accuracy: conformity to truth or to a standard

are you the kind of person that, when relaying a message, summarizes or paraphrases it? or do you feel that to be accurate, you must give it word by word? i've discovered, though not usually conscious of it, that i am the type who must give it fully. as i watch movies or shows, it drives me nuts when the person knows the whole story, but only passes on part of it. or in the show "ghost whisperer", the spirits tell her messages to convey and as they do this, she's paraphrasing it as briefly as possible or doesn't say it at all. drives me crazy! so, as i thought about this, i recognized what i'm sure is one of many annoying qualities about me...that when someone knows something, they should know the whole story...at least when it's pertaining to me or my family. i feel that we treat people differently in situations when we have different amounts of information as to what is involved...feelings, physical circumstances, etc. so with this in mind, we may all become better at being nice on the road. and the messages that are given to someone else through us should be passed on as received. it is the person whom it is ultimately intended for who should do with what he wants once he gets the full message. being accurate is being honest. if you leave things out or "just didn't tell them everything" or "stretch the truth a little", can you truly call yourself honest? although this may make me a bit neurotic, at least i feel good that i can pass on the information honest and accurate.

i hope some of that made an ounce of sense, seeing as though it's after 2 am. i can't sleep because i hear a bear in my bed and my ambien hasn't quite kicked in. i read somewhere that if you have trouble sleeping, don't just lay there and hope you'll doze off. do something else to get you really tired. thus, the reason i'm blogging. but it seems that the sleep pill is finally working, so i'm outta here.

is that even a word?

why is a chair called a chair, or a rock called a rock? those are the questions i've been asked a lot lately by my 8 year old and also the questions i remember asking a lot through my life. since the words in our language had to start somewhere in time, they really weren't words at one point. which brings me to my point that any word i say could actually be a word if i say it is...because i would have just made it one. so the next time you react to your child's abhorrent behavior with a word like "crutz!" and someone asks "is that really a word?", you can now reply "yes, i just made it one".

we've been trying to come up with other words to say to replace "oh my gosh", since she sometimes slips and uses a word we don't use because of hearing it often at school. so please leave your comments with funny words we could use in place of that...whether they're real words or not yet.

our kids' fears...or ours?

sometimes the things our kids do that we think are so strange are actually a reflection of our own fears or actions. i know one child who will not eat anything unless her mom makes it for her. i'm now wondering if that stems from her mom teaching her not to take food and things from strangers or something like that. or maybe not. that thought came to mind today as kyra was eating a non-edible object off the floor and i responded by saying, "we don't eat stuff off the floor." and then quickly added, "or things that aren't food." after i say things like that to her, i wonder how she processed it, since she's absorbing everything i say into that little brain of hers. it just makes me try to be more careful how i phrase things. dids don't know that monsters are scary unless we tell them that. they don't know what scary is or that people don't laugh at things that are "scary". this is a drawback to having older siblings...they pass on their fears and dislikes just by voicing them. so from the moment that kid pops out we should be pumping positive thoughts and cheer into their heads. granted, they will eventually form their own opinions of things, but it all starts with us.