Halloween is here! Let's keep EVERYONE safe!

Ok, I know that officially it won't be here until tomorrow but, in most places in the United States, Halloween is being observed tonight!


I decided today that I would post some safety reminders for you. Let's keep EVERYONE safe tonight!

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Keep your babies safe this Halloween

No, I'm not talking about your children. I'm talking about your dog. Dogs have a hard time at Halloween for many reasons. I got my daily Dog Crazy Newsletter from PetPlace.com and I think they summed it up very nicely. Read on.

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The new decade according to 9 year olds

I found this video this morning and thought it was so cute! It was a little hard for me watch because it flashes between the pictures but the thoughts of the kids are just great. Enjoy!

The decade according to 9-year-olds from allison louie-garcia on Vimeo.

One for the good guys

Isn’t it funny how things always happen in twos or threes? I just shared an email on Tuesday on my Happy At Home blog about the same subject that I read about in the news this morning. The subject: kindness, selflessness, the good guys.

The email (which you can read by clicking on the words Happy At Home above) was about a young man that was mentally and physically disabled. One day passing the baseball field he told his father he wanted to play. His father was afraid of how the other kids would treat his son but let him play anyway. He was rewarded for his trust when the children on both teams intentionally allowed him to make a home run when in reality what he hit was an easy out. The children put aside the goal of winning so that that boy could be a hero. I cried when I read it; it was that sweet.

The story I read this morning was about basketball instead of baseball but the same story played out.

The DeKalb Illinois High School basketball team rode two and a half hours to play in a non-conference game against a team in Milwaukee. It was to be the third time these two teams met up. The game started late. And it was close. But the Milwaukee team had other things on their minds.

A senior that played on the Milwaukee team was dealing with matters much more important than a basketball game. He was losing his mother. Johntel Franklin’s mother Carlitha had been fighting cervical cancer for five years but her fight was sadly over. She began hemorrhaging that morning and by the afternoon the decision was made to turn off the life-support system. She was only 39 when she died.

The teams coach was with Johntel at the hospital. He wanted to cancel the game but Johntel told him no. He wanted to play. Honoring the boy’s wishes, the coach took him to the game that was already in the second quarter. Because Johntel was not on the pre-game roster the other team would be given two free throws if he was allowed to play. He wanted to play.

What happened next was an incredible show of sportsmanship by the other team. They intentionally missed the free throws even though it could have given them an advantage. The boy that made the shots was quoted as saying “I did it for the guy who lost his mom. It was the right thing to do.”

It was the right thing to do and even though I don’t personally know the boys that played that night, I am extremely proud of them. They reminded me that good guys DO still exist and even during a tragedy something good can happen.

Is it discipline or abuse? I say it's stupidity

Reading my morning news as usual, I came across a story that left me somewhat speechless. I wasn’t speechless because I had no opinion about the story. I was speechless because I had so many things to say about it I couldn’t figure out where to start!

Now that I’ve settled down a little bit, I guess I’ll start with the details of the story…

It was about a 9 year old boy who’s father had charges of child abuse filed against him for shooting the 9 year old in the butt with a BB gun. The man faces 6 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The boy wrote an essay about the incident, the teacher turned it in to the police and the man was arrested. He was released on bond but was given the instructions to not threaten or engage in any acts of violence against his son and not to engage in physical discipline of any child. In the story the father was quoted as saying “I knew right away it was a stupid thing I did.” He shot the boy in the butt when he wouldn’t move away from the front of the TV.

Here’s what I thought:

1. We’re talking about a 9 year old. They embellish things. They make things way more exciting than they really were. If you’ve ever read a 9 year olds “How I spent my summer” essay then you know what I’m talking about. It’s incredibly cool and quite entertaining 10 years later when you read it but I don’t think you should take each word as gospel. Some things may not be the actual way it happened.

