What In the World Were You Looking For?!

Do you guys every look at what people are searching for to find your blog?  I use StatCounter, but I very rarely go on it.  I really signed up to see if people were actually reading my blog.  And what do you know - you do!

So one of the features is that they can tell you what someone typed into google (or whatever) to find your blog.  Here are some of the more disturbing interesting searches.  Some of these, mind you, come up on the first page.

single mother not liked by neighbors

trueconfessionsofasinglemother zombie

sons true confessions on fucking their own mothers

true confessions of fucking my sons friend

spank friends game

he plans to visit me a work to ask me to prom

i want to die single mother

youngboy fuck singleparent

Posting this list is probably not helping my cause - but shit!  What are these people looking for and why are they coming over here?  Gosh.

I'll Just Be A Sec...

I get so angry at people who have someone to hold their place in line while they run to get something.  I am angry not because I think what they are doing is wrong, but because I am insanely jealous.  I wish I didn't have to make my way to the end of the line because I forgot a jar of peanut butter.

I was at Sonic this past weekend and although the novelty is wearing off, there are still super long lines.  I was waiting in the drive-thru for a while when it was obvious that Ryder needed to potty.  Right. Now.  So, I pulled into the closest parking spot and ran in. 

Side note:  There was a small line to the woman's room and it was clear that no one was going to let us ahead of them, so I asked the lady in front of me if they were individual bathrooms.  She said yes, so I went into the men's room.  She stared at me as if I had just committed a crime.

When we got back in the car, the line had hardly moved.  The same cars were still there, but my spot, obviously, was not.

Now, I know that there is no reason that they should've let me back in line.  But it angered me nonetheless.  So, to the end of the line I went.  As I am sitting in line, a woman from a car in front of us got out, ran to the bathroom, and jumped back into the car.  I was FURIOUS!  God, I was so fucking jealous.  I wish, wish, wish, wish, I had someone to keep my place in line.

The first time this problem was apparent, we were at a Christmas party.  I didn't know anyone there, but there were tons of crafts and such for the kids.  Then Santa showed up and stole the show.  Anyways, there was a crazy line to see Santa.  Most families had one adult wait in line while the other sat with the kids doing crafts.  When they got to Santa, they would just call their family over and everyone was happy.  Except me.  I tried standing in line, but every time Ryder ran off and I had to run after him, I lost my place.  Even when I could put Ryder at a table close to where I was standing, I would turn to talk to him and people behind would push in front of me.  And I hadn't moved!!  I gave up.  We waited and he was the absolute last child to see Santa.  At least he saw him. 

It is something that everyone takes for granted.  Sure, sometimes you lose your place, but usually there is someone else to hold your place for you.  I have no one to hold my place.  I always lose my place.  It makes me so angry/jealous/sad.

Can You Taste What I Am Saying?

Remember when I suggested that there were two types of people?  I will now prove it.  One type of person will understand what I am talking about and the second type will think the rest of us are crazy.

Have you heard of Synesthesia?  Dictionary.com states that it is "A condition in which one type of stimulation evokes the sensation of another, as when the hearing of a sound produces the visualization of a color."  So basically it is when your senses get mixed up a little bit.  The most common is when you can see sound as a color, but there are all types of different combinations.  It is fairly common, too, some suggest up to 1 in 23 people have some variant of it.

Still with me?

Personally, I have what is called Ordinal linguistic personification.  I think all numbers have genders and some have personalities. 

Still with me?

This is something I never knew was weird.  I thought everyone knew the genders of numbers.  I then spoke to my family about it and they too agreed.  Come to find out, it is genetic.  So, when my family agreed that it was normal, it was because we are all abnormal.

My mom sees time visually.  If you ask her about June, 1987, she sees this giant map and she locates the date on it.

Does any of this ring a bell for you?  Do you think I'm crazy?

