Life – Page 57 – Write From Karen

Yeah. That’s right. I’m calling it like I see it. I’ve got one son now driving with these morons and another son on his way to driving with these morons. I’m a TIGER MOM when it comes to driving issues because my BABIES are out in that jungle now.

Ready to watch something that will make you gasp in horror?

*WARNING: Language. But if you witnessed what this man witnessed, you’d be cursing, too.

Or praying.

Or both.

Here’s the thing, people. I have no idea if the person driving this car was texting or not. The POINT is, this person was obviously not paying attention to the road, whether it was texting, some other distraction, or he/she may have been impaired – either voluntarily (drunk/drugs), or involuntarily (medical emergency). It’s possible there was something physically wrong with this person, but odds that it was a stupid, simple distraction far outweigh that possibility.

Let’s be honest.

It absolutely astounds me that people get into their cars and think they’re somehow invincible (or invisible) because they’re in a steel box. They feel like they can do or drive any way they choose because those other steel boxes you see on the road? Aren’t REALLY there. YOU are the only one on the road – those other cars are just obstacles that will SURELY get out of your way if they need to.

*SIGH*

I would totally be this guy filming. (Even though one shouldn’t film and drive either). But whenever I see someone obviously not paying attention to the road, I honk as well. I’m a downright jerk and I will continue to be a downright jerk to people too stupid to understand that they need to put the cell phones, mascara wands, coffee mugs, chicken wraps, etc. down and pay attention to the freaking road.

Driving is a PRIVILEGE. You’re SHARING the road with OTHERS. Be courteous and RESPECT your fellow drivers.

Or kill yourself.

Or kill someone else and live with THAT guilt for the rest of your life.

For the love of God, PAY ATTENTION.

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Life

Technology or Sense of Smell – Which Would You Choose to Lose?

June 1, 2011June 2, 2011 Karen

I ran across a story today that really made me think.

It also embarrassed me.

And it made me feel guilty.

Not to mention, it hit very close to home.

As in my living room, close.

Fifty-three Percent of Young People Would Trade Their Sense of Smell for Technology

TECHNOLOGY AS A FIFTH SENSE
While technology has often been referred to in jest as an appendage of today’s youth, over half (53%) of 16-22 year olds said they would rather give up their sense of smell than give up their technology. For this generation, technology is not an add-on. It is a tool that enables them to sense the world and make sense of the world.

So important is technology to today’s youth that over half (53%) would give up their sense of smell rather than lose access to it. To them, losing the ability to explore and communicate via technology would be like a blind man losing his stick.

“Young people utilize technology as a kind of super-sense which connects them to infinite knowledge, friends and entertainment opportunities,” said Simpson.

It is clear from the results that technology plays an important role in youngsters’ lives and without it they would feel isolated and uninformed.

Source

Sounds pathetic, doesn’t it? A person giving up a vital sense in order to maintain a connection to the virtual world?

And yet, I’m pretty sure both of my boys would do it.

And I would be tempted, though ultimately would not give up my sense of smell. I could live without the Internet because I’ve LIVED without the Internet. I’d have withdrawals, but I’d survive.

But my boys? Would go nuts. Oh sure, they’d eventually adjust, but it would be hell on Earth for everyone around them until that happened.

I’ll never forget the time period (I think Dude was in 8th grade and Jazz was in 6th grade) where they suddenly stopped caring about school. They started blowing off their school work and their grades began dropping so fast it was as if someone had attached concrete shoes to their transcript and dropped it into the lake. This was unacceptable and we ended up taking everything away from them – computers, video games and even TV until they brought their grades up. Our rationale being, if we got rid of the distractions, then they would have more time to study.

They absolutely HATED us for weeks. (I think it took about two months before their grades came back up). And the tension was so high in our house it was like walking into a room full of insulation – it was hard to breathe and the air was so prickly it made your skin itch. We didn’t WANT to do it, but we really had no choice. They had to learn priorities and responsibility and do you know, to this day, they never allowed their grades to drop that low again and have both ended up being great students because we had the balls to open that door and step into the darkness that is kid fury.

