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“T” is for…

Now that it is May, I ask the same questions every morning when I get up.  What are we having for breakfast?   What are we taking pictures of today?

This morning, Mr. Guy told me that we were having eggs and toast for breakfast and that today’s picture was going to be text tiles.  I was excited!  I like eggs and toast and I had the perfect idea for our picture because I have lots of text tiles.

Because I like words, Mr. Guy and The Lady gave me some text tiles to help me learn my letters.  I like the text tiles because I can play with them all by myself…unless I don’t know the letters in a word I want to make.  Then I have to ask for help.  After I ate my breakfast, I got my text tiles out and thought about our picture.

I know how to make the letters spell the words blue, and orange, and and, and monster.  Using my tiles to spell those words for my picture seemed like a perfect idea!

I made all of my words except for one.  I could not find a “T” for the word monster.

Just about the time I was getting very frustrated, Mr. Guy came and asked me what I was doing.  I explained that I was working on our text tile photo, but I could not find a “T.”  Isn’t it kind of funny that in something called Text Tlies there are no T’s?

Mr. Guy found me the T that I needed.

Now we could take our picture!

Mr. Guy was not as excited as I was.  I asked him what was wrong.  He said, “Well…I have a little bit of bad news.”  That is never a good thing to hear!  He said,  “Our picture is not supposed to be of text tiles that are two words.  It is supposed to be text tiles that are one word.”  I had no idea what he was talking about but I figured I would have to pick just one of the words I made with my text tiles.  That was easy.  I told Mr. Guy, “Okay.  We can just use monster since we made that one together.”  He said to me, “I’m sorry, but our picture isn’t supposed to be about words at all.”  Now I was really confused.

Mr. Guy explained that textiles, one word, are what our clothes and blankets and other soft stuff are made from.  I asked him if my t-shirts were textiles and he told me that they were.  OK.  So today would be just a t-shirt photo day.  Then The Lady said that I could wear my dress-up clothes if I wanted to because textiles can be more fancy than t-shirts.  That sounded more promising.  Then The Lady gave me her bad news.

Our photo had to be in black and white.

Yuck!  I do not like black and white pictures!  I am a furry little BLUE and ORANGE monster not a black and white monster.  Black and white are OK if those are your real colors.  What would people who are black and white think if I took pictures of them and made them blue and orange?  I bet they wouldn’t like it much.  Well, that is how I feel.

But, since we have a deal to all do this Month of May project together, I played along like a good little monster, at least on the outside.  My insides were not really being very good.

How do you like my textiles?

I just want to say that black and white will never be the new orange and blue!

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Fitness Day

It is only the second day of my May photo and writing adventure and already I’m not sure this is a good idea!  The Lady told me that today is National Fitness Day so our picture would have something today with that.  I had no idea what she meant, but was not worried about it.

I figured a fitness day was probably a good thing.  Maybe it had something to do with seeing how all my shirts fit me.  And if Mr. Guy and The Lady were checking to see how my shirts are fitting that must mean that maybe it is getting close to time that we can go shopping for new ones.  I started getting a little excited about this fitness day.

Then it came time to take some pictures…

Offspring No. 1 was there to help.  She said that I needed to have hand waits and a mat before The Lady could take the fitness pictures.  Why did I have to have a mat?  The Lady usually makes me brush my fur before I can be photographed because she says that having mats in my fur makes me look like nobody takes care of me.  I learned a long time ago to brush my fur everyday because it hurts to have the tangly mats brushed out.  I try not to cry if I get them, though, because The Lady says that she’ll have to cut the mats out of my fur if she can’t brush them out and I do not want to have holes in my fur!  It is just easier to never get a mat.  And now I am supposed to have one?  This is very confusing.

And hand waits, too.  I figured that must be part of the corona virus stuff.  Our hands have to wait to touch stuff so we don’t share germs.  I guess that means that my hands are going to have to wait to try on new shirts.  But what does that have to do with taking a picture today?

When I got outside, there was an orange rectangle on the ground.  It had big orange dog bones on it.  I thought maybe the orange rectangle was a dog bed since it had dog bones on it.  The Lady asked me to go lay on the mat.  I told her that I did not have a mat, that my fur was all brushed and not tangly.   I wanted to look nice for today’s picture.  She pointed to the orange dog bed and said that was the mat.  Weird.  It was smooth and didn’t have any fur that could get into a mat.

