Zoe's Literacy Project: The Brave Little Steam-Shovel!

Hiya, Friends!  Well, ya know, I love to read, and I've been catchin' up on all the Classics lately. 

I can relate to little Sandy the Steam Shovel!

Today I'd like to talk about a current favorite Classic of mine, and that is The Brave Little Steam Shovel written by Alf Evers and illustrated by Dick Stone.  My book's copyright date is 1951, and it says inside the front cover that it usedta be GRAMMA'S little book!  How about that?!

Well, anyway, on to the story.  You see, Sandy's a little blue baby steam-shovel, and he goes to a garage to live. There's three big, fat trucks at this garage, and a big red steam-shovel named Joe that also live at Sandy's garage.  The other machines kinda pick on poor little Sandy Steamshovel at first, on accounta they're all big, and Sandy's small. 

One day, Sandy gets to go out on a job, digging a cellar for the New School that's bein' built.  Everything goes all hunky-dory for Sandy until he hits a big rock with his bucket.  The big rock is too big and heavy for Sandy to lift up, so he hasta go back to the garage and Joe, the big red steam-shovel, gets to go to the job and get it done.

Sandy has lotsa days were he has to just stay home at the garage, and it makes him a sad little steamshovel.  But it's rained a lot, and there's a landslide across the Main Road.  Thing of it is, Joe the steamshovel is too darned big to get through on the narrow road, so it's time for Sandy's second chance!

It's a lotta hard work for Sandy, but he gets the road cleared.  He even runs up against another big, heavy rock.  He can't pick it up.  But he can push it, and push that rock, he does... right the heck over a CLIFF!  How about that?!  And then it's back to the garage for a hearty round of congratulations for that brave little blue steam shovel!

I love this little book, because I can really relate to Sandy the Steam Shovel.  Sometimes things are too big for me to handle, but every so often, there comes along a job that's just me-sized, and by golly, do I ever shine. 

So that's that for today's Zoe's Literacy Project.  It's good to catch up on the Classics!  I love ya lots, Friends!  I'll be seein' ya tomorrow!  Muah!

Shakin' Things Up!

Normally, it'd be Maraca Monday, but I'm shakin' things up!

Hiya, Big People!

Hey, I know that Cinco de Mayo was yesterday, but I wanna hafta extend the holiday into today by usin' my maracas to just shake up the middle of the week.

You can accompany your shooken-up Midweek with a variety of musics.  Some of my favorites are:

"Shake, Rattle-n-Roll" by Bill Haley and the Comets

"Shake It Off" by Taylor Swift (of course!)

"Shake Your Groove Thing" by Peaches & Herb

"Shake It Up" by the Cars

"Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)" by the Jacksons

"Shake It Out" by Florence and the Machine

"Shake Your Booty" by KC and the Sunshine Band

And finally, for the end of the day "You Shook Me" by AC/DC.

This is not meant to be a comprehensive list, as I am only three and a half, so I don't know all the shaky songs out there.  If I've missed one that you know, tell me about it!  Leave me a comment! 

I love ya lots, Big People!  I'll be seein' ya tomorrow!  Muah!

Transitions Are Tough!

I am a master of the non-sequitur.

Hiya, Friends! 

Hey, do you know someone who has a hard time bridging the gap from one subject to the next?  Does someone you care about struggle with the segue?

Boyo boy, do I ever understand and get it. 

I'm not here to sell ya any solution to the problem of the herky-jerky segue.  Nope!  I'm just here to commiserate today.  Whenever I'm called upon to make a conversation flow gently from one topic to another, I've taken to just introducing a third, completely - and I mean come-PUH-leeeeet-leee- new, unrelated topic into the mix and hoping it all just shakes out.

Because of this, Mommy calls me the Master of the Non-Sequitur. 

I'm not sayin' my method's the best, but here's how it works.  Mommy and a grown-up friend of hers are talking about how nasty the birds are this year (Psssst- they're super-nasty!)  I want to talk about getting somebody to take me to a store so I can buy more PEZ candies.  I'm all out of PEZ candies, and that's very distressing for me, but I don't know how to get the grown-ups off this insipid conversation about the nasty birds, so here's how it goes:

Grownups: "Blah, blah, blah, they made a mess of the car, blah, blah, blah, we should get a cat or soemthing, blah, blah, blah." (stops to take a breath, and this is key)

Me:  "I have the Octopod from the Octonauts, and it has a buncha the Gups with it!"

