A Cinderella Story

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful, cheerful young doll named Cinderella. We've all heard the story a thousand times. The dead parents, the evil step-mother, the ugly step-sisters, the fairy godmother and so on. Yet still, despite all these traumatic events, Cinderella remained kind and gentle, with a song on her lips. That is, until she met Bella, the young German Shepard with a thing for chewing toys....hers or Emily's. And so now, I present you with the Cinderella story you haven't heard. I must warn you, this is no fairy tale with a happy ending. Oh no, this is a grisly story of pain and suffering and callous indiference for the feelings of this happy little doll and a sweet, mostly innocent young girl. I have the pictures to prove it. You see, it all happened one Saturday afternoon when the whole house was quiet. These times are rare and so whenever Emily is napping on a weekend, so are her parents. And it is then that the dastardly deed was done. Poor Cinderella was left laying on the floor, and while everyone was soundly sleeping, Bella, the beastly dog began her nightmarish treatment of the fair doll. Bella worked quietly, and to her credit, Cinderella made not a peep, but alas, she would never be the same again. And now, I give you the pictures - WARNING- they are graphic!

Poor Cinderella. She really was beside herself that day, yet still, wearing her ballgown and not a hair out of place. A real princess.

The carnage, up close.

Despite the obvious loss of four fingers, a forearm and complete dismemberment, Cinderella still gives us a brave and cheery "thumbs up".

The mangled stump...this will definitely make her chores much more difficult.

Yet still, despite the horror and trauma, Cinderella maintains her lovely smile. What a gal!

Cats are Definitely Better

Not to bring up this old debate (well, sort of) but I can say that no cat I've ever owned has CHEWED UP MY FAIRLY NEW CURTAINS while laying in her dog bed by the sliding glass door.


BAD DOG!!!!!!!!!


Enough said.

Our Not-So-Tiny Dancer

Miss Emily was in the mood to dance the other night, so I took advantage of the opportunity to take some fun candid pictures. She's quite the little ham sometimes.

The classic ballerina pose.
Irish jig, anyone?
Note the "dancing slippers" that are a full size (at least) too small. She still insists on wearing them.
Can you say "Flash Dance"? Seriously, could her little legs look any longer? She's 3.5 years old and 43 inches tall. She looks like a 5-6 year old, heightwise.

Emily's New Bathroom

Emily's bathroom (and the guest bathroom) needed a facelift. The former owners of this house had a young boy so the bathroom was painted navy and dingy white with a baseball border. This, of course, is unacceptable for a vibrant little girl like Em, so enter The Penguins! The picture below is of her new shower curtain with playful penguins snorkeling, surfing and lounging around.

The next picture shows her new over-the-toilet etagere storage area, the curtain (with cute penguin hooks) and the wall paint color ( it matches the mid-tone aqua color in the curtain).

Next up are her new towels to complement and contrast the cool blue-greens in the room.
And last, but not least, her new toilet paper/tissue box storage unit and the coordinating bath rug. It's even cuter in person!

Sick and Sicker

This will be quick. I'm no longer puking. That was a one-night thing, thank goodness. Now it's back to the same sinus infection/upper respiritory infection sickness that I had about 3 weeks ago. It feels exactly the same.

Last time, I suffered through the symptoms for about 9 days before going to the doctor to beg for help. He prescribed a round of Amoxicillin in the amount of 60 pills over 10 days time. I took it all, as directed and felt better. Then about two weeks later, it reared it's ugly head again.

This time, I went to the weekend clinic after two days of symptoms and explained that this was my second go-round. The doctor spent all of 2 minutes with me and prescribed some VERY expensive antibiotic called Avelox for 10 more days. I've taken two rounds and I still don't feel better. I'm also taking sudafed and mucinex, both of which make the symptoms more bearable, but barely. So that's the update from here. Fun stuff...

Kneeling at the Porcelain Throne

Photo found at: http://media3.guzer.com/pictures/dog_drink_toilet.jpg

Oh, there's really nothing quite as humbling as hugging the toilet. I spent all morning yesterday and all night last night doing just that, for two very different reasons.



I began yesterday feeling fine. So fine, that I tackled priming Emily's tiny bathroom. I must say, having to hug the toilet to paint around it is a special privilege. I even thought I might finish the whole job in one day (which for me, painting, is a record). But by afternoon, I wasn't feeling so perky. I waited until Andrew came home, ran to Target and Bed, Bath and Beyond to exchange some bathroom accessories that didn't match the paint as I had hoped and then grabbed some dinner for A and I at Chipotle (a great, very spicy Mexican restaurant). I wasn't very hungry, so I only ordered two soft tacos and a bag of chips. My stomach was feeling a little off, but I hadn't eaten much all day, I'd been breathing paint fumes and I just figured I had some acid churning around in there. Sometimes, food helps. Last night, it didn't.



