Mothers Day & Musings....

Mothers Day was quiet this year... just me, hubby, and my girls.  I talked to my mom for a long time on the phone, and I pretty well just spent the day enjoying my family.

Last week was interesting.  On Saturday my younger daughter, Robyn, passed her first karate test, and earned her yellow stripe.   Yellow belt will come next.   We are proud of her.  Not bad for a child who wasn't supposed to be able to "do" things that a "normal" kid can do. :)   Haha... my Robyn fooled them all.  She is the best example I know of, that doctors don't know everything!

Uncle Lonnie died this past week.  He died Monday, and the viewing was Wednesday and the funeral was Thursday.  He lived to be 87.   It was great to see my cousins, but wish it had been under better circumstances.  Of course, we all wept... Uncle Lonnie was a sweetheart and we all loved him.  As I told my cousins... I'm not sad for Uncle Lonnie.. I'm sad for all of us!  He went HOME!!  And what a homecoming!!   Waiting for him was the love of his live, Aunt Val who passed away five years ago, and their little baby boy Randy they lost years ago as a newborn.  And my wonderful Grandpop, who was his brother in law, but more like a BROTHER.  Uncle Lonnie had missed my Grandpop and his Valerie for so long..  and of course it goes without saying, he got to be home in Heaven.  Uncle Lonnie loved Jesus.  :)  It makes me smile to think of how happy he was to come home to Jesus and his family he'd been missing, and now they're reunited and happy together in Heaven!  God is Merciful!  It's good to know we'll see him again one day. :)

Also, this past week, on our dietary changes.. we discovered a new kind of evil.  Castoreum .  The FDA approved this disgusting stuff as a food additive, and is usually  referenced simply as a "natural flavoring" in the product's list of ingredients. It is commonly used in both food and beverages, especially as vanilla and raspberry flavoring.   So what's so bad about castoreum?   It's Beaver Anal Gland.  No, I'm not kidding.  How DISGUSTING is THAT?!?!?   Yesterday, for Mothers Day, Mark went to Publix to get us something special for dessert.  We all love ice cream.  He looked over at Blue Bunny, which we've eaten for years.  He looked at the ingredients, and Jesus help us, it said "castoreum" listed as an ingredient.   He could not throw that back into the freezer fast enough.   He ended up getting us Gelato.  Which, I may say, was absolutely divine!! :)   He didn't get organic, but at least there was no beaver anal gland in it!  YUCK!!  The gelato had exactly five ingredients.. and I felt a lot better knowing we were having a dessert that was anal free.  LOL

So now, it's Monday.  Getting back on track.  Time to get out the Math-U-See and the Seton workbooks and get Robyn back on her lessons.  She is reading a lot, and we've been hitting the library weekly.  She is currently reading anything by Ben Baglio that she can get her hands on.  With titles such as "Colt in a Cave" and "Mustang in the Mist", and "Pony in a Package", it's a little girl with a horse-loving heart's dream come true.  LOL     She's reading.  So I'm happy. :)

Saturday, (while Robyn was at karate, testing), Amy, (who is a black belt and is usually at the karate school way more than Robyn is), was at an anime "con".  It was at the Embassy Suites, and apparently about 200 anime fans attended.  Not bad for a "small" "con".  :)   She went with five other teens from the anime club she is in, and the kids all had a really good time.  For the most part it was clean fun, and Amy and her friends stayed away from the "raunchy" folks.  As Amy told me, "we have better sense than that!"  :)    I have to say that though I don't "get" anime, I do "get" getting "into" things, and since she avoids the raunchy anime and mostly it's parents and kids together, I can surely think of worse things for her to get into.  

I remember a while back, someone was giving me a little grief about her being "into" anime.  Said it was "bad".   But "Twilight" is "okay".  Oh What.Ev.Er!!  What the Sam Hill is the difference?  None!  Amy, (and I too), think that the Twilight movies are reeeeeaally stupid.  I admit I LOVED the books, but the first two movies I saw were ultra-cheesy.  Though, admittedly I looove Jasper's hair.  Lovely.  :)  Plus, it was worth the $8.50 to watch Jacob run around shirtless.  Hoo-boy!  LOL   Later, I found out the actor who plays Jacob was only 17.  What the heck?!   I can assure you, that boys did NOT look like that when I was in high school (in the late 14th century).    At any rate.. I digress...  I fail to see why teen aged vampires are somehow less "weird" than some cartoons.  Silliness.   To each their own I guess.  We don't "do" Harry Potter, and I know some very devout Catholic families who "do".  I guess that's why we're all different.  :)   The world would be pretty darn boring if we were all the same. :)