But the Kids Are Getting Socialized...

Hmmmmmm. Everything ran smoothly at the Perkins Schools - which near as I can tell is somewhere around Toledo - for the first day of school. Despite the fact that:

The teachers were on strike and blasting 'We're Not Going to Take It' by Twisted Sister (from an SUV no less) at the perimeter of the school.

The kids were on 'lockdown' with police at the doors refusing to let any of them out.

Eight security guards were fired for 'unacceptable background checks'.

Four students climbed out of high school windows to escape imprisonment.

Students used such words as 'chaos' and 'crazy' to describe the situation inside the school.

It appears that possibly up to 10 students who walked out with an 'excused absence' were children of striking teachers. This event apparently lead to the 'lockdown'.

Parents know how bad the public schools are. I talk to them every day - and we live in a terrible school district. Yet they yank the kiddies out of bed every morning, dress them, feed them, and send them into the cesspit.

Like, yoooooo-hooooooo! We have choices here in America. Wake up. Our government doesn't throw us into jail if we decide that the public school isn't the best place for our kids. And it most certainly is not the best place for them.

God bless America. God save the Republic. Homeschool your children!

Story found at Drudge.

Grizzly's 'To-Do' List

1. Pick up and vacuum livingroom.
2. Install new school computers and printers.
3. Do dishes.
4. Go through girls summer/winter clothes. I got 4 lawn and leaf bags of clothing to give to the thrift shop!
5. Pack old computers for return shipping.
6. Gather all school papers/workbooks from last year, label and store.
7. Gather curriculum materials to be returned, pack and ship.
8. Unpack 15 boxes of new curriculum material and organize on shelves and in drawers.
9. Have girls put new labels on drawers.
10.Clean shelves, organize school supplies.
11.Buy power strip to accomodate extra printer.
12.Have girls organize toy shelves. (HA!)
13.Ready 2 backpacks for religious education classes. (CCD for the old timers.)
14.Scout art/gymnastics classes for girls and friends to participate in.
15.Go to library and get fall schedule of events.
16.Check out different karate place.
17.Have girls clean their rooms and change their bed linens.
18.Get new kitten to vet for spay - don't forget the stool sample.
19.Fog house. (a fall ritual for me)
20.START SCHOOL SEPTEMBER 5TH!!
21.Paint livingroom and diningroom. (Then entire interior done!)
22.Paint front door exterior and window frame.
23.Paint garage door, back door and window frame exterior.

Aesop's Fable Friday

The Frogs Asking For a King

The Frogs were discontented because no one ruled over them, so they asked Jupiter for a King.

Jupiter, despising their folly, cast a log into their pool, and said that would be their King.

The Frogs were terrified by the splash, and jumped to the deepest parts of the pool; but when they saw the log remain motionless, they began to feel such contempt for it that they even took to sitting upon it.

Thinking that King was an insult to their dignity, they sent to Jupiter again, and begged him to take away the sluggish King and to give them another and a better one.

Jupiter sent a Stork to rule them, who arrived and began to catch and eat the Frogs as fast as he could.

Moral of the story: That governs best which governs least.

Just a Few Little Things.

We're Back!

We are back from our short stay in Ocean City, MD. Well. Well, well, well. Where does one start? You will laugh when I say that we are spoiled by New Jersey, but when we compare Ocean City, MD to the Jersey beaches and boardwalks - Maryland comes up short. Very disappointing. The beach at OCM was full of trash. Just FULL 0f it. Not only could you see tons of visible trash but when I dug my toes into the sand and came up with a cup lid...well. That just did it. It's also very expensive in OCM. We paid (what I consider to be) quite a lot of money for a dive. Yikes! The rides sucked too. So I am going to take the advice of several of my readers and check Chincoteague out next year. I am looking forward to it already!

The Neighborhood.

The moslem guy is, apparently, beating the crap out of his wife girlfriend. We noticed that 2 of the kids have been gone for over a month, and at one point it looked like she was kicking his ass to the curb, and now it turns out that he was being abusive to the kids that were sent away. This house has always been an enigma. The lady of the house is just as sweet as can be. For awhile we thought that 2 grown women lived there but it turns out that sometimes she wears the robes and sometimes she doesn't. No matter - she was always nice whether robed or not. As for him, I hope she gets herself and those kids away. This is America - YO! She can wear whatever she damn well pleases and the kids don't ever deserve to be beaten.

A heavy talk with the Girlies.

It turns out that a young lady I have known for 10 years - a really good girl - is a heroin addict. I am just heartbroken and I pray for her and her family. The girlies know because of all of the activity recently to get her into a rehab and with the communications we have had with her parents. They are close - so anyway - the girlies know. We had a talk - I had to talk to them about it. How it would be easy to fall in with people who don't think twice about doing drugs and how addiction can really destroy a person for years. Lost years and lots of regrets. How addiction leads people to do things that they would never have thought of doing: lying, stealing, doing almost anything to get more dope. Recovery, if chosen, is extremely difficult. Building trust with people you have hurt can take years. The addiction affects everyone surrounding the addict - it's very destructive and painful.

