Interior Design

Andrew decorated the doors last night instead of going to bed when I told him to. He dug his monkeys out of the toy box and hung them on the door handles. His rational? "I want the doors pwetty"

Who can argue with that?

Dog Gone...

This is what happens when two three year old children play with the bag of dog food before it makes it to the kitchen. I had brought the 18lb bag upstairs and had put it down to deal with something else more pressing. They decided it was a fun thing to drag around and lay on. I yelled at them and they finally left it alone. So after dinner I was straightening and went to grab the bag to pour into the big container. I flipped it UP over my shoulder and it started to RAIN dog food. Almost a third of the bag was on my feet before I realized it was the seam that had given way and NOT a tear. Dropped the bag and repositioned it. Took it and dumped it. Then I grabbed the camera. I KNEW Sunnie would be enjoying this tragedy. She got her fill then Andrew and I hand scooped the rest into her food dispenser. Then we got to do a full on living room/hallway/kids room clean up! So the carpet is nice and clean this morning!

Shaking her head in wonder...

This week the news was hit with two stories of unthinkable loss.. in California and now Ohio there are cases of familial murder-suicide after the family lost thier income and obvioulsy felt such desperation that this was how they dealt with it.. and I read this on CNN today...

Florida couple pays $155K to have dog cloned
Posted: 12:35 PM ET
(CNN) — Every dog has his day, but Sir Lancelot — or at least his carbon copy — has a second one.
A Boca Raton, Florida, couple paid a California firm $155,000 to clone their beloved Labrador Retriever, who died from cancer a year ago. The clone, a 10-week-old puppy dubbed Lancey, was hand-delivered to them earlier this week by Lou Hawthorne, chairman of BioArts International.
Edgar and Nina Otto said they began thinking about cloning Sir Lancelot about five years ago. “I said ‘Well, you know, it wouldn’t hurt to have his DNA frozen,’ and that’s what we did,” Nina Otto told CNN affiliate WPBF.
The Ottos were one of five families to bid and win a BioArts auction for a chance to clone their family dog, according to a BioArts statement. Lancey is the world’s first commercially-cloned dog, the company said; the Ottos are the first of six current clients to receive their clone.


Un Flippin Believeable... So help me if I HEAR about them getting foreclosed on...

Strange...

Maddie just tells me this..

"I heard something strange in my room Mama. It was Jesus. He was in my room"

So i say.."really? Jesus is in your room!"

"NO! it was God.. HE was in my room. He was Praying..Like this ( demonstrates praying hands) and he said he loves all the little children"

She then shakes her head up and down and repeats. " It was strange, strange.. it was strange"

Musical Interpretation..

The kids really like to sing.. I gave up on correcting their errors and just embracing them because they are too funny.

Maddie likes to sing "Up on the House Top"- "....Up on the house top clik clik clik.. down through the chimney with his friend Nick"

She is also a Bon Jovi Fan..OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHOOOO we haf way thereah OHHHHOOOHHHH Livin on a prawah take my hand and your making me swearah.. OHHHOHOHH Livin on a pra-wah.....

Ben ( when not grounded) is a hard working drummer on Rock Band. Here I thought he was working hard on the drumming only.. But he is absorbing the words too..

He caught me offf guard singing Gunpowder and Lead by Miranda Lambert yesterday.
"I'm going home gonna get my shopgun go to the door and take a single rest"

Michael had no idea what he was trying to say but I knew b/c I listen to her music. The actual words are "I'm going home, gonna load my shotgun, wait by the door, an light a cigarette"

Barack Obama's biggest fan....

Maddie LOVES Barack Obama. I am not sure why.. she surely doesn't understand politics, (we are still mastering look before you enter the road) she has no idea the significance of the first Black President or the race involving women in top roles.. Nope.. She is just infatuated with the soon to be Mr. President.

Or so I thought...

Tonight while Ben was reading to us from his school Weekly Reader Madeline joined us at the table and looked on to see what he was reading about. All of the sudden she jumps up in her seat and gets all excited yelling.. LOOK! LOOK! its Barack Obama!

