Satellites

I've always thought that satellites were pretty cool-taking pictures of distant planets and galaxies far far away, but I decided to check out some satellite images literally from our backyard. This totally blows my mind. If I were high I'd really be wigged out. How cool to see a picture of my house taken from freakin space. I spent some time finding the house I lived in in Cincinnati and the Hollywood Video I worked at as well as the Skyline Chili I used to eat at. Then I found my grandparents house and my moms house and I found the compound. What fun. Check out http://maps.live.com to see your house or work or whatever you feel like spying on.

Wisdom from the Stall

Mike always says that he gets some of his best ideas while in the bathroom. Apparently he's not the only one. Here are some no doubt alcohol induced epiphanies written in the first stall at Richmond's Pub.

"Be the change you want to see in the world."

"Never give up on something you can't go a day without thinking about."

"If someone can make you smile without them being there that's when you know they've got you."
(Hardly "you had me at hello")

"Juuuu-dith! omg! she's like the crypt keeper"

"Always B honest even if it hurts Because you can always walk away being true to yourself"


Truly words to live by. Enjoy your newfound enlightenment!

Cara and Emily's Page

My grandmother used to take a million and a half pictures to capture memories of her family. I am terrible at this. Since I got a new digital camera for my birthday I figured I'd make good use of it! So if you get bored check out The Muscarella Chronicles for various anecdotes of the girls doings and pictures! Well, there aren't any pictures yet, but there will be shortly. Now we just have to go and do something post-worthy!

Kid Tested, Mother Disapproved

Did you know that Kellogg's cereals are a contributing factor in childhood obesity? It appears that some upset moms of obese children have targeted Kellogg's saying the sugary cereals aren't healthy enough for their kids. I'm sorry but the whole point of the cereals in question is that they are sugary. And if the cereal wasn't meeting health standards it would not have been approved by the FDA. Forgive my insensitivity for a moment here but this is what I hear after reading the article: "Heeeeyyy! I finally just realized that my kid is severely overweight! Never saw that coming! It must be all that sugary cereal Kellogg's has been marketing to my child!" At this point a few questions come to mind. Don't you, as a parent, buy they cereal from the store? Or am I supposed to believe that the youngster went to the store by him/herself and purchased the contraband cereal without your knowledge? What? Did little Timmy use his allowance or did he just steal a 20 from your wallet? If that's the case then you probably have more serious issues at hand here. Okay, so you bought the cereal. But you had to because little Timmy saw the commercial on TV and wouldn't stop begging you for it. And you had so little self control and wanted to give Timmy everything his little heart desired because he's your little angel! Whatever happened to "No"? It's true that childhood obesity is on the rise. While this is certainly regretable why is it Kellogg's fault? Obesity is not something that you wake up with the next morning. These parents have to notice that something is wrong. And I hardly believe that eating Kellogg's cereals and other Kellogg's products are to blame here. Turn off the video games or computer and make your kids go play outside! Somehow we seem to have forgotten that as parents we can control what our kids eat and how much exercise they get. And I'm not talking about exercise in the sense that they should join Bally's but how about an old fashioned ball game with some kids in the neighborhood? Heaven forbid your child should ride a bike to a friends house or just around the neighborhood. If, as a concerned parent, you believe that Kellogg's products aren't healthy enough for your kid, then don't buy them. Where has common sense gone?

Summer Days

Even though summer doesn't officially begin for another 18 days or so, it has officially begun at our house! The girls have already played in the sprinkler at Oma's house, been to a parade, flown kites and planted some flowers and been to the Dairy-An for some "iyth peeme" (better known as ice cream). Good times!

