40 Bag Challenge

While reading the many posts on the net regarding Lent and children, I stumbled upon some ideas I may try this year to help LegoMaster and Buzz understand the concept of the sacrifices that have been made for us before we were even born.  I want them to know the true meaning of Easter because I think it is more important than the true meaning of Christmas.   Not to minimize the birth of our savior, but.. well I hope you get the idea.

Here are some of the gems I encountered in my surfing:

1.Get a big box and have each child put one non-perishable canned/boxed good in it every day during lent.  On Easter, donate the food.  80 pieces (one per child per day) can be a big difference to a food bank.

2. Have everyone in the house choose some thing they are grateful for.  Walk around the house and count every one of those "things".  For example, I am grateful for new windows.  I should count them all and say a prayer of thankfulness to my Lord for providing me with x-number of windows as other people do not have as many, or ones that don't work as well.  Keep track of all the blessings you have on a large cross hung in a prominent place in the house.

3.Bake pretzels together and discuss how the form of a pretzel represents the traditional form of crossed arms during prayer.

4. Grow grass seeds in eggshells.  Plant on Palm Sunday and by Easter Sunday they should be sprouting and rising as our Savior has done.

5. [By far, my favorite] The 40-Bag-Challenge.  Each day during Lent, one should pack a bag of things you no longer need or that you have duplicates of.  These things can be in big bags, small bags, boxes, shoe boxes, etc.  The idea is to rid your home of clutter and realize how much you really do have.  To truly do this challenge correctly, one must do it EVERY DAY.  Not pack 7 bags one Sunday and not the rest of the week.  Don't forget the food box you are packing.  Clothes to a women's shelter.  Toys and books to a day care.  Cleaning products to...  The list could be endless.  Try it!  Pass on the idea.  I think it is good one.
I think it directly relates to this verse:  Matthew 16:26   "For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life?"
        I think I may change the rules to my advantage and begin to pack up unnecessaries for our already-scheduled garage sale.  The boxes may not leave during the 40 days of Lent, but they will leave the house if they do not sell.

Enjoy your Lenten season!

Ice or Diamonds?

Just a quickie today-

We have had a serious ice storm here on the North Coast.  I should be lamenting that the sheer number of tree limbs that fell on power lines are keeping me away from DadOfAllTrades.  The poor guy is working 16 hour shifts, just to get a few hours of sleep and be back at work to get other people's power restored.

 I, however, cannot help but see the beauty in all this ice.

Since the sun has been shining it's beautiful face the trees look like they are made of diamonds!  If you get close to the ice and stand facing the sun, one can see the rainbows formed through the clearness of the ice.  To me it is breathtaking.  I cannot stop looking at it-which has made for some interesting car rides!

Enjoy the situation you are in today!  There is always beauty there!

Seven Quick Takes Number 4

1. I had a great play date today.  Or should I say-my boys had a great play date today.  The boys played with other boys from LegoMaster's fantastic Kindergarten class last year.  It was a great group of kids and mothers.  I feel as though I bonded with some of the moms.  We have a bible study together, we sometimes have coffee, we are FB friends, we still have play dates.  I guess I can make friends as an adult, something I thought wouldn't happen after college.

2. I made guacamole yesterday that was killer, at least the fact that I got to eat a huge amount of avocado was killer.  Maybe need to add more salt (?) or... something.  It all started when DadOfAllTrades brought home this HUGE green avocado.  Never saw anything like it.  If I saw it in the store I would have thought it was a mango it was that green.  But it was tasty just like the black avocados I am used to.  Now I need to go buy bigger pants.

3. The guacamole was made with a really strong onion.  I have brushed, flossed, gargled, and I still taste it.  Yikes.

4. The weather has been such that all of the snow is melted (except where the piles used to be plowed into) and thus there is lots of wet ground.  Wet ground + boys on a bike = mud.  And lots of it.  I have never been so grateful for our breezeway as I am today.  And for plastic garbage bags.  And mops.  Well, not the mops but they do help get up muddy footprints faster than my own elbow grease.  Also, clothes washers.  I could not have imagined what life must have been like before mechanized cleaning.  Mothers back then must have had huge biceps.

5.  Did I mention that I ate too much guacamole?

6. It took a total of 5 hours to dismantle and re-build a Lego Technic dump truck with a motor.  LegoMaster made me figure that out today.  That is 5 hours of leaning over a cookie tray filled with pieces and hearing "MOOOOOOM!  I need your help finding a piece!!"

