Mom! STOP! You're embarrassing me! In WALMART!!!

Yes. I do that on occasion. Embarrass my kids. Sometimes intentionally ... sometimes not. This time, it was intentional :-)

Sunday afternoon. We're strolling through the toy aisles at Walmart (the mother's dream/nightmare store) and all of a sudden, I could hear the music ...

'Everybody was kung-fu fighting -HA!
Those cats were fast as lightning - Ha-YA!
In fact it was a little bit frightening - YAH!
But they fought with expert timing' - WACHAAAA!!

And it moved me. Much to the dismay of my boys. Especially Alec! It moved me from behind my cart filled with lunchtime snacks for the upcoming week, out to the middle of the aisle, somewhere between the WWE Wrestlers and the Hot Wheels ... Mama started Kung-Fu Fighting-dancing! WACHAAAA!!

"Mom!"
"MOM! Stop that!"
"MOM!!! STOP!!! You're embarrassing me!"

'Whaaaaat?!?!?!? You've got a problem with your Mom Kung-Fu Fight-dancing in Walmart?'

Apparently he did.

The guy who turned the corner as I was shakin' the booty and giving a little HA-YA! seemed to get a kick out of it though ;-)

Then we were on to Electronics. They have different gaming stations set up. Both boys tried their hand at the Drums in Rockband for Wii. Then I had a turn. Apparently MORE embarrassment for The Boy. They left me! Just walked (slunk) away! Left me bangin' solo and getting funny looks from the 'walmart people'!!!!

Probably cause I was kickin' their butts on those drums!!!!

Just wait! He hasn't had his first REAL girlfriend yet. That boy is in for a whole BOATLOAD of embarrassment ... courtesy of ... Mom ;-)

'Everybody was kung-fu fighting -HA!
Those cats were fast as lightning - Ha-YA! .......

Have a great day all!





K

This Ain't Mr. Roger's Neighbourhood Baby!

Evenin' Everyone!

Last week I was in Montreal. On Wednesday night I returned home to some interesting news. Almost immediately, I thought 'blog!'. But in the next moment, I realized that talking about something like this publicly may not be such a good idea.

If you know me, you know that blogging, aside from being a permenant record of the 'stories' I want to pass along to the boys, is like therapy for me ... and I'm really feeling the need for a session on this one! I've been tossing it around in my brain for the past week. To the point that now only three out of the four voices in my head agree that I'm sane!

There's so much I want to say. And so much more I know I can't say. What does end up here isn't meant to point fingers or cast blame, or 'reveal' anyone's identities who may not necessarily want to be discussed in a public forum. What this is, is simply MY thoughts and feelings on a particular public event that occurred last winter - after coming to realize I had a 'six degrees of separation' relationship to it.

But first ... I have to backtrack a bit. Sorry. Crucial part of the 'story' ;-)

When my ex returned from Washington a couple of years ago, he was limited in his apartment choices in our area. He chose a four unit building, not far away. It had it's good and bad points, as most of our homes/living arrangements do. Once he was 'settled', the boys started going there every second weekend.

Like any multi-unit building, it had it's 'characters' in both tenants and visitors. My kids included lol. I'm sure the others always knew when they were visiting :-) Not only were they there every two weeks, but there were ALWAYS pit stops for something during that two week period in between. With so many visits, I ran into many people in that building's parking lot. And as with most people in parking lots, I would have cast them nothing more than a passing glance and perhaps a 'hi' if it was someone I perceived as 'OK'.

My ex has since moved and I'll be honest in saying I wouldn't recognize 9.9/10 of the people from his previous building if I was standing behind them in the grocery, fast food, movie etc. lineup, Couldn't tell you if one of them, or their visitors I'd run into, served me my coffee every day. On one hand, I guess I could look at that as my being insensitive and indifferent to other people. On the other, as a single mom/woman in this 'trust nobody' world, it could be more a form of self preservation. Maybe a bit of both.

Now I have to veer off even further for a minute, but please indulge me, I will be connecting these dots very soon ;-)

Last winter there were a couple of 'violent crimes' that stood out for me amongst the 'everyday' violence that we've all grown accustomed to. One because it was a teens against another teen incident. Which just scares the crap out of me! I know I have an influence over my own boys actions, but I have no say whatsoever in how all the other kids they go to school with are raised. Sigh. I don't like being part of the generation who sends them to school and prays they come home :-( But that's a whole other post.

The other story caught my attention because I thought I might have known a relative of the victim, since she shared the same last name as a former employer. Turned out it wasn't anyone I 'knew'. I was thankful for that, and was silently happy for my former employer that she wasn't burying a family member, but I still felt bad for this poor girl who was raped, tortured, and in the end, murdered and stuffed away.

A man and woman were arrested. Other than what I read in the two (most detailed) archived articles I found last night, I have no idea where the incident currently stands. No idea if both were actually involved. If both are even in jail or back out living alongside the rest of us.

I didn't know it at the time, but apparently I've looked into the eyes of the victim's accused killer(s).

That's what I found out when I got home last Wednesday.

Now we're all caught up to today.

Here's the kicker. I couldn't tell you what he looks like, because I really don't know. Never took the time to really 'look' at him. Indifference ... self-preservation ... I'm really not going to examine it too closely. Whatever it is, if I'm not drawing the attention of a potential psycho, it's working!

