the Honors Program

The gardenias are blooming. It's a good contrast, with the fragrant rotting rats on the other side of the yard. My neighbor did knock at the door to talk about them again yesterday.
Taterbug (my neighbor's name-yep, really!) said he's filling the holes with bleach. Okay, I'm going to move on...

I drove to school for the Honor's Day program, and I'm getting in the car, and notice my legs are a little stubbly, and I'm wearing capri pants. In the house, I already changed shirts, thinking my daughter would notice if I arrived in yesterdays shirt, however cosy it is...but now, stubbly legs, and no time to shave them.
I pull up and have to park far off, and I fall in with the crowds of parents lining the walls of the gym. I stand in between the guy with too much cologne and some other folks. The lady next to me squats and I hope she doesn't see my legs. A few more people crowd between the guy with too much cologne and I, and it still smells like I'm standing next to the guy with too much cologne. Now for all I know, it's not even that guy. It could be somebody way down at the end.

Naomi did great. She got the award for A's all year, the Sweat Star award (for PE- only two children get that each quarter), and she got the Citizenship Award (only two kids get that for the whole year!) Hurray!
I clapped til my hands were sore, forgetting the 'Hold all applause til all the kids names have been called' rule. Forgetting my stubbly legs & the woman with her face 16 inches away from them. I clapped anyway, giddy for my baby. She smiled, holding her head up like she was a lizard on a rock, soaking up sun.

~I feel lucky. I hope you all have a lucky day too. Come back soon~

I dropped the girls off at school, but it's Honor's Day, so I have to be back there at 8:45. That gives me 30 minutes to fold the sofa throws, make the beds, & say good morning to you.
(Good morning!)
I think today will be a great day. Hello, I Love You came on the radio on my way home. It reminded me of when I was a Doors obsessed teenager. At one point, while in Paris, I dragged my family, including my 80-something-year old French Grandmere through a graffiti laden cemetery, in search of the famous 'head.' Alas, The head was gone (stolen), but we saw Jim's grave, decades later,trashed, & still surrounded by groupies and cops.
It made me a little sad at the time. Not sad because Jim Morrision was dead, but sad because of the way his fans trashed the cemetery so. Graffiti'd monuments of people who were forgotten, people who were not Jim, which to some ignorant sort, made them less revered.
Sayings like "I want to F*** Jim!" Pretty dumb, huh? And I remember that morning I wanted to pee before I got on the bus, so I drank 4 glasses of apple juice, then had to pee all day. At 18, I stood in line outside an automated john doing the pee-pee dance, and one kind woman let me pass. It was all about finding the john that day in Paris. Lol. Maybe in a few years we'll drag the kids there.
I was trying to sign on & go straight to my blog, without seeing American Idol results. No luck. I didn't watch it yet, but the AOL screen has already told me. I guess I'll watch it tomarrow with my 8 yr old? (Today is Tumbling & Karate day)
Lost won out last night. Apparently, they are going to get off the island, but I don't know. I don't think Charlie will really be dead, he's one of my favorites. Surely someone will sweep in and save him at the last minute...(Or first minutes of next years show?)
I had a dream where I was climbing a ladder or something and leaning up against the fence. I heard some commotion, and a big old white car full of loud folks was driving fast (In my backyard?) Made a quick turn, and slammed into the ladder & fence, purposely. Then I woke up. What does it mean? Hmmm.
Maybe it means I shouldn't put myself in places where I don't need to be (like responding to my cousins emails, pissing them off?) Maybe it means that I'm just feeling vulnerable. I don't know. I'll have to think on it some more later. I have to hurry to get to the school on time- blogged too long already!
Much love to you all. I'm grateful you stopped in!...

Rats!

Hello again!