7. This warmer weather does have me longing for the real spring.  I used to be perfectly OK with winter, then I had kids that I had to push, cram, and cajole into snow clothes.  Now I look forward to spring and summer even though I melt in the sun.  But we have been teased with jacket only days, so the next few weeks are going to D.R.A.G. by.  I guess I need to wax the tobagan and commence play dates again.  I am glad I got to open the windows for a few hours to smell the fresh air today.  Ahh, spring, why must thou tempt us so??

Following "THE RULES"

Around or about November 3^rd or 4^th I heard of a post regarding a mother who let her son dress as Daphne from Scooby Doo for Halloween.  My first reaction was nothing.  Maybe a “Cool idea”, but I didn't think much of it in my frenzy that is regular life.  A couple of day later, one of my Facebook friends posted the link to the blog of The Cop’s Wife and, for curiosities sake, I read the post.  (If you haven’t read this beautifully and heartfelt post, you must, must, must.)

I was immediately in love with this woman’s heart and wanted to jump up and down in applause for her support of her son.  AND, the sheer knowledge of what her boy really wanted was a great example for me to follow.  I can be a “Do-it-my-way-because-it-is-the-only-way” kinda mom and I have to forcefully make myself calm down and realize that the path to point B from point A may have some side paths attached.  In the few years that I have been sheparding my boys, I have realized that the side paths are the better way every time and have learned to encourage their wandering.  I have learned that bouncing across the parking lot to the store’s doorways is just as good of a way to get out of the rain as walking at a brisk pace muttering “Hurry, it’s raining!”  As a mom, I not only have to, but need to allow the ramblings of their hearts in order to allow them to discover what their hearts truly want.

So I took the post to heart, prayed for her to find peace, and promptly forgot about it. 

Just recently, on an evening when I only had 107 things to do (so I was sitting on the couch surfing the net) I revisited her blog.  Noticing a recent post entitled “Epilogue”, I was intrigued.  Catchy title.  So I read it.  And it ruined my night.  Or should I say what this woman had to endure, and still is enduring, for a loving choice regarding her own son, ruined my night.

She is being strong-armed by her church for posting this in the first place.  They are criticizing her for “naming names” of the mean spirited, not-happy-about-the-costume-choice, other moms in the preschool class. [Which, in my humble opinion, she did not do.  She just called them Mom A, Mom B, and Mom C, so if by a huge coincidence their last names start with A, B, and C, then she named names.  But I am thinking they are not and she did not.]  I am having such trouble believing that the powers that be in her church are treating her so poorly.  This entire situation is very close to what DadOfAllTrades had to endure after his divorce; the entire reason why he is SO turned off by organized religion that I can rarely get him to darken the doors of my favorite church even though he says he knows in his heart that his boys should be seeing him attend.  What happened to the loving kindness that Jesus showed his fellow man in His walk on the Earth?  I don’t think the way they are acting is “What Jesus Would Do.”  Even if she had broken commandments or stepped asunder, forgiveness is only a prayer away when said with true repentance.  It is not being excluded from an important church ritual or even being asked to leave the church, both penances inflicted by humans, not the Lord.

I am so thankful that there are mothers out there who have sons that feel comfortable enough to express what they really want with the knowledge that mom (and dad also) will follow through.  This knowledge alone will help this family endure through this trial, and many trials to come in Boo’s life.  What if, when it is time to choose college, Boo states that his dream is to travel Europe in search of a life’s mission?  Most parents would cringe and INSIST that he attend school, THEN he can travel with his newfound degree.  Maybe Boo would end up being the next great missionary, working to save thousands of people from a life without Christ.  Or maybe he would discover the last living Dodo bird.  Or maybe he would travel, see the fabulous architecture that abounds in Europe and rush back to the states to earn his Architects degree.  Whatever-but the world would never know unless he had parents that listened to his heart and supported him 100%.  I commend her moxie and hope that this experience can help grow the relationship between her and Boo.

