Tales From Another Planet

**Caveat, this is not really poetry, I would probably classify it as an unfinished story. But I know it's something that I will never really finish, so I wanted to put it out there in cyber space, because I thought it was kind of cute.** “Good morning Billy. What are you planning to do today?” His mother asked. “I am going to save the world.” Billy responded. “How are you going to save the world, Billy? You are only a cartoon character. You don’t even know anything about the world outside.” “I don’t know how I’m going to do it, but I know I have to try.” Billy said. “Why do you want to save the world Billy? What do you think is wrong with the world?” His mother asked. “The eyes that look at us seem so far away. They look like they need a hug or a smile or a friend.” “How will you get those things for the world, Billy?” “I’m not sure. I’m going to play in my room for a little while and try to figure out what to do.” Billy returned to his room and s...

I don't necessarily have a favorite child, but I do think that it's naive to think that our parents never had a favorite occasionally. I definitely have one child more like me in behavior than the other, but they both frustrate me equally and they both have my unconditional love. Sometimes I feel more in tune with the child that is more like me, because I know where he's coming from. Sometimes I also feel frustrated, because he won't do what I want him to do and he's "like me" when he gleefully runs from my requests knowing that he's spoiled enough to get away with it. I also love the uniqueness of my other son. I love his weird little quirks that are so unlike me and how he doesn't meet any strangers. I love that he (generally) will obey when I ask him to do something. I also get really frustrated when I can't understand why he does certain things or acts a certain way. I also get frustrated when he keeps asking why, 1.4 million times a da...

You all know that eventually I will “hop on the bandwagon” of Facebook blowing up with people’s opinions, but I don’t usually put much of it on Facebook. Today’s post is to follow up with the Supreme Court decision and the ranting and raving Facebook posts on both sides: before, during, and after. I will address the religious aspect and the political aspect, both of which are equally concerning to me. I saw a comment by someone on Facebook asking why is it concerning or disappointing to Christians that equal rights are given to homosexuals? Isn’t Jesus all about love? Wouldn’t he want them to have equal rights? Absolutely, Jesus does love homosexuals, and I feel that he would want them to have equal rights. He would be telling us Christians to throw the first stone only if we ourselves have no sin (which I don’t know that any of us is willing to admit). However, he would also tell the sinners (all of us) to go and sin no more. So, the reason for my distress, as a Christian...

Well, I finally realized why I could never teach my husband how to swim. One of things I love about him is that he always makes me laugh. However, when I'm laughing at him while he flounders in the water, it's not the best teaching environment. He is actually a decent swimmer though, so I'm not too worried about him. I'm just not the best "stroke clinic" instructor when I'm laughing so hard. Since it's officially summer now, and many more kids are swimming at the pool, I wanted to take a few moments and review the "basics" of beginning swimmers from an instructor's perspective, and how it applies to real life. Fear. The first point to make is that you cannot learn to swim while you are afraid of the water. Whether you are an 18 month old or a 60 year old in my class, we will talk about the water and perform activities to reduce your fear. There are two different methods to eliminate fear, but I've always encourages parents that ...

My oldest son turns 5 in August. He's growing by leaps and bounds. He "went for a run" with his dad this weekend for over a mile, although I've been told that they walked most of the way. He also is about to learn his first spending and saving lesson (maybe). He fell in love with a giant "funny ball" in the Aldi's ad (it's 51 inches in diameter and cost $29.99). Since we had just bought a water play toy AND a red wagon, I vetoed the purchase. He REALLY wanted it though. Enough that he picked up and vacuumed the living room by himself to earn $1 towards it. So, my husband and I had a discussion. because Aldi's normally only carries a limited amount of these toys, so by the time he earned $30 for it, it wouldn't be available anymore. Plus he's not even 5 yet, so is it realistic to make him wait as long as it would take him to "earn" the money. On the other hand, we really didn't want to spend the $30 on a toy that we don...

Obstacles in my way Nearly breathless Every day Hurry, worry, dragging Underwater, climbing higher Now I surface, clinging Dripping wet and slipping Rarely have I seen Energy so strong Daring sons gripping me

If you've read my blog for awhile, you may be aware that I was diagnosed with a B-12 deficiency about 6 years ago. I take sublingual B-12 tablets (when I remember) and haven't had any problems since then. One of the main side effects of B-12 deficiency, however, is depression. One of the trickier things about depression is that it's hard to tell when someone is depressed. You have to evaluate yourself and when you're evaluating yourself you're looking at it from a skewed perspective. I know one of my coping mechanisms was to do research about depression. I figured since I never had suicidal thoughts, I didn't really need help. So I tried journaling, praying, exercising, eating right, doing fun things. Nothing seemed to help. I truly only decided to get help when I realized that my short-term memory was being affected and I couldn't remember what I had eaten the day before. Of course, this was before kids, so I didn't have a valid excuse for not remem...