Iowa

Um, ewww….

March 29, 2011

So if you live in Iowa, you’ve probably heard of the Decorah Eagle Cam. It’s a live webcam feed where you can view a mama bald eagle sitting on her nest of eggs. The first egg was laid on February 23rd, and they are predicted to hatch on April 1st.

Basically, all the eagle has done so far is sit there keeping the eggs warm. That’s all I’ve seen so far. But I just can’t take my eyes off it. I leave the screen open on my computer at work and at home, just in case something happens.

But you know, of course I missed the most important event to happen so far.

I missed watching her bring a dead rabbit up into the nest, to prepare for feeding her baby eaglets:

Ewwww… gross. But I totally would have liked to see that.

Filed Under: Random Stuff Tagged With: Decorah, eagle, Iowa

Who Woulda Thunk?

March 28, 2011

Raise your hand if you knew that BATS have a tendency to hibernate in basements?

I didn’t know that, either.

Until this weekend when we found one of them in OUR basement.

Saturday, my husband had gone to work. (Notice how the story always starts with me being home without a man in the house to protect me?)

About an hour after he’d gotten to work, he called to inform me he had locked his keys in the car. He told me I would need to drive into town and unlock his car for him sometime before he got off work at 9:30.

At about 8:30 Saturday night, Courtney and I decided to head into town to unlock the car. I went down to the basement to put Bella, our golden lab, in her kennel. That’s when I noticed that Izzie, our Jack Russell, was sniffing at something behind a folding chair near the bottom of the steps.

I pulled the chair back to check out what the dog was investigating. There was something small and black lying along the base of wall. At first, I thought it was a balled-up sock.

Then I noticed it was kinda furry.

Ew, it looked a dead mouse.

Except it was too big to be a dead mouse.

Upon closer look, and trust me when I say I still can’t believe I got close enough to look at the damn thing…

IT WAS A BAT.

I quickly said to my daughter “Get upstairs now” and I ran up the stairs right behind her, slamming the basement door behind me. One dog safely in the kennel, the other one up the stairs with us, and we were out the door. I think I left every single light on in the house, as well as the TV. We drove into town, unlocked my husband’s car and sat in the parking lot and waited for him to get off work. There was NO WAY IN HELL I was going back home while there was a BAT in my house.

My husband came out to the car, and assured us that the bat was probably dead, especially if it was on the floor of the basement. I wasn’t convinced, and just kept hoping that it would still be in the same spot when we got home.

We got home, and he put on a pair of gloves and grabbed two plastic bags to put the “dead” bat in. He went downstairs to the basement to pick it up, and…

IT WASN’T DEAD.

The little bugger was merely hibernating. IN MY FREAKING BASEMENT.

As soon as he tried to scoop it into the sack, it obviously got a little pissed off that it was woken up from it’s winter slumber, and started to fly around a little.

Of course, I was too busy locking myself in the upstairs bathroom with the dogs to worry about any of the goings-on in the basement. I was totally fine letting my strong husband handle the “critter invasion.”

(*Not our actual bat, but this is what Google tells me they look like) So, for the last two days, when I go down in the basement, I am constantly wondering if there are more bats that chose our basement as their hibernation hotel. I walk down there now with my hood up on my sweatshirt, because you never know if one will fall from the ceiling or something. I’m afraid to do laundry down there, which could totally work in my favor, if it weren’t for the fact that my husband isn’t falling for that excuse. I keep waking up in the middle of the night, thinking I will see bats flying around in my bedroom.

I googled bats to find out more information about them, and they do hibernate in caves and dark spaces like unfinished basements….ACKKKKKKK… and April is about the time of year when they start waking up.

It might be time to start looking for a new house.

Filed Under: Around The House Tagged With: bats, Iowa

Now That’s Where I Draw The Line

March 22, 2011

In the past, I have had mixed opinions on the topic of homeschooling. I had voiced my opinion in previous posts that I was completely against it, and I’m not going to go back and find those, but let me explain my reasons. Several years ago, we knew a few homeschool families that, in my opinion, were “doing it wrong.” One of the moms was a high-school dropout that I felt was completely unqualified to be teaching her children, in my opinion.

The other families– well, let’s just say their kids were socially inept. They had kept their kids so sheltered from the outside world that they had no knowledge of how to interact with other children. Now I think that’s just plain wrong. Eventually, your kids are going to have to be introduced to the outside world. All of us “regular schoolers” aren’t evil and our kids aren’t all bad influences. I understand wanting to shelter your kids from some of the bad things that can happen in schools, but seriously, there’s a right and a wrong way to do it.

So, anyways… While I used to be completely against it, let’s just say I have been introduced to more and more families since then that seem to be doing homeschooling the “right way.” Families that amaze me, and families that I wish I could be more like. Point taken, homeschooling families. I’m taking my words back. Most of you have proved me wrong.

Now, on to my real reason for this post.

Over the last week or so, I have been hearing some stories in the news about a new bill being proposed that would allow parents in Iowa that homeschool their children to be allowed to teach their children Drivers’ Education rather than having go through the required course like my children do.

In Iowa, “drivers education” consists of 30 hours of classroom time with a certified Drivers Education instructor. In addition to the classroom time, the student will have 6 hours of driving time with the instructor. Also, an additional 20 hours of driving time with the parent/guardian is required, with at least 2 hours of the 20 being when it is dark outside. The cost for Driver’s Education course in the State of Iowa runs approximately $300-$350. In our area, all of the schools contract with private companies for Driver’s Education. You can either sign up through your school, or you can go out on your own and sign up through one of the private companies yourself.

