Elena 
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1.
After the school shooting last week, it was inevitable that the left would start throwing shade at the NRA again.
I think most of the people who are against the NRA know very little about it, except that they are strong advocates of protecting the 2nd amendment. I myself didn’t know much about it until my oldest son took me to my very first gun show a few years ago to purchase a handgun. What I learned was that the NRA is a big proponent of gun safety and gun education.
They have an online training course to learn the basics of gun safety. and responsible gun ownership. They also offer gun training courses. I’d bet that none of the school shootings were carried out by NRA members! But they do make a convenient scapegoat.
2.
Calvin did tryout for the SWAT team yesterday. He nailed his strength skills, but was a little slow on the run. If they think he’s a good fit, they’ll send him an invitation to “Hell Day” where he will be in a lot of stressful physical situations to see how he copes. If he passes that, there will be a panel interview with tough questions. If he passes all of that, he’ll have to train and train hard. So we’ll see. It sounds like the county of Mecklenburg takes this very, very seriously for the safety of their employees and the public!
3.
Rosie was assigned a story “mash up” this week. She was supposed to take a favorite character from one book, and put them in the setting of a different book. She came up with Laura Ingalls at Hogwarts! I couldn’t imagine how she would put 19th century American Girl Laura Ingalls in the magical world of Harry Potter, but she managed it! I’ll share the entire story here nextweek, but she is going to give me a “pinable” illustration first.
I loved this opening paragram so much!
The Hogwarts Express was going leave soon and Laura had to go. She hugged Ma, Pa, Grace, and Carrie. “Remember your manners Laura,” said Ma with a bit of sadness. Pa’s eyes twinkled at her. Laura got on the train with her luggage and her new robes with an inner calico lining that Ma had made.
4.
I limped my way into my follow up doctor’s appointment yesterday. He did an ultrasound of my knee and found a lot of synovial fluid there. I agreed to have him drain the fluid.
Then he injected cortisone.
I had almost instant relief. Today for the first time in 2 1/2 months I walked to the bathroom in the morning with no pain, no tightness and no limping.
I’m supposed to take it easy until tomorrow. Then next Thursday I can start trying to add gentle aerobics back into my routine. I sure hope the worst is over with this flare up!
5.
Little Miss C stayed with us last night. All of us girls gathered downstairs to watch the Ladies Free Skate for the Olympics. I remember watching this as a kid with my mom and sister and I wanted to take the opportunity to make a memory with them and Miss C. I think as a 4-year-old, Miss C enjoyed the twirling and the beautiful costumes. Rosie was miffed that the commentators were making so much fuss over the Russion Skaters, but when the 15-year-old Russian girl won the gold, she won our hearts. When we saw her hugging her silver medalist teammate – that sealed the deal.
It was a late night for all of us, but it was really worth it!
6.
Speaking of making memories – family ties are important. I have many fond memories and great relationships with distant relatives because we take the time every year to go to family reunions and reaquaint ourselves with cousins, aunts and uncles. But I really worry that younger cousins get the short-end of the stick most of the time. Older cousins don’t care about high school graduations, because they are graduating college, and they don’t consider including them in other celebrations I think because they still see them as little kids instead of young adults. Don’t do that! Keep those family relationships strong and make lots of memories together!
I will also say that my daughter-in-law excels at this! When she got married she made sure to have a special bridal “tea” so she could include Rosie and Izzy. They of course didn’t go to the bachelorette party, so this was her way of including them. They also went to the bridal shower and did a lot of work helping with the wedding decorations. I think they were invaluable!!
In short, make memories, make memories, make memories- be inclusive. You share a heritage and a bond!
7.
This week was the big #Twitterlockout. Many conservatives found their Twitter accounts locked, and that their followers had dropped. Just by following the hashtag, I found lots of new people to follow and share with, and my Twitter numbers jumped as a result. So for me, it turned into an opportunity and I am enjoying reading from new folks in my news feed. If you want to follow me on Twitter, click here!