Stamps

Stamps.  We occasionally collect them, and today was the perfect opportunity to pull a few out and share with Madison.  She is older now, and appreciated going through the collection some.  Back in the 70's and 80's, Daddy's grandfather collected them a bit, so I've in turn inherited a few.  But then on top of that, we pick up a few a year just for the collecting aspect of it.  For example, the Chinese New Year stamps each year.  And sometimes there are Disney ones, or Star Wars ones - or whatever.  We showed Madison the state stamps, the official state bird and state flower stamps, and then the ones that had the secret codes on them.  If you don't remember that, there was a time where there were hidden images or messages on the stamps made by the Postal Service.  In order to see them, you had to purchase a special decoder that you look through.  We actually have that decoder still, so Madison was looking through it in order to see things like Thomas Jefferson's signature, or chains wrapped around Houdini's stamp.  It was a nice little teachable moment, and it all started out with a homework essay that she had to write.

Tonight, Madison first had to design her own stamp.  Go figure:  it was a picture of Elsa.  Yeah, that was fairly obvious, wasn't it?  Anyway, she had to write about where the letter was going and why, and a few other things.  In this case, Madison wrote as if she were the stamp herself.  She was going on an envelope that had a birthday card in it for Anna.  The card was going to Arendelle, of course.  And Madison added at the end, if the weather was cold there... the cold never bothered her anyway.

We were on a fabric dash all day today, as we're in one of those dramatic races against time to get a lot of costumes created for the kids involved in the Easter Production.  Madison is a little nervous about being in this one, so she might not actually be IN the production this time around.  But we'll all be around the production quite a bit the next several days.  Cannot wait until the day after Easter, as bad as that sounds.  We'll all have this heavy burden off our shoulders, and of course hopefully we'll be off somewhere that's warm and has the sound of ocean waves.  

Tonight, Daddy went to the Men's Meeting at church, where there were slam dunk competitions and weight-lifting contests.  Sadly, there was no Star Wars trivia, yodeling contests, or armpit noise games.  No, this was all about manliness!  Seriously, it was a fun night, and I'm glad I went.  I did miss the family though.  Madison was working on her spelling a bit tonight at home, which didn't require too much effort.  

She was not forlorn in the slightest.  That's one of her words:  forlorn.  Who actually uses that word in a sentence anymore?  Sure, there are the over educated folks that like to throw it around in social media posts to show how much more educated they are than the rest of us.  But seriously, "forlorn?"  I know exactly what the word means, of course.  I usually use it in a sarcastic sort of way, because it is so over-the-top.  Example:  "When I heard Bonanza was about to end, I was forlorn to come back with the rest of the cast one more season."

Okay, if you don't get the Lorne Greene reference, then don't worry about it.  But usually I use it sarcastically like this:  "When we discovered the taquitos at the gas station were not ready, we left the place with a forlorn look in our eyes."

See?  It's only use for me is with exaggeration.  Because when you use it to describe someone that actually HAS a forlorn look, the word just sounds too over-the-top - even if it actually fits the situation. 

The point is, who uses this word anymore?  Or more to the point, what SECOND GRADER uses this word anymore?  "The rain dampened the children's spirits, canceling their chance to go out to the playground, a forlorn look upon each student's face."

Fortunately, Madison can spell it easily.  But I'm sorry, but if you use this word in everyday conversation, I can't take you seriously.