Drama Mama

My oldest is a complete drama mama. Everything she does is a production; either it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to her or the absolute worst. This morning there was a huge amount of drama over her school clothes. Now, she’s in 1st grade in a public school. But, luckily (or so I thought) it’s a uniform dress-code school, so getting dressed should be pretty easy. We even take the guess work out of it by keeping her “school clothes” separate from her other clothes. Also, this is the same school she went to last year, and she’s been in school now for almost two months this year. Today though, she wanted to wear some non-uniform clothes to school. She cried and whined and basically dragged her feet for 15 minutes while getting a shirt on. All of her uniform shirts (i.e. collared polo-type shirts in light blue, white or navy) were suddenly “too big” or “too itchy.” So I told her to put on an undershirt, and that was deemed “too hot.” It didn’t help much that her sister, Anaya, who goes to pre-school daily, was flaunting the fact that she got to wear her new shirt to school today. A fabulous costume type t-shirt that made it look like she was a cowgirl. All the getting dressed drama made her miss the bus, and pretty much put a icky spin on my day.

In other thoughts, I’ve been thinking a lot about the Obama proposal to lengthen the school year and school day. Personally, I think it’s a fantastic plan, but this is a whole ‘nother blog all on it’s own, soon to come.

Good Old Granola Bar, but Better, the Larabar

I am one of those people who skips breakfast almost every weekday. Then, by lunchtime, I’m so hungry I make bad lunch decisions. So, in order to spot this behavior, I’ve started stashing granola bars in my desk at work. These are my breakfast at my desk. I eat them first thing in the morning when I’m checking my email (really looking at Facebook, don’t judge me), and planning my day (still looking at Facebook, probably playing Mafia Wars or Bejeweled). So I’ve gone through a pretty wide variety of granola bars. Some I don’t like because they’re too sweet, others are too crunchy, and others just don’t taste right. I’ve been working my way through the natural foods section of my local Fry’s store, and a few weeks ago, found the amazing Larabars (folks, they aren’t paying me to say this). I am in love. These are so tasty and packed full of good stuff. My favorite right now is the Ginger Snap. It’s like the best tasting Gingerbread Man ever, but soft and chewy rather than tooth-breakingly crispy, it has a good heat to it, due to the real ginger. The Lemon Bar is also delicious. It’s tart and has a real lemon flavor, rather than the faux lemon taste that some bars have. I would love to try Apple Pie, Key Lime Pie and Cinnamon Roll, but my Fry’s doesn’t carry those. Perhaps I’ll check out Whole Foods and see if they have any in stock.

Robbery at our Home

Our home was broken into yesterday, 09/18/2009, between 4:30 and 5:00 PM. The front door was kicked open and a 52" Mitsubishi TV was taken from the back family room. The police were called, we have a police report. We also had all of the paperwork for the TV, so we were able to provide them with the serial number for the TV. We know the exact time, because my husband, had been home all day sick. The only time he left was to go pick our daughter up at Desert Meadow's after-school program and to get the mail. The door frame was completely shattered. Poor construction quality at our front door showed that the door frame in our house, at least on the lock side, wasn't screwed into anything. We expect there was more than one person who came into the house, because you would have needed two men to move the TV. I expect our home had been under watch for a few days now, and that they were only after the TV, because a laptop and a gaming system in the same roomwere not even touched.

Driving Like a Monkey

There was an article in the Arizona newspaper today that got picked up by Fox News, and has gone nationwide. In Arizona, we have these traffic cameras that catch speeding vehicles. They are the tools of the Devil. Yes, I've been caught. It's a $180 fine. In my defense, I was over by the airport, and the camera is very tricky over there. In that section of the highway, the speed drops from 65 MPH to 55 MPH. The camera is set up right beyond the sign. You guessed it, I'm driving along at my normal driving speed, and I get bagged for going 72 in a 55. Goodbye $180! And apparently, I'm not the only one who gets caught there. A man in Arizona is trying to beat the system by wearing a Monkey Mask when he drives. This way he can't be identified as the driver of the car. Check it out for yourself. You tell me, is this man an unappreciated genius? Is he a performance artist of the highest caliber? Or, is he just a man cheating they system?