Y'all Fixin' To Read My Post?

Today I was ironing clothes. (Barbie clothes actually. Don't ask.) Katie was spouting her wisdom about ironing. I wasn't paying attention because I was stuck back on the word "ironing" which Katie pronounces as "arening." My little girl has a Texas accent.

Now I have noticed a slight change in how I say some words, but you would never mistake me for a born and bred Texan. Matter of fact there are some born and bred Texan that I cannot understand because of their twang. Rick also has retained a portion of his New England accent despite 17 years in California and 14 years in Texas. So I didn't expect Katie to have the twang of a native Texan despite being one because of Rick's and mine un-Texan accents. Not so.

For a while now Katie has been saying "Y'all" which cracks me up for some odd and unknown reason. However, if she starts using "fixin' to" I might have to draw the line. For those not in Texas, "fixin' to" is used as such, "I'm fixin' to go to the store." Perhaps I shouldn't be so harsh in my speech standards. Where I come from people drop the preposition "to". Example, "Wanna go store?" I also grew up in an area of Michigan that has a very distinctive accent called a Yooper accent. (Yooper is a person from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and is said with pride by Yoopers; however, if someone from Down State says it it usually is derogatory.) In reality the Yooper accent is a Finnish accent. To give you an idea how it sounds, do you remember Bob and Doug from The Great White North? They were fictional Canadian brothers and sounded like Yoopers. Perhaps a Yooper accent is a mix of Finnish and Canadian.

Today as I thought about regional accents, I quickly went off on a tangent just like I did in this post. One tangent was the memory of a regional MOPS meeting that I attended a few years ago. I was at a table with a lady whom when I first heard her speak I thought something was weird about her speech pattern and accent. It seemed familiar. After a few minutes, it dawned on me that she sounded like a Down Stater or like someone from Detroit. Sure enough. During the conversation she mentioned that she was originally from Detroit. What seemed weird to me is that she spoke so dang fast. It was then that I realized that my rate of speech has slowed down since moving to Texas and Northerners seem incredibly anxious and hectic to me because of their fast, clipped speech.

So what is my point? Well, the Texas accent and speech patterns have affected me more than I realize and I should not be shocked that my daughter has a Texas accent, However, I am still holding to the ban on "fixin' to". Take care and talk to y'all later. (Y'all just sounds wrong coming out of my mouth. Good thing I don't say it.)

Where Have All The Cubes Gone?

Yesterday Katie lost three cubes. If she would have lost another one she would have been sent to the principal's office. She has never lost three cubes in one day. According to her teacher, Mrs. Jobe, here are her three infractions:

1. When walking back to their classroom from Art, the kindergarteners walk in a single file line like little ducklings. Katie hopped.
2. The class had a bathroom break. Mrs. Jobe went into the bathroom to check on the girls. When she entered Katie was holding a friend up in the air. Katie likes to show how strong she is.
3. Katie talked when she was supposed to be quiet. I am surprised that she doesn't lose a cube everyday for this.

To top it off, Katie had to sit out for the entire recess and while sitting on the bench she kept on rubbing the back of her boot on the rail. She rubbed the black patent off of her high-heeled boots that Santa gave to her. I used a permanent marker to "fix" the huge patches of gray that marred both boots. I know why she did it. She was bored. I have seen her do similiar things when she has been time-outed in the corner.

Anyway, Katie knows that all three things that she lost cubes for are no-nos, but she doesn't know why she did them. I think it has something to do with the fact that Katie is the type of child that when she has the inspirtation to do something, she just does it. She is not self-conscious and loves to physically display her joy. She does not stop for one second to consider if it is a good or bad thing to do.

She was in the dog house after school. I made her take a nap and she did not go to ballet. During dinner she was not to talk at all and after dinner it was a shower then straight to bed. The night went pretty smooth

Today, Katie didn't get to go to the Tiger Store. Obviously she didn't have any Tiger Tickets and I took her coins out of her backpack. I advised her to keep her butt in her chair when her class went to the Tiger Store. She listened but the reason that I think she did is because she knew I was going to pick her up after school and would ask Mrs. Jobe.

Katie did not loose any cubes today. Did she learn her lesson? I know she will not hop in line or pick a friend up in the air.  She will try, try, try not to talk when she is supposed to be quiet. However, there's a good chance that she will be inspired to do three different no-nos.

In closing here is Cody wearing Rick's brown sweater vest. It no longer fits Rick and when Rick put it on he looked like a member of Village people. But I digress. Cody managed to get one leg stuck up in the sweater so he ate the other arm hole larger.

Random Thoughts

• Ginger Ale brings up memories of my birthday parties when I was a kid. The party punch that my mom made was Hawaiian Punch mixed with Ginger Ale.

• I started major cleaning yesterday which has turned out to be a waste of time because we had a dust storm today. No matter how sealed your house is, the dust will get in. The neighbors field is now in my living room.

