j-e-l-l- no!
I’m not sure what planet my brain was on today when I fed my children Jell-o for the first time. Thanks to its wiggly texture, most of it slipped off their spoons and onto the floor. Before I noticed, my daughter had slipped in it (she’s fine).
I swiffered the floor and it’s still a bit sticky. It’s a wonder we haven’t all been carried away by ants.
Ugh.
I’ve been diagnosed with Shingles. Fun stuff.
For those not in the know, shingles is caused by the same virus that causes chicken pox. For some reason, the virus will “flare up” again later on in life for some who have previously had chicken pox, in a more painful form. Shingles causes raised welts.
This comes after a recent sinus infection (I get them frequently), the latest in a seemingly long list of illnesses/conditions over the last 5 years or so. The list has included melanoma (skin cancer), pneumonia, gallstones, strep, staph infection, and polycystic ovarian syndrome, among other things. Oh, and high blood pressure (gee, I wonder why?).
I was going to insert a joke here about calling me Job, but I have much to be thankful for, so I’m not! My family is healthy and I am pretty healthy otherwise.
I am actually concerned about my apparently weak immune system. It seems like a lot of my frequent symptoms point towards lupus, but I’m not a doctor so I’m not going to diagnose myself. I guess I should go get tested for it.
Well, please say a prayer for me. I guess I could use it.
In lighter news, I saw a large thing on our wall today which turned out to be a LIZARD! Jay chased him around and caught him while I ran away and stood on the couch like a girl. After Jay caught the thing, he acted like he was going to throw it on me. I told him that was grounds for divorce! 
Rules of Austin
Someone had this posted on their Myspace blog and I thought it was cute … and very true.
Rules of Austin
1. First, it’s pronounced AWS-TUN. It doesn’t matter how they say it in other places. 2. Forget the traffic rules you learned elsewhere. Austin has its own set of traffic rules. There’s no book about them. All you can do is get in your car and hope you survive to learn them. (If yer an aggressive driver, you reign. If yer not, just stay calm and try to stay outta the way.)3. All directions start with “Go down Mopac…’cause you don’t want to get on I-35.” No one knows for sure what ‘Mopac’ means.
4. Burnet Road, Braker Lane, and Lamar Blvd. have no beginning and no end.
5. It is impossible to go around a block and wind up on the same street that you started on. The Chamber of Commerce calls this a scenic drive.
6. The 8:00am rush hour is from 6:30am to 9:30am. The 5:00pm rush hour is from 3:30p to 7:15pm. Friday’s rush hour starts on Thursday morning.
7. If you actually stop at a yellow light, then you cannot be from Austin. You may only apply your brakes when the end of a yellow light and the beginning of the red light create a burnt-orange hue. This is Longhorn Country, after all.
8. If you like being an individual, don’t even think of working for Dell. You’ll be branded like cattle and made to walk all over town with your Dell Tag around your neck or clipped on to your belt loop.
Ninety-eight percent of the people within a 200 mile radius work for Dell. When someone says “Michael Dell”, Dell employees are trained to face Round Rock, hit their knees, put their face to the ground, weep, and rock back and forth.
9. Just remember that Mopac = Loop 1; Capital of Texas Hwy = 360; and U.S.183 = Research Blvd., Anderson Lane, Ed Bluestein Blvd. and Old Bastrop Hwy; 2222 = Northland Dr. or Allendale Rd. or Koenig Lane. (Takes twice the brains to live here, see?)
***Also don’t forget Ben White/290/71 which also turns into Capital of Tx Hwy/Loop 360***Don’t try to figure it out. Just accept it. If you question the intelligence behind this naming convention, people will simply tilt their heads to the right and stare at you.
10. If moisture is determined to be rain, and not sweat, all traffic must immediately come to a screeching halt; ditto for daylight savings time, a female UT student applying eye-shadow across the street, or a flat tire three lanes over. (Geez, so true.)
11. DO NOT attempt to access any road after an apocalyptic event like snow or SXSW (South by Southwest Music Convention). Construction on I-35 AND U.S. 183 is a way of life and a permanent form of entertainment. Get used to it!
12. Attn: All telephone solicitors…DO NOT correct my pronunciation when I say I live in Manchaca, TX. It’s pronounced MAN-shack (just like a man living in shack). Also realize that the city of Manchaca (MANshack) is in Hays and Travis Counties, and there is also a very long street in Austin named Manchaca (MANshack)!
