New Fangled Technology

I came across this funny on facebook, posted by an old uni roommate of mine.  It occurs to me that this cheeky wee image makes me a little sad.  Whilst my toddler whisks her way through the touch screen menus of my phone, tablet PCs and the underwhelming IPad, I can't help feeling a little something has been lost.  I am not unaware that I am following in the footsteps of the laments of generations before mine... I'm quite certain these cries were heard about computers vs pen and paper back in the day. But still...

I am quite the sentimental type and will hang on to any item that even slightly whiffs of nostalgia.  Of course, this is much to my detriment as it also means that I hoard the most useless bunch of crap that ever existed since Noah built the Ark.

I wonder at the hundreds of cassette tapes that have boxed up in the attic.  I love listening to my tunes and have made full use of the modern technology that is the IPod...I have most of my listening appetite on it (them.  I have a couple.  And the IPhone).  I will most likely never use a cassette player again - in fact the only one I do have chews up cassette tapes in the only way an '80's relic can.  So WHY are they taking up valuable storage space?

Because a little part of me worries that one day I will lose my music collection in cyberspace.   Because you can't lose a cassette into thin air.  Now we have iCloud...where (for a small annual fee) we can store hundreds of millions of documents, photos, files, data, you-name-it into nothingness.  Brilliant, isn't it? (It's genius, no wonder Apple wipes its backside with $100 bills)

Call me a technophobe but seriously, everything's virtual these days, don't some of you hanker for the tangible?!

;o) 

Grateful For Grandads

Bubble has three grandads (so this is the first of 3 Gratefuls). She owes a good many things (and each different) to each of them.  The above image is of Bubble and her Grandad through my mum's marriage.  My step-father.  He is not related to her by blood but he loves her (like he loves me) as his own and does all the 'grandad' things with her that her other two grandads are unable to.  She owes stability and security to him.  He is the kind of man that is a rock in a storm, a safe harbour.  He will always be there for her and I am very grateful for him.

That's Sick

"That's sick."
                                                                                       

This was the response I received from a woman recently at a family birthday party, when I told I still breastfed my 20 month old daughter.  This woman breastfed her own children til they were about 6 weeks old.  She was the most enjoyable company up until that point.  The feeling behind her statement took me completely by surprise.  She had been so affable and we'd be getting on like the proverbial house on fire.  

Have a look at the image of my daughter asleep on the breast...is that really so offensive?  What is so "sick" about breastfeeding a toddler?  Mothers give their toddlers dummies and bottles, don't they?  That's exactly what I'm doing, I'm just not replacing the original item with the modern counterpart.

I don't for one instant condemn the use of a bottle but I am starting to get a little hacked off at the way breastfeeding is perceived as an "alternative" form of feeding your child.  That you are in some way 'wacky' or 'eco-friendly' or (my personal favourite) an 'earth mother'.  The "breast is best" slogan is partially to blame for this, I believe.  Ramming such nonsense down vulnerable new mothers' throats is half the issue and can only lead to negativity towards those who breastfeed.  It gives ammunition to those coporate giants who would benefit financially by drawing mothers into different camps when choosing how to feed their child.

There should be no slogan at all.  Breast is NORMAL. At least, it should be.

Grateful For a Welcome Back :)

Having been away for a couple of months, I was incredibly nervous to come back. Would I still have any followers? Would anyone still be interested? Would folk have written me off as just another blogger that fell by the wayside?

Self absorbed I know.

But to my utter delight, you are all still there. Not only are you still there but you are welcoming me back into the fold and shouting Hooray! Keep at it girl!

And I will. :o)

Thank you so very very much!

So I'm back.

It's been a few months.

But the point is that I'm back.

I could give out the excuses of the packed in laptop, the additional familial duties and the woes of family intrigues... the increased stays with my mother whilst Wad spends longer periods away at work, Bubble's increasing demand on my time and energy...

...Regardless of the reason, it's time I got back in the saddle.  I REFUSE to give up on this blog as I have on the other four.  Not this time.  No way.  No how.

:o)