things you teach your kid...

... and then realize, hmmmm... maybe not so smart.

i taught clay to blow raspberries. now when he goes potty, he sits and blows raspberries and thinks its very entertaining. funny at the time, but maybe a bit embarrassing if we're out in public and he does this.

something important

I'm posting the following article to raise awareness and also to encourage you to respond. Please read this:

Dear friend,

I just learned about a case of segregation-era oppression happening today in Jena, Louisiana. I signed onto ColorOfChange.org's campaign for justice in Jena, and wanted to invite you to do the same.

http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/?id=2395-235564

Last fall in Jena, the day after two Black high school students sat beneath the "white tree" on their campus, nooses were hung from the tree. When the superintendent dismissed the nooses as a "prank," more Black students sat under the tree in protest. The District Attorney then came to the school accompanied by the town's police and demanded that the students end their protest, telling them, "I can be your best friend or your worst enemy... I can take away your lives with a stroke of my pen."

A series of white-on-black incidents of violence followed, and the DA did nothing. But when a white student was beaten up in a schoolyard fight, the DA responded by charging six black students with attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

It's a story that reads like one from the Jim Crow era, when judges, lawyers and all-white juries used the justice system to keep blacks in "their place." But it's happening today. The families of these young men are fighting back, but the story has gotten minimal press. Together, we can make sure their story is told and that the Governor of Louisiana intervenes and provides justice for the Jena 6. It starts now. Please join me:

http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/?id=2395-235564

The noose-hanging incident and the DA's visit to the school set the stage for everything that followed. Racial tension escalated over the next couple of months, and on November 30, the main academic building of Jena High School was burned down in an unsolved fire. Later the same weekend, a black student was beaten up by white students at a party. The next day, black students at a convenience store were threatened by a young white man with a shotgun. They wrestled the gun from him and ran away. While no charges were filed against the white man, the students were later arrested for the theft of the gun.

That Monday at school, a white student, who had been a vocal supporter of the students who hung the nooses, taunted the black student who was beaten up at the off-campus party and allegedly called several black students "nigger." After lunch, he was knocked down, punched and kicked by black students. He was taken to the hospital, but was released and was well enough to go to a social event that evening.

Six Black Jena High students, Robert Bailey (17), Theo Shaw (17), Carwin Jones (18), Bryant Purvis (17), Mychal Bell (16) and an unidentified minor, were expelled from school, arrested and charged with second-degree attempted murder. The first trial ended last month, and Mychal Bell, who has been in prison since December, was convicted of aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery (both felonies) by an all-white jury in a trial where his public defender called no witnesses. During his trial, Mychal's parents were ordered not to speak to the media and the court prohibited protests from taking place near the courtroom or where the judge could see them.

Mychal is scheduled to be sentenced on July 31st, and could go to jail for 22 years. Theo Shaw's trial is next. He will finally make bail this week.

The Jena Six are lucky to have parents and loved ones who are fighting tooth and nail to free them. They have been threatened but they are standing strong. We know that if the families have to go it alone, their sons will be a long time coming home. But if we act now, we can make a difference.

Join me in demanding that Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco get involved to make sure that justice is served for Mychal Bell, and that DA Reed Walters drop the charges against the 5 boys who have not yet gone to trial.

http://www.colorofchange.org/jena/?id=2395-235564

Thanks.

just a note...

the link to the videos on myspace is for the same videos i posted on here; i found out that the link wouldn't work unless you were a member. i know some of you are not, hence the redundancy.

enjoy! :)

where it all started...

this is clay at the hospital when he was born...

undefined hospital

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going back a few months...

this is clay at 6 months! look how chubby he is compared to now!

undefined clay at 6 mos



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clay at swimming lessons...

on the diving board the first time...

undefined on the diving board for the first time



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clay at the fair...

here's clay riding cars with his cousins. he's having a blast!

undefined clay driving car at the fair

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clay on the slide

here's clay on the slide at the fair. i went down with him. don't look at me too closely; the sun was in my eyes and i'm squinting. however, i look like i'm drunk or deranged or something.

undefined clay on the slide

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videos of clay!

hey, i finally uploaded some videos of clay on myspace! you can check them out at this link:

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.myvideos

apparently...

