School Daze

AAAAAACCCCCCKKKKKKKK!

Lordy, there are two cases of head lice in my morning kindergarten class. I've only been working in the elementary school for 8 years and have never been in a class where there was head lice. I've spent 6 of the 8 years in 5th grade and lice tends to be mostly in the primary grades. Now this year I work most of the day in kindergarten and 90 minutes a day in 5th. I can't help but feel creepy crawly. Went to the nurse today to get my head checked; no lice.

Anyone can get lice. It has nothing to do with how clean or dirty your house is. It doesn't discriminate but does prefer clean heads and thick hair. I don't want lice because it's gross and you have to do a massive house cleaning to make sure get any that came from off from your head. Sheets, pillows, furniture, carpets.

Ugh.

Working between two grade levels I get to go on field trips with both grades. So far I've been to the firehouse and pumpkin patch with the little ones. Tomorrow I go on the 5th grade fossil hunting trip for the 6th time. We go to an abandoned railroad bed about 40 miles from school. Millions of years ago western and central New York were underwater. We'll find different kinds of coral fossils, brachiopods and if we're lucky, the elusive trilobite. I like to tell the kids that they will be the first humans to touch these fossils that have been around 3 million years.

It's an all day trip, we eat lunch at a park.

Tomorrows forecast; rain and snow, high of 40, winds 25 mph.

Ugh.

College Shopping

Our college shopping for our Number 2 son is done. We've looked at 3 private school and 2 NY state schools. He wants to be a high school English teacher and lucky for him, New York state has some of the best teaching programs around.

The first 2 pictures are of Nazareth College, a small private college. Total cost of attendance; over 30,000. per year. It's a very nice campus, he really liked it but again, it was the first place we looked. If he went here he would be able to keep his job at Ben & Jerry's.

The picture below is of Syracuse University. Total cost of attendance; way over 30k per year.

He didn't really care for it, maybe it had something to do with our tour of the campus. It was given by two dingbat students and we never saw the inside of any building except the Carrier Dome. Didn't see the library, dorm, computer lab, dining hall, classroom. Nothing. Thank goodness we didn't drive for hours or fly to see it like some others did in our tour. At one point a group of students walked by us and said to Number 2, "don't go here". Hhhhmmmmm

Below is St John Fisher College, another private school costing over 30k. He didn't really like this one either. A large percentage of freshman are tripled in the dorms. Home of the Buffalo Bills training camp in the summer.

Next picture is State University of New York at Brockport. Total cost of attendance; about 17k. We all really liked this school. It was a good size but not huge. Our tour guide took us on an extensive 90 minute tour and she walked backwards the entire time while taking to the two perspective students and parents.

Bingo! SUNY NY at Geneseo is the one he liked the best, another bargain at 17k. It's located in a rural community with a population of about 10,000, 5,000 which are students. It is very nice and is considered one of the two honors colleges in NY. The other being Binghamton University.







Speaking of Binghamton University, this is it. Number One son is a senior here in the Decker School of Nursing, one of the schools within the university. A Division 1 school if that floats your boat. He's president of BU's club racquetball team. No other time for athletics.
Number 2 has sent in all of his applications, now it's just a waiting game. His guidance counselor at school is not completely thrilled with his choices. She wanted him to apply to some reach schools meaning schools that may be hard for him to get into, which he didn't do. He was recruited by some ivy league schools but it didn't make sense. As I said, NY state is one of the best places to get a teaching degree. Why go out of state? Plus he's not an ivy league kind of person. He's a smart kid, GPA is 3.85 and got a 1440 out of 1600 on the verbal/math SAT. To apply at Princeton, Harvard etc. he needs to take the SAT2 and ACT. He doesn't want to do that. So he's limited himself but the colleges he did apply to have honors programs so that will make her happy he hopes. I'm just glad that he's done looking. I don't enjoy it all. Too much pressure for me, balancing the the right fit and the cost.

Does God Hate Fags?

In my life I have not been a member of a church or organized religion. I'm not an atheist but it's just that religion doesn't play a part in my life. I was baptized a Methodist, Sean is a Catholic. Growing up I did attend church when I was young enough to go to Sunday school but eventually we stopped going and I don't remember much.

In my life I may not have gone to church but have lived a moral life. Meaning that I live by the Golden Rule. Do unto others... I am a kind, compassionate person. I hope that when I rest my head on my pillow at night I've done something to make this world a little better. Two of the best people I know didn't go to church much, my parents.

In my life I have tried to treat people with respect, I feel I'm very tolerant and non judgemental. Growing up I was friends with an Indian girl (middle east Indian). I didn't notice she was different from me until about sixth grade. To me, she was just Ruthie. I realized it when I found out her real name. It was long and unpronounceable, that's why she went by Ruthie.
I have gay friends, went to a gay hairdresser for years, vacation in Provincetown, Mass. a very openly gay destination.

In my life I have tried to raise two sons to respect people, accept people for who they are, to treat people equally and to leave a mark in their world. I think it worked, Number 1 will be a registered nurse in the spring, Number 2 wants to be a teacher.

In my life I've done all of this without religion. Now, am I perfect? Are my boys perfect? Hell, NO! Not by a long shot. But we are good people. Is religion a bad thing? Of course not. I question religions that preach about how good their own is and then turn around and won't let women hold leadership roles within the church., only men are allowed. Religions that are against homosexuals, religions that think theirs is the only right one and are intolerant of others. Religions that make people fly airliners into buildings. Look at the conflicts and wars that have happened throughout history, how many of them were started over religion? Lots.

