Last year around this same time my family and I headed out to watch my daughter perform for the school choir's Christmas performance. They did great as always.

BUT while I was attempting to watch the performance there were about five to six kids sitting behind me, being unusually loud. I turned around a few times and told them to please be quiet.

They responded by giggling and whispering what I can only imagine were very kind words about me and the fact that I'd asked them to keep it down. I'm sure that's what it was right?

Of course they continued to be loud and then the man next to me started asking them to please be quiet. After many attempts between him and I to get them to shut the hell up (OOPS I MEAN.. to keep their tone down) I gave up and so did he. Until the end of the performance.

That's when he turned around and scolded them the old fashioned way. The kids SHOULD be scolded by their elders if they are acting up. Well, at least that's the way I was raised. Aparently that just isn't the case anymore.

In this case  their mother who aparently is deaf because she did not hear her kids the whole time was PISSED that he DARE lecture her perfect little angels. She started telling him off in the most AWFUL way. It was horrible.

And I just walked away from it. I was appalled. But did nothing. I simply glared at her as I was walking away.

I think about that day all the time and wonder why I didn't say anything. I don't have an answer. I didn't think I could diffuse the situation. I think she was just being mean because she was ignorant. And frankly, I thought the man and his wife were doing a good job handling it.

But still, I WALKED AWAY.

Well, THIS GUY DIDN'T. And I'm glad. And next time I won't either!

*click here for one guys story at the mall in a similar situation.

larger view

Woofs sent me a text over the weekend.

"Hey did you know your MAS Bookclub was featured on the latest issue of MAS MAGAZINE?"

"No way! Cool!"

I quickly headed out to pick up my copy and sure enough! It's on page three! And so ... ehemm.....

Go pick up the latest copy of MAS Magazine, where yours truly was sorta featured.

Well, not so much ME, as much as my MAS book club.

Still SWEET, though, right?!

In case you missed the original article... here it is:

CLICK HERE FOR ONLINE BOOK CLUB DETAILS

And unlike the Tuckerman's book Club I also helped to start, this one you don't need to have a myspace to join. You do, however need a MAS Bakersfield online account. But it's just like opening a bakotopia.com account. FAST and EASY!

~Twinkie

larger view

click here to read one Bakersfield resident's story. And then tell me, what do you think? Bigfoot? Or big patas?

When we were little my sister Rosey swears she saw a ghost lady in our humble home every night.

She'd wake up and the lady would be right there, in the kitchen, cracking eggs on the floor.

Was it a dream? Or was there really a ghost?

What about Joe's ghost stories he was posting around Halloween time at Mas Bakersfield? Were they tongue in cheek or were they real?

Do you have stories that you want to share about weird stuff that's happened to you?

I work with this guy that swears he was abducted by aliens as a young man. He even has a scar (which he believes is a tracking device) to prove it.

Other than my weird nightmares that can be easily explained scientifically, nothing too weird has happened to me.

Unless you count the time my daughter was soooo sick that she projectile vomited and her head spun around a few times exorcist style.

Other than that... I got nothing.

"Achoooooooo!"

I tried to hold it in but of course it just came out. A loud, sloppy, but very relieving sneeze. I covered my mouth, but of course it didn't matter.

I still saw the spray of a million billion teeny tiny germs migrate and quickly find their way all over my office, my desk, my phone of course even the pen I was holding.

**Ah, yes, the pen I was holding. I forgot what I was doing for a second until I looked at the pen again.

"Here you go sir! Just sign here," I say as I hand the pen to my customer.

He looks up and ... does he pause? Just for a second. It's hard to say. I was too busy trying to hold in the next sneeze I could feel coming.

The young man smiles, takes the pen and very obediently signs where I tell him.

Then it hits me!

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! GROSS! GERMS. Wet, sloppy, ooeyy goooey very obvious, very yucky germs.

All over my pen.

Which I just handed to the customer.

"*GASP," I blurt out! " I am soooooo SORRY. I can't believe I just did that."

He laughs, and it hits him.

But he graciously says, "It's ok. Don't worry about it."

"WOW," I say! "No, seriously. That was rude. I didn't even think about what I was doing it while I was doing it. I'm soooo sorry!"

He finishes signing  then hands me the pen. We're both laughing uncontrollably at this point.  

"Well, ummmm!  Thank you. And I hope those germs treat you as good as they've treated me," I joke!

He laughs even harder as he thanks me for my germs and walks away.

Big Mickey, "So WHEN is this medicine supposed to make my throat stop hurting?"

ME: "In a little bit, baby. Just wait a while ok?"

Big Mickey: in an obviously impatient but hopeful voice, "OK"

a while later....

Big Mickey, in a kinda crying/whiny voice: "It's STILL hurting, mom"

ME: tired and cranky and wishing he'd just go to bed already: "Big Mickey, the medicine is NOT gonna stop hurting if you don't GO TO SLEEP. It's way past your bedtime. So why don't you go to bed already so the medicine can start working!"

Big Mickey, gets angry and says, "WAIT A MINUTE! You mean to tell me that this medicine is only gonna work when I go to SLEEP?"

Me: thinking FINALLY he's going to listen to me and go to bed because he wants his throat to stop hurting! YAY does a carthwheel of joy in her head!! : "YES, so go bed and fall asleep so the medicine will work already!"

Big Mickey: "Then mom... the medicine is not what's making my throat stop hurting! It's because I'm ASLEEP and I can't feel anything when I sleep that makes my throat stop hurting!"

