Cowboy Mouth Pictures

Three C’s: Cowboy Mouth, Chinatown, and Cold

So last night, Tamara, Adora, and I went to go see Cowboy Mouth. It's hard to believe that I've been going to their concerts for 10 years now. We were front and to the far left, so we had a great view of JTG. He noticed Adora was having a great time and even handed her one of his guitar picks in between songs. It was a really great concert, and makes me wish Cowboy Mouth would come this way more often.

We got to meet the band afterwards. I'm still amazed that they really seem to enjoy hanging out with their fans after the show, with as many shows as they do. They still were just as nice as they were the first time I got to talk to them when they dropped by our radio station ten years ago. Unfortunately, there was another band booked for midnight, so the 9:30 Club staff were trying to get all of the Cowboy Mouth fans out of the building. We managed to catch JP and Regina outside, and they didn't mind posing for a picture with Adora.

We also talked to Justin Trawick, the lead singer of the opening group. I really enjoyed the set his group did and wished they had a little more time. They were all strings, with a violin, electric mandolin, guitar, and upright bass. He's performing in the National Mall next Sunday, so I think Paul and I will head over that way.

We had an interesting walk back to the Metro station. We didn't have a chance to eat before the concert, so we decided to stop in Chinatown for a bite to eat. It probably would have been faster to take the Metro back to Virginia and get fast food, since it took us forever to find a restaurant that wasn't 21+ after 10:30pm. We ended up at Tai Shan, which was a bit of a let down, but it had food and was right next to the Chinatown metro stop. After a quick change from red to orange lines, we settled in for the trip back to Virginia. Adora was pretty tired and nodded off before we got across the Potomac.

As for the cold, I'm not used to it being too much below 80 this time of the year, so I waltzed out of the house without my jacket. Oops. It was in the 60s today (brrr), so I guess it's time to get my winter clothes back out.

A Case of Poor Judgment

I saw a sad story on the news last night. A couple with a baby girl who wasn't yet a year old decided to go out. They hire an adult babysitter, and go to enjoy their evening, thinking their baby is in good hands.

Now this is the part that really disturbs me. Something better came along (in the form of a party) for the babysitter. She decides to get a 14 year old girl to watch the baby while she goes off to party. From the sounds of it, the baby was having a bad night and the 14 year old girl was in over her head. I'm guessing the girl probably got frustrated with a crying baby and shook her pretty hard, since the baby had shaken baby syndrome.

Now, the 14 year old is charged with murder. But I am wondering if the original babysitter is going to be charged with child endangerment, at the very least. Personally, I do not think 14 year olds are qualified to babysit an infant, especially an older baby. There is just so much that can go wrong at that age. They're putting everything in their mouths, crawling off, and learning to eat solid foods, but don't have enough experience to exercise common sense. It would be easy enough for them to choke, or tumble down the stairs.

The other reason I think the original babysitter should be charged is that it was her choice to bring in the 14 year old girl, who was obviously in over her head. I have nothing against younger teens babysitting, but it needs to be the parents' choice.

Tamara and I have been bouncing around the idea of having her oldest daughter watching Paul occasionally. The conditions of me accepting Adora as a mother's helper is that she has to complete the Red Cross babysitter's class, and she has to have either me or her parents' around until we're all confident she won't be in over her head when she's alone. I think that's reasonable, and also good for Adora, since it helps keep her out of situations like this.

I think if the girl had a babysitting class, this wouldn't have been in the news. I guess she didn't realize that if you feel like you're going to lose your temper, it's ok to leave the baby alone for a few minutes. I remember before we brought Paul home, the nurses made a point of telling me it was ok to put him in the crib, and count to 10 or whatever, until I was calm again and I heard it again at his first pediatrician visit.

(And I still can't get over the original babysitter's appalling lack of judgement.)

Things Which Are Awesome

Ok, so it's really just one thing, but it's still pretty awesome. I hate having new tires put on my car, since it's usually been a 2-4 hour process, including wait time. We barely squeak by getting an oil change when Paul is with me, since most car service related shops just aren't child friendly.

Enter Tire Van. I ordered my tires online and they called me back to set up an appointment. They were prompt, and didn't rush through the job, but didn't take forever either. Paul got to watch from the window as the guy changed my tires without me having to distract him from getting bored and destroying a tire store's waiting area. I got to take care of other things while Paul was entertained and I wasn't killing time in a waiting area. Win/Win if you ask me.

If you're in the DC metro area, I recommend looking into them if you're tired of keeping a toddler entertained in a toddler unfriendly area for several hours while your car is worked on.

A Change in Plans

After a side trip to Dallas for my cousin's wedding, and to visit two of my best friends, I was pretty tired. I had already decided to rest for a day before heading back to Virginia. However, when I was watching the news this morning, I discovered that the metro DC area was flooding enough to shut down one of the loops of the beltway after a mudslide dumped 5 feet of mud on it. A few roads near our house have been closed as well.

After talking to my husband, it seemed like a good idea to give the county a little time to clean up and wait for the storm system to pass. While I am crazy enough to make two 3500+ road trips with a 17 month old boy and puppy within 30 days, I am not crazy enough to intentionally drive into a storm system like that.

I woke up this morning, and quickly discovered two more reasons not to leave today. Paul woke up with a stomach bug, and the city of Minden is tearing the road up in front of my parents' house and their immediate neighbors. The only way to get out is to drive through 2 of their neighbor's lawns to reach the intact pavement. Fortunately my mom was at work when they started working on the road, so we do have a way to get pedialyte. I guess I will probably be back this weekend, instead of tomorrow.