DISCLAIMER: If any of your children are named any of the names I said we don't like in this post, I do apologize! I am sure your child is a wonderful example of that name and if I knew them personally I'd probably love the name and want to use it! ;)
OK, so we had decided to name the baby Gemma Veronica. It was all decided and we've been telling people that is the name [with some much less than enthusiastic responses too :( ].
Now I have decided that I don't really like the name Gemma.
This is just throwing everyone up in an uproar and I don't know why I feel this way really - I started reading the biography of St. Gemma and .. I hesitate to say this ... but I don't really like her much! Isn't that awful? But she's one of those Saints apparently who was "perfect" from birth and never struggled with sin or did anything wrong. I just ... I can't relate to that, you know? How hard is it to be a Saint if you never have to struggle with sin?!!!
DH says we *should* name the baby after her for sure then, because our children's personalities have been *eerily* like those of the Saints we dedicate them to and name them after!!! LOL! He says we could use a "perfect" child after having our little spit fire Angelica - who is JUST LIKE Mother Angelica - God bless her! LOL! [I know Mother Angelica is not yet a saint and is still living, but she's a great example of holiness and our "Angelica Helena's" actual patron Saint is St. Faustina - Helena Kowalska - who was also a spirited, though holy, child].
And now I'm all worried St. Gemma is gonna be angry with me, even though I know Saints aren't prideful & spiteful like that LOL!
I've also just been getting *really* negative responses about the name - nobody has said "Oh, I just love that" and many people are saying the opposite. I know it is my baby, but I don't want to name her something people hate either. And then I looked it up on the SS website and it isn't even in the top 1000 names - they have no record of it, which means it is a pretty "out there" name... I don't want her in the top 10 of names, but I don't want her having a "weirdo" name either.... and several people have said that it sounds like the name "Jenna", which I despise with great passion. LOL!
We really can't agree on any name now. We have the guidelines set that all of our daughters have been named after Saints/holy people and all their names end in "a". That narrows the field quite a lot - maybe we wouldn't have done this if we'd known we'd have FIVE daughters, but we don't want to change it now and have this one daughter be completely different from her sisters.
I really like "Francesca" but my husband doesn't love it and Monkey1 hates it. I am thinking of giving in on "Veronica" as the first name, but my mom has been VERY negative and opinionated on that name - she despises it. [It kind of makes me annoyed that she's so opinionated about what we name our kids actually - SHE already got to name her stinking kids! LOL!]
"Katerina" has been thrown out [for St. Catherine of Siena] and I like that but again, not sure how "weird" it is. We all really like "Juliana" but we already have a "Julia" in the family, so we don't feel "allowed" to use that one.
Monkey1 and I like "Josephina" but we don't really like the english pronunciation.... and DH doesn't like it pronounced either way LOL!
Everyone has decided they don't really want "Magdalena".
DH wants "Michaela" but I despise that name too - I really can't stand it, though I love the name "Michael" so this makes no sense to my DH. I'd consider "Raphaela" but he won't. LOL!
ARGH.
I feel all in a panic now because we will probably be having this baby in the next 9-11 weeks - we need a name!
Also, I am feeling almost superstitious about "changing" the name - I've even been praying for the baby using the name "Gemma". My grandmother always said that if you changed a dog's name it would die - and I know that is A) not true and B) superstitious and trusting to other things besides the Lord, but it is still scaring me for some reason.
Ideas? Suggestions?
Oh, and here are the names we've already used or that family members have used or that multiple friends have used to the point that we aren't able to use these:
Maria
Julia
Cecilia
Teresa
Helena
Samantha
Angelica
Isabella
Gabriella
Christina
Gianna
Clara
Also, these are the Saint "a" names that DH has vetoed outright:
Perpetua
Faustina
Philomena
Monday, June 30, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Dogs, Chickens, and Hateful Neighbors
Well, what a week I've had.
I posted about the lady behind us running a bird rescue and taking our two crippled chicks. Her sister lives next door to her and also has chickens.
We've had an ongoing problem with the dogs that I have also posted about before - trying [and succeeding once] to kill chickens. I've been working *really* hard with them to try to teach them not to do this. They know all their "regular" obedience, and I thought after 6 months of work that I was making headway on "desensitizing" them to the chickens and teaching them that the chickens are NOT for them. I was wrong.
We are always very careful to put the dogs inside in their crates when we are feeding and watering the chickens.
Well, Monday, one of the 8 week old chicks slipped out while we were watering them and we didn't realize it - she must have been hiding in some brush because we check every time after we water them. A few minutes later we let the dogs out [once we *thought* the chickens were secure in their run - a 6 foot chain link run]. The lab mix found the hiding chicken and was chasing her - I saw him and was able to catch her before he did and put her up safe, but I realized we had a problem still...
Then yesterday afternoon I was in the living room reading to the kids and I get this angry knock at our door. It was the sister of the bird rescue woman behind us and she said "Your dogs have your chickens in their mouths. Maybe you should get back there and do something about that!!". I can't even explain how MEAN she was about it - she was so hateful to me - you would think I had been back there throwing the chicks to the dogs to eat or something. :( :(
Well, that upset me AND the kids horribly and we ran to the backyard to find that the stupid collie had gotten one of the 3 week olds - who were in another enclosure altogether and look secure to me still - I can't figure out how she did it. I found her *chewing* on the poor little thing, torturing it - she was enjoying torturing it. I wrestled with her to get the chick out of her mouth and then the stinking lab mix ran over and took it and ran with it while I was trying to keep the collie off [of course this happened while my husband was at work and no one could help me!].
AMAZINGLY, the chick survived. It was pretty pathetic looking - the collie ate most of its feathers off - but after a couple of hours it perked right up and now it is strutting around the brooder box like nothing happened [it just LOOKS weird and kinda plucked and chewed up].
We have decided the dogs have to go - I just can't stand an animal that tortures other animals for fun. Killing something to eat is one thing, torturing something because you like the sound of it crying is something totally different.
And despite our precautions [and spending several HUNDRED dollars at this point buying MDF to re-enforce the hen house the dog chewed through, a 6 foot dog proof fence for the run, etc to try to keep the dogs away from the chickens], we are apparently unable to keep the dogs away from the chickens. And I think it is obvious that "training" is not going to work - I'm not going to undo their natural prey drive.
I can't stand to lose another chicken and I never want to pull a poor chewed up baby out of a dog's mouth again. *sigh*
We are returning our dogs to the Rescues where we adopted them if they will take them back. If not, I don't know what we will do.