At this point, the grownups will look at me and smile like you grownups do when a Little Kid interrupts.  Whatever.  I'm on a mission.

Mommy: "Honey, the grownups are talking.  What does your Octopod have to do with the birds we're talking about?"

Me: "Nothing!  I want to go to the store and get some more PEZ!  Right now, Mommy!"

And that's that.

I don't always get to go to the store to get more PEZ, but nine times out of ten, at least I've successfully derailed the conversation about the dang ol' birds.  Or whatever the Big People were talking about.

Well, it's because Little Kids just don't get any respect, and transitions are tough.  That's all.  Hey.  I'll see ya tomorrow, Big People.  I love ya lots!  Muah!

Imaginatrons

It's good to be in the ol' new Imaginatron 2100 again!

Hiya, Friends! 

Do you remember how I'm a test-pilot for the Imaginatron Company?  Well, I am.  I still am, even.  I've just had a lotta other things going on, so I don't always get to test pilot as many Imaginatrons as I would like to, and when I do, I don't always have time to tell ya about it.

Imaginatrons are pretty great things, Friends.  My favorite model to test-fly is the 2100.  Although it's ostensibly Imaginatron's entry-level model, it doesn't lack for features.  It's a good small-to-medium size. Readily available.  It employs Imaginatron's trademark Imaginative Cloaking, so that to the untrained/unimaginative eye, it's just a cardboard box, but to an Imaginatron user, it's a blank canvas, ready to become whatever you want it to be.  You can even link up a whole buncha Imaginatrons in the 2100 Series, and have yourself a multiplex Imaginatron for added fun!

Yes, there are other models in the Imaginatron line.  They aren't seen as frequently as the 2100 series, but they exist.  For instance, the next size up would putchya in mind of a refrigerator box, or a crate that a new dishwasher or washer or dryer would come in.  Those are the Imaginatron 2500s.  Like I said, they're kinda rare.  They just don't turn up very often.

Then there are the great-big, room-sized, hard-install Imaginatrons. They're part of the Imaginatron 7000X Series.  If you've got one, they're great.  If not, installing one is gonna take an entire re-do.  I mean, it just is, Big People.  But if you're really committed to the Imaginatron experience, and you know what size you really want, and you know you're not gonna be moving or anything like that anytime soon, I can have the Company send ya a brochure.

As for me, I love the 2100 Series.  I've flown a lotta places in those good ol' Imaginatron 2100s, and I know I'm just beginning!

Hey.  Do whatchya love, love whatchya do.  I'll be seein' ya tomorrow!  Muah!

I Was Happy, Just the Same

French Toast and pancakes are almost the same thing, Big People!

Hiya, Friends!  How the heck are ya?  I've got me a head fulla dreams and a paira lungs fulla air, so I can't complain.  Can't complain at all!

Yes, I'm SURE it's dreams my head's fulla, and not air.  Goodness, who letchyoo in today with that attitude?

Anyway.

You know, last Sunday, I accompanied my Daddy to the Texas Hot in Downtown Wellsville.  I love that place.  I love to eat there!  Any time of the day, I love to eat at that place!  It's like another home to me.  If ya blindfolded me and took me there, I'd know that's where I was, before you even got me through the door.

Well, last Sunday, it was just me and Daddy.  I wanted pancakes for my lunch, and that woulda been a perfect Sunday lunch, were it not for one minor detail:  The Texas Hot in Downtown Wellsville stops serving pancakes at eleven, and we were there after eleven.  So if you do out the math, that meant no pancakes for your pal Zoe.  It didn't even matter how ADORABLE I am.  Rules is rules, and they're there for a reason: the griddle has to be at a different temperature to handle the more lunchy things you can order at the Texas Hot- you know, hot dogs, burgers, Texas Hots- and my pancakes wouldn't turn out well if they cooked 'em on the griddle set up for those other things.  Conversely, they coulda turned the griddle to a different temperature to accommodate my pancakes, but there's more people wanting the lunchy things at that time of day, and it wouldn't be fair to them to have lousy burgers, dogs, n' Texas Hots, just 'cause I had to have pancakes.

