Christmas Lights

These past few weeks I have been driving around happily. I love the lights people put out this time of year. Christmas lights simply make me happy. They are little bits of cheer in a dark Northeastern winter. Over the last few years my husband has done his best to boycott Christmas, but even he gets excited about the lights. We go driving in search of the biggest displays we can find.

In our little town, one resident and her family erects an enormous display of lights in her yard. She welcomes people to park and wander around to take it all in. This has become a family tradition. Now that we have a child, it will probably become an even more important family tradition.

Winter can be hard enough. Christmas can be stressful if you put too much pressure on yourself to make it perfect and find the perfect gifts to give. Don't worry about the gifts. Give what you can. Leave perfection by the wayside. Get out there and enjoy those lights!

Merry Christmas!

Pedialyte Review

Pedialyte is yucky. It is too sweet. That being said, it is also a wonderful product if you can manage to swallow it. Sweet little Baby Boo was sick with a stomach bug this week. I bought him Pedialyte. He did not want to drink it. When I tasted it I found out why. All of the fake sweeteners in it make it feel like you are drinking concentrated liquified sugar. Anyone who knows me knows how strong of a sweet tooth I have. So this stuff must be awfully sweet.

I watered it down. Alex drank a bit more of it. Fortunately he recovered. Unfortunately he passed his illness onto me. I still had some of the drink left and figured why not have some for myself? I watered it down a lot. The next morning I felt great. So, my personal recommendation is this - buy the stuff, water it down, and drink drink drink (which we should do anyway...). They tell you not to water it down, but if that's the only way to get it into a sick child, why not???

Rest in Peace Pandora

Last week my dear kitty, Pandora (A.K.A. Kitty Kitty Meow Meow) disappeared for a couple of days. I worried. Cats tend to do this when they are sick or injured. But we found her and she stayed in view. However she had stopped eating and was unable to keep water down. Sadly, I knew her time to leave us had come.

By Saturday she had difficulty moving around as her hind legs started to lose their ability to function. A typical cat, she loved to be where she could be tripped over. As the kitchen is the heart of our home, that was her favorite room in the house. One of her particular spots was on the mat in front of the door. Unable to get out of the way of the door, I gently placed her on a folded towel for some comfort and put her next to the door. I did what I could to make her comfortable. And by Monday night she had passed into whatever world our dear kitties move onto after this one.

Her death was not unexpected. We adopted her from a shelter a year and a half ago. She had been placed in our local PetsMart and we saw her often when we went to buy supplies for the critters we already had. Pandora remained there for quite some time awaiting a family. I began to fear no one would take her because she was elderly and so many people want kittens. Finally Craig and I filled out the paperwork. When we went to pick her up about a week later, we found out she had been adopted and returned several times already. The poor girl!

Given that she was already fourteen or so years old (The paperwork had different ages for her.) I figured she wouldn't be with us more than a couple of more years. I believe that shelter life ages cats faster than life in a loving home. But at least it gives the animals a chance at a loving home. (I am taking a moment to get on my soap box here...) So if you want a pet, please don't purchase one from a store. Go to a local shelter or check the paper for a family giving one away. Pandora was one of many animals I have adopted and I have been happy with each of these pets.

We brought her home where she hid under the sofa for two weeks, only emerging very briefly to use the litter box or get a drink. After this she became accustomed to us and then became very friendly with her new family. We fed her. We snuggled with her. She made her way into our hearts. Though we only had a year and a half with her, she will remain in our memories forever.

We will miss you, Pandora. Rest in Peace.

Battling Perfectionism

Yesterday my husband granted me a "day off." He took care of our baby from feeding to cuddling to changing diapers. He did not ask me to do anything like cook or clean. I got to sleep late, then spend the day playing video games. It was a break from life that I desperately needed.

But what brought me to needing to withdraw from life for a day? The previous few days I had been in a bit of a funk. But I still battled on, washing dishes, caring for the baby, making dinner, and teaching a few music lessons through it all.

It all seemed to have its start on Saturday. My dear Craig came across me indulging in tears of self pity. Here is our conversation:

Craig: Why are you crying?

Me: Because sometimes life is hard.

Craig: My life has never been easier.

Me: (Not out loud, but in my head) Because I've been doing all of the work, you idiot!

If anyone has been watching us, it is true, I have been doing all of the work. But that is not the end of the story. Last night as I came back to reality I asked myself why I have been doing all of the work. Is it because Craig is incapable, unwilling, or something else? He is currently capable and willing. I created the situation in my bid for Perfection. You see, Craig had offered, yes offered, to do the dishes several times the previous week. I declined the offer because I don't like the way he washes dishes. How's that for Perfectionism? Not only did I decline the offer of help, but I did not ask for help with anything else either.

So on Tuesday I found myself in bed late and checking out for the day. Allowing myself such an indulgence is not a problem as long as it only happens once in a while. But I would like for it to come about not as the answer to a Perfectionism induced funk, but from my husband's appreciation for what I do for him and the rest of the family.

What now? I will accept future offers to wash dishes or any other part of the house. It may mean going to another room so that I can not see the suds flying across the room, but that would be just fine. I will also ask for more help from him. Craig is generally very happy to help a person out - especially his wife. He simply needs to know what I need help with. After all, he has yet to learn to read my mind.

Open Letter to President Elect Obama

Dear President Elect Obama,

Congratulations on winning the election. I will be proud to call you my president. There are many things you will be asked to do and for many good reasons by many good people. I would like to add my request to that list.

The situation in the Guantanamo Bay Prison increasingly worries me. I encourage you to keep your campaign promise to get those prisoners trials here in our court system. Recently I heard a news commentator speaking of the fear of some people in the government have about the torture stories that will come out should you allow these people to have their due process under the law. Those tales of torture have become the proverbial elephant in the room. Most of the world is aware of what is going on there, but no one has thus far been willing to acknowledge it.

If we are to heal the rifts in our nation and the rifts between us and the rest of the world, we need to be honest with ourselves and everyone else. We need to acknowledge whatever wrongs have been done to our fellow humans imprisoned in Guantanamo. We need to apologize to those people, their families, and their nations of origin. We need to apologize as a nation.

It does not matter who voiced the orders or who looked away when wrong was being done when we make our apology. (The particular people responsible for unethical decisions ought also to be dealt with but that is not what this letter is about.) We who have had the right to vote into office our elected officials who then hired the rest of the government employees are all to blame. It does not matter if you voted for the administrators directly involved or not. We are a republic with democratically elected people in power. Most of us decided to put them there and that is all that matters.

I am guessing that some of those people truly are criminals that ought to be imprisoned somewhere, but they are also people who deserve the rights we as a nation set forth in our Constitution. To me, it does not matter if a person is a citizen of the U.S. or not. If you are a person, you have certain inalienable rights that we of all nations should respect. One of those rights is the right to a fair and speedy trial. Those souls we have imprisoned in Guantanamo and possibly in other locations have yet to be granted that right. I am holding out hope that you will do all in your power to change that situation.

Sincerely,
Meghan Hamilton