Once again, we are seeing what happens when those in power are there too long....what the hell is Sen. Snowe from Maine thinking???? To vote for the health care bill????? Who the hell does she think she is to break ranks and vote for something so fundamentally stupid and wrong and burdensome to the very taxpayers she is supposed to be taking care of? What a dumbass!!!!!
So she votes for a bill that REQUIRES every American to carry health insurance, but employers do not have to provide it. Well fine, where is the average American, living paycheck to paycheck, struggling to feed their families in this government backed recession, going to come up with the massive amount of money required to keep the premiums up? Hell I have insurance thru my employer and I can tell you if my premiums jump by more than they usually do each year, I'm done. I already lose a huge part of my check to my insurance b/c I carry the family plan---3 kids, I gotta.
Are they not thinking up there on Capitol Hill? Has it really been so long since they themselves had to struggle to keep a job and take care of their families that they can't remember what it was like and what is facing people these days? (Of course I mean those who were not born with the silver spoon in their mouths, like our own Sen Rockefeller.) The biggest reason my husband holds onto his job is due to the fact his employer covers his insurance premiums. That's a huge benefit.
I just don;'t get it. I do not understand why anyone would vote for what, in essence, amounts to a huge attempt to bankrupt this country's citizens and in effect put us as a country into a socialist, if not outright communist, state.
How f******* stupid.....
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
some delayed thoughts on a radio snippett
Traveling to my sons' school the other day to pick them up for an orthodontist appointment, I was listening to my favorite radio station. It carries a national feed of music with no commercials. Generally it is a very enjoyable station to listen to, and musicwise that day it still was.
But one brief clip just got my goat. It was from the Focus on the Family institute. Now a lot of times they talk good sense, and I'm not saying there was not good sense behind the clip of the day, but I don't think they took their study far enough to really know what they are talking about.
It was on divorce. Their study states that less than 25% of families in this country are nuclear families---mom, dad, kids under the same roof. The lowest it has ever been. Ok, since I wasn't one of those asked to take part, I won't quibble with their statistic. I really don't figure it is that far off.
But in their discussion they brought up that increasingly counselors are seeing children of broken homes and that the parents excuse was that they divorced for the sake of the kids. Well, I usually hear it the other way around--that you stay together for the sake of the kids, but be that is it may, I have also seen the occasional relationship where once the last child hits 18, parents head to divorce court.
Their solution at Focus is to stay together for the sake of the kids. To go to counseling or whatever it takes to keep the family unit intact. That splitting up does way more irreparable harm than good to the kids in all cases. The only reason to divorce is physical or emotional abuse. Otherwise it is just selfishness on the part of the adults.
I give. I see that. I have heard way too many couples who enter a marital relationship with the "well if this doesn't work out, we'll just divorce and move on to the next" attitude. And they do. Several months or years down the road, one or the other decides they are "just not happy anymore" and split, leaving behind their spouse and kids for their own selfish motives.
But then there are those of us who have lived the nightmare of divorce that could have been avoided if only......if only the other person would have attended counseling with us, if only the other person were willing to change the behavior that sundered the relationship, if only the other person would give up their "thang" on the side.......
My husband and I have both been through it. My ex left claiming he just wasn't happy. Now I fully admit that we were not good for each other and marriage was probably not our smartest move.....although we would never have thought so at the start....and I have my suspicions as to what the true source of his feelings were.....and my husband now divorced a wife who was cheating on him and refused to stop. In each case we tried to pull the marriage back together and the other party refused to change the behavior in any way, even though we were doing all we could to facilitate it. It comes to a point where when Mom and Dad have reduced themselves to the point of screaming epithets at each other and that is conversation, it's time to get out. FOR the sake of the kids..
I did not want my kids to grow up in an unhappy household. Day to day bickering, arguing, downright fighting, and the constant tension and all beats a kid down faster than the parents splitting up. I saw it in my relationship with my ex, and I see it in the relationship of a good friend and her husband....when even the kids say it's time for and end to it, then what do you do? When the kids' grades and attitudes start to plummet with all the tension and fighting and sniping in the house, and it spills over to them.....it's time to go.
Sorry Focus on the Family, I usually do not have a problem with your viewpoint on a variety of things, but on this one I do.....I have lived it, therefore I know of what I speak. Apparently, and fortunately, you haven't...and you should thank God for it......
But one brief clip just got my goat. It was from the Focus on the Family institute. Now a lot of times they talk good sense, and I'm not saying there was not good sense behind the clip of the day, but I don't think they took their study far enough to really know what they are talking about.
It was on divorce. Their study states that less than 25% of families in this country are nuclear families---mom, dad, kids under the same roof. The lowest it has ever been. Ok, since I wasn't one of those asked to take part, I won't quibble with their statistic. I really don't figure it is that far off.
But in their discussion they brought up that increasingly counselors are seeing children of broken homes and that the parents excuse was that they divorced for the sake of the kids. Well, I usually hear it the other way around--that you stay together for the sake of the kids, but be that is it may, I have also seen the occasional relationship where once the last child hits 18, parents head to divorce court.
Their solution at Focus is to stay together for the sake of the kids. To go to counseling or whatever it takes to keep the family unit intact. That splitting up does way more irreparable harm than good to the kids in all cases. The only reason to divorce is physical or emotional abuse. Otherwise it is just selfishness on the part of the adults.
I give. I see that. I have heard way too many couples who enter a marital relationship with the "well if this doesn't work out, we'll just divorce and move on to the next" attitude. And they do. Several months or years down the road, one or the other decides they are "just not happy anymore" and split, leaving behind their spouse and kids for their own selfish motives.
But then there are those of us who have lived the nightmare of divorce that could have been avoided if only......if only the other person would have attended counseling with us, if only the other person were willing to change the behavior that sundered the relationship, if only the other person would give up their "thang" on the side.......
My husband and I have both been through it. My ex left claiming he just wasn't happy. Now I fully admit that we were not good for each other and marriage was probably not our smartest move.....although we would never have thought so at the start....and I have my suspicions as to what the true source of his feelings were.....and my husband now divorced a wife who was cheating on him and refused to stop. In each case we tried to pull the marriage back together and the other party refused to change the behavior in any way, even though we were doing all we could to facilitate it. It comes to a point where when Mom and Dad have reduced themselves to the point of screaming epithets at each other and that is conversation, it's time to get out. FOR the sake of the kids..
I did not want my kids to grow up in an unhappy household. Day to day bickering, arguing, downright fighting, and the constant tension and all beats a kid down faster than the parents splitting up. I saw it in my relationship with my ex, and I see it in the relationship of a good friend and her husband....when even the kids say it's time for and end to it, then what do you do? When the kids' grades and attitudes start to plummet with all the tension and fighting and sniping in the house, and it spills over to them.....it's time to go.
Sorry Focus on the Family, I usually do not have a problem with your viewpoint on a variety of things, but on this one I do.....I have lived it, therefore I know of what I speak. Apparently, and fortunately, you haven't...and you should thank God for it......
Sunday, September 06, 2009
Obamabobama speech to the kids
First let me say that I could not give a rat's rear end if the president speaks to schoolkids on a national level....so what?
What is this: he and his like don't want any opposition. They do not want anyone to say anything against what he says in his speech. Now fine....you want to give a general "hey kids stay in school, don't do drugs, stay out of trouble" speech...wonderful....thousands of politicians do this all across the country in venues from school to rallies to whatever....
But when you speak to a captive audience, especially one filled with MINORS who are easily influenced, then you need to be careful what you say....and I don't think this bozo of a mutt has it in him--or his speechwriters and handlers don't anyway---to not go political and start pushing his agenda on an unsuspecting group.....
I have 3 kids in high school...all are smart and capable of making their own minds up about how they feel about stuff. All are perfectly capable of seeing past any bullshit anyone throws at them. Speak away to them....give them the ammo (knowledge) they need to be able to debate you back. my oldest is a genius at debate--he can argue any point...I've seen him do it..He is good. So are the other kids when they want to.
But if what I am hearing is true, that the speechifying is aiming more at the elementary group, then shame......this is a group still under their parents wings. Still influenced by what they see and hear on tv more and more. I do not feel this group should be exposed to the likely politicking that they will hear. My husband and i have seriously debated whether to send Shellie to school on Tuesday, because at 7, though she is extremely bright and capable of all kinds of complex thought and reason and logic, we do not feel she should have to be exposed to what is rightfully an adult debate. Now, once the advance copy of the speech is made available, if they follow through on their promise, then I will read it and decide from there. And woe be if a switcheroo on the speech is pulled...and I do not put it past them....
By the way...here's some food for thought---when Lenin and Stalin and Hitler and the like all began their little coups and whatnot....who did they begin influencing to their side first?
The youth of the country, that's who....
Think about it......
What is this: he and his like don't want any opposition. They do not want anyone to say anything against what he says in his speech. Now fine....you want to give a general "hey kids stay in school, don't do drugs, stay out of trouble" speech...wonderful....thousands of politicians do this all across the country in venues from school to rallies to whatever....
But when you speak to a captive audience, especially one filled with MINORS who are easily influenced, then you need to be careful what you say....and I don't think this bozo of a mutt has it in him--or his speechwriters and handlers don't anyway---to not go political and start pushing his agenda on an unsuspecting group.....
I have 3 kids in high school...all are smart and capable of making their own minds up about how they feel about stuff. All are perfectly capable of seeing past any bullshit anyone throws at them. Speak away to them....give them the ammo (knowledge) they need to be able to debate you back. my oldest is a genius at debate--he can argue any point...I've seen him do it..He is good. So are the other kids when they want to.
But if what I am hearing is true, that the speechifying is aiming more at the elementary group, then shame......this is a group still under their parents wings. Still influenced by what they see and hear on tv more and more. I do not feel this group should be exposed to the likely politicking that they will hear. My husband and i have seriously debated whether to send Shellie to school on Tuesday, because at 7, though she is extremely bright and capable of all kinds of complex thought and reason and logic, we do not feel she should have to be exposed to what is rightfully an adult debate. Now, once the advance copy of the speech is made available, if they follow through on their promise, then I will read it and decide from there. And woe be if a switcheroo on the speech is pulled...and I do not put it past them....
By the way...here's some food for thought---when Lenin and Stalin and Hitler and the like all began their little coups and whatnot....who did they begin influencing to their side first?
The youth of the country, that's who....
Think about it......
from our local paper
The last couple of days I've had just enough time to snatch and grab a few headlines from the local paper and read the stories that caught my eye....and actually the two that grabbed my eye first were on the op-ed page as letters to the editor....
The first was Friday, I believe....A lady wrote in and blasted all us good Christian folk for not wanting Obama's health care plan.....even invoked the name of Jesus and informed us that He would care for teh sick and that as Christians we should follow His example and demand passage of the health care bill so that all may be taken care of....
Now, I have nothing against those who are truly down on their luck and have no other way of getting health care receiving it thru the govt....those I will gladly part with the money from my paycheck to help.....but maybe I am missing something, since I cannot and will not claim to have read the whole Bible word for word.....but did Jesus have truck with politicians? I think not. Did he say free health care for all regardless of whether you truly need help or are just plain lazy? You know maybe He did, but I don't see it.......please feel free to point me to the specific chapter and verse and I may reconsider my stance....
As for those who are whining about employer provided health care being too expensive and they can't afford to have their premiums taken from their paycheck so they rely on the system to get them through......grow up and man/woman up....and face the real world... the real world does not hand you what you want on a silver platter....no I do not like the fact that a huge chunk of my pay goes to cover my premiums...but the alternative is not carrying health insurance on myself, my husband, or my kids....and that's just plain stupid, folks.....if your employer offers it, then take it......bite the bullet, so to speak, and cut back on the credit card use and the trips to Cancun or wherever you go that takes all your cash and use it for what you need to before what you want to....I do not want to pay for you if you have the chance to take care of yourself and can...
Then yesterday, a gentleman wrote in and complained about the phone call he received as the parent of a high school student, about a driver's ed course being offered, only $285 for 6 hrs of instruction so your kid can say he took driver's ed and get the insurance discount....Heck my kid got the same call..he attends the high school at the other end of the county from the writer's, and he was smart enough to say "what a scam!" See, one of the selling points of consolidating the high schools in teh county from 4 to 2 in the early 90's was that there would be so much more opportunity for kids to get and take the classes they need and want......well it has not panned out that way, like any thinking person should have realized...and driver's ed is one area where the opprtunity exists and the schools have once again screwed up....when I was in HS, there was no problem getting into driver's ed---even the 10th graders could get in as long as they were old enough....and my HS was 400 kids, plus or minus a few, in 4 grades....my son's senior class will be in the neighborhood of 500 kids.......
