Shocked

Black Friday shopping was surprisingly easy and pleasant until the end. We decided to bite the bullet and go to Walmart. It too though busy was not terrible. While waiting in line a woman, two people in front of us was bumming a dime from the people behind her. Then, she let the people behind her in front of her because on her 2nd purchase, her ATM card would not work. So she was now next to us. This gross, very dirty woman who had two kids with her at 4AM, one about 4 months, the other maybe 2 then proceeds to complain to us about how the machines at Walmart always mess her pin up or something like that. Then when she couldn't resolve the issue on her cell phone, she looks at me, a complete stranger mind you and asks me to watch her two very small kids in her cart while she runs to the front of the store to use the ATM. I was shocked. I said umm I guess. So she left for at least 3 to 4 minutes. There were approximately 50 people in our 5 feet of space who were all pushing and shoving and I am standing dumbfounded with dirty kids and no mom. It was unreal. Who does that?!?! I am kind of ashamed of myself now for not saying what the f*&% is wrong with you?!?! All this to save $10.

So anyhow, it is 6am please don't judge me on punctuation, spelling, complete sentences... I am really tired, but felt the need to mention this and remind you don't let your kids with complete strangers! Thank you, and goodnight.

In need of a disciplinary action

Soph just had lunch. After lunch, she wanted a lollipop. After she finished the lollipop, she wanted another. I told her no and to go use the bathroom. She went into the bathroom and peed all over the floor. When I asked her why she said it was because she was annoyed and still hungry. When I told her how important it is to not pee on the floor, she stomped into her room and slammed the door on me. I think she is entering some new phase in her life, and I am pretty sure I don't like it.

On a side note, I am looking forward to Thanksgiving and Black Friday sales. We are having a late dinner with Mindy and Anthony where we will finish planning our shopping trip beginning at 2:30AM. Mindy is a little more obsessed than me. She has started a spread sheet and map with the quickest routes from one store to another. I am going for sheer amusement. I will take the camera to take pictures of the psychos who actually want stuff (Mindy Included). Ahh good times.

Daily Humor

This just cracked me up...

Birthday Fun

Soph's party went pretty well. There were a few instances. Like the cake. I ordered a cake 2 weeks ago. Nothing special, but personalized and matching the general theme Soph picked. Today, I made the mistake of sending Chris to procure it. Even though I mentioned to him MANY times that I ordered a cake, when I made him his "to do list", I didn't specifically say pick up ORDERED cake, I just said pick up cake. He brought a Halloween cake with nothing on it. It was still good, but no butter cream icing or filling. Could have been worse I guess. The other issue was that several guests did not come because everybody has the damn swine err H1N1 flu.

It is just hard to believe my little princess it 3 years old!!!

When we were leaving the party, my newly fixed car with a new fuel pump would not move. I put it into reverse and it kept stalling out. Now, I have to take the stupid thing back and have it looked at again. GRRR.

Looking forward to Trick or Treating next weekend!

Ladybug Ladybug

Though I have not seen as many as I have in previous years, it seems everyone is noticing them this year. We had a huge infestation when I lived in Mass, our sliding glass doors and entire side of the building was covered with them...

From Newsday.com:

Around this time every year people start reporting swarms of ladybugs around -- and oftentimes inside -- their homes. The reason is simple: It's getting cold out there.

The tiny red spotted beetles are usually viewed as the good guys of the insect world. They're right up there with praying mantids and butterflies. Usually, we don't mind when they get into the house. We're not only likely to pick them up, but we'll even hand them to our small children. "Oh, look how pretty it is." Imagine doing that with a spider? Plus, these flying wonders do a number on aphids, saving countless plants from the pests' piercing-sucking mouthparts.

But what happens when they swarm inside your house? I don't mean two or three, which most people would pick up and escort outdoors. I mean a swarm. A literal infestation.

I've only experienced such a thing once, when visitng friends in northern New Jersey a few years ago. I had never seen anything similar to the scene inside that house when we arrived. There were not hundreds, not even thousands, but perhaps tens of thousands of ladybugs on everything.

Ladybugs covered the ceiling, the walls, the couch. And the lady of the house was frantically following them around with a vacuum cleaner. While I felt bad for my little friends, I knew she was doing the right thing. There simply would not have been any other way to rid the house of them safely and effectively.

Why did this happen? Turns out, it's not that much of a rarity. Two-spotted lady beetles, as well as Asian lady beetles, spend their winters hibernating in large groups, usually under leaves. But sometimes they try to find refuge from the cold inside houses.

They seem to be lured to light-colored houses, and certainly those without adequate caulking around windows and doors. And the problem is once they come in, they release phehormones, which in turn lures more ladybugs to the area. The scent is believed to travel as far as 1/4 mile. If you don't get rid of them fast, their friends will keep coming -- and calling for reinforcements. Of course, if you only have a few, say 3 or 5, there's no need to worry. Let them be. But if you walk into a room and can't quite see the lighting fixture on the ceiling, you have a problem.

