Hello my neglected readers.  Now you have a glimpse of how the family goldfish feels.  I hope you were feeding yourselves and reading other things.  I would hate to think anyone became illiterate whilst I was on my hiatus.  I also hate to think reading what I write makes you highly literate, or even remotely well read. That would be extreme hubris on my part, and I will have none of it.  On this day I will catch you up on what I have been doing, and observing while I was not writing here.

1. Relay for Life.  This will be my second year participating in my local Relay for Life, which benefits the American Cancer Society.  ACS provides education, awareness, and support for people with all types of cancer.  It is an event that I do with some of my friends from church.  We are decorating our tent around the theme Alice In Wonderland .  I have been dreaming the plan, and now need to revise it a bit, since the goal is to raise money for cancer, not to go broke decorating a tent.  Please feel free to support the cause by clicking on the following link and making a donation.  Thank you. http://relay.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY12National?px=20597074&pg=personal&fr_id=38367
2. Anacondas.  My sweetman (the 2nd grader) just completed a Talking Zoo project at his school.  He researched the Anaconda, made a great poster, wrote a paper, and then dressed up as an Anaconda and gave a brief speech about his animal for parents and other kids at his school.  As you may have guessed, a seven year old can not make a costume...so his sewing challenged mother made the costume for him.  I will post the pictures on a later post, since I do not have the pictures uploaded to this computer.  It turned out well.  It was a long process (16 feet long to be exact).  No tears were shed, but some red wine consumed in the process.  (by me, not my son).  If you need a 16 foot stuffed Anaconda, please let me know.  
3. Yards of Yard.  We have a large lot for people living in the suburbs.  Often guests at our home comment on the large backyard.  I hear people talk about how they love to garden and do yard work.  Those people should have bought our house.  My beloved hates yard work.  I am allergic to grass, yet still mow the lawn.  I see the yard as a bit of torture.  None the less, I have been doing the clean up of the property.  It is wonderful to see when it is complete, but the process is time consuming and awful.  My parents love to garden and care for their lawn.  Sadly, the gardening gene did not get passed on to me.  So I have been very grouchy about the lawn care.  Good news, my son said he would like to mow lawn.  So in a couple years I may have partner on grounds keeping detail.
4. Show Some Pride America.  Here is my meany observation of the week.  People have become too casual about how they dress in public.  Monday I was at the grocery store and I saw numerous people dressed in baggy sweats and pajama pants out in public.  It was early afternoon and these people were grocery shopping in what appears to be the same clothes they slept in the night before.  I am not asking everyone to be a style star.  I just want people to stop wearing pajamas and sloppy sweat pants out in public.  People have to see you, and you look really hideous.  Yes, the grocery store is a dull, but necessary place.  We all have to go the grocery.  Let us be civil to others by trying a little bit.  Quit wearing sleepwear outside your home.  Make it a matter of personal pride to get dressed EVERYDAY. No matter what.  Please. 

That, in a nutshell, covers what my April has been like.  I will now go put on proper day clothing, and start my campaign to keep the jammies at home.

Happy Weekend!

Writing by Force

Okay, so I have been slacking this week.  In truth I have just had a lot of little things that needed to get done.  It is funny how little things can add up and take a little longer than you thought and then suddenly...it is Thursday and you have not written a blog post all week.  That is how it goes sometimes.  However, I am writing this because a friend, who is a faithful reader, pointed out my blog neglect.  This friend also happens to be going through a bunch of changes and challenges right now.  Here is a sneaky peek...she is changing jobs (which is great) and the house she is living in with her spouse and two kids has a septic tank issue that the landlord is refusing to fix.  So now with a job change, she faces finding a house (in the same school district) before the sh** hits the fan.  Okay the sh** likely will not hit the fan, but it may well back up all over the floor...which is just as bad.  This makes my piddly little stuff look like child's play.  However, we all have sh**, not all of us have it literally, like my friend, but we all have it.

