Black Friday

When did it happen? When did Black Friday merge with what is supposed to be a holiday and a day for family, friends, and thankfulness? I won't ask why> I already know the answer to that one. Greed - plain and simple. Of course I could go farther back and ask, "When did the day after Thanksgiving become such a big deal for Christmas shopping? It really was a bad idea.

I remember a few years ago a woman was trampled in a Wal Mart store on Black Friday. Yep, that is black alright! This year I have read about someone pepper spraying other people to keep them from taking "Xbox", and someone being shot in a store parking lot. Really? I mean, REALLY?!?!? How desperate do you have to be to do something like that? Of course, I don't even see the point in going shopping on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Too stressful. Not really any GREAT deals (unless you are one of the first ten people in line, and to do that you would have had to miss Thanksgiving). But seriously folks, the deals are not THAT great, the quality of the stuff that is on sale is not as good, you'll wait in line for four hours to get $10 off that one special toy...not worth it to me. I'll spend the extra ten to just run in and pick it up and be done with it in 20 minutes. Better yet, I'll spend the ten for shipping when I order it online.

I am afraid we have become a nation of greedy, materialistic people (well not all of us).

Aaaarrrgh...

I just have to say this again: TEACHERS: check your grammar and spelling when you post something on a social network or send out emails or notes home. Every time I see such an error I want to correct your mistake, but I certainly don't want to offend or make anyone mad. Everyone should check their spelling (especially when there are those cute little red squiggly lines to alert
us ). So please...check it!

Colors

Sorry, I don't come up with witty titles for my blog posts until months after I have written them, and 10 others). So you'll just have to take a chance, even if the title doesn't leave you screaming for more.

I was looking at some hair color today, you know, to fix the nappy mess I made out of my hair when I thought I was smarter than the hair colorists at a salon. I mean really, anybody can read the instructions on the back of or in the box. Why do they need to go to school for that? Turns out, its not always as easy cheesy as it looks.

Now, I've done this before mind you. First I color my hair all over, then a few days later I separate out some strands of hair and put in some highlights. (Guess the secret is out now, this is not my natural hair color!) Usually it turns out okay, but this time...uh, uh, uh! I must have made a bad choice of color for the highlights because rather than blonde highlights I have orange-ish highlights. Not only that, the amount of whatever that stuff is they give you in the box, was so minute that I could only highlight a few strands of hair. Not so bad, but here's the kicker (as in kick myself in the _ _s): apparently the strands that did get highlighted did not get saturated enough to have an even tone so now I kinda look like a zebra, with orange strips.

Lesson learned. Next time I will have one of my older daughters help me and I will use a frosting cap. Oh, aaand, I will stick to using the same stuff I have always used!

Oh yeah, I some hair color that I was thinking of going over the orangey strands with, but get this: the color is called "Dark Golden "Blonde" and here is what it will look like:Now I don't know about you, but that does not look like any kind of blonde I have ever seen! So I guess I will be living with the orange for a while. :-(

Long Lost Blog

See I told you i am just no good at keeping up with things like this. If ever there was a procrastinator, it is I. I guess this is why I never kept a diary as a teenager. Good thing too, because if anyone had ever found it and read it...oh boy, would I have been in trouble. Some of the things I did scare me when I think about them now. No, we won't even go there.
Thinking about high school (along with Facebook) made me realize that I feel closer to the friends I had in Indonesia than the ones (with exception of a few) I had in Israel, where I spent my eleventh and twelfth grade years. I wonder why that is. My guess is that I just missed Indonesia (and my friends, and not to mention the boyfriend) too much, for at least the first six months or so, to really appreciate where I was at that moment. Being at a new school was never easy for me and neither was making new friends. I was, and still am to some extent, definitely an introvert. Perhaps I kept others at a distance. After all, I hated this place that took me away from everything I had known and loved for the past 4-5 years. I do believe that was the longest I had ever lived in one place.

