The Crab Chronicles

Connections

I was thinking yesterday about connections, and today I hear that a cousin of mine has died. I didn't really know her too well, but I am praying for the family. I have a huge extended family, because all of my grandparents had between 8 and 12 siblings, most of whom grew up and had children.

My cousin Warren is my 4th cousin, I think. We have to go back 4 generations to find the common ancestor, who died decades before either of us were born.

Doesn't matter. I cherish Warren and Kim. I feel closer to them than some of my family I am closer to by blood.

I used to be very interested in family genealogy and I have charts of all my cousins and grandparents and great-grandparents. I love charts.

Too bad all of life can't be neatly organized in charts.

[OTOH, I despise spreadsheets. I can make them, and use them, but Excel is not as user-friendly as a good old-fashioned chart, IMHO.]

I also heard from an old friend of mine from Home Depot days, and rejoiced in the fact she is doing very well and is not far from me, working in downtown. Hopefully we can have lunch one day.

Michael heard yesterday that he has passed the CRCT, so his standardized test scores were OK and he can pass on to 9th grade in peace, thanks be to God. He feels like he is going to pass Math, too, thank goodness. His attitude and demeanor are totally altered, much for the better.

We had a frittata for dinner, loaded with veggies and cheese, very filling, and some homemade applesauce I made on Sunday. He ate good portions of both. An hour later he said "Do we have anything to eat?!"

Yep, he's growing! Had shot up half an inch the other day when measured. Thanks for the growing prayers. Keep 'em going. We'll buy more groceries.

I feel a lot of support from other adoptive moms out there. We are all connected in such a profound way. I am always enlightened, inspired, and even left in tears by the blogs I read every day, those of my friend Cindy B, Cindy L, and Stephanie. There are others I read weekly, too - too many to list here.

A friend of mine has been texting Alesia, thanks be to God. I know she's alive. She's not speaking/texting to me right now. I keep praying for her, though, many times a day.

Despite the fact that I don't have much time to socialize, I feel very connected to a huge community of friends, cousins, neighbors, etc.

Some people say computers are a bad thing, but I totally disagree. Facebook is like a virtual cocktail party, with everyone chattering about this or that, some things profound, some trivial. Nevertheless, it provides a sense of community, and people crave that.

I don't really know more news. Hope everyone has a blessed Tuesday!

Monday

Well, yesterday was a real Monday, all day long. Yes, I feel the word "Monday" is a grating, ugly word. The weekend is OVER. Back to the real world. My friend Stephanie posts about Manic Monday, and with ten kids, I'm sure that's true.I only have one, and I feel like it's manic a lot of times.

All I had to do was go to a meeting at school, work, go to the store, deal with Mother's computer issues, clean up after Coco, and fix dinner. Still was exhausted by the end of the day. 

Oh, and let Michael drive the car. In the rain. In the neighborhood. He's getting better at turning, thanks be to God. Mailboxes should be safe from now on. He just spends ten minutes at each stop sign trying to figure out whether or not to turn. Better slow and cautious than a speed demon, though.

We finished up the blueberry cobbler last night. At one point Mother thought it would be funny to lick her plate, indicating her love of blueberry cobbler. I told her Mamaw [her mother] was spinning in her grave watching that little display. Makes it look like Elva wasn't raised right. [She was just being funny, BTW. Even at almost 80 she has a sharp sense of humor.]

If you're southern you know what I mean when I say "raised right." I could write a whole blog just on that term alone. The older I get, the more I appreciate the fact that I was raised that way.

School meeting went well. I feel reassured that my son is going to get to go to high school next year along with his classmates, thanks be to God. He needs to do some work and behave himself in Math, is the big thing. That's all I want to say about that.

I went to walk this morning and had a good turn around our neighborhood. I now know which of my neighbors goes to work rather early...

More later.

 

Driving Man

Michael passed the test to get his learners permit on the first try this morning!