So we are going to be teaching him ourselves, and at this point he will probably be 18 before he gets his license....good then he can pay for his own insurance.....
The first was Friday, I believe....A lady wrote in and blasted all us good Christian folk for not wanting Obama's health care plan.....even invoked the name of Jesus and informed us that He would care for teh sick and that as Christians we should follow His example and demand passage of the health care bill so that all may be taken care of....
Now, I have nothing against those who are truly down on their luck and have no other way of getting health care receiving it thru the govt....those I will gladly part with the money from my paycheck to help.....but maybe I am missing something, since I cannot and will not claim to have read the whole Bible word for word.....but did Jesus have truck with politicians? I think not. Did he say free health care for all regardless of whether you truly need help or are just plain lazy? You know maybe He did, but I don't see it.......please feel free to point me to the specific chapter and verse and I may reconsider my stance....
As for those who are whining about employer provided health care being too expensive and they can't afford to have their premiums taken from their paycheck so they rely on the system to get them through......grow up and man/woman up....and face the real world... the real world does not hand you what you want on a silver platter....no I do not like the fact that a huge chunk of my pay goes to cover my premiums...but the alternative is not carrying health insurance on myself, my husband, or my kids....and that's just plain stupid, folks.....if your employer offers it, then take it......bite the bullet, so to speak, and cut back on the credit card use and the trips to Cancun or wherever you go that takes all your cash and use it for what you need to before what you want to....I do not want to pay for you if you have the chance to take care of yourself and can...
Then yesterday, a gentleman wrote in and complained about the phone call he received as the parent of a high school student, about a driver's ed course being offered, only $285 for 6 hrs of instruction so your kid can say he took driver's ed and get the insurance discount....Heck my kid got the same call..he attends the high school at the other end of the county from the writer's, and he was smart enough to say "what a scam!" See, one of the selling points of consolidating the high schools in teh county from 4 to 2 in the early 90's was that there would be so much more opportunity for kids to get and take the classes they need and want......well it has not panned out that way, like any thinking person should have realized...and driver's ed is one area where the opprtunity exists and the schools have once again screwed up....when I was in HS, there was no problem getting into driver's ed---even the 10th graders could get in as long as they were old enough....and my HS was 400 kids, plus or minus a few, in 4 grades....my son's senior class will be in the neighborhood of 500 kids.......
So we are going to be teaching him ourselves, and at this point he will probably be 18 before he gets his license....good then he can pay for his own insurance.....
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
last thoughts for the night....
You know some times I really love Facebook---keeping in touch with friends and relatives.. and reconnecting with people not seen in ages....
tonight I am not sure how I feel about it...because it has given me a link to an old friend who suffered a loss tonight that I cannot even fathom, and it brings to mind how fragile life can be...
I roomed with Tanya at Miami U our sophomore year, thrown together by the housing lottery. We recently reconnected on facebook and though we don't constantly bombard each other with daily greetings and such, we get a little insight into each other's lives and the things going on....tonight her post was such a positive sounding one, about her dad...he has just passed away after a long battle for his life. And her message was so full of the faith I ridiculed her for 23 years ago and have fought to find to that degree ever since. She is celebrating her father and the fact she was so blessed to have had him for a father......I know she mourns that he will not be there day to day, but she is choosing to show the positive....
I would like to think that I could do so in the same circumstance...but I don't know...I know I cried for her loss, especially in light of my own father's medical problems...it just brings to mind how things can change.
tonight I am not sure how I feel about it...because it has given me a link to an old friend who suffered a loss tonight that I cannot even fathom, and it brings to mind how fragile life can be...
I roomed with Tanya at Miami U our sophomore year, thrown together by the housing lottery. We recently reconnected on facebook and though we don't constantly bombard each other with daily greetings and such, we get a little insight into each other's lives and the things going on....tonight her post was such a positive sounding one, about her dad...he has just passed away after a long battle for his life. And her message was so full of the faith I ridiculed her for 23 years ago and have fought to find to that degree ever since. She is celebrating her father and the fact she was so blessed to have had him for a father......I know she mourns that he will not be there day to day, but she is choosing to show the positive....
I would like to think that I could do so in the same circumstance...but I don't know...I know I cried for her loss, especially in light of my own father's medical problems...it just brings to mind how things can change.
stranger smacks crying child at walmart and other tales
I just have a question--will the 61 yr old man who smacked a crying toddler at a Georgia (?) Walmart be prosecuted to the full extent of the law just as her mom would have been if she had smacked the child?
Just a question.....I mean, I have smacked my kids hands, jerked the buggy, hauled them bodily like a sack of flour out of the store and busted their butts once we got to the car......I guess I am lucky no one called CPS on me for that.....but while I would deal with my kids, I would not come close to allowing a stranger to verbally correct, much less touch my child to correct them......number one, my kids would not let a stranger near them at that age. Number two, like I said, I will deal with my kids. I have worked too many years in the retail field and seen all kinds of behavior that I would probably bury my kids for....mine will not act that way...
We are into the second week of school and things have mostly settled down....Ben is staying in his photography class that he was stuck in after the powers that be decided that the piano class he was originally enrolled in was too full...he is even talking about taking photography 2 next year.....
This was going to be longer, but hubby is home and the teens have just wiped all rational thought out of my head, so......
Just a question.....I mean, I have smacked my kids hands, jerked the buggy, hauled them bodily like a sack of flour out of the store and busted their butts once we got to the car......I guess I am lucky no one called CPS on me for that.....but while I would deal with my kids, I would not come close to allowing a stranger to verbally correct, much less touch my child to correct them......number one, my kids would not let a stranger near them at that age. Number two, like I said, I will deal with my kids. I have worked too many years in the retail field and seen all kinds of behavior that I would probably bury my kids for....mine will not act that way...
We are into the second week of school and things have mostly settled down....Ben is staying in his photography class that he was stuck in after the powers that be decided that the piano class he was originally enrolled in was too full...he is even talking about taking photography 2 next year.....
This was going to be longer, but hubby is home and the teens have just wiped all rational thought out of my head, so......
Friday, August 28, 2009
and my day starts out..
So my day started out with the alarm going off way too early---wait til next week when i go back to work!! So I facebooked for a few minutes, and then grabbed a quick bath so Ron and I could head out to get our errands done...got Shellie on the bus and came back in to fix my hair, and POW---my curling brush blew up on me....
Poop.....I guess I can't complain too much. I've had it for just over 9 years, so I am pretty sure that is a record for me and curling brushes....but it meant I had to go out looking like a greaseball. Threw as much of my hair as I could up in a clip and reminded myself that every day I see people go out looking worse than I did today......LOL...trip to Walmart accomplished the purchase of a new curling brush..at least now my hair is out of my eyes....
No I am still not watching the news--still too much Ted Kennedy coverage....come on people, it's not like he was Reagan!! And I didn't watch too much news then either....
I have discovered during the course of this week as I was so ill Tuesday and then have been recovering ever since--today being the first day I even came close to feeling like getting in the car---that I do not like ginger ale.....I got desperate the other night, tired of 7up and sprite and water......I sent Ron out to get ginger ale for me, hoping it would help my stomach.....well, stomach has kept down food since Tuesday evening, albeit not always willingly, and I have not experienced the other half of the equation since Wednesday evening, so something is going right.
But I still do not like ginger ale.....
My oldest stepdaughter bought a new for her car today...waiting for the child to pull up to show it off....
Trying to figure out why I got a call from the alarm company today at 10:45...not that I was here to take it....about the store.....called the mgr on duty when I got home and he said he had no clue..no one had called there, but that the other mgr said they had called her at home too. Nothing wrong...not gonna worry about it...I am still on vacation after all, and I don't get paid the big bucks to care when I'm not there.....cynical yes......
Ben needs new gym shorts..says his are too short, as they only reach mid thigh.....I asked if the girls have to wear them too or do they still get to wear the ones that cup under their butt cheeks and leave half of 'em hanging out.....neither of my sons seem to see anything wrong with that....I guess they are normal boys.......but I still think it's gross---just as gross as a guy who wears gym shorts so short that things that shouldn't be seen in public are......ewwww.....
Soccer games begin next week for our league...all thru September and then we are done first part of October.....then we can batten down for the colder months.....
Shellie has decided she is a girl after all...got her ears pierced this summer and she is now to the point that she can switch earrings out--or should I say, her dad can. She has decided she would rather have daddy change her earrings out for the time being. When we went to buy her some new ones when her 6 weeks were up, the lady where we got them told her no dangling ones for at least the next 6 months--they all have to have a post and back to them....she wasn't happy, but we had already told her no, just to keep them from getting caught on something while playing...she does her own nails and is very much in love with the whole skirts w/leggings look....
Looking at putting a perm in my hair.....really want mom to do it for me, but I cannot in good conscience ask her to stand that long after all the hours she is putting in at work after going back after breaking her ankle last winter......
well, rambling is done for the moment....going to grab something to eat and hope it does not grab me back....
Poop.....I guess I can't complain too much. I've had it for just over 9 years, so I am pretty sure that is a record for me and curling brushes....but it meant I had to go out looking like a greaseball. Threw as much of my hair as I could up in a clip and reminded myself that every day I see people go out looking worse than I did today......LOL...trip to Walmart accomplished the purchase of a new curling brush..at least now my hair is out of my eyes....
No I am still not watching the news--still too much Ted Kennedy coverage....come on people, it's not like he was Reagan!! And I didn't watch too much news then either....
I have discovered during the course of this week as I was so ill Tuesday and then have been recovering ever since--today being the first day I even came close to feeling like getting in the car---that I do not like ginger ale.....I got desperate the other night, tired of 7up and sprite and water......I sent Ron out to get ginger ale for me, hoping it would help my stomach.....well, stomach has kept down food since Tuesday evening, albeit not always willingly, and I have not experienced the other half of the equation since Wednesday evening, so something is going right.
But I still do not like ginger ale.....
My oldest stepdaughter bought a new for her car today...waiting for the child to pull up to show it off....
Trying to figure out why I got a call from the alarm company today at 10:45...not that I was here to take it....about the store.....called the mgr on duty when I got home and he said he had no clue..no one had called there, but that the other mgr said they had called her at home too. Nothing wrong...not gonna worry about it...I am still on vacation after all, and I don't get paid the big bucks to care when I'm not there.....cynical yes......
Ben needs new gym shorts..says his are too short, as they only reach mid thigh.....I asked if the girls have to wear them too or do they still get to wear the ones that cup under their butt cheeks and leave half of 'em hanging out.....neither of my sons seem to see anything wrong with that....I guess they are normal boys.......but I still think it's gross---just as gross as a guy who wears gym shorts so short that things that shouldn't be seen in public are......ewwww.....
Soccer games begin next week for our league...all thru September and then we are done first part of October.....then we can batten down for the colder months.....
Shellie has decided she is a girl after all...got her ears pierced this summer and she is now to the point that she can switch earrings out--or should I say, her dad can. She has decided she would rather have daddy change her earrings out for the time being. When we went to buy her some new ones when her 6 weeks were up, the lady where we got them told her no dangling ones for at least the next 6 months--they all have to have a post and back to them....she wasn't happy, but we had already told her no, just to keep them from getting caught on something while playing...she does her own nails and is very much in love with the whole skirts w/leggings look....
Looking at putting a perm in my hair.....really want mom to do it for me, but I cannot in good conscience ask her to stand that long after all the hours she is putting in at work after going back after breaking her ankle last winter......
well, rambling is done for the moment....going to grab something to eat and hope it does not grab me back....
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Where's my new boss and other tales
So for the last 2 weeks or so we have known at work that our store manager was leaving to take over another store in the district....what we have not known is who is coming in to take ours.....I've even been questioned by the associates as to why I don't take it over, as I've been the ranking assistant for several years....truth it, and I've been up front with them as well as my soon to be former boss, I don't want it......been there done that bought the tshirt with Family Dollar years ago....will not do it again.... I can not put in those hours and still have a family life..others manage it somehow, but I've never found that balance where neither suffers. So I call work today and get my schedule for next week as I am on vacation now, and there is still no news as to who we are getting.....lovely....sarcasm meant.
