The Crab Chronicles

Quick Little Post

I love my son to distraction but he doesn't do anything.quickly. In the time it takes him to get up, take out his retainer, and make his way downstairs, I can write an entire blog post.

So here he comes into the room, to remove the retainer. He likes the double sink in my bathroom so he washes his face and does his teeth brushing in there.

Retainer is out. Just heard the case snap shut.

"Did you sleep?"

"No, I was flying actually, the whole night."

"Where did you go?"

"Everywhere." [He gets his sarcasm from me. LOL]

"I need to go to the grocery store in a few minutes, if you want to go with me."

He makes a noise.

"Read." This is his indication that he wants to finish the book we are reading together, which is at the most exciting part. It's the final book in a terrific series by Michael Scott. The final book is called The Enchantress. He wanted to finish reading last night but I was too sleepy.

So we will read and then I will try to go to the grocery store and get back before my book club meeting this afternoon.

He is getting out the Pop Tarts now. [Don't judge - I'm just glad he eats ANYTHING in the morning because he hates breakfast!]

Life is exciting...

Boob News

Wow, last night was a dark and stormy night, truly, and the debris all over the roads this morning proves it. I was trying to get supper on the table last night and flipped on the TV, and the announcer interrupted the program to say there were tornadoes in Cherokee and Cobb counties.

I immediately texted my friends and relatives up there.

We didn't get the tornadoes around here, but the power flickered several times.We were all sitting there at the table with LED miner's lights and flashlights. Mom calmly asked Michael to put a candle on the table. It's times like that that I am glad we have a gas stove...

And now for something completely different...

I was perusing the AJC looking for actual news, and I ran across an item so inane, so ridiculous, that I laughed. Is it REALLY important to know that Hooters is cutting late night appetizer prices?? If you like to hang out at Hooters late at night, the prices on their menu items are not your biggest issue...

Next I stumbled on a story about Sandra Bullock Bares Bra in Backless Dress. Yes, Hollyweird celebs do not mind showing off their underwear. What a revelation. I mean - that ANY of them WEAR underwear...

Even Reuters, my go-to site for real news, has a breast-related story about Venezuela...

Maybe the fact that I wasn't breast-fed is why I am absolutely astonished at the level of coverage of BOOBS in the news media...

Everywhere you turn.... BOOBS. Bazookas. Ta Tas. Racks. Bosoms.

It's bizarre.

One of my favorite scenes in It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World is the one below. It's less than two minutes. Watch it and you will understand why it fits in this post:

 

We need to STOP this obsession and think about little things like the economy, and gas prices, and war in Syria, NSA spying but WHAT are we obsessed with?

Boobs.

I think it's breast best to close that topic...

Mini Rambling Rant

I need to just stop reading or listening to the news because so much of what I hear ticks me off, and I don't need high blood pressure.

There are few stories that are pleasing to me, but Bolivian villagers bury suspected killer is kinda nice. Vigilante justice is not always out of place.

I wonder if there's a female version of the word "curmudgeon"? Sometimes I feel like that.

Maybe the definition is simply Maxine.

I made roasted brussels sprouts, meatballs, and creamed corn for dinner last night. I've decided instead of making rice or pasta or potatoes, I will substitute a starchy veggie like corn, or peas, or beans. More healthy.

Also, I am going to suggest to Mike that if he wants the pasta or potatoes or rice he can make them himself, and I will show him how. He needs to learn more cooking skills anyway.Handling all that stuff makes me want to eat it, and I don't need it. Trying very hard to stick to more healthy choices.

I was delighted to see a local magazine feature a friend of mine on the cover the other day. You can read more about it here.

Tons to do today so I will make this a short post.

No More Privacy

OK, I am eating my breakfast this morning and channel surfing, since I am by myself, and I land on a story on one of the morning shows about a  6 year old girl who gets a haircut. On a national "news" program. She got a really short haircut and her mom wasn't happy about it.

Meanwhile, over in England, they get to read about how the NSA is shredding our constitution and looking at the phone records of everybody in America. Here's the story in the Guardian: Revealed: NSA collection phone records of millions of Americans daily.

So, we basically have no privacy any more.

