Gone are the days of kiddie pools, or “having to” go swimming with LatteGirl. She can swim… well. No more inflatable arm bands, silly little inflatables or other such “baby toys.” Now she swims on her own and those silly little toys have been replaced with diving sticks, underwater hoops for swimming through and other “big kid” toys.

Gone this year is the simple version of soccer that was just more like us kicking a ball back and forth. Now we run drills in the yard (her choice), have orange cones (her choice), and she sets up a goal so she can (try) to shoot it past me.

The Christmas wishlist also changed quite dramatically. Gone are Color Wonder Books, Wiggles Videos, Barbie Stylin’ Heads and Play-Doh. This year the requests were things like a Pottery Wheel, a telescope, a Chemistry Kit (“My First Chemistry kit” not a real chemistry set), and Leapster Math Games. Where toys were requested, they were more mature, including (one of my old favorites) MouseTrap. She also got a FurReal Friends Chimp, but that was TheWife’s idea and wasn’t actually a requested toy.

I know they grow up, and we can’t stop them. And I am sure I will lament this again many times in the future in a similar fashion. But somehow I think I will always look back at this particular year as the end point of my “baby” and the begining of the years I can call “my young little lady.”

Update: Ok, I have 3… I think… but I am still in a giving spirit, so I will bump it to five (5).

Offer valid in the 50 States and Canada only. Offer may be expanded to include more commenters at the discretion of AoLM management. I do not put any nuts in my chocolate chip cookies, but my bakeware has been used for products that contain nuts and most of the products I use also carry that warning (Including a bag of cashews I bought… go figure), so if somebody in your household is allergic to nuts you may not wish to enter. Liars, cheats, theives, members of the Bush Administration and Employees of Faux News Channel (is that redundant?) and their immediate family are not eligible.

Charlie Brown: We’ve got ANOTHER holiday to worry about. It seems Thanksgiving Day is upon us.

Sally Brown: I haven’t even finished eating all of my Halloween candy!

– A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973) (TV)

So here we are again another Thanksgiving is upon us. LatteGirl and I have spent the evening making Pumpkin Pie “Gems” , “Magic” Cookies and Apple Crisp (pictures to follow when time allows). Tomorrow we will make Chocolate Chip Cookies, before I send her and TheWife off to go see Disney on Ice so I can get down to some serious cooking.

If you find everybody under your feet awaiting the Thanksgiving feast I highly recommend this path to freedom while preparing. Find a theater that is perhaps open or some show of some sort and ship your significant other and the kids out. Even if it is just for a couple of hours. It makes getting things done so much easier.

A Posthumous Honor for Latte Pop

My mother was in attendance yesterday to receive a Posthumous medal for my father for his service during the Korean War. Obviously I am quite thrilled with it, although I wish I could have attended and I must admit, I can’t help but wonder why it takes so long for these things to come around. I mean, wouldn’t it be nicer if these awards were given while more of the men and women that served our country were still alive? Of my fathers group (more on that another time), out of the five of them only one member is still alive. I guess I am just a bit sad and perhaps bitter that my father could not be there to have received it himself.

Bloggin’ the Weekend away

With TheWife away, enjoying her pre-birthday present trip to the spa for the weekend, LatteGirl and I will be bumming around, and I will back and blogging providing much needed material on what I would anticipate will be a rather slow period for blogging. So, as you slowly arise from your tryptophan coma, come on by and visit, leave a comment or two. Otherwise we will be lonely.

To you and yours, I wish my U.S. compatriots a Happy Thanksgiving. To any terrorist type people, I would suggest you not try anything sneaky now, the last thing you want it to stir millions of people with upset stomachs that have consumed far too much food, the ensuing mess would be quite awful to contend with.

She has held a pretty brave front, even singing and dancing about going to her new school. But last night, as we prepared for bed, she let it slip out. She was excited… but also a bit nervous. “Not scared” just a little nervous. Fortunately it is only a 1/2 day today and tomorrow, so I am sure she will transition in quite fine.

Still getting caught up

I feel like I have been perpetually behind since returning from vacation. Of course that has been helped along with the school change, the job location change, Ernesto knocking out power all over the eastern seaboard (despite not being a huge storm), etc. So if you haven’t seen me around your blog lately, just know I am slowly catching up.

As pathetic as it may sound, I am so looking forward to my bowling season starting on Thursday. I probably would have been better off if it started in a week or two since I have been going at such a hectic pace. But then again, that may be exactly WHY it is good that it is starting tomorrow. It is my opportunity to focus a least a couple of hours on something enjoyable and take my mind off of family issues and/or work issues. No it is not the nightlife and fun I used to enjoy years ago. Then again, I do not recover nearly as quick as I did years ago, and the thought of going to work on an hour sleep (or less) is no longer something I can handle or even consider.

Some Unrequitted Link Love

Two things that I have caught up on and wanted to share. Cat has moved out of her “swamp” life, and now you can just call it Cat’s Life. So update your Blogroll if you haven’t already, or stop by and check her out.

The other blog, is one I have just added to my blogroll, even though I have been reading it for some time. Of course everybody in the free world knows about and reads Busy Mom. But what you may not know about is her OTHER blog, GenBetween. Having to deal with the tribulations of handling both kids and parents can be a daunting task, and if you are in that situation, I am sure you will be able to quite easily identify with this as Busy Mom gives herself to us as a “poster child” of the Sandwich Generation.

So, I have been working on it, but it is far from done. Now of course, here comes Ernesto. Certainly not a huge deal as it is already nothing but a Tropical Storm and will likely be nothing more than a tropical depression (or less) by the time it reaches this area, but with the promise of between 2 and 6 inches of rain (could they be any more vague), I will certainly not hear the end of it if we start to take on some water.

Overall I am quite lucky. We live on the top of a hill, in an area that is at virtually zero risk of flooding. But water damage is water damage. Especially when your wife has been harping on you to get this project done all year.

But first I would simply be remiss if I didn’t say I was thrilled to see that our legal system does still work properly as shown by the decision this morning that, NSA spying program was found Unconstitutional and must be halted immediately. (Of course, I am sure this will be blamed on “activist judges”)

Now on to the lighter fare. What brings people here (recently), what were they looking for, and can I give them an answer.

Lilo and Stitch Cancelled – yes it is true. Lilo and Stitch has been cancelled as part of the arcane setup created under Michael Eisner that cancels all shows after 3 years or 65 episodes, regardless of how popular a show it is. Last Year Kim Possible was cancelled as well, but after a groundswell of support and protesting, the show was brought back for a 4th season. You can go here to try and help save Lilo and Stitch.

Bensi’s Restaurant – an excellent Italian Restaurant… particularly for a franchise chain type of place. Oddly, they do NOT have a website.

biodegrable fabric softener – we have just recently started using the one from Ecover. And to tell you the truth we LOVE it. There are others from places like Sun and Earth, Seventh Generation and others, but we are very happy with Ecover right now.

war on breastfeeding – the latest salvo in the war is apparently due to the cover of Baby Talk magazine showing a baby breastfeeding. Why are so many people in this country so hung up on sex that they can not appreciate breastfeeding for the natural thing that it is? I wish I knew. From the attorney last year that wrote an op-ed piece comparing breastfeeding to urinating in public, to LiveJournal banning avatars showing breastfeeding, to the astonishingly stupid move at Victoria’s Secret of an employee telling a woman to use the rest room for breastfeeding it appears that this is a full scale war by the “purity” nuts that just can not see a breast for anything other than sexual purposes.

john kiggins – don’t know him, and worse have no idea how you got here from that search.

and finally

Kim Possible porn animated – you are sick and need serious therapy dude. (I am assuming this is a dude – and I think it is a reasonable assumption). It is bad enough there are still men out there pleasuring themselves to the image of Jessica Rabbit. But this is a kids show!

The other drawback is more obvious and probably more understandable to just about anybody. I am so ready for this vacation, that it is only Monday and I am ready for this week to be over already. Don’t get me wrong, I have plenty of work to keep me busy. I just have no actual desire to get any of it done. I feel fried. I so desperately don’t want to be here today, that I would rather be home (over)packing than be at my desk today. But of course, somebody has to actually PAY for this vacation, and it is tough enough remembering that since as a consultant I am in business for myself, I do not “get” a vacation, I simply get “unpaid time off.” In the good old days, it was easier to say, “well that is what I get the big bucks for” but today thanks to outsourcing and such, I no longer get the “big bucks,” but all the drawbacks are still there. It could be worse I guess, I could not have the current semi-steady client contract that I am currently enjoying. But still, feast or famine consulting can sometimes be nerve wracking.

Today’s Non-Sequitur

Today, TheWife and LatteGirl are going to look at the private school that we are considering.

Then after that they are heading over to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. While I am fully behind, if we cower the terrorists win. However, I am also fully behind the fact that our President, through a failed foreign policy has made this country less safe, not more so. And the Statue of Liberty, is a tempting target (despite the Department of Homeland Security NOT regarding it as a national symbol). The only thing that gives me some sort of “comfort” is thanks to the “thwarted” terrorist plot last week, the raised alert level and additional security that goes with it, makes things a bit safer in the short term (until we get lazy again). Regardless, I will be at least a little concerned until they call and tell me they are back home safely.

The Shangri-La diet is still working amazingly well. When I started it about 9 weeks ago, my goal was to lose 10-12 lbs before vacation. I have now lost 24.4 lbs with a week to go before vacation. I actually have some clothes that I had hoped to fit in by next summer that I am now considering taking with me on vacation.

In order to keep this from turing into a diet blog, I have started one here. Although if things keep going this well, I will still probably post here, just to brag a bit.

I don’t have a boy.

1.) A king size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2000 sq. ft. house 4 inches deep.

2.) If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with roller blades, they can ignite.

3.) A 3-year old Boy’s voice is louder than 200 adults in a crowded restaurant.

4.) If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan, the motor is not strong enough to rotate a 42 pound boy wearing Batman underwear and a Superman cape. It is strong enough, however, if tied to a paint can, to spread paint on all four walls of a 20×20 ft. room.

5.) You should not throw baseballs up when the ceiling fan is on. When using a ceiling fan as a bat, you have to throw the ball up a few times before you get a hit. A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way.

6.) The glass in windows (even double-pane) doesn’t stop a baseball.

7.) When you hear the toilet flush and the words “uh oh”, it’s already too late.

8.) Brake fluid mixed with Clorox makes smoke, and lots of it.

9.) A six-year old boy can start a fire with a flint rock even though a 36-year old man says they can only do it in the movies.

10.) Certain Legos will pass through the digestive tract of a 4-year old boy.

11.) Play dough and microwave should not be used in the same sentence.

12.) Super glue is forever.

13.) No matter how much Jell-O you put in a swimming pool you still can’t walk on water.

14.) Pool filters do not like Jell-O.

15.) VCR’s do not eject “PB & J” sandwiches even though TV commercials show they do.

16.) Garbage bags do not make good parachutes.

17.) Marbles in gas tanks make lots of noise when driving.

18.) You probably DO NOT want to know what that odor is.

19.) Always look in the oven before you turn it on; plastic toys do not like ovens.

20.) The fire department in Austin, TX has a 5-minute response time.

21.) The spin cycle on the washing machine does not make earthworms dizzy.

22.) It will, however, make cats dizzy.

23.) Cats throw up twice their body weight when dizzy.

24.) 80% of women will pass this on to almost all of their friends, with or without kids.

25.) 80% of men who read this will try mixing the Clorox and brake fluid.

However, what you may not have noticed unless you were paying really close attention were some interesting facts, which tell me that the “Terror Alert System” put in place by then Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge is worthless, and nothing but a propoganda tool.

In the details of the stories on yesterdays events, came some “background material” that seemed almost to be “filler.” How we were able to stop this thanks to some fantastic undercover work and how they had been tracking this for months. Through this undercover work they were aware that a “test run” was only possibly a few days away and the actual attack would happen within days after that. As the events unfolded in the early morning hours, the President had not even been awoken, because he had already been fully briefed and was aware of what was happening since Sunday.

Wait… What??

This attack was “imminent,” we were “fully aware” of it on Sunday and yet our Status remained Yellow? “Code Red” means the very real threat of attack in IMMINENT, so why were we still at Yellow? It was not until AFTER the fact that we went to “Code Red” on international travel. What if the timing of all of this was off? Since we knew of these “unfolding scenario” for MONTHS and we were fully apprised of the immediacy of the situation since SUNDAY, should we not have HEIGHTEN SECURITY IMEDIATELY? Of course we should have.

