%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
 |  Where am I going, and why am I in this handbasket? |
|
Fair Warning: I've upped the rating on this blog. It is now set at GC. |
| I'm never going to be mother of the year. I realize this. I tend to forget things that are important to kids. Okay, I don't really forget, but I consistently fail to plan for them. I still remember the year I forgot about Easter. I had baskets and grass and eggs, but nothing to put in the basket! Literally nothing! I stopped at a gas station late Saturday night, went in to the Quick Stop while Tony stayed in the car with the sleeping children, and bought candy and treats. It wasn't Easter Candy, but M&Ms are M&Ms, and the eggs with quarters and nickles were a big hit too. The forgetting thing has been an enduring trend, and one my family tolerates well because the spontaneity and impulsive last minute efforts often result in great fun. Other times, it results in hamsters and bongos. Tonight I found out that Zack is supposed to bring Valentine's in to his class tomorrow. I'd forgotten about Valentine's Day. Needless to say, I am Valentine-less. I don't have a car this evening, so running to the store wasn't an option. Zack and I came up with a solution though, and I think it turned out pretty cute. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** We made a valentine on the computer featuring a picture of Lulu. Thankfully I had enough ink to print out enough Valentine's for the whole class.  |
| On Saturday, I took the boy and girl-child off to Pet Smart to find a hamster to go along with the hamster habitat. Zack picked out a fluffy golden hamster. He was trying to decide whether to name her Winnie or Pooh when Rodent Lady came over to help us. "Those aren't the nicest hamsters, but if you want, I'll wake it up so you can see for yourselves." I thought we were seeing them okay as it was, but Rodent Lady seemed like she was trying to make a point so I played along. She opened up the cage and reached her hand inside. The fluffy yellow hamster reared up on its hind legs and struck are menacing pose. "I think she's going to growl at me," she said, and I laughed. I thought she was joking. She reached for the hamster again and it flipped onto its back and made a noise that was somewhere between a growl and a hiss. I shook my head. I'd never seen anything quite like that. "Do you have any friendly hamsters?" "Hamsters aren't really friendly," she said. Well, I had already bought a hamster habitat and had a birthday boy with his heart set on a non-hissing hamster. They had to have something more . . . agreeable. The most agreeable hamster was a little brown and white baby that was easily handled by Rodent Lady and allowed itself to be pet by Zack. Good enough. We bought the wee hamster which Zack named Lulu before we even left the store. Lulu was feeling a bit agitated by the time we opened the cardboard carrier at home. Her anxiety was probably not eased by the prowling cats who although crappy mousers, scented the hamster immediately and began circling the table. While I was adding bedding material to the cage, Zack decided to pet Lulu again, and Lulu bit his finger. He cried. I don't know if it was the pain of the bite or the heartbreak of thinking his new pet didn't especially like him. In any case, he recovered, but he had no desire to touch the hamster again. His sister also didn't want to touch it. This was a problem. I think Lulu is a cute little hamster in her cage, but she wasn't in her cage yet. She was in an open box and I couldn't bring myself to pick her up out of the box because I'm TERRIFIED of her. I grabbed up a pair of leather garden gloves and tried to convince my daughter that the hamster wouldn't bite her if she wore the gloves. She still couldn't pick Lulu up. This was getting ridiculous. I put the gloves on and gave myself a stern talking to. "This is not a mouse. This is a hamster. I can do this." I picked up the hamster, but before I could move my hand out of the box, I felt the scritch of tiny feet against my gloved hand, and I dropped Lulu. It isn't really the hamster I'm afraid of, it is those pink claw-like feet. *shudder* Next up, we got an empty cardboard toilet paper tube (just so happened it was still on the holder  ) and added it to the box. Eventually, Lulu fell for our ingenious trap and went inside the tube. Katie grabbed the tube and Lulu fell out the end. Twenty minutes later she went into the tube again, and this time Kate managed to transfer the tube, Lulu and all, into the hamster habitat. Lulu seems to be settling in pretty well. Rodent Lady advised us that we should pretty much leave the hamster alone for the first seven days to allow her to acclimate. Most of the interaction has been limited to her and the children staring at each other with, what I can only assume is mutual adoration. I have an almost compulsive need to continually check on little Lulu just to make sure she is still confined to her cage. The kids mistakenly think I'm crazy about little Lulu. If only they knew I was just plain crazy. |
