Saturday, May 31, 2008
Robins Away!
The robins are all gone. The last one flew away two days ago. It took her a bit to get started and she sort of flapped around the porch floor for a bit with Mama watching her. However, she finally flew from the edge of the porch to the hedge across the street. Mom and Grandma want to block off the ledges so birds can't nest there again. I figure we should let them nest. We can repaint the porch, after all. I'm outnumbered, though, so I imagine we'll be blocking it off soon. :(
Coffee Crazy!
Okay, let me get this straight. Dunkin' Donuts has pulled a Rachel Ray ad because Michelle Malkin and her crowd decided that the paisley scarf she was wearing for the shoot was really a keffiyeh and, as such, is wrong to put on television post 9-11. Give me a break. I would say that, for this sheer stupidity, Dunkin' Donuts has lost my custom, but I never went there anyway. Yeesh!Sunday, May 25, 2008
Birds Away!
I took some pictures of the robin chicks on my porch and boy, was Mama pissed! She even tried dive bombing me to get me to go away. Here they are, Mama and chicks (Isn't the speckling incredible?!):
Vain, Dead Relatives
Man, talk about vanity. I do the family genealogy. It's a lot of fun, even the various roadblocks some of my more idiotic ancestors toss in my way. Take this one, for example. One of the branches consisted of one large group of sisters living together in the 1930 Census, after both parents had died. They were all adults. Now, I had already gotten the 1900 and 1910 Censuses and used those dates for their birthdates. After finding the 1930 Census, I noticed there was something really off. Every single one of the females had knocked at least five years off their ages. One knocked off a whopping eight years of hers and her husband's ages. Argh! If I hadn't had the 1900 Census with all of them listed and using my keen powers of deduction (How could their parents plan to perfection what children they'd have and what genders in the next decade?) I'd have been just the teeniest bit confused. As it is, I'm just annoyed.
The only possible explanation other than vanity is if the census-taker asked a neighbor. I find myself hoping it was that, actually. Not that it matters.
The only possible explanation other than vanity is if the census-taker asked a neighbor. I find myself hoping it was that, actually. Not that it matters.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
May I scream now, please?
The last couple of days have been really good; Grandma Days. Then there's today. She made it upstairs while I was watching national Treasure 2 and has now realized Mom has moved into "her" room. She's not happy. I went downstairs about fifteen minutes ago to make dinner and found her eating about 1/4 of the 8-inch, gluten-free cherry pie that we bought on Sunday that still has to be cooked!!!!! This is, of course, all she wants for dinner. I raised my voice and used the f-word, so she's pissed as hell at me. Well, I'm pissed at her. I already warned Mom she's angry about the room switch. Mom is so fed up with this bullshit that she's ready to tell grandma to go to Hell and we'll move out. I think she really does mean it this time. I know I am. I want to get away from this existence so badly I can taste it. My coworkers and friends have no idea how I've lasted this long. I think I must be a masochist. That's the only explanation.
On a good note, Kim's coming over so we can reserve our hotel and flight for Dragon*Con. I hope the wireless extends to the porch, because I don't feel like being stared at by a bitchy demented old bat.
On a good note, Kim's coming over so we can reserve our hotel and flight for Dragon*Con. I hope the wireless extends to the porch, because I don't feel like being stared at by a bitchy demented old bat.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Mom's home
Mom came home Tuesday. The diagnosis has ranged from a TIA to a migraine to the earliest stages of MS. She has a bunch of other tests to go through and we'll see.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Happy Mother's Day
This has not been a good day, well, weekend. TAFH came in Friday night. Cool beans, right? I had to work and had a pretty good time, actually. Then, Saturday morning Mom and I took off for breakfast downtown. We had a nice meal. She left to work a bake sale and I went to the library to research. While there the author of I Heard You Paint Houses gave a talk on his book and the various mob connections in the area. After that I went to see Iron Man again. Sounds pretty good, right? It was. Friday night and Saturday morning were the best part of my weekend.
Right after the bus pulled out of downtown to go to the mall so I could get to work, I got a phone call. Mom was being driven to Mercy Hospital from Honesdale because her leg wasn't working right. I just stayed on the bus and rode it right back to where I'd gotten on, making a number of phone calls the whole trip. It's a damn good thing I finally put minutes on the silly cell phone Friday night! I had been down to 10 cents. My brother and I stayed at the hospital until it was clear she was being admitted. They ran the usual gamut of tests minus the MRI. That is scheduled for tomorrow. It turns out the neurologists believe she has complex migraines. She has a history of migraines, so this really isn't too much of a shocker. We found this out this morning.
Mom's Mother's Day hospital stay isn't really the bad part and as I'm typing this I'm calming down even more because the whole weekend could have been so much worse. The problem stems from TAFH's OCD anal-retentive fucking attitude. Obviously, I had a disagreement (to be polite) with the woman today.