The fact is that the “Terror Alert Color System” is nothing but a tool and toy to use to allow the Press to scare the bejesus out of people. So just toss it already. It is nothing but a sham, and the way these events unfolded without the system changing “colors” until after the fact shows just how useless it is.

Two years ago, it was a beautiful day, much as today was. I was walking home from LatteGirl’s Pre-K program pulling her behind me in her red wagon, when I got the phone call from my sister. “Dad is not doing well, he may not make it.”

I frantically rushed home. I couldn’t get a hold of my wife. I started dialing everybody and anybody I could think of to watch after LatteGirl so I could get to the hospital. Finally I got ahold of my sister-in-law who was not only able to watch after LatteGirl, but gave me a ride to the hospital.

Rushing in, I frantically looked for somebody to tell me my father’s whereabouts. I got pointed to a ICU area behind a white curtain. I ran over.

I was too late.

I would never get my opportunity to say good-bye.

By most standards he was just an ordinary man, who lived an ordinary life in an ordinary town. But to those lives he touched he was anything but ordinary.

• He served in the Korean War (and only just before his death did I find out, he worked Special Ops for the CIA).
• He was very patriotic and proud of the United States and respectful of the Flag.
• He worked at Western Electric/AT&T/Lucent for 36 years
• Volunteered in a soup kitchen for almost 10 years after his retirement, and only stopped because of health issues that did not allow him to continue.
• Continued to raise money for the Soup Kitchen up through the time of his death.
• Helped raise money and acquire funding for the local library
• Was a primary organizer of the local chapter of “Pioneers” (organization of retired “Bell” employees).
• Was always their to make signs, volunteer, etc for the needs of his church
• Raised money for Disabled American Veterans
• Was a 3 time commander of his post of the Catholic War Veterans
• Collected and raised money for POW-MIA’s and their families
• Still had time for his family, attend my and my sister’s little league games, sporting events, play performances, recitals, etc.

and believe it or not… much more.

They say time heals all wounds, but two years later, while life goes on, I don’t feel any more healed. He was more than just a father, he was a statesman, a mentor, a guide for me to learn from and try to live up to, thought I doubt I ever can. And a part of me still feels missing and empty.

Rest in Peace.

Joseph P. Romeo
1928 – 2004

With our public school system unwilling to start an aftercare program (I am not asking for a FREE program here, I would be more than willing to pay for it), we are left with three choices within town. Two of which border on disgusting, and a third, that well we though perhaps it was just us, and because we had such a wonderful Pre-K that our bar was set too high. And maybe it is. But this is my daughter, and when it comes to her I WANT that bar set as high as possible. With the school year quickly approaching, we started talking to LatteGirl about it again, and the thought of returning to that aftercare program (which she this year only had to be at 2 days a week, and for no more than about two hours), brought her to tears. Well we knew she wasn’t thrilled with it by the end of the school year, but had attributed it more to “spring fever” than anything else.

So now we are back to deciding what to do. Which puts us considering something that I NEVER would have dreamed of before. Sending her to a Catholic school. Ugh. It tears at me in so many different directions. I want what is best for her of course, and this may very well be the best option… but it is not as much of a no-brainer as I would like. Even if I can get past the Catholic part of it, which is as easy as it sounds (I attended 4 years of Catholic High School, and manage to come out unscathed, but by then of course you have more of a mind of your own and are more ready to judge information on a congnitive level.), I still have to contend with the whole soul crushing uniform thing (which in light of my defeat on that issue with our public schools, she will wind up wearing a uniform regardless) and of course there is the not small issue of coming to terms with the fact that despite my property taxes (well 51% of my local town budget anyway) going to the local school systems, I will now have to pay an additional $4,000/yr on top of that PLUS the aftercare costs. It is almost enough for me to actually support the incredibly slanted “school voucher” program. (Hey, I said almost. I have not sold out… but it is certainly more tempting)

Then of course the last option (and one we can not complete before this school year) is giving up on our hometown and looking elsewhere. TheWife, in even a bolder though suggested that we consider leaving NJ for greener (less property taxed) pastures. I can’t see that happening, as I LIKE New Jersey! (Hey, you stop laughing).

I feel like decisions these days are always a choice between finding the lesser of two evils. Why can’t some decisions be easy?

1st – Sleep in late. Roll over in the morning, saying “Happy Anniversary” with a little song in your voice, some intense kissing, and horizontal celebration to start the day.

12th – woken up by excited child jumping on the bed. Saying Happy Anniversay doesn’t happen until teeth are brushed because somebody put socks on your teeth while you were sleeping. Morning horizontal celebrations have not occured since child was born.

1st – You spend no less than a month trying to find a card that says things, “just right”

12th – You get a card during a sale.

1st – You buy gifts that the other person “wants” but you probably can’t afford, but buy it anyway because, hey “they are worth it”

12th – You buy items to complete chores around the house

1st – You make reservations for a romantic candle light dinner

12th – You pick a restaurant that has the best children’s menu

1st – After dinner you go out, party and stay up all night

12th – You come home after dinner and take some tums so you are not up all night.

(of course not all things change equally, such as)

1st – You both dress up in your best outfits

12th – She still worries about how she look whereas he asks “Does this stink too much to wear?”

1st – Neither of you finish you dinner, instead spending time staring into each others eyes

12 – She doesn’t finish dinner because she is tending to the kids, or on a diet. He finishes his meal, looks at her plate and says “You gonna finish that?”

1st – Money is not object on this day

12th – He Says “Money is no object” She says “We really should save some money”

And with that, the 13th year commences.

Home to pack. (More freaking packing…. I was SOOOO sick of packing).

Call my sister to finalize arrangements to take care of the two cats we had at the time.

Have a few drinks to calm my nerves.

Tryed Sleeping but that didn’t work out so well.

Why was I going through all of this? Because twelve years ago tomorrow, I married TheWife.

What a long strange trip its been.

There was one side-effect that we had not considered in this though. While she wears her t-shit and shorts over her bathing suit going to camp, with her little panties packed in her back-pack for after changing, it seems LatteGirl has now taken an affinity to going commando. When then leave the lake, she simply leaves on her bikini top and t-shirt, removes her bikini bottom and puts her shorts back on.

Admittedly, the first time she came home and declared…”Guess what, I’m not wearing any panties.” We thought it was cute and giggled. However, now it seems to have become a trend. My wife has tried to emphasize to her that she MUST… but in this heat, she has met with resistance. I mean, she is six years old, too young to explain what “good girls wear panties” means (and believe me she will ask), and thus the reference is lost, so we are stuck with the “you just should.”

But I am sure this is just a phase, and not the start of something my pre-frayed father fears need to be concerned with for the future right? RIGHT?

Yesterday, LatteGirl’s Daycamp trip was to an ice skating rink. At the time, I thought “Gee how cool (no pun intended), I wish I could go ice skating today with this hundred degree heat.” But last night when I really thought about it some more I was less than enthused. I mean how much energy does it take to keep an ice skating rink running in the middle of summer? The rinks around here used to be ice in the winter and roller rinks in the summer. Now… ice… all year long.

Now part of me would like to keep her from doing things such as ice skating in the summer, just on principal. But the other part says, well the rink is open anyway. The Daycamp is going to have their outing anyway, why should I deny her the opportunity to do this? Hence not as green as I should be.

But enough about that. Today of course is going to be another scorcher with the potential to break record high temperatures. So of course today my client requires me to attend a meeting in mid-town Manhattan. It is probably good for my diet, but I am really less than thrilled to have to make these trips. But as long as their checks don’t bounce, what choice do I have.

Fortunately, even though she will be spending the day at Mountain Creek Water Park today, I can be sure that LatteGirl will be only too happy to go swimming this evening, so at least I can look forward to cooling off in the pool later.

I can not believe it is August already. Summer always seems to go quickly, but this summer seems to be flying by at an exceptionally quick pace. It is only about 2 1/2 weeks until vacation time, at Chestut Grove in the Pocono Mountains. Whoo-hoo. I can not believe it is practically here already. I haven’t even started begging for guest bloggers yet for the week I will be away. Anybody interested?

Let me see if I can decrypt that a little so you have some idea of what I am talking about. An example… yeah, that should do it. OK, and example. My daughter made a statement, that at the time I must admit thrilled me. She said, “I would rather spend time doing nothing with you than playing and having fun when you are not around.” Like I said, at the time I was beaming. I took it that besides just being a dad, I was in a sense a friend. Somebody that not only did she HAVE to spend time with, but somebody she wanted to spend time with. Since I love spending time with her, what could possible be wrong? Right?

Well, not exactly. As I trupeted most of last week, I spent a six hour stint chained to my computer as part of Blogathon 2006. No big deal here, it was a beautiful day. TheWife kept LatteGirl entertained for the entire morning (3 of my six hour shift). With her new found freedom of being able to swim without me attached to her hip, I thought, “No big deal” I would simply bring the laptop out on the deck and I could continue blogging while she swam. This did not exactly work out as planned. She went swimming for about 15 minutes and then got out of the pool and came and sat next to me on the deck.

She did not try and stop me from what I was doing, but no longer desired to swim. When I asked her why, she said, “It is just no fun without you.” She entertained herself by trying to take an interst in what I was doing. Asking questions, watching Cathy, Doug, and their family on the web cam, talking about WHY I was trying to raise money for Farm Aid, etc. She tried. But deep down I knew she wanted to be in that pool, and man did I feel guilty.

Now I am willing to bet that there will be at least one person that will say that I spoil LatteGirl, and to a certain extent I can not refute it since it is a fact. When it comes to spending time with her, doing things with her, being there for her, I WANT to spoil her. And unlike typical “spoiled brat” fashion, she does not DEMAND that I tend to her needs, or whine when she doesn’t get my attention immediately. She will simply not “DO” what she wants, and will then just wait for me to be available. Could it simply be a ploy on her part, playing the “guilt card?” I guess it could, but that takes a lot of patience to work, more than a typical six year old has (I think).

So now I am stuck. I can try and break this “dependence” on me, but that is of course a plan fraught with perils of its own. Or I can stick with living with the boughts of guilt when I am not as available as she would like me to be at any given moment.

Did I ever mention how I hate problems that do not have a clear solution?

Of course if they extend my stay (which looks likely right now), I will be longing for these days during that same walk during the middle of winter when they will probably pick the sub zero days to request my presence at the big dogs office.

Yes, last evening the Tooth Fairy after several false starts finally made an appearance. As expected, this morning LatteGirl found 2 Gold Dollar Coins under her pillow, and couldn’t wait to tell me this morning about the treasure she got from the tooth fairy.

She has continued inmittently today continued to sing, “My tooth fell oooout, My tooth fell ooooout!”

I don’t remember that long ago if every tooth was as big a deal as the first… but I certainly hope not.

And now in an effort to help raise money for Farm Aid, I am going to put it bluntly… what do I have to do to get You… yes you in the back… with the cute ears, trying to hide behind the guy with the big head. What do I have to do to get you to become a sponsor? (And remember this is a Family rated event… I’m just sayin’) What? Stand on my head? Do a belly flop into my pool live on webcam? Become a sponsor… make a request… and if there is anyway I can fulfill your request (meaning not going to cause bodily harm, causing me to be arrested, or not of a family nature) I will do it. The cause is worth it.

Next week, after a week of rants of various sorts and the begging for sponsors for the two or so readers I have left, we will return to the regularly scheduled life of Latte Man.

I was doing some work around the house. I suggested that she may be bored and would perhaps rather play with her toys in the yard or inside the house. She responsed by telling me that, “I would rather spend time doing nothing with you than playing and having fun when you are not around”

Sometimes we concern ourselves too much with what we consider quality time, and need to remember that to a child, almost any time can be seen a quality time together.

When I finally got the book (about 10 days ago), I found that according to it, I was actually taking probably too little oil for my size and the amount of weight I wanted to lose, and adjusted upward accordingly.

The results? I lost 3 pounds the first week at the new level. I definitely felt less hungry and therefore was eating less. But the real freakout came last night. Wednesday is Pizza Night. Being the big guy that I am I have always eaten 3 (and somtimes 4 if it is a really thin pie) slices. Ok, I knew I had been eating less, and getting full sooner, so I figured, I would only be eating two slices. This is where I started to freak out. My mouth and stomach were in disagreement. My MOUTH wanted that second slice. My stomach said, “No Way.”

This diet has received publicity, both good and bad. The folks at Calorielab love to trash it at every opportunity, because based on “traditional thinking”, it makes no sense. I have to agree that without trying it, even with the explainations of the science behind the diet, my inital thoughts about it were to consider it “speculative” at best, but since it was easy and cheap to try. But I am quickly becoming a believer in what the book has to say.

