Something that never happens in Northeast Ohio at this time of year.

Our neighbors across the street have a rental next door to them.  The young couple who live there are lovely renters.  Truly.  The gentleman painted blue trim on the awnings, put wood trim around the flower beds, lined the driveway in bright yellow markers and is very much a hard working and happy guy.

Two days ago, he mowed the lawn.  Yes, mowed the lawn.

In Ohio.

In mid January.

Grant you, there wasn't any snow, but there aren't any major warm, sunny days coming down the pike to encourage lawn growth.  We're looking at snow for the next 7 days in a row with single digit temperatures.  We're not rolling out of winter for a while.

Oh, and the grass is kind of dormant.

Hubs' comment was, "He obviously doesn't understand plant physiology and when you mow the grass in the winter like that, you kill it."

I'm hoping that isn't the case, but when everyone was dumping chemicals on their lawn this summer and one crazy guy mowed every day, Hubs said the lawn was going to die.

It did.  The death was painful and very, very brown.  And crunchy.

So who knows?  I've seen a bare chested man shovel snow, people use leaf blowers to blow snow (the light and airy stuff) and now, I've seen someone mow their lawn in mid January.  I suppose, whatever takes him where he needs to go.

At least there is pride in home rentership!  :)

Shame on you, Lance.

What a wonderful way to show our children good sportsmanship, honesty and how to enjoy the fruits of their hard work.  We teach our daughter that through practice and dedication, she can succeed.  You teach that yes, you can train, but if you just take some drugs, have some blood transfusions and probably other things, you can succeed.  Don't worry.  You can lie your way out of it.

Did you sleep well after duping everyone?

How did you accept the prize knowing that you didn't deserve it even though there were people who finished behind you-- people who finished honestly?  These were the people who SHOULD HAVE been able to enjoy the spotlight.  They should have been able to get that yellow shirt and all of the fanfare.  You got it instead.  Now, years later, you say that you lied.  How do you think those people feel?

How could you go through photo op after photo op?

How could you have all of those yellow shirts hanging all over your walls?

I cannot understand why you did it.

I cannot understand why you denied it for so long, took so much money for endorsement and offered so little back in repayment.  Why wouldn't you want to pay everyone back every single dime that they gave you to run your lie?

How do you explain all of this to your 5 children, some of whom were on the podium in yellow dresses and helping you to hoist your newest award?

Really?

Why is it that it is so difficult to find honest people who we are willing to have our children look up to? This makes me so mad.  Truly, I can't possibly understand why someone would do this.

:shakes head:

I have no idea.

Save the lashing with a wet noodle. I learned my lesson.

I will have a different relationship with Q-Tips from now on.

Do you remember the incident that I mentioned where I tried to tickle my brain with a Q-Tip?  Well, the last few days have left me with big ear pain.  You know the kind.  The pain that wakes you from a dead sleep in the middle of the night?

Yup.

Since the Q-Tip incident was on New Year's, I thought I was in the clear.

Apparently not.

I've been dragging on with the remnants of what everyone else has, had some chest congestion, pain to go with that, and a hurting ear.  I thought that the ear was sinus drainage.  I went to see Dr. W this morning, he checked out the breathing and all that.  My lungs sound great!  My left ear looks fantastic!  My right ear drum looks great!

This is where there should be a "but."

"But, you've irritated the CRAP out of your ear canal!"  You know where this is going. "Don't put Q-Tips in your ear again!  It is going to cause real damage someday."

"But what do I do if my ears feel squishy?"

"50/50 white vinegar and rubbing alcohol.  A couple of drops.  That'll take you where you need to go."

I didn't mention that I had swabbed dried blood from my ear canal this morning.  My guess is that he could see that.

I have ear drops.  Prescription kind.  With antibiotics AND steroids for good fun.

I have to say good bye to Q-Tips and how they made my ears feel soooo good, because right now, my ear doesn't feel real good at all.

Lesson learned.  No more Q-Tips.  They are like an addiction, though.  I'm probably going to be the first member of Q-Tips Anonymous.

"Hi, my name is Amy and I haven't used a Q-Tip for ___ hours."

I love my Q-Tips.  :(  Crafting projects.  Eyeliner clean-up.  I've gotcha.

So sad.  So glad that I can hear, didn't puncture my ear drum and it is fixable.  There are those not quite as lucky.

