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	<title>Corinne&#039;s Blog &#187; Parenthood</title>
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		<title>What I am Thankful For.</title>
		<link>http://www.pinker33.com/2011/11/24/what-i-am-thankful-for/</link>
		<comments>http://www.pinker33.com/2011/11/24/what-i-am-thankful-for/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 24 Nov 2011 17:59:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Pinker33</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[David Michael Howe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Finding Love]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Love Lost]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rita Salone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[School]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Work]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Work/Scheduling/Church]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[What I'm Thankful For]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.pinker33.com/?p=2125</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[So it&#8217;s Thanksgiving again and I&#8217;m thinking this year has turned around a lot from where I was last year at this time. Last year around this time I&#8217;d just been broken up with my my ex boyfriend Craig, This year I am happy to say that I&#8217;ve been blessed with a handsome, caring and [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>So it&#8217;s Thanksgiving again and I&#8217;m thinking this year has turned around a lot from where I was last year at this time.</p>
<p>Last year around this time I&#8217;d just been broken up with my my ex boyfriend Craig, This year I am happy to say that I&#8217;ve been blessed with a handsome, caring and intelligent new boyfriend, David. Though David is unable to join my family and I this Thanksgiving because he&#8217;s busy doing work for law school I was blessed to be able to see him on Tuesday and he might grace me with his presence Friday also. I&#8217;m grateful to have a boyfriend who I can physically see and touch and interact with it&#8217;s a total turn around from having a long distance boyfriend who I could only interact with online. It&#8217;s nice to have someone I can actually reach out and touch who can touch me back when I want and need it. It&#8217;s great to have someone to hug and hold hands with, I&#8217;m Thankful this Thanksgiving Holiday for that ability.</p>
<p><a href="http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/313141_10150420063627230_504032229_8597465_315225088_n.jpg"><img class="alignnone" src="http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/313141_10150420063627230_504032229_8597465_315225088_n.jpg" alt="" width="470" height="207" /></a></p>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 390px"><a href="http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/311341_10150420217497230_504032229_8597708_566649758_n.jpg"><img class=" " title="David" src="http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/311341_10150420217497230_504032229_8597708_566649758_n.jpg" alt="David Smiling Handsomely" width="380" height="182" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">My new handsome boyfriend David</p></div>
<p><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-mD4hyVVpC84/Ts6QxZ18ctI/AAAAAAAACU8/6JUiktoZiZI/s160/David%2B%252893%2529.png"><img class="alignnone" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-mD4hyVVpC84/Ts6QxZ18ctI/AAAAAAAACU8/6JUiktoZiZI/s160/David%2B%252893%2529.png" alt="" width="160" height="120" /></a><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-WVqqjdBDorI/Ts6QtlA1VzI/AAAAAAAACTI/55DkFzkBG70/s160/David%2B%252877%2529.png"><img class="alignnone" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-WVqqjdBDorI/Ts6QtlA1VzI/AAAAAAAACTI/55DkFzkBG70/s160/David%2B%252877%2529.png" alt="" width="160" height="120" /></a></p>
<p>I am also Thankful for my job. Though I have a sometime messy and frustrating job I&#8217;m thankful that I&#8217;m doing something at which I&#8217;m good. I&#8217;m really great with working with children and the fact that I am surrounded by children and I can play and do fun art projects with them really makes my life more exciting. Even though many of my coworkers are cliquey and even though every little thing I does seems to warrant a meeting with the boss and a threat of losing my job I&#8217;m thankful for being able to destress and take my job one day at a time.</p>
<p><a href="http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/303232_10150415016852230_504032229_8580566_555428168_n.jpg"><img class="alignnone" title="floam" src="http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/303232_10150415016852230_504032229_8580566_555428168_n.jpg" alt="Floam from work" width="320" height="256" /></a><a href="http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/303894_10150390475632230_504032229_8479515_1209077738_n.jpg"><img class="alignnone" src="http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/303894_10150390475632230_504032229_8479515_1209077738_n.jpg" alt="" width="256" height="320" /></a></p>
<p>I&#8217;m Thankful to have a roof over my head and good housemates who take the time to acknowledge my presence. Matthew one of my housemates who is a little older than me and at a higher level in school as I am at MCTC even tutored me through a Chemistry assignment the other night. And when he was making pizza he shared it with me. I am thankful for good friendly conversation that I get to have with my housemates (all except Alton who doesn&#8217;t talk to me) in passing.</p>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 266px"><a href="http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/377212_10150390242802230_504032229_8477870_1077891560_n.jpg"><img src="http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/377212_10150390242802230_504032229_8477870_1077891560_n.jpg" alt="My house is the first one" width="256" height="320" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">The day our front tree lost all it&#39;s leaves.</p></div>
<p>Though I absolutely hate my commute, especially now that I&#8217;ve had my wallet stolen off a bus I&#8217;m thankful that I have a way to get to and from work and I pray that by this time next year I&#8217;ll have a brand new car to be thankful for.</p>
<p><a href="http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/313351_10150345836557230_504032229_8218692_950166435_n.jpg"><img class="alignnone" src="http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/313351_10150345836557230_504032229_8218692_950166435_n.jpg" alt="" width="384" height="307" /></a></p>
<p>I&#8217;m thankful for the ability to be able to go to school and get a decent education. My being in school this semester has really shown me that with the right work effort and established work habits that I can accomplish whatever I set my mind to. I&#8217;m praying that with God&#8217;s grace I&#8217;ll actually pass the Chemistry exam that is coming up in a few weeks.</p>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 522px"><a href="http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/297824_10150395140907230_504032229_8507727_1158963952_n.jpg"><img class=" " src="http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/297824_10150395140907230_504032229_8507727_1158963952_n.jpg" alt="Flashcards from my Nutrition exam" width="512" height="410" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Nutrition Flashcards</p></div>
<p>I&#8217;m Thankful for family, My mother has been there for me when I&#8217;ve needed her this past year. I appreciate that bonding I&#8217;ve been able to do with my brother Eric while being on the worship team. And though she&#8217;s a pest sometimes I&#8217;m grateful and Thankful for my little sister for looking up to me and missing me, it makes me feel special. I hope next year I&#8217;ll have more to write about Tiffany, Evan, Tyler and my father Ronnie.</p>
<p><a href="http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/319144_10150345029557230_504032229_8213256_259762089_n.jpg"><img class="alignnone" src="http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/319144_10150345029557230_504032229_8213256_259762089_n.jpg" alt="" width="307" height="384" /></a></p>
<p>I am thankful for being alive under the grace of God and I hope I continue to live to make a positive difference in the world.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m Thankful for the friends I&#8217;ve had this last year, though I&#8217;m not able to see them as much as I&#8217;d like to I&#8217;m thankful that I have people in my life who check up on me and text me wishing me a happy Thanksgiving and who tell me they care about me. Adam M, Heidi W, Alex J, Mikey B, Ian M, Byron T, James, Cori, Alisa, Julie K, Peter P, Lucy, Tymisha and Dean, and all those people who I forget to mention. I&#8217;m Thankful for the people I get to interact with on a regular basis and I wish them all a great and happy Thanksgiving.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m Thankful for good food and decent weather, though I get tired of the snow of Winter about one third of the way through it because I must stand outside for Minneapolis Kids recess I&#8217;m Thankful for the changes in weather and that I have eyes to see the beauty in the weather. I love that fact that I wake early and I&#8217;m able to see the sunrise and that I get to go home and see the sun setting. I&#8217;m thankful for being able to enjoy all parts of my day and that I have well working sensory organs.</p>
<p><a href="http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/387393_10150394086522230_504032229_8501764_980074964_n.jpg"><img class="alignnone" src="http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/387393_10150394086522230_504032229_8501764_980074964_n.jpg" alt="" width="246" height="197" /></a><a href="http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/389914_10150390476067230_504032229_8479516_702278439_n.jpg"><img class="alignnone" src="http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/389914_10150390476067230_504032229_8479516_702278439_n.jpg" alt="" width="230" height="288" /></a><a href="http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/387393_10150394086522230_504032229_8501764_980074964_n.jpg"><img class="alignnone" src="http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/376036_10150393340687230_504032229_8497874_779595890_n.jpg" alt="" width="276" height="221" /></a><a href="http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/321330_10150322226572230_504032229_8078661_1252060803_n.jpg"><img class="alignnone" src="http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/321330_10150322226572230_504032229_8078661_1252060803_n.jpg" alt="" width="269" height="215" /></a><a href="http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/300333_10150356650232230_504032229_8281989_643844925_n.jpg"><img class="alignnone" src="http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/300333_10150356650232230_504032229_8281989_643844925_n.jpg" alt="" width="215" height="269" /></a><a href="http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/376711_10150390227232230_504032229_8477693_131061474_n.jpg"><img class="alignnone" src="http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/376711_10150390227232230_504032229_8477693_131061474_n.jpg" alt="" width="215" height="269" /></a><a href="http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/294112_10150329435192230_504032229_8128529_2043119354_n.jpg"><img class="alignnone" src="http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/294112_10150329435192230_504032229_8128529_2043119354_n.jpg" alt="" width="215" height="269" /></a><a href="http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/316401_10150329423892230_504032229_8128445_1164120554_n.jpg"><img class="alignnone" src="http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/316401_10150329423892230_504032229_8128445_1164120554_n.jpg" alt="" width="215" height="269" /></a></p>
<p>I&#8217;m Thankful for my church, and the people who support and counsel me even when I don&#8217;t feel like getting counselling. I&#8217;m Thankful that God created those people and brought them together for his purposes. I&#8217;m also thankful for the world church as a body working together to being the truth to all nations.</p>
