Goodbye Facebook

It turns out that Blogger is still available to me and as much as I loved the 'social' aspect of social media, I really enjoyed sharing my nonsense stories.  

So find me here from time to time and I'll share with you the mundane and the ridiculous.  We'll see how this works, you can comment here I think to share news of a personal nature. I would love to hear your stories, of your life, too.

Saving Valentina.6.8.11.h264.mov

Heartbroken

On Thursday afternoon another parent and I were volunteering in our sons' first grade classroom. We were working on some Christmas gifts that the kids will give their parents. It was, typically, chaos in the room with kids at varying stages of their project all clamoring for help at the same time. A happy buzz of activity imbued the room. Then Mrs. Pack, the principle, came on the intercom and said "Rancho Rosal attention please, this is a Lock Down DRILL".

The noise stopped briefly and then started up again, but then Miss Myrick, our 1st grade teacher, stood up and began to close and lock doors and close all the blinds.  Half of the kids just kept working but the other half, including Aidric, looked like rabbits that had just smelled coyote on the breeze.  "What's happening" they asked with their eyes literally as wide as saucers.

Vanessa and I looked at each other and we kept working and just calmly explained that this was a 'drill', a practice, just like a fire drill or an earthquake drill.  Mrs. Pack just needs to be sure that Miss Myrick knows what to do in an emergency. "What kind of emergency?"

I looked at Vanessa again and said "Well, I don't know, just anything that might be dangerous.  Miss Myrick will call Mrs. Pack and let her know that she has all of her kids in her room and that all of her class is safely inside." The kids relaxed a bit and we all kept working and we tried to distract them with idle chatter and pointing out beads that had escaped and exclaiming over the beauty of each of their projects until finally Mrs. Pack called the all clear.  Doors and windows were re-opened and we worked on; the room eventually filling with that busy hum again.

Never ever in a million years would I, or Vanessa I'm sure, have said 'In case a bad man comes with a gun and tries to hurt you' or 'In case a bad person comes to hurt kids'.  Never could you make me say those words and see the look on those children's faces. The very thought of it hurts my heart.

And the very NEXT day, the unthinkable.  All I can picture is the worried look on Aidric's face. I can't imagine those children all the way across the country and the fear on their faces.  All I can think about is how kids that age, when they're hurt or scared, their only thought is 'I want my mommy' and there was just their teacher there to comfort them and what comfort could she have offered.

It breaks my heart every time I think about it and I can't breath. No longer can we say that sort of thing can't happen here.  Those kids were our kids they were everyones kids.  That kind of thing can happen ANYWHERE. What kind of sick, twisted world are we raising our kids in. We protect them from crossing streets in front of cars, from falling off of bikes, from taking too big a risk on bikes and skates and monkey bars.  But to have to protect them from evil itself while trying to shield them from the knowledge of what that evil is..... It's not how things should be, .....

I'm heartbroken and I can see no solution....

I'm writing this down so maybe it will stop running through my mind and maybe I can start to leave it behind, but I know I shouldn't forget.  I should fix it, but I don't know how....

...and don't, DO NOT anyone comment that we should turn to god and pray, do not comment on my page with that response because it's pure crap and I do not want to unleash upon you my views of that response, not today please....

Thanks for listening.

The rule is, jam tomorrow and jam yesterday - but never jam today. - Lewis Carroll

...another one of those random thoughts posts.....

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Ever see those 'Batesville Casket Company' trucks? Giant semi truck with the respectful yet eye catching logo and lettering.  Ever notice how on the highway nobody ever cuts them off, or even so much as passes those trucks. Today as I was headed out of town,  this guy in a truck practically ran a half dozen of us off the road trying to get to the head of the line of cars before the road narrowed, but when he got to the casket truck he just nipped right in behind. Coward!

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Watching those cold and flu commercials, do you ever get that head nodding reaction?  You know, 'yeah, your absolutely right, I should stock up', 'totally right, I don't want to wait until I have a cold and then go out feeling like crap to buy the drugs', 'When you're sick is not the time you want to be trying to figure out what to take for it'.

I've been sucked in, I'll admit it.  I run out and stock up on cold medicines so they're 'on hand'.  Yup, whole 'cold and flu season' goes by and I don't get sick at all.

NEXT cold and flu season the medicines have all expired and I'm out at the drug store feeling like crap trying to figure out what I need....

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Got a phone call the other day, caller ID showed a phone number whose area code identified it as just a random northern Illinois number. 'Hello'

'Hi mommy, I just needed to talk to you'. In one of those flash through your head millisecond thought processes I think.  Huh, the number didn't come up as Jessica's number, must be calling me from work, must be really important if she's calling me from work, hope the kids are ok....

