Loose ends

A few updates on some older posts, for those of you who are keeping track...

1. We didn't get picked to be on TLC's Home Made Simple. Although the producer supposedly thought we were "hilarious," apparently we just weren't TV material. Thankfully, my husband hasn't noticed that I have yet to learn how to make duck for dinner. Go here to read about one of the local families that will be on the show.
   
   
2. The babysitting co-op rocks. I've had two friends over to sit for my kids, and I've gone to two other houses to sit for their kids. Loving care and proper supervision were involved, and everyone had a more fiscally-responsible night out. That said, we still love our "original" babysitters -- both the one who is getting married and the one who moved away for grad school (you know who you are).
   
   
3. The pile is gone, thanks to a complete clearing out of all loose items upstairs in preparation for the new carpet that was installed last month. Of course, the living and dining rooms (where we relocated everything) are a total disaster area -- but the upstairs looks lovely. Will see how long that can last.
   
   
4. The Super Dylan Team raised more than $10,000 to support research for a cure for Cystic Fibrosis. We surpassed our fundraising goal, but it's not too late to give, if you're interested.
   
   
5. I got 10 comments posted on my shameless solicitation for feedback -- the most comments of any post so far (thank you!!). Also, my unintentionally-possibly-racist-but-not-and-still-think-it's-funny joke does not appear to have offended anyone enough to make them leave a nasty note.

I think that wraps up most of it for now. Thanks for reading -- I'm really have fun doing the writing, but it's even better when I know you're out there enjoying it.

An Apology and a Question

I'm writing to apologize for the joke I included in my please-leave-me-a-comment-so-I'll-feel-read-and-loved post last week.

I posted the joke, which I found in the comments on another blog, because I thought it was hilarious and unexpected. My husband, who also thought it was funny, emailed it to a few friends. One of them wrote back to ask why he was forwarding racist jokes.

Huh?

Then I read it again. And suddenly I remembered the controversy earlier this year surrounding a New York Post cartoon about the president's stimulus bill that showed two police officers and a dead chimp. Some critics, including Al Sharpton, were highly offended because they saw the cartoonist comparing Barack Obama with a rabid chimpanzee because the president is African-American.

So for the record, my associations with monkeys are generally of the Curious George variety. I thought the joke was an ugly-baby joke and it made me laugh. If I had thought it was intended to be racist, I never in a million years would have posted it. I sincerely apologize for offending anyone who saw the joke as a racist statement.

And for what it's worth, after my husband shared his story with me, I realized that when I had visualized the joke as I was reading it for the first time (because I'm a visual learner and that's what I do), I saw myself (or someone who looked like me) in the "mom" role in the joke.

What did you see or hear in the joke? Am I offensive or overly sensitive? Comment and let me know (and not just because I love to get comments, although I do, but seriously I want to know what you think on this one)...

The name's Marco...

Last week was our monthly-ish trip to the local library. Junius likes to run through picking out the same Curious George, Clifford and Berenstain Bears books every time while I search for something new (this trip's winner so far is The Dumpster Diver) and try to keep Pippi from unloading all the shelves.

After we've made our selections, we do the self check-out because Juni likes to "help" at the computer. It's a little tricky because the scanner is kind of sensitive and you have to hold the book just right for the code to work, so it actually takes longer than just waiting in line for the librarian. But it's free entertainment, so who am I to complain.

As we were scanning our books last week, Juni starts hopping around saying, "Stan Marco! Stan Marco!" While I'm looking around trying to figure out who in the world is Stan Marco, I realize he's actually repeating what he hears in the computerized voice announcing instructions to us as we attempt to check out our pile of books.

It's saying, "Scan barcode."

When he picks the name "Stan Marco" as his alias one day, at least we'll know why.

Hello? Anyone out there?

My neighbor got me reading a blog called Chicken & Cheese (among others) because she knew I had WAY too much free time on my hands and needed more good things to read. So in yesterday's post, Mrs. Chicken asked people to leave comments on her post with jokes, rants, whatever, just to see how many comments she could get.

Until I started writing this blog, I never understood how much bloggers liked comments. Turns out, it's really cool to have people comment (in writing) about what I wrote and makes the whole process much more interesting. (Many thanks to those of you who faithfully comment -- am trying to do the same for you.)

So here's the deal. I'm going to share with you the MOST hilarious joke I read in the comments (thanks to Karen Sugarpants) on Chicken & Cheese. Then you write back with a comment of your own -- can be a joke, funny story, soapbox issue, pet peeve, whatever. Then I will know you're out there and will feel loved and appreciated.

Here's the joke:

A woman gets on a bus with her baby. The bus driver says: “That’s the ugliest baby that I’ve ever seen. Ugh!”

The woman goes to the rear of the bus and sits down, fuming. She says to a man next to her: “The driver just insulted me!”

The man says: “You go right up there and tell him off – go ahead, I’ll hold your monkey for you.”

Hah! You're welcome. Now it's your turn!