Animals are smelly

Yesterday I went on a field trip with my daughter, Sarah and the rest of the second grade from Grand Oak Elementary.  We went to Zootastic, which is a wild animal park in Troutman, NC.  I was happy to be able to go on a field trip with my daughter, but not excited about going to a zoo.  I really do not like zoos.  I have even been known to say that I hate the zoo.  My kids and my husband know that I hate the zoo.  When we moved to Omaha, everyone would tell me, oh, there's a great zoo, here, you have to take your kids to the Omaha Zoo.  Um, no, I don't. 

I'm not exactly sure why I hate the zoo.  I suppose I just was never that interested in animals.  Maybe it has something to do with being dragged to the zoo as a child.  My grandparents lived in San Diego, CA while I was growing up.  When we would go visit them, we would always go to the San Diego Zoo and the Wild Animal Park.  I remember endless walking around and looking at smelly animals in cages.

Don't feed the Zebra

please feed us!

And that's exactly what we did yesterday.  We walked around and looked at smelly animals in cages and in pens.  I saw tigers that looked really mad (and hungry?) as they paced back and forth, checking out the second graders.  There was one lone giraffe in a pen by himself.  Was he lonely? I saw a huge blind horse that had been used in cancer research.  Sad. The children we given cups of feed and were allowed to feed the goats, rams, smaller animals.  The goats knew what was coming and had been following us around.  However our guide warned, DO NOT FEED THE ZEBRA. I'm not sure why we couldn't feed the zebra.  Maybe he liked to eat childrens' fingers.

I guess zoos are educational and all, but I am not a fan.  I'd rather let the animals stay in the wild where they are supposed to live and read about them in a book.  It would certainly be less smelly.

Blind horse with his pal the rooster

 



Cell phone trauma and repair

How many times a day do you check your phone? Could you be without it for a week? a day? how about an hour? How did we ever get along before our smart phones?

Yesterday was not my day.  After meeting with a new accountant for two hours, I went to Office Depot to buy Quicken.  I picked that up, along with printer ink and some folders.  For some reason I was holding this all in my hands, along with my iPhone.  Why I felt the need to carry my phone in my hand instead of my handbag, I am not sure.  I had my phone on silent while meeting with the accountant, and the first thing I did after our meeting was finished was check my phone.  While carrying all this stuff through Office Depot, I inadvertently dropped my cell phone, face down.  No big deal, I thought.  I have done that a million times.  I reached down and picked it up.  The entire front glass was shattered with shards of glass sticking out. 

I then freaked out. I just knew that I was going to have to buy a new iPhone.  I went to the counter and showed my phone to the salesgirls there.  I didn't really expect them to do anything; I just needed to cry to somebody.  One of the girls said that she thought there was a phone repair place a few miles down the street.  At the cash register, I asked the guy ringing me up for an extra bag for my smashed phone.  He suggested I buy an Otterbox.  Gee thanks for the tip, I thought. 

My current non useful phone case.  If you know me, you know I change my case quite often!

I got in the car and wondered where there was an AT&T store.  I went to Google it on my phone and just about cut my finger on the glass.  I took the salesgirl's suggestion and drove off in search of the repair place.  I walked in to CPR - Cell Phone Repair - and showed them my phone.  They could fix it for $129, and it would take an hour. 

That was a long hour, let me tell you.  No email, Facebook, Pinterest, blogs, nothing.  I went to Panera Bread and just sat there, ate a sandwich, and looked around.  Lots of people there were on their computers, which I always find odd.  If you have work to do, wouldn't you rather be in a quiet place? I wondered about the weather, but couldn't check my weather app because I didn't have my phone! I thought about texting my friend Diahann to join me for lunch, but I didn't have my phone! Luckily I happened to wear a watch that day.  Sometimes I don't, and I just check the time on my phone. 

Eventually the hour was up and I got my phone back.  Hooray!  But no way I am buying an Otterbox.  Those things are just ugly!

