Children & Chocolate and Other Paths to God

My mom moved down to Baltimore last year after living her whole life in New Jersey. I know she likes being closer to me and my family, but I also know she gets a little homesick for the some of the cute shore neighborhoods.

She turned 71 last week. I asked her what she wanted to do for her birthday and she told me she wanted to visit Hampden. If you're not familiar with Hampden, it's this cute blue-collar-meets-artist-colony-stuck-in-the-1950's-urban hip kind of neighborhood. Tucked in the city on 36th Street, it's easy to reach via Cold Spring Lane and Falls Road. It's home to Cafe Hon, with its 3-story tall pink flamingo on the front, and many other award-winning restaurants. (See http://www.hampdenmerchants.com/) It's where old Baltimore "hons" live on. If you've ever been to Honfest in Hampden, you know that the beehive hairdo and cat-eye glasses are still in style.

Hampden is also home to a great mix of unique stores. 101 shops, according to the website. My mom had read about it in a magazine, and since it's inside the Baltimore beltway, she knew she'd never go on her own. (My mom will live out the rest of her days here in Maryland without ever driving on the beltway or in the city...)

So we had a wonderful time. First we hit David's Used Furniture. This place has been here for years, and always has a good mix of stuff. Here we found an official "Lord of the Rings" chair, a big tree trunk kind of thing for $1,600, an old traffic light for $20, and I found a butcher block kitchen table and chairs for $139. (I bought the table, but left the LOTR chair...)

Then we hit a few of the hip gift shops, Hometown Girl and Watermelon Sugar being my favorites. My mom bought some Sea Salt Soap and I got a serving tray that says "Smart Women Crave Good Company" - a 1950's looking kind of metal tray that benefits Big Brothers Big Sisters. Looks great in my kitchen. (with my new table)

Next we visited Lynne's Gifts. A cool mix of old and new. Everything from metal watering cans shaped like penquins, to vintage jewelry, to used salt & pepper sets, to new leopard print platform shoes, to butterfly things that hang from the ceiling. Here I got a sterling silver ring for $15, and my mom got a salt & pepper shaker set shaped like a teapot and cup. The saleswoman tried to talk me into the platform boots (they were 1/2 price), but I didn't think I could pull them off at playdates...

Which lead us to the next two shops - Five Wacky Women and Sugar. FWW has a sister store here in Cockeysville, so I was familiar with the shop. Very cute purses and home decor. This one was simliar, but a little smaller than the one near me. Under the same awning was a place called Suger.

What was it? We thought bakery? spa? lingerie? (you're getting warmer...)

Well, I turns out I took my mother inside an "adult toy boutique". Nice.

It took me a minute. I saw a male customer (not too many of those in these shops), and the salesgirl told all of us "this is a touch and feel kind of shop..." and again, I was still hoping it was a bakery. Then I saw the collection of vibrators displayed on the table and started to laugh.

"Mom, I think we should go..." I say quietly, smiling at the salesgirl with the nose ring.
"Why?" she said, not realizing yet.
"Trust me," I say, laughing. "I'll tell you outside."

So we got outside and I told her what it was. "It is your birthday, so if you do want to go back inside, we can go..." I joked.

"No, I'm okay" she answered, and we kept walking to the next shop. I realize some mothers and daughters are open about sex, but me, well, I'm 37 years old with two kids and still waiting for the "sex talk"...

So there you have it. I thought taking my mother-in-law to see "Something About Mary" (with the masturbation scene) was bad, but taking my mother to a sex toy shop on her birthday, well, how many daughters do that?

Have a Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

My puppy you'll always be...

In the last year, both of the men in my house have developed high cholesterol and kidney stones. One can complain about it, the other just pees on my carpet.

Yes, even Fred the beagle has hit middle age.

I think a majority of dog owners misread peeing indoors. Unless you're in the middle of house-training, or your dog is experiencing old-age incontinence, this is usually the symptom of a health problem, not a behavioral problem. (Though when he peed on the baby's blanket when she was a month old, I was not entirely convinced of this...)

In Fred's case, he's got crystals (broken-down particles of stones) in his bladder. He's on a special prescription dog food (translation=expensive) to dissolve the crystals, and some pain killers to help in the meantime. To be honest, he doesn't look like he's in pain, but then, he has been a little crankier than his usual surly old self. 

Ouch. Poor little guy.

Apparantly, stones like this are common in beagles and are a result of their diet. We were feeding Fred Purina One for the last few years. Turns out the stones are comprised of high amounts of magnesium and two other things (I can't remember, it is 2am after all...), all three of which are in Purina One. His body just can't digest it.

I never thought of varying my beagle's diet, but it makes sense. Too much of any kind of food isn't good for anyone, humans or otherwise.

