It’s important to start your day by checking in with God. Everyone knows this - even William the cat knows this:

Miley Cyrus has been in the news quite a few times lately, due to questionable behavior. I have decided that it is still perfectly fine for me to adore her two characters that she plays on her show, though! I really like the show and I like her music, too (shh! don’t tell anyone!) and I didn’t want to give that up, because, Miley’s being a silly teenager. We all did stupid stuff at that age - we just weren’t being put on the 6 o’clock news with our shenanigans. (Thank God! And my mother thanks you, too, God!)

So I was rather excited when we got the DVD, Best of Both Worlds Concert: The 3-D Movie: Extended Edition. We enjoyed this movie - it showed Miley in several of her concert stops over the course of her 2007 Tour. She really keeps the crowd up and excited! She seems to kind of get out of breath fairly quickly - but, she is definitely pumped up!

They also showed a lot of behind-the-scenes happenings of a traveling tour and all of the hard work that it is for everyone involved. And the Jonas Brothers also perform in the movie.

It is a 3D movie and I’ve heard that was pretty cool in the theater with newfangled digital 3D glasses. That cannot be replicated on TV’s, though, so we are stuck with the old-fashioned red and blue 3D glasses, which makes the experience a little more hokey. It was still kind of fun, but, hokey nonetheless.

This extended edition comes with two DVD’s - the 2D version and the 3D version. And it comes with four pairs of 3D glasses.

The bonus features include extra songs from the concerts that were not in the original movie and a personal tour with Miley and the Jonas Brothers to see what a day is like in the life of a teenage rockstar!

This was definitely a fun flick!

We have had a lot of movies to review around here lately! We get so excited when the UPS man pulls up in front of our house with yet another movie - but, sometimes we get behind in watching them all! We’ve gotten some great kid ones lately that are a lot of fun!

The first one is a prequel to one of my very favorite Disney movies - The Little Mermaid! I was so excited to see this movie come out! It’s called The Little Mermaid - Ariel’s Beginning.

We watched this with my little nieces, who are seven and five years old. We have been watching them a lot - so they are getting to see a lot of these movies with us. They sat there perfectly quiet through this whole movie! And for the five year old, that is saying something! They really enjoyed it!

A cool thing about this movie, for all three girls, is that ‘Stephanie Tanner’ was in it! She was the voice actor for Ariel. They all really like her, so that made it that much more enjoyable!

In Ariel’s Beginning, we learn about Ariel’s mother and what happened to her. The family is relaxing in a lagoon above the water, and King Triton gives his wife, Queen Athena, a music box as a gift. Shortly after that, a ship full of pirates comes and attacks. Everyone gets away, but, Queen Athena, who is crushed by the ship.

The King is devastated and throws the music box away and bans music from the kingdom forever. The kingdom becomes a sad, quiet place and the seven daughters are placed under a strict schedule. Ariel longs for a different way of life for everyone and that is where the trouble comes in - and how she changes everything!

My oldest monster, Patrick, has been growing like a mad weed since we moved to Alabama. I’ve been trying to keep a ‘redneck eye’ on it. That is my official way of measuring my son’s height. It goes a little something like this…I have him stand right in front of me and ‘measure’ where his eyeballs are in relation to my eyeballs. Pretty good, eh?

So I’d been ‘keeping an eye’ on him, so I thought. Then the other morning, while getting ready for school, I noticed that Patrick was not just a itsy, bitsy smidge taller than I. No, with shoes on, and myself barefoot - he was FOR SURE taller than I. More redneck measuring skills - itsy, bitsy smidge - or - FOR SURE. Pretty good again, eh? Yeah, so I made him come over to me so I could see close up how FOR SURE it all was. It was definitely FOR SURE. But the little bugger had shoes on - and I didn’t. See - all was right with the world. It was okay. I could deal. Fine - go on to school, boy - Momma’s just fine.

