Classroom Pets

So, this is funny, today I was walking past the other pre-k room in our building, and all the kiddos were gathered around this big aquarium in the room that had been sitting empty for quite a while. Well curiosity got the best of me and I went in to see what was going on. Inside this huge fish tank were two tiny little mice, I made the comment to the aide in the class about how neat it was that Mrs. M the teacher went to Pet-Smart and got mice for her room, and the aide said "oh no she did not go to Pet-Smart, Mr. M the custodian brought in these mice". Oh I said that was nice of Mr. M, then she said he caught them in a live trap, in the school cafeteria and asked Mrs. M if she wanted them for a classroom pet. Okay by this time there are tears rolling down my cheeks, this is hilarious, the custodian catches mice, in the cafeteria and gives them to the pre-k teacher for her classroom as pets. Mrs. M plans on releasing them in a field away from school when the weather gets warmer, so by this time my sides hurt from laughing sooooooo hard.

I go back into the room to check them out again and I notice one is bigger than the other and I tell Mrs. M congratulations, over Spring Break you will have new babies in your room. Yup, that is right, one of the mice is a girl and she looks preggers to me!!! Okay this is very funny to me, for those of you who know where I work, do not eat in the cafeteria any more.

Mice from the Cafe.

Why Today SUCKS!

Sorry to all who just love "snow days" any other time I would be enjoying this day off of work but not today.

1. I am surrounded by sick family members, Mr. Anti Hippie Firepants has been ill all week and he is a total crab when he is sick, Eddy Haskel was sick Wednesday and Thursday and is kinda better today although I have to keep reminding him to cough in his elbow, and finally Baby Gnat is sick, she has a rectal temp. of 102.2, she is not sleeping very soundly, snot is flowing from her nose, and her poo is really runny. As I have posted earlier, I am not a good nurse so this is not any fun.

2. The house we had a contract on has been sold, well not yet but I do not see our house selling within the next 72 hours so alas we will be staying here for a while longer. Secretly I am happy as I love this house, but this will make living with Mr. Anti Hippie difficult for a while. He will either a. give up on this venture or b. start looking at other options, such as buying property to build on later or even looking at other houses. I hope he just finishes the basement and we stay here for a little longer, just don't tell him that.

3. Because of #1 I cannot attend my Fire Service Women of Illinois training event that is scheduled for tomorrow up near Tinley Park, Illinois. I was going to take Mr. Firepants and the kids with me as I am still nursing Baby Gnat, and they could hang out while I did my training, but alas they are all sick and really need to be near home and their own beds. I am on the board with Fire Service Women of Illinois and we have several training events a year for women firefighters from all over the United States, Canada, and last fall a women even came over from Germany. Take a look at our website. I feel so inspired after our events, it is a shame everyone here is sick.

4. I was prepared for this snow day, I have the important things like bread, milk, eggs, and wine, but I forgot to buy butter and chocolate chips so that I can make cookies or something today. I think I am having a pseudo-period right now too, so I could really use a cookie or two. I might just have to open that wine.

Well as I sit here with three sick people, no butter, and no training event to look forward to I hope that all is well in your little parts of the world, and I hope that spring is on the tail of this latest winter storm. My pussy-willow tree has some starting buds so that is promising!!

I was Wrong

I am not the nurse type, when one of my loved ones gets sick, I am not the type to have patience and be at their every beck and call. My husband on the other hand has great bedside manners, especially when I am sick.

So today he and Eddy Haskel are sick, Eddy even stayed home from school, and was upset that he would not have perfect attendance. None the less I called him off school this morning and he was at home with his ill father. I called several times during the day to check on them both and Mr. Anti Hippie Fire Pants answered the phone each time like he had been asleep for days, when I asked how Eddy was he replied " I have not heard him all day". I took that to mean Eddy was sleeping and taking it easy. As it turns out Eddy was indeed taking it easy but he was not sleeping, he played his Gameboy and watched TV all day. Okay I understand that, he is a kid forced to stay home with his sick father, I would have watched TV quietly all day too.

So I call on my way home to ask if anyone needs anything, and Mr. Anti Hippie Firepants asks for some Chicken noodle soup, easy enough, I wanted some wine so I gladly obliged. On the way home however I heard that there was going to be a lunar eclipse tonight, the last one until December 2010, I came home and told my scientist son Eddy about that phenomenon and his spirits were lifted. I fixed the requested soup both boys ate and Mr. Anti Hippie Firepants went back to bed. I got online to do my ritualistic checking of blogs, myspace accounts, all my email accounts, and the like and while I was on the couch I felt Eddy's forehead. He was burning up, I got out the thermometer and did a digital check and sure enough 102.3. Okay this is good it means that his body is fighting this thing off, but it also means dad says it is time for bed. I ask him three times really nicely to go to bed, and that I will come get him so that he can see at least part of the eclipse. Dad who is in the other room comes in picks up the boy and says " I heard you mother tell you three times to get into bed, she should only have to tell you once." As Eddy slinks into his room I say out loud and immaturely "I bet your dad would be proud of you for that one."
I know what I said was mean, and it showed Eddy that what his dad had said really did not matter, but WTF? I am sorry Mr. Anti Hippie Firepants that you do not feel well, I had the situation under control, now we are both upset with each other and I know I was wrong to undermine you like that, but was it really necessary to yell at Eddy like that, he is sick like you are, his head hurts. I will give it to this kid, yea he complains about this or that, but never a headache and he never has a temp.

