Phoenix Butterfly!!!

In case you haven't figured it out, my blogger name means "Butterfly or Phoenix". I just did a google search for "phoenix butterfly" because I was looking for some graphics that I might be able to use for my profile picture... (YES, I AM that bored, thank you!) and there is a PHOENIX BUTTERFLY!!! Okay, maybe I should just turn in, because that probably wouldn't be quite so exciting if I weren't so tired...

Wife bashing, kid bashing, hubby bashing...

I just logged on to FaceBook (I am an admitted addict, with NO treatment in sight!) and was so disappointed in three of the first four status updates I read that I just had to walk away. All three of them were "kid bashing" posts... Now, I am no prude, and I do my fair share of "bashing" (both of the kid and hubby variety), but I do not normally post it publicly for all the world to see and commiserate, "like", and comment upon. If I have a gripe about the people in my life, I either post them here, anonymously, so they are not publicly "outed" or I do it the old-fashioned way: I call up a friend or my mom and bitch 'til I'm feeling better. When I married my husband (or maybe even before...) I warned him that I would not appreciate ever over-hearing him call me the "ball and chain" or the "old woman" or any of those other commonly used terms for spouse. Until I decided to divorce him, I never once used any of the derogatory slang that other women used for their husbands, either. I feel that, if you are unhappy with someone, LEAVE. If you are NOT unhappy with them, don't ACT like you are! But, I digress... (ALWAYS) Let me just state "for the record" that I think FaceBook is a very, very dangerous media outlet. In effect, that's what it is... "media". You are putting out a message to readers and viewers, but you get to have some sort of control over the audience. Regardless, would these same women (the three in question were all women) have stood up in front of all of their "friends", had they been all grouped together, and said those things about their children? I truly don't think so! I know that I have 322 "friends" on FB, and I certainly would not stand in front of all of them and complain about my son... but then again, he is perfect! ;o)

"I admire what you've done with your life"

It's always interesting to hear people's opinions when they know absolutely nothing about you. Tonight, I got an email on Facebook from someone who (I'm 'reasonably sure') goes to the church I went to growing up. She wrote in her email (based on her limited perusal of my FB page, which is of course only the "good things" that I WANT people to see) the line from the title above, and went on to say "You are one amazing woman!"... Not an entirely unbiased opinion, since she has not seen me in 20 years and only knows that which I allowed people to know, but I'll take it, nonetheless! ;o)