Then Offspring No. 1 explained that fitness day is about taking care of your body, about doing things that make your muscles strong and keep all of your body parts healthy.  This is what I was expecting, to hear. The hand waits are important because they mean I won’t touch things that might make me sick and then make my body not strong.

Offspring No. 1 told me to grab a wait.  I just looked at her.  Then she pointed to the dog bone and said it again, “grab a wait.”  I asked her if she wanted me to wait to grab a bone.  She looked at me like all of my fur was matted.  “A wait!  Pick up that hand wait right there!”  I think she was getting mad at me but I was so confused.  Finally she figure out why I didn’t understand.  “Not hand wait, hand w-e-I-g-h-t. Weight!  And it is not a dog bone!

I reached to pick up the hand w-e-I-g-h-t.  It was heavy!  Offspring No. 1 said that that was the point.  It had to be heavy because it was lifting the heavy w-e-I-g-h-t was how my muscles would get strong.  I learned that picking up heavy stuff is how you get fitnessed.

I picked up those weights a few times and then my arms started to hurt.  They hurt more than having my fur mats brushed out

Offspring No. 1 tried to show me how to use these hand weight things.  She is very fitnessed.

I was just tired.

The Lady told me that when Offspring No. 1 was little like me, she had lots of hairs and her hairs would get into a mat because she didn’t like to brush them.  And when The Lady would try to brush Offspring No. 1’s hairs for her, she would cry because it hurt.  Maybe Offspring No. 1 and I have some things in common.  Maybe one day I will have muscles as strong as hers.

But even if I do make my muscles big and strong, they will never show because my fur covers them up.  And I am going to keep my fur because I brush it and don’t have to make holes in it cutting out any mats!

I think that we are all good at different things.  Offspring No. 1 is good at fitness day and hand weights and I am good at brushhing my fur.   I can celebrate No Mat Day.  I think we should just leave it this way.

I wonder if there is a No Mat Day.

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It’s May Day

May I wish you all a Happy May Day?!

May is my favorite month of the year because it is the month when The Lady takes a picture of me every single day and I write something here every single day.  Also, when it is May, I know that school is almost over and summer break is about to begin.  But, some things are different about this May.

For the last couple years, on May 1st, Mr. Guy and The Lady have taken me shopping for a few new t-shirts for my May blog posts.  Remember, I like to collect t-shirts.  This year, though, we are not going to do that because of that corona virus thing and social distant singing.  Mr. Guy told me that if we went shopping, I would have to wear a mask and do social distant singing..  Hmm…Mr. Guy doesn’t sing and I don’t sing…even distantly!  And, a mask?  It is not even Halloween.  And come to think of it, I don’t even wear a mask a Halloween.  I trick or treat dressed like the furry little blue and orange monster that I am and say “thank you” to all of the people who say to me, “Cute costume!”  Singing and masks made shopping sound like a theatre production.  I wasn’t sure I wanted any part of that.

Then I started thinking, maybe it would be fun to wear a mask now since I don’t wear one any other time…as long as I didn’t have to do social distant singing too.  Mr. Guy told meThat I definitely did not have to sing.  He also said that he didn’t think that I would like wearing a mask, but he would let me try one on.  The Lady made two different kinds of masks.  Some have elastic and some have ties.  Well, I could only try on the tie kind because the elastic kind have to hook on to your hears…and I don’t have any hears.  I only have horns.  If I hook the elastic on my horns, the mask covers my eyes.  I asked Mr. Guy if he could cut holes in the elastic mask like they do for the masks at Halloween.  He told me that cutting holes in the mask would mean that germs could climb in and out of the holes and that is what we didn’t want to happen.  So it is a tie mask for me.


I think we look like we are dressed up like happy bank robbers!

All that to say that I did not get any new shirts today.

