All of the swag, none of the drag

Remember when I was all "Wah!  I'm never going to Blogher because it's scary and blah blah blah no one cares!"?  Like, two seconds after I published that post it occured to me that if I never go to Blogher then I will never get any swag.  Sad!  But then look what came in the mail today!

 Specifically tiny tape measure* mice from Stimey!

 You know, when you arrange them like that their little tape measure mouths make sort of unfortunate symbol.  I'm not sure exactly what message Stimey was trying to send me with her little Glenn Beck Nazi mice but I'm not sure I care for it.

Luckily the mice are cute when they're separated.  Even when they're cradled in my giant, pale, potato-like man hands.  Plus, every time I use one I'll be reminded to visit Stimey for all my quirk and quirk related accessories.

Since we got four mice everyone in our family got to name one.  Elle named hers Mousy but she's going to call it Jerry.  Joseph named his Jerry but he's going to name his Mousy.  This was all decided after an incident which shall hereafter be referred to as The Great Mouse Naming War of 2010.  At least that's what I would call it if I ever spoke about it again which I won't because even the mere thought of how emotionally invested my children are willing to become in the naming of plastic mice makes me want to curl up in a corner and cry.

When I asked Jesse what he would like to name his mouse he said "Dead."  Then he said "Or maybe we could go the traditional route and name them them Mickey, Minnie, Mortimer and ... something else."  That seems not so much "traditional" as it does "stealing all the fun of mice naming from everyone else and also a little over invested in the whole process" so we'll just go with the original name of Dead.  (I think Jesse is a little bitter about the mouse situation we've got going on in our garden right now.)

I named my mouse AWESOME because that's what it is.

So thank you Stimey for the awesome swag.  I think my favorite part about it is that I didn't even have to elbow a baby in the face to get it.

*Did you know that these things are called "tape measures" and not "tape measurers"?  It wasn't until spell check alerted me that there was no such word as "measurer" that I realized I've been saying it wrong my entire life.  I feel like such a fool.  It's worse than the time I realized that game shows gave away "parting gifts" and not "party gifts".

Two years ago today Elle was an artist.
Four years ago today Joseph was in a rough patch.
Five years ago today Joseph scolded an old lady.