How My Life's evolved. or....Finding Mr. Noodle.

How far my life's evolved in a short time" or.... "Finding Mr. Noodle."

Was watching Elmo's world last night. annoying little muppet, but Fiona's a big fan.

(How BIG a fan?
She has a Elmo chair that she refuses to sit on, and refuses to put any other toys on, jammed into the corner of her ladybug tent at the moment. It takes up like, half the freakin' tent. But you do NOT mess with the Elmo chair, thanks much.)

Anyhow, during each segment, he opens a door and they ask Mr. Noodle, or "Mr Noodle's brother, Mr. Noodle" how to do something.
Mr. Noodle's a sad looking guy in a bushy wig and bushy fake 'stashe, who isn't very bright but does physical comedy very well.
How does Mr. Noodle catch a ball, play an instrument, dance, etc etc etc.

Anyhow, watching Mr. Noodle, and what little of his face that you could see, he looks vaguely familiar. But they don't do a ton of closeups, and he's heavily made up...

"Think that's the guy from Northern Exposure, the circus guy that wouldn't talk because Words were like rock's, and weighed him down so he couldn't fly?"
I love my wife, she immediately understands the reference.
(it WAS a pretty great couple of episodes)

"He kind of looks like Rick Moranis' partner in My Blue Heaven, certainly dances in the loose-limbed manner that the guy in the movie danced..."

More kudos to Wendy for getting THAT reference.

So I spend valuable internet time, doing a WIKI on Mr. Noodle. That’s what my life has come to, apparently.
And I found Mr. Noodle, and more importantly, I was right on with my guesses. I paraphrase, of course:

Bill Irwin, born 1950, famous actor and clown.

Most notably a stage actor (he’s won two Tony’s) he's also had roles over 20 movies, including Eight Men Out and My Blue Heaven, and was best known on television for his role as Enrico Ballati, "The Flying Man", on Northern Exposure, as well as Mr. Noodle, on Sesame Street.


So props to my ability to remember faces, and to Mr. Irwin, for being a great actor, dancer, and clown.



But I still dislike the little orange muppet.



As an aside, Grover, my favorite Sesame Street character, is probably pumping gas somewhere now.
I think they down-sized him when Elmo caught on.

He was the MAN, before Elmo debuted.
A lot of the old sesame street books, for example, starred Grover.
Monster at the End of the Book? Grover.
Just read one about him wanting to be a firefighter when he grows up, too.

He's not even hanging on The Street anymore.
Man, that had to be hard for him, when they brought in the new stud, and he saw his own stock drop, the new guy getting some of his plum roles, and then getting their own segment.
Maybe plastic surgery?
Try to reinvent yourself as a character actor?

What do you do when “I’m just a monster, doing my best” isn’t enough anymore?

Oh the heartache of a fickle three year old's viewing habits…

The Yin and the Yang, The good/bad balancing act.

Ah, life.

Should be congratulating myself right about now, because the sign on the interstate said it would take me 20 minutes to get to my exit, and I did it in 18.

That's what I SHOULD be doing.

Instead I'm sitting in my basement, gas fireplace on full power, sipping quickly cooling coffee and typing this.


The idea that life's about balance and timing, has been illustrated clearly this morning, and at great length.

read on...

Fiona slept through the night, which is awesome, and doesn't happen very often of late. Whoo hoo!

She started calling to us at 5am, which is fine. Wendy gets up, I stick my hand out from under the covers, and joke "whew, sure feels cold out there."

30 seconds later, from Wendy...
"It really DOES feel cold. the floors are freezing..."

She heads to the back of the house, I get out of bed, put on my glasses, check the thermostat, and... it's 56 degrees in my house.

No "Whoo hoo!!!"

"Oh, Man!" from the back of the house.
"What's up?"

"Your daughter's soaking wet, so are her sheets."

No "Whoo hoo!"

I stumble around the house, check to make sure it's a furnace problem, and not a gas problem, crank up the fireplace in the basement, and start riffling through our records, to find the name of the repair guy that came out last time. (almost three years ago, as it turns out."

Left a message for him with his service, and then called in to work.

Got to spend a little more time, and spend it leisurely, with my family this morning, before Wendy took Fiona to her well heated day care.

that's a "Whoo hoo!"

And We've an old house full of old appliances, so we understand that this shit's gonna happen.

Fiona wet the bed, and the furnace stopped working. On the same night where I didn't have to get out bed, and climb into her (probably wet) bed to get her to go back to sleep.

Not a "Whoo hoo" per se, but good timing, if you wish to look at the bright side, which I DO.

And the furnace repair bill that's bound to happen today???
I got my annual bonus check from work, and deposited it yesterday.

And Wendy's first decent check from her new job?
Today.

Again, darn nice of the old furnace to keep us warm all winter when it was 5 degrees out and we had far less discretionary income.

So I was forced to use a vacation day.
I've got quite a few.

And now I've got the house, cold though it may be, to myself. For the first time in... I can't remember how long.

I'll get some work done, lots of work probably, screw around a bit, maybe shut my eyes for an hour, run some errands...
It's gonna be a good day. Even though my coffee IS ice cold now.

And I'll be able to start it, once I hear back from the furnace guy, and know when to expect him.....