It is disheartening to me to know that the world does not approve of such behavior.  Goodness forbid that a mother allows her son to have a favorite show.  To have a favorite character.  To dress like that character.  So what if that character is of the opposite sex?  Who would criticize a young lady who dresses as Fred?  I believe that many wouldn’t even bat an eyelash.  These young children are just playing out the lives of the fun characters they see.  It is us, as adults that put a positive or negative on the behavior of children’s play.  My own Buzz used to make a bee line for the princess dresses that my nieces had and become Tinkerbell for a couple of hours-glittery shoes and all.  Did I tell him it was wrong?  NO.  Did I ask him to change?  NO.  Because he was just dressing up like his cousins, who he loves and wants to play with.  He was not “becoming gay” at 4 years old.  He was exploring what it was like to wear a dress and heels.  And he probably realized what a life of pain it is to be a woman because he now is only donning Jedi robes.  But seriously, he was playing. And I do have photos of it to prove to him later that he really did do it.

This story has touched me in a big way.  I want to be the type of parent that would allow, no support, my son who wanted to dress as a girl for Halloween.  I want to be the type of mom who would stand next to my son and say “Doesn’t he look great?!?”  I want to be the type of mom who would go on national television to defend my stand, and my son’s choice. 

And I want to be the type of adult that would not stand for another adult making fun of a child.  I want to be the type of adult that would get in the middle of the “Why did you let your son do this?” conversation and support the parent being attacked.  Good for the Cop’s Wife for standing up for her beliefs and her family.  Good for her for posting a follow up and not being afraid of the backlash.  Good for her.

Computer Moron Is Me

For the first time in a while, I feel like I can't do something.

I tried this morning to write a post on here regarding my sick child.  And I could not get to my blog.

I tried to google myself.  Nope.

I tried to google DadOfAllTrades.  Nope.

I tried going back in my history of my computer.  Found it, but it was as if I  was a viewer, not the writer.

I tried to re-sign in.  I tried to change my password.  I tried...

Seriously, it took me twenty minutes to get here and now I am too frustrated to be a writer now.

 Ugh.  See you tomorrow.

This Parenting Thing part 2-Are You Listening? Really Listening?

I have started contemplating the many twists and turns of being a parent and doing it “right”.  In Part 1 I focused on the big issues of parenting, including wrecking a child’s spirit and middle school dances.  But I have been living the issue of listening to what a child, your child, is saying to you. 

LegoMaster has been complaining of having a stomach ache since Friday.  It is now Tuesday.  At first I thought he had to poop as he is not a once-a-day kinda guy.  Tried that-he produced, but he still complained.  Granted he was not doubled over with a wince on his face, but he still mentioned it far more than his personality usually warrants.

So, I tried step two-are you hungry?  He did eat as he usually does.  He even ate cake and ice cream at a birthday party. But then again, I have been known to down a cake or three even if I am not feeling 100%.  So it was probably not hunger.

On to step three:

When he arrived home from school on Monday and immediately began complaining, it occurred to me that there may be something going on at school that is worrying him. So the grand inquisition began, much to his dismay, and ended with a “MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!  Stop asking me questions!”

There was a time last year that he did have a problem at school and hesitated telling us about it.  To me, the issue was cut and dry, but then again, I am 42 and self-actualized.  He was 6 and he suffered in his little boy way until he told us.  Since past behavior predicts future behavior, I thought we may be on the right track regarding school/social issues.  He did tell me Monday morning that the boys at his table were kidding with him (teasing, he said) that he was using the wrong color to draw with.  Yeeps, I would have just looked at them funny and said that THEY were seeing the color wrong because in my eyes it was PERFECT.  Then I would have turned my head and proceeded on with the project, ignoring any other mutterings of their silly mouths.  But he is now 7 and thinks that since his “friends” say he is wrong, then he is wrong.  So he is thinking that he does not want to be told he is wrong again and, viola, a stomachache.  **

As a mom, I must help him with this social issue.  We discussed, as only a 7 year old can do, what to do if the boys teased him again today.  It went something like this:

Me: What exactly do they say?

Him: That I am using the wrong color.

Me: Do YOU think you are using the wrong color?  Really truly the wrong color?

Him: No.

Me: So what can you do?  Tell me anything that comes to your mind-good or bad.

Him:  I can move desks.

Me: OK, what else?

Him:  I can say “What you say doesn’t count.”

Me:  Hmm, that’s interesting.  Then what?

Him: I can ignore them. But I really want to move desks.

I notice that his brain can come up with many answers to solve the problem at hand.  I also wonder why none of these things are the things he is probably doing.  And I know this because I have witnessed what can happen with LegoMaster when his loving brother, Buzz, begins to pick on him.  The end result is usually one of the boys in their own room.  But I still have prayers that then will one day, do the right thing and ignore.  Until then, we must problem solve.

