If you are a Tulsa resident (or live in a neighboring suburb or city), please consider writing your own letter to the South Side Rotary & Biscuit Acres Dog Park Tulsa Parks & Recreation (they are the source of the rule that needs to be changed; here’s a list of the Tulsa Parks Board Members). It is unrealistic to imagine that families with dogs will only be able to visit the park with children over the age of 12. Any school-age child accompanied by an adult should be allowed to visit the dog park with his/her pet.

Update: I have been told that there is indeed a Tulsa City ordinance that bans children under 12 from entering dog parks. I still can’t find it, but I will. I plan to try to make a difference here. At the moment I have several projects that require my full attention until October. In November, I’ll be researching the differences of regulations, ordinances, and laws. I’ll be figuring out how to change this one.

I feel like this is important. I’ve talked to too many people who agree that it’s an unreasonable ordinance, but they feel like they can’t make a difference or it’s too hard to make a change. Someone has to try to make a change. There are national issues I can’t influence, but locally I may have a chance. If nothing else, I can show my kids that if you feel strongly about something, you should do something about it. Win or lose, at least you tried. And come November, I’m giving it all I have.

Dear South Side Tulsa Rotary,

I was asked to leave the dog park today because I was accompanied by my two children. The volunteer who asked me to leave threatened to call the police and stated that it is Oklahoma law that children under 12 are not allowed into the dog park. Obviously I and my children were upset (though we did not argue with the volunteer and left quickly and quietly). Not only should the park be available to families to enjoy their dog, but it is NOT a law that no one under 12 is not allowed into a dog park. To say so is an outright lie and an attempt to bully me and my family into cooperation. I find it hard to respect an organization who would resort to such tactics.

I have read threads discussing this very issue in other places (the Channel 6 web site, for instance) and have seen several arguments against allowing families into the dog park. The thrust of those arguments appears to be that children can rile up the dogs or be knocked over. I would suggest that, while toddlers may be too young to be in the park with dogs they are unfamiliar with, school-age children accompanied by a parent are not. Of course they would have to adhere to rules (no running with dogs, etc.) just as dog owners adhere to rules (leashes only) in a regular park. Rather than place age restrictions, it seems it would be better to list a set of rules (not unlike those listed at the swimming pool). For instance, No running with dogs or No petting dogs without owner’s permission (since those appear to be the two biggest complaints). If I or my children don’t adhere to those rules we can be asked to leave. Denying our entrance into the park based on the presumption that my child will act inappropriately is unnecessary and insulting. If that were reasonable, I believe several businesses in town would have already enacted such rules for the masses.

As a Tulsa taxpayer, I understand that the dog park was built with donations. Was none of it done with taxpayer money? If not, how is it that the dog park is within a Tulsa City park? It certainly looked as if a City of Tulsa crew was working on the park this morning (installing a water feature if I’m not mistaken). I truly would like to understand how this particular park is set up because if it is part of a public park, it seems the restrictions you have in place are tenuous at best. Certainly this must be the case or I would not have been lied to about a non-existent law or threatened with police action.

I strongly encourage you re-think your rules for Biscuit Acres.

Sincerely,

Melanie Nelson, mother of 2 responsible children and owner of one dog who loves to play

The rule I stipulated with my kids is that the card is the boss. In other words, if they are so bored with all the toys they have and cannot possibly be bothered to find their own entertainment and must resort to the Boredom Jar, then no matter which card they pull out, they have to do that activity. This served two purposes: 1.) when thinking of activities to write on the cards, the kids actually tried to be creative and choose things they’d like to do and 2.) it stems the, “I don’t like that activity, I’m still bored!” routine.

The activities my kids chose?

