JOEY SWIMMING

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

2) Arch Creek El - This was the name of a Tequesta Indian settlement in Miami. It refers to the natural limestone bridge in the area.

3) Bel-Aire - This is a Scottish family name that dates back to the early 13th century. Spelling deviations go as far as BLAIR. There are connections to William Wallace (think Mel Gibson in Braveheart).

4) Barbara Hawkins El- This school used to be called North Carol City El. She was a principal there and they renamed the school in honor of her.

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Schools and streets get named after local famous people and native plants.
At least, that is what I think.

But I don't know which is which or what the person did to get famous in the first place. I am going to research and share.

That way, we can all feel a little bit more edumakated.

1) Allapatah - Seminole word for Alligator.

UNDERWATER JOEY

ARE YOU ON CRACK?

We ask Joey this all the time.

Mark and I are going to get in trouble when she starts asking other students or teachers this question.

OKIE DOKIE

Mommy: Okie Dokie!

Joey: Okie Dupee!

(that is our work for butt)


Mommy: Okie Dokie!

Joey: Okie Dopey!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA!

SURVIVAL SWIM LESSON

HURRICANE A COMIN'?

I made the mistake of trying to go grocery shopping the Sunday afternoon before the 1st day of school.

It shan't happen again.

The day before Thanksgiving doesn't even compare.

I haven't seen Publix look like that since the last real Hurricane was coming.

No parking.

No carts up front.

All lines open.

The best part was the Deli line.

"Now serving number 94."

I drew number 19.

I'm not kidding.

MY VOTING CHEAT SHEET

Here are my endorsements for the August 24 primaries.

I'm a registered Democrat so remember, if you are Republican, you have some different choices.

To print a sample ballot, follow this link: http://www.miamidade.gov/elections/s_ballots/sample-ballot_8-24-10.pdf

US Senator:

Maurice A. Ferre

(Meek and his mom are no good & Green should go back to cruising the Mediterranean with Mike Tyson, sluts and drugs.)

Governor:

Alex Sink

Attorney General:

Dan Gelber

Circuit Judge 45:

Samantha Ruiz Cohen

Circuit Judge 62:

Monica Gordo

Circuit Judge 7:

Edward Newman

Circut Judge 11:

Flora Seff

(All the above judges are SAVE Dade endorsed except they made no endorsement in group 7.)

Board of County Commissioners 8:

Annette Taddeo

County Question 1:

Yes

(If we are going to have a strong mayor system, then let's do it. One less paycheck to pay for with tax dollars. But I'm still not sure if the strong mayor system is the way to go.)

County Question 2:

Yes

(This is about Islandia. A town that exists only on paper and needs to be dissolved.)

County Question 3:

No

(No, I'm not going to give up my right to vote on whether FPL can raise my bill!)

READ BETWEEN THE LINES: ENDORSEMENTS

I've heard a lot of people mention they don't plan on voting on Tuesday because they don't know enough about the candidates or the issues, don't have time to research and won't vote when uninformed.

Endorsements.

That is the quick and easy shortcut to figuring out who to vote for.

Who is a candidate endorsed by?

Name the organizations that you are a member of/donate to (or would be if you had the money).

Example: NOW (National Organization for Women), Sierra Club, Planned Parenthood, Teacher's Union, SAVE DADE

Look at their endorsement pages. Those groups spent a lot of time researching, and in most cases, interviewing candidates before giving out their endorsement. You can also go to a candidate's web page and their will usually have a page that will list all their endorsements.

I also find it helpful sometimes to go to the pages of organizations I disagree with and see who they recommend. That way I know who NOT to vote for.

Example: Christian Family Coalition

So if you don't have time to look up past newspaper articles or read through all the hype on the pile of postcards that have been put in your mailbox, you know what to do.

HI HO, HI HO, IT'S OFF TO WORK I GO!

So tomorrow I start back full time at my parent's office till Christmas & Joey starts preschool.

Dad got more business and Mom isn't sure how many more office girls she is going to need. She has had to hire and then fire before because she over-estimated and doesn't want to do it again. So she and I are going to go up for a while while she hires and trains girls.

Joey is going to the same preschool that Austin goes to and they both seem excited about that.

We went to orientation today and she seems to like the place and got along well with the 15 month old that we know will be in her class.

Blog entries about preschool to come!

SHAMPOO MOHAWK

DON'T THROW THE TOMATO

Mommy: Joey! Don't throw tomatoes!

It was a fake tomato, part of her play kitchen. But I still ended up laughing at myself for saying it.

ITALIAN 101

Joey just failed her 1st Italian lesson.

She can't say ANY of the names in Pinocchio except for Jiminy Cricket "Jimmy".

Pinocchio

Geppetto

Fiagaro

Cleo

Stromboli

Monstro

Usually she can repeat anything you say to a passable degree. We aren't even in the ballpark here.

SUNDAY SLEEP IN

When Joey wakes up on the weekend, one of us (1,2,3... NOT IT!) has to get up and change her diaper. But then we just bring her into bed with us for snuggle time.

NON PARTISAN MY ASS

We have a real race going for the County Commissioners Seat, District 8.

