Stairs Can Be Hazardous To Your Health

So Douglas has decided that he is a "big boy" and has been trying to go down the stairs by himself...not on his butt or on his belly (feet first) but like a "big boy" would (like most adults do). He discovered that he is just NOT QUITE tall enough to keep his hand on the railing and reach his foot down to the next step safely. He attempted to go down the deck stairs by himself and the result was that he went down face first and landed face first on the edge of the paving stone that we have as part of our walkway. Allen got him all cleaned up and even stripped him down to make sure that no other part of him was injured. The po' kid really banged up his nose & mouth though. I mean REALLY banged them up. He's got a decent sized fat lip and a nastly lookin bruise on the end of his nose. I'm taking him to the doctor today to make sure he didn't do anything other than just "surface" damage.

Happy News

There was just a news story on The Today Show that made me think, "Why don't they do more happy news stories?" The story was about a white firefighter who had saved a little black baby from a house fire back in the 60's in an area where segregation and discrimination were rampant. When the rescue took place, there was a picture taken of the firefighter performing CPR on the baby. At the time, this picture made front page news. The baby was eventually put up for adpotion and her adoptive family showed her the picture and told her the story of her dramatic rescue. 40 years later, she is all grown up, she is married and has a family of her own...but all she really wants is to find the firefighter who saved her life. So she enlists the help of a newspaper reporter from the area, they track down the firefighter & a reunion takes place. HE remembered her & was thrilled that she wanted to meet him. What gets me about this story is that it's HAPPY. It's a HAPPY story. A feel-good story. And the reason I wish news-outlets would realize that the people want to hear HAPPY news is this: they ran this story on the front page of the paper and on the paper's website -- and the website received a RECORD number of hits...over 1.5 MILLION hits...for a HAPPY story! There's enough sadness and bad things happening in this world and it's my opinion that the newspeople need to realize that the American people could use some good, happy news!

Sorry if I misled you with the title - I personally don't have any "happy" news...I'm actually kinda ticked about something right now...but this thought process about HAPPY news was really on my mind today!

The Separation of the Colors

Douglas eats Fruit Loops. And he LOVES them. He usually eats about a 1/4 to 1/2 cup for breakfast every morning. This isn't weird or funny or anything. Most kids eat some kind of cereal for breakfast. What I find weird and funny is HOW Douglas eats his Fruit Loops. For the last week or so, I will pour him his lil bowl of cereal, he will take it into the living room and sit on the rug and start to eat. One color at a time. Just one. He picks out all the blue ones. Then all the purple ones. Then the green ones. It's hilarious to watch him. Maybe not - but I know he is truly my son because this is how I eat Fruit Loops (or M&M's or Skittles or any other multi-colored treat). Not always, but usually. I guess the funny part to me is seeing the traits that are passed from one generation to the next. Not just physical traits or emotional traits, but the WAY we all do things.

Smokin'

As you may (or may not) know, I smoked for several years. During that time, I tried to quit 3 or 4 times only to just go right back to it. The day I found out I was pregnant with Douglas, though, I quit - threw the remainder of the pack I had out the window and I haven't touched a cigarette since. SO, it's been just over two years since the last time I smoked anything. For those of you who have never smoked, you will not understand this feeling. For those of you who have never quit smoking, you may not understand this either but I've got to share this. Like I said, it's been 2 years for me. You would think that 2 years would be enough time to get rid of the urge....but it's not. I wake up every single day with the desire to smoke. All day long, it's in my mind to go buy a pack of cigs & start up again. I find myself munching on food just to keep myself from going back to smoking. I have been fighting the urge and I don't plan on going back but the mental struggle is so much more difficult than you may realize. So having shared that, let me say to all of you out there - don't start smoking. It's a very expensive habit - more than just monetarily too. It costs you time & effort & pain & suffering. If I could go back to the day when I tried my first cigarette, I would definitely smack myself on the back of the head and say, "YOU FOOL! YOU FOOL! DON'T DO IT!"

Wardrobe Malfunction

I was sitting (as usual) in my chair, reading some stuff for school and I looked up at Douglas. He had been standing in front of the TV watching whatever had been on and apparently, had a slight wardrobe malfunction. Douglas has the fortunate luck to be built like his daddy - long and skinny. I have a very hard time finding pants that fit him in the waist but are also long enough in the legs too. These particular pants I normally put a belt with but for some reason, couldn't find it yesterday so I decided to let him go without....my mistake. When I looked up from my schoolwork, this is pretty much what I saw:

The poor kid's pants had fallen down and he was trying valiantly to pull them back up. My battery died on the camera so this was the only photo I was able to take but I couldn't stop laughing! He couldn't get his pants back up so he started walking toward me with them down around his knees -- which ended up tripping him and he thought it was royally funny too. So he got back up and kept trying to run around with his pants pulled down. Ahhhhhh...the joys of childhood!

I'm biased - but isn't he just the cutest?

Helpin' mom "sort" laundry.Yes, that is my bra on his head. He thought it was a hat!He decided that he wanted to see out this window....the window that is HIGH above the couch. So he climbed up onto the couch, climbed up on mom, climbed up the back of the couch just so he could look out and see.....our cars!But he had fun!He discovered that the new Gatorade "G" bottles are just the right size for him!

Where did it go???AHA! Here it is!OK - now he's done with playing and is just ready to go to bed!

Epiphany

You know when you are sitting around and all of a sudden you have that DING! lightbulb moment? I have these moments quite a bit, but the problem is that I have been so tired lately I end up forgetting about them. But there is a situation that I've been dwelling on in my life lately that I had a big epiphany about the other day so I thought I would share. I frequently complain about lots of things - my weight, my lack of time to get stuff done, how tired I am, etc., etc., etc. I was sitting in my favorite chair the other day, watching TV when the lightbulb flashed on over my head. I was SITTING on my duff, WATCHING TV. I started thinking about just how much TV I actually watch and here's what I came up with - I turn the tube on at 8 in the morning and it stays on until I go to bed about 11 at night. That's 15 hours of tube-watching EVERYDAY. Now, I don't constantly watch - usually it's just there for background noise. But I started thinking about it. If I shut the TV off and did other things - like cleaning the kitchen, or working on a sewing project, or reading my schoolbooks, or going for a walk - well, I would have LOTS of time to get stuff done. So I came up with a daily schedule for me to follow. Yes, it does require me getting up a bit earlier than I am used to but with this new schedule, I can get a walk in everyday, a SHOWER everyday, and there will still be time for schoolwork, housework, family time, sewing time, everything. Why didn't I think of this earlier? TV has controlled my life & time for so long and I can't believe that it took me until NOW to realize that if I didn't watch so much TV, I could actually have time to accomplish the stuff I want to get done! INCREDIBLE!

By the way - HAPPY ST. PATTY'S DAY TO YOU ALL!!!

Video to go along with first post!

Snow falling on our yard...the warm weather for the past few days warmed the ground enough so nothing has stuck, but just watching the snow fall was nice for me!

The Silence of Snowfall

When I think of winter, I think of day long snowfalls where the world is quiet as it is blanketed in a layer of perfectly fluffy snow. Virginia doesn't have this often but in the last two weeks, we have had snow. We've also had 80 degree weather so it's safe to say the weather is confused out here. Today, the forecast was for rain so to my pleasant surprise, I woke up to snow. It's been snowing HUGE flakes all day. I love it. Douglas keeps looking at me like I'm nuts because I keep standing at the back door watching the snow fall. I think that winter is truly my favorite season for the simple fact that it brings me peace. Peace in the silence and the solitude of the snow. Not many people can understand this but it's how I feel. Today, I am happy and at peace.