Heroics

Jesse Shaffer Sr. and Jesse Shaffer Jr. of Plaquemines Parish in Louisiana, thank you.
Whole story here.

I Spy

Standing there I said "There are more parents on this playground than children." I counted and lifted my camera to shoot the photo.  Concerned adults stood within feet of their kids barking orders "Now put your left foot on the next rung!.. No! No! You'll fall! Here, let me show you." I was having a hard time seeing my child through the angry sea of wide bottoms poked skyward, as bent over mothers place their children's feet in the appropriate space for maximum fun.  People were directed and posed and moved about like rag dolls with tired rolling eyes and showy grins, while fathers shouted "A little to the left! Now look over here, now say 'cheese.'"   There are ten adults in this photo and nine children, can you count them all?

Seven Years this Month

I've been a blogger for seven years.  I've never made a dime from the blog though I have met a few people who paid me for artwork through the blog and I've met people who have hired me through the blog.  I've never gotten a free thing to review, I've never been asked to write about a thing.  I would, if asked.  I've never been approached by advertisers and I've never had ads.  I have 4,000 comments and I have 31,000 page views and right now my most popular post is about Jack's struggle with group B strep.  I'm ok with all of this.  I started the blog seven years ago to pass the time and connect with the outside world.  It would be nice to get paid for a thing but eh... It's just where I record things.  The mundane and the divine and sometimes the silly.  It's the captain's log, snippets of life, something the kids can look at that isn't a scrap book but actually is.

Ice cream after a bike ride to the conservatory
August 2012

Kit and Kaboodle

I have lots of topics to blog about but all seem to open a can of worms that is so large and fiddly that I'm avoiding talking about anything.  So, I'm going to give you all the fast and furious updates to clear my brain.

1. I'm going back to skate for the Rockford Rage (yes, after all that)  They're WFTDA, they are five minutes from my house, they are very organized and they are a very nice group of women. My knee is fine.  If I worried about breaking things every time I left the house then I'd never leave again.   That is all.

2. The property manager of the house I rent was fired.  The new guy is getting the things done.  This is great, because we like the house.

3. The kids are well.  School starts in a week!

4. The first printing of my book is almost sold out. If you want a copy you'd better order it soon. Only $20.00 CHEAP!  There's only about twenty left. You can get it HERE.

5. We went to all of the following things this summer that kicked butt and provided a crap load of cute photos of my children in various stages of glee; Thomas the Tank Engine at the IL Railway Museum, Willow Creek Folk Festival, Discovery Center, Burpee Museum (dinosuars!), Monkey Joe's (Yes, I said I'd never go there again but I got out-voted), Festa Italiana, The Cabin, Boone County Festival, Pearl Lake, Pierce Lake,  Sinnissippi Bandshell, Bikepath, Cars on Main, Alpine Park and our own backyard (woohoo!)

6. I didn't have to mow my yard all summer because of the drought but it's rained recently and now I'm in the market for a used push reel mower.  Anyone know where I can get one? Cheap?

Out for a Drive

Spiderman, Strawberry Shortcake and a red bike.  

Overheard From the Play Room

Spiderman Spiderman
Does whatever a spider can
Spins a web
Eats a fry
Catches guys
Any size
LOOK OUT!
Here comes the Spiderman.

 

Pat Brown is Dangerous

This is the five minutes of television I watched today before getting mad and shutting it off again.  

Hey, Pat Brown, spouting statistics you made up on a subject so serious is dangerous. How can your integrity be so cheap? Shame on you. 

OFFICES STUDIO 0I FLOOR

Hershele Ostropoler was Right

From comments HERE during a discussing on harassment.

 “If you step on my foot, you need to get off my foot. 

If you step on my foot without meaning to, you need to get off my foot. 

If you step on my foot without realizing it, you need to get off my foot. 

If everyone in your culture steps on feet, your culture is horrible, and you need to get off my foot. 

If you have foot-stepping disease, and it makes you unaware you’re stepping on feet, you need to get off my foot. 

If an event has rules designed to keep people from stepping on feet, you need to follow them. 

If you think that even with the rules, you won’t be able to avoid stepping on people’s feet, absent yourself from the event until you work something out. 

If you’re a serial foot-stepper, and you feel you’re entitled to step on people’s feet because you’re just that awesome and they’re not really people anyway, you’re a bad person and you don’t get to use any of those excuses, limited as they are. And moreover, you need to get off my foot. 

See, that’s why I don’t get the focus on classifying harassers and figuring out their motives. The victims are just as harassed either way.”


It's attributed to Hershele Ostropoler who is both a fictional character and the handle of this tumblr blogger who actually wrote the brilliant comment I quoted.

What One Hundred Pennies Will Buy

I highly recommend 

Drewelow's House of Books

2233 Charles St. 

Rockford, IL 61104

815-226-2233

Also see my Buttery Soft Math Book

Oak Canopy

On this day, everyone but me sleeps in.   It's the middle of the summer and the morning after a full moon.  Even the dog can't be bothered to crawl out of the little pile of dirty clothes on the floor to rumble down the stairs and watch squirrels gather endless acorns. That old dog snores when she sleeps but the children just breath quiet, deep sleep.  For after visiting Grandma and eating iced cream last night, we stood on the side-walk, leaning this way and that, peering through the oak leaves, howling at the midsummer moon.