The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco - 08/29/2006

Ernesto - the 5th named storm this season. (See how I rocked that Angel title there? Do I not rock? Is it less cool that I point out my coolness?)

And here we are. My son does not have school tomorrow - the county cancelled classes, as did most Central Florida counties. I was a little worried today. A little. Not ever having been in a 2-story house during a storm, or knowing what this area is like during one (we were told we're not in a flood zone), I was wondering what would happen. I went to Target during my lunch break to get some supplies, not hurricane supplies, just supplies. The store was not busy at all. I mean it was, but it always is. It just wasn't "Oh-my-gawd-get-that-last-bag-of-Cheetos-because-we'll-never-see-Cheetos-again!!!" busy. There were plenty of batteries left, plenty of water, plenty o' stuff.

Right now, Numero Cinco is a Tropical Storm (45 mph), dumping 4-6 inches of rain on south Florida. I'm thinking we're dodging the bullet on this one.

I did pick up some extra batteries and this danged box of hair color, what is supposed to be called "Dark Spice." We're going fisticuffs fo' sho'.

The Replacement - 08/27/2006

You Florida people....where do you shop for groceries? I...am in a quandary. I normally shop at Winn Dixie. The Longwood Winn Dixie on 434 is terrific. Much better than the one on 434 closer to Winter Springs (it was technically Casselberry). The Casselberry one was icky. The Longwood one, although older, is much cleaner and has much nicer employees.

We moved to Deltona so I reluctantly had to find a new Winn Dixie. I did, about 3 miles away. Not too shabby - I just had to get used to their weird floor organization. Two weeks ago, I go to this Winn Dixie only to find a sign saying they were closing, and I could visit one of the 2 other Winn Dixie's in Deltona. *sigh* I went to the next closest one. *shudder* NOT a pretty neighborhood. The Winn Dixie looked like it was built in 1970...and had not been cleaned since 1980 or so. That was the first and last time I will step foot in that store. Let's not discuss the scary people shopping there.

So now, my problem is...I have to shop at Publix. For those of you not in Florida, Publix is a very nice store. MUCH cleaner and hoity toity than Winn Dixie. WD is more for people wanting to save $$. At Publix, you're paying more to shop at a cleaner, nicer looking store. My problem? I don't CARE that Publix is the hoity toity store. I do not want to spend more $$ to buy the same darned items! Can of Crystal Light at Winn Dixie: $2.89. At Publix: $3.99. Can of Hunts Spaghetti Sauce: WD= 99 cents. Can't beat that! Publix? $1.29. Package of Rice-A-Roni pasta mix: WD = 99 cents. Publix? $1.19. And so on & so one. I'm shopping at Publix and I'm MAD because they are overcharging for everything.

I will give them this - they have an amazing deli & bakery. I'd go there to get my breads & lunch meat any day. But paying more for the same name-brand items drives me fruit!
I spent $99 at Publix today on things I *know* would have totalled about $75 at Winn Dixie. I'm thinking of shopping at the Longwood Winn Dixie when I get off work, on nights David does not have to work. Have I bored you to death?

I Robot, You Jane - 08/24/2006

I was listening to the radio once to a man who infuriates me so much, but who I agree with about 50% of the time. He mentioned the "Dumbing Down of America" and I truly love that phrase. He didn't invent it, but I totally agree with it. Everything from our educational system, our news outlets, to our entertainment is geared towards dumbing us down. Education? Let's get them the bare minimum. They don't need Latin, they don't need Shakespeare. Let's make sure they can read to the 3rd grade level by the time they graduate high school.

News? Who needs news when we have Paris Hilton. Made famous by Page 6 of the NY Post by chronicling her life at an early age, just because she was rich. What does she actually do? It's a sad state of affairs when people can tell you who won American Idol, but can't tell you who our Vice President is. Reality TV kills me. I don't mean things like "Discovery Health" or those home improvement shows. I can do those. It's the rest. It was cute when "The Real World" first started, but with the inundation of reality TV shows, it just got...kitschy. I don't get it and I never will. I will never convince people who love reality TV that worthwhile television programs with witty dialog and thought-provoking issues are leaving television at a faster rate. They will never convince me otherwise, so we're even.

I love books and am currently reading 2. Read a book? *pppsffftttt* Why? It's a waste of my time?/It's boring/I'll watch the movie. I'll never convince those people about the power of a really good book and the need to see how it ends.

But I can try to instill all this in my kids. Maybe one day, they'll demand better for themselves & from the rest of the world.

