Bye Bye Blog!

Thanks for reading, and participating. I've decided to take the blog down, just not enough action and interaction to sustain folks! Oh we'll, we tried, just busy we are.

Have a great rest of the summer.

What's a mother to do???

Reading you latest blog dear debbieblue, I can see why you would be beside yourself seeing a baby about to fall out of a window as you read about happening much too often these warm summer days. You did exactly what you should have done and there is one more thing to do but do not expect any thanks for doing it. You need to knock on that door once again and tell that baby's Mom what you saw and how scared you were for her baby's safety and be prepared to be ticked off if the Mother takes offense at your interference in her child raising techniques. Now maybe you will be lucky and the Mom will thank you profusely for saving her baby's life but she may well be quite defensive about her stupidness and carelessness with regard to her child's safety and get very defensive and nasty. However, in good conscience you must tell her what you saw and ask her to please keep that window closed and/or put bars on it in the future. I once had the experience of a young toddler pushing her way through a double sets of doors and getting caught in the middle of them and almost getting trampled and all I did was give her mother a concerned look and the Mother was so incensed by that that she turned around and told me, "Don't you dare look at me like that! She is my kid and not yours!" I was shocked to say the least that she was so damn defensive about her stupidity but felt very sorry for that poor child who most certainly was "an accident waiting to happen!" However, even knowing that, I would still try very hard to talk to that Mom in person and urge her to get that window fixed before something really bad happens. You might get rebuffed but you will have done your best to prevent a real tragedy. For all you know, that Mom might be stressed to the max and not thinking clearly and needs some real help to cope with her life. Your knock on her door might actually be the wake up call she needs to get her act together. GOOD LUCK!

Terrified

So we are driving to work this morning and I look up at a house across the road. 2nd floor, but maybe third b/c the house is on a steepish incline and I think the front of the house is 3 floors but you see two from the side. And I see a babies head in the window. In front of a screen. On the second floor. Poised as if crawling but I can only see hands and a head pressing the screen. I literally cry out "OH MY GOD, there's a baby in the window."

Doug turns the car around in this very slow plodding methodical way and I am BURNING to open the door. "Oh my god, oh my god" I'm chanting - OUT LOUD. It's a minute and feels like a thousand years. We turn around and I look up. The "baby" is about 19 months and he is now STANDING in the window, pushing on the screen, trying to fiddle with the top, full body pressed to the screen, STANDING IN THE WINDOW.

I am now racing towards the house. I call up, but not in a panic voice, "Get back from the window, honey, get down" real calm like - and I'm now at the door. I start ringing the bell, knocking FIRMLY on the door. RING, knock, knock, ring. . .
NOTHING. I look at Doug, "is he still in the window" Doug's standing back so he can react. "Yes"

I start pounding pounding on the door so I think my hand is going to break. Now I'm losing it. No ones opening up. "Hello, hello" I'm calling out "HELLO" "THE BABIES IN THE WINDOW"

Truly so frigging horrific I want to freak out. I'm ready to CLIMB on the roof. We start looking for ways to get up. There's a wire fence and concrete. We can't get any closer. If the window goes, we can't catch him because there's a peaked porch under and he could go any one of three ways.

I am now pounding and ready to run around to the front to look for another door. Anything. Then I see Doug lift his hand.

"Ok, oh, ok, we were just afraid he was going to fall out" and then that was it. Someone came in the room, and got the baby out of the window. I looked up and no one was there. And then we left. I asked Doug, "What happened" and he said "I saw a hand snake out and grab him"

And now I am so freaked out it's not funny. Whoever she was, Doug said she was a blond woman, whoever she was didn't see his little body bowing the screen out. Is she going to get railings? bars? Does she know that if we weren't out there pounding, and if she hadn't come in to look out the window, that he likely could have fallen? I wanted to cry. I don't know what to do. I mean, I want to assume it scared her and that shne'll take action - but how do I know? Nor do I want to call the poilice b/c that's not fair if it was an honest to goodnedss he slipped out for a SECOND. Mom's - what do I do??? Is it an honest accident or do I leave a note saying anything? What would you do?

Weight Watchers & Me - Deb

So I joined wwatchers after seeing a pic of me at my brothers 40th. Doug said I looked cute, I thought I looked cute, and then I saw the pics and I felt horrible. I didn't join b/c I thought I was "fat". I joined b/c I look unhealthy and food is a part of that. I felt, and looked, pasty, flabby, unhealthy. My face looked puffy, broken out, my hair was showing gray - just horrible. So I joined and have been REALLY trying. Following points, walking, taking stairs. It's slow going but today I feel like I really accomplished something. I feel stronger. I had my 4th "weigh in" (I weigh in at home on the WW scale Doug bought and we write it on the board in the bathroom) and I have lost weight. And I feel really good. And my headaches have stopped. Which is unbelievable. I also read this story on their message board from a "Newbie" group I joined.

Justine wrote: "So, when i went to my aqua aerobics class last night, i was feeling self-conscious about being seen in public - between my saddlebags and my need-to-be-waxed legs, a bathing suit wasn't that tempting. But then the teacher shows up. Actually, he wasn't the teacher - who'd cancelled - but a personal trainer called upon to fill in last minute. He wore an eye patch and explained to us that he didn't know he'd be going in the pool today, so he didn't have his glass eye with him. He apologetically but matter-of-factly explained that he can't wear his patch in the pool, but we all assured him we were fine with it.

This may all seem very tangential - i guess my point is that I often let fear/self-consciousness get in the way of doing what I need to do. Meanwhile, this guy who (1)didn't know how to teach the class and (2)was missing an eye just dove right in (no pun intended). I found it pretty inspirational. And I'm glad I went!"

Isn't that a great story??