Heart Broken

Zednick gone. AGAIN.

Zubbie gone. Sorry Brother Joe.

The message boards are trying to look at this in a positive light (which I hate BTW). They say with Zubrus and Zed on the team, it actually seemed to make the team very predictable, and therefore uncompetitive.

Their Justification? That everyone knows:
- AO plays with Zubby
- who our grinders are
- that there is minimal complimentary help for Semin, and;
- that there is no chemistry on the power play.

So, say the optimists with delight, now the Caps will be unpredictable. No one knows what this team can or will bring to the table and the guys with potential will open their game up with more ice time.

I say - BULLSHIT! Once again GM and TED have completely ignored their fan base and discarded the players that have been willing to play hard for a team that sucks. Get some defense, shoot the damn puck at the net, and STOP trading players that matter to the crowd! The caps NEVER recovered from the last Zednick trade. Remember way back when we got rid of Zed/Bulis for Linden (probably working a concession stand) and, who was the guy we NEEDED to have, oh yes ................. ZUBRUS!

I forgot the best part, who did we trade Zubrus for? Novotny,
but don't plan to see him play for a while. He's injured. Nothing like throwing in the red towel George!

Now where did put that Xanex?

Videos and Wecomes

Hello and a BIG WELCOME to reader's #3 and #4 = Don and Donna! We are happy to have you on board.
I am attaching a video I recently uploaded to YouTube. It was taken by Jeff on Valentines Day. There is a second one that I will post ASAP of Leah performing. It is uploading but Youtube seems to be having display problems. If you are not interested, just don't watch the video and send a comment telling me that the kids are adorable, I will never know the difference.

Be safe in the snow. Damn DC drivers!

Love to all!

D

And now for a good read ..........

Recently, I have been trying to avoid the practice of simply linking to articles. For one, Susie doesn't like it and I like to make Susie happy (unless it involves giving up my Treo). For another, I have so many intelligent things to say I don't need to steal opinions.

However, once in a while I run across something that I like to share, simply because it makes me happy or I agree with the author to the point that I could not have said it better. This is one of those times. Greg Wyshynski over at The Fourth Period had this to say about Washington and America's disdain for Jaromir Jagr. He contends that Jagr's surly attitude not only cost him the Hart Trophy last year, but has turned off a large volume of Rangers Fans.

If you don't have time to read the whole thing (and you should), a notable piece of trivia is that if you Google "Jagr Sucks" your first option will be a post from the Capitals' official message board that repeats that phrase 475 times -- in a row -- in a 36-point font.

Ain't the Internet great!

The Princess Rules

My brother-in-law Robert, who I adore, is constantly sending me articles about childhood trends and phenomenons. In part because he is fascinated by pop culture and more fascinated by the way it manifests itself in children (particularly his nieces). Over the weekend he forwarded this article from the Chicago Tribune on the "Princess Phenomenon" invading the homes of otherwise good people.

The note that accompanied the forwarded article was short and sweet,

"I had no idea it was such a phenomenon. The things parents have to negotiate! You have all my sympathy".

I started to think of about this in combination with a comment that was made by my high school math teacher when I bumped into her when I had the girls at a Halloween parade "Diane, I can not believe that YOUR DAUGHTER is dressed as a cheerleader".

Growing up I was a self described "tom boy". Pink was evil, skirts were not an option and carrying a purse? I think not. I still do not own makeup. I have not worn pantyhose since my wedding (almost 6 years). There is NOTHING that sparkles in my closet.

My daughters on the other hand are a completely different animal. Princesses movies are on often, and dress up clothes/makeup/jewelry/hair accessories can be found in ever crevice and corner of my house. So the question is, how did I grow up to have "princess" daughters and why doesn’t it bother me? I think that the answer lies in the way my daughters would define a "Princess".

This evening I decided to to sit down and have a conversation with Sarah about Princesses. She is the most fond of Cinderella and Ariel.

I asked her to tell me why she likes them. I was ready to hear all about Prince Eric, dresses and fairy god mothers.

"Because", she said, "they are nice to the Animals". Wooow! That's my girl!

"What animals are the Princesses nice to?" seemed like a logical follow-up question .............

