FYI Friday - Jaywalking

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FYI Friday - Hot vs. Cold

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FYI Friday - Wigs....for dogs?

Japan is a very unique and trendy place. And what interesting trends they are. From dog weddings to individually shrink wrapped produce, Japan prides itself on being a super special snowflake.

In Japan, people dress like anime characters, buy lettuce out of vending machines, and have an ancient tradition of very disturbing porn.

Now, people in Japan are buying wigs for their dogs. Yes, that's right, you heard me. Wigs. For dogs.

You're welcome.

FYI Friday - The Lonliest Whale In The World

A blue whale who vocalizes on an extremely high frequency lives totally alone.


http://www.slate.com/blogs/wild_things/2014/08/27/_52_blue_the_loneliest_whale_in_the_world.html

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FYI Friday

Mobile phone throwing is a competitive sport in Finland.

http://www.mobilephonethrowing.fi

You're welcome. 📱

Unwanted Interlopers During Childbirth

I came across an article that really tried to drive home the idea that extended family members don't have a "right" to attend a relative's birth.

There was even a quote from an "expert:" She should not feel obligated to have any other person, apart from the father, present at the birth.

This immediately brought up feelings that I thought were long dealt with and buried. Years ago I was forced to deal with something similar. Not only was I threatened with being "dragged to the hospital in handcuffs," if I pursued a home birth, I would be given no choice about the person doing the threatening being present when I gave birth. He would be there, and he would make all the decisions.

To their credit, the hospitals I contacted were sympathetic, but he was my husband, after all. There wasn't much they believed they could do.

I finally found a lawyer who helped me bar him from the hospital should I give birth there. So then he decided home birth was fine, as long as he could be present for the birth. Not having much other choice, I felt forced to agree.

Close to my due date, my midwives asked me where I wanted him to be while I was in labor. I said the first thing that popped into my mind - "Albuquerque." I hated laboring with him there. I found tasks for him to do to get him away from me as much as possible.

Being present at a birth is a privilege, not a right. It doesn't matter if you are the husband, the grandmother, or the older kid's scout leader. Anyone present at a birth is either a paid consultant or there at the mother's invitation.

Why on earth should a laboring woman be "obligated" to have a person present whom she would rather have anywhere else but with her?

There was even a court case about this very issue. In   Plotnick v DeLuccia, Judge Sohail Mohammed ruled that fathers do not have the right to force themselves into a delivery room if the mother refuses access.

I support the right of ALL mothers to choose where and with whom to give birth. And to choose whom to exclude. No exceptions.

Geniuses who work at banks

Earlier today, I went through the bank drive through to make a deposit for my mother. Employees of this bank have said many rude and inexplicable things in the past. This is today's installment.

Teller: Welcome to blah blah blah bank. How are you today?

Me: I'm fine thank you. I have a deposit, but my mother forgot to write the account number on the deposit slip. Its supposed to go in the account that ends in 1234. (not the real last four digits)

Teller: We don't give out account information.

Me: Well then aren't we lucky I didn't ask you for any. The deposit needs to go in the account ending in 1234.

Long silence.

Me: Hello?

Teller: We'll do it this time. What were those last four digits?

Me: 1234.

Teller: Thank you for banking with us and have a great day!

Me: Oy.

I need to check my privilege

Lately I have been looking into meditation apps for kids, probably for all the wrong reasons - a houseful of squealing little girls is driving me slap ass crazy and I really need to get things under control.

So I found myself on goop.com. (I know, I know.) I scrolled through a list of apps designed to help kids calm themselves and learn beginning meditation. I also looked at lots of other sites, so there will be a post about just that.

The last app on this particular list is called  "Baby Shusher." At first glance, it seemed beyond ridiculous - an app that lets parents and caregivers digitally outsource making calming noises to soothe a baby. I may have even snorted. Okay, I did snort.