And then it happened. A weekend morning - both of us wandering the Redneck Roberson Castle barefooted…
Read the rest of this entry »

Yes, quite literally, I have a pain in my neck! I woke up this morning and my neck was hurting. I have had this sore spot for a while now. Two spots, really - the glands on either side of my neck. I got sick last February - I had a sinus infection, along with a double ear infection. The doctor called in two prescriptions for me, one of which was oral and reasonably priced. The other, however, was eardrops and was so ridiculously high priced that we didn’t have the money for it. And I swear - for real - that the glands in my neck have hurt - off and on - since then! Some mornings I wake up and the one on the right side is really sore and I feel like I’m getting one of my vicious migraines, so I put ActivOn on it. You know, the arthritis cream! Ha!

Sometimes when I wake up and my neck and shoulders are sore and the migraine is trying to sneak in, I put Freeze It on my shoulders and just itsy-bitsy part way up my neck and that helps a lot. But I can’t really get Freeze It too high up on my neck or it burns. It’s really weird - I love that stuff, it’s totally awesome, but, I have to be careful when using it on my neck.

I just accidentally discovered that ActivOn would work for this purpose. I think you could call it a double accident!
Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve lost them. They’re gone. I can’t find them anywhere. I wonder if you could help me find them….

I really don’t mean it. I don’t want them back, no way, no how - not a chance in Hell do I want them back. In fact, it would be great if I lost some more 11.3398093 kilograms! Seriously!

You see, with the help of some lovely people online - and with some really strong determination, that came from I don’t know where, I have….
Read the rest of this entry »

In the last Save Jenny! post I told you about a poll on the NBC5 website asking where you think Jenny the elephant should spend the rest of her days. I do hope you’ve gone over there and let your voice be heard!

But - check it out:

That is SO AWESOME! If you haven’t voted in the poll - please go do so now! Thank you so much!!

Other ‘Jenny Action’ you can take:

Contact the Dallas Mayor
Call, fax, and email the mayor, whether or not you live in Dallas. (This really is so important - when this hit the national stage is when the council really started listening and deciding to slow odwn the whole decision-making process. So even if you don’t live in Dallas, like I no longer do, please feel free to let your voice be heard.) Politely but firmly urge him to retire Jenny to The Elephant Sanctuary. Civilly insist that he intervene in the Zoo’s decision to keep her in Dallas.

Mayor Tom Leppert
Dallas City Hall
1500 Marilla Street, Room 5EN
Dallas, TX 75201-6390
Main Phone: (214) 670-4054
Fax: (214) 670-0646
tom.leppert@ dallascityhall. com

If you’d rather use the contact form on the city’s website, it’s right here: Contact Mayor Tom Leppert

Thank you so much!

Concrete and bars - what a life, eh?

Robert Wilonsky, the gentleman who writes for the Dallas Observer that I told you about in the post about troubled elephants, spoke with Paul Dyer on Wednesday about the Dallas Zoo’s decision to keep Jenny in Dallas. You can read all about their conversation here: Paul Dyer Explains the Reasons for Keeping Jenny at the Dallas Zoo. Please, no, PRETTY PLEASE - come back when you’re done reading, as I’ve something important I’d like to share with you! Thanks!

….waiting….waiting…..waiting….

Great! You came back! Jenny and I really appreciate it! Ok, NBC5 ran a story on Jenny - there is an article and a video. Here is the link to it: >>>>>>Jenny The Elephant To Remain In Dallas<<<<<<. Toward the end of the video, Angela Hunt is featured speaking her mind about the Dallas Zoo’s plans to build a larger elephant habitat. More importantly than the article or the video, though, in the sidebar underneath the video is a poll. It is a poll asking where YOU think Jenny should live the rest of her life! Please go take the poll and let your voice be heard! Do it for Jenny! Seriously - have you spent any time looking over The Elephant Sanctuary’s website? That place is simply amazing. And I truly believe that we owe it to Jenny, after all that we humans have put her through, to let her live her life out there in peace, where the objective is about her, not about humans visiting her!

