Sunday, April 18, 2010

Was it somethibg I said?

I have a neat little stat counter at the bottom of the screen. I get an email once a week from "site-meter" giving me numbers on blog visits (and details if I want them).

My average weekly visits have been about 40, or roughly 6 per day.

Week before last; 5 total. Less than 1 per day.

This week: 1 visit.

Must be my charm.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Weirdness & Confusion

I read quite a few knitting blogs. (No, this entire post isn't about knitting. If you keep reading, hopefully I'll make a point about some interesting political/religious fare.) I have some over in my sidebar, which desperately needs updating. Even though it is titled "Blogs I Actually Read", there are some over there that I have stopped reading and many more that I read that aren't there.


Quite a few of the blogs I read, I read on my phone. Consequently, when trying to find new material to read, I search out and find new blogs to read usually from other bloggers' side bars. This has worked pretty well to up my knitting reading list from 2-4 blogs to about 20.


I have found some interesting things about knitters and people in general. I believe the knitting population represents a reasonably good sample of the average population. I say this because most of us knitters are your average, normal, trying to be "good" type people with our various (and common) flaws that make us who we are. Most of the knitters I've run into on the blogsphere try not to comment too much politically or religiously, which I also find to be pretty common with the general population.


Of course, there are exceptions.


There are those who lean so far to the extreme one way or another that they feel their views need to penetrate every facet of their life *cough*ahem*cough* (I never do that....). As such, I have run into some, well let's say stimulating posts out there in the knitting world. As I refuse to be a troll on someone else's blog and their opinions, my first reaction when I encounter these blatant refusals to see the world for what it really is (a Battleship with Christ as my Caption which I am aboard) to simply "delete" them from my reading list.


But, since I do have my own blog to voice my own opinions (ain't that nice?), I can at least come here and mention to you some of the weirdness and confusion I have encountered.


Weirdness. Almost every knitting blogger has a cat. Really. WTF? Do I have to get a cat now? They are only good for keeping mice away (and a lot of them can't even do that). Who wants to clean up cat litter? Then again, you don't have to let them outside and they don't need too much of your attention, ever - unless it's time that they "decided" belongs to them. (I do not own a cat, but lived for a few years with an Aunt who had 3. Annoying buggers.) (P.S. I don't think owning a dog is any better, but for different reasons. And yes, we have a dog. Not my idea, thankyouverymuch.)


And then we have confusion. I define confusion as simply not being able to accept Revealed Truths. This can result in major confusion with choices you are presented with in life and also confusion on ordering priorities.


I have a dear friend (Christian, of course) who has no other definition for h0m0sexuality other than "confusion". I like this definition, as it seems to hit home rather well. There is some serious confusion going on there and a refusal to accept Revealed Truths - due to same confusion and society's pressure to order priorities as you see or "feel" fit.


Anywho....back to confusion.


I should say here that I do not mind reading posts on knitting blogs that are not about knitting. In fact, I actually like hearing (a little) about the bloggers other going-ons in life, their family, work, etc. I obviously really like getting my fiber fix from these folks, but if you want to tell my about Aunt Nettie's new house, or your teenager's new attitude, by all means....it's your blog. It's nice to know a little bit about the person holding the needles.


Recently I encountered a blog post wherein the author expressed her "outrage" at the treatment, or rather lack-there-of, of animals in zoos in China. She links to an article (didn't bother to read it myself) about animals dying of starvation in Chinese zoos. Then goes on to say that she doesn't know what kind of movement it takes to stop these things from happening, but she's going to find one. I should give her credit (and this I mean in a nice way) for making a fleeting comment about China's human rights record not being so good either.


Um.....confusion.


China's human rights don't exist. In a country where baby girls are aborted and/or left in the road to die more than I could believe is humanly possible, I would say that they do not have a "human rights record". I pretty much disqualify them as a place where human rights matter at all. I don't even like using the words "human rights". It is simply the Right to Life. If you do not respect the Right to Life, you don't respect anything.


What bothers me about this particular post is that her "outrage" is that ANIMALS are dying. Animals. In zoos. Really?? That's what bothers you? It just reminds me of all the "Save the Baby Whales" crap, "Save the Spotted Owl", "Save the Harp Seal". People are seriously confused.


How about you pretend that baby human over there is a harp seal and save her, mmm'kay?? Or pretend she's a tree? Or whatever else effed-up, not-as-important-as-another-human-being thing you'd like to pick to "save" and put that much much effort into saving all the HUMAN lives that are lost each year to abortion. Ok?


So, naturally, I deleted this blog immediately from my reading list.

Another (and this seems a little less important now that I've ranted about saving the whales) post I pulled up recently on a knitting blog also caught my attention and is slated for deletion. In an otherwise normal seeming knitting blog the author, on Easter, or maybe the day after, proudly reports that since neither her or her husband are Christian they are "free to do as they please" on Easter Sunday.

Oh? How nice? As though the rest of us who do believe the Truth are somehow not free to do as we please? Or are somehow being forced to participate in the celebration(s) of Our Lord's Resurrection? Come on. Pu-lease. People act like there is some kind of bondage involved with BELIEVING. Not like you could actually enjoy knowing the Truth. Not like you could willingly show up at Mass (or whichever services you attend) because you want to. Obviously, it's all out of guilt or repression. Yep.

I think I gotta delete her too. Sad.

I think maybe this one does bother me a bit. It seems we've gotten to a place in our society and culture where the only discrimination that is acceptable to (almost) everyone is that against Christians. What is up with that? I guess I should expect it. We are reminded even in Sacred Scripture that we will be persecuted. It just kind of sucks that with all the PC crap about trying not to "offend" any one for any reason (which is silly) that there is somehow an unspoken exception to that rule that says, "unless you're offending someone because they believe in God...that one is still OK *thumbs up*."

I promised a point here, didn't I? Well, maybe I don't exactly have one. I will leave you with a summary instead.

Cats are weird.
Save humans, not animals. Get your priorities straight. If you can rally for a "cause", make sure it's not a tree.
Speak out when someone brags about not being Christian.
Expect persecution.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Some Pictures

Oh! I forgot that blogger uploads photos in the opposite order that you load them. So......this is a really crappy picture of me. But Flower took it. She really loves to use the camera and always has to take picutres of me. I thought I'd show off her skills.

But this! This is a really cute picture of my Flower. She is getting so big!

And this is a sweet black and white that I snapped of her sleeping a few months ago. Everyone say it with me......"Awwwwww."

This is Lovey, who will now be known as "The Brute" (until he cuts his molars) escaping from his towel after a bath. Oh, and that ugly, burnt pumpkin red-orange-y color on the wall over there?? We painted that white this week. It's like a new house.




Awww. There he is again. :)






Friday, April 2, 2010

Hi!!! I am on THE INTERNET IN MY LIVING ROOM!!

CAN YOU TELL THAT I AM VERY EXCITED!?

Ok. I will stop with the caps like I am screaming. Seriously. This is cool. Please do not tell my wireless provider that a friend helped me figure out how to use my phone as a modem.

I promise there will be some kind of fancy pants post with photos soon!! Right now, I must take my husband some lunch. So, I gotta run.

Oh! The little baby counter dealio at the top left of my blogger screen says my baby is now urinating. Hmmm. Weird. And cool. And gross. :)