I do believe autumn is finally here! The colors! The first frosts! The fresh air! Polar fleece, flannel and wool! I love it all!
This is my absolute favorite time of year and as such, it is likely that I will be MIA for the entire weekend. We leave tonight and, although I’ll be dragging us out of the woods for a few hours tomorrow to go visit the pseudo-nephews, I’ll be spending the long weekend soaking up as much of the fall air as I can.
Have a good weekend!
No TagsI’ll probably end up eating the words I’m about to type, but I smell a big ol’ pile of bullshit in this story:
Police are looking for 8-day-old Abigale Lynn Woods after a woman allegedly stabbed the infant’s mother and slashed her throat before taking the child from her rural Missouri home, investigators said Saturday.
A statewide Amber Alert has been issued.
The mother, Stephanie Ochsenbine, 21, told police the woman knocked on her door Friday, asking to use the phone, then attacked her. Ochsenbine was in serious condition after undergoing surgery Friday.
There are a few things with this story that don’t sit right with me. First up, the mother is 21, (presumably) unmarried and has two children. Certainly not a crime, but it sort of carries some negative connotations in MY mind.
More disturbing than that, however, is this quote from the article:
The Amber Alert says the suspect was armed with an “unknown [type of]handgun and fillet knife.”
Okay, so this kidnapper brought a gun AND a knife, but only used the knife? Sorry, I don’t buy it. I’ve cast a weathered eye on these kinds of things ever since I got sucked in by that wench Susan Smith 10 years ago, but this whole story just STINKS of bullshit.
UPDATE: Well, slap my ass and call me Fanny…I totally called THAT one wrong. The baby has been found and is home safe with her family.
On a related note…I wonder if we’ll get a real mugshot of the woman who stole the baby. She reportedly has a female moustache and, much like this guy, the strange and unusual draws me like a moth to a flame.
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I awoke this morning at 4am, bleary eyed and desperately in need of coffee. I stayed up to watch the Emmys last night (GO KEIFER!), then tossed and turned until around 1am. Unfortunately, I know that today, I will need to be at the top of my game, and that means I need coffee more than I need sleep at this point. I want to leave myself enough time to have a little bit of peace and quiet this morning without rushing Monkeyboy out the door for the first day of school.
I sat down with my first cup of coffee, opened up my email program…and was stunned to find several incredibly touching offers of donations to help with the pseudo-nephews. I can’t even express to you guys how grateful I am for the gestures…really I am. I simply don’t have the words…
But I can’t tell you how wierd I’d feel taking money for something like this…or anything for that matter. Catfish and I had occasion to have this very same discussion on the phone a few days ago and I guess it’s just a pride thing or something with me, but I’d feel very strange taking money from people for any reason. In a financial sense, I live by a very simple rule: if you can’t afford it, you don’t get it. If I couldn’t find a way to afford taking on two more mouths to feed, I simply wouldn’t do it. I make ‘enough’ money, but as we probably all know, one can probably never have TOO MUCH money. Fortunately, I live simply and can squeeze a penny til ole Abe is screaming for mercy.
Financially, I CAN do this. Emotionally remains to be seen.
However, a lovely woman has suggested an Amazon wishlist as a compromise. No money changes hands and people would know exactly what their money is used for. That makes me a little more comfortable and I may do that if I decide to bring these children home. I have no intention of making any decisions until sometime later this week…I will be too emotionally drained for a day or two to form any kind of rational thought I’m sure.
Anyways, I am about ready to dash out the door but I wanted to thank all of you for the offers of donations and the words of encouragement. You’ve all touched this jaded old heart of mine in ways you simply can’t imagine.
No TagsI’ve been cruising through some parenting and mommy blogs today and I gotta tell ya…it’s a little scary. This isn’t going to be an attack, because quite honestly, a lot of the women I’m reading seem to be very nice people…but damn…I was thinking to myself ‘can’t ya’ll make a decision regarding your child without consulting surveys, studies and the blog collective?’