...we need a new washing machine. i put a load in the washer and started it up and got busy doing other things. about half an hour later, clay was getting fussy so i went to go put him down for a nap, and saw a lake in our dining room/kitchen.

what, what, what???!!!!

i wade through the lake that was once our dining room and head towards the laundry room, from which the source is flowing rapidly.

i thought maybe i left the tap on in the laundry room, but no, that was off.

nope. the washer was leaking. it had filled... and just never stopped. talk about showers of blessings. okay, well i wouldn't call that a blessing, but that song ironically just came to mind.

so... i turn off the washer to stop it filling and then put it on the spin cycle to drain it. like we don't have enough water, already.

then i wade back through to get clay. he sees the water, and has stopped being grumpy; now he wants to play in the water. *sigh* i take him upstairs anyway, glad that he is tired, because now i can get the mess cleaned up.

meanwhile, cody, who is sleeping in the kitchen, is completely oblivious to the water puddle which ends about 4 inches from her. in fact, she doesn't move the whole time i clean up the mess, and i check to see if she's dead. because she's so still. she is old after all; about 10, which is like 70 in dog years. she's breathing, so i take it as a good sign that she's tired. to make sure she's not in some dog coma, i touch her paw, and she flicks it, ever so slightly and continues in her deep slumber, ignoring me completely.

so i mop up about 3 gallons of water, and throw the sopping wet towels in the laundry room. i'm not sure how those are going to get washed now; but, at any rate, the floors DID need to be mopped, so they are clean now. very much so. now i just have to figure out how to clean the stupid clothes.

THANKFULLY, i was just washing clothes and not clay's nappies. that would not have been fun to clean up. speaking up nappies to clean up, nick doesn't handle poop very well, apparently. i came down this morning to find a poop smeared diaper waiting for me on the washer. apparently it was too gross for nick to handle, so he let me take care of it. so... its been a fun morning.

hopefully, it can't get any worse, right?

i'm soooooooooooo tired...

well, the new job is great, but i keep very busy! i've gotten home late the past few nights, b/c there is so much to do, and then of course paperwork. since i'm new, everything is going slower because its still unfamiliar.

nick said to me this morning, "your shift goes from 3-11. so that's when you should be done."

yeah, that works. "i haven't charted yet, but my shift is up, so i'm going home." that would go over well.

well, at any rate, it is going well, and the second day was better than the first as far as getting organized and getting to know the clients.

but... i'm tired. nursing doesn't give you much of a chance to sit down! the nurses at my old job were almost always sitting, and it seemed like they had plenty of time to gossip and play on the computer.

maybe i'm just slow, but at any rate, once i get used to everything, it should go alot faster.

not doing that again...

ughhh! i left my toothbrush on the counter in the bathroom. that was a mistake. i took clay potty, and left him sitting for a few seconds while i ran to get a clean nappy. when i came back, he was grinning, toothbrush in hand and it was dripping wet, from where he'd dunked it in the toilet. nice.

good thing i had another toothbrush on hand. well, at least i caught it. not knowing would have been alot worse. yuck.

susie homemaker i am not

i thought i was making a fool-proof lunch today. it was in a packet; all i had to add was tuna, some vegetables, milk and some pasta. after it was cooked, i was supposed to sprinkle cheese and crackers on top and "place under grill until golden brown".

i assumed this meant "broil" and placed it in the broiler for 4 mins. after two minutes, something smelled funky. i looked in the oven and *gasp!!* the crackers were waaaaaaaaaaaaay past the golden brown stage. they were black, and when i opened the oven, they burst into flames.

i thought, "where's our fire extinguisher?", and then "no, we can't use that, it'll wreck it" (as if its not inedible at this point). so i grab the oven mitt and beat the fire out. i managed not to burn myself or the mitt, for which i was proud, since dinner appeared ruined.

however, we were hungry, and so i scraped off the burned stuff and it was actually okay.

but yeah. mabye i'll put in at 350 next time and we might not have a suprise flambe' in the oven next time.

today is the day!

i start my new job today! i'm officially an LPN now!!! i'm so excited... but nervous too. send me some positive vibes. :) my last day at my other job was yesterday and it was kinda sad! i'll miss alot of the clients, and most of the staff. however, there are some i will not miss. at all. that i will admit. but many of the clients touched my heart and i will not forget them. they were brave and wonderful people.