Should you ever find yourself in such a situation, do as my friend did -- get out the vacuum. And after you've sucked them all up, dispose of the bag. Outside. In the trash. If you leave the bag in the vacuum cleaner, those little ladybugs will become frightened and release blood, which is what they do when they're scared. That smelly yellow smudge you sometimes find on your hand after holding a ladybug actually is a blood release, something it does to convince you not to eat it. If it smells bad, it must not be meant for eating, or so it hopes to convice its predators. You'd notice the same foul odor if you should crush a ladybug, so don't get any ideas.

The Buffalo News

October 16, 2009, 8:35 AM:

An Erie County sheriff's deputy who stopped a vehicle for speeding early today in Elma was greeted by an odd sight -- the apparent driver sitting in the back seat.

After investigating the incident, Deputy Kristin Rozycki determined that the driver had climbed into the back seat in an attempt to claim he wasn't driving, according to police reports.

Michael G. Spagnola, 38, of Colden, who later admitted that he was the driver, was charged with driving while intoxicated. Police reports indicated that he recorded a blood-alcohol reading of 0.12 percent.

The traffic stop was made at Jamison and Girdle roads at about 1:50 a.m.

This was terribly amusing to me!

I like it

I never get tired of PETA

WATERBURY, Vt. -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent a letter to Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, cofounders of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc., urging them to replace cow's milk they use in their ice cream products with human breast milk, according to a statement recently released by a PETA spokeswoman."PETA's request comes in the wake of news reports that a Swiss restaurant owner will begin purchasing breast milk from nursing mothers and substituting breast milk for 75 percent of the cow's milk in the food he serves," the statement says.

PETA's letter to Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield

September 23, 2008Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, CofoundersBen & Jerry's Homemade Inc.

Dear Mr. Cohen and Mr. Greenfield,On behalf of PETA and our more than 2 million members and supporters, I'd like to bring your attention to an innovative new idea from Switzerland that would bring a unique twist to Ben and Jerry's.

Storchen restaurant is set to unveil a menu that includes soups, stews, and sauces made with at least 75 percent breast milk procured from human donors who are paid in exchange for their milk. If Ben and Jerry's replaced the cow's milk in its ice cream with breast milk, your customers-and cows-would reap the benefits.

Using cow's milk for your ice cream is a hazard to your customer's health. Dairy products have been linked to juvenile diabetes, allergies, constipation, obesity, and prostate and ovarian cancer. The late Dr. Benjamin Spock, America's leading authority on child care, spoke out against feeding cow's milk to children, saying it may play a role in anemia, allergies, and juvenile diabetes and in the long term, will set kids up for obesity and heart disease-America's number one cause of death.

Animals will also benefit from the switch to breast milk. Like all mammals, cows only produce milk during and after pregnancy, so to be able to constantly milk them, cows are forcefully impregnated every nine months. After several years of living in filthy conditions and being forced to produce 10 times more milk than they would naturally, their exhausted bodies are turned into hamburgers or ground up for soup.

And of course, the veal industry could not survive without the dairy industry. Because male calves can't produce milk, dairy farmers take them from their mothers immediately after birth and sell them to veal farms, where they endure 14 to17 weeks of torment chained inside a crate so small that they can't even turn around.

The breast is best! Won't you give cows and their babies a break and our health a boost by switching from cow's milk to breast milk in Ben and Jerry's ice cream? Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,
Tracy ReimanExecutive Vice President

Weekend

We went to NYC last weekend with Mindy and Anthony. Soph stayed at home with my mom and Jess. She was happy about it, I was nervous. It just seems wrong to go places without her. We had a good time though. We decided to go to Coney Island since none of us had ever been there. When I was looking stuff up about it, I saw they had a bunch of Freak Shows there. Though we did not see an actual freak show, I think we saw out fair share of freaks. My favorite was a five foot tall man wearing his boxer briefs while walking up and down the boardwalk. To be fair, for a man who was at least 60 years old, he was very buff and tan, but that is no excuse. His boxer briefs were tan, like him, so from a distance, he seemed to be naked. People were stopping to stare just as he obviously wanted. I also saw a man fishing and I am pretty sure it was for my benefit, he put his leg up on the railing, and I was lucky enough to see his beans. I got a purse of course and three pairs of sunglasses, though one pair is in the back of a cab. Dammit.

Chris had a slight incident in Min's hotel room. After spinning on the computer chair for 15 minutes, he tried to bet us that he could then walk to the bathroom. He did, and then named himself Ninja Chris Van Damme. Of course within two minutes, he flipped the chair over and his beer went every where and he could not get up. Anthony had a slight incident with a chick on the subway who genuinely wanted to kick his ass, and Mindy had a slight altercation with a street vendor in Times Square. When Mindy ignored her trying to sell something, she called poor Min an effing bitch.

