You know what's interesting, I'm pretty good at standing up for myself to most people. I won't take criticism without a fight and rarely back down from confrontation. Except where it concerns my own parent. On the other hand though, I don't know many children, regardless of their age or advanced maturity who aren't affected at least in some part by their parent's opinion. It's even more interesting to watch the cycle as it repeats completely without knowledge of all parties. I can see the cycle, my mother, cannot and would be completely mortified and antagonistically/aggressively deny any such associations with her own mother. I know, because in the past if I've pointed out similarities to her, she vehemently and viciously denies to the point of anger that she has anything in common with her own parent.

I am an animal lover, I have been since childhood. I was restrained by parentage while young, less so by marriage, though still somewhat restrained. I have a brain and common sense, I'm not an idiot. David offered me a choice of holiday gift: an Ipad or a puppy. The puppies are purebred (non-papered) Labradors. The Ipad, in my opinion, is too much of a gift, I don't want it. Not when I can barely give a decent holiday to my children. We have bills that should take priority also. The puppy is a much more reasonably priced gift, though the long lifespan and accumulated upkeep costs of years would certainly far outweigh that of the ipad's single expense. Not to mention the training involved: housebreaking, basic obedience, and harness. Then there's the inevitable shedding and potential bad habits (chewing, barking, jumping up on people/furniture), and the fleas that we have mostly been able to avoid. However, it's the first time in our entire relationship that he has offered me an animal as a gift. So I choose to cherish this rare moment.

I made the mistake of mentioning my dilemma to my mother. I hadn't mentioned it to anyone else as I was torn between wanting the pup and my more practical side telling me to not accept, that it was not the right time. The moment I let it be known to my mother that he was offering me a puppy, her comment was "you don't need another mouth to feed." Thank you very much, however, the number of mouths in this household to be fed are none of your business. I was merely sharing my conundrum, not requesting her opinions on the matter. Whether or not she's right is completely beside the point.

I know it's been awhile, but I was sitting here and listening to Ari play a Katy Perry song called Firework and something occurred to me. I just viewed the video of that song earlier today, and while I have always enjoyed the tune, I never really paused to truly listen to the lyrics. It's actually fairly impressive prose and a powerful message to young people everywhere. Very much to my surprise, I learned that Katy wrote that song herself. My impression of her as a person increased as a result.

I won't pretend to be impressed with everything every entertainer does. Some of them are reprehensible in the extreme. Most of them are not the kind of examples I want my girls to be setting up for hero-worship. Many of them create works of 'art' that are not of their own minds, and all too often, the message gets buried beneath lewdness that utterly destroys the basic meaning. It's disappointing since so many of these people are handed the opportunity to do the right thing. To set the example for the next generation. To step up and actually be the hero. To show girls they don't have to starve themselves to be beautiful. That they don't have to be addicted to drugs, sex, or alcohol to have a good time. I feel like in most cases, they see nothing beyond their own selfish worlds.

Very rarely, one of these people will take a step above and out of the general melee, and show themselves to be genuinely worthy of their fans. Katy Perry has impressed me today. We'll see how long she's able to hold onto that. If you haven't heard the song or seen the video yet, I urge you to take a look at her piece titled 'Firework'.

Oh, and ignore the sparks that appear to be shooting out of her breasts, I'm of the inclination that was poor planning on the part of the video director. Though it's good for a laugh!