The kids started back to school yesterday, which always brings out my best side....yeah, right. Getting them up and out the door, no problem. Even the 7 yr old is highly self sufficient in the mornings, with the occasional nudge usually all that is needed. Then they come home with the first of the year homework for parents--you know, the blue cards and all that....As I am reading and signing the high schooler's syllabi(?), I am noticing that yet again several teachers are requiring that tests and the like be made up at their convenience...either prior to school start and after the end of the school day. So it begins, with notes next to my signature that under no circumstances are my kids to be subject to this--the school bus is their ride to and from school. They do not drive, and I only drive them if they have had a dr. appt. Therefore such work is to be made up during the school day. I am waiting for the first time it is put to the test, so to speak...
Then there was the tale of no locks for my senior's homeroom's lockers....So I told him that if there was not one by the end of today, then tomorrow he would take his own, supplied by me, and I would not be supplying a key for the school, and I dared them to cut it off. He had a lock on his locker this morning when he got there......so this was a case of simple bad timing.....My sophomore got to school yesterday to discover they had taken him out of his piano class and put him in a photography class instead. He is now trying to get it changed back, since it was done without his knowledge....we'll see....but I did tell him that if he cannot get it changed back like he wants, then take the class and enjoy it......
Onto bigger and brighter things.....Senator Ted Kennedy has died. So I am therefore not watching the news channels, as I have no desire to see the lovefest that I am sure is going on. He may have done some good in his years in office, although I am hard pressed to think of some right now---give me a break, I'm not from MA and I have been severely ill this week---but there are also things he has done that he should have been held accountable for decades ago, even. And that any non-Kennedy would have been.....I shed no tears...I am waiting for our Sen. Byrd to kick the bucket just so I can laugh at all those who would still feel the need to kiss his cold dead butt.....
There is a lot of junk going on in this country right now and I swear I will get to spouting off about some of it, but the oven is calling---trying to rush lasagna before soccer practice.......yeah, buddy......
The kids started back to school yesterday, which always brings out my best side....yeah, right. Getting them up and out the door, no problem. Even the 7 yr old is highly self sufficient in the mornings, with the occasional nudge usually all that is needed. Then they come home with the first of the year homework for parents--you know, the blue cards and all that....As I am reading and signing the high schooler's syllabi(?), I am noticing that yet again several teachers are requiring that tests and the like be made up at their convenience...either prior to school start and after the end of the school day. So it begins, with notes next to my signature that under no circumstances are my kids to be subject to this--the school bus is their ride to and from school. They do not drive, and I only drive them if they have had a dr. appt. Therefore such work is to be made up during the school day. I am waiting for the first time it is put to the test, so to speak...
Then there was the tale of no locks for my senior's homeroom's lockers....So I told him that if there was not one by the end of today, then tomorrow he would take his own, supplied by me, and I would not be supplying a key for the school, and I dared them to cut it off. He had a lock on his locker this morning when he got there......so this was a case of simple bad timing.....My sophomore got to school yesterday to discover they had taken him out of his piano class and put him in a photography class instead. He is now trying to get it changed back, since it was done without his knowledge....we'll see....but I did tell him that if he cannot get it changed back like he wants, then take the class and enjoy it......
Onto bigger and brighter things.....Senator Ted Kennedy has died. So I am therefore not watching the news channels, as I have no desire to see the lovefest that I am sure is going on. He may have done some good in his years in office, although I am hard pressed to think of some right now---give me a break, I'm not from MA and I have been severely ill this week---but there are also things he has done that he should have been held accountable for decades ago, even. And that any non-Kennedy would have been.....I shed no tears...I am waiting for our Sen. Byrd to kick the bucket just so I can laugh at all those who would still feel the need to kiss his cold dead butt.....
There is a lot of junk going on in this country right now and I swear I will get to spouting off about some of it, but the oven is calling---trying to rush lasagna before soccer practice.......yeah, buddy......
Friday, July 31, 2009
end of vacation musings
Well, here we are at the end of another not so productive or exciting vacation......no big deal...I find as I get older, I don;t crave the have to be on the go excitement like I used to.....I'm very content to be at home with my family...maybe taking an occasional day trip......I like sleeping in my own bed, because at least I know who's been there....:)
So this week we have paid the car taxes for 2008/2009, so we are good to go for a while....my van now has a legal tag before the expiration date of the old one...we just have to get it inspected, but our choice of a garage to do that at is apparently closed for vacation....just for the record, we chose it because it has done the work on both vehicles recently, so at least if they tell me something needs done, I can believe it. That's ok, I can hit them on a day off next week, if I have one....store manager going on vacation now, so we'll see....
Overnighted copy of Ben's birth certificate to him in CT, so he will have it when he gets on the plane in NY in a couple of weeks to come home...The airline said since he is underage he does not have to have a photo ID, but the birth certificate could be helpful just in case there are questions...I am slowly putting his room back together after cleaning it inside and out a few weeks ago in search of his student ID....that in and of itself is a tale of sheer frustration and just complete astonishnment at the things I found....nothing illegal or contraband, but petrified sandwiches, pop bottles/cans, and all sorts of clothes.....just the short list.....I have to put pillowcases on his pillows and get the 10 loads of clothes I washed put back in his room....he gets to sort the boxes and totes when he gets home---we took 3 big hefty bags of trash out of there and 2 big bags of pop cans.....Shellie helped and as bad as her room gets--at least it's just junk...she was pretty disgusted, too.....
The girls and Ron and I went to see the 6th Harry Potter movie, and if you are a Facebook friend, you already know my opinion.....It really was not a bad movie, but if you are looking at it through the eyes of one who has read the book several times, it is a disappointment. There was so much that was cut out....personally I would rather it have run an hour longer and shown the parts that would have tied it together better than have a shorter version and miss so much....Chris and Ben saw it the weekend it came out, and they were disappointed also...there were no apparation lessons---vital in the next movie----no funeral for the headmaster...the look into Voldemort's past was nowhere deep enough to explain his origins.....just for starters...but we did have fun as a family....
I haven't watched the news at all this week...so other than the blurbs across the top of my computer screen, I have no clue as to what has been going on.....this is my de-stress week....I have noticed that the "cash for clunkers" program that the govt and the car dealers have been hyping so hard the last week is going to be shut down for lack of funds......ok, duh, who did not see that one coming....even I who will drive a car into the ground before even considering trading it in was thinking about checking it out......I mean heck, I only got a one year sticker for my license plate because who knows if it'll last that long--the thing is a '99, which makes at at least 10 years old, depending on date of manufacture...Ron's truck, a '98, is actually 12 yrs old b/c it was made in '97.......
And the rain continues to fall.....I set the alarm this morning so we could get up and drive to Parkersburg to hit the big craft mall and surrounding quilt stores....but with the raifall we have had overnight and into this morning, we cancelled that....maybe try again tomorrow, or maybe just head for Jackson, OH for Guhl's later, who knows........I've got one more vacation in about 3 weeks, so maybe try then before school starts the 26th....
Chris and I had a talk Tuesday morning about the whole college thing....he is adamant that he is not even applying to Marshall, but he did stand up to his dad on the whole AP class thing...his dad wanted him to drop the AP classes this year so he could get his GPA up by taking easier classes...Chris told him he has already got the books, done the summer reading and was not dropping the AP courses..he had already pared his schedule so that he could concentrate more on his AP classes instead of trying to pass other stuff too.....and he told his dad that he already carried a 3.8 pretty consistently, which is a damn good GPA for how he has struggled at times....He is aware that his GPA is no guarantee of college money, but he also knows that dropping back to a "normal" schedule would not help either---colleges look at the courses you take, not just the grade in them......
Shellie finished her pastel pink quilt top Wednesday, and I got it quilted last night, jsut have to bind it today....she also has helped me finish the red/white/blue pinwheel quilt....she sorted the blocks into rows for me to sew, which really did decrease my time in doing it....I didn;t have to take the time to sort between each row---I just sewed it the way she handed it to me......it is definitely colorful......now I have a quilt to make for her out of hot pink/black/assorted other colors...more in tune with the tween she is becoming.....she is at such a funky stage---she is very much a little girl, but she tries to emulate the older girls--at least to the degree we let her.....there is a lot about her older sisters we don;'t even let her know about, but the nail polishes and stuff is fairly harmless....we try to watch her music-Kate is real fond of sharing her Ipod with her, and I have to stop her and question what is actually on the player......but the tyring to be older stuff is fairly normal....we just try to stop the worst of it for the moment......at least Ron and I are united in what we will allow and what we won't and that will be a big help as she gets older and tests her boundaries further....
Shellie has been a pretty good kid this week...she misses her brothers a lot, so I have made sure she has talked to at least one of them, if not both, each time I do. She likes to play with the neighbor girl who is in her grade at school, so they spend quite a bit of time floating between the two houses.....I like to see her have a girl playmate....her cousin Erin and she don't get a whole lot of time together, and most of the girls around here, while nice, are a little older and either don't have the patience to deal with the younger girls or already have their "set"...yeah you know how that goes....they all get along, but.....Amber is a nice girl...she and Shellie both have that "I want to play what I want to play" mindset at times.....and both sets of parents are about equally matched in what we expect of our kids behavior-wise....and how we get there.......
well, the sky is finally starting to lighten, so I guess I'll go to WVdot and ODOT to see how the roads are and then go wake my hubby up to see what he wants to do.....
later, gators.....
So this week we have paid the car taxes for 2008/2009, so we are good to go for a while....my van now has a legal tag before the expiration date of the old one...we just have to get it inspected, but our choice of a garage to do that at is apparently closed for vacation....just for the record, we chose it because it has done the work on both vehicles recently, so at least if they tell me something needs done, I can believe it. That's ok, I can hit them on a day off next week, if I have one....store manager going on vacation now, so we'll see....
Overnighted copy of Ben's birth certificate to him in CT, so he will have it when he gets on the plane in NY in a couple of weeks to come home...The airline said since he is underage he does not have to have a photo ID, but the birth certificate could be helpful just in case there are questions...I am slowly putting his room back together after cleaning it inside and out a few weeks ago in search of his student ID....that in and of itself is a tale of sheer frustration and just complete astonishnment at the things I found....nothing illegal or contraband, but petrified sandwiches, pop bottles/cans, and all sorts of clothes.....just the short list.....I have to put pillowcases on his pillows and get the 10 loads of clothes I washed put back in his room....he gets to sort the boxes and totes when he gets home---we took 3 big hefty bags of trash out of there and 2 big bags of pop cans.....Shellie helped and as bad as her room gets--at least it's just junk...she was pretty disgusted, too.....
The girls and Ron and I went to see the 6th Harry Potter movie, and if you are a Facebook friend, you already know my opinion.....It really was not a bad movie, but if you are looking at it through the eyes of one who has read the book several times, it is a disappointment. There was so much that was cut out....personally I would rather it have run an hour longer and shown the parts that would have tied it together better than have a shorter version and miss so much....Chris and Ben saw it the weekend it came out, and they were disappointed also...there were no apparation lessons---vital in the next movie----no funeral for the headmaster...the look into Voldemort's past was nowhere deep enough to explain his origins.....just for starters...but we did have fun as a family....
I haven't watched the news at all this week...so other than the blurbs across the top of my computer screen, I have no clue as to what has been going on.....this is my de-stress week....I have noticed that the "cash for clunkers" program that the govt and the car dealers have been hyping so hard the last week is going to be shut down for lack of funds......ok, duh, who did not see that one coming....even I who will drive a car into the ground before even considering trading it in was thinking about checking it out......I mean heck, I only got a one year sticker for my license plate because who knows if it'll last that long--the thing is a '99, which makes at at least 10 years old, depending on date of manufacture...Ron's truck, a '98, is actually 12 yrs old b/c it was made in '97.......
And the rain continues to fall.....I set the alarm this morning so we could get up and drive to Parkersburg to hit the big craft mall and surrounding quilt stores....but with the raifall we have had overnight and into this morning, we cancelled that....maybe try again tomorrow, or maybe just head for Jackson, OH for Guhl's later, who knows........I've got one more vacation in about 3 weeks, so maybe try then before school starts the 26th....
Chris and I had a talk Tuesday morning about the whole college thing....he is adamant that he is not even applying to Marshall, but he did stand up to his dad on the whole AP class thing...his dad wanted him to drop the AP classes this year so he could get his GPA up by taking easier classes...Chris told him he has already got the books, done the summer reading and was not dropping the AP courses..he had already pared his schedule so that he could concentrate more on his AP classes instead of trying to pass other stuff too.....and he told his dad that he already carried a 3.8 pretty consistently, which is a damn good GPA for how he has struggled at times....He is aware that his GPA is no guarantee of college money, but he also knows that dropping back to a "normal" schedule would not help either---colleges look at the courses you take, not just the grade in them......
