Mangez Plus De Coq

I may or may not have taken a little liberty with that translation but... freedom of speech!

I am fascinated by the reaction to the recent boycott of Chik-Fil-A.  I also find it confusing that groups of people who claim to support Chik-Fil-A under the guise of "freedom of speech" are making such blatant attacks against people who are simply exercising their... Freedom of Speech.  I suppose it's only OK when what people are saying jives with your personal belief system?

I wonder...

if we were to find out that privately held fast food chain Chicken Partz was donating money to organizations that went out of their way to support an agenda that kept people with hazel eyes from being able to marry other people with hazel eyes would this still be an issue of free speech?  Would you still choose to spend your money on their MSG soaked product and create a special Eat More Chicken day just to show your support for their right to keep people with Hazel eyes from participating in a legal union?  If so then... strange...  but more power to you.  That is in fact your right.  As it is my right to eat less chicken (in fact I choose to eat no chicken) and not have my money go to support an agenda which would keep people who I hold very dear from being able to enjoy the basic right to spend their life in legal union with the person they love. Even if they happen to both have hazel eyes.

Chik-Fil-A has every right to donate money to what ever organization they chose.  I have every right to not spend money there and let people know why.

GOD!  Don't you LOVE this country!!

Anniversaries, Land Hurricanes, and Insomnia. Trifecta!

No matter how much I would like to get my hands on every calendar before it is printed and edit out June 29 I know it will still happen.   Every year.  Right between June 28th and June 30th.  Forever.
 8 Years ago I lost my baby sister.  I hate that term... "lost"... I know exactly where she is.
It's horrible that an accident should take someone so young and so full of life.  15 years old.
The most difficult part of turning 30 for me was the realization that I have lived twice as many years as she was given.  Logically I know there is no reason to feel guilt over something like that... emotionally however it makes me dry heave.  Emotional dry heaves are unpleasant and a special kind of uncomfortable.  This year however was slightly different.  Not better.  I don't think it will ever be better, but different... I think I can work with different.

Friday evening brought an interesting weather experience to our area.  To say the least.  I had never even HEARD of a "land hurricane" but apparently, from time to time, these beasts do rear their ugly heads.  Jeff and I ended up hanging out in the basement hoping that it just sounded a lot worse than it was.  Turns out it was pretty bad.  Luckily our property wasn't horribly damaged.  We just lost the top of a tree and some shingles.  We went out Saturday morning to get roofing materials and Lowes was so busy I had to ask a random group of contractors if any of them could help me pick out the type of roofing cement I needed.  Lowes is typically one of the places I can't spend more than 15 minutes in before becoming nauseous and disoriented but this time I managed to make it through while holding a conversation with a complete stranger.  WIN!  When we got home we discovered that someone had taken care of our downed tree problem.  My goal is to discover who is responsible and bake them cookies.

The girls enjoyed their weekend with the grandparents in Lynchburg even without electricity.  Piper has discovered a love for gymnastics and they both tried to qualify for the men's 50 meter free style but both ended up finishing about 1,150 miles away.

Insomnia seems to have returned.  I hope that the flare this is inevitably leading up to isn't too long lasting.  I guess land hurricanes should be expected to bring fibro flares along with the neighbors trash can.

Trying to look forward to the 4th of July and spending some extra time with my favorites.

Piper's impression of a bag lady.

Catharsis...

Father's Day has always been complicated for me.  Why?  Probably because I think too much about things that can never be changed... but that is who I am.  The product of an uninvolved biological representation of "father" and emotionally unavailable legal representation of "father" it is easy to wallow in the thought of what I never had.  That isn't fair though.  To do that would be to ignore the fact that I have been blessed in my life with many representations of "father" who have, knowingly or not, banded together to do a fantastic job of giving me love, support, and confidence when I needed it the most.  This Father's Day I would like to thank all of the men who have had a positive influence on the person I have become.

I also have to say thank you to Jeff.  Thank you for being the best father I could ever hope for, for our children.  Thank you for your endless patience, support and guidance for them.  Even on days like today when they are acting like total spoiled jerk faces, they love you more than you will ever know.


Happy Father's Day

We made it.

More on all of this after I have recuperated.

Mommy's preoperative therapy session.

Pre Op

Jeff all ready to go back for the
anesthesia portion of the adventure

My brief stay in the
waiting area alone.

Waking up in post op recovery.
Everything went very well.

Chronically Awesome.

Found this today and want to share with everyone.  Go visit... go on.

 Chronically Awesome 

The fact is...

There is no Gluten...

ONLY ZUUL!

The past few days have been an interesting adventure.  After watching the documentary Vegucated  I decided that I cannot, at least for the time being, eat meat anymore.  I have not given up eggs, or dairy or fish... but my particular bastardization of the vegetarian diet has had WONDERFUL effects on my stomach.  And in the end I'm not at all concerned with fitting into anyone's definition of anything... I just don't want to hurt anymore.  Another plus side is the kids are going along with this plan without any hesitation.  The kids are eating salad.  Though I do have to admit that Piper is a lot more willing than Sydney.  That shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who has ever met them.

I was lulled into a false sense of security today and decided to try adding a little caffeine into my life.  While my stomach has escaped this experiment relatively unscathed at this point, my nerves are just about SHOT.  So apparently still too crazy for the go juice.