Bullying and Food Allergies

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39389689/?Gt1=43001

My oldest is allergic to Walnuts and Pecans - aka Tree Nuts.  To be safe we avoid all foods with any trace of a Tree Nut (including almonds, hazelnuts, etc).  I make sure his school knows, and there's even a sign outside his classroom declaring it a Tree Nut free zone.

I would be furious if someone did this to my child, and I find this article distrubing.  However, what's even more distrubing were the comments.  Many stated the child needed to stand up for themselves, how ridiculous to call a PBJ a deadly weapon, so on and so on.

What these ignorant individuals don't understand is that not everyone reacts the same - what will not cause an allergic reaction in one person may throw the other into full anaphlactic shock.

It is my belief that if the child in the story did go into anaphlactic shock from having peanut butter smeared on his forehead then the Bully should have been charged with attempted murder.  It's no different then that child pointing a gun at someone and pulling the trigger to see what happens - it could have grazed the targeted individual or it could kill.

Bored. . . .

. . . here I sit at work waiting on the network to get it's head out of it's arse and process my file. 

I could get a top of the line PC at work and I'd still be sitting here with my thumb up my own arse with nothing to do.

I can't even open up MS Excel or Interent Explorer as that will interfere with the operation of MS Access I have running.  Hell I had force MS Outlook to close.

So here I sit unable to do anything else.

3rd Grade Reading. . . . .

. . . . .in K and 1st S would read when asked w/o any problems.  In 2nd he'd read, but reluctantly.  Now by 3rd it's like pulling teeth to get him to read anything longer than a Dr. Seuss book.

So, when the first book order came home I was reluctant to purchase anything.  However, the boy begged for the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" series.  He hadn't finished book one last Spring before it had to be returned to the school library.  No problem - $24 for 4 books didn't seem too bad considering R wants to read them as well.  Of course I'll be reading them too.

S also wanted "39 Clues" and the Percy Jackson series.  Luckily Grandma had purchased the Percy Jackson books and let us have them.  I've read the first and it was pretty good.  Now to just get the boy interested.

As for "39 Clues" I found Book One at the KC Library and checked it out.  He seemed excited at first, but still can't get him to read it.  Glad I didn't spend the $69 to get the 10 book package from Scholastic.

I guess I just need to take the boy to the local library and have him check out some chapter books he's interested in and will actually read. 

Little saddened by the thought that S doesn't enjoy reading.  I remember my mom and I both reading books and talking about them when I was this age.....I was just hoping we could do the same.  However, it looks like T will be my reader just gotta give it a few years.

Family Photo - FINALLY!!

L-R:  R, T, me, K, A, and S

S, T, R and Baby A

I always thought I was . . .

. . . technically savey.  I mean I got our Wii hooked up to our ATT router/modem and we're now watching Netflix via that.

However, a couple of weeks ago my mother bought us a BluRay player.  This damn thing has all the bells and wistles....and yes, it's WiFi ready and is pre-programed to stream Hulu, NetFlix and others.

Trying to get it hooked up to our WiFi was interesting.  I'd tried various things - but nothing seemed to work.  Remind you I was doing this in the evenings after the kids had gone to bed.

Took K calling ATT getting some info, registering the product at Sony, registering the product w/Netflix, and inputting the code from Netflix on the BluRay player when prompted to get everything up and running.  Once again, advantages to having K home w/the kiddo(s).

Anyhoo - I'm in love.  I can now fold laundry in our bedroom and watch old episodes of Stargate SG-1, or catch-up on missed episodes of Bones.  At this point our bedroom is the cleanest place in the whole house....not sure if I should be proud or embarassed.  ;)