• When I walk Cody at night I will pick up a rock and throw it in Cody's general direction. Now most dogs would jump back and then investigate. Not Cody, he runs full tilt toward the house leaving me to be eaten by the imaginary cougar. 

• I mess with Cody too much. Maybe that is why he is a neurotic mess.

• Even though I have a Kindle Fire, I go to the library every week and check out old-fashioned reading apparatuses--books.

The dust storm. Not the best picture, but I didn't feel like walking up to the street to get a larger view.  Everything has a pinkish/peach glow and looks like the color has been drained out. Kind of like walking around in a black and white photo except it is peach and white. ( Don't fret, Rick. I had the camera wrapped up in a towel.)

You Little Freak!

I have said this before and I am saying it again, Cody, our dog, is a little freak. He does some pretty peculiar things and has very interesting habits.

When I take Cody outside I can always tell when he is going to poop. He begins walking very fast but not taking big steps and his nose is pasted to the ground. He looks like a person who has to pee and who is walking knock kneed. He has done this since he was a puppy. He is also a modest dog because the place that he chooses to do his duty is always behind a cactus or a mesquite tree. He doesn't like being seen pooping. Sometimes I mess with him and walk around so I can see him. Then he looks so embarrassed. (Yes, dogs can look embarrassed.)

Cody talks, but only to me. ("Are you sure it is not all in your head?" No other people have witnessed it too.) When he is frustrated with me, such as when he wants his belly pet and I scratch him behind his ears instead, he makes this sound that is not a bark or a whine. It is a very guttural and has different octaves. If you say the word "raw" from the top of your mouth/back of your throat you will get an idea of the sound. While he is talking he will starting moving his head around like one of those plastic bobbing head dogs that you see in the back windows of cars. I will "talk" back to him with "raw, raw, raw" and he responds. I don't know what to make of it--both his talking and my responding.

Cody loves it when I do laundry. Somewhere along the line he appointed himself laundry inspector. He always accompanies me to the washer and dryer. He patiently sits and watches me put each article of clothing from the basket into the washer so that his head moves back and forward as if he is watching a tennis match. When it is time to put the clean clothes in the dryer this is when he asserts his authority. I try to stand in front of the dryer as I load clothes; however, Cody begins pushing me to the side. Once he accomplishes this, he sits down and rests his head on the dryer door and inspects each article of clothing that I put in the washer. I have tried to stand firm and not let him push me around, but he is so darned determined to have that front row seat. Today I actually remember to grab my camera when it was time to load the dryer.

An aerial view of Cody inspecting the wet but clean clothes

Oh I could go on and on about Cody's peculiars, but I'll save some for a slow blog post day.

I Won An Award

I received the Bad Mommy Award this week. Monday was MLK Day, a federal holiday and a day that was noted as a day off from school. Unfortunately I found out Tuesday that the school calendar was changed in November and the children did not have MLK Day off. Apparently this information was sent home with the children around Thanksgiving time when we were in Michigan. Oh, did I feel like a dork. I apologized to Katie because she loves going to school. 

Muffs, our daughter

Katie had a pretty speedy recovery from her ear infection and she still likes to wear her ear muffs. However, yesterday when Katie was coming home on the bus two older girls told her that her ear muffs were dumb because the princesses were not real. (There are three Disney Princesses on them.) Not only did they say it once, but continued to chant, "Dumb, dumb, dumb." When I picked Katie up at the end of the driveway she was almost in tears because of those girls and because she lost a cube in class. She was also dead tired so shortly after we got into the house she fell asleep with her head resting on her daddy's chest. Rick and I talked with her about how what she thinks matters more than what anyone else thinks and also princesses are real. Today she happily wore her ear muffs to school. I am glad she did not cave into the taunts.

 Look at that concentration as she lines up her BB gun's sites

This past weekend Katie practiced shooting her BB gun. Rick truly is amazed and proud that she is a natural when it comes to aiming and firing a gun. We have a lawn decoration that is a metal rabbit. He put it on the other side of the front yard as a target. I could not hit it--no shocker there--and Rick missed a few times, but Katie...after a slow start she consistently hit it the rabbit. The fact that she did better than Rick speaks volumes about her talent.

How far away the metal rabbit target was positioned

On Monday--the day Katie observed MLK Day while the rest of her class went to school--Katie was watching her Max and Rudy DVD. In one of the episodes, Max and Ruby have a lemonade stand and Katie was bound and determined to also have a lemonade stand. Her desire was explained as follows. "Little kids have no money. I need money." Her initial plan was to go up to the road and set up her stand there. I reminded her that we are on an FM (Farm to Market) road and traffic is pretty low. She also informed me that she didn't want to sit up there by herself and that Rick or I would accompany her. After we convinced her that sitting on the edge of our road was not going to give her the many dollars that she dreamed about, she opted to set up a lemonade stand in the living room. The cost for a Dixie Cup of lemonade was $.50 and all in all, she ended up making $2.50 off of her daddy and momma.