• read
• ride bikes
• sew
• play outside
• walk the dog
• work on training the dog
• make a movie (I let them use my Flip camera and my computer)
• write a book (you have no idea how my heart flutters to know that my children love to write!)
• play with Imaginext/K’nex/Lego
• plan a meal (including grocery list, making the meal, and serving the meal)
• draw (my son has developed his own comic series–he blows me away)
• knit (my daughter loves to knit and, once I explained how it makes your hands strong for video gaming, my son was on board too)
• pool (obviously I have to take them, but hey, I love the pool)

So far this summer we’ve done a few of these, but for the most part, my kids are entertaining themselves. I think they like to have the jar available to them just in case, though. I’ve caught them fiddling with it a time or two.

Another thing you’ll notice about this list: it’s populated with things that are, for the most part, free. Yes, the pool costs money, but we join every year. Yes, if they plan a meal I have to spend money on groceries, but I’d do that anyway and this way they’re helping and practicing a skill. The benefit outweighs the bit of money.

Primrose School offers these other inexpensive ideas to help jump-start your kids’ creativity this summer and bust those boredom blues:

1. Stories Alive: It sounds too simple, but reading is one of the most important ways to keep young minds engaged during the summer. Make reading even more fun by finding ways to bring the stories to life.
2. Art Treasure Chest: Gather basic art supplies (child-safe scissors, glue, markers, tape, and construction paper) and put them in a special box along with empty oatmeal boxes and paper towel rolls, colorful magazines, and bits of aluminum foil. Occasionally add a special surprise like chalk, stickers, or stamp pads so there’s always something new for the children to find. Even if you normally have these supplies around the house, it‘s fun for children to know that the Art Treasure Chest is just for them. They’ll probably have some good ideas of other household items that can be recycled to fuel their creative energies.
3. Family Performances: Break out old clothes or costumes and encourage children to make up characters and create a play to act out.  They are the directors, actors, and producers.  They can also make musical instruments out of pots/pans, wooden spoons, empty canisters and have a parade; or everyone can play along to your family’s favorite songs. Record or video the performances, and enjoy the replay.  You’ll also be capturing a bit of family history everyone will enjoy for years to come.
4. Fort Building: Children love to build all kinds of structures–from small towns to large towers. Constructing forts or tents is an activity that can keep children focused and problem solving for hours. All the items you need can be found around the house: some chairs, cushions, blankets…and of course adult supervision.
5. Summer Scrapbook: All you need for this project is a spiral notebook. Encourage everyone in the family to draw pictures of favorite activities and collect mementos from special events throughout the summer.   Children love to go back through scrapbooks and albums and tell about what happened at each occasion.  They will also be building their storytelling skills at the same time.
6. Listening Game: Lie down in the backyard, in the den, or at the park and listen.  What do you hear? Do you hear what I hear? Can you imitate the sound? This is similar to watching the clouds and naming the shapes, and it encourages everyone to slow down and focus on listening.
7. Camping Out: Pretend to camp out in the backyard. Plan a meal, pack a backpack, and set up a campsite. You might even decide to spend the night!
8. Scavenger Hunt: Make a list or picture cards of common household items and have your children find the items on the list. Invite friends or neighbors to join in the fun to make it a competition.

“It’s important to keep children’s minds active during the summer, but it doesn’t take an expensive activity or big vacation to capture their attention,” said Dr. Mary Zurn, Vice President of Education for Primrose. “After all, imagination is free . . . Keeping children engaged with open-ended activities that stretch their imaginations during the summer months helps them develop their independence, creativity, and thinking. We want to help parents keep the ‘brain drain’ at bay while their children play.”

You can find Dr. Zurn’s monthly tips online at DrZandMe.com.

(Thanks to everyone who helped spread the word about this little carnival! Scroll down to add your blogging story to my Mr. Linky list!)

How did you start blogging?
Well, I am a Kim Komando fan. Many moons ago, in 2003 or 2004 she started talking about how blogs were the big "thing". Having been a web designer in a former life, I was interested in how blogs worked and whether I could manipulate the code and make it my own. And I’d always fancied myself as a true, deeply feeling writer that just needed an outlet. Don’t we all?

