The Khooler Report: Again with the Bullets

You know if I have gone this long without a post, there is going to have to be a bulleted list. I know from my so-called career as a so-called technical writer that a bulleted list is supposed to consist of parallel items. This means that the items should be the same sort of items. So, what the following items have in common is...er, that they are things that I am now bothering to mention in the bulleted list blog entry of today.

I went to a charity cocktail party a few weeks ago in support of an organization that my friend is involved in. If you have never been to a charity cocktail party, it is basically a cocktail party where everyone is hipper and more Seattle-ish and more socially and politically active than I am (none hard to achieve, really), and where there is very nice wine and super snacks. And at the end, you write them a check. At least, this is my generalization based on the one event. But here is the interesting part: the supremely swank lake-side mansion where this soiree took place, lent to the organization by the owner for this event, belonged to... the guy who invented Pictionary. Awesome.
Speaking of drawing games, Naomi and Muriel have invented (and continue to try to engage us in) the world's most impossible drawing game ever, the working title of which is "Guess What I am Drawing with My Nose." As in, drawing invisibly in the air with my nose. So, it's a fun game, in that it is funny to watch your kid industriously draw something in the air with their nose, but it is not a fun game if you are the sort of person that enjoys succeeding at a game, because really, you are never ever going to guess. Wait, unless Muriel is doing the drawing, because she always draws Thomas the Tank Engine. Then Emily. Then Percy.
This maybe deserves its own boring post, but I would like to take this opportunity, while I'm thinking of it, to encourage people to consider super amateur backyard birdwatching. This involves buying the Sibley guide, or some similar reference, learning the five kinds of birds that normally visit your yard, and then when you see something out of the ordinary, cracking open the reference and adding another bit of bird knowledge to your world. It is a shortcut to nature awareness (for kids especially, but for grownups too), because birds are everywhere, and when you start looking for them a little more, it becomes a little treat when you see one. During a recent run, I saw some gold finches and a cedar waxwing (a pretty good looking little fellow!) besides the usual Red-wing Blackbirds and swallows by the lake. Yesterday we got to see and hear a murder of crows ganging up on a raptor (maybe a kestrel) in a nearby tree. We also recently spotted some quail, which are not supposed to be around here. I'm just saying, it's fun.
Jim subbed last night on a soccer team, and today has been walking around like an old cowboy at the end of a very long cattle drive. He had a good time, and played well, by his own modest account. This, in combination with the fact that someone was kind enough to hip us to the fact that we do get Univision on channel 51, and that Univision is kind enough to actually screen the World Cup games so Jim doesn't have to go sit in the "bar" part of the Mexican restaurant at the mall food court that we frequent, means that we are a little bit soccer happy around these parts. So right- Jim is Chinese, and grew up in Malaysia, and so of course is a lifelong fan of... Germany? We were happy to see them beat Inglaterra this morning.
At the end of this month, meaning, this very week, Muriel is going to switch schools and join Naomi's school. This way, they will be at the same school for the summer before Naomi heads off to real school at the end of August. I am just a teeny little bit in denial that this is upon us, not only because I haven't really bothered to have a conversation with the good people at the new school about what to expect from Muriel, and what Muriel should expect, but also because I think, embarrassingly, that I am going to be a little bit wrecked at leaving their baby school behind. We have been going to that school every day for almost four years now, and they have been extremely good and loving to our children. I remember when tiny little drooly Naomi was ready to move from the baby house across the street into the toddler class, it was weirdly emotional for me. I made the teachers these (I realize now) overly elaborate commemorative gifts, and had a hard time not crying when we said goodbye to them. (This is all the more embarrassing given that of course we saw them all the time afterwards.) Anyway, wish me luck, is all I'm saying.

This is getting long, and I haven't even gotten to the part where I get your help in cracking the karaoke code, or force you to endure a tireless rant on the crap crap crappy weather we seem endlessly saddled with. Something to look forward to, right? But since you have read, or skimmed (no blame!) this far, here are a couple of photos from the all girls Strawberry Festival Outing 2010. See for yourself on the weather.