Emma: Undaunted

On Friday morning, as I was heading out the door for my trip to Canada, Eric called to tell me that his grandmother had died.

He had flown out on Wednesday to be there for her passing. It was no surprise to anyone and a great relief, in many ways, to the family. These last couple of years had not been kind to her.

She was 99 years old. She absolutely burned with life for all the time that I knew her. She was like a tiny bird, with fiercely intelligent eyes, a tiny body and a great deal of love in and around her.

She will be greatly missed.



I am eternally grateful that Caitlin got to meet her and know her, if only for a little while, while she was alive and able. I have more pictures that are on film, instead of digital, that I will upload as time permits.

Emma, May 19th, 1907 to November 17th, 2006, is survived by two loving daughters, 4 grandchildren, 7 great grandchildren and innumberable friends.

Requiescat in pace!

Bad company

Bad morning this morning. Very bad. Screaming, stomping, punching the car door.

No, not me - that was Caitlin.

I turned into Robo-Mom with the Rictus Grin.

It was bad. All because she wouldn't button her own pants or ask for help doing so. I couldn't make this stuff up if I wanted to!

Anyway, I'm heading out to Canada tomorrow morning with no way of posting here, so hang tight and maybe I'll have more stories when I return. I still owe you more Kansas stories, too.

Ciao!

Dear Grammy

Caitlin sends a message to Grammy in NY. We're thinking about you Grammy!

Young Artist Series

Time for some changes around here! I've decided that the lunch photography has run its course. Now it's time for someone else's work to take center stage. I bring you the Young Artist Series. Here I'll present to you the latest in 5 year old sketchings. She's prolific and since it's gotta go somewhere, why not here?


This one is about bunnies.

Just so you know, Dan has put a dangerous tool into my hands. You will be inflicted with the results, of course.

I give you Caitlin's Bunnies as a Motivational Poster!

You know you like it!

Stewart & Colbert

Don't ask me how I found this. I don't know, but I love it.

Caitlin says...

"Does George Bush poison the trees?"

Yes, honey, yes he does.

Political conversations with a 5 year old can be very interesting. It started off with "Who is George Bush?" and I replied, "He is our president and he is a bad man."

Caitlin, looked concerned and then asked, "Does George Bush poison the trees?", to which I responded with: "Yes he does, but not directly. He doesn't creep up to trees with a bottle of poison and pour it on them while cackling, but as president, he has the ability to create laws. He has created laws that let bad polluting companies pollute even more and they are the ones that are poisoning the trees."

"Does he poison teddy bears?"

No, that he doesn't do.

Eric cackled to himself about how I probably wished I could have answered Yes to that question as well. I just wish we had Al Gore as president so that I didn't have to have this conversation.

A note for sticklers: Eric wants me to let you know that I've simplified things for Caitlin. GWB doesn't actually have the ability to create laws himself, but I didn't feel the need to get into the long form explanation of the three branches of government. Schoolhouse Rock can explain that better than me, anyway.

By the way, having your 5 year old read and help edit your posts is also strange.

Tarot cards

This is what you get when you poke around on the internet aimlessly. Link to link to link to Hey! That looks kinda cool!

You are The Star

Hope, expectation, Bright promises.

The Star is one of the great cards of faith, dreams realised

The Star is a card that looks to the future. It does not predict any immediate or powerful change, but it does predict hope and healing. This card suggests clarity of vision, spiritual insight. And, most importantly, that unexpected help will be coming, with water to quench your thirst, with a guiding light to the future. They might say you're a dreamer, but you're not the only one.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

For the birds

And the squirrels....

I sure am glad that it's not just me keeping all of the birds and squirrels (and the occasional raccoon that likes to spin my "squirrel proof" bird feeder until the seed comes flying out) alive in the winter. I'm very haphazard in how often I put out seeds or nuts or refresh the water. I just put some crushed peanuts out and put the heater in to the water bath that lives on the deck. Immediately afterward one of my squirrels came racing back to slurp up a lot of water and nosh away happily.

Currently it's hopping around looking for the almonds I had tossed out there yesterday. I like watching how they hold food in their tiny paws and gnaw on it for a few moments. I don't like how they dig in my flowerpots trying to stash food, but I do like watching them while they are well behaved. Of course I feel much the same way about Caitlin....

So, are you feeding anyone one this winter that is neither human nor part of your family? Got any tips for keeping squirrels out of your flowerpots?

