I've often wondered why they call it "common sense" when this sense of how to do things, or how not to do them, doesn't seem all that common in the general population.  Tonight I was with two young girls for several hours and had no trouble with telling them no or otherwise setting out firm guidelines for their behaviour (i.e. expection the use of basic manners and consideration toward each other and others).  I realize that there is a vast difference between watching children for a short time and living with them full time as a parent, but the guiding principles behind one's interactions with them should still be the same.  I don't quite understand why some people seem to go out of their way to interact with their children in such a way that the children become brats and in the end truly are more hindered by their upbringing and benefited by it.  Perhaps its a matter of misguided sentiments, or maybe that's the way they were raised so that's what they know.  Who knows, I just hope that as far as they're concerned it works for them, regardless of what my opinion may be.

I continue to watch my garden grow.  Its fun now that some of the plants have begun blossoming and I can see the reality of the mature plant.  Now the tricky part will be remembering which plants looks like what when it comes time to transplant them next spring, haha.  There's some sort of bug eating a few of the plants and I hope to figure out what it is or at least how to stop it.

I've made the difficult decision to give up one of my lizards and will be dropping her off this upcoming week to her new owner.  I feel bad for giving her up, but it feels worse to know that she's not getting the attention that she needs here due to a combination of time restraints and cash restraints.  I was also thinking and realized that in order for me to truly get my priorities in order and put spiritual things first in my life, I'm going to have to simplify other parts of my life and this is the first step.  By giving her up I remove the need for a second tank complete with lights and equipment, and the need to spend time with her each day outside of the tank.  By giving her up now, I also increase the remaining lizard's share of the tank (which they are currently sharing), giving him more space to exercise and decreasing his own need for time out of the tank by a bit.  I'm currently debating whether my next step should be to dismantle my 10 gallon fishtank and move the fish from there into my larger tank which currently has space in it.  It doesn't seem like much, but it would be one less tank taking up space and sucking back electricity for heat and light.  That one will be easier since I'll still have the tank stored down in our basement, so should I desire or have time to add further to my collection sometime in the future it would be no big deal to set it up again. 

Slowly the pieces of the puzzle are falling (or more often being labourously pushed) into place.  I hope to have most of the picture completed before fall comes and with it a whole new set of challenges to distract me from what I want and need to do for my household and myself.