Tuesday, July 17, 2012

when you open your mouth

29th birthday by ceck0face
29th birthday, a photo by Digital Heather on Flickr.

So it happened. I turned 29. It was a pretty good birthday. My husband and I are now the same age for six months.

I remarkably lost weight, but don't ask me how. About fifteen lbs or more. I wasn't trying to. In fact, I have wanted to lose weight but haven't done anything about it. I figured I would be gaining more weight during my baking/blogging month which went so-so, btw. I look at my wedding photos from 9 months ago and can definitely see a difference. And my jeans are so loose and practically falling down. It's a great feeling but honestly, I would rather be huge and pregnant and ready to pop.

Eight months of baby trying so far. I can't get frustrated yet, and I'm not. God has been very good to my husband and I. My parents tried for three years to have me. I'd probably be a lot more patient if I had the luxury of time instead of a painful disease that's going untreated. Speaking of which... I'm going to start doing acupuncture for my endometriosis pain. I don't want to live my life on pain killers every day. Plus it will decrease stress and promote fertility. It's an all-round good choice as long as I can physically/mentally handle it. I hate needles. And with good reason. I hated them my whole life and in the past year, between a PIC line, hit nerve, and multiple collapsed veins-- I only like them less.

Work is fantastic. My only complaint is my borderline frustration with kids who do want to read but only want to read one series or type of book and shut down all other ideas. A little girl was arguing with her mother today because she only wants to read a children's series called The Magic Treehouse. Someone had bought us out of what we had and all of my and her mother's suggestions weren't good enough. Anne of Green Gables. Black Beauty. The Secret Garden. Nancy Drew. Little House on the Prairie. Judy Blume. None of these were good enough for her. She wouldn't even look at them. It's a teeny bit offensive because these are great books. She kept shooting me looks like I was an idiot for suggesting them and also from another planet. Is this what parenthood is going to be like? I want my children to read well at an early age and truly love it, but I don't want them to be snobby elitists who only read contemporary gimmicks and scoff classics.

A similar pet peeve is as follows: two people come in, one who genuinely wanted to come in and the other who is being dragged. The person who is there against his or her will always crosses the threshold and immediately says something like, "I hate books," "I don't read," "This place is boring," or all of the above. Do they understand how unintelligent they sound? I always end up thinking that they didn't even need to say it out-loud because I can tell. If it's a teenager who can't properly form sentences or use the correct tense or if they speak in double negatives I find myself thinking, "Yeah, I can tell you don't read because if you did you would probably make sense when you open your mouth." If it's an adult, the previous examples usually fit in addition to the tell-tale signs of what a lack of literature and reading has done for them, their career, and life choices.

Okay, now I sound like an elitist.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Global warming

beatnik mermaid by Digital Heather
beatnik mermaid, a photo by Digital Heather on Flickr.

Job perk! Putting together random Legos to sell. This is beatnik mermaid. She comes complete with black turtleneck, cup of coffee and journal. She cares about issues. Global warming. Our oceans. Women's rights. The usual.