Be Careful What You Wish For

INTRODUCTION

Thursday, January 26, 2006

We've already read Sylvester and the magic pebble and King Midas and the golden touch










Today, the children listen to a cassette recording
of a telephone conversation.








Lesson/Moral: Be careful what you wish for

I feel so guilty, Jayme blames me for uprooting him
from his friends. I'm sorry that my career has taken
us to Japan. I have taken him away from all his friends.

I have the children listen to an answering machine tape.
On it is a telephone conversation that
took place just after World Trade Center
disaster. My library professor from Stony Brook apparently called and Jayme picked up just after the machine did.  Dan is telling Jayme how they can hear the helicopters overhead, bringing patients into the hospital, all day long, as he is in the library building at the University

Jayme responds : If there is going to be another airplane
crash, something serious like that - I don't want to
live in this country.


AHA: I exclaim to my listeners. IT ISN'T MY FAULT AFTER ALL.
It's actually his own fault that we are here. He wished for it and didn't
even realize it.


KIDS JUST LOVE this stuff.  Jayme hates it.  When the kids see him in the hallway, they taunt him !

The Birds I View / A Bird's Eye View

A Pop Pop Story

Your Mom is Not a Doormat

Jayme asked me to apologize to people that I was angry with. "Please, Jayme, you can have relationships with these people, but I'm not a doormat."

The One Bug We Do NOT Like

A SPIDER IS NOT A BUG
Dewey has a general classification for the classifications of creatures

595 Insects and Spiders
595.7 Insects


We like spiders, it's the mosquito 

and those pesky biting flies at the beach, come to think of it.

www.mosquitos.blogspot.com

Creatures We Like / Creatures We Love

A Bug Taxi. A Short Story by Ann Marie Grumm, August 13, 2015

1:30 am. It sounded like the tea kettle was screaming. As I entered the kitchen, I saw the flame under the tea kettle wasn't on. It definitely sounded like a urgent alarm. Could it be coming from outside?

I checked the nearby cellar stairs for crickets, it sounded that close., it must be inside. All quiet in the basement. Indeed the noise was coming from above.

Once I opened the door of the toaster oven, the screeching stopped !! He's definitely in there !!! However . . . I needed urgently to get to my desination. This matter will have to wait. Leave the door open or close it? Better to close it !

Within minutes, I returned. Friend cricket was still quiet. Perhaps he knew he was found out and decided to seek shelter elsewhere, so be it.

Regardless, I transported the toaster oven to the dining room and set it down carefully. If he didn't already escape, perhaps now's his chance. Oh well. I continued the mission, despite decreasing odds.

I opened the sliding door (there was an earwig in the handle of the screen door!! eek !!!). Carefull lifting the toaster oven, i set it outside on the deck. I proceeded to empty the crumbs, which in the darkness looked like a million small creatures. Freaked out (again), I began to set the oven back down, but not before I let go of the sides, i saw friend cricket scurry between the slats of the deck.

Mission accomplished. Jayme be happy.

A Bug Taxi. A Short Story by Ann Marie Grumm, August 13, 2015

Note:  Jayme would get so mad when I threw the crickets outside (I would capture them in a container) but toss them out of the container and they'd hit the ground.  Jayme insisted that I was hurting them.

Note to self
we had a completely memorable experience with a cockroach (in its natural habitat!!) I've told it and retold it. . A cockroach story. It's such a Jayme Story.



When did I wtite this ????
Since venturing out on his own, Jayme is encountering even more creatures in the world. I am no longer hanging out with him, and we are not having these creature encounters together.


 meaningful and memorable


FUTURE STORIES TO BE recorded

THE COCKROACH STORY

A SLUG STORY

CRICKETS august 2015 !!!!

SNAKES

Pet ANOLES : Charmander

BABY WOOD DUCKS : Rosie and Josie

AN IGUANA STORY : Char

ROOF RATS

RED PANDA

BATS

ALL KINDS OF FISH

THE PRAYING MANTIS

WALKING STICKS

CATS ENCOUNTERS : Sam the cat's brother

DOG ENCOUNTERS : Colorado

Be Careful What You Wish For

MY FAVORITE 'Be Careful What You Wish For' STORIES
King Midas
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble

Don't Rant

FRIDAY, JULY 31, 2009

Parables, Myths, Legends and Tales
Dewey: The 200's


Religion -- Philosophy.
Faith and reason.
Faith.
Belief and doubt.


See The Jayme Stories : Don't Rant/Found God --
See Transformations : Have To/Want To
See Transformation : Needing You/Wanting You


"Should I go mom? I really don't want to go, now. Maybe I should go with you instead."

"It's up to you Jayme. Just because you paid the money and you made a commitment, doesn't mean you have to go. You can always change your mind. You don't even have to give an excuse. Your face is hurting. Your extraction may be getting infected. That could be your excuse. Do what you want to do."

