The Birds and the Bees

Yes - I know there are all sorts of important things happening in the world. Debates to be had about life and death situations. However - a tiny but cataclysmic event took place in my family just this week.

My first baby (she was just born a couple of years ago...) is 8 1/2. That 1/2 is all important at this age. My BABY came to me the other day to ask about the little plastic bracelets. She was informed by those 'in the know' on the block (a 9 y/old girl) that these little plastic bracelets have meaning. The different colors symbolize different sexual activities that the one who wears them has participated in. Is that wild, or what? What is with these young girls? Not necessarily what's with the 9 y/olds talking about it (bad enough) - but what's with the girls who wear these bracelets? They're lost!

I told her that sometimes a bracelet is just a bracelet. Well - she hasn't heard of Freud yet - so it was then that I decided it was time for 'THE TALK'. The experts say that you should just wait until your children ask you about it. Aside from asking where the baby comes from (the uterus in my tummy, dear) she never asked much of anything else. *I* certainly was curious about just how that baby got in there when I was younger. Couldn't ask though - God Forbid!

We went shopping for a book. I don't know HOW to have the talk - so we went and bought a book. It's a cute little book called 'The Care and Keeping of You' and it can be found in the American Girl catalogs as well as at bookstores. (LOVE American Girl - especially Bitty Baby..) It goes into changes that we all go through. You know - THOSE changes. Anyhoo - after we looked through the book together and talked about it - papa explained the nuts and bolts. You know - the NUTS and BOLTS. She almost busted out laughing at him.

We also told her that only married people should do it. LOL! Oh Lord - that was wrong I know coming from her parents who didn't get re-married until she was 1. (Yes - Grizzly divorced him once) But she's only 8 for God's sake. We told her that the girls who wear the bracelets to show sexual activity are girls she needs to strive NOT to be like.

Then papa said she had to go to the nunnery. I told her NO NUNNERY! Just watch y'self out there - some people will try to take advantage. Don't let them and tell Grizzly Mama EVERYTHING!!!

I hope everyone has a great holiday weekend. God bless America!

Supplementing the History Curriculum

My little ones and I are now studying the 13 colonies of America and how they came about. It's quite interesting (unless you're a leftist, of course) and I have a lot of respect for the people who came here to build a new land that would be tolerant of their religious faith. Some things I was never taught in school: Calvert founded Maryland as a safehaven for Catholics. William Penn was a Quaker who founded the 'City of Brotherly Love' on the premise that all beliefs would be welcomed - he befriended the local Native Americans and many came to live and prosper in his City of Brotherly Love. Georgia was founded by Oglethorpe for debtors to start a new life - rather than to waste away in debtors prison back home.

We know that most colonies were founded initially by people escaping religious persecution. They came for religious freedom. Of course we are also studying the less happy side of the entire affair. Indentured servitude. The hardness of the life at first and the many people who died as a result of disease and/or starvation. Slavery by the plantation owners.

What I'm supplementing are some very interesting facts about the Bible and the controversy surrounding translating it - which I never knew. I read this article just last night in my beloved Weekly Standard. It is called Bible Illiteracy in America by David Galernter. The question is why are kids in America basically illiterate when it comes to the Bible? (Illiteracy in general is a problem too - but this is about Bible illiteracy.) It didn't used to be this way.

Anyhoo - it has great information that I NEVER KNEW! It's fascinating. For instance, apparently translating the Bible into English back in the 14th century, or even the 16th century, could cost you your life. The Lollard movement was founded by a John Wycliffe whose translation was nearly complete when he died. But - his translation was banned and the Lollards suppressed with many being burnt alive with Bibles hanging around their necks. This is great stuff, important - and it was shared with the 8 year old. I also shared this about William Tyndale. He was bound and determined to produce an English Bible, too. The English Church denounced him, he fled and was declared a heretic, was arrested in Brussels and executed.

Henry VIII banned Tyndale's Bible. However it seems that Tyndale's version contributed the most to the King James Bible - with the Geneva Bible also contributing heavily. Back to and on to Elizabeth who tolerated the Puritans. Elizabeth died and the Stuarts came to power. The Puritans were screwed. The Puritans liked the Geneva Bible but it had marginal notes that were anti-monarchy and pro-republic. Bad. Bad for the king anyway.

