Buses! Ugh school buses to more specific! In order to save money this year Jenks/Tulsa decided to re-organize its bus routes. This re-organization has forced me to drive my kids to school now.
My son, who's in his second year of college, complains how unfair it is that he had to ride the bus until he could drive. I believe riding the bus builds character. I did it and it was a good socializing activity. I was in disbelief when my high schooler told me she has friends who've NEVER rode the bus. Inconceivable!
I've got a 5th grader and a 9th grader who would ride two different buses. One would pick up my daughter about a quarter of a mile from our house off the main road and the other would get picked up two blocks behind our house. They both get picked up a the same time. Here is where the problem is. How can I keep an eye on both them? And the aspect of all this that irritates me the most is one of the buses passes in front of the house. This is where it picked up my other kids the past three years!
So now I drive them because you have to keep your kids safe and having my girls at bus stops in two different places doesn't allow me to help keep them safe. A year ago a man attempted to abduct a young girl from a bus stop a mile away from our home and that has stayed in my mind.
So what's a mother to do?
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
It happened so fast
You know you always hear someone say "it happened so fast." I know the last thing someone saw this morning was another car moments before it changed everything for them. And it was lightening fast. I know this is supposed to be the Tuesday Tirade. (I'm going to get to that on my next post.) I witnessed someone die this morning and it's made quite the impression on me.
I was driving to work on Hwy 11 just past the airport exit in Tulsa when I noticed an SUV coming across the highway from the other direction. It slammed into a BMW in the lane next to me. Pieces of this accident flew past my windshield and bounced off the top of my car.
I pulled off the side of the highway and so did quite a few other cars. A TSA agent, with his blue uniform on, took over telling people what to do. After flipping over three times the SUV had come to rest on the side of the road upside down. A bloody arm hung out of the smashed window.
I thought the BMW driver had gotten out of his car and was standing next to it with a cellphone talking to 911. The man was visibly shaken and his eyes were locked on to the car. He wasn't the driver. The driver of the car sat behind the wheel still--dead from the impact of the crash.
I couldn't look at any of it. I had to get into my car and leave. Several men were running around trying to be useful in a situation where nothing was left to do. It took emergency service workers 45 minutes to get the driver of the SUV out of his vehicle and he's in the hospital in critical condition. When I left work these cars were still on the road and both lanes were still shut down.
Hug everyone you love today.
I was driving to work on Hwy 11 just past the airport exit in Tulsa when I noticed an SUV coming across the highway from the other direction. It slammed into a BMW in the lane next to me. Pieces of this accident flew past my windshield and bounced off the top of my car.
I pulled off the side of the highway and so did quite a few other cars. A TSA agent, with his blue uniform on, took over telling people what to do. After flipping over three times the SUV had come to rest on the side of the road upside down. A bloody arm hung out of the smashed window.
I thought the BMW driver had gotten out of his car and was standing next to it with a cellphone talking to 911. The man was visibly shaken and his eyes were locked on to the car. He wasn't the driver. The driver of the car sat behind the wheel still--dead from the impact of the crash.
I couldn't look at any of it. I had to get into my car and leave. Several men were running around trying to be useful in a situation where nothing was left to do. It took emergency service workers 45 minutes to get the driver of the SUV out of his vehicle and he's in the hospital in critical condition. When I left work these cars were still on the road and both lanes were still shut down.
Hug everyone you love today.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Tuesday's Tirade
Last Tuesday I had the rant and I'm still in the same boat so maybe Tuesday needs to become Tuesday's Tirade.
The same boat I'm in is the "my house ain't fixed yet and I still ain't got no kitchen yet" boat! I called my contractor last Thursday and he said he'd call be back later that day. No call. I called Friday and left a message because I hadn't heard from him. Still haven't heard from him. It is Tuesday right?
No work has been done yet this week. I'm going to have to put on my other hat now. I hate that hat. It's tight on my head and makes me act irrationally. But it has to be done.
