motherhood, politics, faith & whatnot

Shyness - The Boston Globe

This is wonderful.

What iPads Did To My Family - Chuck’s Blog

I want one!

Gulf Oil Spill: Fact and Figures | PBS NewsHour | May 3, 2010 | PBS

Bye-Bye, Facebook « The Baseline Scenario

Facebook’s Gone Rogue; It’s Time for an Open Alternative | Epicenter | Wired.com

the other night. One thing she said has stuck in my mind that might be worth sharing. Our job as parents is to work ourselves out of a job. Today, I was grousing at Daniel and he broke down in tears, saying “I just want you to have a good Mother’s Day.” Oh, I felt so bad. I decided to have him help me fix lunch for all of us. I had him get out plates , the fillings, etc. I could tell he really enjoyed being helpful.

Both boys want to do more and help more, but we get frustrated because we don’t have the time to teach them, they go too slowly, or we are don’t want them to make a mess that we’ll end up cleaning up, etc. The thing is we need to do more of this. At the end of each day, if we have taught them one thing, no matter how little, we are making progress. This doesn’t mean that we have to involve them in everything as the day goes along. Even just one thing. Maybe tomorrow, it will be checking and washing faces after each meal.

guide to using wordpress.org (hosted)

we, ourselves, need to create. Many times I spend the evening surfing the net. The sites I go to don’t vary that much. The internet is so vast and so full of useless content that in limited time to look at the internets, I stick with what’s familiar. But sometimes, I’m restlessly clicking around between my usual sites, not really reading any of them, even though there is plenty to read.

Perhaps, rather than continuing to futilely search for content that is interesting to me, I need to create my own content. I’m not disparaging what’s out there, at all. But rather, maybe I’m wrestling with something that is distracting me from reading other people’s stuff. It’s up close and I can’t look around it anymore.

What’s on my mind? A lot. Two weeks back of working full-time during exams and I’m exhausted and frustrated. I spend all day at work and am exhausted at night. But, my brain hasn’t been exorcised of its need to gnaw on something each day, but yet I’m too tired at night to do anything about this, except wait for it to end.

And it has! Yay!

Today, I’ve been following the lowering of the cap down 5000+ ft to cover the oil eruption in the Gulf. I hope it works.

I’m also keenly interested in privacy issues surrounding FB, and have posted a bunch of stuff on Tumblr about it.

So, that is all for now. I’m watching Bill Maher’s program. Jim has nodded off on the couch next to me. A pretty nice Friday night, all in all.

My 96(?) year-old grandmother is failing and could go anytime now. And up until Friday, we were awaiting the arrival of my nephew. He arrived on Friday. Yesterday, I talked to my brother who told me his name is John David M. Will be called Jack for short. Now, I’m waiting for the pictures to be sent. Just as Jack’s birth was a little overdue, Grandma’s passing is a little overdue. She’s lived in a nursing home for the last 10 (?) years or so. All of her possession pared down to what will fit into 1/2 of a room shared with someone else. Though tenaciously in possession of her mind, her hearing and now her vision are failing her. In the way that people who are dying seem to do, she see her loved ones, siblings long gone, in the corner of her room. I hope my life doesn’t end the way hers is — living this way, confined to 1/2 of a room in a place full of people in varying grades of dementia. I pray for an end to her misery. And so that I can stop feeling guilty for not going to see her more often. Pretty selfish? Don’t we all have thoughts/feelings like this in us?

motherhood: home with boyo #1 who has the swine flu. He seems to be fever free, but is pretty lethargic and doesn’t have a great appetite. I’m working 1/2 days which I kind of like.
Faith: We are changing churches and I’m hopeful that we’ve found a true church home, sense of community where we can be spiritually nurtured and grow in our faith.
politics: eh. I wonder if Obama is becoming overexposed. He’s not as savvy as he was on the campaign trail, which is to be expected, really. Running a campaign is not exactly like being President. I’m hoping he finds his footing and I suspect he will — he’s a fast learner.
whatnot: I’m exploring different career options, paths. . . more in another post.