Is it fad? Well, I am not an expert enough to say definitely. And you need to do more than just follow the steps in the book (although that is a good start), such as trying to clean up your diet from too much junk, etc. But so far this has made it so much easier, that it just freaking me out.

On the other hand, I do understand that PPD is a very real and very debilitating thing. And as such, she may very well have been “insane” at the time and perhaps this verdict is then correct. But if that is the case, then her husband, her doctor, somebody… somebody really missed something here in leaving this woman in this type of condition with her kids.

On a third hand, the whole “I thought I had the devil in me” arguement makes me angry at the Bible Thumpers that drive this kind of faux message home to people, and enable them to think this way. But again… to believe it is… insane.

I just don’t know.

If you would like to ask Diane a quetion, go over to the Fresh Food, Fresh Blog and post a question in the Comments of this post, and I will try and work all the questions I receive (plus whatever Barry, Cathy, Doug and I come up with).

Then go here and sponsor us for Blogathon 2006 as we raise money for Farm Aid. (No, being a sponsor is not required to ask a question… but it would be GREATLY appreciated).

When I get discouraged by the lack of effort or caring people show towards the environment, our health and the future of this planet, I can always be sure to find one source of inspiration to remind me why the fight is worth it. Of course it probably comes as no suprise to anybody that has read this blog for any length of time that LatteGirl is that source of inspiration.

Yesterday, she convinced the wife to let her skip out on daycamp so that the two of them could go hiking. Both of them love the outdoors and hiking (Me, I like the outdoors, but am much much more of a sand and ocean person… but I digress), but it is a source of sheer joy as I hear her recount her experiences without the jaded and rushed views we tend to acquire as adults. Excited about new rocks that she finds, or by taking a new path this time getting to see a magnificent waterfall. She has even taken to trying to learn how to use a compass (and suceeding).

She reminds me just why we need to ensure this planet doesn’t end up looking like it did in Logan’s Run. Why we need to fight for clean air, clean water and a clean environment. Why the U.S. turning it up its nose at the Kyoto Protocol was wrong.

First, does anybody actually believe this story? I mean sure if I am Marcia Carroll (the girl’s mother), I may wish to believe that this was true because after all how could HER daughter have an abortion unless it was coerced. I am quite certain that if this girl had decided and told the people at the clinic she did not wish to have an abortion they would not have done it, and even more so, would have contacted her parents so she could get a ride home. But no, it is easier for her to believe that her daughter could do no wrong (Of course, I have to wonder whether a proper lack of sex education including the use of condoms played in a 14 year old getting pregnant in the first place).

Second, what the “liberal” media opted to ignore in reporting, was the grusome tale of Spring Adams, an Idaho 13-year-old who was raped and impregnated by her father in 1989. Because she had to have parental permission to get an abortion, she told her mother, who confronted the father. Her father killed her, her mother and himself with a shotgun.

Now, before you start lambasting me, just hear me out, while sidestepping the right to choose, to remain on topic and not cloud the issue. Would I want MY daughter to come talk to me? Of course I would. Any (reasonable) parent would. And statistics show that a vast majority do in fact speak to their parents. But the fact is that there are plenty of less than reasonable parents that present problems such as Spring Adams.

I am proud that the Senators from New Jersey have seen this for what it is, and called to spend more time, money and energy on sex education and prevention programs and stop using women for political gain during mid-term elections (and if you think this coming up for a vote now is anything but done to rouse support of the religious “zealots” you are fooling yourself).

This bill has already passed the House of Representative, and today it will most likely (and unfortunately) pass the Senate, and nobody will complain because the “liberal” media apparently is sufficinetly happy reporting the spin the conservatives want, and it is no surprise that when they report it this way that 75% of people they polled support the measure. Sometimes half a story is not better than nothing.

Now as I have mentioned before, I can be best described as “light green.” I am not changing my ways overnight, nor do I think those that advocate it are doing the right thing, because you will get more resistance that way. But slowly and steadily as we find new products at reasonable prices, we are turning our household more “green.”

We started out with some simple things like Ecover brand fabric softener. It works every bit as well as any of the name brand products on the market, is completely biodegrable, not made from any petroleum based products, and is priced the same as any of the leading brands (possibly a little less if you fill out the form here and let them send you some coupons).

Our next stop was the kitchen sink, where we have gone with Seventh Generations Dishwashing Liquid. (coupons available here – and you print them out. Very Cool.) Something they point out on their website, which is interesting (OK, it is interesting to me), and something very few people every associate with their dishwashing soap is that “If every household in the U.S. replaced just one 25 oz. bottle of petroleum based dishwashing liquid with our vegetable based product, we could save 118,700 barrels of oil, enough to heat and cool 6,800 U.S. homes for a year!” What a difference, changing just one product in your home can make. Plus thus far, I can make no distinction from this and the Palmolive product we gave up.

Our latest change is now going to be our Laundry Detergent as we give Sun & Earth a shot with their products. We have not started using this yet as we finish off what we were using (hey… I am not going to just let it go to waste.) so I can not really give it a thumbs up or thumbs down… yet. But I will eventually.

In the mean time, these three (among others I will probably talk about in the furture) show that you can stay in budget while still helping to make our planet better for us and our children. Something that everybody short of Sen. James Inhofe (who still believes that global warming is a “hoax”) should be able to appreciate.

And speaking of appreciate and making the world better for our kids (you knew this was going to be coming didn’t you), there is still time to sponsor the Fresh Food, Fresh Blog for Blogathon 2006. Just drop in over here, and sponsor us for whatever you are comfortable with. Every little bit counts. And of course don’t forget to come by on July 29th as we blog for 24 hours in support of Farm Aid.

I have teamed up with Cathy of Domestic Psychology, her husband Doug of Reality Me and Barry from Inn of the Last Home for Blogathon 2006. For those that are not familiar with Blogathon, essentially at the Blog we have set up for this cause one (or more) of us will post at a minimum every 30 minutes for 24 hours, in an effort to raise money for a worthwhile charitable cause.

We have selected as our cause this year, Farm Aid.

Won’t you please consider helping us by being a sponsor? You can do so here. You can sponsor either “by the hour” (so your sponsor total will be whatever you pledge times 24) or just enter it as a single lump amount. Whatever you can sponsor is great, sponsor a little or sponsor a lot, the amount is up to you and every little bit is greatly appreciated.

Why Farm Aid?

I plan to go into this more during the Blogathon (hint hint), but will give you enough “Why” to explain why this is a worthwhile endevour to sponsor (Did I mention I think it would be great if you were a sponsor?). Back in the 80’s when families where losing their farms en masse, it was a very newsworthy event, and one that Farm Aid was born out of to help save family farms.

Today, the events are as “newsworthy” (to main stream media anyway). Factory farming is hurting our food supply, the quality of our food, and destroying the family farm. Milk laced with hormones and anitbiotics. Livestock caged in horrific conditions in order to get the maximum profit per acre at the expense of the health of not only the animals, but of the consumer. Sustainable Family farms are good for the communities where they thrive, they produce better healthier products, and don’t produce manure at toxic levels.

This is an important endevour that anybody should appreciate. But especially if you have children, it is something that you must consider, not only for your future, but theirs. Please won’t you help?

(Wisely?!) TheWife decided to ensure all the events of Fashion Club were complete (and evidence removed) prior to me returning home from work, thus I was unable to get photographic evidence of these events, but from what I was told, the events when something like the following:

Each took turns in the Bath Tub enjoying having the hair washed by the other.

LatteGirl selected clothes for each to wear (thus ensuring she got mommy to wear a dress… even if for a little while)

Mommy recived a FULL make-over complete with brightly colored (mostly pink) Barbie makeup (because you know, only the best makeup ,

Then followed a liberal amount of body glitter.

With that complete it was time for manicures and pedicures.

And finally a tea party (since they were all dressed up with no place to go).

When I arrived home from work, TheWife had managed to remove all but the body glitter and was back in a pair of shorts.

LatteGirl continued to sport a look that reminds me of far too many girls I dated back in the 80’s with WAY too much (and too bright) Eye shadow, and then I fended off a potential panic attack thinking about her dating… but calmed myself that I didn’t need to have that attack just yet.

Both had a ball, and it was a great bonding experience for them. But one that for a change, there is no chance of me being jealous of being left out on.

Oppps.

She hasn’t said anything… yet. But I am sure she is waiting for just the right (for her, not necessarily for me or TheWife) time to spring some questions on us.

In the mean time, TheWife now wants to ban Suite Life from LatteGirl’s list of shows.

Well, as it turns out, if that DSL router that is sitting elsewhere is not also on a battery backup, you still aren’t getting out on the Internet. Duh.

I guess this is what I get for acting as a guest blogger for Erin down in Texas, brought some of that nasty heat up here to NJ.

It is hard to complain too much though, looking at the devestation of the second tsunami to strike Indonesia in three years, the still devestated New Orleans, and others.

And in case you didn’t know (or care), the author of the Mike Hammer novels, Mickey Spillane died today, he was 88 years old. Most written before my time, but in my father’s collection, I loved the “gumshoe” Hammer, and read just about all of them.

LatteGirl went to Madam Tussard’s Wax Museum on her Day Camp trip today. I have to admit, that I passed the place twice a day for more than a year and never made it inside. She liked it, but wasn’t thrilled. I guess it is more interesting to adults, although like I said, passing it all those times, I never once (OK maybe once) had the urge to go in.

I could go on… but it is just too darn hot.

So I am going to divert my attention elsewhere. More specifically into LatteGirl’s mouth. We have confirmation of her first real loose tooth. “Real” loose tooth you may be asking. Yes. You see, it seems that compared to her friends, LatteGirl is the only one (or one of very few) that has not lost a tooth yet, so in her efforts to “catch up” with her friends we have had some what I can best call phantom allegations of a tooth coming loose. But this time, it is certainly and definitely loose.

Now time as passed and of course the memory fades, but I don’t remember being this excited about a loose tooth. Oh yeah, I was excited when it fell out (CASH!!!… or more correctly back then “COINS!!!”), but I don’t remember thinking of this as a right of passage to being “big” as she does now.

I told her, she is not allowed to lose her baby teeth yet! Basically, her response was to tell me to deal with it. Her Birthday was only a little more than a month ago, and already I think there are far too many firsts that have come being 6 than I am ready to “deal with.”

In today’s Star Ledger, it is reported that the Actor still in coma after shot to head at Wild West City, the article goes on to state that according to First Assistant Sussex County Prosecutor William Fitzgibbons, “At first, no one — not even the emergency medical technicians who responded Friday — realized Harris had been shot. The only sign of injury was a ’scratch’ on his forehead.” Fitzgibbons went on to state that, “They thought he either had a convulsion or hit his head on something and was unconscious.” I double checked with TheWife, and she said quite certainly that this was NOT the case, and that it was immediately obvious at the time that he had been shot in the head.

And even after a Pastor, who is acting as a spokesman for the family told the press that doctors had informed the family that a Bullet was found in his brain, that the fact that the “projectile” was in fact a bullet, Fitzgibbons is disputing it with comments like it is still being investigated whether it was a bullet for something else that was expelled from a gun loaded with blanks, and my favorite stupid comment, “Why would live ammunition even be there?” Well now, on any normal day, that is certainly true, but on a normal day none of the actors wind up in a coma with something lodged in his brain, so THAT would be a good question for the police to investigate, rather than being the reason you are continuing to deny that it is a bullet.

So why is this all so confusing? Why conflicting reports in the press? Is it because they are trying to protect Wild West City from a possible backlash from the event? Is it because an investigation did not start until “hours later” which could have hindered the investigation since evidence obviously could have been compromised/erased in that time? Could it be a cover up of sorts? Or is it simply a case of a prosecutor from Sussex County not knowing how to deal with the press?

Side Notes: TheWife tried to contact Wild West City for an update directly, because as she says, “not only employees of the park are affected by this.” But like I said, their “no comment or details” stance is certainly understandable at this point. I suggested she contact the Byram Police Department (as the request in the papers). But to be honest, I would not want them to start questioning LatteGirl about the events either. The quicker this fades in memory as far as I am concerned the better.

I will be back with my own post here later.

“I know that Daddy, but we saw somebody get shot FOR REAL!” she corrected. I look for TheWife to chime in here and help me, but instead she glances up at me and nods her head in agreement. It turns out that an actor was shot in the head in what I can only hope is an accident. (Not that I “hope” for accidents, and not that it makes it any better, especially for the person now in a hospital in critical condition). The article I linked to focus exclusively on the shooting, but apparently the man also fell, breaking a leg and possibly his arm.

