Monday, March 8, 2010 by karen.

I just heard about a school in Denver that is rejecting a preschooler due to the fact the child has 2 moms.  http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/22769137/detail.html

I understand the catholic religion pretty well and while same-sex relationships are deemed inappropriate along with many other lifestyle choices, it just seems ridiculous.   I attended catholic school for 8yrs and was raised catholic continuing to attend mass into my mid 20’s.  I was married in the catholic church and had my children baptized.  I was also one of 3 sisters to become pregnant before marraige.  We were still accepted into the church and our children were accepted as well.  Even after a divorce, the church accepts you.  I remember attending school with kids who’s parents were divorced or going through a divorce but they were still able to attend the school.  I am confident there are lesbian/gay teachers in this country working at catholic schools but perhaps the demand for quality teachers is so high the church over looks them.  Where do they get off to simply choose who they are going to throw stones at?   I assume divorce is so common that it is simply accepted in the modern church.  How long until same sex marraiges/relationships are allowed in the catholic church?

Lesbian moms, why even bother to enroll your daughter at a catholic school?  You should know better.  Perhaps the education quality is the reason, but there are many other high-priced education facilities for your child to attend where you and she will be accepted. 

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Thursday, March 4, 2010 by karen.

Public school in Disturbia isn’t quite the same as in a rural area.   Modern school, itself isn’t the same as it was 15yrs ago. 

My 4th grader has racked up 24 tardies this year.  Many are to be blamed on myself, however, it shouldn’t be overlooked that regardless of who’s fault, that number is absolutely absurd!  Today would have been #25 but he just stayed home instead.  I believe I was ‘played’ by him.  I understand he didn’t feel well upon waking up most likely due to the abundance of sugar he consumed yesterday.  It has been determined he has a sensitivity to sugar and highly processed foods.  He was up way past his bed time due to having trouble sleeping from the sugar.  Congrats to him for baking the cake on his own and making the frosting from scratch.   Kudos to me for actually having all the ingredients in the kitchen! 

He informed me he wishes to be home-schooled again and questioned why everyone in school is so immature.  I chuckled as he is probably the most immature boy in his class but I quickly learned his view of immaturity is quite different than mine.

In AZ, the schools are required to submit the students to standardized testing known as AIMS.  His scores last year were good.  I want to see what his scores are this year before deciding to home-school again.  I suspect they will not be as good as last year’s.  I am weighing the pros and cons.    

My goal as a parent is to raise my children to be happy, self sufficient and successful in their future whatever that may be.  I do not measure success in dollars. 

Home-schooling isn’t just a way to ‘get by’.  He was learning more last year and retaining it. The AIMS scores proved it.  Home-schooling has a stigma but it is becoming more & more common due to resources making it easier. 

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Wednesday, February 10, 2010 by Dana.

During a business dinner tonight, a co-worker asked how my coaching activities were going.  I was telling him that my middle child was now on 2 teams, having made his 7^th grade team.  I coach his club team, and I was talking about how so many of the boys on our club team had made their school teams.  This was rewarding for me because the club team had been put together specifically to help get the boys ready for their school team tryouts.  My wife then chimed in with “You’ve coached all the boys that  made the school team, right?”.

I paused to think, and then I realized… yes, almost.  In fact, I have coached 12 of the 14 boys, and the other 2 I have coached against.  I also have coached for or against nearly all the 8^th grade boys and the 7^th and 8^th grade teams at neighboring schools.  It gives me a great sense of accomplishment to have been able to see these boys grow and develop in baseball and in life.  Youth baseball coaches don’t get paid, volunteer large amounts of time, and spend money out of their own pockets for gear… and we don’t ask for anything in return. We do it because we want to, and we do it because we like seeing the boys grow and improve because of our contribution.

If you are a youth sports coach, I tip my hat and extend my thanks to you for all that you do.

If you are a parent, let your coach know that he/she is appreciated. It means a lot to us.

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Sunday, February 7, 2010 by Dana.

