Puff the Magic Dragon

There is a new phenomenon at bedtime in our house, and it centers on Puff. Now, before you go and call DCS, it is the real Puff the Magic Dragon! I have to admit, that Autumn and I were pretty stoked about sharing the story with PT and, pretty soon, with Soah. We both grew up with the story and she grew up having to listen to Peter, Paul and Mary… PT received a PTMD book for her birthday, complete with a cd of Peter, Paul and Mary singing PTMD, Froggie Went a Courtin’, Jimmie Crack Corn, and a Puff instrumental.

Anyway, PT has learned @90% of the words to Puff the Magic Dragon and insists on standing on the bed and dancing to it before she hits the sack. Some nights she wants to read the book, but most nights she just wants to listen and dance. The cool thing is that she wants to dance with whoever is putting her to bed. The big finish during the last chorus is a big dip where mom or I dip her onto her pillow to go to bed – a perfect segue into getting under the covers! She still contends that Honalee is the girl that comes to “save” Puff at the end of the book and I can’t bring myself to correct or even begin to explain, so Honalee will remain where Puff lives AND his new best friend.

I have mentioned before that she is getting to the age where it is tough to get her to bed. She doesn’t want to go to sleep so bedtime is sort of stressful. But seeing her wholely lose herself in the song and really smile and laugh with her whole body and completely dance and the beautiful sparkle in her eyes when “Puff roars out his name!” is more than enough to make the process worth it. All of the sudden, I don’t remember what I was worried about four minutes ago… If there has ever been a “reward” for being a dad, being witness to that smile, that moment has to be it.

Puff was written by a man named Lenny Lipton and the song was made famous by Peter, Paul and Mary.

Undecided, yep, that’s me!

I had a friend comment that she couldn’t believe there are still undecided voters out there. Actually, she was floored that there wasn’t enough out there to be able to make up one’s mind about who to vote for. I fall squarely into that category of UNDECIDED. Now, I ride the fence on a lot of issues but here, I just don’t have a good choice for democracy.

I have to decide whether I want the government to take over health care or the housing market. Easy choice, right? I mean come on, how can I be undecided? We all know what happens to the quality of health care in countries with socialized medicine – just know that that same effect will happen to our already shaky housing market when the government “buys” all the bad debt out there and re-adjusts the value of the houses. Here’s my question… What about my house? Government “buys” a house in my neighborhood to help my neighbor. He/she still owes $260,000 on a house that they bought for $265,000 five years ago. The government adjusts the value of the house to $150,000 so my neighbors can make the house payment. Guess what happens to my house value? Yep, now I owe A LOT more than what my house is even worth because I have three houses in my neighborhood that were “adjusted.” So then, the market picks back up in five years and I can AT LEAST break even with my loan and house value. Guess who is going to make a quick $100,000 profit on their house when they sell it? Yep, my neighbor who didn’t pay their mortgage in the first place. What do I get? Not a damn thing. I possibly break even because I did the right thing.

WTF

So, how can people still be undecided? What choice do I really have…