I took the girls to school this morning, then fed the dogs. "Dogs." We have a new puppy! (There's that duality in my mind- it's, "Yeah! We have a new puppy!" & "Yikes, We have a new puppy...") I totally forgot how much work puppies are! But she's adorable & sweet, not housebroken & a bit of a barker at the moment, but I think that'll fade fast.
Our german shepherd, Reuben, has officially become 'Mother.' Lol. I don't know how much he loves his new title. He's dealing okay, and he still has some perks that Poppy hasn't- like sleeping by our bed at night.
Did I already write about our neighbors rat problem? Which is fast becoming our rat problem...Troubling. It's like that movie where all the rats are running across the walls, but outside instead. Dozens of giant crusty gray rodents. They run across the rails of our privacy fence when I water the plants. & I was watering on the patio, felt something across my foot. A snake. He slithered into the garden wall, and I stared. Frankly, I'm more afraid of the rats.
Here's the problem. Our neighbor is a bad dog owner. Instead of having a fenced in yard, he has a 25' chain, in the very back corner of his yard, with the dog & the dog house. They go out once a day, fill the bowls full, then go inside. The dog never gets played with, talked to, nothing!
So these rats have dug holes under that dog house, and are getting fat from his bowls. The dog house is gonna cave in soon, and it's about 3 feet from our privacy fence.
Here lately, they've been dying in our yard. While I'm glad, it's concerning too, because we have dogs & kids that play in our yard. If our dogs find one of those poison rats, it could really hurt them. So we have to make rounds, checking, and everyday we throw the dead ones back into the neighbors yard, anonymously.
Steven went next door to discuss the problem. The neighbor said he stood & watched his dog eat til the food was gone daily (A lie- we looked over, and that bowl was untouched all day & evening one Sunday!) He said he had tried to poison them but was no longer doing that...Hmmm. He also said he sat on his deck and counted 16 of them running in a few minutes. While Steven was back there, he said the rats lines the edges of the guys water bowl- a rodent pool party- and he doesn't pick up the dead ones in his yard...
This morning, the dogs & I went out to fetch, and as usual, I made the rat rounds. Near the back wall, an 8' sleeping devil. Not dead, just, um, deep in meditation. I call my hubby.
"There's a sleeping rat in the yard."
"It's not sleeping, it's dead. Get the shovel & throw it over."
"No, it's really not dead."
"Okay, well get the shovel, smash it with the shovel, & throw it over."

?

"I don't think I can do that." Yep, it's a rat. Yep, it's suffering. Smashing it with the shovel is just a bit beyond my capabilities. We agreed that I would stick a bucket over it, & he'd get it when he came home for lunch. Argh.
I can't really blog too much longer- I've got to go out and buy "teacher appreciation" gifts. Todays the only day I have, so I'd better get. I hope you all have a fabulous, sunshiney, rat-free day. Much love!!! K

Soprano's

Spent the day at school today! The kids had Field Day, where they play games outside all day. Fun! & they grilled hot dogs outside for all the kids, and I'm sitting there thinking the lunches smell really good. The teacher tells me that Longhorn Steakhouse is making the teachers lunch on the other side of the building. I skipped lunch, opting for the little bag of carrots Naomi tossed aside.
Last nite, I was watching The Soprano's. (I know, Soprano's wasn't on last nite- I don't actually get to watch the shows the nite they come on, so I TiVo them & watch them when I can.)
I remember something about James Gandolfini getting married a couple years ago. I looked over at Steven.
"Do you this his wife ever asks him to be Tony Soprano?"
"He probably does it for fun," he says.
"No, I mean do you think his wife ever asks him to be Tony Soprano?" As in, 'Honey, tonite you be Tony...'
If you watch the show, Geez, Tony Soprano is always getting it on with somebody. I wonder what he thinks about doing those scenes- they aren't romanticised love scenes like you see in movies. It's pretty much a big bald guy in his forties getting it on with a girl half his age (usually a stripper) for all of 20 seconds. No sexy foreplay, no romantic words. Sometimes grunts or a facial expression. Not much going on...Yet,
there's something kind of hot about Tony Soprano. Usually, I'm more of a Matt Damon girl, but I have a feeling that there are days when Gandolfini comes home from work that the wife hands him a sloppy white robe, tells him to talk about somebody named Vito or Mario, and gets a wee bit turned on. I bet.
So if the wife of James Gandolfini sees my blog, please feel free to comment. (I say that as though my blog gets traffic, ha ha!)
Of course it does.

Doesn't it? Hmm. (India Arie's Gratitute just came on. She's so talented. Unbelievable! I bet her mother is extremely proud.)

I wish you every joy this day~ much love, Kat

Kid stuff...

