So rude.

Dear rude woman,

Sometimes I wish I had raised my kids differently. When you said excuse me to my son as he and his friends sat on the curb at the parade he politely squished over against his friend to let you get by. But you didn’t go by.. You sat your oversized McDonalds eating ass right next to him and THEN proceeded to yank your snotty smelly kid in the 2 inches of space between you and my polite son. He still didn’t say anything, he just moved over more, squishing himself against his friend. When his friend’s mother pointed out that “He was sitting there.” You said.. and I quote.. “Well you ain’t moving my fucking kid.” Classy.
“Ain’t’ is not a proper word and using the f word just shows your gross lack of intelligent vocabulary.
My kid, the polite kid, got up and stood. His friends did too and you moved right into the space. Then you proceeded to try and stop the marchers to take photos of them with your kid. Lady.. It is not –your- parade, it is our parade.. stop screwing it up.
Then.. then! You told your kids to dump out the drinks they did not like and throw their cups on the ground.. now the sidewalk. Where people were sitting, was wet. Nice job. And covered in your McDonalds trash. I really hope you are not from Holyoke.
People like you make me wish I had raised my kid to be a little bit ruder. You know.. kind of like you and your kids. Good job.

Signed,
Mother with manners.

Just saying..

I borrowed this from a newsletter I get. I'm not screaming my opinion, just sharing something to think about. Can any of us really stand to be spoon fed political propaganda?

A global warming science update, which can be summarized in seven short words – It is much worse than we thought.
Public opinion, which finds that a record 41% of the American people think the threat of global warming is being exaggerated.
• Economist Nicholas Stern believes that without urgent action, we could be committing ourselves to a planetary increase of four to six degrees Centigrade.
• Even at a more modest four degree rise, Stern predicts that 85% of the Amazon rainforest will be destroyed, leading to catastrophic shortages of fresh water and mass failures of food harvests. As many as half of all species on Earth may become extinct.
• A 2009 peer-reviewed study published in Science concludes that the planetary effects of Antarctic ice melt could lead to wildly uneven sea level increases. In the Northern hemisphere sea level increases as high as 21 feet may threaten New York, London, and Tokyo with total inundation -- creating tens of millions of refugees.

Denial and Deceit -- The Opposition
You'd think this terrifying wave of discoveries would galvanize all of us to take drastic action today.
Instead, we are witnessing an unprecedented propaganda blitz by polluters and global warming deniers to stop legislation and confuse the public. Consider these few highlights of what they're up to:
• They are spending hundreds of millions of dollars in lobbying, political contributions alone -- with hundreds of millions more in paid ads.
• The number of lobbyists working to block global warming action has increased 300% in recent years, according to the Center for Public Integrity.
• They've landed an army of talking heads on the political talk shows to drive the debate among the Beltway crowd. Their message is as simple as it is false. A cap on global warming pollution is a "hidden energy tax" (which it is not) and that "we can't afford to act in the current economic crisis" (which is not true).

Tech. Dif.

One sick kid
Two essays on the effects of early slavery on todays economy
One story for 7 year olds
Two midterms that I have no time to study for
One fire in the attic
Two essays comparing poems for children and creative elasticity in childrens toys
One large bottle of Tylenol PM
Two dollars in my pocket

Me: Does my hair look like I brushed it?
Kid 1: You brush your hair?

Boss: So I took your advice and broke up with my girlfriend instead of cheating on her.
Me: Good for you! I think.. how did that go?
Boss: Well, I broke up with her via text message.
Me: ................

Me: I am have Thai pasta for lunch, 150 calories.
Erin: I can't eat pasta.
Me: This is GOOD for you pasta, it's rice noodles.. look.
-I took photos of my lunch with my phone and e-mailed them to her-
Erin: I don't know who is dorkier, you for sending me pics of your lunch or me for downloading them.
Me: -busy eating my pasta-

I stopped taking my iron pills and have been feeling like a truck ran me over.. I still have the Mi Plaza and Mt Tom pics to post but I can't find the stupid cable for my camera. My laptop has a sim card slot though so as soon as I get a chance I will try and upload them that way. I am dreading the parade.. I hope it isn't cold out.