I did a Google search and the first two pages were 90% about the White House defending its decision to yank all these phone records, BUT they won't "confirm or deny" they are actually doing it. HUH?! They won't admit to doing it but they say it's OK??!?

The HP article of course was slanted to be on Obama's side of things because this was their headline White House Defends NSA COllection of Phone Records.  You had to read a minute to see this:

"The newspaper said the document, a copy of which it had obtained,shows for the first time that under the Obama administration the communication records of millions of U.S. citizens were being collected indiscriminately and in bulk, regardless of whether they were suspected of any wrongdoing."

The order to allow this was signed by Judge Roger Vinson of Florida. What's really puzzling is that he was opposed to Obamacare in 2011, as seen in Who is Florida judge Roger Vinson?

This is puzzling and scary.

Back in February of this year, there was an article on Forbes, President Obama's Cybersecurity Executive Order Scores Much Better Than CISPA On Privacy, which included this language:

"CISPA, which passed the House last year but never reached a vote in the Senate, has drawn fire for a provision that would allow companies to hand over cybersecurity threat information to government agencies that include the National Security Agency and Department of Defense, even granting them immunity from existing laws and regulations that would prevent the sharing of some sensitive information."

The ACLU opposed this!

I am horrified by this and horrified that our rights to privacy are being totally ignored. The government should have a subpoena before they go digging around like this. For once, I agree with the ACLU.

Thunder Thighs Switches Gears

Every so often I post a blog and say "I am trying to eat better and get more healthy" - and I know those of you who have known me a long time are going "Yeah, RIGHT, Thunder Thighs!"

Or maybe that's just my overactive imagination.

I am making a huge effort to eat better, though. I have cut out all sweets and baked goods, and I am trying hard to cut out most processed foods. I am cutting myself some slack on the Chobani yogurt. That stuff is SO yummy. I am limiting myself to one a day, though. Having only been on my new regimen a few days, I can tell you that yogurt already seems like a decadent dessert to me.

For dinner last night I had:

salmon [poached in white wine]

yellow squash sauteed with onions and olive oil

Silver Queen corn!

I must confess, I had two ears of corn and I slathered them in whipped butter and Sea Salt. I could've been a total pig and eaten a third ear but I saved that for Michael.Just need to cut down on the butter. It's a weakness of mine.

I didn't even have room for my usual after-dinner orange.

I have completely cut out sodas. I have friends out there who are huge soda fiends and I need to say this forcefully: even diet sodas are BAD. According to Prevention magazine, even Diet sodas have a long list of bad effects - from kidney problems to a screwed up metabolism, to TERRIBLE damage to your teeth from the acidity.

I used to be a big Diet Coke-aholic. No more.

Thank goodness I am making these diet changes during the summer, when there is lots of great produce to choose from at the farmstand and the farmer's market.

What I have to remember, though, is that Michael loves fruit, too, so he's been helping himself to all my fruit stores. I don't begrudge him - it just means I need to buy more.

I have more energy already, and my skin looks better.

My garden is getting into high gear. Michael said last night he didn't want any squash. Fine. There was a small tomato from the garden I had just put on the table and he asked if he could have that. I said sure, and turned to tell Mother something. When I looked around, he had eaten it. Whole. Just the stem was sitting on the table.He next ate a big apple. Whole. Seeds and all. My friend Cindy and his Uncle Bruce would be so proud.

TIP OF THE DAY

Finally, I have to tell y'all something I find very amusing.

When I was a kid, everyone had Danish Modern furniture, like the stuff below. Now, it's called "mid century modern" and it's HOT HOT HOT. If you see it at a flea market buyt it. You can re-sell it and make a fortune.We got the new JCPenney home catalog and it features their versions of all this Mid-Century Modern.

Go. Raid the grandparents' attic. You know you want to be trendy. Or somebody does.

No Subtitles Needed

You can laugh all you want to, but I learn all kinds of interesting things from Facebook. For instance, did you know that Here Comes Honey Boo Boo is very popular in Poland?

I found that Access Atlanta already did a story on this phenomena.

Since I've never watched the show, I found this particularly interesting: "The challenge, the story notes, is how to translate a show that is already subtitled for Americans who aren't used to their heavy Southern accents."