It was all about the house. She insists on cleaning, or re-cleaning, the house every time she comes in because we don't do things to her exacting standards. She calls it "a pig-sty." I am "lazy" because I don't clean it from top to bottom, just the way she likes it, every day. I will freely admit I don't clean as much as I could or even should. I refuse to run the vaccuum and do the dishes only when I absolutely have no other choice. I'll do anything else, though. The house may not always be immaculate, but it's always at least neat.
Now, in her defense (sort of, since she was only using it as an excuse for her normal behavior), she kept insisting that the cleaning we had to do was all for Mom's benefit, because Mom shouldn't have to come home to it. Well, after an hour of being pecked at I decided to leave the house. Without doing what she wanted me to do. I did some of it, gathered my things and told Grandma I was going for a walk. She followed me out the door and tried to tell me off. I am proud of the fact that her face is all still in one piece. If I could have, she'd be sharing Mom's room due to extreme bodily trauma and I'd be sitting in jail right now, happy as a clam for finally tearing her smug, superior face and attitude to shreds.
My only regret right now is that I broke down and told Mom what happened. Mom's in the hospital with migraines brought on by stress and work and I had to add to it. Happy Mother's Day, Mom. I'm sorry. My brother, who was told by TAFH what happened, asked me not to say anything a bit too late. He was surprisingly restrained in what he said to me. Other than telling me I have no common sense, as usual, the ass, he told me I had to control my emotions. I told him I control them a heck of a lot more than he thinks I do. I need to use better judgement, though in when to control them according to him. Usually he just comes solidly down on TAFH's side, so as annoying as his "advice" was I was proud of him for not just jumping on me totally.
I told Mom as I was walking to the crick. There's a spot there that I can sit and relax. Today I cried a bit with Mom on the phone and then by myself. Then a wind came up as I was sitting there with my eyes closed. It dried my tears and kept going until I felt some of the pain lift away. Between it and the sound of the water, I was able to calm down. I'm still upset. I will be for a while, but not nearly so much as I was. I may not be the most devout Pagan, but every once in a while They make Their presence known and I'm grateful for it.
I wrote a lot more than this while I was sitting at the hospital with Mom and my brother. I'm much calmer now, though and don't need it all written out.
TAFH is giving me the silent treatment and she and Grandma have gone to visit Mom. I warned Mom and told her to be nice. She said it'll be difficult, but the pain and drugs will mask any distant behavior, I think. She's more upset with TAFH than me. I just have to get through a few more hours and TAFH will be gone and all will be back to normal. Well, as normal as this household gets. I imagine Grandma will have words for me.
Right after the bus pulled out of downtown to go to the mall so I could get to work, I got a phone call. Mom was being driven to Mercy Hospital from Honesdale because her leg wasn't working right. I just stayed on the bus and rode it right back to where I'd gotten on, making a number of phone calls the whole trip. It's a damn good thing I finally put minutes on the silly cell phone Friday night! I had been down to 10 cents. My brother and I stayed at the hospital until it was clear she was being admitted. They ran the usual gamut of tests minus the MRI. That is scheduled for tomorrow. It turns out the neurologists believe she has complex migraines. She has a history of migraines, so this really isn't too much of a shocker. We found this out this morning.
Mom's Mother's Day hospital stay isn't really the bad part and as I'm typing this I'm calming down even more because the whole weekend could have been so much worse. The problem stems from TAFH's OCD anal-retentive fucking attitude. Obviously, I had a disagreement (to be polite) with the woman today.
It was all about the house. She insists on cleaning, or re-cleaning, the house every time she comes in because we don't do things to her exacting standards. She calls it "a pig-sty." I am "lazy" because I don't clean it from top to bottom, just the way she likes it, every day. I will freely admit I don't clean as much as I could or even should. I refuse to run the vaccuum and do the dishes only when I absolutely have no other choice. I'll do anything else, though. The house may not always be immaculate, but it's always at least neat.
Now, in her defense (sort of, since she was only using it as an excuse for her normal behavior), she kept insisting that the cleaning we had to do was all for Mom's benefit, because Mom shouldn't have to come home to it. Well, after an hour of being pecked at I decided to leave the house. Without doing what she wanted me to do. I did some of it, gathered my things and told Grandma I was going for a walk. She followed me out the door and tried to tell me off. I am proud of the fact that her face is all still in one piece. If I could have, she'd be sharing Mom's room due to extreme bodily trauma and I'd be sitting in jail right now, happy as a clam for finally tearing her smug, superior face and attitude to shreds.