<p><a href="http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/264522_10150226440597230_504032229_7295184_6060164_n.jpg"><img class="alignnone" src="http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/264522_10150226440597230_504032229_7295184_6060164_n.jpg" alt="" width="384" height="307" /></a></p>
<p>I&#8217;m thankful for our nation&#8217;s history and the leaders that are currently trying to lead our government even through all the grief and fault that take for the nations problems.</p>
<p><a href="http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/310560_10150330964867230_504032229_8134649_2036567511_n.jpg"><img class="alignnone" src="http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/310560_10150330964867230_504032229_8134649_2036567511_n.jpg" alt="" width="384" height="307" /></a></p>
<p>I&#8217;m thankful for those who are brave enough to stand up and fight for what they believe in, whether it be the Occupy movement or the oppressed peoples of other countries. I appreciate and am thankful for having a voice that can be heard even if I am small and even if I think I&#8217;m insignificant.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m Thankful for my past relationships that are no longer for making me the way I am.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m thankful for the ability to laugh and smile and feel pain, and cry and live a human life with all it&#8217;s roller coaster ups and downs.</p>
<p><a href="http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/302679_10150415359827230_504032229_8582070_1397088567_n.jpg"><img class="alignnone" src="http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/302679_10150415359827230_504032229_8582070_1397088567_n.jpg" alt="" width="384" height="307" /></a></p>
<p>I&#8217;m thankful for where God placed me in the world and where he&#8217;s put me in life, I really have goals set and I&#8217;m thankful that I&#8217;m taking the steps to accomplish the way of life I&#8217;m striving for.</p>
<p><a href="http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/264354_10150227341172230_504032229_7305381_1557726_n.jpg"><img class="alignnone" src="http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/264354_10150227341172230_504032229_7305381_1557726_n.jpg" alt="" width="324" height="432" /></a></p>
<p>I have a lot more that I&#8217;m thankful for, but I&#8217;m going to go make some cranberry mold and baked pumpkin with my little sister Cynthia.</p>
<p>I wish everyone a pleasant Thanksgiving.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Relapse</title>
		<link>http://www.pinker33.com/2011/09/18/relapse/</link>
		<comments>http://www.pinker33.com/2011/09/18/relapse/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 19 Sep 2011 03:03:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Pinker33</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Death]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rita Salone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Work]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.pinker33.com/?p=2104</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Tonight Instead of making my way back home to my house in South Minneapolis after my work at Euphoric Ambiance I made a detour downtown and to North Minneapolis to my mother&#8217;s house. I&#8217;d had the intentions of coming around to these parts ever since my mom told me that my cat Snow was dying [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Tonight Instead of making my way back home to my house in South Minneapolis after my work at Euphoric Ambiance I made a detour downtown and to North Minneapolis to my mother&#8217;s house.</p>
<p>I&#8217;d had the intentions of coming around to these parts ever since my mom told me that my cat Snow was dying and that she had intentions of putting her to sleep.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m highly against putting animals to sleep especially when I can come home to my mom&#8217;s house and see my cat in the exact same health condition as she has been for months now.</p>
<p>The only difference between this cat and my normal cat is that she can&#8217;t control her bladder, that&#8217;s the beginning of the end they say.</p>
<p>Last Tuesday I completely lost it when my mother told me that she had intentions of taking my Cat in last Wednesday. I cried and cried and I refused to get out of my mother&#8217;s car and go home until she promised that she&#8217;d give snow one more day.</p>
<p>It frightens me that the vets will be taking my cat and making her die alone with gas or a shot that will slowly make all her vital organs just stop.</p>
<p>I love my cat dearly and I can&#8217;t handle not having her around after she&#8217;d been in my life my whole life.</p>
<p>I thought my mom was possibly lying to me but boy was I surprised to discover that my cat was still alive Wednesday afternoon after i got out of my class and I was headed to work at my second job. I wasn&#8217;t able to get out and to my mom&#8217;s house to see my cat until nearly nine at night when there would be no chance of me getting back home after the fact to change and get ready for Thursday day at work and school.</p>
<p>Thursday wasn&#8217;t any better and everyday until now Sunday&#8230;and my cat is still alive because I asked that I be able to see her before she is put to sleep so I can say goodbye in anyway I can.</p>
<p>Coming tonight though I am unable to see anything wrong with her which just frustrates me because she seems like she always is, a tired old cat just laying around and being cute, she&#8217;s walking around, eating and meowing for attention as she always has. She even spent some time following me around when I first arrived at my mother&#8217;s house.</p>
<p>She&#8217;s laying right next to me sleep right now so I&#8217;m sitting here thinking&#8230;to put her to sleep would be to kill a innocent, yet a little sickly  animal.<br />
I go to my mother and ask her why she wants to put Snow down now that she&#8217;s showing such little signs of being sickly enough to die.</p>
<p>My mom says that she can&#8217;t deal with any stress right now, and I ask her what stress there would be in snow&#8217;s being the same as she usually is and my mom makes me sit down in front of her and she informs me that she thinks she&#8217;s relapsing.</p>
<p>My mom has had cancer for about two years now and she&#8217;d had Multiple Sclerosis for twenty two, she was diagnosed with it when she was pregnant with me.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m relapsing Corinne and as hard as it is for me to deal with Snow right now I can&#8217;t take this stress while I&#8217;m relapsing.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;Into Cancer?&#8221; I asked knowing my mom had cancer.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll always have Cancer&#8221; my mom said &#8220;it&#8217;s not going anywhere anytime soon&#8221; she says</p>
<p>&#8220;Than it&#8217;s the MS?&#8221; I ask</p>
<p>And she nods.</p>
<p>My mom has relapsed into MS twice in my life, the first time I was in Kindergarten and i found my mom laying on the ground in the hallway and she couldn&#8217;t get up, I remember I thought she was dying the second time I was about sixteen and i remember having to change her iv for the steroids they put her on to make her stronger. When she lapsed from stage one to stage two she was forced into taking shots daily.</p>
<p>This time my mom tells me she is having trouble with her walking, I noticed it today this morning when she didn&#8217;t walk straight up the stairs and she used the handle railing at church to assist her.</p>
<p>So I think this is the more than just a relapse, people with MS have lost their abilities to walk and have ended up in wheelchairs.</p>
<p>So this just became  an issue of if I want to cause my mom more stress and kill her or if I want to let my childhood cat be put to sleep.</p>
<p>I am having a hard time letting go of my childhood cat because I don&#8217;t believe in killing and innocent creature and that it is God&#8217;s place to do so but this whole business with my mother and the way she&#8217;s sprung it on me has me thinking that I have no other choice.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s my mother or my cat.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Spring is Here!</title>
		<link>http://www.pinker33.com/2011/04/06/spring-is-here/</link>
		<comments>http://www.pinker33.com/2011/04/06/spring-is-here/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 06 Apr 2011 15:14:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Pinker33</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Life's Ponderisms]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rita Salone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Work]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.pinker33.com/?p=1872</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s still a bit chilly and that last of the sad snow piles are melting away but to me Spring is official here&#8230;the kids at work are already asking if they can run around in their t-shirts without jackets and I&#8217;m tempted to actually let them. This will be my first Spring in my new [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It&#8217;s still a bit chilly and that last of the sad snow piles are melting away but to me Spring is official here&#8230;the kids at work are already asking if they can run around in their t-shirts without jackets and I&#8217;m tempted to actually let them.</p>
<p>This will be my first Spring in my new house and I&#8217;m hoping it won&#8217;t be my last. With my losing my job in a few months I&#8217;m worried about the fact that I&#8217;m going to have a rocky summer financially. I&#8217;ve  been trying to figure out what I&#8217;m going do to cover my expenses over the summer and I&#8217;ve come up with four possible options.</p>
<p>the first being to find another job,<br />
This is easier said than done and I really don&#8217;t want to find a job that will make it hard for me to return to my Minneapolis Kids job come next Fall when the school year begins again. I&#8217;m really hoping the mpls kids staff don&#8217;t forget about me over the Summer when the next school year begins.</p>
<p>My Second option would be to file for unemployment over the summer and to hope that it will cover the costs of my lost job over the summer. This is tricky because it isn&#8217;t guaranteed but it would make it a lot easier for me to return to school and not have any conflicts of school and my work schedule. I&#8217;d be able to take summer classes at MCTC but my debts would still stand as they already were. This is a risk I&#8217;d be willing to take in order to get myself back into school. I might find some odd jobs like babysitting which I already find myself doing to pay off my everyday expenses.</p>
<p>My third option would be to apply for a job with one of my house mates, Scott. The job would require me to travel to a fishing village in Alaska to work in a fishing factory for about 6 weeks. that&#8217;s a month and a half and after those 6 weeks I&#8217;d be given roughly 3grand (3,000$) minus my travel expenses. This would be a great way for me to make a large amount of money without trouble and it would make it easier for me to pay off my debts and get into school in the fall. Sadly though I wouldn&#8217;t be able to take the classes I&#8217;d planned on taking over the Summer and I&#8217;d be that much more behind in starting my Nursing program. I&#8217;d become a bit of a zombie after having worked 16 hours days and after that I&#8217;m considering finding a summer job for the rest of the summer in order to let a bit of money simply sit in the bank or in order to be able to prepay a few months of rent off.</p>
<p>My fourth option and that option I&#8217;m trying to avoid the most would be to ask my mother to help me in these next upcoming months. That would mean asking her to cover my rent of about 375$ for about three months&#8230;that would be over 1000$ and I know already that she doesn&#8217;t have it. She has a hard time even giving me 200$ dollars to help me cover half of my current outstanding MCTC bill. This would be a total stretch because I&#8217;d be asking her also to help me with money for food and while I was going to school for help with my school bills. This would help me focus on school because I wouldn&#8217;t have to work but I know It would make it difficult on my mother to pay her own bills and take care of herself and my siblings. This would be the last thing I&#8217;d try.</p>
