dentist

Monkey went to the dentist for the first time yesterday.  I was expecting a meltdown from Monkey and I just knew the dentist would tell me that she already had irreversible staining on her teeth, 3 cavities and a horrible mom  that doesn't take care of her daughter's teeth.

 

Monkey didn't have a meltdown - she did great!  Did you know they have cookie dough flavored polish for children?   She didn't like it.  I guess they don't use real cookie dough.  Then she had the bubble gum flavored.  She didn't like that either, but she toughed it out.  Back in my day (insert grey hair and creaky rocker scene here) we didn't have all those fancy dancy flavors.  It tasted like dirt and we were thankful for it!

 

And her mouth cleaned up nicely!  She has two loose teeth, a little staining (probably from all the coffee and cigarettes) that polished right off and her 6 year molars coming in.  The dentist said her mouth looked great, an "excellent checkup."  I was very proud of her.

 

Afterwards, we went out for birthday cake flavored ice cream with chocolate syrup, ate a few pieces of hard candy that adhere to the teeth for weeks and refused to brush for days.

 

You didn't actually believe that last part, did you?

 

a new breed

(Photo by  ralphbijker)

 

There is a new breed of shopper around here now.  I noticed her about 3 weeks or so ago.  I see her a lot during the morning hours, slowly gliding down the isles of Target, picking up things and putting them back.  Not really looking for anything in particular.

 

Sometimes I see her at Walmart, with a magazine that she grabbed on her way back to the furniture to sit in a papasan chair and read.

 

Other times she's at Borders, drinking a coffee and browsing books she has no intention of buying.

 

Once or even twice a week she's at the grocery store, checking off her list and sorting through sales, listening to her ipod.

 

Wherever she is, she's definitely not chasing children around, scolding them for grabbing things they aren't buying or constantly trying to climb out of the cart.  She's not refereeing siblings that are constantly picking at each other or hurriedly trying to get through the store before the meltdown begins, repeatedly forgetting important things like bread and milk and having to backtrack through the entire store just to get that one thing they must have in order to eat dinner that night. 

 

There's a new breed of shopper in town and she's loving school/preschool.

 

a poem I like

I found a blog, although I don't remember how I got there but I think it was from this is reverb...  Anyway, she wrote this really cool poem that struck me as one that could be about Monkey.  Enjoy, then head over to Becoming Bridge for more.

One for Debo

Did you see her walk down the street?

Striding on long legs in heels

Red toes peeking out under dark jeans

Black tank top skimming feminine shoulders

She held her head up, her blue eyes clear

Her hair bounced slightly in rhythm with her steps

Did you notice her? Most people did.

She has that way about her.

But her real draw is barely visible in her gait

Confidence and compassion

Humor and humility

Her tender heart

Her knowing smile

Kneeling to look a kid in the eye

Her arm around a friend’s shoulder

Concentrating - brow furrowed

Dancing with grace but not quite abandon

Singing occasionally slightly off key

She is coming into her own

Girl becoming woman

Casting off childishness

Holding tightly to the good things

Letting the bad ones go

Watch her walk – do you see it now?

As she goes, I picture pigtails with ringlets

Like a ghost trailing behind her

Or a premonition holding her hand

Who she was and who she will be

Echoed in who she is today

Keep an eye on her.

She's worth watching.

She'll amaze you.

gasoline panic

The panic of not having gas has settled in where we live.  There's a chain of stations that have closed for the day because they are completely out of gas.  I had to wait 10 minutes to fill up my tank because of the line.  Just so you know, my gas light had just come on this morning, so it's not like I was just topping off my tank like everyone else.

 

I paid $3.79 when I got it this morning.  I had originally driven past that station after seeing the line and headed to another one just a block or so down the road.  Well, they were charging $4.09 plus the waiting time so I went back to the first one.

 

By the time I left the house to pick up Monkey, $4.09 had become $4.49.  When I drove back by, coming home barely an hour later, it was $4.59.

 

I'm sure by this evening it'll be $10/gallon assuming there's any left.

 

I'm irritated

I found out today that someone downloaded/copied one of the pictures I posted to the blog.  Some of you might think "well, you put your life out there for the public to see," so there.