Young Artist Series

Here are a pair of fabulous new drawings by Caitlin. She says the first drawing is a picture of herself, when she's all grown up and has her own car.

The second drawing is of Mary and her Little Lambs.
So talented!

Click to enlarge.

On becoming "Domesticated"

I think the time has come to finally give in and admit it. I...I have become...Domesticated.

What happened to me?! The final straw was this past Thursday. I worked the Bake Sale at Caitlin's school.

A Bake Sale, people! A freakin' Bake Sale!

Not only did I bake Banana and Chocolate Chip muffins

and Pumpkin Scones,

but I actually worked at the sale, helping to organize tables filled with homebaked and store bought snacks, individually wrapping cookies, cupcakes, muffins and more. I...chatted...with other moms. Listened to the cacophony that is a handful of children learning to play the recorder (Do you mind if they practice in here with you? Uh...no. Thanks!) and inhaling the scents of sugar, chocolate and more sugar. I didn't have a bite of anything, but all of the scents made me think I had!

My hands were sticky with chocolate icing and I was...content.

Ack! I hate to admit it! Where has the Wild Hatchet gone? How can I be content stranded in an elementary school surrounded by baked goods?

It was a fundraiser for hungry children in the US. All monies raised get sent off to Share Our Strength where they portion it out to those in need. Think about that for a moment: hungry children within the United States. We're not talking about developing nations, we're talking about people in Colorado, Texas and lots of other states where these kids will be lucky to get one square meal a day. So if the school can help by sending in $900 raised in a bake sale, that's something to feel pretty good about!

But wait! There was a moment where I started talking to one of the other moms about something radical: talking the school into composting and having the kids raise their own vegetable gardens. Can you imagine it? So now I'm on the ground floor of a suburban conspiracy - trying to get the elementary school to start composting and raising (possibly organic) vegetables to teach the kids about where food comes from and possibly teach them to like new things.

I'm still a radical alright. I just need to infiltrate the mainstream world with my wild ideas. I even offered my composting photos for a presentation. Bwahahahaaaa!

The Hatchet: taking over the world, one garden at a time!

The flat, flat, flatness that is Kansas

It is 555 miles from here to there. It's a long, flaaaaaaaaat drive. Occasionally we'd see a hill ahead and I would claim it as a hill while Eric would claim it as a tunnel for a train. Damn him! He was always right. Seems thar ain't no hills but whuts been made fer passin' the trains through!

"How flat was it?" You, who have callously flown over Kansas in all it's flat glory, ask.

This flat:

Wait, that rolling swell of land had a train tunnel under it.

This flat.

And empty. Very few vehicles on it. Well, except for that po-lice officer....

Did you know that the speed limit in I-70 is 70 mph? Yes, yes it's true. Now that you have stopped gaping, trust me: I felt the same. Especially after E got that $132 ticket for doing 86 in a 70. Were we the only people scoffing at the speed limits way out in the middle of Nowhere, Kansas? Not hardly. However, we were sporting conspicuously out of state plates. Damn us for living in Colorado! Somewhere west of Hays, KS, we were pulled over. Sadness ensued. However, I did take the opportunity to take this picture.
What else was I to do? Besides, it was the first water I'd noticed the whole way across. I did notice many other things which, of course, I will share with you now.

BTW, I kicked myself for many miles that I didn't take the camera in the car with me and had instead packed it in the trunk. I had to wait for a first rest stop after having seen something cool to shoot zip by us at speeds exceeding 70 mph.

Some of the things I saw included very nice old cars, some in good shape and some in bad shape:
I liked the juxtaposition between the old truck on top, the very old truck on the bottom and the hard to see new car in front. All on the bed of the transport truck.

This was pretty.

Then there were the signs. When you have hundreds and hundreds of miles to go and nothing to look at, the ordinary takes on the air of the extraordinary. I'm afraid there will be much snickering at Kansas ahead, be prepared....

If you live here, I'm sorry!

There's one thing to be known as a cow town. It's entirely another to take it for your name! Aiee!

We were very excited to see this sign after hundreds of miles (Daaaamn! Colorado is big!):
Which was immediately followed by this one:
Get your own name! What does it say about your state that they can't come up with a new and unique border town name? It's so...sad! There isn't a Kanourri on the other side, is there? And yes, I do believe Missouri was just being a copy cat when they named their border town Kansas City. Right next to...Kansas City, KS.