The city of Manor and Manor Rd. are pronounced ‘MAY-ner’. We don’t like corrections on that either.
And, for God’s sake, DON’T pronounce the ‘E’ at the end of Guadalupe. It’s Gwada-LOOP and we like it that way!
13. Burnet Road is pronounced BURN-it, not Bur-NET. Koenig Lane is pronounced KAE-nig not KOE-nig. The old airport (Robert Mueller) is pronounced Robert Miller and is on Airport Boulevard. The new airport (Austin-Bergstrom) is no where near Airport Boulevard. It’s in the city of Del Valle pronounced Dell Valley!
14. Keep in mind that the sloppily dressed ‘hippie’ in worn-out sandals and earrings is probably the latest millionaire around here. (Which means: be nice to all people under the sun. Yes, even the homeless guy on the corner.)
15. Stay away from the Congress Ave bridge at sundown if you do not like the thought of being in an Alfred Hitchcock movie. It has the Largest Mexican Free Tail Bat Population in the US. (And its frikkin awesome to see them depart at dusk EVERYDAY to go munch on like 20 tons of insects. So cool. And much fewer mosquito bites for us!)
16. And, yes, we all know that there’s a man in a teddy and a tiara on Congress Ave. It’s Leslie and he probably makes more money than you do. Surely, you have a homeless, celebrity drag queen that likes to run for Mayor where you live, too, right?
Now you’ll never wonder why there are so many bumper stickers that say ‘Keep Austin Weird’
Selfish
*Disclaimer – if you have an overly weak stomach or are embarassed by children’s bodily functions, you might not want to read this. It’s not really that bad, but I just have to warn you.
I had a bad day today. Ever read the children’s book about Alexander’s horrible, terrible, no-good, very bad day? That was pretty much it.
Mikaela had a repugnant-smelling diaper this morning, so I called to set up a doctor’s appointment. Right after that, Gabriel sat on his toilet and over-shot the weewee guard and soaked his pants. After I changed him, we left the house and went to get some lunch at a sit-down place that was similar to an IHOP. Mikaela spilled her drink. Gabriel had a choking episode on a french fry. It sounds and looks alarming, but I’m used to it. He always gets it up. After that, I got strawberries from my not-very-good strawberry crepe on my t-shirt. And my waitress didn’t refill my drink. The whole time we were there, Mikaela tried to Houdini her way out of her highchair.
On to the doctor. In the waiting room, the kids took all the brochures off the bookcase and scattered them about the playhouse while I was getting a form filled out. In the exam room, Gabriel wallowed on the floor and tried to open drawers to see what was in them. When the doctor came in, she took a small sample of pee from Mikaela and said they thought it was a bladder infection. She wanted a better sample, so she told us to go and come back with it. With that, she taped this ingenious thing onto her groin area that was basically a plastic bag to catch pee in. She did not like it.
I took the kids to Target and purchased a large soda. Mikaela proceeded to suck half of it down. After about 30 minutes, I took her to the bathroom and checked the bag. Nothing. Went back out, strolled around for 30 more minutes, went back to the bathroom and found nothing again. Wanting to help the process along, I ran water in the sink and even dipped her toes in it to try to help her out. Nope.
Went out to the car; yay, she finally produced some pee! I detached the bag and stuffed it in the plastic specimen container they’d given me. I drove to the doctor and dropped it off.
Next, on to the grocery store to get some groceries and get Mikaela’s prescription filled. I put the kids in the biiiig cart that has a plastic car with two steering wheels and two seats for the kids attached to the back of it. The cart is heavy to push. Of course, I kept remembering things I needed on opposite ends of the store, so I got a real workout hauling this big cart around. I grumbled while on the soup aisle about this skinny, perfectly-dressed woman who left her cart in my way when she saw I was trying to get around it to get my soup can. I saw her again at the meat counter and she smirked at me. (*#$
By this point, the kids are doing everything they can think of to annoy me … kicking the cart loudly, taking their shoes off, pulling each others’ hair, leaning over to put their mouths on the nasty cart…
Then the guy in front of me didn’t put a divider down (and I couldn’t reach it) between our orders, so I had to stand there and tap my foot for 5 minutes, while he looked around, oblivious.