A Sad Day

My first car was a 1987 Chevy Cavalier. First cars usually are associated with some great memories most often about crazy high school capers and shenanigans=good times. I finally had the car towed away today to its final resting place in some guys garage being stripped for any useful parts. As the tow truck guy was dragging it up onto the truck bed I saw my East High School parking sticker in the window and was reminded of some fun adventures full of teenaged stupidity. However my most favored of memories are of sitting in the backseat drinking Sprite from a glass bottle (no plastic containers then) and eating Fun Dips, Rolos or Big League Chew while playing air guitar (or drums) with my brother. My father would listen to the oldies station (Pittsburgh's 94.5 3Ws) and we would sing and play looking like retards. Sometimes he would throw in the Kenny Rogers tape so we could listen to The Gambler, and even better was listening to the theme song from Great American Hero. Good times. I remember when my dad got that car brand new. I was 8. We used to wash and wax it together in the summer. I remember him keeping lists in the glove compartment of his gas mileage (which I found when cleaning out the car). I got the car from him after he passed away a very short 7 years later. I drove it until repair work exceeded the worth of the car in 2002. 15 years of memories. It's crazy how fast they all came back (even the small inconsequential ones) in that one moment of watching this ugly truck haul away a piece of my history. At least the tow truck guy was sympathetic and allowed me to take my time cleaning out the car before taking it. I sat in the drivers seat for the last time and in the backseat while retrieving 2 snowbrushes and the rearview mirror and found my first drivers license and first license plates and one of my dad's old fishing poles in the trunk. So, here's to a sad day but good memories. Cheers!

Funk-free teeth

Hello esteemed readers! I need to clean some teeth this semester and am left with the job of finding my own patients. If you have tartar on your teeth (or know someone who does) that is in dire need of being removed (and all tartar is in dire need of being removed) I need you. Cleanings are free so please don't hesitate to contact me if you need a cleaning. I have several requirements which I won't go into detail here but I can fill you in on if you respond. The semester starts the 22nd of January and I think I will be getting right to work the next week. I will know lots of details then. But for now I'm just spreading the word. Pass along this information to anyone you know. Also, please respond to stoner5279@yahoo.com so that I can keep all inquiries located in one place! Thanks and hope to hear from you soon!!

Dolly For Sale

I heard that the FDA has approved that it is ok for us consumers to buy and eat the meat of cloned animals. One source says this is an extremely expensive process (you think?) and another reports that this is a good thing because then we can clone and subsequently mass produce only the very best specimens for consumption. *Gasp* What if we have been eating inferior meat? But then, as the BBC reports, we will never know if we are eating inferior meat or not because the FDA sees no reason why the meat should be labeled as cloned or not. For all intents and purposes, this meat is no different than the meat we are buying now save that it didn't cost an exorbitant amount of money to just let the cows and the bulls have at it and produce naturally. I think this whole thing is "udderly" ridiculous (and yes, the pun had to be made). Are we experiencing a sudden shortage of cattle, pigs and the like? Plus, what will PETA have to say about this? Perhaps the self esteem of the rejected cattle should be considered here. Poor Bessie didn't get picked for cloning. Farmers of rejected cattle should make sure to rid their farms of electric fencing lest all the ostracized cattle might try to kill themselves.

Night

I got a gift certificate to Barnes and Noble from one of my students for Christmas and immediately went and spent it. I got 3 books...Night by Elie Wiesel, Heart of Darkness (with 2 bonus short stories) by Joseph Conrad and Turn of the Screw and the Aspern Papers both by Henry James. I decided to read Night first because it was a shorter book and I figured I'd be done reading it before I left for vacation. I did not really know what was in store for me when I bought the book, only having read the back of it and thinking it sounded interesting. Interesting was completely the wrong word for what the book was to me. If you haven't read it, it is Wiesel's account of what he experienced at the concentration camps of the Holocaust. The book left me with mixed emotions the greatest of which was feeling like I wasn't entitled to feeling any at all. Auschwitz was not my experience and it felt like I was patronizing his agony by feeling horrified and sad for what he and countless other people went through. One story he told was during a transport to another camp. A woman from the passenger part of the train they were on was throwing coins into the cattle cars and people were fighting to the death over this woman's pocket change. When she was asked to stop the woman replied "I like to give charity." I felt like I was as arrogant as that woman. I also felt that I was intruding on this man's very private and personal story. It seemed to be a sacred work, perhaps because this was not only his story but the story of hundreds and hundreds of thousands of others. I know well that he wrote this account down and published it so people would specifically read it, but it still felt as though this was information that I should not be privvy to. While it feels like saying anything to describe the book or my feelings about it does a disservice to his work and experiences, I felt that I had to say something just to process the whole thing. If you want to borrow the book let me know.

