New Mexico is a State?

My house was getting a little crowded with art projects and perfect spelling test from my children. My mother in law had an old file cabinet she was no longer using. Now it is mine. Anyway, she cleaned it out, and sent it over to me. There were some folders still in there and I came across a newspaper clipping that I find amusing. I am not sure of the exact date, probably 12-13 years ago judging by the info in it. Here it is.

"Albuquerque, NM- What's just below Colorado and between Arizona and Texas?
The answer, New Mexico, wasn't easy for the Atlanta-based Olympics ticket office, which insisted the state wasn't even part of the country.
Wade Miller encountered the geography gaffe Tuesday when he tried to buy Olympic volleyball tickets by phone and gave the agent his address in Santa Fe.
"She put me on hold, then came back and said she couldn't sell tickets to someone who lives outside the United States. She said I needed to call my own national committee." Miller said.
Half and hour later, Miller was still trying to prove New Mexico has been a state since 1912.
"I asked them, 'You've never heard of Los Alamos, where they did all the atomic testing? It's right next to Arizona, underneath Colorado, next to Texas and Oklahoma, there is a state called New Mexico,'"Miller said."'We have a big city called Albuquerque.'"
The woman's supervisor was equally clueless.
"She told me, 'Sir, New Mexico, old Mexico, it doesn't matter I understand it's a territory, but you still have to go through your nation's Olympic committee.'"
Not until Miller asked for the tickets to be mailed to Phoenix where he also has a home, did he get some satisfaction.
Scott Anderson, managing director to games services for the Summer Olympics, promised yesterday that the mix-up won't happen again.
"Obviously we made a mistake,"Anderson said, " and we want to apologize the everybody out in New Mexico."

There are many thoughts that come to mind after reading this story. I find it funny and disturbing at the same time. What has our educational system come to? No wonder we can't compete with the rest of the world.

To be a woman

I am glad I am a woman. To have been blessed with the ability to express emotions, to sympathise with others. To grow life within me. To be able to watch sappy movies and cry during them, if I wanted to. To have to power to heal a scraped knee with just a kiss. To be strong beyond strength. Women's intuition. To be a mother. And so many other reasons that are inexpressible. But sometimes, at three in the morning, and I have to go the the bathroom and sit on that cold, cold seat, I wish for a second that I was a man!

Sick puppy

When I was pregnant with Ashley I had a very weak stomach when it came to certain foods. Even the mention of sardines by Arnold would send my stomach twirling. So I have sympathy, but find it also quite humorous, for my baby Gabriel. Last night, after spending the afternoon outside chewing on grasshoppers, our puppy got sick and threw up. All three of my children where standing around her arguing who was going to clean up after this mess. Gabriel kept looking at the mess, which really wasn't very much. Then completely out of the blue, he gagged, and then he threw up! So now I have two piles, quite small piles, of mess to clean up. The girls are really grossed out at this point, so guess who got the honor of clean up duty? Poor baby, but for some reason the whole situation made me laugh. Maybe because everyone else was disgusted, and the whole thing didn't phase me at all.

Tagged

Well since I got tagged twice, I guess I will think really hard and find 7 random facts about myself. Thanks Lin and Alicia.

1. I have only lived in 9 different states since my birth, and passed through or visisted 4 others. That means I only have 37 more states to visit, I don't plan on moving anymore. I want to see all 50 states. From there the world.

2. I follow directions. Completely. There is nothing that comes with instructions that I do not follow.

3. I like bananas, but HATE banana candy or pudding.

4. I am compulsive about finding things. Like this weekend, Breana couldn't find her school book, wasn't even sure if she brought it home, but I tore the house apart looking for it. I can't wait for her to come home today to see if she left it at school. If she didn't, heaven help this house.

5. I want a bigger garden next spring. With a real watering system, not a sprinkler.

6. I miss going to the gym. I loved running and sweating, and having sore muscles. At home I just can't find the motivation to do it:(

7. I am very frugal, dare I say cheap? But I will not buy generic peanut butter.

I don't know 7 people who blog on here, so here are the few I do know:
Sasha, I haven't been around you in a long time and want to know you better again.

Jamie, you were just a little girl when I last saw you, now you have kids of your own, so tell me about yourself.

Katie, my cousins wife who I know very little about.

So thats it.

Things I've learned

While sitting in the freezing cold early yesterday morning I was thinking how much I hate to be cold and I have learned that I'd much rather be hot than cold at least until summer rolls around. Then I'd rather be cold than hot. Here are some other things I have learned over the years:

70 degrees in January is much warmer than 70 degrees in July.

You shouldn't honk at skunks when they are crossing the road.

Desitin comes off of fabric, like a couch for instants, with Dawn dish soap, applied full strength. Not hot soapy water, like one might assume, it must be applied full strength. By the way, it is really fun for a two year old to "paint" the couch with said Desitin.

Marshmallow can be roasted over an electric stove using a fork, but should first be removed from fork before putting in ones mouth. Burns on lips hurt!

Unrelated children, when spending enough time together, will begin to act like siblings.

Telling a four year old it's better to give than receive is useless.

Eggs will not cook on a sidewalk, even if it is 120 degrees outside. They will however attract a lot of ants, and are extremely hard to remove once they are sun dried onto concrete.

Please and thank you are not a foreign language and will be understood by everyone, and can be spoken by even the youngest of talkers.

Low temperature glue guns do work as well as hot glue guns, and don't burn.

It is important to remember when going for walks that as far as you have gone, is how far you must turn around and walk back.

Plastic reptiles and spiders MUST be put away every night before bed. Even plastic snakes will scared the good gollies out of me when walking around in the dark.

Children don't care if you sing the right words to a lullaby. They will sing the wrong words along with you.

Halloween temptations

I made two mistakes this week. First I bought halloween candy that I liked. Second I opened the bag, just to put it in the bowl. You maybe able to figure out the rest.

Cow Bells?

We have one neighbor, to our north. Our south and east is nothing, and I mean nothing, but a big empty field until you get to the river. Sunday morning Breana woke up bright and early, happy to inform me that there were cows in the field. Her Sunday morning entertainment, watching the cows, and when I say watching what I really mean is trying to scare them

into running off. The dog are more than happy to assist her in her attempts. These cows do not scare easily, so Breana gives up and comes inside for waffles. The dogs do not give up. They run wildly back and forth up the length of the fence barking their scariest barks, not to scary considering they are cocker spaniels. Eventually the cows move on and the dogs come in.

Story over, except when I take them out at 10:00 pm for their pre-bed potty break. The cows have returned, glad that I watered all these weeds for them over the summer. How kind of me. Really meant to just water my grass. Anyway, the dogs go crazy, because now it is dark and they can't really see the cows, only hear them moving around outside the fence. I am ready for bed, the dogs are ready to protect me from the beast beyond the great fence, or at the very least, show everyone how big and brave they are. They refuse to listen to me, so I am running around the yard, in the dark, in my PJs, barefooted. Not happy. I finally convince them to at least bark from the back yard. And I go to bed. I guess the cows left, or the dogs gave up, and when it was quite, they came in.

No cows yesterday, but again they were out this morning. Only one difference today, the dogs showed no interest. I guess cows aren't a threat to our home after all.