 

Well, I disagree.  Just because I wear a mini-skirt doesn't make it ok to sexually assault me.  "Oh, that's not the same thing."  Isn't it?  I'm walking down the street and someone snatches my purse.  Well, I was carrying it in public so I deserve that.  No.   I don't think so.  

 

Just because I put something "out there" for the public to see, doesn't mean that it's ok for you to use it without permission, Austin, TX.  I have no idea why you wanted that picture.  Maybe you thought Monkey's room rules were cute and you wanted to show them to your child as an example.  Maybe you wanted to put it on your own blog and claim that your own child wrote them.  Maybe you just like to read kid's writing and decided to put it on your desktop.  Whatever your reason, you took without asking.  I'm a giving person.  I take pictures, lots of them, for our church to use/not use at their discretion.  I don't want credit and I'm not concerned because I know they will be used carefully.  I share pictures I take of school parties with other parents because I think they may want pictures of their kids that I take.  Had you asked first, I probably would have said "sure, how flattering," but you didn't give me that choice.

 

Call this a lesson learned, but I will no longer be posting pictures - and I will be removing all the ones I've posted so far - until I have purchased a watermark program and learned a little more about copywriting pictures.  Ignorance isn't an excuse and I won't hide behind it.  I was naive and thought that surely no one will take my pictures, they really aren't all that interesting.  Well, now I know better.

 

Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me.

 

(just as a side note, yes, I do use pictures from flickr's creative commons area, but you'll always see a "photo by" underneath so credit goes where it is due.  I'm not the pot calling the kettle black)

my list of seven

I was reading this is reverb.... and he posted several lists of 7 and then challenged his readers to come up with some.  This is harder than I thought - to come up with 7 things of a specific topic.  Let's see....  And they are in no particular order.

 

How about seven things I like to photograph.

 

old cemeteries and old buildings

 

sleeping children 

Halloween 

mountains 

sunsets 

interesting trees 

children 

Seven things on my to-do list;

 

1.  Pay bills

2.  Wash puppy

3.  Cook dinner

4.  Organize coupons

5.  Clean up my dresser (I've had issues with this since childhood)

6.  Clean out my car

7.  Wash dishes

 

 

Seven things I'd rather do than clean

 

1.  Play with the kids

2.  Anything

3.  Have a tooth pulled

4.  Anything

5.  Go take pictures

6.  Volunteer at Monkey's school

7.  Anything

 

 

Seven things I want to do before I die

 

1.  Thru-hike the Appalachian Trail

2.  Go on a safari in Africa  

3.  Visit the pyramids of Egypt

4.  See my children grow up

5.  Go on a cruise

6.  Go to Israel

7.  Become a grandparent   

 

Hero Day

photo by Tanya Ryno

 

 

Today is Hero Day at our school.  Our PTA Citizenship committee does a Hero Week every year, with Hero Day being 9/11.  Last year was my first year witnessing this.  It's quite beautiful and funny, actually.  During lunch (which lasts almost 2.5 hours at our school because of the number of children) different heros visited with the children.  The local firemen came, the crossing guard (she's also a member of the Sheriff's office) was there and dads from the Army and Navy were there to hang out with and talk to the children.

 

This year, Trey was able to make it along with a good friend of his, Todd.  They were the only representation of the Armed Forces that was there this year but we also had about 5 firemen there and the crossing guard.  

 

What was funny, to me, was seeing the children swarm around our heroes asking for autographs.  I know this isn't really funny but it was so cute I had to laugh.   To see Trey and Todd talking to these wide-eyed children asking questions about what they do was just plain fun.  One of the firemen had warned Trey not to start signing autographs or else he'd never get to stop, but it was too late. 

 

The other thing the PTA did was send home "hero packets" for the children.  They read about what it takes to be a hero, then were asked to draw a picture of their hero and then tell how they could be a hero, too.  These were posted around the cafeteria for everyone to read.  Some of the heroes included Superman, Mom, Dad, Fireman, Soldier, Jesus, Doctor and so on.  These were just beautiful.  All of the drawings were done by the children and most were written by them although a few were written by their parents for them.

 

It was a really neat experience for the morning and a special way to remember our heroes.