Hi! I'm not really in a posting mood- probably because I just have too much going on. I have to pick the girls up at noon from school today- Naomi has a Dr appt with a dermatologist because of some funny moles. This will make the 4th trip to the dr this week!
(Perhaps it's somewhat stressing me out. I TiVo'ed the season finale of My Name Is Earl, and finally watched it yesterday. Then, I found myself getting teary eyed when Earl had to go to jail. Yikes! Tears for Earl? What's wrong with me?)
The first three because of Shanna & a deck accident... Thursday nite, she runs in from the deck (about 8:30- sun's still out here) & her foot is bleeding. Actually bleeding, not the normal stuff kids cry about. She has a hard time remembering to wear shoes, has been running in the yard barefoot for hours, and comes in screaming.
"What happened?"
"I stepped on a nail in the deck!!! Waaa!!!" A nail? Immediately I worry about tetanus. But our deck doesn't have nails, only screws, and it's only a couple years old. We try to clean her foot with her screaming for us not to touch it, and we bandaid it. It looks to be about 1/8" puncture. We decide to take her to the doctor in the morning after she's slept.
Friday, at the Dr, they take the bandaid off. Apparently, the bandaid sealed in germs, and has spread some sort of skin infection. You know the drill- the nurses have me hold down my childs arms, and she gets a shot in both legs. One is the tetanus shot, the other a heavy duty antibiotic. They prescribe yet another antibiotic, for her to take orally 10 days, twice a day.
3 times a day, the doctor wants me to give her a bath and redress her wound. Okay.
But late Saturday night, it looks worse. She just feels extremely sad & irritable...She can't walk on it, and it's looking dark. Steven, a carpenter, says he thinks there's something it in. I called the ER. Our ER takes 3-4 hours, and we decided to take her in the morning.
We spend the first 3 hours of Mothers Day in the ER. The Doctor agrees, something's in there. They X-ray her, but it doesn't show up. After a few shots to numb her foot, They open her foot up to find a 1 1/2" chunk of wood decking had gone into the meat of her foot.
Her little baby foot, shiny & taut from swelling, almost pushed it out. They decide to cut her foot open anyway, to make sure there's nothing left. So she's healing, but she's got this 2 inch incision in her foot. We went back on Tuesday for a follow up.
Today, it's Naomi's turn to go.
Tomarrow is Field Day at school, and the kids want me to come, so I'll be there. What excitement! They are jumping up & down,
"There's going to be inflatables! & hot dogs! & blue & rainbow icees!!!" That is a big deal, indeed. I make a mental note not to put them in white shirts on Friday.

Saturday, we have to get up an hour earlier (5) to be at the airport by 8 am to pick up the dog. Hopefully, traffic won't be so bad.
Sunday, I'm going to stay in bed until about 11.
Monday, I'm taking my mother & sister to lunch at Crystal Thai for a late Mother's Day get-together. (I'd have done it early, but my sister is hard to come by. I'm really glad we're going, though. That'll be my fun day!)
Tuesday is Preschool Graduation.
Next Thursday is Honor's Day.
After next Friday, 10 weeks of sleeping late, nothing except the usual karate, tumbling & swim, and that's in the afternoons. Mmmm.
Until then, my best- yours truly :)

Forwards

You don't do the right thing because of the consequences.

If you're wise, you do it regardless of the consequences

- Jeannette Rankin (1880-1973)

Long time no see! I actually blogged yesterday, but then my phone rang, I went to answer it, and twenty minutes later, I came back to find myself logged off, and everything I'd written gone. Probably a good thing, since I'd just gotten an email from an irate cousin, claiming she was permanently removing me from her email addresses. Should I go into that? Hmmm.

It has to do with "Forwards." & Let's just say that some email addresses should be kept private. You may get the occasional personal note or funny little joke, but for every one of those...there are some people that tend to go overboard on their Forwards. My cousin is one of those people.
You know the thing about how you should never talk politics or religion in a dinner, work, or party setting? Okay, I think we need to add Email Forwards to that as well. (& If you forward the thing, you may as well have wrote it)
Yes, I can just delete them. But sometimes they are just complete propaganda. Did you get the one about Barack Obama being a member of the Taliban? Or the one where a 'nameless teacher' writes about immigration, saying in her California school, thirteen year old pregnant Mexican girls are plaguing the place with vandalism and theft? And do you love it when the end the Forward with a little American Flag, and the Words,

"Jesus and the American Soldier are the only ones who ever died for you"

Is it wrong to want to comment that there may be some hypocrisy in Hispanic hate mail that preaches the gospel at the end? Do people who forward mindlessly open themselves up for politic discussion? I think so.

In my defense, I've just deleted them for years. Things that made me completely ill came in my box, and I turned the other cheek. I suppose I'm just tired of them. I am starting to get the feelings that silently deleting them is in some way Accepting them. I'm a parent now. Racism is not acceptable- in any form. And I've come to find that the more of those things I accept, the more I receive.

So I commented on the emails, and got myself into a little trouble. Yikes!

Should I leave well enough alone?

Or is a part of me growing into my spirit...Is my conscience outgrowing my cowardess?

I hope so. What example do I want to set for my children? Don't stir up the pot? I don't think that's the one.

Sometimes Silence = Acceptance.

I hope my daughters can think positively. I hope they see that they are strong, powerful minds, and that though one voice is just one, sometimes it is the one that begins the Domino chains of thousands.

My mother is an immigrant.

