an entire room-sized Imaginatron 2100!

So that's that, Big People.  That's what I occupy my time with, when there are no Little Giraffes of the Wild Steppes of Wherever I Am When I'm Out and About!  I find myself some fun.  It's important to work hard, but when you have some free time, Friends, it's important to play hard, too.  And that's just what I do!





Sunday, October 21, 2012

Lights

Pay no attention to the silly flower on my head.
Hiya, Friends!  Let's just ignore my silly big flower on my head.  That Mommy just doesn't listen to me when I tell her I don't want silly big flowers on my head.  Please don't say it's cute, because that only encourages her. 

I don't want to talk about big silly flowers today, though, Friends!  I want to talk about something that's fascinated me ever since I was born, and that is lights. 

When I opened my eyes for the first time, the first thing I saw with them was the lights in the ceiling.  They were pretty great, those lights.  And then, there were different lights on, the next morning, and I could hardly take my eyes off them to look at my visitors.  When I'd go from Mommy's and my hospital room in the Wheelie, I'd watch the lights in the corridor above me.  What a marvel!

So I guess I'm not surprised that I love any kind of lights.  We have some really cool ones at my house.  They're metal, and they have all kinds of crystals hanging on them.  What's that word Mommy calls them?  Shandermeer?  Candle-ear?  Musketeer?  No.  I remember.  Chandelier!  That's what they are!  We have one in our living room, right over the couch we sit on, and another one in our dining room, and when I'm eating in my high chair, I look up at the chandelier and sometimes I see honest-to-goodness rainbows on the wall around the room.  How about that?!  We have a little chandelier in the front hallway that we call the "Egg Lamp" because it's shaped like an egg, kind of, but it's made of those chandelier crystals.  I just love it. 

There's a light in the kitchen that hangs from the ceiling by black chains, and we have big coffee cups hooked to it.  It's pretty neat, too. 

Lights are a beautiful reason to keep looking up!
My favorite lights in our house, though, are the ones that are on the ceiling fans.  I love watching those fans go around and around.  I can't tell you for sure when I noticed the ceiling fans for the first time.  It could have been way back when I still needed to get up in the middle of the night to eat.  You see, besides the light with a ceiling fan in my room, I have this little light that's a lady-bug, and you can push a button on it, and it'll make stars on my walls and ceiling, and the cool thing I noticed about the fan and that light is that they work together.  The fan goes around and around and the stars shine up on it, and it makes it look like the stars are 3-D!  I just can't get enough of watching that, even now.

When I go to other places, one of the first things I do is check out the kinds of lights there are.  One time, we ate lunch at TGIFridays, and I couldn't help but notice that the light over our table looked like a light-up drum with a star on it!  It reminded me of my drum at home, that lights up when I play it! 

I think I'm always going to like lights of all kinds.  They're eye-catching, and they're a beautiful reason to keep looking up!  I hope you see some interesting lights in your travels, too, Friends, or maybe even have some cool lights in your very own house! 



Saturday, October 20, 2012

Accessories Aren't My Friends

I think a smile is the only accessory I need!
Well, Friends, I've just about gotten to my wits' end with Mommy.  We went for a walk the other day, to get the mail and to walk up and down the driveways, since it was such a nice afternoon and all, and it would have been great, except Mommy made me wear that hot pink hipster hat that we already know I don't like to wear.  I like to look at my hipster hat, and play with it like it's a toy, but it really makes me mad to have to wear my hipster hat.

It wasn't just the hipster hat, though.  Mommy tried on all three pairs of my sunglasses on me, trying to get me to keep a pair on my face. She says it's bad for my eyes to go out in the daylight without sunglasses on, and that squinting will make me get wrinkles, but I think she's nuts.  Just because she likes to wear sunglasses from the minute the sun hints at coming up, until it's so dark out that you can't see your hand in front of your face, doesn't mean she knows everything about everything, now, does it?
I'm smiling because I'm not wearing sunglasses.


But other than all the flap about me and my hat and sunglasses, it was a nice walk.  A little windy.  Don't tell Mommy, but I was kind of glad I had my windbreaker blanket on the stroller.  I stayed cozy-warm inside, and the wind stayed off me.  And having the blanket on my stroller made it so I didn't have to wear socks or shoes, which everybody knows I hate.  My feet stayed nice and warm, thanks to my blanket.  And I had my snack-cup full of puffs and yogurt drops.  I tossed out a couple puffs for any birds that would like some, but I kept my yogurt drops for myself.  I really like those the best!

