Why I don't have a Twitter account

I've thought recently about starting up a Twitter account but decided it probably isn't for me. Mostly I just want to be able to read the tweets of some people out there who regularly tweet something amusing and as far as I can tell I can't follow their feed without my own account. I suspect if I had an account it would be filled with the following:

First cup of coffee of the day, thank god for caffeine.

Hubby removed the ads from my newspaper, now I can't read it at all. Fairly convinced the stories have all been compromised.

More coffee.

Dog just threw up rocks on the carpet. Again.

Third cup of coffee, finally starting to feel human.

If a terrorist ever tries disguising themselves as a suburban mom with a stroller, our dogs have us covered. Shut up already you idiots!

Where are my shoes?

Dropping the child off at school shouldn't be a contact sport. Just sayin'.

Blech! Mouthful of cold coffee!

No seriously, where are my shoes?

Deli ladies know me by name but still can't remember that I never want a sample. Thanks but I'm pretending that I eat nothing but health food while out in public.

Favorite part of the day, hanging out on the patio with my coffee. Ahhhhh! Blissful peace!

Huh, it's 4:00 and I forgot to thaw something for dinner. Again.

Who left the coffee pot with a tablespoon of coffee and some grounds in it? The hell?

Child is in bed and hubby is sleeping in his chair. Must be 8:00 pm.

9:00 pm. Time for one more cup of coffee and then setting up the coffee-maker to run first thing in the morning.

It's 2:30 in the morning and I've determined that I need to quit drinking so much coffee all day.

Trayvon Martin

I usually try to avoid any mentions of crimes on this blog, partially because they are generally so well covered anyway and honestly because it's just too depressing most days. But after listening to the 911 tapes pertaining to the supposed "self-defense" shooting of Treyvon Martin, I had to at least acknowledge it.

The fact that George Zimmerman is running around free after basically chasing down and shooting a teenager that was screaming for help at the time of his killing, it a crime in itself. Zimmerman is a vigilante in the worst sense of the word, someone who takes the law into his own hands even if he is wrong. That he was told by the dispatcher to not follow the kid and went ahead anyway tells me Zimmerman is someone who holds himself to be above the law, someone who believes he knows better than others. That he could actually shoot an unarmed teenager who was begging for help is pathetic. He belongs in jail, charged with second degree murder. He does not belong free. He has shown himself to be incapable of making rational decisions. He also has proven that he does not have the capacity to carry a concealed weapon as he obviously does not understand the meaning of self defense.

And for the witnesses, people hearing Treyvon crying and screaming for help, who chose to avoid getting involved (one guy stating "The guy is yelling "help". I'm not going out there.") I hope you're never in a position to need the help of an apathetic stranger. I guess I'm glad you at least called 911 and maybe your recorded calls will help put this nutjob in jail, but I sure wouldn't want you for a neighbor.

Birthday Boy!

Master J is eleven today. That just sounds odd to me. It seems there's an extra digit on that number, that he cannot possibly be that old already. And yet, it's painfully obvious when I measure him on the pantry doorjamb and he is just under five feet tall. Certainly no one year old could be that tall. Somehow eleven years have sped by and we all got older. Sigh.

With every birthday that passes I get a little more of a hint of what my child will be like as an adult. Some of it's good, some of it's not so good. At least for today. Take for instance his stubbornness. As an adult being willing to stick with your convictions and not giving in to the general opinion is a great attribute. As an eleven year? Not so much. Now you're just being defiant (or so I've heard.) He still has a great sense of humor and makes me laugh daily. He's still an amazingly compassionate child who doesn't want anyone to suffer (except maybe his dad I suspect sometimes.) He's still got that spark that lets you know he's perpetually brewing something. And he's still an awesomely optimistic kid who's almost always happy. I adore him and I'm thoroughly enjoying watching him grow up.

We had a family birthday party on Sunday and, as is tradition, I got to make his cake. Master J has gotten into playing the video game Starcraft with Mister C in the last few months. And of course he wanted a cake that represented that new found love. It was a bit of a struggle to find anything in the game that would be easily transferable to cake form. So I headed to the Internet to see what others had come up with. There were some really neat ones out there, but they were beyond the scope of my ability. So I settled on reproducing a Nexus. I'll be honest, I still don't know what a Nexus is in the game but the cake I saw looked to be fairly reproduce-able so I went for it. For the one online, the guy had used fondant. I've never used fondant and with a party of ten showing up I decided I wasn't going to try something I've never done before. Maybe next time. I stuck with frosting and did my best. It wasn't exactly pretty, but I've always been a "taste over presentation" type of gal anyway so I didn't worry too much about perfection. It tasted awesome. It looked less so...



Then Master J insisted on taking a picture of the chef with his cake...



All in all it was a fun day spent with family.

Easley's Fun Shop

We accompanied Master J to Literacy Night at his school last night. His role was that of a colonial soldier. Now, I knew about the whole Literacy Night thing, but I didn't know that he was supposed to dress up for it. I figured that out on Wednesday morning when he mentioned it over breakfast. Having nothing in the house that remotely resembled the uniform of a colonial soldier, and no real way of creating one without a whole lot of time, money and effort, I did the next best thing. Or in this case, the first best thing.

I popped on over to Easley's Fun Shop in downtown Phoenix. This awesome, family owned business has been around for over six decades and been run by four generations of the Easley family. There's an unimaginable number of costumes covering just about anything you can think of. I mean EVERYTHING. When I walked in, some guy was picking up a frog costume, complete with huge froggy head. The wall behind the registers is a showcase of at least fifty kinds of high heels, platform shoes and boots of varying heights. The whole place is wall to wall, floor to ceiling costumes and the props that go with them. It's incredible!

But here's the really cool thing, it only took about fifteen seconds for Debi (probably spelled wrong) to find me a colonial costume. And while I was checking out the costumes for sale, she went and pulled several rental costumes out for me to look at. After seeing the awesomeness that was one of the rental costume, I just couldn't resist. I decided it was totally worth it to rent a costume for just one night.

And I don't think I was wrong...



I know, right? How cool does Master J look all decked out? He was a hit a Literacy Night for sure. Several people were taking pictures of him.

So, if you live in the Phoenix area and you're ever in need of a last minute costume because your kid forgot to mention that he needed one until the very last possible moment, head on over to Easley's Fun Shop. If they don't have it, it probably doesn't exist.

*Also, the fine folk at Easley's did not compensate me in any way, nor encourage me to write anything about how awesome they are. They are just that awesome. That is all.