Today: Last day of swimming for the summer.
Next Wednesday: First day of school.

We did fun stuff this summer, though; camping at Bear Lake, visiting cheese factory and savoring FRESH squeaky cheese, musicals, Discovery Zone, sending her to Dino Museum, musicals, zoo, balloon festival, aviary, musicals...

Third grade. I can hardly believe it! She'll be NINE before I blink again.

Stupid thing: Here it is, 6 days until school begins and I don't know who her teacher is, when is back to school night...nothing! The webpage is uninformative and last year we received letters in the mail with information, but this year I got nothing. I checked to see if they posted at the school, but alas, no. I suppose I'll have to call tomorrow and find out what's up? Rinky dink operation...

Additional: Have you ever met someone, found out they were an elementary school teacher, and involuntarily gulped because you realized someone like that could be YOUR child's teacher?

Yikes. I'm lucky that so far I've felt all Toria's teachers have been...acceptable.

Cancer

So, I was at this fancy luncheon yesterday for Avon recognition. During the course of the afternoon it came up that Avon is raising money for their Breast Cancer Awareness campaign. They asked everyone who has had or who has been touched by breast cancer to raise their hand. I was the only person at our table who did not raise her hand and was amongst the very few in the group who did not.

The woman next to me said, "Wow, you're lucky."

Yeah, lucky. Lucky that my good friend could die at the age of 25 due to the effects of lymphnoma cancer treatment. Lucky that my dad died just a few months ago because of cancer. Lucky that several more peripheral people in my life have had other cancers that do not raise billions of dollars for "awareness".

I think we, as a society, are WELL AWARE of breast cancer.

Not that I am shunning the importance of this cancer or of getting screened. I fully believe women should look after themselves.

It irked me to hear her tell me I'm lucky.

My Own Thoughts

So, don't judge me too harshly.

Last week I actually sat through an entire episode of Oprah. She had someone on to discuss how to talk to you kids about sex. Well, it's obviously early, but I like to be prepared nonetheless.

Something, however, has been bothering the hell out of me ever since.

During the show, they had a 14 year old couple on to use as an example. The doctor/guest talked about questions you should ask your child if they are thinking about having sex. Well, one remark was that you should discuss what you expect after the first time. Typically, I suppose, boys will just want to do it again whenever they can. Girls will still want to date and just have sex occasionally. Of course, this is a gross generalization, but it shows how they can think different things. Well, the boy in this scenario said that he would leave it up to her "obviously" because she calls the shots.

Then later, the doctor/guest asked if they had discussed what they would do if the birth control failed and she got pregnant. Again, he said it was up to her. The audience and Oprah seemed to eat that up - as though he was such a sensitive, mature, sweet young man to try not to take control of HER body.

Uh, excuse me, but that's one thing that has always bothered me. In the end, yes, it IS the woman's body, but the thing she happens to be carrying was made by BOTH parties. If she let him in, she is obligated to at least hear his opinion on the matter.

But that's not what really gets my goat. We're talking about two 14 year old kids here. He's not being sensitive and mature. NO! What he is saying is it's her problem. Perhaps not as blatantly as the football player says to his cheerleader girlfriend in the After School Special of the week, but if he is saying it's up to her, he is dismissing himself from the stress, angst, terror, and pain of having to MAKE such a decision.

That pisses me off! So I went to the Oprah forum in hopes of finding a voice of reason. None. No one seems to have noticed it!

I'm blogging it for myself because I don't like getting into the catty little forums where you have to register to post, etc.

We're just so jaded as a society that we can't see the forest for the trees anymore. GAH!

Interesting.

With most kids, adding vegetables would be a turn off. Instead, I made a lasagna with MORE vegetables and it's the first time Toria has cleaned her plate when having lasagna. She even told me later that she loved it. This kid just loves her vegetables.

Just for Becky...

A couple weekends ago, we took her to Falcon park with a friend to play in the snow. She loved finding new and inventive ways of going down the hill, but my camera ran out of batteries after just 5 pictures. (whoops)


Last weekend we went to the zoo. Bats're cool!



Ever wonder what the bottom of a giraffe's tongue looks like?
red panda. AWWR!

Ha, see? I can post more pictures. :)