Back to the breeze, though.  It was such a nice breeze that I didn't like to have my hair all covered up with my hipster hat.  I kept taking it off, so I could feel the wind in my hair, and that Mommy kept putting it back on me.  In what can be construed only as an act of aggression, she flipped the roof of my stroller down so it was like an opaque red windshield, to keep the breeze out of my hair!  How rude was that, Friends?  I'll tell you how rude.  Very rude is the answer.
Stroller roofs aren't meant to be wind screens!

I mean, I thought we were on a walk to see the sights of the yard, and here Mommy was, constantly fiddling with the hipster hat I didn't want to wear, and then flipping down my stroller roof, making an unwanted wall around me, so I couldn't even see where we were going anyway.  I'd thought about tossing my hat overboard, or maybe chucking out my sunglasses, but figured that'd just be making more troubles for myself.

Much as it irked me, having the hat put back on my head so many times after I worked so hard to take it off without making my hair unintentionally wild, I had to stop and remember to be glad that at least I get to ride facing forward in my stroller.  There was a day when I had to ride in my carseat snapped into my stroller, so it was like a baby carriage!  Talk about not having any dignity!  Everybody looked at me like I was a baby, and I couldn't even use the cupholders on my own stroller, since I was strapped into that carseat contraption.  Now, at least I get to ride in the stroller like a big girl.  I can take in the sights, so long as my roof isn't flopped down in my way.  I'm taken more seriously by my peers.

Eventually I'll train Mommy to keep the hipster hat off my head and the sunglasses of any kind off my face.  We'll work a little bit on it, every day.  But winter's on its way, and it has me worried.  I guess I have a winter hat that ties right around my chin.  That's going to make taking it off bothersome.  But maybe I'll get a hold of that hat before it gets really cold, and figure out myself how to get the hat back off my head.  I could practice!

Anyway, Big People, I hope you can get out and walk today, and not have to wear a hipster hat or sunglasses if you don't want to wear them!  Have fun and remember Zoe loves you!  Muah!

Friday, October 19, 2012

My Visit to Duplo Tower and Duplo Plaza

This is me outside of Duplo Tower!
 Hiya, Friends!  The other day, I had the opportunity to visit Duplo Tower and Duplo Plaza.  It's a very busy place.  The Duplos work there!

Duplo Tower is a very interesting place, located in the middle of Duplo Plaza.  The Duplo Tower reminds me of Buffalo Central Terminal, because it has Art Deco setbacks, and a clock in the top of the tower.  And just like Buffalo Central Terminal's tower, the Duplo Tower is where, among other things, some of the Duplo people keep the trains running smoothly through Duploland.  Trains are still a major mode of transportation in Duploland, because it isn't really big enough in Duploland to need to fly places.  And plus, the Duplo people like to read on their way to work, and trains are great for that!
This is my friend, Irv Duplo's corner office at Duplo Tower!

My friend Irv Duplo, or Irvin P. Duplo the Fourth, is from the family who founded Duploland and built Duplo Tower.  His office is in the corner of the Tower, so you know Irv's really important.  Before moving into the corner office of the Duplo Tower, Irv Duplo graduated from Duploland University with a degree in business administration and Russian  Literature.  How about that?! 

I thought that was quite a combination, business administration and Russian Literature.  I asked Irv about it, and he said he just really enjoys reading Russian Literature, and that if you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life.  So he also had a major in business administration, because not working a day in your life doesn't keep the lights on at Duplo Tower.

Irv and I had a great visit at the Snack Bar in Duplo Plaza!
Anyway, Irv's a really important Duplo, but he's such a nice fellow!  He took me to the Snack Bar in Duplo Plaza, and bought me a Bambinoccino and a pastry.  He heard how much I love Bambinoccinos and pastries, and there they were!  I think it was the best pastry I've ever had!

I wanted to know what all they do at Duplo Tower, besides keeping all the trains in Duploland running smoothly.  As it turns out, they have a call center in the Duplo tower!  So while I was there, I took some calls, and sent out some calls.   It was really busy, and I felt very important, calling and taking calls at the Duplo Tower Call Center. 
Working hard at Duplo Tower.
What I like most about being me is that I get to meet lots of new people, or new Little Giraffes, or the Duplos.  It's so much fun, and I learn a lot from everybody I meet.  It's a pretty great life.