'What is it baby'.........sudden dead silence on the phone, then an obviously young teenage boy voice asks 'Who is this'

Huh, it was somebody else's baby.....

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Talking to someone the other day about how inside I feel 20, but apparently have reached that age when my siblings and I need to start thinking about taking care of the parentals.  When I mentioned that to my sister she said only I had reached that age....

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In other news, I think that Aidric is getting close to being ready to consider thinking about removing the training wheels from his bike.  Sean has raised the wheels up so high that Aidric would have to be riding the bike on its side for the trainers to actually touch the ground, but the boy still refuses to have them removed.  He insists he still needs them.

..............................

That is all.

If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.

Looking for a small snacks...

...why is the good stuff always just out of reach...even for
a giraffe.

The primate family tree.

Calgon take me away!

A great view of Santa Barbara.

Aidric rocketing down the aunt hill.

Aidric and Stas' getting the hang of the hill.

Woo Hoo!!

Next I'll try it standing up!

Yipee!!

Watch out for that tree!

Aaaahhhh the tree!!!

Yea Ha!!

And now for the knock knock version of our program.

Comedy is exhausting.

That's all folks we're all out of jokes.

Now the singing and dancing portion...

Ahhh, time for the goody bags.

Cool a balloon....with a handle?....

A break to play with the matchbox cars.

These were Emerson's first matchbox cars ever!

'Pies'

On the road to Aidric's school, the university 'driveway' is lined by farmland.  It's about a one mile drive from the main road to the campus and the drive is bordered by strawberry fields. lemon groves and, new this season, raspberry canes.  The fields were planted in rows and then every three rows of canes is covered by a greenhouse armature and plastic and each entire field of these greenhouses is walled or fenced by a black tarp-like material on poles.  These 'fences' are really more like curtain walls that can be raised or lowered to allow or disrupt air flow.  Anyway, I don't really know much about the why of any of these procedures, but....

...one day I noticed these red spray painted markings in various places along the black 'fence'. These markings are numbers and the word 'pies'.

300 pies? Would that be raspberry pies? How many pies you can make per greenhouse? Well that's just stupid, what a bizarre way of measuring assets....

No you moron not pies, 'pies' - in spanish..... See in spanish 'pies' means feet.  300 feet. Still don't know to what the measurement refers but thank goodness it's not actually pies.....

Happy Birthday Baby Boy!

Five years ago today Sean had just arrived to work - a one hour commute - when I called him to tell him 'it was time'.  It was snowing in Toulouse, it hadn't snowed in Toulouse in recent memory.  

Sean turned around and drove back (an hour) and managed to not be hysterical as I tried to quietly labor in bumper to bumper snowy morning traffic.  Our well practiced 15 minute trip to the clinic took an hour and I was 'hoo-hooing, hee-heeing' most of the way.

8 hours from the first contraction, Aidric was born!

Happy Birthday baby boy!

When Aidric was little Daddy used to
carry him around just like this.

Yesterday he thought he'd try it again.....
not so much, 5 years and 50 lbs. later.

I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

In the Target parking lot waiting for a space when a woman backed out of another space and hit my car. Before I could get out of my car - with , I swear, forgiveness in my heart because she really barely nudged me. - the wench waved at me dissmissively and drove away. Forgiveness evaporated....

While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.

The sun has dipped below the clouds on the coast and god it's going to be a glorious sunset. Headed home, but pulled off at Cardiff by the Sea to watch.......oh yeah, that's why we live here.....

Spent the afternoon wandering the mall with Rich, we had hot chocolate to warm up because despite having umbrellas (rescued from the trunk) we were soaked from the knees down. The chocolate was amazing, like melted down cinnamon truffles; it was practically chewy! What a fabulous day.

Gotta go the shows about to start.....

If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.

Richie came to town for the weekend and so the boys went camping. I am procrastinating on finishing this photo project that Rich has to take home with him tomorrow; so naturally I went to a movie.  I went to see 'Hereafter' with Matt Damon.  Seeing a movie like that one all alone is probably best.  There's no one else there that will need to be bribed later to not tell how you were blubbering like a baby at a stupid movie. A stupid, long and drawn out movie that you actually paid to see and that in the end sort of broke your heart.  Typing this now and thinking about that little boy I'm blubbering again, probably because he lost his twin....It was a very long movie

Anyway, on the way home, thanks to the stupid movie that made me cry, I had the worst craving for some spaghetti.  So here I am at 10pm browning some sweet Italian sausage and trying to doctor some jar sauce with red wine, fresh garlic and some sun dried tomato paste. Since there's no hope of me sleeping tonight anyway I'm also having an iced chai. Stupid movie.....

That is all.....