WRONG!

Ben was reading to us about Martin Luther King Jr.

So I thought about it and came to this conclusion. We live in an area that has a very low percentage of any minority, with the exception of Hispanic migrant workers in the summer pretty much all you see in the Hartville area are Caucasian people. Heck the kids are not overly interested in Old Order Amish or Mennonite people when they see them. There are only a few black families at our church, that attend the service we do, so unless their kids are the same age they don't see them in the classrooms. The don't see many others that are not Caucasian and when they do they have not noticed there is a skin color difference. Ben just realized tonight he was white and MLK JR was black.

So I conclude this.. Maddie thinks all Black men in a business suit are named Barack Obama.. I definitely want to see her watch TV Monday AND Tuesday...

Don't we all just LOVE Chuck E. Cheese?

Taken from Ohio.com~~


Jan 10, 2009
During the past three years, Fairlawn police have been called to the Chuck E. Cheese's on West Market Street 49 times.
That's more calls than any other stand-alone business in the city — including bars.
Only Summit Mall, a 120-store behemoth, produces more police reports.
Apparently, this is not particularly unusual. The Chuckster seems to be developing a national reputation for disorderly conduct.
If you haven't parented young kids during the past couple of decades, Chuck E. Cheese's is a nationwide chain of human anthills that are half-gaming parlor, half-pizza parlor, designed specifically for children. Well, except for the beer and wine.
I always thought the availability of alcohol was a well-conceived bribe to win over parents who normally would not be amenable to spending a couple of hours in a place where the noise level approximates that of the Blue Angels' afterburners.
Over the years, I have occasionally screwed up my courage and ventured into the never-ending whirl of yelling, running, screaming, jumping, falling, leaping and crashing. I am always struck not only by the incongruity between fuzzy robotic cartoon animals and free-flowing Budweiser, but also by the big age range among the kids.
Obviously, a big age range creates big size differences. And when large kids and small kids are mingling in an atmosphere of perpetual chaos — crawling through mazes and diving into small plastic balls — things can get a bit dicey.
Mix in a wide cross section of adults — including the type who never use their turn signals and wouldn't hold the door for somebody without a court order — and perhaps it's no wonder things can get a bit messy. Or more.
Major blow-ups According to the Wall Street Journal, law-enforcement officials across the country say Chuck E. has played host to a remarkable number of arguments and fights, mostly involving adults.
At some locations, the confrontations have been so heated that maybe Chuck E. — a smiling mouse who wears a ball cap — ought to vacate in favor of the Chucky in the horror movies. In Brookfield, Wis., last year, seven cops were needed to break up a melee involving 40 people who were knocking over chairs and screaming at each other right in front of the stage where a singing chicken and a guitar-playing hound dog deliver their merry tunes.That was only one of 12 fights there that required police action. Whack-a-Mole, indeed.
In Toledo, four mothers were arrested after a brawl that followed an argument about the length of time someone's daughters were hanging out at a drawing machine. Ten people squared off. In the featured bout, one loving mother was using the entrance rope as makeshift nunchucks, swinging the metal hook at another of the loving mothers. What's next, beer pong in convents?
''A lot of it is perceived actions against children, or somebody bumps into somebody and it becomes verbal,'' Fairlawn Police Chief Kenneth Walsh says. ''And a lot of it . . . is the 'Mother Bear' feeling. They're protecting their children. There's a dispute over [game] tokens or somebody thinks another customer is using a machine too long, and it becomes argumentative.'' Walsh says none of his 49 disturbances ended in an arrest. Often, he says, at least one of the squabbling parties has departed by the time officers arrive.
Jackson is mellower In contrast to Fairlawn's track record, Chuck E.'s joint on The Strip in Jackson Township seems downright sedate.Jackson Township Police Chief Harley Neftzer says that last year, his department was called to only four incidents that merited a report: two thefts, a fire and a shoving match in the parking lot. ''I don't have any grandkids yet,'' Neftzer says, ''but I wouldn't be hesitant about sending anybody at all to our particular location.''
The Chuck E.'s are owned by a Texas company, CEC Entertainment, which runs more than 525 of them, 19 in Ohio and three near Akron. The third is in Parma, near Parmatown Mall. A spokesman for the Parma Police Department says their Chuck's doesn't have a reputation for brawling, but that things have not always been dreamy.
''For a while, they were hiring our officers to work in there because of incidents of theft and things of that nature,'' Detective Marty Compton says. ''You know, a parent gets up to go play with their kid and all of a sudden somebody walks out with a purse.''
Liquid courage?
Although mixing toddlers and booze might sound dissonant, authorities say alcohol usually is not a factor in the flare-ups. Nationally, only a few Chuck E.'s have discontinued liquor sales. Beer and wine are still available in this area, including Jackson Township, where Chuck has been leading a mellow life.
Lindsey Phillabaum, a manager there, attributes the lack of arguments to her particular clientele. She also says employees try to swoop down on any conflicts before they escalate.
In Fairlawn, says General Manager Jamie Rohrer, the problem is not so much the type of people but their number. ''It's just because it's crowded,'' she says. ''People just get irritated. When it comes to people's kids, they just get off the edge.'' Her palace of overstimulation has taken to hiring off-duty sheriff's deputies on winter weekends, which are the biggest period of the year both for crowds and disagreements.
But keep in mind that, even in Fairlawn, you're not exactly taking your life in your hands. Conflicts are relatively rare, and often a good time can be had by all.
Even adults (not mentioning any names) have been known to revel in some of the games of skill. As corporate spokeswoman Brenda Holloway points out, ''We served approximately 75 million people in 2008, and the occurrences are actually very rare.'' Still, whether Chuck E. Cheese's is consistently ''a magical place for families,'' as its telephone greeting insists, is open to debate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was holding my breath until I got to the part that MY local CECwas the good one.. Not that we go there that often but at least when we do the chance of my getting into a rumble with some spastic mother hen is on the low end..... Personally I have always wondered WHY an establishment that is for the entertainment of young children sold alcohol. Sure many people need to numb out the loud annoying noises.. But doesn't this just encourage drinking and driving? And since I DOUBT that every child leaving there (with their handfuls of balloons, cotton candy and cheap toys) is properly buckled into a child safety seat... we are very lucky to NOT hear of more accidents on the strip/portage/Everhard roads...

