Status Shuffle Frame of Mind

I watched "The Social Network" a few days ago.  It was eye opening.  I know it was just a movie, but it WAS based on actual events that occurred as Facebook came into being.  Now, several years later, it has changed the world.  We all communicate in 140 characters or less.  Quirky, funny, whiny, whatever.  We have a friend list full of people we know, or knew once, or met once.  It even changed the way we think.  Yes, think.  How many times have you said "Oh my god, I have to Facebook that!"  Or "Check out what I posted on Facebook!"  Do I HAVE to go online to check it out?  Can't you just tell me??


Have you ever caught yourself thinking in Facebook status mode?  As I'm going through my day I realize the thoughts that flow through my head are something like:

• Rachel is waiting for her pants to dry before going to work, cuz she forgot to put them in the dryer last night.
• Rachel is on her way to work, and running late, but MUST stop to take a picture of this sunrise.
• Rachel is on Facebook, while watching the movie ABOUT Facebook, LOL.
• One batch down, one to go.  Who wants zucchini bread?  Too bad, it's all mine.

Then I catch myself analyzing each of these thoughts.  How many "likes" would that status bring?  Is it funny?  Is it inspiring?  Is it whiny?  Or would it make someone think "Who the < insert expletive of choice here> cares?!?!"  If the last is true, the thought gets discarded and I move on.  Facebook has "status shuffle", I have "thought shuffle".  I am convinced this is a sign of a serious addiction to Facebook.  Does anyone know where the nearest Facebook-aholics Anonymous Meeting is??

Benefits of Whining

We aren't big on spanking.  We regularly use time-out as punishment for our children.  Time-out, away from family, friends, toys, books, etc.  1 minute for every year of their age.  When Brandon was little, before he could calculate how much time he had left, he would say "Mommy, can I come out yet?"  He would ask this every 2 minutes, sometimes yelling it, sometimes quietly asking, or sometimes whining.  It drove me up a flipping wall.  I used to say back to him "I'll tell you when it's time to come out!"  

Now we use the same method with Madison.  She is now 8.  So when she does wrong, she has to sit on her bed without toys or books or music, with her bedroom door closed for 8 minutes.  Where Brandon cried, kicked, screamed.......she just hangs her head and quietly walks to her bed.  She sits down and quietly takes her punishment.  Great!  What an improvement over the fights we had with Brandon.  I realize now that it was a good thing Brandon asked every 2 minutes.  I have a short attention span. (compare me to Dory from "Finding Nemo") I am ashamed to admit it, but when Madison takes her punishment so quietly, I start doing something else, and - 8 minutes later- I have forgotten that she is on her bed rather than outside or playing with Barbies on her bedroom floor.  How awful for a parent to forget that her child is sitting on her bed, patiently waiting to be released!!!  Awful!  Have no fear, I have not left her on her bed for hours at a time.  Merely a few minutes longer than intended.  But it makes me feel like a horrible parent.

Cast, Characters, and Setting - part 2

This past weekend, I was home alone.  All weekend.  My husband and kids were out of town.  Most of you moms are now going "Woo-hoo!" because I know that most people enjoy having time alone.  I enjoy my "me time" too.  But I prefer mine in small increments, like hours, not weekends.  And especially when I'm home alone and they go to Grand Marais.  I just sit at home and sulk.  This weekend was the 30th Annual Grand Marais Music and Arts Festival.  I don't even remember the last time I wasn't at the festival.  My best friend, Megan, and I (and sometimes my brother or sister) will take our kids over.  We walk around and check out all the arts and crafts vendors, then we adults set up chairs for ourselves, with a cooler full of various beverages in the wagon (who wants to carry a full cooler when you can put your kids' wagon to good use?!?!).  It takes place in a baseball field, and we try to position ourselves toward the back of the crowd.  You can still hear the music and see the band, and there's plenty of room for the kids to run around without bumping into too many drunks (they have a hard enough time walking straight, they don't need a bunch of kids knocking them over).  The music continues until dark, and the night is topped off by a fireworks show.  Most years, we then put the kids to bed and continue our fun at the bar.

So this year, I didn't get the weekend off from work.  You can't have 'em all, I guess.  So Carl and the kids went without me. I think everyone knew I felt left-behind because all weekend they were sending picture messages to my phone.  I now have 11 festival pictures on my phone: my sister Sarah at work, Sarah and Megan at the festival, Carl at the festival, 2 pictures of a Betty Boop decorated car, Madison (my daughter) with her face painted, an agate beach sunset, 2 pictures of fireworks and.........a picture of ketchup in the grass???  Yep.   Because it looks like a question mark.  They said that they missed me.  Awwwwww, I know. :)  I feel special and loved.  I have to admit though, that a small part of me took some perverse pleasure in the fact that they didn't have as much fun without me.

Oh!  Introductions!  That's what this is supposed to be about, right?  Ok.  So there's my husband Carl.  My kids Brandon and Madison.  My sister Sarah - she has 2 kids.  My brother Steven - he has 3 kids.  And my best friend Megan - she also has 2 kids.  And when I say best friend I mean BEST BEST friend.  We've known each other for 19 years (20 year friend-iversary next year LOL).  We've had arguments about stupid things, we got in trouble for passing notes in school, we helped each other with boyfriends and breakups, and we've had many, many mishappen adventures together.

