my religion is Love

I used to feel lost about my spirituality thinking I needed to claim Jesus Christ as "my Lord and savior"  I was raised is a faith called Christian science. In this religion it was preferred that we address Jesus as "Christ Jesus " instead of the other way way around.  I mean really. Does it really matter?  There is so much stress and pressure to accept Jesus as the savior and the threat to not accept him typically translates that I'm a sinner and therefore going to Hell.  Just listen to how that sounds. That's bullshit.  Look. If there's people out there that choose to believe that he is the direct son of God that's fantastic. I've decided to bypass the whole Jesus thing because I choose to simplify the equation. Why can't I just have a personal relationship between just me and God?  I mean if God truly is omnipresent omniscient and loving, I should have no fear that God is going to judge me for not choosing to accept Jesus as my savior.   For me, by taking Jesus out of the equation, I feel freer, happier, and less stressed out.  I'm not denying that Jesus the son of God. Was a miraculous man. I'm just saying that I don't have to accept him as my personal savior in order to be happy

Mets Game

Last night we went to our first Baseball Game.  It was a minor leagues game and it was the Mets vs the Cardinals.  Of course we rooted for the Mets because Tradition Field is home training ground for the major league New York Mets.  We bought Tucker a baseball cap in spirit of celebrating his first sporting event.  It was a lot of fun - and the best part - FREE!  We got tickets through my work and it was a family fun night event.  It was great for Bill to meet some of the awesome people I work with, plus two of the people that hired me.  Tucker totally digged the whole sporting event, from sitting and watching all the players practicing, to getting a couple of baseballs, to getting all excited to give the big blue Mets mascot dog a "high five", to totally mowing down on popcorn, hot dogs and burgers.  Everything was so fascinating to him.  Including making friends with another two year old that we were sitting near by.  They had a blast walking up and down the stadium stairs and getting to the bottom and cracking up at each other.  That is all they did for a straight twenty minutes.  It definitely wore Tucker out with all the action, and needless to say, we did not make it through the whole game.  We left around 8:30 when the game was in the middle of the ninth inning.  He was very tired, but it was such a great family event!

Culvert Drainage Problems

I do not complain, but when it comes to a matter that concerns the health and safety of those I love and care for, I will take action, and let my voice be heard. With in the last 2 years, a sidewalk project was completed on our road NW Marion Avenue. It apparently was no cost to the taxpayer because the funds were available through the government. So, yea, we now have a sidewalk. But don't get excited just yet! Dry Season has passed and now rainy season has begun. In Florida, we have what are called swales and culvert drainage systems that flow rainwater into the canal systems. The problem.....Nothing's a Flowing! For a good 15 homes on NW Marion Avenue, including my own, we have stagnant water holding tanks in our Culverts. Just check out these pictures!!! It's been like this for months!!! These are all pictures taken on my property. Now multiply that by 15 properties, and now we have a major problem. The water is not going to go anywhere provided these cement culverts are all blocked in. The water has no where to escape. It has become a breeding ground for mosquito larvae, insects, tadpoles, algae, and a multitude of other organisms. The stagnant water is a serious health hazard. It smells and it is disgusting! So as of last week, I finally took action on behalf of my fellow neighbors. I contacted our city officials, who then forwarded on to the Public Works department. Just got in touch with the department today, and they told me that they are meeting with the workers and designer of the sidewalk project to begin their investigation by this Friday. So hopefully something will be resolved, but remain on high alert. The good news is that I have an angle up my sleeve in the event action to resolve the problem does not take place.....I work for the major local newspaper and Local news channel here. I'll update on any progress.

Completed Knit/Crochet Lizard

I am so happy to have finally completed a knit/crochet lizard for the one and only Tuckster! This was a really fun and challenging project. Fun because I absolutely adore how Tucker reacts to the one's he sees outside and how he says "lilard", challenging because it was pure invention from start to finish. This is the first project that incorporated my knewly learned knitting skill with my comfort zone crochet skills. The Lizards tail and brown and white striped back were all knit. I can't wait to present it to him and tell him it is because he is doing a good job from refraining from hitting people and because he is starting to ask to go potty every once in a while. Here are all the pictures of the lizard from different angles so that you can see all the details.

Butterflies

I am looking forward to a sunflower and butterfly painting I will begin working on this weekend.  The passing of my father actually has amazing symbolic significance associated with this freelance project.  Butterflies have always had symbolic meaning to me.  As we all know, a butterfly starts out its life as a caterpillar and then enters a cocoon where he transforms, changes, and emerges as a beautiful butterfly. 

