The 1st Thomas Generation- Ted & Beth Thomas

    The kids having grown out of cute stages, our amusing anecdotes now seem to be at Ted's expense. (After all, Beth writes the newsletter!) The amusement arises this year from the serendipitous conjunction of two of Ted's favorite activities.
    The first is Ted's enjoyment of a large breakfast. Since his wife won't get up early to cook one for him, he resorts to a concoction of several different types of cereal mixed with bran, nonfat plain yogurt, artificial sweetener, and skim milk. That's the tamest version. Such a meal requires several things in the way of a receptacle: 1) a large bowl to hold it all without spilling, 2) a very stable bowl to hold it all without spilling (since Ted carries it around to office, vehicle, etc.), and 3) a very sturdy bowl to weather the various locations in which it finds itself.
    Ted found himself mulling over these needs when last doing another of his favorite things – shopping at the dollar store. Ted LOVES the dollar store; you know, the kind where “everything's a dollar.” We now have both a “Deals” and a “Dollar Tree” in town, to his great delight. It has gotten to the point where, when Ted solicits my interest in a nifty new purchase, I ask, “Is it from the “D” store?”.
    But I digress. When last at the “D” store, mulling over his bowl needs, Ted came upon the perfect solution. He couldn't wait to show it to me! It was sturdy, definitely sturdy to withstand dropping. It was stable; nope, this baby would not turn over. And it was large, definitely large. I knew what it was as soon as he handed it to me, but since you can't see what I saw, I'll tell you what was on the sticker on the bottom: “Large DOG bowl”! It is a sturdy grey plastic, and he eats out of it every morning.  
    You may draw your own conclusions. . . .

    So until next year, or maybe we'll see each other in the meantime, we remain
        Very Fondly Yours,

    P.S. from Ted:
    Actually, things are not yet perfect in breakfast-land, because the bowl is so wide that the spoon resting on the side tends to slide down into the milk. Then there is the possibility of a client coming to my home office & seeing the bowl (with cereal still in it, perhaps) sitting somewhere because I forgot to take it back to the kitchen. “He's got a dog that eats Cheerios... in his office... on top of the bookshelf...???” Actually, we did have a dog (a dalmatian named Satchmo) for many years who would happily eat cereal for breakfast, but that was because she was doing cleanup for a 5 year-old who left some on the back porch. Generally, I eat all of mine... just so you know.
    How did all this about my breakfast eating habits get in here ANYWAY? Nevertheless, as my dear wife has said, she is writing the newsletter, so I'll reserve the rest of my editorial comments for next year, when maybe I'll write the newsletter!