.comment-link {margin-left:.6em;}

Grizzly Mama

There's a Grizzly who has escaped the City of Brotherly Love..(and she's going back to homeschooling!!)

My Photo
Name:
Location: Out of Philly, Pennsylvania, United States

"All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth." Aristotle - Greek Philosopher.

Saturday, March 31, 2007

Eragon, Your Lips Taste Like Pineapple..

This is how my six y/old talks sometimes. lol. She is something else. We rented 'Eragon' tonight. I thought the movie was very good, however my 10 y/old was quite disappointed. They left many important parts out in the movie. I haven't read the book yet and she has. She loved the book. We had a discussion about how many times the movie is never as good as the book. The Harry Potter movies follow the books quite well - - even though they leave some parts out. Most of the Stephen King books didn't translate over to movies very well. (Exception - the one about the hotel in Colorado - - you know - - Jack Nicholson and his 'Here's Johnny!' thing. lol)

The 6 y/old has won a poetry contest. The little one - who never has won anything. It has been quite a shock to her and she keeps saying, 'I can't believe that I won!' She will get a copy of the book that is being made containing the winning poems and a certificate at a ceremony. She's my little creative one! I am happy to see her win - her big sister racks up ribbons and medals and trophys without even trying. lol. She has been very sweet although I know she must be a bit disappointed because her own poem did not win. Another discussion followed about how she is very pleased with her poem and the point of writing poems is to express oneself in a different way - - and so did she express herself and her feelings in her poem? Does she like her poem? Both answers yes. Everyone cannot win the poetry contest - especially when we are talking thousands of entries. Thank goodness the girls can be happy for one another in their successes.

I'm beat. Don't know what's up. Just so much going on all of the time. We've got the handbell concert done - that was quite a big deal and they did very well. No more handbell choir until Fall. We just finished up our last session of gymnastics yesterday. Troll is in and out with his wrist. He is still in a lot of pain and is very bad about wearing his sling! He won't listen to me - you tell him - maybe he'll listen to you. Go on over to his blog and tell him to wear his sling and stop using that hand! Here is the link.

We have been helping my MIL with her move - it is a big one after being in the same house for almost 20 years. Quite traumatic for her. We are also helping our good neighbor leftist move. Yes - THE good neighbor leftist. No more fights over coffee.

So many changes happening. And then we are seriously considering putting our house up for sale soon. Just the thought of that sends me right over the edge. We have accumulated so much crap in the last 9 years of living in our little rowhouse.

I've just been terrible about posting. I've been following the shenanigans of our elected representatives, though - it's enough to make you want to cry isn't it? Putting that horrible bill through and then going on vacation. Then the British sailors being abducted by that nasty Iranian state? We need to do more than beg the Useless UN to send a strongly worded letter. It's time to hurt those islamic maniacs and hurt them bad. Speaking of islamic maniacs - CAIR and the lawsuit against the airline for booting those crazy imams? Huh. I think our legislature actually did get something right in protecting the John and Jane Doe's reporting suspicious behavior.

Okay. So. One thing they did right. We can be grateful for that anyway.

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Ten Rules for Dating Troll's Daughters

From Father Abouna, ten rules for dating a Military Daughter.

Rule One:
If you pull into my driveway and honk you'd better be delivering a package, because you're sure not picking anything up.

Rule Two:
You do not touch my daughter in front of me. You may glance at her, so long as you do not peer at anything below her neck. If you cannot keep your eyes or hands off of my daughter's body, I will remove them.

Rule Three:
I am aware that it is considered fashionable for boys of your age to wear their trousers so loosely that they appear to be falling off their hips. Please don't take this as an insult, but you and all of your friends are complete idiots. Still, I want to be fair and open minded about this issue, so I propose his compromise: You may come to the door with your underwear showing and your pants ten sizes too big, and I will not object. However, in order to ensure that your clothes do not, in fact, come off during the course of your date with my daughter, I will take my electric nail gun and fasten your trousers securely in place to your waist.

