Our April Fool's Day Prank

This was Charlotte's idea, but I loved it.

The plan was to fool mom into thinking that for dessert Char and I were eating mayonnaise right out of the jar. But instead of mayonnaise, we would be eating vanilla pudding.

I bought some mayonnaise after school, but when I got it home it looked too white when compared to the pudding. Instead, I used a container of Miracle Whip that we already had. The Miracle Whip is less white than the mayonnaise, and the darker pudding might make it look as if the Miracle Whip had begun to spoil. That would be even better.

I had to empty the MW bottle at work. There's no way I could sneak a plastic bag of Miracle Whip out of the kitchen without being caught by Daphne. I'm not saying she's nosey; I'm saying I'm not smooth enough to get away with anything.

That bag looks so gross.

The cap broke after repeated slaps on the table top. If there was a next time, I'd take it easy and let gravity do its work.

The bottle was clear after shaking it with soapy water, but I needed to do that five more times to get rid of the MW smell. After a clear water rinse,  it was time to let it air dry.

I bought another bottle of MW so I could have the cap. I needed to seal the pudding bottle. 

Will the real Miracle Whip please stand up?

It's in place and ready to go. It's a small miracle that I didn't get caught setting this up.

When we got home from school on Friday, we were standing in the kitchen and Char said, "Hey Mom, did you know that in Animal Crossing Tom Nook's favorite dessert is Miracle Whip?"

"Miracle Whip? That would be terrible!" Daphne replied.

"No, it isn't. Watch!" Char grabbed the Miracle Whip from the refrigerator door, handed it to me, and I squirted the pudding into Char's open mouth.

Daphne looked disgusted. Success! 

We quickly explained what we had done, and Mom got in on the act.

As far as April Fool's Day pranks go, this one was fun and harmless. Charlotte and I were able to trick Mom, but no one was hurt, embarrassed, or made to feel uncomfortable.

Plus, vanilla pudding. It's awesome.

Chip Off the Old Block

Char wanted, among other things, to serve potato chips at her last birthday party. I suggested Munchos.

Char rolled her eyes the first time I made this suggestion. She lightly punched me in the shoulder the second time. The third time I brought up Munchos - we were in Hy-Vee - she protested, "Dad! Be serious! The party is this week!"

I led her to the chip aisle and pointed to a bag. "I am being serious. Look, they're right here." Char's eye bulged. She couldn't believe Munchos actually existed. "I'll tell ya what. I'll buy you a bag of Munchos, and we'll try them when we get home. If you don't like them, then I'll finish the bag myself, and bring you back here to get any kind of chips this store sells." (We don't buy potato chips very often, so this would be a win-win for me no matter what.)

I opened the bag in our kitchen, and her eyes rolled up when she tasted her first chip. "Mmmmph! Dad! Munchos are soooo good!"

"I know! But didn't I tell you that five times already? Why wouldn't you believe me?"

"Well, actually it was four times," she corrected, "but I thought you made these up. You know, you're a dad. You're supposed to tease me."

"Well, that is true. But not about something as important as birthday party chips."  

At the party, when Daphne brought out two bowls of chips, Charlotte announced to the table, "Ohhh! Try these first. They're Munchos!" I'll admit that I felt a twinge of pride.

Here's a link to a Jim Hensen commercial from 1969. Guess who liked Muchos before they liked cookies? ----> link

PS. This post is proof that you can blog about anything.

The Best of Cemetery Dance 2 - A Lesson in Patience

The email came as a surprise. 2009 was such a long time ago.

I should explain.

Cemetery Dance Publications has been publishing magazines since 1988 and books since 1992. I discovered Cemetery Dance when I became interested in author autographed books. The company is well respected for their autographed limited editions.

In 1998, they published the book, The Best of Cemetery Dance.

"The Best of Cemetery Dance showcases five dozen of the very finest short stories from the first 25 issues of Cemetery Dance magazine.... Featuring a virtual who's who of today's greatest authors of dark fiction, The Best of Cemetery Dance is one of the most important books of the year — including contributions from Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Richard Laymon, Poppy Z. Brite... " from the CDP website.

That book sounded awesome, but I didn't know about it until 2007. After nine years the signed edition was going for $750 on eBay, so that wasn't an option for me. I settled on a much cheaper, but nice trade edition instead. I still have it.

Then Cemetery Dance announced they would be publishing A Fifteen Year Celebration. According to an old Amazon ad, the book would come out at the end of 2010.

The limited edition was also going to be signed by the authors, and it was priced at $175. With a baby in our plans, that seemed too steep for one book. When a fifty percent off coupon arrived in my email, I jumped at the chance. If anything, I could tell myself that it would be a good investment. Look at what the first one was now selling for.

Back then I was more organized, and I printed my email receipts.

 Here's a picture of my order and the date.

I was pretty excited at the chance of owning this book, but this was just a preorder. The book wouldn't be ready right away. So I waited.

