Congress say what??

Sometimes, I have to wonder if the entirety of Congress collectively have their heads up their asses.

I know that was vulgar and rude, but so is the thought that thanks to their ineptitude, children may well be banned from libraries.

"Sorry, Little Johnny, no story time for you ever again, or the librarian will go to jail".

I mean, what were they thinking??? The new laws that were designed to protect our children, are seriously about to turn their, and our, worlds upside down. Have you read some of the articles about what may happen because of this new massive and all inclusive monster of a piece of legislation?
Let's see. First, we have the end of the resale industry.
Then, we have tons of small businesses who will have to close their doors. Say goodbye to your favorite mommy owned small businesses that we have come to depend on for those perfect niche items.
After that, we ban children from libraries, because you know, even though children have been in libraries for generations and generations, apparently, every parent before us was just dumb enough to let their children go into that godforsaken pit of lead toxicity, including our own. Not us, though, our kids will never again walk those death bringing halls. **Insert massive eye roll here.**

I believe at this point, my child is much more likely to be harmed by falling and knocking over a stack of books, than by anything that Congress has actually touched upon, in a library.

How far are we going to let them go? Do we have to let them actually ban these things before we as a nation rise up and tell them to pull their heads back out? Why is it that we allow so many people who have obviously lost touch with us, the people, to continue to do such ridiculous things?

While I fully realize that this ban will probably never take place, and you must take much of my commentary herein as sarcasm and hyperbole, the fact is that I really do believe that congress is acting not in the best interest of the people any more, or even with the amount of thought and consideration really needed for what they do. They are reactionary. They pander to whatever makes them look good, without consideration of the real ramifications of their actions, time and time again.

Seriously, people, we need to stop, think, and decide where our line in the sand is. It may just about be time to wipe the slate clean, and start again in the next election cycles.

How did this post turn into such a political soap box? I'm not really sure, but I do know this: I have a story time scheduled in two weeks with my moms group. I intend to be there. I also intend to keep on scheduling events at libraries all over the city, because there are few things as important as teaching our children the joys of reading, and I don't intend to let anyone take that away from me, or my children.

Faculty Death at School

The P.E. teacher at Lilly's school passed away this weekend. He was very young. The whole thing was a little odd. He had been sick for months, in and out of the hospital, but they never found out what was wrong with him.

Most of the school already knew before today, but we hadn't heard, having secluded ourselves this weekend. If I had known, I would have talked to my daughter about it before school.

At school, the principal made no mention of it at the assembly, except for a single thought that was "To heal our spirits today" and then what song they would sing together. Instead, they decided to go room to room through the school and talk to the kids that way. I hope that is better.

I really feel for some of those kids. This school is predominately military. A lot of these kids don't get to see much of their father's to begin with, and having a male father figure that has been a constant in their lives for a few years will be very hard. Not to say that death is easy for any one.

I'm not sure what the school is going to do at this point, but I really hope they handle this well. Their track record on inconsequential stuff isn't great. But I must have hope that they can take care of something like this appropriately at least.

Who you gonna call?

My oldest got both a Webkinz charm necklace and bracelet along with one charm for Christmas in her stocking. They come with codes that you enter online to a Webkinz account.
Lilly wanted to enter her new pieces onto her account. We sat down at the computer to do everything, but when I saw she had both a necklace and a bracelet, I got a little confused with their being only one charm. My husband got these from Ebay, and I really had no idea what he wanted with them, if one was for now, and one for later, etc.

Without even thinking, I looked at Lilly and said, "Huh. Wonder why you got the necklace and the bracelet. I wonder what he was thinking. "

"I don't know, Mom."

"Well, I guess I will just have to call him and ask if there was something special he wanted, or if you are supposed to only use one of them for now." I picked up the phone and started dialing.

Lilly's eyes were huge. Her jaw dropped. "Are you really calling Santa right now??" She ask with astonishment.

I didn't miss a beat. "I might just be." And then I smiled at her. When Chad answered the phone, I ask him only what I needed to. Then said "Thank you, Santa" and hung up. Lilly was flabbergasted.

It was fantastic. Chad has threatened to call Santa many, many times over the years, but I guess it was mom who actually picked up the phone and did it the first time. Ahh....she knows her momma means business all the time.

I have a what??!!??

Let me tell you, husbands, boyfriends, men of the world in general, what you do not, repeat, NOT say to your wife of many years.
The womyn who has given birth to your children.
The womyn who has waited back home, patiently, faithfully, for many, many months, just her and your child, while you were off in another part of the world.
The womyn who has been by your side through thick and thin.

You do NOT walk up to this womyn, put your arms around her in a hug, then look at her face and say "I think your starting to get a unibrow".

When she immediately rebukes you, you then do not proceed to try to explain yourself, and show her the particular hairs you mean. Furthermore, when her temper flairs beyond belief, you don't laugh. Not if you value your life, you don't.

Someone, anyone, should have told this to my husband. I don't know what on this earth (or from far below it more likely) possessed him to say such a thing, but he did.

