So, as you may or may not know, my sister and I are weird. But in a good way…at least to my way of thinking. But…well…let me start from the beginning:

When I was little I fell in love with a groovy little British boy named Jack Wild. Now, you know Jack…he played the Artful Dodger in the 1968 movie version of Oliver! (Stole the show, too, I might add.) Anywho, I didn’t fall in love with Jack because of his Oliver! performance. No siree! I fell in love with Jack as Jimmy in the all time greatest TV series EVER, H.R. Puf N Stuf! That’s right! Though I realized many years later that WitchiePoo is the true wonder of the show, at age six I LOVED Jimmy! I remember embarrassing my dad once in regard to my passion for Jimmy. Understand MY dad is way way way hard to embarrass! However, when at the grocery store with him once in good ol’ (somewhere near) Grace, ID…I begged and begged and begged him to purchase a teenager magazine for me with Jimmy’s picture on the front! I mean I LOVED Jimmy! LOVED him.

However, as we all know, even though I loved Jimmy, I loved Huckleberry Finn more…and Huck always won out and remained my imaginary friend for a couple of years following the My-Daughter-Embarrassed-Me-By-Begging-For-a-Movie-Start-Magazine-in-the-Middle-of-the-Grocery-Store incident with my dad in 1971. Yes, it’s true. I did have an imaginary friend for that long. But hey…at least he was a human!

I mean, take my sister, Luanna, for example…my little sister also had an imaginary friend when she was approximately three or four years old. She called him, “Siggy” and he was always there to play with her, sit down to dinner with the family, etc. Ah yes, Siggy…I remember it well. Siggy this and Siggy that. It was adorable!

Furthermore, Siggy was also a ‘real’ entity of sorts. Just as my Huckie was my imaginary proxy for the real Huckleberry Finn…Siggy was Luanna’s imaginary proxie for…of course…Sigmund the Sea Monster! Yep! It’s true! (And at the moment I’m wondering how my sister and I would’ve survived our childhoods without the brilliant minds of Sid and Marty Kroft!)

Yep…good ol’ Siggy…or Sigmund the Sea Monster and you know him. What a guy! A little on the skiddish side, but with Luanna there by his side, he did all right. I mean, his family was really mean to him (which you already know, if your familiar with the TV show Sigmund the Sea Monster). Yes…Luanna and Siggy were quite the pair (as you can see by this photo of them together. See him? Right there next to her? Oh, wait…that’s right…he’s imaginary so you probably can’t see him! Sorry!)

Yep…good ol’ Siggy. Good ol’ Luanna. What a couple of mischief makers! I’m telling you, you never saw such a pair! (Reminiscent sigh of mechanically over childhood things.)

So last week it was Corn Worms, and this week it’s imaginary friends and sea monsters. Hmmm…Am I sensing a blog theme in my brain here? Eureeka! October is upon me and Halloween at the end of it! Yahoo!!!!! Therefore, I think another spooky contest is in order, don’t you?

First of all, let’s talk about the winner (plus 1) of the Sandy’s Corn Worm blog from last week. Now, as you know if you entered, our dearest friend “K. Lou” wrote that FANTASTIC poem, an “Ode to Sandy’s Corn Worm!” AND I think you’ll agree she deserves an award for that! HOWEVER, there were so many entries and all of them were sooooooo wonderful, that I’ve decided to choose 2 winners for this contest! Of course, “K. Lou” is one winner, for her tender, empathetic poem “Ode to Sandy’s Corn Worm” and her insight into how forgiving one should be a husband who does dishes, whether or not he grinds up your pet Corn Worm in the garbage disposal! K. Lou…winner #1…e-mail your address to me at [email protected] so I can get your autumn/movie-themed prize package in the mail to you asap!

Now as for winner #2…there were so many many many fabulous entries that I’m just going to pull a name out of my hat as the winner…so hold on a second. And the winner is…hold on…Chris Bails! Congratulations, Chris! Please e-mail your snail mail address to me at [email protected] so I can get YOUR autumn/movie-themed package in the mail as well! Fun! I LOVE doing contests!

Now, as for this week’s contest…oooo! It’s another Autumn/October/Halloween-Themed contest, okay? For this contest leave your comments on your favorite childhood TV show and you’ll be entered to win: A “Monster House” DVD (I LOVE this movie), and appropriate Autumn/Halloween snacks to munch on while watching it! Yummy! Yep! Another movie and snacks…I guess I’m not feeling too original today! Still…movie?…snacks?…monsters? Yep, an ode to Siggy…my sister’s imaginary friend!

Meanwhile, if you’re not familiar with Simund the Sea Monster…here’s the old 1970s opening credits! LOVE it!