Planes, Trains, and Automobiles*

*okay, maybe just automobiles

So, I'm driving around the city on Friday, and I see something I don't think I've ever seen before: a guy in a car smoking a pipe. I've seen people driving while smoking cigars, cigarettes, even "funny cigarettes", but never a pipe. I wonder if his seats are leather and he thought he was in his study?

Pet peeve - this one drives (haha - "drives") me nuts: when you're at the grocery store, and you finish shopping and push your cart out to your car. After you unload your cart, you either walk it back to the store, or over to the "cart corral", or even into the + between the spaces (near the fronts of the cars...BUT DON'T JUST PUSH IT BEHIND THE CAR PARKED NEXT TO YOU!!!!! To me, that shows a complete lack of respect for the person parked next to you. You are so important that other people must move your cart for you? I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say it's little things like that that fortell the eventual breakdown of our society. I'm not kidding. It's true. Seriously.

We went to "Trunk or Treat" on Saturday night for BB. Basically, the parking lot at the school (in our case it's an arch-shaped driveway) we pulled up our cars, decorated for halloween, opened the trunk (or hatch) and passed out candy. I didn't want to go but it turned out to be a lot of fun!

And, it's finally happened: Ian is asking about learning to drive. He'll be 15 in 9 months and wants to learn to drive a stick and an automatic. He's hoping I'll take him out to learn how to drive a stick in my car (K-leen, I'll call you with the dates if you still want to learn, maybe I'll give a class- haha) and has hinted that maybe Chiapop will teach him to drive on the grandmarquis. I'm pretty sure I'm not ready for this.

Happy Birthday Jerrod!!!

Happy Birthday to a wonderful husband and father! Thanks for catching up to me (at least until May hahaha)!

*sorry, the girl in the cake is not your gift!!!

(Big Gay Al)bus Dumbledore*

Well, by now you have heard that JK Rowling revealed that Dumbledore is gay. I read a great opinion piece by Leonard Pitts of the Miami Herald yesterday that pretty much summed it up for me. One of the girls he spoke with said “it’s an extra detail about him that I would like to know”. I don’t think people are going to start referring to him as “the headmaster, you know, the gay guy”. No, he’s still Dumbledore, loved and respected by millions.

That’s basically how I feel about it too. It doesn’t change how I feel about the character. I still like him – you don’t define people by their race, religion, sex, or culture, why would you define someone by their sexual preference? For some reason in this “enlightened” day and age that is exactly what people do. I never understood why so many people changed their views of someone because they found out that person was gay - if that person didn’t have sex in public as a “straight” person, why do you think they’d suddenly be having sex in public now that you know they’re gay? The person is not different, just your view of them. Maybe “outing” Dumbledore will turn out to be a tool to teach tolerance and respect of individual differences. We don’t all love to watch football, knit, play bingo, whatever. Each one of us is different. We’re not defined by those differences, but we should respect and embrace them because they are part of who we are.

*Hey, I got to reference South Park and Harry Potter in the same phrase!

That's my Girl!!!

Wow, I gave birth to a couple of genuises!!! BB made the Alpha Honor Roll!!! Way to go BB!!!

(Maybe I should call Ms. D and see if I can say Molly made the babysistter honor roll! hahaha)

To Mom and Dad:

Just wanted to give a quick shout out to Mom and Dad. I really appreciate your presence in my life and love you both very much. I hope you know how thankful I am to have you both; I know I don't show it as often as I should.

wah, wah, wah...

Aaaarrruuuggghhh!!! My computer at home is driving me nuts - it took over 30 minutes to send mom an e-mail with an attachment last night. It's making me crazy. Poor J came in and asked what was wrong and I let him have it (sorry honey). I told him I wanted to trash all the computer hardware and start over fresh. I know that's not a reasonable option, but damn it, I don't know what else to do.

So what happens when I get into work this morning? The servers are down!!! Hahaha God, very funny.

Body Issues

Okay, here's another post you'll probably skip but shouldn't. BB is a perfect example of how true this is...

Here's a great blog (from a dad, no less) about kids (yes, I said kids, not adults) trampy halloween costumes. The teen costumes are even worse. Here's a great ad from Dove about what girls (like my BB and soon Molly) see every day. It really does affect their self-esteem and where they fit in.

Take a moment to click the links, trust me. I guess I should be proud of her Quote of the Day!

BB's Quote of the Day, in a round-about way...