The same boat I'm in is the "my house ain't fixed yet and I still ain't got no kitchen yet" boat! I called my contractor last Thursday and he said he'd call be back later that day. No call. I called Friday and left a message because I hadn't heard from him. Still haven't heard from him. It is Tuesday right?
No work has been done yet this week. I'm going to have to put on my other hat now. I hate that hat. It's tight on my head and makes me act irrationally. But it has to be done.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Swamp People
I'm from Louisiana and last night the History Channel debuted it's new show "Swamp People." Of course this show is about the part of Louisiana that I'm from--the southern part. The part filled with good food and "coonasses." The accent that flows from their mouths is home to me. Last night the show focused on alligator season. I got to see water I'd skied and hydroslided (hydroslid? kneeboarding to everyone else) in right along with those gators. My right leg bears a scar from an alligator. This is my home. These are my people.
The whole show made me miss home. I've lived in many states and even though I don't want to go back and live in Louisiana, it's still my home. I miss the kind people, the food, the music, the attitude about life that exists there. If you're not from Louisiana you might see these folk as uneducated idiots out tempting fate to catch a few gators so they can live in their trailers and house boats and not have to work too much. You'd be wrong. These are hard working people who see the land as a provider and they're its caretaker. The take only what they need and they can get what they need from that land---and that's enough for them. These are the good people that would "give you the shirts off their backs" and offer you some boiled crab too.
And I miss em.
The whole show made me miss home. I've lived in many states and even though I don't want to go back and live in Louisiana, it's still my home. I miss the kind people, the food, the music, the attitude about life that exists there. If you're not from Louisiana you might see these folk as uneducated idiots out tempting fate to catch a few gators so they can live in their trailers and house boats and not have to work too much. You'd be wrong. These are hard working people who see the land as a provider and they're its caretaker. The take only what they need and they can get what they need from that land---and that's enough for them. These are the good people that would "give you the shirts off their backs" and offer you some boiled crab too.
And I miss em.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
The Situation: Survey Says
This particular situation was so shocking when I heard it presented that I thought it was a joke at first. Yesterday I was listening to the Lex and Terry show (not something I'd listened to before). The show topic caught my attention in the car as I drove because they said it was Wednesday Women's Day on their show. The show is hosted by a couple of guys and they sounded like they weren't really prepared to handle women's issues, but I thought it might be worth of couple of laughs. I reasoned it was better than listening to Ke$ha sing Tik Tok one more time.
So this little gal calls in and lays out this unfathomable story. Her sister had come to visit her for a few weeks before she heads to Germany to live and had been staying with them for about a week when this little gal's husband approached both her and her sister and told them he had something important he wanted to discuss with them. He said he had made a "survey." Now this survey consisted of a list he created to compare his wife and her sister. He said he believed he'd fallen in love with the sister. The "survey" listed such items as face, eyes, hands, breasts, stomach, back, vagina (yes--the hooo ha) legs, feet, ass, mysteriousness, personality, and attitude. He rated these items on his survey from one to ten for both of them. He then started to inform them how they rated. Both of the women became upset within a few minutes. Her sister wanted to leave immediately because she didn't want to break up their 5 year marriage, which was also the result of two children.
The husband also figured out quickly that he'd probably bit off more than his playboy mouth could chew at this point. The wife was angry and took the list from him and her sister and her went to another room.
At this point the show hosts ask how she compared to the sister. So she goes through the list with them.
She beats her sister out on most of the items except for attitude and her ass. Of course, the hosts being men kept track of the points and added them up. This was something neither of the women had done. For goodness sakes their sisters! The ONLY redeemable quality of the survey (if you can call it that) was the fact that he gave the sister a 0 on the vagina because he hadn't seen it. Wow.
This gal now wanted to know what she should do because even though they had two kids, she believed he had crossed a line, and as a couple, they'd never be able to recover or get back on the right side of that line. The hosts then proceeded to tell this woman she was stupid, a doormat, it was her fault this had happened, and that she should leave the loser as soon a possible and stick him with the kids--all terrible advice.
