Zoe's Maison of Make-Believe

I have a Maison of Make-Believe, Friends!

Hiya, Friends! You know, I like to play Make-Believe, just like any kid does.  In fact, my favorite television program is all about Make-Believe.  It's Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, and it's based on the characters from the Neighborhood of Make-Believe on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.

I can really relate to Daniel Tiger, and Lady Elaina, and Katrina, and O the Owl, and Prince Wednesday.  They're all little kids who like to play, and do things like dress up.  They're always learning something new, and so am I!

Now, the neighborhood I live in isn't Make-Believe.  It's real.  And so's my house, but when I'm playing, something magical happens.  My house turns from a boring old house into Zoe's Maison of Make-Believe!

Just like in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe, in Zoe's Maison of Make-Believe, my clocks don't have any hands, because in my Maison, it's whatever time I want to imagine it is.  My favorite time of the day is eleventy-o'clock, because that's when the furniture turns into cupcakes!

I appreciate the quality of non-Make Believe cleaning tools.

Sometimes, though, in the Maison I have things I've gotta clean up, and the thing I appreciate most is that I don't hafta use Make-Believe cleaning tools.  No.  I get to use Mommy's FLYLady dry mop. 

It really helps pick up the very real hair that my best pal Rozzie sheds.  It's funny how Rozzie can't help but shed her fur in our real house and in Zoe's Maison of Make-Believe.  I'm serious.  Those aren't make-believe white fur tumbleweeds you sometimes see cartwheeling past in the background.

The adventures might be make-believe, but the sense of accomplishment is all real!

Sometimes, I get to use a real feather duster, made with real feathers from real ostriches.  One day, I got to run the window-cleaning cloth on the windows in the Maison of Make-Believe.  I got 'em sparkling and streak-free!  I've also gotten to run the Sweeper, with Mommy's supervision.

Using real cleaning tools in Zoe's Maison of Make-Believe makes me feel like a real big cheese, Friends.  I can't begin to tell you how neat it is not to have to pretend I'm helping out around the house.

Here at Zoe's Maison of Make-Believe, the adventures and cupcake furniture might be Make-believe, Friends, but my sense of accomplishment is all real! 

I'll see ya tomorrow, Friends!  I love ya!  Muah!

Office Politics

Please can we have a recount?

Hiya, Friends!  Well, don't you know the other day on dang ol' Election Day, I went and got myself voted in to an elected position here at the office?  I didn't even know I was running for anything!

At first, when people were saying I won the election, I asked them to re-count the votes, please.  I didn't think it was possible to win an election without even knowing I was running.

Then it was explained to me about write-in votes, and I started to feel kinda bad, because sometimes when people don't like the choices they're presented with, they write in people like Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck or some other fictitious person, and they do this to express their distaste for the actual choices.

I wondered if I was my office's Mickey Mouse, and that thought kind of hurt my feelings.

Wait. What? So what's my title now, and does it come with a badge?

I didn't even know what election I'd won, to be honest with you.  I was so busy saying I didn't want to be whatever it was that I guess I ignored which position I'd won.

As it turned out, I'm the newly-elected Coordinator of Donuts in the Conference Room!

Mitch from Accounting, the incumbent Coordinator of Donuts in the Conference Room, was a little sore that I beat him, even as a write-in, and I felt bad, because he thought of the position as sort of like being the Czar of the Conference Room and the Doge of any donuts that came in or out of the building.  It was getting so he didn't take into consideration what kinds of donuts everybody else wanted.  He'd just order crullers, which are really just air whipped into a thin shell of fat and flour with a little sugar drizzled on, and then jelly, which are his favorite.  No vanilla cremes, no bowties.  Certainly nothing new and experimental that Donut Dude might try!

I'm filling out my first Donut Order as Coordinator of Donuts in the Conference Room!

Plus, he never tipped the delivery people, so I understand there was some campaigning from Donut Dude and Donut Dude's delivery people, to vote in a new Coordinator of Donuts in the Conference Room.

What I'm saying is maybe Mitch was on a little bit of a freaky power trip in the position.  I don't know.  feel bad for Mitch, but he IS still on the office Fun Committee, which is appointed, not elected.  Sabretooth is also on the Fun Committee, so Mitch can't get all Mitchy on that committee.