"Well" said my charming three year old, "it depends. Cinderella is nice to the mice. Ariel is nice to the fish and the crabs. Mulan is friends with the coyote. Ohhh, and Pocahontas loves all the animals, even the Wolves. She hates it when they cry. An she is good to the air. She also loves John Smith".So, we have environmentalism and a little Jamestown history thrown in for good measure.

I figured that we were on a roll and dug a little deeper. "What else do you like about Princesses?" I asked.

"They are nice to everybody. Especially their Mommy's and Daddy's. Oh, and they call their Daddy's 'Father'. I like that". That would be Bell, Ariel and Pocahontas, for those of you who are not well versed in Princesses.

"Anything else ?????" (at this point I was so stunned I couldn't be sneaky)

"They're smart, like Bell when she reads, and they are happy."

OK. Clearly I am now being played in an effort to delay bedtime, but I think I get the idea. Not once in this discussion did I hear the word "dress" or "slipper". Maybe my little girls are dressing like Princess because it allows then to emulate the "positive role models" that I have been desperately seeking as a Princess replacement. Maybe the beauty they see in these fictional characters has nothing to do with Princes and Balls, but the things that got them there? Maybe I need to be a little less judgemental about their interests/choices and let them be kids.

History of Dance

This still makes me so remarkably happy ................................

My Pool by Sarah (3)

I love to go swimming with Susie. When I get hungry, I get out. We drive to our pool. When we get there I walk on the balance beam. It looks like a platform. When I am done walking on it I jump to Susie. Papa is exercising. Then I get a card and we get our stuff and put it on me. When I get to the pool I take my shoes off at the front of the swimming pool then I swim around. When were done we go to the locker room in the hot room and put on our stuff. Then Papa and Susie take me to the bagel factory.

Night Night

Parental Note - this blog was prematurely ended due to the authors exhaustion. A day at the pool takes it right out of her.

The Tudors Part VI - Katherine Parr

One would think that with the drama that surrounded Henry and his previous 5 wives, his 6th and final marriage would be a natural disaster. However, by all accounts it was actually, ummm, good? It took him a little longer then most people but ultimately the ass got it right! Sort of ................

Katherine was married twice leading up to her courtship with Henry. She had been widowed both times and had no children. By the time Katherine and Henry met, she was becoming well known for her intelligence and kindness. She was also gaining an interest in the rising Protestant faith, and, thanks to good marital choices was VERY wealthy. All of these traits were rather attractive to King Henry.

Prior to Henry, she may have been considering marrying Thomas Seymour, brother to "Poor Poor Jane" and uncle to Prince Edward. Katherine rejected Seymour's proposal in order to marry the King, although she probably didn't have much of a choice in the matter. we all know what happened to people who didn't give Henry what he wanted. 18 months after Kathryn Howard's execution, Henry and Katherine Parr were married on July 12, 1543.

Henry's health had been declining for years and Katherine was more of a nurse then anything (remember that Henry had been mostly impotent since Anne of Cleves). Katherine did managed to soothe the King's temper and brought his children back into the kingdom (they had been scattered, banished, schooled, whatever ...........). Although the Queen was scarcely older than the Princess Mary, she, along with Elizabeth and Edward, saw Katherine as a stabilizing mother figure. Katherine arranged for the best tutors for the children and encouraged them in their learning.

Katherine outlived Henry, who died January 28, 1547 (Ding Dong the witch is Dead ....)

Prince Edward succeeded as Edward VI. His older uncle, Edward Seymour, Lord Somerset, became Protector since the young king was only 10 years old. The other Seymour brother, Thomas, quickly started sniffing around Katherine Parr again, and this time she accepted.
Katherine was soon pregnant with Seymour's child, and gave birth to a daughter named Mary at Sudeley Castle on August 30, 1548. Unfortunately, Katherine did not recover from the childbirth something about the Seymour women) and died on September 5. She is buried at St. Mary's Church at Sudeley Castle.

This concludes our discussions of the 6 wives of Henry the VIII. Tune in next week for a short discussion of Henry's Daughter Mary (a.k.a. Bloody Mary) leading up to the April Premiere of Showtimes new series, THE TUDORS!

