Abducted Boy Reunited with Mother - Kudos to San Bernadino Law Enforcement!

The 3 year-old boy who was abducted during a home invasion/robbery was recovered today and reunited with his mother! Praise God!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090517/ap_on_re_us/us_abducted_boy

And to my Daddy, who is retired San Bernadino Law Enforcement, thank you for all your hard work, the sacrifices you made when you had to be away from us, and for putting your own life at risk to help others. Thank you! I am so proud of you and thank you, God, for keeping my Dad safe! I love you and I am so very proud of you, Dad!

Oh, happy day!

Warner Bros. pushed up the release date by 2 days! I feel like a 1st grader waiting to board a bus departing on a field trip!

The countdown continues!!!

Fairy Tale Day

Once upon a time there was a mother who blogged on time.... Okay, so last Friday was "Fairy Tale Day" for 1st graders. A celebratory time full of castles made of paper towel rolls, dramatic poems, and of-course... costumes! (Reason: end of fairy tale unit in Reading). My sweet son elected to dress as Peter Pan!

A video of Chandler's recitation of "Little Red Riding Hood" is below!

After the fun and festivities, I brought home a very wound up, giddy Peter Pan.

No one has claimed the $174.4 million Powerball jackpot on Feb. 28?

There has got to be a really good reason for this. I could only come up with a few reasons why it remains unclaimed and none of them seem very delightful.

What would you do if you won the lottery? Seriously? I am not so sure I would want my life to change. I have long purported that materialism is not the key to happiness. I went to HS in Orange County, CA, where students with very wealthy parents vastly outnumbered those who were struggling to get by. My parents were one of the strugglers, trying to get by from paycheck to paycheck and sometimes those weren't even enough. I am NOT complaining. In fact, I think I was a much happier teenager than many of my peers whose parents threw money and gifts at them in lieu of time and interest.

But what would I do if I had that winning ticket?

Not in any particular order:
1. Build a house as eco-friendly and green as possible on a small lot. Think solar panels on the roof!
2. I would keep my job. That's right.. I love it. I would probably switch to PRN, but I wouldn't quit. Taking care of the smallest patients gives me satisfaction that is unmatched!
3. I would buy my parents a new car. They both have older cars that need some TLC.
4. I would give a HUGE chunk to my department at work, my church, and my child's school.
5. I would pay off my serious dental bill I just racked up.. (my teeth are currently aching!)
6. I would go on multiple medical missions, hopefull 1-2 a year for the rest of my life!
7. I would try to start some sort of recycling, eco-friendly awareness assembly for elementary schools... those kids are our future!
8. Make sure Chandler's future college costs are covered so that he can make a difference in the world.

The rest? I dunno. I'd keep my 6 year old car.. my clothes are fine... I'd love to get out of this apartment so Chandler can learn what grass feels like under his feet! I really wouldn't even want all of the money.

Money is nice... but it isn't everything!

Shhh! That was SUPPOSED to be a secret!

Well, at first I was upset and embarrassed, but now I find it humorous...

Today, I went to Best Buy to redeem a rewards certificate that was about to expire. I also had a neoprene GPS cover that I bought at Christmas that was ill-fitting, so that was going to be returned at the same time. Yes, I said Christmas, that's how far behind on things I am. So Best Buy graciously took back the 5 month old return, whew! and we set out to pick out some new DVDs with the credit. We went back to our friendly cashier, who regretfully told me that my rewards certificate expired yesterday. What? Again, not surprised. I clearly don't even know what day it is. So I swipe my debit card to pay for the difference and Chandler clearly, exuberantly proclaims, "0-5-0-2" that's what your SECRET CODE IS???!!!" I must have made a terrible face because Chandler's quickly changed from prideful to his "I'm in big trouble face." Yes. That was my pin number, and the four cashiers that heard it now have access to our bank account. I hope no one wants a HDTV or Blu-ray. Needless to say, Chandler cried and cried once I explained the gravity of the situation. He asked me if he ruined my life. Then, I nearly cried. Big, bear hugs followed.

So, I called Wamu or Chase, heck, I can't keep track these days... and my card is now cancelled. A new Chase card to be arriving soon.

Does this make me an Activist?

I have never, ever considered myself to be a tree-hugger. But I have now prepared myself to be labeled such. My mother taught me decades ago that littering was the behavior of lazy, ignorant, uneducated people and it engrained in me a great disgust for litterbugs. So much so that I have been tempted in the past to follow a driver and give them their trash back. It's irritating to me when people can't even bother to spit their chewing gum into a garbage receptacle. I mean, come on, do people do this at home? But I digress... It all started with a library book...


