See first comment.
(And to erase this goofy picture from your brain, here’s a more flattering picture of him).
Month: June 2008
Weekend Snapshot – Blowing Bubbles
I’m a day late posting this because I’m an idiot and didn’t have my camera with me so I had to use my mom’s camera (WHICH by the way, ROCKS. Twelve mega pixels?! And the size and thickness of a credit card?? I want her camera!) and she didn’t have a chance to post the pictures we took with her camera to her Flickr account until today (my mom works insane hours).
Still with me? Great!
My folks had a BBQ at their house over the weekend so we could meet my sister’s new boyfriend (which by the way, is very nice and I’m not just saying that sis!).
The day started out wet. In fact, the entire weekend ping-ponged back and forth between sunny, cloudy, wet, windy, cold and then back to sunny. (That’s one thing about Missouri, our weather is never boring).
I was a bit worried that my mom would have to move the BBQ inside and what a bummer for her because a BBQ just isn’t the same without swatting a few flies or dropping a few cheetos to watch the ants devour.
But by late afternoon, the weather cleared up once again and though the ground was a bit wet, the temperature was quite pleasant and we had a good time sitting around and chatting.
But in the meantime, the boys, my two boys and my sister’s two boys, all teenagers, needed something to combat their boredom.
Enter super grandma and her wonderful ideas. She disappeared inside the house for a few seconds and before any of the boys could think up excuses to go inside and bury their noses in their video games, she reappeared carrying several bottles of bubble solution.
The boys blinked, looked at each other and fought the urge to snicker. For you see, if anyone BUT grandma had brought those bubbles out, they would have been met with complaints about them being too old for bubbles and then their eyes would roll so far back into their heads they could see their pubescent butts.
However, to humor grandma (because they are all sweet boys and wouldn’t intentionally hurt a fly), they opened the bottles and proceeded to have fun.
Oh yes, you read that correctly. The boys really enjoyed playing with those bubbles. And being boys, they pooled their resources to see just how big they could make their bubbles.
And when they had enough bubbles to build the Leaning Tower of Pisa, they worked together to keep the tower from falling over.
And when that got old, GD used the scary looking wand and started blowing bubbles, which my oldest nephew swatted with a HUGE rubber frisbee.
Even grandma got in on the act.
It was hard not to get caught up in all the laughter and general silliness. It was as if time had simply melted away and we were watching the boys be boys again, instead of the awkward, embarrassed, shy, strange beings they are today.
I begged to play. They said no. I threatened bodily harm if they didn’t allow me just one turn at the silly wand to blow a few bubbles. They shooed me away.
As you can see, I did not pout; I can take rejection.
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See the text box in the upper-right hand corner? That changes every day telling you what’s happening right this very moment in my life. Not enough? Twitter me. 🙂
This is Not a Good Place to Live
Guess what?
If you live in one of these ten places:
- Springfield, Missouri
- Dayton, Ohio
- Corpus Christi, Texas
- Flint, Michigan
- Columbia, South Carolina
- Waco, Texas
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Fayetteville, North Carolina
- Beaumont, Texas
- Clarksville, Tennessee
Then you suck.
I heard this on the morning radio show I listen to and nearly came unglued.
For those that don’t know, I live in Springfield, Missouri. The first one listed.
The list? The 10 Worst Places to Raise a Family (from best to worst). Springfield is #10.
I suppose that’s SOME consolation. *growl*
Seriously, WTH? Just look at our beautiful city!
Look at those happy people! Look at that gorgeous tree in the foreground and that historic building in the background. And that fountain. Everyone likes a pretty fountain! It’s nice, I tell ya!
The article, in Best Life Magazine, actually talks about the top 100 best places to raise a family. Number one being:
Honolulu, Hawaii. The reason? “Schools spend almost $9,000 per pupil, unemployment ranks less than half the national average, and you can play on the island of O’ahu’s 125 beaches.” Okay, I’ll buy the beaches and the fact that it’s paradise on earth, but $9,000 per pupil?? Doesn’t the cost of living dictate parents spend that much per pupil?
And being from Missouri, I was STUNNED to see St. Louis and Kansas City make the list, and yet, Springfield, the city that has a lot less crime, pollution and better living conditions made the WORST list?
I just can’t buy it. But I’m afraid I’m going to have to because the article is woefully skimpy on details. The criteria for making the best place to raise a family?
… good schools with favorable student-teacher ratios, above-average test scores, and respectable budgets. Plenty of museums, parks, and pediatricians also contribute to a good quality of life, whereas multihour commutes, expensive houses, and divorcing friends and neighbors do not. Best Life editors used these categories and data from the U.S. Census Bureau, National Center for Education Statistics, FBI, American Association of Museums, National Center for Health Statistics, and American Bar Association to evaluate 257 cities.
Granted, our student-teacher ratios ARE high – I think the average is 30 students per teacher and we certainly don’t have very many museums and I have no idea what the divorce ratio is down here, but I strongly disagree with education test scores (our schools CONSISTENTLY make the top ten list in the state every year), we have parks coming out of our nostrils, we have a WHOLE MILE devoted to healthcare, our housing is ridiculously inexpensive and we live in the Ozarks – known for it’s beautiful countryside and clean lakes! I think our pros far outweigh the cons they have listed here.
But I can’t dispute details because the article doesn’t give details. I would love to know some statistics for our city because I just can’t buy the fact that we’re in the top ten WORST places to live.
No way. There’s simply some mistake. Show me some proof and I’ll be happy to eat my words, but in the meantime Best Life magazine? Your research is seriously flawed.
