Why Having A Toddler Is Like Being At A Prat Party*

This is from another blog, I loved it so much I had to put it here. ::laughing:: It's from Suburban Snapshots

Thursday, June 10, 2010

*That one frat party I've ever been to, having gone to a Very Serious Arts College.

10. There are half-full, brightly-colored plastic cups on the floor in every room. Three are in the bathtub.

9. There's always that one girl, bawling her eyes out in a corner.

8. It's best not to assume that the person closest to you has any control over their digestive function.

7. You sneak off to the bathroom knowing that as soon as you sit down, someone's going to start banging on the door.

6. Probably 80% of the stains on the furniture contain DNA.

5. You've got someone in your face at 3 a.m. looking for a drink.

4. There's definitely going to be a fight.

3. You're not sure whether anything you're doing is right, you just hope it won't get you arrested.

2. There are crumpled-up underpants everywhere.

1. You wake up wondering exactly how and when the person in bed with you got there.

Politics, unemployment, immigrants... & HSUS

Why is it that we can not get someone in office that will be brave? I swear, there were a few things that pissed me off about Bush Jr, but over all he knew what he was doing. He took a stand for our military, made sure they got good annual raises and when someone tried to start shit with our country he took charge and declared war. Sure, I wasn't keen on the whole rebuilt Iraq bullshit, but he did what was right for the time. At least he wasn't a pussy like Clinton was. Now we have Obama...hmm...one word comes to mind...twit. Seriously, what the frakk is his malfunction? He's so concerned with how he looks on camera and other crap that he could care less about the country.

You want to know the reason for the unemployment rate in this country? Out sourcing, that's what. The stuff that we're so dependent on is no longer made here in the US. We used to be so self sufficient, what the frakk happened? I'll tell you what happened, companies wanted to save money so they went to China, India and other countries to get stuff made at a cheaper labor rate, which saves them billions of dollars, yet it makes the population and the economy suffer. Lovely, no? Now the US is just getting fat and lazy, it's sickening really. If we want to help with the unemployment rate, bring the jobs back to the US, stop taking them away!

You want lower prices for gas? Then stop going to Iraq for crude, seriously, we have so much hard crude in warehouses it's not even funny. And why do we have them in storage? Because no one wants a plant in their home town that can covert hard crude into petrol.

Don't even get me started on China. They've been sending us toys and stuff containing lead for who knows how long. Are they trying to kill us? What wold happen if we put a tariff on China? Oh, wait, we did that then the big companies who are saving billions and avoiding paying their taxes would suffer cause they'd have to hire US people to do the same job at a decent pay.

Border control...or lack there of. Every day who knows how many illegal immigrants come into this country, and it's not just from Mexico which is the one we're so worried about. Check the shipping containers coming over from China, bet you'll find human trafficking going on there.

We're one frakked up country, I'll say that much. Little by little we're losing our Constitutional rights.

The oil spill in the Gulf has been getting a lot of press lately, a lot of attention. Yet why are so many people ignoring it like it doesn't exist? What's the HSUS doing about it? There are a lot of unanswered questions about them in my mind. Here's a blurb I found that sums it up pretty damned well, I think.

HSUS and the Oil Spill…Silence

The title of their organization is the Humane Society of the United States.

They have told us how they have been off to Haiti saving dogs and other animals after
earthquakes did damage. (Although the small island is known to not have many, if any, dogs).

They told us how they went in and scooped up dogs and animals right after Katrina and saved them. But no one for the life of me can tell me where those animals were sent to and they cannot produce records of any actual rescues.

They show us close-up photos of dogs with sad eyes…in cages.

But they don’t bother to tell you that many of those photos were taken in vet’s offices in their holding pens of animals waiting to be operated on, or were being given medications, etc. Not really photos of animals being mistreated…that is why the photos are seldom "wide screen" and almost always close up of just a cage or two.

Funny how silent HSUS has been with the obvious catastrophe about to occur along America’s gulf coast shores…oil heading to areas that will kill millions of natural habitats and their animals.

HSUS, with their millions and millions of your donated dollars for rescue…has not made a single announcement regarding the gulf region and how they plan on helping the USDA and others try to save the area’s wildlife.

You know…a huge…."Humane" effort being required.

Oh, I forgot…HSUS just got through telling us that USDA was nothing more than a puppy mill itself.

Guess we are lucky to have HSUS on the watch for us. Although at this point they seem a bit like Mighty Mouse without the cape or the ability to fly. A bit more like Batman on a drunken weekend.

