My daughter came home today with very unbiased political material from school. I was pleased that they are talking about current events and it was nice to see that even when she picked a side and told me she was voting for person x, that she was able to articulate why and tell me her friend was voting differently and respectfully explain why the friend was voting for person y.
Well done teacher. We do not talk politics in front of her. The last thing I want is to be in the middle of Kroger and have her parrot misunderstood political dialogue. You know, in a similar manner that in the middle of the Fall Festival this year she announced in front of an entire room of parents that "My mommy got handcuffed by the police before!" Um, really? So I say "Um, really, do tell..." She thankfully responded "Don't you remember Momma? Last year when Fuzzy was a cop for Halloween and he handcuffed us together..." Needless to say my being mortified was short lived but OMG.
So politics, nope, not when little ears are around. Especially since I consider myself to be a liberal conservative or conservative liberal.
Several hours after the voting conversation she busted out with these lovely musings...
Ava:"Momma, I like President Obama, but how is he allowed to be President?"
Me: "Uh, why wouldn't he be allowed to be President?"
Ava: "Because he wasn't born in the United States I thought all Presidents needed to be born here."
Me:"Ava,he was born here, who told you he wasn't?"
Ava:"They showed us a movie in class today Momma and HE WAS NOT BORN HERE. He was born in Canada."
Me:" What? Hang on, back up, they showed you a movie in school today saying that President Obama was born in Canada? Ava, people say a lot of things about different Presidents, but he was not born in Canada."
Ava: "Oh, maybe it was Justin Bieber. You're right Mom, Justin Bieber was born in Canada, he can't be President."
I'm not sure if I'm happy or upset about this. So it appears that they successfully have open social studies conversations but on the other hand she was subjected to Justin Bieber.
Well, at least at this point if my daughter has successfully mixed up President Obama and Justin Bieber than at least I'm doing a good job with raising her to be color blind.
I am slightly offended that she mixed an American up with a Canadian though, god knows all Canadians do indeed look alike... ;P
Monday, November 5, 2012
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Ally McBeal vs Jack Handy
I follow my sister's blog religiously, generally it is how I spend my 2 minutes at lunch inhaling my food while reading her thoughts. Today I laughed as I read her posting about Jack Handy worthy thoughts at: http://17gon.blogspot.com/2012/11/thoughts.html
I laugh because too often I am entirely way too amused by my own thoughts. For me however I'm torn between "Deep Thoughts" of the Jack Handy variety and the neurotic Ally McBeal style musings. It is this mixture of emotions that binds me with some of my closest friends. Our ability to share looks, or for me to start humming *circus music* and we are immediately bound in understanding our day, the situation whatever.
There are days where I wear my iPod around the hospital and literally have my own soundtrack for the day, there are others where random movie quotes are floating like clouds across my thoughts. At any rate, I am always amused. I'm not so certain others would be if they were privy, but this makes me wonder, am I alone with my internal dialogues *cue Meredith Grey voice over* or is this normal? Is my normal, actually dysfunction and is this dysfunction actually normal so everyone truly is dysfunctional?
(Please note, I'm fully aware that this is both normal and dysfunctional and oh jeez, see this is the shit I was talking about on my FB post, if you don't know me well enough to read this stuff and get my sense of humor, please just unfriend me.)
*cue Steward Smalley "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough and gosh darn it people like me."
So I was watching Ava and her friend over this weekend and to listen in on 5 year old dialogue was insane. It appears they say what they are thinking which is great but makes me wonder what are they thinking when they are actually silent?
Do we really want to know? Or is it just Homer Simpson and a circus monkey uni-cycling around in his brain?
Oy, out of the three, Ally McBeal, Jack Handy and Stewart Smalley, I think I am strangely content with Ally.
Which leads me to the question of diagnosing the 3 of them and gosh darn it, I just do not have the energy to do that this evening.
I laugh because too often I am entirely way too amused by my own thoughts. For me however I'm torn between "Deep Thoughts" of the Jack Handy variety and the neurotic Ally McBeal style musings. It is this mixture of emotions that binds me with some of my closest friends. Our ability to share looks, or for me to start humming *circus music* and we are immediately bound in understanding our day, the situation whatever.
There are days where I wear my iPod around the hospital and literally have my own soundtrack for the day, there are others where random movie quotes are floating like clouds across my thoughts. At any rate, I am always amused. I'm not so certain others would be if they were privy, but this makes me wonder, am I alone with my internal dialogues *cue Meredith Grey voice over* or is this normal? Is my normal, actually dysfunction and is this dysfunction actually normal so everyone truly is dysfunctional?
