It's All About Me | A Deaf Mom Shares Her World

Five Things–About Me and Social Media Happiness

I haven’t done a meme in a long time and this week, I’ve been tagged by Glenda, Todd and Sue for two different memes.

I’ll start with the Five Things You Didn’t Know About Me:

I Hate to Clean

My Mom and Flylady are twins separated at birth. When my Mom gave birth to me, somehow the DNA in my genes failed to get the cleaning gene passed on. But I can fake clean pretty well. When my friend Beth stopped by at the end of summer we somehow got to talking about keeping houses clean. I mentioned that I hadn’t mopped my floor since, oh, early May. She gazed at the wooden floors in disbelief. “But how come they look clean?” I shared my little trick of vacuuming now and then and wiping up spills when they happen. Now you all know my dirty little secret. Now you see why I want Flylady to move in with me?

I Have a Terrible Addiction

I have a new boyfriend. His name is Twitter. Joe knows all about him but he thinks he’s just some guy passing through the night. I love Twitter because I can participate in every conversation and never feel left out. He tells me the latest news, gives me compliments and once in a while we get into arguments– but we always move on to the next exciting thing.

I Am Not Organized and Neither Are My Kids

That’s another gene that stopped with my Mom. As of today we are searching for: one lost paycheck, two library books, one school book, one phone (again!!), one homework assignment and my makeup bag. Oh, and the dog lost her chew toy, too.

I Enjoy Helping Others

Nothing gives me more pleasure than to connect with others and help them in some small way. Monetary gifts are often long forgotten, but kindness lives on for years. My email box is filled daily with people asking questions about being deaf/hard of hearing or raising deaf/hard of hearing kids. I have been mentoring for several years and provide online/phone mentoring as well.

I Can Cook Pretty Well

For many years, I had the reputation of not being able to cook all too well. It started when Joe mentioned to his brother that I burned a meatloaf in college. So for years, no one ever asked me to bring appetizers or cook anything. That was fine with me. Over the years, I’ve gotten better and better at whipping things together and I’ve even taught my Mom a trick or two (usually she’s the one teaching me!). This summer, I did a lot of cooking up at Christie Lake and I found I actually enjoy it. Of course, there are some days I still make some mistakes and I’m sure my brother Kenny remembers the salty frittata that I served him at the lake.

Now on to Todd’s meme, Five Reasons to be Happy About Social Media:

1. I am meeting people that I would have never had an opportunity to meet/chat with outside of the cyber world.

2. Social Media is a virtual watercooler that I can access (most of the time).

3. I work from home and social media gives me the opportunity to connect with people throughout the day.

4. I’m meeting people around the world, like Joanna Young over in Scotland, Glenda Watson Hyatt in Canada, and Alex Fayle in Spain.

5. Social Media introduces me to current topics and trends, something that I can’t often access around me via conversations and parties.

I’m leaving these memes open to anyone who would like to join in.

Have an amazing weekend!

Bookmark me!

More »

Tags: It's All About Me by DeafMom
No Comments »

Wordless Wednesday–A Special Wall in my Office

I had these four plaques scattered in various spots around the house–one was in a nightstand drawer, two were in boxes and one was in an office drawer. One day last year, I gathered them all together and hung them above the key holder in my office. The small one on the upper left was a gift from my Mom during my first year of college. It says, “Hang on, Friday’s coming!” My Mom sent it after one particularly hard week when I was really homesick and having a difficult time understanding the teachers in class.

The one on the upper right was given to me by my Aunt Gertie. It says, “Lovely flowers are smiles from God.” Aunt Gertie, my Mom’s sister, was profoundly deaf and she was battling cancer. She didn’t have much time left. I was ten at the time, sitting on the edge of her bed and I remember her smiling. There’s a picture of Aunt Gertie somewhere in one of my Mom’s albums; my sister Jeanie is holding a huge toy comb over her bald head and everyone is laughing. So when I see flowers, I think of Aunt Gertie.

The large one on the lower left was simply one that I found at either a garage sale or a store. It says, “The nicest days are full of love.” I had that one and Aunt Gertie’s plaque hanging on my bedroom wall for many years.

The last one on the lower right was given to me by my first itinerant teacher, Mrs. Rellis. Mrs. Rellis was a special teacher–she was the first teacher to sit me down and challenge me not to let my hearing loss hold me back. It says:

The grand essentials to happiness in this life are

something to do,

something to love, and

something to hope for.

Those four plaques are my source of inspiration every time I hang up a key. Do you have a source of inspiration that is special to you? Tell me about yours in the comments below.

This photo is a part of Wordless Wednesday, even though I used a bunch of words to describe it.

Bookmark me!

More »

Tags: It's All About Me by DeafMom
7 Comments »

Finding Love Songs on Twitter

At the Sparkplugging/One2OneNetwork event last week, one of the items in the swag bag was a gift certificate for iTunes. I was really excited to see this, because I was getting a little tired of the same old music playing over and over. It was time for some fresh music, but I had no clue where to start. I’ve spent money on CDs before only to find that I only liked one song on an entire CD.

I started wondering how I could get some new love songs to try out. Then it hit me:

Twitter!

I was tired of hearing my son’s rock and rap music blasting in the house, so I knew I wanted to go for something mellow and meaningful. So I put out this tweet:

And guess what? I have a whole bunch of love songs to try out before I buy them on iTunes:

ZenMonkey @deafmom, “The Story” by Brandi Carlile.

Only one song was repeated twice as a favorite, Elton John’s Your Song. I also received several via direct message, but since they came in privately, I’m guessing they didn’t want their choices to be shared. I’m so excited that I have a list of songs to pull up lyrics to and to start learning some new music.

Thanks, Twitterville!

My favorite love song is Just the Way You Are by Billy Joel. This was the song played at our wedding.

What’s your favorite love song?

Bookmark me!