Other ‘Jenny Action’ you can take:

Contact the Dallas Mayor
Call, fax, and email the mayor, whether or not you live in Dallas. (This really is so important - when this hit the national stage is when the council really started listening and deciding to slow odwn the whole decision-making process. So even if you don’t live in Dallas, like I no longer do, please feel free to let your voice be heard.) Politely but firmly urge him to retire Jenny to The Elephant Sanctuary. Civilly insist that he intervene in the Zoo’s decision to keep her in Dallas.

Mayor Tom Leppert
Dallas City Hall
1500 Marilla Street, Room 5EN
Dallas, TX 75201-6390
Main Phone: (214) 670-4054
Fax: (214) 670-0646
tom.leppert@ dallascityhall. com

If you’d rather use the contact form on the city’s website, it’s right here: Contact Mayor Tom Leppert

Thank you so much!

As I mentioned in this post about Jenny the elephant, one of the Dallas city council members, Angela Hunt, took a trip to Mexico to see the park in Mexico to which the Dallas Zoo wanted to send Jenny. (She also traveled to Tennessee to see The Elephant Sanctuary.) On her website, AngelaHunt.com, you can read about her experiences and also see the many pictures that she took on her trips.

Along with photos, Ms. Hunt also took videos of the elephants in Mexico. In her videos, the elephants are seen almost constantly swaying back and forth. This is one of her videos:

Soon after this, Robert Wilonsky, who writes at Unfair Park - The Dallas Observer Blog asked Joyce Poole, the world’s foremost authority on elephants, to watch Ms. Hunt’s videos. She is currently working on a study that proves that elephants suffer from PTSD. That is so not surprising - the torment humans have put elephants through over the years is just awful! Here is her response to Robert after seeing the videos:

Dear Robert,

The music is hauntingly beautiful and, put to the swaying of confined elephants, brought tears to my eyes. Why do we humans feel such a need to confine and control other animals? Is our pleasure in seeing them worth the cruelty that we inflict on them? Elephants are intelligent, socially complex individuals who have the same basic needs that we have: Freedom and autonomy, companionship and affection, just to name a few.

The first elephant in the video looks very unhealthy; she is too thin. All of the elephants in the video are swaying — a behavior only seen in confined elephants. Like so many captive elephants they are bored and frustrated with nowhere to go and no one to see, no new smells to investigate and nothing to strive for. The result is standing in one place and rocking, slowly losing their mind. Well, wouldn’t we do the same given similar circumstances?

I often try to put myself in the elephants’ shoes, so to speak. Ever had to stand for hours and hours alone waiting for that bus that never comes? Feet and back aching? I, too, start to step from one foot to the other. I, too, rock back and forth; I sway. But I don’t wait for a bus for days, for weeks, for months, for years. I have the freedom to choose to go.

We need to wake up to the reality of what we are doing to other creatures and stop hiding behind a lot of constructed arguments for keeping elephants in this way.

Jenny should go to a sanctuary.

Regards,
Joyce Poole

And now we see the VERY SAME BEHAVIORS in Jenny! I’m quite sure that after all she has been through in her life, at the hands of humans, Jenny must have PTSD, as well! A member of Concerned Citizens for Jenny went to the zoo just days ago and took this video:

Jenny is definitely not happy there - nor would any elephant be! The elephant ‘habitats’ at The Dallas Zoo have long been a complaint of mine. I’ve taken great joy in mocking the boardroom meeting I imagine in my head 30-40 years ago/whenever the heck it was! I imagine it was something like this:

“You guys! I have the BEST idea! Seriously! This is gonna be great! Let’s make a tiny enclosure, make it out of concrete and maybe put in a little dirt - and put some elephants in it! It’ll be fabulous! I’m sure the elephants will be happy there!”

