Of Tasmanian Devils and Aborigines and Tails

The Tasmanian Devil is now an endangered species.  When I saw the headline, I was intrigued because I was only vaguely aware that the Tasmanian Devil was indeed a real animal as opposed to merely a character from a Warner Brothers cartoon.  When I read the article and looked at the images, I was surprised at how much creative license the cartoonist took when creating the character Taz.

The real Tasmanian Devil and Taz. You see the resemblance, don’t you?

The stakes weren’t so high in this misunderstanding, but it reminded me of another. And in the case of the latter, when I found out the truth I felt the cold spotlight of ignorance shining brightly down on me.

For third grade, I attended an inner-city public school and as is the case with most inner-city public schools, my classroom was overcrowded and my teacher was overworked. She would frequently shout in frustration, while banging her ruler against the desk, “Be quiet!! You all are acting like a bunch of wild aborigines!”

When we would ask Mrs. Cucci, what exactly an aborigine was, she told us to turn to page one sixteen in our social studies book. There in the bottom right hand corner of the page was a photo of an oil painting. The painting was of a man with dark skin. The painting captured the man in profile. He was standing under a tree, completely naked. He held a spear in one hand and a shield in the other. And he had a tail about 3 feet long .

After third grade, I never saw Mrs. Cucci again. And I never had another conversation about aborigines for the rest of my scholastic career.  As a matter of fact, I didn’t even hear the term aborigine again, until the 2000 Olympics, when Cathy Freeman was the name on everyone’s lips. When she won the 400 meter and people were talking about Cathy Freeman, the Aborigine, I was anxious to see a picture of her, because in my mind I wondered how she could run so fast with that long tail hanging behind her.

I was an adult when I thought this. And when I saw a picture of her and she didn’t have a tail, I thought for a long time that she had tucked it in.

What’s the point of this post? Teachers and parents and other adults of consequence have a tremendous amount of influence over the little humans in their care. Use it wisely.

And just in case you were hoping to see a picture of a man with a tail, here you go.

Art

Jade’s breakfast art:

Random Tuesday Thoughts

How do they build underwater tunnels? That’s amazing!!!

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So interesting….I just saw this article on Yahoo!. It’s all about how the princess phenomenon is more widespread and more intense than in previous generations. It reminded me of this book that I saw at the airport.

Are you serious? Are you really, really, selling this book to my preschool-aged daughter? And by the way, the entire title is Happily Ever After – Tales of Love and Friendship. Dude, this is a Harlequin romance book for 4 year olds!!

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Is it just me or does it seem that routine errands use more gas the more expensive it is? I swear, I just filled up my car at $2.43 per gallon and after running typical errands, I’m already at half a tank!!!

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My baby boy is starting to talk *tear*. He’s growing up.

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I am just sick, sick, sick to death of the Jon and Kate plus 8 drama. SICK OF IT!! I’m not choosing sides, but Kate seems to be the one who isn’t willing to let the reality show go, so I am directing my comments at her.

Dear Kate,
The show cannot go on forever. It will come to an end, eventually. And when that happens, what will you have left? You were blessed with eight beautiful children and you are taking those blessings and pimping them out for material possessions and money. I understand wanting to give your children special opportunities, but enough is enough. Now that the sextuplets are school aged, at-home life for you can slow down quite a bit. The money that your family has made from the show, wisely invested, can go a long way toward making your family comfortable. Please stop it. Please think of your kids and the future. Think beyond the next paycheck.
PS
The video I just saw of you with the kids was disgusting and just epitomized everything that is wrong with this situation. Making the children sit still for ‘appearances’ and denying Mady a drink of water. And let me tell you something, I could almost understand telling Mady to wait, but how callous of you to ask for water and take a drink yourself, all the while telling Mady to wait.
That’s just……well, yeah, that was just bitchy!

Can it be that it was all so simple……

Lately I’ve been feeling so nostalgic. When I took Jade to the dentist earlier this week, this was playing on the ceiling television. Do you remember this show?

Well, watching this video led me to this one. Oh, these are good memories…

Those were the days…..