By bedtime, I had a feeling it was going to be a long, uncomfortable night. I was right. I only stayed in bed for about 45 minutes at most. I just couldn't get comfortable. It was sort of like how I felt when I was in labor. Not terrible, but not comfortable either. Not super nauseous, but a little yucky. So I went downstairs to lay on the couch and watch a little tv in the hopes of distracting my brain enough that I could sleep through whatever was going on.



It wasn't to be. I kept feeling pukey, so I would get up, walk through the kitchen to the tiny half-bath and kneel at the toilet, accompanied by Bob the cat each time, falsely believing that she was going to be fed whenever I walked through the kitchen. But nothing happened. So after a while I would go back to the couch and try to rest some more.



But eventually, the urge to purge became too great, I knelt at the "porcelain throne" with Bob at my side, and prayed for it all to be over quickly. I hate vomiting. But there comes a point where what has gone in MUST come out and I begin to pray that it will happen quickly and completely in one effort. And so it did. And I felt better....and finally around 5:00 am, I drifted off to sleep curled up in the recliner.



Let's just say, it's going to be a long while before I eat at Chipotle again. I'm certain that it had nothing to do with my sickness, but still, it's lost all appeal to me for the time being, much to Andrew's great chagrin.



Then to top it all off, I'm almost positive that I am catching Emily's cold. My throat has that post-nasal-drip sore feeling. My glands are swollen and my eyes hurt.



Then again, at least I'm not puking anymore and just about anything is more bearable than that.

Infuriating Illegal Alien "Study"

WNDU, out of South Bend, IN., reports that "Study shows that illegal immigrants add to South Bend economy".

Oh really? How so? "Tell me more" you might say. Well here goes....

" 'If the undocumented population of South Bend was deported, the community would have much to lose.'

That's the conclusion of a study titled, "Coming to America: The Economic Impact of Undocumented Workers in South Bend."

It was conducted by the Notre Dame economics department and included 60 individuals, 40 of them undocumented, all members of St. Adalbert's Parish in South Bend's largest Hispanic neighborhood. Rev. Christopher Cox from the Church was part of the research team." (emphasis added)

The "study" mentioned that the illegals, on average, added a net figure of $3000 to the local and national economy. Then they go on to say that this figure is being spent only in the local economy. This is the second flaw of the "study". The first, of course, being that these people are referred to as "illegal immigrants" or "undocumented workers". Let's call them what we should...illegal aliens or criminals. Why sugar-coat it? This would only be accurate.

Then, of course, there is the usual liberal drivel about how there are all these jobs that Americans won't do. Hmmm....would these be jobs in the fast food industry or perhaps at Walmart or hotel housekeeping? I can assure you that if I had no education and needed a job to support my family, but was white, I wouldn't hesitate to take these jobs. So once again, the study is based on a false premise.

Next, the news story provides these two infuriating little tidbits of falsitude (is that a word?)

" 'The federal government has failed to provide a pathway to individuals who have been allowed to cross the borders to be legal so that they can fully contribute and give their tax dollars back to the nation,' McDowell says."

"The study continues to say, "The reality is that undocumented immigrants receive little government aid (often times out of fear of getting caught), are loyal taxpayers, and stimulate job growth in the community.' "

Again I say, Oh really? Seriously, the government hasn't provided a "pathway" for immigrants to legally cross the border and contribute and pay taxes? Am I really supposed to believe that? Then why is that so many generations of legal immigrants have made very prosperous lives for themselves while abiding BY THE LAW?

The second quote from the article is equally unbelieveable. The idea that illegal aliens don't receive aid from the federal AND local government is laughable at best. Maybe they don't receive a welfare check every month or week or however they come, but they do receive plenty of free or reduced-cost services such as health in the overwhelmed emergency rooms, free school lunches and school services and a host of other aid. Then there is the whole idea that these illegal aliens pay taxes. Okay, yes they pay sales tax like the rest of us, but how can they possibly pay federal taxes unless they have stolen someone's identity and social security number which counts as a second criminal offense.

And last, but certainly not least, why is St. Adalbert's Parish and Notre Dame University not reporting these illegal aliens? For this reason and the completely flawed and biased study, both should be ashamed of themselves.

***UPDATE***

As of Thursday morning, this article seems to have disappeared from WNDU's homepage. It can still be accessed through the link, however. As you might imagine, reaction was pretty "heated". Interesting, though. Most headlines stay on the homepage for MUCH longer than that.