According to TheWife, LatteGirl would NOT leave until she was sure the man was “taken care of” and insisted on staying at the scene until he was taken away by the ambulance. I love and admire my little angels caring nature… but can’t help but wonder if we are going to be the focus of many of her therapy sessions latter in life. ( “They made me stand there and WATCH this whole awful scene at Wild West City.”)

I guess the thought of “What if…” is what is freaking me out the most. (i.e. “What if whatever the projectile was ricocheted and hit LatteGirl or TheWife?”) It just seems sometimes that no matter what you do in an effort to stay safe and out of harm’s way… that it isn’t enough. I mean, you can’t live life in a bubble. Just as many accidents happen “in the home” as anywhere else. Spending all your time “hiding” from it is no better, as life needs to be lived, but is there No place safe?

Of course, it also kept me so busy that some small tasks I had planned on knocking out this weekend actually wound up not getting done, but what are you going to do?

Ya know, I always love it when Zoot breaks things out in short bullets, so I think I will try it. (Hopefully she didn’t steal this from Dooce, I don’t want all the “Dooce Defenders” to come here telling me how I am trying to rip her off ::snicker::)

• After knocking out a few guest posts for Silly Old Bear at Hey, You last week, I will be teaming up with him as Guest Bloggers to fill in for the vacationing Erin-erin-bo-berin over at Family Circus.
• TheWife went out of her way to let me know that Italy won the World Cup this year. It almost makes me wish that I cared. Almost.
• And again on the World Cup, is it because the U.S. is simply abysmal and has no chance of winning, that everybody gets so “Old Country” proud? I mean, I never see anybody waiving a Brazilian Flag, or Italian Flag, or whatever during the Olympics. So why the World Cup?
• This case, shows exactly what is wrong with our legal system. Attorney Wanda Jackson is already trying to put Coke on trial suggesting that the Test sample her client (allegedly) stole is “not as secret as Coke suggests.” Oh, so that makes it OK to steal it and attempt to sell it to a competitor? And in stating she needs to “test” the product she is cleary attempting to cause the Prosecutor problems… now with anything like the truth, but by trying to make Coke uneasy about making their Intellectual Property available. You client is guilty lady, regardless of whether or not the product is a “worthy” secret or not, she stole it and tryed to sell it. Go to Jail, go directly to jail. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200.
• I am still at a loss to understand how when the NJ Governor sent his proposal out in mid January, that lawmakers actually waited right up until the deadline to start looking for alternative proposals forcing the State to shut down. By shutting the State Government down, which also meant shutting down the lottery and Atlantic City Casinos, besides hurting the people that it put out of work (as if that wasn’t bad enough), it costs the State an estimated $3.5 million dollars A DAY. Freakin’ boneheads.

Not like I am going to be away from them long enough to miss anybody. But it feels odd. For two reasons. First, it is I guess comforting to know I have LatteGirl and (on nights she is not working) TheWife to come home to most evenings. Which I guess makes number 2 somewhat bittersweet. I have the house to myself for the evening… twice. On the one hand of course I have some much talked about, but rarely spotted peace and quiet. On the other hand, “it is going to be awfully quiet around here.”

Now don’t get me wrong I am determined to enjoy this as much as I can, but… (You could see that coming from a mile away couldn’t you?) trying to decide what to do with the time has me in sort of an analysis paralysis. I know I want to make “the best use” of my free time, but in trying to decide what is the best use of my free time, I can’t actually seem to make a decision on what that “best use” is.

I have lost 10 pounds so far on my four weeks (or so) of being on the Shangri-la diet, so I was pre-warned by TheWife about “sitting around the house in my underwear, eating Ben and Jerry’s and getting nothing accomplished.”

For the record (and to get that awful picture out of your head), I do not EVER sit around the house in my underwear. I am pretty sure I can fend off the evil lure of Ben and Jerry’s. The getting nothing accomplished though could be tough if I don’t make some sort of decision.

To be honest it was never a fair fight. They moved in calculated fashion, and never let silly little things like reason, facts or legalities get in their way. They have made some minor mistakes that I could pounce on and file a lawsuit on a technicality (they voted on this at a “special meeting” that was not properly announced). But that would only serve to delay the inevitable, and cost me money that I can not afford to throw away to do nothing more than become a nuisance.

Fortunately these clowns have moved so fast that they can not actually get everything in place for when school starts, so it will be “phased in” over the first several months of school. Which will bide me some time. Some time to try and get my loves to wear dresses to school princess, that she can no longer wear dresses to school. The hard question comes next. “Why?” Because some people believe in parenting by legislation, because some parents do not know how to be parents to their own kids, because the School Board conned parents with a bunch of lies and unsubstantiated claims. Because you daddy didn’t learn how to play the game of politics early enough in life to know how to fight for your rights properly, and thus I have failed you. I gave it my best, but my best in this case was not good enough.

In what smacks of a conspiracy theorist dream, conveniently Lay was found dead on Monday (presumably early morning) and conveniently by Wednesday (after a quick break for the 4th of July celebrations and slow news day), the autopsy was done and “definitively” declared a Heart Attack.

So, in order to get ahead of the conspiracy theorists, I have a couple of ideas of claims that can be made. What do you think?

A. Ken Lay was whacked by the Bush administation to ensure he stays quiet.
B. Key Lay was offed by a family member to make it difficult for the govt to try and recover the $43 million they said Lay owed.
C. Ken Lay is really alive and well somewhere on an extradition free island in the Carribean
D. Ken is dead… just let the man (rest in peace/roast in hell)
E. Who the hell is Ken Lay?

The Bronx Zoo trip was an absolute blast for everybody. Nobody wanted to leave… mentally at least… but the feet were tired and it was getting late. I managed to get a couple of nice photos but nothing near what I had originally planned as I was too busy going from one thing to another and trying to keep up with the girls, who apparently have this whole park and the various “versions” of planned trails.

Versions? Yes. You see, there is no way you can see everything in the Zoo, it is simply too vast. You probably can’t spend as much time as you would like at various items and complete it even in 2 days. (Well maybe two days if you start out early and stay until closing).

Getting on the camel ride apparently requires getting there practically as the Zoo opens unless you are willing to spend a couple of hours on line, so it was not on our agenda for this day (Unfortunate for me as I was really looking forward to getting a picture of LatteGirl on the camel).

You can view the rest of the set of pictures here or just go to my flickr account here.

Today we found a dog wandering around our neighborhood. It was obviously well taken care of and had her collar. So TheWife grabbed the wayward pet. She was from a town a few over from our own. It seemed pretty obvious that she did not just wander here, so we assumed that the owner was visiting somebody. When we called the number on the dog tags, of course we got an answering machine (because they were visiting somebody near to us, and not home to answer their phone).

I decided to wander the neighborhood and look (and listen) for somebody searching for the dog, and TheWife left a message on the answering machine of the owner. I never found any searchers, but luckily the owner checked their answering machine and dog and owner were happily reunited, but it got me thinking that having a cell phone number on the dog’s collar would have made the whole thing easier, and more direct. I mean fortunately these people did not live that far away, and they knew how to retrieve their message away from home (something there are plenty of people don’t know how to do). If these factors were not as convenient, then this could have wound up being more difficult.

Just something to consider.

But with all this terrible weather, over the last week LatteGirl has taken two trips to the lake with camp, and today her and TheWife made a trip down to the Jersey Shore. Somehow all the rain, all the problems, seem to manage to find a way to work their way right around us, and not even put a damper on her plans. No flooding here, and the rains even seem to find a way to stop long enough for her activities to take place.

With more rain expected, and talks that the Mid-Atlantic region is more likely to receive a direct hit than in any time since 1938. I hope her fairy magic doesn’t run out.

When we were deciding how to handle summer vacation, we decided to split up her time. Three days at camp and two days home with mom, figuring that at least she would be spending a majority of her time with her peers, enable her to join up with some of her old friends who are also attending this camp, and hopefully make some new friends. Since she is often shy in new surroundings, and new people coupled with the fact that last summer we basically did the same thing with her last months at Pre-K this seemed like a good mix. The two days “off” from camp would allow her to do other things with mom, and give her a break from the stresses of camp.

Well Day 1 we were informed of just how wrong we were. Our shy little girl made a couple of new friends right away, and wanted to know “Why?” she couldn’t go to camp 5 days a week, and why were we “making” her stay home two days a week. Now some of this of course is exacerbated by some friends that she had from Pre-K, who she simply adores and their teaming up again has her thrilled. I know full well a week or two from now, that euphoria would wear off.

But the changes have not stopped there. By Day 2, once inside the meeting place, my shy little princess, yelled “By Mom” and bolted off to be with her friends, and get online so they could board the bus (they were heading up to the lake – Do I need to say how thrilled I am that we got her into swimming lessons this past winter/spring?). TheWife was devastated. No more big good-bye hugs and “smooches.” Since she started Kindergarten LatteGirl has had a tradition. So that she “would not be lonely or miss us too much,” when I leave for work in the morning I give her a kiss on her right hand, TheWife kisses the left. This way when she is missing us she can “put the smooch” on her cheek to feel loved and no longer lonely. Well is seems that she still likes the idea, but at six years old, that it is too silly to do in front of her friends (already appearances are SOOOOOO important). My part of things was safe, because she is still in bed when I am leaving for work, but TheWife was informed that if she wanted her smooches and hugs, it had to be done in the car, before they were in sight of everyone else.

Of course not everything is all about the camp. When we inquired as to whether she would want to take another dance class for the summer (her “regular” classes run similar to the school year), she was hesitant but decided to check out what the summer class was about. She returned back, thrilled and ready to go. Why? Because it wasn’t just another “Tap and Ballet” class as her regular one is. No. She was taking a class to learn… Hip Hop and Jazz.

And of course, no discussion of how fast children grow up is complete without stating… in complete whiny parent sounds, “She is growing like a weed!” I swear she has grown at least a couple of inches since her birthday at the end of May. How could this be? It is going to be fun watching her blossom this summer. I just need to find a way to accept that for every new first, there will probably also be the end of some other part of her as my little baby girl.

I know I am not the only parent in the world taking on a school board over school uniforms, and certainly I am not the only one that thinks the banning of cupcakes is a bit over the top. But I must admit, I have small battles to fight compared to parents that have School Administrators that do things such as (thanks to Doug Reality Me , and BusyMom for the links, and take a look at his take, as he has put much more work into the finding the source of FACTS than I have, and/or BusyMom with her humorous but telling crotchedy old lady take), ban recess it in the “name of safety”, Ban Recess in favor of Sensitivity Training , or ban Pizza Parties.

Now some things I can take in better stride and almost understand (I said almost). The whole banning of cupcakes and Pizza is just taking a good idea and taking it to an illogical conclusion. We all make mistakes of this type in our lives, we take what starts out as a good idea and run with it until we finally reach a point of saying, “What the hell am I doing?” The only unfortunate point with something that is political (and don’t kid yourself, if you think that just because they do not run on “party tickets” that politics are not involved), it takes a long time to correct things when they go off course.

But now let us look at the Draconian schemes. School Uniforms and this latest stupidity banning Recess. I have found one common thread, that I find frightening alarming, but at the same time a perfect clue that an idea is based on stupidity rather than anything that resembles a reasonable fact. The commonality, is administrators “selling” their idea by trying to frighten parents with visions of the Columbine Massacre.

Now I was annoyed when my local school board did it, citing certain types of clothing would make it easier to smuggle weapons into school. But I could almost see the argument that they were trying to make (not agree with it, but at least understand it). Of course that fell apart, first when it was pointed out that at Columbine, they carried in their weapons in duffel bags, and second when the kid they showed with all those concealed weapons in the film, was wearing a shirt very similar to the one being proposed for the uniform shirt (hmmm… maybe they should have reviewed the tape before the public hearing). But, I could not be annoyed, because I was too stunned when I read in the “justification” for banning recess when P.A.T. (I assume that is the same as a PTA or PTO) member Pat Kirputnik stated:

Did you know that every single grade school feeding into Columbine High School had recess?

“And here’s the most shocking part,” continued Kirputnik, “The school board continued the practice even after the tragedy there, as if they didn’t see a connection at all. I would characterize that as criminally negligent.”

Wow! How did we ever survive as a society? I mean Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold went there that day and shot 12 fellow students and a teacher because they had recess in Grammar School? Obviously Ms. Kirputnik has some serious information that she should share with the world here since she found that link so obvious.