That is where the supplemental lesson ended for the 8 year old. Someone knocked up on the front door and we were spinning off to a new adventure. The Kirby man was here cleaning people's carpets! Wheee! Grizzly Mama was suckered - but I wasn't the only one! Thank God. He proceeded to show me how terribly dirty my house was by sucking up microscopic fibers from my living room area rug. Why, I think he even got a hair sucked out of there from the previous owner --- an Aunt. The hardwood floors look perfectly clean and shiny to me - but no! They're actually filthy according to the crap that accumulated on that little white filter disk. I MUST HAVE it! I must have this beautiful, shiny machine!!

Sixteen hundred and fifty dollars?! I must get my husband's permission. That's my stock answer to any salesman when I want to get them off my back.

Another Home Educator

This woman is TO*GETH*ER!!

Her blog is awesome. Great links here and here and - well - Everywhere! Explore. Enjoy!

Another great feature of her blog is that she highlights great people in history who were homeschooled, for example Edison.

Her link is under the 'Home Educator Blogs' section.

You GO, girl. You're Doing The Right Thing!

How Sinful is Grizzly??

Your Deadly Sins

Wrath: 60%

Gluttony: 20%

Sloth: 20%

Envy: 0%

Greed: 0%

Lust: 0%

Pride: 0%

Chance You'll Go to Hell: 14%

You will die, after conquering the world as an evil dictator.

How Sinful Are You?

Wrath? Little ol' me?

Thanks A Tangled Web and That Nasty Old Troll ;-)

I support the Minuteman Project

'Americans doing the jobs our Government won't do.'

'Operating within the law to support enforcement of the law.'

Minutemanproject

True patriotic Americans. Having brass balls is the American way! God bless them.

Oh! I almost forgot.

Vicente Fox, kiss my polka-dotted American ass!

Oooops - the radio report of a Vicente Fox apology was wrong...

He really REFUSES to apologize for his racist remark about illegal Mexicans taking jobs that even blacks don't want to do.

Loser Vicente Fox

Is he telling the UK a different story than he's telling the US media outlets? What is going on, here? Why do I hear an apology all over the MSM in America but find a completely different attitude in The Guardian??

Hey, Mike! Remember you were wondering where Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton were? Well! They have apparently made some statements now!!!

Here's an interesting little tidbit from the article:
"The Mexican government was expected to send a diplomatic letter to the United States on Monday protesting recent measures that include requiring states to verify that people who apply for a driver's license are in the country legally, making it harder for migrants to gain amnesty, and overriding environmental laws to build a barrier along the California border with Mexico."

The US is adopting 'anti-migrant' policies.

I wrote letters to media outlets a couple of years ago criticizing them for using the word 'migrant' to describe ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS. Migrant sort of makes you think of The Dust Bowl, doesn't it? Not illegals zipping back and forth doing God knows what.

Huh. So now we hate migrants. And we hate them because we don't want to give illegals a drivers license - which is a priviledge BTW - not a right.

We hate poor, poor migrants because we want to build a wall on our border to control the avalanche of illegals crossing over every single day.

I'll say it again, 'Vicente Fox Kiss my Plaid American Ass!'

Gawd, my house is a mess.

grizzlyandgirls
Originally uploaded by MonicaR.

MurderingCommunist
Originally uploaded by MonicaR.

And why, you ask? I'll tell you why! I'm a busy woman - that's why!

Here's how our wonderful counter-protest in Philly went. Lot's of American flags on our side - one on the lefty's side. Lefty's lying down in the grass screaming about body bags, us standing tall screaming about mass graves, toddler prisons, raped women, throw 'em off the building with hands tied treatment, mass graves/mass graves/mass graves. Why aren't the MASS GRAVES important to them?

A very nice Quaker young man came and talked to me very reasonably. Of course we know that Quakers are pacifists (hence laying down on the ground all of the time...) but he was as pleasant as can be and we talked for a good 15 minutes. God bless him - he is a nice man. We both agreed that part of what makes America great is the fact that we were both there. It was a love-fest.

