Humpty Dumpty

Someone posted on Facebook recently asking how we knew that Humpty Dumpty was an egg? The rhyme does not mention what he is - we always assume he's an egg because that's what's in the picture. I learned today that "Humpty Dumpty" is not a story, but a riddle! I think we dismiss it as another silly nursery rhyme that's fun to say, but it was actually originally more than that. This image to the right shows Humpty Dumpty as a riddle, with answer, in a 1902 Mother Goose book by William Wallace Denslow. (See the article in Wikipedia for more...)

Here is how the riddle appears in Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin (first published in 1903):

"Humpty Dumpty lies in the beck,

With a white counterpane round his neck,

Forty doctors and forty wrights,

Cannot put Humpty Dumpty to rights!"

(Beck meaning "small stream or brook", Counterpane meaning "bedspread", and a wright being one who constructs or repairs something, as in "playwright")

Interestingly, the "King's horses and King's men" that we're familiar with from our modern version of Humpty Dumpty appears in this one of Nutkin's riddles:

Old Mr. B! Old Mr. B!

Hickamore, Hackamore, on the King's kitchen door;

All the King's horses, and all the King's men,

Couldn't drive Hickamore, Hackamore,

Off the King's kitchen door."

Any guesses as to the answer of that one? Scroll down:

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You're thinking about it, right?

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Have you made a guess yet?

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A sunbeam.

If you have The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin there are several more riddles to enjoy. Before getting frustrated and Googling for the answers, I'll tell you the secret: the answers are the italicized text on the same page. You're welcome :-)

First Day of School

First day of school pictures! "Okay Zachary, time to take some pictures!"

"Um...I'm not sure about that "smile", let's try something...can you show me a scary face?"

"Ooh, good scary face! Now show me a...silly face!"

"THAT is a very silly face. Now show me a sad face."

"Oh dear, you look very sad. Now show me a happy face!"

Zachary started "school" last week. To tell you the truth, it really didn't feel like a big deal. Not like it did last year. Over the summer we took advantage of a ministry our church offers to members of free Mother's Morning Out days. It's only once a week, you have to register a week ahead of time, and there's limited space, but it was a fantastic way for them to do something fun, stay cool in the heat, and I got some time to myself (granted I tended to schedule my OB appts for those mornings, but at least I didn't have to drag two little boys to very many appts!). We also did VBS at the church, we started going to to Wednesday night suppers and staying for discipleship classes, and of course we've been going to Sunday morning worship services. So dropping Zachary off for "school" didn't feel any different than dropping him off for any of the other various activities. And even though he's not in the same classroom he was in last year, it IS the same room he's in this year for a couple of the activities.

Speaking of activities, I counted up the other day and realized that we have Zachary in SEVEN different things this year!! Sunday school, AWANA, MOPS, MMO, Children's Choir/Mission Friends, and The Little Gym. Four of them at our church. Daniel is in three: Sunday school, MOPS, and The Little Gym. Crazy. When we moved to Huntsville two years ago, the boys (well, boy. D wasn't born yet) were in nothing. Then we added MOPS and MMO. We did Kindermusik for a semester, then added The Little Gym. It was very manageable with a new baby. This time, the baby is just going to have be adaptable because we've got a lot going on!

Anyway, Zachary's first and second day went well (he goes twice a week, so we've only had two days so far.) He already knew his teacher - one of his best friend's mommy. (the end of that sentence sounds terribly awkward, but I'm not sure how to reword it and frankly don't want to spend the effort on it.) Some of his friends from last year aren't in his class this year, but he still gets to see them at other times (AWANA, Children's Choir/Mission Friends, or Sunday school). It will be interesting to see if his "best friends" change this year or not. While Z is in school, Daniel has his Little Gym class one day and the other day I reserve for any appointments or errands I need to do. Those things don't usually take up the full 4 hours that Z is away, and my goal is to spend that extra time just with Daniel. It's hard to get one-on-one time with Daniel when Zachary is home, because they each want to do what the other is doing. One-on-one time with Zachary isn't as hard to do because Daniel still takes a lovely 2 - 3 hour nap in the afternoon. But time with Daniel was hard to come by this summer.