Then I thought about parents who are involuntarily separated from their infants, whether due to hospitalization, foster care, or some other reason. I thought about mothers who who cobble together several minimum wage jobs and are too tired to see straight. And, yes, I also thought about mothers whose job responsibilities require overnight business trips. And I realized I needed to rethink my judgement and check my privilege.

But just so you know, if you use an app like this to sleep train or otherwise avoid your baby, I will totally be judging you.

Jesus And The Dinosaur

I have a pretty amazing story to share about something that happened this afternoon. It's taken me pretty much the whole night, off and on, to process it.

After school, Erica and Izzy were playing outside. Erica was playing with a little green plastic stegasaurus, appropriately named "Steggy."

When it was time to come in, Erica couldn't find Steggy. First we retraced her steps. Then we tried as close to a grid search as 2 people, one of them a 4 year old, could get.

When I told her it was getting dark and we'd have to call off the search for the night, she cried like her heart would break.

So, I suggested we ask Jesus to find Steggy for us. She agreed, and told Jesus in some detail how Steggy was a really wonderful dinosaur. I got the distinct feeling that we needed to stop looking, and go do her bath.

After the bath,  she ran to her room to get her pajamas on. I handed them to her and she jumped up on her bed to put them on.

Guess who was on her pillow? If you guessed Steggy, you would be right. And there was no way any human could have put it there.

So, at the top of her lungs, Erica yelled, "Thank you, Jesus! I love you!"

I remember a passage in the Bible where it says that not even a sparrow falls without God knowing.  So apparently God looks out for plastic dinosaurs, along with the little girls who sometimes misplace them.

WTF

I posted a photo on Facebook about the girl who was knocked out of her desk and thrown like a rag doll by a police officer. Then I was unpleasantly surprised.

What do you do when someone you have known for years expresses a thought so reprehensible that it takes multiple readings to even begin to wrap your mind around it?  Someone who you thought shared your basic values, someone you always enjoyed spending time with...

Granted, it's been years since we lived in the same city. We are both probably very different people than we used to be.

But I never thought I would hear her call the girl a "thug."



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What's with PETA?

Back when I was young, PETA was the only animal rights organization there was. I donated birthday and Christmas money....I still appreciate all the information and resources they provided for free.

Unfortunately, PETA has gotten involved with some pretty shady things...mass euthanization of adoptable animals, support for breed specific legislation, etc.

PETA's position seems to be that since "owning" pets or other domesticated animals is wrong, then all those animals need to die. It seems to me they only care about animals in the abstract, not as individuals with rights and a will to live. For an organization that promotes animal rights, that seems pretty backwards to me.

Aside from these issues, PETA is in an amazing position, as arguably the most well known animal rights organization in the world, to lend its influence to various campaigns by other groups and individuals.  For 2014, PETA's annual budget was $47,381,215. That's an awful lot of money. Now, PETA spends less than 1% of its annual budget on overhead, so that leaves plenty to do good with, right? PETA allocates $1 million per year to legal expenses alone. You would think that PETA would be supporting the heck out of efforts to end animal exploitation, right? But, wrong.

Back in the 90's, PETA knuckled under to legal and other pressures and rolled over because Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) seemed to be carrying a bigger stick.

For background see:

http://dbsst.org/case_histories/full_textSciences

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huntingdon_Life_Sciences


PETA could have fought back. PETA could have supported the activists trying to shut HLS down. But they didn't. Instead PETA continues to spend money on murder instead of on life.

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Censorship in schools

https://www.yahoo.com/parenting/mom-launches-war-against-bestselling-book-about-128725553532.html#comments

I think this book should be required reading in high school. There is nothing pornographic in it. Yes, there are graphic descriptions of cancer, as well as depictions of members of the medical establishment behaving in immoral and unethical ways. It's perfectly appropriate for teens.

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Elsa, Anna, and Olaf

New on my list of things I never expected to hear myself say: "Stop licking your sister's feet!"

