All posts by Savvy Spoonie

I am an artist, writer, jeweler, and a Spoonie. Before becoming a Spoonie I was a very busy high achieving attorney and advocate bent on saving the world. Now I'm struggle to redefine my life to fit within my reduced energy level. Some days are better than others. I have fibromyalgia, trigeminal neuralgia, and chronic daily migraine.
environment, frustration, Monkey, parenting, Political

Little red riding hood…

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Little red riding hood and the big bad wolf…

One of the odder things about living in New Jersey is the existence of blooming roses in December and January. They simply will not die!! I am pleased to see new buds every few weeks. Monkey is on permanent rose watch, checking them each morning on the way to school. She has definately mastered the stopping to smell the roses aspect of life.

I am with Hatchet in the argumentative child department, but I fear I only have myself to blame. She attended law school classes with me for 3 out of 5 of her formative years, one can only imagine that rubbed off on her.

This morning was a lovely example of the daily arguing:

She woke up 30 minutes early and came into my room.
Monkey: Mommy, the sun is out!
Me: Morning honey, what time is it?
Daddy: mumble mumble…. 7…. grunt
Me: Please go get dressed and I will be up in a minute
Monkey: no
Me: Monkey, you need to get ready for school, please go get dressed
Monkey: I don’t want to
Me: Your dad is trying to sleep a little longer, please go get dressed, I will be right out!
Monkey: Mom! I don’t want to!
Me: If I have to ask again, I will not be happy.
Monkey: I don’t WANT TO!!
Me: 1…2…3….
Monkey: **fierce growls of frustration, stomping out of our room.** FINE!!

Sigh, it is always a bad sign when the first conversation of the day is an argument. It followed with breakfast (didn’t want what I made), teeth (didn’t want to brush), shoes (was too busy playing leapfrog to put them on), and coat (didn’t need it).
By the time I got her in the car we were already late, and I was developing a headache.

I think I am going to have to begin sending her to school in bare feet without her teeth and hair brushed on an empty stomach. How long do you think I will be able to keep that up before I get approached with a child neglect concern?

Yesterday, after arguing with me over everything all day, I asked her if she had to argue with me over every single thing! Her answer: No. She argued about arguing!! Argh!!

However, she is getting better at cleaning her room, doing her homework, and eating her dinner, so I am counting my blessings. Also, I have learned from reliable sources that this argumentation is the cost of intelligent children. So, my choices are frustration, or fewer smarts. hmmm….

Another political message:

Save the big bad wolf!!


(image from http://www.tvdance.com)

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is expected to release a proposal to strip wolves of their Endangered species act protections across most of Wyoming and de-list wolves in Idaho, where the state is poised to kill up to 75% of the wolves living in the Lolo district of the Clearwater National Forest. Changing the status of the wolves will likely allow the use of aerial gunning and other lethal control methods to kill as many as two-thirds of the wolves in Wyoming and as many as 54 of Idaho’s 65 wolf packs. The states are interested in lowering the wolf population because they cause losses to livestock on some farms and ranches. However, this natural wolf-like behavior is the exact reason they were listed endangered to begin with. Wolves were eradicated from their historic ranges when humans began using those habitats for ranching and farming, and the wolves began hunting livestock as their natural prey disappeared.

If the US Fish and Wildlife service is allowed to delist wolves, there is no expectation that they will remain a recovered species. In fact, with two states already poised to destroy more than half the current population, there is no reason to expect wolves will survive long at all.

Please visit the petition site and lend your voice to the outcry against destorying wolves once again. We worked so hard to get this species to recover, do not allow FWS to strip them of thier protections now!!

holidays

Resolutions…

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Resolutions this year…

1. Feed my family better food.

This resolution got off to a great start last night with a lovely fruit salad consisting of pineapple, mandarin oranges, crisp granny smith apple slices, and dried cranberries, a side of fresh steamed broccoli, and a lovely black olive and garlc spaghetti.

2. Get more involved politically (If possible)

I feel I was very politically involved in the first part of the year, as law school makes it very easy to be political, but got less so as I entered the realm of mommyhood and work. I fear it is easier to forget to be involved than it is to keep up with the latest political news, so I really want to focus on fighting the good fight!! In an attempt to get this resolution off on the right foot, I offer the following:

This week the petition site is attempting to support innoculations for children in foreign countries. As always, children lack their own voice. They have no political power, they have no money. Without these things, they have no voice. If you have a few minutes today, please spend them adding your voice, your power, and if you can spare it, your money, to protecting children.

On a humorous note:

This lovely gem came from one of my favorite blogbites Pharyngula. It’s a couple posts back, but clearly explains that the religous right is fault free when it comes to global warming.

Unless you look at this from a philosophical point of view. If hell exists simply as a result of belief in the christian faith, is the increase in heat from the fires of hell actually caused by an increase in dogmatic belief? In other words, does increased church attendance equal global warming? (Shane, I hand this question to you, it seems a good one for a deep philosophical search.)

Back to resolutions…

Those two were really the only resolutions I made this year. Since I am once again taking a bar exam, working, and am getting ready for a new baby, I am pretty sure I will barely have time to accomplish these two things. Hopefully my family will see more fruits and veggies with their meals, and you will all see more politics with my posts.

What did all of you resolve to do?

holidays, Monkey, travel

Happy New Year…

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Our new year saw us braving our first family road trip to Virginia Beach to visit family. Monkey once again showed her travel ability by enjoying 8 hours in the car. She played, colored, watched a show or two, sang to music, and played a new game we called “stinkerfoot” while laughing uuproariously. (Stinkerfoot is a stockinged foot that roams the car and attacks mommy and daddy with surprise tickles.) It was so much fun we are planning on driving out again soon.

We went to spend the new year with Lee’s Uncle Jack and Aunt Letitia and cousin Suzie. We had a great time, most of it was spent relaxing and eating, which is the perfect holiday for a very pregnant woman. On New Year’s Eve we enjoyed a lovely Puttanesca prepared by Suzie at a small family dinner party. Then we toasted the new year in bed, as we were asleep by 11. It was a wonderful holiday, we returned home rested and relaxed. Normally, we need a vacation from our vacations, but this one was magically calm and soothing. I even got the chance to take a nap in the middle of the day!

The drive out to Virginia ended badly as I had not kept myself hydrated enough and started getting pretty scary contractions about an hour out, however the drive back was much better. I learned from my poor experience and drank enough water and gatorade that I got to know pretty much every gas station between Virgina Beach and New Jersey. I learned that a large belly is the fastest and most effective bathroom key in the world.

On our way home we stopped and ate lunch at a little restaurant on the chesapeake bay bridge, where we oohed and aahed over the history of this bridge/tunnel system, took some pictures, and ate Hush Puppies, fried shrimp, and fried scallops. It has been ages since I indulged in a hush puppy, I had forgotton how delicious they are! We stole a table mat and made some smushed penny souveniors, and got in the car for our long trip home.

We encountered some pretty heavy rain on the way home, but we had scheduled in plenty of time to get here so we just cuddled under blankets and listened to the rain hit the car roof. Aunt Letitia packed our snack bag with more food than a family of 10 could eat, so we had plenty of snacks and drinks available, and Monkey was pleased that she was able to eat as many cookies and goldfish as she wished. We are really looking forward to our next trip out, Monkey loves to play with her cousin Lydia, and Lee and I enjoy spending time with the family.

I hope your New Year’s have all started out well! May your next 364 days be interesting, full of success, and joyful!!