I need ...............................

There has been this rather silly game going around the Internet for a while. Needing a small break from the "Tudor series" and some mindless entertainment I thought that I would give it a shot. Go to Google and put your name and the word "needs" surrounded by quotation marks. Then see the first 10 things that come up -

Here's mine:


1) Diane needs a pigfoot and a bottle of beer, some reefer and some gin, and a crawlin' kingsnake (this is going to be a fun game!)
2) Diane needs to reconcile both sides of herself -- to love herself
3) Diane needs to get out of my boyfriends life (well, OK then ...............)
4) Diane needs to be more sexy and more out there
5) Diane needs to try to own her feelings
6) Diane needs: a little discipline and a little training (sorry! No longer in high school!)
7 Diane needs parents to be involved with a March 7th discussion with a city engineer at 3:15 re: safe routes to school.
8) Diane needs to rethink her plans regarding her decision to take a cruise on the Rhine as waitress in the buff
9) Diane needs to know what Tony does for a living (is he a city engineer or a waiter?)
10) Diane needs to participate more in class discussions (back to the high school thing .......)

Well, this certainly has been fun! Who needs therapy when you have Google? Xanax please.

Sarah's Questions - Part 2

Tell me about your family? Sarah: There is Leah my sister. Daddy my father. Mommy my mother. Susie my grandma. Papa is my Grandpa. My sister likes to fiddle with my toys.

Where does snow come from? Sarah: From the sky and falls down by itself.

Who is the President? Sarah: I don't know who is the President.

Where do you live? Sarah: Alexandria

Who are your friends? Sarah: Catie, Owen, Ryan and Annie. That is all of my friends

What is exercise? Sarah: It is kind of like running

Why do we exercise? Sarah: Cause it helps our bones feel happy.

What is healthy food? Sarah: It's kind of like Fruit. Banana's and Milk.

What do you do when one of your friends isn't smiling? Sarah: I play with them and then they are happy.

What are you going to be when you grow up? Sarah: A big mommy!

Is it any wonder I adore her?

The Tudors Part V - Kathryn Howard

Kathryn Howard was not particularly beautiful, intelligent or well schooled. She was the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard, a younger, looser brother of Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk. She was the also first cousin to Anne Bolyne, and like Anne, died on a scaffold in Tower Green.

Raised in a family with too many children she was sent by her Aristocrat father to live with her Grandmother. There she specialized in flirting and giggling. Because of her family name, Kathryn was able to join the Court at about the age of 19 as a lady in waiting to Anne of Cleves (no one knows how old she was for certain because her parents had too many kids to write it down). Henry immediately became smitten with the little twit, and sixteen days after being freed of Anne, he took Kathryn Howard as his 5th wife.

Henry was 49 and his bride was no older than 19. Henry had also gained a large amount of weight and was dealing with the ulcerated leg that was to pain him until his death. He also by all accounts had horrible BO. To say the least, the young Ms. Howard did not find him very, ummmm, appealing. She did, however, find plenty of handsome, younger gentlemen to keep her warm a night.

Less than a year into Kathryn's marriage, the rumors of her infidelity began. It also come to light that Ms. Howard had premarital sex with 2 suitors prior to her marriage to the King (upon learning this Henry passed a law that premarital relations before marrying a king was treason). Kathryn didn't help matters much by appointing one of her admirers as her personal secretary.
Enough evidence was gathered that the Queen had been promiscuous before her marriage and may have had liaisons after becoming Henry's wife. She was executed on the Tower Green on February 13, 1542 and laid to rest near Anne Boleyn in the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula at the Tower of London.

Kathryn was married to Henry less then two years, had no political influence, never had a child, and was remarkably insignificant to the history of England. She also died at 20 after Henry refused to annul the marriage and banish her from England, which was an option. I believe that the moral of this story is not to marry the king unless you plan to be a saint.

Turn in next time for a fascinating discussion on Henrys 6th and final wife, Katherine Parr. Happy Valentines Day!

The Tudors Part IV - Anne of Cleves

Welcome to our 4th installment of the Tudor series, in which we have been profiling the wives of Henry the VIII. To Date we have discussed Katherine of Aragon, Anne "the Whore" Bolyne, and Poor Poor Jane Seymour.