By the way, I LOVED the orange phone I got to use at the Duplo Tower Call Center!  That orange phone had style!  You know what would go great with an orange phone like that?  A disco ball. 

Thursday, October 18, 2012

What Am I Gonna Be for Halloween?

This is me last year on Halloween.
Hiya, Friends!  Well, it's Halloween season again, and I am faced with the age-old question of what to be for Halloween.  It seems like this Halloween thing is a Really Big Deal!  And I just don't know what I'm gonna be yet!

I do know that I'm going to help Mommy hand out Individually Wrapped Smiley Cookies, shipped all the way from Eat'n'Park in Pittsburgh to the trick-or-treaters.  That was an easy decision. And I'm happy, because Mommy says we'll have leftovers.  I LOVE Smiley Cookies!

But what should I dress up as?  Boy, oh, boy.  Well, a little while back, there was talk of me being Twink from Rainbow Brite, and Mommy being Rainbow Brite, and then she said no, there was too much sewing for her and not enough time, and besides, she just isn't Rainbow Brite.  That's fine.  I didn't want to be Twink anyway.  If anybody's going to get top billing on Halloween in this house, it's gonna be me, Babies!  I'm not going to be some rainbow sprite sidekick!  No way!  And then I see I have a ladybug bubble costume and a zebra bubble costume in my closet.  They're really cute, and I'd like to wear them when the weather turns cool enough for me to need a jacket or whatnot, but other than that, those costumes just look like a lot of other clothes I wear, except they're padded.  They just look like fancy puffer vests with hoods. Mommy says she got a 2-fer for them, and I think I can wear them around town, even if it's not Halloween.

I could be a ghostie!  Except I can't see!
For Halloween, I want to be fabulous.  I don't want it to look like I just dolled up a puffer vest with some stripes or spots and said "Halloween!"

There was also talk that if I could keep goggles on my face, I could borrow a white blouse of Mommy's and be a mad scientist, because of my crazy hair.  Now, this idea, I kind of could dig, I think.  However, I cannot ignore the fact that to say I dislike goggles or sunglasses is an understatement.  I hate the things.  I don't know how Mommy does it, but if there's even a hint of sun out, from first thing in the morning, to almost dark, Mommy wears sunglasses.  I've tried it, and I don't like them.  I dislike them almost as much as I do hats.  So since mad scientists wear goggles, I'll have to pass on that costume, at least for this year.  Unless I wanted to be a really crazy mad scientist and not wear goggles.  But then, I'd must look like a kid with crazy hair, wearing a white blouse she borrowed from Mommy, or I'd look like Chef Ann Burrell. 

Too much room for ambiguity, that costume has.

Didja hear?  We're giving out Mini Smiley Cookies for Halloween!
Then Mommy got my costume from last year back out.  It is the piggy costume in the first picture today.  It was a size 0-6, but she said last year that I'd be able to wear it until I was 3, it ran so big.  Well, I'm not 3, but guess I'll be wearing that pig costume again.  I tried it on, and this year, it fits a little better.  I don't like that it covers up my Fabulous Feet of Fury, but overall, I like the costume.  I always did! 

And I guess when I get feeling like a loser for wearing the same costume I wore last Halloween, I can pick myself up with this fact: I'm not actually dressing up like a pig for Halloween, just like I did for last Halloween.  Nope!  What I'm really doing is dressing up like ME, from last Halloween, when I dressed up like a piggy!  How about that?! 

Sometimes, Friends, I feel like I'm just a little bit too clever for everybody's own good.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

My Happy Place

Where's my happy place?  Why, anywhere!
Friends, I get upset, just like everybody else does.  Sometimes, it's because I'm hungry.  Sometimes, I'm just tired and have had enough.  Other times, I get upset because I'm bored and I want to go do something else.

It doesn't matter why I get upset.  What's important is that you know I do.  I mean, I'm a person after all.  I'm a little person, but I'm still a person, and I get moody sometimes.  And that's okay!

When I get upset, I go to my Happy Place.  Where's my Happy Place?  Well, it's anywhere I want it to be.  I just close my eyes, and think about something that makes me happy, and all of a sudden, I'm there, at my Happy Place. 