Stress, sir...it's a killer"

I can say that I have made it through my dental instrument exams successfully. That means I can go on to clinic next semester where I actually get to start hacking away at people's mouths (i suppose I should phrase that a tad more delicately, seeing as how i have to find my own patients). I cannot say that I made it through unscathed. So far this semester (with a week and a half left to go) i can calculate that I have taken 55 exams, 45 daily quizzes (for a class that meets twice a week and one that meets once a week) written 3 papers, completed 4 group projects (3 requiring presentations) read 3 books, and about 15 separate myths (each reading came with a daily quiz not accounted for in the exams or quizzes aforementioned), led 2 class discussion times and have committed countless (literally i can't calculate the number) hours spent doing homework or studying after 10 pm. I decided to take a mythology class this semester to make sure I had full credit for financial aid instead of gym. This was a stupid move. Not because mythology is stupid, the class was really great. It was stupid because it's an english course which actually requires time and intelligence to complete with any amount of success. Gym requires a pulse, somewhat regular attendance and doesn't even require you to close your mouth. At any rate, the stress of this semester is not one I was prepared for. I didn't mention yet that I teach lessons three nights a week. I am going insane. One classmate posed the question in an online discussion thread about where we saw ourselves after graduation. Would we be working in a strictly pedo office? How about working in an office for the underpriveleged? I suppose people's answers were honest enough, but I couldn't help feeling like I just watched the interview part of a miss america pageant. the last part of the discussion read "why don't you save your answer and print it out so you can get it out ten years from now and reflect on it?" yeah right. i have a place you can save your answer. it will probably take you ten years to dislodge it from your body. It's too bad, becuase the girl that asked the question is really nice and I have no real beef with her. But i hate retarded questions like that. And, while I am proud of what I've done this semester, i realize that i still have three more to go, each just a little more challenging than the previous. Graduation isn't even on my radar. I just want to make it to winter break. Now that I've gotten that out of me I think i'll go to bed.

Bumper sticker fun

I always enjoy reading bumper stickers (much to the detriment of my brakes because i always have to slam them because i was too distracted by reading the bumper stickers on the car ahead of me). I saw one the other day that said "Jesus is my boss. I trust Him and you can too." My heart was strangely warmed.

thump

two posts in one night? inconceivable! firstly, i'm just too lazy to do any homework that I could be doing tomorrow. secondly, emily just fell out of bed and hit the floor with a little bubs thump. i enjoy these moments. not because i'm mean and like it when my kids get hurt, but because i know she isn't hurt and the sound of a two year old hitting the floor in a little pile is kind of funny. mostly i like it because it is one of the rare (and becoming more rare as she continues to conquer the world) moments when i can scoop her up and hold her closely and she doesn't want to be put down. then i can smell her sweet baby smell and hold her while she wimpers herself back to sleep feeling safe. bubs is well into her "two-dom" but she's still my little babe. she still has tiny little fingers and toes and little fat dimples on her hands. and when i lay next to her to help her fall asleep, she will reach over with her bitty hands and rub my face and say "beautiful mommy." sweet baby. "i love her so much" (if you've never heard holly hunter say that phrase, you need to get to the video store and rent raising arizona. its one of my favorite comedies ever).

Kids Say the Darndest Things

I'll probably have to pay some kind of royalty for using that phrase...oh well. here are a few choice soundbites from the girls of late.