It took Henry over two years to marry after the death of Jane Seymour. Romantics believe that is because Henry loved her so deeply he simply could not consider another woman. This type of thinking is an example of why romantics grow up to be cynical and tortured. They are generally wrong. In truth, Henry wanted to remarry and sent his advisers searching for a wife within a month of Jane's death. The other sad truth is that NO ONE wanted to marry Henry.

His ambassadors searched out all the eligible heiresses of Europe and discovered their king had a very nasty marital reputation. In fact, when Christina of Milan was told of the king's interest she replied that if she had two heads she would risk it, but she had only one; Marie de Guise, who would later wed his nephew the King of Scots, replied much the same. The tragic tale of his second queen, Anne Boleyn, had kept European gossips busy for three years now.
Further, Henry's poor and disrespectful treatment of his first wife (he was rumored to have bullied Katharine of Aragon to an unhappy death) and the quick end of his third (in his desperation for a healthy male heir, the king was rumored to have ordered Jane Seymour cut open, mangled and killed) made him rather unappealing. I supposed it would be sort of like, trying to find the right Hollywood starlet to marry OJ Simpson.

Regardless Henry was on a mission to find a spouse and insisted that he approve them himself. He had a portraits commissioned of the few women who were willing to marry the pig, and from those paintings he choose Anne of Cleves (her brother was the Duke of Cleves and believed that this would improve his position).

Upon laying eyes on his new bride to be, Henry said that that she had the face of "a Flanders mare" and fired his portrait artist. The wedding occurred but the marriage was a disaster. Communication between the two was difficult as she did not speak English and Henry know very little German so any communication had to be done between Henry and Anne's maids of honour who could act as translators. Also, the newlyweds never consummated the marriage because Henry had become impotent. He was also falling in love with one of the Queens ladies in waiting .................. Catherine Howard.

Probably fearing for her life, Anne agreed to an annulment which was granted in July 1540. She stayed in England and for whatever reason stayed on good terms with Henry who referred to her as his sister and often invited her to court. Henry already had his eye on someone else – Catherine Howard who he married less than 20 days after the annulment came through.

The Story of Cinderella - by Sarah (3)

Once upon a time there was a girl named Cinderella. everytime she woke up from her nap the birds churped at her and tickled her. She danced with the Prince and then she ran away. And then he went to put her slipper on. And that was the end.

Grease Babies

I admit it, this made me laugh.

Stop the Insanity!

I would never claim to be an expert on parenting, but after catching a previously TIVO'd episode on Oprah I think that I have something to say.

Despite a tremendous amount of reading/discussions I have not found the answers to any of today's current debates; circumcise/don't circumcise, SAHM/WOHM, breastfeed/bottle feed, Cloth/Disposable, CIO/Ferber.

ENOUGH ALREADY! I don't care. Kids need four basic things: love, food, clean clothes and shelter. The rest is up for debate.

We live with a couple of simple philosophies that work well for us:
1) Watch your kids while they are in the tub.
2) Fence your pools.
3) Train your dog not to bite your kids.
4) Feed your children nutritious food.
5) Don't spank.
6) Don't yell ( I fail at this, but I believe in the principle and I work on it every day).
7) Don't let your kids suck on pennies.
8) Duct tape is not a form of discipline.
9) Tell your kids that you are sorry when it it appropriate
10) Practice the "golden rule" at home
11) Agree to disagree but show a united front
12) make sure that the kids are allowed to get enough sleep if they want it
13) Pay the heating bills
14) Be kind to your spouse, if not for you, so that your kids have a good model of a solid and respectful relationship.

The rest will come. Three of my friends are new mothers and they are beating themselves us over things that don't matter. Love your kids, and they will have everything they need.

Tomorrow we will continue with our Tudor Series. This serious stuff gives me a headache.

XO D

The Tudors, part III

Today we continue our Tudor Series with a discussion of Henrys 3rd, VERY BORING Wife, Jane Seymour.