I told him he may as well go ahead and tell me I look like I have gained weight. Why stop there? Tell me which clothes I wear make me look the fattest, then proceed to trace the wrinkle lines in my face. I mean, why not tear me down???

Why???

"Why would you say such a thing?", I ask him.

"It wasn't mean."

"Now that is just dumb." I don't use that word lightly. In fact, that is probably one of the few, if not the only, times in our years together that I have used that word in direct reference to my husband or his actions. However, I call them like I see them. To think that telling your wife she has a unibrow isn't mean or hurtful, is dumb. It is. You just don't do that. He doesn't tell me how to groom. Why would he start now, there??

In fact, I don't think he even knows what a unibrow really is. What I have, are a couple of hairs that have to be smoothed into place from time to time, especially after I just rolled up out form underneath the dining room table where I was cleaning both the back legs that I can't reach any other way, and the underside of the table lip. Yeah. They might have been a little out of place, but I can't pluck those few long hairs I have, because fact is that with out them, I barely have any eyebrows naturally at all!!!! What you see in pictures is drawn on. My mom is the same way. The older we get, the less we have by way of eyebrow, too. So, unibrow, it was and is not.

Cold shoulder, now that you have. Harumph!!

She was late!!

I'm heart broken. Lilly was late to school for the first time today. Being on time to school everyday is such a big deal to me. I was never on time. I learned that behaviour early on from my mother, and I refused to carry it on to my own children.

She wasn't very late, maybe 60 seconds. We were at her school when the bell rang. She was late about the amount of time it took for her to take her backpack and coat off, and hang them up. I zipped up her back pack, and put her coat where it needed to be, just so she could get in.

It really broke my heart. I know in the grand scheme of things, that 60, or even 120, seconds of being tardy won't matter. It will however, stick out in my mind. I have to fight against the onslaught of feelings like I should just give up on our fight to keep her on time, every time.

I walked the whole what home thinking if this and if that. If she hadn't thrown all the shoes out of the shoe basket, sot hat she had to pick them all back up again before leaving the house. If she had actually gotten dressed, and paid attention to what was going on... If she would just put her shoes on by herself, with out making me stop getting Ava and me ready to go... If I had gotten up a few minutes earlier so that I could push her.. If I hadn't insisted on making coffee before we left, coffee that I didn't even have time to drink.... All those ifs, though, do us no good. As the saying goes, If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we could have Christmas all year long. Well, the time for Christmas is passed, and the time for ifs has also. Instead, we both need to make this a lesson learned. She needs to learn that she really can be late in the mornings, and that she needs to prioritize better, choosing carefully what really needs to be done, and what doesn't, in the mornings. I think lesson also applies to her mother, who is trying with all her might to undue to lessons of her own ever tardy youth. Hopefully, we can work on that lesson together tomorrow, and the day after, and so on. We can get this one, together, and be the better people for it.

It's a Nerdy Job....

My daughter just ran down stairs. She got an art studio/easel thing for Christmas. It has a big roll of paper in it, that she can tear off when she is done with a picture, and pull out a fresh sheet. Well, the paper is stuck, and she ran down to tell us she needed help getting the paper out.

I said. "Do you have a paper jam?"
"Yes! That's it. It is a paper jam!!"

I thought it was funny.

Telling corny jokes: It's a nerdy job, but someone has to do it.

Feeling Free

Between two kids, being a military wife, having multiple volunteer positions, along with a job that I work from home, I rarely feel free anymore.
However, in recent weeks, I have found something that surprises me, by making me feel incredibly free.

Driving.

Remember how free you felt when you got your driver's license? How about when you got your first car, and you knew that you could go anywhere you wanted, any time you wanted.
Do you remember how much you loved to drive when you were young. The power rush as you would speed down the highway or interstate? Well, suddenly, that and more has all come back to me.

Somehow, in the day to day grind, our very large truck has become the family car, and that is what I generally drive. Mu husband has taken over my cute little sporty black car to commute in, because it is much better on gas. While he loves it, it isn't something that I like to drive, at all. It is huge, and definitely not the most maneuverable thing you have ever driven. The car seats stay in it now. So, the black car is for single driving only.

I don't get to go many places with out the kids, but in the last couple of weeks, I have been out without them at least 2 times. Sad, I know, but still, the moment that car merges onto the free way, my heart soars. I feel the power kick in, and the car jumps up to 80 miles an hour. I can slide over into the next lane easily, without fear of massive blind spots like in the big car. If there isn't any room for me to merge, it isn't a problem. The turbo has already kicked in, and that car can just fly up on to make it's own space.

I get to crank my music up. I get to sing along to anything I like. I can even repeat the bad words as loudly as I want, if I so choose. I am in control of it all. I have the power and the freedom to go where I want, and when I want again.

I can really see now, how some people get into racing, and cars in general. While I doubt I will ever be much of an gear head, I think I will always have a soft spot in my heart for the little black sporty cars that can make your spirits soar as high as the tachometer, or even higher.