And it's not really even political. It's just me blabbing and getting things off my chest for a minute. I have restrained myself during this entire political season, aside from "liking" things that I ....well... like... on Facebook. I lean to the left. I'm a liberal when it comes to many issues. I'm not embarrassed or ashamed of my political views but I don't post on Facebook about how I think I support the superior party and everyone who doesn't is an idiot. I don't believe that. I have a lot of intelligent friends whom I respect that are conservative. I don't think they are idiots when it's not election time so I try to be open minded and remember that just because we don't have the same political priorities, this is still a person that I respect and find interesting.
My Facebook feed has been absolutely littered with hate. Hate for Obama, hate for anyone who has ever received public assistance, and hate for people who voted for Obama, hate-hate-hate. It's disturbing. It has nothing to do with the issues but everything to do with attitudes. There's a huge difference between supporting a candidate or party and spreading hate towards the other. I read a lot more anti-Democrat and anti-Obama posts than anything from my conservative friends. I could probably count on one hand the number of pro-Romney posts I read. I read lots of pro-Obama posts from my liberal pals. What I've gathered from this simple observation is that Democrats love Obama and Republicans love to hate him. I've been trying to figure out the point of posting something every.single.day to remind everyone that they still hate the thing/person/party that they hated yesterday?
Are these posts meant to change my mind? Not mine personally, but people who think like me?
Are they meant to try to prove something or one-up someone? To make them feel better about themselves and their position in life?
Are they meant to form a camaraderie with other like-minded people? By spewing hate and criticism instead of support?
Or are they meant to offend me? Because when people call me (as part of the general population) an idiot for holding the beliefs I hold, I'm a little offended. I'm an intelligent college graduate and I think like one, thankyouverymuch, and just because I'm a liberal it doesn't mean that I think the government should support me.
No one, regardless of how many angry, spiteful or well-written posts they share, is going to change my mind and my convictions. I don't feel the need to try to change anyone else's mind or convince them to see things the way I see them. That's not my burden. I certainly don't want my friends to feel that I think they're stupid because we don't see eye to eye on gay marriage or public assistance or war or healthcare or whatever-the-case-may-be. Them thinking I'm dumb doesn't change my mind. It just makes me question my "friend"ship with them if they can't respect me.
The division I've seen over the past weeks saddens me. Only during election season do these claws come out. I try not to take it personally, really. And nothing has ever been directed at me personally. But I kind of do and it kind of has because my beliefs have been indirectly attacked. They are part of who I am. They make me compassionate. They make me work hard. They make me want to raise my boys to be compassionate and hard working. Take me or leave me - I'm not changing.
And I just had to get that off my chest.
xo,
~C~
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
feels like home
I've really neglected the before&after pictures of the house, I know. But mainly it's because they wouldn't really be "after" pictures yet since nothing's totally done. (I'll let you steal a couple sneak peeks in the pictures below). However. As I mentioned in my Halloween post...we DID officially move in! We started staying at the house on Sunday 10/28. Three months + 1 day after closing. After we made this decision I started thinking it was super dumb because Theo is transitioning to a big boy bed AND both boys are transitioning to sharing a room with each other. On a Sunday night. Genius. Seems like something you'd want to get a handle on starting on a Friday, right? Eh.
As it turns out, so far it has been fine. Our big boy really has proven to be just that so far by staying in his bed, not partying all night, and not keeping his brother up all night. They are fine if we put them to bed at the same time, but they will talk/yell to each other for about 30-45 minutes. It seems to work better if we put Dexter to bed about 20-30 minutes earlier than Theo. He has been really good about staying quiet when he knows Dexter is asleep. Theo is a pretty sound sleeper, so even on the days Dexter wakes up early for milk (yes, we still heat up milk for Dexter at 5:45 am most days), Theo sleeps in. Saturday both kids slept til almost 8. EIGHT! Couldn't believe it.
So the big bed and room-sharing is great. The mom/homemaker/nurturer in me has been happy as a clam for the past week. Theo and Dexter have been getting along so well. My heart bursts every time they hug each other. Every time I catch Theo trying to teach Dexter something. Every time I sneak a peek into their room because it's too quiet and see them sitting on Theo's bed playing with something together. It feels amazing to just cook their dinner and give them a bath here and do the most normal, ordinary, mundane, boring things. That's all I wanted. They love this house. It's far from done, but it's home. It's already our home sweet home. Blood, sweat, and tears have all been shed here to make this place our home.
