Born To Resist

Online conversation:

**This was all sparked by Cameron telling me he’d like my hair dyed red, like when we met ( á la Kirsten Dunst in Spiderman) & so I figured I’d go for something I liked. **

Me: I’ll get red hair and you can get a motorcycle. ( I sent him this picture)

Fair enough.

Cameron: ha

Me: Bwaha.

Cameron: I would love to get a motorcycle

Me:I know.My libido would not mind you getting a motorcycle. My wife brain on the other hand, might get a little panic-y.

Cameron: ha. don’t worry. we can’t afford one

Me: What? We’re not millionaires?

Cameron: sorry to let you know of that

Me: Boo.

We’re funny.

…Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart. Which, by the way, is crazy good.

There have been many cats in my life. Cats of all sizes. Cats of all temperaments. Cats of all colors. However, there has only been one Daggett. He was, at his heaviest, 35 pounds. An orange orb of a feline that had a meow the size of a kitten’s. It was the first week of 9th grade when my Mom took all four of us down to a pet store on the boulevard to pick out a kitten. My brother, Andy instantly had his eye on a sassy pumpkin-colored kitten. We named him Daggett Norbert Berry. We were big fans of Angry Beavers, if you couldn’t tell. Daggett was a scrappy kitten. He would chase Andy across the living room- he always did like Andy best. They’ve had a special bond from the beginning. I think Daggett always knew it was Andy who picked him. Daggett became the man of a thousand names, his most well known moniker being “Babyman”. I started calling him “Sugar-booby” after watching some sort of Beach/Surfer/1960’s movie where a mobster called his girlfriend that. It just seemed appropriate. We would have informal naming competitions and see what we could come up with for him. He was an excellent muse.

I don’t know at what point Daggett became a fat cat. I was in 10th grade, I think. He was monsterous. Placed on several diets, nothing seemed to really lower the numbers on the scale for Babyman. That didn’t matter though, you see, Daggett had a woman. She loved him no matter the size. My Mom found Weezer in the parking lot at church on a Tuesday night. I came back out to the car to get a drink of soda and there was my Mom feeding a stray, fluffy white cat part of her Del Taco burrito. I dubbed her Weezer after the CD sitting on the dashboard. Weezer and Daggett became inseperable. Even when Weezer had a litter of kittens (not fathered by Daggett, who sadly had nothing but a pair of fluff balls), Daggett took care of them when Weezer became ill. He did draw the line at nursing them. He wasn’t quite equipped for that.

Daggett was a star in our household. Friends would tell other friends about the monstrosity that was Babyman and tell them to ask to see him next time they were over. He would come mosey on out from somewhere to the shock and delight of everyone who saw him. People were drawn to him… he was a very charismatic dude. My kids could not get enough of him, I think they liked him because he was the only cat who couldn’t get away from them. He was also the only cat that could act as a beanbag chair. He was tolerant and loving, even of the youngest cat admirer.

Yesterday I got a text from my Mom that Babyman has gone onto the big cat heaven in the sky. I don’t feel like I got to give him a proper good-bye the last time I saw him. I knew he was going to the vet, but I thought “Oh, I’ll see him again.” So I gave him my typical greeting and loves, but not a proper good-bye. I’m sort of kicking myself for that. Daggett has been there through all of my major life events the past 12 years. High school dances, break-ups, meeting Cameron, getting married, having babies, etc. When I told Josiah about Daggett, he cried and said “Can we just look at pictures of him?” To make me feel better Cameron told me this: “Daggett didn’t go to domestic cat heaven. He went to big cat heaven, with the panthers and lions.” I couldn’t agree more.

Daggett was a common thread for our whole family. That might seem extreme to some of you, but you probably aren’t really pet people. We are. Every animal that comes through our lives has a personality, an attitude and place in our hearts. None of them bigger and badder than Babyman.

I’ll miss you Sugar-Booby.

I was just thinking about the first time I watched The Wall. I was in high school and my Mom rented it for me. Half way through my Dad said “This is totally different when you’re not stoned.”

Of all the amazing imagery in that movie, the part that sticks with me the most is when Pink shaves his nipples off.

Quality time with Mom & Dad.

Since I starting watching Freaks & Geeks, I’ve had a few dreams where I was back in high school. In one such dream I was riding on the bus with James Franco’s character, Daniel (he doesn’t ride the bus anyway) and he was totally  crushin’ on me, but I was like “No way. I’m going to get married someday.” I love that my dreams are still incredibly grounded in reality.  I’m so sensible.

It seems that all my favorite shows are cancelled or they get cancelled and then return many years later (I’m looking at you FUTURAMA!). In my adulthood I’m discovering that most TV genius is not truly appreciated by the masses. How could pure brilliance like Arrested Development only last 3 seasons? Freaks and Geeks only one? It’s unfair. I’m also wondering why these shows were on when I was in high school and really didn’t watch TV? I would have been one more audience member! I would urge you to watch Freaks and Geeks. It’s. just. so. good.

P.S. For those of you that fall into the “geek” category, F&Gs has the special bonus of including  guest stars Joel Hodgson & Trace Beaulieu.

A few good scores this week while shopping:

At Vons on Saturday, I stocked up on meat. I got  $50 worth of meat for $17.21!!

I got 3 free boxes of Crystal Light at Target with my Vocal Point coupons. They were on price cut for $1.97, the coupons were $2/1

2 Gallons of milk at CVS using ECBs & Real California Milk Coupons for $1.48

Frozen Veggies at Henry’s from Cascadian Farms for .50¢ each with coupons.

Healthy Choice Frozen Meals for .95¢ each at Target!

Armor All Tire Shine & Clean Wipes at Target for .49¢ each! They are normally $5.00 each.