So the mere THOUGHT of taking all of that away again makes me break out in hives. And even though I know they would reluctantly give up their technology over sacrificing an essential sense, (because I asked them and after much deliberation, they finally agreed that they would rather keep their sense of smell/taste [because it’s connected] over their techno-gadgets), I also know it would be really hard to live with them for a given period.

And let’s face it – it WOULD be hard. Not just for them, for anyone. We’ve all gotten used to our technology. We’ve gotten used to being able to contact anyone we want to contact with a bush of a button. We’ve gotten used to texting quick messages. We’ve gotten used to having this vast amount of information at our fingertips – all without leaving the comfort of our easy chairs. Technology is awesome. And our children have grown up with this technology – it’s all they know.

Whenever I get annoyed with the boys for choosing to spend time on their computers as opposed to reading, going outside or even interacting with us, I stop and remind myself that that’s what they like to do. I like to spend time on my computer and I would certainly resent the hell out of someone who tried to take that away from me.

Granted, it’s essential to teach kids that technology should be plan B – real life comes first. But more and more of our “real lives” are centered on technology. I know I’ve never had as much information about my family as I do now that we’re all on Facebook. We “talk” more now than we’ve had in years before Facebook.

And how many “friends” have we “met” or communities we’ve joined, because of technology? There is NO WAY I would ever have “met” these people otherwise.

Technology is not all bad. And as with anything in life, moderation is KEY. But let’s be honest, the lines are blurring with the introduction of each new gadget: technology IS increasingly becoming part of our real, every day lives.

And I for one, don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing.

But I wouldn’t give up an essential ingredient in life to hold on to it.

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Life-condensed

I Love My Country

May 31, 2011May 31, 2011 Karen

I know. TOTALLY lame.

But whatever.

I do.

And if our proudly displaying the American Flag offends you?

You have three options:

1. Don’t look.

2. Get over it.

3. Move.

Hey. I’m an American and I’m proud of that fact. I’m sick and tired of people kowtowing to political correctness.

Americans are awesome.

Deal with it.

(This snarky moment was brought to you by: a good old-fashioned dose of patriotism spurred on by Memorial Day and the upcoming 4th of July celebration. Oh my gosh, guys, it’ll be the 4th of July in just FIVE weeks?!? What the …)

Life

Pergola Wrap-Up

May 31, 2011May 31, 2011 Karen

So how was your Memorial Day weekend?

Kevin and I (and when I say Kevin and ME, I’m really saying Kevin) worked on the pergola. I painted all of the smaller boards and my handyman husband worked his tail end off and put it all together.

I’m thinking it’s looking pretty good! It offers a bit more shade with those extra strips of wood, but we’re thinking about buying a pergola shade (it fits under the pergola and it’s retractable – you can pull it out for shade, or roll it up to let the sun in).

The problem is? They’re freaking expensive! As in, think $5,000 expensive!!

I KNOW! I nearly had a heart attack when Kevin told me. So, um, we may not be buying a retractable pergola shade after all because DUDE, we could buy Jazz a NICE used car for that amount.

That’s crazy.

At any rate, the thing is done and Kevin couldn’t be more relieved. He’s pretty sick of this project and I can’t say I blame the man. Now we’re on the hunt for some patio furniture, which so far doesn’t look like it’s going to be cheap, either.

What is up with the overly-priced patio furniture and accessories? We’ll sit on lawn chairs before I fork over $400 FOR ONE CHAIR.

Did I mention that’s crazy?

I had a gal comment on Twitter about how she was enjoying my updates on the pergola. Though Kevin is extremely clever, he actually learned how to build one from YouTube. Well, and his dad. They built their pergola a few years back so he was able to give him some advice, but Kevin also watched some YouTube videos as well and … you know, isn’t this the coolest time we live in? I mean, in the past, you would have to go to the library (*gasp* walk away from the computer? The HORROR) and look up this information, but now you can simply go to YouTube and find virtually any how-to video on virtually anything.

This Internet thing is so cool, yeah? (I know. I’m like 100 apparently).

Anyway – our pergola is done. (‘Cept I have to paint the bases but *pfft* details, details).

I made a silly little video. Please excuse our roughness. The day was hot, the wind was blowing and my eyes were watering all day, hence the “did you just smoke crack” look you see.