I'm really upset about the whole thing. I really love the lab mix [the collie is a completely different matter of course...]. I don't think it is responsible to keep the dogs and the chickens at this point - at some point, another chicken is going to die. And while I have a responsibility to the dogs, I *also* have a responsibility to my chickens to keep them safe and to my family to be financially responsible and to realize when I have wasted enough money on something [like these dogs]. Personally, I don't think a dog is more valuable than the dozen or more chickens he or she might kill for fun..though I know others might disagree. But, in all honesty, chickens are a FAR more useful animal than any dog [except that rare prodigy dog maybe LOL!].
The kids are all upset, but I gave them the choice that we could keep the chickens or the dogs but not both, and I explained why. They decided to keep the chickens [which I think was smart]. I can't imagine HOW MUCH MORE traumatic this would have been if it was one of their 6 pet hens that the dogs got...fortunately it was "just" one of the unnamed babies.
I am also upset [and frankly, wigged out] by the horrible neighbor behind us. The woman was SO MEAN to me - I am honestly not used to people speaking to me like that or being so hateful - I can't remember the last time someone spoke to me in such a manner. It really hurt my feelings!
And it bothers me a LOT that she is obviously spying on us [it was kind of odd that they knew we had a crippled chicken anyway - we have a 6 foot privacy fence around our whole back yard, they had to go to some pretty serious effort to see that....]. BUT, yesterday, the collie had a 3 week old chick in its mouth - *I* couldn't even see what it was when I first came out [it is about the size of a tennis ball] - for her to have been spying THAT closely to see what the dog had... I don't know, it just gives me the willies.
My husband said that he has heard her back there before making really mean, nasty comments about us - I have let my 3yo go into the backyard before partially or totally naked because I didn't believe anyone could see her AND it was one of those battles I just chose not to fight. [I never let her go out the front door like that -except that one time she ran away LOL! and I certainly don't take her out in public like that!]. She was in the privacy of our own backyard. But my DH said this woman was making really loud, rude comments about my child being back there without clothes on and apparently she thinks we are some sort of horrible, neglectful parents who don't care for our children. :( :(
That really bothered me - I mean, I guess all homeschoolers are a little afraid someone will call DFACS on them, just by virtue of being homeschoolers. But to know we have a neighbor who is A) that nosey and is constantly spying on us THROUGH the privacy fence and B) who is so mean and nasty that she MIGHT just call DFACS just to be horrid... gosh, it makes me feel so uncomfortable. Like, I want to sell the house and move away from her uncomfortable.
ugh.
So, that was my week so far. Hope yours has been better!!!!
I posted about the lady behind us running a bird rescue and taking our two crippled chicks. Her sister lives next door to her and also has chickens.
We've had an ongoing problem with the dogs that I have also posted about before - trying [and succeeding once] to kill chickens. I've been working *really* hard with them to try to teach them not to do this. They know all their "regular" obedience, and I thought after 6 months of work that I was making headway on "desensitizing" them to the chickens and teaching them that the chickens are NOT for them. I was wrong.
We are always very careful to put the dogs inside in their crates when we are feeding and watering the chickens.
Well, Monday, one of the 8 week old chicks slipped out while we were watering them and we didn't realize it - she must have been hiding in some brush because we check every time after we water them. A few minutes later we let the dogs out [once we *thought* the chickens were secure in their run - a 6 foot chain link run]. The lab mix found the hiding chicken and was chasing her - I saw him and was able to catch her before he did and put her up safe, but I realized we had a problem still...
Then yesterday afternoon I was in the living room reading to the kids and I get this angry knock at our door. It was the sister of the bird rescue woman behind us and she said "Your dogs have your chickens in their mouths. Maybe you should get back there and do something about that!!". I can't even explain how MEAN she was about it - she was so hateful to me - you would think I had been back there throwing the chicks to the dogs to eat or something. :( :(
Well, that upset me AND the kids horribly and we ran to the backyard to find that the stupid collie had gotten one of the 3 week olds - who were in another enclosure altogether and look secure to me still - I can't figure out how she did it. I found her *chewing* on the poor little thing, torturing it - she was enjoying torturing it. I wrestled with her to get the chick out of her mouth and then the stinking lab mix ran over and took it and ran with it while I was trying to keep the collie off [of course this happened while my husband was at work and no one could help me!].
AMAZINGLY, the chick survived. It was pretty pathetic looking - the collie ate most of its feathers off - but after a couple of hours it perked right up and now it is strutting around the brooder box like nothing happened [it just LOOKS weird and kinda plucked and chewed up].
We have decided the dogs have to go - I just can't stand an animal that tortures other animals for fun. Killing something to eat is one thing, torturing something because you like the sound of it crying is something totally different.
And despite our precautions [and spending several HUNDRED dollars at this point buying MDF to re-enforce the hen house the dog chewed through, a 6 foot dog proof fence for the run, etc to try to keep the dogs away from the chickens], we are apparently unable to keep the dogs away from the chickens. And I think it is obvious that "training" is not going to work - I'm not going to undo their natural prey drive.
I can't stand to lose another chicken and I never want to pull a poor chewed up baby out of a dog's mouth again. *sigh*
We are returning our dogs to the Rescues where we adopted them if they will take them back. If not, I don't know what we will do.
I'm really upset about the whole thing. I really love the lab mix [the collie is a completely different matter of course...]. I don't think it is responsible to keep the dogs and the chickens at this point - at some point, another chicken is going to die. And while I have a responsibility to the dogs, I *also* have a responsibility to my chickens to keep them safe and to my family to be financially responsible and to realize when I have wasted enough money on something [like these dogs]. Personally, I don't think a dog is more valuable than the dozen or more chickens he or she might kill for fun..though I know others might disagree. But, in all honesty, chickens are a FAR more useful animal than any dog [except that rare prodigy dog maybe LOL!].
The kids are all upset, but I gave them the choice that we could keep the chickens or the dogs but not both, and I explained why. They decided to keep the chickens [which I think was smart]. I can't imagine HOW MUCH MORE traumatic this would have been if it was one of their 6 pet hens that the dogs got...fortunately it was "just" one of the unnamed babies.
I am also upset [and frankly, wigged out] by the horrible neighbor behind us. The woman was SO MEAN to me - I am honestly not used to people speaking to me like that or being so hateful - I can't remember the last time someone spoke to me in such a manner. It really hurt my feelings!
And it bothers me a LOT that she is obviously spying on us [it was kind of odd that they knew we had a crippled chicken anyway - we have a 6 foot privacy fence around our whole back yard, they had to go to some pretty serious effort to see that....]. BUT, yesterday, the collie had a 3 week old chick in its mouth - *I* couldn't even see what it was when I first came out [it is about the size of a tennis ball] - for her to have been spying THAT closely to see what the dog had... I don't know, it just gives me the willies.