Million Dollar Baby

I was looking for a movie to rent for our plane ride to Florida, and came across  Million Dollar Baby on iTunes.  Although this film won best picture in 2004, I never saw it, and I didn't know how it ended (or if I did, I forgot a long time ago).  With my recent interest in 9Round boxing classes, I thought it might be interesting to watch a girl boxer movie. 

I would love to have shoulder muscles like this!

 

It's a great movie with a gut wrenching ending.  Maggie, the main character played by Hillary Swank, comes from a trailer park in Missouri.  She saves every penny that she makes as a waitress on boxing gloves and on her training.  When she starts working with trainer Frankie, played by Clint Eastwood, she can't even work the speed bag (maybe there's hope for me yet). Frankie tells her several times, "I don't train girls."  She pesters him enough until he agrees to train her. With hard work and determination she starts winning fights.  Frankie and Maggie travel around Europe winning more and more.  She even works her way to the $1 million dollar title fight in Vegas. 

 

Unfortunately in the end Maggie is robbed of everything; however she doesn't see it that way. In her mind, she did everything that she had set out to do.  For her, almost winning it all was good enough.

 



APPLE JUICE!

Last week we went down to Fort Lauderdale, Florida for spring break with another family.  It was a great week of swimming in the pool, the ocean, and the ocean channel behind our rental house.  We had pretty good weather, and a great view behind the house

our view for the week!

Our kids got along great, even though they had never met before.  Luckily, the kids were close in age.  My girls are 7 and 9 years old, and the two other girls are 8 and 4.  The 4 year old, who I'll call C, was the kind of little girl that makes a mom like me want to have another little girl.  She's a tiny little thing, who talks a mile a minute. I discovered her sentences were very well thought out and complex, but sometimes it was hard to understand what she was saying.  When we first met her at the airport, we couldn't understand a word she said.  But by the end of the week, my girls could understand every word perfectly.

C would talk to me and try to tell me things, but most of the time I couldn't understand what she was saying.  I would ask her Mom for a translation. Sometimes even her Mom would just shrug her shoulders and admit that she had no idea what C was saying.  I found that when C really wanted you to know something, her words became quite clear.  The child loves apple juice and would call out for it several times a day. "APPLE JUICE!" C would exclaim, to anyone who was listening.   Another of her favorites was, "PASTA!"  But my favorite was one afternoon when all the kids had to get out of the pool, she was looking at her Mother and said, "I'M NOT HAPPY!" Everyone understood that C was upset, no questions asked.  This little girl at age 4 knows exactly what she wants, and has no problems telling you about it.  I hope she never loses her assertiveness! Sometimes don't we all just need to say what we want, very plainly, so that everyone understands?

Are your kids vaccinated?

Vaccinations.  Just the mention of the word sends people into debates.  Do they cause Autism? Do they actually prevent disease?  Are they harming our children? As the mother of 3 children, let me just say up front that my kids are vaccinated.  This week I saw this blog post on Facebook, in favor of vaccinations.  I also saw a response against vaccinations.  You can click on links to read both sides. 

Here in North Carolina, if your children aren't vaccinated, they can not attend public schools. There is no opt out.   My middle daughter, Olivia, attended Kindergarten and part of 1st grade in Huntersville, NC. Then we moved to Omaha, NE, where she attended 1st grade, 2nd grade, and part of 3rd grade.  With each school entry we presented her shot record.  Last month we moved from Omaha back to Huntersville, NC.  I got a call from the school nurse, who told me that Olivia's shot record was not up to date.  The nurse stated that she needed an additional dose of Hep B vaccine, or she would be kicked out of school.   What? She has attended 2 different schools and no one has mentioned this before now.

Hep B is given to infants.  Apparently when Olivia was an infant, the doctor's office administered her Hep B shot one month too early.  Because it was administered one month too early, apparently she doesn't have immunity.  My daughter has had 27 immunizations in her lifetime. Now I have to subject her to another one?  This just seems crazy and unfair.  I asked the nurse if we could just opt out of this vaccine.  The answer was no, you can't. If she doesn't get this extra Hep B shot, she will not be able to attend school. I know my daughter, and she will freak out when she has to get this shot.  At five feet tall and 100 pounds, I'm sure that it will take several grown ups to hold her still. 