So, our 2011-2012 school year had begun. Almost everything has started up, except for MOPS which will begin 9/5 (though we have a Steering Team meeting this month, so it's almost started up for me.) We'll see how we do with so many things going on (though not nearly as many as some - we haven't even started sports yet!) or if I need to scale back on anything. I've kept my jealously guarded Tuesdays free, and I dropped organizing the playgroups for the school year, so half of my Mondays will be free too. (well, unless someone else picks that up. But even so I won't be going to the playgroups in Oct and at least part of Nov because of the new little one.) Oh, and Z's Little Gym class is in the evening, so that frees up Friday. It should be manageable. (am I trying to convince you or me...?)

Maybe with such a manageable schedule, I'll be able to blog a little more often! (ha. I think everytime I've said something of that sort I disappear (as far as this blog is concerned) for months at a time.) This is the second post in a short period of time, right? So maybe I'll be back again soon!

Car Buying Lessons

This past week we bought ourselves a larger car to accommodate the new addition who will be joining our family next month. While this was not our first car buying experience, nor our first time buying a used car from a private party, we learned more things from this experience than from previous ones.

First, we learned that the least expensive and most efficient way to get money out of our online account for a large cash transaction was to wire money to a local bank and then get a cashier's check. We first tried to get the equivalent of a cashier's check - a treasurer's check - from our online-only bank, but it was going to take a week and a half for them to ship it to us! Expedited shipping would have set us back $50, which seemed a little steep. Especially when wiring the money to a local bank only cost $12. (Not including the fee to actually process the check). The online-only bank (meaning that there are no buildings with live tellers, only a 24-hr customer service line - with extremely friendly and helpful people, by the way) gives us a higher interest rate, but after this we've decided to definitely hold on to a free checking account at a local bank, just in case.

Second, we learned that buying a used car with a lien on it is a little different than buying a used car that the seller owns free and clear. When we bought the Acura, we handed them an envelope of cash (less than $3k), and they handed us a bill of sale and the title. Easy. This time, not only was the amount of $$ higher, but there was still a lien on the vehicle. Fortunately we did not learn this lesson the hard way. While still trying to figure out how to get the money out of our online account, we walked through an imaginary scenario in which the sellers took our money and bought themselves a nice entertainment system for their living room instead of paying off the lien. It turned into a nasty courtroom battle in which we weren't sure we'd get the car or not. It definitely ruined the sellers more than it ruined us, but it was a headache we could avoid. So we had the cashier's check made out to the lienholder. Fortunately the seller had no problem with this. It turned out that the lienholder was another local bank, so I met the seller there and handed the cashier's check right to the teller. I was expecting to receive an official looking document that said something to the effect of, "upon receipt of X dollars, lienholder has no further interest in vehicle" since that's what the advice I found online said I would get. All I got was a photocopy of the receipt that showed "account payoff" and a balance of $0. Good enough I guess!

Third, we learned that should a mistake be made in signing over the title, one has to go to the courthouse to get an Affidavit of Correction, then both buyer and seller must sign it in the presence of a notary (though buyer and seller don't have to sign at the same time, as long as both signatures are notarized). This one, you can guess, we are learning firsthand: the seller accidentally signed the 'buyer' line on the title. (here's the killer: he was talking about the hoops required to jump through if such a thing were to happen as he was doing it!! I kid you not! He said, "Now lemme make sure I sign the right place, because I've been through the rigmarole before when you don't..." and then he handed it to me and I almost fell out of my chair.) The guy is unable to leave his place of business during business hours, so I had the pleasure of driving to the courthouse myself to get the affidavit, and then we realized that I wouldn't be able to take the signed title home with me anyway because he couldn't get away til after 5:30 to see the notary (this was all happening before lunch). (We bought the car in Decatur, another city about 30mins away from us. A city we very rarely drive to). So I left the title and affidavit with him and he's supposed to get it notarized and in the mail to us this weekend. Hopefully we'll learn that he's a trustworthy fellow and we'll be able to title our car soon

So, lessons learned. But even with all this, we are so thankful to have found this wonderful car and have been able to save up for it so we could buy it in cash. Dave Ramsey has definitely changed the way we do things!!