Shellie finished her pastel pink quilt top Wednesday, and I got it quilted last night, jsut have to bind it today....she also has helped me finish the red/white/blue pinwheel quilt....she sorted the blocks into rows for me to sew, which really did decrease my time in doing it....I didn;t have to take the time to sort between each row---I just sewed it the way she handed it to me......it is definitely colorful......now I have a quilt to make for her out of hot pink/black/assorted other colors...more in tune with the tween she is becoming.....she is at such a funky stage---she is very much a little girl, but she tries to emulate the older girls--at least to the degree we let her.....there is a lot about her older sisters we don;'t even let her know about, but the nail polishes and stuff is fairly harmless....we try to watch her music-Kate is real fond of sharing her Ipod with her, and I have to stop her and question what is actually on the player......but the tyring to be older stuff is fairly normal....we just try to stop the worst of it for the moment......at least Ron and I are united in what we will allow and what we won't and that will be a big help as she gets older and tests her boundaries further....
Shellie has been a pretty good kid this week...she misses her brothers a lot, so I have made sure she has talked to at least one of them, if not both, each time I do. She likes to play with the neighbor girl who is in her grade at school, so they spend quite a bit of time floating between the two houses.....I like to see her have a girl playmate....her cousin Erin and she don't get a whole lot of time together, and most of the girls around here, while nice, are a little older and either don't have the patience to deal with the younger girls or already have their "set"...yeah you know how that goes....they all get along, but.....Amber is a nice girl...she and Shellie both have that "I want to play what I want to play" mindset at times.....and both sets of parents are about equally matched in what we expect of our kids behavior-wise....and how we get there.......
well, the sky is finally starting to lighten, so I guess I'll go to WVdot and ODOT to see how the roads are and then go wake my hubby up to see what he wants to do.....
later, gators.....
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
the view from reality
Our dreams say "we want to do this or go to this school or have this job..." Then when the bill hits and reality sets in....
Going through the college search with the oldest son.....his dad has him right now for visitation, and I just got off the phone with the dad and am so frustrated.......he is trying to be the dad he damn well should have been 10 and 12 years ago when he walked out the door on us. Not that I'm not a hell of a lot happier and better off now than I was then, believe me, my husband is the best in the world and if it weren't for the boys, I would wish we had always been together.....But now, when the boys are a senior and sophomore in high school, he tries to get me to think he suddenly knows what is best for these boys as far as their high school courses and college dreams and so on...
And what aggravates me the most is that he thinks he can get by with it.....he thinks he is holding all the cards and he has no cards to hold.....as I reminded him today, I am custodial and in charge of their education. I also reminded him that we have 5 kids and NONE of them are going to put our finances in jeopardy just to go to college. The kids know that....they all seem to understand that college is a heck of a lot more expensive now than it was when he and I went to school. We were fortunate (or not, depends on your viewpoint) to be able to go to school away from home. I went to school 4 hrs away from my folks and he, two. We worked and got student loans.....I don't know about him, but I finally paid mine off about 5 years ago, well past the 10 yr time frame. I am not going back into debt just to put my kids through school...It may sound selfish, but quite frankly, the money is not there in the foreseeable future. We are 3 1/2 yrs into a 30 yr mortgage, looking at having to get new (at least new to us) vehicles in the next couple years (if it can wait that long), and I'm sorry but his child support does not cover all it needs to cover.
So if I seem less than enthused about the fact that my oldest has picked colleges that are private and out of state then I'm sorry. But the reality is that scholarships and grants cannot just be yanked out of thin air. Great grades are not a guarantee of any financial help whatsoever. I had a 3.8 in high school and got NOTHING.....I begged for every dime of grant money I got....I went to school on part time jobs and loans......I put great rips in the fabric of the relationship between my parents and myself over my failure to pay back loans for which they had cosigned.....fortunately the rips were repairable. I do not want that for my kids.....I want them to have a future, and that entails post high school education, meaning college for their chosen goals, but they are going to have to do it the old fashioned way--if the money isn't there, then they have to work for it.
And contrary to what my ex thinks, I am not trying to hold my son back and piss on his dreams. I am trying to show him what reality is so that he may make an informed decision. I am not a stupid person....I do remember what it was like to be 16 and 17 and want to be your own person and be away from the rules of home, and so on......I really do sympathize with my son's wishes...
But I am also getting really tired already of being make out to be the bad guy...My ex has the kids for 5 weeks--this is near the end of the second, and he is already showing himself to be brainwashing them again.....and I am tired to death of being second guessed on every decision I have ever made concerning them......he even took it to the driving issue----the oldest should have a part time job this school year....I agree......my viewpoint is on Fridays and Saturdays, great....around the hours of mine and Ronnie's jobs, great...so the ex throws in that well he could get his license....I don't let teens drive---once they hit 18 that's one thing..i am not responsible for their decisions at that point.....I am also not paying for insurance for a 16 yr old boy...mine is high enough with no high risk factors on my record....my ex just doesn't seem to get it. I don't know if his folks took care of all that stuff while he was growing up or what....but I just don't feel he has a firm grasp on the reality of being responsible for the education and health and well being of a teenager....
But then again, why should he----he never had to be responsible for them except for visitation times while they were growing up, so now that they are almost grown, how would he know what they need or what is involved with them......
Going through the college search with the oldest son.....his dad has him right now for visitation, and I just got off the phone with the dad and am so frustrated.......he is trying to be the dad he damn well should have been 10 and 12 years ago when he walked out the door on us. Not that I'm not a hell of a lot happier and better off now than I was then, believe me, my husband is the best in the world and if it weren't for the boys, I would wish we had always been together.....But now, when the boys are a senior and sophomore in high school, he tries to get me to think he suddenly knows what is best for these boys as far as their high school courses and college dreams and so on...
And what aggravates me the most is that he thinks he can get by with it.....he thinks he is holding all the cards and he has no cards to hold.....as I reminded him today, I am custodial and in charge of their education. I also reminded him that we have 5 kids and NONE of them are going to put our finances in jeopardy just to go to college. The kids know that....they all seem to understand that college is a heck of a lot more expensive now than it was when he and I went to school. We were fortunate (or not, depends on your viewpoint) to be able to go to school away from home. I went to school 4 hrs away from my folks and he, two. We worked and got student loans.....I don't know about him, but I finally paid mine off about 5 years ago, well past the 10 yr time frame. I am not going back into debt just to put my kids through school...It may sound selfish, but quite frankly, the money is not there in the foreseeable future. We are 3 1/2 yrs into a 30 yr mortgage, looking at having to get new (at least new to us) vehicles in the next couple years (if it can wait that long), and I'm sorry but his child support does not cover all it needs to cover.
So if I seem less than enthused about the fact that my oldest has picked colleges that are private and out of state then I'm sorry. But the reality is that scholarships and grants cannot just be yanked out of thin air. Great grades are not a guarantee of any financial help whatsoever. I had a 3.8 in high school and got NOTHING.....I begged for every dime of grant money I got....I went to school on part time jobs and loans......I put great rips in the fabric of the relationship between my parents and myself over my failure to pay back loans for which they had cosigned.....fortunately the rips were repairable. I do not want that for my kids.....I want them to have a future, and that entails post high school education, meaning college for their chosen goals, but they are going to have to do it the old fashioned way--if the money isn't there, then they have to work for it.
And contrary to what my ex thinks, I am not trying to hold my son back and piss on his dreams. I am trying to show him what reality is so that he may make an informed decision. I am not a stupid person....I do remember what it was like to be 16 and 17 and want to be your own person and be away from the rules of home, and so on......I really do sympathize with my son's wishes...
But I am also getting really tired already of being make out to be the bad guy...My ex has the kids for 5 weeks--this is near the end of the second, and he is already showing himself to be brainwashing them again.....and I am tired to death of being second guessed on every decision I have ever made concerning them......he even took it to the driving issue----the oldest should have a part time job this school year....I agree......my viewpoint is on Fridays and Saturdays, great....around the hours of mine and Ronnie's jobs, great...so the ex throws in that well he could get his license....I don't let teens drive---once they hit 18 that's one thing..i am not responsible for their decisions at that point.....I am also not paying for insurance for a 16 yr old boy...mine is high enough with no high risk factors on my record....my ex just doesn't seem to get it. I don't know if his folks took care of all that stuff while he was growing up or what....but I just don't feel he has a firm grasp on the reality of being responsible for the education and health and well being of a teenager....
But then again, why should he----he never had to be responsible for them except for visitation times while they were growing up, so now that they are almost grown, how would he know what they need or what is involved with them......
Monday, July 13, 2009
my husband
Ronnie is going through a tough time--he is two weeks (YAY!!!) into stopping his tobacco use. He has used chewing tobacco since his early teens, nearly 30 years ago, but a recent health scare gave him the determination to beat it once and for all. But it is a process, just like the ending of any addiction, and it is day by day. And it is tougher than even he realizes sometimes, I think.....
Now there are obvious rewards to this---he is making his health better in the long run by getting rid of this nasty stuff. There are no more nasty floating pieces of the junk visible when he talks or smiles or laughs....and I get to kiss my husband any time I want now.....LOL.
But there are downsides too....the little voices that all of us have that tell us to do whatever we want are trying their darndest to work on him to get another can and dip into it, doesn't that feel good, Ronnie? And he is very good at telling the voices where they can go to---and it is not a nice place......his nerves are working overtime since he doesn't have that crutch to lean on...
And my rock, my tower of strength, is leaning more and more on me to be his strength, his rock. Now I have no complaints. We got married for better or for worse, and if this is the worse it gets, fantastic!! This is for his health and our future---I am very glad he is leaning on me to get through this.....I am trying to be as encouraging as I can without being patronizing, if that makes any sense....I am encouraging the kids to show more love and all so that he knows they get it too....
And through it all, we are finding that not only are we each other's strength, but that we are leaning more on God to get him through it...For God is our true strength, our Rock in times of trouble and need....I pray daily, and then some, and I know Ron is too, to get him through it..to help him when the desire for that fix gets so strong....
And now a kind of funny note---a few months ago, I bought the movie "Fireproof", about a marriage on the rocks and how the husband worked to get it back....wonderful movie, and sad to think that we know so very few couples besides us who honestly have no need for the movie, although we have found several opportunities through some of the ideas in it to even further strengthen our marriage. It is about something called "the Love Dare"--40 days of little things to do to show your spouse your love. Sometimes it is making dinner for them, or just calling to say "I love you." That simple, folks. I got an accompanying tshirt that says "Do you dare---the love dare", and I get people commenting very positively on it.
Well, at Family Bookstores at the mall the other day, I found two tshirts that i thought were cute, so I got them, knowing I may have to bring them back if Ronnie wouldn't wear one. Mine says " I love my husband" and of course his says " I love my wife". Well yesterday he wore his to work---at a church--and the comments he got were, "yeah what;s it say on the back" like there was a punchline.....yet when we went to the craft stores and Walmart in the afternoon, people were saying "oh how cute" and "where can I get those at?"
Then again, maybe it's not so funny as it is sad, that people have so little expectation of true honest love between a man and wife these days. It seems that once people get beyond the "what can this person do FOR me" and the sex, there is nothing there. And it is sad....there are very few marriages like my folks, who will celebrate 43 years together next month, as Ron and I celebrate 9 years.....There is no bed of roses, guys and gals, and any marriage is going to take work, just like all other relationships. But true commitment just seems to be lacking today, and in the last 30 years or so...We don't look at it as sex is the be-all and end-all of the relationship...Lordamercy, and don't get me wrong even though I am not going to give details---it's good , but not the biggest reason we stay together.....we have a deep connection built through love and respect for each other. We are not the same person, although our kids accuse us of sharing a brain, the way we finish each others sentences or come out with the sames words at the same time.....we are not even the same people we were when we first met....but we have grown together instead of apart by being involved with each other and the changes---we enjoy each other's hobbies and the fruits of them, such as my quilts and his garden vegetables---in ways the exes never would have. We talk all the time---we tell people we had to get married just to get some sleep, because we would have a date, and then we would call each other to make sure whoever was driving had gotten home ok, and talk for hours on the phone. I don't know how we did not lose our jobs becasue of the lack of sleep we got.....