| Yesterday we took our boy-child out for his Birthday dinner. He was bubbly with excitement when we arrived at the restaurant. "Today is my Birthday," he announced to the hostess as she seated us. "Just tell your waitress" she said without a trace of a smile. I thought it was ironic since we were at Friendly's. The boy-child got a "hamster habitat" from me and his daddy. Tomorrow I'll be taking him to the pet store to pick out the hamster who will call it home. He is hoping to score a cute, blonde, female.  His other gift? Bongo drums! I don't think they can be anymore obnoxious than the harmonica he got for Christmas. I'm afraid we've ruined all future Birthdays for him. How will I ever top a rodent and bongo drums? Oh! and the hamster habitat has a yellow wheel in it. I told him "Look! It's a squeaky cheese wheel," but he wasn't buying it. He said "No Mommy, that's an exercise wheel." I try. |
| Tony teaches a class on Wednesday nights, and he had the girl-child with him. It was about time for the two of them to be getting home. I wandered down stairs to start some laundry. When I came back upstairs, I heard my son still being quite noisy and restless back in his room. Tomorrow is his birthday (now it is today) and he was so excited he could hardly sleep. I went into his room to settle him again, but he complained that the truck lights were bothering him. That's when I noticed that it seemed unnaturally bright in his room. I glanced out the window, and up at the corner I saw the flashing lights of emergency response vehicles stretch across the mouth of my side street, and extending in both directions along the main road. It was eerily familiar. On January 9th, a young man was struck and killed while walking along the main road in about the same spot. It was late on a Friday night and I feel asleep to the strobing lights. I analyzed the facts. I hadn't heard a crash, but if it had happened while I was in the laundry room, I might not have heard it. I hadn't heard the sirens either. There weren't any sirens rushing away from the scene, and I didn't hear the helicopters that they bring in to life-flight injured motorist to a trauma center. No, this had the look and sound of another fatality. And Tony and Katie weren't home. Not that they could get home with the road all blocked off. I would call them just to reassure myself. Ten minutes, six text message, and four voice mails later, I felt the slow creep of panic. Since when does my daughter fail to return a text message? The dog had to pee, and as he did his business along the road, I watched the flashing lights. I couldn't see a car accident. All I saw were fire trucks and ambulances. I was frantic. I still hadn't heard from Tony or Katie, and they were well over due by now. When my home phone rang instead of my cell phone I felt a jolt of dread. Fortunately, it was Katie calling me to tell me that they were running late. One of Tony's students had her car broken into during practice and he was waiting with her until the police arrived. I started to cry. I was so relieved. Katie handed off the phone to Tony who was expected me to be angry that he hadn't called sooner. I was, but nothing could compare to the relief of knowing they were safe. It is bitter cold tonight, and they had waited inside the gym where they apparently can't get reception on the cell phones. By the time they got home, I had some facts about the accident. It was a single car, and there were no passengers. The driver hit a tree on the corner, ripping his car in half. If it is like last time, the lights will shine all night, and the investigators will still be there when the kids walk up to the corner to catch their school bus in the morning. |
| . . . and I was going to blog about it, but then all this other crap came out and I didn't even realize it until I hit the save entry button and got the error message saying I needed to title my entry. This is the entry I wrote instead . . . So yesterday morning there was a terrible accident on a nearby stretch of Interstate 80. The crash involved 5 tractor trailers and resulted in multiple injuries. The road was partially closed down for a good part of the day. The local media's angle on this story? One of the trucks was full of pigs!!! The story's lead read as follows: "Workers spent more than an hour transferring 180 pigs, some of them dead or injured, from one tractor-trailer to two others at the scene of a multi-truck wreck Monday morning on Interstate 80 East." The article stated that the pigs were 6 month old pot bellied pigs who were being transported to Hatfield for slaughter. They later had to print a correction clarifying that the pigs were market hogs and that Hatfield DOES NOT use pot bellied pigs in any of their quality meat products. The article gave a brief accounting of the human injuries, but seemed to focus perversely on the little piggies that went to market. "Passing motorists stared at the wreckage, hearing the loud, frightened, pain-filled squeals of the surviving pigs inside the trailer. The trailer containing the pigs had ventilation holes along the sides. With the trailer tipped over, some of the agitated pigs couldn't avoid stepping through those holes, leaving one pig's foot bloody." As if that wasn't bad enough . . . "One injured pig fell in the doorway of the overturned trailer, unable to move, as others stepped on it to get through the corral into the other trailer." Apparently their was some confusion about what was to become of the poor pigs, but the paper was unable to provide those answers. "Ag Management's office declined to comment on what will be done with the injured pigs or how the dead ones will be disposed of." Okay, this might be a really sick subject for a blog entry, but it left me with some burning questions of my own . . . 