Has your ride been "Mom"ed?

I got my minivan two months before Ellie was born. By the time she was a year old the van didn't exactly look new inside anymore. I had glitter from preschool projects all over the middle row. The car was covered in a layer of dust, and it smelled like sour milk from all the times that Ellie had spit up in the car. I cleaned the car (really, I did), but it became evident that my days of driving a car that perpetually looked brand new were over. How I managed to keep my first two cars looking pristine is a mystery to me now. The final nail in the coffin for my car was when Ellie somehow managed to get chocolate milk to spray all over the roof of the car when she was a year old. I have tried on many occasions to clean it off, but it looks like it is here to stay. Add to that the juice box that exploded in the little compartment on the driver's door that my husband still has not cleaned up for me despite me pleading with him numerous times over the past two years, and I've got one totally "Mom"ed ride.

I saw this video on a cousin's Facebook page today and I just had to share it here:

Got hope?

Yesterday I blogged about my feelings on Mr. Obama and his scheduled address to our nation's impressionable youth on September 8th. Those of you who have been reading my blog are aware that I've been sick most of this week, and this little tid bit of news was not making me feel better.

I decided this morning that I needed to call Madeline's school and ask if my child was going to be required to watch this speech which I firmly believe is a propaganda video. For some reason, our school hasn't been answering the phones since last week. It's a mystery. They're there, but no one is picking up the phone.

I don't want to bother the class room teacher and create a situation where the teacher dislikes my child because she's got the annoying mother. (I suspect this was part of our problem with the 1st grade teacher. That and the fact that the woman clearly had some serious issues to work out with herself.) So emailing the new teacher was out. I already emailed her last week asking what if anything I could do to help out with classroom supplies. (I'm a kiss-up, I'll admit it.) And, I'll be emailing her before school starts to see if I can send cupcakes in to celebrate Madeline's birthday next Friday. (Her birthday is next Saturday.) So I don't need to make a pest of myself before school even begins.

I decided to look up the principal's email address on the school website and ask her about Obama's speech. I met her at church during Madeline's First Reconciliation last February when she was the vice principal of the school. She seemed very nice and I liked that she had a son Madeline's age. I sent an email to her asking if the children would be required to watch the speech, and if so how can parents who are concerned that their children are being indoctrinated opt their child out of watching the speech without parental supervision. I expressed to her my concern that I did not feel any children should be exposed to speeches from politicians at such impressionable ages without parental consent. I hoped that I would not come across as a right-wing extremest. I don't believe that I am. Given my experience in public schools, both my own and my child's, I am well aware that most educators lean to the left. I was not hopeful that I'd receive a response from the principal, nor was I expecting one that would be favorable.

Imagine my shock when I checked my email a few minutes ago. I actually got a response from the principal. As I went to click on it, I braced myself for a response that would get the back of this feverish (101.1) mom up. I was shocked and delighted when I read a response that told me that I didn't need to worry. Our class rooms do not have access to cable, and (here's the best part) teachers were advised not to show it to the children online. Sounds like this school is not going to bend it's knee to Obama. I am very relieved. It is probably the most cheerful news I have been given in the past 4 days. Now if this fever could just break I'd be over the moon.

Small Successes

Celebrating the little things in life that add up.

1. I've been sick since Sunday afternoon, but somehow I've still managed to function (barely). I've been on top of the laundry (folding will have to wait) and even emptied the dishwasher. I wear myself out each time I do one of these things, but they have to be done.

2. I got the girls' hair cut on Monday morning for back to school. It's amazing how Aleve made me feel like I wasn't too sick that morning. Too bad it doesn't have that effect on me now.

3. I have Madeline's book bag and all her school supplies sitting in their school year place in the living room. It's just innocently waiting for the first day of school to come around.