I looked through my closet and found one that I think is perfect.  I am sad that I didn’t get to go shopping, but I have lots of other things to be thankful for.  I am thankful that I live with Mr. Guy and The Lady.  I am thankful that we are all healthy and that we have have masks to keep us healthy if we have to go shopping for stuff that is more important than new shirts for me.  I am thankful that it makes me happy to look at all the shirts I have and remember that I got them when I visited some really cool places.  I also had some big smiles remembering special friends who have given me shirts as gifts.  I’m sure glad that I don’t grow much and my shirts keep fitting me!

Since we couldn’t go anywhere special, Mr. Guy, The Lady, and I took a walk around our yard and looked for blue and orange flowers because blue and orange are my favorites!  I found some!

Even though today was not the day I had hoped for, I still have lots of things to be thankful for.

And now I am going to go eat tacos for dinner and be thankful some more!

 

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Making New Friends

It has been more than a month and we still can’t go anywhere because of the corona virus.  Since we are all stuck at home, I thought that The Lady would have lots of time to do stuff with me; but, all she does is work all day long.  I sit in the den with my books and my toys and watch her work.  Don’t tell her I said this, but when she went to school everyday and said that she was very busy, I didn’t believe her.  Now I do!  By the time she is done with her work and we have dinner and clean up the kitchen, it is time for this little monster to go to bed.  This Safer At Home stuff may indeed be safe, but it is not a very fun time for me.

I did learn something yesterday that made me happy, though.  I know that after I go to bed at night, The Lady sits in her chair and plays with her sticks and string.  I know this because when I get up in the morning, there is string everywhere.  Sometimes it’s little pieces.  Sometimes it is big balls.  She has a basket with lots of colors of string in it..and all of .her string colors don’t match very well.  I have never been sure if she makes real useful stuff with her sticks and string or if she just ties lots of knots.  Then yesterday, she posted on Facebook that she had made a new friend.  Apparently she made this new friend with her sticks and string at night while I was sleeping.  I had not met this new friend of hers before and was kind of surprised.  It made me happy, though,  that lots of people on Facebook were concerned about my feelings about this new friend of hers.

His name is Louis.  Louis and I have some things in common and some things not in common.  Louis is made of gray and white string.  I am made of blue and orange fur.  Louis’s clothes are also made of string.  My clothes are made of t-shirts.  Well, most of them.   I do have one sweater made of string that my friend Ms. Joni made for me with her sticks and string.  My sweater is orange just like Louis’s sweater.  I am much bigger than Louis, though,  so I won’t have to worry about him borrowing my t-shirts.  That makes me happy.  I don’t mind sharing…well…maybe I do mind just a little.  My shirts are all very special to me.  They wouldn’t be special to him.

Another thing that Louis and I have in common is that we both have horns.  His are tiny gray horns compared to my big orange ones.  I guess that makes sense since the rest of me is also bigger tham him.

Louis and I talked today.  I told him about my adventures with Mr. Guy and The Lady.  He said that he was not interested in that kind of adventure.  He likes to sleep during the daytime and stay up all night.  That seems strange to me. Maybe that is because The Lady made him at night.   If he sleeps during the day and I sleep during the night, Louis and I will not see each other very much.  That might be OK with me.  I kind of like having Mr. Guy and The Lady all to myself when we go on adventurers.  Does this make me a selfish furry little blue and orange monster?  I hope not.  I don’t want to be selfish.  But I was here first.  I sure hope Mr. Guy and The Lady don’t ever think about getting another monster that likes to be awake during the daytime and to go on adventures!!!

 

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Six Feet

This car on a iris, I mean carona virus, is a strange thing.  We are still supposed to be sheltering in place and I am still curious about how turtles do this.  I asked Mr. Guy if he would take me to the park so that I could ask a turtle about just how turtles do shelter in place.  Mr. Guy said he could take me, but that we would have to practice “social distancing measures.”  I told Mr. Guy that I would be happy to do that if I had any idea what he was talking about.

Mr. Guy explained to mean that “social distancing” means that we have to stay six feet away from other people.  Six feet?  I don’t have six feet.  How will I know if I am to close?  Mr. Guy and The Lady don’t have six feet.  The only thing I know about that has six feet is a beetle.  So I figured that social distancing must mean that I have to stay a beetle’s length away from other people.  Beetle’s feet aren’t very big so I was sure I could do that.  I was a little worried at first.   If I had to stay six of Mr. Guy’s feet away or six of a big tall basketball player’s feet away I might be a little scared.  I’m just a little monster and I don’t like to get too far away from Mr. Guy and The Lady.  I told Mr. Guy that I thought that I could do well with social distancing, that I promised to stay a beetle’s length away from other people, even him!

