Ban on Soda? ONLY IN NYC...

America's kids are fat. NYC's Mayor Michael Bloomberg thinks he knows the reason.  Kids consuming too much soda.  Bloomberg banned all sodas and other sugared drinks bigger than 16oz from being sold at restaurants, cafeterias, and movies, and fast food places.

 I was stunned.  Thoughts of the Prohibition era, raced through my mind.  Instead of alcohol, police would be checking for 2 liter bottles of Diet Coke, hidden under jackets, jammed into mega purses or covered by blankets and hidden in a stroller.

Yes, I am exaggerating, but to me having the luxury to drink a soda when and where I want is part of the American Dream...for life, liberty, and the freedom to have as much soda as I want.

  My love/addiction for this mixture of chemicals and water will probably have my body preserved for 30 years after my death.  In fact before I got married my husband promised that no matter what happened to us financially, I would always have Diet Coke to drink.  Scary huh?

At this point though,  Bloomberg isn't focusing on diet drinks.  Bloomberg is more concerned with diet soda's tastier, sugary, syrupy sister, regular soda sold in containers that hold more than16oz.

Raising 3 children I constantly told them the bad side effects of drinking soda;(caffeine, cost of sodas) as I popped the tab on a Diet Coke can, and began drinking.  This of course did nothing but make my children want to drink soda more.

 My kids were at least six years old before they were allowed to have a couple sips of soda in my house.  Sodas were reserved for birthday parties, eating out, and Grandma's house.  (There was no way I was going to pass up a weekend get away with my husband over the kids consuming a couple of cans of soda.)  Even now, at age 17, 12, and 11, I know my kids generally consume two cans of diet soda a week.

Can those extra ounces of regular soda be the key to America's rising childhood obesity?  I doubt it!

This government ban is stepping into a place it doesn't belong.  How do they plan on enforcing this ban?  Tasting every child's 16 oz cup to make sure it is a diet drink? Would a police officer stand guard over the free refill soda fountain at Chucky Cheese? Is the government willing to give me the extra money it takes to buy three smaller sodas instead of just buying one large drink at the movies?

There are so many other options that make sense than banning 16 oz sodas.  Bring back recess, or gym every day during the school year,   Talk more about healthy eating during school hours.

The real culprit to childhood obesity is the countless hours kids spend watching television and playing video games.  My kids recently got banned  for one night from t.v., video games, and computers.  After whining for 15 minutes (that has to burn calories too), they all three decided to go outside and play a game.  They stayed outside until dark, and only complained when they had to come inside.

Banning anything when it comes to food seems absurd. The government is becoming the Nanny Nation, stepping into a role that the founders of our country probably never even considered. If the government is regulating foods in the interest of out children, shouldn't the next attack be on the go to babysitter of choice..t.v.?

Banning television for 3 hours a day would cause a nation of panicked parents, but it would make America's children healthier.




.

An accident occurs!

Accidents happen. I joke about it all the time.  Nothing could prepare me for the shock of hearing that my 17 yr-old son, and his 2 siblings were in a wreck.  Thank God no one was hurt, just really shaken up...me included.  My son's car was hit in the back passenger side door, right where my daughter was sitting.

I was never so glad that my son was driving an SUV!  I don't care about the extra gas, or possible complications from my son driving an SUV, the benefits were obvious when I made it to the crash site!  

My son's 2002 SUV had a minor dent in the side door.  The other driver was not so lucky.

The fact that the accident happened on school grounds, when my son was following "the designated driving lane" bothers me the most. The principal, secretary and staff said they weren't even aware that an accident had occurred.I guess the five floor to ceiling windows are just there to make the school look better. 

It must be a conspiracy!  Maybe the school paid the driver to slam into my son's car so I would quit airing the school's dirty secrets.  Okay even I'll admit this theory is far-fetched...but the thought keeps crossing my mind.

Drive safe BIG cars, and try to avoid the idiot in the car beside you who is texting while talking! 