Please people don’t forget the lesson’s from Columbine, but let us put it to rest as an excuse whenever we decide to justify squeezing kids under your thumbs a little more. Video games didn’t lead these individuals to do what they did. Neither did recess, or their not wearing a school uniform (hell they were NOT a member of the Trenchcoat Mafia, as was originally widely reported). A Zero-Tolerance policy where good student gets expelled under questionable circumstances, will not “prevent it.” Let Columbine rest in peace, and stop using it as an excuse for everything you wish to do.

BUT!

I am not touching the HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray debacle. I refuse to wind up like those that in the past wound up with lame duck BetaMax or LaserDisc players. And even when the market finally decides a winner, I am not buying another player until somebody swears to me in blood that this is the last format that they are going to come out with!!!

And I seriously hope that the MPAA and its members do not expect me to buy all five (so far) seasons of of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation again just to get the “High Definition Experience.” I love the show… I just don’t need to see Sara in such high resolution that I can see whether or not she has clogged pores.

Kyra: “You’ve got MILK in your boobies mom? I’ve got milk in my sippy cup!”

I never stop being amazed (and entertained) by what comes out of kids mouths. It is one of those things that you just have to be a parent to appreciate. To read the full post, go here.

I admit it, I love shopping at Target and Wal-Mart. Now between the two, I prefer Target because it is far more upscale in design, merchandise quality and is less likely (outside of the Holiday Season of course) to not have lines that take as long as your shopping to get through. Of course Wal-Mart has the best prices on virtually everything they carry (although not all I have noticed), and has far more items than Target.

However, I do not condone the employment practices used at either of these chains (and others as well). They pay sub-standard wages, provide virtually no benefits or security to their workers, play the part-time game of hiring plenty of part-timers in order to avoid having to provide raises and/or benefits to employees, and so on, and so on.

I have written letters of support of lesgislation (in “committee” here in NJ, but already approved in Del.) that force big companies such as these to improve their benefits and such for employees. I support the increasing of the Federal Miniumum wage so that these companies are forced to pay a livable wage to their employees.

But at the same time, I can’t stop shopping in these locations. I LIKE to save money. I want to do what is best for my family as well. So, rather than doing what would be the most honorable thing, and that would be not shop there, I continue to do so. I rationalize it by realizing that there are few options that I have that do not fit into these categories. Sears, K-Mart, Toys R Us, and far too many others also use these abysmal tactics on their employees as well. But since they are not as big as Wal-Mart they do not share the focus of the problem with Wal-Mart. So where do I shop?

Yes, I know I am rationalizing, but without a viable alternative, I am at least going to take care of my family first. And to save money that means shopping at places like Target and Wal-Mart.

Tonight will be the premiere of Leroy and Stitch on Disney Channel. This final show is intended to end the series (In case you haven’t noticed, Disney Shows ALL seem to end with a movie now, Lizzie McGuire, The Even Steven Movie, Kim Possible (except this show was saved and will now have a fourth season) and now Lilo and Stitch.

I haven’t given up hope that the show can be saved (if you haven’t yet, could you PLEASE click on the banner over on the right, and fill out the easy to use e-mail form and tell the Powers that be at Disney that they should scrap Michael Eisners stupid 65 episode rule), but even if they bring the show back, because of this movie it will have to be different, which may not be a bad thing, but I will mourn the passing of this show.

And I am sure there will be plenty of sad touching momments in the film, I better stop and get some extra boxes of tissue for me and the little one.

But apparently times have changed. This spring we instituted an allowance. Along with it came some rules as we attempt to teach her better money management than most people have today. We decided on 6 dollars a week. Now this may sound like a lot for a small child, but like I said, with the money came rules. $2 per week goes to her LONG TERM savings (in the bank). $2 per week goes to her “short term” savings, a bank which I bought for her from INGDirect which acts like an ATM (it even has a little ATM Card), and keeps totals for her of how much she puts in and withdraws. This short term is for things like toys she may wish to purchase or accessories for her bike, etc. The last $2 is her “pocket” money… lolipops, snacks, Ice Tea from the store (as opposed to what we have in the house) anything that is not part of the “normal” shopping comes from this fund.

She has thus far taken to this quite well. She understand that she has to save for things, and has at times passed on things that she wanted from her “pocket money” so that she could add it to her “short term” to get a toy or something else a bit quicker. Now don’t get me wrong, she is still a bit impulsive, and as soon as she thinks she has enough for something she wants to go spend it, so there is still work to be done, but I think for six she is quite controlled… so far.

But now, her entrepreneurial spirit is also kicking in, along with the desire for more cash. First she decided that she wanted to have a yard sale, and sell off some of the toys and clothes she either no longer wants or need, in order to turn it into “more money for the things I want.”

She did not stop there however. In one of the catalogs of “Summer Stuff” that we had gotten in the mail she spotted a lemonade stand, and the wheels started to turn. She asked Mommy if she had enough in her short term to purchase the stand. While pointing out that she did, but that it would be virtually depleting her “account,” she let us in on her plan. “But it will be hot out when we have our yard sale. People will be thirsty. And when they come to buy our stuff we can also sell them lemonade.”

I am not sure if I should be proud… or scared.

1. If you write a post that is worthy of being linked to by blogs that actually have a readership (like Crouching Mommy Hidden Laundry and I am the Goober Queen) , you really should have something interesting to follow it up with.

2. No matter how bad (0-1-1 so far) the U.S. may stink on the World Cup Stage, we will apparently always hold out hope, and put the best spin on it we can.

3. I can’t help but wonder what the Religious Right will say about the vaccine for Cervical Cancer now that a new study was published stating that Condom Use Reduces Women’s HPV Risk.

4. That when Corporations like AT&T are caught breaking the law, all they need to do is change the rules, so that it becomes “legal.” According to the article, besides revealing customer informtion, only to “respond to subpoenas, court orders or other legal process, to the extent required and/or permitted by law,” it now covers “protect its legitimate business interests” or to be more blunt about it, “whenever they want to.” So if they are looking for a new cherry contract from the government it would thus be legal to divulge any customer data they wish, because doing so would be a “legitimate” business interest. Any chance AT&T had of winning me back as a customer is clearly now gone.

5. It turns out I am not the only person in the world that is sick of hearing about Angelina Jolie and Family.

6. I find it amazing that Senators can sleep at night, when since the last Federal increase in the Minimum Wage, they have increased their own salaries nine times, increasing by more than $35,000, but can still vote down a mimimum wage increase to $7.25 OVER almost TWO YEARS, a whopping increase of $1.10/hour. Apparently they do not want low income workers to take part in this “growing economy” they keep telling us is there.

7. I learned that although today is her last real day of school (tomorrow is a Pizza Party), that I am not quite ready to call my daughter a “1st Grader.” As far as I am concerned, she doesn’t move up until September. This will at least stall some of the “she’s growing up so fast” whining until then.

Hey, I never said this was earth-shattering stuff. So tell me, what have you learned lately?

Sen. Jarrett Barrios was outraged that his son Nathaniel, a third-grader,
was given a Fluffernutter sandwich at the King Open School in Cambridge. He said
he plans to file legislation that would ban schools from offering the local
delicacy more than once a week as the main meal of the day.

The Democrat said that his amendment to a bill on junk food in schools
may seem “a little silly” – but that school nutrition is serious.

What the story does not mention, and Sen. Barrios is apparently unaware of, is that while a Tablespoon of Jelly has 53 calorires, a tablespoon of Fluff has 30 Calories.

I fully support increasing nutrition for our kids in schools, but can just one of these clowns get the facts before they start one of their crusades?

It really struck a chord with me when Busy Mom, in her post on the Mondo Condo said,

“So, armed with my established set of unrealistic expectations (our previously
mentioned accomodations were very, very nice), I set out to find us a new place
to go. It was weird having to fork over money for a place I’d never seen
before…”

I was struck because, despite liking to think myself an intelligent consumer, that this is exactly what we had been doing, and yet I never really thought twice about it. I had always based out disappointments on our “unrealistic expectations” rather than really considering the fact that perhaps the proprietors had “puffed up” our expectations with claims in their brochures that were…um… less than accurate.

So, have a learned a lesson through this? Ummm… sort of. I have learned to really pay attention to what a brochure is saying, and be wary appropriately. But other than that, I guess not. Because this year, if only in my own mind, we are taking what is the biggest “risk” on a vacation/resort being exactly what it claims to be.

They say (whomever “They” are), “You can never go home again.” But what I am wondering is if you can vacation there. Back when I was a lad (you know in the days when Maxwell House was the king of coffee challenged only by Folgers which had “Flavor Crystals” and “Mountain Grown Aroma”, watching a highly technical cop show meant Columbo, and Tuesdays were owned by “Happy Days”, and wood panelling apparently belonged EVERYWHERE!), back in those days, the family would once a year escape the NY/NJ Metro area for a vacation in the Pocono Mountains at a resort called Sunset Hill. For a city boy like me, it was (oddly enough) a week in heaven. A week without television or newspapers or virtually any contact with the “outside world.” It was a self-contained entertainment vacation with everything to keep the entire family busy on 100 acres of pristine land. As a kid you never wanted to leave, and since there were enough activities and the place was self-contained the parents were free to relax as the kids when from activity to activity and were actually rested by the end of the week. Sadly, when the proprietors retired, the place was shuttered.

Well, in looking for a vacation spot this year, and looking for something “different” from the usual trips down the Jersey Shore, I decided to look towards the Poconos once again for a vacation. In the barage of information I was subsequently sent from seemingly every spot in PA., I spied Chestnut Grove. And while once again forking over money without having seen the place, this is a bit different (I hope). You see the expectations they set here are not as sky high as some others. Take a look a the pictures of the rooms on their site. They are not promising some huge 5 star hotel kind of accomodations, what they are showing you is a simple room (with that same 70’s style Wood panelling I mentioned earlier) where you can sleep at night. Nothing more, nothing less. The schedule of activities is virtually identical to those that I did way back when, right down to the resort softball game against a “rival” resort.

Emotionally, I am betting a LOT on this vacation. Financially not so much. Besides being quiet, it is actually far less expensive than many options within driving distance. But, I am hoping that this place can not only deliver on what they promise, but that it can live up to memories of vacations from my youth. I guess that qualifies as “unrealistic expectations” but I am willing to take that chance.

So when then, can anybody tell me, is a shot of novacaine and a pair of pliers still the Modus Operandi for the extraction of a tooth?

Wouldn’t you think by now they would have something that would enable the tooth to be loosened and removed with a minimal amount of pain? Or at least reduce the amount of pain you feel hours later when the novacaine wears off.

But that is just me whining about having to have a tooth removed. What I really can’t fathom today, is when reading about vaccine specifically designed to prevent (cervical) cancer, that there can actually be a controversy about it. I guess I will just never understand what goes on in the minds of these people. While I have no problem with the promotion of abstinence, to decide that this is a “viable alternative” to a vaccine, is not only mis-guided, it is downright irresponsible.

Let us be completely honest here for a momment. Focus on the Family (oh and just so I do not appear to be picking on one group, Family Research Council also fits into this class of irresponsible organizations) opposes making it mandatory, saying the decision to vaccinate should rest with a child’s parents or guardians. First of all, since when has Focus on the Family ever let anything resst with the decision of the parents or guardians? Second, the reason for making vaccines mandatory is becuase it is acknowledged by experts that if we left innoculation up to the choice of parents, far too few children would actually be vaccinated.

It is a matter of health. Let the message be, vaccination PLUS abstinence, not absinence and hope for the best. There is no reason to leave the risks of Cervical cancer to pliers and novacaine, when it can be eliminated. Take the medical advances we have made.

With father’s day rapidly approaching, of course the question comes up, “What do you want for Father’s Day?” I just want one thing. From now until the end of time.

I want to be half the man my father was. I want to learn to be the caring, wise, thrifty, smart, family man he was. And I want to learn how he made it all look so easy.

Is that too much to ask?

It is just shy of two years since his heart gave up on him… and the void he has left is too huge to fill.

Sometimes with a short attention span it can be difficult to try and accomplish the tasks at hand when you have a child around that is “bored” and looking to be entertained. So we have enough stuff, to generally keep that from happening.

However, as I discovered (or more properly – was reminded) by LatteGirl yesterday. “Entertainment” does not always require money, toys or a “plan.” Sometimes all it takes is a garden hose and a lawn sprinkler.