<p>Even though I have such big decisions to make I have the ability to look at my life in comparison of other people&#8217;s and be grateful because my life could be SO much worse! I&#8217;m truly blessed to be surrounded and supported by a wonderful group of family and friends who love me. Even greater than all that God is on my side and watching over me at all times. They say a person should be nice to all because you never know when you are in the presence of  Angels&#8230;but I feel that Angels fill my life with joy at all times.</p>
<p>Till I have to get down to the wire in making my decisions I&#8217;ll count my blessings and enjoy the upcoming Spring. The nice weather and new fresh sun and the blue skies and green grass are beginning of lift my spirits already tremendously.</p>
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		<title>What is a DeadBeat Dad?</title>
		<link>http://www.pinker33.com/2011/02/05/what-is-a-dead-beat-dad/</link>
		<comments>http://www.pinker33.com/2011/02/05/what-is-a-dead-beat-dad/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 06 Feb 2011 03:02:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Pinker33</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Personal Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rita Salone]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.pinker33.com/2011/02/05/what-is-a-dead-beat-dad/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This has been ever weighing on my mind. My mother is a strong and very wise woman&#8230;.she&#8217;s been my primary support through my whole life. When asked yesterday where my father was and what he was doing I had to answer that my father worked &#8216;around&#8217; and that I wasn&#8217;t really sure where or what [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This has been ever weighing on my mind.</p>
<p>My mother is a strong and very wise woman&#8230;.she&#8217;s been my primary support through my whole life.</p>
<p>When asked yesterday where my father was and what he was doing I had to answer that my father worked &#8216;around&#8217; and that I wasn&#8217;t really sure where or what he did. I said that I used to live with my mother and after my parents separated that my mother was my primary care giver and provider until I moved out of her house.</p>
<p>But then the person asked if my father still helped to support me in anyway way and thinking about it truly hurt me.<br />
No&#8230;he didn&#8217;t. The last thing he did for me was to take me to work when I didn&#8217;t have any bus fare&#8230;that was the first time I&#8217;d really asked him for a favor since I&#8217;d been planning to move to Scotland and I&#8217;d need help with money and he&#8217;d given me 100 dollars.</p>
<p>I remember when he&#8217;d been in the car with me he&#8217;d talked to be about how he was working on replacing a part of a toilet&#8230;I must need help because I feel that he owes my mother something and that the money he made there should have gone to her.</p>
<p>She&#8217;s the one whose raised his children and supported them for all these years&#8230;Should I turn a blind eye to the fact that he&#8217;s making money that is only going to supporting himself when he has six children. He only interacts really now with my little sister Cynthia because it seems that my brother Eric has cut him off&#8230;and he talks to my brother Evan who has cut my mother and I off.</p>
<p>My father has a college degree and he chooses to not get a job so he wouldn&#8217;t have to pay child support. My father lives in a house that he doesn&#8217;t have to pay for on the meager wages he gets from doing freelance handyman work around the twin cities. My father has tried to establish a relationship with me multiple times but I&#8217;m finding it extremely hard to want to support him and be around him when he should have gotten a good job to help my mother raise me and my siblings. Should I turn a blind eye to the fact that my mother can barely afford cancer treatments because my father isn&#8217;t paying the 12,000 dollars in child support that he needs to. If my father were to pay for the child support my mother would be able to use the money that she is using for my sister&#8217;s school tuition to pay for her cancer treatments. My father doesn&#8217;t care for my mother at all and if my mother dies of cancer I will blame him.</p>
<p>I looked up deadbeat dad on google to find out what my father really was&#8230;I&#8217;d heard before that men who didn&#8217;t pay their child support were deadbeat&#8230;</p>
<p>But I needed to know for myself.</p>
<p>Noun</p>
<p>S: (n) deadbeat dad (a father who willfully defaults on his obligation to provide financial support for his offspring)</p>
<p>That is what my father has done to my family for many years.</p>
<p>He says he wants to make things right with me and my siblings but I want this to be the first step.</p>
<p>Is he ill and incapable of finding a job?</p>
<p>My mother is ill with two diseases and she still gets up everyday and works her butt off for her children.</p>
<p>What is up with him other than that he is getting older?</p>
<p>So what he&#8217;s getting grays&#8230;so what his eye sight is bad&#8230;why is he subjecting himself to poverty to not have to pay child support.</p>
<p>Sure he&#8217;s going through a depression&#8230;yet he refuses to seek help.</p>
<p>He&#8217;s constantly talking about how he is going to die soon&#8230;we don&#8217;t know if that means he&#8217;s going to kill himself or what.</p>
<p>All I know is that there was a time that he had many dreams. He would get up everyday and I&#8217;d admire the way he looked in his suit and tie when he went off the work. I truly believed that he could do anything he set his mind to because he was an intelligent well educated articulate black man. There was nothing that he couldn&#8217;t do when he set his mind to it.</p>
<p>Deep down in me I want to believe that he is still that man and that he can start anew&#8230;even at his age. I want to believe that my father hasn&#8217;t given up on life and taking care of his children.</p>
<p>Paying child support would be all it took for me to respect him again but I haven&#8217;t seen it and all I see is my mother struggling in all this by herself. And it is wearing on her and I know that it is wearing on her and actually killing her.</p>
<p>My mother is dying and my father is deciding to sit back and do nothing but watch.</p>
<p>My father is a deadbeat dad, but I believe that if he tried he could get a job and start anew and be so much more.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Future Family Home.</title>
		<link>http://www.pinker33.com/2010/10/29/future-family-home/</link>
		<comments>http://www.pinker33.com/2010/10/29/future-family-home/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 29 Oct 2010 17:29:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Pinker33</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Baby]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fun Times...]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life's Ponderisms]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[motherhood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wedding Obsession]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.pinker33.com/?p=1547</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[-I want a house that smells like a home. -I want a family that sits down at one table together for dinner every night. -I want a family home that glows at night from the inside out. -I want to ban cellphones and electronic devices from my breakfast, lunch and dinner table. -I want to [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>-I want a house that smells like a home.<br />
-I want a family that sits down at one table together for dinner every night.<br />
-I want a family home that glows at night from the inside out.<br />
-I want to ban cellphones and electronic devices from my breakfast, lunch and dinner table.<br />
-I want to have a family room where both video and board games can be found.<br />
-I want a family that is honest with each other.<br />
-I want both the adults and the parents to be responsible for cleaning.<br />
-I want everyone to have their own things&#8230;computers, spaces, and belongings so they don&#8217;t have to wait or fight over what belongs to who.<br />
-I want to have a family date night&#8230;one night a week for family no exceptions.<br />
-I want my family to be able to give my children an allowance.<br />
-I want to develop a college fund for my children.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>He Heals Me&#8230;India Arie</title>
		<link>http://www.pinker33.com/2009/11/22/he-heals-me-india-arie/</link>
		<comments>http://www.pinker33.com/2009/11/22/he-heals-me-india-arie/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:10:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Pinker33</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Craig McCreath]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Love]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Movie Watching]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Personal Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rita Salone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Song Lyrics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.pinker33.com/?p=1259</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Recently as I have been traveling with my mother I&#8217;ve found that she has been going through a new music phase in her relationship recovery. After my father my mother discovered healing music that helped her self confidence and got her through the day. Right now the artist that heals my mother has been India [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Recently as I have been traveling with my mother I&#8217;ve found that she has been going through a new music phase in her relationship recovery. After my father my mother discovered healing music that helped her self confidence and got her through the day. Right now the artist that heals my mother has been India Arie. Often as I sit with my mother in the car she identifies songs that remind her of me and in some cases my personal life and my relationship.</p>
<p>The India Arie songs that she identified as being for me and for my relationships were really accurate this time and I was surprised&#8230;I listed to one of the songs that she said was me and Craig and it brought me to tears.</p>
<p>So here I share &#8220;He Heals Me&#8221; By India Arie and dedicate it to Craig McCreath: My Love and Best Friend Forever.<br />
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<p>He heals me<br />
Told him my biggest secret<br />
And he told me four.<br />
He smiled at me and said that makes me love more<br />
And then he made me laugh<br />
And I knew it was a sign<br />
That he was a man,<br />
That I wanted in my life<span style="color: #000000;"><span style="position: static; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-weight: 400; font-size: 13.3333px; position: static;"></span></span></span></p>
<p>And with every passing day<br />
I feel more and more of that way</p>
<p>He heals me<br />
He knows the real me<br />
And he accepts me, he never hurts me<br />
He heals me<br />
He knows the real me<br />
And he accepts me, he never hurts me<br />
He heals me,<br />
He heals me</p>
<p>I can play him songs, <span style="position: static; text-decoration: underline;"></span>all through the night,<br />
And he will listen to every line,<br />
And even when I&#8217;m wrong, he is still kind<br />
He chooses his words wisely when he tells me I&#8217;m not right.</p>
<p>And yes he is a beautiful man,<br />
But he is also a beautiful friend</p>
<p>He heals me<br />
He knows the real me<br />
And he accepts me, he never hurts me<br />
He heals me<br />
He knows the real me<br />
And he accepts me, he never hurts me<br />
He heals me</p>
<p>The moment that we met, he made me smile.<br />
He has so much compassion in his eyes<br />
I have no idea, how long he&#8217;ll be here<br />
A season or a lifetime, forever or a year<br />
But for the first time in my life I&#8217;m not worried about the future<br />
Because we have such a wonderful time when we&#8217;re together<br />
However things turn out, it&#8217;s all right<br />
Cause he&#8217;s already changed my life.</p>
<p>He heals me<br />
He knows the real me<br />