2. We’re talking about a 9 year old. It was an incredibly stupid thing that this father did. A 9 year olds reflexes and/or thought processes are not developed enough to decide in a split second if they need to move or not and then move. I’ve seen 9 year olds stand there and watch as something came hurtling through the air and smacked into their face/arm/stomach.

3. Are there no investigations done? Do the police just come into your home and arrest you because your 9 year old said you did something? I know the man admitted that he did it and apparently there was a BB in a butt, but it doesn’t seem like it was done in an overly hateful way. I don’t think he wanted to injure his child. Just make him move. I’ll repeat that what he did was an incredibly stupid thing. But I can see it happening. You’re watching TV, the kid won’t move, you’re favorite whatever is on and it’s been a long day… you’re irritated. He shouldn’t have taken his irritation out on his kid but I can see it happening.

4. 6 years in prison and a $10,000 fine?!? Ok, what he did just turned into a really, really, incredibly stupid thing. Seriously. That seems a little excessive for a BB in the butt. Especially when I can go online and see all the child molesters that live in my neighborhood. I just feel so much better now that this BB shooter will be locked up. Idiots.

5. He was ordered not to engage in any acts of violence against his son. I didn’t realize popping off a BB gun was an act of violence. At one point in my life I lived with acts of violence. I would happily trade those days for an irritated “You’re blocking the TV! Move!” POP! But then I think, yeah, that wasn’t cool. It WOULD hurt. (It still could have been worse.)

6. I started to wonder who would keep a BB gun within reach of their couch but then I remembered some friends of mine that did have guns (BB and otherwise) sitting in the corner of the living room or propped up by a chair. They weren’t gangsters or anything *lol* they were country folk. Nuff said.

7. He was ordered not to engage in physical discipline of any child. What he did was not discipline. He let his irritation control his brain and his brain acted badly. It was not his shining moment.

Things have really changed since I was a kid. I can remember my father telling me to go in his closet and choose the belt that I wanted him to use to whip me. You had to choose well. If you brought a tiny one out he’d go get a bigger one and you’d get extra licks. If you were bold and brought the big one to start out you got extra licks for being a smartass. It was best to just stay towards the middle and hope you chose right. That was the way it was and you behaved correctly to avoid those long walks to the closet thinking about how bad your butt was going to hurt when it was over and hoping that maybe this time you wouldn’t get more than 5 swats. That was our discipline: training through pain aversion.

I just don’t think what the father did was so bad. I can definitely think of worse. I guess my wrapped up opinion is the thought that keeps drifting into my head… It was an incredibly stupid thing to do.


I'd like to add a note here. I added this to my comments but sometimes you may not read the comments so I wanted to say it here too. I in no way thought it was ok for the man to shoot his son. On my #3 thought I was only saying I could understand how the man could react the way he did. I would never shoot my child with anything (except maybe a rubberband and that would be playing not anger) and he was definitely wrong for doing that!

You can trust a judge....right?

While my kids were growing up and figuring out how things worked in this world and in my home, they did things that were sometimes not so smart. Some of those things were even bad enough that they could have been in serious trouble if anyone had caught them. I’m not proud of them for those things but I still love them. It wouldn’t matter what they did; they’re my kids and I would never stop loving them because they had a lapse of judgment.

It happens to the best of people. Kids mess up. Teenagers mess up. Even young adults mess up. That’s how they learn.

I have a good friend in Oklahoma that is the perfect example. Her son was in his 20’s and got involved in some illegal activities and then got caught. The police had him nailed. There were video tapes of his illegal activities. He had no way out. His phone call was to his mother. She bailed him out and they went home.

When it came time to go to court, my friend drove her son to the courthouse. As they were walking up the stairs she stopped him. She said “Son, I love you. I don’t want to lose you. If you want to run, I’ll take you anywhere you want to go. If you want to go inside, I’ll stand by you no matter what.”

He told her he was guilty and he had to do what was right. They went inside together. My friend cried when her son put in his guilty plea. And she cried when the judge sentenced her son to 8 years in prison. Her son didn’t cry. He knew he was wrong.