Mr. Guy looked very confused.  “A beetle’s length away?” he said.  I explained to him that he had told me about staying six feet away from other people and the only thing that I knew about with six feet were beetles!  He told me that he was not talking about the six feet on a beetle.   He was talking about feet like on a ruler.  A ruler?  A ruler like a king?  I have met lots of people, but ( have never met a king.  And even if I had, I don’t think I would know how big their feet are!  This social distancing thing was getting way too complicated for this little blue and orange furry monster!  Maybe I didn’t really want to go to the park after all!

Mr. Guy tried again to explain to me about the six feet.  He told me that one foot is twelve inches, the length of the kind of ruler we use to draw straight lines, and that makes six rulers equal to six feet, or seventy-two inches.  I had to stay seventy-two inches away from people?!  I’m not sure that this little monster can count that high all by myself.  Mr. Guy finally told me not to worry.  He said that he knew how far six feet or seventy-two inches is; so, if he carried me in the park all I had to worry about was looking for a turtle  He would worry about proper social distancing.  This made me very happy!

The part of the park where we went was not crowded so no one had to worry about beetle feet, or kings feet, or seventy-two inches.  That was a relief!  Mr. Guy said that he would show me how to use his camera so that I could take a picture of my turtle friends…from six feet away…when I found them.

Once I knew which buttons to push, we were off to look for a turtle.

We looked…and looked…and looked.

Apparently turtles don’t shelter in place at the park.  Or maybe they too are confused about this six feet thing!

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Finding Your Happy Heart

Has there ever been something that you really loved to do and then all of the sudden it didn’t seem fun anymore?  That is how I felt about writing my stories.  It seemed like a lot of work and I stopped doing it.   I’m not sure why.  The Lady went on a few trips and I didn’t want to go with her.  When she came home, she said that people had asked about me, that they were disappointed that they didn’t get to meet me.  Then I felt sad.  I have been a confused little blue and orange furry monster about whether to write or not to write.

This week The Lady has not been going to school, but she has been working at home.  That seemed strange to me.  I thought maybe she got tired of teaching like I got tired of writing.  The Lady told me that that was not the case; she is working at home because we are supposed to all stay at home because of a car on a iris. 

Hmm… Why would we have to stay at home because of a car on an iris?   

I know that irises are pretty flowers.  We have some in our yard.  But I couldn’t figure out why an iris in the road meant that The Lady couldn’t go to school.  I went outside to check on the ones in our yard.  Sure enough, one of the flowers had fallen off of its stem and the car was on it.  

That was sad, but I still wasn’t sure why this meant we had to stay home.  Then I thought maybe the iris had thorns on it and it had flattened the tire.  

Nope.  There were no thorns on the irises and the tire was fine.

The Lady said that we have to Shelter in Place and that means we can’t go out and be around other people because the car on an iris can make people very sick and we want to stay healthy.  Then I got scared because I had just been outside looking at the car on an iris.  I don’t want to be a sick little monster!

I was upset and The Lady knew it.  She explained to me that it is not a car on an iris that makes people sick, it is germs call Coronavirus.  She also told me that she was pretty sure that little monsters could not get the virus.  The only thing that might happen is that I might get the bad germs in my fur if we go out around lots of people and then I could share them with Mr. Guy and The Lady.  That’s why we have to do the Shelter in Place.  I was relieved.  I can do that.  I can stay home.  This little monster doesn’t want to make anyone sick!

The Lady told me that not being able to go to school or to church or out to eat with her friends feels very weird.  She said that sometimes you don’t realize how important something is until you don’t have it.  I knew exactly what she meant.  I told her that is how I feel.  I realize that I miss writing my stories.  

The Lady said that I could fix that.  All I had to do was start writing them again.  I was excited for a minute.  Then I remembered that we can’t go anywhere or do anything so I won’t have any stories to tell.  The Lady reminded me that I am a creative little monster.  She said that she was sure that I could think of something to write about.  And if not, I could tell some of the stories about things that I have done in the last year when I wasn’t writing.  