I don't want those girlies to have a moment of pain. There is no way around pain in this life though, is there? We try to give our children wonderful years and memories and try to shield them. Life happens all around us and there is pain and turmoil included in that life that happens around us. We can't hide it from them. All that their father and I can do is talk to them and let them know they have good and strong people in their corner - - and no matter what, they are loved. We have all lived through pain and many of us have been through hell and that becomes a part of what and who we are. Quite frankly I should be dead from some of the stupid choices I made while floundering about in my younger years. There but for the grace of God, honey. That says it all.

Aesop's Fable Friday.

The Pig and the Sheep

A Pig found his way into a meadow where a flock of Sheep were grazing.

The shepherd caught him, and was proceeding to carry him off to the butcher's when he set up a loud squealing and struggled to get free.

The Sheep rebuked him for making such a to-do, and said to him, "The shepherd catches us regularly and drags us off just like that, and we don't make any fuss."

"No, I dare say not," replied the Pig, "but my case and yours are altogether different: he only wants you for wool, but me he wants for bacon!"

Moral of the story: It's easy to cry "coward" when it's not you in danger.

Yes, yes, yes. I'm late again and fudging on the time. It's actually only 12 minutes after midnight so I am not being too terribly dishonest. My only excuse is that I've had a house full of children all day - - one leftover from a sleepover last night after a splash party (that I had to attend due to the young ages of my charges). I'm just NOW getting my chocolate and internet fix. Thanking you in advance for your understanding.

You Lose, Sister!

I can vote, drive, show my face, go shopping and enjoy multiple orgasms. If the UN and the appeasers of Wahhabism win...You Lose, Sister!

Go see Aaron's Religion of Peace Responses.

h/t NeoCon Blogger

The Fabulous Sisters Duet.

The girls are now practicing a duet. The name of the song is 'Skateboard Doodle' , which is actually the tune of 'Yankee Doodle'. The pianist will be playing on the Grand Staff - they call it. Both hands, one treble clef and one bass. Piano always freaked me out but I love to listen to piano and always wished I could play. The guitarist will be playing along starting with C chord, changing to G, back to C, then F, G and back to C - all major chords. Guitar is pretty complicated, too.

For now the little one is just practicing going from C to G and back again, over and over. It takes her several seconds to change up the fingers on the neck. I figure just practicing going back and forth over and over might help with that. She remembers all of the major chords, though and quite a lot of the minor ones.

So far they sound terrible like they need lots more practice. They are preparing to play their duet for the residents of an old folks home. We want it to sound nice for them.

Mister Ghost and Iraq the Model.

Mister Ghost - a humongous brained, super cool, unbelievably well connected individual and contributor to Iraqi Bloggers Central - has so crazy-kindly interviewed me for his feature 'In T View'. Mister Ghost asks little old Grizzly Mama questions about the highly esteemed blog Iraq The Model and about my opinion of the situation generally in Iraq.

Those Brothers In Baghdad saved me, I tell ya. I was down - way down - when I found them. I was hearing nothing but what our MSM feeds us every day about our 'adventure' in Iraq. You know: It's a quagmire, civil war, arabs aren't capable of democracy, blah blah blah. I adore those Brothers in Baghdad. I hold most Iraqi in very high regard because of the perspective provided by Iraq the Model. The Iraqi are righteous and brave and true.

God Bless Iraq! God Bless America!

BTW Mister Ghost - where did you ever find that picture of me??! ;-)

Aesops Fable Friday.

The Sick Stag

A Stag fell sick and lay in a clearing in the forest, too weak to move from the spot.

When the news of his illness spread, a number of the other beasts came to inquire after his health. They one and all nibbled a little of the grass that grew round the invalid until at last there was not a blade within his reach.

In a few days he began to mend, but was still too feeble to get up and go in search of fodder; and thus he perished miserably of hunger owing to the thoughtlessness of his friends.

Moral of the story: Thoughtless friends can be as bad as enemies.

What a horribly sad and painful tale. These are some brutal stories and I thought for a moment that we ought to sugar coat some of them a bit. But no - that wouldn't be right and it wouldn't be true to the brutality of life at times. In any case, the Aesops Fable is supposed to teach us something. It warns us of the pitfalls so that we may avoid them. I don't think that the human race is one that learns its lessons well or easily. We keep making the same mistakes all through history. It ought not be that way. It is up to us to 'teach our children well'. We certainly can't trust the leftists to do it - - and they are the ones in charge of education right now. The confusion and the inability to make the distinction between right and wrong, the thoughtless opinions and ignorance of history on the part of most young adults - the deliberate equivocating on the part of our media - are all a testament to the ones in charge of public education.

The Case of the Missing Egyptians

The lookout bulletin issued on them sates that "At the present there are no known associations to any terrorist groups, approach with caution."