That's it, I guess. I will post something else in a month or so. I really do want to start doing this again, but I just don't.

Suicide?

While I am not sure there is a right way or good way to do it, I am thinking jumping into the tank with polar bears is probably not the best way.

What a hectic weekend!

So Friday night, Soph and I got home and I was getting ready to give her a bath when the power went out. It was off for about 5 seconds and then flickered, so I assumed it was coming back on. I got up to look out the window to see if anybody had power and saw the flames shooting through the sky and the flames at the top of my trees, and all over my front lawn. Of course my mind goes into overload and I am thinking like oh God, this old house, faulty wiring, it is going to blow! So I am dragging my kid around, putting the dog on his leash (cause why bother saving him if he is just going to run out in the road and get hit...again) all while dialing 911. I tell the 911 operator there are flames in my trees, yard, a loud boom, my address, and she says "what township are you in"? WHAT TOWNSHIP??? I live on a road that has its own exit from the only highway around, figure it out lady! So as my husband is playing in Lewisburg, not answering his phone, I am escaping from the house that I know is about to explode and worrying about the fish that I left to die, I see the tree laying on the wires. Ahhh, this explains the loud explosion and the flames up high (on the wires), sparks falling... It all became clear, and I relaxed a little. I took the dog back in the house when I saw that none of the trees were actually on fire, and realized that the house probably was not going to explode. Soph and I sat on the front porch thinking that someone from the police car, ambulance, 2 firetrucks, or one of the 8 volunteer firefighters would come talk to us and tell us what to expect, ya know, since I did call 911 and they were parked the whole way up my driveway. However, they felt it was not necessary apparently. They got the wire out of the road, talked to all of my other neighbors, sat out there for a good hour and then just left. Thank goodness, PPL was nice enough to have a recorded message for me to advise the power would be on by midnight unless it was harder than expected. Who cares that we don't have HEAT!

Like I didn't already have enough excitement from Friday, on Sunday even more fun! I put Soph down for a nap, then got in the shower to get ready for work. As I am coming out of the bathroom with a towel, Simon starts barking like crazy, I turned to whispering-ly yell at him so Soph didn't wake up and there is a bat flying at my freaking head! Anybody who knows me, know that I am TERRIFIED of bats. So, I of course drop to the floor, crawl to the bedroom while coaxing the dog in, because I am sure that the bat has rabies, I mean why else would it be flying around my house in the day time. I sat down and tried to calm down in the bedroom. Once I regained my composure, I started worrying what if I didn't shut Soph's door and the bat is in her room. So I crawled out of my room (clothed now) and checked her door still shut and somehow quiet. I didn't see the bat, so I am assuming he is hiding somewhere, I looked in all the corners (from the floor) and didn't see him. I got up and ran to the kitchen for my phone to call Chris. While I am on the phone with him still panicking, the bat comes around the corner from the computer room and I run into my bedroom again. Chris came home and played baseball with him and then was kind enough to leave him lie on the sidewalk for me to look at on my way to work.

Now here it is rainy Monday and I am home. Not at the mall like I was supposed to be. SophMoores. I told her if she didn't stop, we would go home and not go to the mall and see the Easter Bunny and ride the Merry Go Round. She slapped me across the face. Now we are home and she is napping. Ahhh Good times!

Soph Stuff..

Let me start by saying, how cool is it to have a president who speaks English and does not use made up words and stutter continuously when he can't answer a question! Even if he does nothing else, at least it is not embarrassing to hear him!

Now, on with Soph. Today on the way to the mall, Soph started coughing and threw up... every where! The smell in my car is so overwhelming, it is surprising that the smell did not cause more throwing up. After she did it, she just looked at us and said "what happened?" She did get a new outfit and coat out of it. Perhaps she knew that would happen and that is why she did it?

She apparently wanted a new computer chair too, because instead of running to her room wrapped in a towel after her bath, she ran to the computer chair. When Chris walked in she was standing looking at it and she said "Daddy, I peed right there" and pointed to the computer chair. Ahh yes, the fun we have!

We are having little to no luck on potty training. She was excited about it for a brief time and now she just down right refuses to use the potty. I try to put pull ups on her and she kicks her feet and says no mommy, I don't want big girl pants, I want my diaper. Everything we read and the doctor says that if they are like that you should not try to force them, you should let it go and try again after a few weeks, so that is where we are, but it is a pain because she knows when she has to go. When she has to poop she will run to her room and tell us to leave her alone, then come out and inform us she needs her pants changed. We have tried putting a potty in there for her to use and giving her privacy, but no go. She just won't use the potty.