Jane served as lady in waiting to both Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. Ten days after Anne was, um, disposed of in the Court yard of the tower of London, Henry and Jane were married. She was publicly declared queen on 4 June 1536. Interestingly Jane never received a lavish, public, Coronation like Anne and Katherine. Chances are that Henry was waiting to see if she could make a Boy before making that kind of commitment. Things became even more urgent the following month when Henry received the news that his only illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy, duke of Richmond, had died at the age of 17. There had always been the possibility that Fitzroy could have succeeded him, but now Henry VIII was left with only two daughters, both declared illegitimate (which happens when your marriages are declared illegitimate). It is certain that if Jane had not provided a son, she would have been quickly discarded. However, she got to stay.

After 29 years as king of England, Henry VIII finally proved himself capable of fathering an XY chromosome on 12 October 1537, when Prince Edward was born. The whole country rejoiced, everyone that is, except Jane. Queen Jane lay bleeding and delirious following the birth of the next King, and finally died on 24 October. Poor Poor Jane.

Janes body was embalmed and laid to rest in the tomb at Windsor Castle which Henry was building for himself. Years after her death, even while he was married to other women, Jane continued to appear in royal portraits as queen consort. Her special status as mother to the heir was never forgotten. The king wore black until well into 1538 and waited more than two years to marry again. This was the longest interval between marriages during his reign. No doubt he was diddling the maids during this time.

Tune in next time for Part IV of our Tudor series - Anne of Cleves.

The Tudors, part II

Part 2 of our Tudor series highlights Henry the VIII's 2nd wife and major whore ............... Anne Bolyne.

Anne spent her formative years with her Sister Mary in the French Court serving Queen Mary (Henry VIII sister) who was married to Louis XI. After Louis died, Mary returned to England to serve Queen Katherine (and became Henry's Mistress) while Anne remained in France to attend Claude, the new French queen. During the 8-10 years she was in the French court, Anne developed a taste for their culture, dress and food, and believed the English were beneath her.

Around 1581, she returned to England to Serve Katherine and awaited details of her marriage to the heir of Ormonde (which never worked out, I have no idea why).

While serving Katherine, Anne had affairs with both Henry Percy (who she presumably loved and would have married had it not been for Cardinal Wolsey) and Sir Thomas Wyatt. She also began flirting with Henry himself, though she would not begin an affair with him because she was on a "Queen or Nothing" campaign. Rather, she and her parents insisted that her sister Mary keep Henry "serviced" so his intentions didn't wander to any of the other Ladies in waiting. It was not long after this that Henry started to seek an Annulment from Katherine, moved Anne into Queen Katherine's rooms, and had Anne assume the role of Queen at all functions.

At some point in 1532, Anne finally gave in and let Henry do the deed, and by December she was pregnant. To ensure the legitimacy of the child, Henry and Anne were secretly married. Although the King's marriage to Katherine was not dissolved, in the King's mind it had never existed in the first place, so he was free to marry whomever he wanted. On May 23, the Archbishop officially proclaimed that the marriage of Henry and Katherine was invalid.

Knowing that she was carrying the future King of England, Anne took to her chambers in the summer of 1533 and on September 7, she gave birth to PRINCESS ELIZABETH. Oppps. Anne knew that it was imperative that she produce a son. By January of 1534, she was pregnant again, but the child was either miscarried or stillborn. In 1535, she become pregnant again but miscarried. The child was reported to have been a boy. It was also reported to have been HER BROTHERS! Yep, that's right. Anne was so desperate to have a son and so sure that Henry couldn't make a son, she was sperminated by her brother George. Desperate times call for desperate measures I suppose. Anne probably suspected that failure to produce a living male heir was a threat to her own life. Anne set a precedent by pushing Katherine aside and introducing the idea of annulment to Henry, and Henry was starting to spend a lot of time with Jane Seymore, Anne's lady in waiting. Ooooops.

Anne's fall was fast and furious. On May 2, 3 years after her coronation, she was arrested at Greenwich and informed that she was charged with: adultery, incest and plotting to murder the King. Almost immediately, 5 men where hanged for Adultery with the Queen. On May 5th, the Queen and her brother were put on trial at the Great Hall of the Tower of London and found guilty. The star witness for the prosecution you ask? Georges Wife! The sentence was to be either burnt at the stake (which was the punishment for incest) or beheaded, at the discretion of the King. I think we all know how that turned out.