I'm feeling politically charged

If there's one thing about me you should know, it's this: Don't dare to politically indoctrinate my children. It's an issue that I take very seriously. Don't presume to tell my child that our current President is great or wonderful. Don't tell her to come home and talk to me about his latest and greatest scheme to destroy our great country that members of my family have fought for since the Revolutionary War. In short, watch your step around my kids when you talk politics.

I got a call from my mom today asking me if I heard that Madeline will likely be forced to watch a speech from Mr. Obama on her first day of school. It just gives you the warm and fuzzies that you can only get from a Communist or Socialist party. I'll be calling the school tomorrow and asking if I can opt my child out of the brainwashing session. The school already did it's best last year to tout Obama as the new god. Of course, once my child was made aware that a certain someone is in favor of killing unborn babies, she hopped off the Obama-wagon.

Here are two lovely stories I picked up about this atrocity that will happen in schools across the nation on September 8th at 1pm EST. (I may be signing my child out early that day.) Click here and here to see them. The second link has a disturbing video of a teacher abusing her authority in the classroom. I can vividly remember going up against hard line liberal teachers as a young school child. This Republican didn't back down easily then and still doesn't.

And to top if all off, I find that good old liberal Ben and Jerry's has come out with a new name for their Chubby Hubby ice cream. In the past, little old lactose intolerant me, has supported them because they don't use milk from cows treated with rBST (artificial growth hormone). I haven't agreed with their politics for a while now. Something tells me my Ben and Jerry's ice cream days are long gone. (I can't tell you the last time I ate their rBST-free ice cream.....it's been a long time.)

I need to go make sure my child who isn't even eight yet understands that as of right now, she still has the freedom to speak her mind. She understands propaganda and how it is used to brainwash people. She's been warned that the school may try to indoctrinate her again. (This bothers her, a lot.) I made sure my child understands that it is not unpatriotic to dislike or disagree with our nation's leaders. You can love your country and dislike the persons running the government. That's the beauty of a democratic free society. In four years, I hope all the freedoms I had last December still exist. For now, I worry that the very freedoms members of my family fought to protect are being threatened. I will do my best to protect the minds of my children in the meantime.

Why oh why must I be sick?

There are a few things that make my not being well right now really awful. First off, this is the last week of Summer vacation. I had planned to take my girls to the beach since most of the Shoobies wouldn't be there this week. I was also going to load my girls up on fast food lunches (Yeah, I know Mom of the year here!). Once school starts, Ellie and I will visit Chick-Fil-A once a week for lunch after school. And we will visit Mc Donald's every Thursday night after Madeline's CCD class is over. That will be the extent of our fast food dining for the majority of the school year. Sure, I'll squeeze in an extra Chick-Fil-A trip here and there, but it won't be as frequent as I'd like.

I was just over at Faith and Family Live and I saw this video (which I know I've seen before) and it just makes me feel even worse that I'm still not well enough to make the ten minute drive over to Chick-Fil-A so I can get some of their delicious nuggets and lemonade. I could cry. I've been craving Chick-Fil-A since last week, but I just haven't been able to get there. Even the girls keep asking when we're going to go there. Sigh.

I'm still not feeling better. My body is clearly fighting something off. I woke up about every 30-45 minutes starting around 4 O'clock this morning drenched in sweat in my very chilly bedroom. I've been up and moving around a little bit for about two and a half hours now. I got a call from Madeline's friend's mother asking if she could take Madeline to the park this afternoon. I'm so grateful that someone is going to occupy one of my kids for a few hours and have her do something fun this week. I feel so awful that I'm sick this week. The girls and I should be packing as much fun as we possibly can into this week. Sadly, they're watching me lay around and barely function.

A girl on a mission

The past few days Madeline's friend has been calling our house almost daily. The girls chatter away on the phone for about an hour each day about anything and everything. They're best friends. Last week we found out that the girls will be in the same third grade class this year. They became fast friends on the first day of first grade when they were both new to the school. Madeline went to a private school for K and her friend went to an area Catholic school. Last year they were pretty disappointed that they weren't in the same class, but they still found time to talk at school and get together for play dates.

