Pencil Cozy

For Christmas Maya's Grandma got her a sewing machine and already Maya has put it to good use. Last night she sewed me this lovely "pencil cozy." To think there was once a time when my pencils sat unprotected on my desk and then when I'd go to use one (if I could even find one) it would be all cold. Now that I have this snazy pencil cozy I always know where to find a nice warm pencil when I need one. I'd say this sewing machine has paid for itself already.

Maya as a Southpark Character

Colored Sand Artwork

Gizzy Disguised as a Gift

Grandpa and The Girls

In Wisconsin for Christmas

For Christmas we spent a couple days in Wisconsin where Maya got the opportunity to drive the four wheeler in the snow. Her knack for driving improved to such and extent that we even went on the ice and practiced doing doughnuts.

Oatmeal Cookies

The other night Maya and I made a batch of oatmeal cookies and I don't know what we did right but they really turned out fantastic. I regaled Maya with tales of my youth when her uncle Cory and I would make oatmeal cookie dough and then stay up all night eating the dough while watching a Dr. Who marathon on PBS. Ah, now that was living.

Christmas Vacation

Maya has the next two weeks off for Christmas vacation and now we have to find some way to fill her days. I'm thinking she can hone her babysitting skills by watching Annah for me. We'll see how it goes. Today she was braving the cold by playing outside and making a snow fort.

With Mom & Annah

On to Her Next Profession

Maya finished her stint at Barnes and Noble and is now going to be choosing her next Mini Course which she think is going to be working at a bank. This will be a nice opportunity to get a behind to scenes look at how our tax dollars are being squandered.

Annah & the Stuffed Dog

At the end of every month Maya's class holds an auction where the kids can bid on an assortment of different items with "cash" they've earned in class for achieving certain tasks. Maya bid on and won this little stuffed dog for Annah and judging from the grin on her face I think Annah really likes it.

Cold Walk

It was really cold tonight but that didn't stop Maya and I from going for a walk to the bookstore. Maya needed to get a gift certificate for a secret Santa present so we trudged through the freshly fallen snow to pick one up. It wasn't that bad on the way there because the wind was at our back but the return trip was another matter - we had the wind right it in our faces. Maya's solution was to walk home backwards.

With her Sister

Playing on Club Penguin

Maya is playing games on Club Penguin and Annah is clapping her on.

Working at Barnes and Noble again

Second week of working at B&N and this week it was working at the register. Annah and I tagged along for a little bit of the orientation and it was pretty interesting. The kids were asking if they were eligible for the employee discounts, but unfortunately there are no discounts for the trainees.


Maya getting trained in on the register.

Reading

Maya has been - oh how can I say this?... Not been actively pursuing her AR reading assignments in school. AR (Accelerated Reader) books are just everyday kids books of which they need to read 25 by the end of the school year. When we had our parent teacher conference a month and half ago she had a great report from the teacher with the one exception that she needed to start reading more books to be on track to accomplish her goal of 25. Well since that meeting she has not exactly been devouring the books, in fact she has read - oh how can I say?... Very very very few. So I figured I could either convince her to get on the ball by using either a carrot or a stick. My experience has taught me that Maya usually gets stuff done if she has a schedule and a little enticement offered upon completion. This week she is set to finish a 400 page book and then she has several Judy Blume books on deck. If she gets her first book done this week we are having a Daddy Daughter Day on Saturday. If this doesn't work then I'm afraid we're going to have to start considering the stick.

Another Photo Shoot

We persisted in our efforts to get a decent picture for the Christmas card again tonight and it was not in vain. A valuable lesson in life is that if try, try and try again eventually you will reach a point where you can comfortably say, "Oh, the hell with it this is good enough." - and be done with it. After taking about fifty pictures like the one below we finally got one where Annah held still for a fraction of second, and although she wasn't smiling her screaming a least suggested a sense of excitement. Zaheeda should be getting the cards out in the next few days and we hope you like it.

Trying for a Christmas Photo

We were trying to get a photo for the Christmas card but only 50% of the children were being cooperative and willing to sit still for a picture resulting in about seventy five different pictures that look like this. We may end up taking a picture of Maya and go about the process of drawing in Annah with colored pencils.

On the Job

As part of a program at her school called Mini Courses the kids in Maya’s class get to try their hand at different careers and professions. Maya chose to work at Barnes and Noble and today was her first day on the job. She got a tour of the store and is learning the ins and outs of the book business. Next Thursday she’ll be back at work only then she’ll be working behind the register. So if you are in the Highland area and are looking for a book, stop by and she’ll be more than happy to help you.

Tormenting Her Sister

Playing Violin

Entertaining the Thanksgiving crowd.

Grandma and the Girls

Sisters

Zaheeda has been discussing what to do when these two inevitably start plotting against us.

First Little Bit of Snow

Vaccinated

Yesterday both the girls got flu vaccines - Annah got her flu booster shot and Maya got the mist up the nose. Maya wouldn't go so far as to say the mist up the nose was a pleasant experience but it sure beat getting a shot.