I was listening to the How Stuff Works podcast and they were talking about the neurological basis of this condition.  It was terribly interesting.  They have done studies that prove that for people who see sound as color, the part of their brain that processes both sound and color are active at the same time.  Somewhere there are some crossed wires.  Most people function just fine with it.  Some people get really famous.  There are a fair amount of musicians (John Mayer, Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel) that see sound as color.  It helps them memorize songs easier and it is also easier to tell when something is off (the color will be wrong.)

This is a simple test I found here.  Basically you look at the first picture and are asked to pick out the twos.  For most people it takes a minute (me too, for the record) but for some synesthetes it is super easy because it actually looks more like the second picture.  What about you?  Easy or no?

I will leave you with some of my numbers.

1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 11 are male.
2, 4, 8, 9, 10 are female.
2 and 4 are snotty little bitches.
3 is a young boy.
6 is a confused teenager.
5 is strong and stable.

So what do you think?

What About When It's No One's Fault?

We love to point fingers, huh?  It is your fault.  It is his fault.  It is their fault.  But, God knows, it is NOT my fault.  What about when there is no one to blame?

I was at work and, per science protocol, the experiment didn't work.  The samples were bad.  Now, there was no way in advance for anyone to know that these samples were bad.  Shit just happens all the time sometimes.  My supervisor (for lack of a better word) said, "Just be more careful next time."  I replied "What did I do wrong this time that I should do differently next time?"  "Well, nothing."  Okay, then, I didn't do anything wrong and there is nothing that I could have done differently, therefore, I was really not to blame, right?  But who could leave it at that?  Someone has to be to blame.

There are new parking machines in the commuter lot I park at.  They basically replace an actual person who would take your money.  You punch in your space number, shove a couple of dollars, or your credit card in it and it spits out a receipt.  Sounds pretty simple, huh?  Well they do not work about 80% of the time.  I miss my train all the time due to these dumb machines.  They won't eat your dollars, or they spit out your coins or your credit card comes up with an error message.  It is annoying in the least. 

I went online and found this article talking about the problem.  Commuters blame city officials.  City officials blame commuters for not adapting to new technology.  Commuters blame other commuters for not using dollar coins (which, supposedly, always work?)  People are blaming the constituents who don't know who they are voting for in November.

Maybe the machines just don't work.  Maybe there is no one to blame.

Then there is something that I, myself, am guilty of.  "It is my fault.  I should have known."  Like I'm supposed to be some all-knowing deity or something.  My situation is my fault because I should have known the ex would be a shitty father and get addicted to oxys.  No one ever implied that it was my fault.  I just blamed myself.  I suppose in this case there is someone to blame, but it was misplaced.

How about when the weatherman calls for 2" of snow and we actually get six?  We blame our boss for not letting us out of work early enough to beat the traffic.  We blame other cars for being overcautious on the roads.  We blame the city for not plowing.  The meteorologist for incorrectly forecasting.  In reality, we live in New England.  The weather is somewhat unpredictable.  Really there is no one to blame. 

How do we release our angers and frustrations without a scapegoat?  We need to blame someone.  If there is no one to blame, no one takes responsibility, and the event could, possibly, happen again.

What the Dog Saw

I got this book, What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell from Supah Mommy through one of her many many giveaways.  Honestly, I wasn't very excited about it.  Ketchup, birth control, intelligence tests, financial planning?  Eh.  That is until I read it.

This book takes the most mundane subjects and make them super duper interesting.  Did you know that the inventor of the birth control pill was a devote Christian, went to church every day and spent his life trying to convince the church that the pill was natural?  Have you ever thought about the details of plagiarism?  How much is influence and how much is plain copying?  What about music?  How come they have different varieties of mustard but never been able to improve ketchup?

This book is awesome.  Gladwell is a superb writer.  He takes seemingly different issues and finds the common thread that makes more general observations.  One chapter is about the "Picture Problem".  He discusses mammograms and military intelligence to illustrate the problem with trying to understand a situation with just a single picture.

Maybe I just have an insatiable hunger for knowledge, but every chapter made me want to devote my life to it.  One day I wanted to invest in stocks and bonds.  The next I wanted to decode military intelligence.  The next I wanted to train dogs.  I am definitely reading his other book The Tipping Point.

