Tuesday, November 30, 2010

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS

The Christmas music marathon has begun!
I am in the process of spreading Christmas cheer; I am making ultimate Christmas CDs by request for friends and family.

Everyone knows that I'm a Christmas nut; the problem is that I married the Grinch.

To be fair, Mark likes Christmas and all the lights and tree and stuff... he just absolutely detests all the work involved.

But our tree is up, our outside is decorated and our inside is 75% done. (we switch out glasses... that's how crazy I am.)


Monday, November 29, 2010

FANTASY LAND

We had really prepped her for this trip to Disney.
We selected the movies she watched based on what she was going to ride and who she would likely meet or see.

She was SO excited to be flying with Dumbo.

She loves all Carousels.

Being a Craven, she naturally loves ice cream too.

I think, by the end of the day, she had ridden on everybody, one way or another.
(mostly shoulders but she also rode on Mom-mom's wheelchair.)

Sunday, November 28, 2010

ABC's vs. Belle, Rose, Rella


Joey may not know her ABCs, but she knows her Belle, Rose & Rella.

Joey can sing 80% of her ABCs with me. Not so much on her own.
She can only identify correctly a handful in random play.

The thing is, she's just not interested.
Which is a first for me.
She has always been interested in learning everything. And she LOVES to be read to. Not just point out the pictures and tell her the names. She wants me to physically drag my finger across the words and read the story. Sometimes she drags my finger for me. And when she "reads" to herself, she drags her finger across the words on the page.

But she is just not interested in learning ABCs.
And that's okay.

She doesn't have to be advanced in everything, and technically she doesn't need to know them till the end of kindergarten. She's not even 2 yet.

The important thing, is that she keeps learning something.
That she keeps having her mind opened, involved, engaged.
That learning remains fun, and not something pushed onto her.

Who are Belle, Rose and Rella?
Beauty (from Beauty and the Beast) Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella.
Joey is taking advanced courses in Disney. (Anyone interested, I'm more than happy to teach.)
She knows her colors, all the animals on God's green earth and what sounds they make, and all the classic sing-a-long songs I could think of. (Ask me how many times I've sang The Wheels on the Bus. Go ahead. Ask me.)

She learns what she wants to.
And she loves learning because of it.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

DREAM ALONG WITH MICKEY

There is a show in front of the castle basically every hour (you can't walk through the castle anymore because of it.)

But it is a lovely show where good triumphs over evil and magic still exists if only we all believe.
Joey loved it. Except she was quiet upset that she could dance with them.
"I want Hi Rella!"
"I want Hi Rose!"



Wednesday, November 24, 2010

LADY BUG!

Nothing that Joey does frightens me more than when she exclaims "Lady Bug!"

You see, Joey calls ALL bugs, "lady bugs."
Cockroaches... dead or alive.
Mosquitoes
Flies
Ants
And yes... even real lady bugs.

So if you hear my daughter shout out, quite happily, "LADY BUG!"
Be afraid.
Be very afraid.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

GETCHA GETCHA



THE EXPERIENCE

No one talks about miscarriages.
I didn't know so many of my family and friends had had miscarriages until I shared that I was going to have one.

What I was told to expect and what actually happened, are two drastically different things.

And for the next person who might have to go through this, I'd like you to know before, not after, what you might expect.

I had been told to expect really bad menstrual cramps.
But, I had an early miscarriage. It was measuring 7 weeks, and according to dates I should have been 11 weeks (but we know that is off and that I conceived late.)

Even as early as I was, what I experienced was far above and beyond any period.
What I went through was closer to birth.

Mind you, I had natural birth with Joey.
Most of the contractions I had with the miscarriage were about 1/2 the pain of Joey's contractions. This doesn't make sense to me. It was disproportional to what was inside me.