After that, the day had nowhere else to go but downhill.  Picture 3 demented bonobos hopped up on red dye #40 and you will have have the idea. Izzy and Erica spent a good half hour trying to spin in the same hula hoop, which I am convinced is not possible in this dimension - they are determined to keep trying, however. Then they took Lexi's hula hoop, which led to her screaming, "Give me my hoolie hoop!" at the top of her lungs.

The girls have decided their names are Elsa, Anna, and Olaf. They will only answer to these names. I think I'm going to insist they address me as "Admiral."

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Nothing to add....

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"Shake Shake"

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DIY Wednesday - Sorry, sorry sorry....

I have been trying to devote time to blogging, and while I could be a little more prolific, I'm generally happy with the quality (if not the quantity) of my recent posts.

I have really enjoyed the DIY Wednesdays, and plan to continue them. But just not tomorrow. Tonight we had a big family dinner, and after cooking, cleaning up, coloring with my older granddaughter, smoking out in the cold with my sister and my daughter in law - well, I'm just slap worn out.

Until next time!

Facebook Jail

"Steve Best is an asshat."

This statement got me put in Facebook jail for today.  I was also reported for using a fake name on Facebook, which is hilarious because I am literally the only person ON EARTH with my name.

So while I languish (okay, I'm not really languishing, I'm just going about my usual business) in the level of hell reserved for people who have been naughty on Facebook,  Camille Marino is languishing in a real jail. A real jail with bars, where she is not free to go about her usual business.

So won't you please go to the Negotiation Is Over site (http://www.negotiationisover.com) and make a donation toward Camille's legal bills?

Thank you.

DIY Wednesday - dishwasher soap

Here's another cheap,cruelty free, and environmentally friendly household recipe. This formula has many variations, and I've tried (and adapted) several. This one cleans better than any commercially made powder I know of.

Many recipes call for kosher, or iodine free, salt. It doesn't make a difference - just use whatever salt you have.

2 parts borax
2 parts washing soda
1 part salt
1 part citric acid

Mix all four powders together. I just put it all in a jar and shake it up good. I may or may not do this while dancing around to the song with the same name. (Yes, I am well aware that I have issues.)

Use a heaping tablespoon for each load.

DIY Wednesday - Play Dough

Now that Isabella is 4, I decided it's time to break out my old Play Dough recipe. I wanted to always have some on hand, plus I know kids eat the stuff so it needs to be safe. Also I'm extremely cheap. Pathologically cheap. I'm also lazy, so I don't want it to be complicated.

Here's the recipe:

2 parts flour
1 part salt
~1 part hot water
a few drops of glycerin
food coloring

Mix all this together and knead. Get your kids to help with this. I store in ziplock bags or tupperware type containers.

It dries when left out, so it's great for projects, like making letters with cookie cutters.

Why I'm not boycotting Daiya

Lately it seems like everyone but me is boycotting Daiya products because the company is promoting the use of its products to lactose intolerant meat eaters. People are outraged. Seriously outraged.

I think I get it. But here's the thing: planet earth is full of meat eaters and that's not going to change in the foreseeable future.

By promoting Daiya products to a wider audience,  the company could very well introduce vegetarianism and veganism to people who would never have given their food a second thought. But that's not why I'm not boycotting.

I'm not boycotting because every single consumer product in the world is produced by a company that does something objectionable. There's no way around it. There's no way in hell to boycott everything.

In the online discussions about this issue, other companies were mentioned. The "cruelty free" Tom's of Maine (which has been owned by Colgate-Palmolive since 2006) is supposedly okay (according to some), even though the parent company  is notorious for vivisection in its product "testing." Why? Because Colgate-Palmolive doesn't market itself as pro animal rights. Wait, what?

So it's okay to buy from a company that tests on animals,  but not okay to buy from a vegan identified company that is trying to expand its customer base.  Gotcha.

This is making my head hurt. That is all.