Chopped!

I have lightened my load. I went from, basically, this:

 

 

 

to this:

 

 

 
and in the process, lost all this:

 

 

 

Change can be good. Maybe I'll add some blue streaks!

An Attitude of Gratitude

I am thankful for:
 
A happy ending yesterday at work:  a severely autistic nonverbal client wandered off Monday afternoon and stayed out overnight, but was found yesterday and reunited with his family.

My chocolate turkey that my boss gave me this morning:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My wonderful beautiful smart and happy kids, who bring all sorts of chaotic joy to my world.

My saintly, hardworking and ever-lovin’ husband, who continually impresses and surprises me with his ability to make the best of difficult situations and with his capacity for creativity and fun.

Clean water. Hot water. Food and drink.

My friends and family, near and far, who are dear to me although I don’t see them as much as I would like.

The Internet, which takes me places I have never been and connects me to people I have never met. It is truly a marvel.

 

And for you. A very Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, wherever you may be!

Too Much Technology?

Tonight, I am working on creating a new blog - just setting it up and figuring out what theme I want to use and how I want the format to look. It is very different, mainly because I am making the leap to Wordpress (I am not an early adopter, mm-kay?). But I am poking away on my laptop, and occasionally checking my iPhone or looking stuff up on my iPhone when my home network gets sluggish, and I just had a thought about a book I want to read which is related to creating this new blog, so as I was waiting for my page to load, I downloaded an e-book onto my Kindle. And I realized I have three different devices going and that is a little crazy, no? In other world news, recently Ceeya asked me repeatedly if she could have some cookies. I finally said, "Sure, okay, you mean the ones on the counter, go ahead," and about five minutes later she came back to me with this bewildered look on her face, holding a box of Up & Up Target brand plastic sandwich baggies. It was a new box, which she had completely demolished one end of in ripping it open. "Where are the cookies?" she asked. It took me a second, but then I realized the box had a picture on the outside of cookies nestled halfway into a plastic bag.  "Oh, honey," I said. "These are not the cookies. These are the plastic bags to put things in. They're just showing you how you might use the bags, maybe to put some cookies in them. You know?" "But where are MY cookies?" Cee said, as if I were deliberately misunderstanding her. I, the most asinine person in the land.  So...you see how misleading advertising can be. Particularly if you can't read quite all the way yet. Imagine how the things Ceeya sees each day shape her very impressionable view of the world. My point, and yes, I am getting to it, is that this is the type of thing I will be exploring in my new venture -- how to raise two young women of color with their heads on straight in this rapid-paced, media-saturated environment. My goal is to go beyond plastic sandwich baggies and delve into the sexism, racism and myriad other "isms" we are confronted with every day, and document my attempts to keep my wits about me and respond in a thoughtful manner.  Oh, how I often long to ditch everything and go live in some mythical land where things are simpler. You have no idea how often that fantasy crops up. Failing that, I hope to chronicle my journey and learn something from those I meet along the way. And eat a few cookies. More to come...