Anne was beheaded on May 19, 1536. A few days prior, her Marriage to Henry was dissolved and declared invalid. Jane Seymour spent that afternoon choosing her wedding dress.

No matter what, you can always find reasons to smile ........

Well, it is official. I have been completely *(^& over by the complete self promoting incompetents in the upper management at work and have been screwed out of another promotion. I guess that I was expecting it, but am no less pissed by the result.

After sulking for about an hour, I decided to do something that I have NEVER attempted in the past. I looked at what was good in my life rather then dwell in the crap. It is really not surprising that I came up with a rather impressive list in a very short time:

- My 2 amazing girls
- Tom, who caught an early flight home
- Susie and Papa are healthy and close
- Two episodes of LOST on TIVO
- Good Friends, and;
- Showtime's upcoming series "The Tudors"

And it is The Tudors that will get the rest of this entry's attention. I am excited about this series, especially since it promises to be full of the political, sexual, and bloody escapades of my favorite Renaissance Pig - Henry the VIII. Always concerned about my readers, I want you to be prepared for the series so that you can enjoy it as much as I. Therefore, I am committing to writing a minimum of 8 entries leading up to the April 1 Premier. These entries will highlight each of Henrys 6 wives, and his two daughters. Tonight we will start with wife #1, who was arguably the classiest of them all (albeit stupid for loving the schmuck) ........... Katherine of Aragon.

Katherine was Katherine of Aragon (Princess of Spain) and queen consort of England. She was the wife of Arthur, Prince of Wales and when he died before they consummated their marriage, Henry VIII agreed to do the deed. I am sure that this had political ramifications, merging of powers, yada yada yada. I choose to believe that it was because Henry, tired of playing second fiddle to his fathers favorite son, found a way to bang his brothers intended and took it. A small detail like his brother was dead didn't matter, Henry won.

Where did Henry fail? All of the male heirs that he conceived with Katherine (5) died in childhood and their only surviving child, Princess Mary (later Bloody Mary) could not inherit the throne (little did Henry know that the People would speak loudly on that issue and both Mary and Elizabeth would take their turn as the head of state, but I digress). Henry decided that because he could not make a baby boy with Catherine (who was deeply religious and spent her entire life praying about it) he would have the marriage annulled and make a baby boy with Anne Boleyn instead (which never happened, thought many believe that he did make a bastard boy with Anne's older sister Mary).

The Pope refused to allow the annulment of Henry's marriage to Katherine, which set off a chain reaction that led to Henry's break with the Roman Catholic Church, and gave us the Episcopalian Religion (Catholicism with Divorce). Katherine and her daughter were separated and she was forced to leave court. She lived for the next three years in several dank and unhealthy castles and manors with just a few servants. She died on January 7, 1536 at Kimbolton Castle and was buried at Peterborough Abbey with the ceremony due for her position as Princess Dowager, not as a Queen of England.

This concludes our essay on Katherine. It would be longer, but I am still working on Phillippa Gregorys The Constant Princess. Tune in for next weeks Tudor edition, for an in-depth look at Henry's Hussy --- Ann Boleyn.

My blog - By Sarah (3)

I wanted this flower picture to do my blog. I love purple. I also love to sleep in my bed; I love my mommy and my daddy; I love my stuffed animals when I go to bed; I love to hug mommy; I love fruits. I feed my kitty cat and I help clean up. I love Papa and Susie. I love to go to their house where I play and sing. My papa likes to work on his computer. Susie loves to sleep in bed and watch TV. She is a great knitter. She knits all kinds of things like a sweater, a coat and a hat. I love my sister. She has beautiful cheeks, a beautiful chin and beautiful hair. I have nothing else. See ya tomorrow. Ariel.

Just looked out the window ..............

............. and I am happy to report that the Polor Ice Caps are NOT disappearing. They have simply been relocated to Washington, DC. Now you can rest well.

A random thought before bed ............

There is a difference between a Bumble Bee and a Honey Bee.