Johnson’s & Johnson’s Baby oil for .33¢ at Target

I even hit up the Kmart doubler event at my local store. I’m not a big fan of Kmart, they seem to be rather mamby pamby with their coupon policies and their employees are not terribly informed about events and policies. I braved my store and walked out with free Advil PM, Gilette Body wash for .49¢ each and Secret Deodorant for .79¢. The cashier that helped me was very sweet, but knew nothing of the event until she talked to a manager. I can’t say so much for the gathering of other employees at the customer service desk… I just can’t stand professionalism. They were standing around chatting about personal things that weren’t appropriate for work. I went online to fill out a survey from my receipt and let Kmart know, and their customer service actually called and apologized for the experience I had! That shocked me! I’m really glad they did, it gives me more confidence in the corporation.

Oh- tomorrow the kids and I are hitting up Chick-fil-A for their cow appreciation day. If you dress like a cow, you get a free meal! If you “accessorize” with cow items, you get a free entree. If you need a little help, they have a “cow kit” online for you to print out. Have fun!

It’s slowly dawning on me that I will soon have a 2 year old. I’ve had one before, but I traded him in for a 3 year old. Baby Mae will no longer  truly be Baby Mae.

Today Mae decided to injure herself. I think she over extended her knee or something (as diagnosed by Dr. Nichole Baird over Facebook). She came limping in to me. She couldn’t bear any weight on it. For as dainty as Mae pretends to be, she is brutal. She has injured herself numerous times and done a good job at it. She may like Princesses, but she will take you down like Hulk Hogan. She seriously walked out of one room, into another, whimpered a little and came out limping. Less than 30 seconds folks and I’ve got a potential crisis on my hands. To distract her I sat her in the tub with me while I showered. After I was done, I took her out, wrapped her in a towel and propped her on the counter. I grabbed the hair dryer out of the drawer and proceeded to blow dry my 2 year old’s very curly, very crazy hair. It was straight! She kept looking at herself in the mirror and saying “Hair?”.

Let me just say that the sheer joy that I experienced while blow drying my daughter’s hair was ridiculous. I revel in having a little girl. I thought the feeling would fade, but I adore all things girly for her. The day we found out we were having a girl, I rushed to Babies R Us and bought dresses. Her closet was constantly re-organized & planned for optimum outfit choosing before she was born. I packed her diaper bag full for the hospital because I wanted to dress her up! I bought hair bands, socks, shoes, dresses, even an newborn infant sized bathing suit that she wore only twice. When I would get her ready for the first few weeks of her life, it took me 20 minutes to chose what she was going to wear. It was very carefully coordinated. I still am purely delighted when I buy her clothes or dress her up. She loves to have her nails painted, her hair done and to wear something “pretty” as she says. She is that girl.  The girl that I prayed for and I wanted so very much. I am grateful for her, even if she is a little monster sometimes. Let’s not sugarcoat that… Here’s to Princess Mae!

Yes, I am distracted by Star Wars. Don’t judge me.

I got in an internet fight today.

Shame one me.

I’m not usually that person.
In the end I was told I was judgmental.  That it wasn’t a Christian’s job to tell another Christian when they’re screwing up. Basically I was being judged by someone else who thought I was being judgmental. Does that make sense? Well, anyway I thought I would post my response to this person who told me that “it wasn’t our job to tell people their sins, it was Christ’s job.” It is slightly edited to take out a few personal notes that wouldn’t be appropriate on here.

I initially responded this post left about Constance McMillin (a lesbian student who was denied entry to her own prom with her girlfriend, she is now being honored at the White House):

she should stay at the wh with all the other freaks [sic]

Here’s my response:

@Robin Really? That’s what you have to say to someone who is probably very confused & very hurt? You are the person that gives the rest of us a bad name. I’m not quite sure where in the Bible it says to make fun of a teenager who is confused & hurting.. I just looked at your Facebook page to see if you were a young, naive person who was trying to be funny. You’re not. You’re an adult. You need to spiritually and emotionally grow up.
Don’t be so horrible. See people the way Jesus would. Call them out on their sin, but love them.

Then someone else joined the conversation and decided to let me know that I was judgmental:

Sounds like a whole lot of judgement is being flung between those who are commenting and towards this girl. We are not called to judge. To simply be examples in the world and to have our actions speak as Christ does to our heart. People need to look at their logs before pointing out splinters. Myself included… PS it isn’t our job to “call ppl out” on their sin. That’s Christ’s job. You wouldn’t walk up to a random person in the store and “show them right vs wrong” so why do it when you have a screen to hide behind..

My response:

Here’s the thing, we’re told to call other Christians to the mat when they’re doing something wrong. That’s Biblical (1 Corinthians 4:14). There is a big difference between saying I was judging someone and knowing that I was admonishing (the origin of the word admonish is “to urge by warning”) them.
I am not someone who comments on FB pages like this. I usually ignore them.  While I felt passionate about the subject, I did not write my comment with any malice or lack of knowledge about the log in my own eye. (I’m the first to realize my own state of sin nature and that I would not be who I am but by the Grace of God).
Perhaps I didn’t use the right word, but we aren’t suppose to just “be OK” with someone’s sin. But we are suppose to love them and show them every compassion.  We shouldn’t compromise on someone’s sin.
I’m thinking of Jesus and the adulteress from John 8. Jesus gives us a great example of how to love a sinner being attacked by the religious. In verse 11, he doesn’t condemn her, he forgives her, but he tells her to sin no more. That’s what I was going for. Sorry if that got lost in my writing.
Phew. That’s quite a bit out of me. Back to Mommy duties.

I thought I did alright. I used the Bible, I was nice. I tried to give it a little levity at the end. A good message board troll I would not make.

I’m done. Done for the night.