And he accepts me, he never hurts me<br />
He heals me<br />
He knows the real me<br />
And he accepts me, he never hurts me<br />
He heals me</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>True Blessings</title>
		<link>http://www.pinker33.com/2009/09/21/weekly-update/</link>
		<comments>http://www.pinker33.com/2009/09/21/weekly-update/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 21 Sep 2009 22:25:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Pinker33</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Personal Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rita Salone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Work]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Work/Scheduling/Church]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.pinker33.com/?p=1141</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[For the last 3 weeks I&#8217;ve been working my butt off for a family in the Kenwood Neighborhood who are filthy rich. The problem is that their money has seemed to corrupt the way they look at people and value people. They paid me next to nothing and expected me to do everything to perfection [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>For the last 3 weeks I&#8217;ve been working my butt off for a family in the Kenwood Neighborhood who are filthy rich. The problem is that their money has seemed to corrupt the way they look at people and value people. They paid me next to nothing and expected me to do everything to perfection with no encouragement, incentive and constantly having them behind my back repeatedly telling me how to do things that I already knew how to do.</p>
<p>I wasn&#8217;t allowed to complain about the work I had to do because the first time I&#8217;d said anything about the work I&#8217;d been &#8220;told on&#8221; by the nanny.</p>
<p>Funny enough though, every time I usually shared with the nanny it was her who was asking me something.<br />
After that I was told that I wasn&#8217;t allowed to socialize or talk to anyone during the hours that I was work&#8230;which was 8 hours a day 5 days a week&#8230;40 hours a week of not talking to anyone could drive a person crazy.</p>
<p>I was told that if I was caught complaining that I&#8217;d be fired.</p>
<p>Well I was supposed to be put in charge of the meals. I was happy about this part of my job because cooking is something I enjoy doing that I do very well. Yet, when I was constantly shadowed by the lady of the house Janel Goff (which is quite annoying, stressful, and hard to deal with) I asked her politely if since cooking was in my job description and because they&#8217;d given me that responsibility, I asked that she let me be in charge of making the food and I asked that she give me control in the kitchen when it was my time to cook, instead of her thinking that I am not doing things right instead of doing them her way.</p>
<p>Asking her this must have made her feel that I was trying to overrule her command because the next day Brian came to me and told me that he and Janel didn&#8217;t want me making meals anymore, and they had discussed it before they went to bed. They had decided to punish me by taking away the one thing that I enjoyed during the day.</p>
<p>When I worked on Labor Day while the rest of America&#8217;s working population was off, I asked for time and a half which was fitting. But, my employer Brian Goff told me that I couldn&#8217;t get it because the day I moved into my small 2 bedroom apt and still worked a half a day in the house, I&#8217;d been paid for a full day.</p>
<p>When I told Brian that I might want to take up an afternoon job because what he was paying me was so low, he told me&#8230;okay sure since you aren&#8217;t doing dinner now you can work till 5:30pm and start you babysitting in the afternoons. I didn&#8217;t know that the hour that he&#8217;d decided to let me off early for would cost be my 2nd daily break time.</p>
<p>I got off an hour earlier because I sacrificed my own free time&#8230;like when a teacher takes away minutes at recess.</p>
<p>I heard that Brian was the kind of man to play tricks like that, not paying people, overworking people, creating contracts that practically enslaved people.</p>
<p>The main reason I was settling at the Goff&#8217;s place for only 100$ a week&#8230;not including food costs was because I needed a place to stay and I was technically working off my living expenses by working for the family.</p>
<p>I was given my own place to live while I worked for the family, this place was supposed to be treated like an apartment away from the main house. &#8220;My own place&#8221; I was given a house mate who was also working for the Goff family, their gardener Louie.</p>
<p>The problems that I encountered with this living situation was that Brian felt that even during my break time he could come onto my side of the house and give me orders for what I should be doing later. When I felt that my break time was the only time I could escape from my servitude and relax&#8230;that became extremely stressful. Not only that but when I was on break, because the Goff&#8217;s didn&#8217;t care about anyone but their own selves they had neglected to fix anything in our part of the house&#8230;we didn&#8217;t have internet, cable, a separate phone line, and for about a week and a half our main plumbing in our kitchen didn&#8217;t work and our sinks were clogged. I spent most of my nights going to the local coffee shop with my housemate to go get internet.</p>
<p>One thing that I was extremely grateful of were my weekend off. This was a time that I spent living the life I would be living if I hadn&#8217;t been working all the time. I bathed weekends, went and read, went home to visit my mother, attended church and was about to refresh and reset myself and my spirits for the following week. The weekends became a time that the Goff would leave me alone and I would leave them alone. Even though more than once I was called and &#8216;ordered&#8217; to do something on a Saturday morning.</p>
<p>I am  surprised that it was the acts of this past weekend that got me fired and evicted from the Goff household.</p>
<p>My friend Jimmy was being evicted from his home. I am Jimmy&#8217;s primary babysitter of his two small children Collin who is age 4 and Caylie who just turned 2 on Sept 11th. I&#8217;ve watched over Collin and Caylie so much since before Collin was even walking that I feel like I have a major hand in how they&#8217;ve been raised. They aren&#8217;t people i babysit for and get paid for. I watch Collin and Caylie for free because I consider them to be family and like my own children.</p>
<p>Every time I watch the Hines children they have stayed at my place of residence, my mom&#8217;s house, my dorm, my friend&#8217;s house. I can barely count on two hands how many times I&#8217;ve watched the children in their own home.</p>
<p>My mother had agreed to watch the children at Jimmy&#8217;s request which usually meant Jimmy would be dropping the children off for me to watch them at my mother house overnight, and have them join us while we attended church the following day. This particular time though my mother did not want to have the kids at her house, my brothers Tyler and Eric this past week had been extremely sick and running high fevers.</p>
<p>Since Collin and Caylie are so young and susceptible to illness and since I&#8217;d watched them millions of times before in my places of residence outside of my mother&#8217;s house, I agreed to watch the kids at my place. I believed fully that the Goffs would have no problem with who I decided to invite over to &#8220;my own&#8221; apt and how I would be spending my day off. As a matter of fact, to my understanding the Goff family was out of town in Boston, along with the family nanny Information that I had learned while cleaning an empty house everyday for the week that they were gone (During which time I unpacked and put away the families belongings {belongings that i had no clue where to put}&#8230; which they&#8217;d left in randomly packed boxes).</p>
<p>Saturday went well, I spent most of it shopping and hanging out running Errands with my mother and the kids. Saturday night the kids slept over after we had tomato soup for dinner, I gave the kids a bath and we watched Ratatouille.</p>
<p>Sunday morning I got the kids dressed for church, fed them cereal for breakfast and got them ready to be picked up by my mother to go to church.</p>
<p>It was while we were standing in the driveway waiting for my mother to pull up that all the drama started Janel&#8230;attitude flaring came out of my door and Asked me in a yelling strict tone if I&#8217;d been watching kids overnight in &#8220;her house&#8221;. I said no, I&#8217;d been watching kids in my apt. And she says, you aren&#8217;t supposed to be allowed to watch children in my house. Then she stormed inside. I continued to wait for my mother in the driveway and  understood the memo that Janel had left as a warning for the future not to watch children at my own place.</p>
<p>Then Brian  stuck his head out the door and told me to come inside because he needed to &#8220;talk to me&#8221; he was speaking in his official scolding voice like he had when he&#8217;d told me that if I complained again I would be fired. I was thinking that maybe he had something to show me that I&#8217;d left undone from the previous week. Instead he asked me why I was watching children and i told him who they were and the situation about my mother and the eviction and how Collin and Caylie were my Godchildren and family and how it was my day off and I didn&#8217;t think it would be that big of a deal.</p>
<p>Everything that happened after that was a big blur&#8230;I remember Janel coming and joining Brian as they both yelled at me&#8230;and I remember janel slapping her hand and palm together threateningly and I remember telling them that I didn&#8217;t know they didn&#8217;t want me having anyone over EVER. And I remember Janel saying that she didn&#8217;t think I was &#8220;happy here&#8221; and that things just &#8220;weren&#8217;t working out&#8221; and that she thought I was a liar and that she thought that I had been bringing a lot of people over which made it seem like I was having parties. I told them honestly that I didn&#8217;t know anything about their policies and that I wasn&#8217;t lying and that I was being 100% honest like I try to be all the time.</p>
<p>At one point as I was explaining to Brian why I couldn&#8217;t watch the children my my mom&#8217;s place she told me that she didn&#8217;t want to be &#8220;associated with  people like Collin and Caylie&#8217;s parents&#8221; or &#8220;associated with the people I would be bringing around her house&#8221; and it made me feel like whoever I would be bringing around would be bringing with them the disease of being unfortunate and less wealthy and that maybe them being around would bring down her family&#8217;s good image.</p>
<p>WHAT A BITCH. It was just then that I began crying and telling them that Collin and Caylie were family&#8230;if They didn&#8217;t want to be associated with &#8216;those people&#8217; then what was I for being just like them?!</p>
<p>It was my day off and I was not their slave. Brian hearing what his wife was saying tried to correct and take back her words by saying that it was a liability issue&#8230;I could understand liability but the words had been said and the REAL Issue was already out to be addressed.</p>
<p>THE WHOLE THING WAS AN ISSUE OF CLASS STATUS.</p>
<p>Rich vs Poor &#8230;Face and Self  Worth. I was poor and they were rich and I was paid to serve them.</p>
<p>Brian told me he wanted me out by Wednesday&#8230;I told him that I had no where else to go through my tears and I thought that the whole thing was ridiculous because they&#8217;d never told me I couldn&#8217;t have anyone over.</p>
<p>Since I was hysterical and confused Collin tried to defend me&#8230;he kept saying &#8220;Brian, Janel&#8230;we were just trying to take a nap&#8221; and &#8220;Janel, why are you being so angry?&#8221; and &#8220;Corinne, why are you crying like a baby?&#8221; I felt terrible because I wanted to run away. I&#8217;d never been teamed up on and yelled at by such rude and heartless people.</p>
<p>the children are 2 and 4&#8230;what kind of threat do they make?!</p>
