Family History

Bear Grylls is a bad influence

Those of you have seen “Man vs. Wild” know what I’m talking about. If you have a husband who watches “Man vs. Wild” you have undoubtedly seen him do something to mimic a move of Bear Grylls and wondered what brain synapse misfired to cause your husband to do something like that. I mean does a grown man really need to risk the family jewels like this?

And that, that’s tame for Mr. Bear. I’m afraid to let my boys watch his show, next thing I know they’ll be rounding up the scorpions and cooking them in a frying pan for extra “protein”. Speaking of scorpions, I found a baby one, alive and kicking in the kitchen yesterday just inches away from my barefoot and promptly trapped it in a 1/2 cup measuring cup. I asked my husband to please kill it and take care of it, yet again (note I say again here) he felt the need to “play” with. He shook it up and really ticked it off, “We used to pinch off the tail stinger then drop them on people to scare them as kids”. If he ever does that to me he’ll be pushing up daises. Then he says something like he feels the need to be macho like Bear. Huh? “Yeah when I was 20 I did stuff like that all the time (ie. showing off), but then in my 30’s I didn’t need to do that anymore. Now that I’m a dad and I have two boys I feel the need to be cool again and show them that kind of stuff”. Okay, so I’m summarizing but that was pretty much the gist of that conversation. And he wonders why I have dreams of being attacked by scorpions or snakes taking over our house. He’s like a twisted version of Dr. DoLittle and he’s not allowed to watch anymore “Man vs. Wild”…..

Those of you have seen "Man vs. Wild" know what I'm talking about. If you have a husband who watches "Man vs. Wild" you...

zncjmom May 19, 2010 1 Comment 1 Family History, Mom's Journal, The Things They Say

WASP’s, Rosie, Nurses, and More

Today more than 1,000 civilian female pilots or WASPS – Women Airforce Service Pilots – were given the Congressional Gold Medal at a ceremony on Capitol Hill. These women volunteers, many of whom have since died, paid for their own pilot training and served the military during the early years of World War II in hopes of joining the military. They tested and ferried aircraft, freeing men for combat flying. They were kept top secret though and had to fight to have the records made public… NPR did a great piece on the flying ladies here.

We all know that during World War II women’s service didn’t stop there. We took over jobs typically done by men, jobs in factories and shipyards creating ammunition and manufacturing ships, planes, etc. Rosie the Riveter was a literal story about the jobs women took over, eventually she came to mean so much more.

Women didn’t stop there either. Before the bombing of Pearl Harbor the there were fewer than 7,000 Army nurses on active duty. Over the next six months their number grew to more than 12,000. By the end of the war more than 70,000 women served as nurses. The Army nurses’ experience during World War II is dramatic and important. Nurses in World War II often worked 18-hour shifts, 7 days a week, caring for the sick, the wounded and the dying and somehow through all that bring comfort in the most uncomfortable of situations. My grandmother was a nurse in the Army during the war, I don’t know if she was a battlefield nurse or “Bedpan Commando” though, either way I can’t say how proud I am.

Women throughout the world stepped up to help. Russian Field Nurses

When I see an older woman maybe in her late 70’s to late 80’s I don’t think of someone who’ll just slow me down on the road, I always wonder what she was doing from 1940-1945. Was she working hard at a job she never thought she’d have, caring for wounded men in the most unbelievable of conditions (I heard one story of when they enlisted they were given wool socks and men’s XL undergarments and told to do with until their uniforms were ready), spending the days wondering if a telegram would come from the war department telling her she’d never see her husband again. Would you even know if that nice lady having her hair done at the saloon flew thousands of miles in a B-17 or helped assemble an aircraft carrier? Food for thought ladies….

Today more than 1,000 civilian female pilots or WASPS – Women Airforce Service Pilots – were given the Congressional Gol...

zncjmom March 10, 2010 1 Comment 1 Family History, General

A Sunday In May

I’m a terrible daughter – I didn’t send my mom a Mother’s Day card. I didn’t really forget per se, more like ran out of time. You certainly don’t even begin to appreciate your own mom until you become one yourself. Then you not only understand the things your mom went through and did for you but you are SHOWN them. You must now do the laundry every night to keep clean clothes in the drawers, cook you own dinner and make sure there is enough food to share with the others, and pick up everywhere you go. And I mean EVERYWHERE! It’s the circle of life, I drove my mom crazy and now I am slowly going crazy but at least I recgonize that and that makes me ever so thankful for my mom and her mom and the ones before. They ultimately made me the mom I am today. My grandmother gave birth ten times, I think twice was quite enough. She raised her family with love and pride. My mom gave birth three times, once more than me and raised my brothers and I to be quite decent people. I mean none of us have any SERIOUS defects or anything. Here’s the line of great mothers that started so many years ago.

mom_baby
My mom as a baby

Me before car seats were the law

The Z and Grandma

Me and the CaseyJ

So to all you moms and mother figures out there (aunts, grandmas, etc) I hope you had a great Mother’s Day and a wonderful weekend!