My little monster heart is happy. 

 I guess I had to not do something to realize how much I love doing that thing.  I wonder if all the people who are doing shelter in place right now will think about what things they miss and what things they don’t.

I think I’ll write a story about what shelter in place means to a turtle.

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May 30 – Monster Blue and An Orange Blob

I got a new shirt today!  We went to my favorite store, the red store with the white circles.  At first Mr. Guy and The Lady said that I could not get any shirts because I have already gotten four new ones this month.  I really wanted to go just look, though.  Sometimes it’s fun to look at stuff even when we are not going to buy one.

Most of the shirts I saw were there when I got my others…except this one!  It is different from all the other shirts I have because it has lines all around it.  All of my shirts have letters and pictures but no lines.  And, the lines match my fur exactly.  It has monster orange and monster blue lines!  The Lady said that my blue fur is a specific blue called cerulean blue.  We talked about this once before, but I think cerulean is a very strange word so I don’t use it.  Monster blue works just fine for me!

The Lady agreed that the colors in the shirt were perfect for me so she said that we could get it.  Yay!   But, when we held it up to make sure that it was the right size, I noticed that it had a big orange blob on it!  How did it get an orange blob?  If anything, I would think that the shirts might get white circles on them at this store, not orange blobs that look almost like squares.  If I am going to have a shirt with blobs on it, I want to have fun putting them on it myself!

I said to The Lady, “I guess I can’t get this new shirt since it has a blig orange blob on it.”

She said, “A big blob?  I don’t see anything on it.”

I know that The Lady’s eyes don’t work very well, but surely she can see the big orange almost square blob on the front of the shirt.  I didn’t want to be rude so I pointed and said nicely, “It’s right there.”

The Lady said, “That is supposed to be there.  It’s a pocket.  You can put things in it to carry around with you.”

None of my other shirts have pockets.  I’ve never needed a pocket to carry things around.  I have Mr. Guy and The Lady and lots of nice friends who carry my things when my things need carrying.  I was glad to know that the blob was supposed to be there, though.   I now have a new shirt with lines and a pocket!

When we got home, I asked The Lady about her picture for today.  She said that she needed to take a picture of a blue flower.  I was hoping that she needed to take a picture of a furry little cerulean blue and orange monster in his new shirt with matching lines and a pocket.

Then I had a big idea for a little monster!  I decided I could put blue flowers in my orange pocket!  It is there to hold stuff.  Today it can hold flowers.  It can be a vase.  I went out to the yard to search for blue flowers.  The only blue ones that I could find were the ones we already used in a photo this week.  The Lady said that she didn’t want to use them again.  I don’t think that they would have fit in my pocket vase anyway.

Then I found some little flowers that aren’t quite blue.  They are…quite purple, but they are the best that I could do.  Purple is blue with red mixed in, so technically they blue.  My monster blue fur has yellow mixed in with it.  That’s what makes it cerulean and why my fur and the flowers I found look so different even though they both have blue in them.

I was surprised that The Lady said that my purple flowers would work for her picture.  I put them in my orange pocket and she pushed the button on her picture taking box and we were done.

Now I need to find something else to put in my new pocket!

 

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May 27 – Feeling Blue

Someone asked me if I was feeling blue.  I happily replied that I feel blue every single day.  They looked surprised and said, “I’m sorry.”   I should feel blue., shouldn’t I?   I am blue.  I’m a furry blue monster!  Then this person said, “It is no fun being sad all the time.”

I’m not sad all of the time!  I am hardly ever really sad.  Sometimes little things make me sad for a minute or two, but I am a happy little furry blue and orange monster almost all the time.

The Lady told me that when people are sad, sometimes they say that they are feeling blue.  Why blue, I wondered?  I think maybe black or brown or gray are sad colors.  Not blue!  The sky is blue when it is happy!  It is gray when it is stormy and unhappy.

The ocean and lakes are blue when they are  happy.

I pretty sure blueberries are happy.

The Lady said that blue also makes people think about trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, faith, and intelligence.  I like these things more than sadness.  It is strange how one color can mean so many different feelings.

