Tea bag wisdom....

I use those tea bags that have the cute little sayings on them. For the most part, they are really dumb, so I find myself chuckling when I look at them each time I make a cup of tea and I certainly don't take any of the "advice" to heart.

This morning, the advice on the teabag was actually pretty good----to a point. It started out by saying "Always love your enemies....." That part I agreed with, because it's something Jesus Himself told us to do. It was the second part of the advice that made me actually laugh out loud, though. It said ".....seldom does anything annoy them more." Now, I have to admit, the teabag had it dead on. I can recall several instances in my past where someone has decided they didn't like me, was rude to me and even (in the instance of a bully in school) threatened me with physical violence. I never take the bait. I'm always nice as pie in return. And darn if that teabag isn't right....it does annoy people when you do that. Hopefully, it will also show them that displaying love for everyone is a better option and they will adopt the practice themselves when the realize hate and anger doesn't work. But in the meantime, I guess they will just have to be annoyed. :)

How I know I'm not ready for more kids.....

I'm tired. Really tired. The last week has been really rough on me because my son has been sick. He had a small head cold that morphed into a major chest cold and sinus infection. And when he can't breathe, he doesn't sleep. And when he doesn't sleep, guess who gets to stay up with him? You guessed it....ME.

I went three nights in a row with very little sleep, and Friday night was the kicker. I think I got a total of 3 hours of sleep total....and not consecutively, either. By Saturday afternoon, I felt like crap. And then I got sick myself.

I like sleep. When Connor was a newborn, I had no other responsibilities, so when he slept, I slept. But if I were to have any more children, that wouldn't be the case, so I wouldn't be able to nap when the baby naps. After the last couple of days, I find myself doubting my readiness to have any more kids because I know of the sleep deficit that it will bring. And I like my sleep. :)

Sometimes doing the right thing is hard.....

Over the course of the last month, I have done a lot of things in the name of helping other people----or simply "doing the right thing"---that have later come back to bite me in the behind. I've done damage to my car helping someone else (and I don't really have the money to fix it properly right now), I've lost work and most recently, I have been faced with the possibility of paying to fix someone else's misuse.

Two days ago, Connor and I went to the library. He really likes those books that come with tapes or CDs that read the story as you follow along, so we've been taking them out. Some of them are missing tapes and CDs, which I usually discover before we leave the library. But this time, I didn't notice damage to one of the CDs that came with a book until we got it home and tried to use it. When I removed the CD from the case, it was literally snapped in half. Now, CDs are pretty durable, so either someone accidentally stepped on it, or deliberately broke it in two. I can't really see any other way for that kind of damage to have happened. Being the good person I am, when I took it back to the library today, I didn't just drop it in the book drop and leave. I brought it to the attention of the person working that the CD was broken and had been that way when I took it out. And what did I get for my trouble? The warning that the book and my account would be tagged and after the circulation manager looks at it Monday, I very well may have to pay to replace the book and CD! I was not very happy and told the person working at the library that I was not happy. I could easily have dropped the book off and not said a word. But I didn't want some other poor kid to check it out, take it home and be disappointed that it was damaged the way mine had been. And this is the thanks I get for doing the right thing. Now, not only was my child upset the book didn't work, but I may end up paying for damage someone else caused. Nice.

All of these experiences are making it very hard for me to want to continue to do the right thing. But I will, because that's the kind of person I am.

You'll all be happy to know.....

....that I'm potty trained. Yay me.

And everyone in the restroom at the Pittsburgh Mills Mall yesterday morning knows it, too, thanks to Connor's rousing round of applause and cheering for mommy when she peed in the potty. I guess this is what happens when you're potty training your child. You clap for them, get all excited when they go, and sure enough, they think that's cool and want to clap for you, too. :p

Anger management issues.....

We've been doing a multi-week series in church on emotions that get in the way of your relationship with God. This week, the topic was anger. We talked about righteous anger, the kind of anger that is brought on by physical/physiological reasons and destructive anger.

The pastor was telling us about a bumper sticker he saw that said "wag more, bark less." That has stuck with me all morning, and I think it's a great way to tell people to chill out. This is an angry, angry world we live in these days. People have road rage, grocery store rage and cell phone rage. You name it, if it isn't going their way, they have rage about it. I don't know what ever happened to make people so angry in life, but the sad fact is, they are. This simple slogan says it all, and certainly better than any way I could have said it.

I always knew monkeys were smarter than me.....

Well, my suspicions have been confirmed. Monkeys are smarter than me.


I was reading a story this morning on monkeys and basic math skills. Now, for anyone who knows me, you know that I only became a writer because I hate, hate, HATE math. OK, so that's not the only reason, but it's a huge contributing factor! So when I read this story, it really made me chuckle. Apparently, the only thing keeping monkeys from taking over the world is their inability to actually speak English. Let's hope that never happens, or we're all in trouble. Can anyone say Planet of the Apes? :)






http://health.msn.com/health-topics/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100233051&gt1=31036

The dark, the windy and the good......

