Maria님의 프로필Single Mom's Insanity사진블로그리스트기타  |  도구 도움말 |
Crash LandingIs clumsiness genetic? I think it must be. My father was clumsy, I’m clumsy and I’ve passed it on to one of my kids. For example, in just one day this past weekend, Shannon hit her head hard enough to give herself a good size lump, slipped and fell and hit her jaw on the coffee table, so she’s all bruised there, then she stepped on a toy and bruised her instep. And of course, not to be left out, I fell down the basement stairs. Backwards. I was taking some boxes down to the basement, and I had this one bin that was too big and heavy to carry (I was trying not to hurt my back). I got this brilliant idea to drag it down the stairs. Which was working just fine until I tripped. Over my own foot.
In retrospect, it was actually pretty funny. Mostly because I am known for my spectacular falls and mishaps. I once slipped on a patch of ice, went completely airborne, came down flat on my back and laid there laughing, only to realize my clothes had become stuck to the ice so I couldn’t get up.
This fall, though, was much more dramatic. It was all in slow motion, just like the movies. As I was falling I remember thinking “Oh, this is going to hurt” and then, “if I land like this, I’m going to break my ankle”. The final thought I had was something I can’t repeat, just before the bin hit me.
I was laying on the floor, pondering the fact that at least I wasn’t dead and assessing whether or not anything was broken when both of my children came running in response to my bloodcurdling scream. Shannon’s first question was if I had broken my leg and if she should call 911. I said no and slowly got up, and was amazed that I hadn’t hurt my back and though my ankle was a little tender, it obviously wasn’t broken. I am pretty stiff and sore today though. Which leaves me with two thoughts. 1- my children know to call 911 if anything bad happens, and 2 – growing old sucks, this wouldn’t have hurt this bad a few years ago. A haunting in KansasIn honor of Halloween, here is a story about a house I lived in when I was very small:
“Quarters 124 – This house is reportedly haunted by a woman who drowned herself in a well on the fort grounds in the 1860’s. Over the years, residents have reported hearing loud noises during the night such as someone dragging a wooden box up and down the stairs. At one point it was so bad that a priest was called in to do an exorcism. At first, the ceremony was successful, but apparently the ghost returned several years later. However, nothing has been heard from the ghost recently.”
Now, I was very young when we lived there, and through I do remember the house pretty well, I don’t remember the ghost. I do remember some stories my mother told me. Like once she saw a woman in white walking through the yard. And we had a library in the house, and entire rows of books would just disappear and then return weeks later. The weirdest thing happened after we moved. My mother loved that house and it broke her heart to move. It was a beautiful old, stone house with a huge yard and a stone wall in front.
Anyway, sometime after we moved, after we moved, for some reason we went back to visit (we had only moved a short distance away). The new family that lived there had a young son who was legally blind, so the last thing he did at night was take off his glasses and put them on the nightstand. One morning he wakes up and they’re gone. Nowhere to be found. Fortunately, they still had an old pair, although they weren’t the right prescription. After ripping the room apart and not finding them, they finally took him to get a new pair. Keep in mind this is before the days of one hour eye glasses. They took a couple of weeks.
He finally gets his new glasses and they go on about their lives, and one day he wakes up to find two pairs of glasses on his nightstand.
Spooky…. Job RequirementsLet me ask you, when they recruit fire fighters, is it a job requirement that they be good with kids? Yesterday we went to an open house at the Fire Department. And these men were absolutely wonderful with all the kids. And they looked like they were having the time of their lives. They had this obstacle course set up where the kids had to, one at a time, don a firefighter’s coat and boots (everything was child size, of course), carry a bundled hose over to a large inflatable slide, take off the boots, climb the inflatable ladder, come down the slide, put the boots back on, run a small obstacle course, grab and drag a fire hose and use it to blow a basket ball off a pylon, run a little further, and grab and drag a dummy over the finish line. My ever competitive Shannon managed to tie for the second fastest time. She was the fastest of the girls. But the best part was the fire fighters got Emma to go through it. All on her own! As shy as she is with strangers, it was nothing short of miraculous. And every time one of the fire men or policemen talked to her, she answered. I couldn’t believe it.
They also set two “rooms” on fire, one with a sprinkler and one without. That was kind of scary. In 35 seconds, the room without the sprinkler had a flashover and was totally engulfed. 35 seconds.
On another note, anyone interested, my friend Margherite is FINALLY updating her website with the new jewelry and it is FABULOUS! Her site is www.shimmerlings.com .
