Won't You Take Me To...Funkytown
Sorry I dissed you guys last Friday. I just got nuttin' in the creative juice department right now. Or, more accurately, everything I got there is getting channeled into real world stuff these days. (Friday may, or may not, see a Flashback this week.)
Still nothing worthy of a legitimate blog post, but a few snippets I thought worth sharing. Buckle up, it's old-school Superwife...
• [Kid 1] graduated from high school this past Saturday. A significant milestone for both of us, I guess. As the eldest of my girls, it's an honor I'd yet to enjoy. And, yeah, the proud mama thing, totally on overdrive. She graduated with honors (and got to wear the gold braids on her graduation gown to prove it) and was all smiley and excited the whole time. After the ceremony, we headed back to our place for final prep for a small party. Bunnyman and [Kid 1] made a banner to hang on the front porch, proclaiming that she had, indeed, graduated and was worthy of much congratulatory praise. Inside, the house was festooned with some “recycled” wedding decorations, which, (entirely) coincidentally matched her school colors. Silver star centerpieces were placed randomly and photos of [Kid 1] growing up were in each one. It was pretty sweet. I had ordered her a photo cake. The first one I’d ever gotten. But I had the MOST adorable picture of her on her first day of kindergarten. Standing on our front porch leaving for school. Wearing a little red plaid dress and black patent leather shoes and holding an apple for the teacher. Couldn’t have BEEN more Norman Rockwell. So I decided it would be a sweet thought to put that photo on the cake for her last day of school. It turned out very well. She got a few hundred bucks in cash (though we expect a little more when the announcements go out to the extended fam), a watch from her dad and a laptop from us. She seemed to be pleased with all of it, but especially delighted with the computer. I’m glad we were able to do it for her. Had I not found such a good deal on it, I’m not sure we could have pulled it off.
• While cleaning up around the house...in anticipation of the graduation party...Bunnyman picked up the pink bunny ears (which had found their way under the treadmill) and, laughing, slipped them onto his head. [Kid 3], without a moment's hesitation, quipped "Where's your balloon?". Pretty hysterical. She's so incredibly sharp...and pretty quick with the comedy when she wants to be.
• Speaking of [Kid 3], we were looking at pictures in her yearbook (that’s right...her first grade yearbook), and chuckled at a photo of a little fella in the other of two first grade classes at her school. He had the funniest, forced smile. But, better yet, the hysteria overtook me (to the point of a wheezing, coughing fit) when [Kid 3] added that he had a brother and insisted on showing us his photo. OMG!! While there was some family resemblance, could it be possible to have the same pained smile? Maybe some mischievous pre-picture day plotting? Oh, the pride their mother must have felt when school pictures came home that day. Heh, it makes me snort just thinking about it.
• There’s a radio station here locally that I enjoy quite a bit. I hesitate to use the word “quaint”, but find it’s exactly the word I want to use. Sooooo. It’s run by a local high school and is primarily stocked with donated records. Consequently, they have some VERY eclectic stuff. I’m always hearing oldies that I haven’t heard in ages there. Today, it was Harper Valley PTA. Not that it’s a favorite. Don’t get me wrong. But it’s certainly one that takes you back. So, for nostalgia sake, it was a nice way to start my workday. (Wish it had stayed on that track, instead of careening into the chasm within an hour after I got in the door.)
• A couple of news stories have caught my eye in the last couple days. Yesterday, the tragic story of a 23-year old Texas woman, who hung herself and her four young daughters (the eldest of which was 5). Stories about mothers murdering their children really get to me. I can’t imagine how anyone could do it once…let alone 4 times. Beyond that. What are the logistics? I simply don’t want to even start down that road. The poor woman who went looking for them and opened that closet door to see the sight of her sister and four nieces all hanging within. How do you recover from something like that?