In my life if you are of any religion that I don't belong to , I'm not going to hold that against you. If you're gay, I'll still be your friend and agree that you have the same rights as heterosexuals. What I don't like is when someone tries to push their beliefs on me. Not interested.
For many people, their faith is very important to them and I respect that.

What inspired this post was this. I don't for the life of me understand this! What kind of religion is this? Westboro Baptish Church out of Topeka, Kansas holds demonstrations at the funerals of military personnel that have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. They form picket lines bearing signs with slogans such as "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" and "God Hates Fags". According to Rev. Fred Phelps, "soldiers are dying because the nation is too tolerant of homosexuals". Have you ever heard anything so insulting or crazy? There are children at these demonstrations holding these signs. The youth of our nation. I can only hope that this is a tiny sect that has splintered off and won't get any larger.

Rev. Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church took a blow when a jury awarded a father, Albert Snyder, almost 11 million dollars when he sued them for invasion of privacy. The group protested at the funeral of his son, Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq. Will Mr. Snyder see any of this money? I don't know but it sent a message that this kind of shit is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

BOO!

Okay, I’ll say it. I really don't like Halloween. I didn’t always despise it. I loved it when I was a kid. The mothers in the neighborhood would stay home and answer the door while the dads took us kids trick or treating. What I didn’t know at that time was the fathers were trick or treating for shots.

I know some just love this “holiday” but as soon as I had kids I became anti-halloween. First let me say I love candy, especially Mallo Cups and Dove chocolate so candy is not the issue here. I’m not one of those people that scream about pagan rituals and anti Christian dogma.

What I hate is the costume dilemma. I’m creative in some areas but so not in this area. I can never think of any good ideas and I do not want to spend any money on any part of a costume at all. As a parent I tried hard not to use bribery in my repertoire but succumbed one Halloween. One year when my kids were little I said that if we skipped trick or treating I would take them to the store and buy them each a bag of any candy they wanted. They agreed. The next year before I could even bring it up they informed me that no way will they fall for that again, they wanted to go out and trick or treat. Rats.

We don’t get many trick or treaters in my part of the neighborhood. We live at the end of the street and there are no houses beyond us, just woods. The kids tend to stay deep in the neighborhood. I do enjoy the ones we get. I like to see the little ones in the costumes that the creative mothers think up. I even get a few past and present students come to my door. I also give out good candy. I hated as a kid when you got the really cheap stuff like suckers. I give out full size candy bars since I only get about 10 - 20 ghost and goblins.

So if you love Halloween and really get into it, great! Have a wonderful party or whatever. As for me, I’ll stay home and watch a scary movie. I like the movies that leave some things to the imagination, not all blood and guts in your face. I subscribe to the theory that less is more.

Ginny

Today my world became a little dimmer and heaven a whole lot brighter.

I Don't Enjoy This

College shopping today. Enough said.

Now I tried this little thing below and it worked. Don't ask me how, it's all in the numbers I guess. Apparently it only works in the year 2007. Try it and see if it works for you!


How to tell YOUR AGE BY EATING OUT

YOUR AGE BY DINER & RESTAURANT MATH


1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would like to go out to eat. (more than once but less than 10)

2. Multiply this number by 2 (just to be bold)

3. Add 5

4. Multiply it by 50

5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1757... If you haven't, add 1756.

6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born.

You should have a three digit number.
The first digit of this was your original number. (I.e., How many times you want to go out to restaurants in a week.) The next two numbers are YOUR AGE ! ------

Space; The Final Frontier

One of the most exciting things I ever saw was 13 years ago while in Florida. We knew the shuttle was launching on our last day there. While driving to the airport the countdown was on the radio. We pulled over and waited. Sure enough, there it was! It had a fat white contrail and flames coming out of the rocket boosters. It was the most dramatic and exhilarating sight. Maybe to the Floridians it was passe, they've seen enough of them but to me, WOW.



For a while the space program had lost it's glamour. It seemed like there were shuttles in space all the time. Sometimes I didn't even realize one was up. Then Challenger exploded in January 1986. For me it was that kind of event you remembered where you were and what you were doing. I was newly pregnant with Number One Son and was looking at baby things JC Penny on my lunch hour. Heard it on the radio on the way back to work.





Anyway, Discovery is up in space now and the commander is a women, Pam Melroy. It just so happens that Pam is from my hometown. Melroy is only the second woman to command a shuttle mission. She also happens to be the last. Seems that there are no more women in the space program that are qualified to pilot a shuttle. The only other female pilot was Eileen Collins, coincidentally from Elmira, about 100 miles south of me and she left NASA last year.

What's even more unusual is the commander on the space station is a woman too, Peggy Whitson. So all you young girls out there, study your math and science and you too can fly into space and history.



I would love to see a live shuttle launch in person someday. I'll add it to my list of places to go and things to do.









By the way, another space event that I remember where I was and what I was doing was on July 20, 1969 when we landed on the moon and Neil Armstrong took the first steps. I was 11 years old and on vacation at the 1000 Islands. My family was renting a cottage and we knew it didn't have a TV. My father packed up our black and white TV and brought it with us. We had everyone that was renting there in our cottage watching when it happened.

