Looney Runes

This Looney Tunes puzzle has been sitting in its can for many years, waiting for the right moment to come out and play. Puzzles are meant to be brought out and worked on at specific times of the year, when family is gathered around chatting around a table and hands are wanting for something to do while mouths and brains are otherwise engaged. Lately, Cheryl and the kids have been enjoying some puzzling activities, so it seemed the appropriate time to put it out on the table and see what came of it.

Didn't take very long to solve, actually. One of these days we'll glue it all together and frame it so we can hang it up somewhere in the house, like Grandma Downs used to do.



Every day the kids come home from school looking for snacks. Every evening, about an hour or two after dinner, they start talking snacks again. I don't recall when this tradition started, and it's probably not one of those traditions that's necessarily healthy for everyone. But it doesn't seem to be doing them any harm, especially those with the hollow-leg syndrome (James, you know who you are!).

Some days, Mom and Dad are feeling guilty about all the sugary snacks which are lying about, and insist that the children choose something else. There are always healthy choices available: apples, oranges, bananas, yogurt. And ... toast? Well, I suppose that's somewhat healthy, so long as one doesn't overdo the butter thing.

I bore the children to tears telling them about the time my sister and I stayed home from school to watch Sesame Street (ostensibly because we were ill); to soothe our misery, we ate an entire loaf of bread. We toasted every slice. As you can probably imagine, we weren't eager to repeat that experiment any time soon. The digestive system can only take so much abuse. My children look at me as though I've lost my mind. Who in their right mind would indulge themselves in such a gluttonous manner?



The girls enjoy learning how to cook treats. They like to have something fresh-baked to put in their lunches for the next day. Mary took on the task the other night. I don't remember what the snack was. Brownies? Cookies? Something like that. She looks cute in that apron, doesn't she? I like the way they just jump right in and decide to make something.



Cheryl is the Instructor in these little snacky adventures. She's got a million recipe books, full of all kinds of wonderful treats. So far, the girls are sticking to the one's they're familiar with. One of these days, though, they're going to get adventurous and try some of the more challenging ones. I can't wait. I love snacks!



Sometimes snacks help to make the other little chores a bit less tedious. Like homework. As the kids are getting older, the homework is getting more complicated. Adam likes his math homework; not sure if that's because he gets to use his fancy calculator, or if he just likes playing with numbers. Deb likes math as well, but she is much more concerned about getting it exactly right. She asks a lot of questions along the vein of, "What is the teacher asking for?" Many of the math questions were obviously written by someone who doesn't understand how completely ambiguous the English language can be. Ambiguity is something Deborah despises. I think she gets this from her Dad.