Can a Four Year Old Get a Tattoo?

Tonight, I'm coloring my gray. (Shhhhhhhh! It's a secret.) Isabel's on her little step-stool watching me and asks "Can I color my hair?" I say no, that it's for women and not little girls. She nods.

She then reaches for the bottom hem of my yucky hair-coloring shirt, pulls it up, and sees my butterfly tattoo on my hip. "Mommy's butterfly is on her tummy." She then pulls up her shirt, looks down and says "I don't have a butterfly. Hmm, I wonder where it is. Let's go FIND IT!" and off she runs.

I have a friend who was a step-dad to two boys. The boy's mom took them on vacation to Mexico one Spring Break...and got them tattoos. Tattoos. They were 14 and 17 at the time. Fourteen & 17?? And you let them get a tattoo? When I heard this I said "What?!?! What the hell? He's 14! Like he even KNOWS what he wants on his body say, 20 years from now!! What is wrong with her?" My guy friend is in his 40's and he never got a tattoo because he could never decide on anything. My friend did not go on this vacation. He was working to help pay for this vacation. (They have since divorced). He did not approve at all, but when it came to her sons, he had no say. (that in itself is a whole other issue). My son is 14. NO, you are NOT getting a tattoo, Jake!

Isabel and I ran about the house, ransacking things, with her saying "Nope, not heeeere!" and eventually settled on taking down one of her silk butterflies stuck on her wall. She pulls up her shirt, puts it to her stomach and says "Nope, too big."

I think tomorrow I'm going to Target on my lunch break. I saw some cute temporary tattoos there. *grin*

Heyyyyy, Must Be The Moneyyyyy

Lunch break. I'm at the grocery store to stock on snacks for the office. Good snacks like bananas, apples and granola bars. I have 4 items and head towards the '15 items or less' lane. And I see....Miss Pants-Too-Tight with about 50 items. I'm on my lunch break and Miss PTT can't be bothered to, you know...read.

So I'm standing there, a little perturbed when over comes her boy friend, who by the conversation, was the one who chose the lane. He's maybe 5'7", very wide across the belly, with a thick gold necklace around his neck. I think to myself "Huh?" Cause .. Miss PTT is quite attractive. I know I am wrong for saying so, but you know I am right. Miss PTT is thin, with a rather ample (fake?) bosom, long black hair, blue eyes, dressed to the nines. And here's Mr. Man looking...plain. Maybe it's LOVE. Maybe I'm cynical. It could be love.

As I walk to my car, I see him loading his 12 bags of groceries from the '15 items or less' lane into his Hummer, and I laugh.

Dante's Purgatory and Paradise

I am DONE with these works of Dante. UGH. It was long and painful. Purgatory was boring, boring, boring. I am sorry, Dante. I guess reading a book written in the 1300's and translated in the early 1900's is a bit much for even my modern mind. Paradise was a little better, a little. I can't even give it a review, my brain is numb.

Welcome to High School...Now Declare Your Major!

I had a 7:30 a.m. meeting at Jake's new high school this morning. The high school has a dedicated gifted counselor. She called me to set up an appointment to go over Jake's curriculum. I was actually a bit relieved. We went to the open house a month or so ago, for 8th graders going in to 9th and it was overwhelming. Too much info to take in and I thought, "How the hell are we going to know what to sign him up for?"

They have a set curriculum for gifted students, set to get them into college, even helping them get the credits they need to get a couple of Florida scholarships. AP classes, Pre-IB classes, etc. etc., two books he has to read this summer (Of Mice and Men and Fahrenheit 451 - I read 'Of Mice & Men' last year and 'Fahrenheit's' on my list to read, so I told him we'd read it together this summer and talk it over) AND he has to declare a "major." LOL I said "Seriously?" He said he was interested in Music, and they have a Music major, broken into something like Choral and instrumental.

The woman was really nice and assuaged some fears I had with regards to the school. She said she knew that the school had been in the news last year (gang-related), but that was NOT the norm. She told him that she knows his middle school does not give a lot of homework (they don't!) and to be ready for tons. Joy.

High School sure has changed since my day...when we walked barefoot, uphill (if we had hills in Florida) in the snow (you know, if we had snow.)

Make an Appointment

Today, we went to JCPenney to have the kids pictures taken, for Isabel's birthday. She turns FOUR next week!! Holy cow.



The mall opened at noon. We got there early and their doors were locked, so we had to wait until a little after 12:00 for them to open the door. Our appointment was at 12:00 so I don't know why they don't do it for 12:05 p.m. The photo studio lady related a story of a woman who just ran to the photo studio and demanded she be seen without an appointment because no one was there yet. We got there at 12:05. She must have sprinted. This lady was rude to the photographer and told her she was going to write to JCPenney corporate to complain.

That's o.k. I got an on-line survey on my receipt and wrote how terrific this JCP photographer was. So there!