This is my favorite picture of me and Rozzie!
A lot of times, I think about Rozzie.  Rozzie is my best friend in the whole wide world, and she has been for my whole life!  Every time I see her, she just puts a smile on my face, even when I'm trying really hard to be upset.  If you don't know Rozzie, you're missing out. Plus, Rozzie is really special, because she has every reason to be a grumpalumpagus, but she never is.  She's always really happy.  She gets so excited whenever we go for rides in the Jeep, and she gets really excited when she gets her Greenies.  It's hard not to be just as happy as she is, seeing Rozzie so happy!  When she comes into my room, first thing in the morning, she says to me 'We got another one, Kid!' and it's true!  We got another day!  That right there is enough to make me smile! 

Never underestimate the power of silliness for making you happy!
Sometimes, the way to get to my Happy Place is just by being silly.  I love to be silly.  You should try being silly, Big People, when you're having just a bad day.  Don't underestimate the power of being silliness!  My favorite thing is to stick out my tongue and just laugh and laugh.  Instant mood-lifter!  I thing that when I can stand on one foot and hop and sing Yankee Doodle, I think that's going to be a big mood-lifter.  That's one you could do, Big People!  Try it!  Next time your having a bad day, act silly.  You'll be surprised, but I won't, by how happy it makes you, and how fast it works!

That's what I do, Friends, to make me go to my Happy Place.  I just decide that my Happy Place is going to be wherever I am.  And I want all my friends to be happy, too.  Take a page out of your friend Zoe's book and make your Happy Place be anywhere you are!  And remember: Zoe loves you!  Muah!

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Bruster's Ice Cream!

Daddy and I were thinking about where to get some ice cream!
Hiya, Friends!  Zoe here.  As you know, I just got back from a weekend in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, visiting my Aunt Colleen and Uncle Lorentz.  It was so much fun!  I got to do all kinds of fun things, and I even got to meet a Little Giraffe from the Wild Steppes of Wexford, and help him and his friends out, but what I'd like to talk about today is a wondrous place of wonder: Bruster's Ice Cream! 

I don't want a Supermelt!
Now, I've been to ice cream places lots before.  I've been to Friendly's.  Well, okay, I've pretty much been to Friendly's lots before, and Bruster's isn't at all like Friendly's.  See, Friendly's is a restaurant that brings you ice cream at the end of your meal if you want it.  You can get all kinds of food at Friendly's.  At Bruster's, you can get just one thing, which is ice cream, and that's okay, because their ice cream is that good.

Water's just not hitting the spot.
I thought it was really neat the way you have to walk up to the window and tell the girl what you want.  They have a height chart that says if you're shorter than the line, you get a free baby cone, and I didn't even have to stand at the chart!  The girl just gave me a free vanilla baby cone, tipped into a dish, just like Mommy's not-free Big People Graham Central Station cone.  I did notice that Mommy's ice cream cone was waffle, and mine was just a regular cone, but I still felt special, just the same.  And then, we ate at a picnic table!  In October! 

WE'RE GOIN' TO BRUSTER'S!
There's a farmer's market right next to my Bruster's, and they were having a big, B-I-G Pumpkin Festival.  I've never been to a pumpkin festival before, but I could see bouncy houses and a giant apple that Aunt Colleen said sells caramel and candy apples, and there were LOTS of people!  And music!  Sometime, I'd like to go to the pumpkin festival next door to Bruster's, but then stop off for some ice cream before going back to Aunt Colleen and Uncle Lorentz's house, of course!

Aunt Colleen and me in front of the sign to our favorite place!
I feel like everything at Aunt Colleen and Uncle Lorentz's is magical, and the ice cream is no exception.   I can see why Aunt Colleen says that if you're having a bad day, just go get some ice cream.  Any kind will do, but if you're near a Bruster's, theirs is the best!  It's just like magic in a cone in a dish!  One bite, and you just can't frown anymore.  You just can't, Big People!

I guess the place at home that comes this close to making me so happy is the Texas Hot in Downtown Wellsville.  Both Bruster's and the Texas Hot are magical places of wonder for me.  And that's a fact, Friends!

Monday, October 15, 2012

Adventures with the Imaginatron 2100

Me and Uncle Lorentz with my Imaginatron 2100!
Hiya, Friends!  Zoe, here!  I have to tell you, I had a GREAT time in Pittsburgh over the weekend.  I didn't get to speak any Pittsburghese to anybody. I was pretty lucky in a way, that everywhere I went, people pretty much spoke normal. 

