Keep Your Dog on a Leash. Please.

Colorado is a very dog-loving place. People are constantly walking dogs, running dogs, playing with dogs, transporting dogs, hugging dogs, picking up after dogs. It's a very happening place for dogs.

Initially, I thought this was great. Two of my three children are rather frightened of dogs and I've been doing all I can for the past few years to help them get over their fears. When we moved here and I saw all the dogs, I thought this would be a great place to continue that.

Lately I've come to second-guess those thoughts, though. A dozen times in the last couple of months, my little family and I have been outside enjoying the fresh air when a dog wandered over to sniff us or something near us. Each time there was an apologetic owner behind them. It always goes something like this, "I'm sorry, she's a really nice dog and just loves kids." Most of the time we have been in areas that are designated 'leash areas.'

Now, I have no problem with dogs themselves. What I do have a problem with is owners who think that having a nice dog gives them license to ignore leash laws. Their nice dog is overly friendly to my children. This is not a good thing when a child is already scared of dogs. One overly friendly dog can un-do in five seconds what I have accomplished in an entire year of dog acclimation with my kids. Careless dog owners are not helping me help my kids and it's really irritating me.

The most recent offender met us on the stairs this morning. When I opened the door to go out, I heard what sounded like two very exuberant dogs communicating with each other. I peeked out the landing window to be sure that both dogs were on leashes. One was not. I could not see its human any where. As I debated whether to head down the stairs or go back inside to avoid it knocking over my child, it came bounding up the stairs at us. Twenty paces behind was a young guy who laughed and said, "Sorry, it's really okay. He's fine."

Um, it's really not okay. Your dog may be fine, but my kid is cowering behind me with his heart pounding out of his chest. It's not fine.

I Miss This

It has been a hectic several days. I have had fleeting thoughts of this place and even a few ideas for writing. Something always comes up though and I rush off to the next activity before I finish a whole post. Never fear, however -- I shall return. And when I do, I'm sure the words will just come tumbling out.

I Shall Smite Thee

I belong to an internet message board. It's a regular part of my internet life and for the most part, it remains safely ensconced within that boundary. There are occasions, however, when the message board seeps into my Real Life.

Most recently, it's been with the smiting of people. See, on this particular message board, there is this karma function. You can use it to smite someone or applaud them, according to your whim. The vast majority of the time, karma is left alone and no one really thinks about it except for silly little jokes. Lately, I've found myself wanting to give people internet smites in my Real Life.

Use the phrase 'puppy niece' one too many times in my presence and you may find yourself the recipient of my personal smite.

Cut me off in traffic?

Smite.

Offer me two sizes of coffee and call them medium and large?

Smite.

Allow your child to shred the exam table paper all over the room and not pick up at least some of it?

Smite. Repeatedly.

Sometimes I Annoy Myself

I have a little problem. Clutter stresses me out. At work we all switch desks, depending on the nurses working and which doctors are in the office that day. There is only one desk that is acceptable to me. The others are piled with papers, post-its, pens, paper clips and dust. It's very troubling.

I'm the same way at home. I have figured out my own system for keeping the clutter at bay and it works for me, as long as I have some time to devote to de-cluttering every week. If, for some reason, I don't have time to take care of little things here and there, I get irritable. If things pile up too much, I get down right grouchy.

At that point, I have to stage an intervention on myself due to the condition of my own house. We eat cereal and sandwiches for a weekend, the kids watch way too much tv and I clean, de-clutter and toss stuff for 48 hours. It's pretty exhilerating.

Every once in a while, the breaking point occurs at the same time the kids are gone for a few days. This is convenient because then I can get everything done much more quickly and not feel as if I'm border-line neglecting them.

The aforementioned problem occurs when I get so caught up in the organizing and cleaning that I can't relax. I'll cook dinner with the intention of eating and watching a movie. When I'm done eating, the kitchen has to be cleaned immediately or I won't enjoy the movie. Then I'll realize that the floor needs to be swept. I might as well mop, too. Which leads to the bathroom floors. And that reminds me that the bathroom trash cans are full. When they're emptied I see that the big trash can is full and carry it to the dumpster. Surely you see where this is going.

And so we return to the title -- Sometimes I just really annoy myself.

Kite Flying

We flew kites today. I had been planning to take the kids out with their kites for the last two weeks, but the weather was either too cold or not windy enough. Or there was other stuff to do.

Today was perfect, though. Nothing else to do, sunny, cool and with a perfect wind. So we headed to an open field with our kites. As we crossed the street, I saw a huge gray cloud in the distance. No big deal, we see them all the time since we are on high ground.

As I was putting together the first kite, the wind picked up a lot. The temperature dropped noticeably. Then, all of a sudden, it started to rain. Wait. That's not rain, it's actually frozen, making it sleet or hail or snow -- whatever you call it, it's frozen and it stings when it hits. Samuel was stumbling around blindly because he didn't want to open his eyes.

We took cover in Jennifer and Caleb's van and tried to decide if we should wait it out, or call it quits. Just as I was getting really disappointed and about to suggest that we leave, the snow/hail/sleet/rain blew over and it was sunny again. Weird Colorado.