While you wait...

I have two posts in the works.. Mi Plaza and Mt Tom.. but for now I just have this..



The Armory
Sargeant & Pine Streets
Holyoke Mass.
Circa 1900


Birds Eye View of
High Street, Holyoke Mass.
Mount Holyoke in Distance
Circa 1910



The Nonotuck
Holyoke Mass.
Circa 1910

Things I would like to know..

1. Why are all the lights along High St missing the delay between red for one street and green for the next? Why?!

2. Why did the Holyoke School Dept close down Lawrence to ‘save money’ and then not move there but still pay to heat and light the entire building? Hmm?

3. Why did Lisa Lavoie have mens jeans and greasy hair on her ‘perp walk’ into the Holyoke Police Department? Doesn’t West Virginia have showers? Are her clothes being saved as evidence? Does she actually dress like that? … that would explain a lot though, wouldn’t it?

4. Why doesn’t the McDonalds downtown pick up its freaking trash? And smile when I drive though. I love your new Mochas. You are single handedly destroying my illusions of being a health food nut. At least smile as I pay you to crush my dreams.

5. Why did the shop guy just hand me a dirty invoice? They have soap over there, I know because I bought it for them. Can no one take a hint?

6. On a happier note Kashi has instant oatmeal that is not overly sweetened and has 9 grams of protein a serving! Yay! And my boys will be taking a Yoga class Saturday morning with me, I kind of want to just watch and take pictures of them in Warrior pose, then frame them for their adorableness. Mike, don’t tell them I blogged about that!

7. Sunday is supposed to be delicious outside, I hope it won’t be too muddy to go walk around Mt Tom! Anyone want to come?

p.s. The best play ever a few posts back was West Side Story. I need to hunt down a new copy on Ebay.

Teaching kids about taxes!

My son is on the Gold Star System. He gets gold stars for brushing his teeth and cleaning his toys up... And every week we take 25 % of his gold stars to teach him about taxes.

Four Degrees Hotter

Boys came to work with me today, snow day. Thank god for having a big enough office that they don’t have to sit near each other and actually co-exist for 8 hours.



So I am reading this article about Global Warming.. I know it is a phrase I do not like but in this case it is actually what they are talking about. What will happen when the earth’s average temp climbs 4 degrees. It doesn’t sound like much, but you have to stop and think… At 32 degrees your freeze pop freezes. At 33 degrees you have kool aid in a tube.

The difference of one degree might as well be the difference of 100 degrees.

If the average temp rises 4 degrees New Orleans will no longer exist, Brazil will be a desert..

ALLIGATORS basking off the English coast; a vast Brazilian desert; the mythical lost cities of Saigon, New Orleans, Venice and Mumbai; and 90 per cent of humanity vanished. Welcome to the world warmed by 4 °C.

I know the article says 4C, I use Degrees because I was mceducated in ‘merican schools where we only spent 5 hours on the metric system and Celsius.

Now, I am not an alarmist and I don’t actually think that recycling and avoiding plastic will stop Climate Change. It is too late now, this is real, it’s happening. Some of us will still be alive to see this. All we can do now is try not to make it worse… use less, buy less, burn less. No one is asking you to turn into an environmentalist nut right this minute.. but bring your own bags once in a while, notice how much trash you create, maybe try a little compost project just for fun.

What we need to do now is prepare for the future.

On a more local note, it has been really uplifting lately to hear so much about Holyoke and our efforts to be a little greener, after all Holyoke has the potential to be the Greenest City in the state. Wouldn’t it be nice to be known for something other then crime, poverty and culture divides?

Mindless Chatter

Hi! I’m here! How are you? I don’t have a pic for this mish mash post but I do have a pic from the Best Play Ever. Do you know it?



