The Karate Kid

My oldest son, Austin is in Karate Camp this summer. He's actually getting pretty good at it. He's learning a lot. For example, just yesterday he learned that if you karate kick a metal chair it will hurt your foot. He has also learned that if he kicks his brother, his brother kicks back. Austin has quite a ways to go before he becomes a black belt, but at least right now he's hanging in there. And next month the two of us are doing a magic show for the kids at Karate Camp. That will be fun.

he looks pretty cool in his karate outfit. In fact he hasn't taken it off in four days. He sleeps in it. It was white. It's the color of dirt now.

Town Meeting

I went to my first town meeting tonight since the topic of discussion was the school budget. It seems that the commissioners want to cut the budget by about half and they want to raise taxes.

Since about half of my hometown is out of work because one industry (the biggest employer in town) went bankrupt trying to keep up with foreign prices and the other industry, a textile mill moved overseas (thank you government), and gas is now $4.00 a gallon, we don't need a tax increase.

And why are they cutting the school budget. Every one of the commissioners' big thing when they were running for office was, "I'm going to push for better education. I going to fight for better funding for teachers and schools." Now I clearly see that was just a bunch of crap to get them elected. And two of the commissioners I voted for just for that reason.

Our children are our greatest resource and they have no say in this. We can either keep spending more and more and more on law enforcement or spend more on education so our children won't grow up and become criminals.

I've already lost faith in our national government thanks to Bush and Cheney and I've lost faith in our state government here in NC thanks to Jim Black and now I'm losing faith in our local government. Every one of the commissioners tonight sat up there like they could care less what we thought. Their minds are made up. They're in office and they don't care what we think. And I think that none of them will be elected next term.

I have two children in school and I want them to get the best education possible. The U.S. isn't number one in education, Finland is. The U.S. isn't even in the top ten. I think that's reason enough to get the government out of our schools.

Where does it stop. what do we as citizens have to do to claim our government back?

Red Smiley

the school where my son goes has different color smiley faces to determine their behavior. A Blue smiley means great behavior, a green smiley is good behavior, a yellow smiley is okay and a red one is bad behavior. Fortunately, my son gets mostly blue and green smileys but every once in a while he gets a red one. Like last week. He got a red smiley for jumping in mud puddles. It had rained heavily the night before and there were puddles of water all over the play ground, and Austin had to jump in every one of them. That's what little boys do, it's their right to jump in mud puddles. It's part of growing up. He told the teacher that mud puddles were from where the rain peed. Rain peeing, I've never heard that one before. If my son is that creative, they ought to give him a blue light and let it be.

What's The Matter With Parents?

Did you read where a man threw his children off a bridge over a fight with his wife? What the hell is the matter with parents these days? I don't know what the fight was over, but I'm sure it wasn't great enough to throw his children off a bridge and kill them.

I've had some knock down drag out fights with my wife, but they were never enough to throw my two boys off a bridge. I could throw her off the bridge before I throw my two children.

I wonder what was going through this man's mind when he did it? I know if I was there there'd be a bullet going through his mind because no one who would do something this stupid deserves to live.

My children have made me so mad I could bite a hole in steel, but I would never do something like this. If you can't handle children, then here's an idea: don't have children.

He will see those children again someday on another plane and I hope they make him pay for what he did. I realize that God is forgiving, but something like this is just unforgivable.

Love your children. Tell them you love them everyday. I do and the love they give back is so satisfying.

Happy Birthday

My youngest son turned three today. We had a party at the pre-school and cake was everywhere except in the childrens mouths. How do they make such a mess? We gave him a scooter just like his big brother's.

They grow up so fast, don't they? I'm going to hold him as much as I can now because before I know it he will be too old to hold and I will miss it.

I will also mis hearing him say, "I love you daddy." It's really going to hurt when he stops saying that. But right now, Happy birthday son. Your daddy loves you very much.

The Mini Vacation

So the family took a mini vacatiion to Myrtle Beach over the weekend. Vacations are a time to relax and get over the stress in your life, right? Wrong. The resort we were going to was advertised at the end of 52nd street. Only thing is, there are like three 52nd streets in Myrtle Beach. Whoever came up with this idea should be fired immediately.

We went around in circles for about two hours looking for the resort. When we found it there were cars all the way around the block waiting to check in. The place was full to capacity. We got our key and then we couldn't find the room because they sent us to the wrong building. When we did finally find the room, the key wouldn't work.

I teach stress management so at this point I'm trying to practice what I preach. It's not working. This is just one of those days where nothing is going to go right.

The resort had an indoor pool and water slide and hot jaccuzzis and all kinds of things for the kids to play on. the only problem is, there were too many kids there. So no one had any fun. Every pool was full, the water slide was full every jaccuzzi was full, ever chair was taken, we couldn't enjoy it.

I was so glad to get back home and relax in front of the TV and watch football. There's no place like home. I don't think I'm going back to Myrtle Beach ever again. It's getting way too big to enjoy anymore.

Maybe I'll go to Atlantic Beach, NC or Carolina Beach. They're still small enough to enjoy and not stress you out.

Oh, thank God for Valium.

My Kids Didn't Get Enough For Christmas

My two boys didn't get nearly enough for Christmas apparently because over the weekend we went to a children's expo in Raleigh and bought them even more stuff.

It was like a giant flea market for kids. Toys everywhere. My oldest boy saw a toy guitar he wanted, so I told him, "Let's walk around awhile and then we will get it when we leave." But when it was time to go, the guitar wasn't there. Someone else had gotten it which reminds me of a saying, "If you see it and can afford it, buy it. It won't be there when you go back."

we got my youngest son a bicycle. We got skates for both of them, and clothes. All together we spent $80. Not bad when you consider that brand new the bicycle alone would have cost $80.

I don't mind buying used stuff. If it looks good and it works, get it.

On the way home we stopped by Goodwill. I found a guitar there and it was better than the one at the expo. My son thought so too.

You find some great deals at Goodwill, the Salvation Army and the Thrift Store and you're helping a great cause when you buy there.