And I waited.

And I waited.

And you can see where this is going. At some point during the past decade, CD took down their Internet page advertising A Fifteen Year Celebration. I later received an email informing me that the book was getting too big, and would have to be revised. They said they'd let me know.

And so I forgot about it. A lot has happened since then. 

There were a few updates, but for the past nine years it's been mostly the sound of crickets. A few months ago I showed Charlotte my printed receipt in an effort to teach her about patience,"You think it's hard to wait three days until Christmas? I have something you have to see. It's from before you were born..."

Then I received this email yesterday:

"Hi Brent,
As a reminder, Cemetery Dance: A Fifteen Year Celebration has grown into The Best of Cemetery Dance 2 and we have an important production update for you today. We’re thrilled to report the first two sets of signature sheets are DONE and back home in the CD offices, and the third set of sheets are with the final author and will be headed back here very soon, at which point Richard Chizmar will sign them and the book will be ready for the printer! For that reason, we’re finally ready to officially announce this project to the world!

Thank you again for your patience as this project has evolved into something even bigger than we originally planned!"

It's taken nine years and seven months to find out that the book is almost ready. My first reaction was an underwhelmed, "Huh. They'll finally finish it." 

The book will look nice on the shelf next to my old trade edition, but I don't think it will become the investment I thought it would be when I first made the purchase. But then again, in 2009 I could have spent my $87.50 on a HD DVD player and look where that would have gotten me.

Looks like you can get the same copy that I've been waiting for, and it will probably only take you a few months to get it...  ---> link

Or not... I gave up counting months years ago.

Spring Break '19: Our Staycation

Last year was the first time we traveled on a plane with Charlotte for spring break. Visiting San Francisco was fun, but this year we decided to stay home again.

While Char was at the Science Center with a friend, Daphne and I had quite a lunch at Wasabi in Johnston. 

The Blank Park Zoo is Des Moines isn't very big, but you can get pretty close to the big cats.

The only time we left town was to visit Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium. Seeing elephants and cheetahs isn't something we can do in Des Moines.

Charlotte thought these little guys in the bottom of the tank were fascinating. I forgot to note what they were called.

My favorite part about visiting the Omaha Zoo is eating at California Tacos & More afterwards.

Their puffy tacos are similar to the ones at Tasty Tacos in Des Moines, but their California Taco is larger and they have a great condiment bar. Their steak filling is chunks of steak... sooo good.

Charlotte chose to be Harriet Tubman for the 3rd Grade Wax Museum. She needed a costume, so we all went thrift store shopping.

Char used this illustration of Harriet for inspiration.

Here's the dress they found. The white piece came from Hobby Lobby, and Daphne sewed the buttons  on the front by hand.

Char gave her new lantern from Bass Pro Shops a test run before bedtime.

The 3rd Grade Wax Museum is this Friday, and I'm looking forward to seeing Char's performance.

We also hung out at the local park when the weather was nice.

We bought Char a tie-dye kit for Easter last year, and Daphne decided it was about time to put it to use. The gals dyed six shirts and six headbands.

After 24 hours, the fabric was ready to be washed. First you have rinse the fabric until the water runs clean, and Daphne will tell you that is the worst part of this process. I bet it took 45 minutes before she felt they were ready for the washer. 

The shirts and headbands turned out good, though.

Char's other project was to construct two forts/mazes for the cats to play in. She was inspired by watching cat videos on YouTube. 

Daphne brought home a few boxes from work...

They're held together by tape for now, but if the cats use them, we'll secure the boxes with the cardboard screws my buddy Rob 3D printed for us. 

The big fort is called "Maniac Mansion."

This one is the "Cozy Cottage."

Okay, here's where I come in. Charlotte wanted to play a video game on the TV using a controller, "You know, Dad. I want to go old school." I dusted off a GameCube and went hunting for a game she could play. I came home with a copy of Animal Crossing from Half Priced Books. The game was first released in 2002, so I hoped 17 years was old school enough for her.

"Animal Crossing is an open-ended game in which the human player character moves into a village populated with anthropomorphic animals. Throughout the game, the player can interact with the animals, as well as other players through the GameCube's memory card. The game is synced with the GameCube's internal clock and calendar, allowing the game to be played in real-time, which also follows seasons and holidays." - from Wikipedia

Char loves this game. She named her town Meville and has a small house there that she's paid off by working for Tom Nook and selling him items that she finds. She's looking forward to getting a bigger place with a basement. 

I bought her an Animal Crossing guide book on Amazon, and she's been studying it. 

Tonight, if she does her homework and practices the piano without complaint, we're going to change the game's calendar and have a Thanksgiving dinner in Meville. Char wants to steal the silverware for Franklin the turkey so he'll give her gifts in return.

Don't Back Down

Is success in a video game something to celebrate in real life? I think so.