*gets of soap box*

Lie to Me - 08/18/2006

David told me some time last week that he did not want the walls covered in pictures. That our last house, much smaller than this one, was overrun with pictures on our walls. I should be taking picture frames down from the wall, and putting newer ones in the frames, not putting new frames with new pictures up. *gasp* Blasphemy! Away with this line of thinking...away!!
Hi, have we met? My name is Kaaren and I love taking & showing off pictures of my beautiful family - kids, husband, sisters, parents, nieces, nephews, in-laws (when they send pictures..*grumble grumble*). I am a picture-taking fool and so help me....every inch of wall space in this house will be covered in pictures!! *shakes fist to sky* OK, not really. But still.

We're working in our daughter's room. She's technically not in her room. She is another room while we work on hers. There's painting to be done, shelves to be put up, a ceiling fan to be installed, a toy chest we are staining, etc. We chose Disney colors and they are so beautiful. Tinkerbell Greens and Purples. No, we're not decorating with Tinkerbell, we just liked the colors. I have commissioned my sister Brenda to do a painting for us. Rather than having her do a mural on the wall, she's painting on a 30" x 40" canvas. This way, when our girl outgrows the picture, we take it off the wall, rather than repaint the wall. I sent Brenda the Disney paint card samples. She's doing Dora, Diego & Boots. She started today and was sending me camera-phone pictures as she worked and progressed. It looks cool! I would post the pictures, but they are SO tiny, you can't see the details. Eventually, we'll have her room done, and you can see Brenda's handiwork.

My son is taller than me. Drat.

The Gift - 08/16/2006

*sigh* Hello. This post is gross. I'm warning you. Damian, just walk away from the screen. Right now.

Little Miss Cranky McCrankin was ...yes...cranky today. We could not figure out why. She was just not happy and not eating. Not even her "Fiiiish" (Goldfish crackers), which are her favorite right now.

I get home from work and start cooking dinner. J's watching TV, "I" is whining and walking around the kitchen. Then, she leaves to go upstairs. David is up there, so I am fine with that. About 2 minutes later, she starts crying and whining "Mommy, mommy, mommy," and crying some more. I go to see what is wrong and discover her, on the 3rd step up. Just standing there crying. And on each of the three steps, poop. Runny brown poop. I scoop her up and head up stairs. I yell for David to get the tub going. I place her on her changing table. Bad idea. Stuff was oozing out everywhere. The terrycloth pad cover is covered. She's crying. David's got her legs up while I wipe and maneuver the 50 pound liquid poop diaper away from her thrashing legs. Fun! Dinner's beeping. Water's boiling and J is downstairs yelling what should he do. I stop, run down stairs, wash my hands, take dinner out of the oven, pour the rice in the boiling water and run back upstairs. By this time, David has "I" in the tub and is washing her down. She is miserable and does not want to be there. Her poor butt has booty-burn. I run and start the laundry, throwing in the soiled socks, shorts and changing pad cover.

We get her out of the tub. I yell down for "J" to set the table and David heads down to start cleaning the stairs. My girl and I went to her room to dry her & dress her. I covered her butt in the stinky white cream and got her dressed. I asked her if she wanted to get down. She whines "Noooooooo." I asked her if she wanted to play. She whines "Noooooo." I ask her if she wants Mommy to hold her. She almost starts to say no, and then she just mumbles something. I said "If you want Mommy to hold you, you have to say yes." She whines "Yeeeeeeesss." So, I hold her and we sit on the couch in the loft, me rubbing her back, she with her head on my chest. One minute later, she's running for one of her baby dolls and is happy. *sigh* I go to my bedroom, look in the mirror and discover that my dress has poop on it.

Dinner was fine, (I changed into shorts & a T-shirt) we had to change her diaper 2 more times in one hour, and I went back to re-clean the carpet with this pet stain remover that I bought once-upon-a-time when J threw up in the car on our way up to Lookout Mountain one winter. What is it with me & my projectile-emitting kids?

I'm pooped. *parum pum*

Forever - 08/11/2006

I'm a Whedonist. I have not wanted to watch t.v. since the demise of the Whedonverse: Buffy, Angel & Firefly. The man...is a genious. Really. If you have not seen his shows, then you cannot talk. And I don't mean one little episode. I mean full seasons. THEN you can comment. The language, the slang, the intelligent dialog, the funny-as-**** dialog. ("Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal" - Wash, "Serenity" 101.) The "actually having a plotiness" of it all. *sigh*

I've been rewatching Firefly this week. I miss Captain Tightpants. I miss Kayleigh, Zoe, Wash, Inara, Jayne (The Hero of Canton, the man they call.....Jayne), Book, River, Simon & Serenity. I love how Joss hired a Chinese linguist to teach the cast how to curse in Chinese so they can get away with it here. And how the future is a Chinese/American universe. The silence of space, the weird camera angles. The cowboys & country slang in space, in the future. I want to know what's up with the Blue Hands dudes. Funny how the show was cancelled because of Fox's ineptitude (moving the nights around, NOT showing the pilot first. Not showing them in order at all) and then....they release it on dvd and have record sales. Ooops, Fox. Joss never gives up, gets Universal to fund it, and bam...Movie.