Anyway, we had a great time flying our kites. The kids took to it really well, especially Miriam. She couldn't get her kite off the ground, but if someone else did it for her, she could control it and keep it from crashing. Yay!

We were having so much fun running around the field to avoid crashing kites that we didn't even notice the inches of mud caking up on our shoes. The grass in the field is pretty new and it is in very loose soil. The little bit of moisture that fell made a subtle mud that we didn't notice until it was too late. The kids thought this was hilarious. We spent a good ten minutes scraping mud off of everyone's shoes after we put away the kites.

All in all, a great afternoon! I can't wait to take the kids out for it again.

It's Definitely a Very Small World

Yesterday I checked in a patient that had just returned from out of town. Her parents were following up with their doctor here because she'd been very sick and had to be admitted to the hospital. Her mother handed me the hospital discharge summary. It was in Fort Smith; the very hospital where I did nursing clinicals 8 years ago.

At Chick-Fil-A today, I mentioned to the cashier that we recently moved here from Texas. He asked where in Texas and I told him Midland. As I took another breath to explain where that is -- because no one ever knows -- he said, "No way, that's where I grew up!"

Sometimes life is so weird, I wouldn't believe it if I weren't living it.

My Card

I took the kids shopping for Mom's Mother's Day card. While I was looking for the perfect, not-too-mushy card for Mom, Miriam asked if she could pick out a card. I said she could, after all, card shopping takes a while.

After several minutes, I had about forgotten that Miriam was also shopping when she tapped my arm. She held up a card and asked, "Can we get this for you?" I said yes again and then she asked me to read it. Well, it's not Mother's Day yet but I can't really refuse to read the card that she picked for me. Besides, when I am paying for my own Mother's Day card, all the rules change, right? Ha!

Now, it's cutsey and mushy and glittery and if my own child hadn't picked it out for me, I never would have given it a second look. But the fact that my daughter read several cards in the display and picked this one, made me tear up. Yes, I am a complete and total sap.

So here's what it says:

I may be just a little kid,

but I'm big enough to know

my mommy thinks I'm really sweet

and loves to tell me so.

I may be just a little kid,

but I'm big enough to feel

the love my mommy has for me,

so cozy, warm and real.

I may be just a little kid,

but I'm big enough to see

that of all the mommies in the world,

My mommy's the best for ME!

I told you it was cutesy. But it's the first time any of my children have picked a card specifically for me. It's like the first time Solomon, at age 3, gave me his own glued, scribbled construction paper picture frame with a Polaroid of him in the middle. It took my breath away.

Bigfoot is in Overdrive

Good grief! It's stomping around now as if it wants to break through my ceiling. Plus, it is vacuuming. That vacuum is louder than the foot stomps, if you can imagine that. How can one creature make so much noise? How?!

I thought about thumping on my ceiling with the broom handle in hopes of making it aware of how thin the barrier between us is. But then I thought better of it; it's best not to anger it. I need to invest in some industrial strength ear plugs. Maybe the kind used by construction guys working the jack hammer?

I think I'm going to lose my mind.

The Worst Thing

The worst thing someone can do to me -- other than harm my children -- is to lie to me. I hate it more than anything else in the world. And that's really saying something if you consider how much I hate when people interrupt me or talk at me with food falling out of their mouths.

This is why I am still awake at 12:45 on a Wednesday morning. One of the reasons that being lied to makes me so angry is that I am the one stuck not being able to sleep. I didn't do anything wrong and yet, here I am, wide awake.

I could go on for a long time about all the reasons that I hate dishonesty, but I think those reasons are fairly obvious to decent human beings. Plus, I'd probably end up writing out some totally nonsensical garbage since I am both mad and tired.

To sum up, I hate dishonesty with the heat of a thousand white-hot suns.

Hiking

We went hiking today. The kids really surprised me. We trekked 2.7 miles in the foothills and there were surprisingly few complaints. They even said they had fun. Imagine that.

For Your Giggling Pleasure

Samuel: Mommy, can I take off my shirt?
Me: Why?
Samuel: Because wearing my shirt is just so boring!


He's now pushing a Tonka truck with his green teddy bear in the back, sans shirt. I'm not sure how this is so much more exciting than the same activity with a shirt, but he's thrilled.

The Perfect Storm

I have two rather extensive computer labs due tomorrow. I have a pharmacology exam due on Monday. The final is Wednesday. The final for my computer class is due on Tuesday and it has be taken in the presence of a proctor. The proctor is never available to schedule testing time.

I have a headache that ibuprofen isn't touching. I am out of Dr. Pepper. I didn't sleep enough last night. I just ate too much boxed macaroni and cheese. The kids have way too much energy for it to be 7:30 pm. A large serving of neon green beverage was spilled on the carpet at dinner.

It's May and it snowed 2 inches yesterday. The high today was too freaking cold to pass for May or anything even close to it. My windshield cracked yesterday during the snow storm. Not a little crack, either -- many long, silvery, nasty cracks.

I can feel all of this combining into one big mess, the likes of which I haven't seen in a while. Poo poo on today.