Our original plan was to go through this at home, which is common. But I lost, what we though, was too much blood. Mark decided it was time to take me to the ER. Once we got there, I received pain medication. My objections to pain medication with Joey's birth was for the effects on the child. There wasn't going to be a child in this case, so drug me up.
They gave me demoral and I did not like it, and it barely took the edge of the pain. My contractions were worsening at a rate that even as they gave me more medicine, it made little or no difference on the pain. Then, I had a 3 to 5 minute (I'm a really bad judge of time) straight contraction. That long contraction, and the few leading up to it, were about 3/4 of the pain I had with Joey. After that, and adjusting my position, I passed what need to be passed and the contractions immediately stopped.

A miscarriage is more like birth than a period.
And the father along you are, the worse it gets. I have heard some real horror stories since this happened to me and people started sharing, and I realize that my experience was a good one, as far as miscarriages go.

I only hope my sharing can help the next woman be bettered prepared for what she is about to go through.


Sunday, November 14, 2010

MICKEY EARS

Joey got her Mickey Ears (Minnie, actually) straight away.
She was much more pleased by other people wearing them than herself.
The "Celebrate Your Life" parade started up and we had a great view from the our place in line to say hi to Daisy.
Like I said, everyone took a turn wearing Joey's Minnie Ears.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

"I WANT HI SNOW WHITE!"

Joey LOVED meeting the characters.
It may not always look it in the pics, but that is because she didn't want me to turn her around and make her face the camera. She wanted to look at the character more.

Joey told me "I want Hi Snow White" all the way through the line for Pluto and Pinocchio.

She freaked out on Pluto. Don't know why. And as we left, she was asking for him again.
Don't get it.
Daisy stopped, and had the line controller come over to see Joey's eyes.
Then we continued with our family pic.
She gave many of the characters hugs and kisses, but her favorites were Snow White & "Tanya" (Tiana). She wasn't as sure about Prince Naveen.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

FT. WILDERNESS

Joey wanted to pet the ponies, but not RIDE the ponies.
Maybe next year.

She did love exploring all the different playgrounds scattered through the campground.
But her FAVORITE thing was the water slide at the kiddie pool section of the Meadow Trading Post pool.
Don't worry, the water is heated.

A TOMBOY IN A PINK TUTU

I don't want Joey to be a sissy, but she can be girly if she wants.
There is a big difference.
Yes, you might find them both dressed in pink tutus playing with dolls.
But a girly girl can still wear her pink tutu while riding her ATV and doesn't mind to get dirty, play rough and have fun.
A sissy doesn't want to play sports because her hair will get messed up or she might sweat.

Joey can play dress up if she wants. She can like pink and love the princesses and have that high pitched little girl screech. Because when she comes home from pre-school, she is filthy. And stinks. Because she's playing hard on the playground. And she loves to climb and play outside and doesn't blink when she scraps her knee.
She is one tough girl.
But yes, her shoes match and her hair is done, and she knows it, and knows she is "too cute."

She's a tomboy... in a pink tutu.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

A LITTLE BIT OF PIXIE DUST

Joey's new thing. If you tell her to "SMILE" for the camera, she does this squinched Chinese face.
Not my favorite thing.

No one was allowed to touch the pumpkin.
Happy Halloween from us to you!

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

OUR LOSS

I am going to miscarry.
It has happened yet, and the weight of knowing that it will is like knowing the day you are going to die.
I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

We've been to the doctor's office, many times, there is no heartbeat, and it looks like the process has already begun naturally, no intervention will likely be required.

I know all the facts.
  • There is no reason.
  • I did nothing wrong.
  • It happens to a lot (probably most, if people would actually talk about such things) of women.
  • It doesn't mean it will happen again.
  • I'm still young enough.
  • I have one beautiful, healthy, perfect child; I can still have another.

There are worse case scenarios.
Giving birth to a child that was really wrong.
Having to make the choice to abort a really wrong fetus.
Really, truly and honestly, this is better.

We are really quite fine.
I am a very strong and rational woman.
But you still cry. You still wish. You still hope. You still regret. And since we shared our blessing with everyone, the hardest part is sharing our loss.