My only regret right now is that I broke down and told Mom what happened. Mom's in the hospital with migraines brought on by stress and work and I had to add to it. Happy Mother's Day, Mom. I'm sorry. My brother, who was told by TAFH what happened, asked me not to say anything a bit too late. He was surprisingly restrained in what he said to me. Other than telling me I have no common sense, as usual, the ass, he told me I had to control my emotions. I told him I control them a heck of a lot more than he thinks I do. I need to use better judgement, though in when to control them according to him. Usually he just comes solidly down on TAFH's side, so as annoying as his "advice" was I was proud of him for not just jumping on me totally.
I told Mom as I was walking to the crick. There's a spot there that I can sit and relax. Today I cried a bit with Mom on the phone and then by myself. Then a wind came up as I was sitting there with my eyes closed. It dried my tears and kept going until I felt some of the pain lift away. Between it and the sound of the water, I was able to calm down. I'm still upset. I will be for a while, but not nearly so much as I was. I may not be the most devout Pagan, but every once in a while They make Their presence known and I'm grateful for it.
I wrote a lot more than this while I was sitting at the hospital with Mom and my brother. I'm much calmer now, though and don't need it all written out.
TAFH is giving me the silent treatment and she and Grandma have gone to visit Mom. I warned Mom and told her to be nice. She said it'll be difficult, but the pain and drugs will mask any distant behavior, I think. She's more upset with TAFH than me. I just have to get through a few more hours and TAFH will be gone and all will be back to normal. Well, as normal as this household gets. I imagine Grandma will have words for me.
Monday, May 05, 2008
Iron Man
Okay, I just have to say that Iron Man rocks! I loved this movie. I really want to go see it again. I don't say that often.
I won't give anything away, but you simply must stay after the credits. If you don't, you'll miss something great.
I won't give anything away, but you simply must stay after the credits. If you don't, you'll miss something great.
Friday, May 02, 2008
Feminism
One of my favorite authors is a proud and unabashed feminist. She doesn't just admit this fact, she glories in it. She has blogged about why she calls herself a feminist at least twice in the time I've read her blog. Each post has been beautifully eloquent. My only problem is that I fail to see why she must explain herself. Why aren't we past the attitude that feminism is bad?
Here's my take on feminism. It's one of the many, interconnected ways we of the greater society will achieve equality for all people, not just women. My idea of equality is that each person will bear the same rights and responsibilities under the law and in society's eyes. It's an all-inclusive cultural attitude change.
There is nothing evil about feminism, just as there is nothing evil about not being a feminist. To those of us who actually call ourselves feminists and work, in whatever way, to achieve the equality we seek, non-feminists just don't get it. Of course, to them, we don't get it! It's reaching the happy medium between the two attitudes that's the real trick. One of these days it may actually happen. I just hope that I'll be around to see it.
I'm sure some people will never agree with the ideas that women have the same abilities and ambitions as men. I'm even willing to accept that there will be individuals of both genders that will refuse to change and will keep teaching archaic attitudes to their children and grandchildren. As long as they aren't too obnoxious, I can deal with those people. I do it all the time as it is.
Amazing, isn't it, that I started out writing about why I felt Tammy shouldn't have to defend her strong feminism and I ended up writing a post defending it myself. Obviously, even those of us sure of our beliefs when it comes to feminism still feel we have to defend it. Even though there's nothing wrong with us we still get treated to such flattering terms as "feminazi" or "man hater" among others. Such labels are, of course, used to make us stand out and feel lessened in the eyes of ourselves and society. Obviously, it's successful to a degree. You know what, though, it just makes us more determined to make the good chamnges we see as possible in society.
Here's my take on feminism. It's one of the many, interconnected ways we of the greater society will achieve equality for all people, not just women. My idea of equality is that each person will bear the same rights and responsibilities under the law and in society's eyes. It's an all-inclusive cultural attitude change.
There is nothing evil about feminism, just as there is nothing evil about not being a feminist. To those of us who actually call ourselves feminists and work, in whatever way, to achieve the equality we seek, non-feminists just don't get it. Of course, to them, we don't get it! It's reaching the happy medium between the two attitudes that's the real trick. One of these days it may actually happen. I just hope that I'll be around to see it.
I'm sure some people will never agree with the ideas that women have the same abilities and ambitions as men. I'm even willing to accept that there will be individuals of both genders that will refuse to change and will keep teaching archaic attitudes to their children and grandchildren. As long as they aren't too obnoxious, I can deal with those people. I do it all the time as it is.
Amazing, isn't it, that I started out writing about why I felt Tammy shouldn't have to defend her strong feminism and I ended up writing a post defending it myself. Obviously, even those of us sure of our beliefs when it comes to feminism still feel we have to defend it. Even though there's nothing wrong with us we still get treated to such flattering terms as "feminazi" or "man hater" among others. Such labels are, of course, used to make us stand out and feel lessened in the eyes of ourselves and society. Obviously, it's successful to a degree. You know what, though, it just makes us more determined to make the good chamnges we see as possible in society.
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