The Latta Family

It's National Dog Day, and instead of writing a post glorifying my dog, I'm going to tell you what a goof she is. It's a good thing she has lots of good qualities, besides protecting me.  She's the biggest . . .scaredy . . . cat, except she's a dog.  She gets scared of sticks, sometimes leaves, mysterious sounds with no source, one time a chair that was sitting near the road on the night before trash pick up. This whole story is totally related to my goofy dog.  So last year I was having back trouble, which lead to some pretty aggravating sciatic pain.  In the late spring, I went to a licensed, medical professional who specialized in back pain.  Instead of getting actual help, I got a pill pusher.  I got offered everything from hydrocodone to an epidural.  I was disgusted.  On my way home from that total waste of money, I called my dad to vent.  He said, "Kate- I have bad news.  You're going to have to suck it up and go walk."  ...

This week is a bit of an emotional one for me.  It's the last week one of my children will go to the daycare we've been going to for 10 years.  Ten solid years.  Almost everyday of the school year and sporadically in the summer I have walked in the door, greeted whoever was behind the counter, checked in, and walked down the hall to a classroom.  Upon entering the room, we were greeted by a teacher that has most likely been in that facility since we started going there.  Almost all of Alexa's teachers. . . had Andrew, except for 2 (by the time they went through the facility- they had 17 teachers).  Some of those teachers have been there since it opened.  That daycare has been open for close to 20 years. Folks- I don't know if you know about daycares, but that kind of staff stability is unheard of in a daycare.  They have notoriously high turn over.  Understandably.  Low pay, crap hours, and . . . small children (I teach high school for a...

For the most part, we have a pretty calm house.  I mean- we have 2 kids, so there is going to be loudness, but for the most part it's calm.  However, occasionally our blissful calm is broken by a shriek that could break glass.  If you are unaccustomed to these random, high pitched shrieks, it could cause you alarm.  I don't even blink an eye. We don't have a poltergeist.  We don't live near a train (well- super close).  We don't have a cat in heat.  We have a 5 year old girl!  Her shriek can mean anything.  Literally.  It could be a fly (not one of those Killer Bees we used to hear were coming to get us, from Mexico).  The scream could be due to a certain 10 year old male that also lives in our home (tonight he put a napkin under my fork, when he set the table.  She wanted to put my napkin under my fork.  For the record, it was Andrew's job to set the table.) Perhaps it's a crumb of bread she found on her arm (she though...

I don't know what it is about an outdoor shower, but I just love them!  Somehow the shower experience is better.  No worries people- it's private, no one can see anything they shouldn't.  I have not turned into a free spirit.  I'm not suddenly showering in the buff.  I still have some very conservative tan lines. We just got back from the beach, and while we were there, I discovered the outdoor shower . . . on my second shower.  For some reason I shower a LOT at the beach.  I would get up and go walk, and then . . . shower off before I put my bathing suit on.  Why?  Duh. It's hard as who knows what, to get a bathing suit on, when you're all sweaty. Plus, I like to feel clean before I get covered in sand and salt water.  Figure that out. On the first day, after we returned from a long day at the beach, I made Alexa take an outside shower. I ran upstairs and got her clothes and a towel.  I just grabbed me a towel because I was jus...

We have had a serious problem with being slugs this week.  It started on Wednesday.  I let Andrew and Alexa watch . . . a lot of Netflix.  I felt horrible about it.  I was horrified with myself.  I tried to reason with myself that honestly up until Wednesday neither of them had really watched tv this summer. Andrew had played on the XBox,but neither of them had really watched tv, maybe an hour or two of screen time a week.  So if we had a veg out day on Wednesday, it was okay, still I felt terrible.  I was clearly establishing a pattern of laziness in my children.  I was a terrible example. I sucked as a parent. We had been so busy with camp, baseball, activities, friends, and "stuff" we hadn't had a lay around day.  I assured myself Wednesday night that we would be more productive on Thursday! Well, Alexa went to school (she goes 2 days a week- sometimes).  I came home and went for a long walk and then made Andrew come outside to mow...

Two summers ago, I tried to talk Andrew into reading Harry Potter.  He wasn't into it.  I was devastated.  How could he not LOVE this book????  How could he be related to me????  Did I still love him?????? Last summer, I decided to try a different route.  I let him watch "Sorcerer's Stone."  I remember when that movie came out.  Katie Couric went on the set when the movie was being promoted.   Andrew LOVED the movie and then I was able to convince him to read the book.  Well, I read it, he listened. We got through Books 1,2, & 3 last summer.  Happy days were here again! I know some people are against the whole Harry Potter series.  Which has always, always, always, puzzled me.  That's such a short sighted theme.  It's like reading To Kill a Mockingbird  and saying that it's about a girl living in the South.  Or reading The Old Man and the Sea  and saying it's about a dude who went fishing. ...

Alexa and I had to make a run to the grocery store this afternoon.  After we got all of our items, we got in line.  It was a busy time of day, so we had to wait awhile.  While we were standing there, there were plenty of things to catch our eye and keep us entertained: candy & gum on the right, and glossy magazines on the left. I'm not sure what attracted Alexa to them.  She's never really paid attention to them before, but today she noticed the magazines.  I feel it need to be commemorated. Again, I am not sure what attracted her to the glossy magazines.  Was it me?  I was looking at the covers.  Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner are having marital woes.  One of the Kardashians is too.  I could get a beach bod with Jillian.  Or I could make a delicious dessert.  And Oprah wanted to tell me how to relax. Thankfully this grocery store was a step up from Wal Mart- so there was no Cosmopolitan with it's 8 tips to make my sum...