It was explained to me that French Toast is almost just like a pancake, and they make French Toast all the time there.  Would I be willing to have French Toast insteadda my beloved pancakes?

Of COURSE I'd be willing to have French Toast, Big People.  I'm not one of these kids who expects every single meal to be the exact epitome of the Best Meal Ever, especially when I'm out-n-about.  I don't get all bent outta shape if everything doesn't go my way!  I learn to bend WITH all of it!

So I had the French Toast, and it was really great.  I'd definitely have it again, if I get to the Texas Hot too late for pancakes.  Like they said, French Toast is just like pancakes, so I was happy, just the same!

You see, Big People, it doesn't hurt to be a little flexible.

Hey.  I love ya lots.  I'll be seein' ya tomorrow!  Muah!

My Friends the Little Giraffes

Wellington and I go way back!

Hiya, Friends!

You know, I've come a long way from bein' a TigerBaby who liked to chew on Little Giraffes, three years ago.  Don't get me wrong.  I'm still a TigerBaby at heart, and a TigerTot in size and spirit. 

But I don't chew on Little Giraffes anymore.  They don't like that.

I never thought a thing of it, back when I usedta roam the wild steppes of the Bing.  I never stopped to think about how those Little Giraffes would feel if I grabbed 'em up and gnawed on 'em.  I was just gettin' teeth, and those Little Giraffes felt good on my sore gums.

One day, a Little Giraffe named Sophie ended up gettin' in my way, so I scooped her up and started gnawing on her HEAD, and did she ever give me a piece of her mind!  I learned that day that although they be little, Little Giraffes have normal-sized feelings and deserve to be afforded a hippopotamus-sized measure of dignity and respect, but thingofitis, a lot of Tiger Babies think it's okay to catch and chew on Little Giraffes.

That's how my work with the Little Giraffes began, Friends.  There's our Origin Story.  I took Sophie la Giraffe out of my mouth, wiped her down with a Sensitive Flavor Wet Wipe (psssst- I still say if the wet wipe people don't wantchyoo suckin' on the Sensitive Flavor Wet Wipes, they shouldn't have given 'em sucha delicious flavor!), and listened to what she had to say.  I sought enlightenment on the plight of Little Giraffes everywhere.  It didn't take long for Sophie and me to collaborate on a coalition to raise awareness of the plight of Little Giraffes of the Wild Steppes of the Greater Bing Area, and soon enough, we were raising awareness of the plight of Little Giraffes everywhere.

Yes, everywhere.

It's a lotta work, but it's so rewarding.  Whenever I see one of the Little Giraffes I help smile, it's just all so worthwhile.

Makes me glad that this TigerBaby, at least, could find it in her heart and her poor, sore gums, to change her stripes.

LeopardBabies... well, we're still working on inroads with the LeopardBabies.  You'll just hafta file that one under "stay tuned."

Just goes to show ya, Friends, everybody can learn and change for the better. I love ya lots, Big People, and I'll see ya tomorrow!  Muah!

Dressed to Be Fabulous!

This outfit was made for bein' fabulous, and so was I, Friends!

Hiya, Big People! 

Well, ya know, I consider myself something of a fashionista.  I love clothes, and clothes love me. 

Well, due to this really close friendship clothes and I share, I know just how powerful the right outfit can be.  If you're wearin' the wrong clothings, all's you wanna hafta do is curl up on the couch or inside your powder blue VeeDub bus tent and eat Cheetos. 

But wear the right outfit, like a Snoopy T-Shirt, green tutu-skirt, black ruffled BabyLegs, Hello Kitty socks, a red ladybug chapeau and red dress pumps, and you won't give another thought to the couch or Cheetos.

You'll still wanna hafta think about your blue VeeDub bus, though, because how else are ya supposed to get to the party to show off your fabulous frock?  I don't know about your fairy godmother, but mine won't do the pumpkin-to-coach conversion.  She says that's Cinderella's fairy godmother's thing.  So she makes my VeeDub bus go!

I don't let people eat Cheetos in my enchanted VeeDub bus, though, Friends.  That just isn't cool.  I don't want my sweet vintage white vinyl interior gettin' all grubbed up with orange stuff off'n those extruded corn snacks.  My bus, my rules!

Aw, I love ya just the same, anyways, Friends!  I'll see ya tomorrow!  Dress to be Fabulous!  Muah!