Rain!

Well  fall is officially here, and it hit us with a bang! Bringing in rain and wind. Having lived in Oregon all my life it's no surprise to me, and yet every year you get people that still complain about the rain. They act all surprised that it rains all season (even though it does this every year) and run and hide until it stops raining. My advice to you: buy some rain gear and enjoy the fresh air! Being outside is good for you. If you don't like the rain, then I'm sorry you are living in the wrong state.

It's good for kids to be outside as well. I don't agree with keeping kids inside all day. Kids need to be outside, explore, get dirty, and experience scraps and bruises. It's all part of being a kid. At work we take kids outside in all types of weather. Hot, cold, rain or snow. You ever heard of the saying, "put on a coat, or you will catch a cold"? Well it's a myth. You can not catch the common cold by being cold. You catch it by breathing in the same air as an infected person. The reason why the common cold is so common in the fall and winter months: because people spend too much time inside! Kids who are spend more time outside are less likely to get sick. There are also less behavioral issues. Being outside gives kids the freedom to run around, have fun and just be a kid.

Are there other sicknesses that you can catch from being outside? Yes. Hypothermia is most common, which happens by not wearing proper clothing while being in the rain. That's why companies have created these things called rain coats and rain boots. There are even rain pants that you can put on over your regular pants. Add some layers under neath it all and you are nice and cozy.

So go outside, enjoy the fresh air. Oregon is known for rain so don't plan on it leaving anytime soon

Halloween costume battle

Planning on going to a Halloween party today (and just found out about it 4 days ago) which meant last minute costume shopping. Considering Halloween is on Wednesday there weren't a lot of options and after going to two different Halloween stores I was finally able to find one.

One thing I've noticed about costumes these days: they barley cover anything at all! They skirt isn't even long enough to cover your butt, the top is low cut so you boobs can show, and most of the time the costume comes in a "one size fits most" which usually means small. It really frustrates me that most Halloween costumes are made to fit small skinny girls with big boobs.

Can you tell you she is suppose to be a cop?

Don't get me wrong I would love to be able to pull it off, but being that I'm a bigger sized and curvy girl, it's just not going to work out. Not very many costumes come in a large size and I can't wear something that revealing to work on Halloween. This doesn't leave me with very many options. It really bothers me that Halloween costumes are targeted towards being skinny and looking "sexy." The costume I ended up buying is super short so I had to modify it, because personally I don't like my butt hanging out. Also the costume only came with a dress, no accessories. You can't really tell what I'm suppose to be without accessories consider it's just a small piece of fabric, so you are forced to buy the accessories separately, causing you to spend more money.

Honestly why the hell should I have to pay $60 to have a costume that only covers half of my body. The less fabric, the cheaper is should be!!

Guest Post: Dog drama

I have a friend who is going through a difficult situation right now. A couple of months ago she had found a dog wondering the streets as a stray. Being the animal lover that she is, she took in the dog, took care of it, called the humane society and attempted to find the dog's owners. 30 days later she claimed the dog as her and was really a happy. Until an unfortunate event when the supposedly owners saw her walking "their" dog and called the police on her. The cop then forced her to give the dog back to them.

After all she did for that dog, there was no "thank you," no explanation as to where they have been for the past month, and no pay back for the vet fees my friend had to pay. I for one, don't think the officer was in the right to force her to give back the dog. I mean, the people didn't really have proof that it was their dog, just going by word of mouth. That's almost as bad as a child at my school claiming that a toy is theirs all because it looks like a toy they have at home. Ridiculous honestly. Tell me what you think

"So, Easter Sunday Frank & I decided to take Spock out for a walk in the local park. As we got there this family who barely spoke any English, making conversation difficult, claimed that he was their lost dog. They had a photo of a white lab puppy on their phone, but because I licensed Spock in my name, I told them that I was sorry, but he is my dog.

When we got home from our long and stressful walk we got a phone call from a sheriff asking us to meet him at the park w/Spock. We did & he forced us to give Spock to the family. He gave me two choices 1) Give him to the family, or 2) He would arrest me and take Spock by physical force and give him to the family. So I gave them the dog.

Once home Frank & I started researching what was going on, and the legality of it all. I want Spock back! We found that the officer was in the wrong. According to our research, dogs are considered property, property disputes are to be handled in small claims, and an officer should not enforce the transfer of property from one person to another unless ordered by a judge. Secondly, according to ORS 98.025 we should have been paid for the cost of care we gave to him BEFORE the property was transferred.

I did lots of research and called a few places. Talked with another sheriff from the county, who was standing by his officer saying he did everything right, so we are now waiting on a friend to get us the phone number for a civil lawyer who specializes in animal cases. We will be filing a complaint against the officer who treated us terribly and who we believe way over-stepped his bounds.

After the consultation with the lawyer, we are going to be going to the family to give them 2 options.
1) We will offer to purchase Spock from them, both for the price they paid originally, and if they can prove w/receipts they put money into vet bills for puppy-shots, we will pay that as well.
OR
2) If they are not willing to sell him to us, we are going to request that they pay us for the vet bills & food expense we put into him. That is supported by ORS 98.025 where we should be reimbursed for the care of found property. The general example I found about property, is that if you found some one's bike, and had to pay to store it, they would be required to pay you the fees you incurred while it was in your care. That is supposed to happen before they get the property back. This didn't happen in our case, but that's not the family's fault, that's the officer's.