Her friend just called and I was about to do Madeline's hair. So I had Madeline put the phone on speaker so I could quickly brush her hair and send her on her way. That's when I heard it. "Madeline, we have to get all of our talking out now. We don't have much time until school starts." In first grade Madeline got in a lot of trouble for talking excessively. (I wonder where she gets that from.) Last year she did better, but she still talked a lot. This friend is generally a very quiet kid, but that doesn't stop Madeline from talking at her and getting herself in trouble for talking.

I really like that her friend is telling her that they need to get it all out before school starts so they keep themselves out of trouble. If only all of Madeline's friends thought this way. Heck, if just Madeline thought this way we'd be in good shape.

I love how thoughtful her friend is. How many eight year olds sit there and contemplate whether or not they'll have the self control to stay quiet during class the week before school begins? I can assure you that Madeline has one thing on her mind...socializing. At least her friend is looking out for her.

Looks like I have a new skill

I got a call from my neighbor this morning. Sara, my neighbor from outback called me and told me about a small crisis they accidentally created. She's taking care of the pets for my neighbor around the corner and across the street (Sara's across the street neighbor) while they're on their cruise. This morning when Sara was taking care of the dog and cat she accidentally locked the key to the house inside the house. She was hoping that I had the neighbor's cell phone number since that was also locked in the house. I had the cell phone number, but I had to explain to her that you generally can't get a cell signal when you're out on the open sea. My step father-in-law works on a tug boat, so this is one of those factoids that I have picked up along the way.

The neighbors were concerned that a locksmith wouldn't open the doors for them since they don't own the house and they have nothing from the neighbor stating that they are taking care of the house while they're away. That could be a problem since getting in touch with the neighbors will likely be impossible. I know they make port in two more days but that's a long time for a dog and a cat to wait for their next meal.

I decided that I'd take a stab at getting into the neighbor's house. Yes, I decided to see if I could break into someone else's house. Nice, huh? I practiced on my own house first. I found that I could open a locked door with a credit card. I think I saw that on a show before. It worked on one door in my house but not on another door. I figured it was worth a shot. It didn't work at the neighbor's. Then I decided that we should take a look at the windows. If the windows were unlocked I figured we could easily get in and cause the least amount of damage. Shockingly, all of the ground floor windows were unlocked. So I picked a screen to rip (while the pool guy was there taking care of the filter timers) and got into the neighbor's house. It took me less than two minutes to break in since my neighbors had handy tools on the deck that were perfect for ripping the screen open. So now I can add breaking into a house to my list of valuable skills that I have to offer to my neighbors. My neighbors out back are getting a second key made to leave at my house, and I'll be replacing the neighbor's screen once the other neighbor gets the spline I need to secure the screening in the frame. I guess it's a good thing for the neighbors that I know how to repair a screen, too.

So the crisis for the day is adverted. My neighbor will get a disturbing text followed by a reassuring one once she gets into port. It amazes me how I never have a dull moment around here.

I did learn that children are not discreet in the least. While Joe and I were trying to figure out what we should do to get in the house, my girls and his kids were chanting "Break-in!" over and over. Yes, I took my kids along with me to demonstrate how to break into someone's house. I'm sure that's a valuable lesson that will stick with the four impressionable children I had watching me. I can hear it now. The kids out back are probably going to tell their mom that they watched Miss Karen break into Miss Joann's house. They made sure they told me I was really good at it. Gee, thanks. If this honest living thing doesn't work out for me I guess I could turn to a life of crime. I clearly have the aptitude for it.

So I guess I'm the hero for the small dog and cat that live at the neighbor's house. And, I helped my other neighbors out so they didn't have to stress out anymore about locking the keys in the house. If you are going away and someone is taking care of your house for you, give them two sets of instructions (one for your house and one for them to keep at their home) and two keys. It will save people like me the trouble of having to break into your home.

On a more upbeat note, I'm still alive. I'm still not feeling well, but I'm hanging in there.