A Quick Note to Make You Smile

Today, as John was filling up our lawnmower with gasoline, our boy wanted to know what he was doing. John explained that the lawnmower needed gas to work just like our cars need gas to work. Colter went on his merry way, and a bit later, John noticed him unscrewing the gas cap on his toy Radio Flyer car and putting GRASS into the hole. When asked what he was doing, Colter said, "I'm filling my car with grass to make it go!"

Here's Colter with his car in October 2008.

I hope you all had a great Mother's Day!

Confessions of a Tacky Mailbox Owner

I confess. The ridiculous concrete dog mailbox shown on yesterday's Mailbox personalities post is mine! I have an ugly mailbox, and I'm obviously too lazy to do anything about it!

I'm going to go green and recycle an old post to discuss this blight on my otherwise happy life. It's Saturday, and I'm too lazy (as previously mentioned) to write a new post. Have a great weekend!

We are cat people stuck in a dog neighborhood. I swear; EVERYONE in our neighborhood has a dog, or multiple dogs, as demonstrated by the howling that precedes the sounds of sirens and the constant barrage of barking that ensues if we dare play in our backyard. While growing up in the country, I didn’t mind dogs, I actually liked them, but I fear town living has forever damaged my relationship with dogs. They drive me crazy (for proof, read this)!

It’s only fitting, that as the only family on our street without a dog or two, we are the only people with a concrete dog perched on our mailbox. Yes, that’s right; a statue of a bird dog with a DEAD PHEASANT in its mouth greets our visitors. Isn’t that lovely? We welcome people to our house with death. Mwah Haa Haa Haa (that’s supposed to be an evil laugh).

The man that lived in our house before us obviously was a dog person. The shed in our backyard was used as a dog house for the man’s bird dog. A whole shed! The man put a window air conditioner in the shed and a glass door, so the dog could sit in the cool air conditioning and look outside! A glass door in a shed! I guess his wife was a cat person because one would think he would just let the dog in the house instead of going to the trouble to put a cooling system into a shed. The woman wouldn’t let her husband’s dog in the house, but she didn’t mind having the dog immortalized on the mailbox. At some point, the couple put the statue of a hunting dog on the brick mailbox, and then they moved and left the mailbox for the next owners to enjoy (us).

When we bought our house over five years ago six years ago, I thought we would get rid of the dog. After buying a house though, trivial purchases like new mailboxes seemed unnecessary, and the dog statue actually proved to be a little handy when visitors are trying to find our house. I mean, who else has a concrete dog in front of their house? Some of the little kids on our street really like the dog, too. Now though, the dog’s paint is chipping off, and it’s starting to get more and more unrecognizable as a dog all the time. It’s starting to look pretty tacky. :) This spring, we have to either paint the dumb dog or get a new mailbox! Preferably, one without a dog statue.

I find it amusing that as the only people without dogs on our street, we’re the only ones that appear oddly infatuated with canines. We don’t even own a dog! We’re cat people! Aren’t life’s little ironies grand?

Mailbox Personalities

Have you ever heard the saying, "You can judge the owners of a house by their mailbox?" No? For example...

This mailbox screams hippie. Its owners throw out conventional standards and reject society's customs. The use of blue and flowers indicates that this mailbox belongs to creative, free thinkers who don't care what others think. They are also probably Democrats.

The owners of this dignified mailbox value tradition. They have a meticulously clean house and strive to always appear that they have life under control. The husband and wife have separate bedrooms.As apparent by this bird-poop-covered mailbox, a man is the owner of this house. A stubborn, somewhat conceited man who has a thing for marigolds. He refuses to do what everybody else does and doesn't care if all the other mailboxes on the street are on a pole. He takes pride in the fact that HE was smart enough to put his on a wheel.
The owners of this mailbox like to shoot things. They're Republican.

A former playground bully owns this unique mailbox. He/she likes to intimidate others as indicated by the treacherous looking hooks hanging from either end of the box. Each day, the mail person has to stick his or her hands into a gaping mouth. The owner of this mailbox would like to lure the neighbors into thinking that he/she just likes to fish, but really, he/she is hiding a secret ambition to be the neighborhood crime lord.
This chipped concrete dog mailbox is owned by a procrastinator. As indicated by the chipped paint and lack of care, the owners obviously, don't like the concrete statue and meant to get rid of it years ago. A symbol of ignored requests, this mailbox is the laughingstock of the neighborhood. Inside the house, frustration mounts. A woman with a sledgehammer calculates Rover's demise...


