That is what I'm blogging about

Oklahoma Dog’s (I Mean Woman’s) Car Is Impounded

2008-11-11T18:08:00Z

Here is a really strange story from Oklahoma. It just goes to show that you must keep on an eye on “man’s best friend” at all times.

A woman went to the car wash, with her 70 lb pit bull in the car. As the woman was washing the car, the pit bull decided to go for a spin. He jumped toward the dashboard (putting the car in gear) and started his adventure. The car was in reverse at that, so I think that maybe he has been doing this for quite some time. The car was backed out from it’s spot at the car wash, driven onto a highway and made a loop around before stopping in an auto car wash lane. Ok, so not quite where he started out from, but still, pretty good for a dog. How well would you have been able to do that same, in reverse, without incident?

The car almost hit another car when backing onto the highway, however, other than that no accidents or injuries are reported in this story, so the dog and owner came away from the incident just fine. The officer on the scene joked about the fact that in 26 years of work, they have never had to leave the driver info blank on their report, but were waiting for confirmation of the dog’s driver license.

However, because the owner had no proof of insurance (on her driving or the dog?), the car was impounded and the pair had to walk home. Imagine the verbal scolding that dog must have gotten on the way home. This woman arrives in her vehicle to wash it and has to return home on foot. Not pretty.

“I Forgot”

2008-11-07T14:53:00Z

If you have children, then you probably don’t need to read any further than the title. How many times have you had to ask your child to do something as routine as:

-take a bath
-clean your ears
-choose your clothes for school
-finish your homework
-put your homework in your bookbag
-sweep the floor
-clean your room

….and the list goes on and on and on. But then, if they really want something they never “forget” to ask you about it. They also don’t “forget” when something they really want to attend is coming up in a day or so. And the most shocking of them all, they never forget when their teacher asks them to do something, just their parents.

My husband and I were trying to recall how many times we have asked our girls to clean up their room or take a bath before dinner. I think we maxed out at least at twice per week for the past year. So, does anyone have any suggestions for helping them remember what we ask like they would remember what their teacher asks? Maybe we should ask their teacher to ask them to clean their room and take a bath before dinner. That is something I might try.

The Science Project

2008-11-06T21:14:00Z

My daughter just did an interesting science project and I just have to write about it. About one year ago, I received an email that stated a small child died from drinking diet coke and eating a piece of mentos candy. Apparently, the reaction between the two was lethal. I told my daughter that if she was interested, she should do that as a science project. She did and the results were quite interesting.

First, we tried buying Coke classic and adding a mentos mint. Nothing spectacular there—we figured we would move on and find a different experiment. Then, we did some research and saw that the email mentioned Diet Coke, so we went and bought that. The results were really something. You can open a regular bottle of Diet Coke (we used the small bottles, not the 2-liter, since we wanted to do this several times) and there is the normal slight fizz you get when you open a soda. Then, add a mentos mint and step back! The soda shoots out of the bottle like a mini-volcano. Some poor little one took in this combination and it was reportedly deadly for them.

I told my daughter that there should be a warning on the bottle of this type of reaction. Who knows how many people might take that combination (I know, if you are going to drink a diet soda, why would you have candy with it). But still, at least she will be warning students in her class and spreading the word!

The Fair Is Here

2008-11-06T20:44:00Z

Well, it is that time of year in our area for the fair. The fair is so much fun for small cities and towns that don’t have much to do. Several different rides to enjoy and so much junk food you can hardly contain yourself. I will be taking my children to the fair this year for fun and food and I hope that the weather will be favorable for it. We had a cold spell come through last week, but it seems that things have warmed back up to the nice fall weather we love in this area. Mildly cool mornings with nice, sunny and warm afternoons.

It is kind of funny that although I have one daughter who would love to see all of the animal exhibits, my oldest daughter would prefer to stay away because of their unpleasant scent. Oh well, we’ll figure out a way to please them both.

Animal Mayhem

2008-10-23T15:21:00Z

I know that I have been writing a lot about people and animals lately, but the news has had quite a few stories to pick on lately, so "bear" with me here, these are so hard to ignore.

Here is one of a woman (61 years old) that actually fought with a deer after it attacked one of her poodles. Now to support all dog lovers, I understand why she did it, I guess. But, what is it with these attacks on dogs? And what is with these dog owners fighting with animals? The deer started it by attacking the poodle. This woman gets involved and kicks the deer’s hind legs. The deer is no longer concerned with the dog at this point, it now has to defend itself against the woman, so it butted her with its head and pushed her into a fence. She comes back at the deer and hits its head with her fists until it runs away. She had minor injuries to her abdomen from it all, but she was able to save her little dog, so that’s good.