The day of the big game… As usual, we have several options for watching it, but we choose to stay home.  Why?  A variety of reasons, but having an awesome wide-screen HDTV and surround sound system is NOT one of them.

Instead of discussing why we don’t go elsewhere, let me explain the advantages of staying home (not necessarily in order).

1. The kids are welcome
2. Inexpensive, higher quality food
3. No mark-up on the beer & liquor
4. No line for a clean bathroom
5. No drinking & driving risks
6. The dogs get to be there
7. Comfy couch
8. No tipping required
9. Easier to tweet during the game
10. Unlikely to get drinks spilled on us
11. No waiting for overburdened wait staff (the cooler is next to the couch).
12. No drama with other party guests
13. Kids can go to their own room if they a bored.
14. Screaming loud at the TV will not annoy any strangers
15. Nobody will see how big of a wuss I am when I eat seriously spicy guacamole
16. Added excitement of avoiding a dog attack when you get carried away with your high-fives
17. The ability to switch to an HBO movie if the game gets one-sided
18. We can watch the game wearing whatever we want, which means wife doesn’t have to keep re-applying lip gloss.
19. Pre-game co-ed showers (in the privacy of the master bathroom of course).
20. Half-time cul-de-sac football game!

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Saturday, January 30, 2010 by Dana.

News bulletin… college kids are rowdy, and ASU is more rowdy than most.  Wait… that isn’t really news, is it?  On a particular slow news day, writers form the local PHX Metro rag took a few crime reports related to egg throwing (not cool) and wild parties (the norm?) to make it sound like there was something news-worthy to report… Here is the link, but you will want your 3 minutes back after you read it.

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Friday, January 1, 2010 by Dana.

Happy New Year! I’m awake at 7am on 1/1/2010 to make predictions.

1. My 1st nap of 2010 will occur today (1/1/2010).
2. My dogs will boycott making resolutions to behave better.
3. My car will get stolen forcing me to get a newer one that doesn’t need shocks, breaks, or general maintenance.  Wait… no… I sense that is just wishful thinking on my part.
4. I will put away Holiday decorations with a vow to get better ones for outside next year.  I will end up putting up the same crappy decorations after Thanksgiving, except 2 more strands of lights will quit working.
5. Based on straight party line voting, we will get a national health care system. Due to all the compromises, it will be so watered-down and confusing, that people will complain about it well into 2011. Republicans will still do nothing to reverse the damages caused by 8 years of the Bush administration.
6. My discontent for suburbia will make me search for a rural home with no neighbors within 300 yards. The kids will beg us to not move to the middle of nowhere, so I will still be blogging about Disturbia into 2011.
7. My middle child will hit a growth spurt around his 13th birthday in March and will be as tall as me by 2011.

Ok… Now for some real predictions

1. The Tempe woman that showed up in Miami without her 8-month old that was last seen in San Antonio will confess to killing her child after her boy is discovered in her abandoned vehicle.
2. A major earthquake will create a giant sinkhole in Mexico south of Yuma, AZ.  It will create a beautiful spring-filled lake that turns Yuma, AZ into a major tourist town.
3. Android-based phones will outnumber iPhones. Apple products will revert to a minor cult status for a few years until they wow us again with a new system using a holographic projection display and thought recognition for system input.

Posted in Crime, Desert, Technology, Holidays, kids, Suburbia, Pets, Neighbors, Disturbed | Print | No Comments »

Thursday, December 17, 2009 by Dana.

Both Karen and I grew up in rural areas where we had many chores to do. For Karen, growing on a working dairy and tobacco farm, the work was very extensive. Neither of us received a regular allowance for our efforts We were just expected to do our part.

As we raise our own 3 boys, we do not give them an allowance either. They certainly have less work to do living in Suburbia, but we do not give them any specific amount for doing the work around the house that they should be doing.

Our thinking is that we pay for our kids to be in various club sports, get various lessons, and give them money to attend social events.  If they want to earn any additional money, they can pet sit for neighbors or get a job (when they are old enough). Is this wrong? Should we be rewarding their hard work for a monetary sum?

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Friday, November 27, 2009 by Dana.