I also had my hair trimmed up over this weekend and I have pixie bangs. *sigh* Yeah. Not sexy. But hey, at least my hair grows really fast and it’s summer, and it’s cooler than having long hair on my neck and I’m done with the excuses.

Thanks for bearing with us. I’m sure you’re just as glad as we are that this dang project is done.

Don’t answer that.

(P.S. I had never even heard of the word “pergola” before this project. So I learned something new. At my age. Go figure).

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Politics

Cowboy Bud’s Astute Conclusion

May 27, 2011May 27, 2011 Karen

A cowboy named Bud was overseeing his herd in a remote pasture when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced toward him out of a cloud of dust

The driver, a young man in an Armani suit, Gucci shoes , RayBan sunglasses and YSL tie, leaned out the window and asked the cowboy, “If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, Will you give me a calf?”

Bud looks at the man, obviously a yuppie, then looks at his peacefully grazing herd and calmly answers, “Sure, Why not?”

The yuppie parks his car, whips out his Dell notebook computer, connects it to his Cingular RAZR V3 cell phone , and surfs to a NASA page on the Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite to get an exact fix on his location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo.

The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop and exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg , Germany .

Within seconds, he receives an email on his Palm Pilot that the image has been processed and the data stored. He then accesses an MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet with email on his Blackberry and, after a few minutes, receives a response.

Finally, he prints out a full-color, 150-page report on his hi-tech, miniaturized HP LaserJet printer, turns to the cowboy and says, “You have exactly 1,586 cows and calves.”

“That’s right. Well, I guess you can take one of my calves,” says Bud.

He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on with amusement as the young man stuffs it into the trunk of his car.

Then Bud says to the young man, “Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my calf?”

The young man thinks about it for a second and then says, “Okay, why not?”

“You’re an aide in the Obama Administration”, says Bud.

“Wow! That’s correct,” says the yuppie, “but how did you guess that?”

“No guessing required.” answered the cowboy. “You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked. You used millions of dollars worth of equipment trying to show me how much smarter than me you are; and you don’t know a thing about how working people make a living — or about cows, for that matter. This is a herd of sheep. …

Now give me back my dog.”

Day-By-Day

Pergola, Graduation, Uniforms, Fungus

May 26, 2011May 27, 2011 Karen

This has been a busy and emotional week.

I spent all day last Monday (that’s not an exaggeration – ALL DAY), painting the boards for our new pergola. Then Kevin and Dude put it all together.

Pergola - Patio

We LOVE it!! It really turned out nice. We’ve been shopping for patio furniture but have been a bit discouraged with the price tags. We went to Outdoor Home and looked around and they have some GORGEOUS stuff, but, BUT, I’m having a really hard time justifying spending $400 + on one chair.

ONE CHAIR.

Um, no.

So we went to Lowe’s. And the prices there weren’t much better. So now we’re thinking we’ll just put some folding chairs and a card table out there and call it a patio.

Okay. Maybe not. But we’re definitely going to hold off on buying any sort of furniture until A. there’s a sale, and/or B. it’s off season and the prices just naturally come down because OMG, I can’t spend $2,000 on furniture we won’t even want, or get, to use but once in a while.

UPDATE: Kevin went out yesterday (before the severe storms blew through here – and while we’re on that subject, can I please request some prayers for the poor folks in Joplin, Missouri?? Joplin is a mere 75 miles west of Springfield and EEK, too close to home, ya’ll!!) and angled off the ends. As usual, he did an excellent job and it looks fabulous, darling. Now I need to paint the bases and do a few touch ups and we SHOULD be done with the pergola. Next? Landscaping.

Tuesday was graduation day. I’ve already written about that and won’t go through that again, but I swear, I have been an emotional zombie ever since. It’s just so WEIRD to have Dude home now. I don’t have to drag his butt out of bed every day (well, I still have to drag his butt out because if I didn’t he would sleep all day and um, NO, that ain’t happening while he’s still living at home), but at least it’s not as stressful as it was when he needed to get up, around and awake enough to drive him and his brother to school every day.