& At some point, if you live in the US, somebody in your family was an immigrant.

My comment that "maybe the Native Americans are reincarnating as Hispanics and they are taking back their land" (Ha, ha- peaceably, of course) probably didn't help matters.

I do have a bit of sadness about the whole thing. I guess I'll go shake it off, and I'll blog again after awhile. Thanks for stopping by! Much love, much love to you this morning.

Have a sweet day!

Doritos for Breakfast

I'm eating Doritos for breakfast. I know it's bad, but I'm an addict. We had a party yesterday, and I bought two big bags of them. Gave the unopened one away. The other is sitting in front of me, and we're spending some quality time. Worse, I'm pulling them out, examining them for 'cheese quality,' and the ones that don't make the cut, I throw those back in the bag.
So it's just me & the best of the best...
(Okay, to my defense, the last time I bought Doritos was last December, at another party...)
I'm not even tempted by the table sized cake sitting on the table, covered in that white airbrushed icing. And I ought to focus on the watermelon, that wouldn't be so bad. But I'm not.

Reuben's been bringing his balls in the house, and when the kids pick the balls up, he gets into this frenzy. Then I get into a frenzy.
"Don't throw those in the house! Outside! Outside!!!" He's got these big bear claws, and they are scratching up my new hardwood floor. I need to have his nails cut, but I haven't been able to bring myself to do it. You see, there's this joke that I'd heard, decades ago. You know the one?


Three dogs were sitting in the waiting room at the vet's when they struck up a conversation.
The black Lab turned to the chocolate Lab and said, "So why are you here?"
The brown Lab replied, "I'm a pisser. I piss on everything....the sofa, the curtains, the cat, the kids. But the final straw was last night when I pissed in the middle of my owner's bed."
The black Lab said, "So what is the vet going to do?" "Gonna cut my nuts off," came the reply from the chocolate Lab. "They reckon it'll calm me down."
The black Lab then turned to the yellow lab and asked, "Why are you here?"
The yellow Lab said, "I'm a digger. I dig under fences, dig up flowers and trees, I dig just for the hell of it. When I'm inside, I dig up the carpets. But I went over the line last night when I dug a great big hole in m y owner's couch."
"So what are they going to do to you?" the black Lab inquired. "Looks like I'm losing my nuts too", the dejected yellow Lab said.
The yellow Lab then turned to the black Lab and asked, "Why are you here?"
"I'm a humper," the black Lab said. "I'll hump anything. I'll hump the cat, a pillow, the table, fence posts, whatever. I want to hump everything I see. Yesterday, my owner had just got out of the shower and was bending down to dry her toes, and I just couldn't help myself. I hopped on her back and started hammering away".
The yellow and chocolate Labs exchanged a sad glance and said, "So, it's off with your nuts too, huh?"
The black Lab said.... "No, I'm just here to get my nails clipped."

Morning, May

Good morning, May. I'm glad to see you!
I drove the girls to school this morning, and found that there was absolutely nothing on the radio. Nada. Okay, flipping through, I heard a few bars of 50 cent's In Da Club, and part of me paused- (Geez, what would Oprah think?) -because I like that song, but looking into the rearview mirror, I decided to plug India Arie into the cd player. Already, when Naomi gets excited about something, she throws her hands in the air,
"It's my birthday! It's my birthday, Yeah!" (In my defense, I think her version comes from a tv commercial.) She's growing up too quickly. There's no stopping her, but maybe I can work on some of the content that goes into her ears.
On one of the Wayne Dyer specials, he talks about how tangible items contain energy. His teenaged son was listened to a rap cd, and he relates this experiment. (I'll do my best to explain it!)
He tells his son to grab a banana off of the counter, then try to brace himself. He then tried to push his son over. The son doesn't budge.
He then tells the son to pick up a cd case. His son braced- and his son went down. The energy in the banana verses that in the cd case was enough to weaken the kid! Many of you are reading this thinking I'm crazy. There is scientific proof that tangible things have energy! There's this great book on the studies of water, and how different things change its structure, such as cell phone's ringing beside it, turning it muddy...as well as encouraging words written on the bottle turning the molecular form of the water into beautiful forms. Really interesting.
Did I go off topic? Stay with me!
If positive enforcement can affect water, think of what it can do for your children? It really puts things into perspective. Does your daughter wear t-shirts with sayings? What goes into your kids ears? Hopefully, something along the lines of,
"I'm so proud of you!" or "I can't believe how lucky I am to have such a great kid!"

It's a great start. I have a bit of spring cleaning to do, so I'm off. Thanks for visiting my blog!
Much much love, Yours truly :)