The Honeycombing Effect

We have this friend named, Steve, that is very interested in what he looks like. Not in a vain way, in an aging way. He's really quite funny. His mother and grandfather are obsessed with weird body diseases like elephantitis and moles with hair and teeth that could possibly be a twin. You know the normal stuff. So because of the overly active imaginations of his mother and grandfather Steve is also obsessed with bodily functions and dying and what he calls "honeycombing". His theory is that as you age your body starts to fall apart from the inside out and looks like a honeycomb. The honeycombing just gets worse and worse and soon it starts to look like it on the outside wherein you become a shell. Depressing, isn't it.

Steve is a hoot.

So the other night I had gone running and was sitting around in my running clothes stinkin it up all evening long while I watched TV and did a whole lot of nothing. I've been a runner on and off for several years but have decided to make a goal out of it so I started training for some races starting in January. I run three days a week and have become really good at it. I'm not fast by any standard but I can run 3-5 miles, have several routes and have come to quite enjoy it. My dog Pepper goes with me.

Anyway, I had gone on my run earlier in the afternoon and was sitting around watching TV when I decided it was time to get ready for bed. I needed to take a shower because I really sweat and stink when I run. Also, I thought because I was going to strip down anyway I might as well take a look at myself in the mirror. You know, because I've been running now for 4 months and, although I haven't lost any weight, I would most likely see some change in my body. But....

I was not prepared for what I saw. Granted it was evening, I was looking at myself in a full length mirror after eating dinner and drinking water all day long. And the lighting was BAD. One fluorescent bedside light shining it's evil upon my naked body. The sagging, the lumpiness, the horror that was there in that mirror. I tweeted my discovery, "Bad news, folks. I've really started to sag. I stripped down and took a look. I don't think there's much hope left. Waaahhh!"

Of, course I mainly got sympathy from--men. I had to correct them all really quickly to let them know I wasn't talking about my boobs. I have no boobs. The pregnancies and the breastfeeding have destroyed them to two small sacks that barely protrude from my chest. At least they used to be perky, little things that protruded from my chest.

No, I was talking about my belly and my thighs to some extent. I have this belly that looks like I'm 4 months pregnant but with chub. And I don't like it. Not. One. Bit.

I shouldn't really complain. I've always been really thin. I didn't start to put on weight until about 4 years ago. I could eat whatever I wanted, never had to exercise, wore a size 2. Then I hit 38-39. I put on 10 pounds that summer, then the next summer I put on another 10 pounds and within the last year another 8. It all goes to my tummy. I wear a girdle. For reals. Vanity has caught me by the tail and won't let go.

I won't look in the mirror again. At least not late in the evening after a day of eating and drinking, standing in bad light. Honeycombing just may be true and not a theory after all.

The Email

I have been banned from writing on my other blog about the school and all the intricacies accompanying it. The school board received an "anonymous" letter from a concerned parent.

Here it is:

I am anonymously emailing all of you to inform you of the information below, involving one Mrs. Kara Sherman, employee at Forbes Elementary School, in your school district. I do not live in your school district, not even in your state....but what Mrs. Sherman is doing is WRONG!

Mrs. Sherman became a random "follower" of someone I "know" on Twitter and that is how I became aware of the situation I am about to describe for you. Please follow the links below, as they demonstrate the problem Mrs. Sherman has created.

Once my acquaintance noticed he/she had a new follower on Twitter, he/she clicked on the new follower's Twitter profile:

http://twitter.com/wampumqueen

It was at that time, apparent that the follower was Mrs. Kara Sherman as she had, at that time, listed at the top right of her Twitter page the following information:

Name Kara Sherman

Location iPhone: 40.381561,-111.782326

Web http://elementary..

Bio Wife and Mother Extraordinaire, Family Engineer, Lady of Leisure, Elementary school secretary

This information gives her EXACT location from her iPhone as well as the URL to her own personal blog:

http://elementarysecretary.blogspot.com/

After reading through what Mrs. Sherman "blogs" about from her position as secretary at an elementary school, it was clear to us that she is repeatedly publicly disclosing, and with horrible biases, information that she in her position of employment has absolutely no business whatsoever disclosing on the Internet or otherwise. Also, Mrs. Sherman doesn't just blog about the students of Forbes Elementary School, she blogs about their parents, grandparents, school employees, etc as well. In her blog, Mrs. Sherman passes harsh judgement, gossips, makes gross assumptions, all while violating the privacy of the students and parents she was hired to serve by making it public! It is obvious that Mrs. Sherman has been blogging about events, students, and parents at Forbes Elementary School in a mean spirited, prejudiced, inappropriate manner....all on her personal blog and doing so WHILE AT WORK!

Although on her blog, Mrs. Sherman does NOT list the name of the school she works for, a simple Google search of her name, "Kara Sherman", yields several results, such as:

Her Google Profile, specifically listed her place of employment BY NAME & the School District's Name at first and she has since removed that info. However, your School District's name is mentioned in her LinkedIn info: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/kara-sherman/1a/789/698 where she also again posts a link to her 2 BLOGS, one link is now not functional, but her "family" blog is accessible still.

I respectfully submit that anyone can Google another person's name/Twitter name and unfortunately, links to her current blog is what will come up on the worldwide web for all to see, thanks to Mrs. Kara Sherman.