Place opens at 7:30, the one off Beaver Ruin Rd. We got there at 8:05. There were 100+ people in line. It moved quickly though. We got done 3 hours later. I was afraid they would give him a hard time about having a prosthetic hand but they didn't. He drove a little in the neighborhood when we got back and did great. He's steady and careful, so unlike Alesia - with her there was always terrified screaming, usually from me. LOL Mike is going to be a great driver. I don't expect to have to color my hair from sudden greying. LOL

Now he has to drive 40 hours, including 6 at night, and he can take the test to get his license, if he's 16, which will be in late July. I'm very proud of my boy!

This is where I spent 3+ hours of my life. LOL

 

Cold Beach Day

Sent this to Mother just now:

I am at a library in Charleston. It's cold and windy today so no beach. We had storms last night.

We hit Target this morning and picked up a few things, then rode around Charleston. Mike wasn't enthusiastic about getting out and walking around. There were lots of folks on the streets.. So we had a nice lunch [at a seafood place in Mt. Pleasant] and I asked the waitress where to find a library and here we are. I was getting ancy without a computer. LOL

Will head back to Isle of Palms shortly and probably walk around the little shops there in town. We had a big lunch so will eat in tonight. Got some pasta and there's a lot of salad left from lunch.

The bridges have had me a bit ancy. I inherited my hatred of big bridges from you, Mom. Doesn't help when Michael is saying "Look!" and "I wonder if you'd die if you jumped off this bridge?!?" I finally hollered at him last night and told him to HUSH so I could think what I was doing, and breathe deeply, and try to not freak out about the high winds on the bridges... Yikes.

I will say this - that new suspension bridge leading into Charleston is awesome. I was almost tempted to unclench my jaw and look around a bit, but I didn't. We forgot the camera or I'd send a photo. Maybe tomorrow we can get some photos; Mike's camera is at the house.

Hopefully we can grab some beach time tomorrow.

Love,
Dee

 

Boxer Eye

I never thought when I took this photo a coupld of weeks ago that my son would soon look like an actual boxer, but now he does. His right eye is swollen nearly shut. I think he just has bad allergies. He thinks he has pinkeye. So I will be calling the doctor this morning.

He had a tennis match yesterday after school and didn't get home until after 7. Colton's folks brought him home and I was in the front yard when they pulled up. Colton bounced out of the car yelling "Michael won his match after a huge tiebreaker! Both teams were watching him but he WON!" All the time he was hollering and gamboling on the lawn like a young colt. So cute.

I peeked inside the car and told Steve and Melanie "In future life I predict he will be a press agent!" and they both laughed.

We are having a spate of beautiful weather days this week, which is a blessing. Tomorrow, Michael is scheduled to go on an all-day field trip to the US Space and Rocket Center in Alabama, and the weather is supposed to be gorgeous - sunny and in the 70's. Too bad he will be on a bus most of the day.

Yesterday was a long day for him, today and tomorrow will be long days, too. Lots going on.

I left work yesterday and took Mother to get a pedicure, then came home to wait on a call from Michael to pick him up. Got the kitchen cleaned up and laundry put away..

I keep having to postpone planting all my flower and veggie plants I bought the other day because there is no time to garden just now. Maybe today after work...?! Let's hope.

Spewing Bile

OK, well it's Sunday and I feel restless because I have so much to do, on what's supposed to be the "day of rest" - hahahahaha is NOT. I wish. Not for me. It's not restful for most working parents, I suspect.

I'm feeling ornery.

I need to vent.

Fasten your seatbelts.

I'm going to share with y'all some things that annoy me greatly. If they annoy you too, great. Let me know. If you disagree with me and think I'm an idiot, that's fine too, and you can tell me off in a comment if you like, but I don't always publish snotty comments...

Why WHY WHY WHY can my son not do anything unless I tell him FIVE times?!? Every time I want him to do something he's either playing with his iPod, his DS, or on the computer. I had to tell him 4 times just now, over a period of 20 minutes, to get in the dang shower. He's always been slow to do things but lately the delays have gotten ridiculous. I am getting ready to tell him that if he doesn't start doing things when he's told, I will take away all these nifty electronic gadgets, because I'm sick of this.