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Two Types of People

Do you read Neatorama?  If you like awesome things, then you should.  There was a post the other day called Two Types of People (I'm original, huh?)  Here is their top ten:

10. one that calls any type of cola SODA, and the other that calls it POP.
9. Those who hang the roll of toilet paper over, and those who hang under.
8. those who pour the cereal in first and those that pour the milk in…!
7. 1) Those who do not understand dichotomies.
6. People who read the instructions and those who do not
5. Those who like Journey, and those who lie.
4. There are two “types” of people, the “touch-typists” and the “hunt and peckers”
3. Those who think there are two types of people, and those who don’t.
2. those that understand Lost and those that appreciate all this free time on their hands
1. There are 10 types of people: Those who understand binary and those who don’t

Here are my answers: 
10. soda (I fucking hate pop)
9.  over
8.  cereal (people pour the milk in first?!)
6.  I read em.  all of them.
5.  Do you remember the game Journey for the atari?  Journey did all the music.  It was awesome.
4.  touch-typist
2.  I'm a Lost-aholic
1. HAHA!  gotta love math jokes!

What are your answers?

Adventures in Potty Training Part VII

Part I, II, III, IV, V, VI

So, I know that you have been dying for an update.  It all happened so quick!

We quickly switched from diapers at night to Pull-Ups at night.  I then got rid of all diapers on the premises (gave them to a friend - don't worry!)  And for during the day.... Underwear!

I had a panic attack.  Underwear?  For my baby??  Omg, I couldn't handle it.  Seemed crazy.  But I went along with it and it worked out just fine.  Not long after I noticed that his Pull-Ups were always dry in the mornings.  We moved to underwear all the time.

So far it has been pretty good.  He is pretty good at letting me know when he needs to potty.  Of course there have been accidents, but hopefully he is learning from them. 

I have had to step in and take charge when my parents think they know best.  They asked him if he needed to potty and he said no several times.  My mom was physically holding him back from the living room and was telling him that he had to go potty.  His sweet eyes were pleading to me for help.  I told her not to push him, that he is really good at going potty if he needs to.  I am beginning to learn that my parents do not always know best.  I know Ryder best.

It is all a work in progress.  Everything is a work in progress.  He starts pre-school in a couple of weeks.  He doesn't need to be potty trained to go, but I am glad that he will be.  One less thing to stress about.

BlogHer Scavenger Hunt!

Hey Hey!  BlogHer just launched their scavenger hunt and guess who is involved?  No, silly.  Me!  Go play and learn some fun facts about some fun people.

To Spank or Not To Spank

I remember being spanked.  Not as much as I remember my brother being spanked, though.

My parents only spanked us while we were in diapers.  Which makes me wonder what we were doing at such a young age that was deserving of a spanking?  Everyone has their own ideas about corporal punishment, and I respect those ideas.  Personally, though, I do not spank my son.  I slapped his hand once and I thought I was going to die from the guilt.  I felt horrible.

The reason I do not spank, though, is it does not fit into my parenting philosophy.  Perhaps my philosophy would be different if my kid wasn't so good, but I do not think that is the case.  I believe in letting him make his own choices then learning the consequences of those decisions.  He didn't want to wear pajamas to bed the other night, so he learned that it is not comfortable to sleep in jeans.  He picks out what clothes he wants to wear.  If he doesn't want to get up in the morning, I step outside the door and he realizes that he doesn't want to be left alone.  It works for us.  It cuts down on arguing, fighting, and temper tantrums.  Of course, if safety is involved, I stand firm.  But I think because I stand firm on select issues, not a ton of them, he respects them more.  I pick my battles, as they say.

It works for us.

My sister sent me this article that talks about a study that links spanking to aggressive behavior.