The second story, is the one about the new groom who is the first US citizen quarantined in over forty years. He knew he had TB and decided to fly to Europe. This despite his doctor telling him it was not advisable. His interpretation was that he “shouldn’t”, not that he “couldn’t”. Then, when it had been discovered that he had potentially infected so many others, and the CDC contacted him to instruct him to turn himself in to the authorities and that he’d been put on a “no-fly” list, what does he do? He circumvents that order, putting more people at risk, and flies to Canada and drives across the border. Is it because he didn’t know better? I hardly think so. He describes himself as “a well-educated, successful, intelligent person.” So, I suppose that just leaves arrogant and self-serving, huh? Knowing, certainly before the second flight...if not before the first, that he was a health risk to other passengers, he completely disregards the well-being of dozens of other human beings by deliberately putting himself in that situation. And he’s complaining that he doesn’t need an armed guard outside his hospital room. Clearly, he does. His own interests far outweigh any dangers to others. I say shoot him if he makes a move for the door!
Some recent turnover at work has made things there rather "interesting" in a Chinese sense of the word. VERY glad that the kids are on summer vacation, as I definitely need the break from school activities/pageants/etc. for a bit. I've been entirely remiss on email correspondence and hope you guys aren't totally hating me. Hoping, soon, to get back into a swing here as well.
Still nothing worthy of a legitimate blog post, but a few snippets I thought worth sharing. Buckle up, it's old-school Superwife...
• [Kid 1] graduated from high school this past Saturday. A significant milestone for both of us, I guess. As the eldest of my girls, it's an honor I'd yet to enjoy. And, yeah, the proud mama thing, totally on overdrive. She graduated with honors (and got to wear the gold braids on her graduation gown to prove it) and was all smiley and excited the whole time. After the ceremony, we headed back to our place for final prep for a small party. Bunnyman and [Kid 1] made a banner to hang on the front porch, proclaiming that she had, indeed, graduated and was worthy of much congratulatory praise. Inside, the house was festooned with some “recycled” wedding decorations, which, (entirely) coincidentally matched her school colors. Silver star centerpieces were placed randomly and photos of [Kid 1] growing up were in each one. It was pretty sweet. I had ordered her a photo cake. The first one I’d ever gotten. But I had the MOST adorable picture of her on her first day of kindergarten. Standing on our front porch leaving for school. Wearing a little red plaid dress and black patent leather shoes and holding an apple for the teacher. Couldn’t have BEEN more Norman Rockwell. So I decided it would be a sweet thought to put that photo on the cake for her last day of school. It turned out very well. She got a few hundred bucks in cash (though we expect a little more when the announcements go out to the extended fam), a watch from her dad and a laptop from us. She seemed to be pleased with all of it, but especially delighted with the computer. I’m glad we were able to do it for her. Had I not found such a good deal on it, I’m not sure we could have pulled it off.
• While cleaning up around the house...in anticipation of the graduation party...Bunnyman picked up the pink bunny ears (which had found their way under the treadmill) and, laughing, slipped them onto his head. [Kid 3], without a moment's hesitation, quipped "Where's your balloon?". Pretty hysterical. She's so incredibly sharp...and pretty quick with the comedy when she wants to be.
• Speaking of [Kid 3], we were looking at pictures in her yearbook (that’s right...her first grade yearbook), and chuckled at a photo of a little fella in the other of two first grade classes at her school. He had the funniest, forced smile. But, better yet, the hysteria overtook me (to the point of a wheezing, coughing fit) when [Kid 3] added that he had a brother and insisted on showing us his photo. OMG!! While there was some family resemblance, could it be possible to have the same pained smile? Maybe some mischievous pre-picture day plotting? Oh, the pride their mother must have felt when school pictures came home that day. Heh, it makes me snort just thinking about it.
• There’s a radio station here locally that I enjoy quite a bit. I hesitate to use the word “quaint”, but find it’s exactly the word I want to use. Sooooo. It’s run by a local high school and is primarily stocked with donated records. Consequently, they have some VERY eclectic stuff. I’m always hearing oldies that I haven’t heard in ages there. Today, it was Harper Valley PTA. Not that it’s a favorite. Don’t get me wrong. But it’s certainly one that takes you back. So, for nostalgia sake, it was a nice way to start my workday. (Wish it had stayed on that track, instead of careening into the chasm within an hour after I got in the door.)