Tonight, the kids made a huge mess at dinner. The checkbook is off (my fault) and Jay is mad. Gabriel had to be punished for being defiant.
Oh – and I forgot to mention – we’ve been looking at this rent house and the woman was supposed to call this morning to show it to us. She never called. I finally got ahold of her around 4:30 this afternoon, and she’d forgotten about me (after I told her yesterday that we are ready to rent it, with the money in hand) and mentioned something about checking with her office to see if it had been rented out today. WHAT?!?!?!? I told her yesterday that WE wanted it. Argh!!!
Anyway, now that I’m sitting here and reflecting on my day, I realized something. Every time I let myself get on a “nothing’s going right” pity-party, it just spirals down and gets worse – you start LOOKING for perceived slights. (Did I word that right? You know what I mean.)
Ultimately, all I was thinking about today (well, after my kids) was me, me, me. Why me? Why am I stuck in this small apartment? Why this-and-that?
Did I ever stop and pray in any of these situations? No. Would my day have gone much better if I had? Most likely. Now, how hard is that to remember?
And let’s face it; the day I had would be heaven compared to some people’s lives. My family is relatively healthy, we have a house and food on our table, and we have loving friends and family. Not to mention two beautiful children.
Why is it so easy to get caught up in the petty things of life?
House
I am going to look at a rent house today. It’s a good price in a decent neighborhood. I’m so excited. I will keep you updated.
Dear Mr. Clinton …
… Close only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades.
More toilet humor
I’m not sure why, but most of my speech-delayed son’s best sentences have to do with bodily functions. “Mama, I peepee onna toe,” he said today after over-shooting the weewee deflector on his potty chair, holding up his foot for me to see.
And for some reason, this is the only topic he can think of for telephone conversations to his grandparents. “Boppy. Emma-ems,” he will declare (translation: I went to the potty and then mama gave me M&Ms.).
Well, I’m thankful for whatever I can get.
Why I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop
I’m sure there are many people out there who would think that I’m a smidgen (or more) paranoid. It’s in my nature. I like to think of myself as cautious, though.
But seriously, I think we’re headed for something really big really soon. The main reason is the recent video released that showed Adam Gadahan, the 25-year-old American-turned-al Quaeda agent, urging the American people to convert to Islam before it’s too late. It’s a common Muslim religious tenet that ‘infidels’ must be offered the chance of conversion before they are killed. And that’s what the video was – it was an open ‘alter call’ for the Muslim faith addressed specifically to the American people. In the video, Gadahan made references to the fact that our time is “short.”
Another recent video from bin Laden claims that they’re in the final planning stages of another major attack.
Also, Glenn Beck recently had a journalist on his show (sorry, don’t remember his name!) who was reporting the fact that Muslims in this country are being told to get out … especially of New York city and Washington D.C.
There are other things as well, like a congressional report that says a new attack is probably coming soon.
So then why aren’t more people hyped up? You’d think people would be a little more concerned. I’m personally trying to keep my fears at bay, but I DO have extra water and food on hand. Couldn’t hurt.
Of course, I know the only one who is ultimately going to keep us safe is the Lord. But I don’t see anything wrong with being reasonably prepared.
I want to hear from people – what do you think we as Americans can/should do now that we’re faced with this potential situation?
Rant
My nose is trying to swell shut in an effort to kill me. Or it’s allergy season. OR, it’s the new #($*&#$ upstairs neighbors who SMOKE IN THEIR APARTMENT, so my apartment smells like an ashtray as well.
Who smokes inside? That’s nasty. It makes everything you own reek and eventually turn yellow.
Moreover, it annoys me to no end that my kids have to smell the smoke. I’m not exaggerating – it’s really strong.
Time for a new place. Say a prayer we can find one soon.
Scary
I was just out of the apartment for 30 minutes, and when I came back, I found that someone tried to break in. The deadbolt lock had several deep gouges around it, as if someone had tried to crowbar it off.
What’s a little disturbing is that it seems like someone was watching to have done that at the exact time we were gone. I guess that’s a little comforting at the same time, that they didn’t try to break in while we were actually at home.
Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid
The new, 10th-anniversary version of Tickle Me Elmo is here, as reported in CNN’s Top-Secret Elmo Revealed!