The names as they appear on the ballot:

Lynda G. Bell

Eugene Flinn

A.E. "Albert" Harum-Alvarez

Daniel "Danny" Marmorstein

Obdulio Piedra

Annette Taddeo

I am sad to see Katy Sorenson go. She was a true environmentalist. Most of the people trying to fill her shoes are also pretty green. So it would seem like a dream, having to decide between more then one good candidate.

But let's take a second and look at the bigger picture.

County Commissioner may not be the last stop in politics for the candidate who wins this seat. They could go on to "bigger and better" things.

So even though the county commission seat is considered non-partisan, you still need to consider a candidate's position on "social issues" like abortion and gay rights, even if they'll never be voting on anything to do with it while county commissioner.

Lynda Bell is a social extreme. She is a religious conservative and very pro-life.

No thank you.

Your buddy "Albert", though not as extreme, was still endorsed by the Christian Family Coalition along with Lynda Bell.

Basically anyone they endorse, I don't.

Eugene Flinn's opinion is not obvious, so I have e-mailed my questions and am waiting for a response.

In the meanwhile, there is a VOTE FOR TADDEO sign on my front yard.

And my parent's too.

BRING YOUR FATHER HOME DAY

Instead of a Bring Your Daughter To Work Day,

This was Bring Your Father Home Day!

Actually, this is a weekday afternoon and Uncle Cracker had this machine at his house removing and planting big trees. So he came over and helped us rip out some ugly bushes and plant a pretty oak.

FLAG ETIQUETTE

I know. What gives?

It's not 4th of July, Memorial Day, Veteran's day... why the flag topic?

It doesn't need to be a holiday to fly a flag. But no one seems to do it right anymore.

I don't think they mean harm, they just don't know the rules.

I have recently seen flags flying at night with no light on them.

Flag clothes.

People who don't know how to fold a flag.

Letting the flag touch the ground.

A lot of people just don't know how disrepstful this is.

Would you be offended if I took a crucifix and dragged it through the dirt?

How about hanging it upside down?

Here is a link to Flag etiquette.

http://www.usflag.org/flag.etiquette.html

Please share.

ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING

Joey has been babysat.

Like, officially.

Until today, the only people who have watched Joey besides Mark and myself have been family.

(The first name that Joey said after "Mama" & "Dada" was "Chris.")

Today, Joey spent the day with Chelsea.

She is the daughter of family friends and a very sweet girl.

Joey loves her because she pays attention to her ALL DAY LONG! She reads books, watches movies and they even went swimming in the pool.

And Joey was a good girl.

She is just getting SO BIG!

I'LL GET IT!

Joey gets the phone.

If I'm stuck on the toilet and the phone rings, I can ask her to get the phone for me and she will.

She doesn't answer it,

She doesn't play with it when she's not supposed to,

And she'll even put it back on the charger if I ask her to.

Mark is overjoyed.

We are that much closer to her being able to bring him a beer.

NAME THAT TUNE

Joey can name that tune in less then 6 seconds.

I have a best of Disney mix CD in my car.

Angela Lansbury hadn't even started singing yet; all you can hear is strings and Joey bursts out in the back seat

"Belle!"

"Beast!"

"Potsy" (That is what she calls Mrs. Pots, Angela Lansbury's character, who sings this song.)

She can do it for a lot of songs.

You should see her sing and dance along to "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious."

"Zipieda, zipieda, zipieda!"

(We thought she was singing zippidee doo da, but then we figured out she was actually singing Supercal. She'll burst out into this song at random points in the day.

NO WANT TO

Mommy: Joey, are you hungry?

Joey: No.

Mommy: How bout' we eat some lunch?

Joey: No want to.

Why was I in such a rush to get my kid to talk again?

KIDS SAY THE DARNEDEST THINGS

I was having a bad day.

It culminated with me grabbing a gallon of milk from the fridge and the milk tray and both gallons of milk dropping to the floor.

"GOD DAMN IT!"

That's what I yelled. Mark and Joey were in the other corner of the kitchen getting her water cup from her stool. I looked at them and took a deep breath to compose myself.

Joey then stood up, put her hands in the air, palms up, and said,

"What happened?"

Mark and I just laughed.

That is KaKi, through and through.

Whenever one of the kids falls, a toy gets stuck, someone gets hurt... anything, those hands come up and she asks with a big smile on her face "Uh... What happened?"

Kaki uses the word "Shit" often. And none of the kids have ever repeated her. Austin would just ask her "Happen Kaki?"

JOEY SWIM LESSONS

SATAN'S NACHO FARTS

It's hotter than...

You fill in the blank with whatever you like, that is how hot it is in my house right now.

Our AC finally quit before we could fire it. (We knew we were running on borrowed time.)

That is why I've been absent online for a while.

I sought refuge with the in-laws.

But the AC guys are here now installing a new one.

It is over 90 degrees in my house right now.

So I'm jumping in the pool occasionally and staying in my bathing suit all day.

Joey deserted me.

She called Chris to rescue her and she has gone to nap at Grammy's. (That is what she calls my mom.)

Well, that's kinda how it went.

BLESS YOU!

I find myself fake sneezing several times a day just so I can here Joey say:

"BLESS YOU!"