1. What the hell do they think will happen to the pigs? Seriously, they were on their way to the slaughterhouse folks. 2. Why was it okay to joke around when they found parts of a dismembered body disposed of in garbage bags along the same highway a year ago, but everyone is so sensitive about the pigs? I know the answer though. The pigs are innocent and voiceless, and the woman was a drifter with prior drug arrests so we can laugh at her gruesome death because she wasn't an "innocent" victim. Personally I think the pigs rigged the truck and caused the breaks to fail in a desperate attempt at freedom. By the driver own account, there was "some sort of explosion" and then the brakes failed. I've seen Babe and I know what those animals can do. The paper fails to indicate whether any pigs escaped and are currently "at large." Anyway, I think it is exactly this sort of reporting that eroded public confidence in the PSPCA shelter and contributed to it's abrupt closure. Apparently the big adoption event held by the animal rescue groups backfired some. Instead of taking in pets, people brought animals that they needed to surrender. Turns out that people around here are losing their jobs and their homes and are being forced to give up their pets. Other signs that the economy is in trouble . . . 1. Every day seems to bring new headlines of local businesses closing or moving their operations elsewhere, but today it was a church. The Diocese of Scranton ordered the closure of a local church as part of a new financial restructuring and cost cutting initiative. Is NOTHING sacred in this crumbling economy. 2. Our county set an all time record for home foreclosures in 2008, and we've got one of the highest foreclosure rates in the entire state. 3. The casinos are in trouble. They announced today that they will be reducing their work force by 2%. Up until mid-December the papers had dubbed the casino industry "recession resistant," so imagine my surprise. 4. After seizing properties and leveling homes along the route of an approved roadway by-pass plan that would have alleviated a traffic nightmare of epic proportions, the state has announced it was all for naught because the money just ain't in the budget. But hey, look on the bright side at least you don't have to worry about losing your home in foreclosure now. 5. It's really hard to come up with an economic indicator worse than a church getting shut down, but to Governor Rendell's credit, he is really trying. His administration proposed a plan today that would allow bars to install video poker machines in hopes that they will generate the revenue needed to support the states 14 university public education system as well as the network of community colleges. The scary part is that he thinks it will work. Maybe he should take note of what is happening with the casinos. Yeah, those casinos were going to save us all by raising enough revenue for our schools that we could all get some property tax relief . . . assuming your property wasn't seized or foreclosed. It's all going to hell in a hand-basket so I'm going to take my laughs were I can, while I can. And now I really must go so I can watch my new favorite show Toddlers in Tiaras and bask in the certainty that we, as a nation, will emerge from this recession stronger than ever because we are re-prioritizing our lives and focusing on the things that matter most - Looking good and winning. |
| Back before Christmas, when they were running all the usual direct marketing commercials, my son decided that he really, really wanted a Snuggie. If you watched TV in the US in December, you've probably heard of the Snuggie, but if you missed it, it is "the blanket with arms." He liked royal blue the best. I mocked the Snuggie every time the commercial came on. The smiling family clad all in blue Snuggie robes was just too creepy. They looked like they were all one pitcher of Kool-aid away from forming a cult. The cult of Snuggie. My husband, of course, decided it would be funny to get us all Snuggies for Christmas. Unbelievably, the damn things were back-ordered. The Snuggie shipment did not arrive until a couple weeks ago. Since my husband can't keep a secret, I already knew they were coming, but the size of the box surprised me. Something was terribly wrong. Turns out, he ordered during the buy one get one sale . . . and he ordered wrong. Apparently if he'd wanted 4 Snuggies, he should have ordered 2. 2 Regular Price Snuggies + 2 Free Snuggies = 4 Snuggies Instead, Tony ordered 4 Snuggies. He was thinking two of them would be free. Instead, he got one free Snuggie for each Snuggie ordered. So . . . long story short, there are EIGHT freakin' Snuggies in my house. They are royal blue and fleecy, but not even the Boy-Child will touch them because to do so is to risk electrocution. I swear . . . if you turn the lights off you can practically see the static electricity arcing off the Snuggies. Anyone want a Snuggie? |