Bubs: mommy? can i have a cookie? don't say no!

Cara: What are you singing, Mommy?
Me: Its a song called turn me on by norah jones.
C: oh. are you on yet?

Me: are you making any friends at school, kiddo?
C: well, i have some friends but they are only girls. boys make me mixed up in my head.


Intro: Mike's mom gave him the equivlaent of a magic 8 ball just shaped like a pink plastic Jesus instead. Ask Jesus a question and you'll get answers like "have a nice after-life" and "yee of little faith" (and it actually says yee...thats not a typo). Somewhat sacreligious, but funny nonetheless.
C: Mom? can i play with the pink man?
M: sure, but it's not just a man, cara, it's Jesus. you can ask him questions and he will give you answers.
B: I wanna play with Jesus!
C: I had him first!!!

Note: we did explain to cara that the plastic Jesus was a joke and that it wont really give you real answers and that talking to the little pink Jesus was not the same thing as talking to God for real. I hope the girls grow up to be serious about their own faiths, but not so much that they can't laugh at themselves a little bit.


so, little things that made me laugh this week (i write them down so in 50 years i can still remember them and also to remind me of the good times so i don't end up eating my children when they are crazed maniacs).

Big News

It's not as though its any big surprise for the people who see us regularly or at least know us pretty well, but now there's a ring and it's official! Mike and i are getting hitched!!! WOO HOO!!! I'm so excited i can hardly contain myself! I am more than ready to begin this new phase of life. Sometimes i need to remind myself that it's real. My folks were asked for my hand (very old-time romantic-y stuff) to which they were both very happy to say yes. Mom told Mike that under no circumstance was i to quit school to which he replied why would she? but to my mom and dad it was important that i not become a doormat and subservient second class person again. I can confidently say that this will never be an issue for me for 2 reasons. One being that Mike is a superb human being and would never treat me like that, and two being that i would never again let myself be treated that way (hell hath no fury like a woman empowered). Mike is by far my favorite adult on this planet (i have other favorite adults on other planets....but on earth, he's the one...just kidding). I have two favorite kids, but mike takes the cake on best adults alive. He is my very best friend and loves me so fiercely. And i love him fiercely as well. life is better because he's in it, for both me and my ladies. mom says he makes an awful fine papa for those little girls and its true. cara was asked tonight at a gig if mike was her dad and she said "no...he's my mike...everyone needs a mike!" and emily will come in my room early in the morning dragging her baby and blanky and say through her plug "where's mike? i want my mike!!" man. i'm freaking the luckiest lady alive though i ponder the role luck really has in the whole thing. So if you're around sometime next year (date pending for house buying reasons, but we have a window that we're shooting for which will also not be posted anywhere online...but we'll let you know), please come to our wedding which will be more of a grande (not grand) costume party. come in costume...its a costume party!!!! we rock!!!

test post

This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. This is only a test. If this were a true emergency there would be instructions following this test. Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep

school

I've been a dental professional student for one week. I have been a dental professional student with a job on the side teaching piano for 1 day. Cara has been a professional kindergarden student for 3 days. Emily has been a professional two year old who is now sister-less (do you hyphenate that? its not really a word anyway i guess) for 3 days. Cara, Emily and I have been professional insomniacs for one week. It's been neat seeing Cara start school and hear of her experiences. So far, no one has sat with her at lunch any of the three days but i dont believe her. she was giving hugs to the other students on the first day before even going inside to meet her class. and, much to my delight, she came home the first day with a spork in her lunch box!! Despite the lack of sleep its been a pretty good week, and i still have the best family ever. And now for the feel good part of the post where i talk about God and stuff (enter the strings). I have it pretty darn good. I lose sight of the goodness that i have in front of me on a daily basis because i get frustrated fast. but i really have it good. i don't have to look very far before i find great kids, a wonderful lilfe partner (that's what mike and i call each other...i<3 him so much), great friends and all of my family is close by, an awesome church family and soon a really fun job. God has really taken care of my little family partially by using my people (all the aformentioned plus the people who occasionally chime in on my blog) to love me through and help me out of the royal funk i've been in for quite some time. You probably don't know how much you help just by freaking being alive. so anyway...thats my sappy post for the day. cheers!