For instance, last summer we decided to get pictures of the Au Sable Lighthouse at sunset time.  We ignored a local's warning about the flies being bad, loaded our kids up in the car and drove the 13 miles or so out to the Hurricane River.  From there it's a (I believe) 1.5 mile hike to the lighthouse.  Guess what?  The flies were bad.  No, not just bad, but BAAAAAD.  Swarming.....biting.....Did that deter us?  NO!!  Well, it did deter the kids.  They ran back and stayed in the car.  Megan and I pressed on, pine boughs in hand, swatting flies left and right and walking as fast as we could, laughing our heads off all along the way.  We DID learn that when you have a layer of flies on your pant legs, DON'T swat them off.  Know what happens?  They swarm your head instead.  We made it to the lighthouse, and we got our pictures.  THEN came the walk back, in the DARK, through the WOODS.  *Gulp* There's bears in them woods!  Still swatting at flies, we hurried back to the car with headlamps lighting our way, singing songs at the top of our lungs.  If that didn't keep the bears away, nothing would.  We arrived back at the car - sweaty, bitten and blistered - only to discover that the boys had been listening to the radio while we were on our little trek, and they had run the battery dead.  FINALLY, after getting a jump from a random camper in the Hurricane campground, we made it back home.  Comedy at its best.  And that was a fairly normal adventure for us.  Ii wonder what trouble we'll get into next.  Summer's not quite over yet!!

Cast, Characters, and Setting - part 1

For those of you who may have stumbled onto this blog by accident, looking for something worthwhile to read, and don't know me.....or perhaps for those of you who think you know me.........but don't.......I thought I would introduce myself, and those who will probably star in many of my future ramblings, a little more thoroughly.  My name is Rachel.

Daughter, grand-daughter, sister, wife, mother.   I celebrated my 33^rd birthday and my 13^th anniversary this year.    I recently diagnosed myself with social anxiety.  Yep, diagnosed myself.  Just call me “Doc.”  I have no intention of going to a psychologist so they can tell me what I already know.  Low self-esteem, a little paranoia thrown in, with the occasional anxiety attack over nothing.  Yea, I warned you there was craziness.  But at least I have a sense of humor.  I can laugh at my own problems, thereby helping me get over them.  So, now that you all know about the voices in my head (insert evil cackle here), let’s move on. 

I like to write poetry.  When I experience strong emotions, words just seem to fly from my pen in rhyme.  Perhaps I will share some here in my blog.  But not today.  Photography is my hobby, passion and, hopefully, future means of income.  Shameless plug: If you live in the Petoskey area, and would like some pictures taken (family, kids, wedding, etc) get a hold of me!

That’s probably enough about me for now.  I don’t want to scare anyone away.  So how about a quick go-over of my favorite people and places.  Well, place.  There’s one place on this beautiful earth that I love more than anywhere else: Grand Marais.  It’s a tiny town on Lake Superior.  Growing up, you can’t wait to get away because there’s “nothing to do” and “nowhere to go”.   But now, like many others, the small town life calls to me.  Aside from the beaches with their warm sand and cool water, there’s also the sand dunes, the falls, so many woods to explore.  My favorite thing to do in Grand Marais, though, is nothing.  I know this sounds funny, but picture this.  You, a few members of your large family, and your best friend, have just finished dinner (where there’s always enough food to feed whoever may stop by too), dishes are done, and now you’re sitting on the porch, beverage of choice in hand.  The kids are running around the yard, playing in the sandbox, swinging on the tree swing, or drawing on the sidewalk with chalk.  You wave at everyone who passes by because they a) went to your school too, b) are another family member or b) a regular visitor to the town.  And though you may not have spoken with the people you are sitting with in a few hours, a few weeks, or even a few months (my last visit included a cousin I hadn't seen in many years), conversation flows readily, punctuated with much laughter, and pauses are never awkward. 

To be continued……. 

Hello World!

Once upon a time, a friend suggested I write a book.  A romance, to be specific.  I've read enough of them to know how it works: boy meets girl, they can't stand each other but are forced into some perilous situation together.  While working themselves out of said situation, they each secretly fall in love with each other but refuse to give in and say so.  The perilous situation comes to a crescendo with a near-death experience, during which one of them confesses his or her love for the other.  There is then a miraculous recovery, and a declaration of devoted love from both parties.  Then they get married and live happily ever after.

I did a little research and picked an approximate year for the story to take place, a basic storyline which would inject plenty of conflict.  I found out the style of clothing people wore in that time, what towns existed and which didn't, which methods of transportation were common.  I even went so far as to create characters with individual personalities.  This "book" that my friend suggested, has a chapter 1.  Exciting right?  But It's hard to turn that one chapter into the whole story that's in my head.  Plus, my thoughts are always a little scattered.  As I try to write more, my mind wanders to bills that need paying, things around the house that need cleaning, the weeds in the garden that need to be pulled, etc.  Some would probably call it ADD.

So, when this same friend, more recently, suggested I started blogging, it got me thinking.  I like facebook.  I like to come up with something witty or meaningful for my facebook profile.  But sometimes, what I have to say takes MUCH more than the allotted 140 characters (or at least the limit USED to be 140 characters, but that seems to have been changed recently).  So the idea of a blog interested me.  I don't have a theme.  Each blog update won't talk about the same thing.  Updates probably will not come in regular intervals.  Heck ,I can't even promise that each update will be witty, meaningful, funny, or even worth reading.  It may read like a  comical story, or a colorful drama.  But it may also read like the maniacal thoughts that go through my head in run-on sentences, one thought not necessarily connected with the other in any way shape or form, bouncing from one thought to another without stopping for breath.

So here I go, sharing my craziness with the world.  Enjoy!  And please feel free to leave comments below.