| The Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, has closed down our local shelter after nearly 50 years of operation. The decision was abrupt. A press release issued early in the day on Thursday announced that at close of day, a trailer would arrive to transport all remaining animals to a Philadelphia shelter, and our shelter in the 'Burg would close its doors for good. Animal rescue groups went into crisis mode. They spread the word that any animal left at the end of the day would likely be destroyed. They called upon the community to adopt or foster the remaining animals, and to the best of my knowledge the animal rescue folks emptied the place. This weekend they are hosting adoption events and fund raisers to help the animals that were saved from the shelter, and many are hailing the closing of the animal shelter as a victory for animals. I am not one of them, and I'm finding my stance to be a lonely one. I am fond of animals. I have two cats and a dog - all adopted or rescued - and I've loved many, many other animals over the course of my life. I do not want to see animals abused, misused, or suffering. I disagree, however, with the highly vocal animal-loving masses who've demonized the local shelter as a "kill shelter." The shelter did not turn away any animals. They actively promoted adoption, and frequently transferred animals to other shelters, but when the numbers were too great for the facility, they euthanized. In the recent past, the shelter had a policy against adopting out pit bulls, and any pit bull brought in to the shelter was euthanized. People who brought in pit bulls were discouraged from leaving them knowing what their fate would be. If a litter of puppies showed pit bull traits, they were also euthanized. The policy was very controversial, and was reversed several years ago. In fact, most of the policies had been revisited and euthanasia at the facility had been reduced by 14.5% in the past year alone. Still, the local media and animal rescue groups campaigned against the shelter. They campaigned aggressively for the hearts and minds and donations of the public. The PSPCA shelter was a non-profit organization that relied heavily on community support and volunteerism. That support dried up. Those who wanted to help animals began to donate to grassroots organizations that relied heavily on a network of donors, volunteers, and fosters. Unfortunately, these groups were frequently unable to take in animals. They always seemed to be at their peak capacity. Still these groups were insistent that they could better serve the community. They believed they could do it without euthanasia, and they would do it without the expertise or grant procuring capabilities of the PSPCA. According to the PSPCA the closing of the shelter was hastened along by lack of community support, difficult economic times, and ongoing threats and harassment from local animal groups. Truth is, the kill/no-kill debate has become the center of attention and has pulled public and media attention away from critical issues such as capture and release programs to spay / neuter and vaccinate strays. Without some sort of program in place to control numbers, no animal rescue group will ever be able to meet the growing need. I think it is sad that the community has lost this resource and I am left to wonder where all the animals will go now. |
Here is a tantalizing glimpse at my current reality. Brace yourselves! Zack is taking forever to finish his homework. The poor kid just can't seem to focus. Every 15 minutes or so he jumps out of his chair and races up and down the hallway repeating over and over "Now here's something you don't see everyday." If only it were true. I am running out of shoes to wear. I've lost the mates to at least four pair in the last two weeks alone. I'm not quite sure how that is even possible, but I think I've set a new record.  Although I took down the Christmas tree, and packed up the ornaments, they are still sitting in storage totes in the living room. My goal is to get all the storage totes out of the living room before Sunday. There is a lot of room in that garage now because Tony has shipped out two large pallets of t-shirts that were being stored in the garage. I've heard stories about people who actually park cars in garages, but I'm pretty sure they're urban legends. I recently finished reading Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's by John Elder Robison. Interesting book! It reaffirmed my belief that Zack's oddness shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. The stunning part is that the rest of us, who've shared, and/or contributed to his gene pool, are able to function as well as we do. It gives me great hope for the boy's future.  For no good reason, my friend and I have been amusing ourselves by adding a 'tw' starting sound to various words creating an Elmer Fudd-esque speech pattern. The game is all the more entertaining because my friend is from the UK so she's doing Fudd with a British accent. Our favorite words of the moment are twanker and twevil. We're going to adopt a gnome mascot and name him Twanker the Twevil Gnome. It doesn't get any realer than that. |
