Saturday, January 26, 2008

An afternoon of birth control....

Today, I was a full day. I took Bubba out to the sewing shop 45 minutes away because they finally got the part in and they put it on. I haven't gotten to sew with him yet, but I am sure that he works great still. After that, I went to Amy's house to meet her and her mom and then we went to IHOP for brunch and had a meeting for our sorority chapter. It was a short meeting because nothing had really been done since our December breakfast. I now have a list of things to do. After our meeting, we went to the Cincinnati Fire Museum. That is where the birth control comes in.

After a directions snafu - Amy wrote the directions down so that she could understand them, but then I had to navigate and they made no sense to me. So we got a little lost and had to pull out a map and then pull off the road because of course I can't read in a moving car much less see tiny little words on a map in a moving car! We finally got there.

The Museum was pretty neat. They had mannequins that looked quite humorous and a lot of tools and equipment from the 1800's. And the history was very detailed. Or what I could read and take in from it.

Apparently, some parents think that taking their children to a place where you have to pay $7 to get in means that they can run loose. The museum had a functioning cab of a fire engine and the lights worked. And the sirens worked. The sirens worked quite well. Maybe too well. I was ready to go to the guy at the counter and give him more money to 'break' the sirens until we left.

I don't know what irritated me more, the fact that we paid $7 each to get into the museum and there was so much noise. Shouldn't a museum be a quiet place to reflect? Or the fact that these parents were so freakin oblivious to the fact that their devil spawn were monsters and obnoxious.

There were 2 levels to the museum and we inadvertently started out in the 1850's so I looked and the map said that we should've started out downstairs. We went to the stairs and Amy and I slid down the pole and Lynn met us at the bottom of the steps and we were happy because the noise was a little muffled in the lower level. We enjoyed a trip through the early years of fire fighting and then went up the stairs to the second level and back to the early 1800's. We got a few minutes of quiet and got our hopes up that the parents wised up, but then the noise would start again. And this time, we could hear the kids running around and screaming, too. I think at one point, Amy was almost taken out by kids running past her.

One of the other pieces of equipment that was set up that we could try was a fire bell. You know, what they would use to sound alarms? I jumped out of my shoes when Amy pushed the button. So of course, I had to wait until Amy and Lynn were unaware and then I pushed the button and scared them, too! Well, that was a huge mistake. One of the fathers came prowling over to where we were to see what the noise was and then got his son and brought him over to ring the bell. Now, the sign on the bell read, "Please ring bell ONCE." Do you see where this is going? The kid pushed the button and it went DING DING DING DING!!! Amy, Lynn and I are about 3 feet away from the bell so we all jump and give the guy the eveil eye. So then, we had to hear the dad say, "didn't you read the sign?" I wanted to say, "You moron! You told him to push the button - Didn't you THINK to tell him PUSH IT ONCE???" Well, considering the noise in the place I answered my own question.

And the noise continiued.

I really don't know much of what happened after 1900 because by this time we were actually in the room with the little brats and then parents and the noise was unbelievable. Lynn and I carried on a conversation about how certain people shouldn't be allowed to breed, etc. Finally, 2 of the ladies and their kids disappeared. One of the guys told his son that he had 10 more minutes or something and they went and looked in a different part of the museum and by this point, we had the room (and quiet) to ourselves. Amy and I got into the cab of the engine and just sat enjoying the peace. Then, a brat came running into the room and saw us in the cab. He walked right over to the door and looked at us and then turned and ran yelling, "Daaa-aad!" We just giggled. Not only was he loud and obnoxious, he was a tattletale! :)

I forgot my camera, but I did get some pictures of us in the truck with my hillbilly digital camera phone. I haven't taken the time to email them to myself yet, but I will post them once I do.

After we left the museum with another good 5 years of birth control in our possession, Amy and I went to her house and worked on preparing fabric for Project Linus blankets. We had pieces of fleece that I used a skip stitch rotary cutter on to make holes around the outside edges and then I showed Amy how to crochet a border. I taught her how to crochet a few years ago and she really caught onto it. I started her out with littler blankets. Boy will she be surprised when I show her the huge panels that I got really cheap! And we also cut out fabric to make very simple quilts - no piecing involved. We make a sandwich with fabric and then they will tie the sandwich together and I will wrap the backing around to create a border. I still have a lot of fabric to wash because I bought it when Joanns had their clearance fabric on sale and I bought a ton!

So no sewing today. I didn't get home until after 8 and I hadn't eaten since brunch so I had to stuff my face and then I have just been piddling around with the laptop. Maybe tomorrow....

8 comments:

CatQuilter said...

Isn't it sad that some parents are so totally clueless when it pertains to their little darlings? When my children were little, I was mortified when they adversely affected others'enjoyment out in public. I always said the best form of birth control is to rent out a brat to the prospective parents. Hey, I came up with a new business!

BitnByAQuiltingBug said...

Don't you wish for the days when you were a child and your parents actually taught you to behave in public? If we didn't...it was a trip to the "ladies" room wherever we were and we got our butts smacked good. AND...we learned to behave in public! I hate going out for a nice meal and then you have that family next to you with kids throwing food and screaming...and...and....UGHHHHH! Drives me nuts.... Ok, that's it for my rant....Have a good day!
Regina

Connie said...

I also grew up in a household where you got in Trouble if you didn't behave--now that I have kids, I'm trying to raise them with the same sense of cause and effect when it comes to their behavior (translation: spankings). It must be sinking in a little 'cause the other day I heard my 4 year old tell my son that "he'd better be good or there were going to be consequences!" I had to bite my cheeks to not laugh at hearing her use that word!

Moneik said...

I am the same way. I hate when parents don't discipline their children. They just ignore them instead. I had one parent tell me I just didn't understand what they had to deal with. I knew their kids were quiet when they were around other people, so it had a lot to do with the parent not controlling them.

Jen said...

Yeah, I'm glad I had one of those parents that would give me the evil eye...I knew to be scared of her. Honestly, people are idiots. How can they not see that they are detracting from others enjoyment. People suck! I'm with you on that as a method of birth control! Don't need em'!!

Bethany said...

If it makes you feel better, I get compliments on how good my kids are in puplic places. Even when they were little.

No, they aren't perfect(my son is a loud talker) but I want my kids to enjoy going places but not be terrors to other people. They know if I get to 3..they are done for.

Just letting you know there are parents that do care what their children do :)

Anonymous said...

Sorry you had a bad experience at the firehouse....We were raised to respect others and were expected to behave in public. If we didn't (don't remember this ever happening), we knew we would be popped into the car and brought home. I expect to raise my kids the same way - respect others and if they are not behaving in public then we go home.

Amelia said...

Too bad your outing was not as plesant as could have been - simply due to the fact some children do not know how to behave - but then they are not being taught by their parents.