Me: "oops! Am I busted?"

Big Mickey: Feeling smart because he thinks he just figured out the meaning of life and the WHY and the WHO and the WHAT and the cause and effect of medicine consuption "then why did I even TAKE the medicine?"

Me: "Ummmmm..... because it makes you sleepy?"

Big Mickey: "Grrrrrr!!!! MOM!!"

He laughs with me because he knows I'm just being silly. Or am I?

We both laugh, and he finally realizes the inevitable is right around the corner. The Benadryl I gave him is finally kicking in and he's drowsy and ready for bed where he will fall fast asleep and his throat will no longer hurt. Because he's asleep.

I remember when I was in the 6th grade a few of my classmates were dating "older" guys. They were making out at a time when I hadn't even HELD HANDS with a boy yet.

By seventh grade a few were already pregnant and dropped out of school. By eight grade, I thought I was the only virgin. And still, hadn't even KISSED a boy. Or held hands with one.

Now, according to MSN NEWS you may not have to worry about YOUR preteen kids getting pregnant like my friends did because they are offering birth control to them.

YES! You read right! Birth control. A school in Maine has recently approved the dispersal of contraceptives to their preteen students.

In fact, "The plan, offered by city health officials, makes King Middle School the first middle school in Maine to make a full range of contraception available to students in grades 6 through 8, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services."

click HERE to read the whole story. Then leave me your thoughts below!

A gentleman walks into a bar, gets drunk. Then he goes home and beats his wife. He gets arrested but only given "a 16-week suspended sentence after magistrates heard how he was in the process of beating his alcohol addiction, said to be the cause of his aggression."

click here to read that news article

In another part of the world, another gentleman gets in a fight with his girlfriend. In a fit of rage, he tosses their dog OFF THERE BALCONY. The dog suffers head trauma and is therefore put to sleep.

He is "sentenced to five years, suspended to three years in prison and two years of probation." The gentleman, "who will be eligible for parole in 20 months, also was ordered to get anger management counseling."

click here to read that news article

What kind of world do we live in where it's ok to beat your wife. In fact you'll just get a slap on the wrist. Maybe.

But heaven forbid you beat your dog. You're doing jail time. Big time. More than a D.U.I. offender, in fact.

Don't get me wrong. I have a puppy and she's like my daughter. I love her bunches. It just seems to me like lately you get more time in jail for animal cruelty than for beating a human being and to me, that's a little crazy.

Neither is right. And I'm not saying one is worse than the other. I guess what I'm saying is they should be equal. At least equal.

Do either sentences seem right to you? Please explain why.

Apparently some people think killing others is fun. I just read this article that made me want to throw up. The loss of the value of life amazes me. Seriously.

click here to read the article

Apparently this dude posted an ad for a babysitter on Craigslist (a popular online bulletin where people sell and buy stuff, kind of like the classifieds in your local paper.) When the lady showed up, him and his friend shot her.

"When confronted with evidence, Anderson admitted he was present during Olson's slaying but said the killing was committed by a friend of his who "thought it would be funny," according to the complaint." ~MSNBC

I was at my mom's house this past weekend and the kids were playing Pac Man and she gave me the usual lecture about buying my kids those type of games and not the violent kind because YOU KNOW that's why there is so much murder and mayhem. Kids play these killing games all day and they become jaded.

And while I would like to think she's wrong and video games have nothing to do with an innocent child become jaded and numb to death and chaos and mayhem I'm beginning to wonder.

Maybe there IS something to it?

What do you think?

I was at the laundromat this morning. I had to take my comforter in because my lovely little puppy decided it made for a good toilet and pee'd on it.

Anyways, while I was there all these old memories popped up of my childhood and having to go with my mom once a week to help her wash and sort the laundry.

Of course at the time it was a "treat" to go. At least for me it was. See, every time I went with her I'd make a new friend whether it'd be a kid from school or a lonely old lady needing the company or whatever.

It's also where I had the best conversations with my mom. AND where I got all the good gossip from listening to her and whatever comadre she'd be talking to who happened to be washing her clothes there at the same time.

"fijate que..."

"AY No me digas! Apoco?"

Then there was the trip to the mini mart next door when we ran out of dimes and of course my mom gave me extra money to buy myself a little treat.

Yes, the laundry mat was a good time for me full of awesome memories.

Of course then I became a mother and going to laundromat was a chore and half. With two kids in tow, I'd take off with my baskets full of dirty clothes and my rolls of quarters. Trying to hold my kids hands so they wouldn't run off and hang on to the baskets at the same time as not an easy thing.

It was tough.

Then of course trying to keep my kids entertained enough to where they wouldn't ask, "Are we almost done yet? How bout YET? NOT YET? How much longer?"

I can't imagine how mi mami did it without losing her sanity all those years.

Of course now that my kids are older and I don't have to worry about them anymore and going to the laundromat is once more like it was when I was child. I sit there and people watch.

Or I pretend like I'm reading a book and eavesdrop on conversations and catch up on all the "good gossip" of people I'll never meet and situations that may never affect me.

It's better than a soap opera. Actually it's better than any reality t.v. show you watch because it's REAL and I'm a part of it. Sort of.

It was nice. And even in the middle of all the commotion of washing machines swooshing, and dryers spinning, and mothers yelling, and kids crying, and couples arguing, and old men smoking, it was quiet. And it was sorta kinda a little bit of "me" time.

I sat back, absorbed it all, let it all sink in. I was reliving all those neat laundromat childhood memories. And it was nice.