So how does my web entangle with that of an accused murderer? One of the two who was arrested apparently has a relative in that same apartment building my ex was living in for over a year. Both people arrested had visited the relative in this building on a regular basis.

The minute I was told of the connection between the ex's former accommodations and this accused couple, my first thought was 'OMIGOD THE KIDS!!!!'. How many times had these people been at the apt the same times the kids were. That I was.

Now I should say that it was reported there was some type of 'connection' between the accused and the victim, so I don't think this person, if they did it, decided to just randomly kill someone one evening. And the murder did NOT occur in 'my area'. However, looking at it from the single woman's perspective, it's hard not to be lying in bed, staring at the ceiling a couple of nights later and thinking ... shit ... did these people know how many nights I'd left there, going home to an empty house ... had they been there in the building, in their car, when I left? Was their crime spur of the moment? Heat of passion? Planned? Had they ever discussed picking some unsuspecting woman to 'practice' on? And then back to ... shit ... did these people know how many nights I'd left there, going home to an empty house ...

Sigh. Once again, over-analyzing the bad guy. Damn my overactive imagination ... and damn A&E and their crime shows! ;-) The whole situation had absolutely nothing to do with me, my kids or my ex, but it still creeps me out to know that I, and even scarier, my children, were most likely in the same building ... at the same time, as a couple now accused of raping, torturing, and finally killing a 20yr old woman. Yeah ... Creeps me out.

My ex called tonight and we discussed it for a bit.

I finally had to ask.

I just sort of blurted it out. "Can you honestly tell me that I would have run into him in the parking lot ... did I look into his face". His answer was simple - and chilling. "Yep".

Apparently I've looked into an accused killers eyes. On more than one occasion. Hell, I might have even smiled. Given the 'hi'.

But the scary part is ... I couldn't tell you what he looks like.

Sigh. Nope, this ain't Mr Roger's Neighbourhood Baby! Maybe I should start thinking about moving INTO the city ...

Have a safe night all! And once again, if I happen not to return to my Korner within a few weeks, would someone please send Grissom ;-)

K.

Dank. Yes, it's a word. Dank.

Hey everyone,

This is another one of those 'strange coincidences' type of posts :-) Sort of The Secret Revisited I guess lol.

I'm sure most of you have a small library of words in your head that just sound strange when you hear/see them. Yes? No? Sure you do!

When I was in high school, can't remember exactly which grade, I read the word 'dank' in a book. At the time, I thought it was a mis-print, but looked it up in the dictionary anyway. Yes ... the dictionary, that old paper version of what we now call Google lol

Sure enough, it's a word.

Dank
–adjective, -er, -est. unpleasantly moist or humid; damp and, often, chilly: a dank cellar.

It was one of those strange words for me, so I decided to store it away for future use :-)

That same year, we had a substitute teacher for English class, for an extended period of time. He was the older brother of one of my classmates. During his stay, we had to write a paper. My report contained the word 'dank'. The report was returned, the word was circled with an 'x' next to it, and the comment 'Not a word' written next to it, in red.

I was mad! It WAS a word. I knew it was, but I didn't argue it. (I know, I know, I heard that collective gasp out there! She didn't argue it?!?!?!? LOL) Partly because he was the brother of a friend, partly because he was a teacher. I wasn't accustomed to arguing with teachers. What can I say? I was young and still hadn't grown into my brass balls yet ;-)

That one experience solidified that word in my mental data bank though. Anytime I came across it in a book in the years to come, I would remember that paper, and that substitute teacher, and wish I had spoken up and said 'Yes, it IS a word ... does that change my grade at all?????' ;-)

Fast forward almost 20 years.

A couple of weeks ago, I was scrolling through my Friend list on one of the social networking groups I'm a member of, and landed on the classmate from my English class. Substitute teacher's brother. I remembered the 'dank' incident. And smiled :-)

A couple of days later, in end-of-day conversation, (with the guy I have been giving a drive home after work) the subject of high school, teachers, classes, etc. comes up and the 'dank' story comes to mind, so I share it with him. He wasn't familiar with the word. We chuckle about the fact that (substitute) teachers aren't always right ;-)

The next day, my favourite morning radio dude asks the question "What was something you learned from a teacher?" Meaning some life lesson apart from the three R's. One lady called in and said one teacher had taught her to stand up for herself. Immediately I thought about the whole 'dank' story, and thought to myself 'I learned substitute teachers aren't always right! I wish I had learned that other lady's lesson earlier too!!!' lol

Although I knew it wasn't the 'feel good moment' he was looking for, after I got to the parking lot and parked my vehicle, (because we're not legally allowed to drive and cell here anymore) I shared my 'dank' story with my radio dude anyway (off-air), cause we chat about 'stuff' like that :-) He wasn't familiar with the word either, and asked me to use it in a sentence LOL. I was able to do so. ;-)

Later that same afternoon, I headed outside for a break from the cube. I found myself a sunny patch, parked my butt, opened my new Lisa Jackson book (Hot Blooded), and started the Prologue. On the second page, 1st paragraph I read the sentence ...

"A hot June breeze, heavy with the dank breath of the Mississippi, blew through the open window."

There it was. Making it's appearance after I'd thrown it out there all week.

My previous thoughts on The Secret: "It's about the Law of attraction. What thoughts/words/actions you throw out there into the universe, good or bad, you attract back to you."

Dank.

It is a word.

Have a great weekend all!

K