Just putting something on here
...to get the shoe post off the top.
So there are too many unspeakably bad things to post about at the moment. I just don't want to get into any of them right now. The news itself is enough. Maybe some other time.
I hope this doesn't come across as minimizing the various tragedies that have unfolded in the last several days, but I recently heard a man on the radio quoting his grandmother who said something along the lines of, "If you focus on the bad, you miss out on the good." And I need to focus on Good tonight.
So here are some Good Things. Or at least no worse than Neutral.
- I bought the ugly shoes. Man I hope they last. (But not on Black Friday. The only purchase we made yesterday was food. You couldn't pay me to participate in that "holiday".)
- Despite what our "official" total says on the sidebar, our daughter's service dog fundraising could be done as soon as next week. We may even overshoot our goal. We can't believe it. The generosity, despite what's been going on in the economy, has been heartwarming to say the least. We may have that dog as soon as May.
- One side effect of the above is that it's made me really want to contribute more to local charities. Nothing against the big and/or international organizations like the Red Cross or Heifer International. I'm all for them. But now that we've been on the receiving end of charity, I want to do the same for other people. And I want it to be as local and as direct as possible. (Tip: Food pantries in many communities are really struggling right now.)
- Speaking of making things more local and direct, we found a neighbor just a few miles from us who is living out much of what we were aiming for. They have a small farm growing fruits, veggies, and pastured poultry. They're actually doing it quite well (unlike us at this point!). We bought a turkey from them. (They were nice enough to throw in a chicken too.) They said we could use their plucker and other facilities if we ever wanted to, which is awesome because for me, plucking was my least favorite part of butchering. Okay, second least favorite part. Anyway, I offered to help them out any time they needed it, in hopes of learning a few things.
- Sourdough breadcrumbs make excellent breading for chicken. Also, brining a turkey works really well.
- We have nearly weaned ourselves off satellite TV channels, so it might just be time to ditch it.
- I found a very cool online American Sign Language course. I don't know exactly why, but I've been wanting to learn ASL for a while. So now I get to try.
So what are some Good Things in your life?
--
Labels: perspective, ramblings
posted by e4 @ 11/29/2008 09:31:00 PM
7
comments
7 Comments:
After... ahem, 27 years... I have applied to go back to school to get licensed in the medical field. Back when dinosaurs walked the earth I took ASL classes just for fun. That site you listed looks great, and I plan to give it a try! I think it would be handy if/when I get into a patient setting!
Today I played my alto recorder with the church organist for today's prelude before the service. I haven't played since 2003 and even with a stupidly simple melody (O Come O Come Emmanuel) and three days of practice, I only screwed up a couple times. The good part was that several people came up to me after the service and told me how wonderful I sounded (the organist told me that given how not picky this congregation was, no matter what I did people would tell me they loved it and want to take me to lunch. He was right except for the lunch part). The other good part is that one person outed herself as having played recorder before and the wife of someone outed him the same way. Hm. Perhaps I'll pull together a little recorder group for my church. The organist can work with anybody so I might just get people to go dig out their recorders and get together if just during the Christmas season.
I'm struggling with some not so good things, too, so I appreciate the focus on the good. Thank you!
Kerri in AK
Yay! I'm so excited for you that you'll be getting your dog soon. And sign language might actually be a very good way for you to learn to communicate with your daughter ... or so I've heard - plus, it's just fun ;).
I like that you've decided to focus on the positive. As for me, my life is incredible, and I'm thankful daily :).
FWIW my dd (who is now very verbal, if not easily understood due what her unique understanding of grammer) communicated with about 30 signs, some ASL, some home-made for a couple of years before she really started talking. No idea if this would work with your family, or if you've tried it.
So glad to hear about the dog.
MEA
Thanks for adding your positives to the mix everybody.
We've tried signs with our daughter, without success so far. I think the problem is that she sees everything very literally. For example, we use picture cards for communication. She does fine with photos, but not with illustrations. I think she's not picking up on a level of abstraction that's necessary for language (either signs, pictures, or spoken words).
But... that's still one reason I'm interested. You never know what will click one day.
I'm also interested in Baby Signs for our youngest. We did this with our older son (and our daughter) and at least with him, it worked really well, allowing him to communicate even before he could speak.
In other good news, the second stomach bug in two weeks has gotten my weight loss plans off to a great start! And as of tonight, I can actually drink water without it having any hint of vomit taste!
Actually, I feel *much* better than yesterday. Still a little ways to go, but hopefully a good night's sleep will finish this bug off.
Agree about the turkey brine. We brined then smoked our turkey this year. Amazingly juicy and tasty, plus the carcass made for an excellent soup stock afterwards.
Good luck and speed getting the service dog!
Thanks for the ASL link. I wanted to incorporate this for our homeschool lessons (and for survival purposes - can you imagine being across the way from someone at an amusement park or another place, and needing to talk, but being too far to hear? It'd be GREAT for that. And I suppose you're using it for your daughter - it works GREAT for my aunt (whose son has a disability and can't communicate with many words).
-aNNa
Post a Comment
<< Home