TODAY'S Update: I typed this email and saved it as a Draft MONTHS AGO but never sent it until today. I thought maybe Ms. Sherman changed her ways. Until I saw her Twitter name pop up in an re-tweet today A short amount of digging & it appears Mrs. Sherman has changed her "name" on Twitter to "Elizabeth Poppleton" and removed her Location and her website URL from her Twitter page.....but still has "Wampuqueen" as her Twitter username, which when "Wampumqueen" is googled http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=0h&oq=wampum&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4ADRA_enUS392US392&q=wampumqueen and searched through Blogger http://www.blogger.com/profile/05958282429189357990 still leads you to her NON FAMILY website, titled: "Adventures in Babysitting" now located at http://queenofsecretaries.blogspot.com/ Please GO READ HER POSTS! :(

Note: She has blog posts on her website from 2/15/11, 2/21/11 and 3/8/11 referencing her "problems with the district", brags about her steps to hide her blog on the internet, references to having a lawyer, how she will continue to blog about the students/school after being spoken to about her blog by the "Pal" Principal, and her intent to continue using her iPhone during work to post, access social media, etc.

Signed,

Anonymous parent of a special needs child, HIGHLY IRRITATED!

Now this person is more famous than they ever wanted to be. Anonymous my butt.

Snorey McSnoreSnore

I am a BEAR if you wake me up in the middle of the night. Especially to my own family. When my kids were babies I breastfed them for 12 - 15 months depending on the kid and the circumstance. When I would first have the baby I'd wake up and be so happy to nurse and to love them in the middle of the night. Then after awhile I'd get to the point where I wouldn't hear them so we soon fell into a routine that Jonathan would go get the screamer, bring them to me, I would sit up, nurse usually lolling back and forth because I couldn't stay awake then hand the baby back to Jon and he would take them back to bed. I would be out again as soon as my head hit the pillow. Little did I know that the kid didn't always go right back to sleep so he would stay awake until they did. Which makes him an awesome husband!

And the nighttime parent.

The kids know not to come to my side of the bed at night for fear of being growled at. I don NOT like to be awakened in the middle of the night. Ever. When they were little and would come in to our room he would have them lay on his side of the bed as far away from me as possible. I'm hardly nurturing in the daytime and even less so in the night.

Anyway. The point is: I don't like to be awakened in the night.

The hubs has over the last few years started snoring. He has gained some weight as we all do over 19 years of marriage and with it has come the snore. It doesn't matter if he's laying on his right side, his left side, or his back. He's snoring. And it's not a quiet snuffling, it's an all out snore.

I've learned over the years that if I can get to sleep before he starts snoring then I can sleep through a whole night's worth of snoring and never wake up. But if I wake up and he's snoring it can take a long time for me to get back to sleep.

I should poke him and tell him to turn over or something but I don't. I CHOOSE to lay there and be a martyr about it. I will toss and turn and get madder and madder because I don't want to disturb HIS sleep by asking him to turn over. I lay there and huff and puff and flip and flop, sometimes violently to see if he will wake up. Last night I got up and made a lot of noise by grabbing my pillow, getting a blanket out of the hall closet and going downstairs to sleep on the couch. I love to sleep on my couch but of course I was too indignant to do so last night. Finally I had had enough and went back upstairs with my pillow and got back into bed with more huffing and puffing and grumbling and grouching to the hubs that he "was snoring and I can't sleep and it's not fair and ....blah blah blah."

This morning I woke up and apologized for being a bear in the middle of the night. He said, "Why didn't you just wake me up and tell me to turn over?" I said, "Because, I didn't want to disturb YOU."

Still the martyr.

New idea

I've been thinking about this poor little blog. It sits here and waits for me to visit it and take a break from my busy life of work, kids, Twitter and the other blog I write. "You are supposed to love me and care for me and post things about your family! You know, like a web diary!" Blergh....boring.

I read several other blogs from several other mommy bloggers and think to myself, "Now, THAT'S FUNNY!" or true or so like my life or ....whatever. Then something funny will happen around our house and I think "I ought to write that down". And that's where we are at. Where to write it down.

Here! Dear friends, here is where I shall write it all down. I will change the name and EVERYTHING and then unveil it.....sometime.....soon....is that ambiguous?

The slave...or mom

We were traveling home from a trip when Jon and I got talking about different things like what the kids think about and especially what they think about us. One of the running themes I've noticed that they think about me is written every year in their handmade Mother's Day cards. It's always something to the effect of "Thanks for making our food and doing our laundry." It'sbeen somewhat of a running joke in my own head and I would be disappointed if someone didn't say it. I was telling Jon about it and we started giggling, creating the epitaph for my gravestone. It would run something like this "Thanks for the clean clothes and the good food. In loving memory..." Etched in granite on top would be a pair of socks laid over the edge and an empty but dirty frying pan.

Fitting.

A Trip to Disney--March 4--March 7, 2010

Five of the teachers and I went to Disneyland earlier this month. We had a great time We ate at a place called Chris and Pitt's which on first sight was a dive but the food was awesome and generous.





We went into the park on a beautiful Friday morning at about 8:30am. There was no one there. I think the earliest I have ever been in the park was 9:45.








We rode on our favorite rides. One of mine is Thunder Mountain Railroad.

We ate great food at the California Adventure food court, The Blue Bayou inside Pirates of the Caribbean, and The Carnation Café.



We saw THE Mouse, rode more and more rides, ate more and more food and had a great time.

We had a great Christmas this year. We were able to go to Temple Square to see the lights and take some pictures. Luckily, it had warmed up to the 20's for that evening. The week before it had been in the single digits. Brrrrr! But I digress. Constantly.




Look how happy everyone is!! We're standing in front of a giant statue of Jesus!! Shouldn't everyone be happy?!







Isn't it hard and sad to be them? We also got together with our old and dear college friends like we have for the last few years. We went up to Tibble Fork Dam and went sledding on Christmas Eve Day.





Beautiful Day! The kids went to bed early so Santa could come to town.


We spent time with Kara's family in the afternoon, eating, opening presents, and spending time together. All in all it was a good Christmas.