The OCD person in me still sees unpacked boxes and piles of tools and unpainted cabinets, etc. But those things can wait. We're home now. We're with our kids every day. I never have to miss a bedtime or dinnertime or storytime. It's all I've been wanting for the past 3+ months.
xo,
~C~
As it turns out, so far it has been fine. Our big boy really has proven to be just that so far by staying in his bed, not partying all night, and not keeping his brother up all night. They are fine if we put them to bed at the same time, but they will talk/yell to each other for about 30-45 minutes. It seems to work better if we put Dexter to bed about 20-30 minutes earlier than Theo. He has been really good about staying quiet when he knows Dexter is asleep. Theo is a pretty sound sleeper, so even on the days Dexter wakes up early for milk (yes, we still heat up milk for Dexter at 5:45 am most days), Theo sleeps in. Saturday both kids slept til almost 8. EIGHT! Couldn't believe it.
So the big bed and room-sharing is great. The mom/homemaker/nurturer in me has been happy as a clam for the past week. Theo and Dexter have been getting along so well. My heart bursts every time they hug each other. Every time I catch Theo trying to teach Dexter something. Every time I sneak a peek into their room because it's too quiet and see them sitting on Theo's bed playing with something together. It feels amazing to just cook their dinner and give them a bath here and do the most normal, ordinary, mundane, boring things. That's all I wanted. They love this house. It's far from done, but it's home. It's already our home sweet home. Blood, sweat, and tears have all been shed here to make this place our home.
The OCD person in me still sees unpacked boxes and piles of tools and unpainted cabinets, etc. But those things can wait. We're home now. We're with our kids every day. I never have to miss a bedtime or dinnertime or storytime. It's all I've been wanting for the past 3+ months.
Best friends. Two peas in a pod.
It's home.xo,
~C~
Monday, November 5, 2012
happy/sad Halloween
Rooney Doodle from the Doodlebops
Pirate Parrot
The boys had a great time in their costumes and just loved going door to door. Theo was excited last year but even more so this year. Dexter just went along for the ride and had fun carrying his bucket. It got really heavy but he would not let me hold it for him. Too cute!
Ugh... now the not so great news. I'm just sick about it and can't stop thinking about it. We went to our old neighborhood to go trick or treating. We closed on our old house on May 31st and neither Ryan nor I had driven back by the old house. It's just been too sad ... we're homesick for that little house after everything we've been through. Also, we didn't want to confuse Theo by going by there before we moved in to our new place. Oh, did I tell you? WE MOVED INTO OUR NEW PLACE! That's another post.
Anyway, we went to the old 'hood and drove by our house (it looks lovely) and by our next door neighbor's. The lights were not on, but it was right at 6 so we thought maybe they just hadn't turned on their light yet. We went up a couple of other streets. Theo really was so cute, saying over and over "isn't this fun, Mom? Getting candy is SO fun!" His face lit up every time someone put more candy in his bucket. By 7 we made our way back over there. Kitchen light was on but not the porch light. We went to see another neighbor across the street and learned that our dear neighbor, Roger, is terminally ill with liver cancer. HE HELPED US MOVE at the end of May. Needless to say, we went over there and visited. He is about 50ish and has lived there with his mother, who is close to 90. We thought if anything had happened, his mother would be the one to have fallen ill.
Guys... Roger. Oh my goodness. He was lying there in his hospital bed. His entire body swollen, his face gray. He looked just awful. Let's just say he looked bad enough that I'm checking a certain section of the paper every day. The boys just stared at him. Theo talked to him. Roger told us we were wonderful neighbors and that he loved us. He said he'd tell his mom to make sure to call us when he died. Seriously? A night of fun and merry-making turned into THAT. That quick. Just as quickly as his health deteriorated. It's a huge reality check and such a heart-breaker. Anyway, sorry to be a party pooper. But that's what I think about when I think about Halloween 2012.
Linking up with Melissa at Growing Up Geeky!
xo,
~C~
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