The Cake That Almost Wasn't

Yesterday I made a trip to WalMart where I purchased many items. Upon my return home I put away my purchases and began making lunch. I was searching for the cake mix I bought, but could find it nowhere. I looked in the pantry (no), the cereal cabinet (no), I even looked in the freezer to no avail. No cake mix! I then began to blame WalMart. They had done it again, forgot to transfer all my bags from their spinning bagging system into my cart.

It wasn't until this afternoon after church that I loaded the dishwasher and, reaching for the soap, discovered a small box of dishsoap that I didn't remember buying.

There sandwiched between two boxes dishsoap was my cake mix. Who put that there? I blame the kids. lol

I'm not telling you this story to highlight the fact that I'm losing my mind, but to reassure you that you're not losing yours or maybe that we're all in the same boat.

I am FURIOUS!

Okay, furious is a really strong word and probably not the best choice for how I'm feeling, but I am very angry and frustrated. Gabe has been asking to go to the skate park for a few weeks now. I guess he has a friend at school really talking it up. I finally, after putting it off for as long as humanly possible, agreed to take him today after school. Of course I hyped it up and even used our trip to the skate park as leverage. Oh don't judge, you do it too. "If you don't stop_____we won't go to the skate park."

So the appointed hour has arrived and we are primed for fun. I go into the community center to change out of my work clothes and ask the lady behind the desk if we need to do anything special to use the skate park. She says, "I'm sorry, the skate park is closed". CLOSED! I wanted to plead my case and sway her with how highly anticipated this trip to the skate park is. I wanted to tell her that she holds the shattered dreams of a 7 year old in the palm of her hand and that 7 year old was standing just on the other side of the glass double doors. I held back and instead asked...

Me: Why?
Lady: Some out of control teenagers have been breaking the rules and even made gyrating motions at me.
Me: Why didn't you kick them out instead of punishing everyone in the community?
Lady: We are trying to send a strong message that this kind of behavior won't be tolerated.

Okay this is where my soapbox starts...

This is a perfect example of why our society is in the pits. We no longer have clear consequences for our actions. You break something?, you fix it. You're rude and disrespectful in a public place?, you are kicked out for a certain amount of time. If you returned before you are supposed to?, you are trespassing and the police are called. You see my point.

We have not only lost consequences for negative behavior, but positive behavior as well. Example? Field day at the elementary school level...everyone receives a participation ribbon. They no longer award a 1st, 2nd, 3rd place. Why should you compete if everyone ends up the same anyway--no winner. Are jobs still awarded to the most qualified person, the person who works the hardest? I was recently given a book (Boys Adrift by Dr. Leonard Sax) that questions the "why" concerning apathy in the young men of our society. The book points part of the blame at the lack of competition in our society. The author states that most boys thrive and rise to the occasion when faced with a challenge or competition. He goes on to say that our current society has taken competition away in many cases leaving in it's place an apathetic generation of young men. Of course there are other factors as well, but the growing number of young men living back at home with mom and dad well into their 30's is proof that something is out of kilter.

How can we expect people to make good choices if they aren't personally held accountable for their bad choices? In addition, how can we expect people to work hard and strive to achieve if we don't reward their hard work?

Whew....glad I got that off my chest!

And the winner is...

So we're on our way home this afternoon when Jared randomly says..."I wonder if Grandma and Grandpa Floyd ever race their 4-wheelers around the farm?"... None of us commented on whether they did or did not race (that's a given), but instead chose to contemplate who would win. I know who we think would take the checkered flag. What do you think?

Worth Your Time...

I just finished a book I think worthy of recommending. The Same Kind of Different As Me is about two men. One a wealthy art dealer, and the other a homeless man who is feared in his community. At the urging of his wife, the art dealer begins volunteering at the local homeless shelter. The unlikely pair become friends. It's a story of faith, friendship, and the spiritual need to give to others. Even better...it's based on a true story.

Back to School

We officially have the first week of school under our belt. We miss are lazy mornings with plenty of time through the day to complete our many tasks, but it has been nice to get back in the swing of things, with the anticipation of a new year, football games, and friends. Each year I take a "first day of school picture". In the first picture you can see how they are containing their excitement. Mainly, I think they are irritated that I'm taking their picture.

After taking the first picture I told them that they look like they'd been sentenced to death, so they managed to break out a little enthusiasm.

For those of you not from our area, our school has a dress code. Solid colored bottoms (no sagging), solid color collared shirt tucked in, and a belt. Jacob is experimenting with a little teenage rebellion and resists tucking his shirt in until the last possible moment. Gosh, I hope that's as bad as it gets.