Rule Four:
I'm sure you've been told that in today's world, sex without utilizing a "barrier method" of some kind can kill you. Let me elaborate, when it comes to sex, I am the barrier, and I will kill you.

Rule Five:
It is usually understood that in order for us to get to know each other, we should talk about sports, politics, and other issues of the day. Please do not do this. The only information I require from you is an indication of when you expect to have my daughter safely back at my house, and the only word I need from you on this subject is "early."

Rule Six:
I have no doubt you are a popular fellow, with many opportunities to date other girls. This is fine with me as long as it is okay with my daughter. Otherwise, once you have gone out with my little girl, you will continue to date no one but her until she is finished with you. If you make her cry, I will make you cry.

Rule Seven:
As you stand in my front hallway, waiting for my daughter to appear, and more than an hour goes by, do not sigh and fidget. If you want to be on time for the movie, you should not be dating. My daughter is putting on her makeup, a process that can take longer than painting the Golden Gate Bridge. Instead of just standing there, why don't you do something useful, like changing the oil in my car?

Rule Eight:
The following places are not appropriate for a date with my daughter: Places where there are beds, sofas, or anything softer than a wooden stool. Places where there are no parents, policemen, or nuns within eyesight. Places where there is darkness. Places where there is dancing, holding hands, or happiness. Places where the ambient temperature is warm enough to induce my daughter to wear shorts, tank tops, midriff T-shirts, or anything other than overalls, a sweater, and a goose down parka - zipped up to her throat. Movies with a strong romantic or sexual theme are to be avoided; movies which features chain saws are okay. Hockey games are okay. Old folks homes are better.

Rule Nine:
Do not lie to me. On issues relating to my daughter, I am the all-knowing, merciless god of your universe. If I ask you where you are going and with whom, you have one chance to tell me the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I have a shotgun, a shovel, and five acres behind the house. Do not trifle with me.

Rule Ten:
Be afraid. Be very afraid. It takes very little for me to mistake the sound of your car in the driveway for a chopper coming in over a rice paddy near Hanoi. When my Agent Orange starts acting up, the voices in my head frequently tell me to clean the guns as I wait for you to bring my daughter home. As soon as you pull into the driveway you should exit your car with both hands in plain sight. Speak the perimeter password, announce in a clear voice that you have brought my daughter home safely and early, then return to your car - there is no need for you to come inside. The camouflaged face at the window is mine.

Thank you Father Abouna!

Old Grizzly Mama is still in recovery mode after last week's state testing, surgery, hellish trip in the ice storm Friday night, and trip to Washington DC and back. It just takes a bit longer for me than it used to. Tomorrow is the big handbell concert and I am praying that the 6 y/old doesn't chicken out. I told her, 'Cry, ring the wrong bells - I don't care! No matter what you do everyone will love it.' I think she is afraid of screwing up and then she is afraid of starting to cry from nerves. So - we'll see what happens. A friend of mine and her kids are coming along to cheer them on since Troll cannot get away from work.

Think of us tomorrow and say a little prayer for us!

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Grizzly Report - Gathering of Eagles.

What a great day we had. I want to thank the Rolling Thunder guys and gals especially for all the support that you showed to our young friend who recently served in Iraq. As I pointed out in my comments on other blogs, these Vietnam veterans are giving our troops what they themselves never enjoyed - support and respect. They are standing in opposition to Jihad Jane which wasn't done 40 years ago. I consider it a privilege and an honor to stand with them. I thank them all for their service - they did their duty without question and deserve our admiration. God bless you all.

I also want to thank Mike for keeping tabs on us, keeping tabs on the news, and updating his blog with Skye's moblogging images. It was so great to finally talk to you Mike. I enjoyed reading your entries and I am shocked that C-Span had no coverage of the good guys! I thought that I liked C-Span - but I am having to rethink that.

We met many bloggers. Skye - you know. We look forward to attending that meeting coming up Skye - and our young friend is looking forward to attending, too. We also hope that we can work something out on the 4th of July in Philadelphia when Mutha Shewitch will be holding some sort of insane get together right here - in the City of Brotherly Love!

