Multifaceted Mama

Miss California and her anti-gay platform
You know, I am all about freedom of speech and freedom of opinion.  I respect the strength it has to take to stand up for Miss California to stand up for her beliefs on gay marriage, knowing how unpopular and controversial those beliefs are.  But I just don’t see her as the symbol of America’s feelings on the subject that she seems to think she is.  I have heard her repeatedly state that she is protecting traditional marriage.  I don’t know, but something about the way she saids it just drives me nuts.  She makes a lot of cliched statements, but doesn’t ever really explain them.  How do you take this kind of stance without explaining your reasoning in depth?  It just seems like an almost arrogant position to put herself in,… The Protector of Marriage.  Protect it against what, exactly?  Does she think that brigades of gay men and women are going to go door to door, trying to convert the vulnerable straight people?  I just don’t get this idea that society needs protecting from the marriage of same sex couples.  I totally understand the religious views of the subject, and while I don’t personally agree with that view, I respect the belief.  What I don’t understand is why it matters so much.  Even if you don’t believe in same-sex marriage, how is it going to affect your life if two same-gendered people enter into marriage?  It is their marriage, their choice, their lives.  Why is it so personally offensive to those who don’t accept the idea?  No personal harm is being done to you, so why is it any of your business?  What gives you the right to judge?  It is about respect.  You don’t have to agree with it, or even understand it, but there should be respect.  Respect for freedom,… freedom of choice, of religion, of beliefs, of sexuality.

Life’s a bitch, and so am I.
Or so the general consensus says.  The past several days in my world have been rather enlightening for me, and not necessarily in a good way.  All it really did was leave me feeling like I was attacked and that I just can’t win, no matter what I do.  I don’t even think the whole situation even needed to happen, much less in the way that it did.  No matter how hurt and offended I was, I tried really hard to temper my words to avoid causing any more pain or offensiveness than was absolutely necessary to stand up for myself.  But I definately didn’t get the same consideration and I guess that really bothers me.  I guess I believe that one person doesn’t have the right to trivialize or ridicule the feelings of another, even if they don’t agree.  And that is exactly what happened and I didn’t deserve it.  You just don’t talk to somebody the way I was talked to and expect them to not be offended and hurt by it.  I just don’t like being made to feel that I don’t have a right to be angry or hurt or offended.  It just makes me feel that it doesn’t really matter how I am feeling.  It doesn’t matter if you agree with me or not, it is just a matter of a little respect for the fact that I am allowed to feel however I want and that those feelings are just as valid, important and legitimate as your own.  I know I will get over it, but that doesn’t happen overnight, at least for me.

The quickest way to turn me into a flaming bitch is to be an ass of a neighbor.  And I am well on my way to being a complete flaming bitch.  I am normally pretty laid back about noise around here, because to some extent, it just goes with living in an apartment building and with families with little kids.  These buildings are definately not soundproofed and I live in a downstairs unit, so I have to expect a certain amount of overhead noise.  I am totally okay with all of that, way more okay than Corey would be if he were here.

But this shit is getting ridiculous, and it isn’t just the noise.  As I sit here and type this, I am sitting at my desk, about 10′ from my TV.  And I have to have the volume up ridiculously high just to hear it.  My walls are shaking hard enough that it knocked a picture off the wall and onto the cat, minding her own business and sleeping on the couch.

To top it off, there are about a billion little kids and nobody is watching any of them.  They are all 6 and under and they are all over the place with not a single adult out there.  Ty is out, too, but he is with Ka’lani who is 12 and totally capable.  Scott is out, too, but he has rules and follows them, going only where he tells me he is going.  The moms are out of town and the two fathers are paying zero attention to any of them.  And just now, I heard a crash outside my door, and it was one of the little ones from upstairs.  He had fallen down the stairs and was crying.  I opened my door to see if he was okay and his dad appeared at the top of the stairs, screaming at him for crying, wanting to know why.  I told him his kid fell down the stairs and he didn’t even respond.  All he did was yell at the kid who was standing in front of me scared and crying and tell him to shut up, that he had a bike helmet on and should be fine.  He didn’t even walk his lazy ass down the stairs or even respond to me.  The kid is only about 2 years old, for God’s sake.  He yelled for the kid to come upstairs, whereupon I t urned around and slammed my door shut.  Between his music and his bullshit, I have about had it!