So, my question is… and what’s really yanking my chain today… why should those who homeschool be able to get out paying for a state-required course for their children? They don’t have to take it through the school. My kids didn’t go through the school district either. We went through Drive-Tek, paid $325, and my daughter went to an office building four nights a week for three weeks last summer for three hours each night. She also had scheduled driving appointment times throughout those three weeks.

What makes someone who homeschools more qualified to teach their child how to drive than ME? Why should someone who homeschools their children not have to pay the $325 fee for these classes that I have to pay for each of my four children to be able to drive? It doesn’t seem quite fair. This has nothing to do with the school system. If homeschooling parents are qualified, then the State needs to do away with Drivers’ Education altogether. Just let us all teach our own kids how to drive. Then when it is time for them to get their licenses, each child will be required to pass a written test and driving test.

But giving special privileges to one group of parents and not to another is where I draw the line. Is there something I am missing here?

What’s your take on this?

Filed Under: Family Matters, Little Ol' IOWA, Mah Money Tagged With: driver's education, homeschooling, Iowa, teenagers

I Can’t Even Think of a Title for This, but Call Me Judgy McJudgePants

March 14, 2011

The year was 1997. I was twenty-four years old, and I had just broken up with my boyfriend of five years. At the time, our daughter was 20 months old. I was terrified of becoming a single mom, because I knew it was going to be hard. I moved out of the house we had purchased together the year before and rented an apartment. I was working full-time, paying for daycare, and still managing to pay my bills. To this day, I still am in awe as to how I made it through those years.

During the first couple months of living on my own, my parents convinced me to look into government assistance. While I was making a decent living, there was a possibility that I would qualify for some sort of help based on the fact that I had a dependent. I completed the necessary paperwork and found out that in fact, I did qualify for WIC — a food program for women, infants, and children. It helped me out a TON with my groceries, but I felt like I was undeserving of the help. The assistance came in the form of checks every month, and they had to be picked up in person from the downtown Des Moines office– which was a royal pain in the ass. As I said, I was working full-time and had my daughter in full-time daycare, and the WIC office was only open certain hours of the day, so I would have to spend my lunch hour navigating my way over there, waiting in line for these checks, and then rushing back to work. It was a hassle, but hey– free food, right?

The checks were basically broken down into weekly groups, and could be used all at once or weekly, at my discretion. They were good for foods such as peanut butter, milk, eggs, cereal, 100% juice, fruits & vegetables, and cheeses. It was wonderful, and I was lucky to qualify. I think I just fell under the income limits by about $500 annually. Another raise from my employer and I would be off the program. I didn’t qualify for welfare or food stamps because I made too much money. Oh, the irony.

I lasted about 4 months on the WIC program, and stopped picking up my checks. I felt guilty because I didn’t feel like I was poor and I felt like I was taking advantage of the system when there had to be people more worthy of this program than me. Not only that, but I hated having to separate my groceries out, having the people behind me in line giving a knowing glare– knowing that my purchases would not only take longer, but that I was now being deemed a “poor person” as I was seen pulling those WIC checks out of my purse. I resented that stigma being cast upon me, and I swore I would NEVER rely on the government for assistance again. I would take care of myself, and I refused to become a statistic.

I wasn’t a single mother for long, as it was only two years later when I met my husband. But those two years of single parenting were hard, and it taught me something about myself. It taught me I can do anything. It taught I can take care of myself, it taught me I am strong, and it taught me that I matter.

Why do I tell this story?

Because those looks that I got from those people in the grocery store? Yesterday, I became one of those people that I used to despise.

I was in the grocery store yesterday afternoon picking up something to make for dinner. I got in line behind a very dirty-looking lady, with four very small children, all dirty. None of them were wearing coats, even though the temperature was in the low 40s.. They didn’t have socks on. Two of them had bath slippers on, and other two had very worn tennis shoes on– one without laces. Their clothes were dirty, their hair was messed up, and they all looked in dire need of a bath. The mother smelled of cigarettes and body odor. I actually pulled my cart back a few steps because the smell made me catch my breath. She was taking FOREVER in line, and it was starting to get very frustrating because her kids were running all over the place, grabbing Easter candy off the shelves and plopping it down on the counter. The youngest one kept rolling these plastic Easter candy eggs under my cart and then picking them up and putting them in her mouth (Ewwwww!)

I couldn’t see everything they were purchasing at that moment, but I could tell even the cashier was getting frustrated as the line was growing longer in this small town grocery store.

That was when I noticed it.

In her hand, was an Iowa Food Stamp card. Instead of paper checks, Iowa now uses a debit card that gets loaded with funds each month. I had seen these before, and I recognized it right away. It was at that moment that I looked down to see what she was purchasing, and when I saw her “loot” it made me very angry. On the counter was five bottles of pop, piles of Easter candy the kids had thrown up there, several individual bags of chips, candy bars, Beef Jerky… it was all JUNK. She was using her Food Stamp money to buy junk.

And I immediately passed judgment on her. She must be a bad parent.

I looked to her cart to see if maybe I had missed something– ANYTHING– that could be considered healthy. Something worthy of MY TAX DOLLARS being used. But there was nothing.

I was so disappointed. I know the disappointment showed on my face as the cashier put the bags in her cart and the lady swiped that food stamp card through the reader to pay for her purchases loaded with calories, fat, and preservatives.

I hurried and paid for my groceries and walked to my truck. I got in and sat there for a minute thinking about what I just witnessed. Was she just buying them a one time treat? Maybe. But if so, why spend over $40 on that much junk? (Yes, I heard the total… it was a LOT of junk food.) I know how much regular groceries that could have bought for her family, and it made me sick. It also made me very ANGRY. Angry that there are flaws in our system, and angry that people abuse the system like this.

Mostly because people like her that have abused the system for YEARS are the reason that I got those dirty looks in the grocery store all those years ago.