• A couple of news stories have caught my eye in the last couple days. Yesterday, the tragic story of a 23-year old Texas woman, who hung herself and her four young daughters (the eldest of which was 5). Stories about mothers murdering their children really get to me. I can’t imagine how anyone could do it once…let alone 4 times. Beyond that. What are the logistics? I simply don’t want to even start down that road. The poor woman who went looking for them and opened that closet door to see the sight of her sister and four nieces all hanging within. How do you recover from something like that?
The second story, is the one about the new groom who is the first US citizen quarantined in over forty years. He knew he had TB and decided to fly to Europe. This despite his doctor telling him it was not advisable. His interpretation was that he “shouldn’t”, not that he “couldn’t”. Then, when it had been discovered that he had potentially infected so many others, and the CDC contacted him to instruct him to turn himself in to the authorities and that he’d been put on a “no-fly” list, what does he do? He circumvents that order, putting more people at risk, and flies to Canada and drives across the border. Is it because he didn’t know better? I hardly think so. He describes himself as “a well-educated, successful, intelligent person.” So, I suppose that just leaves arrogant and self-serving, huh? Knowing, certainly before the second flight...if not before the first, that he was a health risk to other passengers, he completely disregards the well-being of dozens of other human beings by deliberately putting himself in that situation. And he’s complaining that he doesn’t need an armed guard outside his hospital room. Clearly, he does. His own interests far outweigh any dangers to others. I say shoot him if he makes a move for the door!
Some recent turnover at work has made things there rather "interesting" in a Chinese sense of the word. VERY glad that the kids are on summer vacation, as I definitely need the break from school activities/pageants/etc. for a bit. I've been entirely remiss on email correspondence and hope you guys aren't totally hating me. Hoping, soon, to get back into a swing here as well.
posted by SuperWife | 4:16 PM
2 Comments:
Aw, baby. I'm sorry you're having crappy days at work. I wish you were home right now with me and the girls. I adore you!
The mother who hung her four daughters, and then herself, freaks me out, too, but unfortunately, I've read enough to know that these kind of psychotic episodes have become common enough since the mid 20th Century to have generated a specific psychological term for their victims/perpetrators -- 'family destroyers'.
The way it usually goes is, the 'family destroyer' is someone whose sense of identity and self esteem are entirely based on being the family's primary provider. Then something happens that shatters that self image (often, they lose their job) and the result is, eventually, rather than allow their family to see them as a failure, they destroy the family, and then, themselves.
On the other hand, apparently a horrific number of moms have killed their kids in Texas in the last seven years or so... at least, according to this news story I just found:
"Less than five years earlier, another Hudson Oaks family was torn apart when Dee Etta Perez, 39, shot her three children, ages 4, 9 and 10, before killing herself.
Andrea Yates drowned her five children in the family's Houston bathtub in 2001. In 2003, Deanna Laney beat her two young sons to death with stones in East Texas, and Lisa Ann Diaz drowned her daughters in a Plano bathtub. Dena Schlosser fatally severed her 10-month-old daughter's arms with a kitchen knife in 2004."
That's from http://washingtontimes.com/national/20070529-111811-6588r.htm
Maybe there's something in the water in Texas...
Going straight to the... serious stuff...
Yeah, I'd seen that, and noted the string of them in Texas of late. Pretty friggin' grim, not to put too fine a point on it.
Puts me in mind of Matthew 24:15-20...
15 “Therefore, when YOU catch sight of the disgusting thing that causes desolation, as spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in a holy place, (let the reader use discernment,) 16 then let those in Ju·de´a begin fleeing to the mountains. 17 Let the man on the housetop not come down to take the goods out of his house; 18 and let the man in the field not return to the house to pick up his outer garment. 19 Woe to the pregnant women and those suckling a baby in those days! 20 Keep praying that YOUR flight may not occur in wintertime, nor on the sabbath day;
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