I have no intention of watching the show, but I watched this clip of the mother and Honey Boo Boo on Jimmy Kimmel's show. I am flabbergasted that there are people who couldn't understand their accents. Subtitles?? Really?? I guess if there were outsiders at one of my family reunions they would need a translator.

There's a job for my son. He is brilliant at understanding southern, and he speaks with almost no accent. I always say my poor kids had to not only learn English, they had to learn Southern English.

Bruce left yesterday. He was getting restless. I am fully functional, and feeling better, although not 100%.

I've spent a lot of time the last few days reading, writing, and even watching TV - mostly HGTV and the Travel Channel. Those are my fave channels.

Recuperation means very little blog-worthy material, though.

Here's hoping June will be a better month than May was, for me at least. The forecast is good. I have tomatoes on the vine getting ripe! Woo hoo!

This is a photo of a family reunion I attended around 2000. Mother and Bruce and I are all in there, if you want to find us...

Oh, and NONE of us talk like Honey Boo Boo!!

Carwash Stories and Publication

My 1999 Mazda has a cracked head gasket and it's been sitting in my driveway now for about 18 months. It also needs a new battery. I've been driving Mother's Highlander, which is a great car.

I've told Michael if he can make enough money this summer to get the Mazda fixed, he can have it. He can also go ahead and get his driver's license but I am waiting until school is out because I think it's a big distraction right here at the end of school.

His last day is May 23rd.

I expect he will spend most of the day on May 24th doing NOTHING.

Yesterday I told him to get out in the driveway after school and wash the Mazda. It had gotten a gunk of pollen on it that needed to be scrubbed off. He had never washed a car before. I didn't realize that until we were in the driveway and I had to show him how it was done.

If you click on the photo you can see the magnificent muculature on Michael's powerful left arm. Very impressive.

I told him when I was in college, every time I went home, Dad would wash my car in the driveway. I don't know why he was a bit obsessive about that.

He also didn't like to see bumper stickers on anybody's car. He was very peculiar about certain things, and propriety about the appearance of one's car or one's lawn was a big deal to him. He never would allow us to put political signs in the yard. We also couldn't put out Christmas lights. A wreath, at most.

Anyway, I digressed.

Not much else to report, except...

OH YEAH! Michael is a published poet! Check out his published poem Azure Blue. Very proud of him.

All News Is Slanted

I posted on Facebook yesterday a controversial post, knowing that not all my friends would agree with it, but I feel free to express my opinions on there. I never in a million years thought it would spark a 95 comment fight. I've posted very serious things before and had, at most, maybe 20 comments?

95 comments is mind blowing.

I also posted this:

I worked at a daily newspaper years ago. The news we get is what is decided is important by senior editors and news officials. There is ALWAYS a slant. I am trying to teach my son to never accept ANY news story as the absolute truth, because I do not believe the absolute unvarnished truth is found from any one source, when one is talking about a major event. We watched Oliver Stone's film JFK [the 3 hour director's cut] because I wanted Michael to see how important it is to examine not only the facts one is given by the media, but ALL facts, from different news sources. I told him, I'm not sure if Stone's movie is entirely accurate. However, there are still a lot of bizarre things about the assassination that have never really been answered by the obviously biased Warren Commission report. / I think we need to teach our children to question what they are told, question "facts" and look behind the story for the OTHER story.

The same person who had made a lot of the comments in my other post made some very disparaging remarks about this post. I won't name that person publicly because I firmly believe that what happens on Facebook should stay on Facebook.

However, I was amazed that person was so vehement. It told me that she was very angry, but I got the sense the anger was about a lot of things, not just the topic at hand.

How angry we are informs all our opinions.

Fear also informs everything.

What I am trying to teach Michael is to think critically. I never taught Alesia that skill, and it's possible she was not ready to learn it, even if I had tried, but it's an essential skill in life.

Every morning of my life, for as long as I can remember, I've watched one of the morning shows while fixing breakfast.

When I was growing up, it was the TODAY Show. Now I flip around between Today and Good Morning America, but just as often I wind up flipping over to Fox because that's the channel Mother likes to watch.

People criticize Fox for not being fair and balanced. I find that funny because when Bush was in office they were often quite critical of him.

CNN is quite biased. So is MSNBC. So is Fox. So is EVERY NEWS PROGRAM EVER AIRED.

