Can You Spot The Killer?

Another one of those crazy quizzes.

I got a 7/10. "Pretty good; it seems you know your JavaBeans from your fava beans, your slashers from your slashdotters."

What did you get?

E

Children. Wild. Help. Me.

OMG! The my school kids were bonkers today! They wouldn't listen, they were ornery to one another. A few even - gasp! - talked back to me. We all remained calm and collected (but did do petty things out of their view) and knew this too would pass.

It better pass.

I know it's hard to get readjusted after being off a week and then whole time change, but get over it, kid. We all have issues.

Am I not the embodiment of maturity? Is it any wonder I teach 3-years-olds? I seem to have not progressed mentally past that state.

E

Dr. Who?

I'm constantly amazed how Papa can manage a staff of many, the business and administration of a medical office and the politics of government yet be so forgetful at home. It cracks me up the things he forgets. For example, the other day he was making a doctor appointment for himself. I hear him talking on phone and then I hear the shuffle of feet coming into the dining room where I'm reading the paper.

He frantically asks me, "who's my primary care physician?"

I reply, "you don't know?"

"I can see his face in my mind, but I don't remember his name" Papa answered.

Mmkay.

I tell him and he walks happily away to complete his appointment.

-E

Stupid.

From today's local paper:

10 EMS employees disciplined for viewing porn while on duty

By Tony Plohetski Thursday, March 15, 2007, 11:15 AM

Ten Austin-Travis County EMS employees have been disciplined for viewing Internet pornography on city computers while on duty, officials said today.

Officials said three paramedics resigned instead of being fired.

Two district commanders were demoted and suspended for two weeks; two other paramedics were suspended for 96 hours - tantamount to two weeks - and three were suspended for 48 hours, which equals a week.

---

Gawd! How STUPID can people behave?! I know these are not stupid people, but their actions sure do give me pause for thought. No doubt their good judgement comes into question, but now our city is three paramedics fewer when there is already a shortage.

What kind of tits and ass could possibly be worth this outcome?

I’m sorry, but what defect in these people’s personality leaves them to believe that viewing, porn PARTICULARLY in the workplace, is acceptable? Has the office setting changed that much since I’ve been at home?

E

Taking A Step Down on The Coolness Ladder

We did it.

We joined the minivan nation. (Is minivan one word or two, see I don't even know this which further proves maybe I'm not the minivan type).

I'm learning to love it, but I'm so panicked about having a new-to-me vehicle. We traded in the Suburban which was dangerously close to expiring on us. The Sienna isn't new, but it's got really low miles and, hell anything would have felt new to us. The payments are manageable and now we have a good, reliable vehicle. Safety first, you know.

I'm sorry, when did we take this detour into suburban hell?

I love my life, but every once in awhile I look around and go whoa! As a child of the 80's I thought I was going to be a corporate woman having power lunches, not play dates. I had visions of Madison Avenue, not Sesame Street.

The boys run to tell anyone who will listen "we got a new minivan!" I don't have the heart to tell them it's not what the cool kids are driving. At the dealership they told Papa they could see about adding some sort of sports upgrade. Yeah, right, he says. It's a minivan.

Still it was really nice to spend a little less than $40 on a fill up as opposed to nearly $100. I'm actually thinking that with gas prices we might be less in the hole than we thought given we now have a car payment. The thought gets me through the night anyway.

E

Daylight Savings, Smalight Savings

I get so frustrated with Daylight Savings time. I'm so glad it's happening during our spring break. My kids (both MY kids and the kids I teach) are absolute monsters when the time changes. I'm hoping my kids at school will get their internal clock reset before we get back to class.

I'm sure moving daylight savings ahead 3 weeks makes sense for other parts of the country, but it's a total PITA.

E

Decaf, Please

When am I going to learn to order decaf? I'm usually pretty good, but lately I've been slipping. So here I am at what seems like the middle of the night trying to type off the caffeine.

Damn!

Still the Cinnamon Dolce latte was SO worth it!

E

Tastes for Two

Why can my boys like the same thing?

It seems I'm usually making two different "somethings". One will want a burger and the other chicken nuggets. One will want fresh fruit and one will only drink smoothies. I know I should put stuff out and too bad, so sad if you don't like it. Still I'm a mommy and seeing my kids NOT eat goes against every fiber in my body.

I'm trying a different approach. I'm sending the boys to cooking camp over spring break and maybe they can learn to cook for themselves since they seem to have such different tastes. At the very least I hope to get some help in the kitchen.

E

My Sentiments Exactly!

A few months ago there was a woman on The Ellen show who cracked me up. Supposedly this 80 year old woman called in and had some advice for Ellen on her set. What made me laugh the most was Ellen! She nearly came unglued! Whether or not this whole thing was real or made up is a source of some debate, but no matter, it's funny!

I think there is a Gladys trapped inside of me.

E, who also loves Jesus, but does drink a little

Family Pride

My cousin was just deployed to Iraq. He arrived safely and so far is just fine. J is the one in the first row, third from the right.

Y'all keep him in your prayers and I'll keep you up to date on his progress.

E

Gets My Toes Tapping

I love the GMC commercial that is out right out. The techno version of "Hail to the Chief" makes me want to put on my dancing shoes.

E

Missing The Clothes Boat

I hate it when I miss the season on my boy's clothing. I put away The Negotiator's spring clothes last year for The Critter this year. When I pulled them out The Critter had already outgrown them. How could he?? Moving on.

So I purged The Critter's closet of no-longer-fits clothing and got a bag ready for the clothing pantry at Papa's work. I know all the clothes there go to great new homes and I'm glad. It gives me incentive to keep purging, and believe me I need it since it feels like we are drowning in stuff.