What I want to talk about is the fun I had playing with my Uncle Lorentz and my Imaginatron 2100.  Now, I have an Imaginatron 2100 at my house.  It's an OpenSky box Mommy gave me, and I thought THAT was the ultimate in fun, because it can be a car, or a boat, or a plane, or anything I want it to be.  And then, on Saturday night, Uncle Lorentz showed me that my "Z" bag is also an Imaginatron 2100!  How about that?!

On the right, there's a picture of me and Uncle Lorentz and my other Imaginatron 2100.  We're sledding down a big Peppermint Patty hill.  I can feel the minty air in my face, and I've got to say, even when I wiped out at the bottom of the hill, it was delicious! 

Then after Uncle Lorentz and I were all finished sledding with the Imaginatron 2100, I decided it was a kayak, and I kayaked down the Monoolahoola River, right through Downtown Pittsburgh!  ...What's that? You've never heard of the Monoolahoola River?  It's one of the three rivers that runs through Pittsburgh, of course!  You know.  There's the Ohio, the Allegheny, which starts up near where I live, and then the Monoolahoola!  Look it up!

Back to my point.  I had a blast kayaking on the Monoolahoola in my Imaginatron 2100.  I don't know if the Monoolahoola is a kayaking river in real life, but in my Imaginatron 2100, it is, and I didn't have to worry about barges or the safety boats.  It was just me and the open water!  It was great!

Friends, if you're little like me, find yourself a nice box and make your own Imaginatron.  If you're one of the Big People, you'll need to get a bigger box.  Maybe if you need to purchase a new appliance for the kitchen, like a new dishwasher or refrigerator, you could ask for the box, too, and make yourself an Imaginatron.  All you really need is a box.  You can use markers or construction paper or paint to fancy up your Imaginatron, but I feel like all that's just superfluous.  Once you let the Imaginatron take over, it doesn't matter what it looks like on the outside to other people.  All that matters is how it looks to YOU!  How about that?

I can spend lots of time playing in my Imaginatron 2100, Friends, and I think it's very stress-relieving. So if you're experiencing a lot of stress in your life or your job, an Imaginatron might be just the ticket for you, too!  I know it works great for me! 

Let me know if you get an Imaginatron, and if you do, what adventures you go on with it!  Sometimes, you can get really great ideas from your friends!

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Milk Belly

See?  I have this milk belly.
Hiya, Friends!  Zoe here.  Hey, I need to talk about something that's been bugging me for a little while.  It really has me at my wits' end.  You see, I have a milk belly.  Take a look at me in that picture over there on the left.  As far as milk bellies go, you have your half-pints, your quarts... your gallons.  Errrrrrrm.  I think from the looks of me, I'm working on the gallon.

Mommy's no help.  I mentioned it to her the other day, this milk belly thing, and asked her which Cathe videos I should do to work on my milk belly, and all she did was zerbert me on the belly and tell me I'm cute the way I am.  Do you have any idea how mad that made me, Big People?  I'll clue you.  It made me really mad.  Really, really mad.  It's heck, not being taken seriously when you're really serious about something, and I'm really serious about doing something about my milk belly. 

I don't mean to draw comparisons, but Gremlin Man and I could compare milk bellies if we wanted to.
I'm at a real loss, here, Friends!  The best I can come up with is to dress up like Gremlin Man and tell people I'm the mascot for the the Second Coming of the Gremlin.  Mommy has a Gremlin, and I've always liked that friendly little Gremlin Man.  It's just, I think it's possible to really like somebody or something, and not feel compelled to sport a milk belly like theirs.  I wonder though, would Gremlin Man's belly be from milk?  Do Gremlins drink milk?  I really don't know.  I'd like to meet Gremlin Man sometime, so I can ask him, but I'd have to figure out a way to ask, so as not to be uncouth.  That's a puzzler, how to do that particular feat, Friends.  I mean, I could ask him if he likes to drink a lot of milk like I do, and if he says either yes or no then asks me why, don't you think that'd be awkward?  The truth would be because I was wondering how he got his milk belly, but that might upset him.  I wouldn't want to upset Gremlin Man.  Of course, maybe he isn't as sensitive about his milk belly as I am about mine.