And we still have nights like that.....although now the kids are a huge topic for us---at age 7 through 19, there is a lot of ground to cover.......
And we have differing interests....and opinions....but we respect each other's rights to be that way. That is, after all, part of what drew us to each other.....
I love my husband......andI look forward to, God willing, the next 50 years......or whatever He gives us.....
Now there are obvious rewards to this---he is making his health better in the long run by getting rid of this nasty stuff. There are no more nasty floating pieces of the junk visible when he talks or smiles or laughs....and I get to kiss my husband any time I want now.....LOL.
But there are downsides too....the little voices that all of us have that tell us to do whatever we want are trying their darndest to work on him to get another can and dip into it, doesn't that feel good, Ronnie? And he is very good at telling the voices where they can go to---and it is not a nice place......his nerves are working overtime since he doesn't have that crutch to lean on...
And my rock, my tower of strength, is leaning more and more on me to be his strength, his rock. Now I have no complaints. We got married for better or for worse, and if this is the worse it gets, fantastic!! This is for his health and our future---I am very glad he is leaning on me to get through this.....I am trying to be as encouraging as I can without being patronizing, if that makes any sense....I am encouraging the kids to show more love and all so that he knows they get it too....
And through it all, we are finding that not only are we each other's strength, but that we are leaning more on God to get him through it...For God is our true strength, our Rock in times of trouble and need....I pray daily, and then some, and I know Ron is too, to get him through it..to help him when the desire for that fix gets so strong....
And now a kind of funny note---a few months ago, I bought the movie "Fireproof", about a marriage on the rocks and how the husband worked to get it back....wonderful movie, and sad to think that we know so very few couples besides us who honestly have no need for the movie, although we have found several opportunities through some of the ideas in it to even further strengthen our marriage. It is about something called "the Love Dare"--40 days of little things to do to show your spouse your love. Sometimes it is making dinner for them, or just calling to say "I love you." That simple, folks. I got an accompanying tshirt that says "Do you dare---the love dare", and I get people commenting very positively on it.
Well, at Family Bookstores at the mall the other day, I found two tshirts that i thought were cute, so I got them, knowing I may have to bring them back if Ronnie wouldn't wear one. Mine says " I love my husband" and of course his says " I love my wife". Well yesterday he wore his to work---at a church--and the comments he got were, "yeah what;s it say on the back" like there was a punchline.....yet when we went to the craft stores and Walmart in the afternoon, people were saying "oh how cute" and "where can I get those at?"
Then again, maybe it's not so funny as it is sad, that people have so little expectation of true honest love between a man and wife these days. It seems that once people get beyond the "what can this person do FOR me" and the sex, there is nothing there. And it is sad....there are very few marriages like my folks, who will celebrate 43 years together next month, as Ron and I celebrate 9 years.....There is no bed of roses, guys and gals, and any marriage is going to take work, just like all other relationships. But true commitment just seems to be lacking today, and in the last 30 years or so...We don't look at it as sex is the be-all and end-all of the relationship...Lordamercy, and don't get me wrong even though I am not going to give details---it's good , but not the biggest reason we stay together.....we have a deep connection built through love and respect for each other. We are not the same person, although our kids accuse us of sharing a brain, the way we finish each others sentences or come out with the sames words at the same time.....we are not even the same people we were when we first met....but we have grown together instead of apart by being involved with each other and the changes---we enjoy each other's hobbies and the fruits of them, such as my quilts and his garden vegetables---in ways the exes never would have. We talk all the time---we tell people we had to get married just to get some sleep, because we would have a date, and then we would call each other to make sure whoever was driving had gotten home ok, and talk for hours on the phone. I don't know how we did not lose our jobs becasue of the lack of sleep we got.....
And we still have nights like that.....although now the kids are a huge topic for us---at age 7 through 19, there is a lot of ground to cover.......
And we have differing interests....and opinions....but we respect each other's rights to be that way. That is, after all, part of what drew us to each other.....
I love my husband......andI look forward to, God willing, the next 50 years......or whatever He gives us.....
Friday, July 03, 2009
vacation?????
I guess it is a vacation, as I am not at work......but all the ideas for things to do this week went out the window with other stuff that was more urgent.....like dentist appts for me and the kids, and even more urgent--getting tires on the vehicles and getting my oil changed and Ron's inspection done.
So the last vehicle is at the local garage getting new tires and the oil changed, and it is now Friday and we go back to work Monday. Well, like I said, at least we weren't at work this week....we need to go out later and get our stuff for a cookout tomorrow. We hit WallyWorld last night when we took the boys to a birthday party so we could get a brake light and a headlight for the van, and we got the basic necessities--milk, etc....but for good meat we prefer Foodfair over WM anyday.....it just seems fresher.....maybe it's just our perception, since I have never had any problem with the meat from WM, but I just prefer the local shops to anything else....
It's not been a bad week weather wise---cool evenings, and the days have been almost humidity-less, and warm enough to make you sweat if you are active, but not enough to kill you just by walking outside.....
We took a long drive yesterday, Ron and Shel and I......boys begged off so I put them back to their summer reading for school.....we drove down Rt 10 to Harts--Ron hasn't driven it since he and his ex split almost 10 yrs ago and I drove it last about 3 yrs ago when I went searching for the Logan paper when the girls' uncle was killed in a horrific car crash, so they would have the obit. He said there were a lot of changes since he was last down there. The biggest I saw since my last trip was the store/gas station at the base of the hill by the family cemetary is gone. Just gone. I had no idea---I had stopped there as my last stop in my newspaper quest that summer. We always had used it as the base of operations, so to speak, when we went grave decorating. My great grandparents are buried at the top of the hill, and if all the trees and stuff hadn't grown up so high, if you looked down over the edge from where they are buried, you could see where my mom grew up---there's now a trailer there I think. I tried to find it yesterday, but wasn't sure of which fork to take off the road.
So after we did that, we drove on to Chapmanville and hit rt 119 back to Charleston, stopping at Southridge for a late lunch/early dinner, then hit WV Quilts in Barboursville to look around...really didn't do any damage this time around, I didn't have the "gotta have it" bug like i normally do---I 've got enough on my plate as it is....
Well, I am going to try to post this--apparently people have been having problems posting their blogs, so we'll see....
So the last vehicle is at the local garage getting new tires and the oil changed, and it is now Friday and we go back to work Monday. Well, like I said, at least we weren't at work this week....we need to go out later and get our stuff for a cookout tomorrow. We hit WallyWorld last night when we took the boys to a birthday party so we could get a brake light and a headlight for the van, and we got the basic necessities--milk, etc....but for good meat we prefer Foodfair over WM anyday.....it just seems fresher.....maybe it's just our perception, since I have never had any problem with the meat from WM, but I just prefer the local shops to anything else....
It's not been a bad week weather wise---cool evenings, and the days have been almost humidity-less, and warm enough to make you sweat if you are active, but not enough to kill you just by walking outside.....
We took a long drive yesterday, Ron and Shel and I......boys begged off so I put them back to their summer reading for school.....we drove down Rt 10 to Harts--Ron hasn't driven it since he and his ex split almost 10 yrs ago and I drove it last about 3 yrs ago when I went searching for the Logan paper when the girls' uncle was killed in a horrific car crash, so they would have the obit. He said there were a lot of changes since he was last down there. The biggest I saw since my last trip was the store/gas station at the base of the hill by the family cemetary is gone. Just gone. I had no idea---I had stopped there as my last stop in my newspaper quest that summer. We always had used it as the base of operations, so to speak, when we went grave decorating. My great grandparents are buried at the top of the hill, and if all the trees and stuff hadn't grown up so high, if you looked down over the edge from where they are buried, you could see where my mom grew up---there's now a trailer there I think. I tried to find it yesterday, but wasn't sure of which fork to take off the road.
So after we did that, we drove on to Chapmanville and hit rt 119 back to Charleston, stopping at Southridge for a late lunch/early dinner, then hit WV Quilts in Barboursville to look around...really didn't do any damage this time around, I didn't have the "gotta have it" bug like i normally do---I 've got enough on my plate as it is....
Well, I am going to try to post this--apparently people have been having problems posting their blogs, so we'll see....
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
can i get a refund....
...on my college education. Has done me not a damn bit of good professionally....
...on our govt----i don;t think we are getting our money's worth....i know i saw the "satisfaction guaranteed or your money back" sign on the White House somewhere....
...on anything I want.....and no I don't have the receipt....
Yeah, right.......
...on our govt----i don;t think we are getting our money's worth....i know i saw the "satisfaction guaranteed or your money back" sign on the White House somewhere....
...on anything I want.....and no I don't have the receipt....
Yeah, right.......
Saturday, June 13, 2009
musings, ponderings, rantings, ravings, observations....
Any and all of the above may be seen in this update......
For the last month and a half I have been running the store....boss man at another store in another state doing a reset.....no problem, except that when he is not there, at least one someone in the building, and maybe even from another store, sees fit to go running to him if I fart wrong....after i had my mental breakdown one week, I decided I really couldn't give a rat's rear end. I don't have time for the stupid ass junior high games some people play. I know that in every job there are those who love you, those who hate you, and those who can go either way. There is always someone ready to stab you in the back, and usually there is someone who has your back, but not always. So Monday boss man comes back and I am fully prepared to hear how horribly I ran the place in his absence, and then tell him what I think.....hopefully in such a way as to not be fired outright, but get my point across......and then again maybe there will be no need......que sera sera...
I have discovered the absolute need to delegate more at home over the past couple of months. I simply do not have time for what needs to be done...therefore I have come to request, and at times, demand that the kids pick up a lot more slack....for the older ones, they need to know how to do basic household chores, as it is not too much longer before they will have to do for themselves. For my baby, I am just tired of the mess, so she is now responsible for her stuff. I do not help. I simply provide the trash bag when she gets mouthy about it...pretty well gets my point across and she gets it done, momentarily anyway...Tonight I fixed dinner, a baked pasta dish with salad and bread. When it was almost done, I called out that someone needed to toss the salad and set the table. My husband immediately comes in to help, as do both the boys. Shellie washes her hands and sends the neighbor girl home and Kate simply stands there. Never asks if she can help. Has sat on her ass all day watching tv. Now I've been gone a good lot of the day----Chris to ACT, going to yard sales and the grocery store, etc.....not home to make sure she does something constructive with her time. So I say, well I guess Kate can clean up the kitchen after we eat since she has sat around all day. She point blank says no.
I'm sorry. Since when does a child have the right to look at a parent and say No I will not do what you have told me to do? I would have been smacked through the floor for that. And then had to do it anyway. After dinner she goes in and plops her butt back on the couch in front of the tv. Chris is helping clean up. Ron comes in to help. Kate sits there. Even Ben lends a minor hand. So next time I fix a meal, Miss Thang is going to get to clean up all by herself. At 16 damn years old, I should think so.....
Onto bigger and better things.....I have been a little out of the loop in politics the last few weeks, quite honestly I haven't had the blood pressure to spare for the bullshit. However when the current sitting president has the balls to complain that the govt is not getting enough tax money because people aren't buying as much gas, so he wants to jack up the taxes on gas so the govt can get more money I suppose for more stupid ass bailouts for corporations that most likely deserve to die, well that pisses me off. I did change my driving habits after the freaking $4/gallon plus of gas last summer. Sorry Obamabobama, I WORK for a living. I work damn hard for my money and you and your fat ass cronies and pet projects that you're shoving down our throats do NOT deserve any more of it than is absolutely necessary. As they say in my neck of the woods--- Kiss my ass. Oh and you also want to tax my health care benefits. Up yours. Again I WORK for a living. Stay the hell out of my wallet. Stay the hell out of my life and I will be a very happy camper. I did not vote for you and would never have in a million years. No the other guy was not much of a better choice, but hell, stick with the evil I know instead of that I pray against.......
By the way, that is my right of free speech.....like it or not, I can state my opinion of you and your administration and its policies. It's my opinion. I am not a citizen of a communist country, although I fear we are headed rapidly that way under this administration/congress/supreme court.
Unlike what those in power for the last few decades think, there is a division of power in our federal govt (as well as state govt). The executive branch is the administrative branch. The legislative branch (House of Reps and Senate) is the law making branch. The supreme court is there to adjudicate disputes over the laws when they arise---sorry guys your job is not to make the law, simply to interpret it. The sooner ya'll realize this the better off the country as a whole will be.