Apparently this TME is a more “extreme” version of the original, falling to the ground and slapping the floor in a laughing fit.
I don’t know about you, but that makes me want to turn my TV off forever, so my children will not find out about and/or ask for this already-obnoxious furry red creature. I think I’d rather endure Chinese water torture.
Like shooting fish in a barrel
Apparently Willie Nelson’s tour bus was pulled over and searched by the police recently and they found – you guessed it – pot. And ’shrooms.
I am not exactly a huge fan of drugs, but I think our police manpower and tax dollars can be better spent than booking an old stoner … I say just leave Willie be.
new cute
Mikaela has been walking through the house brushing her hair and saying “bwush, bwush, bwush.”
Also, several times a day, she’ll say “Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” and then give Gabriel a noisy smack. When they’re not fighting, they actually appear to love each other.
Cute
Mikaela has been pronouncing light “yite.” In an effort to help her pronounce it correctly, I’ve been over-emphasizing the L, as in: “lllll-ight,” to which she replies “lllll – yite.”
Bad car day
Today as I was in the minivan on my way to the store, I smelled something burning and saw a wisp of smoke come out from under my hood. I hurried to pull over, afraid that the car was about to catch fire with Mikaela and I both in it. Turns out it’s leaking anti-freeze. We hope it’s just a hose and not a bad radiator.
So, after I’d pulled over and Jay came to look at the car, we switched vehicles and I drove the station wagon back home and he drove the minivan. On our way, I noticed that the air conditioning was blowing hot … then, I noticed that the temperature gauge was all the way on “H.”
I pulled off quickly and Jay came and looked at it – and it was bone dry. Well, at least he already had the anti-freeze handy.
What’s the likelihood of both cars having virtually the same problem just minutes apart?
Well, anyway, we’re taking them both in tomorrow morning. Hope it’s nothing major on either car. :/
Inconceivable!
I finally watched The Princess Bride all the way through tonight. I have seen bits and pieces of it many times, but never the whole thing.
I have this really bad habit of never being able to sit still through anything, especially an entire movie. Now, if I’m in a theater, it’s different… but if I’m at home and there’s other things to do (and there always is), I’ll eventually get up and do something else.
So, there are many, many movies that I haven’t seen at all (ie – Wizard of Oz, Godfather trilogy, Shawshank Redemption, MANY more), and movies I’ve only seen very little of (Star Wars movies, Indiana Jones movies, most musicals and classics).
It’s interesting, though, because I LOVE great film. Here’s my top list (of the ones I’ve actually seen all the way through!) [Disclaimer: I'm not condoning some of these as ones you want to watch with your family ... so be forewarned.]
- Pulp Fiction (1994)
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
- Office Space (1999)
- Amelie (French w/English subtitles) (2001)
- 12 Angry Men (1957)
- To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
- Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
- Fight Club (1999)
- House of Yes (1997)
- Clerks (1994)
- Almost anything directed by Christopher Guest
- Chicago (2002)
- Sling Blade (1996)
- Ocean’s Eleven (2001)
- Monsters, Inc. (2001)
Funny
Our minivan “dings” when the gas tank gets to the quarter-of-a-tank-left mark.
On the way home the other night, Jay exclaimed about how gas prices have plummeted. As if on cue, the car “dinged” as soon as he’d said that (like ‘ahem! speaking of gas!’).
Oh, boy, are we ever in for it
My husband and I are taking a class at church for parents of kids between the ages of 2-12. One of the basic premises of this course is to teach children the moral reasoning behind our parenting. So, instead of just “NO,” it’s “No, I don’t want you to tear pages out of that book because then we’ll have to throw it away and can’t read it anymore.” Or something like that.
Anyway, we were on the way home from our first class Sunday night, and Jay and I were talking. Mikaela (my 18-month-old) tuned up in the back seat and we couldn’t hear each other anymore. I told her “no,” which Jay promptly followed by an explanation about how mommy and papa are talking and can’t hear each other when she yells. To which she promptly ROLLED HER EYES dramatically.
My little 1 1/2-year-old, 20-pound precocious little daughter knows how to roll her eyes in context already. Something tells me her teenage years are going to be interesting.
Searching for something
As I’ve mentioned before, my blog host (WordPress) offers a neat little feature that lets you track your blog stats – visits, referrals, etc. – as well as what search engine terms that people used to get to your page.
