Friday, July 15, 2011

7 Things We Learned This Week (play, animals, Google+, news, relationships)


Play

Over at the Conscious Cat I learned that there is actually an National Institute For Play!
You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.--Plato
I love to play tennis, with my pets, box games and review games with my Sunday School Class. What do you like to play?

Howler Monkeys

The male Howler Monkeys are black but the female and young ones are tan. Howler monkeys are so loud, they can be heard up to two miles away!

Google+

I guess if Facebook isn't enough for you or you are dissatisfied with it, an alternative is Google+. Mrs. 4444 posted a great tutorial about it. She also invited me to join but I'm still debating if I want to get on yet another social network. She says she loves Google+ so far.

Which Animal?

So far a goat is the animal of choice for our Heifer International donation. Please vote in our poll at the left if you haven't yet for the animal you would like us to donate and be sure to comment on our blogs so we can get enough for one of these bigger animals.

Jaycee Dugard

A Stolen LifeDid you see the special about Jaycee Dugard this week?  It was the first I heard about this unbelievable story.  We watched the special about Jaycee Dugard, a girl kidnapped at age 11 while going to her bus stop, abused, raped, and held captive for 18 years before she was finally reunited with her family. She wrote a book about her experience called A Stolen Life which Gerard is on the waiting list for at the library. If you didn't see the show, here is a short video about it:







pets

When Abby rolls around on the grass, sometimes her leash comes off! Today I am taking her to get one of those micro chips so if she ever does get lost, a vet or shelter can scan her and find out where she belongs.

Men vs. Women

The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More FunFrom The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin a tidbit I learned that was interesting to me is
the difference in how men and women approach intimacy. . . . women's idea of an intimate moment is a face-to-face conversation, while men feel close when they work or play sitting alongside someone.
So, for men, just watching TV together is quality time for them.  There are lots of ideas to increase your happiness level and interesting research and quotes in this book that I won in a giveaway from Ann at Up North.  Check out Gretchen's website about the project at www.happiness-project.com.

Find more Friday Fragments or link up your own at Half-Past Kissin' Time.

10 comments:

HH and The Boys said...

That's a wonderful thing to make a summary of lessons learned during the week. Very nice list.

Have a great day.

pawhugs, Max

Ann in the UP said...

Good idea, having Abby microchipped! It's always such a worry for you when she takes herself for a walk.

I'm so glad you're enjoying the book. I think there's so much valuable stuff to know about in there, whether a person "does the project" or not. Have a great weekend! Check my Thursday post if have time, about the gliders Ford built here during WW2.

Lin said...

I'd have all of your pets microchipped because you never know when they will need it. Those chips are very helpful should there be an emergency like the floods in the south or the tornado in Joplin.

Jaycee's story haunts me. On one hand I want to watch, but on the other, I can't bear it. I really struggle with hearing what that man and woman did to a young girl--it makes my skin crawl.

I always enjoy your lists, Karen!

marg said...

That story about Jaycee is awful but glad she finally got out of there. Great post. Take care and have a great week end.

BeadedTail said...

Very interesting about what men feel is quality time! I'll check out that site.

I voted on an animal too!

Angel and Isabella were microchipped at the shelter when we adopted them but we haven't got Sadie chipped yet. She doesn't run off when she's not on a leash but it's still probably something we should do.

Daisy said...

We voted for a goat!

Harley and I are both microchipped. Even though we are both Indoor kitties, if we got out we would never find our way back home. We use the Home Again chip.

Ellen aka Ellie said...

I like just sitting in the same room with my husband, we don't have to talk much--though at times we do.

I'm on google+, but I have no idea what I'm doing there, yet!

Heather's Blog-o-rama said...

Some of my friends are joining Google +. I'm not sure I want to...I thionk my thing is, if you've got lots of friends...it's just like being at church or in any social circle, if you cannot say it in front of everybody, than maybe you shouldn't be saying it at all...if it's personal, than that's what private messaging is for... I just am not impressed. I think it could lead to a form of on-line gossip. I guess I"m the only one so far, that is having a bit of a negative reaction to it. Also, i'm really trying to work out how my walk with Jesus Christ fits into all of this...and does what I do anywhere, whether it be in person or on-line honor HIM :) :) That and the fact, that I think social media is really starting to affect peoples ability to relate to one other on a face-to-face level. It's easy to communicate via computer. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE it...because I LOVE blogging...but being on Facebook and Google + would be way to much for me..In fact, I'm even downsizing my friend's list on Facebook to the ones who actively com municate with me :) :) Okay...just my thoughts ;) :) :) Have a great weekend. Greetings from Oregon, Heather :)

Mrs4444 said...

LOL, well if that's the case, Mr.4444 and I are getting PLENTY of quality time!haha

How sweet! Thanks for sharing my Google+ posts.

In response to Heather's comment, posting to one group and not another isn't about gossiping! :) I can now post to my blogging friends about blogging topics (when my family could care less about that stuff). I can communicate with my neighbors about our block party without cluttering up the stream for everyone else. I can talk school-stuff with my teacher circle and not bore other people. There are lots of positive reasons for posting to a particular group. That said, I respect that she knows her own personal limits :)

I found Jaycee to be very inspiring. I'm so happy she found a good therapist and has such a positive attitude about the whole thing. I probably will not read her book, but I hope she does well with it.

You have to be the best pet owners on the planet--Lucky dogs! (and cats)! :)

Mama and the City said...

I still can wrap my head around Goole+. I am a fan of FB, just joined Twitter this year - last month. And I just joined Google+ just to reserve my "spot". I still don't see the advantages yet. I guess I'll let it evolve more and check it out once in a while.

Nice blog btw.

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