If they totally refuse we will be taking them to court, and requesting the court demand they not only pay us for his care but for our legal fees as well.

The sheriff I spoke with on the phone told me that for Spock to have legally been ours we would have had to follow ORS 98.005. It isn't obviously stated ANYWHERE in the found-dog section of the county or shelter website that I needed to do any of that. But it states that there's basically just a few things we would have to do:
We would have had to submit in writing that we found him to the county clerk. Post an ad with description and my name, address, and the final date for some one to claim him in the newspaper 1ce a week for two weeks. If no one claimed him after 3 months from the written submission date, he would have been legally assigned as my property.

So a heads up to every one out there, just because a dog is licensed in your name, does not mean they are legally yours"

Credit: Dog Drama By Christiane

Bullying: A REAL problem

I'm not sure if I'm actually going to watch this movie, it's looks sad and depressing but at the same time really important. Bullying is a huge problem these days, and it seems to continue to be ignored. Growing up I remember their being problems of kids picking on each other. It would happen, right there in front of the teacher or principal and they would simply just turn the other way, like nothing had happen. I always felt a sense of anger. How could they just ignore it? And the teacher they show in the video, "they are as good as gold," using the same excuse as boys will be boys, and they are just cruel at this age. Well I'm not buying it!

When I was a kid. I was the one that stood up for the other kids being picked on. I made friends with "the loner" who was always by himself. I stopped the behavior. I stood up to the silence. It was sad to see that their weren't very many people that stood with me, even my friends. I was made fun of myself because I was friends with what was known as "the losers" to most people.

It's really sad to see this kind of stuff being ignored and brushed off like it's no big deal. I see this stuff happen in my class of 4 and 5 year olds. Not on MY watch. As soon as I see even the slightest amount of teasing, I stop it. Kids need to know that this type of behavior is not ok! And I make sure they do!

Seeing this has caused me to think and do more research on it. A way to prevent bullying from happening. Some sort of anti-bullying program schools can use. I don't know if schools already something like this, but I'm definitely interested in looking into it and looking up more information about it. If anyone has any suggestions or ideas, let me know. I would love to be a part it, to help make a difference in the world.

Super bowl: half time show

I've never been a super bowl fan. The main reason why I would watch the super bowl are for 2 reasons: the commercials and halftime show. Seems like a lame reason to watch so I usually just end up looking up videos of them the day after the super bowl

Now I don't know if any of you saw the half time show. If you didn't well here's the video:


I was a little surprised to see Madonna up on stage, but I was quite impressed with her dance moves. She is in her 50s and has more dance moves and coordination then I have! Sure she may have lip synced, and her new song is... well not so great. But everything was fine. I've heard mixed feelings about the half time show and was wondering what other people may have thought about it.

I feel that for all the people that are hating, I would like see you get on stage and do a 12 minute dance performance

I'll take a salad... dressing on the side?

The picture is pretty self explanatory. I mean don't get me wrong skinny people look amazing and I would love to look skinny sometime in the near future, but there is a limit. Being too skinny where you don't have any muscle mass that I can see your bones. I feel that giving you hug will cause you to snap in half!

I've never classified myself as the small chick with the perfect body. I have curves. I have boobs, thighs, hips, and tummy to shape me into a perfect natural and normal human being. Yet, being the shape I am doesn't classify as "hot."

Well I'm here to try and change that and am curious if anyone else agrees with me:
I'm curvy and I'm proud of it!

Spread the word

So I don't know if any of you have heard of Rick Perry, but he is one of the presidential candidates for the up-coming election. I was SHOCKED when I saw this this video.

I understand that everyone is welcome to believe in whatever they want to, but does he not realize that teachers and schools can't physically tell kids not to pray? As a preschool teacher, I allow the kids to openly talk talk about God and have a few kids who pray before eating. Being that we aren't a religious school we aren't allowed to teach it, but it's not because we think God is bad, we have to think about the other side. The side where people are offended by talking about God. We can't force religion onto people. And is he being serious about not celebrating Christmas? My class is celebrating Christmas, sure we have to leave out the religious factor of it, but it's not because we thin religion is evil, we are thinking about the feelings of OTHER people who aren't religious; including me.

I don't understand why people can't accept the fact that Christianity isn't the only religion in the world. Not only is my class celebrating Christmas, but we are celebrating other holidays that are recognized by other people through out the country like, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa.

I was very happy to come across this next video as a response to Rick Perry's video. As a teacher, I'm very proud of this person.

Call it an obsession

Today I took the kids from my class over to the park. I've always enjoyed the park, it really brings out the kid in me. Sometimes it seems like I enjoy it more then the kids do. I love it!

When I was enjoying myself, I discovered something very interesting: A girl, maybe about 5 years old, wearing a cute outfit with wedged heels; and a binky in her mouth. When I saw this I had to do a double take, and then I opened my mouth to say something, but I came up speechless.

I was curious how anyone else felt about this. I mean, don't get me wrong, I was a binky child. But after a certain age, there needs to be a limit. 5 years old is a little old to be walking around with a binki is your mouth. I mean my sister was still in love with her binki at that age BUT she certainly didn't walk around with it. It was for bed time only.

There are some things I just don't understand

The truth about public play structure

I know I already posted this on my facebook, but I wanted to post it on here as well so that this video can become public and everyone can know what goes on in those play structures that your children play in.



I'm personally disgusted after watching this, but I wanted to get your opinion about it. How do you feel about this? Do you think there should be regulations for the structures to be cleaned?