And finally, the cookbooks are in!!! All that work and they are finally done. And they look great! I’m so excited!! Let me know if you want one! J
Attitude
This was sent to me today…
There once was a woman who woke up one morning, looked in the mirror, and noticed she had only three hairs on her head. "Well," she said, "I think I'll braid my hair today?" So she did and she had a wonderful day. The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw that she had only two hairs on her head. "H-M-M," she said, "I think I'll part my hair down the middle today?" So she did and she had a grand day.
The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that she had only one hair on her head. "Well," she said, "today I'm going to wear my hair in a pony tail." So she did and she had a fun, fun day.
The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that there wasn't a single hair on her head. "YEA!" she exclaimed, "I don't have to fix my hair today!"
Attitude is everything.
Be kinder than necessary,
Live simply, Love generously, Care deeply, Speak kindly....... Leave the rest to God. FestivalsI love town festivals. I go to as many as I can. Just to walk around. My brother, his girlfriend, the girls and I went to a local festival this past weekend called Scarecrow Fest. Local businesses and organizations, etc. create these elaborate scarecrow scenes which are displayed at a park. Some of them are even mechanical, which is really cool. Then, of course, they have rides, food, crafts, etc. After looking at all the scarecrows, my brother foolishly announces that he will buy us anything we want to eat. To which Emma says, “I want Cotton Candy!” And my brother says, “OK, after we eat, we’ll go look for some.” Obviously he didn’t think there was any because it wasn’t with the other food, it was with the rides. Hah! My children can sniff out candy at 2 miles. So after scoping out all the various vendors (did you know they deep fry Milky Ways and Snickers bars now? Scary!) we sat down and ate waaay too much carnival food (including the infamous funnel cake), and about every 1 ½ minutes, Emma would say, are you going to buy me cotton candy now? And one of us would say, “not now honey, in a few minutes”. And she would pout. And then it would start over. Once we finished, we got up and started walking around again (I should point out that I had hurt my back pretty badly the day before, so I was hobbling about in excruciating pain which probably didn’t help my level of aggravation) and Emma continues to ask over and over about the cotton candy. And I explain that the booth is on the way back to the car, so it will be a little while. So she stops asking. For maybe 5 minutes. Then she starts up again. And my brother’s girlfriend (who is amazingly patient) just loses it and yells, “YOU’RE GOING TO GET YOUR COTTON CANDY! JUST STOP!!!” And then she gets this horrified look on her face and apologizes and I just burst out laughing. And Emma just looks at me and says “Now?”
Out of total desperation we finally go get the cotton candy and then the girls go on a couple of rides. But Shannon and Emma want to ride the Ferris Wheel and that requires an adult. So we decide to all go. And as we’re getting on, my brother announces that he’s afraid of heights. And he spends the ride clinging desperately to seat and the center post. And when they finally let us off, I half expected him to fall down and kiss the ground he’s so happy to be off the ride.
And just so you know – most of the cotton candy is still sitting on our kitchen counter at home, uneaten and forgotten. How?Do don’t know what to do…
How do I shelter my girls from the news? How do I keep them from knowing that crazy people are walking into schools and shooting? How do I explain to them that I cannot always protect them? How do I explain that people may hate them and some may even want to hurt them, just because of their gender or their race or their nationality? How do I explain to them that the reason I hug them so tightly and won’t let go every morning is because a part of me is afraid they won’t come home?
I am tired. Tired of having to explain why planes fly into buildings, why bombs land on people’s houses, why people go into schools and kill children. We no longer have the TV on when the girls’ are awake, except for Disney and Nickelodeon. But still they hear.
They shouldn’t have to worry about whether or not it’s safe to help the person who asks, or whether or not to run when a stranger says hello. They shouldn’t have to know that people in positions of authority might be hurt them.
Their biggest worry should be what piece of playground equipment to play on or if they’re going to get in trouble for talking in class. Not about if they will even survive to even have those dilemmas. Banned Books WeekOk, I'm totally borrowing this from someone else's site, but I think it's very important.
My favorite Stephen King quotation is about banned books. His advice is that if someone tells you can't read something, run, don't walk, to your local library and find out for yourself what all the fuss is about. In honor of Banned Books Week, I'm offering a memo of sorts. Below is the ALA list of the 100 most frequently challenged books, 1990-2000. Bold the ones you've read. And then run, don't walk, to your local library.
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