Here's one that Eric liked because it was a swear word in Firefly. Well, it is if you pronounce it correctly!
This one points to the problem with not getting out enough in Kansas.
That's an anteater in case you can't tell with the sun flare on it. If you live in KS and you don't recognize an anteater, you need to go to the zoo more. Read more books. Watch a little Discovery channel. Now, if you do have aliens in Rolling Hills, I expect to see giant green heads with almond shaped black eyes. A little three fingered-ness, maybe. Not an anteater!

And then there was a whole category of signs that need to be lumped together: the Religious Signs. Unfortunately, I was driving and Eric had the camera at the point where they stopped being unusual and started being every few dozen miles. The big claim to fame:
Bet you didn't know the Garden of Eden was in Kansas! Me neither!

The more common religious signs were like this one:
Followed by many signs asking you to Trust In Jesus. They weren't messing around! They wanted you to know, right up front, that Kansas Thinks Abortion is Bad. I was disappointed that there were no signs that mentioned Abusing Your Unwanted Children is Bad, too. Funny, that!

This, however was my personal favorite sign. A sign that shows that perhaps there's still intelligent life in Kansas, despite the previous signs:

In case you're wondering, it's not all flat, flat, flatness and signage east of Colorado. There are also giant Feedlots of Doom.
A sad sight. Nothing but large paddocks filled with cattle waiting to be fattened up and slaughtered.

There was cuteness on the ride, though. We brought it with us.
She found a new friend in Kansas. Colby, KS to be exact.
Gorillas. They're cuddly!

The rest of the story will have to wait until tomorrow.

"You mean there's more?"

But of course! The excitement never ends! Cakes red like blood, shopping, This American Life, MST3K, twins, Caitlin makes another friend (human this time), and deep thoughts. Lots more!

Ciao!

Well! Now wasn't that interesting?

Dems in control of both the House and Senate. The first woman Speaker of the House. Rumsfeld retiring. The first black governor of Massachusetts. Colorado makes gains in the House and Senate and locks in a Democratic governor.

I am shocked and pleasantly surprised. I was certain there would be all manner of electronic voting shennanigans and there were all manner of problems, but nothing that screamed Fraud! At least, as far as I can tell at this moment.

Perhaps the Repubs will let us know otherwise via lawsuits for a surprising number of races?

Do you suppose McCain will commit suicide as he threatened? Suppose he feels stupid for having made such a juvenile remark? Yeah, there's presidential material, alrighty! Feh!

Eric says....

"Come onnnnnn Senate seats!"

He can't refresh npr.org and cnn.com fast enough.

It's gonna be a loooooong night!

Midnight update: Missouri Repub Senator just gave it up. We need to take VA and MO to have a clean sweep of both House and Senate.

Democrats rock da Howwwww-ssssse!

I am speechless

Watch the video.

Looks like Ohio 2004 in Colorado

Here we are, experimenting on our own democracy with electronic voting machines. Ahhhh! Doesn't that feel goooooood? All of this new technology sure is worth the wait! Waiting in line for...oh...three hours.

Go check out SquareState.net.

So, do you suppose our sainted elected officials believe that it is time to give up on the machines yet?

Turns out that even with all of the problems earlier this morning, they will not be keeping the Denver polls open for another 2 hours to compensate. The Owens (Republican) appointed judge has refused requests to keep the polls open until 9pm. So if you haven't voted yet, get a camp chair, some warm clothes, perhaps some snacks and some tunes and get in line! What are you doing still reading this blog?! Git!

In Hatchetville, we voted around 9am and made sure it was on paper. No lines for #E and I, we zipped in with our list of voting choices, filled in little boxes and zipped out to go have brunch and plan world domination.

Err...that is...we started thinking up ways that we could write up a bill to get Election Day moved to the first Saturday of the month. If you would like to put in your 2 cents on that topic, let me know in comments. Now that I have my very own lawyer, we're gonna write it up and submit it. We're hoping we can get other lawyerly, religious and out of state friends to help us craft the bill and then help us by submitting it to their Congress Critters. The more folks we can get to co-sponsor the bill, the more it is likely to be taken seriously. And if Congress swings back in our direction, there's always a tiny chance that it could get passed.

Imagine that!

Get out and VOTE!

Dagnabit!

If you haven't brushed up on the issues, take some time to do so. Write down the way you want to vote on an index card, take it in with you and do your civic duty!

