I never saw a green one like that before!

As a mother, you learn to tune out certain things when kids are outside playing. AND you learn to be on alert when you hear certain phrases. One of my least favorite is, "Hey, y’all - watch this!"

Now that I’m an empty nester, that phrase doesn’t get my nerves on edge nearly as much as it used to. But, you can still pick it out of the yelling of 10 kids all playing in the yard half way down the block! And you sort of hold your breath for a minute, and maybe check out the window just to make sure everything is okay.


On some occasions the, "Hey, y’all - watch this!", is just the first sign of trouble. The second sign is when most of those 10 kids scatter throughout the neighborhood back to their own yards. The third sign is when you hear the ambulance or see the Mom and/or Dad loading one or more kids into the car and taking off in a hurry.


Usually within a few hours, you hear the car doors slam and all the kids start wandering back to see what happened - like they weren’t eye witnesses in the first place. Yep, they all confirm that the front wheel on Billy’s bike just couldn’t take that big jump they built in the front yard!


"Yeah, but did you see that cool cast he got on his arm! I never saw a green one like that before!"


Let’s all give our answering machines a hug today! Or have we ALL switched to voicemail and sold the old machine on eBay?


*Snagglepuss's Birthday - One of the HANNA-BARBERA (Yogi Bear) gang of great cartoon characters!
*Yodel for Your Neighbors Day - Gosh, where has the age-old art of yodeling gone?
*Franklin D. Roosevelt's Birthday (Born 1882) - One of my brothers has Franklin for a middle name because he was born on the same day that FDR died.
*National Inane Answering Machine Message Day - Get rid of that plain old "leave a message" message. Put something interesting, quick and funny on there! I have a friend who uses, "You have reached the IRS, leave your name and social security number if you would like a free personal audit!"