When Jayme realized he didn't HAVE TO go, he decided he WANTED to go.
When I realized I didn't Need you, I decided I Wanted you!

A phone call, days later:

"I'm having a great time, mom. I'm having the best experience of my entire life. I will tell you all about it when I get home. I don't want you to judge me, mom. I'll tell you all about it when I get home."

Soon after Jayme arrives home, he waits for a private moment and he waits until he has my complete undivided attention.

"Mom, I have something to tell you. Please don't go into a rant. I don't want you to go into one of your rants, not now, please. I have something important to tell you. It's very important to me. Something very important happened to me this past week. You promise not go into one your rants? This is really very important to me."

Jayme : The Stand Up

Jayme loved Dane Cook. Dane Cook has a routine about how he always wanted a monkey when he was a kid.

Jayme loved to present stories about his grandma and his mother as a stand-up routine.  He would imitate how Grandma, at church, under her breath, demanded that he join the children in the lower level.  Then after church was over, she would cheerfully tell all her friends, how "Jayme chose to go down to the attend the children’s mass, ALL BY HIMSELF!  He mimicked his grandma and it was funny.

We were at the airport enroute to Tokyo when we were made to realize that our passports had expired.  After some research, we took a drive to Norwalk and waited in line outside before the place openeed for the day.  There were young children on the line, just in front of us.

Jayme retold the story in his Dane Cook fashion, poking fun or

A Cockroach in it's Natural Habitat

In a hot fury, Jayme departed to the upstairs and would not talk to either of us for the rest of the night.

Earlier that evening, the three us arrived home from somewhere.  'Home' being Yuichi's house in Kodaira.  We often stayed there on weekends.  Particularly extended weekends.  As soon as we'd arrive home, Yuichi would turn lights on and turn on the aircondtioner.  During the colder months, he'd turn on the heat.  This is because he turns everything off before leaving the house.

I opened a sliding glass door, for some reason or other, I went outside briefly.   Thinking I had closed the screen door behind me, I left the glass door open to let some air into the stuffy house.  I didn't realize that I had not secured the screen doors, leaving the doors wide open on the left side !  Not until this large bug came flying into the house from behind that curtain.  I was scolded by both my son and Yuichi.  Yuichi and Jayme went to investigate the night visitor.  They had to move the stereo system away from the wall.

Oh, how awesome.  We'd only seen these creatures in the zoo !!  Not only was Jayme excited to see such a large specimen, it was in it's natural habitat!  I began looking about for a glass in order to contain the insect.

Yuichi returned from the kitchen, apparently he had gone there to grab something from beneath the kitchen sink.  Before we could take our new friend into custody, Yuichi dowsed it with an aerosol bug killer.  Something like Raid. Jayme was entirely upset.  He stomped off to another room.

I felt terrible for my son.  I went to check on the creature.  It was moving.  Perhaps we can keep him afterall; now that Yuichi understands how we feel.  It all happend so fast.  I called to Jayme and there we were, the two of us, behind the stereo cabinet, ecstatically gazing over the reviving critter.  We were about to scoop him up into a container, when, once again, returning from the kitchen, Yuichi joined us.  Perhaps we made way for him.  Perhaps he instructed us to move out of his way.  Perhaps he said nothing.  I'm certain the both of us were thinking that since Yuichi understood our desire, he was there to assist.  As we were enthusiastically looking over our beloved house pest, Yuichi stabbed him in the heart with a toothpick !!

Leaving Lights On / Leaving Doors Open

My dad often yelled at me.  In turn, I often scolded my son, Jayme.

We couldn't use the hot water when the dishwasher was on, we couldn't touch the white walls, we had to turn the lights out if we were to leave a room and all the bedroom doors needed to be closed in order to contain the heat.

When we lived in Japan, Jayme and I.  In Japan each room is either heated or air conditioned by a separate unit, we have them in America now.  There's a name for them.  It is important to keep the doors closed to retain the temperature.

I heard Jayme as he exited his bedroom.  That was door number one.  I did not hear it close.  He opened and closed the door to the toilet room, but when he opened it again, I did not hear it close.  That was door number two.  I could hear him proceeding down the hallway.  I was getting a bit worked up, "close the doors, damn it!"  I will yell at him before he goes back to his bedroom. 

I heard the opening of the door to  the wash room.  "Oh my goodness," immediately, the thought came over me, MY SON WASHES HIS HANDS AFTER HE GOES TO THE BATHROOM !!!








Child rearing -- Anecdotes
Dewey Class 818.5407

Take a Shower / Do Your Homework

We were living in Japan at the time.  When he had




Child rearing -- Anecdotes
Dewey Class 818.5407