Turning the big 40!

Some trips you don't have to go anywhere.  Yes, it sounds crazy but it's true.  My husband and I are planning a  it trip next spring to England and Ireland.  As I looked at the maps and read other people opinions about what place I had to visit, my eldest son came up and gave me a hug.

This trip would happen just a month or two before he graduated High School.  My instant thought was should I stay home so I can be with him every last moment before college?  The answer was so clear and obvious that it hurt.

My son has already started on his own journey.  He is (quickly?) becoming a man.

Dance Moms...Abby's a Pain

My 11 year old daughter is addicted to Dance Moms.  I record the show and then, when she bugs me enough we watch the show.  I use to enjoy the  bickering, the dancing and of course the DRAMA.  it finally got to me, made me mad enough to turn off the show and send my daughter out of the room.  It was the episode where Paige's foot was broken and Brooke's back was hurting.

Abby kept pushing for Brooke to do her dance even though she was in enough pain to cry and require use of a T.E.N.S unit ( a system often used for chronic pain).  Look I live with severe nerve pain that started in my childhood.  Pain strong enough that I was willing to amputate the first affected limb.  I wouldn't wish this on anyone (okay maybe on one key political figure).

Abby constantly berates Brooke on this and that, saying she doesn't have what it takes to be a professional dancer.  If so, why, except for ratings,would you take the chance of having a daughter who grows up to be in chronic pain?  So Abby Lee can get her name out?  She has Lifetime and her big mouth to do that.

No body can accurately judge how much pain someone is in, let alone what one misstep might cause it to permanently plague her.  Sometimes you just can't push through the pain because "every dancer has pain."(Abby Lee)  I think the reason these kids cry so much is because their "teacher" is the biggest pain of them all.

What do you think...should Kendall have been allowed back into the studio?

Kick in the Backside..college time

I have been in a battle against my son's school for so long that I failed to notice the calendar.  Yes, I know the date (generally), I just happened to miss the interview with college plastered on this weekend.

Time to look at colleges?  How far away is that school?  My husband who seems blissful unaware of  how this affects ME, just brings it up in simple phone conversation.  He wants to leave a day early.   

I guess it's a good thing I'm staying home.

My son will make the choices.  It's his time to make the decisions.    

Did he have to choose colleges that are so far away?

School Carpool, Senior Year,....and final justice!

Most of my blogs have been lost in space, which is great for this time of year, school carpool lanes.  I don't have the luxury of erasing my history with the teacher who likes to sit literally on the front bumper of my V-8 ML500.....okay bad grammar here....notice the V-8 part of the car, SUV, and about 7 years old...(car and teacher's apparent age equivalent)...who else would keep up this kind of hate to hate relationship for so long?  Well me.

I got a break from aforementioned teacher last year in December when my oldest son,  finally had the money to pay for his "new to him" car. He saved me from the afternoon traffic nightmare by driving himself and his siblings home. I only had to drive the morning shift!  This luxury is over.

I counted on at least one full year, his Senior year,  of freedom from the daily treachery of driving!  I wouldn't have to deal with  waiting, pushing, honking, finger pointing and gesturing!  He is a Senior, home stretch, he drives safely enough that I have sent him to pick up his siblings.  So it felt like a slap to the face when I found out that he would leave the HS at noon to head to the local college!  Why can't he be simultaneously in two places at once?  Is college that important?

Doesn't my son care more about me?   Or does he desperately want to see me in jail for a finale to this feud? Eye for an Eye kind of justice?

My husband gave me the go ahead to give the teacher a gentle push, and in the same breath, said he and the kids would be fine with me in jail. (Really? who would pick up the kids then?)  He also assured me 2 visits at the prison, before the quick divorce.

There was also one other request,  if I am going to commit a felony-- to please have the desperately dirty deed done, before my 40th birthday --October.  (Saving him the cost and drama of dealing with a wife who desperately wants to do something MEMORABLE for the big 40!)