When someone wins first place in a contest or a race, they get a blue ribbon and they are happy about that.  They are feeling blue but not blue, winner’s blue but definitely not sad blue.

I have heard people say that something happened “out of the blue.”  Does that mean that whatever happened fell out of the big blue sky?

What about a true blue friend?  I don’t have any friends who have blue fur like me, so I guess you could so that I have no true blue friends, but the Lady says that a true blue friend is one that is loyal and trustworthy.  If that is true, then I have lots of true blue friends.  I am a true blue friend no matter how you think about the word blue!

Words are funny things.  I don’t know if I will ever understand them all.

I am happy that I am blue every day!  Blue with a little orange…

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May 25 – What’s for Dinner?

I thought today would be an all-day fun day since it is Saturday and because The Lady wasn’t at school during the week, she could have gotten her chores done on Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday, or Friday.  Well, I was a very wrong little monster about that.  Today was an all-day chore day!  Mr. Guy and I worked in the greenhouse and the yard while The Lady collected canine fur from all over the house.  Part of what Mr. Guy and I did was collect “other stuff” that the canines left out in the yard.  What I don’t understand is while we were all picking up stuff that the canines left everywhere, they were all snoring on the couch.  Something isn’t right here.

I thought doing chores was all about getting rid of dirt, but Mr. Guy and I filled all of the clean plant pots with dirt and moved plants into these new pots.  When we were done with that, Mr. Guy said we needed to go work on the flower beds.  We had just put all of the plants and flowers in clean new pots and now we had to make their beds too?  The flowers are beginning to sound like the canines…they too just sit around and look pretty while this little monster does all the work.

And if all that work wasn’t enough, Mr. Guy and I also had to make dinner.  Well, the truth is that Mr. Guy said he wanted to make dinner and he asked me to help.  He said that it would be something nice that we could do for The Lady since she makes dinner for us most other nights.  I don’t know much about cooking, but I said, “OK.  I’ll help.”  I asked Mr. Guy what we were having for dinner.  He said stakes and cold straw.  That sounded…interesting.

We put tall skinny stakes in some of the pots for our plants.  I thought they were there so the plants didn’t fall over.  I guess they are food too and keep the plants from falling over because they are so hungry.  I didn’t know that plants, humans, and little monsters all ate the same thing.  We pulled the stakes out of the bags and fed them to the plants just as they came.  They must be plant fast food.  I assumed we would eat them raw too.  Good choice to have stakes for dinner, I guess…no real work for us!

I told Mr. Guy that I would go get the straw from the compost bin and take it to the refrigerator.  He looked a little confused and asked my why I was going to do that.  I told him, “Because you said we were having cold straw for dinner and it is ninety degrees outside and our straw is hot.  He then explained that we were not having cold straw.  We are having cole slaw, a salad made from cabbage.  That makes a lot more sense and sounds a lot tastier, especially with the raw stakes.  Mr. Guy and I made the cole slaw together and put it in the fridge so that it became cold cole slaw with NO straw.

Then it was time to get ready to eat dinner.  Mr. Guy said that we were going to cook outside on the grill.  What were we cooking?  The cole slaw was cold and the stakes were raw.  Mr. Guy said that we were going to cook the stakes.  I think that is why The Lady makes Mr. Guy cook outside.  Cooking the wood stakes sounded more like he was  going to make a bonfire, which would make lots of smoke, rather than dinner.  Smoke in the house is not good.  It makes the smoke detector go off and that is an awful sound.

Mr. Guy let me turn the grill on.  It has a big lid.  I guess that keeps all the smoke from the bonfire in.  Ouside we have smoke deflectors instead of smoke detectors!

I asked Mr. Guy if he wanted me to go to the greenhouse to get the stakes.  He said that they were in the fridge with the cole slaw.  How did the stakes get in the fridge with the cole slaw?  I went to get them.  I didn’t see any stakes.  Mr. Guy went and got them himself.  He couldn’t find them either because he came out with two pieces of meat instead of the stakes.

I asked, “Why do you have meat?  I thought you were cooking the stakes.”

He said, “This is them.”

“Those don’t look like stakes.,” I said.