Bush Has Big Balls

You may wonder about the title but first: Today I'm home from school, I haven't felt good for the last few weeks, just not myself. To put it bluntly I'm experiencing "plumbing problems". Did you ever notice that when you research your symptoms online you convince yourself that you have several different things and none of them are good news. A little knowledge can be a bad thing. But if things don't change I guess a visit to the doctor is inevitable. Insert heavy sigh here. On with the rest of my post.


Ealier this week the headlines in my local paper and on a reputable
online news service sang out that President Bush wants more money for his war chest. To the tune of $189.3 billion, yes BILLION. I support our troops but should they still be in Iraq? My opinion, no, Afghanistan, yes. We should be focusing on the hunt for Osama and Al Queda.



I must say this guy has the biggest balls ever. On October 3 Bush vetos an expanded bill for children's healthcare, the Senate overrides his veto with enough votes (2/3's) but the House of Representatives fails to do so. Bush gets his way and children in this country get the shaft.



Today I'm reading the paper and see these little gems in an article called "Beyond the Headlines: The Budget" I'll type them exactly as they appear in the paper.



Special Education
The White House proposed a
$291 million cut to special education
grants to states, a 3 percent cut.
The Senate seeks another $748 million increase.





Nursing Education
Bush proposed a $44 million cut
from nursing education almost
one third of what was budgeted for
it in 2007. The Senate voted to add
$20 million.



Now I work in special education, I've seen what's out there. I wish Bush could have my job for a week to see what it's like and how we could use more money for more resourses. In my dreams I guess.

My son is a nursing student at a highly respected public university in the northeast. The government says that we are too rich to receive any financial aid for him. I swear the middle class is going the way of the dinosaurs. Someday in the not so distant future there will be 2 classes, the rich and the poor. Here we have a nursing shortage in this country and Bush wants to cut funds to help educate future nurses.. He does not see beyond his own wealthy little world.

Honestly, he's a lame duck making a mess for the next president to clean up.

I need a nap.

To Blog or Not to Blog?

These are some pictures I took while on vacation on Cape Cod this summer. I found this seashell with the letter J perfectly cut into it. How I wished my name started with a J. Oh well.

I absolutly love flowers. The colors and textures are beautiful. These flowers were in the garden of the house we rented on C.C.

My husband asked me why do I read blogs? I

thought about it for a minute or so and wondered is my own life so boring that I have to read about others? At this time in my life there is no drama, once there was and how I wish I knew about blogging then but that’s in the past. I have decided it’s because I like to learn about people. I find people interesting; I like to see what makes them tick. Reading blogs is a way to peek inside of a person’s life. You can find a lot out about a person by their blog. By reading mine you may see that I love my family, I have opinions on many things, I love nature and I’m an observant

person.

Some of the blogs I read are written by very funny people like Slick, Avitable, Certifiable Princess and Mr. Fab. Some are people that are struggling with things in their lives right now whether it is marriage, kids, job or health. Some are about life styles (sharing their significant partner with others) in which I would never be a part of but find the relationships fascinating. I leave a comment when I feel I can be helpful, supportive or if I agree wholeheartedly or

disagree with them. I don’t often comment on the blogs that get huge amounts of comments just because other people have beaten me to what I would say.


I enjoy blog reading for the same reason I like to go for a walk in the evening. I like to peek inside people’s windows (from the sidewalk people, I’m not a peeping Tom) and see how they decorate or imagine what life is like inside the house. Blog reading gives me the same opportunity from the comfort of my couch.

Why do I blog? Hhhhmmm, good question. For me it’s a place where I can write what I feel and maybe people can get a glimpse into the person I am. Some days, usually in the middle of the night I have a lot that I could write about. Other days, nothing. I don’t write for the shock value. I’m not particularly funny or a great writer; I just say what I feel. If people happen to find me, great. And since you obviously are a blog reader too, I think you’ll agree we all love to have comments left.

**You Got That Right

I enjoy all kinds of music except rap and techno but I love me some southern rock and roll. Probably because I grew up with it on the radio. The Allman Brothers Band, Black Oak Arkansas, Molly Hatchet, The Outlaws, Marshall Tucker Band, Pure Prairie League and of course Lynyrd Skynard. I went though the albums, 8 tracks, cassettes and now CDs.

While driving about today I heard that today was the 30th anniversary of the death of Ronnie Van Zant. If you don't know of him, he was the founder and lead singer of Lynyrd Skynard. He and some of his band mates were killed in a plane crash due to the fact that it basically ran out of gas. It got me thinking about all the celebrities that have been killed in plane crashes. Off the top of my head I can remember:
JFK Jr.
Jim Croce
Stevie Ray Vaughn (helicopter)
Ricky Nelson
Glenn Miller
Otis Redding
Buddy Holly
Patsy Cline
Aaliyah
Davey Allison NASCAR driver
Alan Kulwicki NASCAR driver
Payne Stewart golfer
I'm sure there are more I don't know about but seems to me that if you travel for your job from gig to gig you should really take the tour bus. Be like Dave Madden.

**Seems so long I been out on my own
Travel light and I'm always alone
Guess I was born with a travellin' bone
When my times up, I'll hold my own
You won't find me in an old folks home
You got that right
Well you got that right
Said, you got that right
Sure got that right

It's a Boy!