Why are these animals going wild? I saw a recent post where the man who hit the shark to save his dog was interviewed and it was quite interesting. You can watch it here: http://ripplesinthetide.blogspot.com/2008/10/interview-with-man-who-punched-shark-to.html

Even more interesting, is the video that follows of a different dog attacking a shark! Way to go, Fido! Maybe this dog was a friend of the dog who the shark attacked earlier.

Criminal Sentenced To Wear "I Was Stupid" Sign

2008-10-14T19:52:00Z

A young man who crashed his car into a closed gate at a water treatment plant earlier this year, was found guilty of criminal charges. The judge in the case, gave the accused a choice in the type of sentence he would serve for the crime: either go to jail and serve time or hold a sign that says “I was stupid.” The man chose the latter and has to hold this sign to show his “stupidity.” Amazingly, it has been reported that this same judge gives these choices to many who come before him in his courtroom, however, many pass on the “alternative” and prefer to save themselves the embarrassment and serve the jail time.

The judge’s outlook on the alternative signs is that he is saving the system money by keeping non-violent criminals out of jail and humiliating them publicly at the same time. It is supposed to not only embarrass the criminal, but keep others from committing the same type of crime, knowing that they might be publicly embarrassed someday. The “sign” has to fit the “crime” and are optional. His decision has reportedly never been appealed.

I have many follow up questions for this story:
1) How is this sentence enforced? How do they know that the criminal is actually displaying this sign at all times?
2) How long does the offender have to wear the sign? For the entire term that they would have been sentenced?
3) Are they really that embarrassed after what they did to have to wear the sign in the first place, or are they just glad that they got off not having to serve the jail time?

The Gym

2008-10-09T16:34:00Z

I have to wonder what gym’s are really for. When you are terribly out of shape and you sign up thinking that you can just get on all of this equipment and start working yourself back into shape and then realize that it will create aches and pains in places you didn’t even know existed, it makes you wonder if it is really worth the hassle. It makes you wonder if you are doing the right thing or if you will always be in such pain. And, believe it or not, more tired than when you started going? I am exhausted!!!

I have only been attending for about three weeks now. I go three times a week and stay for about 45 minutes, which includes cardio and weights. By the time I am done, I feel really good about myself for having gone. But a few days later, I feel like I should not have tried. I just can’t wait until I get to the point where I can work out without feeling it days later. I just wanted something where I could feel more energetic and healthier. I sure hope this turns out to be more fun later.

It also helps having an mp3 player. My husband had been wanting to buy one for me for quite some time, and I always turned him down. Told him I would not have time to listen to it between work and life at home with the kids. It sure is a great thing to have at the gym though. In fact, my cardio workout would be much slower and less effective without it.

Just One Of Those Days

2008-10-08T14:05:00Z

This morning was one of the worst mornings I have had. My children and I got up early to get ready to leave home for work and school (our daily weekly routine) but things just went terribly wrong. My youngest did not want to get out of bed and so it took longer than usual for her to get up. Then she decided not to wear the clothes that I picked out for her to wear the night before and dressed in the same exact clothes she wore to school yesterday. I guess she thought that I would not notice and since she just loves that outfit, it would be okay. Well, that just was not something I could let slide by, so I told her to go back to her room and put on the clothes I had ready for her. I even explained to her what color they were and what they looked like so that we would be in sync on this. Well, we weren’t! She came back wearing some corduroy pants, a tshirt and a denim overall-skirt over the whole outfit. Ugh! So we remove the denim overall-skirt to leave just the t-shirt and pants but guess what? Both were dirty. So now, I have to once again get her to go change into the outfit that was ready the night before. This time, I go to the room with her to physically put it on her myself and the outfit was missing! Once again, UGH! I ask where she put it and of course the answer is: “I don’t know.” (For those of you who don’t have children yet, “I don’t know” is the universal answer for everything you ever wanted to ask your kids, so don’t bother asking). Well, we could not find that outfit, so we had to dig into her ever so full closet and put together a decent outfit to wear to school. Now we are running late for school, work etc and I just have a meltdown after I drop my kids off at school feeling that I just can’t be a mother anymore. I’ll get over it.