And I'm the new Coordinator of Donuts in the Conference Room, Friends.  It's a position I take very seriously.  I wanna do a good job.  One thing I've already implemented is a Flavor Request Ticket.  I'm working with Donut Dude on this.  I mean, I already have a really good idea of what kinds of donuts my coworkers like to see in the conference room, but even I, who am a staunch Vanilla Creme girl, like to shake it up a little bit once in a while and have a Blueberry Cake, or maybe try one of Donut Dude's new flavors.  So Donut Dude and I have come up with a form that everybody can just check off the flavors of donuts they'd like to see this time around, and that's what I order, with some extras. 

People love being listened to.  So do Little Giraffes, Sabretooth Tigers, bears, dollies, and all my other coworkers!  Being listened to and feeling like they have a say in important decisions like which donuts to order for the conference room makes everybody feel really good!

So that's been my Exciting Week so far, Friends.  I hope if you got elected on a write-in vote, you're taking to your new position with as much enthusiasm as I am!  I'm gonna show people (Mitch) that even if I WAS the "Mickey Mouse," I'm gonna be the best darn Mickey Mouse Coordinator of Donuts in the Conference Room in the history of our office!

Promise Me I'll Be Back In Time!

Oh, my goodness, yesterday was November Fifth!

Hiya, Friends!  With all the excitement of Election Day yesterday, I forgot to mention that yesterday, November Fifth, was the fifty-eighth anniversary of Dr. Emmett Brown inventing the Flux Capacitor, which, as you know, is the device that allows us to travel forwards and backwards in time.

Or it would allow us to travel backwards and forwards in time if the technology hadn't been lost in a train crash off Eastwood Ravine near Hill Valley, California in 1895/1985. 

That train crash sure was an unfortunate thing for me, considering if I had one of Dr. Brown's Flux Capacitors, I could go back in time and write this blog post yesterday, so we could talk about the fifty-eighth anniversary of the invention of the Flux Capacitor. 

What's that, you say? How could it be fifty-eight years?

Well, as you know, it was on November Fifth, 1955 that Dr. Emmett Brown was trying to hang a clock in his bathroom.  The porcelain was wet, he slipped, hit his head, and when he came to, he had the idea for how to build a Flux Capacitor.  It's 2013, and as we don't have that time travel technology anymore, the year IS relevant.  Take away 1955 from 2013, and you're left with fifty-eight.  True story!

It got me to thinkin' about how much things have changed since good ol' 1955.  Because they sure have.  In 1955, people usedta drive on things called roads, in things called automobiles.  Their skateboards rolled on little wheels and stayed on the ground instead of hovering.  They used things called telephones to communicate with friends, family, and business associates not located within yelling distance.  They ate meatloaf.

Um.

Things sure have changed since good ol' 1955!

I didn't expect that turn things just took.  Actually, those things are much the same as they are these days.  Why, just the other day, I ate some meatloaf.  I used a telephone!  I rode in a car with its wheels on the road.  I didn't get to use a skateboard, because Mommy says no, but I've watched big kids ride skateboards, and for the most part, they don't hover.  Not for very long, anyway.  I mean, not like a hover-board.

Hoverboards rack up some SERIOUS air-time.

Okay.  So I suppose maybe things here in The Future aren't THAT much different from the way they were in 1955.  Not the basics of those things.  But with the exception of meatloaf, those things I mentioned HAVE changed that much since 1955.

For instance, I've noticed the automobiles at car shows from 1955.  They were shaped differently than they are today.  They sounded different.  They smelled different!  Not to mention those epic fins those old cars had!

And telephones!  Our telephones are tiny, and we can carry them with us wherever we go.  In 1955, they were big, black telephones, and they had DIALS, and when you got done talking to someone, you put the receiver back on the cradle and said 'There!'  Now, ya just push a button, and 'Boop!' conversation over!

Besides that, we have all these computers!  I betchya people from 1955 wouldn't believe a computer if they saw it with their own eyes!

Why, even skateboards are different, compared to the ones they had in 1955!  According to my studying of vintage visual, skateboards in 1955 were wooden boards, nailed to wooden potato crates, with little metal wheels.  Compared to that getup, I betchya today's skateboards DO feel like hoverboards!

It's all about perspective, Friends!

I'd like a poodle skirt, pair of saddle shoes, and a big chocolate malt when I go to 1955!