I mentioned in a previous post that BB and I went to a birthday party last weekend. This was a 7-year-old’s birthday. It was supposed to be from 4-7 pm. When we got there at 4:00 there were only two other kids there in addition to the birthday girl. I felt kind of bad b/c the house was totally decorated for Halloween (it was a costume party) and they were putting out tons of food. The food table ended up being two tables for food and one large table for desserts (all kinds of desserts!!!). Anyway, they had the biggest “jump tent” that I have ever seen and the kids were playing there, swinging on the swingset, and generally running around. Then we started arts and crafts: they made a picture frame and painted it, then had their picture taken to put in the frame. A few more kids started showing up, and by 5:00 it was very crowded. By this time, the face painter had arrived. The kids were bobbing for apples, there was a “balloon guy” to make balloon animals, and a piñata. Then, as they were getting ready to do cake, all the children suddenly ran out the door. Literally, they were all crowded around the table with the cake on it, and they suddenly ran out the front door and down the block. WTF??? So the adults went outside to corral them back, and that’s when I realized they also had a train for the kids, which had just arrived! I’m telling you, the only thing missing from this party was fireworks. It was absolutely crazy.

But here’s where BB’s Quote of the Day comes in…One of the kids in costume is a classmate. She’s shorter than BB, but sort of built the same. Let’s just say I’m sure her mom has the same troubles I have when trying to buy clothes for her. So, she’s wearing this cute costume that has an asymmetrical top that only halfway hangs over her stomach, so that half is showing. As we’re leaving the party, BB looks at me and says, “Mary Jane had on a costume that showed her stomach. That’s not appropriate.” Hmmm. Wow. This coming from a kid who eats "runny nose" candy. Seriously, It's a big plastic nose with a spout at the bottom - you hook it over your ears and let the candy run out of the "nose" into your mouth. I have photographic evidence!!!

That's my Boy!!!

Guess who made alpha honor roll? You guessed it...Jim Smith!!! haha, just kidding...Ian did!!!

testing, one, two...

There are certain people (who shall remain nameless) who might be interested in this. Wow, there really is a website for everything.

random stuff

What a weird weekend. I'll tell you later about the birthday party BB went to. There was a book I had as a child called "Hooper Humperdink, Not Him!" and this party totally reminded me of that crazy book.

Had a nice evening yesterday, J grilled and the kids played in the backyard. I got several good pics of the three of them playing on the barrels in the yard.

You guys should think about these this Christmas...neat product - found a few more sites w/similar products.

BB's Quote of the Day: We're driving in the car and she has a stuffed animal wearing a skirt and a belly shirt. She says, "If I was skinny, I'd wear a belly shirt," to which I reply "If I was skinny I'd wear a belly shirt,too."
She looks at me incredulously and says, "No you wouldn't, you're too old!!"

This one's for H1:

Every Star Wars fan should have one of these:

Here I go again...

So. It’s a family joke that I’m a feminist. I don’t consider myself a feminist, but I do think in general women are not viewed with as much respect as men are. Popular culture doesn’t help – songs, movies, TV shows, and video games depicting violence against women by men perpetuate the cycle. Even though it’s supposed to be “just a song/show/game and not real” we, as a society, do eventually become indifferent to it. How often do we see a strong, self assured woman who knows what she wants and is not afraid to stand up for herself being called a bitch (or worse) - for "acting like a man".

Wait!!! Don't click away yet. That’s not where I was intending to go with this post. I started out with the intent of bringing this to your attention. The only thing she did was stand up for women’s rights – the right not to be beaten by your husband, the right not to be genitally mutilated, the right to be a person and not property. While the whole issue is political in nature, a free speech issue really - she spoke out openly against the Muslim religion - the underlying issuse is that she was speaking out against the oppressive treatment of women. She now has no chance of staying alive without protection - because she spoke out against the mistreatment of women.


As angry as it makes me, I do not know if I would have the courage to do what she did. Her life has been turned upside down and a very violent death is a daily concern/probability for her. What if this was your sister? or daughter?


I not sure how to express what I'm trying to say. Maybe if we didn't debase/disrespect/degrade women on a dialy basis more people would see this issue as something of importance. If more people spoke up for the rights of women in Muslim countries/communities, maybe their lives could be better. It has to start somewhere, anywhere. We read about women in this century who are condemned to death by stoning for sex outside of marriage, and are horrified. But look at our reactions to similar (I use that term very loosely) situations here in the USA. If a starlet has sex with more than one man she's a slut and you joke about the diseases living in her va-jay-jay, whereas if a male actor has sex with several females he's a stud and you wish you had his penis. Double standard much? It's all related, whether you see it or not.