An interesting article in the news today about a woman having a child. That is certainly an everyday occurrence but what makes this case different is that the father of this child was a soldier killed in Iraq two years ago. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071019/sc_afp/usiraqwomenscienceivf Before Brian Smith left for Iraq he had some sperm frozen but not for the reason you may be thinking. Not because he and wife Kathleen were afraid he would die there but because but there were fertility issues and in-vitro would be they way they'd eventually conceive. This article stated that other men were freezing their sperm in advance of going to war due to all of the chemicals they would be exposed to.

The unthinkable happened, Smith was killed and Mrs. Smith was now a war widow. She made the decision to try and have her husband's baby after his death. After all, they had planned to have a child before our president sucked this country into this debacle (my opinion, not hers and let me say for all to see, I support out troops wholeheartedly. My nephew served in Iraq with the 100st Airborne and came home safely. I have the utmost respect for anyone who joins the armed service and those who have layed/laid down their life for this country.)

While one can never really know what they would do in this situation, I'm pretty sure I would have done the same thing. How lucky for her to have a child with the man she loved, the man who also wanted this child. Unfortunately Brian Smith is gone but his spirit lives on in young Benton.

Now of course there are those that don't agree with Kathleen Smith's decision and they have the right. Some may bring up the fact that Benton will be one more fatherless child. Yes, that's true but I can't imagine a more loved child than he. What upset me in this article and prompted this post is the remark from this coward. I copy/pasted right from the article:

A medical professor at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences in Washington, who asked not to be named, agreed women who seek to have their late husband's baby are a rarity, and expressed doubt as to whether it was a good idea.
"It's very uncommon. And I don't think it's a good thing, or that it will become more common," he said.
"The problem is regret -- regret is high for those women," he said. "What happens when she meets someone else?"
"The other question is ethical: the guy hadn't planned to die so he didn't say you could use his sperm," the doctor said.

I'd ask to be anonymous too if I said that. REGRET? I know many divorced women who have children. The ex husband may be a bum but NEVER have they expressed any regrets about having their children. One girlfriend says the only good thing to come out of her marriage was havng her children. I know there are women out there that regret their children when it comes to catching a new man, Susan Smith, (no relation), comes to mind and I know that many men want a women without "baggage". I would like to believe that most women think of their children first and foremost. Would most women regret their child when they found someone new?? This women loved her husband, this was their life plan. Yes, he said she could use his sperm when he had it frozen. Not only that but this isn't anyone else's business!! I don't see how he could judge the situation like that.

I don't know, please tell me this isn't how most men would feel.

Kathleen Smith and her 15 mo. old son, Benton.













Okay, rant over. I plan on having a nice relaxing weekend and I hope you do to. :)

Ok, who did it??

I saw these in a catalog I received in the mail. I don't know of one female that would want one of these. I can think of several men in my life that would love one.

Life of a college student

Being a parent is a hard job. It's not for everyone. Some people realize that and don't have children. Others find that out after they have them. As for me, I'm a natural at it. I guess I was born with a huge mother gene.

Most parents want the best for their child. I say most because not every parent is fit to be one. But that's another post. As a mother of two sons, I'm their biggest fan, cheerleader and support system. One of the hardest things for me to deal with was when I was no longer the most important person in their lives. Or so I thought.

Last night son number 1 calls from college. I can tell right away something is not right. The flood gate opens and stresses come pouring out. He is a senior in nursing school, in the spring he will graduate with a 4 year degree as an RN. He already has a job offer but he has to get through this last year.

Seems that at this moment in time he is overwhelmed with life. He has a heavy course load, clinical work in the hospital to do, papers to write, projects to do, tests and mid-terms to study for and to top it off he is president of the university's racquetball team and has 3 tournaments over the next 4 weekends. He has to find time to get his drivers liscence renewed, it expired when he turned 21 in September. No beer with an expired lisence. He's burning the candle at both ends and feeling it.

He spent 47 minutes on the phone with me last night spilling his guts over his life in general. I of course listened to him, offered suggestions, told him that we all go through it. We all get through it, there's light at the end of the tunnel, you're in the home stretch, all the cliches you can think of. At times he would say nothing, I would say nothing. The two of us would be silent. I realized that he just needed the emotional connection with mom, even if it was over the telephone. Just knowing that I was at the other end of the line was comforting.

It was breaking my heart that I couldn't do anything to help him. I couldn't hug him or give him a smile. When one of my children is hurting, I hurt along with them. When he's stressed, it stresses me although I would never tell him that. I finally suggested he go for a walk, get some fresh air, have some ice cream, put a time limit on his studying for the evening and get some sleep. We hung up. I don't know what he did after that. I will give him a few days and then call him.

I realized last night that I am still the most important person in his life, it just shows in a different way now. He may be 21 years old but still needs dear old mom when the going gets rough.

I couldn't love him more. The above picture is mom and son at Lighthouse Beach in the town of Chatham on Cape Cod this past summer.

Good Vibrations

Today there was an article on Yahoo about phantom vibrations that people are having. I'm not talking about vibrations of the ghostly kind but rather vibrations from their Blackberry and/or cell phones. Read about it here.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071010/ap_on_hi_te/phantom_vibrations. They actually feel a vibration where there isn't one. Similar to a person who has lost a leg but still feels leg pain.



