Unbelievable

One of the top stories from CNN made me, literally, sick to my stomach (http://edition.cnn.com/2008/US/05/28/soldier.electrocutions/index.html). This young man was killed in a shower because of improper wiring. The American Government has spent millions and millions of dollars paying contractors to do a job that is obviously not being done correctly. This is beyond gross negligence. The Army should have launched a full scale investigation after the first death and inspected EVERY installation for such negligence and corrected the problem immediately. It is nothing short of manslaughter to allow this to happen.

Memorial Day 2008

Today, I breathed a sigh of relief after my husband called me to tell me he was ok. I feel terrible that I didn't attend a Memorial Day service. After going to the beautiful cemeteries in Europe and their elaborate Memorial Day services, you really feel guilty for not observing Memorial Day with the utmost sincerity. Instead, I spent my day fighting with a weedwacker. I have always taken care of the lawn and in fact take great pride in it. But weedwackers are NOT my thing. I couldn't get the plastic line to coorperate. The more I fought with it, the more irriated I became. Won't ANYONE offer to help me out, just a little?? I am definately not looking for a handout. It would just be nice if someone, anyone would offer to lend a hand. I have spent hours watching other peoples kids, mowing other people's lawns, cooking other people food, driving people where they need to go, etc. Everyone once in a while, it would be nice to have someone return the favor. I guess every once in a while, someone will, if asked, or paid will watch my children. So I guess I can't complain too much.
On a much cuter note, I told Jameson that he was having friends over and my little darling responded, "It's a honeyful day!" Not a day goes by that he doesn't ask for his father or wonder where he is. He told me he was going to drive to the airport himself to pick up daddy.

A better gluten free crust...

I was so excited that I was actually able to roll this one out! http://www.fitnessandfreebies.com/wheatfree/wf15.html Ian seems to be eating it just fine....

Gas is $4.09....

I went into town a couple hours ago. I just needed to pick up a couple things from the grocery store and drop off some mail at the post office. I looked at the gas station on my way to Wal-Mart and did a double take. It truly said that regular unleaded is $4.09 a gallon. I guess that because we celebrate Memorial Day weekend by driving to the beach or where ever, they drive the price of gas up. So, I continue down the road to Wal-Mart which of course is NOT my favorite store, but my only other choice is Safeway. Safeway is so ridiculously expensive that I don't go in there unless I am buying their artisan bread. At Wal-Mart, I am literally sicken at the cost of food. For the Wal-Mart brand cheese, it is $4 a block (hmmmm, running neck and neck with gas), the smallest box of powdered milk (Wal-Mart brand) is $7. I just bought what I needed. I couldn't bring my self to pay what they were asking for mozzarella. I am so grateful that I can shop at the commissary. Food prices are rising there too. I felt the pinch when I saw soy milk had gone up over a dollar per half gallon. I don't know how people are making ends meet. I saw these people at Wal-Mart looking so sad and almost desperate with their shopping carts trying to compare the best deal. I think we are all headed for a very rude awakening. Things are only going to get worse. The rest of the world has been feeling it for some time. Look at the bread lines in Egypt. People spend hours waiting in line to buy the bread. Some major changes need to take place.

The Real Memorial Day

For many people, Memorial Day is just another holiday. Please remember why we have a day off work: http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/05/23/memorial.day.irpt/index.html

"Sleepless" In Seattle

Until two months ago, I was without "normal" American TV. Yes, we lived here for 18 months without tv except what my father would tivo for us. Before that, in Germany, we only had German stations, so only watched EuroSport, CNN International (which is much better than any other news program I have encountered), and German-dubbed Pimp My Ride on MTV. It is crazy to watch commercials, esp. infomercials. I actually want to by the products they are hocking. Lately, I have been having a difficult time falling asleep, even though I am exhausted. The other night, I was just drifting off to sleep when I felt like I had been hit in the chest. I thought I had been shot. That's the problem with military spouses. We may not be "there", but we are still having some symptom of PTSD. I have nightmares of killing people, of people being killed, of being killed, of war, of soldiers thinking they are being killed or shot at. These dreams and images have a way of sneaking up on you. I don't watch violent movies at all. I try to take my mind off of everything at night, before I go to bed. Lately I have been drowning in the monotony of the election. I started to search some other channels (I can't really tell you what is out there other than news and kids programming). I have found that The Soup guy is absolutely hilarious. I also find Chelsea Lately quite entertaining. Anyway, I used to think I was one of the only ones having this problem. I have been digging deeper and I find that quite a few spouses have been having this same problem, as well as head aches and other physical symptoms. I have no idea what is being done about this. Well, there is ONE option I know of. I can go talk to a psych tech...a person with a high school degree and couple weeks of training. Thanks, but if I have more education than you, then I don't want your help with a psychological evaluation. Not that I would actually seek help for nightmares. I know better. They will suggest paxil. That will fix EVERYTHING, thank you. I have been through this before and at least I am getting some sleep. These kids exhaust me. Seriously, and I am grateful for it. If it weren't for them, I would probably be a wreck. Jackie's Strenght.