The last 48 hours have been, well, entertaining, to say the least.

First, the dark and windy part.

For the second time in less than 6 months, we had a major wind storm in the area. The last time this happened, Isaak was in Canada for a funeral and it was just me and Connor here. We were without power for 7 days. It was insane. I lost a freezer full of food, and we were refugees at my mom's house for the entire week.

So when I heard we were expected to get wind gusts of up to 50 mph again, I said "well, here goes the electric." Just prior to midnight Wednesday, the lights went out. They stayed out until late Friday night. I had to sleep on the couch because Connor kept waking up and getting freaked out because he couldn't see. At 4 a.m., I heard what I thought was Gabe scratching on the french doors in the diningroom. He does this when he sees our outdoor kitty, Zorro. But I was alarmed to find Gabe on the other end of the couch. I looked with the flashlight, and it was poor Zorro, scratching for dear life. He was trapped against the glass when the wind blew over his bed, and a various assortment of stuff on my porch. I did the only thing I could do, which was to open the door, grab him and lift him to safety. Now, this is a feral cat, who does not like to be touched. Thankfully, he did not claw both my arms off in the process.

When it became obvious the lights weren't coming back on anytime soon, I decided to take Connor to my mom's house again. Isaak stayed here. It was way too cold to try to sit it out. And given our last experience with no power, I wasn't expecting it to be on anytime soon. I figured if I didn't expect it, I wouldn't be disappointed if we went for a week again without lights or heat. The lights finally came back on for good, and now we're all home. But I understand that there are still folks out there without power. Seriously, what is taking so long? Granted, I'm not a line worker, but it just seems to me that Duquesne Light is poorly organized. That's all I have to say about that.

Now for the good. I just got hired to write a chapter for an E-book on single mothers. It is going to be a really great project. I will keep you posted on this, and when the book is available, I'll let you know where to find it. This is the kind of writing I've wanted to do for awhile, so I'm excited.

I love you.....NOT!

So, I was helping Connor to brush his teeth after his bath when it happened. My heart got broken.

I told him: "Mommy loves you with all her heart."

And you know what he said?

"I love grandma with all my heart."

ZING!

I told him that was nice, but did he love mommy with all his heart, too? He said "no, I love grandma with all my heart." Well, now, I guess I know where I stand!

Canned cat food=crack for cats......

I am quite certain that canned cat food is really drugs....for cats.

No, I haven't lost what was left of my mind. I'm basing this theory on the way both my indoor and outdoor cats act when I give them this canned concoction. When Zorro hurt his leg, I had to hide his antibiotics in wet cat food. I couldn't give him some without giving some to my indoor kitty, Gabe, because he got jealous at the very thought. Gabe had already become addicted to canned cat food when we tried the all wet cat food diet our vet suggested in a last-ditch attempt to get Gabe to lose weight. He actually gained weight, but that's a rant for another time.

After 7 days of wet food, now both Zorro and Gabe are addicted to the wet stuff. Gabe will literally trip me in a fit of excitement if I walk anywhere near the kitchen, because in his furry little mind, I'm going out there to get him more wet cat food. Zorro, who I never knew could purr until today, actually purred when I gave him his wet food at lunchtime. And then he nuzzled my hand. Briefly. This is a cat that would rather die than let me touch him, so I was blown away.

I'm telling you, there's something funny in that canned stuff. I wonder if there's a support group for cats who are addicted to canned cat food.........

Tiger, tiger, shining bright.....

We went to the zoo Sunday afternoon since it was a pretty mild day.

Since it was Super Bowl Sunday, there were only about 20 other people in the entire zoo, which made it really nice. No crowds to fight, no noise and confusion. It was great.

But the best part of all, was when Connor got to see the tiger up close. We had been to the zoo about 20 times in the last 2 years, and I don't think we've ever gotten to see the tiger up close like this before. It was neat. It was also scary to see just how large he is. One of his paws was nearly the size of Connor's head!

Welcome to the Berg Petting Zoo.....

WELCOME TO THE PETTING ZOO!

We have feral cats, squirrels, opossums, rabbits, birds, deer, raccoon and even skunks. Yes, that's right, we have it all here. Come on over and pet them all. And while you're at it, bring some food. They are all eating me out of house and home!

The other night, we heard a loud banging on the patio door. I didn't think it was Zorro, as he usually scratches at the side kitchen door if he feels he hasn't been fed enough. So I walked over there and to my amazement, saw the largest raccoon I've ever seen! And it was growling at my indoor cat, Gabriel. It was clearly being aggressive, but I'm not sure if it was just a reaction to Gabe, or if it's rabid. Either way, it freaked me out. I think the only thing we haven't seen in our yard yet has been a bear. I suppose I should say that too loudly or one will appear........