Hanukkah 5777 Card From Reilly and Camille

Symphony Of Lights Puppy Walk With Reilly and Camille Last Night

A few highlights:

1. Reilly and Camille saw one of their neighbor friends, Hero.
2. Reilly met matches Cullie (a Shitzu, from whom she even backed off once she sniffed her!) and Pippin.
3. Camille had a positive car ride experience, although she was at first stubborn about even "Mimi" getting on sweater on her (as pictures below show)!
4. Reilly and Camille walked for longer than they normally would, and they made new human and canine friends!

Reilly had also been excited the night before. ("Reilly, do you want to go see the Symphony of Lights?" got kisses as answers.)

"Mom-Mom" had to help "Mimi" get Camille's sweater on Camille.

To the disappointment of "Momma"/"Auntie Nicole", Reilly and Camille ran out of the time to see "Santa".

"Momma" uses this as a reminder to Reilly that "Santa's watching!"

This is actually an infamous fixture at the Symphony of Lights every year.

Reilly loved whatever attention she got!

Winston and Reilly are both sweet and jealous puppies.

"Momma" can hope for her and Reilly's sakes. 

#MemoryMonday and #MaltipooMonday: A Joke That Was On "Auntie Nicole" And A Sweet Gesture For "Mimi"

When someone came over a few days ago, "Auntie Nicole" demonstrated for him or her how Camille barks every time that she sees a squirrel. To demonstrate this, she tricked Camille into thinking that there was a squirrel in order for her to (of course) start barking. As Camille continued to bark and bark, she looked out of the left window and realized that there was indeed a squirrel—and that the joke that she tried to play on Cam ended up being on her!

Shortly after that, "Mimi"/"Auntie Michelle" called from work. Thus, "Auntie Nicole"/"Momma" had "Mimi"/"Auntie Michelle" say hi to Camille and Reilly while she had the phone on speakerphone. When Camille's turn to be greeted by "Mimi" came, Camille reached out her paw to "Auntie Nicole"'s arm (and maybe even reached both paws out to "Auntie Nicole"'s arm) and the phone, and licked "Auntie Nicole"'s arm and may have even nosed the phone in an attempt to communicate that she heard "Mimi".

(PS All of this has been a blur since "Auntie Nicole"/"Momma" got the stomach bug on Saturday and began to recover from it yesterday. By the way, Camille and Reilly handled "Auntie Nicole"/"Momma" and "Mimi"/"Auntie Michelle" having the stomach bug well,)

Somewhat To Mostly Offbeat: "Momma" As An Example Of Single Pet Parenting Further Complicated For Pet Parents With Disabilities

"Momma" has previously discussed how "Auntie Michelle" and "Mom-Mom" make her being a "Momma" without a "Daddy" for Reilly harder for her because she has disabilities, and they know as well as she knows that they wouldn't do half of what they do if she didn't have Cerebral Palsy and mental illnesses. In the meantime, plenty of recent examples as to how they complicate her "Momma"hood have come up. In fact, one that came up just tonight is as follows thanks to "Auntie Michelle", and is reminiscent of one that is courtesy of "Mom-Mom":

"Auntie Michelle" wanted to try to get the pimple off of Reilly's back, which reminded "Momma" of when "Mom-Mom" didn't tell her what that piece of excess cartilage on Reilly's nose actually was before the groomer unplugged it. "Momma" blames "Auntie Michelle" in this case as much as she blames "Mom-Mom" in the last case, though she would not have minded having the blackhead unplugged had she known what "Mom-Mom" found out—and "Momma" was a little worried with the blood on Reilly's nose at first, although she trusts the groomer (whom, as she found out, is a former vet tech) and the vet (whom told "Mom-Mom" that it was "extra cartilage"). This time, she specifically asked the person in question—"Auntie Michelle"—to not try to get rid of the pimple since she was keeping an eye on it and planning to talk to "Mom-Mom" about it, and the person in question nonetheless proceeded to clean out what she thought might be any blackhead-related blackness out of the pimple area.

"Auntie Michelle" and "Mom-Mom" know that, that would not be happening were "Momma" able to drive and otherwise live unimpeded by disabilities (including debilitating mental illnesses). After all, "Momma" would be able to take Reilly to the groomer and the vet herself, and she'd be able to pay them herself. She'd also be able to run over quickly and stop "Auntie Michelle" right then and there from trying to clean pimples or anything else on Reilly without her permission. 

As "Momma"'s case demonstrates, though, even some families of single pet parents with disabilities consider the pet parents with disabilities as lesser pet parents at some level, even second-class pet parents and overall people at best—whether they mean to or don't mean to think of them that way.

"Santa" Is No Deterrent For Reilly—Or Camille

Taking advice from a friend seems to be a hit-or-miss undertaking, since "Santa's watching" seems to generally have no effect—since, for example, Camille (as "Auntie Nicole" just discovered) just went upstairs without permission again (and with "Mimi"/"Auntie Michelle" having brought Camille down, Reilly is now deciding to cause another situation and not say "Night nights" to Camille—and Camille and Reilly have to have "Mimi"/"Auntie Michelle" give them their respective lectures).

"Auntie Nicole"'s/"Momma"'s additions to "Santa's watching" also seem generally effectless. Even claims that "Santa" will put coal in Camille's and Reilly's stockings don't seem to affect either Camille or Reilly to behave.

By the way, "Auntie Nicole"/"Momma" can't claim that "Santa" will give Camille or Reilly switches and/or sticks because Camille and Reilly never experience animal cruelty (which beating a pet with a switch is) or pass up opportunities to try to eat sticks (to which "Momma" can attest, since she even had to get pieces of fake sticks from a Christmas decoration out of Reilly's mouth recently!).

 

Thank You, "Time"!

All I needed to see is the headline that the #MeToo Movement is "Time" Magazine's Person of the Year. While I remember very specifically voting for the #MeToo Movement and asking others on Twitter to do the same, I know that the #MeToo Movement would not have been "Time"'s Person of the Year had others not considered my and still many others' advice to vote for the surprisingly-at-the-time-low-voted movement. I'm only one in God knows how many—basically, a salt grain in an ocean drop—since there are many more like me—and certainly many whom've and whom'll sadly have endured worse than I ever have endured or will endure (as far as I know, anyway—so far, I've been blessed to be protected from severe sexual abuse).

The #MeToo Movement, despite that—according to Fox News and other sources—it's actually been a movement for 11 years, has done more in the past few months than many people (including other "Person of the Year" candidates) have accomplished in a year—let alone many years and let alone a lifetime. In fact, —Rose McGowan and others brought down Harvey Weinstein only two months ago—which I was surprised to see when I double checked if "past few months" is accurate! Of course, the #MeToo Movement began its watershed breakthrough when Gretchen Carlson exposed the hypocrite Roger Ailes and built up to its sixth-of-a-year critical-mass moment as more and more women—and even quite a few men—came forward about Roger Ailes and still others. Without Gretchen Carlson, then, 11 years of trying to stop a centuries-pervasive problem in American culture and in Western society overall would not have culminated in a remarkably-quick shoe drop, chip fall, domino-chain reaction, or whatever it is—and Gretchen Carlson deserves the recognition that "Time"'s acknowledgement of the #MeToo movement brings her and those whom came forward because of her.

As I said before, then, thank you, "Time"—you gave countless people whom worked to raise their own voices and help others raise their voice against the sexual abuse and other sexual harassment that they and others have endured and at least no longer have to endure without a millions-of-voices-strong voice telling them, "Me too."

Early Christmas 2017 Card From Reilly