Garanimals...for Adults

        Does anyone know what Garanimals are?  I remember, Kim and I making fun of this line of clothing, as kids hanging out at the mall.  There was store there, Clymer's Carousel, that carried this line of clothing.  In retrospect, Garanimals are genious, made with people like me in mind - for those of us who are, well, clothing coordinate challenged.
        The way Garanimals work, is that all of the clothing is tagged with an animal.  And you simply match the animals to create a matching set of clothes.  So, if that shirt you just have to have has a zebra tag attached to it, you just have to chose a pair of shorts or pants that also bear a zebra tag.  Easy, eh?  But Kimmy and I thought it was hilarious that people needed this system to be able to match their clothes. 
        Garanimals, believe it or not, still exist!  When I googled it, a garanimals.com came up!!
        I'm not sure when or where I became clothing dysfunctional, but, I believe it must have been during my stay at Shippensburg University, where I would wear whatever clothes I had fallen asleep in a few hours before I had to be at class. 
       Whatever the case might be, Kimmy quickly, and gently took charge once we moved in together.  She made sure I did not leave the house looking like an escaped carnie (for more on carnies, please see my sister, Lauren's blog, convenient link on right hand side of Kimmy's blog, near bottom).  I have never been interested in shopping or buying clothes for myself, unless they were cool t-shirts. 
        Like my Robert Baggio t-shirt...the greatest player to put on the Azurri (blue) for Italia!

              Or, this Tom Morello t-shirt - the greatest bass player ever, having thrummed for Rage Against the Machine, Audio Slave, Street Sweeper Social Club, and solo...

           Cody and I used to battle over who would get to be Tom Morello when we play Guitar Hero...but guess what?  We figured out we could both be Tom Morello!!!  At the same time!  Score!!
           But, alas, I cannot go everywhere in my baggy shorts, cool t-shirts and flip flops...so Kim made sure that she kept our closet stocked with 'big boy' clothes - so I could go to work and look professional...and I could go to church and look, well, churchy...and she would always give me a quick once over to make sure I was ironed, none of her long, luxorious hair was on me, and, that I did not mess up her 'Adult Garanimal' system, and matched.
           Here's how Kim set up my piece of closet like we remembered Clymer's Carousel's selection of Garanimals:

            She lovingly placed all of the wonderful shirts and pants that she bought for me on hangars - shirt to match top.  For me, there was no thinking involved, you see - for whatever shirt I chose, Kimmy had already hung the matching pants...ON THE SAME HANGAR!  Brilliant!!  As long as I did not deviate from this Adult Garanimal system that Kimmy had painstakingly put into place, again, lovingly scoping out stores as she shopped for the perfect shirts and pants for me, as I HATED to shop for 'big boy' clothes.  Eliminating embarrassment and pitiful stares...I could hold my head up high and feel confident that I was a sharp dressed man...
           But now, nearly 6 months later, since Kimmy felt good enought to shop for me, I find that some of the shirts Kim chose for me have beyond worn out.  And, as painful as it is to replace them, I know that I must.  She would not want me to slide back to my Shippensburg wardrobe.  I know this.  But what to do?  I tried to 'browse' as I was at Target.  Or Fry's.  But could not feel the matching magic...where were the lion tags?  Or the polar bear tags?
           When I had reached the end of my rag tag rope, I found a clothing savior...Peggy.  Peggy is Jaimelyn's, one of the talented managers at Barnes & Noble, sister.  Peggy happens to work at Ross, in the Foothills Mall, where our Barnes & Noble is located.  Now Peggy is something of a 'personal shopper'.  Which works well for me.  Peggy knows I like the Charlie Sheen style shirts that Kimmy always liked to get me.  She has an eye for them.  I can wear this style, love that I don't have to tuck in my shirt, and I can stay out of jail dressed like Charlie Sheen!  And she gets me the best deals, too.  This has been a big win for me.  If you need help matching clothes, and want to get great deals - Ross has a kaliedescope of them, and Peggy is good!  Now I can feel confident that I still match and look professional or religious, depending on where I find myself that day.  Thanks Peggy!
              Ok, since it is baseball season, let's take a look at the baseball jerseys Kimmy presented me over the years:

             This Baltimore Orioles jersey was the very first jersey that Kimmy ever bought me!  I've always been a big O's fan, in the American League - and, as I've told you, we used to go see one or two games a year down in Baltimore at old Memorial Stadium and then at the Camden Yards.  I wore this jersey when I met pitching legend Jim Palmer, who told me 'hey, I like your jersey, they never gave me one when I retired'...like I believed that.  This year, the O's started off smokin' hot, like the champions they once were, from the mid-60's through the late 80's...I joked with Mario and Kirk Perrini, both Yankees fans, that I had to get loud on them now, because in a week or so, the O's would cool off and drop down to the familiar last place they've been mired in for the past decade or so....The O's were in first place the entire first week, running their record to a torrid 6-1.  I was delighted to see the Red Sox begin their season 1-6!  Then, the first week was over...and the O's are on a 7 game losing streak, the Yankees back in their familiar first place...oh well, it was fun while it lasted! 

             Then there are the Phillies, my favorite in the National League...Kimmy got me this sweet Mike Schmidt retro jersey 7 or 8 Christmas' ago...We loved going to opening day in Philly to take part in the parking lot festivities.  Sometimes, we'd even go into the stadium to catch a couple innings of baseball.  We'd always make it down to see her Dodgers play at Veterans Stadium.  Never been to Vet Stadium?  It was one of those big, ugly cement stadiums built in the 70's.  It featured it's own jail cell, for out of control fans and could seat up to 100 thousand for concert venues (we saw Pink Floyd there and the announced crowd was 104K!) - it was huge. 

       I know these are not jerseys, but they are actual stadium seats from the Vet in Philly! Kimmy found out they were selling them when they tore it down and surprised me with a set!!

            And then there is the Curt Schilling jersey Kimmy astutely picked up for me following his trade from Philadelphia (one World Series appearance in 1993 versus the Toronto Blue Jays in which Joe Carter stole our dreams and broke Mitch 'Wild Thing' Williams, who gave up the historic home run to lose the game".  He made it to a World Series with the Diamondbacks in 2001, beating the Yankees.
           
           Well, it was a harried Monday, as we were all a little slow this Monday morning...getting to school, just after the bell, but slipping in the back gate to avoid Patti's 'tard' pass.  Then, it was off to sell books, scooping up the Americano to take the edge off, but...was one enough?  Customer Info Bianca, asked me if I was OK today (my smile was taken long ago)...did it show?  Some of you are so in tune with me...  Hey, maybe one more Americano!  That did the trick...later, I was able to show her and Mary this photo that Charlotte (who took the little ones to school last week!), took on the playground:

          What a great couple!  Bianca and Mary agreed that this is one cute couple...look how cool Tonio looks with one arm around Monsi and one hand in his pocket - Dean Martin cool...
          A few moments later, Autumn's teacher, Mrs. Rudzena texted me that she asked her kids to chose study partners to prepare for AIMS testing and this young man, Omar, excitedly ran over to Autumn to chose her as his partner.  I told Mary and Bianca that I was texting back 'Omar...hmmmm....he's nefarious...keep an eye on him!'.  Mary asked me why the 'double standard'?  What double standard?  Tonio's a boy.  Autumn's a girl.  Capisce?  Hey, I remember how we used to 'study'!
         After work, I rushed home, changed and went to Empire H.S. for Cody's track meet and got to see him run the 100M.  His ankle still hampers him and he placed fourth.

                  Cody is second from left, digging deep, but coming in 4th out of 8 runners.  His team placed 2nd in the 4 x 100m relays. I sat with Vito's cousin, Franca, who's daugher Kaitlyn, runs for Rincon Vista.  Franca stayed and watched Cody and gave him a ride home for me, because, I had to go get the little bambini.  They stayed after school and Patti took them home, cooked for them and then I scooped them up for swim lessons.                  They are doing much better!  And even Autumn seems to enjoy herself...Franca texted me that she had dropped my bambino off safely...the little ones did well and I was able to get them home, feed them again at around 7:45 and start the winding down process....
                I think that is all for today...I know, there were several times today, where I literally reached for my cell to give Kim a quick call to update her on where we were or ask how her day was going...Franca, having lost her dad, Angelo, to cancer, could empathize and we talked about dealing with it...Kimmy would be proud of Cody, who's got a set of serious wheels on him, and would have been screaming wildly for him today...she would be proud of the little bambini and their swimming progress...most of all, I know that she must be so happy, with all of the loving support, our bambini receive on a daily basis, as I struggle to keep up and be everywhere at once, during these 18 hour days...Grazia...
                 Love,
                           Dave