12 Days of Christmas Tax Dollars

My BIL sent me this e-mail link: http://www.cdc.gov/women/owh/holiday/12waysSong.htm

I decided to go to the CDC website to make certain that this is a valid CDC link. Guess what! It is! I am so happy to know that all those hard-earned tax dollars are going to employees of the CDC so they can spend their time creating lyrics to the tune of The Twelve Days of Christmas. Before I heard this song I had no idea that in order to stay healthy I should wash my hands, bundle up for warmth, manage stress, not drink and drive, stay smoke free, fasten seat belts while driving, get exams and screenings, get my vaccinations, monitor the children, practice fire safety, prepare dinner safely, and eat well and get moving.

Up until I heard the lyrics to this song, I had been

1. running around with grimy hands all day
2. not wearing a coat in cold weather
3. letting stress run my life (okay, maybe this one is true, but you try dealing with two sick kids, a kid with Asperger's Disorder, and no sleep and try to manage stress!)
4. knocking back a bottle of wine and getting behind the wheel
5. smoking 4 packs a day
6. driving at break-neck speeds without a seat belt
7. not going to my doctors for annual exams
8. stabbing myself with rusty nails secure in the knowledge that I haven't recently gotten a tetanus shot, nothing like lockjaw
9. not watching what the children are doing (Go ahead, Honey, play with those matches, I won't watch what your doing!)
10. burning fires in the middle of the living room without benefit of using the fireplace (See number 9)
11. cross contaminating the food as I prepare it by putting vegetables and meat on the same cutting board, and
12. sitting in front of the t.v. eating potato chips for dinner!

Thank you federal government for spending our tax dollars in such a wise and constructive way! Without you there to tell us the patently obvious, what ever would we do?!

Our Tree

This year G. was bound and determined that we were going to get our Christmas tree early. Absolutely no waiting until the weekend before Christmas, which is what normally happens in our household. Last Saturday we went to the tree farm to pick our tree. This is a "new" tree farm to us. We've only gone there for three years. The trees at this place are great, but the people are not. The woman who takes your money gives me the feeling of a grinch dressed up in a people costume. She definitely exudes I'd rather be any place but here doing anything else but this, but they have great concolor firs. The farm we used to go to had great people, but their concolor firs have become very sparse.

For me the only tree to get is a concolor fir. They have soft needles and firm branches. You can shove lights all the way to the trunk of the tree without needing a first aid kit afterward, and the branches are hardy enough that you can hang extra heavy ornaments on them.

So we bought the tree on Saturday, put it up on Sunday, and I got the lights on it by Tuesday. Currently the only ornaments hanging on the tree are ones S. D. made in her pre-k class. I won't start decorating the tree until S. F. can participate, and she can't participate until all her homework is done. This week she didn't get homework finished until right before bedtime each night, and since she didn't even start working on homework until 8:55 p.m. last night, we still won't have the tree decorated until the weekend before Christmas.

Scary Math

Okay, I'm officially scared. S. F. asked for help with her math last night, and I couldn't look at it because of Mr. Ear Infection. He is definitely going back to the pediatrician first thing tomorrow morning!

So, this morning before S. F. got up, I picked up her worksheet and mathbook in order to figure out what it is that they're doing. I figure since she's almost a teenager, she's going to start thinking we're complete morons soon enough, so why give her any proof? ;) Here is the scary part...the math was EASY. Not only that, I actually had fun solving the problems. I think I need to get out more.