Mr. Anti Hippie Firepants I am sorry. I am sorry those words shot out of my mouth, you know I sometimes have problems with that. I just really wanted the boy to see this eclipse, because the next time one comes around he will be 13 years old, I think at that time he will have other interests besides lunar activity.

Fun Times

As I sit here trying to get my homework finished, I started going through the picture file on the computer and I would like to share a few with my readers. These photos remind me why I am going to school, why I get up everyday, and that winter will soon be over. Now, I am not complaining that we have had an actual winter this year, but I just want to go outside and play!



This is a picture of Eddy Haskel on his way to the pond at the farm on a warm summer's day.





This is a picture of Eddy and his Daddy Mr. Firepants (The Anti-Hippie) at the exact same spot as the picture above, again walking to the pond, although this one was taken a year earlier.







This is a picture of DLB 811 and Earthy Birthy Mama 822, looking
hot!!






And finally a shot of my kiddos in the tub, Eddy Haskel is singing to Baby Gnat, probably a Queen song.







So as I get back to work, things in my life are good, and these are some of the reasons why I do what I do!!

An Open Letter to the Yonger Generation

Dear You Know Who You Are,

I noticed yesterday at that party that you had a manicure, did you know that those cost money? Money that I thought you did not have, and those new shirts you and your other half were also wearing, did you know those cost money too? I know I seem like a total party pooper, but I too was young and irresponsible but I did not expect anyone but myself to bail me out, I was too proud to ask for money or help. There were times when I was working two jobs and still did not have enough money to stop at the PDQ for a soda pop, I was not too proud to take hand outs when they were given to me UNSOLICITED but otherwise I worked my ass off to get myself out of the hole unto which I had gotten myself into.
I understand that your lives have not been that great for the past few years, you both have been through a lot, loosing a baby and almost loosing another one, it has been quite difficult, you both are very strong people, but you are both being extremely irresponsible. I am not the expert on life, but I have had some crosses to bear, I have been lower than the ground before, but I grew from those experiences. I grew to become the ADULT I am today.
I understand some people grieve in weird ways, some go out and use drugs or alcohol, some step out on their spouse, and some develop addictions to pornography or gambling. I am happy that you all have not chosen the afore mentioned paths, but your spending more than you make. You have even gone and seen a lawyer about filing bankruptcy, I can see the excitement in your eyes when you talk about being debt free. At what cost though? Your child is on the state run health care plan which my tax dollars are paying, but Bankruptcy, are you freaking kidding me? Your generation always takes the easy way out, what a cop out. I am sending positive energy your way, but you might also want to have a yard sale and sell all that stuff in your house that you are not using and you might want to pick up a book on Feng Shui the next time you are out spending money.

Love, EMB

Ramblings

So this past week the babe got her first tooth, yet I am so saddened by this momentous event. When Eddy Haskel was a babe I kept wanting him to reach the "mile-stones", I could not wait for him to roll over, sit up, eat solids, crawl, walk, and talk; but with Baby Gnat I just want her to stay little and precious. I get sad when I have to pack up the baby swing, and those outfits that do not fit anymore. I am saddened by the fact that this week along with her new tooth she is starting to show signs of wanting to crawl. I loved the small helpless version of Baby Gnat, I look at 9 year old Eddy Haskel and think how rapid those nine years have passed, how nine years from now when Baby Gnat is no longer a babe and she is nine how my nine year old will be 18, old enough to be registered to vote and old enough to be tried as an adult. These years they go by so fast, I just sit here and enjoy the time I have with them, especially the time right now.

And the Winner is...

The winning -est name from my little poll is:


Mr. Firepants with Anti-Hippie coming in a close second, so Mr. Earthy Birthy the very conservative Republican is now Mr. Firepants!!

My Thoughts on Being Wasteful

So I am the type of person that when I get down to the very last squirt of tooth paste in the tube, I will literally roll and unroll the tube until I get it out. I also put water into the dregs at the bottom of the dish soap, the hand soap, the laundry soap, my shampoo, and my conditioner. I have been known to take a hack- saw to plastic bottles of very expensive facial moisturizer to get the last few precious dabs out. I also add more vinegar to salad dressing bottles that are almost empty, and if you look in my refrigerator you might find condiments tipped up on their ends sitting in the door waiting for me to use the last of them. I am a firm believer in waste not want not.