ETA:  I have bought baby Q-Tips.  Rome wasn't built in a day, you know.  I told Rachael that I am almost in need of Q-Tip detox.  I told her that I've created a monster and should probably take K- to Q-Tip detox, too.  Good news to share is that one dose of the ear drops have taken the pain away!  I am actually going to sleep tonight without waking with stabbing ear pain!

I know, I did it to myself.  :S

Mind the crosswalk, please.

Yesterday, we had a mother and her daughter get hit by a slow moving car while they were crossing the street with a crossing guard at the designated crosswalk.  Turns out that it was one of our dads dropping his kid off and going forward. Mom and daughter are okay and didn't need transported, but still, they are both very sore.

Lord knows what distracted him, causing him to hit two people.

I got a panicked call from a parent asking, "WHAT IS GOING ON AT THE SCHOOL?"  My response was, "I don't know, what IS going on at the school?"  She explained that there was "an unmarked police car and an ambulance just drove up with its lights on and there was a man and a child and the kids were just outside."

"If something was going on, they would phone us."

"But it was an unmarked car."

"Perhaps it was the one that was the closest."

I told her that I'd phone the school, I wasn't going to ask for details, but I would find out if all was okay.  That is exactly what I did and without details, it was reported to me that all was well.  I phoned the mom back and gave her the report.  Later, I got the call from my friend Kay telling me what had happened.  I called lady #1 back to give her the details.  I also told her that K had expressed interest in being a crossing guard and I had politely, but firmly told her no.

"Well, B still wants to do that."

I told her that I told K that I had to run after people who slow-motion tried to run over the guard kids so that they could enter the blocked parking lot.  I ran after a car and tapped on their window and told the guy it wasn't cool.  I had to have the principal come out on a few occasions where people were swearing at the guards because they wouldn't let them enter the teacher's parking lot without a pass to do so.  I don't want my child's day to start with someone yelling at her and I certainly don't want someone driving their car directly at her to get her to move.  She told me that in light of what happened now, she would certainly have to give a bit different consideration to the crossing guard request.

I don't mean to be that mom, but I want the kids to be safe.

Last year, we had 3 different occasions where Mr. Jim kept us safe from 3 separate vehicles blowing the crosswalk.  People just drove straight through without pausing.

People don't pay attention.

People accidentally hit other people and cars.  I'm not saying that they mean to.  It is why I used the word "accidentally."

A school zone is one of the number 1 places that you should drive completely distraction-free.

Please, mind the crosswalk, the school zones and our people using them.  Drive slow.  Drive slower than the posted sign.  You never know when children will pop up out of weird places.  Don't curb drop your kids either.  That is why there are crosswalks and people guarding them.  To curb drop means that you are holding up traffic and making more little notchits for kids to try to sneak through, figuring that traffic is paused for a moment.

Long story a few sentences longer.  Keep our kids safe while crossing streets and getting to school.  Please.

ETA:  The father did hit the mom and daughter at about 20 MPH, so it wasn't just a bump.  Mom is still sore and didn't go to seek medical help, though I wish that she would have.  The police confirmed to a parent today that the father received "several citations" in regard to this crosswalk incident.

The Weekly Menu- Week 2

Lookie here!  It is week 2 and I've kept up with it.  :)

Last week was successful.  We stuck to the plan, but had to alter things just slightly.  It's all good.  We've even cleaned up on the leftovers and I'll be having a leftover clean-up lunch tomorrow.

Here's this week:

Sunday/Monday:  Extra Lean Turkey Meatloaf, Baked Potatoes, Creamed Corn (I know, two starches, but that was K-'s request and frankly, Rome wasn't built in a day.) and Broccoli salad.

Tuesday/Wednesday:  K- eats with her Grandparents and I can have veggie burgers.

Thursday/Friday:  Pasta with Pesto (a K- request) with salad and garlic bread.

Saturday:  Homemade pizza and salad.

K has legal school lunch food for school, except for Wednesday and Friday.  Here is her week:

Monday-  Quesadilla, fiesta beans and rice, corn niblets
Tuesday-  Pasta with meat sauce, garden salad and green beans
Wednesday-  Pack, because it is funky school pizza.
Thursday-  Chef salad with diced turkey ham and garbanzo beans and a whole grain mini loaf
Friday-  No school (I can't recall if it is conference compensation day or in-service day)

Next week would be a three-day legal school lunch week, but K- has Monday off for MLK Day.  She'll catch Thursday and Friday next week.  It's all good.

Have a great week!