My dad mentioned in his recent post an issue over the use of turn signals on vehicles in our state. Due to a misreading, I feel, of the law by our state supreme court. They state that a signal must only be used if other traffic is affected. Hello? Now I may have acquired my original driver's license in the state of Ohio, not WV, but I'm pretty sure the manual is explicit in that signals are to be used when turning or changing lanes so as to alert the drivers around you of your intended course of action and direction of movement. So now with much more traffic on the roads than there was 24 years ago when I received my license, I can just forget using my signal unless I think another person might possibly be affected by my intended actions? I guess that explains why my brakes wear out trying not to hit the person in front of me who must beleive that the fact he intends to turn with no warning--just hit the brakes and there you go, I have to be a mind reader now.....
I've had enough for tonight----must go push kids through showers.......
For the last month and a half I have been running the store....boss man at another store in another state doing a reset.....no problem, except that when he is not there, at least one someone in the building, and maybe even from another store, sees fit to go running to him if I fart wrong....after i had my mental breakdown one week, I decided I really couldn't give a rat's rear end. I don't have time for the stupid ass junior high games some people play. I know that in every job there are those who love you, those who hate you, and those who can go either way. There is always someone ready to stab you in the back, and usually there is someone who has your back, but not always. So Monday boss man comes back and I am fully prepared to hear how horribly I ran the place in his absence, and then tell him what I think.....hopefully in such a way as to not be fired outright, but get my point across......and then again maybe there will be no need......que sera sera...
I have discovered the absolute need to delegate more at home over the past couple of months. I simply do not have time for what needs to be done...therefore I have come to request, and at times, demand that the kids pick up a lot more slack....for the older ones, they need to know how to do basic household chores, as it is not too much longer before they will have to do for themselves. For my baby, I am just tired of the mess, so she is now responsible for her stuff. I do not help. I simply provide the trash bag when she gets mouthy about it...pretty well gets my point across and she gets it done, momentarily anyway...Tonight I fixed dinner, a baked pasta dish with salad and bread. When it was almost done, I called out that someone needed to toss the salad and set the table. My husband immediately comes in to help, as do both the boys. Shellie washes her hands and sends the neighbor girl home and Kate simply stands there. Never asks if she can help. Has sat on her ass all day watching tv. Now I've been gone a good lot of the day----Chris to ACT, going to yard sales and the grocery store, etc.....not home to make sure she does something constructive with her time. So I say, well I guess Kate can clean up the kitchen after we eat since she has sat around all day. She point blank says no.
I'm sorry. Since when does a child have the right to look at a parent and say No I will not do what you have told me to do? I would have been smacked through the floor for that. And then had to do it anyway. After dinner she goes in and plops her butt back on the couch in front of the tv. Chris is helping clean up. Ron comes in to help. Kate sits there. Even Ben lends a minor hand. So next time I fix a meal, Miss Thang is going to get to clean up all by herself. At 16 damn years old, I should think so.....
Onto bigger and better things.....I have been a little out of the loop in politics the last few weeks, quite honestly I haven't had the blood pressure to spare for the bullshit. However when the current sitting president has the balls to complain that the govt is not getting enough tax money because people aren't buying as much gas, so he wants to jack up the taxes on gas so the govt can get more money I suppose for more stupid ass bailouts for corporations that most likely deserve to die, well that pisses me off. I did change my driving habits after the freaking $4/gallon plus of gas last summer. Sorry Obamabobama, I WORK for a living. I work damn hard for my money and you and your fat ass cronies and pet projects that you're shoving down our throats do NOT deserve any more of it than is absolutely necessary. As they say in my neck of the woods--- Kiss my ass. Oh and you also want to tax my health care benefits. Up yours. Again I WORK for a living. Stay the hell out of my wallet. Stay the hell out of my life and I will be a very happy camper. I did not vote for you and would never have in a million years. No the other guy was not much of a better choice, but hell, stick with the evil I know instead of that I pray against.......
By the way, that is my right of free speech.....like it or not, I can state my opinion of you and your administration and its policies. It's my opinion. I am not a citizen of a communist country, although I fear we are headed rapidly that way under this administration/congress/supreme court.
Unlike what those in power for the last few decades think, there is a division of power in our federal govt (as well as state govt). The executive branch is the administrative branch. The legislative branch (House of Reps and Senate) is the law making branch. The supreme court is there to adjudicate disputes over the laws when they arise---sorry guys your job is not to make the law, simply to interpret it. The sooner ya'll realize this the better off the country as a whole will be.
My dad mentioned in his recent post an issue over the use of turn signals on vehicles in our state. Due to a misreading, I feel, of the law by our state supreme court. They state that a signal must only be used if other traffic is affected. Hello? Now I may have acquired my original driver's license in the state of Ohio, not WV, but I'm pretty sure the manual is explicit in that signals are to be used when turning or changing lanes so as to alert the drivers around you of your intended course of action and direction of movement. So now with much more traffic on the roads than there was 24 years ago when I received my license, I can just forget using my signal unless I think another person might possibly be affected by my intended actions? I guess that explains why my brakes wear out trying not to hit the person in front of me who must beleive that the fact he intends to turn with no warning--just hit the brakes and there you go, I have to be a mind reader now.....
I've had enough for tonight----must go push kids through showers.......
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
WTF, part 3000
Sitting here at my pc trying to chill after a trying day at work, and what to my wondering eye should appear but a little news blurb at the top of my screen which says that the US House of Doofuses (Representatives) is trying to expand the federal hate crimes law to give gays more rights and protections.
EXCUSE ME????????
Ok, pardon my language, but this is a definite WTF moment.......Why should ANY certain group have more rights and protections than any other group? I don't care if you are gay, straight, what your religion or ethnicity is, or anything else... we are all members of the human race, and we ALL deserve the same treatment.....
So someone beats the crap out of you because you are gay......so????does it mean any less that someone beat the crap out of my son because he is Christian? and white? Why should both instances be treated differently from each other?
They shouldn't...and therein lies the problem.
For too many years now, the gay rights groups have flaunted themselves, as have numerous other groups/causes, and when they are attacked, they blame everyone around but themselves....I am straight, but I don't go around flaunting my sexuality and then demanding that I be given special protection because I am a heterosexual female. I do not demand special rights because I am female.
I guess what it boils down to is this-----those of us who are straight have just as many rights as gays. Christians just as much at Muslims or athiests, red and purple as well as white and black. I am tired of dancing on the line of "am I going to offend someone by breathing?" Quite honestly, if I offend, I am sorry. But that does not mean I am going to change my stance to suit you. I am sorry for causing offense, but not sorry for my belief. I am not going to hide my Bible because you don't want to see it. I am not going to tell my kids they can't wear their tshirts with religious slogans on them to school because the classmate next to them with the "I did your girlfriend" shirt doesn't like it.
Food for thought....
EXCUSE ME????????
Ok, pardon my language, but this is a definite WTF moment.......Why should ANY certain group have more rights and protections than any other group? I don't care if you are gay, straight, what your religion or ethnicity is, or anything else... we are all members of the human race, and we ALL deserve the same treatment.....
So someone beats the crap out of you because you are gay......so????does it mean any less that someone beat the crap out of my son because he is Christian? and white? Why should both instances be treated differently from each other?
They shouldn't...and therein lies the problem.
For too many years now, the gay rights groups have flaunted themselves, as have numerous other groups/causes, and when they are attacked, they blame everyone around but themselves....I am straight, but I don't go around flaunting my sexuality and then demanding that I be given special protection because I am a heterosexual female. I do not demand special rights because I am female.
I guess what it boils down to is this-----those of us who are straight have just as many rights as gays. Christians just as much at Muslims or athiests, red and purple as well as white and black. I am tired of dancing on the line of "am I going to offend someone by breathing?" Quite honestly, if I offend, I am sorry. But that does not mean I am going to change my stance to suit you. I am sorry for causing offense, but not sorry for my belief. I am not going to hide my Bible because you don't want to see it. I am not going to tell my kids they can't wear their tshirts with religious slogans on them to school because the classmate next to them with the "I did your girlfriend" shirt doesn't like it.
Food for thought....
Monday, April 27, 2009
picks and peeves
ok, so I made the mistake of opening up my local paper on Saturday, and instantly became aggravated at the arrogance of so called experts.
The topic this time is childhood obesity. I live in the state of WV---wild wonderful, and usually dead last or near it in most categories. Except those related to poor health, it seems.....So the headline is that almost half of all 5th graders in this state are obese. And of course as you read the story, it is all the fault of the parent. We apparently force feed them McDonald's grease and (from an earlier article) Mountain Dew. We make them sit in front of the tv and PS2 for hours on end and refuse to let them exercise.....
Now, yes, I see the merit in this....I agree that as parents we should do more to keep our kids active. And I see it in my home as well........I have to admit that I, as an overweight (to put it mildly) 40-something, do not set the best example for my kids to follow. I come home from work and crash on teh couch with the remote in hand. Yes I eat chips and things that are quick and easy. After being on my feet constantly for 9-10 hrs a day, yeah, I do.......and after 7-8 hrs a day, not including the bus ride to and from, in school, yeah my kids think they deserve the same break.
BUT.....I look at what my kids eat, overall, and they do eat pretty well....there is really not a lot of overeating, especially of the wrong stuff, which changes on a daily basis anyway, so who the heck can keep up with it? We eat, especially once the weather gets nice, a lot of grilled food (the health of which I'm sure some will debate)--chicken, pork chops (both bought boneless and skinless), steak (which my husband picks out the leanest cuts he can get---eschewing his favorite ribeyes and such since I don't like the fat content). We eat more rice than potatoes any given time of the year, and in warmer months I am more likely to make a salad than open a can of highly preserved vegetables. Our bread consumption at meals goes way down when the weather is warmer too----just less to load us down. Not that we are perfect......heck no....and I know there are ways to improve. Getting rid of the pop would be a big start.
But then again, our grocery budget takes a huge hit to eat like this. It IS cheaper to buy the fatty, quick to fix and eat meals and snacks....I shop, I know.....has any of these so called experts figured out how to do this without taking out a second mortgage? I mean really.....take a walk through your local produce dept and then walk through the snack aisle.....hmmmmm.....look at pop vs bottled water (oh yeah open up another can of worms)...
The exercise thing is a biggie too. During the winter months and on extreme weather days--excessively hot or stormy--yeah my kids play a lot of video games. They play what I consider to be a lot anyway....but once they can get outside that's where they are. Even if they are sitting there reading, at least they get the fresh air and sunshine benefits....But then too, reading what the graduation requirements are for phys ed now---where is it? Only ONE phys ed credit is required for graduation. I had to have 2 back in the dinosaur days of the '80's. Now my kids enjoy phys ed, unlike me. I don't know, maybe it's the boy vs the I don't want to ruin my hair girl mentality, but they do. Ben ran track last year, and loved it.....he'd be in it again, but with all his honors classes we felt he couldn't afford the late nights for meets and stuff...But he stays active outside. Spring break killed these kids this year with all the rain that kept them in. They were chomping at the bit to get outdoors when it finally cleared up.
Yeah we as parents need to boot the kids outside and into a more active lifestyle. Then too, you also hve parents who both, if there are indeed 2 parents in the home, have to work just to make the basic ends meet---so there are reasons why people live like they do.....as old as my kids are, unless I or my husband are home, I would rather them not be outdoors. Even out in the boondocks where we are, things still happen. And with our schedules, that doesn't always happen. So.....
On to another topic......there were a couple of letters to the editor I took picks with. One was a response to an earlier letter complaining about hospital waiting rooms having Bibles in them. The first letter writer was very offended by this blatant Christian symbol being so visible. The latest writer pretty well told the first that he didn't have to read it if it offended him so greatly. Very true. I don't know which local hospital the first writer was at, but when I was at Cabell when Mom had her surgery last month, I did not notice Bibles laying around. Maybe they were there, but not so visible. The other local hospital is Catholic run, and yes they do do Bibles visible to all. Who cares? Just like anything else, if you don't want to read it/watch it/listen to it, don't. Turn the station, turn it off, don't open the book. And check your offense meter, because apparently it is out of whack in the wrong direction if you are so easily offended by simply seeing a book on a table.....