If you don't vote, you don't get to complain when things don't go your way politically. And don't try to tell me that "politics don't matter" or that "politics don't affect me"!

Everything is political. Every act you do has political consequences whether you are aware of them or not. Everywhere you shop, everything you buy, what you do for fun, for work or just hanging around. How you keep your house, the products that you use, whether you recycle or compost or not - all of these things have political consequences.

So get out there and do the right thing for yourself, your community and your country.

Vote, damn it!

We're back!

Only one $132 speeding ticket from the western side of Hays, KS! Yeehaaa!

Ugh!

So much to share! No time!

Tomorrow.

Didja miss me?

We're goin' to Kanz-asssss!

Yeeeehaw!

Look out Squeakes! Here we come!

Happy Birthday to youuuu!

Caitlin Says...

"He scared my soul right out of my body!" Caitlin exclaimed upon recovering from her scare on Halloween.

How does she know about souls? How does she know whether you can scare one right out of your body or not?

Where's she learning this stuff, anyway?

Man! Next thing you know she'll be talking about the Purple Dinosaur.

You know what I'm talking about...Teh Barney. (Oooh look! Blogger Speak! I'm so cutting edge!)

We swore, even before she was born, that Barney would never cross the threshold into our home. Assorted other parents laughed at our assertion. Laughed, I say! Nodding sagely in their cups and assuring us that no one escapes Barney! I told them primly that perhaps they were mistaken. I was the one doing the purchasing and as such, would have no problem never purchasing Purple Dinosaur of Brain Decay items. They muttered about other people gifting it to you. I callously tossed out a comment about my ability to "lose" offensive toys. They laughed maniacally and said ominously, "Just you wait. You'll see!".

Well, here we are at year 5.85 and no Barney in sight.

Hah! I say scathingly to you nay-sayers. Tell me that I can't deny the evil that is Barney entrance to my home? Again, Hah!

I'm holding my own against the Bratz dolls. They attempt weekly incursions, brought in by their host children. I evict the evil parasites as soon as I can find them. Fortunately Caitlin hasn't made any sort of attachments to the mini Dolls of Questionable Virtue. Or should I say, Dolls of Negotiable Virtue?

Just don't ask me about Barbie....

Gimme some sugar, baby!

Caitlin went to school without breakfast today.

That's right. You've heard it here first: I'm not feeding my child. I'm bad. Very bad. Awful. Mean. Totally heartless. Uh huh.

I blame it on the sugar. Not my intake, hers.

She woke up on time, but then wouldn't get out of bed and get her day started. Instead she ignored us and read a book. We started off asking nicely and then began hollering. I really don't like to yell at my kid, but she knows how to push my buttons like nobody else! I told her she needed to get a move on or there wouldn't be any time for breakfast. She slowly ambled to the bathroom. I asked her again to brush her teeth, because there wouldn't be any breakfast until she did so and fed the cats. She kept on humming. Apparently it's impossible to hum and do things like brush your teeth, get dressed to respond to parental requests. Heaven forefend she should ever have to chew gum and try walking at the same time!

Maybe she brushed her teeth and maybe she didn't. I was too busy trying to pack her stuff up for the day, including the G is for Grammy photo essay for Show and Tell. Yet another warning that if she didn't feed the cats she wasn't going to get fed herself and that time was running out. She has to be at school at 8am. We woke her up at 6:40am. If you think I'm planning on waking up even earlier to "give her more time", you're crazy. She fills the time she has with screwing around and getting yelled at. I'm done with that. Finally, at 2 minutes before we needed to leave the house I got her dressed, brushed her hair and shipped her off to the car.

Without breakfast.

You know what? She never whined about missing breakfast at all. I suspect that she'd had plenty to eat last night and wasn't even hungry. Don't worry that she won't have enough to eat: she gets snack time as well as lunch time and has a separate container for snack. You've seen her lunches: she'll be fine.

Upon returning home with my fury set on "rolling boil" I calmed down with my own breakfast and some chai. When Eric felt it was safe to approach we talked about what went on this morning and then extrapolated out from there.