Why am I going on about this? I don't really know. Maybe it was the reminder of my "first love", having seen someone post about him on FB. Its possible I am just feeling a bit melancholy as I am getting ooooolder and my kids are growing up so fast. Child number four is about to graduate Marine Corps boot camp next week and I am oh so proud of him! This kid was lazy with a capital L in high school. He lived for partying, said he was going to be a bum when he grew up, and pretty much behaved like one for a while there. Now he is about to graduate Marine Corps boot camp?!?! What a transformation that will be. I can't wait to see it!
Even more, child number five (the most difficult one so far) is slated to ship out to USMC boot camp on November 1st of this year. Can't wait to see that transformation. Although, I have to give him credit, he has done a lot of straightening out already.
For tonight I bid you adieu. I will try to be a more faithful writer.

Now that I have a blog...

Before I had a blog I had a hundred and one things to share my opinions about. Now that I have one...zip! My mind is blank. Except for when I am somewhere (like the shower, or trying to sleep) where it would not be wise to work on my blog.







See, here we go........blank.

Maybe tomorrow, or the next day.

Cellphones: blessing or curse?

Most of us have one. Most of our kids either have or want to have one. Even most of our parents have one. What am I talking about? Yep, cellphones (as you may have guessed from the title of this blog). Cellphones are great. I don't know how we ever lived without them. Our parents must have had a lot of angst about where we were, who we were with, why we were not home when we were supposed to be... Imagine not being able to call your kid and say, "Hey, you were supposed to be home an hour ago, where are you?" Okay, okay, so maybe they will choose not to answer, but at least you can try. Of course that might be cause for alarm in itself. At least when they don't have a cell phone you know they won't answer, but when they do have one and they don't answer...then you really start to worry! Maybe they're not answering because they are lying in a ditch somewhere, or ...

But that really is not the point of this post. Today I'm on a rant about people who think the whole world wants to be included in their cell phone conversations. I mean, really, when I am at a nice restaurant on a date, do I want to hear Joe Schmoe's conversation with his colleague or his ex-wife? Although the latter might prove to be interesting, lol. Restaurants should ban cell phone use. Or maybe we need to lobby for a "cell phone section", you know, like the "smoking section". I'm just saying. It is totally unacceptable to ruin anyone's dinner date with you loud cell phone conversations.

And then there's the doctor's office waiting room. Yes, I get that you had to take time out of your busy day to visit the doctor's office. Yes, i know you have a lot to do, but geez, most of the the people in the waiting room are ill! They do not want to be privy to your phone conversation any more than those who are on a date at a nice restaurant. And the cellphone games...ugh! I was in a doctor's waiting room not too long ago, and a grown woman (and I am talking, in her 30's at least) was playing a game on her cell phone, and she was not quiet about it. I have to wonder if she was all there. What ever happened to etiquette, manners, common courtesy?

So yeah, cell phones are great . Until you have been forced to listen to one too many conversations that don't include you. What to do? I wonder how these evil cell phone addicts would react if we inserted ourselves into their conversations. "Oh no, you should never go that way..." . "Excuse me, I couldn't help but overhear (since you were being so l-o-u-d), I can tell you from experience, ..." Worth a try? Maybe...

Who is Teaching Our Children?

I have eight kids. Now imagine, if you will, putting eight kids through school, helping with homework, reading notes that come home from school, trying to explain why the teacher marked it wrong when you don't even see the reasoning. Then imagine that you find, in these letters from the school or teacher, spelling and grammar errors so basic it makes you wonder if the notes were actually written by a teacher. Not only that,with all the social networks and blogs, and what not, the carelessness of some of these teachers has really come to light, if indeed it is carelessness, and not just plain ignorance. No, it must be carelessness because there is such a thing as spell check and one would think that as an educator you would want to come across as intelligent even on Facebook. It is disconcerting when you see post after post from an elementary school teacher (who has taught your child) with atrocious spelling mistakes. I mean, come on, people! If you don't know how to spell it look it up. Use spell check if you know you are not a great speller. You never know who is watching. Your student's parents may lose confidence in you.

Some will argue, "They are just typos." Yeah, right. When the letter you type and the letter that is supposed to be there are on opposite ends of the keyboard? A typo? I think not. Proofread. Proofread everything. Notes home, blog posts, social network posts, emails, everything. This is your chosen profession.

My apologies if I have offended any teachers. That certainly is not my intention, just, please, before you send a note home with my child, or post something on Facebook, check your spelling and grammar...my child is learning from you!