So I got myself online, found Blogger, and started writing. There was something liberating about writing my thoughts down and knowing no one in my family or friend circles knew those thoughts were out there. It honestly never occurred to me that anyone else would ever read it either, because I never had any comments. Besides, if you don’t tell people it’s there (which I didn’t), then how can anyone read it? Obviously I did not sign up for BlogTopSites or any other blogrings. I was just layin’ low, posting sparsely, and enjoying the anonymity.

I mean really, can you blame me? With posts like this? Oye. I DARE you to tell me that’s not a Calvin Klein perfume/cologne commercial in the making. I DEFY you to tell me it’s not.

Did you intend
to be a blog w/a big following? If so, how did you go about it?
As I said above, I never really had any intention of writing for an audience. Then, Shannon showed up at my door to drop off some PTA stuff and casually said, "Hey, do you by chance blog?" I was totally taken aback and scared to death she had found me out. No worries, though, she just thought I was the type of savvy gal to have a blog. Oh, and she blogged. Maybe she could read my blog? Um, that would be no. Well, OK. But don’t tell anyone.

Shannon was patient. She read my blog. She laughed at some posts. She turned me on to all sorts of bloggy things: site meters, blogrings, and, oh-sweet-crack-of-life, COMMENTS. Just one hit is all it took. Literally. One person comes to my site and I’m all, "Holy Cow! I’m live! And people are reading! And Commenting!" I was never the same. The seedy underbelly of blogging had claimed my soul and I was determined to blog for comments.

I signed up for many a blogring and even had BlogTopSites on here for a while. I started getting serious about my design and whether I would post pictures of me and my family or not. I started visiting other blogs and made a blogroll. I left comments on other blogs.

To this day comments are one of my favorite things about blogging. So, knowing my problem, y’all should really throw me a bone and comment. A LOT. Not just today, either. Like, all. the. freakin’. time. K?

What do you hope to achieve or accomplish with your blog? Have you been successful? If not, do you have a plan to achieve those goals?
This is an interesting question because my goals for this blog have changed throughout the year and a half I’ve been out of the closet.

When I first started blogging I really just needed a place to write when I felt the urge. I had tried journaling in the traditional sense and it wasn’t doing it for me. My blog allowed me to type my thoughts faster than I could write them. Because of that I was able to follow my stream of consciousness a little better.

Now that my blog has grown a bit, my focus has changed I think. I write less for myself and more for my audience. I’m true to myself, but I don’t think I would write daily if it were just for me.

In addition, I have ads on my site now and I feel that the blog and it’s sister blogs (Blogging Basics 101 and Chili Tried) are becoming a business. I find that I need to start treating the blogs as daily "must-dos" because they have the potential to bring in traffic and cash. If I play them right, I could parlay the blogs into hands-on workshops (for BB101) or speaking engagements (at conferences).

Has the focus of your blog changed since you started blogging? How?

See question above.

What do you know now that you wish you’d known when you started?
Comments rock. I would have started blogging for comments immediately!

Do you
make money with your blog?
This is another thing Shannon turned me on to. Of course, she’s like the QOB (Queen O’ Bloggin’) so her traffic is a little higher than mine (OK, it’s miles above mine, but I won’t let it affect our friendship). She started putting ads on her site and suggested I do the same because she was making some pocket change every month.

Hello? Money for blogging? Something I do every day on my quest to get my swamp back to feel the rush of comment crack? Sure. I’ll take that. I was OK’d for BlogHer Ads and I was off.

In answer to the question: Yes, I make a little money from blogging. No, I can’t pay off my house. Or buy this. I can go out to eat for lunch if I want to.

BTW, I will gladly thank and link to anyone who would like to extend an invite to me to do BlogAds. Everyone I know who does it doesn’t have any invites. I would love to try BlogAds. Besides, don’t you get a cut of my profits? Win-Win!

Does your immediate or extended family know about your blog? If so, do they read it? If not, why?
Although my immediate family did not originally know about my blog, they do now and several of them read it regularly.