All New People

I just finished off another Anne Lamott book (number 6 and counting) called All New People. It's one of her early novels and as the name implies its kind of a before and after deal, where you follow a family and see them transform. its a nice thought, becoming a new person. kind of romantic, but not impossible. sometimes i think that God has taken me back to high school where i met slick (the ex) and started attending cult to start my transformation into a real person from that time. mind you, i was a complete ass in high school, as most of us are, and completely self absorbed. i think i am still an ass and self absorbed and since i'd most like to jsut erase the time i met slick to about a year ago completely from memory, i decided that i get to start over from high school and learn to grow up. i believe God loves me because he doesnt want me to stay a self absorbed jerk. but i'm not entirely sure he likes me all that much as i am right now. i'm not sure i even like myself that much as i am. so i'm trying to grow up. its hard. mostly becuase if i follow the idea that i'm starting where i was in high school, i've got a lot of work with two little girls in tow. most days i'm pretty selfish where they are concerned. i dont want to get up every morning to the sound of children fighting over a toy and screaming at each other. i dont want to feed them, i want to sleep in and get up when i feel like it. as a result i get crabby real fast. and that crabbiness generally sets the tone for the day. its pretty hard to live outside of my own wants. i'm also learning not to live outside my own needs, and taking an honest look at what my needs really are and then trying not to be a martyr. i still think i have a pretty juvenile picture as to what my real needs are as opposed to what i want. but i think God gently tells me at the end of everyday where i have been a jerk and that i can try to do better tomorrow. in that respect, i really ascribe to the notion that we get to start each day fresh. it somehow makes living through the day a little easier without the weight of yesterday on you. and if i let it, yesterday can be really heavy. i have also learned that i am extended grace from my kids who let me tell them that i messed up and forgive me. its pretty humbling when your five year old says "i forgive you mommy." so if you see me being an asshole you can tell me to grow up, because after all this time i still need to hear it.

Driving Etiquette

If emily post were alive today and could drive, i'm sure she would comment on the proper way to operate a vehicle and suggest some wholesome manner of sharing the road with your fellow drivers. It's too bad she's dead, because now it appears as if the gruesome task is left to me and i'm mean. i personally think that everyone except me and a few close friends should not be allowed to drive....ever. i love living in the city but i hate city drivers/driving. which if i feel like remaining in the city i have to put up with it but really, that is crap. people should just know how to drive like a reasonable human with other reasonable humans on the road (such as myself). *Note-if you are faint of heart and do not like reading angry posts containing swears, please stop reading-end note*
On Tailgaiting: if you are a rich white suburbanite SAHM driving a vehicle much to big for you to obviously handle with any sort of aptitude just get the hell off the road. then i would not have to be assaulted by your asinine ways whilst driving to and from work. at least once in every trip to and from webster i am tailgaited to the point of not even being able to see the headlights of the SUV behind me because they are riding my ass. And when i finally get over as slow as i can possibly manage i look over with a deadly glare to see a rich white suburban mom glaring back. then they pass and i see a retarded window decal of their rich white kids sports team. It fills me with rage. i lose all sense of comapssion and Christ like love for these people at that point and wish they would mercilessly be trapped under their SUV watching the massive bag of soccer balls rolling away from the flaming wreckage. if you tailgate people.....stop.
On Parking: i feel the need to make a small addition to the people who fall into the category of ass parkers. I'm amending the post to include the jerks who park their cars in lanes of traffic that are designed to be used for driving on, not so some lazy assed bum can park there to go into some convenient store for a 40. these people are indeed lazy because the convenient store is almost always located on the corner of a side street where there is ample parking. why? why is it so flipping hard to park a few more feet away so that you dont block rush hour traffic on freaking LAKE AVE? not only are these people offensively lazy they are also self absorbed and think that the rest of the world should just have to get out of their way dammit becuase they have to get their 40 and a pack of freakin lucky strikes. if you are going to be that self absorbed do it in the privacy of your own home so you dont piss off the rest of the world, or find some other way to be self absorbed so that you arent an inconvenience to everyone. if you are an ass parker....stop.
i'm so glad i have an online journal so that i can post the inner workings of my head. now i dont have to worry that people think i'm really just a sweet girl. i am most of the time. but dont get me angry...you wont like me when i'm angry. as a completely unrelated sidenote, i have finally learned how to link things. hopefully the links work...if not, oh well.

