Recently on a very late night, Nisha Crystal Jackson, my 8-year-old daughter of Baltimore, Maryland, decided she no longer wanted to live in my house. Nisha said she wanted to move somewhere else. The one thing I like to do for my children and my men is to make them happy. When they start itching to move on, I am more than happy to give them what they want. I never let the men back in, but in a child's case, you have to find out what's going on with him or her. In Nisha's case, I was shocked to learn of this news because she does not have a job, car nor money. This all started because I had to send Nisha to her room early because one weekday night she was on the tip of annoying me. There was lots of talking, lots of silly questions being asked. I had to shut her down. Around 11 p.m., I creeped along the hallway (I'm also wondering why I'm creeping around in my house) and overheard her saying some highly unkind and unflattering things about me. I politely called for Christopher, my 17-year-old, to grab a suitcase so I could help her move along. BTW, this is the same luggage he will be using next month when he turns 18. The roles will be reversed as Nisha will be retrieving this for him as he moves on.

Anyway, for starters, Nisha says I fix bad dinners. Really? I was not aware of my deficient culinary skills because judging by the skid marks on my kitchen floor from her getting to the table first, I thought I was doing o.k.

She says she always has to come in early, thereby prohibiting her from riding her scooter with her friend. She doesn't know her name, but she's her friend. Sorry, no midnight scooter riding around my house, kid.

I keep bringing "all those books back from the library every week, books with a lot of pages". Call the authorities!

My house is old and dumb. A 90-year-old historic looking detached house that's the size of Rhode Island is what we get to sleep in every night.

I am an old, lazy bully and the meanest mom ever. Old???

I make too much noise in the morning. I'll try to bring it down a little while I'm making her breakfast and lunch before leaving for work for the day.

I watch t.v. all the time. Probably in my never-ending attempt to keep up on news.

I make her and her brothers do all the housework. Funny because they always come to me asking where the broom and cleaning supplies are. If you cleaned more than on a bi-annual basis, you would probably know, wouldn't you?!

To top it off, I make her wash up two times a day. Shoot me.

After spending an hour sitting on the porch alone (I watched her from an undisclosed location in my old, dumb house), she decided she wanted back in.

I made her apologize for being ungrateful and reminded her of what a good life she has, including 3 square meals a day, good teeth, a private school and a decent family.

The first set of pictures show us in happier times on the same day of "the move", just hours before she snapped.

The lesson here is sometimes we don't know how good we have it until we spend just a few yards away from it.

In case I have not mentioned it previously, Independence Day is one of my favorite days of the year. I am so excited about all the activities that happen during this hot weather holiday. Cookouts, pool parties (my children say they are now called splash parties), parades, fireworks, picnics, I love them all.

The next two days, the children and I will don our patriotic wear, have a picnic at a city park, take a dip in a pool somewhere, go to the Catonsville parade that my cohort, Anne Kramer, works so hard on all year, and then I will be a part of the fun Saturday night at my cohort, Tamara Nelson's, beautiful warehouse to watch the Inner Harbor fireworks from her deck. I cannot wait.

Speaking of being excited, I recently paid close attention to the landmark above that just happens to be in my neighborhood at Frederick and Augusta Avenues. Funniest thing, in all the years I have lived in Irvington and one block from this monument, I have never noticed its inscriptions until now. Imagine my excitement when I saw that this towering monument reflected on Independence Day in this southwest Baltimore neighborhood.

http://www.ci.baltimore.md.us/neighborhoods/southwest/irvington.html

However you spend the holiday, I hope you and your family and friends have a good, safe time.

Happy Independence Day!

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

Many times we make statements or send messages simply by wearing certain clothing, or by posting a sign on a door or even the front of a prominent Baltimore church.

Exhibit A= I am not sure what this message means, but obviously there are some liquor issues involved. I bet one of the thousands of people who attend this megachurch would be more than willing to explain it me at some point.

Exhibit B=This sign is posted proudly on a back door of a building near the Baltimore Police Department and the Block. One might ask why I was in the area, but that's for another blog at another time. One might also ask why the door was propped open for about 30 minutes when the sign clearly states it is not good to do that. Anyways (that's Baltimore talk for moving along) Nonetheless, the sign sure does send me a message. A loud and clear one.

Exhibit C=Gotta love the neighborhood kid making a political statement. This 10-year-old is proudly displaying his support for the former Baltimore County Exec, Roger B. Hayden, on his body. The little devil (the neighborhood boy, not Hayden), is slightly behind the times, though. Hayden was in the seat in the early 90's. The kid was born in 1999. I asked him who Hayden is. His face went blank. I asked him to name the current mayor of his city and current governor of his state. The face goes blank again. Perhaps he, along with his hugging pal, should invest some time in learning the names of political leaders instead of running through my yard. That would send me and their family a message.