Yesterday was a crazy day, it's true, but here are the things that stuck out the most for me:

• Class Halloween party: candy, soda/sugary drinks, rootbeer floats, heavily iced cupcakes
• Lunch: Caitlin barely ate her lunch since there was a whole lot of grazing going on in class and between class on whatever party favors they'd been given.
• Kinder care party: yet more candy
• Daisy meeting: I was responsible for snack so I baked strawberry muffins and brought water. Originally I considered chocolate cupcakes with buttercream frosting, but decided against it since masses would be consumed that night. The group leader had a platter of strawberries and pineapple. This was possibly the healthiest food ingested all day. During the meeting I watched 9 little girls go completely crazy and was told later that their behavior was "pretty good" compared to what had been expected, hopped up on sugar like that. They were climbing on the tables, running around the room, talking non-stop, not listening to the leader, not paying attention, unable to focus. Including Caitlin. I had to ask her repeatedly to sit down and pay attention. She was not the worst behaved among them. They looked like they all had ADD. It set my nerves completely on edge.
• Pizza party: pizza and a bit of fruit
• Trick or treating: running around at top speed from house to house collecting sugary tribute from complete strangers (Uh yeah. Doesn't that strike anyone else as bizarre?)
  
• Return home: Caitlin ate a few pieces of her night's spoils and went to bed.
• Morning: unusually horrible behavior ensues

To me, there is a very clear connection between what was ingested and what behavior took place. Maybe I'm not blowing your mind here, but think about this: how much sugar are American kids ingesting on a "normal" daily basis? Do we really think they can eat like that all the time and not have behavioral problems? Yes, Halloween is a giant sugar spike all by itself, but what are kids eating on a daily basis? GoGurts, fruit leathers, Lunchables, boxed drinks, boxed chocolate milk, chips, crap crap crap. And that's just what I've seen casually around. I haven't actually stuck around for lunch to see what everyone else is eating regularly at lunch time.

On a normal day, Caitlin has Cheerios with strawberries or bananas with juice (diluted) for breakfast. You've seen her lunches on the sidebar. Whatever we're having for dinner (spaghetti, steak, green beans, pizza, salad, chicken, whatever) with milk or water and a random dessert (fruit, ice cream, homemade muffins, cookies or cake [I don't buy what I can bake]). When she remembers she might ask for a piece of her candy (last year's Halloween or Easter candy) for dessert instead of whatever we're having. Ordinarily she's a pretty even tempered kid and tractable. She's not a push button kid, don't get me wrong, but will do what you ask within a reasonable time frame. And she can focus on the world around her. Yesterday? It was like having a whole different kid.

Not a very nice one, either.

She has received two separate commendations for her lunch time behavior since starting school. The older kids walk around the lunchroom and give out slips of paper that say "My compliments!" to the best behaved children there. Getting one at all is considered unusual since the older kids are very tough to impress. I've received numerous compliments from the teachers on her lunches and snacks and from teachers and fellow parents alike on her behavior.

Are you seeing the connection I'm seeing now?

When she's hanging out with friends and family members, I have requested that if they want to give her a treat make it fruit or baked goods rather than straight candy. I'm sticking to that. I think it works.

Just for grins, here are a few links (Google search on the words "sugar kids") including a challenge from Dr. Spock.com to cut refined sugar out of your child's diet to see if you notice a change in behavior.

http://www.drspock.com/article/0,1510,4126,00.html
http://www.drgreene.com/21_42.html
http://www.kidsnutrition.org/consumer/archives/sugar-2much.htm
http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/diet.fitness/9910/22/sugar.halloween.wmd/

Ooh, I like this quote:

Many children get on average 20 percent of their daily calories from sugar, according to a study published last year in the same journal. In real terms, that means children average 29 teaspoons of added refined sugar per day.

By the way, did I mention that Caitlin hasn't had any cavities yet? I had lots of cavities as a kid. I hated the dentist. I never brushed as often as I should have. I really don't want the same to happen to Caitlin.

Before you get all riled up at me and call me a hypocrite because I eat sugar at all, let me tell you this: I'm not telling you how to live your life or what's right for you and your children. What I'm suggesting is that if you haven't been paying attention to what your kid is eating and yet their behavior is pissing you off regularly, take a look. Do you like what they're eating? I understand that the kids like it. That doesn't mean that they are in charge. We only have a short time to take care of them and an even shorter time where we can pretty seriously control what they do, where they go, what they eat and who they play with. Take advantage of that time. Establish good eating habits now.

Do what's best for your child, even if it's hard. Hell, especially if it's hard! Parents have to be even more stubborn than the children they raise. I know it's not easy - Caitlin has my stubborn chin, after all!

Excelsior!