Like any normal set of siblings, they fight.  We have 3 boys, ages 9, 12 & 15.  Sometimes they get into heated arguments, and maybe a punch or 2 is thrown.  But the fights seldom last long.  When it comes to fighting with “friends”, those fights are usually short and mostly just shoving and verbal assaults.So when you see a news article like this one in AZ Central, you have to wonder what parental meltdown is going on here for things to escalate out of control.  We all need to teach kids how to have a thicker skin and stick to spreading bad rumors instead of stabbing the person that just kicked your ass in Guitar Hero.  Oh… and keep the alcohol and sharp objects away from your teen!

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Thursday, November 26, 2009 by Dana.

What did our Thanksgiving Day include:

1. Wife gets up early to go get groceries for Thanksgiving Dinner.
2. Husband and 15 yr old son help put groceries away.
3. Husband & Wife argue over trivial water drips in the kitchen… was the final straw in the “get of my kitchen” bad mood act this morning.
4. Wife storms out of house to walk dogs to cool off.
5. Husband makes amends by chopping up parsley and celery.
6. Upon Wife’s return, Husband and 15 yr old son take 1 hour walk with dog to let wife cool off more.
7. Watching football.
8. 9 yr old son and 12 yr old son fighting over who gets to do what while setting the table.
9. Continued fighting over who stands where while setting the table.
10. 9 yr old makes drinks menus (Making drink menus) and refuses to let anyone read them until all sit.  Everyone gets their own drink instead.
11. Husband intervenes to make 9 yr old and 12 yr old sit in a timeout on the steps.
12. 15 yr old plays on the computer
13. 12 yr old plays guitar
14. 9 yr old plays on Xbox.
15. More watching of Football
16. Wife asks Husband if he is watching football still (it’s not even 1pm yet).
17. Husband helps wife prepare late lunch (when we eat our Turkey Meal)
18. 12 yr old makes mistake of having nothing to do in front of Wife, gets enlisted into making mashed potatoes
19. Husband watches more football. Then argues over going out at the last minute to get a pumpkin pie.
20. Husband goes to get pie.
21. Wife has feast ready… Wife removing delicious bird from oven
22. Family eats… 1 fight over who gets to talk to 12 yr old about his shopping plans.
23. 9 yr old starts fight over who get the wishbone.  Husband decides to not carve it out until of the bird until everyone forgets about it.
24. More football watching… Husband falls asleep on the couch.
25. Husband wakes up to 9 yr old screaming about fairness of game where the 12 yr old and his friend always win.
26. 9 yr old continues on tantrum for a little longer until Wife resolves it.
27. Wife gets off Facebook to sit next to Husband on the couch. Asks if football is over yet (during 4th quarter of game 2 of 3).
28. Wife asks Husband if he wants to go shopping (for nothing in particular)
29. More football watching
30. 9 yr old runs into house claiming someone hijacked the neighbors truck (neighbors are out of town).
31. Wife calls out of town neighbors to see if they were expecting someone to use their truck. Leaves message.
32. 9 yr old runs back in. Claims people are taking stuff out of the neighbors house.
33. Wife runs outside.
34. Husband keeps blogging… oops. I better get out there. brb
35. Husband receives call from neighbor with potentially hijacked truck. All good… truck is being borrowed by friends, and it turns out that the only things took from inside were cooking oil and serving dishes.
36. Wife and Husband window shop on-line after Husband realizes he doesn’t get the NFL network to watch game 3 of the day.
37. Wife takes remote control to watch chick movie on HBO.
38. Husband finishes blog post.

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Thursday, September 10, 2009 by Dana.

Why is this news?  Because AZ Republic (azcentral.com) doesn’t really doesn’t print much else… anyway… this article about the schools (where my kids go) now have SmartBoards.  This is a technology available 10 years ago, and deployed to many businesses 6-8 years ago.  I guess they finally dropped the price tag down to a reasonable level.

Now teachers can electronically scribble on the PowerPoint slides they made in 1998 and never updated.  Isn’t the state of education in America great? *eye roll*

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