28 April 2009
26 April 2009
It's My Blogiversary!
Today is the one year anniversary of the start of my blog. As is usual with everything in my life, that was a fast year. This post will be the 175th one written since my start. All in all I don't find that too bad. That averages to just about a post every other day. (Math is not my forte so if something is amiss in that statement, keep it to yourselves!) I tried to blog everyday in January, and failed miserably, so I am happy to look back over the year and realize I had better effort than I thought.
My whole purpose in starting the blog was to get some thoughts out, write about things that interested me or that I had a passion for, and leave a legacy of myself on "paper". I had initially hoped it would help my family and friends keep informed on what was going on in my life. I have a sister who isn't too far from me and a brother all the way in AZ. Even though I informed my brother and SIL of my blog, I think only my brother has visited, and I think only once. I have no evidence my sister has ever taken the time to read it. So be it. If they had blogs, I would read them. I admit it hurts a bit that my own family has no interest in things I am passionate about, or wants to check in and see what I have to say about my girls. Such is life I suppose.
I am heartened by the fact that many people I have never met IRL visit my blog. I have made many online friends over the years, and some of them really have become life long buddies. We have groups where we chat and we like to check in with each other daily. If we don't hear from someone for a while we try to contact them in other ways to figure out if they are ok. I never would have thought 20 years ago, when I was barely computer literate that so much of my life would now revolve around my computer. I love my computer, my friends live in it (I stole that : )
Of course I know some RL (real life) friends read my blog, but so few of you ever comment I don't know who you are. I do wish those who visit would say hi. You don't have to comment on the post, just comment on being here. I have a feed on my sidebar that shows me where people come from who read this, but it doesn't tell me who you are. Won't you please write me a little a hello, on this, the 1st anniversary of my foray into blogdom?
So tomorrow will be April 27th, but it will also be the start of my 2nd blog year. I hope I can keep it interesting and I hope I can find as much, if not more, time to post than I did this last year. Thanks to those of you who faithfully read no matter how boring or mundane the topic....I think you know who are : )
My whole purpose in starting the blog was to get some thoughts out, write about things that interested me or that I had a passion for, and leave a legacy of myself on "paper". I had initially hoped it would help my family and friends keep informed on what was going on in my life. I have a sister who isn't too far from me and a brother all the way in AZ. Even though I informed my brother and SIL of my blog, I think only my brother has visited, and I think only once. I have no evidence my sister has ever taken the time to read it. So be it. If they had blogs, I would read them. I admit it hurts a bit that my own family has no interest in things I am passionate about, or wants to check in and see what I have to say about my girls. Such is life I suppose.
I am heartened by the fact that many people I have never met IRL visit my blog. I have made many online friends over the years, and some of them really have become life long buddies. We have groups where we chat and we like to check in with each other daily. If we don't hear from someone for a while we try to contact them in other ways to figure out if they are ok. I never would have thought 20 years ago, when I was barely computer literate that so much of my life would now revolve around my computer. I love my computer, my friends live in it (I stole that : )
Of course I know some RL (real life) friends read my blog, but so few of you ever comment I don't know who you are. I do wish those who visit would say hi. You don't have to comment on the post, just comment on being here. I have a feed on my sidebar that shows me where people come from who read this, but it doesn't tell me who you are. Won't you please write me a little a hello, on this, the 1st anniversary of my foray into blogdom?
So tomorrow will be April 27th, but it will also be the start of my 2nd blog year. I hope I can keep it interesting and I hope I can find as much, if not more, time to post than I did this last year. Thanks to those of you who faithfully read no matter how boring or mundane the topic....I think you know who are : )
“I think the pleasure of completed work is what makes blogging so popular. You have to believe most bloggers have few if any actual readers. The writers are in it for other reasons. Blogging is like work, but without coworkers thwarting you at every turn. All you get is the pleasure of a completed task.”
