Hey there boys and girls!

You know how much Annie loves a good joke.  Yup.  Annie loves it when we can laugh and smile together.  That’s why Annie keeps smiling at her new friend, John McCain.  Because he’s telling a very big joke right now.  A joke that is SOOOOO big that he has to tell it to the whole country… even the whole world!  What’s that joke?  Well, if you turn on the TV tonight at 9:00 Eastern Time (that’s past you bedtime for some of you Eastern boys and girls, but west of the Mississippi, you’ll be able to stay up for the joke), you’ll see the joke that Mr. McCain has decided to tell.  But remember, there are rules when you tell a joke.  So let’s remember the words to our favorite song about how to tell a joke:

We love to chuckle and giggle and laugh,
So we tell riddles, knock knock jokes and the occasional gaff.
Laughter is the best medicine is what we always say
Which is why we love to tell jokes every single day!

But even though a joke can make you a star,
It can make people sad if you take it too far.
Know when to stop and when to call it quits
Or you might make your friends and your country feel like… 
feel bad!

So remind your parents that, even though John McCain might be an okay guy, he might not know when he’s taken a joke too far.  So he might not be the best guy to make some other important decisions. 

Right boys and girls?!?!

Hi there boys and girls!  It’s Annie here, for another day counting down to the Election.  Do you remember what an Election is?  That’s right!  It’s when all the grown-ups get the chance to choose who they think should be the president of the whole country.  It’s sort of like when you’re in class, and your teacher asks how many people want to play kickball, and how many people want to play dodgeball.  And you LOVE kickball so much, and you raise your hand so high when it’s your turn to vote, but because more people voted for dodgeball you don’t get to play kickball.  You’re stuck getting pegged in the face by that big kid who doesn’t play by the rules when the teacher’s back is turned.

Annie doesn’t much like dodgeball.

So how do you keep from getting stuck with dodgeball for four years?  You can try some different Tactics.  A Tactic is a way to accomplish what you want.  Obviously, you have to get more people to vote for kickball than dodgeball.  One Tactic is that you can try to talk to everyone else in your class to make them understand why you think kickball is better (though the big kid is probably trying another Tactic of telling all the kids that you’re stinky and that if they vote for kickball, that makes them terroritsts).  Another Tactic the big kid might try is getting the pretty girl in class to be on his side, so that everyone else will vote his way.  Of course, she doesn’t really know much about kickball or dodgeball, but she sure is pretty, so sometimes it’s not easy to reason with the other kids.  Some of the kids might try the Tactic of not voting so noone gets mad at them, or because they don’t particularly like either game.  Or the big kid might create a big diversion - like set a fire in the gymnasium so that no one will pay attention to why they’re voting.  But, if all the kids who like kickball better than being repeatedly pelted in the face actually take the chance to vote for kickball when the teacher asks, then they can win! 

So really, sometimes, all you can do is try to remind people how unpleasant it has been to be pelted with red dodgeballs over and over and over again for the last eight years, and maybe they’ll remember how much they like to play with the blue kickballs.  

Hi there boys and girls!  I know it’s been a long time since you’ve heard from Rainbow Annie, but with all the excitement around the election coming up, I just had to chime in!  First things first… what is an ELECTION?  Well, it’s a time when all the grown-ups in the country are allowed to Choose who they want to be the president of the United States for a whole four years!  Now, they don’t get to just pick anyone.  Nope.  They can’t just write down "Rainbow Annie" and *poof* I’d be the president.  No sirree!  Instead, we go through a very long tryout time called a primary.  A primary is a long, long, long, long, long, long, LOOOOOOONG time where all the people who want to be president stand up and try to tell why they think they would be the best president.  But they usually use a secret code that only they can understand, so it makes the Choice kind of hard.  But all the grown ups go, and they VOTE for the person they think will be the best president until they narrow it down to two people - a red one and a blue one.  And we all know that Annie’s favorite color is BLUE, right!!!  So then, the red one and the blue one pick a partner to be their Vice President, and we get just a couple of months to listen to each of them say why they think they would be the best president… but mostly they (especially the red one) just say a lot of mean things about the other guy instead of talking about anything important. 

Then, finally we get to November… that’s the same month as Thanksgiving!  (Remember to ask Mommy for Tofurky this year!)  The very first Tuesday in November is Election Day.  That day, all the grown ups are allowed to go to make the choice for who they want to be the president.  But you what’s sad?  Not all of them take the chance to go Choose!  Nope.  A lot of them stay home.  Why would they do that?  Make sure to ask all the grown-ups you know if they’re registered to vote.  And if they’re not, well, you just ask ‘em who they’re voting for.  If they say a name that doesn’t have any Bs in it, then let them be.  But if they like the Blue guys with the Bs in their name, you tell ‘em to go vote because they owe it to your future!  (That always gets ‘em!)

