Sometimes doctor's medicines only do more to make you sick... ick. 

And then, it's not just me but I want to look up how someone who hasn't been sick all year can be diagnosed with anything including the word... chronic.  That one is my daughter. 

Call me paranoid I guess but I don't think a girl in elementary school should be allowed a blog with a picture of handcuffs and a rose weaving through them.   I think it's new and I think her father only made one within the last week. He's not terribly informed on the use of computers either.   Her profile says she's 23.. IF I bring this up to my son all my kids will discuss behind my back how I butt in to their business...

But...

They are my grandchildren which makes them my business when they teeter on the edge of danger,  with open invitataions to apparently any stranger that writes to them since the youngest already added me to her list;   without knowing who I am.  Yep.. her safety is my business...

Or..

Am I being paranoid?  Keep in mind I think having a blog is a wonderful tool for children because it encourages them to read and write.. I think,  I believe strongly that said blogs need to be carefully...carefully supervised.  And while I believe children have a reasonable right to privacy they ALSO need our adult wisdom to guide them and when they make something so public as a blog they have waived their right to privacy.

Perhaps you have heard the news.  Dog,  The Bounty Hunter is in jail.  Not news to you?   Is everyone blogging about this?

Now,  my own opinion doesn't count in this but I do think that given the reason he took the Max Factor heir out of Mexico and handed him over to law enforcement in the United States would be reason enough for Mexico to have dropped the charges against Dog.   I mean,  really,  do they want an alleged serial rapist in their country?   Apparently that is far preferrable to have left a rapist there among their own women?

But, then I'm stuck in a strange position.  My daughter brings the topic up and like many people flat out thinks the Mexican officials and the judge in Hawaii are just wrong.    That may very well be.   In fact, I even think this is silly.

However,  as we tried to explain to her, you know, the parent thing,  he was arrested and the judge in Hawaii probably was left with little choice given our laws.  Afterall,  right or wrong,  Dog was arrested in Mexico.. bail was posted and he skipped out not returning to court. 

Now, correct me if I'm wrong but isn't that one of the very things he captures people for?  So,  again,  I'd rather someone teeter the line of kidnapping to get a serial rapist off the street than skip bail for capturing the guy but laws are laws.  There was a right way and wrong to handle this situation.   Handling a situation becomes increasingly more important,  as far as I'm concerned,  as the dollar bills backing the other person increase;  in this case the Max Factor heir. 

I think what Dog did should be weighed against the reasons why and the outcome of his actions and then,  let go.  But, I guess even in the end,  Bounty Hunters are bound by the same laws all of us are.  Plus,  the extra rule of "cover your behind!"

I was pestered yesterday not by someone that wanted to talk to me.  In fact, he very well might have a clue I'm not terribly fond of this person so why he calls when he does is beyond me.

He's calling for my husband,  business related because he'd like to use our sons to work for him.  So,  my question then becomes;  why not call in the evening when the person he needs to talk to is likely to be here?

Probably because he thinks I'm likely to talk to my husband on the cell phone at some point during the day.  What he apparently doesn't know is that I don't call him very much at work.  How awkward would it be for him to hear the phone ring when he's trying to hang a cabinet on the wall?  Plus,  calling him slows him down and keeps him at work that much longer.  Generally,  I hear from him when he's on his way home.

So, in anticipation of me having talked to my husband he called and called again to add days to HIS schedule.   Hello?  Anyone home up there?  We DO have a business  and our own things to do,  can't he , I don't  know,  ASK  if he can have the boys work those days?  You know,  make sure we don't need them first?   Then,  the second thing would be to make sure they want to work for him.  They aren't  employees they are subcontractors.   They can work where they want.  Of course,  if they turn down work,  it's pretty certain they won't be hired again.  

I guess what I've over vented on was that a cell phone is not an open invitation to call with no respect to what the person on the other end of the phone may or may not be doing.    Phone ettiquette should not have gone out the window just because it's a "cell phone" and you CAN be reached any time of the day.

Between the rains and our vacation [ procastion.. let's be honest] the weeds have gotten ahead of me.  So, today I thought I'd go ahead and start getting the flower beds ready for winter.  Which means.. oh happy days!  Summer is coming to an end!!

I hate summer here on the east coast.  It is far, far too humid and sometimes hard to breath.  Plus, right now we have window air conditioning units.  One is constantly freezing my back in the office and by night there is one right over my head leaving me freezing AND you can't hear the television.  [ neighbors apparently can hear it though]

This has yet one more side effect in that I don't become acclimated to the heat.  I go from freezing all winter to freezing all summer.  Other signs that fall is coming?

Football [ Steelers Rock!] finally has started regular season games.  School starts and there is a slew of shopping to be done but this year I don't have any children to worry about school shopping for!   The hummingbird feeder is about to come down and be cleaned and stored for the winter.  Scarecrows will come out and get stuck in the ground.  Store shelves are being cleared for Christmas decorations.  [What happened to Halloween and Thanksgiving?] 

And Desperate Housewives, House and Grey's Anatamoy will start new season's pretty soon...  and I sooo can't wait! 