LegoMaster goes to school and all seems right with the world until he arrives home.  He is somewhat chipper, but he does tell me that he moved desks.  Not the solution I would have chosen and quite frankly, I wish the teacher wouldn’t have let him escape but talked to the whole table about being kind, but it is done nonetheless.  But he still has a belly-ache, and does not want to eat an afterschool snack.  He also balks at dinner and chooses to lie on the couch.  So, my little LegoMaster is sick.  That MUST be it.  He just needs rest-he was up a little late because of the Super Bowl last night.  DadOfAllTrades is putting the boys to bed tonight as I am going to karate, so I kiss their precious faces and remind DadOfAllTrades that they should be in bed earlier than usual.

After I leave karate, I get a frantic call from DadOfAllTrades regarding vomit and walkie-talkies.  Uh-Oh.  I race home to find that LegMaster threw up as he was brushing his teeth, then again 10 minutes after he laid down.  Oh-so he was vomit-in-the-sink sick.  Why didn’t I think of that?

Was I listening?  I mean, really listening to LegoMaster?  Or was I trying to put some self-induced extra meaning on what was really going on?  How as a mom am I to know?  He did tell me his stomach hurt.  I immediately went for the worst possible scenario.  How am I NOT supposed to “plan for the worst and hope for the best”, a motto I adopted in college and have yet to give up because it is so true and serves me well?

I don’t think I will ever know.  But I do know that I am happy that he kept telling me, saw me (us, including DadOfAllTrades) trying to help the situation by problem solving, and saw that we did not get frustrated by his constant repetition.  Maybe that was what I was supposed to do.  Hooray for me!

**As an aside, why do teachers call the class “friends” instead of classmates?  I think it implies the wrong thing.  As we all know, we do not like every single person we have to work with.  Also, friends are a more intimate form of acquaintances.  We, as adults, do not call everyone we know a “friend”.  Why are they asking youngin’s to do this?  Why set the kids up for failure in the category of understanding friendship at such an early age?  Just a thought.

Seven Quick Takes on Karate

Why I still like karate:

1.     1.   I Have to.  The boys look up to me (I believe) and if they see me get lazy or skip class then they will feel the need to do so also.

2.      2.  I have a feeling of accomplishment.  Most classes.  It is one thing to sit in the lobby on the cushy couches watching my son’s do futocada di-eichy [Japanese for The First Cada] for the two hundredth time.  It is quite another to be out on the mat doing it yourself.  It is not as easy as it looks.  So when I get out there and follow the count of the sensei and not mess one move up, I feel great.  It is not the best.  It is not perfect.  But I did it without making a mistake.

3.      3. I focused my thoughts away from the laundry and dust for at least 90 minutes.  I have a hard time keeping still.  This is partly due to the fact that once still, I sleep.  DadOfAllTrades can attest to this.  I have been known to doze off during the climax of a movie’s plot.  So, I keep moving and “doing” all day.  My mind does not rest on one thing for too long, kinda like ADD for adults but not really.  So the fact that I am not fretting about how the boys did at bed time or wondering what I am going to make for dinner tomorrow is a huge accomplishment on my part.

4.       4. It is really cool to participate in something with the boys; something at which they are better at then myself.  They find it entertaining to help me with my practice.  Eye rolls and all, they seem to love being the teacher sometimes.

5.       5. At least one night a week, someone else is putting the boys to bed.  ‘Nuf said.

6.       6.I do it with a bunch of very disciplined adults.  It makes me want to be a better person.

7.      7.  I have learned that once a cada is over, it is over.  Don’t focus on how wrong (or right) it was.  This is something I have had to work on all my adult life.  I ruminate about mistakes I make.  But karate does not.  No matter how many times you did the wrong block; no matter how many walking steps were indistinguishable; the cada is over.  Move on.  You can be better next time as long as you focus on the task at hand and not let the past task take your focus away.  Really a good life lesson.

This Parenting Stuff

There is something that has been weighting on my mind for some time now.

As a mom, I realize that I have a huge responsibility to raise my children right.  Whatever that means. 

There are many definitions about what is “right” when it comes to being a parent.  Some think ‘right” is making sure they are fed and clothed and that is it.  Others think that keeping a stern thumb on their kids is “right”.  Others think that as long as they are productive members of society they have done their job.  I am not sure where I fall on that spectrum-other than that I want my boys to feel ok about who they are, and that they will be doing things they love as adults.