I was so happy to meet AOW! She is one of my favorite bloggers and so supportive of homeschooling. Thanks for the hospitality, AOW. It was stand-up of you and your husband to offer your place for meeting, and showing us to the Metro station with the best parking.

Love ya, Cajun Tiger! Great to meet you and I'll be adding you to my blogroll.

We briefly spoke with CJ from A Soldier's Perspective. You just keep being you, hon. Thanks so much for your service.

We met Steve Harkonnen of Steve's Hodgepodge. We hope that you had as good a time as we!

Martin McBride of CAIR Undercover with Martin McBride - with the Maverick News Network, shall be forever known to me as 'Eagle Eye'. We hope that you found your ride and got home safely! We will email the pics tomorrow. Great to meet you.

Maccus Germanis of Forlone Hope. Awesome that you came all the way from Alabama. Did my basic training in Alabama, so I don't have many great memories of it...I'm sure it's very nice there! ;-) Great to meet you and your friend!

Here is a memorable moment that I forgot to relate to Mike over the phone. Our guys lined the sidewalk around our staging area and had a few things to say in response to the lefties who walked through and made nasty remarks. The Gantlet, I called it. Anyhoo - we were making our way through The Gantlet, when we ran into a group of unhappy black moslems who were complaining to an exceedingly tall police man that the America lovers had bumped them as they walked through The Gantlet. It was quite crowded, you know. We were forever bumping into people. As I was trying to make my way through this complaining batch of moslems - one of them bumped me!! Then another! I called to the policeman to tell him that I had been bumped into not once, but twice! Then I got bumped into again! I continued to complain that the moslems were repeatedly bumping into me! How dare they? We were all jostling around in this tiny space of sidewalk - and they had the audacity to bump into me! I wanted to file a complaint, but my fellow travelers didn't think this was a good idea.

Without further ado - here are some of the pics:

We have the best flag - The U.S.A!





This last pic is part of The Gantlet.




More pics of some of the lefty whacks tomorrow. Have a great night, y'all!

**UPDATE**

My favorite sign so far - as seen on Flopping Aces:


**UPDATE 2**


This is how the whacks carry our flag - great pic found on Wordsmith's blog:

Friday, March 16, 2007

Yikes Stripes






Looks like we might have had a little accident at this webcam!

I'm lucky to be alive! I got home from dropping the kidlets off at Mom-Mom's around 10:00 p.m. Horrifying. I-95 is NOT closed, but it SHOULD be.

Keep in mind that old Grizzly Mama is a veteran driver with lots of experience driving in snow, ice, blizzards - whatever! You name it. I've driven down out of the Rockies into Denver I don't KNOW how many times in wicked weather. One time I did it with a glasses lens popped out of one side.

I'm telling you - I-95 in Philadelphia has no right being open right now.

We're checking the weather and keeping our eye on the highway. I've spoken with Skye and we will decide in a couple of hours if we're going to make the trek.

I sure hope that we can.

Gathering of Eagles Update...





All of the preparations are complete. We are only left to deal with Troll's surgery, and me getting the girls to Mom-Mom's. We'll let Troll rest up a bit and then pour him into the back seat while my friend and I drive. We're meeting up with Skye and heading to meet Always on Watch and Steve Harkonnen. We are thrilled to meet some of our fellow bloggers - what a privilege!










Please be aware that:

Mike - at Mike's America will be in touch with Skye - at Midnight Blue Says to get the realtime scoop on what's happening. He will then blog about it during the day. Our amazing Skye has this 'moblogging' thing down! Isn't she something?! She is able to zoom pics from her cellphone right to her blog and Mike will make use of the images in his blog entries. Anyone who has a question or a comment for us can comment at Mike's and he will communicate that to us via cell phone. Thank you Mike AND Skye for serving up this unique blend of technology so that those who cannot be there will know what's going on.


We are proud to stand up for our military men and women, our veterans, and those who have lost their lives in service to our country.

We are pro-victory!

God bless America.