Today, I received a phone call from a realtor wanting to show the house. I did the usual running around to make the house look presentable. I figured I would just take my children to McDonald's as a treat to them and a way to keep my kitchen clean. By the time I finished cleaning, I was hot and forgot that it is quite cool outside and McDonald's play area is outside. I drove the 13.5 miles to McDonald's with my children quite cranky. Jameson actually fell asleep. When I got there, I ordered, knowing it was an unusual order. The guy keep screwing it up, but I tried to be understanding and patient. I figured he was new and needed a break. I let the children sit at the table directly behind me as I ordered. I turned to see Ian playing with the light hanging just above the table. I rushed over and stopped it from swinging back to hit him in the face. I told him it was a No No and he left it alone...for now anyway. So, as I waited for the order to be corrected and then had to add things to an additional order because he forgot to add them to the original order, I went back and forth to the table. We finally all sat down to eat our lovely dinner of fast food, when Jameson came around to my side of the table and asked me to help him put together his new toy car. As I did, I could see Ian was doing something that he shouldn't be out of the corner of my eye. As I turned to say something to him, the manager of the McDonald's starts yelling at him to stop and then mutters, "That's just what I need, broken glass." I turned to look to see who had so rudely yelled at my autistic two year old, not even bothering to say (as a normal person who is taking to a complete stranger), "No, no sweetie, you can get hurt". She was yelling at him rudely and was more concerned about cleaning up glass than my son's face. This is supposed to be a child friendly restaurant. This is my child, whom I am perfectly able to stop from swinging the dangerous lamp to begin with. It will be a long time until I order at the Sh-sh-sh-shelm McDonald's again.
As I drove him, fuming about the manager that decided to overstep her bounds, I began to think about all the unbelievably rude people in Western Washington. Then I remembered a particularly bad incident at a German McDonald's. Jameson has broken his leg at his second birthday party. A couple of weeks later, I took him on a road trip to Wittenburg. We stopped on the way home to get something to eat and he was so awful that I wanted to scream. The Germans were laughing at me. Then for the finale, I tired to pull him out of the high chair and because of the cast, he was stuck and I mean really stuck. I could not get him out. So the young group of Germans were really laughing at me and making fun of me. I didn't know what to do. Finally a German man (not a part of the group making fun of me) came over to help. His act of kindness drove me to the bathroom (after we rescued Jameson from the chair) to hide my tears.
So I started thinking about the world in general. Are we all just meaner people these days? I realize the economy sucks, middle class Americans are becoming homeless (http://edition.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/05/19/homeless.mom/index.html), we are at war, the elections are far from being inspiring, and so forth, but why are we becoming increasingly callous? When I moved here, I was surprised how rude people were, literally looking down their noses at others. I was used to the Germans being rude because they didn't like Americans (at least some, others were more tolerable). When I visited the East coast, people seemed more friendly at first. Until I encountered fast food employees. My sister-in-law was chastized for asking for Italian bread at Subway, and I was told to get over it when I complained that I had to wait over 10 minutes at the KFC/A&W in Eldersburg for a drink. So, what are we left with in society? People losing their jobs and other people not wanting to work the jobs they have all while the cost of gas and food skyrocket. I am still wondering if the increased rudness is my perception or if it is a true increase and if so why? I know fewer people are going to church and subscribing to religion. ("Love thy neighbor as thyself" goes out the door). Maybe people are more irritable because of the increase in the cost of living. I don't know what it is, but if we all find our selves in deep peril, are we going to reach out to one another, or just shoot each other and take our neighbor's food surplus? Maybe I am just really tired and my focus is just lost.

When dogs go to school

So, as I am browsing through the nation's headlines, I find yet another story about Autism, or at least about a dog who belongs to a little boy with Autism (http://www.kcra.com/news/16331182/detail.html). So, Autism is being diagnosed in epidemic proportions. The latest statistic I have seen is 1 in 96 boys, or 1 in 150 children, born in America fall somewhere on the Autism Spectrum. Think about that number. If you go out shopping, you will probably encounter at least that number of children throughout the day. That means, you are seeing these children. In this particular story, the child is denied access to his preschool because of his service dog. Of course I wonder if the parents cleared this with the school officials before the child started school. But on the flip side, I think school need to be prepared for these types of things. It seems that most parents I have encountered want to mainstream their children in the classrooms. Fine and dandy, but what about the dog? More and more autistic children are getting service dogs to help them cope with everyday life. What about the other children that are allergic or have a phobia of dogs? I don't really have a good answer. I know that dogs are everywhere. After flying from Seattle to Baltimore and back, I think I saw more doggie strollers than human strollers. Dogs are more than welcome in stores like Home Depot, service dogs or not. It is almost impossible to avoid dogs. Someone had better come up with a good solution to this before lawsuits start popping up.
Of course, my own autistic son loves animals, esp. dogs. Thirteen grand for a service dog though? Wow. Of course if it really helped his emotional outbursts, it would be worth every penny. I got a black eye from him yesterday and today he bruised the side of my nose. Seriously. I don't think there is enough Assam to get me through the next 50 years.....

Good morning

So, today I am actually going to do it. The Army of Dude Blog inspired me to finally write something. Everyone has something to say and sometimes you just need to get it out. His blog is fantastic and I really admire it.
I am Me: mother, military wife, college graduate, salesperson, slightly paranoid, and always looking for a good laugh. Welcome to my world.