Some of it is just stupid stuff that just shouldn’t even be an issue.  The little ones have made a mud hole out of my neighbor’s lawn, right next to my parking slot.  They have taken to filling buckets of the stuff and dumping it on MY truck.  My kids wouldn’t even think to do that, especially to someone else’s car.  WTF?!!  And do any of them even offer to clean it up?  Of course not.  I even found ice cream smeared all over it a few days ago, the day after I had it cleaned at the dealers.  I was pissed right the hell off.  They have COVERED the common entrance sidewalk and walls with mud and the parents know it.  And no one has even made the effort to clean it up so we are all walking through it and tracking it into our houses.  You are damn straight that if my kids did it, their little asses would be out there cleaning the shit up.

At least when the moms are here, it is a little better.  One of the moms is just fine, the other one, the one that belongs with this asshole, is marginally better than the husband.  But I am about ready to turn the flaming bitch switch on and go combat on their asses.  What the hell happened to common courtesy and manners?  I rarely say shit about the music or the loud partying, and I don’t get up in their faces about shit, but this is ridiculous.  The few times I have said anything, I have been beyond polite, for all the good it has done me.  Grow the hell up!!

Spring Concert Fun
Last night, Scott and Ty had their annual Spring Concert, which I always love!  So they got dressed to the nines for it and they looked WONDERFUL, but, of course, I may be biased!  The pics below are clickable to see full size!

I took a bunch of Ty during his part of the concert, but didn’t realize until it was too late that the camera was on the wrong setting so the pictures pretty much suck! He was too funny up there, though. He doesn’t like to sing out loud in public because he is self conscious about his speech, so he lip syncs and does the movements instead. And he was boogying down up there to the music. After every one, he did the Richard Nixon peace sign thing for some reason known only to him! We were sitting right in front of Ka’lani’s teacher, whose daughter was standing next to Ty on stage, and she giggled throughout their part because of Ty and his antics. It was too funny! Here are some pics, also clickable!

I also got some of Scott during his part, too. They did some dances to some of the songs, which was really cute. He was having a hell of a good time up there doing his thing. They also did a dramatic reading and he got a solo, hence the pic with the hat!

All in all, the evening was a success,… until we got home!

Evening Drama
No sooner did we pull into the driveway, and my neighbor Crystal came running out with a washcloth clutched to her head.  Apparently, she had been playing with her 7 week old puppy and the puppy’s tooth caught her ear lobe in the earring hole and tore her ear.  ICK!  Poor Crystal was bleeding up a storm and their truck is broken, so I took her to the ER to get it fixed.  It was fairly deep but they don’t like to stitch animal bites because of infection, so they cleaned it (OUCH!!), put butterfly strips on it and doped her with antibiotics.  I got home, and not 2 hours later, I heard Ty in bed, coughing like he was dying.  I don’t know what happened there, because he had been perfectly fine when he went to bed, but he sounded really bronchial and croupy.  He was coughing so hard that he was losing breath,  I ended up putting him in bed with me, and he slept most of the night practically sitting upright.  He coughed all night long, which means Mama got no sleep!  He is still in my bed, not even feeling like getting up and eating.  Poor little guy.

Wishing Donovan luck!
Today is the Sustainable Energy science fair at SUNY Canton and Donovan and three of his friends entered a project for the competition.  They built a windmill, and did a big PowerPoint presentation for it.  I was supposed to go today, but can’t now because of sick boy.     So he headed off with my camera and I hope they do well.  These kids have worked HARD on it and the whole thing was right up Donovan’s alley, with all his interest in living green.  He even dressed for the part in earthy colors, and yes, it was a conscious choice on his part!

Mood: cheerful  TV: The Today Show