My Little Pony: Mother's Day Edition

I spent my Mother's Day weekend this year at "Equestria LA" which is the local convention for "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" fans. For those not in the know my sons ae Bronies which is what you call boys who like the MLP:FIM ponies. Girls like the ponies too. Some refer to them as "Pegasisters", I just prefer to be called an interested party and leave it at that.
But seriously, I spent the weekend with my sons at this convention and actually had a really good time despite the fact that I was one of the few at the convention old enough to remember when JFK was our president. Honestly, I didn't really feel out of place though. The MLP bunch is a very welcoming group of people and they embrace all who share their interest in all things pony. And it wasn't just the Brony and Pegasister crowd, there were plenty of little girls from the target demographic attending with their moms and dads in tow. In fact, we ran into a lovely daddy-daughter duo. The daughter was about 4 years old and dressed as Pinkie Pie and Dad decked was out in a Pinkie Pie t-shirt to match! Gotta respect a man who will do that to support his little girl's pony love!

Mitch wearing his ears, horn and wings. 

Matt hanging out in the lobby.

"Shirtless" Discord dancing for us during the Cosplay Fashion Show. 

He was the hit of the convention for the ladies!

More from the Cosplay Fashion Show

Matt and his friend after the Cosplay Fashion Show.

Assorted Convention Attendees coming out of the fashion show

Another picture of the attendees.

The Vendor Hall-they had an amazing assortment of MLP merchandise

nearly all of it hand crafted. 

Some of the hand-crafted plush ponies they had for sale. 

One of the friendliest gals at the convention!

I sat in on a number of panels including the voice actor panels and the Pony Music Video contest as well as the wonderful Cosplay Fashion Show. Best of all, I got to spend quality time with my sons having fun and they WERE NOT embarrassed to be hanging out with their Mom! I'm looking forward to Equestira LA 2014, in fact, I'm looking into having a table at the vendor hall and selling my own hand-crafted pony merch!

Autism and Awareness...

This is a re-post of a FB status update I posted on April 2nd:


Today is World Autism Awareness Day. I could ask you to change your profile picture, put a blue light bulb in your porch fixture, don a blue shirt but if you REALLY want to show your support then find a family living with Autism (I'm sure you know at least one) and do something to show them you are thinking of their family today on a personal level: 

*Surprise them with a gift card for their favorite restaurant or store
*Buy the family some movie tickets and spring for the popcorn
*Take them a plate of fresh baked cookies or muffins-Gluten/Dairy free if their child follows a special diet
*Offer to entertain their child for a hour while mom (or dad) takes a nap, reads a book, runs to the store, etc.
*Offer to wash their car and spring for a few gallons of gas
*Come by and mow their lawn, weed their flowerbed or plant some spring flowers
*Offer to do some grocery shopping for them
*Swing by and offer to vacuum, dust or fold a load or two of laundry
*Take mom or dad out to lunch-your treat. Or take them both out to dinner.
*Offer to pick up the tab on a therapy session if they have out of pocket costs
*Come by just to visit and lend an ear for listening (calling first of course!)

There are so many things that families living with Autism do without so they can make sure their autistic son or daughter's needs are being met, these small gestures can make a big impact on their quality of life!

Even though my 15 year old son is High Functioning, we still have challenging days. Yesterday was one of the most challenging days we have had in a long time, by bedtime last night I was physically and emotionally wiped out as was my 20 year old son who spent his day off work helping me manage his brother's behaviors.  What our friends and family don't see are these kinds of days, it seems that they happen to be around on his "good" days which, thankfully, are many. But our family is fortunate, I know some families that have 365 challenging days a year. Regardless of the number of challenging days, Autism Moms and Dads can benefit so much from just the smallest gestures, so I'm asking you to remember these families, not just in April, but every month of the year and reach out to them (don't be afraid!) as we often feel so alone in our struggles.
Thank you.

It's Friendship, Friendship

Just a perfect blendship, 

When other friendships have been forgot 

Ours will still be hot! 

Lahdle-ahdle-ahdle-dig-dig-dig. 

As we close the books on 2012, I'm taking a moment today to pay tribute to Friendships. I've been blessed with the most amazing group of friends. They are from all walks of life, of many ages, different backgrounds and of varying political and religious views but each and every one of them have brought many blessings to my life and for that I am truly thankful. 2012 has been a year I have faced challenges the likes of which I never could have imagined and never saw coming. Through the trials I faced, my amazing friends have been there every step of the way, praying for me to find peace and strength, holding my hand-figuratively and literally, talking me off the ledge and keeping me grounded and sane. My wish for 2013 is to be as good a friend to each of mine as they have been to me! God bless my friends, may they find peace, love and joy in the New Year!

Negative Nellies

Oh those negative people who see only the bad side of things and who so want to drag you down into their pit of negativity and despair. They dislike everything and everyone and could do everything better than everyone else. You know who I'm talking about and one or two of you might even be considered by some in your social circle to be the negative one. Sucks, huh. Okay, so how do we deal with the people in our lives who have a negative mindset? I have a short list of things I do to lessen the impact of their negative influence on me:

1. Try to ignore the comments. I know this lasts for about 10 seconds before your brain fires back with you with to "open your mouth and say something!", but sometimes just ignoring the comments can be enough to shut them down for a while.
2. Since ignoring is usually short-lived and may even put a "target on your back",  try gently and with a loving attitude pointing out the "error of their thinking". For example when your Negative Nellie (NN for short) shoots down the local TV anchor for wearing too much highlighter under her eyes point out that she probably only does that for TV and doesn't walk into Starbucks looking like that on her day off. 
3. Remind your NN that God loves us one and all just the way he created us to be. It's not our job to judge others, only to love and accept them the way Jesus would if he were standing there with you. You'd be surprised how well this can work to shut down the NN in their tracks, at least for a little while, of course if they have a negative view of Christians this may backfire and your NN will now have a new target for their negative comments. I know this because, sadly, it has happened to me. Doesn't mean I'll quit reminding people of God's love though!
4. Be a good example and lift up others in your NN's presence. Sadly, there are some women who take joy in knocking each other down based on how they compare to current media's examples of fully photoshopped and/or surgically altered women, show your NN how there is beauty in everything and everyone. If you can, use your NN as an example, point out their fabulously curly hair or gorgeous green eyes or how they have an incredible knack for interior design.
5. And let's say your NN proclaims to hate all green vegetables and can't see why anyone would want to eat the foul things counter back with "that's fine not to eat them, that leaves more for those of us who love green veggies and I'll gladly eat your share". 

But what happens when showing loving kindness and setting a good example to NN's doesn't stop the negative comments from spewing out their pie hole??? Then it's time to decide how much time you really want to spend with your NN. Is it possible to limit your exposure to them to only times when it can't be avoided? I've found if the items on my short list don't cut it then it's time to cut down time spent with them. This may require some hard work on your part and even the unpleasant and hopefully very rare telling of a "little white lie". Not a favorite tacit of mine, but I have had to feign a headache/stomach/cramps to get out of a social engagement that a NN in my life was hosting. Some days I'm just not up to dealing with their unbridled negative comments about the entire world-and it makes me sad that they just can't get past their own soured world view and lighten up a little bit. I've also learned that you just can't change people, you can only change how you respond to them and there are times not having to respond is the best option in order to maintain you own good mental health. And above all, let us not forget to pray for our NN, ask God to help them find love in their heart and peace in their life.

And on that note...I'm outta here!