“Why not?” Mr. Guy asked.

I said, “Because stakes are long skinny pieces of wood and those are short fat pieces of meat.”

“S-T-E-A-K-S not S-T-A-K-E-S,” Mr. Guy said.

“Hmm.  And how was I supposed to know that?” I asked.

“Good question,” he said.  And we cooked our s-t-e-a-k-s.

Mr. Guy and I make pretty good steaks and cole slaw…

…probably much better than our stakes and cold straw would have been.

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May 23 -Keep Going

Today was a great day for this little monster!  Not only did I get to go on an adventure, I also met lots of new people who were super friendly to me.  And because I met lots of nice people, I made some serious progress on my 100 People Project.

Mr. Guy and The Lady wanted to go to a bookstore and hear a guy who writes books talk about what he writes in his books.  I don’t know why, if they have read the books, they wanted to hear the writer tell them what he says in his books. Maybe he forgot to put some of the important words in his books.  I asked if the books were grown-up books or little monster books.  The Lady said that they were for grown-ups, but she thought I might learn something if I went and listened.

 

The book writer’s name is Austin Kleon.

 

He writes books about creativity.  The Lady said that creativity is what we need when we write our stories together.  I thought we just needed to go do fun stuff so we have adventures to write about and then we have to find the best words to tell you about our adventures, but The Lady said that it is not quite that easy.  I guess that is true.  Sometimes it is hard for me to make my words and my thoughts match.  It’s like my thoughts are striped and the words that come out are polka dotted.

The Lady and Mr. Guy have read almost all of Mr. Kleon’s books.  They like what he says and the way he says it.  His newest book is called Keep Going.  I like that title a lot.  The Lady and I need to keep going even though sometimes we are both tired and don’t think that we have much to say and don’t want to write any words.

Mr. Guy and The Lady were right!  Mr. Kleon was a cool guy!  I didn’t understand everything that he talked about, but I liked that he talked about his two little boys and how they inspire him.  That made me think that I can inspire The Lady and Mr. Guy when they need creativity.

After Mr. Kleon talked about his book, people stood in a line so that he would sign his name in their books.  It seemed a little funny to me that he put his name in our books.  We bought our books with our own money; this book place was not a no bills book barn like where we went earlier this week.  Now if our book gets lost, it will get returned to Mr. Kleon because he put his name in it.  I guess if people don’t take good care of his books and they get lost, those books will get back to Mr. Kleon.  He will take good care of them because they are full of his words.  If I had a book with my words in it, I know I would take good care of it!

I did get to help when Mr. Kleon signed a book for Mr. Guy.

Because Mr. Kleon is such a a nice guy, the people who read his books are also nice people.  I was surprised and happy because so many peoplethere listening talked to me and wanted to know my name and hear my story.  Not everyone we see is open to talking to a little furry blue and orange monster!

 

Ms. Christy and Mr. Garry sat near us.  They drove all the way from Oklahoma to hear Mr. Kleon talk.  That is a long drive!  Ms. Christy is a copy editor and her husband, Mr. Garry, is and artist.

Then I talked to Ms. Zee.  She writes a blog about artist’s and travel.

Look at her smile!  I bet she would be a fun travel companion!  I am looking forward to reading her blog posts and learning about different artists and places that I want to visit some day.

Mr. Eric also has a friendly smile.

I am a lucky little monster to get to meet so many interesting, talented, and most importantly, kind people.  I think that the world has more kind people than mean people, but it feels like most of the time we only hear about the mean people.  Tonight was an evening filled with all nice people.  That made my smile as big as Mr. Eric’s smile.  Really, I am smiling, but my fur covers it up sometimes.

Mr. Tom works at Interabang Books.  That is where we went to listen to Mr. Kleon talk and it’s where we met all of the friendly people.  The last person I talked to was Mr. Tom.  He is the Events Coordinator at Interabang Books.

He worked hard tonight making sure that all of the happy people stayed happy.  I think he might have been smiling because this event was almost over and he was going to get to go home and rest soon!

So, I added six people to my 100 People Project.  That is exciting for this little monster.  I am now up to fifty-one.  I have passed the halfway point.  I can do this!

Like Mr. Kleon says, “Keep Going!”