(Please note, I'm fully aware that this is both normal and dysfunctional and oh jeez, see this is the shit I was talking about on my FB post, if you don't know me well enough to read this stuff and get my sense of humor, please just unfriend me.)
*cue Steward Smalley "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough and gosh darn it people like me."
So I was watching Ava and her friend over this weekend and to listen in on 5 year old dialogue was insane. It appears they say what they are thinking which is great but makes me wonder what are they thinking when they are actually silent?
Do we really want to know? Or is it just Homer Simpson and a circus monkey uni-cycling around in his brain?
Oy, out of the three, Ally McBeal, Jack Handy and Stewart Smalley, I think I am strangely content with Ally.
Which leads me to the question of diagnosing the 3 of them and gosh darn it, I just do not have the energy to do that this evening.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook. On the one hand, I love it because I have been blessed to have traveled around the world and have many friends and family who reside across said globe. Facebook allows me to have glimpses into their lives and at times when years have gone by and the phone rings, to answer and pick up the relationship/familiarity right where we left off last time we saw each other (Netta).
I like the ability to post to mass audiences to assist one another, be it to place an animal in a new home, applaud literary accomplishments of friends or even to ask advice on school districts or Nikon vs Canon (Nikon for the record) etc.
There is also the fact that many of my lifelong or at least long term friends have decided to have a mass exodus from this lovely State of Michigan and with gas/airfare being as pricey as it is again, it allows for already strong friendships to remain strong.
My daughter now has a doubled family due to divorce. I like that if she asks to see a picture of her cousin Lily and I ask which one and she responds with "Both please" that I am able to oblige.
I have long appreciated the value of Facebook in my life but lately, it has become burdensome.
The hate aspects of Facebook largely started with this being an election year. I do not care which side you are on, according to Facebook from many of your posts you are either uneducated and struggle with your morals or ... oh wait... judging from many of your posts this appears to be both Democrat and Republican voters.
Lately I have had a HUGE number of friends getting upset with me on my lack of response to messages in my inbox. I am on a computer most of the day, however not on Facebook. I have a smartphone which I use to see random updates if I'm getting an oil change or fighting insomnia, but I don't use it much for email or messages. Texting? Yes, it is short and to the point. But if I am going to carry on a conversation that is not over the phone, it is going to be via email.
If you know me, then you know this. Which leads me to wondering if my "friends" really know me. I am really blessed. I have a great family. I have great friends who have become family. I am about to marry into a wonderful family. I love my job, I believe I am good at what I do, but am always striving to be better. I love to bitch about working out and love to indulge in life requiring me to work out.
I'm really optimistic with a snarky sense of humor. I am genuine and pride myself on doing what I say and if I'm going to vent about you to someone, then I pick up my bootstraps and say it to your face.
I'm annoyed that I'm feeling the need to blog about who I am because lately some of the comments I have gotten about status updates which were jokes, or comments I've made on other people's pages which were sincere are starting to make me wonder, do the people who consider me a "friend" really know me? If they don't know me, why did they "friend" me?
I have a large number of friends on here but anyone who "knows" me knows I talk to anything that moves, people, squirrels, floating grocery bag in the breeze...
This leads me to trying to figure out, do I lock down my Facebook, do I "clean" out my friends, but then what happens?
Obviously this will end up insulting some people, and ironically the people who wouldn't be offended if I did unfriend them even though there is no reason why I would, those people would not be upset. Partly because they are assholes, (Timmy Bob), and partly because I'm friends with them because everyone needs a brilliant asshole or two in the lives (Jeter) because these friends are honest, real and provide a strange breath of fresh air.
There are 168 hours in a week.
Typically I spend mine:
Commute: 6 hours
Work: 40
Ava Homework/Reading: 5
Workout: 5
TV Shows/Not multi-tasking: 4
Sleeping/Trying to Sleep: 56
Groceries: 2
Hygiene/mine/Ava: 10
Meal Prep: 7
At this point this leaves 33 hours with about 24 of this being devoted to adventures with Ava on the weekends which leaves about 9 hours unaccounted for to do laundry, see friends, check email, respond to phone calls, get gas, clean, etc.
So what to do? I'm fortunate that so many of my friends have children around the same age allowing me to be in mommy-mode and friend-mode simultaneously, but what to do about people who I thought knew me well enough for me to accept their friend invite via Facebook, but who clearly from comments, side conversations and direct confrontations about my limitations to responding to messages are not necessarily people who should indeed be considered "friends."
Really in the grand scheme of things this really isn't an issue. And if I were to ask my brilliant, honest asshole friends, they would say "unfriend them."
So I guess this is a prelude to cleaning house.