She went to visit him every weekend for the entire 8 years that he was in prison. She told me it was the best thing that ever happened to her son. He was headed down a bad path and being caught and having to go to prison had turned him around. I saw him the day he got out. He looked liked a totally different man. A better man.

In my friends case what the judge (and my friend’s son) did was the right thing. He heard the case. He heard the charges. He gave a fair judgment. That’s the way it should be. If my friend’s son had been innocent and sent to prison anyway, that would have been wrong. But a judge wouldn’t do that would they? After the story I just read I’m sad to say a judge would do that. Two judges as a matter of fact.

Judge Mark Ciavarella and Judge Michael Conahan both of the Court of Common Pleas in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, have entered plea agreements of their own. They admitted to accepting more than $2.6 million dollars combined from a private youth detention center to sentence children to longer terms so that the center would receive more government money.

Teenagers who were sent before those judges for relatively minor offenses were sentenced to much longer times than necessary at the youth detention center. A 17 year old boy was sentenced to 3 months just because he was with another teenager that shoplifted. He didn’t shoplift; his friend did. He just happened to be with him.

Somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 juveniles received harsher sentences than was warranted for their crimes. That’s a lot. It’s an unbelievable amount to me. I feel so bad for not only the teenagers but for their families that had to be without them for no reason.

The judges have been relieved of their duty and charges were filed against them on January 26. I hope the judge that resides over their trials throws the book at them. I just can’t believe people that are supposed to uphold our laws decided to take advantage of our youth that way. It’s just a disgrace.

Bad day on our highways

Everyday is a news day for me but today is a local news day. It seems like all the stories that caught my eye this morning were from in or around Houston. And most of them involved cars and speed.

A 22 year old man was reported to have been driving in excess of 100 mph when he crashed his Chevy Cobalt carrying himself and his 18 year old girlfriend into a van with five family members in it. All but the driver of the speeding Cobalt and a 59 year old female passenger in the van were killed in the accident. The driver that caused the accident is unaware that these deaths occurred yet. Killed in the accident were the 18 year old girlfriend, a 78 year old man who’s birthday is today, his brother and sister-in-law who were both 83 and his 60 year old nephew. The family members had traveled to celebrate the 78 year olds birthday.

In the second accident, a 17 year old stole a pickup truck and was spotted by police. He ran from the officers and subsequently crashed into a SUV in the intersection of South 79th and Elwood in Houston. The accident killed a 23 year old man that was driving the SUV. The 17 year old has no license and claimed to have ‘found’ the car.

A third accident occurred when a ladies vehicle was carjacked. Thankfully the carjacker allowed her to remove her children from the vehicle before he took off in it. The police chased him until he crashed into a gas meter. No one was hurt in this accident but a nearby restaurant had to be evacuated because of the leaking gas.

And finally, at a Low Rider car show one of the vehicles carrying a family involved in the celebration burst into flames. A three year old was in a car seat in the back of the car. The father managed to get his son out of the burning vehicle, but they both suffered burns and are being treated at the Medical Center.

I hate to drive. It’s a true story. I would rather be a passenger than a driver. Accidents like these make that feeling even stronger in me. Tim is an excellent driver and I would rather put my faith in him. Not that I’m a bad driver. I just get nervous and I know I shouldn’t be in control of a vehicle when I’m nervous.

I also know that accidents happen in a split second and sometimes even the most experienced and confident drivers are still involved in them. My heart goes out to the families of the victims in the accidents I’ve talked about this morning. I pray they find peace in whatever way they can. I know that’s easier said than done.

Singing together makes everything better

Most of the news I share with you is from somewhere far far away from me. A lot of times it’s from all the way across the world from me. But the story I’d like to tell you about today is from right around the corner from me. Houston.

We’re 52 miles west of Houston. We rarely go into the city though. It’s so big and so many people everywhere. And a few of the places are a little on the scary side if I’m to be completely honest.