A phrase that someone searched for yesterday made me laugh, – “my son eats his diaper.”
What is going on?
OK, so I’ve had 5 interviews and been turned down 5 times, even after the interviews went very well. Two of the managers even told me I was a very strong contender. (Close, but no cigar!)
So, I have backed off on the job search, wondering if God is trying to tell me to just stay at home and be mom right now, something I’d love to do, but it doesn’t seem like we can afford it. But if He’s truly calling us to something, I’m sure He will provide.
So, anyway… as a side project to make some extra money, I thought to myself it would be nice to use my new knitting skills to knit some baby/children’s hats to sell on craigslist. I’m on craigslist all the time, and I’ve never seen anyone else offer knit hats. Guess what? The very day I got that idea, someone starting selling handmade hats on craigslist.
Discouraged, I thought maybe I could win by undercutting them – they were charging $10 per hat; I told Jay a couple of days ago that I would make and sell them for $8 apiece.
Guess what I saw when I got on craigslist today? The woman selling the hats has now dropped her price down to $8.
So, I guess I’m going to just concentrate on being a good mommy and let my husband worry about our finances. It seems like anything else I do right now is the “wrong” thing.
Of course, I am prone to whims and spur-of-the-moment decisions, so this may change tomorrow! Of course, I’d love to never have to work again until my kids are both in school, but it’s so hard when you’re struggling to make ends meet…
Toilet humor
Ten years ago, if you’d have asked me what I’d be doing today, I probably wouldn’t have guessed jumping up and down and clapping for someone’s … uh, waste products.
But I am. My son, who will be three next month, is now using the toilet more often than his diaper. He doesn’t have it down pat yet, but he’s actually taking the initiative to go by himself, which is huge.
So, after he goes, he grins from ear to ear, saying “I pee pee inna boppy! Yay!” (pee pee in the potty).
While we’re on the subject, I have to laugh at my 18-month-old, who still looks around every time she passes gas, like “what was that?”
Remembering 9/11
I was home from work, in bed sick with a high fever while the whole thing happened. Jay and I were living in a small apartment in Franklin, TN. Jay was sleeping in with me, too – he’d just graduated from college not a month earlier and hadn’t found a full-time job yet.
Around 10:30 am I woke up and called in sick, apologizing for not calling in sooner. My co-worker, Jill C. answered the phone. After I moaned out an excuse for not being there, Jill said, “Melanie, turn your TV on. We’re under a major terrorist attack.”
I had no idea what she meant. Terrorism? Attacked? The U.S.? Surely not.
I flipped on the TV and watched the news reports, hoping that I was having a bad dream that I’d soon wake from. I felt like that for weeks afterward.
After watching the news, I remember crying and calling my dad and asking if this was the end of the world, or the start of the end of the world. It certainly felt like it was. He said he didn’t know.
That night, I went to my sister-in-law’s apartment while Jay went to work. We both sat watching the montage of pictures flip by, with Enya’s “Only Time” serving as a haunting musical backdrop. It was just all a blur.
I went back to work a couple of days later. We were told not to call any clients that week. I don’t think we actually got much work done that week at all… we spent most of the time huddled around a TV, watching the endless news coverage.
Today, five years later, I’m a little older, a little wiser (at least I hope), and certainly more jaded. I expect that we’ll be attacked again, and I try to stay at least semi-prepared for what could be thrown at us – I like to keep a pantry stocked with non-perishables and bottled water.
I try not to dwell on the threats that face us. My imagination has a tendency to run to the most morbid possibilities in every situation, so I could let myself be paralyzed by fear really easily. It’s actually something I have to pray for (peace of mind), and praying DOES help me cope. I think the main fear that I have is bio-terrorism. It’s the whole fear of the unseen and unknown.
My prayers go out to all affected by 9/11 … may God give you peace and safety.
I didn’t get the job
I have nothing funny or profound to say about this. I am just weary and discouraged.
milestones I’m looking forward to
- The day my daughter gets more yogurt IN her than ON her
- Successful completion of potty training
- The day when my kids are old enough to wake up and fix themselves breakfast on a Saturday morning so Jay and I can sleep in.
… I’ll add more as they come to me!