My husband said that he has heard her back there before making really mean, nasty comments about us - I have let my 3yo go into the backyard before partially or totally naked because I didn't believe anyone could see her AND it was one of those battles I just chose not to fight. [I never let her go out the front door like that -except that one time she ran away LOL! and I certainly don't take her out in public like that!]. She was in the privacy of our own backyard. But my DH said this woman was making really loud, rude comments about my child being back there without clothes on and apparently she thinks we are some sort of horrible, neglectful parents who don't care for our children. :( :(
That really bothered me - I mean, I guess all homeschoolers are a little afraid someone will call DFACS on them, just by virtue of being homeschoolers. But to know we have a neighbor who is A) that nosey and is constantly spying on us THROUGH the privacy fence and B) who is so mean and nasty that she MIGHT just call DFACS just to be horrid... gosh, it makes me feel so uncomfortable. Like, I want to sell the house and move away from her uncomfortable.
ugh.
So, that was my week so far. Hope yours has been better!!!!
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Interesting Article About Homeschooling
Below I am copying an article that has been going around my homeschool lists this week. I thought it was pretty interesting. Over all I agree with the premise, although I am *never* that "serene woman" at the grocery store. LOL!
Mon Jun 16, 2008 4:50 pm (PDT)
*SONNY SCOTT*
6/8/2008 9:39:01 AM
Daily Journal
You see them at the grocery, or in a discount store.
It's a big family by today's standards - "just like stair steps," as the
old folks say. Freshly scrubbed boys with neatly trimmed hair and girls
with braids, in clean but unfashionable clothes follow mom through the
store as she fills her no-frills shopping list.
There's no begging for gimcracks, no fretting, and no threats from mom.
The older watch the younger, freeing mom to go peacefully about her task.
You are looking at some of the estimated 2 million children being home
schooled in the U.S., and the number is growing. Their reputation for
academic achievement has caused colleges to begin aggressively
recruiting them. Savings to the taxpayers in instructional costs are
conservatively estimated at $4 billion, and some place the figure as
high as $9 billion. When you consider that these families pay taxes to
support public schools, but demand nothing from them, it seems quite a
deal for the public.
Home schooling parents are usually better educated than the norm, and
are more likely to attend worship services. Their motives are many and
varied. Some fear contagion from the anti-clericalism, coarse speech,
suggestive behavior and hedonistic values that characterize secular
schools. Others are concerned for their children's safety. Some want
their children to be challenged beyond the minimal competencies of the
public schools. Concern for a theistic world view largely permeates the
movement.
Indications are that home schooling is working well for the kids, and
the parents are pleased with their choice, but the practice is coming
under increasing suspicion, and even official attack, as in California.
Why do we hate (or at least distrust) these people so much?
Methinks American middle-class people are uncomfortable around the home
schooled for the same reason the alcoholic is uneasy around the teetotaler.
Their very existence represents a rejection of our values, and an
indictment of our lifestyles. Those families are willing to render unto
Caesar the things that Caesar's be, but they draw the line at their
children. Those of us who have put our trust in the secular state (and
effectively surrendered our children to it) recognize this act of
defiance as a rejection of our values, and we reject them in return.
Just as the jealous Chaldeans schemed to bring the wrath of the king
upon the Hebrew eunuchs, we are happy to sic the state's bureaucrats on
these "trouble makers." Their implicit rejection of America's most
venerated idol, Materialism, (a.k.a. "Individualism") spurs us to heat
the furnace and feed the lions.
Young families must make the decision: Will junior go to day care and
day school, or will mom stay home and raise him? The rationalizations
begin. "A family just can't make it on one income." (Our parents did.)
"It just costs so much to raise a child nowadays." (Yeah, if you buy
brand-name clothing, pre-prepared food, join every club and activity,
and spend half the cost of a house on the daughter's wedding, it does.)
And so, the decision is made. We give up the bulk of our waking hours
with our children, as well as the formation of their minds,
philosophies, and attitudes, to strangers. We compensate by getting a
boat to take them to the river, a van to carry them to Little League, a
2,800-square-foot house, an ATV, a zero-turn Cub Cadet, and a fund to
finance a brand-name college education. And most significantly, we claim
"our right" to pursue a career for our own
"self-fulfillment."
Deep down, however, we know that our generation has eaten its seed corn.
We lack the discipline and the vision to deny ourselves in the hope of
something enduring and worthy for our posterity. We are tired from
working extra jobs, and the looming depression threatens our 401k's.
Credit cards are nearly maxed, and it costs a $100 to fuel the Suburban.
Now the kid is raising hell again, demanding the latest Play Station as
his price for doing his school work ... and there goes that modest young
woman in the home-made dress with her four bright-eyed, well-behaved
home-schooled children in tow. Wouldn't you just love to wipe that
serene look right off her smug face?
Is it any wonder we hate her so?
Sonny Scott a community columnist, lives on Sparta Road in Chickasaw County and his e-mail address is sonnyscott@yahoo.com.
Mon Jun 16, 2008 4:50 pm (PDT)
*SONNY SCOTT*
6/8/2008 9:39:01 AM
Daily Journal
You see them at the grocery, or in a discount store.
It's a big family by today's standards - "just like stair steps," as the
old folks say. Freshly scrubbed boys with neatly trimmed hair and girls
with braids, in clean but unfashionable clothes follow mom through the
store as she fills her no-frills shopping list.
There's no begging for gimcracks, no fretting, and no threats from mom.
The older watch the younger, freeing mom to go peacefully about her task.
You are looking at some of the estimated 2 million children being home
schooled in the U.S., and the number is growing. Their reputation for
academic achievement has caused colleges to begin aggressively
recruiting them. Savings to the taxpayers in instructional costs are
conservatively estimated at $4 billion, and some place the figure as
high as $9 billion. When you consider that these families pay taxes to
support public schools, but demand nothing from them, it seems quite a
deal for the public.
Home schooling parents are usually better educated than the norm, and
are more likely to attend worship services. Their motives are many and
varied. Some fear contagion from the anti-clericalism, coarse speech,
suggestive behavior and hedonistic values that characterize secular
schools. Others are concerned for their children's safety. Some want
their children to be challenged beyond the minimal competencies of the
public schools. Concern for a theistic world view largely permeates the
movement.
Indications are that home schooling is working well for the kids, and
the parents are pleased with their choice, but the practice is coming
under increasing suspicion, and even official attack, as in California.
Why do we hate (or at least distrust) these people so much?
Methinks American middle-class people are uncomfortable around the home
schooled for the same reason the alcoholic is uneasy around the teetotaler.
Their very existence represents a rejection of our values, and an
indictment of our lifestyles. Those families are willing to render unto
Caesar the things that Caesar's be, but they draw the line at their
children. Those of us who have put our trust in the secular state (and
effectively surrendered our children to it) recognize this act of
defiance as a rejection of our values, and we reject them in return.
Just as the jealous Chaldeans schemed to bring the wrath of the king
upon the Hebrew eunuchs, we are happy to sic the state's bureaucrats on
these "trouble makers." Their implicit rejection of America's most
venerated idol, Materialism, (a.k.a. "Individualism") spurs us to heat
the furnace and feed the lions.
