Heartbreak

Each morning I put my girls on a school bus and expect that hours later that same bus will return them back to me.  Twenty families in CT thought the same thing today but were not as blessed as I was to have my babies return.  Sick, heart-broken and utterly at a loss to understand what could drive anyone to perpetrate such an act only partially describe how I feel today.

Ironically Madison’s school did their first “Emergency” drill of the year yesterday.  For several years our district has done these. They lock the doors to the classroom, hide the children and sit in silence and in the dark until notified that the drill is over.  Madison was a bit nervous about it when she came home.  I explained to her that there are bad people in the world and I was sure they would never need to use what they learned but that it was good for everyone to know what to do just in case.  I always think to myself what have we become that we even have to practice such things in our schools and then something like today happens.

Of course the voices are ringing out calling for gun control.  The tears have not yet stopped flowing yet the speeches and camera grabs have started.  Let’s be honest, drugs are illegal but the last time I heard we had an epidemic in the country.  With that said, I live in New Jersey where we have some of the strictest gun laws in the country and I do not understand how all states are not like NJ.

One thing I do find very ironic, the images shown on the news of the many signs asking for prayers.  On FB many posts of a Jesus like figure holding a child are floating around.  Why are we only allowed to pray when tragedy happens?  I am sure many will disagree with me but maybe gun control is not the issue.  Maybe as a country we have lost our moral compass.  We have little respect for anything, MTV is a good example of this. I remember when the channel started it was Music television now it is sex, drugs, teen pregnancy and lude behavior as fully acceptable and marketed to our young people.  We fight like hell to ensure we do not mention “GOD” but 16 and Pregnant is broadcast nationwide. If we do not teach our kids to respect themselves, how will they respect others?  There is no longer a line between right and wrong, no value placed on anything including life.  No amount of gun control in the world can fix that.

God bless the families who lost their loved ones today.

 

Craft time with mints

If you are on Facebook I am sure you are aware of Pinterest.  I resisted for a long time.  I do not spend that much time on Facebook and figured the last thing I needed was one more thing in my life to take up time.  While recovering from my mastectomy I gave in and conformed.

Randomly I will jump in and find a chuckle at some things, roll my eyes at others and “pin” things that I find very interesting even though in my heart I know I will never, ever do anything with them.  Many of the things I look at are either food  items that I think would be very tasty or craft item.  Madison is a very creative child whose mind is always going.  I try to find things that we could do together.

With the holidays upon us,  the other day I saw something that I thought was perfect.  The DIY peppermint candy serving tray.  The instructions seemed easy enough.  After the holiday show at Madison’s school on Tuesday I took her home with me.  On the way we stopped for the main, and only ingredient, starbright mints.  At home we preheated the oven, laid out the waxed paper on a cookie sheet and crafted our design.  About 8 minutes in the oven and our serving dishes were ready!

Work of Art…no. Fun time with my baby, most defiantly!

 

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To religion or not, that is the question

Tomorrow I have the “Family Celebration” at the Kindergarten.  It is a holiday celebration where the kids will sing.  What I like about it is the fact that unlike many areas of our world right now they are not being told that religion is not alright.  Instead they are learning about different holiday traditions.  I am not exactly sure what the entire line up is for the morning since Madi has tried to keep some secrets but I know We Wish you a Merry Christmas, The Dradle song and a poem about Kwanza are on the list.

I read something earlier which made perfect sense to me.  It was in response to an article that I had read about prisons.  The person wrote that it was interesting that our prisons ensure bibles and other holy books are available to convicts yet we can not mention religion in our schools and maybe just maybe if we open them a little earlier  we would not have such a prison overcrowding issue.  Maybe and maybe not but interesting to think about at least.

At this time of year where every time I turn on the TV to see someone else offended over what someone has done or said, when we argue over Christmas trees or Holiday trees, I am not at all offended that my Catholic child will be singing the dradle song tomorrow or the fact that she thinks it is way cool that they get gifts for several days in a row.  Not sure when it happened or if I am just getting cranky in my older age but it seems that our once strong and proud country has really become thin-skinned.