<p>I told them that it was all too much for me and that I needed to get to church&#8230;Brian said that they&#8217;d give me a week and that they&#8217;d see where we sat at the end of the next week because he realized that I had dirt against him and his family now that he didn&#8217;t want me to share with the world at risk of ruining their perfect image&#8230;opps.</p>
<p>I went out to the driveway again still crying and hoping that my mom would show up soon&#8230;she was already a half an hour late.</p>
<p>Collin and Caylie were both really upset and crying too because they&#8217;d been standing during all the yelling the whole time.</p>
<p>Brian came back outside and told me he didn&#8217;t want me waiting for my mother in his driveway and that he wanted me to wait inside for my mother&#8230;wait inside and be invisible like all good servants are&#8230;I kept thinking to myself. Was I fired? What was going on? Why were they so evil?</p>
<p>I ended up going upstairs to try to call my mom and see where she was it was then that Louie came out to the hallway with the intention to walk his dog Chip. I felt terrible and he asked me what was going on. Louie could barely understand or hear me because he had trouble with his hearing. That was one of the reasons Why I felt so alone during the whole situation&#8230;there was no one to be on my side and defend me because Louie was upstairs and couldn&#8217;t hear and Collin was just 4 and Caylie was crying and my mom wasn&#8217;t around yet.</p>
<p>It was so hard trying to explain the situation through my tears to Louie until finally I hear my mom pull up and told Louie I had to go.</p>
<p>I walked out to the car crying hysterically and my mom saw me and asked already with defenses up what was going on&#8230;I tried to tell her and she told me that I should be happy&#8230;I felt so hurt and damaged inside because of the way and what Brian and Janel had been saying to me.</p>
<p>Money has Corrupted their hearts to the point where they are not humanly good but simply selfish and rude.</p>
<p>My mom gave me tough love all through church and my crying got so bad that I had to sit out of singing and I had to calm down by watching Collin in the playroom during the service. It was a relief when I finally got to talk to Craig after church and try to explain everything because he made me smile the way he always does. I was kind of in shock and I didn&#8217;t want to go back to the house Sunday afternoon. So my mom took me and the kids to the park at Kenwood. It gave me time to think and I was convinced that I needed to get out of that environment as soon as possible&#8230;mom took Collin and Caylie from me, instructed me to pack and Jimmy and Sheena Collin and Caylie&#8217;s parents came by to help me move everything. They&#8217;d finished their unpacking and still had the trailer that they&#8217;d been using. I&#8217;d tried to explain the situation to them and it only took me telling them that it was my babysitting the kids that started it all that made them hate the Goff&#8217;s spirit.</p>
<p>The Goffs are heartless, selfless and arrogant  I have never met anybody like them before and I pray to never encounter or have to work for people Like them ever again.</p>
<p>The Hines helped me move all my things out of the apt and over to my mom&#8217;s house. I moved everything into my mom&#8217;s house with help of my sister and my mom&#8217;s neighbor John. It was 10:30pm when we finished and I looked almost dead from all my exhaustion&#8230;I took a shower and joined my mom and CJ as they watched &#8220;the state of Play&#8221; in the livingroom.</p>
<p>I then went to bed, waking every now and then thinking that I was back in the apartment and that I might have something I still need to get done&#8230;work. I thought of all the things I&#8217;d left behind and decided to go back to the apartment later today with my mother in tow for support.</p>
<p>I am going to ask for my last week&#8217;s check and one weeks severance pay&#8230;a total of 200$ I plan to hold my house key hostage until they pay me what they owe me.</p>
<p>And I plan to empty out my fridge.</p>
<p>My mom has set up for me to move into a house with her friend Rhonda and I&#8217;m looking for another job. For now I am living at home until Rhonda and I have a meeting to determine my rent. I am happy to have my mother to support me along with many others.</p>
<p>I am truly blessed&#8230; At first I thought that my finding a job and a place to live would be my ultimate blessing but now that everything has come crashing down I realize that my moral is that family will always come first and that a little bit of change&#8230;can be good.</p>
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		<title>&#8220;He&#8217;s just not that into you&#8230;&#8221;</title>
		<link>http://www.pinker33.com/2009/08/18/hes-just-not-that-into-you/</link>
		<comments>http://www.pinker33.com/2009/08/18/hes-just-not-that-into-you/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 18 Aug 2009 11:39:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Pinker33</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Corinne's Health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Craig McCreath]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Death]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life's Ponderisms]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Love]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rita Salone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wedding Obsession]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.pinker33.com/?p=996</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Warning: This blog is not meant to make Craig Cry&#8230;if he is dead set on Crying I think he should make an effort not to read this blog because I am trying to get my thoughts straight My relationship with Craig has caused me physical, physiological and emotional stress, pain and anxiety. I cannot get [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Warning:</strong></span></p>
<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>This blog is not meant to make Craig Cry&#8230;if he is dead set on Crying I think he should make an effort not to read this blog because I am trying to get my thoughts straight</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>My relationship with Craig has caused me physical, physiological and emotional stress, pain and anxiety. I cannot get through my day smoothly without finding out what Craig is up to&#8230; I can&#8217;t sleep at night when I&#8217;m thinking about my life and how everything in my world seemed SO PERFECT when I was in Scotland, free of rules and authority, totally carefree and in an independent state that made me feel truly happy.</p>
<p>Over the last few weeks I&#8217;ve been going through a mental roller coaster with myself trying to find out where I want my life to be going.. . I seemed to have spiraled down to a place where I cry myself to sleep at night (if I even get any sleep at all). I&#8217;ve become so depressed with my situation that I&#8217;ve thought about suicide and homicide and just plain running away from MN and never returning&#8230;turning to the streets to get the money I need to survive because anything and anywhere would be better for me than where I&#8217;m currently at.</p>
<p>School isn&#8217;t an option for me right now because I can&#8217;t afford it and I don&#8217;t want to go back home because not only will I feel unloved and hated but I know that when I am home I fall into a deep deep hole of depression that creates thoughts in my life that nothing is worth living for if the people who are supposed to care and support you the most are telling you that you are a failure and worthless and that they hate you and wish that you&#8217;d never been born or that you are making mistakes with your life and throwing it away or that you need to find somewhere else to go because you &#8221; can&#8217;t stay here&#8221;. I feel that every time I come home I just consider disappearing from the planet all together because life is not worth living when all you get from everyone you care about is hate. I feel that suicide is a selfish act and the only thing that is stopping me from committing it is my beliefs in Jesus and my Christianity because I don&#8217;t want to go to hell by committing that kind of sin. I&#8217;d like to prove my family wrong when they tell me that I&#8217;m a stupid bitch and that I should &#8220;just die&#8221; I want to become successful so I can choose if I want them in my life or not.</p>
<p>But right now at a time where I need vital support and love I can&#8217;t get it anywhere in Minnesota. No one here understands the constant ache in my heart that is only released once a week while I sing at church&#8230;the ache is only lifted while I&#8217;m standing and thinking about what life will be after I die and I have eternal life with Jesus. The only thing that has made me feel loved when I am alone is my belief that Jesus is with me and that God loves me.</p>
<p>When I was younger and going through shit with my father and my family I felt that God sent me a friend that would care for me and my situation and show me love regardless of who I was. The person I thought God was sending to me was my best friend Craig. Craig has been my rock and support for six years now and If he hadn&#8217;t been around many times I think I would have simply just jumped out a window or took a knife to my brother&#8217;s throats while they were sleeping.</p>
<p>Craig has talked me down from many episodes and he&#8217;s been there when I&#8217;ve been in the biggest dangers&#8230;like when my brother Tyler was attempting to kill me and my only way of defending myself was stabbing him in the side with scissors&#8230;at that time though helpless to help I&#8217;d been on the phone with Craig and he&#8217;d been there to tell me that everything would be okay. I remember thinking &#8216;if my brother does kill me at least Craig can call the police or testify against Tyler in court&#8217;.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve been drawn to Craig because I felt that he was the solution to all my problems. I never asked him to become that kind of person to me&#8230;he just became that person when everyday after school I would rush online and talk to him all night about whatever was going on in my life.</p>
<p>I remember being banned from my families computer and trying all I could to get through to Craig so I could have someone I could vent to and cry to.</p>
<p>I used to find myself crying myself to sleep at night. I had bottled up anger and emotional baggage and with Craig&#8217;s support I got out of those bad habits. When my brothers would say how stupid, fat and ugly I was I would think about how Craig would call me cool. When my brothers and little sister told me that No one liked me I would think about Craig and how he didn&#8217;t only Like me but he even went and told me that he loved me and would consider me his best friend.</p>
<p>My relationship with Craig is a strange bond that I never want to see broken.</p>
<p>Recently though I think I&#8217;ve made some choices that have made me a subject of my own crazy emotions. I&#8217;ve been stressed and depressed about my lack of a connection with Craig as I used to have. When Craig and I stopped being friends and became lovers I lost a lot in him that I used to have. I would call on Craig when I wanted affirmation that someone in my world loved me because it seemed that everywhere in my real and present world everyone was letting me down.</p>
<p>I feel like many times I&#8217;ve put up signs that are like warning signs calling for help to anyone who was willing to listen. Mainly people like Mike Boosalis, Jacob Babcock and Kyle Parsons.</p>
<p>These signs have been witnessed by many people including my youth minister Michael Von Gross who told me that my only way of escaping this kind of depressing fate was to try something new and escape it.</p>
<p>Craig hasn&#8217;t been able to help me in my current battles and I&#8217;ve realized that his reasoning might be because I&#8217;ve put him on a high pedistule thinking that he could be my superman when he  was just another average joe who couldn&#8217;t fix my anything.</p>
<p>I feel that I&#8217;ve been asking him for a relationship and more love than he could give me and commit to at his age because for me I needed that love that I&#8217;ve been missing in the past. While I was in Scotland I was able to physically express myself and show my love for Craig in my actions&#8230;but now that I am away I&#8217;ve been expecting and wanting and waiting for that kind of love again but since I haven&#8217;t had it I&#8217;ve been suffering and beating myself and Craig up in order to get it.</p>