You cannot take personal bias out of the news. The Editor or Producer or somebody ultimately decides what stories to air and what to ignore, or pay scant attention to.

Sometimes when I am on sensory overload with all the regular news outlets, I go online and see what Reuters has to say. I had never heard of it until some years ago when my brother was stationed at Ft. McPherson here in Atlanta during the first Gulf War. His job was to monitor all the news overnight, and brief the generals every morning. Reuters was a big part of that because he found all the news outlets very biased and Reuters seemed to him to be the least biased.

The top story on Reuters this morning is Violence casts shadow over Pakistan's Milestone election. The top story on CNN is Abused but alive: Lessons for Cleveland's survivors. The top story on Fox this morning is From boycotts to delays, Republicans using tough tactics to disrupt Obama agenda . The big headline in my local paper, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, is Police suspect mom’s illegal street racing led to wreck that killed her baby, a teen.

So which story is most important?

You will never find a consensus on that. Even if my brother and I were sitting right here together, we would likely disagree on which one was most important. Even though we have the DNA of siblings, we gew up in the same home, have about the same intelligence, similar outlooks on life, etc.

What I want my son to do is to THINK when he sees the news.

Think about what facts were left out of the story. A good editor adheres to the rules of journalism which are simply, put the most important facts first.Who decides what those are?

Think about the sidebar stories that might have been. For instance, in the AJC story, the first words are "police suspect" - but what if they are wrong? What if the young mother driving the car was not racing? That headline will haunt her forever. Think of her trying to get a job and a prospective employer Googling her name in a year.

Now, am I bashing the police? Not really. I'm sure they had a good reason to suspect illegal street racing. "Facts" printed in the paper are not always true, though. And there are often other facts that get ignored.

The photo above is an example. Look at the photo. Appears to be a pretty happy family, right? It's my grandparents are my uncles around 1932. I love this photo, but a look at my grandfather's face speaks volumes to me. The Depression was in full swing. Minor league baseball teams were going under every day. He was having a hard time supporting his family. He was young and strong and handsome, but huge issues were brewing in the world that would lead to a painful separation for him and my grandmother not long afterwards.

If I can teach my son one other thing, besides thinking critically, it will be this: Attitude is everything.

Attitude.Is.Everything.

We will all have dark times in our lives. We all have "a bag of rocks" to carry around. How we choose to think about those things will make the difference in how happy we are ultimately.

What news we choose to believe has a big effect on us personally.

So, to recap: look behind the headlines. Dig deeper than the surface.Don't let the headline or the picture fool you.

Don't let it make you crazy or depressed, though.

God has your back, no matter what the headlines are, or what you are dealing with. That's my personal opinion, not a provable fact. The world is a crazy place and we are bombarded on all sides by confusing facts. It's FAITH that makes it endurable.

Thinking about Alcoholism

Seems like there have been a lot of opportunities lately to think about substance abuse [mainly alcohol] and how it affects my family. It's not something most people want to blog about but I don't think anything should be totally taboo.

Most parents who have adopted from Eastern Europe have to live with kids who have some degree of Fetal Alcohol Effects. That part of the world is about 30 years behind us when it comes to awareness of the dangers of drinking while pregnant.My friend Stephanie writes very movingly about raising her 12 kids, most of whom have FAS or FAE. I admire her for talking so openly about it.

People here in the US can be quite stupid about alcohol too - and they have no excuse.

Heard Reese Witherspoon on a radio interview today talking about how embarrassed she is about the way she acted when her husband got a DUI recently here in Atlanta. I was sort of amused and appalled by her behavior, but I have to say, she was saying the right stuff in this interview, like "I have policemen in my family. I know better. You should always be respectful to the police."

The sad thing is, if her husband is an alcoholic, that may be why she panicked when the cop pulled them over. I just have a feeling maybe her husband has a drinking problem. He got off pretty light - probation and community service. Wonder what that will be? I sorta doubt I will see him picking up trash by the road around here..

Michael and I watched an excellent movie, Flight, starring Denzel Washington. It's a grownup movie, not one for kids really, but I felt like he could handle it, and I was right. It's about a commercial airline pilot whose plane crashes but he saves most of the lives of the passengers. Michael was puzzled why the pilot was even punished for crashing the plane, since most of the people survived. I told him it's never OK to drive or fly when you're under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Never. 

