Uh umm...I think you forgot something

Is that a Bluetooth in your pants or are you just happy to see me? 

Many times we use technology and never even wonder about it. I’m certainly guilty of this crime. I use Bluetooth daily, but I’ve never thought about the what or the why of this magical tech that allows me to talk on my cell hands free as I speed down the highway. The name is even strange.

Yesterday, I accidently stumbled upon this information. I was happily reading the daily gossip when I saw a news story about Danish royals that unknowingly enlightened me. I certainly wasn’t looking to be educated. I was reading about how Lindsay Lohan could possibly go back to jail and how David Arquette had recently checked himself into rehab after burning through $2,000 night of pole dancers. No educational possibilities there. 

Back to the Danish royals…who went all out in their royal garb, but the king although striking in his formal wear, still managed to shock quite a few people. You see, in his haste he had left his fly open. His white shirt stood stark like a flag of surrender below the belt of the dear old king crushing any chance he might have had at looking kingly.

NOW here is where the author of the news story decided to take the king’s terrible mishap and use it for educational purposes.  Apparently, the Danish royals can trace their bloodline way back and are the oldest monarchy. More famous of this bloodline is 10^th century Harald Bluetooth and what makes him so famous is he was able to unify the warring tribes of Denmark and Sweden and he probably was able to do this because he didn’t have to worry about those pesky zippers.  Today, Bluetooth unifies quite a few technologies to create personal area networks, so we can talk in our cars or while pushing our carts around in Target.  Why Harald was called Bluetooth or why he had blue teeth wasn’t explained. Maybe he liked blueberries or had some other malady as a result of poor dental hygiene, after all this was way before daily brushing and flossing.   Old Harald’s legacy lives on…and now you know why.

Yum

Seriously, I'm not a serious person and I think many times folks just need to relax. Have a cookie. Run tell that.

Six months in the making

It is done.

The "horror" happened the last day of May and it took until the last day of November to get it all fixed.

Here it is in all of its glory.

Now no more people in my house! I'm going to rest.

So over at the Real Housewives of Oklahoma
they wanna know what are you looking forward to the MOST on Thursday or what are you MOST thankful for?  
 It's a blog hop too so you can go back and read what everyone has written and maybe discover a new blog to read.




I'm thankful for the following:


My two girls who fight and scream and the next moment hug each other and whisper secrets only they can know.


My son, who calls me faithfully from college--when he runs out of money.


My husband, who says he'll be home by a certain time and it's guaranteed he'll be at least 30 minutes later.


My dog, Ozzie, who vomits at least once a week on the floor for me to clean it up.


The rest of my family, who during the holidays, provide me with more entertainment than the Jersey Shore ever could. GTL--Good Times Love.

Thanksgiving Week...gobble gobble?

It's Thanksgiving week. Most of us have made lists and are in the process of getting everything we need for Thursday. There are advertisements everywhere you look for food. On television, there's a constant dedication to food commercials. Morning shows have been spotlighting dishes for weeks that we can cook for the family. Desserts flash before our eyes. Just watching TV can make you hungry. Heck, I'm almost inspired to cook a few things myself.



You be careful though. This is just the beginning. Sure, they encourage you to eat now. Images of happy people with family and friends enjoying food and drink dance before our eyes. Beautiful music plays in the background while the unknowing stuff their jolly faces. 


This trickery will continue through the month of December and then advertisers will hit you with a brick full of guilty.  Just you wait til January.


On the first day of January we're all overweight slobs who've indulged way too much and shame on us--Jenny Craig is calling.  How dare we eat everything we're encouraged to buy. Now, they're selling guilt in a package on the morning shows. They're telling us how to get rid of the tire around our waists. Diet soda commercials replace the chocolate candy ones and a tear of disbelief rolls down our chubby little cheeks.


So, keep all this in mind as this week kicks it all off in royal fashion. Gobble, gobble they tell us now, but just you wait. They'll be singing a new tune. But really--do we have to dance to it?

Wow...this semester.

This semester has been kicking my butt.

I work at a local community college and I teach developmental writing. I don't know what it is about this semester, but it's going to do me in.

I've had some issues with not feeling well. My doc prescribed me a medicine that sent me to the hospital and it seems I've been working from behind since then.

Really...I could say that.

I'm just not feeling teaching there anymore, so at the end of this semester I'm going to take a break from it and see what else develops.

I know it sounds juvenile--I'm just not feeling it. In grown up lingo this is what it sounds like: I've decided at this point in my life that this may not be the path I want to pursue and I'm going to take a some time to investigate other avenues or opportunities.  Yeah...not feeling it.