Anyway then, after they’re done CHOOSING, everyone sits up really late into the evening, watching TV to find out what everyone else Chose, and (in the case of the last two elections) crying and drinking lots and lots of Uncertain-Tea and Futili-Tea (and lots of special just-for-grown-ups drinks too).

Well, it’s a very important choice this year, and Annie’s going to be back to help you and your mommies and daddies make the right decision!  See you soon!

Hello Boys and Girls! 

I know it’s been a long time since you’ve heard from Rainbow Annie… and I’m so sorry about that!  Things have been awfully busy in Tea-Town.  But Annie just couldn’t let the ultimate of contrived Hallmark Holidays go by without letting you all know how much I love you!  But remember, kids, I don’t need a special day to tell you I love you.  Annie loves each and every one of you each and every day.  But the big corporations want us to believe that, if we don’t buy lots of candy and flowers for the people we love on Valentine’s Day, it means we don’t really love them.  But that’s not true, is it?

NO!  So I’ll just leave you with a special Rainbow Annie song! 

Candy and flowers and stuffed hearty bears
Seem fine and dandy for some
But loving from someone who really does care
Doesn’t take money or jewelry to wear
So cut out the shaming and consumerized flare
And just give someone a hug.

And how can we celebrate Valentine’s Day
When laws won’t let people love?
The government won’t listen to what people say
And think you can’t love if you happen to be gay
And chase all your hopes for a wedding away
And pretend it’s a rule from above.

So look at your loved ones and give them a smile,
A wink and a squeeze on the toosh,
And know that they love you for more than a while
And don’t have to show it with gifts in a pile
And hope that no more unfair amendments are filed
And wait out one more year with Bush.

Happy Valentine’s Day from Annie and Willy Nilly! 

That’s right, kids. Photos is one of those words that makes the English language so darn confusing. Sounds like is should be “F is for Fotos,” but it’s not. Ah well. It’s a good thing we demand that everyone else in the world (many speaking languages with much more logical phonetic and syntactical structures) learn to speak English - and all but categorically deny extending the same courtesy on our end! The Lesson? Make sure to study foreign languages in school (if you’re a Montessori kid, you’re already on it.)… especially hope that they offer Chinese or Arabic.

Anyway, here are some pictures from the show that Annie and Willy did a couple of weeks ago at The Warehouse Theatre. Enjoy!

Our little friend Chelly has been commenting on the blog again, and she made me think that we need to talk a little bit about current events.  You know, kids, I bet you’re seeing all kinds of crazy behavior from grown-ups lately.  And trust me, it’s only gonna get crazier for the rest of the year.  There are strange commercials that are selling people instead of products… and they’re saying all sorts of weird things in order to do that.  Grown-ups are saying silly words like "Huckabee" and "Caucus."  And everybody just keeps arguing!  Some people - like Chelly’s dad - have even decided to hide out until it’s all over.  Well, as much as we may want to hide out, Annie and Willy are staying right where they are to bring Tea Time to you!

Now, since we just had the Michigan Primary, I thought that Willy and I could write you a song to help you understand the election and remember all the presidential candidates.  Do you know what candidates are?  They’re the people we have to choose from to be the President.  Unfortunately, most of the time we don’t actually end up liking any of them.  So we don’t really choose who’s the best.  We get to choose who’s the least bad.

The 2008 Election Song

What colors are in the US Flag?  It’s red, it’s white, it’s blue!
What do the colors mean in the flag?  Well let me tell you true!
Most of the time they’re symbols of love, connecting me to you,
But when it is a voting year those symbols can fall through!

In voting years the red and blue are different you will see.
The blue is for the Democrats, the red is GOP.
The colors divide us up by state, from sea to shining sea,
An unintended side effect of our democracy.

For reds we have some old white guys, from Huckabee to Mitt,
McCain is back from years ago, all three are full of {Super, Heightened, Interesting Traits}.
As always there are others who don’t seem like much of a hit,
Like Thompson who is always tired and Rudy who’s a {Stupendous, Hunky, Independent Thinker}. 

Now looking at the the blue side, the candidates are swell. 
Hillary, Barack and Johnny boy are fighting it out pell mell.
Of course we’ve got our crazies, Kucinich and Gravel,
And when they win, the red side says, they’ll send us straight to {Highly Electable Legislative Levels}.

