Things you never expected to learn

I give you the Coolest Thing Ever.


I started this rubber band ball over three years ago, adding two or three rubberbands with each day's mail delivery. I started it because, really, what else do you do with 3,000 rubberbands? I never expected that it would be the Coolest Thing Ever.

The story starts on Wednesday. The monsters had a doctor appointment, and they each had shots. They were such troopers! I gave them some acetaminophen, ice cream and ice packs, and we thought all was well.

Thursday, Bubba tells me that his head hurt so bad at night that he couldn't sleep. Being an extremely scientific mom, I put the back of my hand on his forehead, and sure enough, he was running a fever. His school has a "No Fever" policy, so Bubba went to work with me! He camped out in a conference room with cartoons, color crayons, and a sketch pad in the morning.

After lunch, Bubba was feeling great. He even helped me stuff envelopes! (Trust me, that's love.) He was prowling through my office while I tried to write letters and sort files when he said, "Mom! What's that?!?"

"What's what?"

"That super cool ball?"

The rest of the afternoon was shot. We went outside on the green and played with the rubberband ball. Let me tell you, this thing can bounce. It loses almost no kinetic energy! Roll it against a wall and it will come tearing back at you at Mach 10.

I don't think I have ever had so much fun at work. And it really was a productive day.


To give you some idea of its size, here's another shot of the Coolest Thing Ever. It is roughly four inches in diameter when measured with my thumb.


Peek-a-Boo is less than impressed.