Can you guess which one is mine?

A Bit Domineering, Perhaps?

My two-year-old is turning into a fashion control freak. He's been very enthralled with my hair his whole life (he used to hold onto my hair while he nursed or while being rocked to sleep, and I've always said my hair is his security blanket), but over the past few months, he has taken to telling me how to wear it. Some days he insists on a ponytail, other days he wants me to wear my hair down. A couple days ago, I parted my hair in the middle instead of on the side like usual, and the little goofball freaked out. It seems odd that that a almost-three-year-old boy cares about his mommy's hair, but whatever.

Lately, his concern for my appearance has moved to other areas. He's decided that I must wear a bracelet anytime we go to the church for any reason, and he likes to pick out which one. He also loves picking out my earrings for me. Last week, I put on what I thought was a cute top, and as soon as he saw me, he said, "MOMMY, I don't like that shirt!" Today, I had on a pair of gray flip flops, and he said, "NO, Mommy, you need to wear the pink ones!" So even though, there was absolutely no pink in my ensemble, I wore the pink flip flops; it was easier than arguing with the shoe Nazi. When this boy grows up, he is either going to have a career in fashion, or be a very controlling husband.

P.S. Those of you who know about my mission to blog every day for thirty days didn't think I was going to make it, did you? I've still got three hours to spare. :)

Wordless Wednesday---Boundless Energy

Post-It Note Tuesday

Rotton Teeth Vs. Cancer....Which Would You Choose?

To fluoride or not to fluoride? That is the question being debated by our community and local officials at a town meeting coming up. Many cities in the United States add fluoride to the water supply in an attempt to improve dental health even though critics of the practice claim it is unsafe. I don't know much about fluoride, but I know that a lot of people don't like the fact that it is added to the water supply. In an attempt to become a more informed citizen and able to voice my opinion, I've spent a few minutes researching the pros and cons of a fluoridated water supply. I've discovered some awesome stuff. Really awesome. NOT.

I realize that anyone can post anything on the Internet and claim it's true. This blog is a perfect example. For instance, I could say I'm an fungi expert and that it is a proven scientific fact that if one finds a moral mushroom growing underneath a walnut tree, eats it while walking backwards and humming "Surfin' USA", and then carves the name of a sworn enemy on the bark of the walnut tree, that person's cellulite will vanish overnight, and some crazy person searching Google for a cure for cellulite would try it. Wow, that was random. So, anyway, the Internet information about fluoride may or may not be true, but there's some crazy stuff out there.

Some of the anti-fluoride info make me want to run out and buy a water filter. On this site, the author claims fluoride can lead to brittle bones, arthritis, increased aluminum in the brain (which has a connection to Alzheimer's, right?), and lower fertility rates. PEACHY. This holistic medicine site states fluoride in water can cause cancer, A.D.D., and increased lead exposure. These are just a few of the supposed drawbacks to putting fluoride in the water supply. SPLENDID.

Before you run out and buy a lifetime supply of bottled water, keep in mind that there are just as many websites that say fluoride in the water is a good thing and that "Safe Water" proponents twist fluoride facts to scare you" (see here). Sites like this one say that fluoride is a safe and effective way to increase dental health and there is not enough research to back up the information provided by the crazy, health-nut, anti-fluoride people. That seems like an odd statement because the websites with tons of information about the negative effects of fluoride sure have a lot of links to research backing up their claims.

There's two sides to every story, and someone will always be able to find some kind of study to back up their claims, so I'm not 100% sure where I stand on this issue. I'm not sure it matters though, because WHY in the world does whoever is in charge of the water supply think they have the right to force fluoride on all of us? Shouldn't we have the right to choose whether or not we're poisoning ourselves and our children if, in fact, we are? Why can't those that want fluoride take some sort of fluoride supplement and those that wish to ingest something that may or may not cause lower IQs, skip it? What do YOU think?