Because Some Days, Everyone Needs a Laugh

Only people who know me very well know the kind of high-brow humor I enjoy!!! (I think I should be embarassed but I'm not)

Tomorrow I'll get serious; today, it's all laughs!!!

Are you ready for some football?

Found this on the BMHS webpage....

Testimonials

Taking a page from Dad's blog, here are my recommendations for the new TV season: I love Reaper! It's directed by Kevin Smith, so if you like his stuff you'll love this show. Really, really funny show about a guy whose parents accidentally sold his soul to the devil and on his 21st birthday the devil comes calling. He and his slacker friends are hysterical! I'm still a big fan of Heroes, House, and Monk. I've also been watching L.A. Ink, Survivor China, and SNL. I can't think of anything else I really watch. I'd like to get into Saving Grace (I love Holly Hunter!) and The Closer (also love Kyra Sedgewick), but just haven't gotten around to it yet. J has a few more shows he likes to watch, but he stays up later than I do so he can fit in a few more shows in the evening. All I can say is I'm so glad I've got a DVR, as most of the shows I watch I do not watch at the time they're aired.

TTFN!!!

Just so you know I wasn't joking...

I was serious about how gorgeous the house was in my previous blog. I was perusing the paper on Sunday, and when I opened the Algiers-Pic, and what do you think I saw? Yes, the same house MG bloodied up, is going to be on the Home Tour. I read the article and looked at the pictures and said to J - "Look - Right there is where MG took a dive!" Hopefully they get the blood out before next weekend!

Bloodbath 7- Teddybear Birthday Party (coming soon to a theatre near you!)

Starring: Mom (me), MG, and BB, assorted unnamed characters

Scene: Expensive home in Algiers Point, Room full of GapMoms and their GapKids. The only people Mom knows are Birthday-Girls parents and the Teddybear Lady they hired to manage the party)

Plot: After making it through most of the party successfully, the cake is cut and kids are running around like sugar-fueled tasmanian devils. Mom is in the large, airy "House Beautiful" kitchen (actually, the lounge area in the kitchen) sitting on the couch, when MG knocks over the plate of chocolate cake (frosting-side down, of course). As Mom is on her knees trying to clean up the dark cake with green frosting, MG decides she kinda liked that walking thing and wants to try it again. At this point the movie flashes back to earlier in the afternoon - MG tried to take a nap but was interrupted because we had to pick up big brother from his football game, so nap didn't really happen. Back to present time - MG decides to try walking again, and trips over her own feet and lands face down on the glass-top coffee table (mouth down, to be specific). So, Mom is on her knees with a handful of cake and icing, now Mom's kid just hit the floor and is bleeding out of her mouth and screaming. As Mom picks her up, MG is bleeding all over herself, and all over Mom's shirt (both characters are wearing pink, of course, all the better to contrast with the blood). Meanwhile, the kids are still running amuck and Mom can't find BB. So now we've got one bloody, screaming baby and one missing child. Great. Luckily, the Birthday Girl's dad is an EMT, so he took a look at MG and at that point BB turned up. We quickly made our exit (notice I did not say discreetly made our exit), and got into the car.

As the credits roll, we see that because we had to leave the party early and all her friends were still there, BBs life is ruined forever .

walkie-talkie

Molly has taken her first steps (finally!!). At first we had to convince her to walk, because she wanted to drop back onto her knees and crawl. But lately, she's been jumping off her (excuse me, Bridget's)little couch and walking to the coffee table just because she can. She's so cute! (plus, I have witnesses - KenEllie saw her and they agree, she IS so cute!)



Ian is still a texting fool, but he actually spoke to this girl on the phone. I asked him if he likes her, because if he didn't he shouldn't be texting her so much and leading her on. He gave a very curt "yes." - so NO TEASING, or mama bear is going to kick your ass!



Ohhh - The Goonies is on, gotta go! I love that movie, I've gotta remember to add it to my profile.

WTF?!

Saw this today, an actual US patent. All I can say is "What the hell?"

It has begun.