I change her every night before I go to bed, last night I went in and she had her diaper off, and when she put her pants back on, she put both legs in one hole, so she was just stuck, and not able to move much. Chris said he heard her saying "Oh daddy, I need help" but assumed that she just wanted out of bed which is what she usually needs help with.

One more tidbit, WOW is it fun to work in the ER! Some of the patients are just downright hilarious!! We have a guy who comes in so often, he knows how to answer the questionnaire we have to ask, without hearing the questions, he just comes in, give us his medical record number and says yes, yes, no, yes, January 1986, no, Diabetes etc. It is hilarious. I have seen bones sticking out, an arm that looked like hamburger, gaping holes in skulls, the list is endless.

Losing Control...

I think that I may be losing control in our household. Sophie has most definitely reached the "terrible 2's" and they are everything you ever heard and then some.

The other night we were sitting at the kitchen table with my mother and father in-law having dinner. Soph was eating something and it fell on the floor. Her response was "Holy Crap". I never use the phrase "Holy Crap", so I can only assume she gets that from her father.

The next night at the dinner table while she was eating I told her she had to eat corn and she told me to go sit in my chair. When I said no, she responded with NOW. She has been being punished by having time outs.

Today at the mall, she kept kicking her shoes off and when I would try to put them back on her and she would kick me and insist that Grammy would do it.

This is just a few of the many many many things, but I seem to be a little less in control every day!

Peta is Grrreat!

Has anybody else heard about the "Sea Kitten" campaign?? I took the following story directly from their page. The buttons as well. I knew that Peta was a bit on the bizarre side, but come on Sea kitten Sticks???

FROM PETA:

People don't seem to like fish. They're slithery and slimy, and they have eyes on either side of their pointy little heads—which is weird, to say the least. Plus, the small ones nibble at your feet when you're swimming, and the big ones—well, the big ones will bite your face off if Jaws is anything to go by.

Of course, if you look at it another way, what all this really means is that fish need to fire their PR guy—stat. Whoever was in charge of creating a positive image for fish needs to go right back to working on the Britney Spears account and leave our scaly little friends alone. You've done enough damage, buddy. We've got it from here. And we're going to start by retiring the old name for good. When your name can also be used as a verb that means driving a hook through your head, it's time for a serious image makeover. And who could possibly want to put a hook through a sea kitten?

Artistic or just plain bad?

Sophie loves to color. She literally will spend hours a day laying on the couch with her crayons and a notebook. She tells us what she is drawing. Today she took her notebook and her crayons into the bedroom and told me she was coloring. When I went in to check on her she was laying on the floor with her stuffed doggy toy coloring. So I went back out to the living room. I went back again a few minutes later and she had decorated one entire wall and the door on her changing table. She told me it was Rudolph and Santa. I told her it was bad and that she could only color on her paper and coloring books and she agreed, but will she listen? I spent a half hour trying to wipe it clean, but no, it is on there until we repaint. Chris says it adds character to the room. The picture does not show the full scale, but you get the idea... I have my training on Monday and Tuesday and then the following week I will start my job in the ER. I am excited to be going back to work and I think there will be a lot of interesting things in the Williamsport ER. Getting the clearances was annoying though. I had to call people I haven't talked to in years and ask for their date of birth and middle name. A few were not thrilled to share that info and even less thrilled to hear from me. Oh good times!

I think I am finally over the flu at last! A few sneezes and coughs here and there, but for the most part better. I think I got it on black Friday from all the people in an enclosed area.

Election Annoyances and Sophie Stories

Let me start by saying I haven't even gotten to the polls yet. No doubt that I will, but I haven't yet. However, my phone rang 8 times today. At least half of them were the republican party. Seriously do they think calling me with a recorded message is going to get me to change my mind or even go vote if I had not all ready planned on it? At least the democrat calls were real people. Annoying, but at least I could tell them so. The democrats also sent a very cute young man/boy to my house to make sure I had a ride and knew where to go to vote. He could have changed my mind. Also, if you have not already voted, please don't go straight democratic, the last thing we need in office is Rick Mirabito, DO NOT VOTE FOR HIM!

On to Soph, I am sure there will be more to say after I go to the polls, but not yet. Soph has started stripping herself in her crib. The other night I went in to change her diaper and she was completely naked wrapped in her blanket soaked with pee... Mmmm! I am not sure how to get her to stop doing this. We are going to try putting her sleepers on backwards... Next, a much cuter story we took her trick or treating. She was shy at first, but when she realized they were giving her free candy, she was excited and would run to the doors. Because she was so small people thought it was cute and not rude when after she was given the candy she would put her hand up and say "nother one". It worked for her. She made out quite well, she had a bucket overflowing and we only went two blocks. Finally, we were at the mall and Soph saw a midget walking towards us and she started shouting "Hi little boy, how are you little boy" I was so embarrassed the midget also did not look amused.