I went to the CRUSH meeting last night after yoga and had a really good time. I ran into a woman I used to work with years ago. I never really spoke to her much then, she was all about following rules and I was all about being lazy.

Lazy is all you get from me for min. wage. Plus my boss was a jerk.

Anyway, turns out she’s good people. I should have made more of an effort to befriend her then. Maybe it’s a sign I should chat with the weird girl I work with now.

Nahh.

The Crush meeting, I was saying, was fun. You should go to one. It’s in the Bungalow, which is just about the neatest little room I have ever seen in Holyoke and while I only actually knew 4 people there, everyone else was super nice. The speakers were nifty too, especially the slides that I didn’t really see because some people are really into themselves and forget the little people, literally, whose view they are blocking.
-ahem- just saying.

I did say Yoga! I recently joined Vega Yoga in Open Square and you should do that too. It’s more then ‘just a yoga studio’ it is a place to sort of.. reconnect with yourself. I don’t know about you, but by the end of my day I am lucky to know where my shoes are let alone my inner quiet.

I have to write a paper this weekend. I am either going to write a short story (Maybe about a girl who is scatterbrained?) or write a more serious review of The Golden Compass (the book, not the crappy film).

Tonight I am going to dance like a fool with Rachel, who looks infinitely cooler then I do, dancing like a fool.

Saturday is Birthday Parties and Basketball, during all of which I will be mentally writing that paper so I can type it up in an hour around midnight.

Sunday is Bubblemania at Holyoke Heritage State park, 2 pm. We have been to that before and it’s a fun little show.

Thanks Peter, for letting me use your phone. I was too embarrassed to have lost my phone in my own purse to even be envious of your model.

Oh! And before I forget, this will either make you laugh or gag.

.. this is why you’re fat.

Back!

We spent a week in Florida with my Grandparents. I miss it already! Click on the pics for full view.

Sharing

This blog…

http://www.notesfromthetrenches.com/

Is easily one of my favorites. It is not about Holyoke. I have no idea where the blogger lives but I am sure it is not Holyoke. She’s not especially green and her pics are often full of plastic items.

But I love this blog.

She takes fantastic photos. Mostly of her children, sometimes of bathroom mirrors, pies or pretty scenery. Once she posted about peeing in a jug and carrying it around and I laughed for ages after wards. I never comment at her blog or even read others comments and her bog has none of my interests in it but still.. You should look, even if just to admire her photography skills.

Twofer Tuesday, plus 3.

Does anyone else think Miss Mass looks like a starving refugee? Can someone please give her a cheese burger?!

Anyway..

1. What the hell is with snow days and delays and people in New England freaking out about the weather? The last snow storm I recall being so bad that you couldn’t drive in it was in the 1990’s and I am a pretty timid driver!

I get the safety thing, I really do. Busses have no seat belts; kids have to walk to the bus stop. But.. Didn’t we all do it as kids? I not only walked in the snow but I have to take a Public Bus when I was 9! Both ways. (I sound like my grandmother.) We are raising a generation of fearful people. While I do not want to put my kids in any danger.. I do not want them to be afraid of the world. If you live in the northeast then wet and cold and icy weather IS your world.

If the buses are delayed why must the kids who are driven and/or walk have to be delayed? Can’t the delay be optional? Like.. Ok all the buses will be two hours late but for those of you who have to work to feed your kids can still drop them off at the normal time so that you do not have to drive 40 minutes to go to work, bringing your children with you and then turn around an hour and half later and drive your kids 40 minutes back to school, then drive 40 minutes back to work effectively wasting your entire morning and having to cancel 2 meetings and leave a co worker in the lurch.

Yea, I did. Thanks.

And now you know tomorrow will be a snow day so my kids will be coming to work with me for the day AGAIN. I am so lucky I can do that, seriously, so very lucky. My kids will behave and all but you know.. That’s really the kind of thing that I do not want to abuse.