Anyway, even though the Flux Capacitor technology has been forgotten to us, and we can't go back in time in Deloreans and see Old Man Peabody's wondrous pine trees, or even to when every song on the radio was by Huey Lewis and the News, I didn't think it was right for us to forget Doctor Emmett Brown and his wondrous invention.  Maybe one of these days, some other genius mad scientist will be hanging a clock in his bathroom and slip on wet porcelain, and re-discover how to make a Flux Capacitor.

Even though it's a day late, Doctor Emmett Brown, here's to ya!

Muah!

Big People: Don't Mess This Up!

Get yourself ready to go vote!

Hiya, Friends!  Well, it's Election Day.  Compared to last year, this Election Day is easy to miss on the calendar. 

Last year, we had to pick the President again, and I remember it was a Big Deal.  There wasn't any time I could watch the television without seeing one political candidate attacking the other political candidate who was running against them.  Things on the Facebook were U-G-L-Y.  Boy, were they ever.  I didn't know what to think!  I thought that nobody was ever going to talk to anybody else, ever again, just because of all the political rancor.

It made me worried about The Future.

Ready to go vote? Don't mess this up, Big People!

This year, I've been limiting my television to just Sesame Street, Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, Play With Me Sesame, and some Sabres Hockey games.  I don't watch the news right now, because every time I turn on the news, there's something scary, or sad, or something that just makes my blood boil.  Don't they ever put good news on?  I know there's good news around!

What was I saying?

Oh, yeah!  I've been limiting my TV time, but on the TV that I DO happen to catch, I haven't seen any negative political campaign advertisements, and I think that's wonderful!

Big People, why do political runners think they gotta get all negative?  Why can't they focus on the GOOD things they themselves have accomplished, instead of going on and on and on and on and on about the BAD things their opponent has been up to?

I knew I could count on you, Friends!  Democracy!

I know I'm just a naive little kid, but it seems to me our Big People in Power would get a lot more accomplished if they spent more time worrying about the things they an do. 

Or better yet, if they didn't worry, but if they spent more time actually DOING those good things!!! 

So this Election Day, Friends, even though it isn't a Big Election Year, go practice working your Electing Muscles.  Go to your polling place and vote for the things that are there to vote for!  Don't mess this up, Big People! 

The Future is depending on you!

I love ya, Friends!  Now go vote!

C is for Cookie

Mmmm, delicious.

Friends, I've been watching a lot of Sesame Street, and I can't help but notice that I have a lot in common with Cookie Monster.  Cookie Monster and I both love cookies.

A lot of good things start with the Letter C, I've learned, upon further research into Cookie Monster's assertion that "C is for Cookie, and that's good enough for me."

I found out that "Cupcake" starts with the Letter C.  And "Carrots!"  and "Cracker!" and... well, this is tricky, but "Cheese!"  I love all those things!

"Car" starts with the letter C.  I love riding in the car [within moderation!]!  "Crayon" starts with the letter C.

And.  Aunt Colleen's name starts with the letter C!

I'm partial to the Letter Z, because that's the letter that starts my name, but the Letter C is pretty great.  How is it possible that so many great things starts with the Letter C?  I wonder if the other letters get jealous.  I'll have to look into great things the other letters start with, and then I'll report back to you.

For now, though, Friends, I think we should all go and enjoy some of our favorite things that start with the Letter C!  What do you say?  I'll see ya tomorrow!  Muah!

We Travelled Back In Time!

I'm comin' out of my time machine!

Hey, Friends!  Something really cool happened overnight!  We went back in time an hour!  How about that?!

I was somewhere I love to be: Gramma and PopPop's, so that means when we all traveled back in time, I got to have an extra hour at Gramma and PopPop's. 

Are there side-effects of time travel, do you think?

I suppose this time-travel isn't so much fun if you have an all-night work job.  If that were the case, it probably was kinda hard, going about your work, then looking up at the clock and getting all excited because it's about time to go home, then 'Whoops!' all of a sudden, the clock winds back, and you feel like you've got to do the whole hour over again. 

I'd like to visit the time when there were unicorns!

Now, I saw a movie where they traveled through time in a Delorean and went on adventures.  That sounds risky and expensive.  I've priced some Deloreans that aren't fitted with their flux capacitors yet, and they're a lotta cabbage.  I can't even find where to buy a flux capacitor to enable time travel, so one of those must fall under the "If Ya Hafta Ask, Ya Can't Afford It" category. 

