My side of a debate

The Secret:

You think, therefore all* is. (Thank you, to butcher a quote from Robin Williams in Baron Munchausen)

A realist:

You think ahead, therefore you have savings, retirement funds, and food storage.

I agree that positive thinking can very much shape the world around you. You can give such beautiful things to those you meet, craft your home or office into something you truly love, and engage in activities that help you feel fulfilled.

But I don't agree that "if you think it, it will come." Psychology tells us that humans tend to have less value for the things that come for free.

Here is an interesting article on how humans might value -- I take it with a grain of salt and freely admit that the article doesn't explicitly support my point, but it does broaden my perspective of how we come to value things in different ways.

Here's an example: I know a lady (waves to lady) who is very good at finding the kind of parking spot she wants. She visualizes the characteristics of the spot she wants then drives around and usually finds it. But here are some points of interest:

1 -- She drives around to find it. She doesn't just wait for one to appear or to be built beneath her while she waits and enjoys the "fact" of the parking spot she wants.

2 -- If she doesn't find what she wants, it doesn't stop her from reaching the real goal of the outing and it doesn't make her late to her appointment. She could have a battle of wills with the universe, a sort of game of chicken if you will, telling it that she won't park until she gets what she wants.

3 -- Despite the above, she doesn't change her ideas of what she wants based on what's available because she doesn't need to. She still acknowledges what her preference is, acknowledges the reality of the situation, discerns what she does or does not have control over, changes what she can and then gets over it. Refusing an opportunity because one or two exact points of desire aren't met is absolutely ridiculous. So what if the ferrari you saved for isn't the blue you wanted? Save some more money and make it blue!! Or learn to love yellow. Or get over the fact that there is not one single tree or large truck to park next to, go ahead and park, put those reflective thingys in your front and rear windows (which you, the pessmist, bought and brought with you!) and go have some fun! Besides, what if you visualize yourself a ferrari but you "only" end up with a mustang GT? Would that ruin your life?

I'm glad that this nice lady who has a talent for finding parking spots has taught me to find out what I want before I go out looking for it. And... along the way, I might find something better than I had imagined. Like a mustang. :)

Please comment! Discuss!

*As I was going to sleep last night, I thought of some adjustments that I needed to make.

Also, thought it was interesting to note that a lady wrote in to Oprah letting her know that once she read The Secret, that she would be discontinuing her chemo for breast cancer so she could focus on healing herself with her mind. Oprah then begged her on television to resume treatments. No word yet on how that's turning out.

Pacifier, Day 1

Last night little Pebbles went to bed without a pacifier. She sort of moaned on and off for an hour or so, but after that slept through the night as peaceful as could be. We, on the other hand, were up every few hours what with Man and his Man-sized cold. Today she's a bit grumpier but seems to be dealing very well with the new arrangement. I'm sooooo glad that it's pretty painless so far.

Griping

Ok, who thinks that Memorial Day is a gov't holiday? ::raises hand::

Who here thinks that the trash employees had a day off on Monday? Ooo, ooo!! ::raises hand higher::

Now, stay with me here. Who thinks that, because of that day off, that trash day would be delayed by a day because this is the precedent that has been set over the past 6 months? Me, me!

Who didn't put their trash out this morning, because those garbage men were SUPPOSED to come tomorrow? ::crickets, then meekly is the only person in the room to raise her hand:: That'd be me.

No one put their trash out last night. No one! So I went to sleep confident in the fact that trash day would be delayed one day because of that lovely lemming mentality and the fact that I didn't want to dig through a file and find the phone number for the trash company. This morning I was just getting done with my shower when the recycling truck cruises by and boy, that man has very little work to do this week. Come to find out, my sneaky neighbors put their trash out either after 9:30 last night or very early this morning because, o-ho!, they knew the trash truck really would be coming and decided to pull a fast one on the lazy lemming people. I was too recently showered to be presentable, if you know what I mean, so I had to quickly throw clothes on and rush my trash can out to the curb. Now I have three weeks of recycling that I'm going to have to ration out over the next few weeks so they take it all. Methinks it's time to get an additional recycling bin. I never have enough room with the one anyway. ::grumble, grumble::

The Binky Plunge

Well, it's time for Pebbles' next major milestone. She's almost 16 months old so I know that it's high time it happened. Recent milestones: Walking (at long last!!), she now has about 10 words down with occasional parroting thrown in, only four more teeth to make the full set, and other cute little "big girl" mannerisms that pop up every now and then.

So, we decided that today would be the end of all pacifiers. It's for the best, really. All of the good that comes from the weaning is known to most of us, but it doesn't change one simple fact: my baby is growing up!! I've said that about each of the kids in turn. I've been noticing how mature Tag is starting to look. He's long and lanky, wirey and coordinated. He still dances and makes faces for his baby sister and kisses his dear ol' mum. Princess is holding on to a few youngish traits (whining is a big one we're trying to break her of) but for the most part has one foot in adolescence.

I guess that's why God gives us grandkids. It's nice to have babies in our lives. And it's nice when they grow up too (thinking of that happy day when the young 'uns potty train).

Gardening

Now that I can do pics again, here's a whole slew.

1. My little wild rose is finally producing some really lovely blossoms. I took out the big weed since it wasn't doing anything interesting. The anal-retentive in me is a bit bothered by this messy corner of dirt, but the other half of me absolutely loves that chaotic splash of nasturshum and rose colors, especially since they're right next to some relatively orderly-looking alyssum.