Side note: One of the traveling guys just walked in here and asked where I was yesterday. Apparently he stopped by to see me while I was making that trip back to the school. It just gets better and better.

If there is no school Wednesday there will be no Zumba!

2. Holyoke. I love you Holyoke. I found a new apartment in Holyoke that’s big and nice and in a good area and the landlord is already a friend of ours. There are kids there that go to school with my kids too. Those of you have I talked to the last few years know of the housing hell we have gone though, from living in downtown to living in a foreclosure. It’s been one big disappointment after another. Keep your fingers crossed for me! It is so hard to find a decent apartment in Holyoke. People either want absurd rents (1250 a month for a one bedroom in the highlands? Really?) or they are back downtown. I am so glad we don’t have to look outside Holyoke.

Bonus! It looks like our trip to Florida to see my grandparents is still on, yay!

p.s I am still putting off buying that phone, I want to see if I wait long enough I will get over my phone lust or it will get cheaper!

P.P.S. Why do I have to play a dollar to go to my kids CYO games? I already paid enough in freaking registration fees and I buy the cruddy food. What does my dollar go to? I had to pay it at all the schools.. I don’t mind so much at Guadalupe.. but Holy Name really doesn’t need my Holyoke bucks as much as say.. Holyoke does.

For an Eternity

I have been obsessing over this new phone…The Samsung Eternity. It has a 3.2 mega pixel camera. I really don’t know what that means exactly but I know it’s GOOD. I played with it in the store, the pics are incredible. Yes this is what’s important to me in a phone. That it works, takes pics, and has a reminder feature and stores numbers with pictures.

Anyway if I add a line its 9.99 a month for 550 minutes shared (way more then enough, I don’t use the hone much) and my kids can have my pink phone. For when they are away from me, they can’t take it to school or anything.

The cost of the phone is about 200 in store then I get a 50 dollar rebate in the mail. I checked three AT&T stores and this is the best deal I have found so far.

I don’t need this phone, my pink phone works fine, and it just takes crappy pics and has no key board so texting is a pain. The Eternity has a QWERTY keyboard. It’s a touch screen; you can use the touch screen with gloves on. I don’t have to sign up for a huge ass data package (Like with the iphone.) And yes I know it’s an iphone copy.. I just don’t care. I want it.

I am going to buy it on Friday.

Consumerism is alive and well. -Sigh- But I did my research.. I want this phone! It has 3g! I don’t know what that is but I want it. Look!

Also called the SGH-A867, the black-and-chrome Eternity has a 3.2-inch display with haptics vibrating feedback, Samsung's TouchWiz interface, and an accelerometer. Inside you'll find support for AT&T Mobile TV, GPS, a 3-megapixel camera, messaging and e-mail, Bluetooth, a microSD card slot, AT&T's Video Share, a full HTML browser, 3G connectivity, a speakerphone, and organizer options. The Eternity is $149.99 with a two-year contract.

Does the SD slot mean I can take pics and then use the SD card to print them out?

key specifications
• Camera Resolution : 3.0 Megapixel
• Video recording : Video recording
• Music Player : MP3 Player
• Mobile TV : AT&T Mobile TV

QWERTY keyboard
The Eternity™ has a unique onscreen QWERTY keyboard you can access in landscape or portrait mode (or even switch between the two). In either mode, the Eternity™ lets you type as fast as you talk.
3.0 mega pixel camera
With a full 3.0 megapixels, the SAMSUNG Eternity™ will shoot beautiful pictures every time. There’s also a digital zoom, brightness control and camcorder that shoots videos of up to one hour long.

Video review!

