Switched at Birth

I’m referring to the television show that originally aired on ABC Family (now Freeform) from 2014 to 2017. It features two teen girls who are accidentally switched in the hospital at birth and sent home with the wrong parents. One girl discovers the mistake in high school from a school lab project with a blood test.

She finds her biological parents who, in turn, have been raising the other daughter as their own. I became interested in the teen/family drama because one of the daughters is deaf in the show and communicates using ASL (American Sign Language). The show introduced me to a lot of deaf culture, different aspects of the deaf community, and a ton of ASL.

I’ve been taking ASL off and on for about 2 years now. Watching “Switched at Birth” at the beginning of my lessons was helpful in picking up common words, proper techniques for finger spelling, and general knowledge. I’m about to start the series again, now that I’ve got a few years under my belt. I’m hoping to understand a lot more of the signs and also absorb a lot more than I did the first time.

Are you taking lessons or learning anything new right now? Let me know in the comments.

That Time I Hated Cats

Nigel

I’ve always been a dog person. I’ve had dogs my entire life and, actually, this is the first time that I can remember not having a dog. My sweet Millie passed away about six month ago. But we still have Nigel, our beloved cat. Those are words I never thought would come out of my mouth.

My father was gracious enough to allow me to have pets while raising me. I usually had dogs, but he did bring a cat home one day during middle school. It was already in the house when he brought me home from school because he wanted to surprise me with it. We had no idea how well they hid when they are scared and it took us a good hour or so to find that cat. Needless to say I was very surprised by the time we found it! I found out not too long after that that I was allergic to cats, so we gave her to my aunt. I wasn’t terribly upset as I wasn’t that fond of her anyway.

I’ve always enjoyed dogs more because they’re more interactive, act happier to see you, are a lot more playful, and have more of a personality in my humble opinion. I’ve always wanted play partners and dogs were perfect for that. Cats are cute to look at and play with for a bit, but they usually get bored after a minute or two and walk away or start licking themselves. Or they just sit there and stare at you. What fun is that? They just want you to pet them all the time. What fun is that?

Nigel was posted on Facebook by a friend as a cat that needed rescuing before he was put down. While I wasn’t a huge cat fan, I also couldn’t let an animal die if I could help it. And my husband is a cat lover, so I decided we’d check it out. I sent the picture to my husband and he immediately fell in love with Nigel’s beautiful face and green eyes. He is a gorgeous cat. I decided to go meet him to see if I was going to die from sneezing being allergic and all. He was sweet and gentle (aka terrified) and I didn’t sneeze at all. The next day my husband went to meet him and we ended up bringing him home.

Nigel hid inside the recliner (underneath, in the mechanics) of our sectional sofa for the first few months of moving in. I guess he came out at night and ate and went to the bathroom when no one was around or moving. He eventually came out and got to know us and we him. He turned me into a cat lover. He has the sweetest disposition and is so loving (to us). He doesn’t get into anything or do anything wrong. He’s mild mannered and the only crazy thing he does is tear out around the house every so often like a maniac when he’s feeling frisky and needs to get some laps in. We crack up. He also likes to hang out inside the cabinets some, but that’s cute. He doesn’t knock things off tables or counters, doesn’t unroll the toilet paper, doesn’t scratch where he isn’t supposed to, doesn’t do anything wrong. He’s the perfect cat – I kid you not. So, now I’m a cat lover. Because Nigel changed my mind.

I’m grateful every day that Nigel picked us. If we had gotten any other cat I’m positive I wouldn’t be the cat lover I am today. He completely changed my mind about cats and now I adore them. But of course, I’m biased. Just look at that FLOOF!

It’s Puzzling

Puzzle

I couldn’t tell you the last time I worked on a puzzle. An actual jigsaw puzzle. That thought recently hit me when I was thinking of ways to relax and decompress. I used to love working on them in my spare time and I hadn’t thought about doing one in years. I wondered if they would still be therapeutic for me.

I put a call out to my neighbors to see if anyone had a puzzle I could borrow before I spent money on one. Also, I wasn’t sure if I would even like putting together puzzles anymore. Thankfully, the neighbors had a beautiful 500-piece puzzle of Tower of London that they let me borrow. I started it last weekend and have the border and a few small patches done.

Tower of London

So far it’s been just as relaxing and rewarding as I remember. It’s challenging, but not enough to be frustrating (I am trying to relax, after all). It goes back to what I blogged about the other day – my passion of fixing problems. I am loving figuring out the puzzle while at the same time creating a beautiful picture. I’ll be sure to share a picture of the finished piece when I’m done.

Are there any hobbies that you’ve rediscovered lately that help you relax or unwind?

My Epic Week

First off, confession: I didn’t get my blog post up last night because I fell asleep on the bed while writing it, so today you get two! I’m trying hard to keep up with and complete #bloglikecrazy this year! 🙂

I have had an epic week, despite feeling crummy for part of it (female problem, ick!). I’m usually pretty chill during the week because I’m working and such, and I tend to have my fun on the weekends. But not this week. This week has been jam packed with stuff and it’s still going. I’ve been to two concerts, a Silent Dinner, and a social media and marketing conference.

Daniel and I saw AJR earlier this week and lost our collective minds. We love this trio of brothers and try to see them any time they are in the area. We just found out they are coming back in March for part 2 of their tour and CANNOT WAIT! Already! And we just saw them! They always put on a high energy, enlightening, intensely entertaining show.

Jonas Brothers

Then I suckered him into seeing the Jonas Brothers with me on Wednesday night (hehehe, get it? Suckered?) He was a wonderful sport and I’m extremely grateful for his sense of humor. I’ve taken a shining (LOL!) to their new material and had a small, almost comedic, inkling to see them since I heard they were coming. But I wasn’t about to dish out real (aka good) money to see them. If I happened to get tickets or something I would go. Well, I checked Stubhub like 2 hours before the show and saw 4th row center tickets for stupid cheap and asked Daniel if he would humor me. It was definitely an experience. The Jonas Brothers were great – talented and catering to their young fan base. They were so cute in their Crayola suits. But what fascinated me the most were the fans. I really felt like that was what it must have been like in the 60’s around the Beatles. My ears could barely handle the decibels of screaming girls. I’ve never heard anything like it and I’ve seen Taylor Swift and Beyonce. Twice.

The next evening Daniel was kind enough to accompany me to the Silent Dinner that the Birmingham regional office of the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind (AIDB) hosts around town each month. I haven’t been in years and they can be very intimidating for a hearing person who is new to ASL (which yes, I still am because I am slow and not proficient in the least). A lot of deaf and hard of hearing people attend the dinners and they tend to sign very fast so I can’t understand what they are saying or asking me and I get flustered and overwhelmed quickly and then want to leave. Thankfully, this time I had Daniel with me who was also new and we helped each other throughout the evening. Daniel has asked me to teach him ASL. So as I learn new things I teach him, which is perfect because it helps me practice. It also helps me realize I know more than I think I do. Baby steps.

Today was the Southern Social Summit at the Haven. It was a wonderful conference about social media marketing with speakers from every background. My favorite part of it was the women-led panel. Those were some powerful women up there giving some great advice!

How was your week?

The Moon

Do yourself a favor and go outside to look at the moon. It’s full and beautiful, like a money plant (Lunaria Biennes) sitting in the sky. It took my breath away last night when I saw it over the city.