But herein lies the rub.  I will not know if I raised them right until they are adults and on their own.  I cannot go back and have a re-do.  I must do it right the first time.  This causes all sorts of angst in my heart and mind.

What if the time I sent Buzz up to his room for hitting his brother, only to find out later that LegoMaster hit him first, wrecked his precious spirit?  How am I supposed to get that back?  How am I supposed to know if the discipline I enforced was OK?

How am I to know if giving up kiddie music class squelched a musical prodigy who could have gone to college on a bassoon scholarship?  Or even a kid who can keep the beat when dancing at a middle school dance?

What if the homemade food I made with all good intentions gave them too much insecticides that I never even knew about?  Or if Buzz’s sugar fascination is one that I enforced because he was the second child and I did not follow the rules about refined sugar as good as I did with LegoMaster.

I recently have been wondering about some other big things regarding emotional and social development. 

For example, I am not the one who “gets” many socials situations.  When watching The Sopranos years ago, I had to watch them on VCR tapes so that I could stop the show and gaze into DadOfAllTrades beautiful blue eyes and ask “What the heck just happened?  Who is _______?”  This happened at least twice an episode and thank goodness DadOfAllTrades is patient and needs a break in his shows to get popcorn.  Me stopping to ask gave him an excuse to fire up the microwave and pour a beer while he was explaining the storyline to me.  So for me to have to teach them how to recognize the social subtleties in life makes me get night sweats.

I have trouble helping LegoMaster learn how to meet people.  This, I am painfully aware of, is completely and wholly my feeling of inadequacy around those who appear to know what they are doing.  I walk into a crowd and immediately begin comparing myself to other folks, mostly in a self-depreciating kind of way.  Like “Wow!  She looks great with that haircut.  How come I look like a drowned rat?  I hope they don’t notice that my hair is flat today.”  Or “That is a REALLY cool shirt.  I wish I could wear something like that without looking like a sausage with lumps.”  It is a challenge to me to appear brave to my children so that they gain appropriate social courage and enter a crowd with a friendly “My name is LegoMaster and I would like to meet you.”  Or something like that.

How am I supposed to teach them how to confront someone when they are uncomfortable if I get chicken skin at the mere thought of bringing up an uncomfortable subject?    Let alone walking into the school and telling the Assistant Principal that I feel she messed up (not in so many words, but as a parent …)

The pressures of raising a human are huge.  I have to teach them how to eat with a spoon and use their napkin.  I have to teach them how to ask to play with another on the playground.  I have to teach them about God’s love.  I have to teach them that ‘no I can’t play’ does not always mean ‘I don’t like you’.  I have to teach them how to tie their shoes and how to choose appropriate footwear for the weather.  I have to teach them the ins-and-outs of eating healthy.  I have to teach them how to play chess.  I have to teach them how to write a thank you letter.  I have to teach them how to say “no” like you mean it even when you don’t know if you do or not.  (That one is so hard for me.  PTO here I come. )  I have to teach them how to wipe their bottoms.   I have to teach them that there are certain choices that may be difficult to make, but we make them because they are the right thing to do.  I have to teach them that burping at a dinner table is not acceptable in this culture.

 

And on…

Isn't there a point as a parent when one has to have faith in what God gave them?  There are many prayers said on my end regarding finding the right words at the right time with the right amount of patience.  And He has been good to me.  I have become less afraid of the confrontation; with my children at least.  And He has given me thicker skin to weather all the “You’re a mean mom”S and the “I am never going to play with you again!”S that my boys utter but don’t really mean.

One of my Aunts, who is an outspoken type of ex-CFO lady, recalls that her parents were never as concerned about their emotional upbringing as parents of today seem to be.  Is this why I have such problems with teaching social skills to my kids?  Maybe I have never been taught them myself and I am blundering around all on my own.  Not that my parents didn’t do a great job-I thank the Lord for my blessings in them daily-but we all have something that we are not that good at and maybe this is the thing they could not do.  And maybe this is the thing I focus on because I didn’t get it as a child and I don’t want my kids to feel alone and worthless.

