how it really happened.

• boy approaches mother
• boy smacks mother in the back of the head
• mother chases boy
• mother flicks boy until he laughs so hard he almost pees
• boy runs away
• mother chases boy
• boy hides
• mother gives up on looking
• boy returns wielding laundry hamper as protection from further flicking
• mother trips boy
• boy and mother laugh
• boy runs away
• mother accuses boy of being a sissy la la
• boy denies being a sissy la la and smacks mother
• mother chases boy
• boy chases mother
• mother chases boy
• mother catches boy
• mother asks boy if he's done being a pest
• boy says yes
• boy continues being a pest
• mother tickles boy until he can't breathe
• boy runs away
• mother writes blog

Get Help

Hi.

So, there's this commercial. It's advertising some kind of help line for people with gambling problems. It starts out with 3 women standing at a public bathroom counter, you can hear music, and they're all putting on lipstick and touching up. The first woman says "Can you believe her? Her kids are at home alone every night and she's always borrowing money and she knows she cant pay it back." (or something to that effect, I didn't memorize the commercial). the second woman makes a similar comment and the third woman says "actually, I was her, until I got help". That is when the first two woman say "You're kidding" and "But you look so normal" and leave the bathroom. The woman they were apparently talking about then comes out of the stall and says to the woman who got help "Can I talk to you?" - then the voice over gives you the toll free number and blah blah blah...

I have a few problems with this.

The first is: THEY'RE in the casino too! If they're always there to see that this woman is spending so much time in the casino, aren't they spending too much time there too?

Second: This woman who supposedly "got help"... I know I don't even need to say it... SHE'S in the casino too! wow. I don't even wan't to elaborate on that. But I will. If you are an addict, I don't care what you're addicted to, and you seek help - from professionals - they will tell you that ANY relapse is still a relapse. You don't see recovered alcoholics (ya, the ones who actually want to stay quit) casually visiting bars on the regular. NO. This is where the commercial lost all credibility for me.

Third: It's a crap commercial! I'm glad I don't have a gambling problem, and I'm sorry if you do. You never know, though, you might just meet a recovering gambler in your local casino's bathroom and get some advice over appletini's.

Seriously.

Alternative to parenting...

On my way to the bank I saw a man and a small child crossing the street. The child was wearing one of those kid leashes. Now, those always make for some good comedy. I know people love having choices and the ability to decline the alternative (alternative: actually being a parent and watching you kid) but in this case it was not the adult that was seemingly in charge of keeping track of the child. No, on the other end of the kid leash was the kid! That's right, the little boy who couldn't be more than 3 years old was leading himself with his monkey-face-cleverly-disguised-as-a-back-pack LEASH! ACROSS A CROSS WALK!!! A busy one, at that! (for my Bend friends, it was the intersection at 27th and HWY 20) By the time the two had crossed the street the small boy was walking a good 8 to 10 feet in front of the man. SOME PEOPLE SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO CARE FOR CHILDREN!!!! There were cars speeding by at 45 MPH and the little boy was just trotting along like he was at the park or something.... sheesh. I wanted to yell out the window "HOLD THAT KID'S HAND!!!!"