Young families must make the decision: Will junior go to day care and
day school, or will mom stay home and raise him? The rationalizations
begin. "A family just can't make it on one income." (Our parents did.)
"It just costs so much to raise a child nowadays." (Yeah, if you buy
brand-name clothing, pre-prepared food, join every club and activity,
and spend half the cost of a house on the daughter's wedding, it does.)
And so, the decision is made. We give up the bulk of our waking hours
with our children, as well as the formation of their minds,
philosophies, and attitudes, to strangers. We compensate by getting a
boat to take them to the river, a van to carry them to Little League, a
2,800-square-foot house, an ATV, a zero-turn Cub Cadet, and a fund to
finance a brand-name college education. And most significantly, we claim
"our right" to pursue a career for our own
"self-fulfillment."
Deep down, however, we know that our generation has eaten its seed corn.
We lack the discipline and the vision to deny ourselves in the hope of
something enduring and worthy for our posterity. We are tired from
working extra jobs, and the looming depression threatens our 401k's.
Credit cards are nearly maxed, and it costs a $100 to fuel the Suburban.
Now the kid is raising hell again, demanding the latest Play Station as
his price for doing his school work ... and there goes that modest young
woman in the home-made dress with her four bright-eyed, well-behaved
home-schooled children in tow. Wouldn't you just love to wipe that
serene look right off her smug face?
Is it any wonder we hate her so?
Sonny Scott a community columnist, lives on Sparta Road in Chickasaw County and his e-mail address is sonnyscott@yahoo.com.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Chillin With The Chickens
So, we bought a second hand dog run off of Craigslist and turned it into a chicken run for our 8 week old chickens this week.
It has been really fun watching the chickens run around in there!
You can see the kids here hanging out watching the chicks:
Speaking of which, it is INSANE how fast chickens grow up! It is hard to believe that in just 8 weeks, this:
Has turned in to this:
Isn't that wild?
Below I have some pics of our kids with some of the original six hens we have that are laying right now.
Here is Monkey1 with Buttercup, her Buff Orpington:
Here is Monkey5 laughing at the chickens:
And here is Monkey3 wearing "Rainbow", who is our green egg laying Auracana. [Hey, at least she's wearing *something*! LOL!]
The funniest thing happened last night - I think I wrote about our two crippled chickens - one of the 8 week olds and one of the 2 week olds is crippled. We weren't quite sure what to do with them - everyone said to put them down, and I was set to do it, but Dh wouldn't let me. So, we got the funniest letter in our mailbox yesterday - it turns out that the lady who lives behind us [who has all the birds in her back yard and who inspired us to go ahead and get the chickens we'd been wanting for years] wrote us a note. She runs a *bird rescue* for handicapped birds, and had noticed that we had a crippled chicken and asked if she could take it off our hands. How funny is that? We called her and said sure she could have it and she could have the little one too if she wanted him - she wanted both. Its not like we *wanted* to put the poor things down, they just seemed pretty miserable. So, she came last night and took our two crippled chickens and seemed so excited to have them. She and her husband were very nice, and it was cool to meet them "in person" after all this time.
So, now we "only" have 32 chickens. Most of those I'm planning to sell when they get big enough to tell who is a rooster and who is a hen. We only want to keep about 12 permanently [and that includes our 6 adult hens we already had before we started egg hatching...]
So, that's the chicken update for this week!
It has been really fun watching the chickens run around in there!
You can see the kids here hanging out watching the chicks:
Speaking of which, it is INSANE how fast chickens grow up! It is hard to believe that in just 8 weeks, this:
Has turned in to this:
Isn't that wild?
Below I have some pics of our kids with some of the original six hens we have that are laying right now.
Here is Monkey1 with Buttercup, her Buff Orpington:
Here is Monkey5 laughing at the chickens:
And here is Monkey3 wearing "Rainbow", who is our green egg laying Auracana. [Hey, at least she's wearing *something*! LOL!]
The funniest thing happened last night - I think I wrote about our two crippled chickens - one of the 8 week olds and one of the 2 week olds is crippled. We weren't quite sure what to do with them - everyone said to put them down, and I was set to do it, but Dh wouldn't let me. So, we got the funniest letter in our mailbox yesterday - it turns out that the lady who lives behind us [who has all the birds in her back yard and who inspired us to go ahead and get the chickens we'd been wanting for years] wrote us a note. She runs a *bird rescue* for handicapped birds, and had noticed that we had a crippled chicken and asked if she could take it off our hands. How funny is that? We called her and said sure she could have it and she could have the little one too if she wanted him - she wanted both. Its not like we *wanted* to put the poor things down, they just seemed pretty miserable. So, she came last night and took our two crippled chickens and seemed so excited to have them. She and her husband were very nice, and it was cool to meet them "in person" after all this time.
So, now we "only" have 32 chickens. Most of those I'm planning to sell when they get big enough to tell who is a rooster and who is a hen. We only want to keep about 12 permanently [and that includes our 6 adult hens we already had before we started egg hatching...]
So, that's the chicken update for this week!
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Wow - How's This For A Scary Stat?!!
According to the below mentioned Time Magazine article, young women in the U.S. between the ages of 16-24 are TWELVE TIMES MORE LIKELY to die of Anorexia than ANY other cause of death. Period. It is the number one cause of death [by far] in that age group.
Wow. That blows my mind.
That definitely makes me feel a heavy weight on my shoulders to raise my 5 girls [and my boy actually - boys are succumbing to this in greater and greater numbers too!] with a healthy body image - such a fine line between encouraging them to be healthy and fit and not encouraging the "need to be skinny" at all costs thing. *sigh*.
Wow. That blows my mind.
That definitely makes me feel a heavy weight on my shoulders to raise my 5 girls [and my boy actually - boys are succumbing to this in greater and greater numbers too!] with a healthy body image - such a fine line between encouraging them to be healthy and fit and not encouraging the "need to be skinny" at all costs thing. *sigh*.
Monday, June 16, 2008
No More Guilt About My Grocery Bill!
Have you seen this week's Time Magazine? Their cover article is on childhood obesity. It is actually a series of articles, and quite good.
Reading these articles has finally brought me to peace with my grocery bill. I have felt guilty for ... years... because I spend so much on groceries for my family. And with the recent rise in food costs, the grocery bill brings me to the brink of tears at times. [We are spending about $300 a week on groceries now].
The reason my bill is so high is that I provide high quality, nutritious food for my family. Period. While we aren't "food Nazis" and we do allow treats [even the occasional Quick Trip hot dog LOL!], we strive on a daily basis to eat as healthfully as possible. And the bottom line is that whole grains cost more than whites. Fresh fruits and veggies for 5 kids several times a day costs a fortune. Organic milk and yogurt costs are astronomical....