Let me share one more thing. An excerpt from my favorite author.

"It divided me from the people I knew, then and later, but in broader human terms I don't pretend that it sets me apart in any great way. A miscarriage is a naturally and common event. All told, probably more women have lost a child from this world than haven't. Most don't mention it, and they go on from day to day as if it hadn't happened, and so people imagine that a woman in this situation never really knew or loved what she had.
But ask her sometime: how old would your child be now? And she'll know."

Pg. 54, Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver

A LETTER TO ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN

Although I knew there wasn't a shot of her losing, it is still a disappointment to me.

Let me share with you, a letter I wrote her 3 years ago.



Ms. Ros-Lehtinen,

I cannot believe that this is the second time that you have sent a letter addressed to my house that began with “Dear Pro-Life Friend”. My husband and I are both registered Democrats, members of NOW (National Organization for Women), and Planned Parenthood. Surely your office has access to such information about its constituents. If your office does not have the political tendencies of its constituents in a database, and you sent these letters out blindly… how rude. How presumptuous. To automatically assume that the people you represent share your views on this matter is frankly quite stupid since the majority of the country supports a woman’s right to choose in poll after poll.

Sending this letter to our house, addressed in such a manner, leaves me deeply concerned about what kind of job you are doing on other things as well. As I have said, this letter was stupid. I am not intentionally trying to be rude; it is simply the best word for it. It tells me that either you are rude and presumptuous, or that your office has made the same mistake twice and isn’t very organized and isn’t doing a good job. What other issues, that I might even agree with you about, have been poorly effected by your callousness or your office’s ineptitude?

Obviously, I did not vote for you. And I obviously will not vote for you again. But this letter did have an effect on me. This letter pissed me off. I am going to become much more politically active this coming election. And I am going to volunteer my time, take time off of from work even, to support whoever runs against you.

Now I will address the actual contents of the letter. I knew you were a republican, and as a republican that you probably leaned towards the pro-life side. But I did not know to what degree. I cannot believe that you are one of those few republicans that actually agree with the president’s stance on stem cell research. I had a younger brother, Jimmy, who died of Brain Cancer. I’ve showed this letter to my parents, who are registered republicans, and I can tell you now that they will not be voting for you either next election.

I graduated FIU Cum Laude having majored in Religious Studies & Women’s Studies with a minor in History. I am a Christian. I am married and my husband and I plan to have children. And I’d like to tell you, as a Christian, that even Christ preached separation of Church and State. “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar’s, and unto God the things which be God’s” (Luke 20:25, King James Version).

He never forced his beliefs onto anyone, even sinners. He never tried to use the government, Jewish or Roman, to impose his morals onto others. You need to make an adult, conscious choice to follow Christ, and it is wrong to try to force others to live in accordance to his beliefs against their will. And by forcing them, all you do is make them resent Christianity and turn away from Christ’s message of love when the real mission of a true Christian is to be spreading that love. So obviously I am against the government trying to regulate any moral issue; for example: gay marriage and adoption, woman’s right to choose, prayer in school, prostitution, gambling.

I am arguing this from a Christian standpoint because obviously from a legal standpoint it is plainly wrong to try to legislate these moral issues. Not only because of the separation of church and state in the constitution, but because of the implicit right to privacy that is one of the many unmentioned rights that we as citizens reserved to ourselves in the 10th amendment. And to say it doesn’t exist, or to try to limit it, would be the realization of James Madison’s fear of the creation of the Bill of Rights in the first place. By naming out loud, those rights that we felt were so vital that they needed to be named aloud, did we put all those other rights that we also hold sacred in jeopardy by not naming them aloud as well? Would it have been better to have tried to write them all down… knowing we would forget one? Or would it have been better not to have mentioned any specific ones and stuck true to the sentiment that the government could only do what was explicitly stated and everything else was reserved for the people?

Do you realize the broader implications of what you are doing when you try to limit the extent of right to privacy? Have you thought about the other things, besides a woman’s right to choose that this will effect?

