Sooo, the Tikis decided that it would constitute a fitting end of the era to spend the evening first with a pitcher of margaritas and thence a viewing of Oliver Stone's latest biopic, W.

There being a global economic crisis and suchlike, the restaurant was not crowded, so service was swift. And so, as we had a few minutes to spare between the end of polishing off tiki's Cuban sandwich and the start time of the commercials before the previews before the film, we suggested nipping over to Gameworks for a quick scan of their SEGA claw machines. There's never any Stitchies over there, but what the hey?

And, of course, there weren't any Stitchies. But then myopic-but-nevertheless-sharp-eyed Mr. Tikistitch spotted something underneath the foam footballs.



"Hey, isn't that a Lilo?"

ZOMFG, it was!

We charged up the ol' Gameworks card and Mr. Tiki started in with his magic. But, our spouse was thwarted by the unlucky preponderance of those $#%@#$ foam footballs. Thinking like a person who's just returned from Japan, we inquired of an attendant.

He unlocked the case and grabbed Lilo. "This one?" He then unceremoniously handed her to us. "That easy enough?"

We looked at Mr. Tiki. "OMG, the Welfare State is back!!!!"



As for W., well, we liked it. Appropriately, we thought, the theater was almost completely deserted. It is perhaps too sympathetic to the title character, but as we decided afterwards, it wouldn't have made a good movie to portray George W. as the peevish bully he appears to be in real life. Richard Dreyfuss's Dick Cheney is a creepy delight. But we were most struck by the Colin Powell character: what must it have been like for him to sit suffering in the room amidst so many dolts? Perhaps a bit like the last eight years have been for the rest of us?

To steer clear of the Dizzney store.

But, we went anyways....



Boneboy ended up with a kewl Jack Skellington statue. (It lights up - how could anyone resist????) And, we gots beanies. And, a pin. Even though we stay away from pins. Because, when's the last time they had a pin in the Dizzney store?

( Beans )

What's in the big, big box.

( Special delivery )

A UFO catcher Stitchie!



Mr. Tiki found this Stitch, oddly enough, in a store downtown that sells Japanese goods.



It's odd 'cause it's a claw machine toy from the USA.

Mr. Tiki says he'll now find us a Stitch every day! Isn't that what you said, sweetie? ^_^

This has been a Good Stitch Week: two different Stich plushies available in the USA and not from the Dizzney store.

Although, are there any Dizzney stores left? We've been too afraid to check ours!!

So, running on a hot tip from our spies in SoCal, we whizzed off to WalMart up at Lynwood in search of the legendary Splash Mates Stitch. Where, we didn't find it. Really, they didn't even have any toy in the "Splash Mates" line. Miffed, we next checked the nearby Toys R Us, where they had at least had Splash Mates, but only in Winnie the Pooh characters. D--n you, Pooh Bear!

At which point, kind of gave up for a couple weeks.

THEN! We entreated Mr. Tiki to ferry us to the BIG 24 hour super-duper WalMart, up in Marysville. We wrapped our head into our squid hoodie (as we drive with the top down 'cause that's how we roll and set forth.

And found, nothing. No Splash Mates. They didn't even have a little shelf tag for it in the Toy Section. Just a bunch of Sesame Street-influenced nonsense. D--n you, Elmo!

Mr. Tiki, never one to be discouraged by simple reality, suggested on our way home re-checking the first Walmart, in Lynwood, on the way home. "I have a feeling," our toy-force-sensitive husband declared. We Pooh-Poohed this line of investigation (d--n you, Pooh Pooh!), but, since our spouse can be persuasive on matters of toy location, we agreed on the condition that Mr. Tiki would have this way additional opportunities to shop for obscure flavors of Indy Jones Eggos.

So, we returned to WalMart Number One, once again, walked the entire store, past Olson twins fashions and 120 packs of fun-sized Three Musketeers bars and back to the toy section where we once again located the Preschool aisle. And came upon this...



( OOPS! )

No, not "huggles" Senator McCain, snuggles!



Anyways, this is from a series of claw machine prizes called "Snuggler Plush." From Sega. For, yes, the US of A.

From Boneboy.



Who found him at Tar-jay.

...and up I5 to Alderwood we go, to visit the Dizzney store.

Slim pickings this year. Looks like Stitch will not be included in the Xmas assortment.



We got this cute mini beanie, imaginatively dubbed "Blue White Stitch." *yawn*



And that was it. Except for this sippy cup. We may have already bought something like this, but we're suckers for naughty Stitch.

Japan seems to think Stitch should be flying around on a broomstick this Halloween. This plushie was available through the online Dizzney mall. It's very fuzzy and soft.

( I'm meeeeelllllttttting! )

Here's how we feel after our morning coffee.

This Stitch reminds us a lot of one of the wedding guests we met last week.

( Hawk )

Morning coffee Stitch.

Oh, the indignity.

Mr. Tikistitch has returned from his Sooper Sekrit mission, Stitch-seeking in Great Britain!!

He found no Stitches at the Stitch store, which is kinda dumb, dude. So he had them check in the back...



( beanies )

He got the last one! Yays!!

Forgot if we ever showed piccies of all the stuff we acquired in Shanghai. (We just finally put it away yesterday, and it 'minded us.)

( Stuffs )

This was spotted by unlikely Stitch-spotter fushigikb. These are claw machine prizes, made by Sega. What's so special about these guys, you might ask?

( UFO )

And he brought potbellies....



...and a "scream" beach towel!

(Seriously, why is Stitch screaming AAAH? Or is somebody who sees Stitch supposed to be screaming AAAH? Or maybe Stitch has just discovered the volume of an irregular object may be determined by the volume of water displaced?)

So, y'all remember this post, wherein we detailed some suspiciously Nintento-ish Stitch keychains.

Well, guess what....



Super Stitchio, and Angel as Princess Peach Toadstool!

( Le rip off? )

This was one of our favorite items from the J Disney store. Stitch's little footies are actually speakers. Hook 'em up to your 'pooter or iPod or whatever, and they actually work. (Feel free to chime in, but we believe the writing on the box IDs this as "Chara Supi," which we suspect is cutie Engrish for "character speaker.")