I have not been out of town to get away for a few days or a week since June 2010, due to money issues. I need a break. My brother agreed to come stay with Mother for a few days, but I can't afford a hotel room anywhere and my cousin who I planned to stay with already has company that weekend. So now I am trying to find somewhere else to stay. Doesn't help that it's Easter weekend, but that's when Michael has Spring Break.

I signed up for Google Plus and I don't like it. It's not an improvement on Facebook. It's awkward to use and not fun. What genius came up with it?!

I tried to sign up for Pinterest, more out of curiosity than anything, and they email and tell me I am on a waiting list?! It's a website for heaven's sake, not an exclusively private school. Jeez. Out of sheer curiosity, tell me if you can see this link to my friend Suzanne's posting about her book Call Me Okaasan. (I have an essay in the book, BTW.) I wonder how useful Pinterest really is, in promoting something?!

I am in favor of new social media but only if it's user-friendly, and useful..

A lady on Facebook posted a photo yesterday of part of her body with surgical stitches in it - lots of them. Now, I can clean up vomit and poop all day [and frequently do, thanks to Coco] but photos of STITCHES?! This brings out my weird un-named phobia about seeing foreign objects embedded in human flesh. Nothing grosses me out more. Nothing. That image is burned on my brain now, which is traumatic and horrifying. This phobia makes it impossible for me to understand why people get piercings in their body, or tattoos, and I've taken a lot of flack for that over the years, but so be it. It's not art to me, it's disfigurement.

Mother sent me this link and it absolutely floors me. Our president cannot think of anything to say to other heads of state, except one stupid stock phrase?!  What an embarrassment.

Whoever runs against Obama in the fall will get my vote.

No, I'm not a Republican. No, I don't agree with a lot of so-called Republican opinions. I'm not a bible-thumper. I believe in gay rights. I disagree with a lot of Republican positions. BUT I think our current administration is doing more harm than good to the country. All he does is campaign, play golf, and go on vacation - and we the taxpayers are paying for all that nonsense.

The rhetoric I see everywhere from Democrats makes me so angry I could spit. OTOH, most everything that comes out of Rick Santorum's mouth makes me want to slap him.

I suspect a LOT of Americans are just like me - sick of the idiotic crap spewed by both parties, and wishing we had better choices.

However, Ron Paul strikes me as a wacko.

Well, now it's off to get a shower and TRY to be cheerful and sweet for the rest of the day. Pray I can do it! LOL

Mini Rant Day

All day yesterday I was thinking, I need to get a blog done, but it didn't happen. It was an incredibly busy day. It's been a super busy week. Today will be no exception.

I spent a long time last night trying to fall back to sleep, which was tough. About 3:15 I woke up to go to the potty, and got back in bed and started to drift back to sleep, and I heard a noise. Now, I live in an old house and noises are no big deal. This, however, sounded like someone with claws had scraped a claw across the floor under my BED! YIKES. Took a while to get past that one.

This morning, I need to take Michael's post-placement reports to the office where I get them apostilled. For those of you not familiar with the term, to apostille a document simply means you get the state you live in to authenticate the qualifications of the notary public who signed the document. Kazakhstan requires apostilled yearly reports on its children who have been adopted abroad. I just run by the Georgia Superior Court Clerk's office near my house and they do the apostille for only $3.50 per document. In many states, you have to mail it in and it takes weeks to get the document back. I think in California the cost is also about 5 times as much.

MINI RANTS

These are some things I find annoying and/or puzzling:

I am totally puzzled by the fascination many women have for SHOES. To me, the feet are high on my list of Really Unattractive Body Parts. So who cares what's on them as long as they are covered, right? I keep seeing Facebook postings of photos of shoes. I am particularly appalled by high heels. To me, those just scream "I"M WILLING TO FALL AND HURT MYSELF TO MAKE MY LEGS LOOK LONG!" I have read a LOT of slip and fall cases over the years, and 99% of the time the women who fell were wearing what I term idiot shoes. I nearly got into a shouting match the other day with a friend who completely disagrees with me on this, but here's the thing: he's never worn a pair of torture device shoes. Ever. Case closed.