So I write by force today, because she looks forward to reading my crazy musings.  Too bad for her, it is her struggles that have made me realize that I have just a million little things, while she faces actual sh**.  This is the time when I wish I could have a village of all the people I love, that have touched my life, that mean the world to me all centralized.  My friend lives in Florida, so from Michigan all I can do is pray that everything will come together and work out...FAST.  I hate thinking that people I care about are struggling.  Even while I struggle.  We all struggle.  I just do not like people I care about to have anything but good things.  Yes, that is a fully impossible thought.  We can not only have the good and easy life.  Frankly, if life was only good and easy we would be miserable with it.  Seriously.  How would we know the good and easy times without the struggles & challenges?  It used to make me crazy when I would hear people say, life's challenges & struggles are the times when we, as humans, grow and build character.  Time, and this statement proving true, over and over again, has made me not only accept this statement, but somewhat embrace it.  Reflecting on past personal challenges that caused struggle and discomfort, and often extreme frustration...then great personal growth, makes me a little thankful for the challenge.  In the midst of any personal crisis, I know that it will somehow work out and I will have learned a thing or two.

I am praying for my friend's current struggle will come to a good resolution...soon.  I know that she is a smart woman, she is resourceful, and she is a fighter.  I am still sad that she and her family have this struggle, but I know that everything will work out for them...hopefully sooner rather than later.  And I thank her for making me write by force, because my own words have helped me put some perspective on my own life.  Thank you, my friend.

Five for Friday

This week has been unseasonably warm, forcing the spring cleaning to start a bit early...but hey worse things can happen.  Here are my five horribly disjointed thoughts for this week.

1. The Hunger Games.  I read the book in two days.  I loved it, so I will likely be highly critical of the movie.  Why did I read it?  Good question.  I was going to NOT read the book and just see the movie with my 12 year old, who has read the whole series.  However, I have a reading problem, and I was between books, so I read it.  Honestly, from what my daughter had told me about the books, it was not in my general interest area.  Not a huge fan of post-apocalyptic fiction.  Pleasantly surprised that it held my attention.  It is a very disturbing world that this is set it, but does make one think.  Yes, I will read the next two books...eventually.
2. The Vegetarian in My House.  I am very much enjoying finding meat-free meals for my daughter who gave up eating meat for Lent.  My favorite thing thus far are spinach/chickpea patties.  Very tasty.  The only thing holding this family back from being vegetarian is my beloved and bacon.  Yes, my daughter admits she misses bacon.  Not that she ate it everyday, but she has been known to order a veggie burger with bacon and cheese. Bacon is a delicious treat, but it is certainly not within the vegetarian realm.  Perhaps I will look into meat-bacon substitutes...that sounds disappointing already. 
3. Telling Time.  I recently had an experience that made me realize that kids very much struggle with telling time on an analog clock.  Life is just too digital.  I know that this is a skill that is worked on in early elementary in school.  However, this skill is not practiced and reinforced at home, because clocks with actual hands are almost non-existent in homes.  Trust me, I have looked.  Most places have digital clocks.  It makes me wonder if this is even a necessary skill?  Just a odd thought.  I am not anti-analog clock, or telling time.
4. Clowns are Scary.  I am afraid of clowns.  Yes, the jovial kid's party entertainers put me in a state of panic.  I have never been to a circus.  I often say it because I feel the circus is cruel to animals, the elephants, lions, and such.  I do think that is cruel.  Not as cruel as people painted up oddly, wearing large shoes, and horribly mismatched clothes.  Clowns are really freaky.  I break out into a cold sweat when see clowns.
5. Follow me on Twitter.  I signed up for Twitter.  I am not sure why.  I blame the media for always talking about "tweets" and and everyone having an "@________".  So if you are a Twitter-bug follow me @AllieMomma99.  I have only composed but a few tweets, but I may get better.

Happy Weekend!  

