How To Scare a Telemarketer

1.  Answer phone.

2.  Wait required seven seconds until connection takes place.

3.  Listen to the Telemarketer's introduction.  Very important to remember their name!

4.  Greet Telemarketer as such "Well Hello John, how are you?"

5.  Repeat everything Telemarketer John says.

6.  When he senses you are not taking him seriously tell him that this is just a conversation.

7.  Explain how conversation works while Telemarketer John insists there is a bad connection.

8.  Plead for Telemarketer John to stay on the line with you even though he is stating he will call back tomorrow.

9.  Yell "JOHN JOHN NO JOHN PLEASE DON'T HANG UP" into the phone.

10.  If above steps are done right Telemarketer John, or Rita, or whoever it is trying to scam something from you will hang up on you.

At this point your wife and son will probably be laughing so hard they can't speak.

p.s In NO way and I stating you should do this on any old telemarketing call.  If a legit charity or company calls you then by all means do what you need to do.  In this household we get up to four or five calls a day from these numbers.  My husbands tired of it and likes to turn the tables on the fast talkers.

Quotable Mondays - "Crazy Love"

When it's hard and you are doubtful, give more.

-Francis Chan,

"Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God"

Eat A Cookie Or A Few

From Everyday People Cartoons.

Wordless Wednesday - DSi Art

This child spends more time creating these pictues than playing the video games.  Love that!

Linking up with 5 Minutes For Mom &

Wordless Wednesday.

Quotable Mondays - To Love

To love someone is to show to them their beauty,

their worth

and their importance.

-Jean Vanier

ReAliTy #7

This was my table from lunchtime.  I noticed it was still like this while making supper many hours after the mess was made.  My favorite thing in this picture is the half eaten corn dog Gage left behind.  

I would love to always have a clean table with a nice centerpiece.  Reality is this is not the time in my life in which I have enough brain power to even pick out something pretty.   Reality is that even if I had something pretty to put in the middle of this table I would have to move it out of the way all the time. 

Reality is this table not only serves our food but is also where we paint, color, cut paper {and leave all those cuttings behind for Mom to pick up}, work on models, talk with my husband, read the paper, eat snacks, play games, make friendship bracelets,  and so much more.   At this point in our lives it is just easier to think functionally right now and that means just having the table clean when it's time to eat. 

These ReAliTy posts are to remind me that life is messy in many ways and that I would not want it any other way. {Even though my ranting and raving around here may say otherwise}

Wordless Wednesday - A Ray Of Sunshine

Linking up with 5 Minutes for Mom & Wordless Wednesday.

Protect Their Eyes & Ears

As I drove home last night I flipped the radio to our local FM channel.  I really do not have a favorite radio channel I go with the flow with whatever music I may want to listen too.  My sons were with me in the truck so I tend to be careful what comes pouring out of the speakers.

Yes I do admit I am "one of those parents" who regulate what the kids hear from the entertainment world.  I do not think I want my six year old walking around singing lyrics that speak of activities not meant for young children.  I will not post lyrics but I urge you to really listen to the words next time a hit song starts your toe tapping. 

As an adult I can filter what I am hearing.  I can understand what the words mean and filter it or turn it off.  I like a lot of songs that do speak of these types of activities but I am 38 and have four children so you can guess I know what that is all about.

Children have no idea what some of these songs are telling stories about.  Most of us start off our child's early years with songs and even if you have never sang your child a song {which I doubt...ABC....} you can bet when they enter school or have participated with any type of preschool group a song was used for teaching.

So why would a song on the radio be viewed any differently by the child?

Okay bare with me here, I am not stating that EVERY song is used as teaching but I am trying to point out the mixed signals we are giving our kids.

Everyone is quick to talk about teen violence, bullying, teen pregnancy {which is ridiculously high where I live}.  Why are we not realizing that it matters what we feed our children's brains, whether through music or visually with television? 

We do this on so many other levels, books...would we let our child, especially our preteen child,  look through a book that was telling the story visually of these lyrics?  Is this what we want our child to think LOVE is?  Grinding bodies and whiskey bottles. 

Why do many parents not like kids hearing a swear word but are okay with them listening to such things in music?   I know right now on the top 40 charts the word "hoe" is used in the title of a song but some parents think "oh they have no idea what that means, they are too young"...THAT IS MY POINT!  Then they goto school and call another kid a "HOE". Then what happens?  How do we erase that?  I know this by personal experience too...it was my first time in the Principal's office.

It is the message in the music we need to be careful of.  I am a parent that believes kids do need to learn about the world around us but at appropriate times.  These small human beings are developing, their brains are developing, they do not process things like adults.  Their is a time {and I am entering that now} that we will have a chat with our kids about sex, drugs, alcohol, bullying, love and many other things that we the parents are responsible for teaching them.

Young children learning lyrics speaking of sex, drinking and drugs or even money and materialistic things is NOT helping them become a well rounded responsible adult.  Isn't that what we strive for as parents?  To raise children to grow up to be something in this awful, scary, chaotic, selfish world?

I did not grow up with any kinds of filters.  I KNOW exactly what this did to me.  I do not want that for my kids.

Kids are kids and should be taking part in activities for kids.  Children should not have any idea what sex is until they are of an age they can understand what sex is for and that is up to each parent to decide what is best for their family.  If you think your five year old should be repeating songs in their kindergarten class with lyrics speaking of grinding bodies and bottles of whiskey then I guess you have decided that your five year old is ready to understand.

I do not expect everyone to agree with me BUT....I am a little tired of hearing parents complain about things happening to their children or bullying or the many other things that DO happen when kids hang out without much parental supervision. 

My role as a parent is to teach my children what is GOOD in this world.  What doing GOOD is.  That does NOT mean I keep them totally away from the BAD but instead include the BAD when they are ready to understand WHY it is BAD.  Why it does not contribute to the world in a positive way.

We need to step up parents.  We need to realize that our children need our guidance.  They need to be taught how to use manners, help others, and take care of themselves along with many other things they can do to become a positive contribution to society.

Some may thing I am over the top with this but please realize that children's brains are like sponges.  We see them act out superheroes on the playground.....what are the kids acting out that are seeing "other" things on TV. 

Just think about it.

Quotable Mondays - Feel Thanks

Feel thanks and it's absolutely impossible to feel angry. 

We can only experience one emotion at a time. 

And we get to choose--which emotion do we want to feel?

-Ann Voskamp

 "One Thousand Gifts-A Dare To Live Fully Right Where You Are"

Poetry - Captain Hook

 My kids are LOVING the wackiness of Shel Silverstein.  We have read and reread some of the poems in "Where The Sidewalk Ends".   Here is one of their favorites.

CAPTAIN HOOK
Captain Hook must remember
Not to scratch his toes.
Captain Hook must watch out
And never pick his nose.
Captain Hook must be gentle
When he shakes your hand.
Captain Hook must be careful
Openin' sardine cans
And playing tag and pouring tea
And turnin' pages of his book.
Lots of folks I'm glad I ain't--
But mostly Captain Hook!
-Shel Silverstein

My love for Shel Silverstein is all due to my grade two teacher.  She would read us his poetry and we would laugh and giggle.  Thank You Miss Riglin!  My children are now having fun learning the art of poetry and that it's okay to be silly and laugh.

Wordless Wednesday - Anybody Home?

Linking up with 5 Minutes for Mom & Wordless Wednesday.