So what will I do?

 Not sure!

 Senior Orientation is Mandatory for graduation!,  The over-empowered, bumper-sitting, conniving  teacher; (the only teacher my son has for class at the HS)  and I will meet face to face Monday inside the school.

 I can't bring my car in the auditorium,  but I have my 400 pound, hill climbing,  bone-crushing,  25 -miles an hour wheelchair-- locked and loaded.

My secret life

My daughter saw an ad in the local newspaper advertising for a cubby reporter for a small town about thirty miles from here.  Her enthusiasm was infectious as I thought about my days working for newspapers and regional magazines.

"Mom you would actually have a paying job!'she stated.

I actually considered it, for about 10 min. and drove my husband crazy. The thought of having a byline again was intriguing, but then a quick reminder from my husband about how much an article was worth, immediately shutdown any thoughts of responding to the ad.

 You see, I'm past the point most moms stay home. Sometime around 3rd grade most parents shift back into what my kids call "real work".  With my big mouth, and frequently expressed opinions combined with a bad arm... I don't do well at the average job.  I don't do well with the role of June Cleaver either.

I don't cook, don't do laundry, so like my kids often ask, what do I do while they are away?  Sometimes questions are better left unanswered.  Maybe I really am a spy with a bionic arm that beats away the bad guys, all without breaking a sweat or missing a lunch date.

Killer Sleeping Pills...Public beware!

A Senator in D.C. got away with a hit and run, thousands report themselves eating at night, and others don't even remember having "relations" with spouses.  So why then should I be surprised that I too would fall prey to the horrible effects of a sleeping pill?
 Honestly, I have done the binge eating and cooking in the middle of the night (luckily my husband caught me before I burned the house down), sleepwalking, yeah got that too, but two nights ago I got a new side effect of sleeping pills: sleep writing!  Public beware!  

Now before you yawn and click away into another part of the web,  read, or try to, the CarlsbadCaverns posting.  My first attempt at writing while not being awake. (It's around three a.m.  currently..so how do I describe this posting...maybe I just need a better sleeping pill!)

Seriously, my daughter and I were walking by my office when I had a brief recollection about writing something.  I told my 11-yr-old daughter this, and though she too was used to me sleepwalking thought  me sleep writing was hysterical.  She pictured me as Zombie like arms stretched straight out, fingers just dropping from my wrist as I wrote.  Wrote what?

The previous posting.   What its about...well even I'm not sure....but I will leave it listed in case I ever need to get away with something purely evil I will have an excuse. (Yeah, right)

A reasonable excuse will come in handy in about a month when once again I am thrown into the carpool lane of two different schools.  Hopefully this year no one will get hurt!

Carlsbad Caverns and other "Distractions"

I went on a journey these past months that wasn't planned.  In order to sidestep a crater I fell into a hole that while beautiful, and unending in depth, the climb out was fraught with fallen trees, bats, flesh biting insects and the loss of one of my traveling companions.  It wasn't his choice to be flying solo across the country; but without any other income sometimes your choices are already chosen before they are presented to you.

I have reached the surface of the hole and when looking down on it from my wheelchair, I have to stand and see if that hole that encapsulated me for so long was really that minuscule!  I stand up, a blessing that is still offered to me and once again look at the hole only this time it is hard to even call it a hole, more like a simple innocuous break in the sandy land that surrounds the area.

Free from its boundaries, and my own I will write to tell more of a different journey.  The journey of loss, holding down the fort while my better half travels to places I will never see, the sight of watching my oldest son stretch out his raven like wings to begin his own journey, and last the knowledge that with each day the person who has raised me and then 6 others will slowly forget my existence.

Sometimes a pit is meant to take you away and let you wallow and bemoan your existence.  Other times the pit opens up to a hidden treasure of perfectly formed rocks made from million of years of being dripped on, one drop at a time.  Each person has to decide what to do when a pit has incapsulated them.  Most will step over the small hole and never even know of its existence.