Random Tuesday – School Break Edition

On day 1 of the school break Jade, O and I went to the local museum to do some arts and crafts. O and I worked on one project together (and by ‘together’ I mean he sat on my lap and chewed on a crayon while I worked on my project). Jade worked on hers alone. After we finished, she could hardly wait to show the Hubs the projects that we made. She was so excited. As soon as he walked in the door, she handed him my project, “Look Daddy!! Look what me and Mommy made at the museum!!!” Hubs goes, “Oh, that’s beautiful.” Then she handed him her project. Hubs says, with genuine concern in his voice, “Oh no, what happened to this one?”

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On Day 2 of the school break I took the kids to an outdoor shopping center. It’s a huge shopping center and they have a shuttle that can take you from one part of the shopping center to another. Jade was totally obsessed with riding the shuttle. Finally we saw one and we were close enough to the shuttle stop to get on. When I approached the shuttle with the stroller the bus driver sharply told me that I had to take O out of the stroller before we got on the shuttle bus. So, I let Jade get on, unbuckled O and put him on and then prepared to lift the stroller onto the bus. She stopped me again, saying that I had to fold up the stroller. Well, I couldn’t fold it because I had a ton of stuff in the basket. We had been shopping, you know? The bus driver said, “well you can’t get on”.  At this point Jade starts crying and another passenger chimed in that there was plenty of room near the front of the bus. The rude bus driver would not be moved. I had to get Jade off the bus and walk back to the car. Jade was keening. Literally, walking and wailing as we made our way to the car. Evil bus driver lady.

I started Jillian Michaels 30 day shred today. Level 1, circuit 1 only. Hey! You’ve got to start somewhere. I’ll do this for a week and then add circuit 2 and so on and so forth. At this rate, it will be the 30 Year Shred, but at least I’m doing something!!

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O lost the toilet paper thing that goes in our downstairs bathroom. We couldn’t find it for weeks, so in the downstairs bathroom we just had the TP on the back of the toilet like a public restroom. I know, so tacky! At least we don’t entertain frequently.

Anywhoo, while I was emptying the dishwasher on Day 4 of the school break, I noticed something weird in the bottom of the dishwasher.

I took a closer look……..

Yes. There is my toilet paper thingy in the bottom of my dishwasher. Do you know how often I run my dishwasher? During the two and a half weeks that the thingy was lost, I probably ran my dishwasher four times. Good grief!!!

That’s all my randomness for this week! Want more? Go see Keely and the rest of the folks participating in RTT!!!

Granny Panties

We all have them, right? They are so comfortable yet so unattractive. I love my granny panties.

Unfortunately, my granny panties look a lot worse than those. I had planned to take a picture of my actual granny panties for this post, but guess what? I’m wearing them!!!!! ROFL!!!!

In any case, if your granny panties are starting to look like this

Then it might be time for you to take advantage of this fantastic offer from Victoria’s Secret!!!

or maybe you just want new granny panties. Your choice!

Hurry it expires today!!!

Dance Your Ass Off, You Skinny Bitch!!!

Is it just me or is profanity slowly becoming more and more mainstream? I mean, what’s the deal? I’m no prude, but good grief!! I don’t even allow Jade to say ‘butt’. In our house, we say bottom. Well, I guess I’m just old fashioned because there is a television show called “Dance Your Ass Off”.  HUH?

And television isn’t the only culprit. Who hasn’t heard of the book that launched this ubiquitous phrase?

But Rory and and Kim weren’t the only ones to push the envelope on book titles.  I saw this book featured at Barnes and Noble. That’s right…walked in the front door and it was staring right at me….

Not only that, but what’s acceptable during televsion shows has changed as well. There was a time when you could only get away with a ‘damn’ or ‘hell’. But now, ‘bitch’ and ‘ass’ have joined the list as well. And people have been dropping f-bombs accidentally on live television and radio.  How long will it be before all the four letter words are broadcasting live into your living room?

Now, please don’t get me wrong…..I am no prude. I have been known to pepper my speech and sometimes even my writing with a few choice words when I feel the need. But that doesn’t mean that I want to be bombarded by it every time I turn on the television or walk into a book store.  More importantly, I don’t want my kids to be bombarded by it. Jade is learning to read now, how am I going to explain to her that she can’t say the words that are so freely tossed around?