I got bitten by the Game Boy bug around this time last year. I was tired of playing and fixing old pinball machines. Collecting something small for a change seemed perfect. I spent a lot of time watching "best of" and "hidden gem" videos and reading similar lists online.

Apparently, one of the best (and most expensive) games for the Game Boy Color is Shantae. Look, it's on sale on eBay:

I was reading about Shantae in video game forums, and a few guys admitted they hadn't play that game, but they had played their sisters' copy of Sabrina: Zapped. Most agreed playing Sabrina was a good time. 

Both Shantae and Sabrina are platform games developed by WayForward Industries. They share a similar look and similar game play. Sabrina, however, is way easier and can be purchased locally for $6. Also, their recommendations were solid - Sabrina is fun. The run, jump, bounce controls were similar to the games Charlotte likes on the computer, so I showed her the game.

Char and I played the first few levels of Sabrina together last summer, and by watching YouTube examples, she finished the game. In times of stress, I also helped.

"In times of stress" is a kind way to put it. Char isn't very good at handling defeat. When things get tough she... oh, what am I saying? When things get tough, or she gets frustrated, or she fails at something important to her, she acts just like me. She yells, blames an inanimate object for her troubles, and sometimes hits things and hurts her hand. Like father like daughter. 

Anyway, to keep her interested in and positive about gaming, I've been keeping an eye out for games that are fun to play and not all that difficult. WayForward and eBay have been really helpful. So far Char has played Barbie and the Three Musketeers (2009), Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses (2006), Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus (2005), and Barbie: Princess and the Pauper (2004). That's a lot of Barbie games for a gal who does not play with dolls very often. "I don't really like Barbies, and these games are kinda weird, but they're way more fun than I expected." 

Sounds like high praise to me. 

I keep looking for games Char will enjoy, and when I read this DS game review of on IGN.com, I thought de Blob 2 would be a winner:

"It’s tightly designed, evolves nicely and is true to the style of de Blob, but it’s very easy... This makes it a fantastic kids game… It’s also short… Even so, this would make a perfect introduction to platforming on DS for casual players.”

I found a copy on eBay:

Char loved the game almost immediately. "Ha! This game is awesome. I love de Blob!"

The problem was the final boss. Char lost to de Blot, and she got intimidated. She snapped the DS closed and dramatically ran upstairs. I tried to talk her into trying again, but she refused. 

Now, do I really care if she beats this video game? No, I couldn't care less. But do I care if she runs from adversity? Yes, I care a lot about that. 

She was greeted with this sign on Tuesday morning.

"2s-day." Get it? Sigh. She didn't either.

That night Charlotte tried the game again. Twenty minutes later she had beaten de Blot, and finished deBlob 2 on her own. She was so pumped! Daphne exclaimed congratulations. I ran over to the couch and gave her a fist bump with finger confetti. I didn't get a picture or a video, though. Sometimes it's just good to celebrate without your cell phone.

This sign was waiting for her on Wednesday morning, though.

"Hmmp Day." Get it? Like Hump Day. You know, Wednesday?
Sigh.

Playing Internationally

Both Char and Earl enjoy playing with Char's Nintendo DS Lite. The DS Lite is a new toy for Charlotte, even if it was discontinued about 8 years ago.

The DS Lite hits a sweet spot in our retro-gaming collection. The Lite's back-lit screen is brighter than the original DS, and the unit is also sleeker than the original. Plus, the Lite plays both DS and Game Boy Advance games. Nintendo produced about 1,700 DS games and 900 GBA games, so that's a lot of bang for your gaming buck. 

PLUS, even though some desirable GBA titles are becoming scarce, DS games are plentiful because they can still be played on the current 3DS. Many used DS titles can be picked up for a few dollars, and the more popular games are less than $20. 

Disclaimer: I am only talking about physical game cartridges. I know nothing about games that are downloaded from the net. I am old.

A used DS Lite goes for about $45 here in Des Moines. But you can get one cheaper if you have some patience. 

Like Game Boy games, the DS software wasn't region-locked by Nintendo. You can play DS games from all around the world on any DS Lite. That also means you can use a DS Lite from another country to play DS games made in the US.

So what? Well, if you can handle the slower speed of international mail, you can pick up a Japanese DS Lite. I bought this one on eBay for less than $15 shipped. It took 11 days to arrive.

Sure, it plays great, but the display is in Japanese. Well, that's not a big deal. You can change the DS Lite's language.

It's a simple process. Here's how I did it on my backup DS Lite from Japan (the weird lines are caused by the camera):

This doesn't work with Nintendo's DSi (the next generation of DS players). That software is region-locked. I made a mistake and bought a DSi LL from Japan. I can't change its language, and it won't play American DSi enhanced games (but we only own one - de Blob 2).

The DSi LL does play the standard DS games from the US. So, I can still enjoy playing Space Chimps on the larger screen.

That wasn't a joke, by the way. I really like playing Space Chimps.