Random things for today

I had forgotten that the last time I posted before today I was still a bit obsessed with lists a la Facebook style.

More random things from me (v. 4/09):
* I attended 3 different high schools in 4 years. No two consecutive years at the same one.

* I chased a rabbit out of my yard last night with my 3yo, completely oblivious to how I might appear to random strangers. The random strangers I met were my new neighbors. That was a little embarrassing. They seem very nice.

* I am claustrophic to a degree not easily expressible. I am learning that non-claustrophobic people don't seem to get it. At all. Knowing it's in my head doesn't mean I can control the awful fear I have of suffocating.

* I have been known to say that my worst fear is something happening to my kids but that's not quite true. I won't even entertain those thoughts long enough to allow them to become fears. My worst fears involve terrible injuries to myself.

* My husband has spent part of every March for the last 14 years in Springfield, IL, with me, working with YMCA Youth & Government. He has never been to a single Lincoln site. I am racked with guilt over this. I am hoping to rectify that this summer.

I do not use the term b*tch lightly

And perhaps by tomorrow, I won't feel quite so strongly about the grade-A bee-ah-tch I crossed paths with today.

But I have sortof a philosophy on kids' behavior in public. If I wouldn't allow my child to do it to someone else, then it's unacceptable for someone to do it to my child (hitting, spitting on, throwing things at, etc.). And typically I just move on but today was different. And apparently I don't know the rules . . .

We went to the Dupage County Fair today, because I love it. Actually so does P. Ridiculous amounts of money are spent there (and we don't even ride the rides) but there are so many things we like that I guess it's worth it.

P's favorite place is a Hamman Farms-sponsored 'booth' on grains raised in Illinois. It consists basically of three large tractor tires on their sides, each filled with a grain (corn, soybeans, and wheat). The kids can get in and play with the grains, reminiscent of a sandbox.

On one of our many stops there today (can't just go there once), it was PACKED with little kids from what turned out to be two families there together. They were all barefoot (my kids wear their shoes, I think it's foul to go barefoot in a place where who-knows-who-else has been barefoot and left behind heaven-only-knows-what?) and the girls starting demanding that N take his shoes off. First, I ignored them and when they got really obnoxious, I said, "No, he doesn't have to take his shoes off." Well, then I got, "YES, HE DOES!" and lots of complaining about his feet hitting theirs. So not bothered by that. They want to protect their little piggies, they can wear their shoes. There are no signs saying kids have to take off their shoes and again, it's a FAIR. It's not like someone's *sanitizing* this stuff. Eeeewwww.

Then I realize one of their little boys is throwing handfuls of corn at P, who is asking very politely for the kid to stop. That's not working and none of the three parents (this child actually had both mommy and daddy there, I later learned) with the group are saying squat. So I stepped up and said, "Hey, let's stop throwing corn."

The child climbs out of the corn wheel, into the soybean wheel, and starts picking up handfuls of beans and dropping them on N's head. Who isn't too thrilled. So I step over and say, "Excuse me, does this child belong to you? He's dropping soybeans on my kid . . ." Before I can actually finish saying it, B*tch Mom gives me the biggest, fakest smile, and says (imagine the sarcasm here, she was oozing it), "Oh, yeah, that's really awful!" Huh?

So (Queen of the Comebacks I am not) I went on to tell her that he'd also been throwing corn and I didn't think that was OK, and she continues in her drippy, sweet-as-honey, sarcastic voice, "Well, I'll beat him when I get home!"

The only thing I could come out with (thankfully stammer free) was a sarcastic, "Well, thank you for handling this in such a mature, adult fashion."

There was actually a slightly longer exchange than that because at one point, I said that I don't let my kids do it and I thought perhaps she'd like to know and got a snotty turn in response. She walked off with the parent of the other kids and left her husband behind putting shoes on somebody and D*MN was I tempted to ask, "Is that your wife? You actually put up with her?" but I just couldn't do it.

I did think later that I probably should have responded (when she first said, "Oh, that's just awful!"), "Yeah, I guess you're right; truly awful would be my children growing up to be like you."

Youth & Government randomness

Despite the fact that I live near about 10 high schools that participate in Youth & Government, I don't frequently bump into students that I know (or even people who have heard of the program). But this week was quite the exception to that rule.

Monday, I took P to the first day of his science camp at the Arboretum. While I was dropping him off, his camp leader told him he could put his lunch box in a bin next to the assistant camp leader, Josh. Assistant Camp Leader Josh turns out to be a Josh that I know, personal page to the governor two years ago, advisor to the governor this year, and a student who told me more than once this year that he’s going to run for governor this fall. Random. What are the odds, right?

Then on Tuesday, after I picked P up from camp, we went to the Children’s Garden to hang out; afterwards, we cut through the visitor’s center on the way to the car to enjoy the A/C since it was toasty out in the sun. Walking by the membership desk, I glanced at the person behind it and it is none other than the current Lt. Governor Dan, the full-figured man. Having floored Josh the day before by remembering his name, I was really hoping I could shock Dan by pulling one of his campaign pens out of my purse but alas, I failed (I have a couple of them at home). Probably just as well since I realized later he might have thought that was totally creepy.

We stopped to chat and he said he didn’t realize I lived in the area – I guess I remember what that’s like – the adults at Y&G are like your teachers in grade school who must live at the school and have no life other than school because they are your teacher and you can only identify them as such.

Completely random, though. I have to wonder how many other Y&G connections there are at the Arboretum and how to make use of that.

Press 2 for international abductions . . . .

Seriously. That's an actual option on the auto-attendant when you call the U.S. Department of State. I'm not even sure what option 1 is - hopefully something even more serious than being abducted in a foreign country.

But let's think about this for a minute. First, I'm assuming that if I'm personally abducted overseas, I'm not going to be able to call the State Department on a U.S. 800-number. So presumably the people who need to press 2 are friends or family. Your loved one is traveling abroad and OMG - is kidnapped by who knows who. You think - at some point in the nightmare you're experiencing following whatever means of communication that has delivered the news that your loved one is now starring in their own version of Proof of Life - I need to call the State Department. You look up the number. You dial.

Do you really want to get the auto-attendant? And I have to wonder: what happens when you do press 2?

(Side note: apparently, further down the list, is an option for International Adoptions as well. The State Department covering all its bases.)