Why does anyone CARE what Ashton Kutcher's hair looks like? I think he's an awful actor and I have zero respect for him. I don't care about his hair, his looks, anything to do with him. Every day I go on Yahoo to check email and I see similarly idiotic stories.

I also am sick of hearing about the Kardashians - a completely talentless bunch of trashy people - and Snooki - who is a trashy idiot.

Why do the people in media think we want to know all about idiot celebrities??!

Why isn't a story about Afghanistan at the top of the list of stories in the news? We should get out of there. Obama campaigned on a promise to pull out our troops and three years later we are still there. THAT is worth reading about. I'm especially irritated by the coverage of the US "massacre" of civilians in Afghanistan, because the press has totally downplayed the fact that American soldiers have recently been murdered by Afghan soldiers - shot in the head by their supposed allies. And y'all say WE'RE the bad guys there?! There are atrocities on both sides. Seriously. We need to get out of there.

The Debate About Insurance Coverage of Contraception

I don't often read the news with absolute disgust, but I read this story about the contraception debate and had to go find my soapbox and dust it off, because I am totally outraged by the story.

Mother basically told me about this at breakfast and I thought hmmm... I know I was awfully busy the last few days and haven't even had time to glance at the headlines but really??

It boggles my mind that this debate exists at all.

For those of you not up to speed, let me quote here from the Reuters article:

"Obama's policy originally required all employers that provide health insurance - except for houses of worship and churches - to supply coverage for women's contraceptives. Non-employer sponsored health insurance policies would also have to cover them.

Obama subsequently tweaked the policy so that religiously affiliated employers like hospitals, universities and charities would not be required to cover the cost, which would fall instead on insurers. That did not satisfy Catholic bishops, who reject the use of artificial contraceptives.

The debate has triggered incendiary rhetoric on both sides of the issue, which has pitted advocates of women's reproductive rights against supporters of conservative social policies."

Rush Limbaugh called the young woman who testified before the Senate a "slut". President Obama called to thank her for testifying in support of the bill.

President Obama is trying to get re-elected. He is courting voters. Period. More on that in a minute.

Rush Limbaugh is a loudmouthed moron. I read a book some years ago by Al Franken called Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot, and I haven't changed my mind since. I don't agree with a lot of liberals about a lot of things, but I agree that Rush is an idiot. However, it galls me to think that if I espouse some conservative values, some people will consider me to be in the same category as Rush.

Do I think insurance companies should be required to cover contraceptives? Hell to the NO. Insurance companies should be ALLOWED to cover contraceptives, and people who want that coverage can pay for it. Let the free market alone. It's about choice.

So why is this being pushed by the president? Simple. If the bill is passed, pharmaceutical companies will benefit, and they are huge contributors to the Obama reelection. Read this article by Peter Schweizer Big Pharma's Role in the Contraception Debate.

This is not about the low-cost contraception methods like condoms or birth control pills. It's about more expensive options.

To quote the article: "It’s important to point out that among President Obama’s biggest financial backers are precisely the Big Pharma companies who benefit from the mandate.  Sally Sussman, head of government affairs for Pfizer, is one of his biggest campaign bundlers, who co-hosted a fundraiser for Obama on Thursday night. Pfizer sells numerous contraceptives that now must be covered by health-care plans.  Obama’s financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry run deep. During the 2008 presidential campaign, he collected three times more in contributions from pharmaceutical manufacturers than John McCain, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.  And he will no doubt win the money race again during this election cycle."

Republicans are not immune to this sort of thing, the article goes on to say. Rick Perry's executive order requiring vaccination of schoolgirls in Texas with Gardasil was all about money, too, not health.

All this goes back to my primary feeling about politics in general: it's all about MONEY and POWER, not helping people. Lobbyists are EVIL. Congress is a cesspool.