The good: The Samsung Eternity has an attractive design with a intuitive touch-screen interface. It offers a solid assortment of multimedia features and good call quality. It also has impressive battery life.
The bad: The Samsung Eternity's virtual keyboard isn't available when entering message recipients. It lacks a camera flash, Wi-Fi and voice dialing and the 3G connectivity could be stronger.
The bottom line: The Samsung Eternity succeeds as a multimedia device, but without Wi-Fi and full e-mail support, it stops well short of being a business-friendly device.
Specifications: Band / mode: WCDMA (UMTS) / GSM 850/900/1800/1900 ; Talk time: Up to 300 min ; Combined with: With digital camera

Pictures taken with the Eternity..
I tried to post them but they are huge.

http://www.infosyncworld.net/resources/products/samsung/samsung_eternity_s00.jpg

http://www.infosyncworld.net/resources/products/samsung/samsung_eternity_s01.jpg

http://www.infosyncworld.net/resources/products/samsung/samsung_eternity_s02.jpg

http://www.infosyncworld.net/resources/products/samsung/samsung_eternity_s04.jpg


And a message board



See, Alex? At least I am a smart consumer.. ist.

Christmas on Masslive

“Omg! I saw someone today buy king crab legs with food stamps and I am angry because I pay 25 grand in taxes a year and have to eat tuna out of a can.”

Several people chime in about how everyone on welfare is scum and should be shot, even the little welfare babies’ cause they don’t deserve to live. (So far it hasn’t turned into a race thing, but the day is early!) I read all of this quietly and sigh. By the way.. 68 bucks in crab legs? I’m not even sure you’re telling the truth. In fact I just called the S&S on Northampton st and Alaskan King Crab legs are 16.99 a pound so they got 4 pounds of mostly shell.. That’s not exactly a feast, you know?

This one made me snicker…

13712.6. whats wrong with the picture

is that you must make more than anyone in holyoke and you are eating tuna. how many kids do you pay child support on, 9?

Then someone makes the obligatory post (it was not me this time) about how it’s not a big deal and immediately they are called names and assumed to be on welfare.

You have to be poor to have compassion for your fellow man?

Now you know the original poster who is so upset about the food stamp purchase is a devout Catholic or Christian.. So let me just remind them that Jesus was a welfare baby who was born in a dirty freaking barn because his unemployed parents were poor run aways. They would have qualified for food stamps and when the three wise men showed up.. I bet they would have bought them crab legs if they could have.

I know I get on this a lot but I have been on welfare, I have used food stamps. I have seen you give me a dirty look as I swiped that god awful blue card. When I was making nine bucks an hour and the holidays rolled around.. everyone got food gifts from us.. Because I could use my food stamps to buy chocolates or exotic ingredients.

What I think is being forgotten by those so upset is that today is Christmas Eve. Let them eat cake! Or crab. Because I want to be happy today I am going to assume that the shopper has kids and maybe Christmas crab is a tradition, maybe this is a tough year and they already scaled back gifts, cable, activities and the guy just doesn’t want to see the look on his kids faces when they serve spam instead of crab. Who the hell knows.. and who the hell cares?

There are jerks out there abusing the system, I know. But do we have to collectively punish them all for the screw ups of a few? And before anyone goes there.. let me remind you that in Massachusetts we have the Family Cap law, you cannot be on welfare and have a baby and get more money. You get NOTHING for any baby you have after you sign up for assistance. Your family is capped.

Merry Christmas to all the scrooges out there and to all my fellow Holyoke’s who try to make every day the best it can be in our sad little city.

I am buying some crab tonight I think. With cash.

Being Poor

I came across this today and it really struck me. I have lived more then half of these things, my children have too. I think most people have at least experienced something on this list. Especially in Holyoke. Have you?

Being poor is knowing exactly how much everything costs.

Being poor is getting angry at your kids for asking for all the crap they see on TV.

Being poor is having to keep buying $800 cars because they’re what you can afford, and then having the cars break down on you, because there’s not an $800 car in America that’s worth a damn.

Being poor is hoping the toothache goes away.

Being poor is knowing your kid goes to friends’ houses but never has friends over to yours.