<p>Just tonight my mother called me into her room and gave me a speech about how she doesn&#8217;t want me to throw my life away. She told me that I am asking Craig for a lot more than he can give me and that I should never have gone to Scotland and done the things I&#8217;ve done. She told me that I&#8217;m in a position where I am on the edge of a cliff waiting for someone to give me the approval to jump off. She told me that Craig isn&#8217;t capable of returning the love I&#8217;ve been giving him and that I&#8217;m putting forth too much effort on my side for someone who &#8220;just isn&#8217;t that into you(me)&#8221;. She says that if Craig truly loved me he would have sent for me, or made an effort to come and at least meet my family as I did his. She said that he would put me as a priority and respect me like I&#8217;ve wanted&#8230;she said that a person who really loves you will show it in all that they do. She says that she knew from the start that I was putting all my eggs into one basket with Craig and now that the basket has a hole in it I shouldn&#8217;t be disappointed that I am losing all my eggs. She says that we might be better off returning to being just best friends. She says that Craig is not in a position in his life to make the commitment to me that in my mind he&#8217;s already made. She says that I am thinking that we are already married when he hasn&#8217;t even been brought home to my parents yet. Meaning that I am giving too much of myself to Craig and now that he&#8217;s found other things that are more important that I shouldn&#8217;t be upset that he&#8217;s not crazy pining for me. Craig is distancing himself from me like Scott did right before he broke up with me&#8230;and like Jason did when I broke up with him&#8230;yet Craig and I are supposed to be &#8220;together forever&#8221; in my crazy already thought out mixed perception of life.</p>
<p>Craig doesn&#8217;t see himself with me forever as i see myself with him&#8230;Craig wants to live his life now as it is and not think about the future as I am&#8230;Craig doesn&#8217;t want to be bothered with having me around this next year in Dundee but is only agreeing to it because I need the reassurance in my life and he doesn&#8217;t want to hurt his friend. To Craig everything I&#8217;m doing is forcing him into a frenzy with his life so he is avoiding me till he gets everything on his side figured out. Craig thinks that everything with me is going too fast and he wishes that I could slow it down and act like a normal girlfriend with a life outside of him. He wishes that I hadn&#8217;t put all my eggs into his basket and he wants me to find something else to fill my time other than him.</p>
<p>I want to go somewhere where I can feel real love, I want to love and be loved in return because my home life is unsatisfying&#8230; I just know that Craig will never feel that same way about me as I do him because I don&#8217;t see him suffering as I do&#8230;mentally, emotionally and physically and am going Crazy because of my relationship.</p>
<p>I am a bit crazy to begin with and I think I need to find something that will make me happy&#8230;I need to find myself before I try to ruin someone&#8217;s life by being around.</p>
<p>I don&#8217;t really know what this realization means&#8230; all I know is that my mom might be right about my relationship with Craig&#8230; Are we better off friends?</p>
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		<title>Hamster Surprise</title>
		<link>http://www.pinker33.com/2009/08/09/hamster-surprise/</link>
		<comments>http://www.pinker33.com/2009/08/09/hamster-surprise/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 09 Aug 2009 08:05:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Pinker33</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Love]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Personal Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rita Salone]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.pinker33.com/?p=911</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This past July for my little brother and sister&#8217;s birthday I decided to surprise them with some Hamsters as pets&#8230;Ironic since we have three cats in our home right now. The reason I wanted to get them something special is because for the last few years my family hasn&#8217;t been able to afford Christmas and [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This past July for my little brother and sister&#8217;s birthday I decided to surprise them with some Hamsters as pets&#8230;Ironic since we have three cats in our home right now.</p>
<p>The reason I wanted to get them something special is because for the last few years my family hasn&#8217;t been able to afford Christmas and birthday presents. It seemed that every year I (Eric and Cynthia&#8217;s old sister) was the only one ever getting them anything. This past Christmas my mother had informed me that she couldn&#8217;t afford to get the kids anything but that instead she bought a lot of family games in hopes that everyone would be happy in playing them together.</p>
<p>I&#8217;d been out of the country at the time so I was unable to get them anything&#8230;though I did try to give them each a gift when I got back. This birthday for the kids is especially special because we were all recently told that my mother has cancer. My mother&#8217;s doctors appointment at the Mayo clinic was actually the same week as my siblings birthdays(the 21st and 22nd of July) . It is hard to think about having fun when your relative isn&#8217;t in their best health. Personally I was depressed on my birthday and I didn&#8217;t want the same to happen to my siblings.</p>
<p>My friend Heidi Winter a friend that I&#8217;ve had since Middle school had just had a hamster that had give birth to about 20 babies. She wanted to get rid of them an advertised that the Hamsters needed a new home on facebook one day. That was around the time that I was thinking about what I&#8217;d be getting my siblings&#8230;when the time came I ask Heidi if the offer to get the Dwarf Hamsters was still on the table.</p>
<div id="attachment_920" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 330px"><a href="http://www.pinker33.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/p_00003-4.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-920" title="p_00003 (4)" src="http://www.pinker33.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/p_00003-4.jpg" alt="Heidi" width="320" height="240" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Heidi</p></div>
<p>She said yes and I made arrangements to pick them up. Well, I&#8217;d never taken care of a hamster so when the time came for me to get the supplies I was happy to have my friend Alex Jeffrey along to help me out in getting everything. He was so nice that while we were out he even paid for most of it&#8230;and let me use his Target discount! He&#8217;s a great friend and put up with me well as we drove around looking for supplies. We ended up buying make shift cages, baskets for shelters, hamster water bottles, food, pine litter and a food dish for both the cages.</p>
<p>I knew that I would be getting both male and female hamsters so I knew I had to separate the sexes. When we went to pick the Hamsters up Heidi was shocked because she felt that the cages we had for the hamsters were not sufficient and up to her standards. I personally felt that the cages were great and I was surprised at how small the hamsters were and how much space the hamsters would have.</p>
<p>I was please with everything and I felt that what Heidi was saying about my cage picking was kind of rude. I understand though now&#8230;if I was giving something away to someone after taking care of it from birth I think I&#8217;d be picky about where it would be staying too.</p>
<p>Heidi insisted that I get the hamsters proper cages and even took one of the hamsters back because she felt bad leaving it with me. &#8220;You act like a kid Corinne&#8230;&#8221; I remember her telling me when I told her to trust me. As a friend having known me for years I was hoping that she would be able to simply do that. Heidi didn&#8217;t let Alex and I leave her house until I promised her that I would get proper cages and go shopping with her for hamster supplies.</p>
<p>After leaving Heidi&#8217;s house Alex and I drove to his house where we watched Ratatouille one of my new favorite animated films (because I like the way the animators made the actions of the human characters so natural and realistic.) While at Alex&#8217;s I was really worried because of Alex&#8217;s dog Sarah&#8230;totally innocent Sarah with a totally huge doggy heart! I was worried because Sarah kept staring at the hamsters&#8230;Sarah is a huge Black lab I think and she was making me feel really weird&#8230;the whole movie I found myself having a hard time relaxing and staring at Sarah and calling for over to get her away from the case.</p>
<div id="attachment_917" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 330px"><a href="http://www.pinker33.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/p_00021-2.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-917" title="p_00021 (2)" src="http://www.pinker33.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/p_00021-2.jpg" alt="the make shift cage" width="320" height="240" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">the make shift cage</p></div>
<div id="attachment_918" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 330px"><a href="http://www.pinker33.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/p_00022-2.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-918" title="p_00022 (2)" src="http://www.pinker33.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/p_00022-2.jpg" alt="hamster" width="320" height="240" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">hamster</p></div>
<p>I breathed a huge sigh of relief when we were able to leave after the movie was over and take the hamsters to my mom&#8217;s house where they would be residing.</p>
<p>They have been here now for a couple of weeks and it was only the other day that I began to feel like they were unsafe in their environment&#8230;when the girls started looking for ways to escape the cage. I was sitting on the couch up late at night chatting with Craig at like 4am my time and 10am his&#8230;we were doing our usual flirting when I noticed out of the corner of my eye my Cat Emmy walking past.</p>
<div id="attachment_919" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 250px"><a href="http://www.pinker33.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/p_00034-4.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-919" title="p_00034 (4)" src="http://www.pinker33.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/p_00034-4.jpg" alt="my smart cat Emmy" width="240" height="320" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">my smart cat Emmy</p></div>
<p>now my cat Emmy is a brilliant cat&#8230;she is sly and smart and loves to play fetch with a ball&#8230;like a dog does. She usually walks around after playing fetch with her bright blue, green and pink balls in her mouth&#8230;like she&#8217;s showing off her catch. This particular night I was surprised because It wasn&#8217;t a bright ball that I saw in her mouth it was a fuzz ball&#8230;I remember thinking &#8216;we don&#8217;t have mice&#8217; and then I ran after her to get the hamster out of her mouth. The hamster who I found out was one of the baby girls was only a little shocked and a but injured in the eye after it&#8217;s encounter with my cat after having figured out a way to escape our make shift Hamster cage. I put the little baby girl back and I thought to myself&#8230;I have GOT to get a new cage soon&#8230;this will teach the little hamster not to try to leave again&#8230;it will be so traumatized that it will not&#8230;I ended up checking on the hamster every hour just to see how it was doing until I saw it was looking fine and back to normal.</p>
<p>This was the last straw&#8230;</p>
