Kevin Bacon, the newest member of our family

This is Kevin Bacon. He is a stuffed pig and he is 2 months old. I got him for Deg for his birthday and he is now an integral part of our family. I know; he's not real. Shall I explain?

Once upon a time, I was in high school. I answered a kid who'd asked me to a dance by saying, "I'll go with you when pigs fly" and then rigging a giant, pillow-sized stuffed pig from his ceiling. Har har. Well, he had no use for the stuffed pig, so he gave it to me. This stuffed pig became a staple of my bedroom for many a year.

Once upon a time, there was a comedian named Jim Gaffigan. He does this bit about manatees being called sea cows, and how it'd be funny to put a manatee on Ricky Lake, because someone would call it a sea pig.

Once upon a time, there was a movie franchise called Veggie Tales. One of the characters, Larry the Cucumber, sang a song about a manatee called "Barbara Manatee"

(I promise these stories will come together shortly.)

When I met Deg, I liked to impersonate Jim Gaffigan's routine, which always made people sing the "Barbara Manatee" song. Hence, the giant pig got named Barbara Manatee. Because the pig became such a joke, I started buying Deg stuffed pigs every time I saw one. They became a gift-giving staple.

Deg had his birthday in September, and I bought him Kevin Bacon. He was so dang cute (probably the cutest stuffed pig ever), and since he's a pig, the bacon thing seemed necessary. Hence the name.

I've mentioned before my issues with bad dreams and sleeping. My therapist had me start my progress to actually sleeping with a night light and a stuffed animal. This is where Kevin really joined the picture, because he and I have literally cuddled all through the night every evening since. Since he's become such a staple, we've begun to talk in terms of Kevin. Examples:

"Kevin and I wish you'd come to bed. He misses you."
"Kevin needs you to put lotion on my feet."
"Kevin says he needs Nico's pizza for dinner."

Kevin even signed my birthday card! We've got a stocking hung for him! He's our surrogate child! We are strait up crazy! :)


PS - Did you notice the blog makeover? I was having background/picture ADD...