According to Wikipedia, Bumblebees are flying insects of the genus Bombus in the family Apidae. They are relatives of the honey bees, but tend to be larger and more visibly furry.

Honey bees are a subset of bees which represent a far smaller fraction of bee diversity than most people suspect. These bees are the only living members of the tribe Apini, all in the genus Apis, and all of which produce and store liquified sugar ("honey") to some degree, and construct colonial nests out of wax secreted by the workers in the colony. Other types of related bee produce and store honey, but only members of the genus Apis are considered true honey bee.

I did not know that there was this interesting distinction, and now I do. It is important for me to fully understand the difference since I suspect I will be watching a lot of Winnie the Poo in the near future.

OK. Off to bed. I have a busy day tomorrow. In addition to breakfast with my Parents (Happy Birthday Susie) and cooking dinner for friends, I get to prepare some papers for my Life Insurance Company. I was feeling rather stressed out about two months ago and decided to start a low dose of Welabutrin. At the same time we decided to get a little more life insurance so that the kids would be taken care of in the event of our untimely departure, which relieved a good deal of that stress. Well, now the life insurance company has decided to hold up our request for additional life insurance until they fully understand why I require an anti-depressant. Where do I start? How about, because I routinely have to answer to judgemental corporate insurance weenies like you who ask stupid questions about my mental health since I choose to take all possible measures to ensure my kids have a completely well balanced mom?

I digress. Night Night.

Sarah's Questions

So, I asked Sarah, my 3 year old the following questions:

Where do babies come from? Sarah: From the baby store, that looks like a big can of soup (ok, clearly we need to work on sex education).

What is a rain forest? Sarah: Like a big jungle (not sure that I can take credit for this, she watches "Go Diego Go".

How big is the world? Sarah: This big (she stretches her arms out) and it looks like a big cannon ball.

What is church? Sarah: Hmmmmm. I don't know a church.

Why do birds build nests? Sarah: So they can live in it

How do baby birds get into the nest? Sarah: In eggs

How do the eggs get in the nest? Sarah: the birds pick them up

Who loves you the most in the whole wide world? Sarah: Papa and Susie (I guess I should be a little crushed here, but I'm not).

And now, for a winter history lesson ................

I consider myself to be rather knowledgeable when it comes to trivial historic facts and stories. After all, one can hardly live with Tom for 11 years and not become an encyclopedia of useless knowledge. However, upon circling the 1/2 frozen tidal basin with my friend Patty yesterday, I was informed of an ice age I never knew occurred. Since I was uninformed, I figured my readers were as well (all two of them).

You can read this link for details, but here are some excerpts from wikipda.org on the LITTLE ICE AGE which occurred for a couple hundred years and ended in the mid-18th century.

The Little Ice Age brought bitterly cold winters to many parts of the world, but is most thoroughly documented in Europe and North America. In the mid 17th Century, glaciers in the Swiss Alps advanced, gradually engulfing farms and crushing entire villages.

In the winter of 1780, New York Harbor froze, allowing people to walk from Manhattan to Staten Island (ummm. If you are in Manhattan, why would you EVER leave and go to Staten Island?) .

The severe winters affected human life in ways large and small. The population of Iceland fell by half but this was perhaps also due to fluorosis caused by the eruption of the volcano Laki in 1783. The Viking colonies in Greenland, however, clearly died out (in the 1400s) because they could no longer grow enough food there. In North America, American Indians formed leagues in response to food shortages.

In many years, snowfall was much heavier than recorded before or since, and the snow lay on the ground for many months longer than it does today. Many springs and summers were outstandingly cold and wet, although there was great variability between years and groups of years.

European settlers also reported exceptionally severe winters. For example, in 1607-8 ice persisted on Lake Superior until June.

Beginning around 1850, the world's climate began warming again and the Little Ice Age is said to have come to an end it that time.

Some global warming critics believe that the Earth's climate is still recovering from the Little Ice Age and that human activity is not the decisive factor in present temperature trends (right, tell that to Mr. Gore).

And so friends, there you have it, history in a nut shell. I am completely aware of the fact that I might be the only person who didn't know about this meteorological miracle, but you what they say, "if you can touch 1 kid, you've made a difference".

Happy Groundhog Day!

D