Then we have the obvious Obama supporter who firmly believes that talk radio is egging on "domestic terrorism". Hello? Has anyone looked at the stimulus package? What is being forced onto American citizens? I beleive that is domestic terrorism. How is simply stating an opinion---which we do have the right to do---terrorism? Those who speak or even just listen to a show are not terrorists by definition. If we act wrongly and malignantly on what we hear or believe, then maybe we deserve the label......Timothy McVeigh acted wrongly and hurtfully and delieberately. Yes, I feel he was a homegrown terrorist. My opinion. I firmly believe in at least 95% of cases, abortion is morally wrong. Does that make me a terrorist? NO. Now if I blew up clinics where abortions were performed, then yes I would be. Saying I don't believe this contry is on the right course since our current President took office does not make me a terrorist. I am stating my opinion. I am not building a militia to act upon it. I am simply looking at my values and beliefs and what is going on in this country, and they do not co-exist well together. So I state my opinion. I don't grab a megaphone and shout it to the world on the White House lawn. I state it in discussions with coworkers or family and friends, when it is asked for or appropriate in the discussion. Not terrorism folks......And quite frankly shutting down "right wing" talk radio would be just as bad as shutting down "left wing" talk radio. Which by the way gathers far fewer listeners than the right wing version....maybe that is what the letter writer objects to....sorry life isn't fair.......
The topic this time is childhood obesity. I live in the state of WV---wild wonderful, and usually dead last or near it in most categories. Except those related to poor health, it seems.....So the headline is that almost half of all 5th graders in this state are obese. And of course as you read the story, it is all the fault of the parent. We apparently force feed them McDonald's grease and (from an earlier article) Mountain Dew. We make them sit in front of the tv and PS2 for hours on end and refuse to let them exercise.....
Now, yes, I see the merit in this....I agree that as parents we should do more to keep our kids active. And I see it in my home as well........I have to admit that I, as an overweight (to put it mildly) 40-something, do not set the best example for my kids to follow. I come home from work and crash on teh couch with the remote in hand. Yes I eat chips and things that are quick and easy. After being on my feet constantly for 9-10 hrs a day, yeah, I do.......and after 7-8 hrs a day, not including the bus ride to and from, in school, yeah my kids think they deserve the same break.
BUT.....I look at what my kids eat, overall, and they do eat pretty well....there is really not a lot of overeating, especially of the wrong stuff, which changes on a daily basis anyway, so who the heck can keep up with it? We eat, especially once the weather gets nice, a lot of grilled food (the health of which I'm sure some will debate)--chicken, pork chops (both bought boneless and skinless), steak (which my husband picks out the leanest cuts he can get---eschewing his favorite ribeyes and such since I don't like the fat content). We eat more rice than potatoes any given time of the year, and in warmer months I am more likely to make a salad than open a can of highly preserved vegetables. Our bread consumption at meals goes way down when the weather is warmer too----just less to load us down. Not that we are perfect......heck no....and I know there are ways to improve. Getting rid of the pop would be a big start.
But then again, our grocery budget takes a huge hit to eat like this. It IS cheaper to buy the fatty, quick to fix and eat meals and snacks....I shop, I know.....has any of these so called experts figured out how to do this without taking out a second mortgage? I mean really.....take a walk through your local produce dept and then walk through the snack aisle.....hmmmmm.....look at pop vs bottled water (oh yeah open up another can of worms)...
The exercise thing is a biggie too. During the winter months and on extreme weather days--excessively hot or stormy--yeah my kids play a lot of video games. They play what I consider to be a lot anyway....but once they can get outside that's where they are. Even if they are sitting there reading, at least they get the fresh air and sunshine benefits....But then too, reading what the graduation requirements are for phys ed now---where is it? Only ONE phys ed credit is required for graduation. I had to have 2 back in the dinosaur days of the '80's. Now my kids enjoy phys ed, unlike me. I don't know, maybe it's the boy vs the I don't want to ruin my hair girl mentality, but they do. Ben ran track last year, and loved it.....he'd be in it again, but with all his honors classes we felt he couldn't afford the late nights for meets and stuff...But he stays active outside. Spring break killed these kids this year with all the rain that kept them in. They were chomping at the bit to get outdoors when it finally cleared up.
Yeah we as parents need to boot the kids outside and into a more active lifestyle. Then too, you also hve parents who both, if there are indeed 2 parents in the home, have to work just to make the basic ends meet---so there are reasons why people live like they do.....as old as my kids are, unless I or my husband are home, I would rather them not be outdoors. Even out in the boondocks where we are, things still happen. And with our schedules, that doesn't always happen. So.....
On to another topic......there were a couple of letters to the editor I took picks with. One was a response to an earlier letter complaining about hospital waiting rooms having Bibles in them. The first letter writer was very offended by this blatant Christian symbol being so visible. The latest writer pretty well told the first that he didn't have to read it if it offended him so greatly. Very true. I don't know which local hospital the first writer was at, but when I was at Cabell when Mom had her surgery last month, I did not notice Bibles laying around. Maybe they were there, but not so visible. The other local hospital is Catholic run, and yes they do do Bibles visible to all. Who cares? Just like anything else, if you don't want to read it/watch it/listen to it, don't. Turn the station, turn it off, don't open the book. And check your offense meter, because apparently it is out of whack in the wrong direction if you are so easily offended by simply seeing a book on a table.....
Then we have the obvious Obama supporter who firmly believes that talk radio is egging on "domestic terrorism". Hello? Has anyone looked at the stimulus package? What is being forced onto American citizens? I beleive that is domestic terrorism. How is simply stating an opinion---which we do have the right to do---terrorism? Those who speak or even just listen to a show are not terrorists by definition. If we act wrongly and malignantly on what we hear or believe, then maybe we deserve the label......Timothy McVeigh acted wrongly and hurtfully and delieberately. Yes, I feel he was a homegrown terrorist. My opinion. I firmly believe in at least 95% of cases, abortion is morally wrong. Does that make me a terrorist? NO. Now if I blew up clinics where abortions were performed, then yes I would be. Saying I don't believe this contry is on the right course since our current President took office does not make me a terrorist. I am stating my opinion. I am not building a militia to act upon it. I am simply looking at my values and beliefs and what is going on in this country, and they do not co-exist well together. So I state my opinion. I don't grab a megaphone and shout it to the world on the White House lawn. I state it in discussions with coworkers or family and friends, when it is asked for or appropriate in the discussion. Not terrorism folks......And quite frankly shutting down "right wing" talk radio would be just as bad as shutting down "left wing" talk radio. Which by the way gathers far fewer listeners than the right wing version....maybe that is what the letter writer objects to....sorry life isn't fair.......
RIP Bea Arthur
I don't remember a lot about the show "Maude" in the '70's.....honestly, with some of the topics it dealt with, I'm sure my folks deemed it inappropriate for a grade schooler. But I remember "Golden Girls" very fondly---and I loved Bea's character...her wit and sense of timing were wonderful....and it is very sad to see yet another icon of my formative and much younger more innocent days pass away....
We have lost a lot of truly great actors/actresses and public figures in the last few years, and maybe it is because I am now in my 40's, and realizing that where my folks are--in their 60's--is not as far away as I once believed....when I was 20, 30 seemed like forever away, as did 40. Now at 41, I am keenly aware of how quickly time flies. And if I ever forget, I have only to look at my children...
10 years ago I was going through the painful but necessary process of divorcing my first husband, the father of my two sons.....my husband now was in the process of finding out information that would lead to his eventual divorce from his first wife, the mother of his two daughters......when we met, several months after both divorces were final, our children were 9,7, and 5. They are now 18 (and a high school graduate), 16 (jr and soph in HS) and 14 (freshman).
We also have a 7 yr old daughter. Yes time flies very swiftly.....
And these same children look at us when we stop for a moment or two to mourn the passing of those we remember from our childhood...."Who?" is the question we get. They don't know who these people are.....and it is sad also that there are so few now who have the talent to take their places.
We have lost a lot of truly great actors/actresses and public figures in the last few years, and maybe it is because I am now in my 40's, and realizing that where my folks are--in their 60's--is not as far away as I once believed....when I was 20, 30 seemed like forever away, as did 40. Now at 41, I am keenly aware of how quickly time flies. And if I ever forget, I have only to look at my children...
10 years ago I was going through the painful but necessary process of divorcing my first husband, the father of my two sons.....my husband now was in the process of finding out information that would lead to his eventual divorce from his first wife, the mother of his two daughters......when we met, several months after both divorces were final, our children were 9,7, and 5. They are now 18 (and a high school graduate), 16 (jr and soph in HS) and 14 (freshman).
We also have a 7 yr old daughter. Yes time flies very swiftly.....
And these same children look at us when we stop for a moment or two to mourn the passing of those we remember from our childhood...."Who?" is the question we get. They don't know who these people are.....and it is sad also that there are so few now who have the talent to take their places.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Business as usual in DC
In case nobody saw the morning news....Obama signed the pork filled stimulus bill after declaring he would veto any bill like that, that it was not the time for earmarks.......
So much for change.......
But also as usual the morning news shows are trying to act like they are questioning what he did, but they are doing it so softly, apparently it is business as usual there too..
If it had been Bush, he would have been skewered, instead of gently and apologetically fileted....
Nice to know some things never CHANGE......
So much for change.......
But also as usual the morning news shows are trying to act like they are questioning what he did, but they are doing it so softly, apparently it is business as usual there too..
If it had been Bush, he would have been skewered, instead of gently and apologetically fileted....
Nice to know some things never CHANGE......
Thursday, March 05, 2009
bad barbie......
So our lovely state has a legislator who has nothing else on his plate to deal with, and all the time in the world to plot how to screw up little girls' playtime. Not like there is an economic crisis, companies shutting down down all over the state, including a major aluminum manufacturer right here in my own part of the state. But this twit's priority is to outlaw the Barbie doll in this state.....
Oh please.
Yes Barbie is not realistically shaped anything like a real woman. Never has been. Not at any point in the last 50 years of its existence. It's a doll. Get over it. It's a toy. How many other kids toys have you seen that are completely based on reality? Anybody watch cartoons in the last 15 years and see the merchandise from them? Please.
Barbie is damaging to little girls self esteems and gives them a false body image to live up to....that's the "logic" behind this attack on an American icon. Get a grip...What is more damaging----and I speak as the parent of a 7 yr old girl who loves her barbies----is the constant barrage of super skinny people touting all kinds of diet systems because apparently unless you are a size 2 or less, you are horrible and disgusting and fat and sloppy and lazy.......
Bullshit.......
Sorry, but when I had to have a talk with my daughter at the age of 5 to talk about the fact that she is not even close to being fat.....something is wrong with this society's priorities.....I personally do not give a rat's rear end for most of the crap coming from Hollywood and Madison Avenue ad agencies......but I do care deeply about the damage their images can cause in a growing child. And Shellie did not get this from her barbie dolls, but from watching the commercials that are played in between segments of KIDS SHOWS!!!!!!! What the heck do we need a Nutrisystem commercial during Hannah Montana or Spongebob?
Not to mention the numbers of parents who place their kids on diets to keep them from getting "fat", when actually feeding them once in a while would make them look a little healthier. Now I have nothing against eating healthier---Lord knows we all could benefit from that---now if I can just bring myself to do so when I go to the store later----but when you have grade schoolers who cannot touch a french fry because Mommy said they would get fat if they did, well......do I really need to publish my thoughts?
I know the pitfalls of being overweight....I have been for years, and have a couple of health problems I could associate with it----my blood pressure and my weakening leg joints for a couple.I am working on it. And very slowly it is coming off, according to the scale, if not my clothes. But I don't walk around wishing I was shaped like Barbie, nor do I deny myself a cookie if I want one. Nor do I tell my kids they are too fat or too skinny....I try to give them a positive self image and if any fingers ever get pointed, believe me, they get pointed back at myself by me.
Parents need to quit focusing on the superficiality of the Barbie issue and the shallowness of what one looks like, and focus on keeping their kids healthy, both physically and mentally and emotionally, instead of scarring them because they do not live up to an impossible ideal.
And stupid legislators need to get off their rears and focus on what is really wrong that needs dealt with instead of finding yet another way to make themselves, and this state, look foolish...
Oh please.
Yes Barbie is not realistically shaped anything like a real woman. Never has been. Not at any point in the last 50 years of its existence. It's a doll. Get over it. It's a toy. How many other kids toys have you seen that are completely based on reality? Anybody watch cartoons in the last 15 years and see the merchandise from them? Please.
Barbie is damaging to little girls self esteems and gives them a false body image to live up to....that's the "logic" behind this attack on an American icon. Get a grip...What is more damaging----and I speak as the parent of a 7 yr old girl who loves her barbies----is the constant barrage of super skinny people touting all kinds of diet systems because apparently unless you are a size 2 or less, you are horrible and disgusting and fat and sloppy and lazy.......