I spoke at length with Skye, another Philly blogger and will be adding her to my favorite blogs! An old man came up to us (maybe 95 y/old) and asked us if we thought Bush would win re-election. Skye told him that he had won. He touched my youngest daughters arm lightly and walked away. As he was walking away we noticed that his pants were on backward - yep! Fly running right up his ass. Hands in his back pockets in the front. Poor old soul - we asked each other, 'Where is that man's family?'

The girlies saw the Liberty Bell with Papa Bear while I watched the cooler with snacks and held 3 flags and a sign. They informed me that he didn't set off the metal detecter even once. Good for Papa.

We bought a T-shirt that has Che Guevera's image on it. It says:
'Che Mart - we smell for less. Socialists. MURDERING COMMUNIST BASTARD.' As we were leaving a woman horse and buggy driver saw the picture of Che's face on Troll's chest and cried out in delight, 'Che Guevera!' He stopped so that she could read it. Her face fell. Her face became angry. She said, 'So are you pro-war?' I answered, 'We are pro-America!!' and walked away. THAT shut her up! LOL! Stupid woman. Who in their right mind would worship fragging CHE GUEVERA??!! Only stupid people.

Peter Manfra is doing a fine job leading our little band of rag-tag America lovers bearing our 'Missiles of Truth.' Thanks Pete and thanks to all the Protest Warriors who traveled from Baltimore, New Jersey and New York. God Bless Us All.

And the girlies were very good and loved their first counter-protest.

Peterthefearless
Originally uploaded by MonicaR.

Peter In The Red is our fearless leader.

collage2
Originally uploaded by MonicaR.

Some more of our group.

Vicente Fox is ignorant, too.

Well - ya just gotta read it:

Ignorant Vicente Fox

He says that illegal Mexicans are 'doing jobs that not even blacks want to do there in the United States.'

He also says that the law that waives environmental rules to build a fence on the border between California and Mexico is 'overly extreme.'

I'll say it again, 'Vicente Fox kiss my white American ass!'

***UPDATE***

My husband just heard on the radio that Vicente Fox has apologized for what he's said. Harumph! He'd better.

It's 'Lord of the Flies' out on the block.

Some of these kids are just plain mean, I tell ya. They picked the littlest, most backward kid on the block and just started torturing her. Well not real torture but they were just evil to her.

She's five years old and yes she has some problems. She's a pain in the ass - okay? No one likes her because she just doesn't know how to act. Her household is not the best - I don't think she gets a lot of love. I feel bad for her and at the same time I don't have the energy to deal with her psychosis.

She wants to play of course. Poor thing. A bunch of kids had gathered on a 9 y/old girls front porch. All ages from 12 down to 4. The little psycho kid wanted to get on the porch to play too. They made her go get money and then they would let her on the porch for a few minutes. Back and forth she went - getting money, being made to beg like a dog (yes! on her hands and knees!), getting on the porch for a few minutes, getting kicked off and sent back for more money, being made to beg like a dog, pay the money and back on the porch.

Well! I was horrified - and more horrified to see my girls up on that porch. Mind you - my 4 y/old and another 4 y/old were sort of in their own world playing with a pogo stick and not paying much attention. But the 8 y/old?! HA! THAT one knows better.

Grizzly Mama screaming, 'YO! - Girls! Get your asses over here NOW!!' All the kids stop dead in their tracks. My two and the other 4 y/old come running. The other 4 y/old's dad is right next to me - and I explain what they've been doing as the kids make their way over. (They stopped and looked both ways before crossing the street....good girls...)

Then the lecture. I lectured that other 4 y/old, too - I did. Her daddy agreed of course. I lecture all the kids on the block - yep. I'm out there ALL the time watching what they do. They try to pull all kinds of stuff and then come running to me - they don't get away with it though.

'I don't care if you don't like her and don't want to play with her, you will NEVER treat anyone that way EVER again. You don't have to be mean. I would prefer if you stood up and stopped people from behaving this way toward another human being but if you are not up for that, then at the very LEAST, you should remove yourself from the situation. And of course, come tell Grizzly Mama.' Grizzly Mama doesn't mind stopping it. Grizzly Mama has stood up for weaker people being abused before and will do it again in a heartbeat. Into the house the girls go and up to their rooms to think about it.