Now, scientifically, we could argue all day long about when life begins. I find it helpful to think about it from the other end. When a person is on life support, and a machine is doing all the work for them to keep them alive… are they still alive? The question for me is whether or not they are brain dead. Anybody else, like a coma victim for example, has a chance of coming back. But a person who is brain dead, is dead. There is no magical waking up, they isn’t even any dreaming or brain function at all while they are lying there. All you are doing is keeping a dead person’s body fresh. I had another little brother, Billy, who drowned in the pool and was pronounced brain dead at the hospital. He died of complications while on life support, sparing my parent’s that awful decision some families have to make.

Now for those people who like to talk about the “sanctity of life”, I ask are they a vegetarian? If not, they need to change their catch phrase. I believe they mean to say that all HUMAN life is sacred. And when does a bunch of cells become human? For me, I believe it is when brain waves develop. Because a body without a brain is dead, an embryo without brain waves is not alive. I know that a lot of these right-to-lifers eschew logic, but that seems logical to me.

Those that claim that life begins at conception are living in a very dark and depressing world. To think of all the fertilized eggs, all the embryos, that regularly get flushed away during a menstrual cycle and then flushed down the toilet, to think of them as babies is to constantly think of death…all around us. And that’s without a women being on birth control. Because at least when a woman is on birth control (oral contraceptive), her body will, most of the time, not release an egg in the first place because it already thinks it is pregnant. Someone who believes that life starts at conception must think of the pill as God’s greatest gift… all those deaths avoided.

And of course, when we talk about when life begins and when a fetus or embryo should be considered a baby, we should never forget that a woman’s health comes first. Even if she is at the end of her pregnancy, if it is threatening her health, then of course she and her doctor have the right, I would say the responsibility, to do whatever is necessary for her health. To hold a fetus’s supposed right to life above an already living woman’s right to stay alive and in good health is absolutely ludicrous.

Honestly, I would agree with some limits on abortions. No one has “abortions” in the third trimester anyways, unless the mother’s life is at risk. I also think that limiting second trimester abortions to those that risk the mother’s health would be understandable. A woman should have made a decision long before then on whether or not she wants to have a baby. I would, however, want it to remain open for a woman to go to a judge for special exceptions, like cases of incest, rape or extremely young age. She honestly might not have known she was pregnant… especially is she “spotted” through the beginning of the pregnancy.

But first trimester abortions should be left completely unrestricted, including for underage teens. The rights of a parent do not extend so far, that they can determine whether or not their daughter should be a mother. A parent that has a child in a situation of having an unwanted pregnancy (assuming she was not raped) has already failed as a parent by letting her become pregnant in the first place. Either they failed to instill in her the proper values, failed to provide her with contraceptives to protect her, or failed to instill in her enough self-esteem or self respect that she felt comfortable saying no. That she does not feel like she can go to them in her time of need, also says enough, just on its own.

Even though I think that the limits I mention above would be understandable, I would never actually vote for such limitations, or support anyone who would. I could never trust hard-core pro-lifers to stop at just that. It would just be the beginning of a slippery slope that would end in a woman being stripped of the right to control her own body.

I do not know where you stand on other important issues like saving our environment, healthcare and welfare reform, public school funding, and the war in Iraq. We might even agree on some of these issues. But then again, that does not seem to matter. The letter you sent to my home focused on your devotion to the pro-life cause; I’ve never received a letter informing me about what you have done or accomplished in other fields. From that, I take it that this is what matters most to you. And since it is my second most important issue (saving the environment is my number one concern) it makes me care less where you stand on the other issues because I already know that I can never support you. Have you thought about how many other voters, both republican and democrat, who might share your views on all the other issues, whom you have alienated now by sharing with them your radical belief in the hard-core pro-life movement?

Please do not send any more letters to our home. We don’t like hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Michelle Craven & Mark Meyers

Monday, November 1, 2010

VOTING GUIDE

1st, what and who.
Then, the why.