I had a cell phone once. It was always on the kitchen counter. I never remembered to take it with me. It eventually became my #2 son's cell phone. I love lots of people and I'm pretty sure they love me too and I enjoy talking with them but do I need to speak with them immediately whenever and wherever I am? Ninety nine percent of the time, no. I sort of like the fact that I'm not connected at the hip to everyone I know. Sure there have been a few times I wish I had a cell phone, recently when I had car trouble and had to use a germ covered public telephone is one but not enough to go and get me one. I'm behind the times, still living in the '70's and I like it that way.

I have a calendar, it's on my wall. I have an address/phonebook, it's in a drawer. I have a phone, 4 actually in my house. If I need a reminder, I write a note. And test messaging, I don't have a clue, nor do I want one. I don't need all of this electronic stuff to make my life simpler. I know myself and I would end up frustrated with it all.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the advancement of science and technology, I'm just not good with it. I love my DVR (very similar to TEVO)

I like the fact that I don't have to answer a cell phone, I'm not crazy about answering my home telephone either. Peaceful and quiet, no one bothering me, heaven. Many times there is no TV or music on in my house. I'm not one that needs background noise. I'm in noise all day long. Some days I come home and I don't want to talk or be talked to. Comes from dealing with students all day long.

Speaking of Number 2 son, here he is at about age 16 months and his senior picture. I look at him everyday and am grateful for a healthy, smart, good looking child. How did I get so lucky? He has the most beautiful eyes, they're a combination of green, teal and aqua.

Cherry Bombs

I am a very curvaceous woman. I guess you can say I've got curves in all the right places. All my life I've been well endowed on top (and other places too) and it's been somewhat of a catch 22. While I can fill out jeans and a sweater pretty well, they also attract unwanted attention at times. But that's another story. Here's the the thing with being big busted; when eating, if something falls off of your fork it lands smack dab in the middle of your chest. Does it fall into your lap where you have your napkin? Noooooo. It has to land right on my boobs. I have ruined many a shirt this way. I'm certainly not a slob and am a slow eater, it's not like I'm steam shoveling it in. When I eat I am extra careful not to get any food on myself. Some people can eat and never get anything on them. I'm sorry to say, I'm not one of them.

We went out to eat on Friday evening with Sean's brother and wife. I wore a new white sweater that had a v-neck and some lacy bits around it. It shows just enough of the girls.We are sitting at a square table for four with Sean to my right. While eating my salad (and being extra careful because any salad dressing will stain, I was having honey mustard) I look down and notice some nice red splotches on my sweater! WTF! I wasn't eating anything red. I look closer and see a tomato seed. It seems that Sean was was having a battle while trying to spear a cherry tomato and it exploded. Did tomato guts land on him? NO. They squirt in my direction and landed on new white sweater. Long story short, the tomato lost it's battle and my sweater was collateral damage. I hope it washes out.

I'm not a Blond

I'm a red head, not a blond but I can have blond moments.
We got a new car in July, a Honda CRV. We traded in our Ford Explorer, a truck that I loved. We'd never had a vehicle that was that luxurious. The review mirror automatically changed when a car came up behind you at night. There were what they called puddle lights on the bottom of the sideview mirror that came on when you remotly unlocked the door. It had a compass, fog lights, power adjustable drivers seat, keyless entry, seperate climate control for the back seats and best of all it was a V6. Worse of all it got about 15 miles to the gallon.

The Honda has none of those accoutrements but gets better gas mileage and has a lower monthly payment. It's a nice vehicle, peppy enough. I like it but do miss somethings that I had on the truck. Well twice last week when I put it in gear or shall I say tried to put it in gear, the button you push in on the shifter wouldn't go in and I couldn't get it out of park.
The first time it happened I was in the garage trying to get it into reverse. Now I can walk to school, about a mile away from my house but I have to be there by 8:30 and when I drive I usually leave around 8:28. I tried shutting off the engine, starting it again, wouldn't go in gear. This went on for about 5 minutes. Finally I got it did and was just 5 minutes late. It's all good if I beat the students to the classroom.

Next time (a few days later) I was at the salon getting my eyebrows waxed. Came out to leave and damn if that Honda wouldn't shift into drive. I'm one of the few people in the world that don't have a cell phone so I had to use a public phone to call Sean. Do you know that it cost 50 cents to make a phone call now??!! Not to mention, they're gross. In my wallet I had a casino token from Niagara Falls, a Canadian dollar coin, some pennies and my magic stone that my son found on Ballston Beach in Cape Cod 17 years ago. (my father always told me to have a few dollars in my wallet but jeez, I never do). I went into the card store to see if they'd give me change for this Canadian coin. Which by the way is now worth as much as an American dollar. Well guess what, they wouldn't do it even when I told them I had car trouble and needed to make a phone call. Luckily my night in shining armor came to my rescue. The man behind me gave me 4 quarters to make the phone call. He said keep your dollar, take all 4 quarters, you might have to make another call.

So I called Sean who was on the way out the door headed for an after work happy hour. While waiting for him to arrive I'm thinking how I'm going to let the dealer know what a piece of crap their car is while they're to wing it away. Sean arrives, gets in, starts it up, puts it in drive. WTF?! Turns out with Honda's you have to have your foot on the brake in order for the shifter to go into gear. Who knew? For some reason twice this week I hadn't done that. Why all of a sudden? I don't remember doing that with any other car I've driven. Maybe I always have without realizing it. But why suddenly stop doing it?

