Stupid Dog Can’t Spell

Many moons ago, when I first was married, I got a puppy from the pound.

He was so cute. He was  so easy to train. He was so smart.

We thought it was cute when we taught him to go get his leash. We thought it was funny when he’d go crazy hearing those  words, “go for a walk”. A baby later, & we realized it wasn’t really that funny. It was annoying.

Like I said, this dog, Tyco, was smart.

Besides knowing the phrase “go for a walk”, he actually learned to hear the word “walk” in conversation. Sooo, we started to spell “W A L K” when ever we said the word. Guess what? He learned that too. So it became just “W”. Which (you see where this is going??) he caught on to.

Sheesh dog!!!

Eventually, “W” morphed into “Q”. Tyco did not catch on. Maybe he just got old. But we were safe saying “Q”.

We still use “Q” today, even though Tyco has been dead for 5 years. And even though our current dogs cannot spell. (although I wouldn’t put it past Twisty….but she’s such a follower, if BamBam doesn’t do something, she doesn’t either.)

Just Who Was She Looking For?

A few days ago was Playgroup.

It’s an adoption group.

It was one of the first nice days, & we were going to a playground (instead of a fast food place). Because it was Spring Break, and because my son’s friend lives very close to this playground, Ponyboy was with me.

We got out of the car, & there was a sea of kids!! (a sea of white kids) I looked around for my group, & not seeing it, I told Ponyboy (who normally doesn’t come & doesn’t know who’s in our group),

“lemme know if you see any brown kids.”

Addis pipes up:

“yeah! & let ME know if you see any WHITE kids!”

If I had a Wish

“Mommy, we should have sooo more people in our family”

     ”How ’bout we get 2 more sisters & 5 more brudders? “

     ”I reeeeeally want a hamster! Pleeeease can I get a hamster? Mommy! I reeeeeally wish I had a SISTER! ”

     ”I know! We should get a sister! Please Mommy can I get a sister?? A twin sister?? ”

     ”If you go to a care center, could you bring home a baby?? “

     ”What if you find a baby, dat someone leaveded there, and it didn’t have no mommy, could we keep it? “

     ”I know! We could put the couch over dere, & then there would be room for bunkbeds & we could get more kids in our family! “

     ”How come I can’t have a sister or a mouse?? “

     ”If you get a baby, you don’t even have to take care of it, I’ll hold it the WHOLE TIME & give it milk. But not when I’m     getting dressed. “

     ”Can we pleeeeease get some more brudders? Izzy has THREE brudders. ”

     ”I know! We should move & get a bigger house and then we can get more beds & we can dadopt some more kids! “

     ”*sigh* I would be soooo good a big sister. ”

     ”I wish I could get a baby kitten. Or a baby sister.”

Hamster (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

US Navy 100118-N-5244H-015 A young Haitian girl embraces her baby sister as she watches U.S. military members as they pass by while surveying the area for the best access point. The amphibious dock landing ship USS Carter Hall (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I hear this ALL day.

Every day.

What to do??
Listen, this baby factory is closed. I’m over 40! Yeah, I know it’s been done, but I don’t see it happening here!

Adopt again?? I don’t know! Like I said, I’m over 40!! But is it fair to her? Does she really need another sibling, closer to her age (Ponyboy & Jasmine are 15 & 19)??

(The hamster I can manage…eventually!)

Awhile back, I wrote a post about an 8 year old boy in foster care.

He had been my neighbor, I first met him when he was 4 months old. Due to a very dysfunctional family & his parents’ deaths, he found himself a ward of the state.

Eventually he was featured on Wednesday’s Child, and a couple who had been trying to adopt saw him.  They told me that as soon as they saw him, they knew he was right for their family.

Today his adoption was finalized. I am so happy I could cry.

Before being adopted he was with a wonderful foster family for a year and a half, and has spent the last 6 months living with his now permanent family. I can see how happy he is, and how happy they are together, and am grateful that they found each other.

 

If You Don’t Have Anything Nice To Say….

This is a contribution by Jasmine. She had an assignment to write an essay on a phrase that has had some meaning in her life.

So this morning, I finished writing a paper for my English class about why it’s okay to be mean. By request, here it is.

We have all experienced that moment squirming in our seat, biting our tongue, that odd chuckle that escapes our lips as we died inside trying not to laugh at the extremely funny but rude comment that has built up inside of us. We must contain ourselves. The phrase we have heard a hundred times from our parents, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all” rings in our ears. Yet, we have also found ourselves at times blurt out the inappropriate comment and suffocated laughing at our own joke. We had no remorse; it had to be done. 