2. My cilantro is looking decidedly happy. I was worried about it at first since about a week after I planted it all of the original leaves died off. Over the next week or two it started to put out a lot more bushy, vibrant leaves which has me totally thrilled. It's about three times as big as it started out. Next time I do herbs I'm definitely going to start them all in pots indoors and move them outside when they look happy, especially if I grow them from seed.



3. My tomatoes and dill. I need to get some stakes and string (or would cheap yarn work as well?) 'cause these bad boys are getting tall enough to need help. And the dill that looks like little tufts of grass between the middle and right plants is the only herb that I successfully grew from seed outside. I don't take pride in that, though, since it's technically a "weed", but I'm very excited. Fresh herbs are among my favorite treats in life. I also have a little tiny pot of chives in my kitchen that's doing pretty well.



4. My lovely assistant and gardener in training. This little one has no qualms about getting down and dirty with her gardening. I'm thinking that next year, depending on where we are, I'll let Princess have her own spot of ground since she's so interested in helping with everything this year. It'll be interesting to see what she wants to grow.



5. My peas and squash finally came up. The peas, once they started showing, are really growing very quickly. I need to stake and string them as well. I have four mounds of squash but am thinking of taking it down to the two healthiest looking mounds since we all know how much squash can come off of one plant. My friend M says she knew someone who would always say that when you're parked at an LDS church in the summer or fall, never leave your doors unlocked b/c they'll put heaps of squash into any car they find unlocked. I've never had that experience, but when living at my Mother In Law's house I knew that I had a hard time using/giving it all away that one summer. I froze a lot of zucchini puree.


Next year I also want to add peppers, onions, and garlic in the back of the house where we get a ton of sun, or maybe put them where the nasturshum has taken over. I really hope I can plant at our next home as well.

Felt Bento Box

I love the idea of these Bento Boxes. (wikipedia link)

What a fun lunch with tons of variety.

Craftster has craft challenges every now and then which turn up some really crazy works of art. The most recent one was to create something out of felt. The winner was a felt Japanese Bento Box, including several food items made entirely of felt. (link)

The other entry that I thought was pretty amazing was the picnic, complete with woven basket and sprinkles on the cookie. (link)

pics

Princess taking a nap on the couch. She fell asleep like this but later went to bed for a few hours.



Playing dress up, county fair style. When they started feeling better they got some sheets out and started to play with them.

pics

Man helped me dress Pebbles yesterday. I had a bunch of folded laundry on the couch so he picked a couple of items apparently at random. This is what she thought of her outfit:


Just kidding. She didn't care at all, and Man seemed a little hurt that I laughed at the "outfit". He said something about being sorry, he just wasn't up on current fashion trends so couldn't see anything wrong with what she was wearing. lol I didn't say that it doesn't take being up on fashion trends to appreciate why this is a funny looking pairing. I thanked him for his help and left her clothes alone.

I have found that as long as I don't use the browser with tab options, I can post photos again. I'll have to dig through and see if I missed anything.

School pictures -- time for a tan!

Anyone seen this yet?

Link to Slate article.

I like the description: superlatively vapid. That's like "ponderously empty".

So who here is shocked that someone in Hollywood would get their elementary-aged child a $1,300 tan for her school pictures? I was. I was also shocked when Mark Anthony bought J-Lo those gold flipflops for $24,000, shocked that celebs pay at least $200 on a single silk baby blanket for newborns (I can't even tell you how often my receiving blankets go through the wash before a baby is 6 months old)

I just have to laugh. Even though I "know" I'd spend it differently, I know for sure that everyone I know has their own ideas of what's important to them. Some people skimp on the food budget and have a closet full of shoes or clothes; some people have one or two pairs of shoes and travel at every opportunity; others have got mind-blowing entertainment systems and a car that runs half the time.

What do you skimp or splurge on? My splurge was a high-efficiency clothes washer. What would I do without it? Man's splurge was a Wii and accessories. It's funny how I rarely spend money of myself but my junk always costs so much more. I would argue that a clothes washer or a van aren't my own personal goodies, but they sure make my life easier.

Memorial Day weekend

We were all set and ready to go visit Grandma this weekend but woke up the morning of our scheduled trek to find Princess in the midst of being ill. She spent half the day sleeping and couldn't keep anything down at all. Today she's doing better but still not keeping anything but water down. Tag got it this morning but is in a stubborn denial that he's sick despite repeatedly losing his stomach and having a fever of 104°. Ibuprofen is helping with the fever but he keeps insisting that he wants to eat chips and salsa and he doesn't need to carry his bucket around with him. We tried letting him leave the bucket two feet away from him and... well, it wasn't pretty. I can't believe this stubborn illusion he's putting himself under. Despite his own personal, abundantly clear evidence that he's ill.

When I was a kid I'd milk it for all it was worth. Sleeping on the couch, popsicles, soda, tv all day long. Man recalls that when he was young that being sick at his house had no special benefits. You either went to school anyway, or you got to stay home exclusively in bed and swallow home remedies. We're taking a middling approach, having them stay in bed except for when we have attempts at liquids. They are also allowed to get up after a longish nap and catch some tv but not all day long. When they're this young it's hard to keep them down for long even in this state.

Thankfully, Pebbles hasn't gotten it yet. She's the one who doesn't know how to make it to the bucket yet. Tomorrow we also get to do Sharing Time for our class but Man is going to go do it by himself. Some of you may recall when I got to do it a couple of months ago with a crying baby and a Tag who refused to go to class (I couldn't take him out to the car since I had a class to teach) and I hadn't prepared a single thing for it. It was a fiasco. This time I'm keeping the two sickies and the (knock on wood) not-sicky home while he goes and has his fun.

I guess that's what I get for putting them in child care this week. Oh, well. It isn't killing them. Hopefully it's making them stronger.