Speaking of .. Joss, I have a bone to pick with you about that. Two words: Wash and Book. To quote a T-shirt I saw: "After seeing Serenity, I am never speaking to you again, Joss. Except when I meet you at a convention and tell you how awesome Firefly is. But then...no more speaking."

Bad Eggs - 08/11/2006

So....tell me. When did it become acceptable to curse on the job? When did professionalism fly out the window? Am I a throw-back to a bye gone era where it is actually a given that one will be polite to fellow employees? When did the F-Word become appropriate office conversation? When did it become ok to have supervisors talk like this in front of new people at your job or in front of customers (just saw this last night at KFC)?

I'm a "current" kind-of gal. I am modern, hear me roar. I just do not find it appropriate. Not at all. People - you are WORKING. You are not there to socialize. I don't mind being friendly. I do mind the language.

Seeing Red - 08/05/2006

Two Target stories.

The first one was last night. I took the kids to Target to return some shorts and a backpack J did not like. Mrs. Squeak had only napped one hour that day, and you could tell by this time, 6:30 p.m., that she was in desperate need of more sleep. We're walking into Target and there's a young man, a Target employee, pushing a cart back to the store. As we are walking in, Squeak notices him and yells "DADDY!!" Two ladies next to us burst out laughing. The kid (he was like 17) says "No, sorry, I'm not your daddy," which makes the 2 women crack up even more. I laugh and tell the kid, "Her dad wears a red polo to work sometimes and has your hair coloring." So darned funny. That was the extent of the fun, as she had a melt-down walking in the door. I tried feeding her, only to burn her mouth with too-hot pizza. We returned the shorts and backpack and left, not having done any more shopping, as she continued to cry inconsolably. We brought her home, changed her diaper and put her straight to bed. No supper or bath. She was too exhausted. She passed out immediately at 7:30.

Second Target story was today. Just J & I shopping this time. We had done all the shopping and J went to the water fountain to get water. He comes back and I can tell he almost has tears in his eyes. "Some lady yelled at me" he says, as his lips quiver. I asked why. He said that the lady was drinking at one of the two fountains. The smaller kiddie one was open, but Jake wanted to wait for the taller one. She looked at him waiting and said "There's one there you know." He did not move. When she turned around, he said she looked as if she were crying, so he asked "Are you o.k.?" to which she snapped "Why don't you just leave me alone!" What....a *itch. An utter *itch. And there he was telling me this story, with tears in his eyes and his voice faltering. He was trying to show concern for this lady and she blasts him. She of the 5' nothing, 250 pounds, in shorts too short for a lady her age and weight, with her cellulite just a-jiggling, black roots peeking out of her short blond hair, wearing HEELS with her shorts. She of the white-trash clan and her cigarette. Utter *itch. It is sad that you cannot even show concern for your fellow man, or in her case, troll. I don't want him to have to bottle that up. I just told him "Some people are mean and rude. You ignore them and move on," as I rubbed his back with my nails.

Tabula Rasa - 08/05/2006

First day of school - this Monday. I went school-clothes shopping last week while J was still camping with his grandfather, so I pretty much had all his clothes done. Today we went to get a backpack, shoes and school supplies. On the school supply front - Target was wiped out. Geez-um-Pete. We could not find one single folder with brads. They were plain folders. I think we still have some from last year, though.

We live 2.6 miles from the school. Anything over 2 miles, you get a bus. Nope, not here. It is supposed to be 2 miles. They are saying we are 2 miles away. Sure...if you go as the crow flies...over a lake! Dagnabit. It is a long haul and I have to leave the house at 7:10. School does not start until like 8:50 or something like that. So, we're still not sure what to do. The neighbor has a son in 7th I think, whose mom drives him. I may see if she can take Jake along for the ride and we'll pitch in for gas $$. It's either that or J rides 2.6 miles to school on his bike, or David wakes up, loads the toddler in the car and drives J there. And picks him up in the afternoon. What a pain.

He's nervous. New school, new building layout, new people to meet. I told him he had a clean slate, a tabula rasa. He can be whoever he wants to be. No one knows him. He can be Mr. Confident. We got his schedule Friday and walked the school. He was shuffling along with his head down. I told him "Hold your head up. Look people in the face. Don't give anyone any excuse to pick on you." A couple of girls checked him out, too. *snicker* He's 12 and he is 5' 6". And a cutie. Today at Kohl's, he said he thought the reason he was never picked on up to now is because he's so big for his age. He's still nervous though. *sigh* I wish I could be there with him, just invisible, so as not to embarrass him. ;)