Sanity saving lullabies

Everyone who has been around one or more infants for any length of time knows that at times they aren't so cute. Be it cholic or cholera, there are times when they just won't stop crying despite all efforts by one or both parents. In order to salvage a shred of sanity in the unfortunate tending parent someone came up with the sanity saving lullaby.

As an example, when my siblings and I were infants, my Grandmother (who has been called eccentric by more astute people than myself) would sing us this particularly menacing lullaby:

Old black sheepie, where's your lamb?
Way down yonder in the valley--

The buzzards and the butterflies
are picking out it's eyes--
and the poor little thing cries
Mammy--

(sing sweetly and endlessly until child grows up with a sense of humor like
Steven King or goes to sleep)


I was listening to NPR sunday night to a show that was talking about this wonderful stress relieving lullaby technique. One particular lullaby that was sung caught my ear. I don't know if it was sung to me as a child or not, but it seemed somehow familliar. Here it is:

This is the day
that we give away
little babies.

They come free
in a half pound of tea...
if you know any ladies
that want any babies
just send them around to me.

When they take off the lid
out comes the kid
with a written guarantee.

This is the day
that we give away
little babies.

I don't know if I have the words exactly right, but I've been singing it to myself all week and thought I should share this with some of you parents out there.

NPR on Sunday nights can be a riot.

Moving Day

I'll start with the standard "sorry for not posting lately, blah blah blah....".

I've recently moved into a 3 bedroom 2 bath house on the south side of 98. Thats the good side of the tracks. I've had the electricity and the water turned on. (I could almost hear the gasps as I typed that) The phone is next, but not absolutely necessary.

The house is partially gutted (the apartment on the back) and I'll be working on that while living in the main house. I'll logically move into the apartment when it's finished and work on restoring the main section. It's a structurally sound place, so it will be mostly cosmetics and asthetics I'll be working on. I'll work on the place at a reduced rate for 40 hours a month to cover rent and the owner will send me a check on the first of every month. There is no time limit, as the owner lives part time in Colorado and the rest of the time in L.A. ("Lower Alabama" to those of you not residing in the southeast). I believe he inherited the place and it's been sitting vacant for a few years. I think everyone's happy. I know I am.

I still have several projects I'm working on so money won't be a problem. I'm just happy to have climate control because it's already becoming sweltering down here. 90's in the day and 90% humididy. Ouch.

Other than that, Chester's fine, I might be taking over payments on a 26' sailboat, and It's going to rain today so I'm taking the day off to finish moving. And now you know the rest of the story.

Good Day. (I stole that from Paul Harvey)