Wish me luck.

Blogging Pumpkins

We're gonna do it anyway, so why not showcase some of our talent, uh er our hard earned efforts in the pumpkin carving/decorating category.

How about it ladies?

Wordless Wednesday: Begone Braces!

Which one to pick?

Mrs. McGillicutty over at the RHOK is asking:


What is your favorite John Hughes movie and why?

Pick a favorite John Hughes film...you might as well ask me to pick my favorite pair of shoes! There are too many!

OK...less drama. I'd have to say Miracle on 34th St. I know there's no teenage angst here. One of the best Christmas movies ever. And when you get tired of "I triple dog dare you!," there's always this great classic.

But then there's also Pretty in Pink, and Some Kind of Wonderful, and Ferris Bueller's Day Off too.

Is four enough because really, one was too many

Four young teenagers dead.
One high school.
Mentor, OH.
Mentor High School.

Four teenagers bullied to death at one high school? Incredulous that no one could keep them safe. Horrible that they couldn't feel accepted.

All four of these students were good looking kids. One had a learning disability. One was even hated enough that she was taunted and laughed at in her casket at her wake. Despicable.

Mentor, OH is not a rough town. This school received an Excellent rating from the state. What is going on not just in OH, but everywhere?

School administrators and teachers are not standing up against or in the way of bullying. In fact, they're leading the way.

I attended the orientation meeting at the local high school where one of my children attend. The administrators addressed the usual parent orientation topics: dress code, attendance, grade reporting etc.

The part about the dress code was interesting. The administrator put up a picture of Benjl Madden (I doubt he even knows who Benji is) to show what a student shouldn't look like at school. Benji is tattooed and pierced. The face piercing is what the administrator was highlighting and said to the crowd jokingly, "How'd you like your daughters to bring this home?" First of all, Mr. Madden is NOT a high school student and is a grown man and may very well be a nice person. Who knows? Are we supposed to pass judgement on him because of he way he looks? Yep. We should publicly ridicule and make fun of him too. That's what every student in that audience was just shown an example of--if you're different than the accepted norm, you have to pay for it.

At another recent school assembly the administrator again brought up an ongoing issue at the school--hair color. It's against the rules for students to dye their hair any color that isn't natural. That's fine. Don't have a problem with this. The administrator then went on to call out publicly a student who'd already been disciplined for having hair color, in the student assembly, by first and last name, "Isn't that right ____________ _____________?" Every student in the assembly then turned to this student to gawk. The turn of bodies and then the dead silence that followed broke my heart. The student's hair was mostly dark brown with a three to four inch bleached part of bangs on one side of the head. No color involved. What gave this administrator the right to call this student out publicly? The fact this student was different. Different is persecuted publicly. This was the second example the students saw of this at this particular school.

So now, when they go and carry out this persecution themselves, we know why. It's what they're taught.
How many more kids need to die before we stop this behavior. Is four enough, because really, one was too many.

What to wear: Halloween Dilemma

Think back to the simple days. It's Halloween and you want to go trick-or-treating and your costume is what was on your bed earlier that day--a sheet for a ghost costume and a pillow case for your candy. Ok. Maybe it wasn't always that simple, but my Halloween wear did come from something around the house.

These days we have Halloween superstores. Costumes are $30 or more. These costumes look a little "porny" especially for women and young girls. You want to dress as a referee---well you could referee the skank games in this outfit. You thought about being a fairy? This fairy has more that just her wings showing in this costume.

I have two young teen girls and most of these costumes are showing too much! The skirt barely covers the butt and the top doesn't have enough coverage either. The themes are totally inappropriate. Want to be Alice in Wonderland? Well this is pin-up Alice in Wonderland. And I'm being nice when I call it that.

Halloween is quickly becoming "Skankoween." Both my husband and I like dressing up too. In fact, we have a wedding to go to this Halloween. Notice the invitation said "Come Dressed to Kill," and not "Come Dressed to Shoot a Porno."

Somebody get me a sheet!

Cyberbullying...uh parents!!!!

You know I'm getting tired of hearing  about cyberbullying. I'm heart broken when I hear of another young person who's taken their life because of some crap that's been said or video that's been posted on a social networking site. What do we do? Not all kids are impervious to the harsh and mean words of others. Parents! Hellooooo...talking to you now.

The first thing we need to do as parents is be real. Our children are NOT perfect little angels. Even though we'd like them to be perfect--it's not happening. I never say my child would NEVER do something because as soon as I do he/she would do that very thing. If someone tells you your child is bullying you have a duty as a parent to find out if it's true and do something about it if your child is indeed being mean to others. I'm sick to death of hearing parents say, "Oh my kid would never do that." Get over yourself. I had to do it, and so can you. Plus, no one wants to hear how perfect you think your child is. GAG.