But then I found out WHY parents seem to have no idea whether they’re coming or going:
A five year study conducted at Texas A&M University recently reported that the amounts and quality of time parents spent with their children has a direct effect on children’s rates of obesity. In general, researchers found the amount of time a mother spent with her child, her work stress and her income level had a larger impact in lowering the child’s risk of obesity than the father’s time, work stress, and income. Furthermore, the more time a mother spends with the child, the less likely that child is to be obese; conversely, the more time a father spends with a child, the more likely the child will be obese.
As if today’s parents don’t have enough reason to be neurotic, now we have scientists trying to pin childhood obesity on the amount of TIME you spend with your child.
I’m sorry, but the ONLY reason why Johnny is such a porker is because you buy him the Twinkies…not because you don’t spend the correct amount of time with him.
My advice to today’s mothers? Don’t parent-by-committee. Put down the child psychology books. Stop worrying about what ‘the survey says’ (anyone else channel Richard Dawson when they read that?).
Just trust your instincts.
No TagsI’m just gonna toss this out there into the ether because apparently there are quite a few people who are dealing with the same things I am lately.
1. One mistake IS a mistake. The SAME mistake made over and over again is a habit. Break it.
2. Take the time to truly understand what the consequences to your actions were and THEN apologize. Make sure you understand the part you played in the ‘misunderstanding’.
3. “I’m sorry if I hurt you” is NOT an apology. You might as well be saying, “Stop being so over sensitive”. An apology should include the SPECIFIC action that caused the problem, such as “I’m sorry that I called yo’ momma fat” or “I’m sorry that I blogged about your small penis”.
4. Don’t qualify your apologies. When you’ve hurt someone’s feelings, they don’t really give a shit what horrible things happened in your past to make you the way you are or how drunk you were at the time or how you haven’t been laid in a month. All they REALLY want is for you to show that you understand that what you did/said was wrong and that you will endeavor to never make the same mistake twice.
5. If you’re not sincere, don’t bother. No one likes having sunshine blown up their ass when they’ve been hurt or wronged.
6. This is worth repeating: the same mistake made over and over is a habit. Break it.
I learned a looooong time ago that empty apologies are often worse than the original offense. I’ve had the week from hell so far and I’ve made several new and creative mistakes, but it didn’t kill me to look anyone in the eye or send an email or pick up the phone and utter those two little words: “I’m sorry”.
If this ‘insensitive bitch’ can do it, so can everyone else.
No TagsMy weather forecast:
A front that passed through the state last night has brought in drier air and sunnier skies for today! Aside from it being a bit breezy at times today, it should be very nice! The cloudiest conditions will be found in the mountains today as the winds have banked around to the north-northwest.
Tonight will be clear and cooler, with lows in the north country reaching well down into the 40s.. 50s elsewhere in the state.
Wednesday should be the pick of the week.. with horizon to horizon sunshine, low humidity, and pleasantly warm temperatures.
Another cool front moves through on Thursday, giving us the chance of a passing shower or storm, and bring a much cooler, crisper airmass with it for Friday and into the weekend!
It’s about damn time!
No TagsOr, in this case, damn hot!
I’ve been lounging in front of my air conditioner for two days now, not doing a hell of a lot. It got up to 102 here yesterday.
I’m putting Mother Nature on notice as of right now that she better give me an AWESOME autumn after all this bullshit. I want some warm days, some crisp nights and some damn COLOR this year. Last year, we got bitch-slapped by a hurricane that knocked down all of the leaves before we even hit peak-color.
Autumn is my favorite time of year and it BETTER be worth it this time.
No TagsFrom Maeve:
Starburst Candies is screwing with my little autistic world. They have “new tropical flavors”. They replaced two “old” flavors and put in two new ones. Can you guess which flavors they ditched? Yep, Pudd’ns favorites. That is the only candy he’ll eat and it’s only those two flavors. Those were the best motivators for speech and other things to get him to comply. I called the company and lodged a complaint. If they get enough complaints, they may bring back the “old” flavors.
Go forth and give Maeve and Pudd’n a hand.
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