Bad Mom, scaring your child like that!

So we are sitting around watching tv last night and some ghost hunter show was on. This is something we've watched before, not a huge deal for an 11 year old, right? She loves the show... she's the one who wanted it on.

So, on the show, there is this plastic red ball. Demon #2 says; "Wouldn't it be freaky if all of a sudden a baseball would fall down the the stairs?".

Being the quick-thinking mom that I am, I say; "You know what would be even more freaky?"

I've got her attention... she looks at me with a big smile waiting for the punchline of the joke.

"If you didn't own a baseball."

It totally freaked her out! LOL She said her stomach twisted and everything. She was afraid to get out of the chair... afraid of the baseball that we DO HAVE.

I know it's mean, but it was funny. I can't believe I scared her like that over something so silly.

Workin' before the sun comes up

I hate it when I wake up when the husband leaves for work. More often than not I can't get back to sleep... so I started working.

Tax Rebate Check
So George Bush is sending us a check this year.... economic stimulus they say. What are you spending yours on? I'd say buy this t-shirt and let them know where the rest of it is going!

Tax Rebate Check - Bank
The check does us a lot of good if we can't afford to drive to the bank to cash it!

What Rebate Check?
Is your stimulus rebate check gone before you get it just to fill up your gas tank? We feel your pain... and we've got the t-shirt to prove it.

Thanks for the Rebate Check!
Where's your rebate check going? Into your gas tank? With the price of gas & fuel going up, there's no question where that money is going!

ASPCA: Bill to Regulate Individual Dangerous Dogs, Not Breeds

ASPCA:: "Minnesota, Support Bill to Regulate Individual Dangerous Dogs, Not Breeds

HF 2906/SF 2876 is a comprehensive, generic dangerous dog bill that would require individual dogs who have been designated “dangerous” to be sterilized. The bill also would provide necessary appeal procedures to contest the designation of “dangerous” and would prevent reckless owners convicted of violating the dangerous dog provisions from owning dogs again.

In 2006, 97 percent of the fatal dog attacks that occurred in the United States involved unaltered dogs.

This bill is the smart alternative to breed-discriminatory laws, which ban certain breeds of dog wholesale in the hope of reducing dog attacks. There is no evidence that breed bans are effective, while there is significant evidence that well-enforced, breed-neutral laws such as HF 2906/SF 2876 are. Visit the ASPCA Anti-Cruelty Resource Center for more information on breed-specific laws.

I sure hope this bill goes through... this breed banning bullshit has got to stop. People need to be educated and not just left to believe that a certain dog breed is to blame.

I found this article through the ASPCA website. Very informative article... only an idiot wouldn't make sense of it.

Solutions

Recognizing that the problem of dangerous dogs requires serious attention, the ASPCA seeks effective enforcement of breed-neutral laws that hold dog owners accountable for the actions of their animals. The ASPCA believes that this is the most reliable way to control aggressive dogs and reckless owners.

Ideally, this breed-neutral scheme should include the following:

• Enhanced enforcement of dog license laws, with adequate fees to augment animal control budgets and surcharges on ownership of unaltered dogs to help fund low-cost pet sterilization programs in the communities in which the fees are collected. To ensure a high licensing rate, Calgary, Canada—its animal control program funded entirely by license fees and fines—imposes a $250 penalty for failure to license a dog over three months old.
• Enhanced enforcement of leash/dog-at-large laws, with adequate penalties to ensure that the laws are taken seriously and to augment animal control funding.
• Dangerous dog laws that are breed-neutral and focus on the behavior of the individual dog, with mandated sterilization and microchipping (or another permanent identification) of dogs deemed dangerous, and options for mandating muzzling, confinement, adult supervision, training, owner education and, in aggravating circumstances—such as when the owners cannot adequately control the dog or where the dog causes unjustified injury—euthanasia. In Multnomah County, Oregon, a breed-neutral ordinance imposing graduated penalties on dogs and owners according to the seriousness of the dogs’ behavior has reduced repeat injurious bites from 25 percent to 7 percent.
• Laws that hold dog owners financially accountable for failure to adhere to animal control laws, as well as civilly and criminally liable for unjustified injuries or damage caused by their dogs. Calgary has reduced reported incidents of aggression by 56 percent, and its bite incidents by 21 percent, by requiring owners of dogs who have displayed dog aggression or human aggression to pay fines ranging from $250 to $1500.
• Laws that prohibit chaining or tethering, coupled with enhanced enforcement of animal cruelty and animal fighting laws. Lawrence, Kansas, has significantly reduced dog fighting and cruelty complaints by enacting an ordinance prohibiting tethering a dog for over one hour.
• Laws that mandate the sterilization of shelter animals and make low-cost sterilization services widely available.

I have to add that I LOVE LOVE LOVE the part about prohibiting chaining or tethering! That is an awesome point... keep the animals off chains! Wouldn't you bite someone if you had to be chained up all day with no human contact? A chain and no human contact... that would even turn my Saki mean.