And you know what? I'm OK with this. I am finally OK with the fact that I am spending so much and feeding the kids so well. When I am an old lady, I am *certain* I'd rather look back and think "Wow, I blew tons of money feeding my children healthfully" than to look back and realize "Wow, I blew tons of money on clothes and vacations and my nails...". And as long as I feed our family like I do, we aren't likely to afford vacations. "Nails" are beyond my comprehension... LOL! [I once worked for a lady who spent over $200 a month on her weekly fake nail salon visit!]. And I'm OK with buying everything we own used off eBay and Craigslist and children's consignment stores.
When I die, I will know I did my best by my children and that is not a bad thing to know.
Genetics are a mixed bag for anyone. My children, in many ways, are blessed in their genes - they come from a long line of strong, hardy, intelligent, hard working people. [Good looking people too ROFL! Many women on both sides of our family were famed for their beauty in their youth, and our men on both sides are tall and handsome!] Even the in-laws I don't like, I have to give credit where credit is due - they are all smart, hard working, and strong individuals!
However, there is a flip side to that genetic coin too. Obesity is rampant in both sides of the family. High blood pressure runs through our families like the blood in our veins - we ALL have it sooner or later. Type II Diabetes absolutely infests our family tree. Heart disease is fairly common and so is stroke. And lets not forget that one side of the family tree has mental illness running rampant as an added bonus.
So, I think I am right to do the very best I can to teach my children to eat well and to value healthy food. There is only so much I can do about the genes we have - but this is one thing I CAN control.
And I have made peace with this - I am no longer going to obsess about my weekly grocery bill. If grocery prices keep rising, the day may come when I really *can't* afford to feed six children healthily - and I may have to resort to cheaper, more junky options. But, as Aragorn would say, "Today is NOT that day".
Excuse me while I go downstairs and feed my children their snack - Yo Baby Yogurt and fresh apples for everyone!!!
Friday, June 13, 2008
Flying Solo and Sonlight
Well, the week has gone pretty well without DH here. It was harder emotionally than I expected, especially for the kids, with it being our first separation since the reconciliation. The kids know Daddy is coming home and this is just a business trip, but there is still that underlying unease...
So, there has been more fighting and whining than usual this week.
We started the week Monday with Daily Mass and that seemed to help everyone - we actually got through the whole 15 minute Mass with everyone behaving well - a Gift from God in and of itself!
The only really horrible time has been bedtime. Really we've done pretty well except bedtime. DH usually gets the toddler to sleep while I get the other four down [and Monkey4 3yo takes the longest to get to sleep - I still have to actively "parent" her to sleep].
Well, the toddler has refused to go to sleep with Daddy not home and it has been taking me 2-2.5 hours a night to get them all down [from the time I first put them in bed]. *sigh*!
Otherwise, it went better than I feared. We even got to do some silly things we wouldn't have done with Daddy home - like the night we had yogurt, blue berries, and watermelon for supper - and everyone was thrilled. LOL!
I also started our school year this week. We normally start school in July and school year round, taking June off. I decided to go ahead and start early [with a baby coming, it sure can't hurt]. It turned out to be a very good idea to start this week [I figured it would either be great or be a nightmare!]. It gave the kids something to focus on besides missing their Dad.
I was really scared about this year, because it is my first time schooling three children - this year I have a 4th grader, a 2nd grader, and a Kindergartener. But it went GREAT! My little Monkey3 has the best attitude about school and is so excited to be doing "real" school. She has done great - a highly motivated child! My son, Monkey2 6yo, always has a great attitude about school and has done very well this week too. My oldest, Monkey1 9yo often has a terrible attitude about school and she can make the whole thing into a nightmare - but she has been fantastic this week with a very positive, hard working attitude. For this I am extremely grateful!!!
We switched to Singapore Math this time for the first time ever, and I *really* like it. The kids like it too, which makes it soooo much easier - this is part of the reason Monkey1's attitude has been so good [math is a common point of contention with her because she hated MCP].
For the past 3 years we have been fully enrolled with Seton, but this year I did not do full enrollment. We are still using a majority of Seton materials, but we are also using Sonlight as well this time.
Sonlight has been interesting. It is literature based learning and includes a vast amount of reading and read alouds. It is perfect for our family in that aspect - we are definite readers. The kids have been very happy and excited about it, and I have too. For the most part it has gone really very well for us this week!
With two caveats:
One, the Sonlight Instructor's Guide is just plain awful. Seton lesson plans are so complete, ready to use, and EASY. I guess I'm spoiled. The Sonlight Instructor's Guides come as a massive 3 inch pile of papers that you have to collate yourself, and then in order to teach you are constantly flipping back and forth from this section to that and looking for XYZ and then going to a completely different part for ABC... it is *extremely* annoying to me. And even some of the reference page numbers are wrong in the lesson plans. Anyway, I did NOT find the IG user friendly at all - to the point of pretty severe frustration. Sonlight advertises their IG's as "so easy, you don't have to think about how to teach or do any of the work - we've done it all for you". Which is bunk. LOL! Once you pay and GET the materials, they say you should expect to spend 10-20 hours PER CORE just learning *how* to use the IG to teach! And that's only after you spend an hour or so collating and organizing the IG yourself - which is so complicated they have an actual video you are supposed to watch in order to do it, and they have people that call you to try to see if you need help figuring it out! ARGH! [This is SO not my type of thing LOL! I *hate* doing that kind of stuff]. IMO, don't charge me money for something that is basically not done...and I don't appreciate lesson plans that are harder to figure out and use than it would be for me to make up my own - why am I paying for that?!!!
The other frustration I had was with one of the science books they sent - supposedly they try to offer a "balance" between evolution and creationism... well, the first book we are supposed to use this year is about Dinosaurs and the Bible. It is *WAY* out there - like talking about how Dinosaurs lived during the same time as people and there were dinosaurs on the Ark with Noah, Dinosaurs weren't really "mean" because Adam could pet them, etc. Very silly IMO. It is that "Young Earth" theory that some fundamentalists have that I just find ... odd. Being Catholic, we don't take a *literal* translation of the Bible - we basically believe in Intelligent Design and our beliefs don't contradict scientific evidence.
I was trying to read this book to the kids [who LOVE dinosaurs and were very excited about it] and I was having a very hard time - the ideas that are included are just so *ridiculous* IMO [no offense to anyone who believes in the Young Earth Theory - I totally respect your right to believe it! I just would have appreciated Sonlight being more up front about this book being such an item and giving me the option to NOT buy the thing!].