| Woohoo! The power is back on! We were socked with a winter storm that dumped about five inches of snow, a couple more inches of sleet and a wicked glaze of freezing rain on the area. The combo is not conducive to sustaining electrical service. I spent a significant chunk of the day in bed, under a pile of blankets, with my book and my itty-bitty booklight. My heat-seeking cat glued herself to my left side for the duration. All in all, it wasn't a bad way to spend a day, but it doesn't really provide inspired or exciting blog material. It occurs to me that I haven't put in a full five day work week since the early part of November. At the end of last year, I had a bunch of vacation time I had to either use or lose. I used it. I figured I was in for a rude awakening when the holidays were over and I had to work full weeks again, but it has yet to happen. Between me being sick, the boy-child being sick, last weeks holiday and an assortment of inclement weather, all of my weeks have been abbreviated. And the school just called to say that the kids will have a two hour delay tomorrow morning. I'm beginning to forget what normal is. Speaking of departures from normality, I read in yesterday's paper about a British couple vacationing in the Big Apple. They were able to economize on the trip by agreeing to participate in a "tourist display." The display window contained a replica hotel room, in which the couple stayed for free. They were only required to keep the curtains open between 4:30 and 7:30 each evening. I think my husband and I would make for a spectacularly boring display. http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/bizarre&id=6626847 |
| There eventually comes a time when you must either take down the Christmas tree, or dust it. Today I opted to take it down. Even my son agreed that it was time (although he stayed out of the room because it made him too sad to watch). Zack even relinquished the Baby Jesus back to my care, and he is safely packed away until next Christmas. Other than that bit of excitement, it has been a quiet weekend. I've been sick since late last week, and had to take Thursday and Friday off of work. I'm starting to feel better now, but my airways remain hypersensitive and I'm trying to keep the asthma under control. That is a hard thing to do when it is triggered by cold weather and every time I turn around the dog is whining to go out. This weekend was also a big school project weekend at the Kay homestead. Katie had to complete a rough draft of her history paper on my father. I read it through and told her she had to change the part that said I was the first of my Dad's three kids "to be married off." That part really made me laugh. Since Katie interviewed different people for the paper, I even learned a few things about my Dad. Dad never really talked to me or my brothers about his experiences in Vietnam, but one night he and Tony watched We Were Soldiers together and had a male bonding moment. Tony probably heard more about Dad's tour in that one evening than the rest of us ever knew. Since my father was in the Vet Corp, he took care of the military dogs that were used in Vietnam. He also doctored the water buffalo that became collateral damage. The South Vietnamese were very dependent on the water buffalo, and so Dad would try to patch them up as best he could. If he decided that an animal was too injured to be saved, the Army would purchase the water buffalo from the owner as compensation. Apparently those water buffalo were then roasted and eaten by US soldiers back at camp. I also learned more than I'd ever previously known about my father's involvement in the Ebola outbreak in Reston, Virginia. For those of you who saw the movie Outbreak, it was very loosely based on a real incident. My father was Chief of Virology with the United States Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Disease (USAMRIID) at the time. I like to joke that Dustin Hoffman played him in the movie, but that isn't entirely true. Dustin Hoffman's character was a composite of several people who had served as Chief of Virology. Anyway, there was an outbreak of hemorrhagic fever among some lab monkeys in Reston. USAMRIID was called in to investigate, contain, and ultimately decontaminate. The pathogen they discovered was a new strain of Ebola (Ebola Reston) which was quite deadly to monkeys, but did not cross-over to infect humans. Anyway, it has been an interesting project, and Katie now has her rough draft complete. Then there is Zack's project. We are doing a fizz test by using vinegar on rocks to test for the presence of calcite. At least, that is what I'm told we are doing, but my nose tells me we're dying Easter Eggs. In any case, it is good that I took the Christmas tree down. |
 Log in to Leave Feedback |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