US Senate: Charlie Christ
Representative in Congress, District 18: Rolando Banciella
Governor: Alex Sink
Attorney General: Dan Gelber
Chief Financial Officer: Loranne Ausley
Commissioner of Agriculture: Scott Maddox
State Senator: Michelle Craven (or your favorite write in, just anyone but de la Port-a-let.)
Justice Retention:
Charles T Candy: No
Jorge Labarga: Undecided but will probably vote yes.
James E. C. Perry: Yes
Ricky L Polston: No
Frank A Shepherd: No
Linda A Wells: Yes
Board of County Commissioners, District 8: Eugene Flinn
Amendment 1: No
Amendment 2: Yes
Amendment 4: Yes
Amendment 5: Yes
Amendment 6: Yes
Amendment 8: No
County Question: Yes (but not researched, just sounded right)

Okay, now why?

  • I've heard too many stories about Meeks, and his mother for that matter. No thank you.

  • I started to really like Christ when he voted against SB 6, the bill that would have based everything on FCAT scores, including teacher pay. I like him more after seeing that he has made some moderate judge appointments while in office and even vetoed an abortion bill. He is kinda pro-choiceish.
He really is an independent, and we need more of those.
  • Rick Scott is a thief and I don't know how it is even legal for him to run.
  • Dan Gelber, Loranne Ausley and Scott Maddox are simply the democratic candidates.
  • Portilla is an ass. He is a seriously republican, pro choice, posturing ass and I will vote anyone else instead. I plan to write my own name, and invite you to join me.
  • Justice Charles Canady is has been given a 100% support rating from the Christian Coalition. I basically vote opposite of what they do. He is one of those crazy Christian's that is pro-life, anti-gay, pray in school, even anti contraception.
  • Justice Labarga is a tough choice. He is republican and he did keep the revote from happening in the Bush/Gore 2000 election. Yes, that was his fault. And he might be pro-lifeish. So that makes me lean no. But he just really pissed off the Tea party by blocking the amendment to vote against the Obama Health Care Plan. In my research, I also found that the Christian Coalition considers him a moderate, and other uber Christian types voted against retaining him. That makes me lean to voting yes, to retain him. And I think that is what I will do because it is better to deal with the devil you know then the devil you don't: if he wasn't retained, what could we end up with? Especially if Rubio wins?
  • Justice Perry is a definite yes. He is pro choice and pro gay. And he pissed the Tea Party off to boot.
  • Justice Polston is another crazy Christian guy. He is a deacon, has 10 kids and is strongly supported by the Christian Coalition. Pro life, anti gay and a big NO vote from me.
  • Judge Frank A Shepherd is the guy responsible for not letting gays adopt. Asshole.
  • Judge Linda Ann Wells - Not a lot of info on her. But, will vote yes to retain. Again, not enough wrong to wish for something better.
  • Lynda Bell is a crazy Christian. She is strongly anti gay and pro life. Keep her out of politics. Katie Sorenson supports Eugene Flynn.
  • Amendment 1 - Helps fund people against Rick Scott types. And, before Rick Scott filed that law suit, it kinda help cap spending, because if you spent more than the limit, then government would continue matching what your opponent raised beyond the limit as well.
  • Amendment 2- No brainer.
  • Amendment 4 - I want more say in land development. Basically, absolutely no development in the Everglades or beyond the UDB (Urban Development Boundary) We are already over developed, remember the real estate crash? Yes, some of the wording could be more clear. But another amendment can clear that up so we are voting on the little stuff too. It is more important to give this control to the people first.
  • Amendment 5 & 6 - YEAH! Stop Gerrymandering!
  • Amendment 8 - With the amount of discipline issues we teachers have to deal with (P.S. go home and spank your child, I'm sure he deserves it for something) and the paperwork, we can't have more then 25. We frankly don't have time to teach, let alone have one on one time with any specific students.


CLIMBING