Now if we can just get HSUS off their dead butts and actually do something other than stealing peoples’ dogs and then selling them at local Pet stores.

But that would be logical and responsible.

Neither seems to be in HSUS’s operating plans.

Michael Costin and the staff of The Oklahoma Reporter

So yeah, you tell me....what do you think? Is this country going to hell in a hand basket or what?


< /rant >

The Apple iPad - my (re)view on it

Here's my experience with the Apple iPad ( From now on I'll call it Panel since iPad reminds me of a feminine product.). Be warned I don't hold my punches nor do I sugar coat it, so here we go.

Okay, so it looks great, seems so pretty in the store. And then you get it home. If you're like us and have Windows XP 64 bit, you're screwed unless you have a spare system or laptop with 32 bit windows. Sorry to be so blunt it's the truth. After nearly 3 hours of trying all the different work around, hacks and ideas running around the net Strider is reduced to loading up his laptop so we can get it to work.

Mind you, he even called Apple to see if they had any hints or ideas on what to do. You know what they told him? "Upgrade to Windows Vista 64 bit" Umm..what? Now that's funny, and I'm serious, Strider actually laughed out loud and said that's something you don't put in the same sentence "upgrade: and "Windows Vista".

So, anyway, he got his lap top connected to the wireless network we have here at the house so he can get iTunes and the mobile whosie-whatsit to work. And then came the fun of loading the books, photos and such, then to see just how customizable the Panel is.

Once we got everything moving along on the laptop it went smoothly, very smoothly. After transferring some of my pics onto the Panel I was able to set up my home screen and the lock screen. So far it seems really nice, I love how I can dim the screen when my eyes are especially sensitive to lights, which is a big plus in my book.

The books read really nicely as well. So far I'm pretty happy and impressed with the Panel. I can check my email, browse pictures, read a book, listen to music, browse the web, look at a map. So now when I need a recipe I can pull it up and have the Panel right there with me. The screen turns when you turn the Panel, as in full 360 degrees.

I like my new shiny.

< /rant >

Capri Sun... hoax or not?

Over the past two days two different Facebook pages have surfaced with claims of finding things, fleshy looking things, inside of the drink pouches for Capri Sun. Is this the first time something has been found in a Capri Sun pouch? No, it's not. A few years back a woman's kid was drinking a pouch of juice when the straw became clogged. Upon checking it out the woman found this gelatinous goo stuff.

The first one, to be honest, looked like a water logged mushroom. Supposedly the first one was confirmed by Kraft to be mold. Okay, I'll buy that. The pouch was punctured which meant air got into it, and since those things do sit on hot trucks for who knows how long during shipping, mold can grow.

The second thing looks like, I dunno what it looks like other than an urethra or some other fleshy item. To be honest, I think the second instance is faked for attention. The person who posted the second one saw how much attention the first poster was getting and decided to try to get some attention too.

I read the posts on Kraft's Facebook page and let me just say this, it has become a flame war. People are flaming the poster of the first set of pictures, making fun of them and so on. As for the second set of pictures, they're getting attention on other sites where they're being made fun of, big time.

I emailed Kraft Foods as a concerned parent, I'm sorry, but I want to know. If this is a hoax then it needs to be shut down as soon as possible. If it's real then they need to recall every one of the packs from the affected lots or from that particular factory. Not to mention that box from the first claim you can clearly see that it was made in China, or so the stamp on it stated.

Here's what I wrote to Kraft -

Hi, as a concerned parent I have to ask this question. In the past 2 days 2 pages have popped up on Facebook claiming that there have been things found in Capri Sun juice pouches. Are these claims real or are they a hoax? If they are hoaxes, please shut them down. If they're real then please recall all cases from the affected lots.

Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.

Not sure if I'll even get an answer, but it's worth a shot, right?

What do you think? I'm curious as to what others think about this.

*UPDATE 6-14-2010 9:49pm EST*

I got a response from Kraft foods. Here's what they said.

Thank You for Contacting Us!

Hi Z,

Thank you for visiting http//www.caprisun.com/ and for your interest in Capri Sun.

The quality and safety of Kraft Foods products and Capri Sun are our very highest priority. Sometimes small leaks in the package may occur and because Capri Sun does not have preservatives, these leaks may lead to a quality issue but not a food safety one.

We recently received word from a consumer about an issue with a Capri Sun pouch. We understand that some people are concerned. Now that we've tested the material, we've confirmed it was mold. While unpleasant, it is not a safety issue. If this had been a safety issue, Kraft Foods certainly would have taken the necessary steps, including issuing a recall.

