Compassion

I mentioned this in my blog yesterday, but as my roommate Susie was walking her dog yesterday she found these kittens in someone's driveway. She knocked on the man's door and asked him if he knew that there were kittens in his driveway. These are not weened away from their mama kittens, these are week and a half old babies whose eyes just opened. The man said they had wandered up a few days before and he had been giving them milk. We knew this was a total lie because they wouldn't have shown up without their mama because they could barely walk. Also they would not have survived without her for more than a few hours outside especially in the heat. It sickens me that someone would just leave these babies who don't have any chance of independent survival outside- where you could hear them crying blocks away.. I don't know how that man could sit in his house listening to them cry outside.

Susie works for the humane society so we will be able to foster the bottle babies or find a foster, and the kittens will get everything they need as far as vet services and other supplies, so I am very blessed to have that connection!







Bane was bathing them for us- that's why that one's head is wet.

I didn't realize it until recently, but one of my spiritual gifts is compassion. I have always had a heart for animals, but this spiritual gift comes through to humans too :-) The reason I didn't realize that this was one of my spiritual gifts until recently was just because I didn't realize other people weren't as compassionate as me.. if that makes sense. I am in the perfect line of work for this gift because I have to use it everyday working with the students that I do. I work with students who have learning disabilities or need additional support in the classroom like clarification, accountability, and organization.  I love my students, and I want to nurture them as much as I can and help them succeed. I am excited to see what God has in store for me as he helps me gain skills and experience in this gift!

as far back as I remember..

As far back as I remember I have been able to see time in my head. As a kid my mom said I had a crazy ability to understand time even as a toddler. I can pull up memories really far back because in my head the different years and my ages look different in my head. It is 3d abstract space. They aren't colored and I can't draw them, but they are there. It is kind of like how a juke box flips through to a particular record and then pulls it out and scrolls to the correct song. That is how my memories are, but by age.

When I think about time all of the months are in a line and I am standing in the summer time. It is hard to describe, except that if I think about December 31, it feels like I am falling off the edge of the earth. The weeks scroll inside the months vertically and the days scroll horizontally. I do not stand on a particular day, it just scrolls depending on the day. The current day is bigger than the others.

When I think about numbers they ascend vertically in horizontal rows of 10. Math always came easily because I could just jump around through the numbers in my head.

I am not sure how old I was when I told my mom about this.. maybe 11 or 12. I was pretty sure that not everyone thought this way, but I never thought anything of it. I have never needed a planner, and I am really good with time and dates. Recently, my mom told me she heard a guy talking about how he could see time in his head.. she couldn't remember what he said he had. This made me want to know what it was called. It boggles my mind why I never googled it before- I guess I had no idea that there was a name for it.

I have synesthesia. My primary type is time/space synesthesia and my secondary is number form synesthesia. Some people with synesthesia see letters and numbers as certain colors. Some attach personalities to days or numbers (I did this as a kid- I have stopped doing it, but I can remember not liking certain numbers or days of the week because of characteristics they had). The strangest form I have heard of is when people associate certain words with tastes. Crazy right?! There are almost one hundred identified types of synesthesia.

this is sort of how I see numbers- not in color but out in front of me

My years are not circular, but they are shaped and colored spaces that extend from far left (January) through far right (December) I think I stand in the summer all of the time because my birthday is in June and I think in school years rather than calendar years.

Synesthetes do all of this subconsciously. Most kids who have it don't realize that other people don't think this way until they are older. When scientists have studied it and done brain scans- multiple parts of the brain light up when certain things are talked about or stimuli shown.

This always happens

So today I was watching Celebrity Rehab.. minding my own business and I hear this strange noise outside. I pause the tv.. listen.. don't hear it.. put the show back on and  I hear it again. I go outside walk up and down the sidewalk.. still don't hear anything and then I hear it. It is super loud.. it sounds like a lost animal or a baby animal crying. I was looking for a dog.. then I hear it blaring. I look down and it is a baby squirrel with the mama squirrel looking on. I run inside to get a dish towel and a box and scoop it up. The tree over where I park my car is really really tall. This is the third baby we have found under it since spring- 2 blue birds out of the same nest the first time. There is no way that this baby will get back up to his nest.. so into the house we go. It is crying and bleeding from its nose a little. A teacher at the school I work at is my go to guy for my random wild life I find.. this is not my first. 2 years ago I rescued another baby blue bird. You can check out Blue Bell here on his website.

I call his daughter and arrange to bring the baby to school tomorrow morning.. if it makes it through the night. So here we are. "Jumper" is sleeping in his box- in my warm back room- the bleeding has stopped and his breathing is normal. I looked on a "what to feed a baby squirrel" website and it said they are normally dehydrated so they should be fed pedialyte first. I also didn't want to put it further into shock. So baby Jumper has had a little less than 1 mL of pedialyte and seems to be doing great.








I feel like wildlife knows that I am a compassionate person and sick, injured, and orphaned animals ALWAYS find me. My mom has always had compassion for animals and I learned a lot from her over the years- we always were bringing some random animal to the vet or nursing a baby back to help in a pet carrier.

Earlier this spring we found a baby bluebird in the same place- the man who maintains my property found it and rigged up a pully and a trashcan for the bird to be as close to its momma as it could so she could take care of it. It lived up there for 3-4 days and then one morning I saw it out on a limb an it looked like it was about to fall. I go out there to lower the trashcan since the bird was hopping around on the ground. The original bird was in the trashcan. It was another baby that had fallen! At this point there was nothing we could do- my neighbor came out and said how every year the mama blue bird teaches her babies to fly from her fence- so we all herd the 2 babies over as close to her yard as we could. I was late for work at that point and just prayed for the best. I came home that afternoon- there were no dead babies on my street and they were all fluttering around in her backyard by the fence. Success.