Being poor is going to the restroom before you get in the school lunch line so your friends will be ahead of you and won’t hear you say “I get free lunch” when you get to the cashier.

Being poor is living next to the freeway.

Being poor is coming back to the car with your children in the back seat, clutching that box of Raisin Bran you just bought and trying to think of a way to make the kids understand that the box has to last.

Being poor is wondering if your well-off sibling is lying when he says he doesn’t mind when you ask for help.

Being poor is off-brand toys.

Being poor is a heater in only one room of the house.

Being poor is knowing you can’t leave $5 on the coffee table when your friends are around.

Being poor is hoping your kids don’t have a growth spurt.

Being poor is stealing meat from the store, frying it up before your mom gets home and then telling her she doesn’t have make dinner tonight because you’re not hungry anyway.

Being poor is Goodwill underwear.

Being poor is not enough space for everyone who lives with you.

Being poor is feeling the glued soles tear off your supermarket shoes when you run around the playground.

Being poor is your kid’s school being the one with the 15-year-old textbooks and no air conditioning.

Being poor is thinking $8 an hour is a really good deal.

Being poor is relying on people who don’t give a damn about you.

Being poor is an overnight shift under florescent lights.

Being poor is finding the letter your mom wrote to your dad, begging him for the child support.

Being poor is a bathtub you have to empty into the toilet.

Being poor is stopping the car to take a lamp from a stranger’s trash.

Being poor is making lunch for your kid when a cockroach skitters over the bread, and you looking over to see if your kid saw.

Being poor is believing a GED actually makes a goddamned difference.

Being poor is people angry at you just for walking around in the mall.

Being poor is not taking the job because you can’t find someone you trust to watch your kids.

Being poor is the police busting into the apartment right next to yours.

Being poor is not talking to that girl because she’ll probably just laugh at your clothes.

Being poor is hoping you’ll be invited for dinner.

Being poor is a sidewalk with lots of brown glass on it.

Being poor is people thinking they know something about you by the way you talk.

Being poor is needing that 35-cent raise.

Being poor is your kid’s teacher assuming you don’t have any books in your home.

Being poor is six dollars short on the utility bill and no way to close the gap.

Being poor is crying when you drop the mac and cheese on the floor.

Being poor is knowing you work as hard as anyone, anywhere.

Being poor is people surprised to discover you’re not actually stupid.

Being poor is people surprised to discover you’re not actually lazy.

Being poor is a six-hour wait in an emergency room with a sick child asleep on your lap.

Being poor is never buying anything someone else hasn’t bought first.

Being poor is picking the 10 cent ramen instead of the 12 cent ramen because that’s two extra packages for every dollar.

Being poor is having to live with choices you didn’t know you made when you were 14 years old.

Being poor is getting tired of people wanting you to be grateful.

Being poor is knowing you’re being judged.

Being poor is a box of crayons and a $1 coloring book from a community center Santa.

Being poor is checking the coin return slot of every soda machine you go by.

Being poor is deciding that it’s all right to base a relationship on shelter.

Being poor is knowing you really shouldn’t spend that buck on a Lotto ticket.

Being poor is hoping the register lady will spot you the dime.

Being poor is feeling helpless when your child makes the same mistakes you did, and won’t listen to you beg them against doing so.

Being poor is a cough that doesn’t go away.

Being poor is making sure you don’t spill on the couch, just in case you have to give it back before the lease is up.

Being poor is a $200 paycheck advance from a company that takes $250 when the paycheck comes in.

Being poor is four years of night classes for an Associates of Art degree.

Being poor is a lumpy futon bed.

Being poor is knowing where the shelter is.

Being poor is people who have never been poor wondering why you choose to be so.

Being poor is knowing how hard it is to stop being poor.

Being poor is seeing how few options you have.

Being poor is running in place.

Being poor is people wondering why you didn’t leave.