Confessions of a lazy housekeeper Part II
I currently have 10 boxes of cereal in my house in various states of, uh – eaten-ness?
What’s sad is the fact that this is how much cereal we have AFTER we just cleaned our pantry out.
My little girl the football nut
My husband has brainwashed BOTH of our children now. When Mikaela watches games with him, she’ll say “Tek-shush, yay!” when prompted.
And today, when I walked into the kids’ room (they were supposed to be napping), I found her standing in her crib with Gabriel’s football in her hand. She looked at me and said, “Catch!”
The bargain queen strikes again
I don’t know why, but every fall, I wait until the first day I step outside and feel a cool breeze – like today – to think about purchasing fall/winter clothes. So, this morning I realized I had nary a stitch for my daughter to wear this fall … everything she has now is spring/summer (save a couple of hand-me-downs).
A woman on a mission, I left the house this morning determined to find the child a cute fall wardrobe on a shoestring budget. I scoured five stores – one consignment shop, two Goodwills, one Salvation Army, one thrift store (And a Partridge in a Pear Tree.) I returned home, having spent a grand total of $47.47 on the following:
- One pair of khakis and two pairs of jeans
- Two long sleep shirts – one is Pooh and pals, the other is a retro “Cabbage Patch Kids” t-shirt dated 1983 on the tag. It features a girl on a swing with 3D (yarn) braided pigtails coming off of the shirt.
- Outerwear: one beautiful Gap lambswool sweater/’coat’ lined with 100% cotton, and one fleece pullover from Old Navy
- 12 long-sleeved shirts … some striped, some with flowers, several are embellished
- 3 dresses
- 3 Sandra Boynton books, an Anne Geddes baby counting book, and a kids’ science book
All the clothing was in perfect or near-perfect condition – no stains, holes, or major wear. Oh – and the best thing? I found great name-brands at a fraction of the price. Brands in this bunch of clothing included The Children’s Place, Baby Gap, Old Navy, Sprockets, OshKosh, Specialty Kids and Cherokee Kids. They’re currently getting a good wash and they’re about to be as good as new.
I do still need to find some more pants for her, but I think that’s a pretty good start for the money, eh?
Home Depot lost my business today
It’s funny how a lot of retail establishments don’t seem to “get” that customer service is the single most important factor in getting your customers to come back again. I’ve heard the research stats before, and in a poll, it was true – customer service ranked #1, even above low prices, in a customer’s decision to return to a given place of business.
So, anyway, I went in Home Depot today to look at lumber for a small project. I wandered around the lumber department for several minutes and found no one to help me. I went up to the front and asked an associate who was not behind a register – in other words, he could have helped me – for help. He said, “oh, so-and-so is the guy that works back there. I’ll page him.”
Two minutes go by before the guy was paged.
Five minutes go by and the guy is paged again … still no show.
Then, I decide to walk the length of the store to find help myself. I came upon an associate working back by the window coverings (blinds and such). I asked her if she could answer a really simple question for me about their lumber. She said, “no, I don’t know anything about that,” and went back to typing at her computer.
The correct answer should have been, “I don’t know right off, but let me find out for you!” (or, “let me find someone who can help you with that!”)
So, needless to say … next time I have a project, I’m going to Lowe’s.
New routine
Well, we started on a new, scheduled bedtime routine with the kids tonight. I think it might be easier to ease them into their bedtime, so instead of doing things in a haphazard way, I decided to take an hour to accomplish everything we need to get done before they go to bed. First they have snack, brush their teeth, take a bath, put pj’s on, read stories, have prayer time, and go to bed. It went pretty well tonight … hopefully we can actually stick with this set routine
Silly monkeys
Mikaela is now 18 months and Gabriel is 2 3/4.
Baby news: Mikaela is doing a lot more talking and Gabriel is going “pee pee in the boppy.”
Some of Mikaela’s recent phrases have been “mama juice” “wa juice” (want juice), “Tekshush, yay!” (rooting for the Texas Longhorns with her father), “dan shoo” (thank you). She loves bebes (babies), her stuffed cow (she says that correctly), and cats (which whe can also say correctly.) She points to pictures of the moo (moon) and shaaa (stars). She will also say “up” and “down.” Her favorite songs to sing are “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” and the alphabet song, which she sings pretty darn well. I have to laugh every time she prounounces “w” – which comes out like “dubba-jew.”