So now you see the pieces of the red and of the blue,
It makes choosing a candidate a tricky thing to do.
But if you use your conscience, what we know and what we knew,
The choice you make should always be the one that’s right for you (Best Leaders Understand Everyone)!

Just remember that helpful song, and you’ll be fine! 

Well, Annie and Willy had SOOOOOO much fun with all you boys and girls this weekend.  We’re so glad you came out to see us at The Warehouse Theatre!  In fact, we had so much fun, that we’re not done yet!  That’s right!  Willy and Annie and all of our online Tea-Time pals will still be right here in the interweb to share some Curiosi-Tea, some Hones-Tea… and all the other great kinds of Tea you kids love!  So don’t worry… Annie hasn’t gone far!  Make sure to keep checking in!

It looks like the boys and girls over at The Link decided to highlight Rainbow Annie on part of their 2 Minute Weekend!  So go check that out!  Thanks kids!

And… Willy Nilly invaded the set of Your Carolina again this morning to give Jack and Kimberly one more howdy-do about our shows this weekend.  Thanks Kimberly and Jack!  Be careful, you might have a new recurring co-host!

AND… TONIGHT is your first chance to see Rainbow Annie and Willy Nilly LIVE, right here in Greenville!  So take some time out from watching the coverage of Britney Spears’ Insani-Tea and Election Liber-Tea… and come on over to see us!

Willy and I wanted to say a special thank you to Kimberly and Jack of the Your Carolina show on WSPA - the Greenville CBS affiliate.  They were super nice to me and Willy Nilly when we were on their show this morning - way nicer than I usually am to someone who pops up from behind my couch and interrupts my conversation.  Willy’s lucky that gamble worked out okay for us.  Anyway, when we were on the show, we told them all about Curiosi-Tea, Hones-Tea, Integri-Tea, Infideli-Tea…

There was a lot of tea.

And, you know kids, as I stood there waiting to go on, with Dr. Phil playing on the screens in the background, it made me think about how many influences all you kids out there have, bombarding you all day.  Do you know what bombarding means?  It means that information and opinions and ideas are always surrounding you and flying all around you and landing on your impressionable young brains! Youch!  And you kids have to be careful to make sure to DUCK when bad opinions and mean ideas come your way, right?  Whether it’s glorified namecallers like Dr. Phil or "democracy at work" in the form of Iowa Caucus voters… it’s your Responsibili-Tea to sort out the icky, make-people-feel-bad ideas from the fuzzy, make-really-good-decisions ideas.

Of course, sometimes it’s not so easy to tell the difference.  It’s not so easy to decide what you believe, with all those ideas buzzing around your head.  So take some quiet time, clean up your brain just like you clean up your room… and tell your parents to take this little online quiz.  If you’re confused about their results, just tell Annie… and she’ll help you sort it out!

Happy Iowa Picks the President Day!!

P.S. - Did you know that today is also Alaska’s birthday!  That’s right!  On this day in 1959, Alaska became a state!  Did you know that Annie once did a three day dog sled trip through the Alaskan tundra?  That’s right!  It’s amazing what you’ll do when you’re 17 and full of fresh fish and what I can only assume was some sort of Aleutian version of Peyote!  Memories. 

We have a new online friend who has been asking Annie questions.  Lots of questions.  And my, it makes me so glad that smart little kids like Chelly think to ask Annie when the grown-ups in their life are confusing.

Now, it sounds to me like Chelly is growing up in a very confusing household.  Any household that thinks Fox & Friends or The O’Reilly Factor make for more appropriate children’s viewing than Tea Time with Rainbow Annie makes me very very worried!  They report.  I decide… that they have no Integri-Tea!

Anyway, Chelly, I’m afraid that Willy Nilly and I can’t invite you to come live with us, but we can teach you a little song that will make you feel oh-so-much better:

Your mommy and your daddy and the grown ups that you know
They teach you lots of lessons and their love will help you grow.
They read you stories and they like to tuck you in at night,
But just because they’re older doesn’t mean they’re always right. 

Your mommy and your daddy and the grown ups that you know,
They’re human just like all of us and make mistakes that show.
So when they tell you things that you think might be wrong,
You can make your own decisions and you can sing this special song.

So Chelly… that’s a start for you.  I’ll be sure to answer you some more soon… because it sounds like you’ll need a lot of support from Annie, Willy and the whole Tea-Time gang! 

Happy New Year Chelly… and all you kids out there in Tea Town!