<p>Over the time I had had the hamsters Heidi had been constantly emailing and writing on my wall on facebook asking me how they were&#8230;I&#8217;d told the truth that they&#8217;d been doing fine. In one of her messages Heidi had told me that she&#8217;d gotten me a cage because she had found an extra one and that she wanted to give it to me. I had agreed to take the cage in hopes that Heidi would stop nagging me&#8230; After the run in with the cat I felt that It was more important for me to meet up and get the proper cage soon. The other day on Michelle&#8217;s birthday (Thursday) I was at the Gay 90s and I ended up meeting up with Heidi&#8230;I asked her if she had the cage with her and she informed me that she didn&#8217;t&#8230;which makes sence&#8230;who takes a hamster cage clubbing?</p>
<p>I was a bit disappointed but I was determined that before I left for Scotland I would get my sibling&#8217;s Hamsters a proper home.</p>
<p>Just earlier today after my mom had picked me up as we were walking down the walkway she decided to break some tragic news to me&#8230; &#8220;Emmy my brilliant cat had gotten on the counter where the Hamsters cage was and had managed to knock the hamster cage over and have dinner&#8221; she told me&#8230;</p>
<p>&#8220;How many hamsters did she get?&#8221; I asked my mother hoping that even 1 of them survived and thinking that it was a bad idea for me to bring hamsters into a house full of cats. &#8220;Omg my gosh Heidi&#8217;s going to kill me!&#8221; I thought to myself&#8230;&#8217;I hope none of them died of shock after seeing a giant cat&#8217; I was thinking.</p>
<p>I ran into the bathroom of my mom&#8217;s house in total shock passing the empty make shift cages and supplies that i&#8217;d taken so much time picking out that one day with Alex. My mom stood at the door and knocked and told me that I should come out&#8230;I wanted to cry and I told my mom to leave me alone because I felt overwhelmed that she &#8216;hadn&#8217;t told me&#8217; &#8230;&#8221;let me explain&#8221; my mother began as I opened the door to the bathroom&#8230;just then I went off &#8220;MOM! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH i PROMISED HEIDI HER HAMSTERS WOULD BE SAFE WITH ME?!&#8221; I yelled &#8220;I WAS SUPPOSED TO MEET HER AND GET THEM A PROPER CAGE H OW MANY OF THEM DIED? MAYBE DID ANY OF THEM LIVE?! MOM I&#8217;M SUPPOSED TO GET A CAGE FOR THEM FROM HEIDI ONE THAT LOOKS&#8230;.JUST LIKE THAT&#8230;.one.&#8221;</p>
<p>Right in front of me there sat 2 brand spanking new and proper cages&#8230;and inside I watched as six hamsters scurred around enjoying themselves and having fun&#8230;in my rage, sadness, anger and confusion I&#8217;d ran right past them and into the bathroom.</p>
<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s not a good joke mom&#8230;why did you have to play that?&#8221; I ask my mother as she and my brother laughed at my realization.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is&#8230;.When you get upset you are totally blind to the world around you&#8230;did you even see them at all as you ran to the bathroom? You ran right past them.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;No,&#8221; I said &#8220;I was too busy thinking about what Heidi would do to me if her hamsters died in my care&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;Do you really think i&#8217;d let something like that happen in my own house?&#8221; my mother asked</p>
<p>&#8220;No.&#8221; I said &#8220;But what motivated you to get a new cage&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221; my mom said &#8221; I came home from work on Thursday and I heard squealing coming from the girl&#8217;s cage and a noticed the biggest one trying to get out, She was stuck and I thought that it was only a matter of time before all the hamsters figure their way out of that thing. So I bought a proper cage&#8230;You owe me 50 bucks by the way&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;Thanks mom&#8221; was all I could say&#8230;.</p>
<p>So that was my Hamster Surprise and just to set the record straight&#8230;as of today I still have all six hamsters I was given that day a few weeks ago. :D</p>
<p>They&#8217;d been fine all along and they had enjoyed they were enjoying their new cage.</p>
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		<title>The Pa/Maternal Clock&#8230;What is it and why?</title>
		<link>http://www.pinker33.com/2009/08/03/the-pamaternal-clock-what-is-it-and-why/</link>
		<comments>http://www.pinker33.com/2009/08/03/the-pamaternal-clock-what-is-it-and-why/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 03 Aug 2009 09:08:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Pinker33</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Baby]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[motherhood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Parenthood]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.pinker33.com/?p=669</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I know that many people think of the maternal clock and think that it is just a wives tale or that it is just a myth, that it is simply human instinct and nature for us as animals to want to be maternal, or to have our maternal selves start to show before we are [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: center;">
<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 405px"><a href="http://health.nytimes.com/ref/health/healthguide/esn-infertilitywomen-ess.html"><img title="Beat of the Maternal Clock" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/12/12/health/infertility395b.jpg" alt="Click on the picture for a link to a New York Times article about the Infetility in Women" width="395" height="267" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Click on the picture for a link to a New York Times article about the Infetility in Women</p></div>
<p>I know that many people think of the maternal clock and think that it is just a wives tale or that it is just a myth, that it is simply human instinct and nature for us as animals to want to be maternal, or to have our maternal selves start to show before we are not able to have children. Even though I know a lot of people claim this to be a myth or that it is simple animal instinct I am here to say that it is real, and that recently it has been driving me crazy.</p>
<p>I have just turned 20 years old and my maternal clock has been going for a few years now, my maternal instincts have been running and changing my life to the point where I have made some drastic decisions in order to compensate and appease it and sadly will still be going until I get on the road to becoming a mother.</p>
<p>One of the first things I&#8217;d like to say about the maternal clock is that YES it is VERY REAL&#8230;and that it can drive a woman insane. Not only can the maternal clock influence but it can also speed up a woman&#8217;s aging and maturing process.</p>
<p>The Maternal clock doesn&#8217;t just show up when a female is expecting a child&#8230;.Oh no!</p>
<p>The maternal clock can be all of this&#8230;.</p>
<ul>
<li>Thinking about being a mother</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Seeing woman with their children and becoming jealous</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Holding a child and imagining what it will feel like when you yourself are holding your own</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>considering how you can fit having children in your life along with all your plans to travel the world</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>It shows up when a baby comes onto the television on a Gerber ad</li>
</ul>
<p>or</p>
<ul>
<li> when you watch a commercial that says that a product is MOTHER APPROVED and you think of what you will approve.</li>
</ul>
<p>or</p>
<ul>
<li>when a woman walks past pushing a stroller</li>
</ul>
<p>or</p>
<ul>
<li>when you think of what color car seats you will get&#8230;or what kind of car will remain child friendly when you are buying one NOW</li>
</ul>
<p>or</p>
<ul>
<li>when you hold a baby in your arms  who is crying and begin to think about one day becoming a mother and holding your own child and trying to make it feel better.</li>
</ul>
<p>or</p>
<ul>
<li>when you hear a lullaby sung and you give it sentimental value because you hope to learn it and sing it to your own child one day</li>
</ul>
<p>or</p>
<ul>
<li>even when you are a child and your mother doesn&#8217;t sing you the lullaby that you are used to and you get upset because you have given the other one sentimental value because it puts the warm and fuzzy in your stomach that you would like everyone else to share with you when they hear that same song.</li>
</ul>
<p>Or</p>
<ul>
<li>it is walking by the baby section of the stores and seeing an outfit that you can image yourself putting on a little tot.</li>
</ul>
<p>Or</p>
<ul>
<li>it&#8217;s thinking of baby names that are to you unique and special that you pair up with the last name of the person you are currently dating  &#8220;________ McCreath &#8230;&#8221; then repeating the name out loud so you can hear and imagine yourself saying the name when the person is 3 or 15 or 30.</li>
</ul>
<p>or</p>
<ul>
<li> looking at your boyfriend&#8217;s family to see if they are as good looking as him, so that you can tell if your children will have a chance of being disfigured or not.</li>
</ul>
<p>or</p>
<ul>
<li> it is simply thinking about how you will fit a child into your future plans&#8230;how will a child fit as you are riding to work everyday or making millions of dollars?</li>
</ul>
<p>or</p>
<ul>
<li> it is thinking about your mother and how she was 22, married and had three kids when you yourself are 20, in a serious relationship and not even close to being knocked up anytime soon because your love life has dried up like an oasis in the middle of a dessert during the time of a drought.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>it is babysitting and looking at how a parent arranges their toys and diaper cleaning products so you can remember to make them more efficient when you have children.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>It is thinking that the people who have children are the people who are the worst at being parents&#8230;it is wanting to take a child home to take care of yourself forever when you see a parent handle a situation in a manner that you yourself do not approve on.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>It is thinking of when and where a significant other may be purposing marriage, so you can plan for how many months a wedding might be in the works, so you can calculate how long after the wedding a honeymoon, and the year of being newly weds it is appropriate to bring up&#8230;or to announce that you want to or are going to be starting a family.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>It is thinking about the birth control pills and the condom and how annoying they are&#8230;or thinking about how many little children could have been brought up into the world when the condom is removed with it&#8217;s load of wasted sperm in it.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>It is the ache you get in your heart thinking that you one day might have someone in your heart that you will clove unconditionally and that will love you back for just creating them.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>That same ache comes as your wish and hope and pray that the child is happy and healthy and popular and well liked and accepted and will come sooner than just soon&#8230;which could be forever because time is relative to what a person knows&#8230;or believes because God is above time.</li>
</ul>
<p>Because time is only relevant in your world you wonder how much money it will take for you to get to be with the one you love so that he will feel comfortable with your situation to want to pop you the question, so that you can plan a wedding, and go on a honey moon and have sex enough to get tired of the condom and then you get settled enough with the other person so that you both think it is an appropriate time to consider bringing someone else into the scenario and then it is trying and waiting and then success which only is found when you get immensely sick and start throwing up&#8230;but they say that YOU WILL KNOW  and an pain and bloating and emotional rollerskating and having everyone looking at you and knowing that you have not only had sex! but let a man cum in you&#8230;and almost year wait &#8230;until you one night feel some sort of something that feels like water breaking and then apparently there will be A LOT of pain involved&#8230;the worse pain a woman and go through and a kind of punishment and blessing in a lot of cultures&#8230;</p>
