Everyone is now entitled to marry their love and make it last forever (or end up divorced) in California.
The first gay pride parade was in the 70’s. We’ve come a long way. Man’s small steps down the aisle – but a giant leap for mankind. Thank you, California. Finally.
In October of 2011 I found a little nest with abandoned eggs in it – built right into the wreath on my front door! Well, now another bird family just built a nest in the same spot!
This time we watched the birds build the nest and now we watch them fly away every time we open the front door. Sometimes I use the side door just so I won’t disturb them. But most the time I forget – plus it’s the most convenient door to our cars.
I’m just waiting for the bird to fly IN to our house one of these days. There’s been a couple of times that I open the door and she’s still sitting in the nest. It takes her a minute to figure out what’s going on and then she flies to the nearest tree.
I just hope we don’t disturb them too much so they will stay with their eggs until their little babies are hatched!
Here are pics of our latest front door nest in the wreath – can you see birdie sitting on her eggs in the 2nd pic?
We also recently had a nest in the back of our house – under the overhang. That’s been another popular spot with the birds too. This last nest however, after the babies hatched – Joe saw a big crow swoop in and knock the nest down. Jerk! I just hope the babies were ok. Boo for the big bad crows!
Here’s a little footage I grabbed of the baby in back. Before the big mean crow swooped in.
Kids say the darndest things. Which a lot of times are repeats of what they heard their parent’s say. Some of Max’s current phrases, words, exclamations are:
An inquisitive “So…”
An exasperated “Oh, Man!”
An inviting “C’mon let’s go”
A decisive “How about…”
He’s now 2, but when he was around 20 months old, he would often exclaim “Oh, no!” – such as here when Sarah gets stuck. And stuck again.
He tends to lean towards a serious note. Like when he’s playing flash cards or any number, alphabet games. And his “Oh, no!” exclamations were always under a serious tone. So, I just had to lighten him up about it.
I think it’s imperative to have a good sense of humor. The ability to laugh at life. And at oneself. He picked up on the concept quickly. Oh how true it is they are sponges – soaking up their surroundings. We must be – as selective as we can – in what they experience.
And if you feel you are lacking in the sense of humor department – I found a random article on how to enhance your sense of humor. There’s even a WikiHow on how to get a sense of humor.
Or you could move to Bhutan where the Gross National Happiness is more important than their Gross National Product (for real!).
And if none of that helps, buy a ticket to Timbuktu and send a postcard. Seriously.
Angelina’s decision to share such intimate details with the world is both gracious and humble. I’m a firm believer in sharing information – both tragedy and joy – with others. It’s the only way we can grow as a human race. What good is it if we all have to live and learn each heartache or enlightenment on our own?
I’m not saying you have to share every detail of your life with the whole world, but if you share insight and knowledge – just within your circle of friends and family – now those words can help others and also spread the globe. To me, we should always be moving towards better understanding, knowledge and a “we’re in this together” attitude.
I’ve mentioned this theory of mine before – back in 2011 when I was grateful to the women who had shared their information with me on how to get pregnant:
I’m happy there are women out there who share their personal journeys with others so we can all benefit. Women who are embarassed, or trying to appear perfect, or just hoarding good news to themselves can go to hell! Or at least go to some some deserted island. Where they can sit around giving each other the stink eye all day. I say get over yourself! We’re all in this (life) together. We may as well help each other out instead of holding each other back.
As you already know, I was Angelina’s double so you may think that I’m just bias. But, I’m not. If I didn’t believe in her – I wouldn’t blog about it.
Now, as to what everyone can do with the information she has shared? That’s determined by the individual. It may help someone feel better about their own double mastectomy. It may prompt someone to get tested. It may inspire someone to be more accepting of their loved one who is going through the same thing. Whatever the article did for you, I’m sure you can find a way to pay it forward.
Since the test that Angie mentions is $3,000 – I won’t be getting it done anytime soon. But I am curious if I too have that gene. My maternal grandmother (still alive and well at 98!) did have breast cancer, but survived. And an Aunt as well. So… I don’t know. Maybe I too may have this gene? Hopefully someday testing will be available to everyone. Maybe someday health insurance will cover the testing as part of a ‘well, routine visit.’ But that’s getting into a whole other blog post.
I can’t remember if I ever told you about a fire near our home a few years ago? It was on the hill behind the neighbors across the street! Thankfully they put it out quickly and we didn’t even have to evacuate.
Yesterday we had another fire. Two of them. One behind us and another near by. I had to head out for an appointment, so before I left, I packed up a huge diaper bag and a few other things in case the fires got out of hand and we had to evacuate. Joe was home with Max and Sarah and was on duty for any evacuation emergencies. As I left, I couldn’t even see down the street – the smoke was so thick. I could see the flames on the hill behind our house.
I told myself not to stress. We were ready to go if we had to and last time – the flames were even closer – and we didn’t have to evacuate. The only thing I care about saving are all of us, babies, doggies — and all my photos! I really don’t care about anything else.
While I was out, I received a phone call from the police department alerting me that our neighborhood was on “mandatory evacuation”. Stress! I checked in with Joe, but he said that nothing was happening. Police and firemen were everywhere out on the street, but no one was being asked to leave.
However, when I arrived home, a police officer had the road blocked and told me the nieghborhood was on “mandatory evacuation” so I wasn’t allowed to drive to my house. I had to park my car on a near by street and then walk home. I tried asking another police officer if I could park my car a little closer, but all he offered me was that he “would look the other way and pretend he didn’t see me walk to my house” (since he wasn’t supposed to let me into the area). When I got home, Joe had to leave for his appointment and now I was on duty for any evacuation emergencies.
By 8:00pm this was still the view of the street from my house. At least the fires were out and by 9:00pm they let everyone back into our canyon. We could get to bed without any more worry for the night. Thank you to all the great police and fire department for all their hard work!
A very interesting, smokey and full of drama day.