Yes, folks, I’ve haughtily and sarcastically shared this scenario with many people over the years. Hey, I never claimed to be mature! Just ask my ninth grade algebra teacher! She’ll be happy to tell you, “Lisa has the potential, she’s just too immature to live up to it!” Haha!

Ok, back to the subject at hand, you guys quit getting me off track! Hrmph! I think I’ve given you enough information in this post, I’d just like to repeat the actions that YOU can take now:

Contact the Dallas Mayor
Call, fax, and email the mayor, whether or not you live in Dallas. (This really is so important - when this hit the national stage is when the council really started listening and deciding to slow odwn the whole decision-making process. So even if you don’t live in Dallas, like I no longer do, please feel free to let your voice be heard.) Politely but firmly urge him to retire Jenny to The Elephant Sanctuary. Civilly insist that he intervene in the Zoo’s decision to keep her in Dallas.

Mayor Tom Leppert
Dallas City Hall
1500 Marilla Street, Room 5EN
Dallas, TX 75201-6390
Main Phone: (214) 670-4054
Fax: (214) 670-0646
tom.leppert@ dallascityhall. com

If you’d rather use the contact form on the city’s website, it’s right here: Contact Mayor Tom Leppert

Thank you so much!

I started this post on July 29th and never finished fleshing it out, because, I would alternately become overwhelmed with sadness/despair and the great amount of information involved.

The bottom line is that there is an elephant at the Dallas Zoo that needs all of us to help her. You can read her whole story here: Concerned Citizens for Jenny - but, then make sure you come back here, because, I’ve got lots more to share with you!

Those of us who are rallying for Jenny would like to see her go to The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. The place is nothing short of amazing! I spent hours looking over their website, reading all about them and I was brought to tears more than once! This is just such a wonderful place - a true sanctuary - for elephants who’ve lived their lives in ‘habitats’ that are way too small with nothing but dirt and concrete. Of all the reading I did about The Elephant Sanctuary, one thing really got me and really, if I read nothing else about them, this would tell me so much about them and who they are and what they believe:

It is heartening to see attitudes begin to shift, with more
and more people realizing that “seeing” an elephant has
clearly not been successful in either public education or
species conservation in the wild. Our challenge with
the Education Gallery & Welcome Center is to create
an experience where visitors and supporters will walk
away with a greater understanding and respect for
elephants, without having compromised the freedom of
one single elephant.

This quote was taken from page 7 of The Elephant Sanctuary’s 2007 Annual Report

Help Elephants in Zoos - Dallas Zoo is another site on which you can read information about Jenny, including action steps you can take to help Jenny!

As Promised, Angela Hunt’s Video from Her Trip to Mexico is an article on the Dallas Observer blog with information about the trip that Councilwoman Angela Hunt took to the park in Mexico where the Dallas Zoo had originally intended to send Jenny. This is no longer relevant, as the zoo has decided not to send her there, but, I wanted to let you see all the information that you could about the case.

Here is a news video about Jenny, from a few weeks ago:

I have some more posts about Jenny coming up, for now, though, here are some actions YOU can take to help Jenny:

Contact the Dallas Mayor
Call, fax, and email the mayor, whether or not you live in Dallas. (This really is so important - when this hit the national stage is when the council really started listening and deciding to slow odwn the whole decision-making process. So even if you don’t live in Dallas, like I no longer do, please feel free to let your voice be heard.) Politely but firmly urge him to retire Jenny to The Elephant Sanctuary. Civilly insist that he intervene in the Zoo’s decision to keep her in Dallas.

Mayor Tom Leppert
Dallas City Hall
1500 Marilla Street, Room 5EN
Dallas, TX 75201-6390
Main Phone: (214) 670-4054
Fax: (214) 670-0646
tom.leppert@ dallascityhall. com

If you’d rather use the contact form on the city’s website, it’s right here: Contact Mayor Tom Leppert

Thank you so much!