Dancing Ladies

Curtains

We are in the midst of repainting the living room and "need" to get new curtains. Now I don't mean to get all negative but I'm of the opinion that curtains are and always have been a product of the devil himself - in fact, I bet after Eve took a bite of the apple man grabbed his and her fig leaves for clothing and then immediately decided on a need for drapes in the dining room. If Lucifer is not responsible for curtains he most certainly had his hand in the invention of the valance. So you buy a drape and you think, hey, I could cover a window with this. But no, you need to buy two drapes so they part in the middle. Then you need to buy some kind of hardware to hang the two drapes. At this point you would think, ok I'm done.... Enter the valance which is a completely useless piece of cloth that hangs along the top of the curtains which as far as I can tell is there to hide the fact that you have curtain rods - but of course you need another rod for the valance. What next, another set of curtains for the valance to hide the fact that you need it to cover the rod that is there to hold the curtains that is there to hide the window. Do you see what is happening here? We are destroying ourselves! This is all evil! Pure evil! Maybe I'm all wrong, maybe people are not buying curtains for their windows but it's the other way around, and they in fact have windows so they can show of their curtains. Why not cut the window out of the whole deal and just nail the curtains to the side of the house so people could dive by and say, "Would you look at those lovely curtains."

Goofey

Denying our Swedish Heritage

From time to time we like to pay homage to Maya's Scandinavian roots here at mayamac studio... That is until now. I came across this site featuring promotional photos of Swedish dance bands from the 70's. What follows are a few of my personal favorites:

C.C. everyone in the band - "Friday we are getting our promo pic taken, make sure to wear your nicest pair of light blue pants." Unfortunately not everyone got the message.

Now this one really raised a lot of questions for me. Notice the band is called Kent Rogers. Who exactly is Kent Rogers here? They are all dressed the same. Also note there is a woman in the group and what is interesting about her is she is dressed exactly the same as the guys. They were probably considering getting her and outfit of her own but gave up that futile pursuit when it became apparent these outfits were just too damn spectacular.

The Tonny's made the decision to spend the majority of their wordrobe budget on fancy black platform boots. Unfortunately on the day of the photo shoot their jeans covered them up making it look like they were all wearing normal black shoes. Finally the decision was made. "Let's roll 'em up boys!"

Shilling Banco's manager sat them down and gave it to them straight saying, "If you guys want to be big- and I'm talkin' ABBA big here, you are going to have to start showing more cleavage."

From now on if anyone asks, Maya is 50% German 50% Indian - end of story.

Dead Fish

Maya's fish Puss Puss passed last night. I don't know what's going on but Maya's room is fast turning into a Dead Zone for fish. Though Puss Puss the catfish is dead, Obama the snail continues to live on. We are of course referring to Obama the crustacean which survives by eating the slime off the edge of the tank and not Obama the American politician which is the slime that thrives on the backs of the American tax payer. I don't know what our next move is as far as the fish are concerned. Puss Puss after all was a catfish and they are like the Timex watches of the fish world, they go all the way back to the prehistoric age and that doesn't speak well of Maya when a fish can survive what scientists believe was a giant comet smashing into the Earth yet can't take a month in her bedroom. Maybe she needs to move onto something else... Christmas is right around the corner - Chiapet perhaps?

Maya's School on the News

This is from KARE 11 News on Monday.

Conference Report

Maya's review went really well, she is doing very good work and gets along well with others. After the meeting we went to the Mall and got her a little treat for her fine effort thus far. Now she needs too keep it up!

Prent Teacher Conference

It's that time of year again. We are hoping for a good report so we don't have to fill Maya's life with an abundance of unpleasantness.

With the Leaves

Maya trying to teach Annah all about leaves.

Free Mortgage and Gas Day!!!!

Penn on voting

From Crackle: You Can't Vote Against

Who's on First

Now this is when comedy was comedy.

Journal

Maya recently got a journal to catalog her thoughts and experiences. Being the inquisitive type, I took it upon myself to read what she's been up to and can only say she has an exceptionally uninteresting life.

Under the Sea

The Ladies

Freaky Halloween Costume

Another Girls Pic

On Bike

MayaTimes #27

Time

12:45 am and Maya was still up playing with her sister. When asked if she new what time it was she replied, she doesn't like to think about time and prefers to live in the moment. Rather than get into a whole existential discussion about space and time I suggested she get to bed before the precious moment of which she's so fond becomes filled with spanking.

Kate Dicamillo

Maya went to see Kate Dicamillo speak at the Barnes and Noble in Edina. She is the author of the book childrens book The Tales of Despereaux of which Maya is a big fan. It was nice to see all the little kids so excited to see her in person.

New Catfish

Maya got a catfish (named Puss Puss) for her tank and he's lived for over 24 hours... He's a surviver! So now she has Puss Puss and her snail named Obama - who after cleaning all the slime off the inside of the tank is planning on heading to Washington with all the other slugs to help reinvent government.

In Loving Memory

We were walking along the River Road this afternoon and Maya noticed this commemorative plaque next to one of the benches. We don't suppose Maya's Grandma will ever have a plaque like this and if she does it will be about her dog Jasper jumping on her and running all over the place. "We loved Mary Ann but we genuinely disliked that dog."

The Girls

Fish

For two weeks Maya practiced and extra 20 minutes a day on her sight reading to get the prize of two fish. For years she has had a little fish tank that Jeff had bought her sitting empty in the closet and she wanted to get set up and fill it with fish. So she did her practicing, we went to the pet store, got her two fish and a snail but unfortunately the fish both died later that night. Poor Maya practiced her little fingers off for two weeks and all she has to show for it is a lousy snail tank. There is an inherent risk when it comes to the living as tomorrow is not guaranteed to any of us. Fortunately however when it comes to fish there is a 15 day guarantee so if they go belly up within that time frame you can get replacements at no cost. Maya learned that life is fleeting and also that Saint Paul tap water is not sufficient to support aquatic life.

Too Tired

We were supposed to go to a daycare class with Zaheeda in Maplewood tonight but we were all too tired, Maya had homework to do, so we all stayed home.  Not sure why we're so tired, but all suspicions point towards Annah.