My grandmother used to say the same thing, almost. I recall many memories sitting in the tall wooden chairs of her old-fashioned kitchen listening to the room echo with laughter, at one’s expense of course. You occasionally hear a new comer, who has not yet learned the ways of our sarcasm, complain of the pain this joke has impaled into their feelings. Then, the wise words of my grandmother can be heard, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. Unless it is REALLY funny.” Then the laughter will once again break out at this wisdom.

Although it might seem rude and as though we have no self-control, there is something we call all learn from these words. Living here, in the small town, I have noticed that anything that could in any way offend anyone is off limits. People just will not say it. There is always more than one view point and often, for good intent, people will look only at the view of those it could possibly offend. My grandmother’s words have impacted me, I have the ability to laugh at myself and find the humor in things rather than the harsh rude view that many around me see. Please, do not think that my family and I look for opportunities to say something mean. The rule is to not say anything mean, unless it is REALLY funny. My family might have a mean sense of humor and sarcasm, but I would rather live in a house filled of impolite laughter than a home filled with political correctness where I would have to think twice about every word that comes out of my mouth

  (I did have Jasmine’s permission to share this)

(In fact, I told her when she wrote it, that I was putting it on my blog. She has since asked a few time if I shared it yet.)

Acorn Flowers

There had been a bad storm, there were lots of branches down and tree debris. On our lawn were 2 tiny baby squirrels. Baby squirrels are so cute! One was dead. The live one was actively squirming towards us. At first, I cautioned my kids (then about 3 & 7) from touching it. That didn’t last long!

3/29/08 Her eyes are getting close to opening. She’s getting very active and making adorable “squirrel talk”. She weighs 112 grams now. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This little squirrel was so cold, I was pretty sure that if we didn’t do something to warm her up, she too would die. She was trying to burrow into our armpits, or other warm places.

 

After christening her Acorn Flowers, we set up a nest for her in a little dog carrier. I headed up to the pet store & bought some kitten formula and a tiny little bottle. For about 3 weeks we nursed Acorn around the clock.

 

Then came the day we were driving to NY from our home in MD. We decided we had to take Acorn with us, as she was still getting formula a few times a day! A few hours into the drive on I95 Acorn chewed her way out of the carrier! She was running (jumping, flying!) freely around the car.

 

The first few days in NY Acorn stayed close by. By the time we were leaving, we hadn’t seen her for a few days. We were sad! As we were packing up, there was a squirrel sighting!! Daddy tried to grab her, but as she grew she had gotten less friendly. Yup, she bit him. I got some peanut butter, smeared it on a long stick & offered it to her. In about a minute Acorn was sitting on my arm enjoying some Skippy.

An Eastern Grey Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) in St James’s Park, London, England. Français : Ecureuil gris (Sciurus carolinensis) dans la parc Saint James, à Londres. Português: Um esquilo pertencente à espécie Sciurus carolinensis, no St James’s Park em Londres, Inglaterra. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

After returning home, Acorn decided to make her way on her own. Mostly. For a month or so, if you stood at my front door, you were likely to be ambushed by a hungry squirrel running up & down you, looking for peanut butter. It totally freaked out the little neighbor kids!

 

On a side note, there is a hysterical squirrel story in the book No Biking in the House Without a Helmet, by Melissa Fay Greene. I highly recommend it.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9972050-no-biking-in-the-house-without-a-helmet

Oh, There’s My Blog….

Where have I been.

Where have I been? uh, Did you miss me?
No offense (which I understand actually means “prepare to be offended”), but this IS the internet, I’m not going to tell you where I’ve been & what I’ve been doing.

As you know (yes, You, all 3 of you), I have been silent lately. Ha! Do you believe that? Okay…my blog has been silent lately. First off, my Dad died in the fall. And it was stressful getting back into life once I came home. While I was gone school had started for 3 of my family members! There was the election. I had to expend a great amount of emotional energy not de-friending all of my friends from Facebook because they couldn’t get over the results. Babies. We had some holidays, some traveling, some birthdays, some extended Family Drama.

So, yeah. Blogging was on the bottom of my list. Besides, did you really want to hear me bitch?

 

Oh, what the hell…

We did go to Disneyland. Finally. It was fabulous.