The Musician's Wife

Coprophagia Barbie

It's no secret to people who know me that I don't like Barbie.  My girls don't have any and I ask every birthday and Christmas that people do not give them to my children as gifts.  (We do have two dolls that bear a striking resemblence to Barbie.  They were Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty dolls and don't really get played with anymore.  Phew)

Tonight, however, some how my friend Julie stumbled upon something so bizzarre that I simply had to share it with you.

Here, it looks rather sweet.  A half decently dressed (really, WHO wears a shirt that tight and isn't on Real Housewives of Orange County?!) Barbie and her dog.  Cute.

 

 

 

 

Oh, and you can pretend to feed him dog food.  Wonderful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And...um...wait.  What is she doing here?  Is that what I think it is?

 

 

 

 

Yes. It's a pooper scooper.  See, the 'food' is magnetic and sticks together after feeding so it looks like, well, poo.  But they wouldn't make it so it comes out of...

 

 

 

 

 

Oh yes they would.  And you want to know what you do when that's done?

 

Yep.  You feed it to him.  Again.  The magical poop eating Barbie dog in a never ending cycle of...well, you know.  

I'd love to insert some quippy statement now, but this FIVE STAR review on amazon.com says it all:

 

A Fun Toy and Potential Cult Classic, December 9, 2006

By J.B Mccord (San Diego, CA) -

This review is from: Barbie Forever Barbie Doll with Tanner the Dog (Toy)

I have never purchased a Barbie product...until now. I simply couldn't resist "Barbie & Tanner". I love this! God bless America! 
Does this toy teach young girls moral lessons about the responsibilities of pet ownership and the importance of cleaning up their mess? Or, is the feces-eating devil dog teaching impressionable young kids that its ok to consume their own excrement? Who knows, and who cares. I'm sure the kids will enjoy it. I bought two. I gave one to the Toys for Tots drive, and plan on keeping the other for myself.. I can't wait to show the gang at work!

 

The best thing about this 'toy' is going to amazon.com and reading the reviews.  Seriously.  It's hilarous.  

I'm thinking they should have called this 'Penny Pinching Barbie' or something similar, as I'm sure there's a huge savings to be had in feeding your pet this way.  

Someone please tell me, what were they thinking?!

 

White lies

We're having wild weather where I live and I just lied to my children.  

They were scared when the lightening flashed and the thunder rolled over our house.  So they asked with tremulous voices  if I liked storms and I lied and said, yes, they're quite fun when you're inside because the house keeps you safe.

So they decided to like them and not be scared.  

Maybe I'll change my mind as well.

*Please ignore the slobbery nose marks and fingerprints on my window. =)

Mother Theresa I am not

My life is a constant marathon of serving other people.  My day job is taking care of an elderly lady in her home. My mornings and evenings and often nights are spent helping care for my three children and doing my darnedest to support my husband's music career. Both Brad and I try to be available to support others as well, be it through attending shows, lending an ear, making a meal or providing a couch to crash on.  This is not some special feat, or some big mission we're on to change the world.  It's just who we are.  We love people and try to do so as practically as possible.

Sometimes my job is hard.  Sometimes loving on my kids is hard.  Sometimes being married to a musician is really hard.  Loving others outside of my inner circle...that's hard sometimes, too.  More often than not, though, it's the mundane, repetitive things that are the hardest for me.  Giving someone money when they need it?  Easy.  Living life with others, getting let down, those things are the hardest.  It's why marriage is so difficult.  Being in for the long-haul is where the rubber meets the road and I am often surprised at how little tread I've got on my tires.  I do think so highly of myself sometimes.

Love is hard and love attracts all kinds. Once you open up yourself to this idea that you're going to live in love--and I mean real love--what you've done is open a jar of honey that many will be drawn to.  What I've learned is this:  If you're going to love for real be ready to deal with flies and angry bears.

The crux of living a life in love is that you offer up yourself to be exposed to the vicious and the gentle, the bitter and the kind--sometimes in the same person.  If you hide yourself from the wolves you hide yourself from the doves. If we learn to live under the assumption that the only real collateral damage of truly loving others will be our own pride we can be much more bold in our pursuit of others beyond our own short sighted agenda.  For being truly loving is, in itself, it's own armor. 

I am no Mother Theresa.  I all too often want something in return, I want results, I want to see the fruit of my labor.  Working with Millie has helped me to see that.  Millie has dementia and I cannot make it better.  All I can do is go moment by moment and make each of those minuscule amounts of time the best they can be for her. 

This is, really, all we can hope to do for anyone.