The husband is a disgusting idiot. I don't know what he thought he'd accomplish with that survey, but the one sure thing he did was to break up the home of his children. I was encouraged by the fact the women had stuck together and didn't try to lay any blame. The gal said her sister hadn't done anything to encourage her husband in this direction. Maybe she can get on a plane with her two kids and join her sister in Germany. Hasta la vista dirtbag.
So this little gal calls in and lays out this unfathomable story. Her sister had come to visit her for a few weeks before she heads to Germany to live and had been staying with them for about a week when this little gal's husband approached both her and her sister and told them he had something important he wanted to discuss with them. He said he had made a "survey." Now this survey consisted of a list he created to compare his wife and her sister. He said he believed he'd fallen in love with the sister. The "survey" listed such items as face, eyes, hands, breasts, stomach, back, vagina (yes--the hooo ha) legs, feet, ass, mysteriousness, personality, and attitude. He rated these items on his survey from one to ten for both of them. He then started to inform them how they rated. Both of the women became upset within a few minutes. Her sister wanted to leave immediately because she didn't want to break up their 5 year marriage, which was also the result of two children.
The husband also figured out quickly that he'd probably bit off more than his playboy mouth could chew at this point. The wife was angry and took the list from him and her sister and her went to another room.
At this point the show hosts ask how she compared to the sister. So she goes through the list with them.
She beats her sister out on most of the items except for attitude and her ass. Of course, the hosts being men kept track of the points and added them up. This was something neither of the women had done. For goodness sakes their sisters! The ONLY redeemable quality of the survey (if you can call it that) was the fact that he gave the sister a 0 on the vagina because he hadn't seen it. Wow.
This gal now wanted to know what she should do because even though they had two kids, she believed he had crossed a line, and as a couple, they'd never be able to recover or get back on the right side of that line. The hosts then proceeded to tell this woman she was stupid, a doormat, it was her fault this had happened, and that she should leave the loser as soon a possible and stick him with the kids--all terrible advice.
The husband is a disgusting idiot. I don't know what he thought he'd accomplish with that survey, but the one sure thing he did was to break up the home of his children. I was encouraged by the fact the women had stuck together and didn't try to lay any blame. The gal said her sister hadn't done anything to encourage her husband in this direction. Maybe she can get on a plane with her two kids and join her sister in Germany. Hasta la vista dirtbag.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Tuesday rant
Most of you know I had a plumbing mishap back in May and it ruined quit a bit. Here it is a month later and I still don't have a kitchen. My son went back to college a week early because he was done with the house being a wreck and not having food to eat whenever he wanted. I was told last week by my contractor my granite countertops, plumbing, electrical, and appliances would be installed and completed TODAY. Well it's 1 p.m. and nothing has been done. I even called him this morning and he assured me everything would go in as planned.
You want to know why I called him? Not to make sure everything was still on...that was my secondary reason for calling him. Here it goes. I hope you're sitting down. It's been sweltering hot in OK. So on Sunday morning I went out into my garage and it smelled suspiciously like rotting garbage. I checked for garbage bags my lazy kids might have tossed out there. Nope. That wasn't the reason for the smell. I then noticed a gathering of blow flies (you know the big ones) around my deep freezer. My eyes then darted to the wall where the freezer is plugged in. The plug-in was on the floor of the garage!! The carpenter had been here Friday and he unplugged my freezer to plug in his saw and he never plugged it back in! The rotten smell was coming from rotting food. I didn't even dare to open it. And that big bubba is filled to the top let me tell you.
So I called my contractor to tell him I wasn't about to clean that out myself! Not to mention the loss of ground buffalo meat my husband was so proud of...that's a whole other story. I think I'm going to need an intervention soon before I end up on an episode of "Snapped" or whatever that TV show is called that tells the stories of women who go into fits of rage and murder!
You want to know why I called him? Not to make sure everything was still on...that was my secondary reason for calling him. Here it goes. I hope you're sitting down. It's been sweltering hot in OK. So on Sunday morning I went out into my garage and it smelled suspiciously like rotting garbage. I checked for garbage bags my lazy kids might have tossed out there. Nope. That wasn't the reason for the smell. I then noticed a gathering of blow flies (you know the big ones) around my deep freezer. My eyes then darted to the wall where the freezer is plugged in. The plug-in was on the floor of the garage!! The carpenter had been here Friday and he unplugged my freezer to plug in his saw and he never plugged it back in! The rotten smell was coming from rotting food. I didn't even dare to open it. And that big bubba is filled to the top let me tell you.
