Geakz and I took our little man to the movie theater for the first time several weeks ago to go see the Pixar flick Wall-E.  The little man loved it! And so did I.

Basically, the plot is about a retail chain store (Buy N Large) that is here to “save” us after they facilitate the destruction of our planet (promoting hyper-consumerism and the inevitable waste that goes with it.) The Buy N Large corporation shuttles humans off of the planet, ensconcing them in leisure and sloth, while the Wall-E robots are left to clean up the mess.

Fast forward 700+ years. Only one robot is still functional. The lone, and lonely, Wall-E still has a lot of work to do before humans can return from space. The Earth is still cluttered with so much bargain priced, low quality,  over-packaged, disposable crap (purchased at Buy N Large, of course!) that only a single plant is able to grow. Wow. The movie is one heck of a wake up call disguised in the cloak of family entertainment.

Shortly after seeing the movie, I was ELATED that I saw no Wall-E merchandise in any store. I was happy to think several major corporations (that would stand to make a mountain of money out of licensing and merchandising) opted to reinforce the message of the movie. Essentially, helping us limit our consuming by not producing. A rare and beautiful thing.

So, I was greatly disappointed when I saw Wall-E merchandise in a local store. So much for sense before cents. Sigh. Pixar tackled an important topic, but missed it’s OWN POINT when they licensed Wall-E merchandise available for purchase at my closest “Buy N Large”.

Personally, our family tries to limit our consuming. We buy mostly things that we need. We recycle. We compost.  We “green” clean. We buy/sell at resale shops. We are reducing our intake of food additives, preservatives and pesticides.  We’re trying to do the right things for the planet, but struggle with it too.

Our three year old would love a Wall-E something to join his small legion of Lighting McQueens and Thomas the Tank Engines.  I believe the movie has an important message that Pixar presented quite well,  but it would be hypocritical to buy him a Wall-E shirt (with a free plastic hanger!) for the quite reasonable price of $5.99.

How do you teach a three year old to understand hypocrisy? Maybe that will be the next Pixar release.

(Now, I’m left to  wonder, what Wall-E noodle soup might taste like….a bit bitter perhaps?)

When I was a kid, we had a miniature dachshund. He had a proper German name, but we rarely called him by it. He was mostly called by my mother’s vexation of “Oh, that ‘Turkey Dog’. (This was long before turkey hot dogs became popular.)

Turkey Dog liked to burrow under blankets and towels. He also loved to lay on warm air vents from the furnace. After five minutes of absorbing heat meant for an entire room, Turkey Dog was the equivalent of an old fashioned hot water bottle. Shortly before bedtime, I would stick him at the foot of the bed to warm it up. Presto! No more cold toes!

Heating costs are going to jump astronomically this winter, so I’m left to wonder if it would be more economical and “green” to turn down the thermostat and:

Plan “A”-Get a wiener dog.

Plan “B”- Have Geakz run a fever most of the winter, like he was last week. (I’d be a good wife and alternate running a fever when he needs a break, but he generates more heat since he’s bigger than me.)

Plan “C”- Put up plastic on the windows. Add extra insulation. Caulk. Try to order cutesy, country craft “draft blockers” out of an outdated Lillian Vernon catalog.

I’m voting Plan A.

Are you doing anything differently this year to keep down your heating costs?

I’m sure that you have heard that blueberries are a “Super Food”. They contain many beneficial antioxidants. I was reminded of this fact when two pints of big, fat blueberries arrived into our household nearly two weeks ago. I love blueberries, but haven’t touched them thinking that the purchaser was craving some antioxidants. I have sadly watched them lose their super powers- growing weak and shriveled.

Please correct me if I am wrong, but, doesn’t the human body have to ingest foods to reap the nutritional benefits? Are they a Super-Duper Super Food that transfers its magical qualities onto the closest fatty substance residing in the refrigerator with it? (i.e. the butter that you are going to fry your steak in)

In my completely unscientific and undocumented observations, the only things in the fridge that can transfer their powers to other foods and then onto humans are mold, rot, and e.coli.

Could someone please enlighten me? Did I miss the latest ground breaking discovery? The last food breakthrough I heard about was watermelon will help men to, er… wield a mighty sword, so to speak.

Geakz has been trying to get me to blog for well over…umm…three years now. He’s set up numerous blogs for me that I have just let turn to internet “web reserves”, similar to nature reserves. Looks pretty, but no one is there. I have had the same regard for my blogs as I have for camping. Leave no trace.

I’ve known for fourteen+ years that today is Geakz birthday. It’s been the same day every year for the past 46 years. And, this year, I have neglected to do anything about it. I have done no shopping. No sly party planning. No special dinner preparations or reservations. And I feel pretty bad about it. It rivals the feelings that I had when I pulled our car into the garage this spring forgetting that Geakz bike was on the roof rack. (For the sake of brevity, the garage and the car we still have. But the bike, bike rack and luggage rack to the car are twisted and shattered bits of history.) Yes, I fell that bad.

So, today, on Geakz special day, I  broke my “leave no trace” rule in the world of blog-dom. Just for him.

Maybe, in the future, I’ll make a permanent camp of my blog. Dig into a well spring of knowledge or plant some seeds for thoughts to grow.  Or I may let the internet tumbleweeds go blowing through my abandoned, desolate site once again, awaiting some form of technological reclamation that I know nothing about.

But, for today, I’ll set up my lawn chair in the internet world and enjoy the scenery while celebrating my husband’s birthday.

Happy Birthday, sweetheart. This blog post is for you.