Dear Abby,
My husband is a liar and a cheat. He has cheated on me from the beginning,and, when I confront him, he denies everything. What’s worse, everyone knows that he cheats on me. It is so humiliating. Also, since he lost his job six years ago, he hasn’t even looked for a new one. All he does all day is smoke cigars, cruise around and bullshit with his buddies while I have to work to pay the bills. Since our daughter went away to college he doesn’t even pretend to like me and hints that I may be a lesbian. What should I do?
Signed: Clueless

Dear Clueless,
Grow up and dump him. Good grief, woman. You don’t need him anymore! You’re a United States Senator from New York running for President of the United States. Act like one.

I stole the above from Nobody on My Blog is About Nothing, hope he doesn't mind.

Regardless of this joke, I really liked Bill Clinton and still do. He's very intelligent, articulate, charismatic and respected around the world. I think the country was at it's best when he was president. Do I like the fact that he was unfaithful to his wife? Hell no. Obviously there is some discontent in that marriage. I'm sure being under a microscope didn't help. I don't think that the "sexual relations" with Monica made him any less capable of running the country. And I'm not making excuses for him but Clinton is not the first president to be unfaithful. FDR, a great and popular president had a long term affair with Lucy Mercer and was with her when he died. There was a revolving door and a line of women coming and going from the White House when JFK was in residence. The difference here was that Clinton was hung out to dry for it. I'm not condoning extramarital affairs but I don't think that every issue in a person's private life should be in the public eye. It is between the husband and wife. Yes, I did lose some respect for him on that. What was he thinking?? In the Oval Office no less. More proof that men think with their dicks at times.

Bottom line, I'll take a smart, savy, womanizing president over the cowboy we have in office now. He's an embarrassment.

One last thing, I'm very grateful that I live in a country where I can express the above opinions and not be thrown in jail or worse. While I don't agree with every Bill of Rights in the United States constitution, some are out of date or taken too literally, (that's a subject for another blog entry) I do thank the founding fathers and framers of the constitution for the freedoms we have today.

obsession

I have developed an obsession for Tootsie Pops. I don't care for the chocolate ones or the new flavor (well new to me) lemon lime. But the other flavors, yummmmm. I've never been able to get to the tootsie roll inside without crunching. Some things I have no self control with.

I'm happy that the new TV season has started. I still enjoy Survivor, love Boston Legal and the dancing shows. Right now is Dancing with the Stars. If only I could dance, just a little. I have no rhythm at all. Believe me. Oh how I would love to have a body like the professional women have. Professional dancers I mean. Edyta Sliwinska. Hot. Tall with long legs. I drool over her and I'm not into ladies. But, is it my imagination or do the dancers both professional and stars seem very shiny and too tan?

This year in school I am working between fifth grade and kindergarten with most of my day with the little ones. What a difference between the 2 grades. I have to say I still see some of the kindergartner in the fifth grader at times. One nice thing about the kindergartners is they don't stink. Today the 5th graders ran the mile in P.E. in 90 degree heat. Right after that I had to work with them in science class. They were hot and sweaty. Usually its at the end of the school year they get ripe but today, I couldn't wait to get out of the room.

Also one of my kindergartners told me today that he got a bumblesting while waiting at the bus stop this morning. How cute is that? I love my job.

College Shopping

Number 2 son is a senior in high school and we've started the dreaded college search. Some parents find this fun and exciting. I don't. I find it stressful.

At this stage in the game he wants to be a teacher. A high school English teacher to be exact. The state I live in, New York, has very rigorous standards for the education of future teachers. Other states love NY certified teachers so our search will be confined to our state.

Number 2 is a bright kid, he scored 1440 on the SAT, has a 3.8 GPA and takes honors and AP classes. He has many universities from around the country interested in him. A persistent one is University of Southern California. Three thousand miles away and a mere $49,600 per year! WTF! Who has that kind money? Other schools interested in him are the U.S.military academies. The price is right, free, but they own you for a while. I'm not signing my baby over to the armed forces. As soon as he made Eagle Scout he heard from every branch of the military.

Big school? Small school? Private school or State school? His older brother goes to a large Division 1 school and is a serious student. Number 2 is a social butterfly and very laid back, what kind of school is right for him? I guess the only way to tell is to visit all kinds. He doesn't seem stressed so I guess I shouldn't be either.

Oops, he did it again

I don't usually venture into political things on this blog but holy shit, I can't wait until the presidential election. It can't come soon enough. I didn't think that Bush could make him self look and seem any more stupid but he has succeeded again. I should be used to him making these blunders but every time he does it, it still shocks me that the President of the United States sticks his foot in his mouth time and time again. By doing that he sends the world a message saying this country is a bunch of nit wits.

Now I'm not saying that the job of President is an easy one. Hell no. It must be the hardest job in the world. I can't believe that anyone would want to do it. The stress, the pressure, the knowledge you have to have. The names of countries and their leaders must be extremely hard to remember let alone to pronounce. I cut him some slack on that. Personally I don't think anyone in the country should make more money than the president. I know I'll never have to worry about that but look at the professional athletes for one. They make millions for playing a game they love. Say they miss a game winning field goal in the Superbowl, (Scott Norwood, you broke the heart of thousands of western New Yorkers) What's the worse that can happen? You get run out of town and become a piece of sports trivia.

Screw up as president and you get us in a war that is killing sons and daughters of this country everyday. Yes, I support our troops and this is my opinion, I think we should have dedicated the manpower and money towards the hunt for Bin Laden.

