Hoax

I'm sure you've all heard about the balloon boy saga by now. I have to admit, when it first happened and the balloon was flying through the air, I really felt for the Heene family. Even when rumors of a hoax started to surface after the little boy, Falcon, made a slip of the tongue during an interview, I was still sympathetic. But now, I am thoroughly convinced that it was a scam. Here is a clip from when the Heene family was on Wife Swap.

I can't believe that adult people who have children would act this way. These people are definitely capable of staging a hoax.

Science Pictures

Here are a couple pictures I took at work this week. The first one is of a blood vessel running through some fat tissue. The vessel is green and the fat cells look like bubbles. The nuclei of all the cells are blue.

These are omentum cells that I took out of a mouse and cultured in a dish for a few days.

Once Bitten, Twice Shy

For about a week now, Harper has been telling us the same story over and over again. She holds up her finger and says "Sagie bite". Translation = Sagie, our cat, bit her finger. The first time she told me this was when I was getting her out of her crib one morning. I think she had a dream that the cat bit her and now she thinks it's real. We literally have the most gentle cat in the world. Sage puts up with a lot from Harper (as you can see in the video below). She's not a biter, even when provoked. But, who knows?

This is an everyday occurrence in our house. Sage likes to hang out under the piano and Harper likes to lay on her -- I mean, Harper likes to hug her.

My Little Helper

Harper has a new toy. The swiffer. She loves it. I swiffered the kitchen floor the other day and she insisted that she help. After 30 mins, I tried to put it away but she cried, so I let her continue playing with it. I think I might be on to something here... I took these pictures with my cell phone - hence the poor quality. But you get the point.

Action Shot

Job Well Done

Annual Reminder

Well, I got pulled over this morning. 43 in a 30. As some of you know, this is a recurring thing for me. Click here for a reminder. This time, I was lucky. He only gave me a warning - and a really nice one at that. I think the power of Harper's cuteness had something to do with it. She said hi to him as soon as he came up to the window. I didn't even have to tell him that my husband is 2 weeks away from graduating from the police academy. Actually, I wouldn't have told him that anyway. I speed. I deserve every ticket I get. There is no point in trying to get out of it or feeling bad about it. I make the choice to speed and therefore I accept my consequences. But today I got lucky. No ticket. Just my annual reminder.

Oktoberfest 2009

When I think of Nashville, Oktoberfest is admittedly not the first thing that comes to mind. However, we went to Oktoberfest on Saturday and were pleasantly surprised. It was great! It had everything that an Oktoberfest should have - brats, beer, good music, lederhosen, funnel cakes... Luckily Katie brought her camera to capture all of the fun.

Harper enjoying her first funnel cake...

...and her first beer. Just kidding. It's monday and I just wanted to make sure you were all awake and paying attention.

There were lots of cool vendors selling all kinds of things. Harper got a new hat. It's an olive! Here's a link to the vendor's site. She couldn't fit into any of the kid sized hats, so she had to get an adult sized one. Yes, my child has a pumpkin for a head. But that's ok. She has a lot of brains to fit in there so she needs the extra room.

We heard a great band called Space Capone. They were awesome and Harper loved them. She even got a shout out from the band because of her dancing skills.

Harper and Laurie found a puddle to splash in.

She took it pretty hard when we had to say good bye to the puddle. Check out that lip.

She recovered quickly, though.

All in all, it was a great day and I think we are all looking forward to going back next year!

You Have Got To Be Kidding Me.

Something that I though a lot about when I was pregnant and think even more about now is how in the world I am going to help Harper have a healthy self image. I think this is one of the biggest and most difficult tasks that moms of daughters have. It seems like the whole world is working against us on this one. Case in point - below is a picture from a recent Ralph Lauren ad campaign.

Seriously? I'm pretty sure that the laws of physics would not allow this air brushed form to actually exist in nature. When asked to comment on it, Ralph's reps gave this statement:

"For over 42 years, we have built a brand based on quality and integrity. After further investigation, we have learned that we are responsible for the poor imaging and retouching that resulted in a very distorted image of a woman's body. We have addressed the problem and going forward will take every precaution to ensure that the caliber of our artwork represents our brand appropriately."

I think that all of the retouching and airbrushing that magazines and ad agencies do is absolutely ridiculous. French legislators feels the same way and are in the process of drafting a law that would require labels to be added to airbrushed photos. You can read more about that here.

Until our culture decides to change, what are some things that we can do to help our daughters (and ourselves) have realistic and healthy self images? Any thoughts?