~Scott Adams~
~Scott Adams~
25 April 2009
Too Many Rolling Rocks
I just had more beer than I've probably had since bc (before children). How will my brain mutter while intoxicated? Let's see:
Want to mutter drunk too?
- Lease :: Please re LEASE me let me go
- Dead :: I'm wanted, wanted, Dead or Alive
- Removed :: I'll have you removed!
- Broke :: If it ain't broke, don't fix it!
- Lips :: Flaming
- Flight :: of the Concords (is that a movie? I don't even know where I pulled that from!)
- Three hours :: 8 days a week, I loooooovvvvvve you (don't know what that has to do with hours, but hey!)
- Give :: give a little bit, give a little bit of your love to me
- Technical :: Techie
- Hurry :: You can't hurry love, no, you'll just have to wait
Want to mutter drunk too?
16 April 2009
14 April 2009
What is Really Important?
My youngest daughter (Catherine) has been funny lately. It's like she suddenly realized how the world works and knows we tend not to live the "normal" way.
Last fall I taught a class at our homeschool co-op on painters and styles. One of the subjects was Jackson Pollock. I took the classes into the parking lot of the church where we meet and got them large pieces of paper and buckets of different colored paints and sticks and brushes and they went to town, a la Jackson Pollock. It was so much fun. I made a few paintings myself. It was such a free way of doing art. One didn't have to think about an end result, the art was in the doing.
Recently Catherine asked me if she could "Jackson Pollock" one of the walls in her room. I told her she'd need to clean it out a bit, so we could move all the furniture so she could have access to the one wall, and how we'd have to get some drop cloths to cover everything so she could splatter away. She laughed at my answer. She knows that not one of her friends would ever be allowed to do that in their rooms. She marveled that I didn't even bat an eye or give it a second thought. And why should I? It's her room. She wants to do art in her room. How cool is that? Currently she paints and draws on her walls, mostly by her bed. She has been using black, which I know will be a bit tough to cover, but when you walk into her room, you can see her personality all over the walls. I love that she knows she has the freedom to be herself in her room.
Another example: A few days ago Catherine was complaining about her hair. She wants to get it cut. We have been bartering haircuts with our neighbor whose dog we care for when she flies (she's a flight attendant). I haven't been able to set up an appt. for Catherine's hair, so she was complaining about it. And so she asked me if she could just cut it off. I told her she could, but she might not be happy with the results. She looked at me and laughed. She did not expect me to say she could cut her hair off. It's her hair and it's ONLY hair. Go ahead, cut it off. If it looks horrible, we'll just try to hurry that appt. along with the neighbor. She decided against cutting her own hair, but she genuinely appreciated that I didn't care if she did.
Why do some parents choose to control their children just for the sake of control? Who cares if kids paint their walls or cut their hair? I watch families a lot when I am out. I am always amazed at the battles I see going on between kids and parents. And so much of it is over the most trivial things. What shoes to buy, what jeans to wear, etc. I think it's just common sense to give kids respect, to listen to their opinions and feelings. I certainly wasn't raised that way myself, my parents would have killed me if I had drawn on my walls or cut my hair. I see a lot of sad kids in my day to day travels. Teens/tweens who are just beginning to have a sense of who they are away from their parents and yet they have no ability to control anything in their lives. They aren't allowed to voice an opinion or able to make the smallest or even the biggest of decisions. My eldest daughter has made the decision to go to high school next year. Some fellow homeschoolers are frowning on me for "allowing" her to make that decision. I'm not the one going to school, who else should be allowed to make that decision. She will be 14 1/2 when she enters high school. Isn't that old enough to decide for oneself?
What is the magic age of allowing children some autonomy over their lives? How about from birth? Listening to a babies cries and responding accordingly is letting them make decisions. I was never that parent that let a baby cry. They cried for a reason and I listened. As toddlers they got to to pick their own clothes and choose what foods to eat. As my kids got older they got to decide (age appropriately) what they needed. We did the family bed with our girls. At 5 years of age, Carley decided she wanted her own room. At 8 Catherine still shared a room with us (she had her own bed by then). People found it odd that I shared a room with my 8 year old. I wasn't about to force her to leave, she had the right to choose what she was comfortable with. At 10 she moved into her own room and loves it. I've never had night issues with my kids, nor sleep issues, because I've allowed them to make choices for themselves.