tantrums

clay has accomplished the art of throwing tantrums. the throwing himself on the floor drama that instantly raises blood pressure. i don't know how he has the energy, or why he bothers in this heat. but he does. he wants another snack now, even though he finished about half an hour ago with his regular snack. he has just started this new and apparently fascinating phase, so hopefully it won't last long.

when he gives the sign for "please" and ASKS nicely for things, he gets it. when he has tantrums, he does not. so hopefully it won't take long for him to put two and two together and deduct that trowing tantrums REALLY isn't worth the effort.

currently, although he was all smiles and cuteness a few minutes ago, he has decided to throw a tantrum.

but then again, he already stopped before i finished this post... i did not give in and ignored it (although that is very hard to do when your eardrums are threatening to go on strike) and he is calm again. until the next episode.

i wish though, sometimes, that people would find it perfectly normal if i could just lie on the floor and cry if i got overwhelmed with something and got too tired. i wish i got the "oh you're tired and need a nap" thing and got sent to bed. if i did that, i'd probably find myself in a room with padded walls. ha! kids are so lucky.

haiku to fruit flies

i hate fruit flies
they loved my compost bin
twas what drew them in


invading kitchens
tiny flies who look like gnats
breeding like rabbits


alas! bug spray fails
although the stuff makes me choke
it affects them not


i hate them so much
like a telemarketer
they live to annoy


so i took it out, that bin
of kitchen scraps so tempting
they moved to the garbage can


if i could stab them
with tiny fruit fly sized knives
they might take the hint and leave

my husband the hero

so last night i had this dream that there was this HUGE snake in the house. i mean huge, like boa constrictor huge. it was white, with black and red markings on top. no clue. it was a strange looking snake. at any rate, in my dream i wasn't concerned with that aspect particularly, as it was coming straight for me. it was just about to go for my head, and i was paralyzed with fear; nick came up, and grabbed the snake by the head and wrestled him away from me while he yelled for me to escape.

how noble!!! he was a hero, even if it was only a dream. dreams mean stuff sometimes... maybe it means that he will rescue me from something very dangerous. ohhhhhh!

i love my husband, the dream hero.

just a tiny rant

so... today i hear that nike has dropped their endorsement of micheal vick, because of his indictment of dog fighting, even though he hasn't been convicted yet. they don't want to be associated with his illegal and immoral behavior (in their own words).

which is all well and good, BUT... nike did NOT drop kobe bryant when he was accused of rape. in fact, they said they stood behind him unless the case resulted in a guilty plea. which it did not, b/c the poor victim was so terrorized and threatened by his stupid fans that she feared (literally) for her life. her life was ruined.

he got away with it, even though he lied several times and there were more holes in his story than a screen door.

so glad to know that nike supports rapists and, while they think that dog fighting is "illegal" and "immoral", they, apparently, do not think this about rape.

apparently, if you're a member of the "good ol' boy's club", you can do whatever you bloody well want.

anyway... just thought you should know that nike did this. maybe if people stop buying from them and tell them why, they might rethink their endorsement of men who rape women and get away with it b/c they are rich.

so yeah, don't buy nike. apparently, not only do they not have a problem with exploiting children in 3rd world countries to work in their sweat shops, they also do not have a problem with women being raped.

update

my friend echoe is home!! yay! she is doing alot better and glad to be with her family. i'll check with her to see if its okay to post the link to her site on here.

you know you're a parent when...

...you start talking to your animals like they're kids.

so the other day, i'm watering the animals, and decide that while the tanks are filling up, i'll cut down some of those burdocks. the steer, who likes to meet me when i do the water so i can scratch his ears, sees the thingamabob to cut the burdocks and doesn't like it. so he lowers his head down and head-butts me.

in surprise, i yell, "what do you think you're doing?!" and he stops and looks at me guiltily with those big cow eyes of his.

trying to remain calm, i say, "we don't do that," in a stern voice, then add, "that's not nice!"

he stares at me, then takes a tiny step forward and lowers his head. "NO!" I say, again, firmly.

and he stops, stands there and pouts.

after i finished with the water, i thought, "he's at least 600 lbs. and has horns... and i think by saying, "no, that's not nice," that he'll listen to me?!

apparently he did.