What about you? Do you think you’re living in a good place to raise a family?
Monday Morning Meme – June 2nd
All you have to do is answer the questions below either in the comment section, or on your blog. And elaborate! Make these questions show your unique and special personalities. This meme entry will post at 12:01 every Monday morning and will be the first postentry listed on WFK all day Monday morning. (This is an all-day Monday meme, so please, play all day!)
June 2nd Questions:
1. What kind of water do you drink? Bottled water, tap water, sparkling water….? How MUCH water do you drink in a day? If you’re not drinking water, what ARE you drinking?
2. Would you rather be Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, or Belle? Why?
3. Are you an urban dweller, a suburbanite, or a country person? Are you happy where you live? Without giving too many details, tell us about the place where you live. What makes it different than other places? What do you like the most? The least?
4. What little annoying thing does someone (pick any person) do that drives you absolutely crazy? Have you told this person this? Why or why not? What do you think this person would say is the most annoying thing about you?
My Answers:
1. We actually have a water cooler. And we have a water company who delivers our distilled water to our doorstep – we usually go through two 5 gallon jugs every two weeks. After drinking distilled water, I will NEVER drink tap water again. In fact, the few times I have, I’ve about gagged it just tastes so … dirty compared to our water cooler water. I also ask for bottled water whenever we go to a restaurant (it’s very rare that I order a drink or soda). Quite honestly, I prefer water to any other drink out there so yes, I drink quite a lot of it.
2. Cinderella. I love how she’s not afraid of a little hard work and is kind to everyone, even the people who mistreat her. I like how she takes everything in stride and how she doesn’t allow a lot to upset her. I also like how she’s beautiful no matter what she’s wearing – a ball gown or rags – her inner beauty shines through.
3. Definitely an urban dweller. I can’t imagine living outside the city. I like the city, I’m used to the city and I like being close to everything. I do like living in Springfield. It has a small town feel to it. It’s clean, we don’t have a big problem with crime and our countryside is beautiful.
4. My husband has the most annoying habit of pausing, sometimes for a full 20 or 30 seconds before answering my question. I realize he has a lot on his mind and I know he hears me and wants to answer me, he’s just decompressing or processing what I’m saying before answering me but boy howdy, does it irritate the crap out of me. Hello?! *knocks on head* I asked a question here. lol What’s annoying about me? The fact that I knock on his head comes to mind. 😀
Have an excellent week, everyone!
monday morning memeSunday Scribblings – Curves
You say curves, I think body image.
And when I think of body image, I picture this week’s post cards from Post Secret:
And that disturbs me.
For the longest time, I didn’t have any curves: I was a walking, talking scarecrow who breathed. And though this sounds great on the surface (Oh, to be THIN!), it wasn’t, at least to me. I wanted boobs. And I wasn’t going to be stingy about it – I wanted handfuls, just something for a man to hang on to.
But alas, I didn’t develop like I wanted to and was I stuck with size “B” bumps.
Then, I had children and suddenly, I had curves were there were none before. My breasts swelled to a size “C” (and stayed there) and where in the world did these hips come from? (I was thrilled about the breasts, the hips? Not so much).
Now that I had curves, you would think I would be happy, right?
Wrong. Suddenly, I wanted my hips to reduce and my waist to come back, neither of which has happened, by the way.
I wasn’t happy with my body then, and I’m not happy with my body now. And my point is: is anyone ever really happy with every aspect of their body, even when they achieve their goals?
Of course not. Part of that is our desire to be better, to be perfect. I think most of us have an innate desire to improve ourselves. But I think a large portion of how we feel about our curves, or lack thereof, comes from society and the picture they have shoved down our throats about what is beautiful, and what is not.
Take the above post cards, for example.
The first one, she obtained her goal. She had her surgery and she was now beautiful and thin. And yet, she’s still not happy because her shield, or her size, was no longer available for her to hide behind. This is a classic case of be careful what you wish for, you just might get it. And when you get it, can you handle it?
The second one, she’s thin, but not thin enough. She wants more, she’s never satisfied and I’m guessing will never be satisfied with her appearance until her inner expectations change: a classic case of wanting more and never quite getting more. When does the wanting stop?
I think women obsess about curves way too much. I think men obsess about curves way too much (but then again, they’re sort of programmed to think that way, so they have an excuse). Women want to look like the models, the ones who portray our idea of beauty, yet they don’t want to work for it – it takes time, discipline and motivation to obtain that rock hard body, or they’re simply not physically built the same way and no matter how hard you try, those birthing hips? Will never slim down because your bone structure is different.
When we will learn to be satisfied with who we are? In whatever shape we’re in? I mean granted, a person shouldn’t be so large that it interferes with his/her health, or give up on his/her appearance simply because it’s easier to do that than to exercise restraint, but if a person is larger because they are simply built that way, why can’t we just be okay with that fact?
When we will accept the fact that we are who we are and stop worrying about becoming someone else? Life is too short to be miserable, either make improvements and be satisfied with those improvements, or stop worrying about it and enjoy life.
I think I have finally accepted the fact that I’m an Amazon woman. I’m a big woman, not in the physical sense but in the physical presence sense. I will never be petite and no matter how much I close my eyes and mutter my wishes under my breath, I will never be the size I wish I could be. I’m tall and wish I could be shorter. I’m average weight for my height but wish I could weigh lighter. I wish … I wish … I wish … I want … I want … I want …
You know what? Screw it. I’m a curvy woman and I’m okay with that.
What about you? Have you accepted the way you look? Or are you still trying to fix yourself?
Write From Karen 