I’m finding myself floundering a bit because I feel like my role in my household has changed – again. I know I’m still Dude’s mother, I mean, duh, but I’m having to consciously remind myself that the boy is 18 1/2 years old, is now a high school graduate, and though we’ve given him free reign to relax and enjoy a few months off before looking for a job (let the nagging begin August 1st), I’m having a hard time ALLOWING him to enjoy this time. I think I’ve just been on autopilot for so many years, the end goal being graduation, that now that we’ve reached that goal, I feel … confused.

Exactly what is my role now?

It’s so weird because just when I force myself to emotionally step back from the mothering gig, Dude will go and ask me a question, seeking my advice about something (which HELLO, is weird in and of itself anyway), and I will suddenly be transported to the mom who had a tight rein on this boy’s life and was used to being in control.

But then in the very next instant, he’s taking his cousin back home to Willard (which is about 30 minutes away) and I’m emotionally forced to swallow my mothering instincts, smile and wave as he takes off like it’s no big deal.

My emotions have been all over the board here lately and I’m feeling a bit dizzy. I know I’ll find my equilibrium at some point, but for now, I feel like a child’s top that is slowing down and on the verge of toppling over.

It’s disorienting.

I shudder to think how I will feel when Jazz reaches this point in just two short years.

Dude’s reception was really fun.

I was expecting the weather to be rainy, but it actually ended up being a perfect day. The sun came out, the temps were pleasant and there was a slight breeze.

I found out, late Friday afternoon, that Jazz wanted to go to a leadership seminar on Saturday. Well. He had to go to this seminar if he wanted to try out for a leadership role in band, which he did, so I spent Saturday morning putting the finishing touches on the house, getting cleaned up, taking Jazz to his seminar, and then the rest of the morning running errands – Wal-Mart, picking up the cake, and picking up the taco bar we had Qdoba cater.

I got all of this stuff home but didn’t have time to set it up before picking Jazz up, so Kevin had to finish up for me while I went to get him. He actually didn’t leave until 12:15 and we didn’t get back to the house until 12:30 and by then, everyone had arrived and were nearly finished eating.

Talk about awkward! Hostess is late to her own party.

But it was all good and you know, when you have kids, and they want to get involved in extra-curricular activities, you sort of have to roll with the punches.

Kevin did a great job setting everything out. He had moved quite a few chairs out to our new patio, which thankfully, we were able to enjoy because of the unexpectedly nice weather, only, I had a “Class of 2011” balloon loosely tied to one of the chairs because I had planned on tying that balloon to our mailbox, but when Kevin took the chair the balloon was tied to outside, *POOF*. It came untied and blew away.

*sigh*

It never fails – something always has to go wrong when you host a party. It’s like an unwritten law or something. He felt really bad about it and though I was annoyed, I didn’t fly off the handle (Hello! Emotional maturity!) and meh, it was just a balloon.

I think Dude had a really good time. His best friends were there and all of the family showed up, and we all had a really good time catching up, laughing and stuffing our faces. Hosting parties always overwhelms me a bit because I don’t want anyone to feel left out or awkward, so I spend a lot of my time making the rounds. I hope no one thought I was ignoring them or being weird, but it’s hard dividing your time between all of the guests.

My youngest nephews were there. My brother and his wife drove down and I hadn’t seen the little boys in, oh gosh, a year I think? There was one moment, when it was me, both of my sisters-in-law, my niece, my mom and my dad were sitting around talking, when my brother walks in with my youngest nephew and he stands in the middle of the room, as proud of as a peacock, and exclaims in a very loud voice, “I go poop!!” We all died laughing and began clapping because who can’t relate to that moment?? It was really cute and his facial expression was priceless.

Even though I had put on the invitations that the party was going to be from noon to 2:00, everyone stuck around until nearly 4:00. We were totally FINE with this as it made us feel like everyone was enjoying themselves and didn’t want to leave. I never want people to feel obligated to stick around one of our parties if they don’t want to, so I tend to make the invitations pretty informal to begin with. So the fact that everyone chose to stay was really nice for me and Kevin.

Kevin had put pictures of Dude growing up in a slideshow and it was fun to look back on his little boy days. We’ll have to chop the show in half and upload the two parts to YouTube so you can guys can watch it. It was really fun to point out various locations as we watched the slideshow. We’ve been to a lot of places! And it warms my heart to think that the boys will be able to look back on their childhoods and talk about all the cool family vacations we’ve taken together.