As for the high cholesterol, I can't figure that one out. I think Fred and my husband may have been having too many late night cheese and cracker snacks. They're both on a diet now.

As you can imagine, this whole experience hasn't been cheap. My word of advice to all dog owners: get pet health insurance.

I use Banfield's Wellness Plan for his shots, which is great. About five months ago, however, it occurred to us that our healthy dog will probably get sick or injured at some point. We didn't know what our limit would be financially on caring for him, and didn't want to find out.

I talked to a few people and decided on a plan with the ASPCA. (http://www.aspcapetinsurance.com) It doesn't cover shots, which is fine, but should (hopefully) cover almost all of the $700+ worth of stuff we've had done in the last two weeks. (If it doesn't, you'll be hearing me cry about it...) We still use Banfield for the routine stuff, but for anything more serious we go to a more expensive vet here in town. With the health insurance, we don't have to think twice about it.

Having a sick or injured pet is stressful enough, you don't want to have to worry about money when it comes time to make decisions for them. I know it sounds like an advertisement, but it's true.

And as much as we'd like our dogs to live forever, the reality is that they get old and sick just like the rest of us. So we'll all go on a diet and get a little more exercise. I'm sure everyone in the house could benefit.

Sigh. Welcome to middle age, my dear Fred. It stinks, but we'll make the best of it together!

After posting yesterday I did some digging online and found a very long, but very good article on the subject. You can read Catholicm and the Natural World at http://catholiceducation.org/articles/environment/en0002.html.

While it doesn't address all of my questions, I thought the following excerpt was interesting:

Part three of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “Life in Christ,” deals with Christian moral life. The paragraphs here are from a discussion of the Seventh Commandment, You Shall Not Steal. For to misuse any created thing is surely to take what does not belong to us, since all creation belongs to God and is granted to us for our use, not our misuse.

This section of the CCC sets forth the dual truth about created natures: they have an integrity, and thus a goodness, of their own, “their mere existence” blesses and glorifies God, but yet at the same time they are “entrusted ... to [our] stewardship” and “Destined for the common good of ... humanity.” The limits of our use of animals, and even plants, however, lie not only in the effect of such use on mankind but in “a religious respect for the integrity of creation,” and in the kindness we “owe” them. We may safely assume, however, that we are not violating this “kindness” as long as we use animals and plants for the true welfare of mankind. But the mere piling up of goods, as we saw above, is likely to be a misuse rather than a use.

Basically, it's okay to take what you need from the environment, but more than that is considered "stealing". I wouldn't have thought to use the commandment in this context, but it works.

I think a gray area still remains though. How much is too much? If the environment gets "damaged" for the betterment of mankind, is this okay? Who decides what is a "good" use vs a "misuse"?

In recent months, Pope Benedict has made several strong appeals for the protection of the environment, saying issues such as climate change had become gravely important for the entire human race.

Under Benedict and his predecessor John Paul, the Vatican has become progressively "green."

It has installed photovoltaic cells on buildings to produce electricity and hosted a scientific conference to discuss the ramifications of global warming and climate change, widely blamed on human use of fossil fuels.

Okay, I'm purposely posting this on the Catholic Carnival, because I'm confused and hoping for some comments on this.

I thought I read somewhere (forgive my terrible memory) that a Catholic (though he may have just been Christian) senator made a comment one time that there was no need to protect the environment because Jesus Christ will return "when the last tree falls."  The theory here being that the environment deteriorating is all part of the "Last Days" as the Catholics understand them.

I thought that was interesting. I didn't know what to do with it, but still, it was an interesting take on things.

This doesn't mean that I stopped recycling, because I still think that huge piles of trash are a bad idea. I would at least like the earth to stay green and pretty while I'm here, and I'd like it to remain that way for my future generations if possible.

I guess what I'm confused about, is why the Vatican is coming out with this now?  It's not a revolutionary idea. And please don't think that Al Gore is some kind of fore-runner with this movement either. In the early 1900's, President Teddy Roosevelt was making a move to conserve large tracts of land from development, a record that was only to be broken years later by President Bill Clinton, who put aside 58 acres of forest and wilderness. But things go back even farther than that. Ancient civilizations showed plenty of understanding about soil conservation and timbering on their land. (Probably more than we do today because it directly impacted their livlihoods)

I suppose that, if you believe in being green, any big attention-getting motions you can do to make people stop and think for a minute is a good thing. Both Al Gore and the Vatican succeed in this regard.

So my questions are these - do Catholics view the deterioration of our enviroment as something humans can stop, or is it all part of the drama that is the Last Days? How does the Bible address how humans should take care of the earth? Do we believe that God will provide for us after the last tree is felled? Is using the earth's resources considered "damaging" it, and if so, is it too late to undo centuries of "damage"?

*Note: I found out more and posted again on this issue on March 11th.