A lighter side today

After my recent deep post...it should have come with a caution to wear golashes...I felt a lighter one with a bit of fun would level out my world. I am not certain how to accomplish this in your world, but I would recommend standing in front of a mirror and smiling at yourself...try not to laugh and have a good time.

This is a fun BBC website called Spot the Fake Smile.  There are 20 short video clips and your task is simply to select fake or genuine.

Here is the link: Spot the Fake Smile

Please try it out and post your results in the comment section and for an extra bit of fun you could first make a prediction on how you will do and then post your predicted and actual results.

The Compromise: 5 minutes of your time

The Sweet Reward:  Supporting the BBC :) you gotta love 'em.

My 2 cents worth...please pay the lady at the door

My new favorite phrase to utter is "the Economy"...yeah yeah yeah I know, do you live in a cave, this has been going on for awhile now.  Let me clarify something here.  Yes, I live in a cave.  It is called raising a 15 month old and trying to be less plugged in for the sake of his brain development (to avoid a lengthy tangent, I will have to post more later on how a blogger mama is unplugged, tricky I know).
 
Where was I, The Economy.  Actually, I am posting about this hot new topic (ooops sarcasm got out of the cage again) because of a link my bil R sent me (Thanks R).  Here is the link http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/6405

Try not to read it just yet, I have a few thoughts.  The part that intrigued me was the concept that getting a few tidbits of info about how to protect ourselves from the evil in the world (i.e. HFCS...high fructose corn syrup, one of my favorite soap box topics) will keep us from acknowledging, supporting, and working for the greater societal issues such as the environment or our overall declining physical health as a nation.  At first, of course I freaked out...natural reaction to alarming information.  I worried that my blog was feeding this frenzy.  I am not certain if my blog is a problem or a solution at this point [given most of my readership is either people who know me well {thanks guys} or people I pay ;) I am not too concerned].  After mental stewing (always a good idea with important things) I have decided to use this link as encouragement to make sure that I explore big and small issues in my blog, which is neat because I can do more than give tips.  It means you get to hear me expound about things like HFCS (see above) and I have no worries about running out of tips.

After even more stewing, a little more serious thinking this time, I had a lightbulb moment.  "The Economy" is the answer.  Wow, amazing.  Usually, you us I you I (help my thinking is getting circular) think of the topic of our Economy and mumble and groan, but what if it is the answer.  Excuse my upcoming theoretical pandering, but here is how it works.  When an underdog gets together and begins to fight a common "Them" then they begin to feel like a team and become an "Us."  This creates mental strength and psychological power and then the weaker group (aka the underdog) is literally able to become stronger and win.  So, how does this work for us.  If we use the "The Economy" as our enemy and join forces rather than nit pick each other and fight, we will win and figure this all out. The trick is not to get stuck in the little details that we think are the answer and to make global compromises.  No one thing you see is the answer for your or my family and our or your community and our world.  Really I mean it.  Staying home with my son, organic food, breastfeeding, cloth diapering, even being unplugged alone is not the answer.  So, RELAX (an usual word to choose to yell, I know), slow down, stop trying to be perfect at everything you do and begin to think on the big scale by joining forces with other humans. We can't do it alone, but we can do it together and fight the big fight against the common enemy.

Okay now back to the above web link http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/6405.  She describes that when we get stuck focusing on the small stuff, like which type of cleaning products are dangerous and cause cancer or a certain pesticide to worry about, it gives us a sense of security so that we stop worrying and working on the bigger issues.  Wow... we are sometimes our own worst enemy.

Read the link and see what you think (please post your thoughts in the comment section, I look forward to readers joining me on my soapbox or even being devil's advocate on your own soapbox) and thanks R.

Thanks for letting me soapbox for today.  Might as well use my brain cells for something on a day where my sick kiddo just wants to sleep one me...cute I know
Tracy

Incoming Announcement

In true spirit of my name, I, Tracy, am making a compromise today.  I described in an old post my desire to provide hints, ideas, and even a few musings, but not to write a bragger blog.  The world has enough of those and only grandparents probably want to her minute details of the happenings in Mr. B's little world.  Today though I am compromising my blogger values because we had a huge event.  Given that thinking about it at this moment is making me smile, I feel good about my compromise.  Mr. B is now 15 months old and has been a mobile guy for a long time with crawling being his forte.  He has many styles including

1. superfast can't hardly see individual limb movements in the blur to rush to the dog's food and water dishes
2. up on feet and hands only to avoid knees on rough pavement
3. slow loping I've got all the time in the world
4. giggling, butt wiggling, birthday suit crawl
5. even paced rhythmic following along with mama
6. head down, total focus and concentration got work to do crawl
7. head up, laughing, total excitement, looking for his next adventure trotting crawl

He is so fast and so skilled that his motivation to learn a new skill has been compromised.  Well, today with a pacifier in each hand (ironic because he hates pacifiers other than as an item of interest...they were just around because I have been trying to improve his sleep by forcing a lovey upon him...Yep, I'm that brilliant...wait until my parenting book comes out), he took 3 staccato short steps toward me in the kitchen.  I responded with glee, excitement, high pitched vocal tone and Mr. B responded with blank facial expression and sitting down.  The party ended.  He did  this three more times and each time he seemed more and more aware and would give a big goofy grin.  So this is the point I think.

The Compromise:  My baby is becoming a little boy.

The Sweet Reward:  His contagious smile and giggle now that he understands his accomplishment and getting the opportunity to force all of you to hear me talk incessantly about my wonderful, perfect little boy...well mostly perfect