My Neighbor's Killer Geese

I used to live in the suburbs. It took all the kids in the neighborhood about half an hour to walk to school, including me. I lived the furthest away, so for the last five or sometimes ten minutes, I walked alone.

Living in the suburbs was fun. I still remember walking home through country roads or fields, always by myself. I started doing this when I was six years old and began attending senior kindergarten.

Luckily, I was on the second school shift, which meant I didn't have to go to school until as late as 11 am sometimes. I was allowed to sleep in, and I don't remember ever waking up early during my elementary school days.

I know, I know, the story about the killer geese.

Well, my neighbor raised geese for food. They fed them very well, and they grew to be giant. There were always a dozen of them. This was especially intimidating because I was a small person back then. These giant geese were let out on the street to graze on the grass by the side of the road.

They were not happy geese. They were grumpy and behaved like dogs, always trying to chase me. They didn't have babies to protect, so I'm not sure why they targeted me whenever I appeared on the horizon.

Just like I avoided bullies throughout my life, I also avoided geese. I didn't confront them because it was pointless. Instead, I took a different path. Occasionally, I had to face dogs on that different path, but that was rare. I also got to see cows who did nothing but stare at me.

In the end, I would arrive home an hour later, not because it actually took that long to get home using my alternative path, but because I was a collector. I would gather leaves, grass, flowers, and anything else that caught my eye.

What is Writer's Block? A Paradox Defined

I am really pulling my brains out today what to write about. It is a fact that to be good at writing I need to practice every day. Well, today is just no go. I think I am experiencing major writer's block because I cannot come up with a topic to write about.

"Writer's block is a condition, primarily associated with writing, in which an author loses the ability to produce new work. The condition ranges in difficulty from coming up with original ideas to being unable to produce a work for years. Throughout history, writer's block has been a documented problem." ~ Wiki

However, am I really experiencing writer's block? I am writing something down. I am having some thoughts. I think I am contradicting myself though. Is writing about having a writer's block is really a writer's block? I think I just discovered a paradox. I am having circular thoughts that are not getting me anywhere writing; and not getting you anywhere while you are reading this nonsense.

"A paradox is a statement that apparently contradicts itself and yet might be true." ~  Wiki

Keep Up the Great Work

At the dinner table I was looking at Matthew and thinking where did the time go. He is now six year old. It feels just like yesterday when Matthew only was combining two or three words together to form sentences. Today he talks like an adult. He asks lot of questions as well.

'Dad to you know what objective means?', Matthew asked Dad.
'Tell me what does it mean', Dad asked to explain.
'Objective means to accomplish something', he replied proud that he was able to define it in his own way.
'Well done!', we replied.

After dinner we had one last piece of homework to complete. Every week Matthew in school writes us something about his week and our homework is to write Matthew a reply.

'Have fun and keep up the great work', were our last words in Matthew's journal.
'Oh man you can't say that again', he said after reading it.

Apparently he takes our journal responses very seriously and telling him to keep up the great work every week that puts stress on him. We agreed to write this statement every other week.

'That's great, I like that pattern', he added.

Flaky Fate

Snow flakes, some

fall down and stay.

Snow flakes, some

fall down and melt.

Snow flakes, some

never reach the ground,

What is so Creepy About Jeepers Creepers

I watched lot of scary movies throughout my life. Movies with moments that make you jump or make you scream your lungs out or even leave the room. Perhaps that is a fun of the scary movies - to scare us beyond our imagination sometimes. However, scary is not enough. I think creepy effect has a more profound effect on people. It is the effect in the movie that produces a sensation of fear. It is the effect that give you goose-bumps and suddenly one is experiencing that moment where things are crawling up your skin. Hair-rising is just normal.

"creepy defined: causing an unpleasant feeling of fear or unease"

Years passed since we last watched a movie called the Jeepers Creepers. It was definitely scary but also a creepy movie. We remember watching on the regular channel after 8 o'clock. One hour of the movie passed and suddenly we lost a channel. Was it done on purpose? Was it done so we go and rent a movie to see the creepy moment. Perhaps yes. Perhaps no. However, we did ended up renting the Jeepers Creepers movie that night. Not sure if it was a curiosity that drove us to the rental place or just we wanted to have this creepy sensation up our spines.

So we watched the whole movie that night. The glitch didn't stop us. The ending was okay, it was just scary. But the most creepy part of the movie Jeepers Creepers was when we watched this tall supposed to be a man with a long arms. He was wearing hat and black trench coat and he was dumping something in the garbage. It was that one scene that really creeped us out along with those in the movie who watched that creature man with dismay.