Just sayin’.

Perspectives

Dear Hubby,

You knew how much this trip meant to me.  I’ve expressed to you on many occasions how important it is that I attend my family reunion. How sad I am that we have missed it for the past four years. How much I desperately want to give my kids the same wonderful family reunion memories that I have and how I miss my family.

I know that we can’t afford to make it this year. In January, we thought for sure that we would have an income by now, which is why we planned to go. But as time has marched on, it has become painfully obvious to both of us that the money hasn’t started rolling in yet and as such we clearly cannot plan to take any trips.  I know this. I know this.

But that doesn’t mean that we don’t need to talk about it. That doesn’t mean that I don’t want you to take a minute to state the obvious – we can’t afford it, but also what’s not so obvious – the fact that you are sympathetic to my disappointment. I would have loved for you to say to me, one night after the kids were in bed, “You know honey, it doesn’t look like we’re going to be able to make it to your family reunion this year. I know how much you wanted to attend and I really wish we could make it happen, but I’ll make it up to you, okay? “

Would that have been so hard?

Dear Wifey,

Do you know how much it pains me to see disappoinment in your eyes?  Yes, I knew how much you wanted this trip.The question is, do you know how much I want to give it to you? I love you and I feel that it is my duty as your husband to provide for you and our children; not only provide what you need, but what you deserve.  You are such an awesome mother and wife and you work so hard to take care of all of us. I want nothing more than to spoil you and it breaks my hear that I can’t.  That’s why I didn’t initiate the conversation about what I can’t give you. You know it can’t happen and I know it can’t happen, so why do we have to talk about it? Talking about it just makes me feel worse about the fact that I can’t give it to you.  So I’m sorry that I couldn’t mourn the loss of this trip with you, but that’s not how I’m wired. What I do is stay focused on the goal and work that much harder.

But I do love you. And I am sorry.

The Trip in A Nutshell

I stood by for three flights and finally made it on the fourth one. My consolation? I was in First Class.

I got to the hotel, just in time to shower and dress for the rehearsal dinner, which was wonderful. But after the day I had, what I wanted most was sleep. I was so happy to get in the bed….

Do you see that? That is my bed. MY bed. No fidgety, sprawling babies in it. No preschoolers peeing in it. No snoring hubby in it. MY BED! WoooHoooo!!!!

I must say, my hotel room and my bed were almost the highlight of my trip. Well, yeah, they were the highlight. I mean, the wedding was incredible, but if I had to choose between the wedding festivities and my bed, I would have just looked for the wedding photos on Facebook.

I feel a little bit weird posting pictures of the wedding ceremony on the web for the world to see, but I want to share the experience with you. So I decided to post this one pic which is a bit of a group shot, but I think captures the atmosphere of the entire weekend.

We had a blast.

The trip home was a repeat of the trip there. Stood by for several flights, finally getting on the last flight of the night. My laptop battery was dead and there wasn’t an outlet to be found. I was so bored, I had an idea for a photo collection.

I call it, “Feet in the Airport.”

Finally, I was able to board a flight for home. Again, first class, but at this point, who cares?

I had a great weekend away, back to reality!

Hostage Situation

I wanted to tell you all about the wedding. I wanted to show you the videos that I shot with my new FLIP video camera. I wanted to show you the two best parts of my trip, explain how I finally made it onto the flights and then faced the same nightmare on the way home. I wanted to talk about all the things that have been going on in my life since I came back, but I couldn’t.
Because I was being held hostage.
By a book.
When I start reading, I can’t stop until I finish it. And this was a 700 pager. So every second that I wasn’t cooking, cleaning or otherwise occupied, I was reading.

And I couldn’t blog.

And I couldn’t read your blogs.

But, the good news is that I finished the book last night. And, I’ve been taking notes on the things that I wanted to blog about. The problem is, those notes are like a word or two written on scrap paper all over my house and car. Sooo…..not sure if those posts are actually going to come to fruition. Maybe I can compile them into a random Tuesday post or something.
Anywhoo, I finished the book. So I’ll be back to blogging tonight.
Tomorrow for sure.
Definitely by this weekend.