Then there are the issues of cleanliness, germs and it being a pedophiles paradise.... Thanks anyway.. We will just avoid it as much as possible!

Why the hold up???? Charge him NOW

Boy, 4, shoots babysitter for stepping on his foot
January 05, 2009 9:08 PM EST
JACKSON, Ohio - Police say an angry 4-year-old Ohio boy grabbed a gun from a closet and shot his baby sitter. Nathan Beavers, 18, was hospitalized Sunday with minor wounds to his arm and side after the shotgun attack. Police say another teen was also injured.
Witnesses told police the child was angry because Beavers accidentally stepped on his foot. Beavers was watching the child at a mobile home in Jackson with several other teenagers and several other children.
Jackson County Sheriff John Shasteen says authorities are investigating. The child has not been charged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What are they waiting for??? Get on the ball people CHARGE this 4 year old with something, lock him up, stand him in a corner.. SOMETHING.... There are random teenagers at risk....

Can we all say it together.. SUPERVISION.. and repeat... SUPERVISION....

Now lets see what the parents have to say about WHY this kid had the access, the ammunition and the ability to shoot his big footed sitter....

Sense of purpose.

I woke today with such a sense of purpose! I had set the alarm because we have gotten lazy during vacation and my *Internal Alarm Clock Andrew* has been failing me with his prompt 730 wakings. Alarm rang. I stretched, jumped up, headed to the kitchen and made coffee while loading the dishwasher. Took my shower and am drinking my coffee.. SO many things can and need to be done today..

OOPS! Here is my alarm clock boy now!

I have a running list in me head of what needs to be done right away after church so I can get it all done... Hopefully everyone cooperates and I can push them all along my planned out path..

I'll try to update later whether I stay the track or like new years diets I fail just out of the gate:0