Summer Camping Part 1

In the mid 1980s, my family and I went camping in South Dakota where we saw and did a lot. We went to the regular tourist attractions such as Mount Rushmore, the Cosmos, the Badlands, the Laura Ingalls Wilder stuff, the Reptile Gardens, and Wall Drug. I also remember being bored out of my mind at some sort of fort in South Dakota because after that WE WERE GOING TO BEDROCK CITY!

I was so proud to “meet” Pebbles Flintstone.

Please Stop

My daughter has a birthmark on her hand/forearm. It’s medical name is a hemangioma, many people refer to it as a strawberry patch. Around 6 months we noticed it stop growing and it is most definitely fading. This birthmark is a part of my daughter but isn’t who she IS. We call it her “princess power spot” because that sounds more fun.

I know it is harder for parents whose babies have these marks on their faces or have ones that grow so big it causes medical complications. Luckily we’ve only had one scare with it bleeding. But like those parents, we know that there is much more to our baby than blood vessels near the skin. I actually took a picture of it the day before it bled.

Now, the surface of it is mostly smooth and the angry red colour is going away.

Yet people seem to feel like they have to comment on it all the time. My family often has to tell me “oh, her birthmark isn’t as big” or “as dark”. Don’t I know that though? Do you really need to comment on it? I don’t want my daughter to grow up feeling ashamed because she has some skin that is a little bit red on her hand or arm. I don’t want her to think it is the first or only thing people notice about her.

People ask us if we are going to send her for surgery to get it fixed. As if to show us we have options, I suppose. For us, the only option is letting it go away naturally. Why would we put our daughter through unnecessary physical pain in order to fix something that isn’t wrong to begin with? Something that will most likely clear up on it’s own? Do these people look at my daughter and just see this one tiny imperfection? Don’t they see the wonderful baby she is?

Strangers are almost as bad. I get the curious “what is that” very often, sometimes from kids. Some people have never seen one before and genuinely want to know. I don’t think I noticed anyone having one before her. Some people ask me about it knowing what it is just so they can tell me all about everyone they ever knew who had one and what it looks like now. I guess they think that know their friend’s cousin’s uncle’s step child had one that went away is really going to reassure me. Because, of course knowing someone who has or had one means they know more than the doctors about it.

Then there are the people who think I am walking around with my daughter who I’ve burned. Walking down the street I sometimes hear people comment on her “burn”. I just continue walking. Once a mom at playgroup asked me if I burned her hand. I was so horrified by that I didn’t know what to say beyond “no, it’s a birthmark”. Some think it’s a rash.

My husband hopes that there are faint markings left from it. He imagines her getting some sort of awesome tattoo in that area.

I really don’t care what happens as long as she is happy. To me she is this wonderful and funny little being who completely changed my life for the better. She fake coughs when she is hungry and tired, she loves to squeal in her Jolly Jumper, waves when we enter a room in case someone is there, her favourite food is blueberries, she has the most infectious laugh I’ve ever heard, her main goal is life is to play as hard as possible. And she just happens to have a birthmark on her hand.

Have You Met Jane Jetson?

I was watching TV today and I realized that the day I never thought would ever come has arrived. We are living in a Jetson’s world.

No, there are not flying cars, no Rosie the robot cleaning my house (but man I would LOVE that), no apartments on poles that you can move into and out of weather, and no moving sidewalk in my house.

But remember their gigantic videophones? We are there. Yes, we’ve had video conferencing and skype for a while but with the iPhone 4 we can now talk face to face anywhere, anytime without being tied to your computer. I always remember when Jane Jetson’s friend called her one morning and she quickly had to “put on her face” before she answered. My childhood self thought that I would never see that in my lifetime. I guess my 7 year old self was very short sighted!

And remember the pills for meals? We aren’t there yet but I am sure some people are close. There are meal replacement shakes and various meal supplements in pill form. I love tasting and eating too much to give up food but wouldn’t it be great to be able to eat a whole meal and your Rosie robot wouldn’t have to do any dishes? Or, I guess you, since we aren’t in a full robot using era yet.

As for flying cars, the aerospace industry is too much of a mess right now for that to be in the near future, but we are getting closer to having computers as our best friends.

Imagine, you could feel more connected than you can with facebook yet never have to leave your house, take a moving sidewalk through your house in the sky so you never have to walk, and take a pill for all your meals that is specially tailord so you feel satisfied yet not gain any weight!

It is too bad that the word sprocket isn’t in the blackberry dictionary yet. Perhaps it is in the iPhone…

Forgetful Jones

Remember him from Sesame Street? I wonder if he was really my father. I don’t look like a muppet (I hope!) but I must have inherited this forgetfulness somewhere.

My husband goes to great lengths sometimes to get me to remember things. He puts things on top of the diaper bag (before that, my purse) yet I will still forget whatever it was he was reminding me of. He will call me to remind me to do stuff, to which I will always get angry at him for because OF COURSE I will remember it! As soon as I hang up the phone I promptly forget about it.

Then there are my sunglasses. Every time I leave the house it’s a mad dash through the house trying to figure out where I put them. My husband always asks why I don’t put them in the same spot every time. Sometimes I attempt to but I either forget where that spot is or I get distracterd before I put them away.

I am starting to catch up to my brain. If I can’t find my blackberry and I remember last seeing it upstairs, it is usually on the change table.

So you’d think I would remember some things when I come out to the cottage. Yes, I remember my knitting but do I remember enough underwear? Of course not!

How do I only bring some? Perfectly logical explanation! I had some in my suitcase I didn’t use last time so I kept it there. I washed some and left it to hang to dry. While packing I went downstairs 5 times to get stuff. But did I remember underwear? Of course not!

In the bathroom I put everything together to bring, including day moisturizer, night moisturizer, and my sensodyne toothpaste. What did I bring? Well, not the toothpaste!

Sigh.

Is anyone else as “out of sight out of mind” or as easily distracted as I am?

Getting Closer!

I am getting a lot closer! I have most of my starting items complete! Or almost complete! Yes! I just need to take pictures, create a shop banner, etc, policies, and probably a million other little details. I am getting so excited.

I’ve been reading up on advice on how to take the photos and I’ve learned that I should take the photos in the morning or early evening for best light. Why? I don’t know but it’s what “they” say and I am willing to bet “they” know a lot more about photography. I hope they turn out well or that I will be able to photoshop nicely.

Soon, soon my friends and I am so excited!!!