Last night, Ian had a texting session. With. A. Girl. My late bloomer is starting to bloom. I was torn between excitement for him that he was texting a girl, and worry for him that he was texting a girl. Because you know, this will eventually lead to more. Much, much more. But hopefully that's all down the road a bit and he will enjoy the excitement and newness of communicating with that foreign species - the human female.

As a side note, after all this texting business, BB informed me that she and Ian are virgins (thanks Austin Powers for the vocabulary lesson). Whew! What a relief.

Church Chat*

Okay, regarding that last post...let me clarify (or not) a few things. I like my church traditional and my Church mostly traditional with a BIT of modern thrown in. I like beautiful marble churches with old-timey stained glass and old wooden pews, but I also like female altar servers and in general a greater role for women. I agree with the Church's stand on 2 out of 3 mainstream issues and undecided on 2 more (those issues would be birth control, abortion, female priests, divorce, and clerical celibacy - but, that's a post for another day, if ever). I don't think I'm a "cafeteria Catholic" but I'm sure there are some hard-liners out there who would beg to differ. (Isn't that special? Could it be...SATAN?) I don't even know what I'm getting at here. I guess you do what helps you feel closer to God. I just don't like the feeling of being "bullied" into touchy-feely stuff that I personally am not comfortable with. When I'm in church I want to channel all my energy into communicating with Him, not the other congregants. I think that goes along with my personality - I'm not good in a crowd, I prefer smaller, more intimate groups. That's when, God help you, the real me comes out.

*extra points for anyone who gets the pop culture reference

Is this Church, or Choich?

I have so many things bouncing around in my head today that I’m sure I can’t get to them all. I may write them here so I can expound on them later and just get to what I can get to today. (Note to self: Mass, farts, common misconceptions based on appearance, job, childhood, BC walk)

BB’s class had a family Mass today. Now, let me start by saying, SAS – her current school- is a really good school. Top performing, blue-ribbon status, parents would wait in line for days to get their kids registered to go to this school until they changed the registration process to “luck of the draw”. So far, no big problems, just minor stuff that I attribute to getting used to a new school. All in all, I’m pleased. As part of her enrollment, we joined the Parish to get “in-Parish discount” on tuition, but we still usually go to HNM for Mass (we like the Deacon there!). So, back to the story: Today is 1st and 2nd grade family Mass. BB got to read a petition, so she was very excited and wanted someone from her family to attend (aside: out of approx 150 kids, only 9 got reading parts. I’m so proud of my little reader!) Apparently we have joined a Pratholic Church. You know, a Catholic church that acts Protestant…as in holding hands during the Lord’s Prayer, raising hands when the congregants reply to the Priest, singing a large part of the actual Mass, even the music was Pratholic. Remember those infomercials where you could buy the music CDs of those large church choirs, and they would sing snippets while rolling the song names up the screen and you would see pictures of the minister at his pulpit with the choir in the background smiling, singing, and dancing. Yeah, the only reason I knew some of the songs at Mass today is because I used to be a vidiot and those commercials came back to haunt me. They even had a guitar player who played while the Priest and students stood up and sang while signing (I assume/hope that was for the children’s Mass only) just like in the 70s. When you take all that and roll it into a 70’s-style church (stucco walls with pastel frescoes at the altar, rounded wooden altar fixtures), it’s definitely not my type of church. I prefer a more traditional church surrounding, and I don’t like to hold hands at any point during the Mass. So, in summary, while I want church to be traditional, we are now part of a progressive (I think that’s what you’d call it) parish. If this is the sacrifice I must make for my children’s education, than it is the cross I must bear (pun intended).

I’ll bet they have you sit face-to-face for confession, too.

Gettin' a leg up on the competition...

Just when I think humanity can't get any worse, this comes along. I saw the original news story when he found it, and I thought the whole thing was just bizarre. I felt sorry for the guy - he bought the smoker and he certainly can't use it now, can he? I wondered if he would get a refund from the auction company due to extenuating circumstances. Now, I understand the premise of "make lemons out of lemonade", but this is ridiculous. Not only is the guy a sorry example of a human being, but the people who are paying ($3 for adults, $1 for CHILDREN??!! Who would bring their child to see something like this?) should be ashamed of themselves, too.

Sleep? I don't need no stinkin' sleep...

Wow, what a weekend. Let me just sum it up by saying "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times" and leave it at that.

BB's Quote of the Day: This morning on the way to school, Molly was crying in the car. BB says (in an exasperated voice) "Molly, where's your binky? Just stick it in and suck it."