My Funny Greyhound

The great thing about greyhounds  is they sit still enough to
stack a toy on their head

Yesterday, it was confessed that we are bad fish caregivers.  However we are excellent dog caregivers.  We have photo proof of so many of Ninja's cute and sleepy exploits.  She is a wonderfully patient dog.  We have heard that greyhounds, as a breed, are just easy going and good family dogs.  This is very true.

Sometimes two toys

Occasionally she does naughty things like using the
pillow of my daughter's friend who put her sleepover stuff
on the floor. (She even fell asleep on the pillow)

Honestly, adopting the greyhound was one of the best  choices we have ever made regarding pets.  Ninja likes everyone, very seldom barks, and enjoys sleeping.  She also likes going for walks and running her fast laps in the backyard.  
Sure, we missed the puppy phase of her life because she was raised to race, then raced for a year or two. She came to live here as a 3 year old, retired racer.  Retirement suits her well.  If you need a breed of dog that is friendly, loving, and a source of comic relief...consider adopting a greyhound.

Wicked Wednesday

Fish Neglect.  Yes, our topic today is fish neglect.  Neglect is a terrible, wicked thing.  Even more wicked is to be brought into a home where someone pledged to properly care for you, but then forgets you almost completely.  This is the sad lot of our resident fish.  My son has a goldfish, Rutledge, and everyone, including my son forgets about the fish.  Terrible.  The poor thing gets fed, almost everyday, mostly.  Generally because I walk in my son's room and Rutledge starts kissing the surface of the water and it makes a splooshy sound.  Then I stop and think, "Huh, did anyone feed that little fellow?".  I always assume that everyone else forgot about him too, so I dash a healthy helping a fish flakes in the water, (who knows if anyone will remember to feed him tomorrow?)  I am usually correct, no one has fed him.  Fish are just too easy to overlook.  It is unfair that he lives with us, we are not good fish people.

Why do non-fish people have a fish?  Fair question.  My son this past summer got the notion that the cat and dog that live with us are not "his".  He wanted personal dominion over some pet.  What this wonderful boy did not realize is that the cat and dog have dominion over all of us.  Yes, the cat and dog dictate when we get up (the dog alarm clock) and when (and if) we go to sleep (the cat gets lonely and meows at night).  Pet care is very demanding at times.  The expelling of hairballs at 2am is unnerving, frustrating, and maddening.  A dog that barks, growls, and whines when sleeping is just creepy.  Especially considering that the dog does not bark, growl, or whine when she is awake, unless majorly encouraged with treats.  Cleaning up the poo in the backyard, and on walks... is not one of the joys of pet companionship.  I have said it before, I will say it again, the pets own us.  Sure, they are cute and sweet, but pets are a huge responsibility.  That is why I have never understood why people give pets as gifts to children.  Children can not fully care for the needs of cats and dogs.  I fully believe this, and yet, we got the boy a fish.  Just a goldfish.  I thought, he can handle a fish.  You feed it, change the water, and that is it.  Yes, that is pretty much it.  Oh wait, you have to REMEMBER to feed it and change the water.  That is the hardest part of caring for a fish.  A fish will not flop out of its bowl, fin along the floor to your room, and slap you with a cold fin to wake you up to let it out and feed it.  Nope, the fish just swims in circles in the bowl on the dresser.  A fish will not meow and yowl until you fill its food & water bowl.  Nope, the fish just swims in circles in the bowl on the dresser.  The fish gets neglected because it is not annoying enough.  It turns out around here you need to make your needs known in a dynamic way in order for those needs to be met.  Serenely swimming, waiting for someone to put away clothing in the dresser that is your perch is not enough for this family.  Perhaps a piranha would be a better fish for us.  A fish we would have to reckon with if it went unfed.  Rutledge just seems content to swim in semi-murky water and indulge himself in the guilty over-feedings.  He is too polite.  Polite pets finish last around here.  This is the home of the bold.  Negative and semi-obnoxious behavior gets awarded with attention.  Sweetly swimming in a bowl only earns neglect.  Sorry Rutledge, you deserve better, but you have us, the wicked people guilty of fish negligence.