MARYLAND SEAFOOD

Boy, do I love being a Marylander. The history, the people, the architecture of the homes and other structures and most of all, the illegal signs posted around Baltimore City advertising crabs. Now, don't get me wrong, I love seafood, especially crabs, as much as anybody else. As a matter of fact, my birthday is Friday, the 26th, the one day I usually treat myself to different types of seafood. I think I will do that tomorrow. I will be sure to play it safe, though, and get my crabs from a well recognized and licensed establishment. Happy eating!

Angela

BATHROOMS

bath·room (From Merriam-Webster)
noun
Date:
1780
1 : a room containing a bathtub or shower and usually a sink and toilet

Many of you know how paranoid I am about dirt and germs. I don't walk around wearing gloves or a plastic suit all day, but I am known to keep a bottle or two of hand sanitizer around me. I am also known to stick my nose up about a dirty environment, especially a bathroom. Bathrooms should be clean, safe, comfortable, loving places, but we know public ones are normally not like that. I don't know too many folks who get off using a bathroom outside their own home, but when you have to go, you have to go. Bathrooms are a place where you are exposing your privates and your privates are coming in contact with places that other privates have come in touch with. Doorknobs, toilet seats, sinks, faucet handles, paper towel dispensers, countertops, etc. all should be kept clean, but they are filthy!!! The past few weeks, I have seen some very strange things going on in and around bathrooms and I want to share some of them with you. Whether you call it a bathroom, lavatory, restroom, ladies' room or mens' room, if you are in a public one at Lexington Market, Market Place, a medical center in Randallstown, a body shop in Remington, you never quite know what to expect when you open the door. BTW, I can honestly say that until a few days ago, I had never seen a urinal in a ladies' bathroom. And, No, I did not use it.

MY DAUGHTER'S NEW FRIENDS

Sometimes life deals you some really strange surprises. Early Saturday morning, my daughter and I were walking to the hospital so she could have lab work done. We were casually strolling along Wilkens Avenue about 8 in the morning when out of the blue comes this dog running towards us and starting jumping on Nisha. I started screaming, kicking and beating this "beast" with my pocketbook when Nisha started screaming for me to "stop killing it". The dog (Jaspur as his name) was not attacking her as I thought, he was playing with her. He started chasing her in circles (around my legs), licking her hands and jumping on her chest. I had never seen anything like this. While they were cozying up to one another, I was left standing there looking like nothing less than an absolute idiot. My legs were weak, my heart was beating out of my chest and I may have had some unscheduled body activity happen. The dog's owner, who was watching the event from her porch, got a real kick out of what was going on and eventually I did, too. The owner said Jaspur is often around her young grandchildren and he gets frisky with all kids. Like most people, Nisha does not like having blood sucked out of her body. She asked if we could walk to the lab that time instead going in the car. She said if we walked, it would take longer and maybe the lab workers would be gone. I had not planned on walking along Frederick Avenue, Caton Avenue and Wilkens Avenue back and forth that early Saturday morning, but I sure am glad I did. Nisha made two new friends who made her lab visit a sweet one. Meeting Jaspur and his owner in Violetville sure did make a little girl's day. Thank you, Jaspur.

I LOVE FLAG DAY

Tattered Flag In St. Joseph's Neighborhood
Southwest Baltimore City



My Girl, 8-Year-Old Nisha Crystal Jackson
In Front Of Her House (And Mine)

Like all of you, there are many days in the year that I absolutely love. Christmas, Easter, and St. Patrick's Day of course, but there are some others that don't make everyone's list - Constitution Day, Groundhog Day, and today, June 14th, Flag Day to name a few. I chose to start my blogging adventure on this day because I just love Flag Day, always have and always will. Although not an official U.S. holiday yet, it is a holiday in my mind and at my house. You can tell from Nisha's (above) face, that she loves the day as much as I do. Moving on, Flag Day commemorates the adoption of the flag many moons ago. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation that officially established June 14th as Flag Day. In 1949, National Flag Day was established by an Act of Congress. Now that you know some of the "holiday's" background, let us move on to what I really want to talk about - tattered and unsightly flags. There aren't too many things that are more beautiful to me than a United States flag displayed proudly outside a home or building, being waved by parade participants or being held by a young schoolchild while reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. On the other side of all that beauty you will sometimes find a not so good-looking Old Glory. Weatherbeaten, tattered, run-down flags. We have all seen them here and there. What do you think when you see a sad, faded, not so proudly displayed flag? My heart drops and I wonder if the person who is responsible for the flag sees the same thing I do. What I see is disrespect in its greatest form for one of the most incredible looking symbols of Americanism I can think of - red, white, blue, stars, and stripes all at the same time, at the same gathering place. By the way, I don't know if Americanism is a word yet, but you get my point. If your flag has seen its better days, please dispose of it properly and purchase a new one. I bet you deserve it.

Happy Flag Day.

Angela