• Husband: Knows about the blog, but does not read it. I’m not sure he could find it on his own. He is completely disinterested, but highly supportive of my blogging problem addiction business.
• My dad: He reads it almost every day, I think. He’ll even comment sometimes. It’s a good way for him to keep up with what’s going on with us.
• My mom: She knows I have a blog. She does not understand computers, nor does she want to. Because she only turns on her computer when Mars isn’t in retrograde, she never reads my blog.
• My MIL: She knows about it vaguely, I think. I’m pretty sure she never reads it, though.
• My brother and SIL: SIL reads it every day, I think, or pretty close. She doesn’t always comment, but I’ve had a few direct e-mails asking for specific posts. (grin) She tells Brother when he should read.
• Extended family: I have aunts and a cousin who read my blog (my cousin also has her own blog). I love that my aunts care enough about what’s going on in my family’s life that they log on to see what we’re up to.

What two pieces of advice would you give to a new blogger?

1. Jump in and get dirty. You won’t learn anything about blogging just waiting to see what everyone else does. If you have questions, visit Blogging Basics 101 or do a search on Google. You’ll be amazed at the resources out there.
2. Don’t be afraid to learn how to manipulate your own HTML. It’s fun and it’s not that hard. Just remember, a computer (or Web browser) can only do what it’s told. That’s what HTML is–you telling the browser how to show your page. For example, if you want something italicized, you have to tell the browser to show that word italicized or it just shows a regular font. To italicize you would type <i> put your words here </i> to make it look like this put your words here. The <i> tells the browser where to start showing the italics, and the </i> tells the browser where to stop showing the italics. See? You just learned a bit of HTML! You can do this!

That’s it. That’s my bloggin’ story. I hope you enjoyed it. I’m glad you stopped by. I really appreciate it. Since I rarely check my site stats, though, you should probably leave me a comment so I know you were here. Thanks.

Hey! Wait! Don’t forget to write your own post and put a link to it on the Mr. Linky below! (Don’t forget to link directly to the actual post, not your main blog page. We want to make sure everyone reads your story and doesn’t get lost looking for it!)

If you haven’t watched The Amazing Race before, you really should give it a try. My kids love it and it’s a fantastic opportunity for my family to sit down and focus on something together. We don’t watch a lot of TV at my house, so it’s nice to have this show in common. Every week Max and Wild Thing discuss who they are rooting for and why, who they think will be eliminated, and what strategies they would use if they were in the race.

From what I can gather from tonight’s premier, the main criteria for the All Star season was the more annoying, the better.

Mirna and Shmirna (or Charla if you want to get technical): These two gals are cousins. I hated watching them the first time they were on the show and whooped when they were eliminated. They’re back. They bring with them all the contrived drama and fake Spanish with a fake accent you can handle in an hour. My tip: Just because you say, "Eeets vedy goot" with an accent that may or may not pass for Spanish does not mean you speak Spanish.

Kevin and Drew: The baldies. Let’s skip right to the tip: If you know you’re going to be on a national show in prime time, take a few months to get yourself in shape. That way you won’t lose a foot race to a dwarf or fall flat on your face the first time you have to leave your car. If you do fall flat on your face the first time you leave your car, don’t cry like a little girl.

Kentucky (aka David and Mary): I liked these guys last season. I was excited for them that they made it as far as they did. This season? I’m done with them. They are already lying to other teams and bickering with each other non-stop. I can’t count how many times they put each other down. It’s so sad. My tip for these two is to just chill. Try to work together for Pete’s sake. At this rate you’ll never make it.

Everyone else I like. The couples are getting along and respectful (give them time, it’s only episode one), the gays are friendly and fun, and the older teams are holding their own. I’d really like to see more of Uchena & Joyce and Teri & Ian. It was a complete bummer for me that JV & Jill were eliminated tonight. By rights that should have been Kevin & Drew or Mirna & Shmirna because they made all sorts of mistakes.

Anyone else watch? What did you think?

What on earth should we do with those people who refuse to check their e-mail?  Who say things like, “Oh, here’s my address, but just call me because I check it, like, once a month.”