1. IBRAHIM, EL SAYED AHMED ELSAYED;
DOB OF 4/29/1986, PASSPORT 954757
2. EL DESSOUKI, ESLAM IBRAHIM MOHAMED;
DOB OF 02/21/1985, PASSPORT 1002756
3. EL BAHNASAWI, ALAA ABD EL FATTAH ALI;
DOB OF 04/02/1986, PASSPORT 934679
4. ABD ALLA, MOHAMED RAGAB MOHAMED;
DOB OF 02/15/1984, PASSPORT 860972
5. EL LAKET, AHMED REFAAT SAAD EL MOGHAZI;
DOB OF 09/01/1986, PASSPORT 943306
6. EL ELA, AHMED MOHAMED MOHAMED ABOU;
DOB OF 02/02/1985, PASSPORT 595081
7. EL MOGHAZY, MOHAMED IBRAHIM ELSAYED;
DOB OF 08/08/1986, PASSPORT 861073
8. ABDOU, EBRAHIM MABROUK MOUSTAFA;
DOB OF 02/25/1984, PASSPORT 828682
9. EL GAFARY, MOUSTAFA WAGDY MOUSTAFA;
DOB OF 07/01/1988, PASSPORT 861673
10. MARAY, MOHAMED SALEH AHMED;
DOB OF 09/12/1985, PASSPORT 862634
11. EL SHENAWY, MOHAMED IBRAHIM FOUAAD;
DOB OF 08/12/1988, PASSPORT 862534

Yikes! Number 11 has that freaky 'Mohammed Atta' intensity about him, doesn't he? Be a good citizen and keep your eyes peeled for the Missing Egyptians!!

Colic.

That's what they call it, you know, when a baby screams a horrible scream for hours on end - day after day - week after week.

The youngest was a colic baby. It was so strange that the oldest screamed at the top of her lungs upon her arrival and then became a quiet and joyful baby - loving everyone and everything she set her eyes upon. The youngest was so quiet when she was born only to scream at life for months on end.

It started at about 6 weeks of age. Just when the gestational hypertension finally resolved itself, the screaming baby started. An older woman was kind enough to explain that although they say it lasts until age 3 to 4 months, in reality it lasts until they are about 6 months old. I am glad she told me or I would have lost hope and the will to live before it ended.

Of course we had everything checked - several times during the course of the colic. No ear infections. No digestive abnormalities. No illness. She was nursed which is supposed to help, but it doesn't.

The scream just rips right through you. It's exhausting to listen to. You try and you try everything just to help that baby feel better - and it doesn't work. You feed, you change, you walk, you rock, you hum, you do whatever you can think of. Nursing her quite often helped - but quite often it didn't. After a few weeks as you go through the day - you know it's coming. You dread it. Then the initial scream and my heart would just drop. Several hours every single day. Sometimes in the middle of it I would feel terrible and guilty for bringing her into this world - only to be so unhappy. I would apologize to her.

Nobody wanted to watch her. People are frightened by a screaming baby. People want a happy baby who loves them and adores their presence. Relatives tried to make her smile and she wouldn't. They wanted her to like them and she didn't. It was rare that anyone agreed to help.

Well - after a few weeks I told myself that even if what I tried to do to comfort her wasn't working, on some level she knew I was trying. I had to leave it at that.

Sometimes I would just sit and cry with her in the rocking chair. I spent many an evening walking and walking and walking back and forth in the living room. There were certain floorboards that would squeak when I made the turns and that squeaking seemed to calm her.

She hated the swing. Hated riding in a car. Hated being on top of the dryer in her little seat with the dryer running. All the little tricks - she hated.

It ended abruptly at exactly 6 months of age. For months afterward I still felt that dread everyday waiting for it to begin.

The young one is a strange little goose. I never could quite put my finger on her personality and so decided that I just needed to sit back and be allowed to discover her. She doesn't reveal herself in a boisterous way. She is deep and has a dry wit that most people don't understand. Her eyes and her expressions will tell you what's up and if you don't pay attention (most people don't...) you will miss the entire show. She is incredibly artistic and loves to play the guitar. I can count on one hand the people that she has taken to immediately. They are all quiet, observant, and exceedingly intelligent. Everyone else - - well. You'll just have to wait until her assessment of you is complete.

If you have a colic baby - hang in there. Be gentle and know that that baby is watching your every move. That baby will understand on a certain level that you tried to help - - even if what you tried didn't help much. It will end smackdab on their 6 month birthday and it will be worth every minute of getting through it together.

Aesop's Fable Friday

The Gnat and the Bull

A Gnat alighted on one of the horns of a Bull, and remained sitting there for a considerable time.

When it had rested sufficiently and was about to fly away, it said to the Bull, "Do you mind if I go now?"

The Bull merely raised his eyes and remarked, without interest, "It's all one to me; I didn't notice when you came, and I shan't know when you go away."

Moral of the story: We may often be more important in our own eyes than in the eyes of others.

So true, isn't it?

I have been overwhelmed once again. No sooner do I get done with swim/diving team than it is time to start gearing up for school to start. The heat has got me floored and flattened and completely sapped of energy. Even going to the pool doesn't cool us off as the water was measured at 91 degrees. That would be Farenheit - of course! We live in the land of standard measurement afterall. We also live in this nasty Delaware Valley. I do not like summertime in the City of Brotherly Love. I am chained to my air conditioner. Although I thank the good Lord everyday for it - and for living in the Land of the Free - where we have electricity and running water and where the right to defend ourselves is recognized by our government.