Many ancient cultures have attached meaning to this transformation from cocoon to butterfly.  The symbol represents the impermanence and instability of earthly life and as such represents the process of a soul's journey living in the cocoon from an earthly body to a heavenly body once in the butterfly form.  I really like and connect with this association.

I do not believe in superstitions, however, I do believe in timing.  Allow me to share an experience with you so that you can see why I have such a strong connection to the symbolism of Butterflies.  About six years ago I recieved a call to do a painting of butterflies and sunflowers on a glass window above her front door.  Just as I was finishing the final brushstroke, I had received a call informing me that my neighbor across the street had passed.  That window painting (seen below) became a beautiful representation to me of that transformation, and knowing this, it gave me peace about his passing.  Two weekends ago today, I received a phone call to do another painting of sunflowers and butterflies, but this time on her slider.  Three days later, I learn of my father's passing.  Keep in mind, I had not spoken to this woman since I left her house with the completed butterfly and sunflower painting.

Although every once in a while I have my moments of thinking about Dad, I actually am not mourning him.  Because of "Timing" and my personal significance to these Butterfly window paintings, I actually feel transformed from within, and truly believe, as the ancient cultures did, that Dad has left his earthly body (in the cocoon) and has transformed into a beautiful butterfly (the heavenly body).

This morning when I walked into work, it was nice to see that confirmation.  There was yellowish white monarch like butterfly on the outside of a window pane.  I went up to check it out...and it flew away.

Fastest web site I've designed

No, I'm not bragging.....actually I am sitting here in amazement. Yesterday I met with a guy named Wayne. He wanted a website. A simple one. THIS was definitely simple. Granted the web coding was done for me already in the form of a free template....but from start to finish it took a total of 5 hours. Why couldn't it take me that long to design my website! Here's Wayne's Art: http://www.waynerouseart.com

Keeping Track of Milestones...

I have neglected to keep up with my handmade scrapbook.  As a result, little nuances in Tucker's growing milestones, have not been recorded.  The last truly recorded month in my Scrapbook was January :-(

Fortunately, I have been keeping somewhat up-to-date through this creative online journal.  Granted, it captures only the major memory moments, but at least I can print out what I've contributed here to fill up Febuary through June (Yeah....that's only half a year....NO PROBLEM!).  It's really the little details that I am really missing out on.  Now I am going to test my memory, review the past six months, and see if any tiny milestones come to the surface.

I will start with the most recent:

7/2/2013 - Tucker has been making progress in the forming sentences department.  He was done eating his fishsticks and had a few left over.  I told him to take the container and bring them to daddy in the kitchen.  He took the container over to daddy and said "Daddy, all done with fish sticks"

6/1-6/28 - This month a social development has occured.  At daycare he has always played played both individually and with others.  He has started though to identify his "friends"  His good buddy there that he plays with the most is Gavin who is only a couple months younger than him.  For instance, after he's been picked up and we're at home, I'll ask Tucker "Who did you play with at Carla's today" and he'll reply "Gavin"...Apparently there are NO OTHER kids to play with there.  But I'll also ask him who his friend is, and he'll say Gavin.

Tucker is making an effort to count and identify letters.  Also, he interacts really well with his "Super WHY" show.  It is very educational and entertaining all at the same time.  For instance, when Pig hammers his "alphabet tool box" and the letters pop up on the screen, Tucker sometimes repeats the letters.  And then when Pig asks "Where's the 'R'?"  He can sometimes point to the correct letter.  Another thing Tucker and I do is when we're coloring, I keep showing him how to make the letter 'T'

We tried doing the potty training thing too.  He knows how to, but apparently would rather go in the diaper.  Oh well, I worked hard on that too when I had the time off between two jobs, but now that I'm working full time, and he's not doing it 100% of the time for Carla, I have decided that it was a passing fad.  At least I'm still sitting him on the potty first thing in the morning and last thing at night.  I'd say it's about half my fault for not being consistent/persistant about it.

This was the month when he really started perfecting the Sommersault.  At the beginning of the month he was beginning to get the concept and when he would only do a "half" sommersault he would have this incredibly cute and goofy smile and exclaim "Awe..Miss"
Video of Tucker doing sommersault:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=145349178990594&l=418934534472315018

<iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=145349178990594" width="640" height="480" frameborder="0"></iframe>

and exclaim "Awe..Miss"