Quote of the Day

Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.

- Horace Mann

Last Day of School (almost)

Tomorrow is the official last day of school, and J could not be more excited. He is just falling over with excitement.

However, I need some help keeping that excitement alive. We are going to Disneyworld (YAY!!) for vacation (our first family vacation not to relatives homes), but what else would you suggest to keep an 8-almost-9-year-old busy? I'm looking for something different, something other than trips to the library, movies, etc. Please, open my world to some new experiences. Just keep in mind that we do live in Texas, where everything is bigger, even the heat in the summertime.

Nature vs Child, part II

And as of yesterday, we found out that there was another poisonous but innocent looking bug in our midst. It would be this beauty:


An assassin bug. With its rostrum, it injects a powerful poison which cause extreme pain to its victim, know here as the J man. He came in to confirm that he had indeed been stuck/stung by something, then went on to tell me that "it really, really, hurts, owie, owie, owie". When asked if it was worse than the time he was stung by a wasp; he nodded his head vigorously as he continued to dance around on one foot, shaking his hand in an effort to get rid of the pain.
Of course, having never dealt with this type of bug bite before, I was clueless as to treatment options. So I did them all - hydrocortisone cream on the bite, antihistamine (Benadryl) by mouth, then ice on the wound to reduce the swelling. One of them worked, since his hand was doing much better later on.
J had just been holding the bug gently on the palm of his, observing it when it decided to plunge the rostrum deep into the fleshy pad of palm. Needless to say, he was not so gently when he threw the bug to the ground. We found it crumpled into a ball on the cement. It gave us a chance to identify it.

Child vs. Nature

Poor J man has not had much luck with the great outdoors as of late. He loves exploring and discovering all the creatures that live around our house. He knows the creatures he is to stay away from, with these little rhymes is his head to always remind him, "red and black, friend of Jack" and " black near yellow, kill a fellow". Plus he knows how to recognize a black widow (hourglass on the back) and a brown recluse spider, and knows that the fire ants will make him miserable for weeks to come.
However, we did not realize that this little fellow:

would bite when handled ever so gently.

Happy Mother's Day

A father may turn his back on his child, brothers and sisters may become inveterate enemies, husbands may desert their wives, wives their husbands. But a mother's love endures through all.

Washington Irvin

Happy Mother's Day. As a mother, this is one holiday where I feel that I do deserve some recognition. Being a good mother is a tough job. In fact, I often wonder how my mom did it, with three children all within 2 years of each other. I still don't know where she got her patience from - I have only one child and am often out of it by mid day. She laughs at me when I ask her, must be that her secret stash of patience will run out if she tells the truth as to where it is located. Seriously, I am truly lucky to have a good role model as a parent. When I think of my childhood, I always knew that my mom was there to back me up, that she would defend me against all the evils of the world. If I was wrong, I was certainly punished, but she was fair and always listened to my side of the story. I hope one day I can be as strong as she is.

To all the mothers out there, have a wonderful day

Hell must be freezing over

Sorry to tell you , but the world is ending today. I know, I know, you had so much planned, but I have proof that it is ending. I went to try on bathing suits yesterday, a chore I absolutely desist with every essence of my being;but a necessary one since we have a vacation planned that involves lots of water time and the bathing suits I currently posses would not be suitable for anyone or animal for that matter to wear out in public. I brought 5 bathing suits into the changing room and.....drum roll....everyone one of them fit. Not only fit, but were flattering.
Hell must have frozen over. I have never ever in my life had that happen.

Now, you men out there might be saying, "What's the big deal?" since you can pretty much just grab a pair of trunks off the rack and take them home with absolute confidence that they will fit. For an average woman to be able to find the right bathing suit on the first try is equivalent to winning the grand prize in the lottery without even playing, it just does not happen.

I was so overwhelmed that I bought all of them. The cashier asked what I all those bathing suits for - I had to laugh. I didn't need them all, I just needed to bring home proof to someone (hubby). Plus I needed someone else's opinion on which bathing suit I should choose. I narrowed it down to 2, and will return the rejected ones later this week.

I had to share this news. I'm sorry if you had plans for this week, but this evidence proves that the end of the world is near. Enjoy your last few days - I'll be laying out in the sun in my new bathing suit.