Upside Down Cats

Last year, just weeks before the fifth anniversary of the horrendous events of September 11, 2001, my Sweetie Scott posed this query on our family website. At that time I responded, and I still wholeheartedly believe what I wrote. In memoriam of this day, I would like to - respectfully - share my thoughts...

Continue reading "In Memoriam..." »

Recently I wrote about how we love to go to concerts...well, specifically I wrote about Allman Brothers concerts. I have had sublime experiences at concerts...and some nightmarish ones. It is never the performance...they never disappoint. So, what factors could possibly vary from show to show that can make or break my enjoyment? Hmmmmmm...

Continue reading "I Wanted To Kick Him In The Crotch Every Time!" »

I frequently rail against those who either downplay the importance of sound nutrition for children, or dismiss the idea of feeding children nutritious food as the "impossible dream." As a daycare provider, feeding nutritious meals to my charges is a challenge I face daily. Through the years I have had to find solutions to the nutrition conundrum that please everyone. Today I'm going to put my credibility where my mouth is and share some of the methods I have devised to tastefully help accomplish this daunting task...

Continue reading "Purely Pureed" »

I was reading Michael Wade's blog, Execupundit, today in which he featured an excerpt from John Welter, author of My Store of Grievances. Mr Welter discusses his opinion of the current state of customer service. I have a thing or two to say about my own experiences in the land of the consumer... At my local grocery store - where I shop weekly and spend $150.00 (on average) for food to feed ourselves and the daycare children - I am frequently disappointed by the treatment I receive - or don't - from my checker. Often he or she does not even acknowledge my existence other than to announce the total I owe for my items. His or her priority seems to be attending not to me, but to the conversation with the bagger, complaining about management or about his or her schedule. Maybe it's my fault...after all, I am interrupting their bitch-fest...

Continue reading "Customer Disservice" »

“If you were on a sinking ship and yelled, "Women and children first!" how much feminist opposition do you think you'd get? . . . Women want to fight men for equal pay, but how often do they fight a man for the check? . . . And any man who questions a woman's physical capabilities gets branded a sexist -- but who do they call when there's a spider to be killed? Convenient feminism -- crackpot theory or dangerous lunacy?” -Bill Maher quotes (American Comedian, Actor, Writer and Producer. b.1956)

OK, I think I can get away with sharing this potentially controversial, maybe even inflammatory, quote because I killed the biggest spider I've ever encountered today. So I'm not Annie Hall calling Alvy Singer over to her apartment at 3:00 A.M. to kill the spider in her bathroom...I am not a woman who has a predetermined attitude about what is a woman's job and what is a man's. I am just as likely to be the spider assassin as my husband. The only time I ask Scott to kill a spider is when I can't reach it...he is a foot taller than I am, after all...that's being pragmatic, not sexist!

Continue reading "Gina's (Apropos) Quote Du Jour (Maher)" »

On Sunday Scott and I were enjoying a quiet evening at home when we suddenly heard the startling sound of breaking glass very near...at our own house, in fact! 

It was a rare day of late...cool and not as humid so we had the door between the house and the back porch open. Our sweet Desi cat was enjoying her "freedom" sitting on the porch when the apple came crashing through the porch window! Glass shards and the telltale apple went flying all over the porch - and poor Desi! We have apple trees on the side of the house, and with rain for the last ten days, we haven't had a chance to get out in the yard to pick up the ones that have fallen to the ground. Apparently an apple lying in the grass was too much temptation for the kid who picked it up and winged it through our window! Scott grabbed his shoes and hurried out to see if he could spot the culprit(s). He did see a group of three 10-ish year old boys sitting on the grassy hill across the street from our house, and when they saw him, they got up and ran away!

Ten years old and already broken... I've had a couple days to process this affront...I'm not scared, or intimidated, or sad...

I AM FURIOUS!!!

...at the parent(s)...and I use the term loosely! What "parent" raises a child who would do that?! I spend my life teaching preschoolers right from wrong, and why right is right and wrong is wrong...and they get it (for the most part)! So what kind of negligent, absentee, idiotic loser of a parental unit allows a child to grow to the age of ten without being aware that treating people like shit is just plain wrong?! I am really beginning to believe that people don't think that there is any input required to raise a child. They think it is everyone else's job to teach their child...teachers, caregivers, media...and that all the parent need do is be a "buddy." People blithely procreate like it is no big deal, and treat marriage like it is the big commitment. Personally I can't think of a bigger responsibility than rearing a child, and the fact that people don't take it seriously infuriates me! I wouldn't mind if I knew that those parents would be forced to live on an island somewhere with the crass little assholes they raised, away from the rest of us caring folk who involved ourselves enough to raise children with a moral compass...But no, we are all going to have to live in a world with these low-lifes.

Continue reading "Eve Was Tempted Too - And Look What Happened..." »

"Diversity is the one true thing we all have in common. Celebrate it every day." - Anonymous

Yes, we should appreciate what is unique in each other. As my Grandma Bessie said, "If we were all the same, the world would be a dull place!"

I think the celebration of diversity - like charity - should begin at home, on the smallest scale, and grow from there. I hear of an awful lot of relationships going south because of such earth-shattering differences between people as toilet seat up/down, toothpaste cap on/off...Someone else's habits should charm us, not irritate us. If we can't whole-heartedly embrace a loved one's manner of interacting with the world, how are we going to feel comfortable accepting people who have different ideas and values concerning religion, politics or customs?

When you promise to love someone, you promise to accept him at face value. It's the way you show him that you care about and respect him. You don't put yourself in a superior position of judging his way of doing things. Assuming we have a general sense of love for our fellow humans, just think of how nice it could be if we could use those cultural differences as reasons to be interested in each other, instead of a way to divide us.

Sad...so very sad.

I just read a Time Magazine article, Hooked on McDonald's at Age 3 .

(Sigh...)
It is official...we have broken our children. According to the article, by the age of three, children are so familiar with McDonald's they actually claim that they prefer food served in McDonald's packaging to identical food in plain wrappers. That just proves to me that kids are not eating it for the flavor, they are eating it for the mystique of fun and excitement that surrounds it. We have turned mealtime into an over-stimulated, cartoonish spectacle. Any other food, from home or just presented differently, can't help but seem uninteresting and unappealing.

Continue reading "Eat My Words" »