The Zombie Apocalypse is Among Us

As a person who works from home, my exposure to natural sunlight is limited to what I actually allow myself. Sometimes, I can go for days without so much as opening the door to my home because I can do everything from the comfort of my home office. From work to social media, even shopping and paying the bills, I never have to leave my house if I want to. (Remember Reclusivity is Possible?) As a result, I notice my body undergo changes if I do not get some sunlight exposure. I am going to share this observation with you in an effort to curb the Zombie affect.

Since the interwebs have become mainstream in our society, certain things have occurred. Society has become so dependent on electronic devices that even our Supreme Court has so noted that aliens will one day come and observe our culture via archaeology and will come to believe that our cell phones are an appendage to our bodies and not some separate device used for its convenience. I am no UFO or digging expert but I think I will agree with our Supreme Court justices on this one. Also, I am no scientist but (returning to my topic) when I go days without getting some natural sunlight on my skin, I notice that, when I get an itch and I go to scratch it, it feels different.

This can be a passing itch or even one from a mosquito bite. When I go to scratch, it feels like the first layer of my skin is going to tear like it is a thin sheet of bible paper. Seriously! It feels just like that. I go t scratch the itch, ever so gently and I feel like I am digging for china and that my skin will simply rip open and there will be a valley in my arm, leg, neck, whatever, that will be beyond repair.

Those of us who ignore minimal signs like this are the Zombies among us. They end up scratching. Then they get sores and become pale and sickly. When they do decide to become human for a moment, they have become unkempt, smell, and REALLY need to change their fading clothes. Yes folks, the interwebs have made Zombies of us all. It is the few (like me) that occasionally visit the healing rays of the sun (IN moderation!) to allow our skin to repair and strengthen almost like plants do when they photosynthesize.

These are the conclusions as I walk to the store for my soda allotment for the week when I return to my cave to work. Maybe I AM a Zombie too. Should I just submit to the inevitable?

What do YOU think?

What ever happened to human interaction?

My name is Michele, and I am addicted to the Interwebs.


Yes, there, step one of the program. Well, I have been told that the first step is denial. Yup, I can tell you I have said the fabled verse "I can quit at anytime!" Pssshhhhh. I would be lost without my interwebs. No, wait, so long as there are books around, I can certainly rehabilitate. (Isn't that leaving one vice for another? Oh yes, as I STILL chew all my pen lids as I did when I quit smoking over a decade ago.)


I have noticed that most people these days interact with one another via some sort of technological device instead of getting up off their lazy rumpus and go into the other room to tell them something. How horrid is that? Albeit I have been known to text my child to get her to get up off HER rumpus to come here (to no avail) or to ask her a silly question, it is something that seems to be rampant.


When I go out with my family, I try in vain to convince them to leave their electronic devices at home. They should see the world some and become disconnected from the technology they rely so heavily upon. What they fail to see is that the rest of the world does not do that. Everywhere you look, there are phones or some music device attached to people like they are self aware robots or something.


I also notice that when people are constantly interrupted from their devices, they become quite angry. I have become bothered severely when I am constantly interrupted to. However, I am like that as well when I am into a good book. Go figure.  I wonder how much more peaceful this country would be were it for the fact that we did not have any cell phones, tablets, ipads, laptops, or music devices to occupy our time. We would be forced to do what the world intended for us to be in the first place.


We would get to know each other and we may even be more kind. That and the makers of things like Monopoly and Jenga would not be a struggling unit. :)


Brought to you by board games. What ever happened to family interaction?


What do YOU think?

Shh! Your Children are Trying to Tell You Something!

NOTE: This was posted across my other social networks under different titles. Here, this title is fitting.

With this technology saturated world, it is quite easy to stop and admire the beauty we have around us every day.  Each time we have to go somewhere as a family, the children do not understand my reasoning for making them leave all their "devices" at the house.  I feel like a drill sergeant or a prison guard checking pockets for stuff as they go out the door. I want them to have to look up and see what is going on outside the car window.  Apparently it is too much to ask that they leave the phones, ipods, and gaming devices at the house for the ten minute ride to the store because the clouds in the sky or the tractor riding down the street is not that exciting. Or is it?

When they do see that cool car that has the Froot Loops logo on it they are all "oohhh  aaaahhh, woooowww."  That is what I want them to see. Preferably, I want them to see that clouds can make shapes and how the leaves turn toward the sky when it is about to rain (that was something I didn't notice until my late twenties.) Or to even notice the homeless man pushing his cart down the street so we can have a conversation about that. You know, stay in school, don't give up, or some other character builder like that. What about seeing the lady in the motorized wheelchair. We can talk about understanding that each of us is different and that does not mean it is a bad thing.  I love those moments. They make us communicate face to face and that is something that is lost in the modern world today.

I know what you are thinking. 'What in the world has gotten into this lady! She is normally so on it, so silly. What happened?'  A mothers love for her children and a wife's love for her spouse get in the way of the skewed version of my life sometimes and I have to remind myself that I am human and this is a living planet.  This planet is beautiful. I see so many times how parents refuse to let their kids get dirty. I mean from REAL dirt. You know, go dig a hole or make mud pies or find a worm and pick it up.  It is not going to kill you! The great benefit there is that they learn real life lessons, they have fun, and they build up immunities and NOT develop things like allergies and other illnesses that everyone seems to have now a days.

Further, active children that play outside and use their imaginations are quite fun to watch. You can see them observe the world around them and have their own inner teachable moments. It is a beautiful thing.  You are not going to catch some disease by rolling around in the grass chasing a ball. It is not the end all if they get a little bit of dirt on their clothes. Whatever happened to changing into your 'play clothes' and going outside!  It is beautiful out there! Trees, grass, dirt, fresh air, and fun. Oh yea, and flowers.  So what if it is a dandelion. Show them how it turns your chin yellow when you rub it there. Our boys bring me flowers for my desk every single day. Dandelions, and other such weed flowers are fine. They think they are pretty and are sweet enough to pick them for me then I am going to let them. Even the dandelions thay blow away when you pick them up, you know, the little snowball things. We blow them. Yes sir.  Look at your child's face as they marvel in the fact that the wind carries the seeds away.  It is beautiful.

I must admit I am guilty of the electronic addiction. We all are. Just remind yourself to step back sometimes. Your children are trying to teach you something that you have forgotten. They are trying to teach you that the world is a marvel and we need to be in awe of it. They are trying to teach you that it is a beautiful place and to enjoy it because life is simply too short. As my husband says, that phone will be there when you get done, those messages will not disappear simply because you are not tending to them.  That electronic gadget will operate the same when you get back and it will not get lonely.

Put it down, smell the roses for childs' sake!