Now researchers at Tulane University provide the strongest evidence yet against the use of spanking: of the nearly 2,500 youngsters in the study, those who were spanked more frequently at age 3 were more likely to be aggressive by age 5. The research supports earlier work on the pitfalls of corporal punishment, including a study by Duke University researchers that revealed that infants who were spanked at 12 months scored lower on cognitive tests at age 3.

 And because I like good experimental design:

The researchers accounted for factors such as acts of neglect by the mother, violence or aggression between the parents, maternal stress and depression, the mother's use of alcohol and drugs, and even whether the mother considered abortion while pregnant with the child.

Each of these factors contributed to children's aggressive behavior at age 5, but they could not explain all of the violent tendencies at that age. Further, the positive connection between spanking and aggression remained strong, even after these factors had been accounted for.

 The article goes onto explain that spanking doesn't allow the child to fully understand why he was spanked, just fear of being spanked again.  And the main reason that I do not spank, they say that spanking makes the child see that aggressive behavior is a solution to problems.  Can we scold a kid who hits another kid if he has been hit his whole life?

Numero Doscientos!

For my 200th post I thought about doing something really special.

I thought about having rides.  

Then I thought about getting some singing pirates.

Or maybe I would just do some fireworks.

But none of these things seemed right.

I am not into dog and pony shows.

I decided that Ryder and I would just thank our Loyal Readers.

 

Bridge to Terabithia

Our prompt:  What book captured your heart? Write about why the first book you loved is the first book you loved.

 

 The first book I loved was Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson.  I am not sure how old I was - nine? ten? twelve?  As I have mentioned before, this was the first book I'd ever read twice.

I fell in love with Leslie Burke on the first page she appears.  I wanted to be her best friend.  I wanted to go to her house and meet her parents.  She was so cool.

I grew up in Maine surrounded by woods.  At the far edge of the woods is a river.  Of course it seemed like the Mighty Mississippi when I was younger, but is actually barely on the town map.  We used to hang out at the river all the time.  We never went in, the water was too fast and there really wasn't anything on the other bank.  We always dreamt about a tire swing.

There really is no wonder why this book captured me like it did.  I wanted to be their friend and hang out in Terabithia with them.  Oh, what fun.

All of a sudden, I turn the page and Leslie is gone.  Dead.  Heart wrenching.  I felt Jesse's pain.  I felt like my best friend had just died too.  Somehow the grief does not kill anyone.  Somehow they all survive after she is gone.  Somehow the cow still needed to be milked.

This was probably the beginning of my love for the depressing.  I loved Where the Red Fern Grows, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Catcher in the Rye.  But Bridge to Terabithia was my first love.

Catching Up With Some Accolades

Remember this?  Well, I am paying it forward to..... Katie at Rooftop Melodies/Harmonies!

Let's see what Katie has won!!

No blogger/poet should be without something to jot all of those thoughts down on!

It reminded me of her blog - for some reason....

You can never have too much wisdom from Mother Teresa.  I hope Katie likes it <3

Yay Katie!  They should be at your house sometime in the near future.  Now it's your turn!

---------------

I got the Beautiful Blogger Award from Brea!  I guess there are some rules (as usual):

1. Thank the person who gave you this award.  Thanks Brea!
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pass the award along to 15 bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic!
4. Contact the bloggers you've picked and let them know about the award.

1. I really hoped that my child liked Spongebob when I was pregnant, but I never thought he'd love him so much.
2. Daycare is such a good excuse to get out of work at the same time everyday no matter what still needs to be done.
3. I feel like a bad mom all. the. time. even though I know I am not.
4. I have been craving cannolis for like three weeks now.
5. This is my 199th post.
6. I am pet sitting a gold fish and some plants and I feel like they might all die before my neighbor returns.
7. I have been eating very healthy lately so anything with too much fat or sugar makes me really sick.

Phew!  That was hard!

Okay, so passing it on... I have been real busy lately and haven't been able to catch up on the blogs I always read, so I haven't really started reading any new blogs.  Especially all of my Newest Loyal Readers.  So I pass it on to You. 

Consider yourself contacted ;)