Bullshit.......
Sorry, but when I had to have a talk with my daughter at the age of 5 to talk about the fact that she is not even close to being fat.....something is wrong with this society's priorities.....I personally do not give a rat's rear end for most of the crap coming from Hollywood and Madison Avenue ad agencies......but I do care deeply about the damage their images can cause in a growing child. And Shellie did not get this from her barbie dolls, but from watching the commercials that are played in between segments of KIDS SHOWS!!!!!!! What the heck do we need a Nutrisystem commercial during Hannah Montana or Spongebob?
Not to mention the numbers of parents who place their kids on diets to keep them from getting "fat", when actually feeding them once in a while would make them look a little healthier. Now I have nothing against eating healthier---Lord knows we all could benefit from that---now if I can just bring myself to do so when I go to the store later----but when you have grade schoolers who cannot touch a french fry because Mommy said they would get fat if they did, well......do I really need to publish my thoughts?
I know the pitfalls of being overweight....I have been for years, and have a couple of health problems I could associate with it----my blood pressure and my weakening leg joints for a couple.I am working on it. And very slowly it is coming off, according to the scale, if not my clothes. But I don't walk around wishing I was shaped like Barbie, nor do I deny myself a cookie if I want one. Nor do I tell my kids they are too fat or too skinny....I try to give them a positive self image and if any fingers ever get pointed, believe me, they get pointed back at myself by me.
Parents need to quit focusing on the superficiality of the Barbie issue and the shallowness of what one looks like, and focus on keeping their kids healthy, both physically and mentally and emotionally, instead of scarring them because they do not live up to an impossible ideal.
And stupid legislators need to get off their rears and focus on what is really wrong that needs dealt with instead of finding yet another way to make themselves, and this state, look foolish...
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
the word for today is.....
SNAFU..........in case you are brain dead, it stands for "situation normal, all "flubbed" up."
Hey trying to be a little nice here---it attempts to be a family blog.......
So the WV legislature is tackling, again, the problem of trying to get the county school systems to adhere to the required number of instructional days. Problem number one, we get snow and ice around here in the winter. Some years not so much, but the last couple of years or so, when it has hit, it has hit. Problem number two, school, by law, cannot begin prior to August 26th, nor end later than June 8th or 9th. Problem number three is we have a bunch of dumbasses in the legislature---hey I did NOT vote for them--you know my philosophy, if in office, vote them out......
The way I see it is we can get those 180 instructional days real easy......cut out the doggone teacher in service days----that gets you about 5 or 6 days easily. Next take away the OSE---or outside school environment days----which are just basically holidays for teachers and students with no actual purpose to them ........
When my generation was in school----I graduated HS in 1985----teachers knew going into the system that they would be "underpaid" for the amount of work they had to do. Granted, then they had to actually work. They had to grade papers and manually enter them into a gradebook, not some stupid computer program which they can then blame for not running correctly, thereby not giving the student the correct grade---been there done that. If they could not get it done on their planning periods or whatever, then teacher had homework too. A teacher actually had to deal with parents face to face, as well as maintain discipline in the classroom. Ah the days of corporal punishment. Not that I want a return to paddling, but maintaining the county codes of behavior would be nice, instead of a teacher or principal deciding on a whim that such and such behavior is no longer acceptable in one group of students but perfectly permissable in another...but I digress......
Now teachers complain that they are very underpaid, but they do less work.....go figure........
This is just the start of the ranting, folks........I'm getting my groove back on....must be the smell of rancid legislators..........
Hey trying to be a little nice here---it attempts to be a family blog.......
So the WV legislature is tackling, again, the problem of trying to get the county school systems to adhere to the required number of instructional days. Problem number one, we get snow and ice around here in the winter. Some years not so much, but the last couple of years or so, when it has hit, it has hit. Problem number two, school, by law, cannot begin prior to August 26th, nor end later than June 8th or 9th. Problem number three is we have a bunch of dumbasses in the legislature---hey I did NOT vote for them--you know my philosophy, if in office, vote them out......
The way I see it is we can get those 180 instructional days real easy......cut out the doggone teacher in service days----that gets you about 5 or 6 days easily. Next take away the OSE---or outside school environment days----which are just basically holidays for teachers and students with no actual purpose to them ........
When my generation was in school----I graduated HS in 1985----teachers knew going into the system that they would be "underpaid" for the amount of work they had to do. Granted, then they had to actually work. They had to grade papers and manually enter them into a gradebook, not some stupid computer program which they can then blame for not running correctly, thereby not giving the student the correct grade---been there done that. If they could not get it done on their planning periods or whatever, then teacher had homework too. A teacher actually had to deal with parents face to face, as well as maintain discipline in the classroom. Ah the days of corporal punishment. Not that I want a return to paddling, but maintaining the county codes of behavior would be nice, instead of a teacher or principal deciding on a whim that such and such behavior is no longer acceptable in one group of students but perfectly permissable in another...but I digress......
Now teachers complain that they are very underpaid, but they do less work.....go figure........
This is just the start of the ranting, folks........I'm getting my groove back on....must be the smell of rancid legislators..........
Sunday, February 01, 2009
fun week....
Ok so it snowed.Big whoop. Then it rained, then it iced, causing trees and power lines to snap. Ok fine. so now my complaint----it is freaking cold to not have any electric....believe me I know----it went out Tuesday night and did not come back on till Wednesday night.... very good----mom and dad did not have power until Friday, and still do not have phone service.....then it went out again here Friday night---and let's talk cold---outside it was like 10 degrees---our thermostat in the house did not even register a temp. Thank God for the fireplace and the fact that we had not put anything away from the earlier outage except for putting the mattresses back on the beds so the living room was usable again. All the blankets were still over the windows, the wood box inside still full, and the coleman stove still within reach, as well as all the flashlight--plus I had laid in an extra large supply of batteries.
It came back on last night, just as we pulled back in from BK, where we had opted to go instead of staying in this frigid house trying to cook anything. You should have heard the cries of joy from the kids alone as we pulled up our road watching the lights go on before our eyes, house after house......the house warmed up enough for the boys to sleep in their own rooms--although Shellie and I opted for the mattresses by the fireplace for one more night, and Ron opted for the couch. Next time he gets the mattress and I get the couch....my back hates me now......
The good thing is it was so cold in the rest of the house when the power was out that I don't think we lost anything in the fridge or freezer this time. Not that we had a heck of a lot, but Ron had just stopped Friday afternoon to get milk and juice to replace ours from the earlier outage when it went off again........
I have to give the power company some credit.....everyone I spoke to concerning a time frame for getting it back on was very friendly and answered what they could the best they could. And I am sure they were inundated with similiar calls and not all as friendly as mine--although I have to admit, the longer each dragged on, the less friendly I felt, but it really does no good to scream and cuss someone who is just in a call center and only has the info she/he is given. So I stayed pleasant--after all, my goal was to gain info, not piss someone else off. And I know these crews worked their butts off--and froze them off too---crews from out of state even came in to help, working double shifts and all that. Kudos to them for doing what they could to restore power as soon as they could, even if it seemed like an awful long time to those of us in the dark and cold.
But I also have to lay some blame------these same utility companies that are out working to restore service to thousands are also to blame for the situation..Ok no one can predict what the weather is actually going to do---even though our poor college degreed meteorologists attempt to do so......so who knew that the snow and ice would hit like that and do such damage? Ummmm, most of us who drive rt 10 every day and see the trees laying across the lines and have repeatedly asked these same companies to take care of them, only to be told that it is CHEAPER to wait until the lines are down to do so. That's the answer my parents got when they questioned the phone company about it over the past months, and the answer their neighbors apparently got when they made the same inquiries. Cheaper???? How so??? Hire a tree service to take care of the problem before it starts vs waiting until there is a major problem and then reacting by having to do it then, plus bring others on top of that to fix it. Hmmmm, seems to me the best way to save the company money is to be----here is the buzzword-----PROactive.....
Just my lil' ol' opinion......now I am going to take a bath and get ready to go to the store so we can eat dinner tonight.....may be taking a chance, but gotta eat......
Th
It came back on last night, just as we pulled back in from BK, where we had opted to go instead of staying in this frigid house trying to cook anything. You should have heard the cries of joy from the kids alone as we pulled up our road watching the lights go on before our eyes, house after house......the house warmed up enough for the boys to sleep in their own rooms--although Shellie and I opted for the mattresses by the fireplace for one more night, and Ron opted for the couch. Next time he gets the mattress and I get the couch....my back hates me now......
The good thing is it was so cold in the rest of the house when the power was out that I don't think we lost anything in the fridge or freezer this time. Not that we had a heck of a lot, but Ron had just stopped Friday afternoon to get milk and juice to replace ours from the earlier outage when it went off again........
I have to give the power company some credit.....everyone I spoke to concerning a time frame for getting it back on was very friendly and answered what they could the best they could. And I am sure they were inundated with similiar calls and not all as friendly as mine--although I have to admit, the longer each dragged on, the less friendly I felt, but it really does no good to scream and cuss someone who is just in a call center and only has the info she/he is given. So I stayed pleasant--after all, my goal was to gain info, not piss someone else off. And I know these crews worked their butts off--and froze them off too---crews from out of state even came in to help, working double shifts and all that. Kudos to them for doing what they could to restore power as soon as they could, even if it seemed like an awful long time to those of us in the dark and cold.
But I also have to lay some blame------these same utility companies that are out working to restore service to thousands are also to blame for the situation..Ok no one can predict what the weather is actually going to do---even though our poor college degreed meteorologists attempt to do so......so who knew that the snow and ice would hit like that and do such damage? Ummmm, most of us who drive rt 10 every day and see the trees laying across the lines and have repeatedly asked these same companies to take care of them, only to be told that it is CHEAPER to wait until the lines are down to do so. That's the answer my parents got when they questioned the phone company about it over the past months, and the answer their neighbors apparently got when they made the same inquiries. Cheaper???? How so??? Hire a tree service to take care of the problem before it starts vs waiting until there is a major problem and then reacting by having to do it then, plus bring others on top of that to fix it. Hmmmm, seems to me the best way to save the company money is to be----here is the buzzword-----PROactive.....
Just my lil' ol' opinion......now I am going to take a bath and get ready to go to the store so we can eat dinner tonight.....may be taking a chance, but gotta eat......
Th
Sunday, January 25, 2009
the college search begins......
And as all who know me well know, I have 3 in high school at the moment....a junior, a sophomore, and a freshman....the junior, my oldest son Chris, is ramping up his college search.....His dad, who I divorced for various reasons years ago, is being quite adamant about him not attending the local university. Why I can't fathom, for it is where he attended. And the school has greatly improved even since then.......but that's ok, as I have yet to see or hear of Dad cutting a check for the tuition anywhere......But after all, it will be Chris' choice when all is said and done---not Dad's or mine....Chris is the one who will have to shoulder the burden of whatever his decision is and the financial ones as well.......as adamant as his dad is against the local school, is also how I feel about him going out of state, or to the other well known state school at the other end of the state. So I guess we need to put our issues out of the way and let Chris make up his mind about his future, which after all is his, not ours.......
At any rate, he is quite interested in a couple of schools, most notably Waynesburg, south of Pittsburgh......He is receiving course catalogs and flyers and phone calls several times a week in various combinations......He should be able to take his talents and intelligence anywhere he wants. He has a cumulative 3.8 + GPA, and that should count for something......
Then we have Ben, the freshman, who is still thinking about what he wants to do--and still has the time to do so.....and Kate, the sophomore, who at this point is not college material, but hopefully can parlay her interests and talents into something she enjoys doing that will support her.. We have talked with her about doing VoTech next year, for commercial arts or something similar, to get her foot in the door of a career or even to help her toward college. She loves art, and is very talented at drawing and stuff, so hopefully.....
At any rate, he is quite interested in a couple of schools, most notably Waynesburg, south of Pittsburgh......He is receiving course catalogs and flyers and phone calls several times a week in various combinations......He should be able to take his talents and intelligence anywhere he wants. He has a cumulative 3.8 + GPA, and that should count for something......
Then we have Ben, the freshman, who is still thinking about what he wants to do--and still has the time to do so.....and Kate, the sophomore, who at this point is not college material, but hopefully can parlay her interests and talents into something she enjoys doing that will support her.. We have talked with her about doing VoTech next year, for commercial arts or something similar, to get her foot in the door of a career or even to help her toward college. She loves art, and is very talented at drawing and stuff, so hopefully.....
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