Wasted CyberSPACE

Wasted CyberSPACE

On my desktop at work, there sits one of my secret addictions… my newsfeed. CNN, NPR, Huffington Post, The Herald Sun working constantly to keep me in the “know”, all while I’m slaving away – appearing to block out the rest of world. Ah ha! I am not!
Sometimes the most shocking thing about a news story is the fact it made the news. Here are a few examples of useless, unentertaining, and less than educational bits of real news that has recently graced our newsfeeds.
- Why does this headline even exist: “Michelle Obama fights to control summer dress in windy London”. Seriously? Fire that guy. Right now.
- Or “Leo DiCaprio and Blake Lively hold hands”. ? If this has an affect on our lives – we’re doomed.
- Or “Silicone breast implants neither harmful nor completely safe.” ? (THIS is either informative or un-informative. What exactly are they trying to say? Is this secret code for something?)
- “Kim Kardashian has psoriasis… not ring worm”.
- “Chimpanzees Clear Some Doubt After Generosity Is Questioned” (New York Times) Greedy little chimps. This clears up a lot of questions I know I had. < sarcasm
- “Kelly Rowland accidentally unleashes her breasts”… Initially I thought it said “beasts” given the foreword “unleash”. Wait, haven’t I read this headline before…


It's offical - we’ve become our own source of news and entertainment.

Parents Say the Darndest Things

Us parents are HIL-AR-IOUS. Best part, we don't all mean to be. As serious and stern as I try to seem while yelling at Kameron, "stop smelling me!" the giggles set in. Just to emphasize, here's some of the half sentences blurted out as of late:

"No, I do not want to eat your booger"
"Kameron, lollipops aren't breakfast"
"Neither are cookies"
"Calling people boogers isn't nice"
"No, I don't want to smell your feet"
"Can I go potty alone, PLEASE"
"Don't make me crawl back there when I'm driving"
"I know where you came from - I can put you back in there"
"(Here) Put on a sweater - I'm cold"

Stuff We Should Know By Now

I'm intrigued by obvious advice. I'm going out on a limb here and say that most things just aren't as complicated as we make them. Perhaps this is my own form of documentation (in the event I forget) of things that I already know... or should know.

*Your wrong as often as your right.
(Don't dwell on either.)

*Life is as good as you perceive it.
Don't wait on happiness. It's not an acheivement.

*Happiness isn't acheived by keeping up with the Joneses OR social media.
I can't recall a single Facebook post that put me over moon - but the thought of buying a bunch of stuff I can't afford so I think I look cool, then filing for bankruptcy... eh, nevermind, not that either.

*Nobody thinks about you as often as you do.
Really. They don't. Example: I may not be thinking about you right now - but I bet you are.

*Substance over style.
But style can trump comfort.

*A person who is not nice to the waitress, is not a nice person.

*The most destructive force in the universe is gossip.

*You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests you think she's pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.
(Speaking from experience.)

*If you can understand that your friends are going to change - you won't have to change friends.

*Your friends are human.
If they're a good friend - give them a break. Someday, you'll need them both.

*Children need models rather than critics.
Kids have never been good at listening to their elders - but they have never failed to immitate them.

365 Days of 30

"Time and tide wait for no man, but time always stands still for a woman of thirty." - Robert Frost

I admit: my view of "old" changed at twenty five. Today, I am thirty. And I think about my twenties, all that those years hold: moved 15 times (2 = long distance), had two kids, bought a house, sold a house, struggled fiercely to make ends meet, in turn teaching me to create dinner from scratch (almost to the point of buying a cow and a chicken), discovered why my mother loved to garden for myself, soul searching was expected, and caring far too much what I looked like and what other people thought.

They were struggling, developmental years. Depending on your gust - your twenties are shaping years.
It's the beautiful struggle of lower to middle twenties... a sweet and unfair surrender.

Ten Things I Believe By Thirty
1) How you spend your time tells more about you (if not the most) than how you spend your money.
2) Love can change everything.
3) No man is an island. Have friends... REAL friends that you carve time out for. It's a serious return investment. Keep the kind of friends you want to actually hang out with - not just be seen with.
4) If you are indecisive about anything - think about how it'd be if you were:
A) not afraid of failing
B) no one else cared
C) it worked out the way you want it to
That's exactly what you want.
5) Open your Bible. Know Jesus. For yourself.
6) To be a good teacher is to first be a better student.
7) Save money. Invest in yourself.
8) Nobody gets away with smoking, drinking, doing drugs or not flossing for long.
9) Who you can trust, who you can't and why you shouldn't take it personally.
10) A youth your happy to have but content moving beyond.


Hervey Allen
The only time you really live fully is from thirty to sixty. The young are slaves to dreams; the old servants of regrets. Only the middle-aged have all their five senses in the keeping of their wits.


Here goes...

Sometimes I Wonder... But I Always Pray

As a mother, I wonder (more like cringe), what other people think of my children. I wonder if the things my kids say when I'm not around are polite enough, if they are respectful, that they are fair with their friends. I also wonder if their kids, like mine, jump from chair to sofa in the familiar privacy of their home, I wonder if their kids try to ride on the back of their dog(s) and try to argue their way out of (for the love of Pete) grilled cheese sandwiches. (?) Surely their kids fight over coloring books and pray for their hats before bed, too. I'm not the only mother who might consider sticking her St Bernard in the rinse cycle because, for goodness gracious, I can't keep my son from giving him 'mud facials'. (That was sarcasm, PETA.) Nor can I be the only parent who gets stuck behind the stove playing hide-n-seek. (Or nearly pass out from barricading myself in the closet, under blankets... FYI, the better you are at hiding, the longer you get to stay there.) If you ever wanted to revisit your childhood... have kids. If you ever wanted to visit your sanity again... send them over to grandma's for a couple of hours.

Adios, Summer Break 2010

There is a fountain of youth. We just don’t all choose to play in it.

Summers end, and all the kids sigh. It’s amazing, not too long ago Kaden was complaining, “I’m bored”. “I don’t have anything to do” while fervently multitasking – typing away on the computer with one hand, PSP in the other, Itunes in the background. I had to stop it. I’m certain smoke was going to start rolling from his ears - he would’ve spun into overload if I let him. I’m concerned with his generation. I've noted the impatient, media driven mind that seems common with the rest of Generation Z. While he explains in detail his breakthrough “cheat code” discovery, I’m reminding him that his twenty minutes on the “internets” has expired. :\ I’m not trying to get back to the black and green Apple Macintosh era – but he’s at IMac already!

Where do we go from here and what ever happened to Number Crunchers?!

This is the same child that has spent a couple of weeks out of town with his grandparents, week at VBS, two or three lock-ins, several field trips with camp... he is, by far, short of being entertainment deprived.

On the other hand, there’s Kameron. Who prefers less gizmo's and more 'hands on' activities. He has spent a solid part of his summer taking insects hostage with his new bug catching kit. So far, he’s apprehended roly poly’s, lady bugs, moths and enough lightening bugs to make a lantern. Nature’s Bounty Hunter.

Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it.