Day 75

Addictions and Afflictions

It is relatively well established by now that my youngest son and I have addictive personalities.  Both of us seem to be orally fixated as well.  I am proud to say that my addiction to caffeine and his addiction to hotdogs have been defeated with the help of a 12 step program.  Unfortunately, like a chain smoker that becomes addicted to the nicotine gum, we too are addicted to a replacement substance that may be moderately better for our health, but we are addicted all the same.  He has not gone a day without a peanut butter sandwich and a banana in over a month of Sundays, while I have become rediculously addicted to a beverage called Orangina.  I don't know if they have this in the States, but it is delightful.  It is somewhere between orange juice (good so far) and sunkist orange soda (and then the wheels fall off the bus).  It comes in a number of flavor combinations but my favorites are Geisha and Indien.  Geisha has a shot of peach flavor and Indien has a hint of Grenadine.  While I have not put this to the test, I suspect both would be fantastic with a good Vodka.

Day 75 would be an academic break for me as I do not have permanent day care for my youngest and he does not attend class on Wednesdays.  So far we have been covering matters that I have learned in the past, so hopefully I won't find myself too far behind.  Since the eldest only has a half day on Wednesdays, we arranged for him to go to a friends house for the afternoon.  I think he was due for a break from his little brother.  The visit went well and I picked him back up at the school just short of dinner time.  As I parked my car I took notice of a vehicle parked along the narrow road leading to the school.  I took notice because of its grand size and the familiar badge adorning the back hatch.  It was a Jeep Grand Cherokee.  The plates didn't appear to be French, but it was clearly European.  You do see and american car every now and again, and as I think I noted before, they are usually Fords or Chryslers.  Of course the models are quite different, but it is a nice little reminder of home.  This vehicle however, was the exact variety as you would find at any American Jeep dealership with the exception that I believe it was diesel.  The most interesting thing about the vechicle is that prominently displayed on the back was not the "Grand Cherokee" name that I am accustomed to but rather the name "Tackleberry".

I have to be honest, if all the Chrysler vehicles are named after characters on the Police Academy movies, I am selling my 206 and will soon be the proud owner of a "Mahoney".  The wife can kiss her Renault goodbye as well, because I don't care how rediculous it may look on the outside, she will be piloting a brand new "Hooks".  I am going to do some further research and let you know what I find.  If this is just a coincidence, I may pull a Hudson motors and start my own auto company when I return to the states and name my models accordingly.  I think the Mahoney should be something of a crossover.  Maybe the demon love child of an El Camino and a Subaru Brat.  As for the "Hooks", I would like to see something similar to an AMC Pacer.  My "Tackleberry" will be a compact pickup truck like a Toyota Luv with a nice stepside bed.  It will come standard with rally lights everywhere and an optional flat bed upgrade.  I feel like the "Hightower" should be something of a luxury vehicle with suicide doors and dual rear axels, or maybe that should be the "Larvell Jones".  I still need a concept for the "Sweetchuck" and the "Proctor", so feel free to post a comment with your ideas.

Finally, on a side note, our youngest is completely potty trained but still sleeps soundly enough that on occassion he does not wake to go to the bathroom.  For such occassions, we keep overnight pants on hand to help him out and keep us from laundering his sheets to oblivion.  While shopping for French replacements for his dwindling supply of American overnight pants, I made a startling discovery.  They seem to come in two sizes.  The first is age 4 to 8 which is terrifying enough for I thought my little one was getting long in the tooth for this process at age 3.  The second size category has me wondering what the hell is going on with children in this country.  The next size up from what my little tike is wearing is 8 to 16 years old.  WHAT?  If my kid is still wizzing his sheets at 16 I am going to seek more immediate help than just jumping over to the market to buy him diapers.  No way I am changing the diaper of a 16 year old kid after an all night feeding frenzy of pizza and soda pop.  Sweet fancy Moses, can you imagine the number of butt wipes you would need to clean up that mess?

All else is going well and once again I look forward to the return of my lovely wife.  She should arrived Thursday evening sometime and perhaps this time she will stay for awhile.  Keep your fingers crossed.