If you’ve got 20 minutes, this video is interesting.  There’s quite a bit of controversy about it, but in my opinion she makes a lot of good points.

[vimeo vimeo.com/5437212]

This morning I dropped Norah off at preschool, put Adlani and Aliya on the bus, and went back to preschool for an hour of PTO business.  As I walked to the front door, I met up with a police officer heading in the same direction.  He didn’t look like he was in a hurry, but I did notice that he was wearing his gun which seemed unusual if he was going to spend time in a preschool class.  Personally, I’d be a little worried that the shorty mob would overtake him and gain control of his weapon, but I guess he felt confident that he’d be able to subdue them.

Just inside the front door, we met Norah’s teacher, who was obviously waiting for the officer.  When she saw me, she said, “HE (pointing to the officer) can help us with YOUR daughter!”

What a brilliant idea!  Yesterday I got an email from the teacher saying that Norah wouldn’t get in line, yelled “NO!” in the teacher’s face, pushed a kid, spit at somebody, and I can’t even remember what else.  All in one day!

I turned to the officer with what I’m sure he thought was an inappropriate amount of excitement and said, “YES!  When you see the little curly-headed one, tell her that if she doesn’t follow the rules she’ll have to go to jail!  And make sure you say it in English, because she probably doesn’t know the word for ‘jail’ in Spanish!”

Norah came home with her typical *fresh* attitude, so I think she’s going to need another visit with El Policia.
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Today I went into the building maintenance department for a public school system in New Hampshire. I was introduced to a woman there and she said, “Hey! You’re the woman from ih@tehardware.com!”

I also received a comment on my work blog today from a former coworker.  He said, “Lori, this site rocks! It’s well organized, covers all the important stuff, and most importantly it’s fun! The world has needed something like this for a long time. THANK YOU!”

I’m really feeling the love right now.  I’m still working on how my fame is going to pay for 3 college educations, but at least I’m feeling the love.
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While I was in the process of finding and adopting kittens at Christmas, there were several occasions where I wondered if I’d lost my sanity completely.  I worried that the kids would lose interest in them, leaving me to grudgingly clean the litter box for the next 15 years and then bury them in the back yard.

I’m not really a cat person.  My mother is a cat person.  We always had cats while we were growing up and I do like them, but I’ve got way too much going on in my life to focus on two more creatures.  I figured I’d give them a roof over their heads and two bowls of dry food per day and they’d get all the love they needed from the kids. Or so I thought. 

What I didn’t realize was that we were adopting the COOLEST cats EVER!  We got them just before Christmas and the kids named them Lisa (the calico) and Henry (the tuxedo).  Close to three months later when most of their Christmas gifts are lost, broken, or forgotten, the kids still fight over who’s going to play with the kittens.

And now they have to fight ME for them!  I’ve never known cats like these.  They are SO mellow and they just love to be held and petted.  The kids carry them around like dolls and they don’t seem to mind.  So far they’re not exhibiting any of that uppity cat-behavior, and they even like the dog.  She’s constantly chasing them and licking them, but they keep coming back for more.

Aliya is doing her Sage project on Cat & Kitten Development and her teacher said she could bring Lisa and Henry in as part of her presentation.  Maybe they could help with the school’s mouse problem.
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In the interest of full disclosure, I don’t get paid for talking about any products on this blog (unless you count door closers and locks because technically I get a paycheck for those).  I don’t have boxes of free BMDs showing up at my door for testing, or even a free bottle of Vodka Mist.  But when I try a product and it works, I like to tell my friends about it.  Plus when I want to buy it again and can’t remember the name of it, I know I can come to the blog and find it.

Ever since I’ve had kids, every cold I get turns into bronchitis or walking pneumonia.  Once I had both at the same time.  When I was pregnant I basically had bronchitis the entire time.  Every time I had a coughing fit the people around me stepped back in case I sprung a leak or shot the baby out.

A few months ago I felt another cold coming on, and for whatever reason I REALLY couldn’t afford to get sick.  Maybe I had a presentation coming up or a trip planned, but whatever the reason, it was enough to send me to Whole Foods to find a treatment that would cut my cold short before it could develop into something bigger.

I bought Quick Defense that day, and it worked.  I didn’t take 10 capsules per day as directed…I took about 4 per day for a couple of days.  I figured it might be a coincidence so I didn’t run out and tell everyone about it, but I have now used it to head off 4 colds.  I really think it works!  I started to get a cold this week and I couldn’t find my bottle of Quick Defense for about 24 hours, but it still worked.  I took 4 capsules yesterday and the cold is basically gone.  It’s mostly echinacea, but you can check the Gaia website for a full list of ingredients. 

Next time you feel the first signs of a cold, run out to Whole Foods for some Quick Defense!  For kids, Gaia has echinacea drops that contain some of the same ingredients.  If I can reduce the number of days I have to look at snot-covered faces and crusty boogers, it’s definitely worth a try!   
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