Anyway, we got about 5 pages into it and my children [who can already give you an amazing explanation of the difference in Creationism, Evolution, and Intelligent Design and who can defend their belief in Intelligent Design *very well* with science....] started ridiculing the book - "Mom, that is crazy! Does it really say that?" "Look at that picture of a guy petting a dinosaur! That isn't right!!!" etc. When we saw the Brontosauruses climbing onto the ark, that was the last straw for them - they asked me to stop reading. They said they wanted to send the author a "real" Bible so he could see the actual dimensions of the Ark - since God told Noah *exactly* what measurements to use and there just physically WAS NO ROOM for a bunch of huge dinosaurs on there...
But, those two things aside, I am in love with Sonlight. So are the kids - it has been fun and interesting already and we are really looking forward to the rest of the year!!! We are so excited about that huge box of books we get to read this year.... woohoo!!!! [I must admit to reading several of them already for fun this week while DH was gone and I had nothing to do after the kids were in bed! Right now I'm finishing "Caddie Woodlawn" and it is GREAT! I can't believe I never read it as a child!].
In other news, our chicks keep getting crippled and/or dying. We bought several sets of eggs from one eBay seller, and it appears her stock is very substandard. The chick eggs we bought from another eBay seller are doing *great* - very healthy and hardy birds. But all 3 breeds we bought from this one lady are experiencing severe leg problems and/or dying. I consulted a poultry expert online and she said that the eBay seller was probably giving her breeding stock a very poor diet, that this would cause the kind of physical unwellness and leg problems we are seeing in the chicks - severe nutritional deficiencies in the Mama Hens will cause this type stuff.
The kids are getting upset with the continual disabilities and death, and so am I. We discussed it and we decided it would be a good move for their egg business to just give away these pathetic chickens and stick with our healthy ones [the Ameraucanas and Marans] and our existing hens, rather than keep feeding these sickly chicks who may never grow up to be good layers and/or meat birds. I found a farmer about an hour from us who is interested in taking them [free of charge, and having had the whole explanation about their problems] and seeing if he can raise any of them to healthy adulthood. Hopefully we can hook up with him this weekend. Then we will be down to our 6 Ameraucanas, 4 Marans, and our 6 existing adult hens. That should be fine for now, though I'd like to get some Brown Leghorns next spring since they are "egg laying machines".
That is our week in an eggshell... LOL! Hope you had a great one too!
So, there has been more fighting and whining than usual this week.
We started the week Monday with Daily Mass and that seemed to help everyone - we actually got through the whole 15 minute Mass with everyone behaving well - a Gift from God in and of itself!
The only really horrible time has been bedtime. Really we've done pretty well except bedtime. DH usually gets the toddler to sleep while I get the other four down [and Monkey4 3yo takes the longest to get to sleep - I still have to actively "parent" her to sleep].
Well, the toddler has refused to go to sleep with Daddy not home and it has been taking me 2-2.5 hours a night to get them all down [from the time I first put them in bed]. *sigh*!
Otherwise, it went better than I feared. We even got to do some silly things we wouldn't have done with Daddy home - like the night we had yogurt, blue berries, and watermelon for supper - and everyone was thrilled. LOL!
I also started our school year this week. We normally start school in July and school year round, taking June off. I decided to go ahead and start early [with a baby coming, it sure can't hurt]. It turned out to be a very good idea to start this week [I figured it would either be great or be a nightmare!]. It gave the kids something to focus on besides missing their Dad.
I was really scared about this year, because it is my first time schooling three children - this year I have a 4th grader, a 2nd grader, and a Kindergartener. But it went GREAT! My little Monkey3 has the best attitude about school and is so excited to be doing "real" school. She has done great - a highly motivated child! My son, Monkey2 6yo, always has a great attitude about school and has done very well this week too. My oldest, Monkey1 9yo often has a terrible attitude about school and she can make the whole thing into a nightmare - but she has been fantastic this week with a very positive, hard working attitude. For this I am extremely grateful!!!
We switched to Singapore Math this time for the first time ever, and I *really* like it. The kids like it too, which makes it soooo much easier - this is part of the reason Monkey1's attitude has been so good [math is a common point of contention with her because she hated MCP].
For the past 3 years we have been fully enrolled with Seton, but this year I did not do full enrollment. We are still using a majority of Seton materials, but we are also using Sonlight as well this time.
Sonlight has been interesting. It is literature based learning and includes a vast amount of reading and read alouds. It is perfect for our family in that aspect - we are definite readers. The kids have been very happy and excited about it, and I have too. For the most part it has gone really very well for us this week!
With two caveats:
One, the Sonlight Instructor's Guide is just plain awful. Seton lesson plans are so complete, ready to use, and EASY. I guess I'm spoiled. The Sonlight Instructor's Guides come as a massive 3 inch pile of papers that you have to collate yourself, and then in order to teach you are constantly flipping back and forth from this section to that and looking for XYZ and then going to a completely different part for ABC... it is *extremely* annoying to me. And even some of the reference page numbers are wrong in the lesson plans. Anyway, I did NOT find the IG user friendly at all - to the point of pretty severe frustration. Sonlight advertises their IG's as "so easy, you don't have to think about how to teach or do any of the work - we've done it all for you". Which is bunk. LOL! Once you pay and GET the materials, they say you should expect to spend 10-20 hours PER CORE just learning *how* to use the IG to teach! And that's only after you spend an hour or so collating and organizing the IG yourself - which is so complicated they have an actual video you are supposed to watch in order to do it, and they have people that call you to try to see if you need help figuring it out! ARGH! [This is SO not my type of thing LOL! I *hate* doing that kind of stuff]. IMO, don't charge me money for something that is basically not done...and I don't appreciate lesson plans that are harder to figure out and use than it would be for me to make up my own - why am I paying for that?!!!
The other frustration I had was with one of the science books they sent - supposedly they try to offer a "balance" between evolution and creationism... well, the first book we are supposed to use this year is about Dinosaurs and the Bible. It is *WAY* out there - like talking about how Dinosaurs lived during the same time as people and there were dinosaurs on the Ark with Noah, Dinosaurs weren't really "mean" because Adam could pet them, etc. Very silly IMO. It is that "Young Earth" theory that some fundamentalists have that I just find ... odd. Being Catholic, we don't take a *literal* translation of the Bible - we basically believe in Intelligent Design and our beliefs don't contradict scientific evidence.
I was trying to read this book to the kids [who LOVE dinosaurs and were very excited about it] and I was having a very hard time - the ideas that are included are just so *ridiculous* IMO [no offense to anyone who believes in the Young Earth Theory - I totally respect your right to believe it! I just would have appreciated Sonlight being more up front about this book being such an item and giving me the option to NOT buy the thing!].