Such is life…

Learning to Read

2008-10-03T16:22:00Z

It is so exciting to go through your children’s “firsts” when they get to certain points in their lives. Their first smile, first crawl, first word, first step, etc. Well, we are five years into the life of our youngest daughter and doing more homework with her for kindergarten than with our older daughter for fourth grade. My life has seemed to be such chaos lately, trying to balance work and home. I guess it is because we are now doing homework times 2 and that is a lot of work! The girls have an unexpected day off from school on Oct 17th and that is the equivalent of a day off for us too!

Anyway, the other night we were reading small booklets that help teach phonics skills and my little one read a whole sentence by herself! We were so proud of her. I know that is not a big deal to the rest of the world, but this was just amazing progress. Especially since the goal is that she will be doing this by the end of the school year. It is so nice to see them “get it” when you are trying to teach them a new concept. And I she couldn’t contain her excitement. She feels like she is catching up to her big sister now.

We really look forward to seeing her be able to actually read her books by the time the summer arrives. Once she can read, it opens up a whole new world of learning to her that she can explore on her own.

Shark Tale

2008-09-30T20:02:00Z

Is it just me or is the following just crazy:

I just read where a man from the Florida Keys jumped in to save his pet dog from a shark! He took his dog for a swim and a 5-foot shark paid them a visit. It nearly swallowed the dog whole. Greg LeNoir got his dog back by hitting the shark in the back causing it let go of his dog. He is a carpenter, so I guess he put some serious muscle into his punch.

Now I know we tend to get very attached to “man’s best friend” and will do anything for them, but this one is a little beyond what I imagined someone would do for a dog. Now being a mother, I can’t say that I wouldn’t jump in after my child if they were being attacked in the water, so never say never (I’m not saying that I would punch a shark, but mothers do what they must to protect their young). But his dog? Now, that is a true dog lover. Will he get an award of some sort? He had a news story written about him by CBS News, so maybe he’ll make the “Late Show” with Letterman (whether as a guest or a “mention” remains to be seen).

Fortunately, both Greg and his dog made it safely to shore, so I guess the shark gave up. The dog suffered minor injuries and is not critically injured. No word on the condition of the shark.

Identity Issues

2008-09-30T19:38:00Z

After 5 years with no problems, my youngest daughter seems to be having identity issues. I believe that most parents pick a name for their child before they are born. Some wait until the day of birth to choose a name. We decided to name her before she was born and it seemed to be the perfect name both during pregnancy and once she was born. Even to this day, her name seems to fit her just right, at least according to us.

Now according to her, we should have picked a different name. She would like a new name, not the one she has. How often does this happen? Did you want to change your name when you were younger? I find it quite funny that a 5 year old wants to change their name. Maybe she is influenced by TV shows or other children at school. Who knows. She does have quite an imagination, so that could definitely be a large factor in this. We do have an older daughter, but this is our first experience with the name change thing.

One day, I think I will start calling her a different name, just to see if she likes it. She might find out that is not what she really wanted in the first place. Whether or not I call her by the name she chooses remains to be seen. Or, Maybe I should come up with some sort of crazy nickname to make her appreciate her given name. That should clear up the problem, don’t you think? I’ll give it a try and let you know what happens.

Language Concepts: Kansas and Arkansas

2008-09-22T15:03:00Z

My husband is so happy this time of year because it is football season and there is plenty to go around. College and Pro football games. Unfortunately, even though I have "partially" watched these games with him for years, I still don't know one team from another or who plays for what team. Once I do finally figure out what player goes with what team, he retires or is about to. Such is life.

Well, he was watching Arkansas play the other day. At the same time, I needed to help my youngest daughter with her reading and spelling skills, so we were trying some phonics. Ironically, my oldest daughter and I ended up focusing on the spellings of different states and the sounds. Since the Arkansas game was on, this was the perfect example.

How do you spell Kansas? (OK, I just spelled it, so I should ask, how do you say it?) But then look at and say Arkansas. (arkansaw) Now, what is the deal here? How did two words so similar end up so different. Listen, this is why our children have a hard time learning the English language. I think we totally confused the little one, but she is only in Kindergarten, so we’ll straighten that out later. This week we were supposed to do three letter words.

And forget it for our foreign visitors/residents. I feel so sorry for them when they come here and learn basic concepts of our language so they can communicate. Just when they think they’ve got it, they come across something like: Kansas vs Arkansas or read (did you just pronounce it as reed or red) and we can come up with plenty more.

When we traveled to Mexico, we went with a couple years of spanish class and a small booklet and we were set. No confusing concepts in the spanish language (at least, not compared to English).