My friend Nora always helps me feel better about things!
That makes me think of my friend Nora the Little Giraffe, that lives at the Arnot Mall in the Hallmark store.  Remember her from a couple weeks ago?  She spoke at a Little Giraffe Symposium I went to, and she talked about how we shouldn't feel bad about our necks.  I thought she was inspiring at the time, because, hey, I don't feel at all bad about my neck, and I think Little Giraffes have really nice necks, but Penelope and Sophie told me that as giraffes, they can be a little sensitive about their necks, so it really meant a lot to them to hear Nora say they shouldn't be sensitive or feel bad about their necks.  Well, I wonder then, if my milk belly is my neck that I shouldn't feel bad about.  I don't mean that my neck is in my belly!  That'd be sort of too bad, wouldn't it?

What I mean is, everybody's got something that bugs them about themselves.  For the Little Giraffes, it's their necks, and for me it's my milk belly, and if Nora and the other Little Giraffes can get over being bugged by their necks, why, I ought to be able to make peace with my milk belly!  Now Nora's even more inspiring to me!  I get it now, Nora!  I get it!

Well, there you go, Friends!  I'm not going to feel bad about my milk belly anymore!  And if I ever meet Gremlin Man, I won't ask him if his belly is from milk!  I won't!  It's not any of my business!  How about that?!

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Thinking Outside the Scoop

If this ball were an ice cream flavor, what flavor would it be?
Hiya, Friends!  Zoe here.  Say, the other day on The Daily Zoe, I mentioned that I'd like some ice cream, but not vanilla ice cream.  I wanted something else, but I didn't know what.  I still haven't found what I'm looking for, but here's the idea I'm having, and maybe you can help me out and figure out a flavor.

What we need to do, Big People, is think outside the scoop, so to speak.  See me in the picture over there?  I'm holding a ball.  That's what I'd like to inspire my flavor of ice cream.  But not literally.  I'm not looking for "Plastic Paradise" ice cream, or "Yellow Lemon" or anything like that.

Now, here's where I am, and stay close, because you're gonna have to follow me on this one.  Okay.  See, I'm holding a ball in my hands in the picture. If it were a regular ball, like what you picture in your head when I say "Ball!" maybe a baseball or a basketball, or a super-high-bounce ball, that would be vanilla.

Let's simplify this:  Just a regular, generic ball would be vanilla ice cream.  Do you get where I'm going here?  Keep following.  I'll give ya more examples.  Mmmmmmkay.  Generic ball, plain vanilla ice cream.  A basketball would be fudge swirl, because I bet a lot of people think of a basketball when they think of a ball, and fudge swirl is just basically vanilla ice cream with swirls in it, and fudge is the kind of swirl lots of people like best.  It's hard to offend someone with fudge swirl, but it's also hard to surprise them with fudge swirl.  A baseball is probably almost as popular as a basketball, when you think of the word 'ball,' so I'd say a baseball would be butterscotch swirl, because it's still basically vanilla ice cream, with a swirl of butterscotch running through it, and even though butterscotch is one of those flavors people can take or leave sometimes, it's still pretty popular.  Now, football, that's getting interesting.  I'd say cookies n' cream would be football, because football's still pretty familiar and expected, so there's the vanilla base, but now you have cookies crunched up in there, to make things a little surprising, like the pointy ends on a football.  Rocky Road would be a super-high-bounce ball, because even though it looks like a plain basic ball, the super-high-bounce ball can bounce super-high and do just about anything, and with Rocky Road, you always wonder if you're going to get a mouthful of marshmallow or almonds.  And a bowling ball is kind of a zany choice to think of when you think of a ball.  It's a niche thing.  A bowling ball would translate into ice cream as Ben and Jerry's Black and Tan, which has ale in it, if you believe it!  And it's not bad, I hear, but not for everybody, kind of like a bowling ball.

Now do you see where I'm going with this?  Take another look at my ball.  It's a all, basically. It's familiar.  But it's surprising, too, because it has all these holes.  I mean, it's more hole than ball!  And there's all these bright colors on it.  But if the lights were off, you wouldn't know about the colors.  You'd just know it's a holey ball!  And it can roll or bounce or squoosh and spring back into shape.  I want to figure out a flavor of ice cream that's like my ball here.  Familiar, but with unexpected details about it that it might take a few bites to figure out.  Subtlety is what I'm aiming for, but also deliciousness, so no Swiss Cheese Flavor ice cream, or Squid Ice Cream.  I don't even know why you'd think of squid-flavored ice cream, unless you're that kid who just likes to make everybody say 'eeeeeeeeeeew!'  I'm being serious here, so I got that out of your system for you! 

So let's think, think, think, friends!  Think outside the scoop!