Tony Hates Our Trees 2010: The Revenge

I can always tell when Tony is reaching his peak frustration with our two big trees each year because he starts wandering around the house muttering things like, "I don't know why you liberals (evidently referring to me) think we need more of these things."

Now on the one hand, our trees are fairly obnoxious. In late spring, they not only sprout leaves but also some sort of yellow fuzzy pollen junk, which drops for weeks. (Think two weeks or more of sweeping the front and back porch, the long driveway, and the front walk -- not to mention extra vacuuming and sweeping of the house and cars.)

Then all the sticks that held the yellow fuzzies drop. (Think three or more weeks of raking the yard in late June/early July.)
Then comes fall, with piles and piles of the actual leaves dropping to the ground. (Think a good month of raking and stuffing leaves into orange bags the city gives us, which are never enough to contain all the leaves.)

On the other hand, though, if I'm Tony's model for environmental anything, it's a sad, sad world. My total contribution to the planet includes: (1) participating in the curbside recycling program our city has, (2) turning off the lights in the rooms Tony has left, (3) turning off the lights in rooms I think Tony has left but he really hasn't, (4) encouraging Tony to plant a garden, and (5) feeling guilty when I drive my car. I briefly flirted with buying organic milk and then got tired of paying three times as much per gallon for it....

But this year, in the Tony vs. Trees battle, Tony made some progress. Before the yellow fuzzies had even formed, he called a tree guy to come trim the trees. I believe his instructions to the guy included phrases like, "I'd prefer more taken rather than less."

This wasn't even a fraction of what got hacked....
(Afton was rather fascinated by the pirate-looking man who kept zooming up and down in his bucket with a loud chainsaw. He eventually zoomed down to the window and waved hello at her.)

I would like to take this opportunity to make it clear that, despite all his muttering, it was Tony who brought home Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" for us to watch a couple years ago, and it was Tony who went on-line after the movie to check out his carbon footprint, and it was Tony who then decided we should buy some fluorescent light bulbs. (I was all for it -- our electricity bill dropped noticeably after that.) So, somewhere, deep down, his heart bleeds just a little too.

Oh Brucey!

Last Saturday, Tony took Afton shopping to spend some of her birthday money. She helped pick out a pair of hot pink sandals with little flowers on the top, and then they made their way to Toys-R-Us. The plan was to get a band-in-a-bucket sort of thing given Afton's new love affair with music class, and they did. However, Afton got so attached to another toy and cried so hard when they left, that Tony eventually took her back to Toys-R-Us to get it.

What, you might ask, could capture the dear two-year-old girl's heart? Let's just say that some kids like baby dolls and others like teddy bears, but Afton likes foot-and-a-half long, rubber sharks.

Afton has named him Brucey (after the shark in Finding Nemo).

Brucey went to the park with Afton that afternoon. Afton helped him go down the slide, but mostly she just hugged him a lot while saying, "Oh Brucey... Oh Brucey..."

And Brucey likes to tickle people around the neck. Sometimes, though, Brucey just gives kisses.

That's my little girl! :)

Here's Looking at You Kid!

Afton turned 2 this past while. We had the world's most mellow celebration, and I must admit that it was nice for me :).

We began the day by making cupcakes.

Afton generously sampled the batter.

Then we opened the one wrapped present...

which was a set of pots and pans that would go with...

Afton's new play kitchen.

(Afton isn't much of a smiler, but I think she liked her present as she spent a good deal of time rummaging through the fake food and utensils.)

After dinner, we had her ladybug cupcakes.

She tried very hard to blow out her two candles....but eventually she needed some assistance. Unfortunately for her, her "assistance" was a six-and-a-half month pregnant lady who also took two or three tries to get them out.

Once the candles were out, though, she knew exactly what to do with the cupcakes.

She ate the tops off of two of them.

So here's to the little girl who loves to put on her necklaces and then play in the dirt! Happy Birthday Afton!