She was playing on her swingset yesterday as I put on the sprinkler in the back of the yard. I started tending to another task when I heard a scream. Not a bad scream. A scream of joy, of elation, a scream that brought me back to the days when cooling off mean either going to the park where a large pipe and sprinkler head was the hit of the neighborhood, or a fire hydrant sprayed down the kids on the street. No particular game or agenda. Just run around like crazy, into the water enough to get cooled off, and then out again because the water was freezing cold.

As I turned around to look, I saw her running through and over and even under the streams of water going back and forth. For a brief moment, I was not pleased as I realized that she was still in her school clothes, and I briefly entertained the thought of stopping her… at least to go and put on her bathing suit. But I didn’t. She was already wet, so what good would it do? The spontaneity and reckless joy would be sucked out, because I had become too old to just understand the fun of being a kid. So I just sat down for a while, and watched. Reminded of the reckless abandon of my own youth, reminisced a bit, but more importantly watched as she enjoyed the moment, and hopefully built a piece of her own memory, a memory she will be able to look back on with fondness years from now.

This is NOT to say that men are better in any way shape or form on this matter, it is just one of those “Mars/Venus” things. However, it does leave one misperception that I would like to point out and at the same time try and help correct. That misperception is that women alway know just the right gift to purchase for their spouse/mate/significant other. This myth is perpetuated by a few factors. Which one is applicable is based on the type on man in question. Please note that these factors may also be in play with some gifts for women as well, I will be happy to concede, but that is not our topic today.

The first is the man that does not wish to upset his wife or cause a fight. Since most people that read my site, and the people I read are relatively intelligent individuals, I would like to assume that most fit into this category. These wrong gifts appear “right” because in an effort to “keep the peace” the man smiles, and goes on about how nice the gift is, and will usually use adjectives to describe it such as “thoughtful” or “needed.” The second group of include the stereotypical male (which may in fact include some of those in the first group), who while absolutely hating the gift is too lazy to make the “effort” to return the item, and instead throw it on a shelf to collect dust, until the next garage sale when somebody (usually the wife) says, “You never use this” and off it goes.

Well, in an effort to help improve relations, and save some greif (as well as reduce the number of new items as your next yard sale), I have decided to compile a short list of tips for purchasing a Father’s Day gift. It should be noted that despite being done in time for Father’s Day, this can be easily applied to any gift giving situation. And as always, these are guidelines, and as such are very general and broad in their application, so every rule may not fit “him” exactly, but is a good starting point.

And now without further adeui:

1. Put down that tie. I shouldn’t even need to say this one, it is so cliche and should be (but apparently isn’t) obvious. Unless he has made specific mention of a specific tie that he would like, don’t do it. First of all, he probably has more ties than he will ever need. Second, even if he “really needs” a tie, you remove the one opportunity a “Suit” has to accessorize. Men who wear suits (in general) do not have the options women have in selecting a wardrobe. Solid Shirt, either white,blue, or cream. Suit that is either Black, Gray or Navy Blue and black shoes, either ties or loafer. The only chance he has to play with some color is the tie. The other problem with a tie is, if you pick something he hates. Either it will sit on the tie rack, and it will be a painful reminder everytime he looks at it, or an even more painful reminder when you ask, “Why don’t you ever wear the tie I bought you?” He will automatically hate you each and every time he wears the tie.

2. Leave him alone with the cologne. The second most cliche of Father’s Day gifts after “The Tie” is cologne/after shave. Now if you know what he likes, and he actually needs some (not as likely as you may think) this may very well be a nice gift. But only in those circumstances, and never buy the “Gift Set” with the matching items unless he actually already uses those products. Because, while he may like Drakkar Noir cologne, unless he is already using the skin conditioner, body wash, etc. they will only wind up taking up space in the medicine cabinet.

3. Don’t buy a gift that will ‘help.’ This is nothing but a thinly veiled attack wrapped with a bow. While you may not “mean it” that way, giving a gift that will, “Help you get organized,” or “Help you keep your papers (CDs/DVDs/Video Games/whatever) together” and so on, clearly fits into the category of gifts given to another but really meant as a “gift” to the giver. You know you hate it when he gives you a gift that is more for him than for you, so then why would you do it to him?

4. Don’t give him a gift he ‘needs.’ He may very well need new underwear, or t-shirts or socks. Women’s complaints about men that wear these items until they are barely recognizable, are legendary (and true). The solution, replace those items in his drawer. DO NOT give them to him as a gift. First it conjures up the disappointments at holiday time, when he opened a brightly wrapped present, only to find “practical” gifts. Second, they are telling him emphatically that you just don’t care enough about him to get him something that is not already on the shopping list. To help drive the point home, this sort of a gift would be like him giving you a package of vacuum cleaner bags for Mother’s Day.

OK, so the with the basic “Don’ts” out of the way, beware a few other pitfalls that may not be obvious.

5. Yes, sometimes brand does matter to him. All too often because when it is something he does not care about, men have a tendency to scoff at “brand names” it is assumed that they NEVER care about it. This is actually really not true. One thing advertisers know about men, is WHEN they eventually do decide a brand is “it” that they will very often become fiercely loyal to it, and due to men’s inherit lack of communication skills expect you to KNOW what they are loyal to. So if he hints at, let’s say a Makita Drill, do not go and buy a Craftsman. If he is a “Webber Man” when it comes to “his” grill, then Char-broil is not a satisfactory replacement. Because everything being equal, it is wrong because he is loyal to Makita, or Webber, or whatever that particular brand is.

6. Be very careful around, “The Grill.” I don’t know why this is, but men love to bar-b-que. But just as the indoor cook (whether it be male or female) have their preferences, such as Calaphon, or Kitchen-Aid, the man that is the “Grillmaster” (and go ahead and snicker, I do realize that there are far more “outdoor cooks” that regardless of what they think should probably never do any sort of cooking) wants things set up the way he wants, and to use the tools that he wants. So going and buying him that cute little set of Grill utensils that comes in the neat little organizing box (see above about organizing) is not going to make him give up “his tools of the grill” (even if they are “ugly” or “mismatched”). This is a territorial issue. Leave him be with what he wants to use. (And just keep the fire extinguisher near by).

7. Gift Cards ARE appreciated. Not sure where this little ditty got started, but men do like getting gift cards. It gives him the opportunity to shop for him without guilt. But don’t buy into the silliness offered by some women in gift guides that you need to “spruce up” a gift card to make it a more “personal” gift. He could not care less about the “dressing” and to be honest won’t even notice it (OK, this may not be true if he is a colorful gay man, or even a metrosexual, who MAY at least notice that you decorated it. But is still not important.)

and finally…

8. Listen to men when it comes to gifts for men. While looking for articles on this subject, I came across an article, Frugal Gifts for Men from about.com. I am not knocking this article for it’s frugal theme. I think it is quite useless, because while Pat Veretto certainly has some good tips for Frugal living, her gift ideas for men work their way don’t the list from bad ideas to just outrageously stupid.

So there you have it, a starting point (I never claimed it to be all encompassing now did I). Feel free to let me know what I missed, what you think I have wrong, or to ask my opinion on any sort of a gift.

I must say that I am THRILLED to have “nothing” on the calendar this weekend. LatteGirl on the other hand will be out and about a birthday party. The party is at a movie theater, and they will be seeing the new Disney/Pixar film Cars, which means that if I want to see the film, I am now going to have to go see it by myself, without the excuse of child. My lack of events of course means that the trusty “honey-do” list will be the priority. Oddly though… after the past few weekends. I am OK with that.

We are starting to look at making a big splurge and take our vacation NEXT year at Walt Disney World. Based on my inital estimates for this vacation, I need to start saving $500/month from now until next summer for it. Ouch.

Errata

I mentioned in yesterday’s rant about uniforms and made sure I pointed out that not all careers that involve uniforms are “less choice” than others. I intentionally avoided making a list of those careers for fear of omitting one (or a few) from a “list” and making it seem as if I was slighting that particular one. But just to put the issue to rest, yes there are other professions besides nursing that may certainly be on a “chosen” career path, and not one that you got stuck with because life did not work out as planned. (I am still not going to try and list them all however).

Nor did I try to implicate that wearing school uniforms equate to “blue collar” work. Quite the opposite. I was trying to point out that there is absolutely NO correlation and that it is silly to suggest that wearing a uniform to school in any way “prepares” you for the real world.

Potpourri

If she wasn’t a tall blonde female, would anybody actually pay attention to that hate mongering bitch that has published yet another book full of venom, or would she just be lumped in with other loons like Pat Robertson? I mean look up and down my blogroll. Every single person on that list is more intelligent and a better writer than that…that… whatever you wish to call her. What I guess frightens me most is that people actually BUY her books which means there are more sickos like her out there.

The town in which I live has a huge English, Irish and Portugese and Brazilian populace. National flags will be seen everywhere this weekend with the World Cup in progess. I would have liked to have seen this many American Flags being flown for Memorial Day.

I have just about had it with Blogger, and am starting to look elsewhere. Suggestions? I am looking at WordPress and possibly Expression Engine. I will NOT use MoveableType or any of its variants (LiveJournal, Typad)… let’s just chalk it up to philosophical differences, OK? OK. Am I missing any good ones?

Now I of course expected there to be people that had opposing points of view. I also expected those that were pro-uniform to cite the fear-mongering reasons that the Board of Education used to push for the uniforms, things like safety, savings, etc. After all, those who are pro-uniform are quick to call up the specter of the Columbine Massacre, claiming that if they had uniforms this incident would not have occurred. Of course there is nothing to justify this, no empirical evidence at all. But the fear helps justify the pro-uniform stance. This is of course expected from those that do not bother with looking for facts, and are pro-choice by emotion.

What did however stun me were some of the other assertions. Several parents complained that it takes “hours” to get their children dressed in the morning for school. Others stated they were tired of “fighting” with their kids about the clothes they wore. Then there was the complaint (mostly of high school kids) of the inappropriate attire that some kids (predominantly female) wore to school. The “inappropriate attire” problem did not stun me, as I happen to agree that there is far too much of that in schools. What stunned me, was the lack of accountability. These parents do not wish to take any responsibility. It is never “their kid” that is a problem (even when they admit that they have to “fight” with their kids about what to wear).

Rather than working on their parenting skills, or putting forth the effort to work with their children to get them to understand what is an isn’t appropriate for schools, they would rather abdicate this responsibility to the state run agencies such as the BoE. Parenting requires effort. There is no arguing that fact. But the rewards are so great. According to the Supreme Court, the 14th amendment says that you have the right to raise your child without interference. Why would you turn this over to an agency that does not know your child? To whom your child is simply a number, one of the masses rather than making the effort. It just flies in the face of everything I think parenting should be. Only YOU know what is best for your child (assuming you are a reasonably responsible parent).

The dumbest argument I heard is “uniforms prepares children for later in life.” How dumb is THAT? With a few notable professional examples (i.e. Nurses), if you are wearing a uniform to work, chances are life didn’t turn out quite as well as you planned. Some even compared to having to wear “professional attire’ in the work place. First of all, you have chosen the career you have, and have the ability to change it. That choice is yours. Second, even if you believe you “can’t” change jobs for whatever reason, you still have choices that you can make within “professional attire.” You choose the shirt, or blouse, or power tie or slacks that you wear. You have choices.

Now I admit, that I have hopes and dreams for LatteGirl that do not involve a uniform shirt, name tag, and the phrase “Do you want fries with that?” So perhaps I am projecting too much, but being a individual and giving my child every opportunity to grow is far more important to me than giving up my parenting responsibilities because a few parents are too lazy to make the effort to ensure their children know what is appropriate to wear to school.

I chose to be parent. I like being a parent. Including when it is difficult, or maybe even more when it is difficult. Because, I have a wonderful child that I want to grow up to be whatever it is she wants to be and not suffer because of the inabilities of others. Taking responsibility for your child’s development. Is there anything more important for a parent?

Now I can fully concentrate on fighting the school board over uniforms, my quest to get rBGH (growth hormones) banned from milk, my diet, raising a baby tree, tending to the evil pool and the omnipresent “honey-do” list.

And I wonder why I am always tired.

Vacation plans are in the works, but dates and locations are yet to be determined. I could use one right about now, but I guess I will have to wait.

That is not necessarily a bad thing though. One week on the Shangri-La diet and I am down 5 pounds. Now that by itself may garner a “pffft” as “everybody loses 5 pounds the first week of a diet. ” And I would think the same thing. But now I need to add. Over this week I have attend 2 bar-b-ques, 2 birthday parties and a confirmation party. At no time did I “deny” myself anything. I didn’t stop eating any particular food, or drink (excessively) more water than I had before (more… But not a lot more). And at no time did I feel hungry. So when I tie that in with the 5 pound loss. I am quite happy, and if my success continues, maybe I won’t mind people seeing me in a bathing suit. (OK, if things continue may NEXT summer, I won’t mind people seeing me in a bathing suit).