The little entrepreneur. She decorated her table with two snow globes and a picture of her Grandma with Santa.

Her sign. Per Katie it reads, "One Katie. One Love." The yellow is the lemonade being poured into a glass.

Hobo is still around despite being locked out of the shop. Matter of fact, Hobo made himself a new home in a small chicken coup that the previous missile base owners had built against the Quonset Hut. When Rick and I went down to the shop to get the Christmas boxes--yes, I am just now taking down the yule tide decorations--Hobo opted to take a nap in the shop. Hobo is such a cautious dog and prefers to view people from a distance and from behind a cactus or tree. It is weird when you walk down to the Quonset Hut and you know his eyes are on you, you just can't see him. Inside of the shop, he lets his guard down and Rick can pet him. However, outside he is like a stealth aircraft--I swear he walks on his tippy toes to keep the noise down--and he keeps back about 50'. The other day Rick and I were in the golf cart and heading back to the house. You could see Hobo was wrestling with his choices of staying at the shop or following us up to the house. His memories of how people have treated him won over and he remained at the shop.

On Wednesdays I tutor kindergarteners at the elementary school and all that I have tutored are just sweet. The things they are proud of and their excitement when they understand a hard learned lesson is priceless. I will know those children all through their school years and it makes me sad that those same kindergarteners will lose some if not all of their eagerness to learn; their God given innocence and their wonderment of the little things. They will become blase about so many topics and learn that life is not fair and not all people are nice. Today I want time to stand still, just for a moment, so I can burn the memory into my heart of this day when those children were young, trusting and epitomized joie de vivre.
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Well, those are the highlights of the past week. Ciao.

Muffs

Friday, Katie was diagnosed with her first ever ear infection. Per Katie, her ear started hurting at recess and by the time she got home on the school bus she was crying. As soon as we mentioned taking her to a doctor, she started with the tearful "I don't want to go." After a fair amount of convincing and assuring her that there would be no shot, I loaded her in the car and we headed out for the walk-in clinic at Stamford Memorial Hospital. Once there, we learned that the walk-in clinic closes at 12 noon on Fridays. Say what?!! The only option I had was to take her to the emergency room. The doctor was surprised that at her age, 5 years old, she never had an ear infection before. They put some drops in her ears and I was given two prescriptions. One was the drinkable antibiotic; the other was for pain relief drops for her ears. Unfortunately I turned out to be a liar and the nurse gave her shot of antibiotics. Oh, it is heart breaking to have to deal with Katie and needles. I had to wrap her in a bear hug and when the needle went in she SCREAMED and continued to do so. I kept on whispering in her ear that I was sorry.

We picked up the prescriptions from Wal-Mart and while there I purchased for her a pair of ear muffs. (Katie is a hard one on whom to keep a hat.) She loves her big, pink ear protectors. We were back in Wal-Mart today and Katie wore her ear muffs to the store and continued to keep them on while shopping. She is convinced if she does not wear her muffs when she is not at home, the ear pain will come back. So now her new nickname is Muffs.

Today her ear did not bother her at all for which I am grateful. So that was how we started off the weekend. Ciao.

Still A Hobo

Hobo, the stray dog, that has made the Quonset Hut his home is still here. However, Rick had to lock the shop up to keep Hobo out of there because he started chewing items. First it was some miscellaneous item and then he chewed an extension cord and finally the cord on Rick's ShopVac. Rick is really struggling with having to lock him out of the shop, but we can't have the dog chewing everything Rick has in the Quonset Hut. We have moved Cody's igloo dog house down to the shop and Rick has been putting Hobo's food bowl in it to get Hobo familiar with the dog house. However, we don't believe that he is sleeping in it. He seems to bed down by the heliport. But we could be wrong. He moves silently and through the trees; never down the road to the Quonset Hut or down the driveway. The other day I was walking Cody up the driveway and while Cody was sniffing and peeing on every blade of grass I saw Hobo come around the gate. He obviously was out making rounds. When Hobo saw me, he slipped into the trees that line the driveway and I didn't see him again. Rick thinks that Hobo is being fed by our neighbors a mile west of us.  Hobo still goes into stealth mode on occasion when he sees Rick. Other times he has let Rick pet him. I wish Rick could get his trust for then we could take him to the vet--the dog not Rick. Rick said, and I agree, that we cannot bring Hobo into the house until he is flea free, tick free, checked for rabies and parvovirus. It may be months before that happens. It is hard to think of him outside in the cold, but I keep reminding myself that a lot of people leave their dogs outside; he has an extremely thick, white coat and he gets food and fresh water every day which is a step up from when he lived at the lake.