I was reminded that he spent his first 8 years living with an alcoholic birthmom because in the movie, Michael was commenting all the time "He's going to drink again. Watch." or "He's got something hidden in there." Kids learn how alcoholic parents behave, they learn to predict very accurately, because it's a survival technique.

It's an excellent movie and Denzel totally deserved the Oscar nomination.

Michael told me once he'd seen his birthmom drink perfume for the alcohol in it.I understand that. One of my great uncles was a binge drinker and Dad used to go get him out of jail and bring him to our house to sober up. I never saw him wasted because Dad and Mom were protective of us. All I knew was that when he was sober, Jake was a wonderful, funny, sweet old man, and much like a grandfather to me when I was small. He could go for weeks or months and stay sober, then he'd go on a bender.

After several weeks of complete phone silence, I finally heard from Alesia yesterday. I sent her a photo of Michael and she texted back. I have had some very ugly messages from her boyfriend, but I've tried to ignore them. I want her to stay in contact. My hope/wish/prayer is that she will get herself straightened out so that one day she can be reunited with her brother. When Mother and Bruce and I are gone she will be his only close family.

It helps to get in my garden and dig in the dirt. I've got some tomatoes and zucchini in the ground, but I need to put in my other seedlings. It's so chilly right now, it's hard to work up much enthusiasm for staying outside for long.

So I've been listening to some radio stations Michael likes, and I heard this song on the radio and liked it.

 

It's musically interesting to me the way it's arranged. The male chorus in the background sounds really "tribal" [for lack of a better word] and yet it is a dance/techno song, too. A sort of hybrid. I find it fascinating that so many pop artists are doing music like this, a combination of styles. Some of it's dreadful and some of it is quite creative.

Sights and Sounds

Haven't got much to report, because yesterday was a really quiet day. The weather was lovely, in the 60's, and I got some plants fertilized. I need to plant some more seeds, but I am excited about how things are shaping up outside.

For an investment of about $60 in seeds and soil, I am going to have lovely flowers and LOTs of veggies in a couple of months.

I took Michael to Dick's Sporting Goods to get two of his tennis racquets re-strung, and I was so pleased that the salesclerk actually KNEW what he was talking about, and was able to advise Michael about different strings. Most of the Sports Authority clerks are clueless.

I am giving Coco an antibiotic for a little stomach infection, and she is a much happier little camper these days. We are all loving the change in her. She is 8 years old now, but is acting much more lively these days. She does NOT like it when Michael holds her for me so I can squirt the medicine in her mouth, though.

Here are a few items from what's happening in my world.

I was pretty amused to see Reese Witherspoon got arrested here in Atlanta the other day. Her husband was drinking and the cops caught him, and Reese was obnoxious to the cops. She apologized, finally. I predict she and hubby will be divorced soon.

I am finishing reading an excellent book, the 4th one in a series of fantasy/adventure novels by Bruce's friend Larry Correia. The Monster Hunter Legion book is not my favorite of the series, but it's still an excellent book. I really prefer the history-filled Grimnoir Chronicles books by Larry, but even on his worst day he's a better writer than almost anyone else writing in this genre.

I also just started a book called A Year on Ladybug Farm, which I ordered from the Paperback Swap site. [Don't know if that link will work, but it's www.paperbackswap.com if you want to check it out. Great way to find books at a very low cost.]

I also love to see stuff re-purposed, like this article. I am not clever enough to figure out these things but I love seeing them.

I read a book when I was a kid that I absolutely loved, From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and the author, E.L. Konigsburg has died. She was an amazing writer.

In the "I thought I'd heard everything but apparently not" category, I read a story this morning about grave-robbing in Waynesboro. Apparently, buttons from old military uniforms are highly prized, and some thieves are willing to grave rob to get them. Eeeeuw. Why they also dug up a baby's grave is totally puzzling.

I am letting Michael listen to his radio stations in the car, as long as the lyrics aren't offensive, and I must admit I like some of his music. I am digging this song called "Can't Hold Us" by Macklemore. I must admit, although I am no fan of rap, Macklemore & Lewis songs are more substantial and musically interesting than anything else I'm hearing on the radio these days. Their videos are a big cut above most, also.