Happy Halloween! May you have hair-rising experience today.

Halloween and The Rain

Last few days we had an amazing comfortable weather. We were all hoping to be the same for the Halloween day. It never works like that. The clouds were already accumulating and often we would get winds bringing spookiest clouds ever. Wouldn't that be fun for Halloween? Of course it would.

Lucky us our little one still enjoys only visiting the people he knows. He didn't really enjoy being scared by the creatures that would come out form the houses and having a pleasure to scare him. He rather see a face someone he knows. He also knows that that way he will be able to pick and choose a candy.

He also enjoys giving out candies and seeing all the dressed up children to visit him. At the same time he will be jumping out to pose with his spiderman costume. Rather than collecting candies which he will not be able to eat, he will be meeting scary, beautiful and smiling faces at the door.

Happy Halloween Everyone!!! By the way, Happy Halloween here in Canada.

Mid-Night Snack

'Mom can I eat some of your midnight snack', Matthew asked.
'Absolutely not', I replied.
'But Mom I already had your midnight snack', he said.

Not sure where he got the idea, but eating first and then asking he figured out his treats are guaranteed. This is not the first time he ate and then asked.‬

Copyright 2014 Anna Lozyk Romeo

How Do We Make Paper, Kids Talk

Throwback Thursday in Words ... back in 2011 when Matthew was about 3 years old. ‪

'Mommy how we make paper?', Matthew asked.
'You know how we make paper', I replied back.
'I told you so many times', I added.
'First we kill a cow' - he started.
'No, no this is how we make meat', I stopped him.
'Oh' - and he laughed.

Copyright 2014 Anna Lozyk Romeo

What Happened To Me for Three Years

Yes what happened to me. All I can say nothing much, just ventured out to do other local community engagement activities that revolved around raising Matthew. Matthew is now over 6 years old. I just read my last blog post I wrote here about him being able to write a letter M. Well, he now writes and reads; and he reads one grade above grade one. We are very proud of him, he is our very smart little man. From day one I enjoyed so much watching him growing up and learning new things everyday and continue to do so.

Last night I re-visited my blogger and I visited one by one all the blogs on my reading list. I have also noticed that many stopped writing about one or two years ago and many are still around.

I am very active on Twitter (@amlozyk) and on Facebook now, however, I realized last night how much I miss just spilling my thoughts everyday here on the story blob blog, just like I did couple of years ago.

I shall return soon, but let me leave you with couple of conversations I had today with Matthew. 

'Mom can I eat some of your midnight snack', Matthew asked.
'Absolutely not', I replied.
'But Mom I already had your midnight snack', he said.

Not sure where he got the idea, but eating first and then asking he figured out his treats are guaranteed. This is not the first time he ate and then asked. I believe that he is also feeling guilty thus letting us know in any form or shape that he helped himself to the treats.

Today Matthew had a little accident at school. He collided with another boy from grade four. The impact was so hard that he fell on the ground face down and broke his sun-glasses. School called and we just took him home. After we all settled and everything was good I headed to review his lunch box.

'Hey Matthew how come you didn't eat your lunch?', I asked.
'Oh I was tired', he replied.
'Oh but you managed to eat your treats', I stated.
'That was by mistake', he replied.

He Ate His Treat by Mistake, Kids Talk

'Hey Matthew how come you didn't eat your lunch?', I asked.
'Oh I was tired', he replied.
'Oh but you managed to eat your treats', I stated.
'That was by mistake', he replied.

Copyright 2014 Anna Lozyk Romeo

Surprise Me Sometimes and Buy Me a Toy, Kids Talk

'Mom you should surprise me sometimes', Matthew told me today.
'Like what?', I asked.
'You know, like buying me a toy or giving me some money', he replied.
'I only have lots of cents but not many dollars', he added.

Copyright 2014 Anna Lozyk Romeo

First Wiggly Tooth and An Expensive Request to Tooth Fairy, Kids Talk

We found first wiggly tooth. In the very early morning today we told Matthew about Tooth Fairy so after disappointment of loosing teeth he realized the good thing - all the things he can buy. At breakfast I had to tell him to discuss all the financial matters with a tooth fairy because we do not decide how much money he gets. Let see how long until he starts negotiating again.

Copyright 2014 Anna Lozyk Romeo