The biggest thanks ever.

You are my angel she said. She finally left him, one too many hits to the head and she needed to flee to protect her children. One preteen suicidal due to too much violence in front of his eyes....the mother is strong, a lioness, finally risking it all to protect her cubs.

The jerk will go on with his life, no big deal I am sure.

Support women, realize that children can remain wonderful, even if they have witnessed the most horrific things. Undamaged to the average person, they seem okay.....imagine what "messed up" kids have been through if these kids can be so wonderful.

I am her angel....I gave them clothes and food and an ear....I refused to judge when others rolled their eyes...I guess she noticed that.

undecided

I installed a bed canopy. This is something I have secretly wanted my whole life. Now I am not sure how I feel about it. It is awfully pretty but may be a bit much. I am going to leave it up for a while and see if my feelings change. Some days I have a great vision for home decor, some days I am completely off and others are like this, stuck in the middle. Opinions on this canopy are appreciated!

super random

5 year olds are so random:

I watched as a teacher read a story to a class of kinders on their second day of school. The teacher stopped and asked the class a question about the raccoon in the story. One little boy put his hand up. When the teacher called on him he stated "I have chocolate pudding in my lunch" the teacher said "that's nice" and asked the class the raccoon question again. Another boy raised his hand "you cannot play tag on the playground because you might fall and get hurt". "That's right" said the teacher....and she repeats the question a third time.

Five years olds are a species of their own.

punkins

I am looking forward to Autumn, is that weird? I love the nip in the air, and the approach of fun holidays. Maybe I am excited because I have a pumpkin growing in my flower garden....I think it is the offspring of the Jack-O-Lanterns I had on my stoop last year, a perfect orange pumpkin in August, and from what I can tell, a few more will grow. There is nothing like random surprises in a garden.

snip snip

My dear friend and I popped out for a nice dinner of sushi at small Japanese restaurant. We ordered out meals and I began chattering away. I started to notice that I was losing the attention of my friend when her eyes narrowed and she said, "do you hear that?", I paused, snip snip snip, yup I heard it, "Someone is clipping their finger nails, I would know that sound anywhere!" she exclaimed. Her eyes darted around the room...the conclusion - it was the waitress, who was behind a wall-like structure....my friend went up to the area to order me some Miso soup and try and catch her in the act...and she did, the waitress quickly put down the clippers...I found this amusing, my friend was outraged! The meal continued..chit chat...and then...snip snip snip, my friend approached the area again, IT WAS THE OTHER WAITRESS!!! These two waitresses were having a nail clipping party that evening. Gross. No finger nails in the sushi, thank God!