Second as parents we need to be aware. If your child (as long as they're under your roof or you're paying for their college) has a page on a social networking site be aware of what's on it. I have the ability to log on to all three of my children's pages. I see what they write and have set limits. If they post something I deem unacceptable, it has to be deleted. If they keep posting unacceptable things, then they know the whole page will be deleted. Recently my middle child, who's in high school, deleted her page because she said she was "tired of reading about all the fighting." She saw it has a negative in her life and got rid of it. Sometimes we have children who are not wise enough to do this for themselves and as parent we have to step in and do it for them. Also, there are programs out there that you can install on your kids' phones that send you any text or pics they send or receive. Your child can't cyberbully someone if you know what they're doing. Nor can they be cyberbullied without your knowledge if you see what's going on.

And most importantly sticks and stones hurt, AND words are a bitch too. They stick with us. They bruise our souls. They hurt us deeper than a physical pain. Acknowledge this fact and address it with your children. Help them to learn to process negative behaviors directed at them during school, through text message, or the Internet. When my kids come home and say this person said this about me I always question them as to how the situation developed. Sometimes my kids have provoked a negative response from a student. You can't just say rude things to someone and not expect to be treated rudely in return.

This is a complicated, social atmosphere we're raising children in today. It's our responsibility as parents to show our children how to survive in it.  Or you can just continue to ignore what you child is doing and hope for the best. It's up to you.

Today is the day

At first, the days pass slowly. Each one is harder to get through than the day before. Then those days become weeks and months. The sixth month is marked and I say, " I can't believe it's been this long." Finally, this day arrives. Today is the day. Today is one year since my mom died. I miss her everyday. I miss her 365 days worth of telephone conversations and outlandish things she would have said. I miss her 12 months worth of birthday cards signed in her fancy handwriting for myself and my children. I miss minute by minute the countless things neither I or my sister was aware she made happen and now those things go undone and unsaid.

My mother was an individual to say the least. She dressed to the nines whenever she could. She wore big hair until the day it fell out from the chemotherapy. She wore the reddest red lipstick she could find. She thought lipstick was as good as Prozac. "Put some lipstick on honey. You'll feel better." She spoke her mind no matter what the cost. She never backed down from a challenge and was more often than not labeled a "bitch" for it. She loved all her grandchildren as best she could. She even danced a couple of times a year when the opportunity presented itself. She made the best potato salad.

Yep. That was Ransy. She even had a unique name to top it all off. Today...this day...I honor her for who she was.

Ransy Marie Robicheaux Waguespack

Wordless Wednesday with Wine

Kung Fu Girl Riesling...yum

Mom's birthday

Today is my Mom's birthday. She would have been 63 today, but she died last year in late September. It's almost been a year without her now. On her birthday she loved to eat birthday cake. She'd take a little piece and eat it and then say, "I just had a little piece, so I'll just get another." I think the cake was the thing she wanted the most and she wouldn't mind eating out or having something grilled, but you better not forget the cake.

Last year she didn't eat much cake and my Dad got her some food from one of her favorite restaurants because by then she was too sick to go out and eat. The last couple of months of her life she had been eating as much red velvet cake as she could hold down. She always loved sweet things. The chemo and radiation made it hard at times, but it was one of the last things she could still enjoy. One of her last good meals was probably her birthday meal. She ate a bit for their anniversary, which is September 18, and after that she didn't eat much at all.

I remember on her 40th birthday she accidentally locked herself out of the house. She had to wait until I got home for me to let her in. This of course was before everyone had cell phones. She said it was one of her worst birthdays. She carried a key with her at all times after that. She pinned it to her bra and she made sure she was never locked out again.

I would have definitely called her today. We spent hours and hours on the phone because for about decade now I've lived at least 10 hours or more from Louisiana. Too bad there are no telephones in Heaven.

Happy Birthday Mama.

The Plout

        I love fruit and the other day at Sam's I came across a plout. Sounds yummy right? In fact, it is quite delicious. The package also called them dinosaur eggs because they are speckled like and egg, but larger than a chicken egg. The plout is a plum and an apricot mixed together. It's the size of a large plum, juicy, and doesn't have that fur skin the apricot has. Get you some!

Wednesday without Words

Morning sky

Tuesday Tirade

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?

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.

From the Sea of Cortez: Looking through a keyhole to the Pacific Ocean