School Bus Adventure

Back To School T-Shirts & Gifts : Insanity Wear : CafePress.com

Made this design this morning for a friend of mine who is a school bus driver and has her school bus driving adventures everyday! She loves it... don't know why, but she does. Funny thing is, she didn't start driving bus until both of her kids were graduated from high school! She went with me last night to the Pet First Aid/CPR class and told me about a t-shirt with a similar saying on it and wanted me to make her one... so here it is.

Don't really like the design now that I look at it, but I'm leaving it anyway. Going to do a few more I think today.....

Springtime

Grocery stores should not be allowed to sell flower bulbs. It should be a law, I swear. Sunday I was at the store with Demon #1 and there it stood - a display filled with a huge variety of bulbs. Pink, blue, yellow... big flowers, little flowers....

OMG They have white tiger lilies!

I've never heard of them before. I have regular tiger lilies in my yard - my favorite flower. Love tiger lilies. Absolutely love them. It's an obsession of some sort.

And now white tiger lilies?

I'm screwed....

Look at the box... in Minnesota you can plant them as early as.... April! (check your calendar... it's April!!!!)

Demon #1 found her favorites and we walked out with 5 boxes of bulbs. Now where to plant them.

Springtime brings out my addiction of flowers. I love planting flowers... I also love roses. Don't buy me cut roses, I hate that - but you can buy me a rose bush! I can't guarantee it will still be alive come next spring, but I'll plant it anyway. I always buy a new rose bush every year, but it in a different spot in my yard and enjoy beautiful roses all summer long.

Then the bush dies over the winter.

And I buy another in spring.

And the husband gets mad.

I love spring!

Pet First Aid & CPR Training

Last night I took the American Red Cross' Pet CPR/First Aid training course. It was a fun, interesting and highly informative course!

I was saddened by how many people laughed at the thought of taking this class when I mentioned I was going. I realized I wasn't the only one who heard comments, either. It was the topic of conversation at the beginning of the class last night. One woman said that she was told "breathing for my dog is where I draw the line". Why? I don't understand - you would breathe into the mouth of a stranger to save their life, but you wouldn't to a pet that has been a part of your family for years?

I hate it that people think that pets are so disposable. Granted, I don't think I'd spend tens of thousands of dollars on surgeries to save the life of my pet, but I sure would drop a few minutes of my time to try to get them breathing again, save them from shock or heat stroke or even save their leg if it was broken.

It wasn't just CPR, it was also First Aid, which is where I learned the most. Just common everyday accidents - cuts, sprains, etc. The end result is still usually the vet's office, but the little bit that you can do for your pet can make the vet bill quite a bit cheaper!

Naked Squirrels!

The Must Haves : SledderWear.com - Snowmobile T-Shirts & Gifts : CafePress.com

LOL I made a little squirrel riding a snowmobile this morning... I think I've officially lost it. Must be the SNOWSTORM we are having today... hello?!?!?! Tomorrow is April for God's sake --- ENOUGH WITH THE SNOW ALREADY!

So yeah, well... anyway. I decided to make some new snowmobiling t-shirt designs this morning and my little squirrel one made me giggle so I had to share.

This just might be the end of snowmobiling designs for awhile... I mean once it's really warm out, who can do snowmobile stuff?

The Way To My Heart...

it doesn't get any better than this....

the peanut butter jackpot...

it's like a mountain of heaven!

sorry... I don't share.

The Squirrels Need You!

Yep, I'm being sorta silly this morning. But hey... anything for Earth Day, right?

Gobble Gobble

The SMW Blog Assignment for yesterday... yep, I'm late... is to talk about what you are thankful for. I'm thankful for the obvious - health, happiness, my kids, all that jazz... although the health part could be left out. This family is not 100% healthy, that's for sure.

But I'm not going to talk about that.

So instead I'm going to say what I'm really thankful for... right this minute.

The bowl of jelly beans on my desk that lets me have them at 7:00 in the morning.
Saki hasn't been wanting to go outside in the middle of the night.
The snow is almost all melted off the ground.
I haven't had to go into a sanitarium... yet.
Warm wool socks on my feet.
It's Saturday.
Kitty snores.
Quiet mom time. Nobody else in this house wants to be awake at 7am.. and that's why I am.
Bear snores.
The faint sound of birds chirping. (hey... the window is closed! It's only 29 degrees outside!)

I could, at any time, change those thankful things without any warning... or I could add some. You never know.

Being thankful is so much more than health, happiness and all that. Seriously. Look around at the little things - that's what really matters in life. Sure, you might not remember the jelly beans or wool socks 50 years down the road, but you remember it today and the big stuff? It will be there in your memories... that's why it's big stuff. It's the little stuff you have to enjoy - and be thankful for - when it's right there in front of you.

Psst... Demon #2's nickname is Bear

The Tide is High...

Ok it's not really high. Well, maybe it is, who knows, I don't live near the ocean so I have no idea if it is or not.

It's just a tree in our front yard that I hate. I want to cut it down. Damn birch tree. In a few weeks I'll get the joy of having to walk around and pick up sticks. Happy happy joy joy.

Oliver, high up on the kitty tree. Ignore the unfinished ceiling.

Metal dog tag