I'd love to call you sometime

Why do men ask for a womans number and then not call? Seriously. I admit it, it's bothering me. And what you said.. Was that a line? Because it freaking worked, I can't stop wondering what in the hell you were talking about. I swear to god I was 13 the last time I saw you. So what kind of first are you even talking about? If you had called, I would have asked. I hope this isn't like when I was 13 and it took you like 2 months to call and say Happy Birthday.
Meh.

Buh Bye Bratz!

I am bound to piss off someone’s mother today but can I tell you how pleased I am that MGA has been told to stop making Bratz dolls?

No more Bratz Dolls will be sold after 2008!

Personally I don’t give a damn about Mattell, Barbie, Carter Bryant (who sounds like a sleaze) or MGA. What I do care about is your daughter growing up to be a hootchie and dating my sons. And yea I really do think these dolls encourage very hootchie like girls.
I even have examples!

That is a dress. It is a whole outfit. That doll is completely dressed about to go out and be a really well behaved good girl with good grades and a bright future. As a hooker. The purple lipstick really completes the look.

Baby Bratz… BABY Bratz. The toddler has make up on and it dressed like a 22 year old about to get her drink on. If she were 22 that would be just fine, but she’s 2. And wearing combat boots and a mini skirt. Because 2 year olds want to be sexy too. Love the eyeliner.
-cry- The shoes. If those shoes were in my size they would have six inch heels. They are the length of the dolls hands.. my hand is six inches from palm to middle fingertip. My feet (Yes I just measured) Are only 8 inches long! These dolls are marketed to your 7 year old. Why can’t she still be wearing keds and patent leather? Doll 1 form the left is not so bad to be honest. Sadly she has obviously been hit in the face with a baseball bat at her last frat party sp that her lips are permantly swollen but she is decently dressed. Doll 2 is apparently trying to make her gynecologist’s job easier, who needs a paper gown when you’re already flashing your cooter at the world? It just goes on from there.. too much make up, too little clothing, too extreme styles for children dolls. It is not the clothes and make up itself though. They are styles and colors I might wear and therein lays the problem. I am a grown woman, little girls do not want to dress like me (Unless they are incredibly precocious little dears!) but they do want to be like their dolls.

Suddenly Barbie seems like nun. I played with Barbie, My little Pony and something called Star Faries.

I had a blue plastic castle.

When I was 8 my father drove down here form New York and bought me this, then go drunk, yelled at my mom and drove away. A few weeks later my star Fairy castle disappeared. I was smart enough to not ask about it.
Disclaimer.. I am aware that responsible parenting can make toys such as Hootchie Mama Dolls acceptable but how many irresponsible parents have you come across in your time? Exactly.
Sidenote.. can you still even buy Keds tennis? Remember Jelly shoes? I grew Up in Jarvis Heights, back them there was a brook running though it and Scott’s tower only smelled like pee a few times a year. Chamura pool was a quarter to get into but they let us poor kids in for free anyway. I think childhood in Holyoke is another days post.
What was your favorite toy growing up?

Better late then never!

Things I am grateful for.

Oranges in December.
Kids that scrape the ice off my windshield without being asked.
Cake, in a jar!
My avocado plant is 12 inches high.
I have the luxury of throwing out leftovers sometimes
A decent job in this economy
The man at Nicks Nest who said I was a good mom.
Next years desk calendars came early.
Everyone coming to help at the BookFair
Holyoke’s Bloggers
The nice rep at Comcast who didn’t hang up when I told him the rate hike was fucking lame.
Spellcheck.
Netflix.
Glitter in a glass tube
Chunky heels on boots
Brown paper wrap and jute twine
My ninja like bow making skillz.
LOLCATS. (Shut up, there funny)
Red cell phones
Camping at the beach, I am so ready already.
Space heaters
Lentil soup and goldfish crackers
Coffee
My 5 and a half readers!
And one of the biggest things I am grateful for.. College. I want to be a writer, a photographer, a teacher, a nutritionist, a horticulturist, a chef and raise goats. How lucky am I that I live in such a place and such a time that I can want all those things and someone will actually say that I can do it all. There are people in places so unlike what we have that it would shock most of us pampered spoiled brats. Even those one welfare are affluent as compared to most farmer laborers in Africa.