Chandler, a voracious reader and compassionate soul, whom also shares with his mother a distaste for litterbugs, brought home a book from school entitled "Why are the Ice Caps Melting? The Dangers of Global Warming" by Anne Rockwell. This book did a phenomenal job explaining what exactly global warming is, the causes of and the effects of. It paints a fairly bleak picture for a children's book, at which one point Chandler cried out "Oh, no..oh, no.." with such heartbreak that tears swelled up in my eyes. THANKFULLY, the next few pages.. started out "Sounds, scary, huh? Here's what you can do..." And at this moment, passion ignited in Chandler. We now recycle everything that's possible, use less electricity, do full loads of laundry, run ceiling fans until the a.c. must be turned on, turn off the faucet when we brush our teeth, employ reusable canvas shopping bags at the market, etc. I have sought out and signed numerous petitions for the environment, called companies and complained about their wasteful packaging and called and complimented companies that are going green! A BIG thank you to Quaker Oats for offering their chewy granola bars in "rip n' go" packaging instead of using boxes, thus saving trees!


Seriously, everyone. The U.S.A. constitutes less than 5% of the world's population, but we make 40% of the waste. That's disgusting. I refuse to be a part of it. Since we have been recycling at home, I went from walking a full 13 gallon trash bag to the dumpster every other day, to once a week. We break down cereal boxes, poptart boxes, rinse out milk jugs, shampoo bottles, recycle homework, junk mail and the like. Try it. You'll be amazed at what you've been throwing away. BTW, you can recycle old print cartridges.. they even pay you $3 each at Staples if you bring them in.


Make a goal. Try just one thing at first. Our new goal? No more paper plates. Now this is gonna be hard, because I don't like dishpan hands and I get enough handwashing in the NICU, my hands are desert dry already.


Sort of moving on... Disney's movie EARTH. Excellent. And who doesn't love listening to James Earl Jones narrarate?! Chandler quickly linked the starving polar bears' hunting struggle (ice is melting away, thus no hunting forum) to the book we had read and he whispered to me "We are hurting the animals!" and the sniffles and eye tearing began.


I don't think EARTH could have been better. It very subtly got it's eco-friendly message across. And because we saw EARTH the first week it was in theatres, Disney planted a tree for us! EARTH also broke the box office record for opening day for a documentary! I guess there are people out there who care!


For those of you who think global warming is a conspiracy, the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) publically announced the week of April 20, 2009, that global warming does exist and it is a threat to our earth. (They had been denying the existence of global warming for years).


Lastly, a GREAT website to get you started... http://www.care2.com/



Peace, out!

Climbing Trees is Fun, House Hunting is NOT!

Easter Day commenced with an egg hunt powered by pure sucrose, the result of gorging ourselves until our bellies ached from the sweet, heavenly Easter Candy, that our favorite bunny doled into our baskets.

We spent the afternoon and evening at my parents' house, where of-course more sugar presented itself. Chandler loves to play outside on my parents' 6 acres. The day's agenda? Tree Climbing!

It has become evident that tree climbing and house hunting are complete opposites. How? Why? You see, tree climbing is fun, liberating. You climb the tree, master it, you have gained control (unless of-course you fall out!) House hunting, however, has left me defeated, frustrated, impatient.

I made an offer on a house two months ago. It was a great, and I mean great, house. A couple counteroffers found us only closing costs away from an agreement. While I prayed fervently overnight, the owners sold to someone else the very next morning. And I am still in mourning. While I realize this must have been a "door" shut by God, I still am having difficulty accepting it. It was the perfect fixer-upper, perfect square footage, view of the lake, in Chandler's elem school zone, exactly the home for which I had been searching.

I have viewed a few homes after THE BIG DISAPPOINTMENT. All of which have drastically fallen short of the above mentioned house and cost ten to twenty thousand more! Then I found a similar house. I hadn't noticed it before, but an on-line virtual tour sparked my interest. It would do nicely! I drove by the next morning and much to my chagrine, the for sale sign was missing. "No...Oh, no! This can't be!" I panicked! An internet search and phone call later, the horrible truth was out. That house had sold the week before!

Today I looked at two homes. The only difference between one of the houses I saw today and a cave was that the house had a few layers of paint and serious texture. I think the builder may have had something against light. The second house was okay, a bit pricey, but Chandler would have to go to a different elementary school albeit in the same district. Definitely not the one. Sigh.. the hunt continues...