time's fun when you're having flies

it just occurred to me that my five year old is starting kindergarden this year. somehow this has caught me by surprise. you'd think i would have seen it coming seeing as how i've gone through all the paperwork to get her registered and she got a nifty tin school house rock lunchbox, and even has a pretty dress for her first school picture. this morning i find myself bewildered at where the time went. kiddo's a big girl now...reading at a first to second grade level, adding and subtracting numbers, taking dance classes, getting much better at being nice to her sister, playing my little pony on piano by ear and singing along with herself. i so clearly remember her being born and how i was a bawly mess when i first got to hold her and then had to scream "get her off me i'm going to puke" (side effect of too much epidural). she looked like a little alien as all babies do, but of course she was perfect in every way. i remember her eating and ralphing and getting bit by bugs and swelling up like crazy, walking (January 4, 2002-3 days shy of her 10 month birthday), halloween costumes, greeting trick or treaters at the door by saying "Hi kids!! I'm a COW" and so many other memories that are too numerous to lay down in one post. but now she's 5 and kindly reminds me to be nice to people when i'm driving and that i shouldnt say mean things to other drivers....she says that those other drivers just dont know how to drive better and that they need to go to school to learn to drive. damn. she's an amazing kid and i'm more proud than i could ever have words to express it. i can't imagine how i will be on september 7th at 8.15 in the morning when i will take her to her first day at school. school officials will have to scoop me up off the floor with a shovel and dump me out onto the sidewalk. so cheers to Cara Marie who is the best five year old on the planet!

forgiveness

two weeks ago i gave a little speech in church about a nasty experince that i had at my previous church. at the end of it i said that even though the crap that went down happened over two years ago i still struggle with feelings of anger and unforgiveness toward these people...really its just a few choice people. so last night i finally prayed about it. one would think i might have gotten on this a little sooner, but better late than never i suppose. it was actually really good because i haven't prayed in a long time. i've been wondering how to just let go of what these people did. tonight i was thinking of what i might actually say to these people in the act of forgiving them. i thought that i'd start out with the record i have kept of their wrongs (similar to the record that God doesnt keep), of course remembering the sometimes pat answer that love keeps no record of wrongs. but i dont love these people. so i have my list. other scriptures come to mind about loving ones enemies and such. i guess that if i saw one of them stuck under the wheel of a semi that was about to explode i'd call 911 and such, but i don't have to like them after doing so. and i dont. i'm not sure i ever will like them again. and if they were all stuck under the wheel i might think of it as divine intervention and leave them there. i just remembered a conversation with mike where he posed the idea that maybe Jesus doesnt actually like everyone...he loved everyone for sure, but its not the same as liking them. he definitely had choice people he surrounded himself with and there was John, the disciple that he loved...i'm still thinking on that, and if that were indeed true it would certainly make my not liking the people i dont like easier.so, i'm actively working on letting go of the past and hoping that helps me not be so freakin angry all the time. if you have tips (whoever you are that has actually read to the bottom) on forgiveness or thoughts on the concept please post a comment. and thanks in advance.