Just a thought…

Typical Family Dinner

2008-09-19T15:12:00Z

We were having the normal family dinner. You know, the one where the kids really don’t want what you cooked because they were looking for hamburgers or chicken nuggets instead of real food. Of course, we had to go through the normal parent ‘stuff’: “make sure you eat it all; don’t waste food; that costs money” etc, etc.

Well, if you are a parent, you realize that you can’t leave the table until your children finish eating. Otherwise, all that talk about finishing their food ends with them “accidentally” throwing it in the garbage or giving it to the dog as soon as you walk away.

We grew tired of sitting at the table waiting for our girls to finish eating the other night, so we walked away to go start cleaning the kitchen. We still had our eye on the girls’ plates though. Half an hour goes by and we had lost track of those plates and moved on to other things. So my husband asks our youngest daughter:

“Did you eat all of that food?”
She replies: “yes.”
I said “you finished it”
“Yes!”
He says: “You mean to tell me you ate all of the food on your plate?” (at that point we were all looking at the leftover food on her plate that she neglected to clear off to help back her story);
So, she says: “Oh. I thought you said did I eat all that I could eat. Not did I eat it all.”

We had to laugh at that one. I don’t know why we think that once we start raising children, they will be so much different than we were when we were kids. I remember hiding food in my napkin, flushing it down the toilet and giving it to my brother to eat if he liked it. Why do I think my daughter will be any different?

Kindergarten: What A Year

2008-09-17T17:01:00Z

Well, my youngest daughter is well into her kindergarten year now and boy have we had some experiences with her teacher.

We started off with orientation. This was the week before school started. Unlike the rest of the kindergarten parents, our class had to stay in the classroom for an abnormally long period of time in order to listen to our daughter’s teacher explain that they will learn to read and write. Yes, this took what seemed like, no I take that back, what WAS over two hours. We were supposed to go meet other teachers in her “special areas” (art, music, physical education and so on) but we were not able to do that at orientation due to the length of time we were asked to spend in the kindergarten area. This teacher is so proud of a special binder she created for the kids, that we listened to a full blown presentation (complete with overhead—yes, there are still overhead projectors out there—wow!) on how to use this binder. Put important papers here, communicate with me here, homework will be here, etc. There are so many folders in this binder that I get confused. Some papers could go in more than one folder.

Well, two weeks later we had Open House. Now we get to meet other teachers that our daughter interacts with during her school week. But first, we must go to the kindergarten area for a “brief” introduction to the kindergarten teacher. This was an opportunity for those who did not make it to orientation to learn all about how the children will read and write and to learn about that special binder. So I ask, do you think we got a brief presentation so that we could go meet other teachers and school staff? You’ve got it! The overhead came out and I thought I would die. The entire Open House was to end by 8:30pm and that was for older children. Kindergarten was to be done by 7:30, yet at 8:00 we were still listening to this presentation.

I still had to go to meet teachers in the 4th grade area for my older daughter. By the time all was said and done, we left after 9:00pm. This was a school night, so all that talk about being sure the children get to bed early and get plenty of sleep was out! I was exhausted, the kids were exhausted, we got about 5 minutes with each special area teacher and I have had enough of learning about how to put my notes in a kindergarten binder!

Warning: Fish Could Cause Injuries

2008-09-15T12:00:00Z

This story (from earlier this month) comes from a newspaper in Arkansas. A 15 year old boy was out riding on an inner tube in a lake in his area. While being towed by a boat, a silver asian carp (fish) jumped out of the water and smacked the boy in the face. Can you imagine being attacked by a fish while tubing? The fish hit him so hard it knocked him out. He went to the hospital (can you imagine being the parent who explains this story to the hospital staff) unconscious, but he came to, not remembering a thing about what happened to him. This fish literally knocked the sense out of him. Unfortunately, he had to have surgery (the boy, not the fish) to wire several of his teeth together. The fish also caused whiplash.

Many questions come to mind here: How does the hospital file this accident? What medical billing code covers a fish knocking you out? Do you think the hospital staff believed the parents of the boy, or do you think they wanted to call child protective services?

The crazy thing is that this is not the only reported injury in this area. These fish have caused quite a few injuries on the same lake where this young boy was tubing. Guess it’s about time they post the proper signs in the area to warn any boaters/swimmers. What should the sign say?

“Caution: Lake full of jumping fish.”
“Warning: Lake contains jumping fish. Enter at your own risk”
“Seriously, look out for jumping fish”
"We are not responsible for what happens to you out here. People have been known to be injured by fish."