A Desecration of Life

Her sentence was handed down this week and it was a "lenient" 5 years in prison.

The judges at her trial felt sorry for her and believed she was "despairing of life."
A Chinese official connected to the case said what she did "caused only relatively small harm to society."

She was a mother who gave her twin 13 year old sons water laced with sleeping pills, and then she drowned them in a bathtub. After killing her sons, she dressed them in new pajamas.

The twin boys had been born prematurely and were diagnosed with cerebral palsy.

Even though Chinese courts usually deal harshly with murderers and sentence them to death or long prison terms, they felt sorry for this mother.

The mother had given up her job to care for the twins after finding it difficult to hire nannies. Her husband forgave her of the murders because after the death, they would no longer have to consider filing bankruptcy.

One of the judges is quoted as saying, "She deserved the lenient sentence. The murders resulted from years of mental burden."

The mother is quoted as saying, "I just wanted them to leave quietly."

But not to worry, this "caused only relatively small harm to society."

Special Exposure Wednesday

Last week it was the best baked beans I had ever had, and this week Ronnie made peanut butter fudge. I think this kid is a keeper, don't you? (And a very special thanks to the cooking instructor, Chip!)

Hilarious...Sort Of

Two weeks ago, the receptionist from Ronnie's dentist office called to let us know that it was time to make his next dental appointment. I was at work, but Chip answered the phone. The receptionist asked for Ronnie.

Chip said, "He's deaf."

The receptionist apologized profusely, and just kept saying, "I'm so sorry." Chip thought it was a little strange, and so did I when he recounted the conversation to me. But we're both used to people making strange comments when confronted with a person who has a disability, so we just shook our heads and didn't think anymore of it.

Two days later, I called the office to schedule the appointment, and was given 10am yesterday.

Chip took Ronnie yesterday morning, and when he arrived was told that Ronnie didn't have an appointment. He texted me, and I assured him that I had spoken with someone at the dental office, and we did indeed set up that time. The receptionist insisted that we hadn't, and said the doctor couldn't see him at that time. I asked Chip to just reschedule, and that's when the 'mystery' was revealed.

During the initial phone call when Chip said Ronnie was deaf, the receptionist thought he said 'dead.' Ronnie was marked deceased in their files, and thus the appointment didn't show on their schedules. It then became very clear why the receptionist kept saying how sorry she was during the phone call with Chip.

The dentist did decide to see Ronnie yesterday morning, perhaps feeling very bad about marking him as 'deceased' in their file. As least we didn't have to reschedule!

Shiny Happy Faces!

If you were to stop by my house any time day or night, you would probably notice that my carpet glitters. Pretty colors of red, gold, silver and blue twinkling up from most of the rooms in the house. Blame it on Ashley!



Ashley likes to always have something in her hands, and for the longest time, her favorite thing has been wires with glittering stars attached. The sales clerks at Michael's craft store look at me funny when I purchase 20 strands at a time, but Ashley goes through them pretty quickly.

She twists and turns them, making different shapes. She pulls them apart and starts all over again. Then, she will take several of all different colors and weave them together. Eventually the wires will get so tangled that she sets them aside and starts anew with other wires. Thus the 20 I buy on each trip to Michaels.

Even though the wires come with the star glitter attached, Ashley doesn't want the stars on the wires. She wants it on the floor. So now you know why my carpet glitters!

Yes, it means my carpet never looks perfectly groomed (is carpet groomed?). But the glitter makes Ashley happy and when Ashley is happy, so am I. Our house becomes a magical place with shiny, glittering floors and her happy smiles and giggles. How could I let a vacuum take all that away?!

Funny Friday

I love to end the week on a positive note, especially if it makes me laugh uncontrollably. This post does that. So take a look and have a very happy first weekend of Summer:

Learning to Pick Your Battles

There Sometimes Are Stupid Questions

I get this question so many times and never have I understood it:

Does Ashley go to school?
I'm thinking to myself, "What a stupid question. Of course she goes to school. I think it would be against the law for me to not send her to school."
What I answer to the person, "Yes, she goes to school."

Oh, is it a special school?
I'm thinking to myself, "Of course it's a special school, my sweet Ashley goes there."
What I answer to the person, "It's our neighborhood school."

Really? With all the other kids in your neighborhood?
I'm thinking to myself, "Why wouldn't she go with all the other kids?"
What I answer to the person, "Yes, with all her friends from the neighborhood."

Well, isn't that special. It's wonderful they let her do that.
I'm thinking to myself, "Idiot, what an ass you are."
What I answer to the person, "Actually, it's wonderful that Ashley lets all her friends go to the same school as she does. She's very particular about the company she keeps."

Awww, well she's so sweet.
I'm thinking to myself, "And you are not someone I want to converse with any further. What a jerk."
What I answer to the person, "Yes, she is very sweet."

One of these days I may consider taking the time to explain to one of the questioners why their belief system is wrong. But then again, they probably wouldn't listen.

Special Exposure Wednesday

Wondering what to do with your teens over summer break from school? Put them to work making dinner! Ronnie made us some wonderful baked beans - the best I've ever had - for dinner Monday night.