I'm a terrible daughter - I didn't send my mom a Mother's Day card. I didn't really forget per se, more like ran out of...

zncjmom May 10, 2009 1 Comment 1 Casey J Updates, Family History, Mom's Journal, Photos, Videos

Parental Permission

(n) irony: incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs

Remember how when you were still living under your parents roof you had to ask permission to do things. Like “Mom, can I go to the mall with my friends?” I find it so funny and ironic that now it’s the opposite. I get a call from my mom this evening and I quote “Hey, can I come up Friday night and go watch the boys soccer game on Saturday?” Um, yeah. Like I’m going to tell my mom no! Apparently my dad is headed down south to go fishing and mom didn’t have much else to do. It’s not quite role reversal but quite humurous. Interestingly enough we go both my folks to follow us on our trip to Colorado. They are leaving later than us but we’ll catch up to each other in New Mexico. Everyone is so darn excited!

(n) irony: incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs Remember how when you were still living u...

zncjmom March 04, 2009 1 Comment 1 Back Then, Family History

Floppy Bottomed Pizza

It’s official, I’m am the world’s worst cook. Not that there is anyone out there debating it. It’s so easy – pull pizza out of box, unwrap, turn on oven, put pizza in oven, cook for time designated on box and viola – a nice tasty pizza. Well the DiGiornio pizza is mocking me, I followed the directions – really I did. I consider myself fairly intelligent, I trust the time on the box will have the pizza nice and cooked. Somehow today the center of the pizza is sorta floppy, er wait, make that NOT COOKED! I mean it is but not completely. I ate a piece and made sure it wasn’t bad and God love my boys neither one complained about the taste of the pizza. CaseyJ did not like the messiness but we fixed that by cutting it and letting him eat it with a fork. Z Man had two pieces, I had one and the trash monster got the rest. My poor kids, stuck with a talentless cook for a mom….

Updates on various other items –

On the way home yesterday I noticed Z Man talking to himself, I asked him what he said or if he needed something and he said no. I asked him what he was saying and he said he was talking to God. I inquired what he was talking to God about and he said “my sister”. “Oh really, has he given you an answer yet buddy?” (Yes, I call them both buddy) “Not yet mom, He said He’s thinking about it.” Lord help me.
They both got rave reviews from M today (I’m giving their teacher a James Bond name – picture Mrs. Judi Dench here) about the progress they’re making in school.
Z Man is way above his grade level in reading, at least at the end of 1st grade into 2nd grade reading, his math skills too. His hand writing is on par and coming along nicely (this is the part about his homework he dislikes the most). He has begun creative writing and we read one or two of them today and as soon as he brings them home I’ll scan them and get them up here, they are priceless I guarantee.
CaseyJ’s social skills are sky rocketing and his confidence is really starting to grow. The gears are turning and he is doing really well in math. He will start his sight reading and letter sounds really soon. He’s looking forward to their sand and water days coming soon with the warmer weather.
They are both really excited about our upcoming trip, we watched the mountain ski cam earlier this morning when it was snowing on the mountain.

And finally, you may want to test the pizza at our house unless it came from a store. 😛

It's official, I'm am the world's worst cook. Not that there is anyone out there debating it. It's so easy - pull pizza...

zncjmom March 06, 2008 2 Comments 2 Family History, The Things They Say

New Feature: Family History

Family history can take on many forms. Such as embarassing old pictures of myself, my brothers, family, friends, and anyone else I see fit to see squirm in their seats (oh Jeffy I’m so working on getting a copy of you with your afro). The post can also be about important parts of my family history. I’ll start with myself and my younger by two years and three months brother. From some of the pictures it looks like we shared a pretty close bond, that is of course until you know who threw a wrench into it. I remember being upset that day in first grade when my dad called and said I had a new younger brother, I SO wanted a sister. Darn it. 🙂 Kidding I love you little brother! By the way – any photos I post for these blogs will be on flickr but you’ll have to join and add me as family or friend to see them there or print them.

This is all four of us around 1981…. I was so darn cute! And J bro, well I didn’t tease him mercilessly about having Yoda ears for no reason….

Boy is this a classic photo, naked and in the bathtub…. I’ve got some of the boys to pull out when they’re 18 and bring their prom dates over.

I remember the really cool “latches” on these rain jackets. Mine was red, brothers was yellow. It was like my favorite rain jacket of all time!

Two really happy kiddoes who look like they are about to go swimming!

Family history can take on many forms. Such as embarassing old pictures of myself, my brothers, family, friends, and any...

zncjmom February 14, 2008 No Comments 0 Family History

Twitter

Find Me

Twitter

Find Me

Category: Family History

Bear Grylls is a bad influence

WASP’s, Rosie, Nurses, and More

A Sunday In May

Parental Permission

Floppy Bottomed Pizza

New Feature: Family History