As much as I like to joke that I'm a therapist who hates people, I don't. I enjoy the connections we've developed over the years, the people in my life as much as the events in my life have shaped me into who I am now. Life is simple. Truly. When it's not, something generally is not what it seems or we do not like our options. I like simple. I trust if you have friend-ed me or if I friend-ed you it was because on some level I believe we are friends. If I continue to observe that our perceptions of each other are mismatched or mistaken, then the decision to un-friend will also be simple.
Live each day vowing to make the lives around you brighter and yours too will shine.
I like the ability to post to mass audiences to assist one another, be it to place an animal in a new home, applaud literary accomplishments of friends or even to ask advice on school districts or Nikon vs Canon (Nikon for the record) etc.
There is also the fact that many of my lifelong or at least long term friends have decided to have a mass exodus from this lovely State of Michigan and with gas/airfare being as pricey as it is again, it allows for already strong friendships to remain strong.
My daughter now has a doubled family due to divorce. I like that if she asks to see a picture of her cousin Lily and I ask which one and she responds with "Both please" that I am able to oblige.
I have long appreciated the value of Facebook in my life but lately, it has become burdensome.
The hate aspects of Facebook largely started with this being an election year. I do not care which side you are on, according to Facebook from many of your posts you are either uneducated and struggle with your morals or ... oh wait... judging from many of your posts this appears to be both Democrat and Republican voters.
Lately I have had a HUGE number of friends getting upset with me on my lack of response to messages in my inbox. I am on a computer most of the day, however not on Facebook. I have a smartphone which I use to see random updates if I'm getting an oil change or fighting insomnia, but I don't use it much for email or messages. Texting? Yes, it is short and to the point. But if I am going to carry on a conversation that is not over the phone, it is going to be via email.
If you know me, then you know this. Which leads me to wondering if my "friends" really know me. I am really blessed. I have a great family. I have great friends who have become family. I am about to marry into a wonderful family. I love my job, I believe I am good at what I do, but am always striving to be better. I love to bitch about working out and love to indulge in life requiring me to work out.
I'm really optimistic with a snarky sense of humor. I am genuine and pride myself on doing what I say and if I'm going to vent about you to someone, then I pick up my bootstraps and say it to your face.
I'm annoyed that I'm feeling the need to blog about who I am because lately some of the comments I have gotten about status updates which were jokes, or comments I've made on other people's pages which were sincere are starting to make me wonder, do the people who consider me a "friend" really know me? If they don't know me, why did they "friend" me?
I have a large number of friends on here but anyone who "knows" me knows I talk to anything that moves, people, squirrels, floating grocery bag in the breeze...
This leads me to trying to figure out, do I lock down my Facebook, do I "clean" out my friends, but then what happens?
Obviously this will end up insulting some people, and ironically the people who wouldn't be offended if I did unfriend them even though there is no reason why I would, those people would not be upset. Partly because they are assholes, (Timmy Bob), and partly because I'm friends with them because everyone needs a brilliant asshole or two in the lives (Jeter) because these friends are honest, real and provide a strange breath of fresh air.
There are 168 hours in a week.
Typically I spend mine:
Commute: 6 hours
Work: 40
Ava Homework/Reading: 5
Workout: 5
TV Shows/Not multi-tasking: 4
Sleeping/Trying to Sleep: 56
Groceries: 2
Hygiene/mine/Ava: 10
Meal Prep: 7
At this point this leaves 33 hours with about 24 of this being devoted to adventures with Ava on the weekends which leaves about 9 hours unaccounted for to do laundry, see friends, check email, respond to phone calls, get gas, clean, etc.
So what to do? I'm fortunate that so many of my friends have children around the same age allowing me to be in mommy-mode and friend-mode simultaneously, but what to do about people who I thought knew me well enough for me to accept their friend invite via Facebook, but who clearly from comments, side conversations and direct confrontations about my limitations to responding to messages are not necessarily people who should indeed be considered "friends."
Really in the grand scheme of things this really isn't an issue. And if I were to ask my brilliant, honest asshole friends, they would say "unfriend them."
So I guess this is a prelude to cleaning house.
As much as I like to joke that I'm a therapist who hates people, I don't. I enjoy the connections we've developed over the years, the people in my life as much as the events in my life have shaped me into who I am now. Life is simple. Truly. When it's not, something generally is not what it seems or we do not like our options. I like simple. I trust if you have friend-ed me or if I friend-ed you it was because on some level I believe we are friends. If I continue to observe that our perceptions of each other are mismatched or mistaken, then the decision to un-friend will also be simple.
Live each day vowing to make the lives around you brighter and yours too will shine.
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