When my oldest daughter was just an infant we had quite the medical scare. We ended up driving like maniacs in the middle of the night into Houston to Texas Children’s Hospital. Christina was three months old and very sick. I was 23 and very scared.

The doctors there were extremely nice. They did everything they could to make both of us comfortable. Christina ended up having to have a spinal tap. If you’ve never witnessed that, I can tell you it’s frightening. They use the biggest needle I’ve ever personally seen. They have to get it just right, exactly in between the disks in your spine to remove some of the fluid to test. They thought she had meningitis. Thankfully she didn’t but I’ll never forget how the doctors at Texas Children’s Hospital did everything they could to solve and fix her issues.

And I’ll never forget their kindness. Everyone associated with the hospital was so caring and so gentle. I appreciated that so much. Now the hospital is in the news for their caring, kind ways.

The story was specifically about the Cancer Center at the hospital. It’s the number one pediatric cancer center in Texas and number three in the entire country. That makes me proud.

Now, thanks to donations and Anita Kruse, the Cancer Center offers the chance for terminally ill children to forget about their illnesses for a little while. Anita started a recording studio in the hospital where she and other staff members and volunteers help the children to write and record songs about important things in their lives.

One young lady named Jalen Huckabay wrote about her dog Jasmine or Jaz for short. Shy and unsure of herself, she quickly gained confidence once she realized she was actually writing the song just by talking about her much loved pup.

Anita is a Houston resident who sings and writes music professionally. After speaking a few minutes with Jalen, she hears the song in the young girls loving words and writes it in her notebook as they talk.

Jalen smiles as the first verse is read back to her. “MYD is my yippin’ dog. Got her last Christmas on the 23rd. We call her Jaz. She’s the Yorkie we chose. We dress her up in Build-A-Bear clothes.”

The project is named Purple Songs Can Fly and relies heavily on donations. All donations are tax deductable. I have a feeling a lot of people would donate even if they weren’t tax deductable. I know I will. It’s definetly worth it.

Read more about Jalen Huckabay

Read more about Purple Songs Can Fly

Read more about Texas Children’s Hospital

Read more about Texas Children’s Cancer Center & Hematology Service

What is wrong with this world?

I wrote last night on the terrible tragedy John Travolta and his family are suffering through. I understand his pain as a mother who has lost a son. So I spent a lot of time last night reading stories and comments left on stories about it. It's the comments that have me upset.

I don't understand how people can take something as terrible as the death of a child and make it into a joke. I was appalled. The worst comments were on the E! Online story. E! is well known enough that I would think they'd show a little responsibility and remove the offensive comments on a story that should be about condolences.

People made jet ski jokes in reference to Jett's name. They made bathtub jokes. They made tacky Scientology jokes. They even suggested that this poor child would not go to Heaven because of his parents beliefs. Some fool even made the screen name L. Ron Hubbard to bash the Travolta's. How pathetic is what I say.

Just what exactly does Jett's parents religion have to do with any of it? It doesn't in my opinion. The only thing that should matter right now is that parents have lost their child. I know the day will come that those heartless people will be judged and I take comfort in that knowledge.

To the Travolta family, my heartfelt condolences. It's been 8 years since I lost my son and the pain is still there. I hope they find peace in whatever way they can.

To the attention seekers and people with unbelievably bad taste, I hope you never have to go through the pain of losing a child. But maybe if you did you would understand what a terrible thing you did making jokes about a child passing away. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

Be very very quiet...

I just had to share this video with you that I found while reading the news! The cat just cracks me up with his sneakiness!

Ninja Cat @ Yahoo! Video

Attack of the 20 foot man! ...or something like that

Snow is harmless right? Specifically snowmen. Kids out of school for Christmas break that live in places where snow falls abundantly build them all the time. They don’t come to life and wreak havoc on our neighborhoods. They don’t have any magical powers. And they don’t build themselves. Or do they?