As a general food safety tip, please remember that because Capri Sun beverages don't have preservatives, a leaky pouch can cause the beverage to spoil and discarding it is the right action to take.

If you haven’t done so already, please add our site to your favorites and visit us again soon!

Kim McMiller
Associate Director, Consumer Relations

~~TLXEA_20649958~~Y

Since they had no mention of the second one what so ever, I'm going to have to say it's a hoax. The first one was plausible, the second one...not so much by the looks of what was found in the pouch.

So there you have it, my opinion and a little leg work to get to the bottom of things.

< /rant >

WTF is wrong with her?!

Just as I start to feel better from the other night with the bullshit from my mom she calls and does it to me all over again. How do I turn off the way she makes me feel? How do I stop letting it get to me? ::sighs:: She started talking down about Bug and I asked her why so she snapped at me and said "If I was talking down about her I'd call her an idiot." Seriously? I can't believe she said that!

She's starting to show a very poisonous personality which is detrimental to Bug and all of us around her. Why is she like this? Why does she have to treat people this way? She always talks down about people as though she's better then they are. She talks crap about family too. Which is bullshit.

Anytime we go out she talks crap about people she sees, be it how they dress, look or act. She says it loud enough for people to hear. I'm not talking things like "Look how she's dressed" or "How can she let her kids act that way?" I'm talking mean things that even I wouldn't say, and I tend to speak my mind A LOT. You want to know the sad thing? She's been like this most of her life, but it's getting progressively worse.

I'll admit, I can be pretty mean spirited too, but that's only after I've been pushed to that point by someone. ::sighs::

< /rant >

Life unbound

Ever feel completely invisible? I do, but only to certain people.

Ever have those friends who claim to give a damn then they turn out to be complete psychotics? Yup, got them too.

Ever feel like your life has spun out of control and you're barely hanging on? Yup, going through that too lately, the emotional roller coaster can stop now, I'm ready to get off and go back to my quasi normal life.

Ever feel like you want to just scream? ::raises hand:: That's me again, I'd love some primal scream therapy, but in my neighborhood the cops would show up, not a good idea.

Ever feel like you're being pulled in a thousand different directions? ::sighs: That would be me as well.

So, the ones I feel invisible to are the ones I enjoy talking to, their lives became busy yet they don't seem to have two seconds to respond to a text message. Hmm, okay, I must be strange then because I always take the time to respond even if it's a few hours later, I still respond. My friend Jay, that's what we'll call him, recently got engaged, I understand how hectic life can be, but he doesn't have the time to even answer a single text message? He said he felt like crap for ignoring his friends, so I talked to him about it. He hangs out with his friends that live near him, but he said he felt like he was ignoring me. Which, yeah, he was, and is. But it's okay. Friends grow apart, right? Not like I can stay on contact with him forever, no matter how much I enjoy his company and conversation. There are a lot of people that I've lost touch with over the years, but some of them seem to stand out more than others. There are some that it hurts to have fallen out of touch with them, and others that I could care less about. Okay, time to get out of this annoying funk. I have good friends that I can talk to, that I enjoy talking to. So what if these other people can't be bothered, right? I have my post-it-note girl, my Shadus, my Kuroshi, my girls, my Strider, my Bug...what more do I need?

I've been feeling pretty nostalgic lately, which for me can be a bad thing.

Sometimes I feel invisible. Don't we all? Lately Strider's been trying to help me through this. But there's not much he can do, not much anyone can do really. I've been feeling very out of sorts lately. I know a lot of it has to do with menopause, which is a bitch in and of itself. I don;t wish this on my worst enemy, but, just about every woman I know will go through this at some point in her life. I get confused far too easily, I forget things. As an example, I was standing in the kitchen cooking when Jake started to talk to me, I stopped doing the prep for dinner. Then I got confused as to what the hell I was doing. ::chuckles:: Talk about annoying. Some days I walk into a room and forget what I was doing. Yeah, annoying as all hell. The night sweats have come back full force, and the mood swings..up and down, up and down....annoying! I can't kick the crap out of this like I do every other stress in my life like depression. If I can't beat it what can I do? Live with it? GAH! I'm being pulled in a thousand directions at one, can I get a break now? I just want the ride to stop so I can take a breath and get my head together.

My therapy...my needs....my wants...can you handle it?

Primal scream... where you let the beast within you scream out with all the built up rage and fury it has gathered over the years. Scream it out for the world to hear, scream it out in the most feral of voices.

Rough sex... yes even a good rutting is good for the soul, and the body sometimes. Clawing, biting, screaming, sweating, growling, groaning. Mmmm.