Let's all pray that Jumper makes it through the night!

Starbucks Anxiety

I love starbucks coffee- I have to limit myself to 1 per week at the most or else my addictive personality kicks in, and quite frankly I can't afford $4+ on coffee more than once a week. I have been ordering the exact. same. drink. for the last 5 years- iced grande nonfat upside down caramel macchiato. I recently changed it to skinny instead of nonfat. I get this anxiety about half a mile away from starbucks about how to say my order I say it in my head over and over again.. "iced grande skinny upside down caramel macchiato" or is it "skinny iced grande upside down caramel macchiato" I do this back and forth until I get to the window and go back to "iced grande skinny upside down caramel macchiato". I'm not sure why I psych myself out so much and the fact that it is worse now that I changed nonfat to skinny. Okay that is all.

I miss college

I went to college in NC- 14 hours from home! My friends became my family there. I loved that all of my friends lived within 3 minutes of my apartment- we had so much fun!

Here are a few of my favorite moments:

Snow day camp outs

Lori and I pulled our mattresses into the living room and camped out for 3 nights

Alicia and I lived across the sidewalk from eachother- our bedroom windows faced eachother.. I miss this a lot. A lot of days I call her and say "I will you still lived across the sidewalk"

This was one of the best days- my bff roommate, Lori, and I played in the snow all day

Another fun day was during sophomore year we decided to go fishing instead of studying during exam week

Spur of the moment adventures:

In January 2009, Alicia, Jilene, and I decided to take a spur of the moment beach trip to Wilmington to see the sunrise- it was freezing, but worth it!

I love my life back in Louisiana, but some days I wish I were back to the care free days of college! I'm looking forward to going back to North Carolina this summer :-)

10 things I like and 10 things I don't like

Still sick- stayed home from school today again- here is some randomness

10 things I don't like

1. english peas- they squish in your mouth and you are left with that awkward shell
2. doing laundry (too many steps)
3. blow drying my hair
4. cold weather
5. confrontation
6. olives
7. ground beef
8. ironing
9. people who are prejudice
10. catty women

10 things I like

1. brand new crayons
2. cheeto puffs
3. travelling
4. bike riding
5. social networking
6. celebrity gossip
7. chocolate
8. being out on the water
9. babies
10. animals

Friday Favorites

Glitter nail polish

My whole life I have always loved glitter- if you get me a glitter birthday card I will love you forever- I have Sinful Colors glitter nail polish in 3 colors from Walgreens

Neutrogena face lotion with sunscreen and a light tint

I recently realized my face lotion didn't have any spf- so I switched to this- I love the light tint too because let's face it, I'm pale.

My Nook Color

I love this thing because I can get magazines subscriptions on it and they are way cheaper than buying them in the store. I only hate that you can't see it in the sun- I bought this in the winter so I wasn't thinking about sunny days- and also here in Southern Louisiana there won't be many more days that it will be bearable to sit outside for any length of time so my purchase is justified.

petit fours and cupcakes

I love these!!

Reality TV (I can't help it)



6 weird ways my brain works

1. I have a crazy good memory- I can remember being under 2 years old and can accurately describe the condo my dad lived in down to the plant under the stairs, bathtub toys, and the layout of the kitchen- I normally win bets on what year such and such happened

2. I never have to use a planner- I can almost see time in my head- each day looks different as well as each hour- so if I am trying to remember what I am doing next Wednesday I can flip to what Wednesdays look like in my head and search down to the time slot and see what is going on

3. Each year looks different in my head- it isn't really a color, but it is abstract- age 2 looks different than age 5

4. I can hear a song and tell you what season and what year it came out- while I was in school I sorted them by what grade I was in Ex: Sisco- Thong Song- Summer of 2000, Outkast- Shake it like a polaroid picture- Fall/Winter of 11th grade

5. I don't have to use a calendar- I can normally tell you what day of the week a future date will be- up to a few months

6. If I ever knew your phone number by heart I probably still know it.. I can remember my best friend from 1st grade's number

a little bit about me

{one} what color is your kitchen?
Beige.

Boring I know,but I live in a rental.

I do, however, have a very pretty light blue mixer.

{two} do you have a good luck charm?
No not really.

{three} do you prefer to write with a pen or pencil?
I prefer to write in blue ballpoint pen.

{four} can you use chopsticks?
Yep! I probably eat sushi once a week :-)

{five} do you prefer baths or showers?
Baths- I love to lay in the tub and read my magazines on my nook.

Whenever I build my own house I want a deep enough tub that I can be completely covered by the water

{six} what is your favorite salad dressing?
Greek Vinegarette.

I think it is because most of the time if you find a salad with that dressing it has feta cheese and avocados.. yum!

{seven} can you sing the alphabet backwards?
Yes- courtesy of Sally's Party- Wee Sing Together- circa mid 1980's

zyx wv and u t and s and r and q, ponmlkj, ihgf, edcba

a little practice you won't go wrong

and you can sing this backwards song.

{eight} do you have any allergies?
they suck-

 definitely trees- bananas- and christmas trees-

I stay sick with upper respiratory stuff in the winter

and then in the spring it's all the pollen and my nose hates me

{nine} crunchy or creamy peanut butter?
Crunchy- I love peanut butter and honey sandwiches

and peanut butter fudge!

{ten} have you ever hitch hiked?

nope

I would be too scared of being kidnapped or raped or something

one time I saw this group of college kids hitch hiking with a guitar and I wanted to pick them up

I didn't though.