This is what happens when kids are left with no supervision. The Lord of the Flies happens. Not one of those parents did a thing to stop their kids from acting like that. IF they were aware of it, do they think it's normal? Is it the socialization that is necessary? The 'hard-knocks' they have to face in life to get strong? I disagree. I utterly, completely disagree.

Protest Warrior

This Sunday the 15th - Philadelphia. Back the Troops. The whole damn sloth is going. (Okay - I didn't know this until now but a group of bears is, apparently, called a 'sloth'.)

See the Philly Chapter Protest Warrior weblog for details:

Philly PW

To register as a member of our humble group and sign up for the operation, go here:

Protest Warrior

I shall be there in fuscia head garb with matching fuscia purse. Be there or be square.

Mama and Papa Bear went out!

Do you know how long it's been since we've been out to a bar - to groove to some tunes? Sheesh - I can't even remember the last time. Well it just goes so fast and we're working all of the time and it's hard to find a sitter sometimes.

We went to see Telefunken Eggrock. We had a great time and Mama consumed two Gin and Tonics! The band was great. Papa knows someone who knows someone who knows the bass player and come to find out Mama is aquainted with the wife of the singer. We were surprised to find a couple of neighbors there as well and Mama had a yummy sip of a kamikaze. It was delicious however I really couldn't do shots of it as they were. How in God's name, being my age, do people go out and do shots and then get up and take care of the wee ones??!

I can't do it. Too busy to be dealing with a hangover that would probably last for days at this point in my life. Plus the old ticker's bad. (Well - not really ;-))

Grizzly Mama's been tagged...

By Zendo Deb. Everyone has such clever answers and it's just a damn shame that all I'm capable of is inanity at this point.

Chain letters and memes are not something I usually take the time to do, but here we are.

Here's the list: If I could be a scientist...If I could be a farmer...If I could be a musician...If I could be a doctor...If I could be a painter...If I could be a gardener...If I could be a missionary...If I could be a chef...If I could be an architect...If I could be a linguist...If I could be a psychologist...If I could be a librarian...If I could be an athlete...If I could be a lawyer...If I could be an inn-keeper...If I could be a professor...If I could be a writer...If I could be a llama-rider...If I could be a bonnie pirate...If I could be an astronaut...If I could be a world famous blogger...If I could be a justice on any one court in the world...If I could be married to any current famous political figure...

Pick five and and get going.

1. If I could be a llama-rider I would make sure that llama had a bath every single day.

2. If I could be a bonnie pirate I would wear beads in my hair and have 5 earrings pierced in each ear and shoot guns ALL the time and wear high leather boots and lots of scarves.

3. If I could be married to any current famous political figure I would have to pay a lot of money to have all of my skeletons hidden.

4. If I could be a linguist I would create a new language similar to Klingon and speak it all the time just to mess with people's heads.

5. If I could be an astronaut I would have to invent a throw-up bag INSIDE the helmet so that I wouldn't make a terrible mess.

There it is. I pick Steven to carry on. You said you were bored, Steven. Here's something to keep you occupied. I'm also tagging The Troll because he needs to get off his butt and write something.

Whaddayou - Muslim or something?!

Yes - that very question was asked of me 2 days ago. In exactly that delicate phrasing. We're in Philly after all. Eloquence is the order of the day here in the City of Brotherly Love.

No I'm not Muslim. I have to wrap my head up in brightly colored cloth because of this Trigeminal Nerve affliction I suffer from. The cloth doesn't have to be brightly colored, but I prefer it. I like happy colors and things. My girlies bought me head wraps for my 42nd birthday. One is a skirt that you're supposed to wrap around your ass - but it works great for my head. The other is a delicate and beautiful shawl.

What is Trigeminal Neuralgia?

In short, Trigeminal Neuralgia is an affliction that totally sucks. One good thing came of it last week, though. I was actually carded when I went to buy smokes - I didn't bother to undo my head wrap when I went in the store. Whoooooo-hoooooo!