To sum it all up, I am proud to be an American. I hate the fact that the majority of the world thinks of us as power hungry, over indulgent, selfish, soulless people. Some of these same people that think we are the evil empire but whether they know it or not, they Americanize themselves by listening to American music, wearing our clothes, sneakers , electronics, etc. (ok, not made in this country but still.) Some come to our country to educate themselves at our universities or to receive medical treatment.

But back to our 43rd president. Read below for his latest gaffe.


Mandela still alive after embarrassing Bush remark
Fri Sep 21, 8:15 AM ET
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Nelson Mandela is still very much alive despite an embarrassing gaffe by U.S. President George W. Bush, who alluded to the former South African leader's death in an attempt to explain sectarian violence in Iraq.
"It's out there. All we can do is reassure people, especially South Africans, that President Mandela is alive," Achmat Dangor, chief executive officer of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, said as Bush's comments received worldwide coverage.
In a speech defending his administration's Iraq policy, Bush said former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's brutality had made it impossible for a unifying leader to emerge and stop the sectarian violence that has engulfed the Middle Eastern nation.
"I heard somebody say, Where's Mandela?' Well, Mandela's dead because Saddam Hussein killed all the Mandelas," Bush, who has a reputation for verbal faux pas, said in a press conference in Washington on Thursday.
Jailed for 27 years for fighting white minority rule, Mandela became South Africa's first black president in 1994. He won a Nobel Peace Prize for preaching racial harmony and guiding the nation peacefully into the post-apartheid era.
References to his death -- Mandela is now 89 and increasingly frail -- are seen as insensitive in South Africa.

I need to sleep

In our bedroom we have a clock that projects the time and the outside temperature on the ceiling. I love it. I can crack open an eyelid to check it in the middle of the night, go right back to sleep. Some winter morning it does make it hard to get out of bed when the temp is -10 degrees F. It's not the friendliest when using the alarm feature so I use a clock radio on my side of the bed. Yes, I have to wake the man up 90 minutes before I need to get up. Yes I have to hit the snooze button for him too. This means I have to wake up too. If I left it up to him, he'd keep on sleeping.

I bought a new alarm clock about 6 weeks ago. Old Faithful decided that retirement sounded pretty good and stopped working. I like all of the features on the new one. No more going around again if you go past the time you want, you can reverse! Duel alarms, perfect. You can program it to go off Mon. though Friday but not on weekends. It tells you the day and date. Automatically falls back or springs ahead for daylight savings time. What more could a girl want. It is the Cadillac of alarm clocks. Of course anything would be better than the Chevy Vega model I had.

But all is not perfect with this clock. The numbers light up in blue and even on the dim setting this thing is so damn bright that I can't sleep. My room glows blue. I like it as dark as possible when I'm sleeping. Unfortunately I have plantation shutters and a valance on each window so light comes in. The full moon is bad. But back to my clock. I can't have it facing me and blinding me so I turn it sideways so I can't see it. Remember I have the time on the ceiling. Scully and Mulder could use this clock as a flashlight when they're hunting aliens. Since I've turned it I've overslept 3 times. I realized today as I woke up at 8:05 and had to be to school at 8:30, that I must be turning it off rather than hitting the snooze bar. I guess the next step it to put it on the floor. Or buy one of these.

OJ in trouble again

I just don't get O.J. The man essentially gets away with the murder of two people and can't manage to keep his nose clean.

I think he thinks he's made of Teflon and nothing will stick to him. This isn't the first time he's been in trouble with the law since that fateful time in 1994. While O.J. is all over the TV networks, he'll get no face time on this blog. The only people I will feature are the people whose lives he took, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. I have already heard people voice the opinion that he was set up in this so called sting operation. Give me a break. This man thinks he can do what he pleases without fear of recrimination. After all he got away with double murder once. You can't do better than that.
People wonder why is he in jail and not the other people that he roped into his crime. Can you say flight risk? Remember the white Bronco chase. The little smirk he had on his face when he was doing the "perp walk" was sickening. Please do the right thing and keep him in jail. The party's over. He hasn't found his former wife's killer in the last 13 years so jail is a good place for him.

Autumn Days of a Life

I have a friend, just a couple years older than myself. Her name is Ginny. We became friends 16 years ago when number 1 son had her as his first grade teacher. I knew then she was something special and begged number 2's kindergarten teacher to place him in Ginny's first grade as well. I wish it wasn't so but she is in the autumn of her life. I spoke with her several weeks ago and she hopes that she can hang on until her first child's wedding next June. She has a husband and three children, the youngest being 16. She is no stranger to the insidious disease of cancer as this is her fourth bout with it in 25 years. Unfortunately for this world, "it" is going to win this fight.

When you speak with her she has the uncanny ability to make you feel better and to comfort you. She wants to keep everything as normal as possible as long as she can. While her body is weak and frail, her spirit is energetic and upbeat. Ginny is the strongest woman I know. She is a kind, gentle, nurturing person, and deserves to spend a long life spoiling her future grandchildren. She would be a wonderful grandmother.

It became clear this summer that Ginny can no longer work and would not be coming back to school in September. Our school is not the same without her energy there. There is a long term sub in for her and we're welcoming her into the family but it's just not the same, plus she has huge shoes to fill.