Anyway, we got about 5 pages into it and my children [who can already give you an amazing explanation of the difference in Creationism, Evolution, and Intelligent Design and who can defend their belief in Intelligent Design *very well* with science....] started ridiculing the book - "Mom, that is crazy! Does it really say that?" "Look at that picture of a guy petting a dinosaur! That isn't right!!!" etc. When we saw the Brontosauruses climbing onto the ark, that was the last straw for them - they asked me to stop reading. They said they wanted to send the author a "real" Bible so he could see the actual dimensions of the Ark - since God told Noah *exactly* what measurements to use and there just physically WAS NO ROOM for a bunch of huge dinosaurs on there...
But, those two things aside, I am in love with Sonlight. So are the kids - it has been fun and interesting already and we are really looking forward to the rest of the year!!! We are so excited about that huge box of books we get to read this year.... woohoo!!!! [I must admit to reading several of them already for fun this week while DH was gone and I had nothing to do after the kids were in bed! Right now I'm finishing "Caddie Woodlawn" and it is GREAT! I can't believe I never read it as a child!].
In other news, our chicks keep getting crippled and/or dying. We bought several sets of eggs from one eBay seller, and it appears her stock is very substandard. The chick eggs we bought from another eBay seller are doing *great* - very healthy and hardy birds. But all 3 breeds we bought from this one lady are experiencing severe leg problems and/or dying. I consulted a poultry expert online and she said that the eBay seller was probably giving her breeding stock a very poor diet, that this would cause the kind of physical unwellness and leg problems we are seeing in the chicks - severe nutritional deficiencies in the Mama Hens will cause this type stuff.
The kids are getting upset with the continual disabilities and death, and so am I. We discussed it and we decided it would be a good move for their egg business to just give away these pathetic chickens and stick with our healthy ones [the Ameraucanas and Marans] and our existing hens, rather than keep feeding these sickly chicks who may never grow up to be good layers and/or meat birds. I found a farmer about an hour from us who is interested in taking them [free of charge, and having had the whole explanation about their problems] and seeing if he can raise any of them to healthy adulthood. Hopefully we can hook up with him this weekend. Then we will be down to our 6 Ameraucanas, 4 Marans, and our 6 existing adult hens. That should be fine for now, though I'd like to get some Brown Leghorns next spring since they are "egg laying machines".
That is our week in an eggshell... LOL! Hope you had a great one too!
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Beware of "Ingo"
There is a book out right now [the first in a series] called "Ingo". I think parents need to be warned about this book, so I'm going to post my amazon.com review below.
Also, if you feel motivated, consider going to amazon and voting for my review as "helpful" [my review is titled "Morally Bankrupt Parents Beware"] if a review gets votes, Amazon puts it at the top of the list of reviews, otherwise the review gets buried and most people never see it. I feel strongly enough about this book that I'd like for my review to be at the top - when I went there looking for help when my daughter first came home with the book, ALL the other reviews are very positive! Parents need to know the other side.
If you feel so motivated, go here to vote. Either way, help me get the word out about this series!
Here is the review:
I'm writing this review for other parents who may be making a decision about whether their children are allowed to read this book.
My father bought this book for my 9yo and she had already read almost all of it before I knew she even had it [she inhales books]. I looked for reviews on the moral content of the book and could find none, so I read the book myself so that I could discuss it with her and find out just what she'd been exposed to.
This book is full of bad behavior and immorality. Where to start?
[Warning, spoilers included below]
First, there is a fair amount of fornication. The main character is a young girl named Sapphire and her father "disappears" [apparently he has actually abandoned his wife and children to go be with the Mer people it turns out in the end]. One year later her mother is dating another man. She apparently spends the night with him, calling her children from her place of employment and telling them the "car won't start" so she's spending the night elsewhere [leaving the 13 and 11 year old children alone all night]. A recurring "ancestor" in the book is a man who abandoned his pregnant *girlfriend* and ran off with a Mermaid - this is talked about in great detail later in the book. The baby of this union is apparently the ancestor of the main character and her brother.
Second, there is an inordinate amount of lying in this book. The main character is a pathological liar as far as I can tell - she lies about *everything*, and most especially she lies to her mother. All of the characters are liars - even Sapphire's older brother who is the "honest one" is lying repeatedly by the end of the book [and isn't this nice that he's lying to protect his sister who has done horrible things?].
Third, there is witchcraft in the book. I don't mean "witchcraft" like in Harry Potter - the make believe, fairy tale kind - I mean *real* witchcraft, as in "Wicca" and "Earth Magic". One of the most powerful characters in the book is an old woman who is a Witch and uses Earth Magic. The book even opens complete with a Summer Solistic bon fire [a Wiccan holy day celebration].
Fourth, the name of Jesus Christ is used over and over as a swear word or expletive. In addition, near the end, Sapphire sings a blasphemous song she learned from her run away father.
Fifth, Sapphire and her brother are constantly doing what they aren't supposed to do - going into dangerous situations and lying about it, not doing what they are told. They are *completely* disobedient and dishonest in every single chapter of the book. Sapphire is also horribly disrespectful to her mother. Definitely not the role models one might prefer for kids.
Sixth, Sapphire experiences an addiction to "Ingo" [the underwater land of the Mer people] that is eerily similar to drug addiction. She goes there when she knows she isn't allowed to go, and then experiences a *powerful* physical and mental addiction to the place and keeps returning even after she knows how bad it is and how much danger she is in. And, while she is in Ingo, she does not care at all about her family or friends or any person in her life - all she cares about is being in Ingo and when she is not in Ingo, all she thinks about is getting back. Does this sound like an addict or what? And there is no moral value placed on this behavior - it doesn't make her "bad" that she's choosing the addiction over her family...
Seventh, Sapphire, the main character, is truly evil in my opinion. Not only is she a liar and a sneak and a disobedient, ungrateful, and very disrespectful daughter - but she also plots an actual murder. She tells the Mer people about her mother's boyfriend's plans to dive somewhere, knowing they will probably kill him if he does it. She is happy about this because she wants him "gone". She only changes her mind at the very end of the book because HE wants her mother to buy her the dog she desperately wants - because of this she decides to try to save his life at the last minute. This is the "choice" other reviewers are calling "heroic" - um, yeah. I wasn't really impressed by that - she plots murder and only changes her mind for a self serving reason, and a stupid one at that?
Eighth, aside from being evil, the main character is just plain annoying. She is a whiny brat. She is SO completely self absorbed and melancholic that I just wanted to shake her till her eyes rattled and tell her to "get over herself"!!!
The only reason I am giving this book two stars is that, apparently, this story does captivate children. My 9yo loved it. :( :( I'm not sure if this should earn the book two stars or if it only makes it a kind of Pied Piper leading children straight to hell.... I found the story line trite and draggy and extremely *obvious* personally - not good reading at all.
But, much more disturbing to me than the poor plot line and reprehensible characters is the over all moral lesson taught in the book - I would not want my child to mimic *anything* she got from this book, and now I will be doing a lot of "damage control" to try to keep this from impacting her character in negative ways.