We’re still having a time with Gabriel’s speech. Unfortunately, we almost seem to be going backwards, since he’s started to mumble a lot lately, making his already-hard-to-understand jabber even harder. I’m going to ask his speech therapist about it next time I see her. He is so funny, though …he is such a mother hen with Mikaela. When I hear him say “no, a-ga!” (that’s what he calls her), I generally know to come running because she’s gotten into something. Gabriel plays very well by himself for a lot of the day, mostly with his toy cars. He does let me read to him sometimes, although little sister usually gets jealous and tries to get him off my lap.
Raising brats
Every time I watch the A&E documentary series Intervention - which follows families who are holding ‘interventions’ to convince their drug and/or alcohol-addicted loved ones to enter rehab – I’m dumbfounded by the common thread that seems to run through almost every addict: the two-year-old syndrome.
These people, confronted with their misdeeds, almost invariably have a tantrum-like meltdown, blaming mom and dad for their problems, and proclaiming that THEY want to live THEIR lives the way they want, so nyah.
Now, I know there’s probably addicts out there who had superb parents. But I’m betting a majority of them have parents who meant well, but never taught them to respect authority. This is all rooted in that touchy-feely mode of parenting that talks about giving kids “a lot of space” to develop on their own, and “being there for them if they have any questions.” This crowd decries any form of punishment, since it might bruise a child’s fragile self-esteem. These folks are fixated on being more of a friend/mentor than a parent. Guess what? You ain’t doin’ your kid any favors. Sooner or later, Johnny will have to learn that in the real world, there are rules which must be followed, or you will be in trouble with the law.
I for one have enough friends. My kids aren’t perfect and neither am I – but they know that my husband and I are in charge, and what we say goes. Don’t get me wrong … I DO give them choices when appropriate, but I, being the parent, know what’s best, and when I need to exercise my veto, I’m not afraid to do it.
Right now, my kids need me to be an authority figure and steer their lives toward being productive, moral citizens. They don’t learn that on their own, I don’t care how much “space” you give them.
A proposal
More than any other issue that our nation faces, none is as polarizing as abortion. There are the kind of people who are for it, and the kind of people who are against it – and I think I can safely argue that the vast majority of people feel very strongly about whichever of these views that they hold.
So, I have a proposal: let’s divide the nation in half – east to west. The east and west will be separate countries totally independent of each other. We can call the two countries and the states therein ”The Divided States of America.”
So, let’s say Eastern DSA can have the “pro-choice” people, and Western DSA can have the “pro-life” people. Each country can have it’s own government – comprised of executive, legislative and judicial branches – and draft it’s own extensive constitution that won’t leave as much room for interpretation.
And we’ll all live happily ever after.
The death of decorum
Let me start out by saying that I’m not a republican (actually, I’m not quite a democrat either, but that’s a story for another day). And I am a staunch believer protecting our First Amendment rights (free speech).
But, there are just some things that shouldn’t be said or done in a civilized society. Like making a fictional “docu-drama” about the assassination of a sitting president. And that’s just what’s been done in Death of a President, a new British TV program that the director says is meant to spark dialogue about U.S. foreign policy.
What is shocking is that they don’t even have an Bush-lookalike playing the role; they are actually using digital technology to put the president’s face on another actor.
I for one think this is stepping over the line. Not just the digital-face-jacking … the whole thing.
TXU is driving me to the poorhouse
We live in a not-quite-1000-square-foot apartment. Our electric bills the last two months have been just under $300. This month, it was $301. No, we aren’t penguins. I use the same amount of power I always have… I don’t know what’s going on. We have friends with large homes whose bills aren’t nearly that big.
I actually called the power company about it today and they acted like nothing was wrong (of course!). My apartment complex apparently doesn’t care either … I’ve heard from neighbors with similar problems and they said the apartments didn’t do anything about it.
What’s a girl to do?
Trading Spaces
I was bored today and decided I just needed a change. Not really having any money to spend, I got my mind set on moving the kids into the master bedroom and taking their room ourselves. Jay, knowing he would do most of the work himself, grudgingly decided to appease me.
Well, the end result is just great! The kids have twice the playspace and our bedroom stuff fits in their room snugly but perfectly. I wish we’d have thought to do this a year ago.
