Well, I declared that back on June 21, 1981 when I was shanghaied and dumped moved here. But I was 17 at the time and had a bad attitude. And as I’ve stated before, I’ve had plenty of time to leave, so I try to keep my disparaging remarks to a minimum. But this declaration does warm my vengeful heart just a tad. So, to celebrate our newly declared status,...

This is a picture of my neighbor’s front yard. Lovely, huh? It was gorgeous Sunday night. See that street light at the right edge of the picture? The light from it shining through the ice-covered branches of what once was pretty tree made it sparkle like a crystal Christmas tree ornament. Now…not so much. The saddest part of all of this – even...

No sooner than I get that last post posted, but our power went out. Not all that surprising – irritating, yes, surprising? No. Second Son and I called it a night and went to bed. I saw and heard the power try to come back on somewhere just before dawn, so I went back to sleep figuring it would all be back on when I woke. But, God had other plans for us. At...

Normally, pink is pretty. But in the winter in Oklahoma, it’s the last thing you want to see on a weather map. Unless, of course, you’re a school age kid – then it depends on just how much pink you see. On a weather map, pink means ice. Pink is good because schools tend to close when the map turns pink like tonight’s has. Here at our house,...

The other day, I mentioned IzzyMom’s Consumer Culture and Kids post reminded me that I struggle with a similar issue related to Christmas and it’s been on my mind again this year. The issue is the consumerization of Christmas. Each year, I get more and more pissed off with the social pressure to spend, spend, spend on Christmas presents. It feels like...

I only WISH I appeared this calm, cool and collected to my students this morning! It was…one of THOSE mornings… I had woken up at 5:30am, glanced at the clock, and happily turned over and burrowed back under the covers for another hour of slumber. Not 30 seconds later, I swear, I opened my eyes to: 8:28 staring back at me. My heart skipped a beat, no ten....

…but, Oldest Son called me at 1am. I answer, feigning sleep (I was right here, reading blogs, but he doesn’t need to know that.) Immediately, I hear him let out a string of expletives that would make even a sailor blush. No, not at me. At the girl with whom he spent the weekend (with whom he also shared a house for just over a year, up until March of this...

I found this nice meme on Kat’s blog My Two Cents…and yes, I tagged myself. What you do is type the answer to each question into Google Image Search and choose an image representing it from the first page of answers. Et voilá! 1. Age at next birthday: 2. Place of birth: 3. Place I want to visit: 4. Nickname: 5. Favorite place: 6. Favorite...

Soccer Mom in Denial has proclaimed Thursday, January 10, 2008 is a Day to Read. Click her name or the badge to read her introductory post about it. You’ll be amazed at some of the stats she dug up! So, yes, a Day to Read – a book, a magazine, a newspaper – something OTHER than your computer screen, ok? I know, I know – who has time to sit...

Earlier this year, Second Son and I attended a woodcarving class that my dad hosted and taught. We both wanted to learn and the bonus of extra time with Dad/Grandpa was the tipping point. So now every time we go out there, we spend evenings in The Shop carving. When we were out there for Thanksgiving, he asked us if we’d like to carve some tree ornaments. This...