Too many people have stuck in their minds the way they thing things "should" be. Who said things need to be a certain way? I say make up your own rules. Live a life of joy and love instead of rules and boundaries. Be free.
Last fall I taught a class at our homeschool co-op on painters and styles. One of the subjects was Jackson Pollock. I took the classes into the parking lot of the church where we meet and got them large pieces of paper and buckets of different colored paints and sticks and brushes and they went to town, a la Jackson Pollock. It was so much fun. I made a few paintings myself. It was such a free way of doing art. One didn't have to think about an end result, the art was in the doing.
Recently Catherine asked me if she could "Jackson Pollock" one of the walls in her room. I told her she'd need to clean it out a bit, so we could move all the furniture so she could have access to the one wall, and how we'd have to get some drop cloths to cover everything so she could splatter away. She laughed at my answer. She knows that not one of her friends would ever be allowed to do that in their rooms. She marveled that I didn't even bat an eye or give it a second thought. And why should I? It's her room. She wants to do art in her room. How cool is that? Currently she paints and draws on her walls, mostly by her bed. She has been using black, which I know will be a bit tough to cover, but when you walk into her room, you can see her personality all over the walls. I love that she knows she has the freedom to be herself in her room.
Another example: A few days ago Catherine was complaining about her hair. She wants to get it cut. We have been bartering haircuts with our neighbor whose dog we care for when she flies (she's a flight attendant). I haven't been able to set up an appt. for Catherine's hair, so she was complaining about it. And so she asked me if she could just cut it off. I told her she could, but she might not be happy with the results. She looked at me and laughed. She did not expect me to say she could cut her hair off. It's her hair and it's ONLY hair. Go ahead, cut it off. If it looks horrible, we'll just try to hurry that appt. along with the neighbor. She decided against cutting her own hair, but she genuinely appreciated that I didn't care if she did.
Why do some parents choose to control their children just for the sake of control? Who cares if kids paint their walls or cut their hair? I watch families a lot when I am out. I am always amazed at the battles I see going on between kids and parents. And so much of it is over the most trivial things. What shoes to buy, what jeans to wear, etc. I think it's just common sense to give kids respect, to listen to their opinions and feelings. I certainly wasn't raised that way myself, my parents would have killed me if I had drawn on my walls or cut my hair. I see a lot of sad kids in my day to day travels. Teens/tweens who are just beginning to have a sense of who they are away from their parents and yet they have no ability to control anything in their lives. They aren't allowed to voice an opinion or able to make the smallest or even the biggest of decisions. My eldest daughter has made the decision to go to high school next year. Some fellow homeschoolers are frowning on me for "allowing" her to make that decision. I'm not the one going to school, who else should be allowed to make that decision. She will be 14 1/2 when she enters high school. Isn't that old enough to decide for oneself?
What is the magic age of allowing children some autonomy over their lives? How about from birth? Listening to a babies cries and responding accordingly is letting them make decisions. I was never that parent that let a baby cry. They cried for a reason and I listened. As toddlers they got to to pick their own clothes and choose what foods to eat. As my kids got older they got to decide (age appropriately) what they needed. We did the family bed with our girls. At 5 years of age, Carley decided she wanted her own room. At 8 Catherine still shared a room with us (she had her own bed by then). People found it odd that I shared a room with my 8 year old. I wasn't about to force her to leave, she had the right to choose what she was comfortable with. At 10 she moved into her own room and loves it. I've never had night issues with my kids, nor sleep issues, because I've allowed them to make choices for themselves.
Too many people have stuck in their minds the way they thing things "should" be. Who said things need to be a certain way? I say make up your own rules. Live a life of joy and love instead of rules and boundaries. Be free.
