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Today On Oprah

Today on Oprah, she had Celine Dion and the debut of her miracle babies and the McGhee Family with their 8 month old sextuplets. The McGee family welcomed home four boys and two girls on June 9th. The sextuplets were a blessing to the McGee family after the couple had lost twins to preterm birth 3 years earlier. Thanks to Walmart in Columbus, Ohio the McGee's will have $250,000 to spend at Walmart to help them with the cost of raising sextuplets.

Winter Break



Yesterday morning there was no snow on the ground and look at it now. 10" of snow since yesterday afternoon.  



Some winter break. I guess the weather is appropriate for a winter break. Adam is probably wishing he was in school instead. Because, he is not happy with me for sending him outside to shovel snow. To his relief, he does have the assistance of his sister's boyfriend.

BP Says It's Safe To Eat Sea Food From The Gulf

BP jumped the gun a little bit when launching their new commercial featuring a fisherman of the Gulf. In the commercial, the fisherman says, BP cleaned up the oil spill, paid him for his loss and it is safe to eat the lobster from the Gulf again. Apparently, they didn't know about the new reports being put out by Samantha Joye, from the University of Georgia on Saturday at a conference. A marine scientist Samantha Joye of the University of Georgia says, the oil isn't degrading as planned and it has desecrated part of the sea life in the Gulf of Mexico. "Magic microbes consumed maybe 10 percent of the total discharge, the rest of it we don't know," Joye said, later adding: "there's a lot of it out there." Joye and her colleges took 5 expeditions and took 250 cores of the sea floor stretching across stretching across 2,600 square miles. Joye says the oil is choking the bottom dwelling sea creatures.  Bp is claiming it is safe to eat sea food from the Gulf. I think they are just thinking about the bottom line, making money and they are not too concerned about the dangers of people eating sea food from the Gulf. I wonder if they are eating sea food from the Gulf or if they would feed it to their families. My guess is, probably not.

Our Children & Texting

Almost everyone does it, including our children. My youngest could send a text message by the age of 6.  I  would walk in a room and find her sitting there with my phone sending out text messages to my contacts in my phone. Texting and cell phones has posed a new parenting challenge for parents. Cell phones are great for children to have. They can make keeping track of your child much easier. Also, cell phones make it easier for a child to communicate with their parents anytime and anywhere. My children have cell phones, I won't let them leave the house without their phone. But, along with the convenience of your child having a cell phone comes the problem of parents having a harder time to keep up with what their child is doing. Texting lingo can be very confusing. Preteens and teens have developed a texting lingo to quickly text their friends and abbreviations for words they don't want their parents to understand. Which can pose a problem for parents. Some parents feel it is snooping if they check their child's phone. Would you rather have your child safe or to make sure you are respecting their privacy 100%. I don't check my child's phone on a regular basis. But, I will check their phones from time to time. Especially, if I feel they are hanging out with someone they maybe shouldn't be hanging out with. Texting also makes it easier for predators to chat with a child or teen and disguise their age or identity. I believe in partial privacy of children. They have their privacy until they give me a reason not to respect their privacy. Too much privacy can keep a parent in the dark and that is the last thing we want as parents. If my child is in danger, I want to know about it.
There are resources out there for parents to help them stay on top of the texting lingo children are using. The National Center For Missing & Exploited Children is an excellent resource for parents. Not just in the case of an emergency. The website has excellent resources and pamphlets for parents on child safety. The National Center For Missing & Exploited Children offer a Communication Package that you can download online for free once you register with their site or you can have the pamphlets mailed to you free of charge for the first 50. A insert is included in the package to help parents understand what the abbreviations our children are using stand for. Their website also offers other great resources for parents and educators on child safety.

The Royal Wedding

The Royal Wedding is starting to become the royal bore. I think people are getting a little too obsessed with the upcoming Royal Wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton. I think everyone is mesmerized with the glamour of a royal wedding. I can understand a little coverage on the Royal Wedding, but coverage on the couple is everywhere.  I don't think The First Lady gets the kind of coverage Kate Middleton does. You would think they lived in the United States. Honestly, I am just getting bored with the whole thing. I never was one to follow the lives of the stars. I just think they make too big of a deal out of everything. Pictures of this one on vacation,  pictures of so and so out without makeup, and so on. It is just sort of silly to me. Now, the big buzz is Kate Middleton's allergy. Seriously, Kate Middleton's allergy is news worthy? Yes, I know she's allergic to horses. Does it really matter? I'm sure she isn't going to be spending too much time around the horse barn anyway.

Spring Fever

My kids are dying for spring to come this year. I think this year a little more than most. My youngest is at the park with her friend riding bikes and it's 36 degrees outside. They are ready to shed the winter coats and pull the bikes out. She tried sneaking out with just a wind breaker on. All the snow finally melted, so they were outside yesterday playing basketball and riding their bikes in the cold. They stayed out there for almost two hours. They are not letting the cold stop them, they're tired of being in the house. To their surprise we are getting more snow and sleet tomorrow and they will be stuck in the house again complaining they're bored. But, my son is still complaining he's bored, because he's grounded. He told me he wouldn't be like he is (cranky and complaining) if he wasn't stuck in the house. Hopefully, not being able to go outside and play with his friends on those few nice days we did get will help him remember to not let his grades slip. Making him stay inside when it's nice outside is like cruel and unnecessary punishment for him. I did allow him a little freedom to go outside yesterday and ride his bike for a little bit, without his friends though. He was stuck riding his bike with his sister and her friend.  I am ready for spring myself. I'm tired of the cold and tired of the kids sitting in the house complaining they're bored and there is nothing to watch on the television.  I'm sure they are going to be really disappointed tomorrow when they see the snow and sleet fall. Considering, they are going to be on winter break Monday and Tuesday. Especially Adam, because is punishment is over on Sunday.