Run...just run. Go into the forest, a place so pure, so wild and just....run. Feel free, feel alive, feel the ground beneath your feet.

Barefoot...yes, barefoot. Stand in the grass barefoot, feel the pulse of the Earth beneath your feet. Breathe in, breathe out, feel Her all around you.

Talk to a rock...I know it sounds insane, but sometimes just talking gets it all out. Talk about the things you don't dare tell your mate or friends, tell it your darkest secrets, your darkest thoughts and desires. It'll listen and it won't walk away or ignore you or interrupt you.

No words anymore..just....be.

That's what I call therapy. That's what I call a way to focus and find your center again. We can all do it. At certain points of our lives we all feel like our skin's crawling, like there's something deep inside of us clawing to get out. How do you handle it?

I feel so much better now, hope you enjoy my crazy ranting and strange methods of therapy. Maybe I should put a disclaimer on here...warning you may find some things said here offensive or down right STRANGE! ::laughs::


< /rant >

Am I really that bad of a person?

Seriously, am I?

Tonight started off bad. On the way to pick up my mom I ran over a bird. Talk about a bad start to a night, it popped under the front tire and I nearly cried. Then we pick up my mom...and things went down hill from there, and I mean seriously down hill.

Bug loves to sing to music in the car, but my mom can't go for more than two seconds without talking. So what does she do? She starts talking to Bug while she's singing. I mention something about it after the second song. She snapped at me then started treating Bug like shit. I'm talking it got so bad that Strider actually yelled, twice. No matter how calm and nice I tried to talk to my mom she kept getting angrier and more mean spirited. When we got the restaurant she gets in my face after Strider and Bug went inside. After that she snaps again inside and decides to call a cab then starts talking shit about me to the restaurant owner! What the frakk?

Am I really that bad of a person that I should be treated like this? What the hell made her treat Bug the way she did?

Despite the way she acted and everything I hope she got home safely, I really do. She is my mother after all and I can't exactly stop caring about her, no matter how pissed off at her I get.

I'm going to get my Bug to bed now, maybe I'll post more later. Right now I feel the like crawling into a hole in my backyard and not coming out for a long while.

< /rant >

I need to get this out!

There's no excuse for parents not handing their kids. I've seen far too many times including today when some woman's daughter was spitting on people after taking a sip of her drink. The lady laughed and said "Kids will be kids". Umm...no, you tell your kid to stop, take away the drink and be responsible. Is it really that hard? I mean seriously!

And then she goes on to tell me that her daughter ended up with a straw down her throat from running with one in her mouth then getting pushed by her younger sister. What the hell was she doing running with it in her mouth in the first place?! The woman shrugged as if she didn't give a damn! It was very obvious that she likes the IDEA of kids but not actually PARENTING them, and her mother was there and was the exact same way so I saw where she got it all from.

I've seen some crazy ass things parents do and all I can do is shake my head. We were at the Aquarium a few weeks ago, these parents were there with the kids and the son just pushes e to look at something without even an excuse me. He actually PUSHED ME! I said as loudly as I could "Excuse me?" His mother looked at me and glared, I swear it was as though she thought they rules the world and I should let her kid do what ever he wanted. Umm..hell no! I won't even let Bug get away with that!

I've seen kids acting out, screaming, yelling, running, breaking things in stores and the parents just ignore it as if it's not even happening. Where's the discipline? Oh, wait, they don't give a damn, that's why there is none! I will never understand the idiocy of some parents.

Her lovely eyes

Took Bug to see her eye doctor today. It went pretty well actually. He said that her eyes are doing rather well. No need to change her RX for her glasses, she's doing pretty good. Only bad thing is that now she's not seeing red nor is was she able to do the push the animal back down that popped up. I thin it has to do with the atropine drops in her left eye, he didn't mention it so I'm guessing it's nothing to be worried about. He wants to see Bug back in 3 months, so we'll see what happens then. And as usual, I will keep a journal of her vision, the things she does, sees and so on.

She even drew him a picture, which he totally adored. We even talked about activities for her, and he loves everything we've been doing as far as going places and letting her explore things.

Now that we're home it's time to get to cleaning up the house so we can have a clear day to go to the Aquarium later this week if Bug wants to, which I know she does.

2010 World Oceans Day Celebration ~ Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center

This is something that is just awesome for the kids to do. It's all based on a Dr Seuss book One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish. We're going to try to make it to this even I thing my Bug would absolutely love it.


2010 World Oceans Day Celebration ~ Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center