Mr. Earthy Birthy (have not decided on a name yet Anti-Hippie 2 Mr. Firepants 2) on the other hand feels that if it is almost gone, then it is gone, eh what the heck just pitch it. I understand that I might be a bit compulsive with the "getting the last of it out" bit, but I am a strange bird.

The person that I am currently working with/for on the other hand takes this wasting thing to the extremes. She tosses things left and right, like today for example the refrigerator at work had some canned biscuits that we used to make doughnuts with a few weeks back, okay about a month ago, any way I walk by the trash today and there lies the 2 cans of biscuits. I am not a beggar and yes I can afford my own cans of biscuits, but did you really have to throw those away. Could you not have asked if I wanted them to make doughnuts at mt house for my kiddos?

Everyday our students bring in snack for snack time, we have an am class and a pm class so this is twice daily occurrence, half the time she throws out the bit that is left of the snack, well could you not save those tiny little bits of left overs and make say a potpourri of snack one day? or a buffet? I think the kids would enjoy a bit of this or that. I hate when anything gets wasted, is this wrong?

Name

Mr. Earthy Birthy told me today that he hates this name I have given him so we are going to play a little game called what shall we call him.

{Background information:
My husband is the greatest he is there when I need him, he is great fun to be around, and almost always makes me laugh, he is wonderful with Eddy Haskell, and he loves the Baby Gnat like no other. He is into the outdoors, he likes to hunt, he is in the Navy Reserves, and he has the greatest job in the world, he is a firefighter for a big city north of here.}

Your choices are as follows, but if you have a better one in mind let me know!

1. FOX News
2. NRA
3. Mr. Firepants
4. Chance Buckman (John Wayne's character in Hellfighters)
5. X Box
6. The Woodsman
   

Please let me know so that I can quit embarrassing him by calling him Mr. Earthy Birthy.

My Mom is Making Me Crazy

Last December ('06) when we announced we were pregnant, my mom was going to disown me. Now, I was not a teenage mother, I was not with an abusive spouse, and did I mention I am thirty years old. My mother thought I was going to ruin the life of my first born, who by the way was born in 1998.
When Mr. Earthy Birthy and I got married 2 years ago and I brought Eddy Haskel with me, in to this marriage. Mr. Earthy Birthy adopted Eddy shortly after we got married, although all along he has acted like the father figure Eddy never had.

Anyway back to my point, my mother wanted nothing to do with this pregnancy or this baby. When I was pregnant all she did was say how bad I looked, or how bad my ankles looked, and that she never had any of this with her two pregnancies with my brother Nascar and myself. Okay, I get it you were the perfect mother with the perfect pregnancies. I was miserable with baby Gnat during the last month, especially with all the pre-labor that I was experiencing, but when I went to give birth I only labored 3 hours, yeah that's right I started at 5:45 and by 9:00 pm I was holding that baby girl. My mom did not come to see us at the hospital, infact they did not see Baby Gnat until she was over a week old, and they did not want to hold her. In fact Baby Gnat was born in JULY and Crazy Mom did not hold her until November!! Yeah NOVEMBER.

Now, My Crazy mom cannot keep her hands off the babe, and I am just supposed to act like nothing happened. I am supposed to act like she is this baby's rightful grandmother who was there all along supporting me and Mr. Earthy Birthy. Well on the outside I am that stoic daughter who allows her Mother to treat her like poo, but on the inside I am screaming. I will be going to therapy for this, (yes, I will admit it I am going to see a therapist in March for all my issues) (there I said it). I really want to write a book on all the crazy shit my Mother has put me through and make millions on it, and even go on Oprah, but I also want some validation because I think it is unfair that she wants to be a part of this now and did not want this baby at first.

Anyway back to my Mother, this weekend for example she would not stop telling the baby to "say her name" or to say "Uncle Nascar's name". WTF. She cannot just decide out of the blue to be a grandma to one of my kids.

Am I crazy or what???

Favorites...

Earth Muffin was looking for someone to play with, I am at home with Baby Gnat and I just love typing one handed. Here goes:

My Favorite Touch: Clean bodies and clean clothes, especially towels. I love my to touch my kiddos and my husband right after a shower or bath, I also love the feel of clean sheets and towels.

My Favorite Smell: I agree with Earth Muffin, garlic and onions smell great, so does fresh coffee, I am also partial to gasoline and Sharpie markers. (I know Phreaky)

My Favorite Taste: My favorite is also the first cup of coffee in the morning, a good whiskey, Phish Food ice cream, a good glass of Merlot, and fresh brushed teeth.

My Favorite Sound: My kids laughing, birds in the spring, and the way it sounds outside on a nice Spring day.

My Favorite Sight: my husband at the end of a long work day, my girlfriends gathered together for the night, my kids when they're sleeping. (I did not change Earth Muffin's answer, I agree)

Anyone else care to join me and Earth Muffin for a game?