Something fun for Friday

I want a pair of Eleanor Grosch Keds. Because they look cute and comfortable. Because the designer is really hip and cool and therefore I will be too, if I wear them. Because I want to support hip and cool and talented women named Eleanor.

I was going to wait until they went on sale, but I'm a bit paranoid that by the time they do, they will be sold out. So.... Which pair do y'all like best?







Thanks!

On Stopping Crazy Homicidal Maniacs

Even though I am currently mulling over ways to revamp this blog (to make it less “smart”, to include fewer “links”, to write more “often”), I am going to write another post that no one wants to read.

If you’ve talked to me IRL, you may have heard me rant about this already but here goes the electronic version.

Virginia Tech. 33 Dead. Crazy person w/ a gun. What went wrong / what should have been done / what could make schools safer?

Not much. A crazy homicidal maniac won’t care too much if he breaks a law when he obtains a firearm. Yes, it may make it harder, but guns, like drugs and abortions, will always be available to desperate people with cash.

We can close campuses, but we can’t close campuses to um... students, which above referenced crazy homicidal maniac was.

We can get police some turbo packs so they can fly really fast to the scene of a crime but see above: crazy homicidal maniac with gun. Oh, and chains to chain doors together.

See my point? Crazy people will do something crazy if they have their mind set to do it. So we have to stop the crazy.

I’m not in any sort of counseling / psychiatric / pastoral field. I’m sure people who are will have lots of insight and wisdom and advice on how to address potential craziness in people.

But I am a lawyer, and I know *something* about laws. Here in Texas, where I am licensed, we have some laws to prevent child abuse. One law is, if you are someone who works with a child (teacher, social worker, day care teacher, etc.) and you have a good faith reasonable belief that the child is or has been abused you have 24 hours to report that to authorities. If you do so, you are immune from civil liability, meaning a parent can’t sue you for making a false claim. If you do not, you are not only immune to civil liability, but you are subject to criminal liability for failing to protect a child. Anybody else in Texas also has civil immunity if you have a good faith, reasonable belief that a child is being abused, and you report it to authorities.

Maybe it’s because I’m a lawyer, but with this Cho guy, I’m hearing a lot of people who saw the warning signs, even administrators at VT, but for whatever reason, their hands were tied, or they were scared to do something.

We need similar laws to the child abuse reporting statutes, for potential school violence. Not only do we need to give civil immunity to those who report potential crazy homicidal maniacs to police, but we need to MANDATE school administrators to do so.

I’m still not sure the Chos of this world can be stopped, but we need to give ourselves the opportunity to do so.

Yesterday

Yesterday was a bad day. I started off depressed by the Virginia Tech massacre. Then I went to a college campus for work, and had to talk about Virginia Tech and its implications for all colleges. The woman I talked to then mentioned that she had lost her husband in the Oklahoma City bombing, and her son the year before, so "this kind of thing" affected her more. I almost started crying right then and there. Our computers and phones were all messed up at work, the parking garage attendant asked me if I was pregnant with my first baby.... Grrr.

I picked up the kids a little early to spend time with them before going over to Mrs. Dallas K's for a little shindig to celebrate MommyMe's first day of her new job. When I went over, the day turned around completely....

they surprised me with an early birthday surprise party! I got a card, and presents, and cake, and lots of yummy totally diet-friendly food, and of course, my bitches. I even got to see Cop's Wife, who has been too busy with mothering and working and getting a MASTERS' degree to see any of us lately. And Football Widow had such a good time, I felt like I was drunk while talking to her.

Thanks my bitches! Y'all helped make my 30th year so special, I can't wait to spend my 31st getting into more trouble with you!

Pics at Mrs. Dallas K's, as usual.

Odds

Conversation at my house yesterday upon our first viewing of a Veggie Tales episode:
Me: They have no arms!
Jeff: Sara, They're vegetables.
Me: Well, they talk, don't they?

Other exclamation at my house yesterday: Holy shit, I ran a 5K! It's all due to Football Widow, MommyMe, and Mrs. DallasK. They told me to run ("train") and made sure I registered and didn't buy my crap about me wanting to make sure my leg wasn't broken and all. Thanks gals! I'm hurting in weird places today, but I feel so great about beating my goal time by 4 minutes! Yay me! Pics at Mrs. DallasK's, as usual.

This month's contribution to the printed word found here.

He Who Shall Not Be Named

See this guy?

I will not speak his name, but we all know who he is and what he has done. He has disappointed children, and dashed the dreams of young and old.

Karma is a bitch.

Good times

Every day when we leave day care, I let E pick up two or three packs of crackers for the ride home. Yesterday, she gave me one and as I was holding it, M grabbed it from me and started gnawing on it. I tried taking it away from her, but she pouted, and I caved, since I had made her cry when I first walked in yesterday. (I was at the front desk signing the kids out, and she happened to see me from her room. Literally, there’s one spot where she could sit and see me, and she was there. I heard a kid crying quite loudly, and I thought, “my, that’s one pissed off baby…. That kinda sounds like mine.” I turned around and there she was, crying that she could see her mama and her mama wasn’t coming to get her. It broke my heart. Therefore… crackers.) So E got to get two more crackers.

We’re in the car, and E has finished her crackers and gets all pouty about something, and starts kicking my seat. I say, “look at that temper tantrum right there!” And she says, “I wanna see!”

“What?” I ask.
“I wanna see temper tan!”
“You want to see a temper tantrum?”
“Yes!”
“Right there! You’re the temper tantrum!”
“NOOOOOOOOOOOO. I WANNA SEE TEMPER TAN!”

It was pretty funny, and nothing I could do could convince her that a temper tantrum wasn’t something really cool outside of the car that she was missing.

She calmed down a little, and saw M still gnawing on the pack of Club crackers (yes I’m a horrible mother for letting her do that, I know). “I want Aggie crackers.” (E calls M “aggie”)
“You want Maggie’s crackers?” I ask.
“Yes.”
”No, baby, you had your crackers, those are Maggie’s crackers.”
“I want to share.” She pouted.

So freakin’ cute. She gets sharing! Kinda.