I wish that every human life might be pure transparent freedom.
~Simone de Beauvoir~
~Simone de Beauvoir~
13 April 2009
Mutterin' on a Rainy Monday
It's raining....it's cold. Bleh!
I missed muttering completely last week. So I will skip last week and start anew here:
I missed muttering completely last week. So I will skip last week and start anew here:
- Animal :: vegetable, mineral
- Temporary :: tattoos
- Moan :: and groan
- Rapid :: ly beating heart?
- That’s for me to say :: or, that's for me to know and you to find out.
- City :: We built this city.......we built this city on rock and roll (I actually hate that song)
- Bumper :: sticker
- Eclipse :: of the moon
- Problematic :: I think I am to some people sometimes
- If? :: a picture paints a thousand words then why can't I paint you? The words will never show, the you I've come to know. (Remember that one, huh, huh? ; )
11 April 2009
07 April 2009
Minutes, Hours, Days, Weeks
I just realized it's been a week since I wrote a blog post. I don't even know where the time went. It's not like I am super busy. I work part-time two days a week. I have co-op on Friday. I drive my girls places (like friends houses and kyuki-do lessons), take them to appointments (like doctors and dentists), take them to the library for books or anime night, try and keep the girls engaged during the day when I am not driving them places (that pesky homeschooling thing we do ; ) clean up after the cats (that hairball thing they do), go to the grocery store so we can eat, occasionally do the laundry (to keep my hubby happy), iron for hubby (so he'll look presentable at work) cook dinner at least a few nights a week, watch American Idol, etc., etc.
Writing it down makes it seem like I am busier than I am. Or maybe I should just cut myself some slack because I am busy. Looking over my list I realize I didn't even add anything I do for me. I suppose sitting at the computer and checking my email or Facebook would count as me time. Now if I only had a comfier desk chair I might enjoy it more. But then I'd probably see my time go by even more quickly, because if my chair was comfier, I might never get up, LOL.
I'm always so tired during the week, I really look forward to the weekend. But that just makes the week seem to go by quicker. Pretty soon several weeks have gone by and one wonders where the month has gone. I'm not sure how to remedy the problem. I suppose I should look forward to every day during the week. Not just live for Friday. Such is the life of a working family. We look forward to the weekend when dad is home and we can sleep in and hang out. No one has a class, no one needs to work. We can just be, our lives are our own, we don't need to be on anyone else's time schedule.
I want to look forward to retirement, but I don't want to be old. There's just no pleasing me I think. I want the best of everything, and I want it now. I want to be retired, I want my time to be my own, I don't want my husband to have to go to work. And I want it now, while we're young enough to enjoy it. So there!
(And of course it would be nice if these middle aged hormones didn't make me so moody ; )
Writing it down makes it seem like I am busier than I am. Or maybe I should just cut myself some slack because I am busy. Looking over my list I realize I didn't even add anything I do for me. I suppose sitting at the computer and checking my email or Facebook would count as me time. Now if I only had a comfier desk chair I might enjoy it more. But then I'd probably see my time go by even more quickly, because if my chair was comfier, I might never get up, LOL.
I'm always so tired during the week, I really look forward to the weekend. But that just makes the week seem to go by quicker. Pretty soon several weeks have gone by and one wonders where the month has gone. I'm not sure how to remedy the problem. I suppose I should look forward to every day during the week. Not just live for Friday. Such is the life of a working family. We look forward to the weekend when dad is home and we can sleep in and hang out. No one has a class, no one needs to work. We can just be, our lives are our own, we don't need to be on anyone else's time schedule.
I want to look forward to retirement, but I don't want to be old. There's just no pleasing me I think. I want the best of everything, and I want it now. I want to be retired, I want my time to be my own, I don't want my husband to have to go to work. And I want it now, while we're young enough to enjoy it. So there!
(And of course it would be nice if these middle aged hormones didn't make me so moody ; )
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