According to a man in Anchorage Alaska a 25 foot tall snowman, dubbed Snowzilla by his family and neighbors, just magically appeared in his front yard on Christmas morning. Call it a Christmas miracle. He practically does in his interview.

This is the fourth year that Snowzilla sits in the front yard of the Powers family. He’s equipped with all the snowman details including a stovetop hat and corncob pipe. Halfway through the building of this years Snowzilla, the city stopped Billy Powers and his seven children from finishing the snowman citing noise and traffic complaints.

A notice was put at the base of the snowman as well as on the front door of the Power’s residence to cease and desist from erecting the snowman. The city says it is a nuisance because of all the extra traffic and noise from people wanting to see the snowman with their own eyes.

They also stated that it was a safety hazard. I imagine it takes a lot of snow to make a 25 foot tall snowman. I can actually see the cities side. But I also think he should be able to do what he wants in his own front yard. And I would love to see Snowzilla for myself. I’m torn between which side I stand on in this debate. Maybe by the time Christmas 2009 arrives I’ll have decided.




Click here to read related Snowzilla stories in the Anchorage Daily News

Click here to watch the video of Billy Powers stating his case

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...

Last summer we went to the beach several times. On one of those trips my daughter Melanie went with us. It was a great day with just one little glitch…

The kids had gone off together playing in the surf. You could tell they were having so much fun. They were laughing and tackling each other. Suddenly Melanie came running out of the ocean and up the beach towards us with a look of panic on her face! She was holding both her hands across her leg and crying. She yelled, “Momma, something stung me!”.

Luckily a beach patrolman was driving down the beach on his four wheeler. We flagged him down and told him what was happening. He looked at her leg and told us rather matter-of-factly that she had been stung by a jellyfish. He told us that at our beach (Surfside/Freeport, Texas), jellyfish are common. He said it was a good idea to keep 3 items in our car whenever we were planning a beach trip. A clean towel (or two), a spray bottle filled with white vinegar and meat tenderizer.

Use the towel to wipe off the stung area. If you use your hand you’ll just end up with stings all over it too. You definitely don’t want that!

Next is the vinegar. It is said to remove the nematocysts. Nematocysts are the tiny stingers that inject the venom into you. Spray the entire area down to remove them. One word of caution about vinegar: In stings from Portuguese Men of War vinegar worsens the pain. A Portuguese Man of War is not jellyfish although they look very similar to them.

The last item is the meat tenderizer. Meat tenderizer contains papain which will ease the discomfort of the sting. Papain is an enzyme that breaks down proteins. Just rub a thin layer over the affected area. Leave it on about 15 minutes. Be sure and rinse it off after the 15 minutes or it could irritate your skin worse.

Without a doubt I will have these items in my car the next time we are going to the beach. I hope we never have to deal with jellyfish stings again, but if we do, I’m going to be prepared!

(Portuguese Man of War)

(Common Jellyfish)

(Sting on my daughter's leg)

H.R. Pufnstuf

I can’t remember what Tim and I were talking about this morning. I do that often. But I Do remember we started talking about H.R. Pufnstuf. He never watched it! I was shocked. I have this idea that everything I watch, eat, buy, use are all the best possible thing for whatever it is I’m doing. I watched H.R. Pufnstuf so it must have been a great show…

Maybe that’s a little ego-maniac like. I may need to explore that idea some day… But not today. Today all I can think about is playing. I believe the day I stop liking all my favorite childhood things is the day I grow up. Like Peter Pan, that’s a terrifying thought to me. I don’t want to grow up. When you grow up you get hurt. And old. And die. I want to live forever.

Don’t worry, there’s no need to call in professional help for me. I know I can’t live forever. But it would be nice wouldn’t it? Never grow up, never grow old. J. M. Barrie got that one exactly right.


And Sid and Marty Krofft did too. A magical island where books and trees and clocks and houses walked around. I have an urge to watch H.R. Pufnstuf now. I’d love to get a peek at Witchiepoo. She was my favorite.