I was reading A Peek Into My Insanity, in particular her “winner” of Idiot of the Week. It seems that this jerk put a baby in a dryer! I don’t think “idiot” quite does this “thing” justice. Indulge me for a moment will you? Thanks. First of all, just the fact that this clown put a 13 month old baby in a tumble for “a couple of minutes” is enough in my book to classify you (in my ever so elegant terms) a Seriously Demented Nutbag (or SDN). Now, let us carry this to its illogical conclusion. Not only did he put an infant in the dryer. Upon removing the child from the dryer which caused “horrific injuries” to the child, he did… Nothing. It was not until the mother (who I certainly think is questioning her own judgment at this point… Or at least I hope she is), returned from going to the gym was the child taken to the hospital. Now they do not specify in the article how long a period of time it was between how long it was between the dryer and being taken to the hospital, but even if it is “just a couple of minutes,” you can only assume that the child was screaming in pain (if not unconscious from it), and that SDN was oblivious to this. Can somebody explain to me, what can possible affect a persons Critical Thinking abilities so badly that something like putting a baby in a dryer can actually be rationalized in their heads? If you are that seriously brain damaged, you really should be removed from society.

The other one that has my head spinning, I found (I think because I can not find the post) over at Inn of the Last Home , in which a 3-year-old apparently walked out of his house and into the family car and died of (presumably) heat in the mid-day sun. It has been ruled an accident by police in Knoxville, TN. So the parents will get away with it. Now, I will admit to watching one too many episode of CSI (and in particular this episode immediately came to mind), and probably jumped to some conclusions that I perhaps shouldn’t have. Putting those thoughts aside, I am sorry, that I still believe that there should be a law against criminal stupidity, and if you are not aware that at 1PM in the afternoon that your child is missing, that at the very least they are criminally negligent. But that of course is just my opinion.

I think I will take some extra time this evening to play with LatteGirl.

Now comes the stupidity over at LiveJournal that is banning or suspending users who have a depiction of breastfeeding. There are (were plenty of links), but apparently some of the users have already been banned and their Journals deleted. (Thanks to Doug over at Reality Me for this working link). While not quite as overtly evil as Ms. Flowers, The folks over at Six Apart did a poor job in handling the situation and ensuing complaints. Their fist mistake was calling an picture of a breastfeeding woman “offensive.” Second their indignation at the complaints of users only showed their contempt for what their users think.

Of course since right wing nuts like, Focus on Family’s Dr. Dobson believe a woman’s place is in the home, perhaps as soon as they get done trying to ban gay marriage, they could sponsor a Constitutional Ammendment banning breastfeeding in public.

The School Uniforms Debate

After the meeting with the Board of Education, I was nothing short of amazed. First by the number of people that were there, like me, fully against the idea of school uniforms. Second by the arguments put forth by the parents that were FOR the uniforms.

Now, I could easily filter out the ones that argue the factors of “safety”, “improved scores”, etc. because there is ZERO, not little, ZERO empircal evidence to back these claims, and this is nothing but fear mongering. But then there were the others. Parents that wanted uniforms because it is “easy”, they don’t have to think or fight with their kids over what they are going to wear to school. Apparently, they need school board policy to gain any control over their kids. Yet others complained about the older kids (7th, 8th and High School) kids, that dressed inappropriately for school. Of course it was never THEIR child that was dress like a “bum” or a “slut” but that “other” parents allowed their children to dress that way. Again. I can’t understand how parents want to give up their ability to raise their children and abdicate the responsibility of the legislators. I can see no good coming from that. But apparently some parents can’t be bothered with actual parenting once the kid is school age. For these folks, it would seem that the kids are in charge. And then people wonder why kids aren’t respectful to teachers and authority figures. Well they have never had to be, because with parents like these they assume they can just walk all over any adult the way they do their parents.

It is really sad, and makes me wish I could be one of those parents that just sits back witout caring what goes on and say, “What are ya’ gonna do? That’s the way things are.” It must be so much less stressful to go through life that way. But, I have taken my head out of the sand and looked around, and I’m afraid I am just not able to go back to being oblivious.

Getting Ready for Family

Well this weekend is LatteGirl’s Birthday Party – Family Edition. Which of course means cleaning the house, getting everything ready, baking a cake, all the things that I could have been working on this week if I wasn’t busy as hell in work, and “wasting” my “free” time on things like prepping for the meeting above.

Top it off. We ordered new end tables for the house. They arrived yesterday evening. Of course TheWife wants them built and ready in time for the party. These things are broken down into about 800 bazillion pieces that need to be be assembled in just the right order. Of course the first of the pieces as always are at the bottom of the box, so you need to remove the first 799.9 bazillion other pieces first and spread them out. I guess I am going to try and do that while I am baking the cake. With any luck, I should be able to finish them just before sunrise.

The Boss

You know, sometimes it can really put a kink in your plans when you employer gets the crazy notion that you should be dedicated to working when you are in the office. What is that all about? Deadlines and proposals all needed to be completed this week. Good new though is that it appears that my proposal part was a sucess, and not only will I be extended well past my original end date of Aug 1, but got the pot sweetened by another $100 a week as well. Not enough to send me and the family to the Riviera, but certainly nothing to sneeze at either.

So despite feeling pulled in a million directions with too much to do in too little time, overall things I guess are pretty good, if I can just survive the next 36 hours or so.

See More at Flickr.

On Tuesday, for her birthday, LatteGirl and TheWife went to the beach and had a fantastic time. It seemed that the best “present” LatteGirl got this year, was that since they were situated so close to the shoreline, that TheWife allowed her to wander freely back and forth from the shore to scoop up wet sand and water and carry it back to their location. She started out doing t his under the guise of building a sand castle. But as she continued her romps down to the water, it became clear that she was more interested in her new found independance and ability to run up and down “by herself” more than the prospect of building the sand castle.

I met up with my girls at home, and we went out to dinner. Plans changed along the way, because LatteGirl decided that she wanted to bypass her original choice (Applebee’s) for a local (chain) Italian Restaurant called Bensi’s. Tell me something. What six year old selects an Italian Restaurant as their choice of places to go out to eat when the have (almost) total freedom of choice? Oh, and one of the reasons she decided to bypass Applebee’s? Because she remembered seeing somebody getting cake and all the waiters and waitresses singing happy birthday, and she “did NOT want to be embarassed like that” (her exact words – she truly is her mother’s daughter).

At dinner, things got somber for awhile. We were discussing who would be attending the “family party” this weekend. When it was mentioned that “grandma” (my mother) would be attending. Her smile went away, she stopped talking about the party and her eyes started to well up with water. When we asked her what was wrong (the conversation had continued on briefly before we noticed she was no longer participating, and did not immediately make the connection), she pointed out to us that there would be one person not attending that was going to ruin the whole thing (there are several people who could not attend). “Who?” She looked at us like we had three green heads for not immediately knowing the answer. “Poppi,” she emphatically stressed before breaking down into tears.

My father passed away in 2004. He adored LatteGirl and she adored him. I always wanted to make sure that LatteGirl would get to know them, and from a very early age, we used to spend at least once a week there. The good thing is, that they are strong enough a presence that she will at least always have some sort of memory of Poppi. The drawback, (at least in the short term) is the severe greif she feels, even a little less than 2 years after his passing, and I feel powerless to her feeling that without him here, there is always going to be “missing pieces” that can not be replaced.

Originally uploaded by JayMonster.

You forever changed the course of my life when you decided to make your world debut 6 years ago.

Six Years Ago? Really? It just doesn’t seem right.

In some ways, I can’t believe it is six years ago ALREADY. Time has seemed to fly by so fast. Wasn’t I just getting up for your 3 AM feedings last week? Weren’t you just learning to walk yesterday? Can it really be three years since you donned that Cinderella outfit for Halloween?

In other ways, it is hard to believe that you are ONLY six years old. Your maturity and kindness to friends and others make you far wiser than your years. The insight you have, and your reasoning and logic tell me that you are far more mature than six. You have already started to blossom so much as a person I am some times scared.

But six years old you are today, and I guess I had better not blink, because who knows how old you will be when my eyes open again.

The new battle that I am going to undertake is the Board of Educations attempt to put uniforms in our public schools. Now it is easy enough for me to point to the fact that there is Supreme Court precedent in Tinker et al. v. Des MoinesIndependent Community School District et al. that the Board of Education can not impede on a students freedom of expression. But I do not have the kind of money that afford to make a (literally) Federal case out of this and challenge it to the Supreme Court. Besides, if I can not get an immediate injunction pending the outcome of the case, my daughter will probably be long out of the school system by the time this case is completed.

I am appreciative that Kathy Howe, gave me a starting point for my arguements with an excellent list of reasons that school uniforms are a bad idea. This is very helpful, because I am so steamed about this. Not just about the school uniforms themselves (though that would be bad enough), but the way the school is trying to just shove this program down our throats.

It is obvious that they have been working on this idea for a while, because they have already budgeted $40,000 of taxpayer money so they can “provide” the first shirt for each kid “free” to “ease” the bugetary strain on parents. Pause a momment and re-read that sentence. Let the irony of it settle in and have a good laugh. (For the dense among us, which includes apparently my hometown school board: TAXING us so that we you can “give” us a shirt, does not make it FREE!)

Now any time while they were considering this assinine move, they could have solicited feedback from parents. But in an attempt to ensure there is little to no time for people that do not like the idea to band together (or give people enough time to actually THINK about it before redering an opinion), they opt to wait until JUNE to spring this on parents for this fall. The school year is almost over. Most if not all PTA meeting at local schools are done for the year, leaving precious little time and ability for parents to congregate and together discuss the pros and cons of proposal. No they wait until June to have an informational meeting on the subject to “get parental feedback.” What feedback are they looking for? They have already budgeted this program into the next years plans. This is nothing but a Cover Your Ass meeting, so that when people finally look at this program and complain, they can say, “well you had an opportunity to speak up.”

Next, they release the information aboout the program to the local papers. In an attempt to garner support for the program in advance, the primary reasons provided are the “picking on kids” who “can not afford” designer clothers, and… wait… get ready for this… “safety” and, the most laughable of all, “being able to ID the kids”

Let’s start with the easiest (and silliest) reason, “being able to ID the kids.” They would be THE SMALL PEOPLE that are in the school. Are adults (presumably ones short enough to fit in grammar school seats), sneaking into school for an afternoon of Social Studies?

When you look out over the schoolyard, are you not able to identify the pedophile offering the kid candy from students playing together, unless you can identify them by the shirt they are wearing? Perhaps then your problems go beyond what a uniform can solve. But this also brings us to the issue of “safety”. What does a single colored shirt and pair of khaki pants keep our children safe from? Abduction? Will the child wearing a uniform make it easier to spot an abductor? Every study that uses the words “safety” and “uniforms” together discuss one thing. SECONDARY SCHOOL. Using excuses like “Columbine” as an example where children were selected “for the clothes they wore” they try and argue that somehow the tragedy at Columbine High School wouldn’t have happened if they where wearing uniforms. First of all does that really make sense to anybody? If they didn’t pick out the students they were targeting “by their clothes” (which of course is impossible to prove in the first place) they would have picked them out by some other factor. The “reasons” these kids when on this spree (as published an publicized) was that they were outsiders that were not well liked by other groups. A uniform would not have lead them to suddenly NOT be outsiders. Cliques still form whether or not a uniform is worn in the school. But before I wander too far off here, “safety” is also associated with the removal of “gang colors” from schools, again something far more prevalent in High Schools than in Grammar schools.

Now again, using “examples” like Columbine, they try to tell people that kids get picked on because their parents can not afford to buy them the latest trendy clothes. First of all, I live in a completely middle class town. There is nobody wearing Prada to school here. For the most part clothes are very similar in quality, whether from The Children’s Store, Target, K-Mart, Wal-Mart or other similar type of store, there is very little different except the tastes of the children and parents that buy the clothes. Second, some kids admittedly can be cruel and enjoy picking on other kids. But the problem is, these same kids will pick on whatever they can find. If it isn’t the clothes, then it is the shoes, the haircut, the backpack, how fat a kid is, how skinny a kid is, and so on. Teaching people to get along goes much further to solving that situation than a uniform does.