E

Teacher Talks

We had our conference with The Critter's teacher today. She says he's doing great. From what I can tell at the student-led conference, the teacher is correct. He can maneuver the computers like nobody's business. He's whipping through those math manipulatives. He seems to be inclined towards reading and is already at the 1st grade level.

It's all good with The Critter.

The Negotiator has made great strides. His reading has shown remarkable improvement and he's reading slightly above grade level. Whew! As much as we valued the teacher's input we decided to take our own way of helping The Negotiator along with his reading. We started out with us reading to him from chapter books. He had to understand that all those random letters pulled together to make a word and those words in the correct sequence made a story. Once he made that connection he started challenging himself to read more.

This time we didn't meet formally with The Negotiator's teacher, but she sent home a progress form. He kicking mathematics booty. As I said, reading is rocking (a very special thanks to the Harry Potter books). We are told there still a bit of a disconnect with writing, which isn't about handwriting at all, but rather showing your reading comprehension through writing.

I don't think I'm gonna worry about that one. First he's a boy and the physical part of writing is just too hard for them at this age. Moving the brain, the language arts muscle, the hand for actually writing and bringing them all together in concert is a lot to ask. He'll get there eventually. I know he's comprehending the material because he can answer the questions verbally even if he can't write them down in his allotted time. Writing, in the case of this evaluation is, in my opinion, just another bullshit bench mark that only serves to make parents panic about their kid's progress. Which is exactly what I did, panic that is, when I got the little note. Then after further reflection it occurred to me that he's just like me. My mom was told I should repeat Kindergarten and that I was possibly dyslexic because I kept flipping my letters or some such nonsense. So at The Negotiator's age I couldn't show my comprehension through writing either. Today I can say that I've written for the news media (radio, television and print) for a mid-sized market in addition to the many other written documents I've produced over the years.

He'll be just fine. Trust me, teacher, I didn't turn out half bad.

E

From The Spin Cycle

When will I learn that little boys with pockets and laundry do NOT mix?

I got out to move the laundry from the washer to the dryer and what to my eyes appear? Why little tubes of balloon goop. You know the kind that comes with straws and you blow up big plastic-like bubbles? I found yellow, blue, green and red at the bottom of the washer, thank God, still in tact.

Can you imagine what all of clothes would have looked like with the psychedelic goop on them? It's bad enough that I've already had to have the washer serviced because of those damned little playground rocks. Yeah, I know they're safer for kids, but they play hell on my floors and appliances.

E

Hang Up and Bond

I was so frustrated today at lunch. We were at a fast food joint and there was only one other family there in the dining room. A mom and 3 kids were eating quietly while dad was on the phone talking business.

First of all, c'mon dude, you can't put away the phone for one FAST food meal? Your family is sitting there not interacting so that you can take your call. That's just wrong. So okay, maybe it is a matter of life and death that you take talk to this person. I'll give you that, but you can't take it outside so that at least the remaining family members can have a conversation?

Ugh.

Double ugh.

E

Bah Lovebug!

I finally finished knitting Papa that scraf he asked for in the fall. Ooops. Well, mas tarde que nunca. I got it to him just in time for Spring.

Since I think Valentine's day is a crock of you-know-what I gave it to him the day after. I refuse to give in to the whole commercialization of the day. I get cards for my boys and try to do something a little extra to show them I love them, but I ain't buying JACK.

I'll celebrate that the day is about love and not just about the romantic kind of love. I love all my boys, I love my family, I love my friends and I love the Lord. So here I am basking in the glow of all kinds of love.

I hope the same for you!

-E

Is It Bad?

I made all of these chocolate covered stawberries for Papa to take to his office. I became very particular as to the quality of my work on this project. Any strawberry that did not meet strict standards was booted to the reject pile.

Of course all those yummy chocolate covered strawberries couldn't go to waste just because they weren't visually pleasing so I had to eat them. I think I made myself sick on "rejects".

E

What's In A Word?

Have you ever looked at a word and just made yourself all confused?

I was reading the word "flower" and for some reason my mind just couldn't process it. I thought FLOW-er? FLO-er? Of course if I had read the word even a little bit in context it would have made total sense without me resorting to moving my lips while I read.

And yes, the irony that my most recent post was in fact about a flower was not lost on me.

E

A Flower When I Grow Up

When I was kid someone once asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I said either a lawyer or flower. I never became the lawyer, but I think I still have a good shot at the flower position.

Both my kids have been in school since fall. During this time I have spent an inordinate amount of time trying to decide what I will do next. It doesn't help that some people keep asking when I'll go back to work. I know it's expected, but if I'm honest I'm not ready to do it yet. I sort of feel like I deserve a little "rest" time.

Then I wonder what I could do to put my education and experience to work and I feel guilty that I'm not doing whatever that is. The thing is I don't know that I want to do that anymore. I'm slowly coming to the realization that I may have a different calling. One that I would have never predicted so I'm having a hard time accepting it. I actually like working with kids. I feel that I'm doing something worthwhile even in the few hours a week I spend with them. I just never saw myself in that capacity, especially after my own kids were no longer able to benefit from my program. Still I'm here and I'm happy to be here.

Once again, God doesn't call the equipped. He equips the called.

E

March To State

This year's March To State Parade was even colder than last year. Still the boys had a great time and one of the benefits of being a Cub Scout is that you get to experience a real live parade from the inside out.



Our Pack gets to use Army vehicles to ride in the parade. The trucks are bumpy ride, but the ride is much better than the poor fellas who have to walk the whole time! At least the truck provided a little protection from the wind.




Here are the boys inside the vehicle. The parade watchers watching the boys watch them. Too funny!

E