The only thing I have to hold on to is the feeling of remorse when there is something I did “wrong”.  I do believe that I have been given super-sensory powers to detect when I have hurt my little ones as soon as I gave birth.  Not the feeling of my heart tearing out of my body when my five year old howls as he is sent to his room for making a mistake and hitting his brother.  That kind of pain I can deal with because I know it is for a better good.  The type of perception I am talking about are those feelings of guilt when I may have gone too far in being angry.  Those feelings of immediately wanting to take back what I said about taking a favorite toy away “if you don’t behave!!!”  The feelings of helplessness when I hear that my boy played by himself on the playground at recess because he forgot his snowpants and everyone else was playing on the snow piles.

As I said at the beginning, I will not know if what I am doing now is good or bad until they venture out on their own.  I have to hold on to faith that God has given me everything I need to mold these young men into “good” adults.  I have to hold on to the truth of His word that He has “plans for me...  Plans to prosper me and not harm me and give me hope and a future.” (from Jeremiah 29)  I have to live out the life that he has given me and trust with all that I have that I possess what I need to raise these boys “right”.

This parenting stuff is hard.  But, I truly think, I am “harder”!

"YOU'RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME!!"

There are a lot of things I could write about today.

Like that DadOfAllTrades has been called to go out of town to bring some people THE HEAT-I mean put up some downed lines in the state capital area.  The "Storm of the Century" brought with it lots of snow, rain and ice, not necessarily in that order, and those things in combination usually bring down a myriad of power lines.  He accepted this assignment mostly because the company (that will remain nameless) threatened to cut all overtime. He is taking it as he can, even if that means 4 or more days away from us.  In the freezing cold.  I will miss him, mostly at the boys' bath time when kookyness reigns and a second set of hands is more then helpful.  Sigh.

I could write about how DadOfAllTrades is upset that he will miss the local monster truck show.  No, he had not bought tickets.  No, the boys do not even know about it.  No, I do not want to take the boys.  But I probably will because it would bring smiles to their handsome faces AND the big-daddy of all monster trucks is supposed to be there.  Gravedigger himself, in the flesh.  Or should I say, in the sheet metal.  Or maybe fiberglass.  I don't know, but he is going to rev it up and I could never forgive myself if the boys miss this one.

I could write about how I am nervous that the dog will die when DadOfAllTrades is gone. Although he has been showing no signs of biting it, it would be just my luck to awake to a still Fido and have to figure all the details out when the man of the house is gone.  To say DadOfAllTrades would be devastated is an understatement.  I did see him give the loyal boy a super long pet this morning before he left for down south so I know he is thinking that also.  Sigh.

But I think I will write about my favorite quote from the Ice Day yesterday.

School was called on account of ice yesterday, so we had a rare and lovely chance to do "nothing" or the 5 and 7 year old version of nothing.  LegoMaster finished one Lego build (of course) and started a second.  These are not new sets, mind you, just sets that are taken apart for various reasons and now NEED to be put back together.  Strangely enough, I find satisfaction when he puts the sets back together again also.  Huh-something to contemplate myself.

Anyway, Buzz begged to play in the basement playroom, so we did.  We strummed a very out-of-tune guitar and put together a racetrack that required 4-D cell batteries.  As my prayers were answered, I opened the cabinet where we keep batteries and found exactly 4-D cells awaiting my arrival.  Thank you Lord.  We then had to crash block towers that just happened to be built on the track for a while.  They played Clone Wars for some time, even kicking me out of the room when I happened to be putting away some laundry.  So I retreated to my craft room for some more organization.  We ate lunch.  We played wii.  We went to karate.  All in all eventful and fun with very little bickering.

So, as they were sitting knee to knee I heard this: [Oh, sitting knee to knee is what I make them do when they are nasty to each other with their words.  LegoMaster tends to focus on his victories and others' maladies so I had to do something or risk having a verbal bully in the house.]

LegoMaster: "STOP!  You are supposed to be looking at me!"
Buzz: "You're not the boss of me!"
LegoMaster: "Yes-I am your big brother."
Buzz: "You're not the boss of me!  God is!"

Ahh-something I said got through to him.

Batten down the hatches

Once again there is a furor being created by our media regarding the latest weather situation.  Granted this storm sounds terrible-inch thick ice, snow, snow, snow, an very cold temps, and did I say snow?  But really folks, is the fact that it is about to storm worthy of the headline news?  Did anyone look around to see shat else is going on in the world?  Like HUGE civil unrest in Egypt?  Maybe a shooting at the local Circle K?  Heck, even a good parking ban story.  But, really, is the upcoming precipitation worthy of 10 minutes of coverage or more?

Local news makes me crazy.