Now I better go clean that fish bowl, before I forget about it. Oh, and maybe a dash of fish flakes too!

All Kinds of Blindness

Last night I was watching 60 Minutes, yes the durable television news show, and no, I did not then look for Murder She Wrote reruns to watch afterward, (but I thought about it).  First of all I love 60 Minutes, always have, even as a child.  This fact has nothing to do with my topic today, but I feel it necessary to let you know that if it is covered on 60 Minutes, it is relevant to me.  I also miss Andy Rooney, and felt like he was own crabby granddad (he was not).

Anyway, the wonderful Leslie Stahl did a piece on Face Blindness.  What?  Yes, some people can not visually discern between faces.  Even the faces of their own family members.  All faces just look like eyes, nose, and mouth.  Facial features between people are indistinguishable to those afflicted with face blindness.  This seemed so amazingly odd to me.  All the people that were interviewed for this piece were of normal (and a few of extremely high) intelligence, and had successful careers.  Some had families, one woman could not identify a picture of her own daughter's face.  Really these were regular people that can not recognize faces.  This was simply astonishing to me.  These people rely on voice, body shape, and other features to identify people.  So the changing of a hair color or style, could result in a face blind person not recognizing you at all, even if it is a close co-worker or spouse or sibling.  The kicker...most of these people did not realize they had an issue recognizing faces until adulthood.  They all admitted they were always challenged in social situations, but had (and still have) no idea what they are missing.

My son is colorblind.  It is a genetic trait so he always was and will see color in a way that most of the population will never understand.  Yes, most colorblind people can see color, but differently, a bit more muted in shading.  Their world is not black and white. Complete color blindness does exist, but is very uncommon. Honestly, I did not have confirmation that my little guy was colorblind until a year ago.  All through pre-school and kindergarten he identified colors on all assessment with no concerns mentioned by his teachers.  Looking back, this is pretty amazing because some shades of greens, blues, purples, and grays are all very similar for him.  He compensates by memorizing shadings and having reference items for colors.  It is quite amazing that at seven years old he does this.  Then I remember, that is all he knows.  He has no idea what he is not seeing.  I only know from doing some research how he does see things, but only in a very limited way.

 Normal color vision seeing
 rainbow colors.

 My son seeing rainbow colors with his
type of color deficiency.

These are the rainbow color pictures that I  found most helpful in understanding red/green color deficiency.  Which is my son's type.  There are several types of color deficiency.  Selfishly, I only care about the one that effects him.  Mostly because I have to help him in some situations.  I am completely amazed that we had no idea.  It really shows how much people can compensate for conditions.  I also feel sad when I look at the two different pictures of a rainbow, because I can see how many colors he will never see.  However, as I said before, he does not know, he will never know.  FYI, his favorite color is blue, which is cool because know we are seeing the same thing.

These two examples of blindness, that those afflicted have no idea what they are missing, remind me that we all have blindness in our life.  Most of our blindness can not be diagnosed by doctors like face blindness and colorblindness. Some people are blind to other people's feelings, some are blind to bad relationship patterns,  some are blind to their own ignorance.  We all are a blind in some way.  Perhaps going through our whole lives not knowing what we are missing and not seeing.  Sometimes this is good, sometimes it is bad.  I know that my son's color blindness has helped me understand him in a different way.  I admire how hard he has to work to compensate, and he has no idea.  My spouse often puts things in perspective for me at by saying, "You know, sometimes we don't know, what we don't know".  And I guess that statement covers all kinds of blindness.

Freshing Up

The old blog has undergone its Spring clean up. I applied a new design template. Moved and added some of the sidebar stuff around, added a topic cloud... I love clouds. I feel like I just redecorated. If only cleaning up my house was so easy and yielded such a quick result.