So I called my contractor to tell him I wasn't about to clean that out myself! Not to mention the loss of ground buffalo meat my husband was so proud of...that's a whole other story. I think I'm going to need an intervention soon before I end up on an episode of "Snapped" or whatever that TV show is called that tells the stories of women who go into fits of rage and murder!
Monday, August 16, 2010
What do I write about?
Almost 15 years ago I wanted to get an email address. Everybody today HAS an email address--back in the day it was optional. Yes. For real. I wanted something that represented me, but wasn't my name. So I chose Ladeemelie@aol.com . I still use this emal address. Now I have a work email, but work is work and my time is my time and never shall the two meet. I went with this for the name of my blog because it was what I want to blog about--being a lady. Even though this isn't the 1800s in London, society still has expectations for us gals. We are expected to "present" a certain image and I certainly learned this the hard way so there's hope for the Snookies out there. I write about my life and how women should be positive forces for one another, instead of dragging each other down. I believe women are the only ones who can provide other women with what we need. Sure our husbands and men love us, but they just don't get it all. He's only going to listen so long to me about paint color choices for the hall bathroom and how those strappy sandals cut off the circulation in my left foot. So women, ladies, positivity...yeah that's Ladeemelie.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Books Books Books Ahhhhhhhh!
In about 20 days I've read 26 books (I'm reading 27 now). Before we go on vacation my husband and I get all of our books ready. I mentioned before he has and iPad now, so I got his old Kindle. I was reluctant at first to use it. I'm a "real-book-needa-turn-the pages" kinda of gal. After the first book I never thought of that again. In fact, I love the Kindle. I don't have to remember what page I'm on and I always had to remember because my kids can't keep their hands off my books and out slips the book marker. OH I am NOT a page bender. Nope no way. Kindle keeps track of what page I'm on and as soon as I turn it on, like magic, it's right on the page I stopped reading. I downloaded 8 books for our Cabo trip which was 8 days and on the plane back I finished the last book. Another nifty feature is all my books are in one place. I want to go back and re-read something from a book in a series all I need do is click a few times and there it is. I do sometimes miss the pages...but not that much. So 27 books! The summer is always a read-a-thon for me. Recently with all the demolition in the house I needed an escape. Walking on black tarred concrete and seeing my beautiful black granite countertops on my back patio has been quite disturbing. I haven't had a kitchen for over a month. The best place to go...into a book. I've been reading Lisa Kleypas. I haven't really been a romance novel fan, but she includes so much history into her plots. And turn your nose up if you want, but they're good books and they've saved my sanity. I teach literature and I refuse to be a book snob. So thank you Lisa Kleypas. I'm going to finish reading all the books she's written. I do go back to work Monday. My reading pace will slow down. Hopefully I'll remember this as the summer I discovered reading her instead of the summer that was ruined by a plumber.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Back to school
My girls went back to school today. One is in 5th grade and the other is a freshman in high school. I have a son who is moving back to college tomorrow also. I didn't even take pictures of my girls this morning. That is a first. I don't know what came over me. Maybe I'll do it this afternoon...won't be the same though. Maybe I'll take a picture of my son's car as he leaves tomorrow. Either way I'm sad for summer to evaporate away in this hot August heat and I'm looking forward to the routine and cooler weather of fall. I've never cried when my kids went to school. I'm not gonna start now.
This work is still going on!
No it's not done yet. And NO I don't have any pictures of it. I still don't have a kitchen to cook in and I'm darn tired of eating out. The wood floors are done. Everything is painted. The carpet still has to be done and the granite and appliances have to be put back in. Almost there. I just wish it could have happened before I went back to work on Monday. Yes. College is starting. My classes are full and I look forward to bending their little minds to my grammatical ways!
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