Ms Sparky

Last week Keelen and I went to visit his other grandparents in Idaho. We both had a great time. We went to the Zoo and Discovery Center, rented paddle boats and played at the park. He had a wonderful time and I got a chance to get to know his grandparents better.

Normally Keelen doesn’t eat junk food. The sugar just spins him up and I normally end up paying the price. But, this was a special occasion so I didn’t fuss too much about it.

In order to get him out of the zoo without throwing a big fit, I bribed him with ice cream. We went to TCBY’s and he had some kind of bright blue ice cream that actually turned his lips and tongue blue. He thought it was cool and I thought “Oh great….that’s just not going to wash off!!”

Yesterday he comes running out of the bathroom yelling “Grandma…Grandma come here…come here…look at this!!!” I was thinking “Oh God now what!” He took my hand and led me back to the bathroom. He goes “Look Grandma look!” pointing in the toilet. I looked and saw the brightest blue poop I had ever seen in my life. Actually it was the only blue poop I had ever seen. It was this color of BLUE ! I was a bit concerned at first. It took me a few minutes to figure out what had caused that, then I remembered….the ice cream. It was just as blue coming out and it was going in.

I’m not sure we should really be eating stuff like that. But I guess if the FDA says it’s OK then it must be OK….right?

Ms Sparky

I try to live my life in such a way
That when my feet hit the floor in the morning
Satan shudders and says
“OH SHIT…SHE’S AWAKE!!!”

Ms Sparky
(Thanks Karin)

Keelen and I are getting ready to fly to visit his other Grandparents. It was a choice between a 10 hour road trip or a 1 hour flight. Hmmmmm……tough decision!!!

He’s flown before, but it’s the first flight he will really remember it. Although it’s only about an hour, that will be plenty long enough if things aren’t going well. I hope his ears equalize. That can be so amazingly painful. That happened to me flying back from Beijing. Oh My God!!! It was like someone was stabbing me in the ear with an ice pick. I actually cried!!!

I am finishing last minute packing trying to make sure I have everything he will need and still get it through security and keep it as carry-on. He packed everything he wanted to take last night. That included a stuffed dog so big that I would’ve had to buy it it’s own seat. He was very insistent about taking it, but I finally convinced him it would be best if the dog stayed home and took care of the house while we were gone.

I have probably flown over 100,000 miles in the last three years. But never with a 5 year old. I have seen so many unhappy children and parents at airports and on planes. This should be interesting.

Wish me luck.

Ms Sparky

Father’s all over are being honored on this special day with cards, tools and ties they will never wear. They really have their jobs cut out for them. Not having raised boys before now, I know that being a great role model for a boy can be a full time job. This is what we’ve learned.

I’ve often wondered what the big deal was with Friday the 13th. So I did me a little research.

The fear of Friday the 13th is rooted in ancient, separate bad-luck associations with the number 13 and the day Friday. The two unlucky entities combine to make one super unlucky day.

There is a Norse myth about 12 gods having a dinner party at Valhalla, their heaven. In walked the uninvited 13th guest, the mischievous Loki. Once there, Loki arranged for Hoder, the blind god of darkness, to shoot Balder the Beautiful, the god of joy and gladness, with a mistletoe-tipped arrow. Balder died and the Earth got dark. The whole Earth mourned.

There is a Biblical reference to the unlucky number 13. Judas, the apostle who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th guest to the Last Supper.

A particularly bad Friday the 13th occurred in the middle ages. On a Friday the 13th in 1306, King Philip of France arrested the revered Knights Templar and began torturing them, marking the occasion as a day of evil.

In ancient Rome, witches reportedly gathered in groups of 12. The 13th was believed to be the devil.

Both Friday and the number 13 were once closely associated with capital punishment. In British tradition, Friday was the conventional day for public hangings, and there were supposedly 13 steps leading up to the noose.

It is traditionally believed that Eve tempted Adam with the apple on a Friday. Tradition also has it that the Flood in the Bible, the confusion at the Tower of Babel, and the death of Jesus Christ all took place on Friday.

Numerologists consider 12 a “complete” number. There are 12 months in a year, 12 signs of the zodiac, 12 gods of Olympus, 12 labors of Hercules, 12 tribes of Israel, and 12 apostles of Jesus. In exceeding 12 by 1, 13′s association with bad luck has to do with just being a little beyond completeness.

Now that you know where this strange irrational fear of Friday the 13th came from, here are but a few samples of how we deal with it.

1. More than 80 percent of high-rises lack a 13th floor.
2. Airplanes have no 13th aisle.
3. Hospitals and hotels regularly have no room number 13.
4. Italians omit the number 13 from their national lottery.
5. On streets in Florence, Italy, the house between number 12 and 14 is addressed as 12 1/2.
6. Many cities do not have a 13th Street or a 13th Avenue
7. Many airports skip the 13th gate.
8. In France, socialites known as the quatorziens (fourteeners) once made themselves available as 14th guests to keep a dinner party from an unlucky fate.

Many “triskaidekaphobes”, as those who fear the unlucky number are known, point to the ill-fated mission to the moon, Apollo 13.

If you have 13 letters in your name, you will have the devil’s luck . Jack the Ripper, Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, Theodore Bundy and Albert De Salvo all have 13 letters in their names.

So there you have it. Everything you ever wanted to know…or not…about Friday the 13th.

Ms Sparky