I realize I left out health, family, love and all that cheesy crap but I figure enough people said that boring crap to cover me so I wanted to list the little things, the things that make every day a little brighter. Like having a good pen. You know what I mean? Driving down Riverdale and hitting all green lights. Getting something nice in the mail. Hand lotion that smells like the holidays. Bread. Post it notes! Chocolate donuts (Which I can’t eat, I just like to look at them and sigh wistfully) Rollover minutes. Lazy Sundays. Pizza with spinach and kalmata olives. The Asian art display at George Walter Vincent Smith. Physics. And Alex actually knowing what a Charter School is.

Oh and let’s not forget.. I am grateful that 20 bucks this morning filled my tank. I would have high fived the attendant but bullet proof glass hurts my hands.

Tag, your it, what are you grateful for?

Buy Nothing?

Buy Nothing day, formally known as Black Friday. I will buy nothing today, not so much as an internet cookie. I will not be shoved, sworn at, stressed out or freaked out today. Though I admit it is easy to do when you have to work all day.

I never did Black Friday, even before I realized what a wasteful event it is. My kids get very little for Christmas. They get enough, more then enough really, but not a whole lot. I do not delude myself that they are perfectly happy about this. Sure they would love a never ending shopping spree, so wouldn't I. But I have tried hard for 12 years to instill in my children a love of all things intangible.

Christmas at our house is a holiday to be together and to love. It is not an excuse to go broke and buy junk. It seems silly to me to hear so many people crying about how hard it will be this year to provide a 'good' Christmas with the financial melt down. (Which really did not affect me and my credit and debt free lifestyle. Why will it be hard? Does the latest techno gadget really make Christmas 'happen' for you?

My recipe for a 'good' Christmas..

Snow
Twinkling white lights
Hot chocolate
Slippers
Corny music that only sounds pretty Christmas Day
Family

Stir well.

What makes your Christmas good?

Atlantis

Thanks Rachel for this…

Atlantis is a landscape created by Gayle Chong Kwan out of semi-opaque plastic food packaging that the artist collected from London dwellers. The project was inspired by the lost city of Atlantis and it is no coincidence that many of these food containers are often to be found at the bottom of many bodies of water, forming a new sort of city created from waste. Climate change, urban planning and communal living are all themes evoked by this fascinating depiction of the Atlantis we are creating.

Artist: Gayle Chong Kwan
+ arts-co.com

I love those pics, the eerie lighting is perfect. It reminds me that plastic itself is pretty eerie.. It’s never going away and we better figure out what to do with it all.

And Mike.. the guilt! Thanks for pointing out my plastic coffee lid last night. When I got home I dug out all those great travel mugs I have and should be using.. and will be for Tuesday nights “I need to be awake enough to drive home after this meeting’ coffee.

It’s been crazy here in the midst of our Plastic Revolution and we have been slacking off like 17 year old but it’s less then an ounce pot head. The kids have end of term exams all this week which at least means no homework, scout meetings, basketball and an awards ceremony for Soccer tonight. This weekend we are goingt to see a play, go to a scout event and then a Falcons game. Sunday is officially homework day for me, it has to be.

Who needs sleep anyway?

Random Tuesday

My boss wears way too much cologne.

Mattresses are entirely overpriced.

I hate having to go to the post office when it’s cold out.

It’s freaking cold out.

I think I look kind of great today.

I think loosing all this weight has inflated my ego.

I have to write a poem about a kiwi.

All my bills are paid and on time this month.

We made pumpkin bread this weekend and it’s already all gone.

I wish Tuesday Scouts was at 6 and not 7.

I wish Alexander was on this coast and not that coast.

I need to get keys made today.

Does the White House use CFLs?

Do you?