<p>the maternal clock is ticking as you think about:</p>
<ul>
<li> how bad it may hurt and whether or not you will decide that it is appropriate to use drugs&#8230;and wondering if the drugs actually work or if that is just what the other woman say to make you feel better.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>It is also thinking if the drugs will affect &#8220;the baby&#8221; [which at this point is only an ache in your side which you feel when you think that everyone has a mother and that you are capable to being one too.]</li>
</ul>
<p>The maternal clock ticks when you go through puberty and start thinking that boys can be handsome and so you start to be told that boys and girls can do things together that can be considered wicked to some and that can be painful at first, but that will lead to much obsession and pleasure.</p>
<p>It begins to hit home when you first get your period and your mother tells you that you are now a woman and that you&#8217;ll need to start taking care of your bodily functions&#8230;</p>
<ul>
<li>when you begin to smell and you notice smell on others&#8230;you think: Why is it important that I like a guys smell?</li>
</ul>
<p>You think of dating and how it is only a means to get what you&#8217;ve really been wanting&#8230;which for men may just be sex because the path just stops there for them&#8230;but for you the female it is the beginning of another journey.</p>
<p>The maternal clock makes people act shallow and rude and to blow off men who may not fit what you would consider ideal in a man&#8230;you might completely blow off boys who you don&#8217;t find attractive at first glance when you are  10, 11 and 12 because something in you is telling you that &#8216;they wouldn&#8217;t be the right FIT&#8217;</p>
<p>or that they &#8216;don&#8217;t fit into your crowd&#8217; What does it mean?!</p>
<p>So when I&#8217;m hungry and I&#8217;m in the kitchen I think to myself&#8230;I wonder what kind of meals i can make that I can repeat later in life when I become a mother.</p>
<p>I don&#8217;t really think of a wife&#8230;yeah sure I&#8217;ll cook for my husband but he HAS to like my cooking since he loves me&#8230;just like he will probably tell me that I don&#8217;t look fat if I ever tried on a hideous dress that made me look fat. A child on the other hand will be picky about what they eat and if they don&#8217;t like something they won&#8217;t eat it unless forced to.</p>
<p>I acknowledge that overtime a person&#8217;s tastes change&#8230;but I still consider that when i cook. mentally I ask myself&#8230;&#8217;what do I have to offer my future children to make their life amazing&#8221;</p>
<p>Box lunches? Letting them stay up late? Sleepovers and parties with the friends? I think about what kind of a mother I would make.</p>
<p>It doesn&#8217;t help a girl when she is told at the age of 14 that she would make a man a lucky wife. Or when her friends are constantly telling her that she is like a mom(which is hopefully a good thing considering how many memories she has of her childhood mom during her teen years involve her and her mom arguing over some stupid thing).</p>
<p>Why is it that She gets this?</p>
<div class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 410px"><a href="http://www.feministing.com/archives/013564.html"><img title="Tick Tock Biological Clock link" src="http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk34/feministing/time-flies-clock-10-11-2006.gif" alt="Click on the Picture to look at blog all about Female instincts" width="400" height="321" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Click on the Picture to look at blog all about Female instincts</p></div>
<p>Is it human nature? Well I wanted to know&#8230;so I asked two homosexual gentleman that I consider good friends Riley and Taylor what they thought about Maternal instincts&#8230;the reason I asked them was because physically it is impossible for them together to create new life&#8230;but I know homosexual men and woman who have considered the adoption option&#8230;was the reason natural and necessary&#8230;Was the motivation because of a maternal clock that one or both partners shared? When i asked the boys the first thing that came from Riley&#8217;s mouth was &#8220;oh, I&#8217;d drop a baby&#8221; and then he went on about how he feels his maternal instincts kicking in when he sees an adorable puppy. he continued to show me the puppy he was speaking of and I agreed that the puppy was adorable&#8230;but in me it did not spark the same feeling in my heart that I do when I see the little hands and the little toes. Taylor said that when he is babysitting his maternal instincts click on. Taylor is a lot like most men I know&#8230;but I wonder if they ever kick on when the child is not around Or even better&#8230;when I watch a man like Mikey Boosalis play with a young child in the gym of my church.</p>
<p>I think of how Mikey or my boyfriend Craig would react when introduced to my child.</p>
<p>I think about my body, my maternal clock ticks when I look at how my mother is still trying to lose the weight of having six children over these last 14 years. I think of how large my breasts will get when they are already large already&#8230;my maternal clock ticks when I consider how my breasts may one day have a function. I think about how breast milk fed children are often healthier than bottle fed children.</p>
<p>I constantly think about baby names&#8230;when I am watching movies at home or in the movie theatre I like to look at the credits to come up with new ideas for what I want to name my children. I sit and have discussions with my best friend and boyfriends about these names [which may be weird for some but has become something normal in our routine].</p>
<p>Recently I posted a Plurk about one such conversation and which sparked a chain of thoughts in my mind about my maternal clock. I&#8217;ve considered having children with Craig many times&#8230;but I don&#8217;t think I&#8217;ve had a moment yet of seeing my unborn children in his eyes.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve seen a future, but what the children look like hasn&#8217;t come up.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve had many dreams where I&#8217;ve been an expecting mother&#8230;I have had dreams and wondered if people would actually treat me as they did in those dreams&#8230;fragile, moody&#8230;emotional&#8230;glowing.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s funny because someone randomly registered me for Parents.com and at the house I started getting phone calls about supposed baby products I&#8217;d &#8220;ordered&#8221;&#8230;I was royally confused&#8230;because I live in a frat house and because my cell is down I&#8217;m using the house number as my primary number. It just happened to be that when this happened and I got my first phone call&#8230;one of the guys answered&#8230;and what did they think after hearing about baby products and me&#8230;they thought, oh my gosh Corinne is pregnant! Of course I&#8217;m not pregnant! I haven&#8217;t had Sex in God knows how long!&#8230;wait six months? :P One funny thing was that one of the guys only had guts to ask me if the rumor was true while we were at a party and he was drunk out of his mind. I&#8217;d been drinking the whole night, and he still thought that I might be pregnant. Even if I were pregnant the first person who would find out would probably be my babies daddy (hopefully Craig in the future) and second would promptly be my mother or maybe vis-versa considering who answers the phone first. I know for sure that I would not go straight to a PARENTING magazine when there are so many options for new mother expecting their first child And I would never try to get pregnant without having considered and planned it with my significant other (Craig) because I believe that woman accidentally becoming pregnant in a situation that could have been prevented&#8230;and surprising a man with her pregnancy while they are still in the dating stages is a form of entrapment. I know that accidents happen but accidents can be prevented.</p>
<p>Disclaimer: I am not and will not be pregnant for many years (I have much living to do) though&#8230;I can&#8217;t say that I haven&#8217;t wanted kids recently in my life&#8230;thus the Maternal Clock blog.</p>
<p>Speaking of Theta chi though&#8230;I forgot I had collected these opinions from the guys about if they felt that they had a Maternal Clock ticking in their hearts and minds telling them that they should be fruitful and multiply.</p>
<p>Dylan: Yes and no dependent on the guy</p>
<p>Jake: (guy #2) not yet&#8230;I raised kids already I don&#8217;t want anymore for a LONG TIME.</p>
<p>Fergy: If they&#8217;re not make noise&#8230;it&#8217;s a good thing&#8230;if they are screaming&#8230;they get to die</p>
<p>Kale: fuck no! I hate kids&#8230;.I get along with them really fine but I fucking hate them!</p>
<div class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 410px"><a href="http://rootphotography.blogspot.com/2009/03/everett-portrait.html"><img title="Paternal instincts" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_LqKstlN14x4/SaWEONt461I/AAAAAAAAHWA/xuvcxdbn2es/s400/20.JPG" alt="Paternal" width="400" height="285" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Paternal Blog...read it super cute!</p></div>
<p>When I talked to a friend of mine from Church Mikey Boosalis someone who I&#8217;ve seen working well with children for as long as I&#8217;ve known him&#8230; (Also someone who I think might one day make a magnificent father and who recently became an uncle) he corrected me on thinking that the Male perspective is called the MAternal clock he told me that there is such thing as a PAturnal clock which is the male version of what woman go through. He believes that he does have a paternal clock but not to the point where he wants a child because he thinks he&#8217;s too young. He also believes that there are some men who do not have paternal instincts and that they absolutely despise children. Therefore that explains the mixed reactions I got from the guys at my house.</p>
<p>I also talked to another female Kat Boddy and I asked her if she had a Maternal Clock ticking&#8230;she said yes and that she thought that thus behavior was prevalent  in most woman.</p>
<p>So I&#8217;ve come to this conclusion&#8230;Woman have a natural Maternal clock when men have to acknowledge their own paternal clocks&#8230;</p>
<p>It is perfectly natural for me to look at a baby and think &#8216;it would be nice to have one of those&#8217; because from a child with our baby dolls we are trained to take care of a feed and nurture something that we call &#8216;ours&#8217;</p>
<p>I think one reason I see babies and have a very very very strong feeling that my Maternal clock is present is because all my life I&#8217;ve been struggling to have things of my own. I&#8217;ve lost everything that I&#8217;ve grown up with and had to start from scratch before&#8230;I&#8217;ve only really owned a few pieces of clothing that were not handed down to me by friends or family or as Christmas Presents. I&#8217;ve only really bought so much or created and brought so little into this world. Having a child is a way of not only having something that is yours forever and that has your permanent bond but also showing the world your potential to make it a better place&#8230;for all you know you might give birth to a future world leader&#8230;a future president of prime minister.</p>
<p>Men on the other hand with their Paternal instincts are raised to act more macho and manly and independent of emotion in American culture. They will claim that they hate children before they will admit that they do feel an obligation at times to have children one day&#8230;A common excuse is that they believe that they will never find the right woman for them&#8230;but I feel that men are often to shy and scared to try&#8230;they look at a woman who physically could be compatible with them and they go one of three directions&#8230;they think about what they have to offer in comparison of other men and they think they are the lessor&#8230;they think they are God&#8217;s gift to woman and they look at a woman as a sex object or they do the right thing and try&#8230;</p>
<p>I like the third option myself&#8230;I find that when it comes to a Paternal clock that everyman has one&#8230;they just haven&#8217;t realized their hidden potential yet.</p>
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