Today is Ella's half-birthday, and ever since last week when I told her that this Wednesday she'd be 7-and-a-half, she has been excited about it and counting the days. The reason she's excited is that I told her that we could celebrate a little. She immediately knew what she wanted to do: She wanted to go to Burger King and get an i-Dog. What is this thing? I don't know. But it proves one thing: Madison and Ella have been watching commercial television, and they seem confidently well-informed about the whole deal. Madison has been politely skeptical of the fact that Ella is more excited about going to Burger King for lunch today than about the far, far more significant event coming up at the end of the week. (It will be 65 degrees on Friday! Yay!)
Today is also Bob Ross's birthday, or it would be if he were still alive. I can no longer find listings for his Joy of Painting in our cable guide, to my regret, so I couldn't tape any episodes in advance of today. Bob Ross (sans the famous afro, I assume) was born in 1942 in Pennsylvania, spent 10 years in the Air Force and a considerable amount of time in Alaska before moving to Florida. He is most famous for his position that everyone can learn to paint, and he set about setting up a method to teach people to do so. His painting method is wet-on-wet oil. I have two of his Joy of Painting instruction manuals, and this afternoon (after the bliss of Burger King) they'll each attempt to copy one of his paintings. We'll use acrylics, though; I don't have my own oils, and acrylics are easier to clean up and because they dry so much more quickly than oils, the colors don't blend and muddy each other with kids' uncertain strokes, so I think kids find them ultimately more satisfying.
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