But of course, the school board is trying to use parents fears to justify this Draconian practice of turning our children into little matching drones, that all look and act alike in a very Gattaca kind of setting.

I this saying I am nervous. The reason I am nervous, is first of all that I am afraid that I am the only one that is seeing through this farce, or at least seeing it in time to make a difference. I am also afraid of failing my daughter if I can not get them to see the error of their ways. (Sometimes I wish I could just close my eyes and be ignorant and/or complacent, but I am just not wired that way.)

Advise, suggestions and opinions are greatly appreciated. Just don’t bother to try and sell me the “benefits” of uniforms.

What can I say, the birthday party was a grand success. All the kids had a great time, nobody wanted to go home, and I didn’t have to clean up after them.

It wound up being 12 girls and not 16 as originally anticipated, which saved me a few dollars, which I am always grateful for, and there were more than enough happy smiling faces to keep LatteGirl entertained the whole time.

It was interesting watching her in this setting, as it required some balance on her part. First she had her friends from school, then she had friends that date back to her Pre-K, and her cousin (who also happened to go to the Pre-K but was a year ahead). She was forced to try and balance her time between the groups, and make conversation as well as ensure she played with everybody. I did not interfere in any way (nor did the wife), and we just watched as she masterfully may her way back and forth between everybody. We were both quite impressed with her apparent social skills that we admittedly did not think she had quite mastered yet. Proved us wrong.

She is growing up so fast. I spend as much time with her as I can, and still I feel like sometimes I am missing so much. Am I not watching close enough? Where is my little baby girl and who is this maturing young lady that seems to have replaced her?

More photos are up on my Flickr Account.

What can I say, but wow was I really impressed and surprised by the events of the evening.

When LatteGirl was in Pre-K she took a little dance class that was an extra activity (meaning $$$) at the school. Twice a year they had a little recital. It was cute, but the kids didn’t learn a heck of a lot, and while it was great in the “aww how cute” factor, other than seeing you child perform, there was not much to see.

So naturally, for her first dance recital, I was not expecting too much more. First of all, LatteGirl was staring to show some indications of stage fright earlier in the day (but she seemed to calm herself as the day went along), and second, the school had had a recital for other classes the previous evening, so I thought a quick hour in and out, take some photos and home. This was not the case.

Each class had to numbers to perform, once ballet and one tap. There were about 8 different classes, from 3 year olds to high school seniors that all performed some pretty impressive numbers, and the show was a solid 2-1/2 hours long, and completely enjoyable. The only real drawback was that the show started at 7:30 PM and by 10PM when the show was ending, the little ones (including LatteGirl) were pretty wiped out. They probably could and should have started this a bit earlier.

She is currently looking forward to taking dance classes again in the fall, but this much I have learned, what is true in the spring may not be true in the fall, and I will have to wait to see if she is really still interested. But if the smiles and sheer joy she exhibited at this recital is any indication, I think she will be back. And I look forward to seeing her dance again.

No this something new, is my renewed effort to lost weight, get healthy and ensure I am around when LatteGirl gets married someday… way off in the future. After reading some information about it, and some interesting reviews (a couple of them can be found here and here) , I decided that I am going to give The Shangri-La Diet a shot, and give not only a review but a lowdown of what I think of it as I go along.

A lot to recap from weekends events but not enough time at present to do it justice, so I will have to wait until later for that. Suffice it to say for the momment that everything went as well or better than planned.

Tomorrow is the “school fair” at LatteGirl’s School. It is not a BIG production like many schools do, it is a one day up and down thing for the kids. That will have TheWife up and out of the house at 8 AM, as she has apparently agreed to become an underling to the PTAnal Moms. They have called three times this week to make sure their minion would be there to help with the setup. Why am I not going? Because apparently TheWife thinks that PTA work is a woman’s thing, so that is HER “thing” and I am to keep my nose out of it unless specifically instructed to do otherwise.

So once TheWife returns, I am to have LatteGirl dressed and ready for the event. We will then spend a good chunk of the afternoon at the fair. From there we return home to get LatteGirl dressed and ready for her dance recital this evening.

Allow me here to get sidetracked for a momment for a little shameless bragging and backstory. Back in the fall when LatteGirl began Kindergarten, she decided that she needed to “concentrate just on getting to know the school.” (her term.. not mine) She wanted no part in any sort of extracurricular activities. Well, during Winter break, she decided that she no longer needed to stay on the sidelines, and she was ready to start expanding her horizons. So, her and TheWife began checking out dancing schools. They came across one, which actually had a class with some of her friends from Pre-K, they had room for her in the class, but the class had started way back in September. So although she could join the class, it was anticipated that she may not be taking part in the Spring recital.

Fast forward just shy of 5 months of dance class, and she has caught up with the rest of the class, and WILL be in the spring recital. Not only has she learned all her own steps for the recital, we caught her a couple of times (when she thinks nobody is looking), practing the steps she watched the older kids learning for the finale.

OK, bragging daddy phase is done. Let’s move on shall we.

So, if that is not enough for a weekend, Friday is the banquet for my bowling league. Although it is fun, this could be skipped, except for one thing. My team placed third this year, and their is CASH involved, so I need to make an appearance.

Upon returning home from that I start baking since you cannot (so I am told) invite Aunts and Uncles and Grandparents to a recital without having them back to the house for Coffee and Cake afterwards.

Now of couse we did not know we had all these events falling on this weekend when we booked Funtime Junction for LatteGirl’s birthday party. Of course it could be worse. We could have actually been silly enough to believe that we could have a party for 16 Kindergarten age girls in our house. But as it turns out, TheWife and I are apparently not as insane as we sometime believe ourselves to be. (Although we are trying to find a slot in that schedule to attempt to get to Toys R Us, in search of a new bike for LatteGirl in time for her actual birthday, and that just may qualify us for “crazy”)

And no, I am not talking about politics (per se). It takes no insight to see that polar extremes are the ones making the most noise. No, I am talking about simple things. Things that should be painfully obvious.

Well, by now I guess you want me to get to my point so here it is. Unless you have had your head in the sand, or do not have school age children, you know that initiatives have been passed to ban soda from schools. Not the panacea, I do not believe, that the pundits do in reducing childhood obesity, but a reasonable thing to do.

Apparently new nutritional guidelines have been drawn up that need to be met. Also, a great idea. If children are going to be eating meals at school, we should ensure they are getting good nutritious food.

But now, the Board of Education in my little town (and apparently some others are doing the same around the country), have decided to take this initiative and bring it to incredibly stupid extremes. First they have banned cupcakes from the schools. BANNED.

Go back and read that again. Yes, you got it right. THEY BANNED CUPCAKES!

I am sorry, but Little Johnny is not getting obese because he has a cupcake that I bring to school for LatteGirl’s birthday party.

Next they have banned candy sales as fundraisers. It is time to get real here. The Candy Sales (at least around here) are marketed TO parents (usually BY parents since you can no longer safely send a kid out selling), to co-workers and other family members (aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc.). The are boxes of chocolates, nuts, etc. It is not like they are selling individual candy bars door to door (and buying and eating a few as they go along). When a reporter asked one parent about it, her brilliant reply was, “I think this is brilliant. Kids have enough candy and junk. Let them sell notebooks and pencils for fund raisers.”

Does anybody actually believe that youo can sell notebooks and pencils in great enough quantity to raise money for anything? Certainly not enough to help fund school trips, functions etc. It is nothing short of blind stupidity.

But that is the way things seem to go in this country. There is almost always somebody that thinks it is necessary to push things to illogical conclusions.

Background Information you probably need: My B-I-L and his wife divorced a couple of years back. The collateral damage was so bad that it damn near took out my marriage in its wake. There are still plenty of deep wounds and battered egos from the whole thing.

The situation: My neice is a sweet girl, and despite being the product of the aforementioned terminated relationship is generally a happy child. She can be called a … uh … spirited child. She is always on the go, and almost always getting into something or doing something she shouldn’t be. The type of child that if you said, “Do not touch that,” the first thing she would do would be to go touch “that.” She also exhibits all the classic symptoms of ADHD (figitity, never completes anything, can’t sit still, notes home from school saying she is bright BUT has a problem focusing and paying attention, etc).

Her father has his own problems (I’m being polite here), so he is in no position to say anything, let alone dictate what should be done. Her mother is in denial. “Not my child,” “She is just dealing with the divorce,” “It is because her father always disappoints her.” yada, yada, yada. Excuses. Pawning it off. Choosing to put the blinders on. Denial.

The Problem: I have mentioned this to my neice’s mother before (which is where I got the above “answers” from her). She is choosing not to believe it. On the one hand, I want to wash my hands of the situation. This family’s problems caused enough issue’s for me and my wife when I was trying to help in the past, and worst of all, nobody seemed to give a damn that I was trying to help. So why shouldn’t I just concern myself with my own family and the hell with them? On the other hand, I love my neice. Her and my daughter were the best of friends as well as just “cousins,” and I don’t feel it is fair to my neice to just let this go on unattended because her mother doesn’t want to admit there could be a problem. (Hell, she lived in denial with her husband for 22 years). Like I said, her mother and I have discussed this before. Like me, her mother is a bit stubborn (my father would call it “thick headed”). The more I try to get her to take a serious introspection and honestly look at the situation, she gets angry. I get angry when she starts acting indignant, like nobody in the world knows anything but her.

I bounce back and forth (as you can see), and don’t know what to do? Leave it alone, and wait for my neice to start failing in school, and have a school counselor tell her to go get the child tested? Then say, “I told you so,” as if it really matters at that point. Or do I just continue to try and get through, hoping that after one of these discussions, she wakes up before it gets to a point where the child is failing? They say that the definition of insane, is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. By that definition I am already insane, but the alternative just doesn’t seem like the “right” thing to do.

What would you do?

I come from what I can only describe as a good family background. The only thing that prevented my parents from celebrating their 50th Wedding Anniversary was the passing of my father. Husband, Wife, son and daughter living in a nice little home, in a middle-class neighborhood in Anytown USA.

It was a congenial household, but not one that was overtly big on the showing of emotions. In that regard it was rather stoic. TheDad kissing Mom on the cheek before heading off to work, a kiss or a pat on the head for me and my sister, and off he went. But I never saw anything wrong with that.

The only thing really different was that my sister and I were adopted. We were raised with the knowledge from very early on, and were OK with it, except for having to once and a while deal with kids who saw that as something to make fun of, or a visit to the doctor and being unable to answer questions like, “Do you have any family history of ?”

Regardless of what happens in life, I have always been safe with the knowledge that my mother loves me. She may not have given birth to me, but I really don’t feel like that makes any difference to me. This is the woman, that had to go out of her way and fight through the red tape in order to get me. She was the one there for every scrape and scratch, to cheer me on at my baseball games, to stand there so proudly when I graduated from school. To be my cheerleader when I was doing well, and a source of prayers for me when I went off the path in the wrong directions.

I have been asked many times if I ever wanted to find my real mother. It is a question that makes no sense to me, because I already know where she is. She is still in that same house where I grew up. Sometimes, I wonder because our home has been one more of cool respect rather than one of warm embraces, she knows EXACTLY how much she means to me. I always make sure I tell her, but I am never sure I am able to convey it clear enough. I sure hope she knows.

My initial thoughts on this were quite cynical and dark. A ‘healthy’ seven year old boy doesn’t “just die.” Something is very wrong here. As I await to hear what comes out in the autopsy report, I feel so horrible.

No matter what the reason, the sudden death of a 7 year old child is a tragedy. Period. But I can’t get rid of this nagging feeling that neglect played a part in this somehow. While I will rule NOBODY out (my cynical side), I am not necessarily blaming the parents. The child participated in youth soccer, wrestling programs, and was on a baseball team as well as a student of Jujitsu. Within that massive schedule of a 7 year old (I assume that not all these events overlapped, at least I hope they didn’t), is the potential for a lot of things. Getting hit in the chest with a baseball has on more than one occasion killed a child by causing heart problems. A fall or other blow to the head could have caused a problem that did not completely manifest itself until later. But if that is indeed the case. Didn’t somebody somewhere miss something? Shouldn’t an accident that is ultimately bad enough to rob a child of his life, be worth a trip to the doctor’s to check? “Just to be safe?”

Not that it will bring him back, or make the tragedy any less severe, but I would like to be wrong. That this was a freak thing that could not have been prevented. I am cynical enough. I want so desperately to be wrong. But in the meantime, the cynical me just sits back and waits to hear the coroner’s report. Coroner’s Report. Something that has no place in a story about a 7 year old child.