I've had a card for her that I've been looking at for 3 weeks and struggling with what to write. It's been at home, sort of out of sight, out of mind but not really. I took it to work and put it on my desk so I see it everyday. I just didn't know what to write in it. I didn't just want to sign my name, I wanted to acknowledge that I know how hard it must be to not return to the teaching job she loves. What do you say to someone in this situation? Finally yesterday I forced myself to confront it. It was a hard, tearful and painful but once I started, the words tumbled out.

For many, writing words are easier than speaking them. I'm one of those people. I did let her know I understand how hard it must be for her to not be working, how we all miss her and on a personal level how much I miss our friendship. I told her the above story about knowing how special she was all those years ago when my boys had her, how she is an inspiration to all. My original goal 30 years ago was to be a teacher but I went into the corporate world for 18. I left that job and started coming into her classroom once a week to help out. She put the bug in my ear that eventually got me where I am today. In a job that I love, I get to work with all types of kids, to see their joy for life and to hopefully guide them into intelligent, wonderful adults. I told her thank you for that.

All things I might never have told her had she not been sick. I guess the moral of the story is to not wait for that to happen. Don't wait to tell people you love those things. Make their day.

No regrets.

Remembering those who lost their lives in New York City, Pennsylvania and Washington D.C.

Little Boy and Puppy Dog

Last week was the first week back to school. This is Number 2 son on the morning of his first day. He's a senior in high school this year and has a full schedule, no early arrival or early dismissal for him. He's taking 3 AP classes and several honors classes as well as driver ed.When I was in high school I was out of there by 10:30. You wouldn't catch me taking any extra classes if I didn't need to. While he's in high school, I'm back too in the elementary school, working in fifth grade and kindergarten. I have 157 names to learn. Yikes.




















I'm a puppy aunt also!! My sister's family got a new puppy this weekend, a golden retriever. Her name is Maise and she is the cutest fur ball you ever saw. She's just 8 weeks old and has the soft puppy fur, sharp needle teeth and puppy smell.

They paid a lot of money for this dog and had a puppy fund for about 8 months to save for her. Whenever I went over or saw the kids I'd give them a few bucks for the puppy fund. This dog cost a cool one thousand dollars. Yes, I said $1,000. Thank goodness Cody only cost us 50 bucks.

Which leads me to this. I always thought that if the mother and father of a dog were of different breeds they were called mutts. Nobody paid much if anything for a mutt. When I look in the newspaper today I see dogs called Labradoodles $300. (Lab & Poodle) Goldendoodle $600. (Golden Retriever & Poodle) Chiwauzer $450. (Chihauahua & Schnauzer) Jug $200. (Jack Russell & Pug) In my day (don't I sound like an old grandmaw?) these were called mutts and you gave them away. Now they command big money. So I wonder if you breed a bulldog and a shih-tzu would you call it a Bullshit?

Up, Up and Away

This Labor Day weekend we took Number 2 and his best friend to a hot air balloon festival.

The day was beautiful with a cloudless blue sky, a slight breeze from the west and the aroma of barbecue chicken and cow manure in the air.

This festival was in a rural area some distance from my city. By the end of the day I became a firm believer of the saying, "you can take a girl out of the city but you can't take the city out of the girl."










While I don't live in the city proper, I live in a suburb on the very fringe of it, downtown is about 5 miles away. My zip code is said city. It's not a mega city but it is the 3rd largest city in my state with a metropolitan population of 1,037,831. The lovely little town the festival was held in has a population of about 6,000.
I was surrounded by good 'ol boys in John Deere and deer huntin' tee shirts and other walks of life that I won't go into here.







Around 6 PM the balloon pilots begin to let cool air into the envelope. (the balloon in layman's terms) When it's almost filled they start up the burner to warm the air and the balloon rises. If you remember any basic science, warm air is lighter than cool air and will rise . That's why the upstairs of your house is warmer in the winter and the downstairs is cooler in the summer.








The balloons are so graceful and quiet except when they give a blast from the burner to keep that air warm. We were lucky in the fact the the breeze was blowing west to east so the balloons travelled right over our heads upon lift off.


We weren't sure what to expect being that we had never been to this festival before. The first balloon launch was at 6 AM. For those of you that know me, I'm not a morning person. I'd have to get up about 4 o'clock to see them in the morning launch and there was just no way.

We weren't sure how many balloons we'd see there. I thought maybe 12 - 15. We were pleasantly surprised to see that there were 47 balloons in attendance!

This one is "The Flying Purple People Eater"






It was a beautiful sight to see them aloft and worth the wait. They played a game where they had to find a big bulls eye on the ground, lower down and drop beanbags to see which balloon could get closest. The festival cost only 5 bucks per person to get in but if you wanted a ride in one of these balloons, be prepared to pony up $200.00 per person!







I apologize for the blurry picture, we were in the car and Sean didn't pull over. This pilot and his balloon didn't fare too well. They ended up stuck in the trees. Don't know how that happened. I don't know how they got them out but I'd want my $200.00 back!














Green Acres TV Theme

Green acres is the place for me.
Farm livin' is the life for me.
Land spreadin' out so far and wide.
Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside.
No, New York is where I'd rather stay.
I get allergic smelling hay.
I just adore a penthouse view.
Dah-ling I love you but give me Park Avenue....
The chores....
The stores....
Fresh air....
Times Square
You are my wife.
Good bye, city life.
Green Acres we are there.