My mom made the cutest chocolate mortar hats:

I won’t even tell you how many I ate. (But if you guessed all but two, then you’d be, erhm, really close. NOT all in one day. Okay, maybe all in one day. I TOLD YOU I HAD A PROBLEM WITH JUNK FOOD!!)

Dude’s cake turned out really good. I went through the same cake lady I used to go to when I threw birthday parties for the boys when they were little. To my utmost surprise, she remembered me!! (Or at least, she acted like she remembered me. Maybe she was just being nice. Oh well).

It was a really fun reception. I think Dude had a good time and it was really nice that everyone was able to come.

And that’s it. Dude has graduated. He’s out of school. And we’re all trying to adjust to a new normal.

We had a parent band meeting this past Tuesday night. We’ve already been through this meeting twice before (8th grade, then 9th grade), so we knew what to expect. But what we were really waiting for was to hear what the show would be for next year and to see the new band uniforms.

I believe the school has used the same uniforms for the past ten years. They were looking rough and a little frayed around the edges. Still, they were pretty cool.

If not a little space-suit-ish.

But the new ones … WOW. Love them!! In fact, I like them better, but Kevin said he likes the old ones more. Anyway. I don’t have a picture to show you now, but when he gets his uniform assigned to him in September, then we’ll take the traditional “pose by the tree” shot.

The show also sounds good – though it will be interesting to see how it comes together. It has something to do with directions … and that’s all I can tell you. 🙂

We had to take Jazz to the walk-in clinic last night. He’s been having some trouble with his toes. He had been wearing leather-top sneakers and apparently, the suckers rubbed a sore stop just under each big toe toenail. This area swelled up and was quite tender for a while. He squeezed the pus out and they looked better for a while, but then his toenails started turning yellowish and they looked like they were infected with fungus. He used toenail fungus stuff for a while, but that didn’t seem to do any good and yesterday, he came to me after school to show me they were bleeding.

We threw in the white towel and took him to the clinic.

The doctor said they are definitely infected and prescribed some antibiotic. We’re also soaking his feet in Epsom Salt twice a day. In the meantime, we have to call a podiatrist because she said considering both toes were in the same shape, it would be better if a foot doctor took a look at them. They’re supposed to be calling us today with a referral so … I’m sure I’ll have more information when we find out what the next step is.

I’m thinking he will probably have to lose both nails. They are looking pretty nasty and Jazz says they feel loose, so, it might be for the best. I’ve lost a fingernail and a toenail before and it’s not as bad as it sounds. It’s just hard skin under the nail and it eventually grows back.

EVENTUALLY. As in .. ABOUT A YEAR.

*sigh* Looks like Jazz won’t be wearing flip-flops or sandals this summer.

*UPDATE: The clinic just called – they made an appointment for Jazz at The Foot Doctors. I had no idea we even had a facility dedicated to just feet. It’s next Tuesday, at lunch, so I’ll have to take Jazz out of school, but it’s the last week and they won’t be doing anything, anyway. Will post more when I know more …

UPDATE 2: My bad. The appointment is next Thursday, after lunch, and Jazz will be taking finals. So I’ll have to reschedule.

Life-condensed

Wanting to Vlog More Snippets from My Life

May 24, 2011May 24, 2011 Karen

I love to vlog. I mean, it’s a little uncomfortable at first, but the more you do it, the easier it gets.

The problem is, of course, figuring out just WHAT to vlog about. I’ve started the Wednesday “In My Opinion” nonsense questions just to give me something to work with, but it’s when I see videos like this one that I know that I truly suck at vlogging. LOL.

I’m going to try and video tape more portions of my life. Just little snippets of things I’d like to remember and pass on to future generations.

Here’s such a snippet. It was after the horrific storms passed through on Sunday (the same storm front that produced a tornado and decimated Joplin Missouri) and we saw the BRIGHTEST rainbow I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Kevin is the one who saw it first and then me, Dude and Jazz all came out onto the porch to take a look. You can hear Jazz giving me a hard time in the background and my maniacal laughter in response.

Yeah, that pretty much sums up my relationships with my boys. HA!