So long, piggies!

I've decided to stop eating pork.
This shouldn't be too much of a surprise since I am a big animal lover. And really, this decision has been a long time coming. I've thought about it a lot over the years (mostly about beef). And I'm not much of a meat & potatoes kind of girl anyway. I just felt like God was really talking to me about this. Here were the signs:
#1) I read a book about the conditions on pig farms and slaughterhouses
#2) Then I had a dream about having a pig that I kept in the bathroom.
#3) Then I told a friend about the pig dream, and she said, "that is so weird because I just had a dream in which I found a note that said, "Give the pig to Lorrie.""
#4) Then Abbie brought home her next novel studies book, Charlotte's Web. After reading the first chapter together, which is about a girl rescuing a pig from getting killed, I decided that God had sent me enough signs.
Of course, maybe I'm not supposed to stop eating pork. There are other possibilities:
#1) Get a pet pig
#2) Tell everyone about the atrocities at pig farms and slaughterhouses
#3) Maybe God is not talking to me at all
#4) Maybe I am crazy and should stop looking for signs from God, karma, etc
#5) all of the above
But I'm still going to stop eating pork. And it won't be easy. I like bacon (lots of it), pork tenderloin, pork barbeque, ribs and sausage.
However, I don't plan to be ridiculous about this. I might eat pork once a month. Is that too wishy-washy? I might just decide to make annual donations to the League of Animal Defense fund (I'm not really sure the name of the charity) instead of going semi-vegetarian. I'm sure giving up beef will be down the road too. I pass these sweet mother cows and their calves all the time - they are such good mothers - so this has been bothering me for some time.
So we'll see how this goes. I plan to stick with it, and Paul is supportive of my decision.
If I had a picture of a pig, I'd post it here. If you go to Cuteoverload.com and scroll back (click "previous week" 3 times), you'll find pictures of a mama dachshund that has adopted a piglet. Too cute!
Conversations with Abbie
I said, "Abbie, someday when you move out...." She interrupted me to say, "Mom, you know I am always going to live with you and dad!"

I am not left handed

"I am not left handed" is a quote from The Princess Bride.

As it turns out, "I am not left handed either" (the stuff in quotes is another line from The Princess Bride), but I am left eye dominant. When I went to the TLC eye surgery center, they ran a battery of tests on me. One of the tests showed that I am left eye dominant which is rare since I am right handed. I just thought that was a neat little tidbit especially since my left eye is way worse then my right eye.

I'm not sure if this is typical or not, but I always carry Abbie with my left arm. Shouldn't I favor my right arm since it is typically your strongest arm if you are right handed? But it makes sense to me that I carry Abbie with my left arm so that my right arm is free to use. Maybe this is not an interesting tidbit.....

I did the test on Paul, and he is right eye dominant. I should try it out on Abbie too.

Genius Idea - now I haven't really thought this one through, but at first glance, it seems like a good idea. To stimulate the economy (or just plastic surgeons' income), I think the government should give a tax incentive if you pay for your wife to get a boob job (people who already have boob jobs would not qualify). All those guys on the fence (and women) would probably finally decide to go for it assuming their wives want and need a boob job.

And for the people who don't want or need a boob job, then the gov't could offer a nice one-time tax deduction if you buy a new frig, tv, washer/dryer or stove. Or heck, any home improvement type item. Video games would not qualify, but shoes would. Makeup would not qualify but bras would. Now I'm really brainstorming! Ha! Ha!

Conversations with Abbie

As Paul polishes off his bottle of Miller Genuine Draft, Abbie reminds him, "Dad, you can't drive for an hour."

Pictures from Las Vegas and Los Angeles

Dee-Dee-Boop

If you give someone a wet willy or play any other kind of prank on someone - and then you get blamed for that prank - just say, "A Dee-Dee-Boop did it."
This statement automatically gets you out of trouble. Who can get mad at a Dee-Dee-Boop? They are small, tennis ball size creatures that are fluffy, with little Shrek-like horns and blue hair that sticks up on their head. Of course, your Dee-Dee-Boop may look different.
Paul is the first one to discover the Dee-Dee-Boop. Abbie is the first to find out what little joksters the Dee-Dee-Boops are.

Abbie: blank & blank

Every few weeks, Abbie's class reads a different book and does a project at the end. A few weeks ago, they finished Stone Fox, and she had to create a diorama of her favorice scene from the book and write a report on the main ideas of the book. I never had to do a diorama in school so this was fun. Parents are not supposed to help with the projects, and it is really hard to sit back and keep my mouth shut, but I'm doing it!

Now she is reading Sarah, Plain and Tall. For this project, she has to create a descriptive paragraph about herself, draw a picture of herself and give her paragraph a title similar to "Sarah, Plain and Tall."

I joked with her and said she should be Abbie, Hungry and Cute. She decided she is going with Abbie, Honest and [blank]. She can't decide on what the last word should be yet. Another mom told me that her son , who is also in Abbie's class, came up with descriptions for everyone in the class. For Abbie, he came up with Abbie, Quiet and Funny.

She has a week to finish the project and I am excited to see what she will choose for her paragraph title and how she will describe herself.

Dreams

I've noticed something that I think is kind of unusual. I dream about Paul's family WAY more than I dream about my own. Lots of times, Paul's brothers and sister are in my dreams. I couldn't tell you the last time I dreamed about my own brothers and sister. It doesn't happen very often, I can tell you that.

The other day, I dreamed that we were all in some sort of sunny locale. There was sand, boats, a boardwalk, etc. It's like we were on vacation together, and Louisa brings a lion! Turns out that she's just pet sitting for someone so she brings the lion on the trip too. But the interesting part is that the lion is not tame! It roars at people while she is walking it, and it lunges at people - straining against it's leash.

Being the animal lover that I am, I offer to help out and walk the lion too. But every time I walk it, it tries to put my face in it's mouth - it just wants a little snack...with warm blood!

So I'm not looking for dream interpretation here, but I wonder why I don't dream about my own brothers and sister - I do kind of like them :)

Conversations with Abbie ---- a new, hopefully, regular addition to my blog posts ----

While eating a piece of 7-Layer Chocolate Cake, Abbie said, "I bet there's 7-Layer Chocolate Cake in Heaven."