Signed,
Needing more 21^st-century friends

Dear Soul Sister,

You can always respond with the ever-popular, "Excellent! Here’s my phone number. You can call me, but I only answer my phone on odd Fridays between 2 and 3." There are other options:

• Offer them string and tin cans with your e-mail address on them.
• Smile and nod. Then only e-mail them. If they really like you, they’ll check the e-mail. Or they’ll keep missing play dates. Make sure the play dates are scheduled somewhere fun for you so it won’t matter whether they show up.
• Ditch them.

I
don’t hang with anyone who doesn’t check their e-mails a quadrillion times a day. I should be able to carry on a conversation via e-mail because they check their e-mail so much. Sure, we could IM, but that’s not the point now is it?

*********

Ooooh la la la la Chili!

Please riddle me this…  why do you choose to hide your face and your kiddies’ from the internet?  (I figure this might give some people good insight for their own actions!!)

THANK YOU!

SARAH COOL

Dear Sarah:

Are you wearing a can-can skirt right now? Or just a tight green catsuit? Oh no. Please tell me you aren’t wearing the catsuit with the can-can skirt. That’s just wrong. Now if you add a little mask to that you might have something.

Speaking of masks, I choose to wear my mask because it’s just terribly comfortable. I think everyone will be wearing them in the future.

PS: And really, God help those who look to me for insight for their own actions.

• Beans or no beans?
• 1 alarm or 4?
• Is it true what my dad used to say about the weather: Chilly today, hot tamale?

Sincerely,
Hungry

Dear Hungry,

• Definitely beans. Unless you’re Mr. Chili, then no beans. I’ll let you ponder that one.
• Two-alarm should suffice unless you are complete wacko and a true chilihead (I am not. I only call myself that to blend in and sound cool).
• Have you seen the weather? My tamales are covered in ice.

**********

Dear Chili,
Where do numbers go when we aren’t using them?

Namaste,
Philosophical

Dear Phil,

You don’t mind if I call you Phil, do you? Phil, lay off the LSD. This little film will show you the hazards of too many mind-altering drugs. Take heed and don’t be the marijuana spider.

I have a problem with my mother. She sees dead people. Well, she
doesn’t exactly see them. She likes to talk about them. To be exact,
she likes to phone me and tell me who has died. My problem? This isn’t
my favorite topic.

Can you help me, Dr. Chili?

Signed,
Morbidly Annoyed

Dear Morbidly Annoyed: Buy your mother cable, introduce her to John Edward, and change your phone number. Also? Haley Joel Osment called. He wants his schtick back.

***

Dear Chili,

How would you handle a mother-in-law
who has "shown out" two years in a row at Christmas?

This year….we weren’t all there at
4:00 (the time she had in her head) and we got there at 5:00 to….NO ONE….

She left!   And didn’t return……!

And is still mad at us……………!

Dear …………..!,

First, learn to use ellipses.

Second, learn to use a Ouija board.

Third, be happy. If she was really "showing out" you’d have to shield the youngin’s eyes.

In response to your overwhelming desire for an "Ask Chili" feature, I’ve created a special button over there to the left under my picture. I’ve also answered a few of your questions. Silly mortals. You dare to ask La Chili questions? Mwa ha ha ha ha!

dear chilihead,

does the ‘three second rule’ apply to m &ms that are dropped on
the floor? I would think they would get longer, due to the protective
barrier nature of the candy coated shell.

Dear Too Busy To Use A Single Capital Letter Or Sign Your Name:

duh. now go cook some veggies and try not to drop them on the floor.

*****

Dear Chilihead,

Don’t you and your friends know that it’s considered rude in just
about all of polite society to taunt people about knowing secrets that
you’re not going to share?

Sincerely,
Miss Manners

Dear Miss Manners,

I’m assuming this is in response to my three posts about this site. This just in: Chilihead has a mean streak! Story at 12:01am! Or whenever I feel like it.