WHAT? "The joy of hearing".

We have a 2 story house and the way it is laid out, we can't seem to hear each other even when we yell. We can hear the sound just not the clarity of what is being said. So, the most common word in our house is WHAT? I think we may need an intercom system. It is pretty comical.

This brought something else to mind which is usually what happens when I get to thinking about things. It's the "be careful what you wish for" thing. The following is a made up story but I believe that somewhere in the world this happens frequently.

There is a family, mom & dad and child. Their child is quite rambunctious. Tends to talk ALOT, tends to sing ALOT and both at some inopportune or inappropriate moments. Now and then the child yells quite angrily. The parents don't know what causes this and because they seem to be pretty preoccupied, they overlook it. Most times the parents can take the good with the bad and have been patient for a very long time. However, job and financial issues have hit the family pretty hard. Mom and dad are stressed. They are not sleeping well, worried about the future. The son is still talking and singing alot, and yelling now and then. The parents are nearly at their breaking point and in the heat of an argument, turn to the son and yell at him to shut up. They had never done this before. While they felt bad, they had no idea what that would do to the son.

They had taken him to the doctor over the years to find out why he gets so angry. They never got to the bottom of it so they stopped taking him and just decided they would deal with it. Since they did not pursue any further medical diagnoses, they did not know that the reason their son always talked and sang and sometimes yelled, was because he was slowly losing his hearing. It frustrated him so he talked and sang and yelled to feel the vibration in his head and it gave him a sense of security that there was sound coming out of him. Then he heard those angry words coming from his parents and took it literally. They did not want to hear him make anymore sounds. So he stopped.

A day or two went by and the parents realized that their son was being much too quiet. They tried to talk to him and comfort him but to no avail. He would not speak. They took him to the doctor and had a series of tests run. The one test that finally explained what was wrong was a hearing test. While he was not deaf, all indications were that was where it was heading. The parents realized just how selfish they had been. Even though they had financial troubles, they would try to get help for their son. They looked into hearing aids, surgery, and anything else they could try. Hearing aids would help but the doctor explained that in the long run, he would eventually go completely deaf. The sounds that they had always taken for granted and had been "patient with" would be gone, forever.

The moral of the story is this, no matter how annoying a childs voice can be and how irritating their behaviour at times, you have to ask yourself, what would it be like if I never heard their voice again? So really, be careful what you wish for. Think before you speak.

I know in my case there are times that Sean makes me crazy. But I could never go for one day let alone the rest of my life without hearing him say "WHAT?".

(While deaf people can speak and generally do when they are signing (ASL), some choose not to and use their hands exclusively.)

Kickin myself in the back side!

Well, my heart is always in the right place and you would think with the amount of time I spend on the computer that I could find 10 minutes everyday writing on my blog. Time for a big fat kick in the hind end for this momma!

Status so far is 8 pounds off, excercise regimen starting to come together, and while looking for work I am also looking for ways to make money from home. You never know what kind of gold mine may turn up. It could be a combination of things too. Selling stuff on Ebay, doing online surveys, etc. Who knows. I did find out that if I were to sell all of the china that I own at the same retail prices that Replacements.com sells for, I would be able to make $1800 from 4 small boxes. So, I am looking into selling all of my stuff at one of the antique stores in Snohomish. A friend of mine did that and ended up with over $2000.00 in her pocket. A nice tidy sum if I may say so. I have another friend who's sister does yard sales, estate sales, and thrift stores and sells stuff on Ebay at a pretty great profit and makes quite a bit of money. You just have to learn what to look for and what those items are potentially worth.

I certainly wouldn't turn down a great job if it is offered to me but I would sure like to work from home and set my own hours. That would be the icing on the cake and kind of a reward for the number of years that I have been working outside the home. Which is about 36 years. Been there done that.

So, we'll see how things go. Maybe I can make money as a writer. Here is an excerpt from the prologue of my sci-fi book.

"Ben closed the door to the cabin quietly. He did not want to wake Dani just yet. Looking out over the crystal clear water, he saw their destination. It was a large lodge style cabin on the other side of the lake. Smoke was drifting out from the chimney so he knew their host would already be up, preparing for their visit. He walked to the shore to see if the canoe that was promised would be there waiting. It was tied up to a small dock. Upon reaching the end of the dock and inspecting the canoe for the appropriate gear and supplies, he spied a note attached to one of the oars."

That's all you get to see for now.