All the good stuff does, you know.

But it would be fun to travel all over time like that, whenever you want, not just back in time an hour in the fall and jumping an hour into the future in the spring.  I'd like to go visit the time when there were unicorns on the world. I think that would be a magical time to visit.

Or when there were cupcakes, big as houses, that just popped up from out of the ground.  You have to think there must have been, since there were giant dinosaurs that roamed the earth.  They had to eat something.  I bet it was giant cupcakes, and I'd like to go back in time and see that.  Yep!

But I'd definitely like to make sure I can come home to my own time, so I can ketchup with all of you here on the Internet, instead of having to write on cave walls and hope you get the message millions of years later!

Halloween Extravaganza!

HEY!  Let's go Tricker Treatin'! I want candy!

Hiya, Friends!  Well, a coupla days ago was Halloween! To say I had a wild night would be an understatement!  That's why I'm just now getting around to telling you about it!

What happened is I went Tricker Treatin' with Mommy and Daddy!  We were the Flintstones, from the vitamins.  Except I was Pebbles Flintstone dressed up as a Sabretooth Tiger, and Mommy and Daddy were Fred and Wilma, taking me, Pebbles, around Tricker Treatin'!  How about that?!

Hoo boy! Tricker Treatin' is hard work!

I started off at Daddy's Office, Blake Dentistry.  We had to go there to pick Daddy up.  See, Daddy wasn't excited about dressing up as Fred Flintstone again.  I guess way back when Mommy and Daddy lived in Philadelphia, Mommy made Daddy dress up like Fred Flintstone and go to the Halloween Orchestra... and they had to ride the subway, dressed like the Flintstones.  

I just. Need. A. Minute!

Daddy says the experience was mortifying, and he threw out his Fred Flintstone costume so he'd never hafta be Fred Flintstone again for Halloween, but Mommy went and ordered him another costume, so there ya go! 

Anyway, Mommy and I went to Daddy's office and picked him up, otherwise, we bet he woulda worked straight through Tricker Treat, and without Fred, Wilma and I woulda been just a toddler in a tiger costume and a woman with crazy hair.

 We went to a lot of places.  The hospital to see Daddy's grandparents, first.  Then we got back in the Jeep and rode to Genesee, and I saw Daddy's other grandparents next.  I got a fancy cupcake there, and I played on a step-stool!  How about that?!

Could I Tricker Treat a later bedtime?

I wanted to eat my fancy cupcake right then and there, and I didn't wanna stop playing on the step-stool, but Mommy and Daddy didn't want me to eat my fancy cupcake right there and then, and they wanted me to stop playing on the step stool, so they had a Parent Moment.  They'll say I had a Toddler Moment, but I assure you, Friends, it wasn't your pal Zozie.  It was Mommy and Daddy.  And then they said it was time to go, and I didn't wanna go, and the Bully Hill Incident got all bandied around again.

Don'tchya love it when people bring up your not-so-proud moments, Friends?  Isn't that a gas?

But there was more Halloweenin' to do, so back in the Jeep we got!

We went to my Grandpa and Grandma Blake's, and their house was BUSY!  Every time I started to say something, someone else would knock on their door.  I've never SEEN anything like that before in my whole life, but I guess that's what it's like to be on the other side of Tricker Treating if you live on the Main Drag!  Just busy and busier yet!

Halloween is great and I had fun!

It was fun, though!  They gave me a lot of candy, and a DONUT! 

Then the next thing I knew, we were back in the Jeep again, and we were on our way to Gramma and PopPop's house.  I got to see my friend Buddy Cat, and he was all dressed up for Halloween in his black fur.  Actually, he was dressed up like he always is.  Boy, I sure like that cat!

It sure was fun, going Tricker Treating, but I hafta be honest with ya, Friends.  I sure was glad to see my house.  I was so tired.  There's more to Tricker Treating than I thought there was!  I don't know how the Big Kids do it, and then get up for school the next day!

It was fun, though.  I wouldn't trade Halloween 2013 for anything.  I woulda had fun, even if I didn't get candy and cupcakes and donuts, but those things were... well, the vanilla creme in the donut, if you will!  Hahahahaha!