Link

Friday, March 09, 2007

Gathering of Eagles, March 17, Washington DC


Many of the loony lefties will be marching on Washington DC on the 17th of March to protest - oh hell - I'm not sure what they're protesting. Protesting Bush, the war, our troops, Western Civilization, America, Capitalism. The well-knowns will be there: International ANSWER, Mutha Sheehan, 'Jihad' Jane Fonda. The Gathering of Eagles will be there to protect the monuments honoring our fallen in past wars. We will not allow defacement of any of those memorials. We love our men and women in the military and we continue to honor those who died in service to our country.

Troll and I believe that the islamofascist menace must be confronted now, and our boys and girls are out there doing just that. We will be in very good company, as there are hundreds if not thousands of veterans planning to be there, and we are proud to stand with them.

There are two petitions now up online. One for people to sign only if they WILL be at the Gathering of Eagles on March 17th:

GoE will attend.

One for those who are unable to attend but will be there in spirit:

GoE there in spirit.

This will be very helpful in giving the organizers some idea of how many Eagles will be in attendance on the 17th and how many will be supporting us from home.

If you plan to be there, sign in. Those who just can’t attend but stand with us in spirit are asked to sign the second petition.

1035 so far have signed in as attending.

1450 have signed is an with us in spirit.

(as of 1945 Eastern, March9th)

If you encounter problems signing, please persevere and try again later. We need your count!

We will be there with our handy new digital camera and another that we can take videos with. We are driving down early, early Saturday a.m. and will return in the afternoon. The girls are not going because we have seen first hand how violent the 'peace' protesters can be.

God Bless America. God Bless our Troops. God bless our Veterans.

This very important message is brought to you at the expense of Aesop's Fable Friday.

Link

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Busy, Busy, Busy.

Crazy, busy week. Troll broke several bones in his wrist - thank God it wasn't his writing hand. Thank God, also, that he didn't get a concussion. He fell from a high perch at work. Poor thing. He tried to slow down his plummeting to the ground, his hand got caught, broke the wrist and he managed to land face first on concrete. His face is all messed up too. Looks like rug burns but it's the concrete that did it.

We are getting old and just don't fall like we used to. I swear. I think I chipped my elbow falling on the ice a couple of weeks ago. The girls and I were getting out of the truck at the gym where they are in gymnastics. I hollered as I was climbing out the door, 'Watch your step!' They did but the second I put my foot down - BLAM! I was down. My elbow slammed into the running board. Hurt like hell. The bruise was nasty. Still hurts.

So - sympathies to both of us for being old, overweight and not at all able to gracefully fall anymore.

The good news is that our yearly medical exam yielded surprising results for both of us. Although we both need to lose some weight - we'll be low carbing soon - we're not nearly in as bad a-shape as I thought. Cholesterol a bit high, but nothing near what I thought it would be. My fasting blood sugar was a bit high. Thyroid good. We're in business.

Girls are good - working hard in school. We've got to slam through if we're going to make it. They drag their feet and I have to tell them, 'If you want to be on the swim team this summer you had better get to work - otherwise you'll be doing school all summer!'

A friend and I have started cleaning houses. God bless America and the Capitalist system!

We're going to sell the house and move to a remote area of Chester or Montgomery County. I can't stand it around here anymore. Taxes are insane, insurance is insane, housing is insane, the neighborhood is going down the tubes.

Started the girls in a handbell choir for homeschoolers. They love it but they are nervous about an upcoming concert. It's good for them!

I've got a bunch of pics on our new digital camera - which I love! It's a Sony something or other. Lots of fun. I will post some pics soon.

Friday, March 02, 2007

Aesop's Fable Friday

The Ant and the Dove

An Ant stood by a river to quench his thirst, but tumbled in and almost drowned.

A Dove, sitting on a nearby tree, saw the Ant in danger; plucking off a leaf, she dropped it into the water so that the Ant, mounting it, was carried safely to the bank.

A little later a hunter was just about to cast his net over the Dove, when the Ant, seeing the danger, bit the hunter, which made him drop the net, and the Dove flew safely away.

Moral of the story: One good turn deserves another.