I like these quotes:

Any American who is prepared to run for president should automatically, by definition, be disqualified from ever doing so.
Gore Vidal

If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.
Louis D. Brandeis

Hell, I never vote for anybody, I always vote against.
W. C. Fields

Talk amongst yourselves...

News

I am trying to be more aware of the news these day, so I wanted to just take a few moments and share with you a couple of things that have caught my eye recently.

I attended the University of Georgia in Athens, and I love UGA. I'm not a big football person. However, I so admire Anna Watson, one of the school's current cheerleaders, who obviously has a good attitude about her sport and her life, and what's important. She turned down a lucrative career as a model. Why? "A modeling agent wanted her to use Anavar, a legal anabolic steroid to help her gain up to 50 pounds of muscle. Worried about the effects on her body when she decides to have kids, Watson passed."

One of my all-time favorite movies is Ferris Bueller's Day Off. It was the first videotape I got in 1986 after I got my first VCR. I can watch it and quote the lines. I was very amused to see that Matthew Broderick is shilling for Honda in a Ferris Bueller spoof ad that will air during the Super Bowl. I don't even know who's playing in the Super Bowl, nor do I care. Matthew is messing with a legend though, and that makes me a tad uncomfortable.

You remember my post about Anthony, the young man who was walking across America, from Charleston to San Diego? Well, he did it. Good for him. Anthony is a remarkable young man, and I wish him well on his adventures.

Years ago, I worked with Judge C.J. Becker at Chambers Mabry law firm here in Atlanta. I liked CJ. She started as a legal secretary, then became a paralegal, then went to law school and became a lawyer. However I hate this story about a credit card scammer who won't do any jail time. If you do the crime you need to do some time, first offender or not.

My Soapbox

Seldom does news reporting bother me much, if at all, but in the past few days I've read several stories about the US soldiers and the dead Taliban and I am furious.

For those of you not in the know, there's a video that's gone viral of US Marines peeing on dead Taliban fighters.

This story says "The Taliban, who have made recent moves to talk an end to the war, described the apparent abuse as "an inhumane and savage act by the American soldiers in Afghanistan."

Really?

I don't think the words "inhumane and savage" are appropriate at all. They are ridiculous. We're talking about dead bodies. The Taliban are "inhumane and savage" to living humans.

A quick search of the terms "Taliban atrocities" turned up this article from 2001. Here are some of the things the Taliban have done, to living people:

"The Taliban killed eight boys who laughed at soldiers, burned an entire family alive, and killed 100 Afghans and hung their bodies from lamp posts to warn would-be defectors.The report also includes allegations of atrocities dating back to September 1996, when the Taliban captured Afghanistan's capital city of Kabul, castrated the country's president and killed and tortured his brother, according to the U.S. Department of Defense."

The Taliban hates women. According to this article "Women have been forced to wear head-to-toe burqas, and those stepping outside their homes without one have been beaten with whips. The Taliban have shut down schools for girls and forbidden women from working."

They seem to be determined to make everyone suffer. "The regime has banned makeup, music, dancing and other recreational activities, sometimes using executions and hand or foot amputations as punishment."

An organization called RAWA is trying to help.  "RAWA represents everything that the fundamentalist Taliban regime hates. Founded in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1977 as a feminist organization, RAWA began exposing excesses committed by warring factions that arose after the collapse of the Soviet-backed regime in 1992 and then by the Taliban, which seized power in Kabul in 1996."

A 2010 Time magazine cover showed a woman whose nose and ears were cut off, thanks to the Taliban.

"Our cover image this week is powerful, shocking and disturbing. It is a portrait of Aisha, a shy 18-year-old Afghan woman who was sentenced by a Taliban commander to have her nose and ears cut off for fleeing her abusive in-laws. Aisha posed for the picture and says she wants the world to see the effect a Taliban resurgence would have on the women of Afghanistan, many of whom have flourished in the past few years."

These are living, breathing human beings who are suffering every day, from the nightmare of Taliban rule.

Those marines who peed on the dead Taliban soldiers are heroes, in my book.