Random Rambling & Ranting

Have I ever mentioned that Cooper is all boy? Yeah, he is. And, have I ever mentioned that boys are an entirely different parenting excursion than girls are? Yeah, they are. The older this boy gets, the more he keeps me on my toes. Forget the exhaustion of teaching a toddler not to bite people. And, don't even think about the trials of potty training. Those days were nothing compared to our current parenting trials.

After Cooper's swim practice on Friday, he went to the boys' locker room and never came back. Well, I shouldn't say "never". He did come back in about 15 minutes, which is an eternity when you are a nervous mom considering everything he could be doing while unsupervised. As I was debating on which dad I would sucker into going into the locker room to find out what Cooper was up to, Cooper emerged from the locker room with his swim trucks around his ankles. Take a minute to take this mental scene in... We are at the local YMCA pool. The majority of Abigail's swim team is present. Plenty of other unknowing swimmers are enjoying the family splash pool. It's not a nudist camp.

Sitting in the bleachers with the other parents watching Abigail's practice, I sprang into action and tried to get to him as quickly as possible while he just stood by the pool in his complete nakedness. Abigail's head coach got to him before I could and quickly pulled his trunks up. I still have no clue what gave him the idea that I wouldn't want to tar and feather him for this stunt. He claimed that he couldn't pull his trunks up. Yeah, right. It was just Cooper being Cooper. 

A serious talk about modesty, the inappropriateness of being naked in public, threats of banishment from the pool, a lifetime ban on the men's locker room, and a lifetime ticket to the pool's family bathroom with a parental chaperone took over the remainder of the night. Sigh... See what I mean about exhaustion?

As if I needed proof to know that Cooper couldn't care less about our long talk after the pool stunt, he gave full proof of the idea that he doesn't listen to a word I say. On Saturday we were invited (for the first time) to a friend's house to swim in their pool. My friend greeted us in the entryway of her gorgeous home, and Abigail and I followed her into the living room to meet her grandfather who was visiting. Here is where I should not have assumed that Cooper was following us and demostrating approprate social skills. Nope. I should never assume that Cooper is demostrating appropriate social skills. As I was shaking the grandfather's hand, Cooper came into the living room stark naked. Yes, he did it again, but this time without the swim trunks around the ankles. He had stripped down to nothing in my friend's entry way and now wanted to know where his swim trunks were. I know what you're thinking, and you're wrong. I'm not making up one bit of this tale. It's just a verbal snapshot of my weekend. And, I don't have actual pictures to share. This kid is going to wear me out before we get through the next 14 years of him living at home.

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My paying gig has slowed to a normal 40-hour week recently so I've had the time and energy for photography, which is certainly not a paying gig. Since my schedule forced me to discontinue the class I was talking at UT a bit more than a year ago, I've had no chance to get back to learning how to use my camera correctly. In essence, I've been using an expensive point and shoot. What a waste. But, the important thing is that I really do want to learn how to use it. I have a new instructional book and am going to start memorizing it tonight. And, I hope to get plugged in to a workshop very soon. Even more exciting, my awesome mother-in-law bought me a new portrait lens last week for my birthday. I can't wait to put it into action this week. Surely I can snag a few minutes to use it on my kiddos. (That is, if Cooper will keep his clothes on.) In the meantime, my sister's mother-in-law asked me to take a few pics of her youngest son for his senior photos. Again, I don't know what I'm doing with a camera so I hope she doesn't absolutely hate them. (At least she'll know she got her money's worth. Ha!) Here's a few pics of Colin to share with you.









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I've been working on filing our taxes for the past month. I just work on it as my schedule allows.  It gives me a headache of annoyance so I try not to let my schedule allow for very long periods of availability. It's just annoying because I am working terribly hard at trying not to give the government 8 of the 10 pennies we own, but they are incredibly insistent on prying them from my hands. And, every time I hear a news report about the deficit and lack of budget and all the yahoos (not) trying to balance Uncle Sam's checkbook, it makes me want to hold onto at least 6 or 7 of our 10 pennies. I just can't stand the idea of giving so much to someone who can't use it wisely. On that note, I have to share this video with you about our current federal budgeting woes. It speaks very wisely to those who think higher taxes are the answer to our country's problems. They can't continue to suck all of the money from people who have it or we'll end up with no one who has money to take. Check it out...


See what I mean?! Surely these yahoos can figure out that they are spending entirely too much money! Something, or a lot of somethings, have got to go. The value of programs should not be debated, they just need to be cut. Know what I mean? I love, love, love a Starbucks frappucino to start my morning. But, it's just unrealistic to spend that kind of money. I never made a list of pros and cons to figure out if $1456 of our annual budget should be allotted to my Starbucks habit. It just didn't happen. And, I love to listen to NPR at various times of the day. I especially enjoy the Texas music show on our local KUT every Saturday morning, but we don't have the money to fund it so it has to go. Stop taking all of my pennies and leave some for me!

Okay, that's enough random ranting and rambling for Monday. If you made it all the way to the end of this novel, you deserve a cookie...


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