Meanwhile, people in California can just opt out of every vaccine for their child?  Short of moving west of homeschooling my child, I have no choice, and that sucks.

School picture day

As a working mom, I admit that sometimes I would forget about school picture day.  That's why in my son's third grade picture, he is wearing a Mario Brothers t-shirt.  My son is now 16 and could care less about that picture, but I love it, because that is really what he looked like every day. 

Today I had to get my girls, ages 7 and 9, ready for their school pictures.   Olivia demanded at 7pm last night that we go shopping because she had nothing to wear.  Obviously that was not going to happen.  She tried on about 10 outfits before I convinced her on the one pictured below. 

My younger daughter, Sarah, reminded me that I needed a pick a "background".  What?  Yes apparently these pictures came with fake backdrops of a waterfall or a forest.  I hate fake backgrounds.  I mean, who are they fooling?  Did they really take my 2nd and 3rd graders out to the forest to take their picture in front of a waterfall? At least for these pictures I didn't have to prepay.  Sometimes for school pictures, they make you send in money BEFORE the pictures are even taken.  That always irks me.  What if the pictures are bad?  My children are always beautiful, of course, but I hate to shell out $30 for bad pictures. 

 

Here's what they looked like when they left this morning.  This was after Olivia told me how much she hated her hair. Sigh.  Hopefully they pictures will turn out great!

Things I learned in Nebraska

Some people live their whole lives in the same town.  They are lucky enough to grow up around cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents.  Maybe their family owns the town drugstore or local car dealership, or maybe everyone in their family works for the same local factory.  I did not grow up this way.  I lived in 4 different states while growing up, and have lived in 4 different states since graduating from college in 1991.  When recruiters would ask me if I was able to relocate, I said yes.  I guess that's one of the reasons why we moved to Nebraska a little over two years ago.  Although we had never been there, I had a great job opportunity, so we packed up the girls and went.   

The Midwest is very different from the South.  For starters there is no sweet tea! They ask you if you want your milk in a "sack", and all soda is called "pop".  Here's some other things that I learned in my 2 years in this strange land:

1. EVERYONE (men, women, children) cheers for and watches the Huskers (that's the University of Nebraska) play any and every sport, but especially football.  When the football game is on, the state shuts down to watch.  Additionally, everyone has a red sweatshirt or t-shirt with a big N on it for Nebraska.  I think it's a law when you enter the state.  It is also OK to wear red Nebraska apparel to church.  On Christmas Eve.  I'm not kidding.

2. Omaha has the a LOT of bars. Trulia, a real estate trend-watcher, created maps that divide the U.S. into restaurant cities and bar cities, and Omaha pops up as the city with the third-highest bar density: 8.3 bars per 10,000 households.  It's bizarre. Click here to read the story There are bars in every strip center, all equipped with big screens to watch Nebraska games.    There are also no "blue" laws when it comes to selling alcohol, so it was common to see liquor displays in CVS, Target, and the local grocery store, HyVee.  HyVee once even had a display in the produce department showing how to make punch out of watermelons and everclear.  You just don't see that in the Bible belt south!  Also in HyVee they play radio coverage of the Husker games over the loudspeakers.  Just in case you might miss something on your beer run.

3. It's cold.  Well duh it's Nebraska.  But I'm talking bone chilling -20 degrees with the wind chill cold.  It wasn't uncommon to see snow on a daily basis.   Last year it snowed on May 1st.  Terrible.

4. Women eat in Nebraska.  A lot.  And they eat real foods.  No picking at salad here.  At my office we regularly had "food day" when everyone would bring a dish and we would basically eat all day.  Not great for my weight loss efforts for sure!  I had several skinny co workers (Brooke!) who could eat ANYTHING and stay skinny.  Must be some Midwest lucky gene mutation.

I don't regret the 2 years that we spent in Omaha, but I am very glad to be back in the south. Thanks for reading, y'all!