Drunk Girls Just Want To Have Fun

At some point in the past few weeks, Alexis discovered this website. And by discovered, I mean "discovered." She has known about it all along. She consents to most of what goes here. Still, it's different to know about it than it is to actively seek it out and start reading my words.

We've had talks about the reading of the words and how some of it is completely fine, but that other posts need to wait. I've helped her navigate to a few things and clicked her away from some others. It's an OK thing we've gotten going on right now.

The whole reading of my words has left me thinking a little harder about the virtual bread crumbs I'm leaving for her. I want her to eventually use this site as a way of remembering and guiding herself, but sometimes I stop short of saying what I really think because I don't want to impose my beliefs on her. Truly. I want her to fact find and investigate and decide for herself.

But there are a few things that are not negotiable. I've done enough fact finding and thinking for the both of us, so she just plain needs to read the words, understand them, and OWN them.

The Steubenville rape case has me thinking about some of those words. Quite simply, no girl deserves to be raped. I don't care what she's wearing or what she's drinking or where she's going -- no one deserves that. I would have thought we could all agree on that issue by now, but just today I was reminded that we don't. Just today I stood stunned silent as someone handed me their cell phone to show me a photograph of the victim taken from her Facebook profile as that someone commented about how she was "dressed pretty slutty" in the photo.

The person didn't mean their words to come across the way they did, but still. STILL. Here we are. STILL.  We can't seem to stop commenting on the victim when we're dealing with rape. (Don't even get me started on the fact that there are people passing around information about the identity of the girl. It makes my head explode in fiery rage.)

2 Steubenville Football Players Guilty of Raping Drunk Girl at Party

That was the headline. That was the headline that made me see stars formed out of anger this past weekend. Every single local news station used a variation of it. WTAE, WPXI, and KDKA. All three. Then there was the CNN debacle.

Look, I know we've hashed this whole thing repeatedly on social media, but YOU GUYS. What if the headline had been something like this?

2 Steubenville Football Players Guilty of Stealing Car from Drunk Girl at Party

Or how about:

2 Steubenville Football Players Guilty of Murdering Drunk Girl at Party

Can you murder a drunk person? Do we debate that like we debate whether or not a drunk girl can be raped? Do we talk about how the murdered person deserved it because of what they were wearing or where they were walking? Do we say they were "asking for it?"

I could go on for days.

Alexis, eventually you will read these words and when you do, let's talk. Let's talk about how it's rape no matter what you're wearing or what you're drinking or where you're at -- if you do not consent IT IS RAPE. But when we're done with that talk, we're going to talk about how to not get raped because apparently mothers still have to teach that to their daughters.

Outstubborning the Stubborn One

Somewhere around the beginning of the year, I bought myself a fancy new camera. Er, fancier new camera. It was a much past due purchase which has left me with a bit of a challenge -- this is the time of year that I typically don't take a lot of photos. There just isn't a lot of sunshine happening, but my day is coming. Soon. When it does come, it sure would be nice if I knew what the heck I was doing. Knowing what I'm doing will come with practice, but WHOOPS. WRONG TIME OF YEAR FOR THAT.

(To clarify: the new camera is just enough different from Canon T2i for it to matter. My T2i is like an extension of my brain. I don't think about what I need to do to take a particular photo, my fingers just automatically do it. Not so much with the new camera. Yet.)

Because there hasn't been much sunshine but I very much so need to practice, practice, and practice some more, poor Alexis has been getting drug to awful places like the Zoo and Phipps a lot lately. THE HORROR! She has been forced to go fun places for no reason other than that I wanted to take her picture. A few thousand times.

The trick to the whole game is that Alexis knows. She knows I'm slower with the shutter right now and she knows that I'm not always getting the result I want on the first try. She is exploiting that to the fullest.

Milliseconds before that shot, she was standing there being positively adorable. She jumped just as I got everything where I wanted it to be.

I also have a ton of recent photos of the back of her head. Did you know that a 7-year old can spin around faster than an Olympic figure skater?

Of course, she stands perfectly still when I'm underexposing my shot. OF COURSE.

It's a good thing I'm persistent

(Also, BOO-YAH! That one is straight out of camera.)

(The next Getting Started with Your DSLR Workshop is scheduled for April 13th. Details are over here.)

Out of Fairy Tragedy Comes a Contest

A teary-eyed Alexis ran through the house, out of breath and desperate for my attention. "Momma! Momma! Come here!" she cried out.

I followed down the stairs and out the door to our back patio. I followed her pointed finger and thought, "Oh."

"Momma! The fairy house broke! And the fairies all moved out! Now they'll never come back!" she sobbed.

She takes this magical fairies in the garden business very seriously. Obviously.

I reassured her that we could fix the house as I put the fallen light back in its proper place.

"But the fairies already left!" she wailed.

"Well, we'll just have to wait and see what happens," I told her.

I haven't fixed the fairy roof yet. Instead, I'm waiting for a little magic to strike at just the right time. The magic is going to be accompanied by a little extra magic. And maybe a little extra to go on top of that.

We shall see.

Today as I was recounting the story of the Very Devastating Fairy Garden Disaster to someone who hasn't had the pleasure of meeting Hurricane Alexis, I listened to a tale of some kids who don't live in a house that has magic. The reasons for the lack of magic are sound and it is absolutely a parent's choice to parent how he or she likes, but it made me a little sad. No tooth fairy. No Santa. No Easter Bunny.

No garden fairies.

No magic.

It's not my place to deliver magic to strangers, or at least not those strangers. With a little more thought, however, it occurred to me that perhaps I could deliver some magic to some different strangers.

One of you, perhaps.

So, here's the thing. Over the past few years, I've amassed a pretty decent stockpile of magical fairy garden accessories. I have extra fairy houses and garden tools and fairy clothes and .... I should stop. If I keep listing how much stuff I know is sitting in my fairy box in the basement, it'll be like confessing to a shopping crime. Or ten. AHEM.

ANYWAY.

If you leave a comment on this post, you will be entered in a random drawing to win a fairy garden kit. It will come with a nice little box of accessories, a fairy house for you to decorate, and a list of plants that are good for fairy gardens that live in a container. I'll even tailor the list for your region so that you can look for plants that will be happy where you live. For the sake of having something to say in your comment, just tell me who you would share your fairy garden with -- although, it's acceptable to say you'll be hogging it to yourself. I fully admit I have claimed the castle one in our yard and won't let anyone else play with it.

I'll pick a winner at random on 3/31, but don't wait to enter. Just do it now so you don't forget. Also, please make sure your email address is in the correct field on your comment so I can contact you if you win. Good luck!