Because I'm a Queen...

I get to wear a crown.

It's gold even!

Unfortunately, you, or me for that matter, won't be able to see it because it's going to reside over one of my six year molars.

Sigh.

I honestly felt a little embarassed by my failure with my molar.

Sure, I've had some cavities, but not in several years and never had a crown before.

Now, in less than six months, this one tooth cracked in three places and a piece of it is missing! (That missing portion is its own disturbing problem that my digestive system doesn't want to think about.)

When my dentist was looking in my tooth everything seemed good until I heard him say the words crack and molar.

Then, they have such incredible, (disgusting, but incredible) technology that allowed me to see my tooth blown up to about 40 times its normal size in all its broken down glory. I almost threw up in my mouth when I looked at the picture, but as you know, all that acid from throw up is not so good for your teeth either, so I kept it down.

Oh well, I guess a little mouth bling will make me oh so fashionable.

If Everyone Else Jumped Off a Bridge, Would You do it Too?

Two weekends ago we were watching 20/20. It was discussing the idea that there are several parents out there who are pushing their children to do more than the average child. To set a huge goal and go after it. Sounds really admirable right? Till you realize that the goals these particular sets of parents are encouraging these kids to accomplish are all goals that will put them in the record books. We're not asking a child to read 40 books over summer break or run a marathon. These parents had a 13 year old child climb Mt. Everest and a 16 year old girl sail solo around the globe. I definitely believe in pushing your child to do more, to be more, but not at the risk of your own life.

When questioned about the safety of encouraging and allowing their children to engage in this behavior, both sets of parents cited to the parenting of others saying things such as, "Other parents are waiting in line to 'supersize' their childrens' meals at McDonalds. What I'm doing is safer for his health than that." Or, "How could I stop her when she's so capable and determined?"

Great reasoning right? So, your next door neighbors might be teaching their children to play with handguns and smoke pot, so that definitely justifies another parent to use poor judgment in their own parenting techniques. In other words, if I parent just as poorly as they do, no harm done.

I'm certainly no ideal parent, but where do you draw the line? The 16 year old, Abby Sunderland, was lost in the middle of the Indian Ocean earlier this week. Do you think her parents flew out to find her? Do you think they spent one dime to help in the situation? No, other countries had to dispatch three different ships and an aircraft to locate this missing girl who was 2,000 miles away from either Africa or Australia. That irks me.

Why are we invested in trying to save this showboat (no pun intended) and her parents? They said they recognized the risks and were willing to accept them, but when it came down to it, they weren't. They were begging for help from any agency that would offer it.

It seems to be a common theme that you hear in parenting anymore. "Well, kids are going to be kids, so I just want to be aware of what they are doing." I've heard of parents encouraging their teenage children and their friends to drink in their homes, so at least, the parents know the children are safe. Seriously? When did we decide to just accept poor behavior and cater to it instead of setting up a standard and trying to achieve it. Isn't this the whole teaching abstinence in school debate all over again?

Do I think we should save every human life that we can? Certainly. But, I do believe that if you engage in purposefully dangerous behavior there should be repercussions. If I choose to speed and I'm caught I have to pay the fine. If I choose to send my 16 year old daughter into the middle of the ocean and she gets stuck--well, she's a minor and I should pay for it. I would just like to see some accountability here.

Do I blame the 16 year old? To some degree. I mean, she and her parents both kept citing back to her incredible skills--which skills they apparently didn't trust enough to leave her to her own devices for even a couple hours of losing her signal. Mostly though, her parents are to blame for this whole thing. I guess the take away message they want to send to her is--accomplish your goals, no matter what the cost to you or anyone else around you.

Isn't It Grand?

We are one of those ridiculous families that have lived in Arizona for over six years and never made the trip to see our closest national treasure--the Grand Canyon. So, this Memorial weekend, we remedied that by visiting with our family, Derek's two brothers and his uncle Ron and cousin Cody.

One of the placards stated that the most you can see of the canyon at any time is only 20%. Wow! I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story, but I must say that even photos don't do it justice. You really have to see it for yourself.