You will perhaps remember that not long ago a laptop was stolen that contained identifying information of veterans and current military members.  Today we received a letter in the mail assuring us that the FBI is highly confident the information has not been accessed.   This letter came from the Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

For starters  "highly confident" is not entirely comforting.   The idea that following this theft individual credit monitering is not needed (as per letter) is assinine.  Worse,  the grammar in the letter sets off my own alarms. 

"The data were downloaded to the hard drive."  If 'were' had been used wrong once I wouldn't think twice.  The same with servicemember.  These errors are through the entire document.  I'll hand it to the author of this letter because two grammer check programs didn't catch the "were" but if the author of the letter didn't catch it wouldn't it stand to reason his secretary would?

The spelling errors were in fact caught in three of my spell checkers.  Doesn't the military offer word processor programs that include spell check? 

So then my point,  more like concern, becomes a question of the validity of this letter.  Perhaps it is a genuine letter.  It is possible the letterhead doesn't include information we were all taught letters should contain.  It is possible that the 'errors' are simply that.. errors. 

Maybe I'm just jaded enough to not trust anything; letters, phone calls, faxes that I myself did not generate.  That is a sorry state of affairs when you have to go to such lengths to protect your personal information to the point that even if it was the Red Cross contacting me I would not bother with the phone call or letter.   My standard answer has simply become,  "I'm sorry, I don't do this over the phone." 

We went for a ride today.  On a motorcycle.. that needs clarified.  Neither of us had been to a popular beach here on the east coast so we made that our destination.  Barring traffic it would take less than four hours to get to. 

Now,  keep in mind we rode the bike for two weeks in South Dakota during the bike rally.  So,  this ride today did not seem to be much of a problem...Wrong!

We got there,  rode down the road first looking for a place to grab something to eat then we'd walk on the boardwalk.  I couldn't wait.  The scent, the sounds of waves,  the ....Did anyone know the beach on the east coast is nothing at all like a west coast beach??  There are miles of hotels.  No ice cream,  no head shops..erm, surf shops.. no.. real waves.  In fact.. is there no seaweed??   So,  we turned around and left.

Another four hours before we'd be home.  I could not figure out why my backside hurt as bad as it did.  Sure,  it was about 8 hours on the bike but compared to two weeks?  Finally my husband said..  "You don't like four hours without stopping do you?" 

That was the difference.  We were on and off the bike in those two weeks.  Never on it for more than an hour in a shot.  But he wanted to get home and relax...
We got home.  I still hurt..he cooked dinner.  I'm never getting on the bike again! 
Oh wait.. there's.. nevermind,  I'll be on it next weekend but we ARE taking more breaks!

I didn't think I'd do it but I survived.  Babysitting her was not at all what I had anticipated!  She's very much like her dad was when he was her age.    She never...stopped...moving!   From six in the morning until after one in the afternoon. 

There were a lot of giggles,  a lot of hollering and a lot of hugs.   She scrubbed her big girl underoos and made a mess in the process,  so she (me really) had to clean the bathroom.  I am not sure if she got the hint it was better to use the bathroom in the toilet and not her 'roos or if she had more fun. 

At least it's been quiet the rest of the day,  I'm fixing to go watch a movie,  Father Goose with Cary Grant and probably fall asleep!  But all said,  it was a good day.

The peace and quiet of our home will be shattered by the squeals and giggles, the pitter pat of three year old feet.  Feet that move like her father's did when he was a child!!  HE's supposed to get the payback not me darnnit!!

I'm glad when she goes home only because now that it is harder for me to walk it now feels like I'm chasing trains all day trying to keep up with her.  And,  I can't rest unless she,  by the grace of God and alot of begging
will take a nap! 

But, oh how I love having her here.  My house seems so empty with the children all grown and moved out.  I miss the noise.  I miss the uncertainty and the challenge it took to have two out of four children that truly qualified for ritalin but I wouldn't put them on it.   Perhaps that is why the transition was so difficult.  To go from a house never clean, filled with laughter, hollering, bellowing and more giggling to... the television as background noise is just... well, puts new meaning to the phrase "empty nest."

So.. perhaps we'll play outside with the hose.  Or,  paint if I'm brave enough.  And for a few too short hours I'll step back in time and do one of my favorite things.. get on the floor and play the "One, Two, Three...Run and get a hug!" game.    Don't ask.. I made that up trying to get the two to run off some of that energy they had but it turned out to be among the favorite memories I have. 

Sooo... strange...In a very good way.  

I called a number that was on caller ID.  Judging by the name with it I gave it a stab in the dark and asked for my daughter.  I gathered by the receptionist asking who was calling  that indeed I was right. 
"Uh..her Mom."  
Yea, I was taken off guard even if I guessed right.  I don't like to call her at work,  in fact never have but it was very strange that she called me from the work number and not her cell number.
I was put on hold, trying to imagine why she might have called me...  in case you hadn't noticed, I am a worrier.  Then the receptionist came back and said,

"I'm sorry Ma'am, she's with a patient right now.  May I have her call you back when she's done?" 

My daughter, my youngest child..my baby is.. with a patient.  She's made it.. okay, a medical assistant in a children's heart clinic, with hopes of becoming a nurse but she's not laying around the house.. she's not at McDonalds and not making a future for herself.. she's.. with a patient, how... cool is that?