A little of this, A little of that

I have been silent for a while and I need to break that silence, but all the thoughts I have had for blog fodder are all jumbled up so I am liable to be flitting around from topic to topic.  Grab yourself some caffeine and try to keep up!

Have you read about the gay penguin couple?  Here is the latest update on them:




"After six years of lovingly building a nest together each spring, a pair of male Gentoo penguins named Inca and Rayas finally have an egg to keep in it. According to their keepers at Madrid's Faunia Park, the two are inseparable and have taken to parenting like, well, penguins to water. Inca has adopted the female role of incubating the egg, while partner Rayas watches over his buddy and the little one. Their keepers hope that the donated egg -- and the bub that hatches out of it -- will boost the pair's spirits. In past years, they apparently became rather blue during spring when surrounded by all their friends' newborns."

Awwwww.  What a sweet story.

Did you watch the DWTS finale?  I had no hopes that this season would be as good as it was.  It really was great to watch.  The final 4 were all so good that there was no reason to be disappointed no matter who won.

Speaking of finales, all the shows are having their season finales this past month and none more important to watch than Monday night's airing of the SERIES FINALE of House.  The whole series is over.  No more cranky pants House.  No more weird diseases to be discovered and cured.  No more co-workers to kill off.  It was really good and stayed true to the character of the show.  I hate it when they come up with some cutesy ending that fails miserably to resolve anything.

Oh!  I found a new favorite blog!  My absolute favorite blogger in the world is Martha Payne.

Have you heard of Martha?  No?

Well, she is a 9 year old girl who lives in Scotland.  And just the most clever thing around.  I wish I had been that smart at 9.  She was becoming disillusioned about the school lunches and she now writes a blog about it.  She posts a photo of it and rates it on taste, nutrition, how many mouthfuls she actually gets (these photos of her lunches have shocked me by how small they are) and also by whether or not she finds a hair in them.

This is an eye-opening experiment.  She asked for kids around the world to send in pictures of their own school lunches (or made at home and brought to school) to her for comparison.  And yes, her dad is helping her by tweeting about this.  And yes, Jamie Oliver is aware of this and encouraging her. He needs to get his gorgeous Naked Chef self up to Scotland and do something with their school lunches. Those meals have negligable protein, few vegetables, little or no fruit.  Mostly carbs, bread, potatoes, pasta and the like.  So go read Martha and send her some encouragement.

And on a completely different train of thought, in the paper this Sunday, right on the front page was an article titled "Despite changes, more kids are dying"

Seems that our county has taken the lead in Texas for most child deaths involving parents from abuse and/or neglect.  Lovely.  Our county has had 20 child deaths in the last fiscal year.  We also had the most confirmed cases of abused and neglected children in the state, 5,915 which is more than the 5,493 for Houston which has nearly three times as many children as our city.  More deaths with 1/3 the total number of children.  Doesn't that make your stomach turn?

The article goes on for another full page of facts, details, information, etc. And it ends with a half page listing each of the 20 children who were killed and the pertinent facts of each of their cases.  It made this very personal and real to see their little names, ages, cause of death and what criminal case or charges have been filed, that kind of outcome.  I think these little ones deserve to be honored in this way and create some awareness and hopefully get more people to step up and volunteer to help.

Do any of you remember last July when I posted this??  This little angel boy was the last one listed on this page of 20.  I had periodically checked the news online to see if anything had ever come of the father of this child admitting to hurting and ultimately killing this baby and never could find anything. So I read the little bit they had listed Sunday on this baby. And I am going to go ahead and type what is there since it is the newspaper I can assume there is no expectation of privacy.  Here's what is said:

Kaleb Alexander Janosik

Age: 22 days

Date of death: July 24, 2011

Died of head injuries.

Father admitting to striking and biting the child.

Mother and father were found "reason to believe" for physical abuse.

Justin Janosik (father) pleaded guilty to murder, received a life sentence.

My heart just breaks for all 20 of these shameful deaths.  One thing I looked at is that 11 of the 20 had previously been investigated by CPS so someone already knew there was a problem in the home.  I don't know the answer to this horrific problem but I do know that I try my hardest to make sure my work with each of my clients helps them to fall in love with their children and to know there are resources for when they are overwhelmed and feel helpless.

If you feel so moved to help with abused and neglected children, consider becoming a CASA  advocate. Or check with your CPS office and see what it takes to become a foster family for children in need.  Some of our local high schools have nurseries for the babies while moms attend school and they need volunteers there to work with the babies.  You can teach parenting classes. There are many ways you can get involved and make a difference in a child's life.  Please make the effort.  Don't just sit back and read about the tragedies being perpetrated on these young lives and do nothing. It really does take a village.