I find it pretty awful that this book is supposed to be written for *children* and is full of this junk!!!
So, parents beware. If you are concerned that your children read good, healthy, and morally upstanding things - this is NOT the book for you.
Also, if you feel motivated, consider going to amazon and voting for my review as "helpful" [my review is titled "Morally Bankrupt Parents Beware"] if a review gets votes, Amazon puts it at the top of the list of reviews, otherwise the review gets buried and most people never see it. I feel strongly enough about this book that I'd like for my review to be at the top - when I went there looking for help when my daughter first came home with the book, ALL the other reviews are very positive! Parents need to know the other side.
If you feel so motivated, go here to vote. Either way, help me get the word out about this series!
Here is the review:
I'm writing this review for other parents who may be making a decision about whether their children are allowed to read this book.
My father bought this book for my 9yo and she had already read almost all of it before I knew she even had it [she inhales books]. I looked for reviews on the moral content of the book and could find none, so I read the book myself so that I could discuss it with her and find out just what she'd been exposed to.
This book is full of bad behavior and immorality. Where to start?
[Warning, spoilers included below]
First, there is a fair amount of fornication. The main character is a young girl named Sapphire and her father "disappears" [apparently he has actually abandoned his wife and children to go be with the Mer people it turns out in the end]. One year later her mother is dating another man. She apparently spends the night with him, calling her children from her place of employment and telling them the "car won't start" so she's spending the night elsewhere [leaving the 13 and 11 year old children alone all night]. A recurring "ancestor" in the book is a man who abandoned his pregnant *girlfriend* and ran off with a Mermaid - this is talked about in great detail later in the book. The baby of this union is apparently the ancestor of the main character and her brother.
Second, there is an inordinate amount of lying in this book. The main character is a pathological liar as far as I can tell - she lies about *everything*, and most especially she lies to her mother. All of the characters are liars - even Sapphire's older brother who is the "honest one" is lying repeatedly by the end of the book [and isn't this nice that he's lying to protect his sister who has done horrible things?].
Third, there is witchcraft in the book. I don't mean "witchcraft" like in Harry Potter - the make believe, fairy tale kind - I mean *real* witchcraft, as in "Wicca" and "Earth Magic". One of the most powerful characters in the book is an old woman who is a Witch and uses Earth Magic. The book even opens complete with a Summer Solistic bon fire [a Wiccan holy day celebration].
Fourth, the name of Jesus Christ is used over and over as a swear word or expletive. In addition, near the end, Sapphire sings a blasphemous song she learned from her run away father.
Fifth, Sapphire and her brother are constantly doing what they aren't supposed to do - going into dangerous situations and lying about it, not doing what they are told. They are *completely* disobedient and dishonest in every single chapter of the book. Sapphire is also horribly disrespectful to her mother. Definitely not the role models one might prefer for kids.
Sixth, Sapphire experiences an addiction to "Ingo" [the underwater land of the Mer people] that is eerily similar to drug addiction. She goes there when she knows she isn't allowed to go, and then experiences a *powerful* physical and mental addiction to the place and keeps returning even after she knows how bad it is and how much danger she is in. And, while she is in Ingo, she does not care at all about her family or friends or any person in her life - all she cares about is being in Ingo and when she is not in Ingo, all she thinks about is getting back. Does this sound like an addict or what? And there is no moral value placed on this behavior - it doesn't make her "bad" that she's choosing the addiction over her family...
Seventh, Sapphire, the main character, is truly evil in my opinion. Not only is she a liar and a sneak and a disobedient, ungrateful, and very disrespectful daughter - but she also plots an actual murder. She tells the Mer people about her mother's boyfriend's plans to dive somewhere, knowing they will probably kill him if he does it. She is happy about this because she wants him "gone". She only changes her mind at the very end of the book because HE wants her mother to buy her the dog she desperately wants - because of this she decides to try to save his life at the last minute. This is the "choice" other reviewers are calling "heroic" - um, yeah. I wasn't really impressed by that - she plots murder and only changes her mind for a self serving reason, and a stupid one at that?
Eighth, aside from being evil, the main character is just plain annoying. She is a whiny brat. She is SO completely self absorbed and melancholic that I just wanted to shake her till her eyes rattled and tell her to "get over herself"!!!
The only reason I am giving this book two stars is that, apparently, this story does captivate children. My 9yo loved it. :( :( I'm not sure if this should earn the book two stars or if it only makes it a kind of Pied Piper leading children straight to hell.... I found the story line trite and draggy and extremely *obvious* personally - not good reading at all.
But, much more disturbing to me than the poor plot line and reprehensible characters is the over all moral lesson taught in the book - I would not want my child to mimic *anything* she got from this book, and now I will be doing a lot of "damage control" to try to keep this from impacting her character in negative ways.
I find it pretty awful that this book is supposed to be written for *children* and is full of this junk!!!
So, parents beware. If you are concerned that your children read good, healthy, and morally upstanding things - this is NOT the book for you.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Gardens, Dogs, Homeschool Conferences and Dead Chicks
Wow, we've had an eventful few days! I'm tired just thinking about it!
My awesome hubby built us two "Square Foot Gardening" raised beds. My friend Megan gave me the idea, and we are really excited about it. So, we took the big trip to Home Depot and got tomato plants, squash plants, pepper plants and seeds for carrots, green beans, and cucumbers. We spent a few hours planting the garden and getting it all ready - the kids were *so* excited. It looked very nice too when we were done:
We let the dogs out in the back yard while we were still out there so we could watch them - they sniffed the new beds, but then went about their business. We thought we were "good". Within an hour of us going back inside though, Tyr, the boy dog [the one I like - or liked LOL!], dug up the entire bed - each little square he completely destroyed. EXCEPT for the tomatoes because we had tomato cages over those that made it hard for him to dig. So, he and I had the "NO! Bad dog!" conversation and I thought he got the idea. [He is allowed to dig *anywhere* else in the back yard and he does so it isn't like we are being mean here....]. The next morning the kids and I cleaned up the bed and Monkey3 replanted it very carefully. A few hours later, the dog had dug the entire thing up and I caught him at it and gave him a VERY stern reprimand.... only to have him dig the whole thing up again a few hours later. We've given up at this point [guess we'll just have tomatoes this year] but the kids are so sad and so am I - not to mention how much money in plants and seeds he just wasted for us AND the hours my husband spent building these beds for him to "dig up". *sigh*
On Saturday DH and I got the chance to go to a local Catholic Homeschool Conference and it was AWESOME! It was really inspiring and really helpful and just FUN! My parents came to babysit all day and it was so nice - we had a blast and so did my parents and the kids. :) It was *really* nice to have some time alone with DH too!
Then we came home to find one of our new chicks dead. One of the blue andalusian chicks had died, but I felt really it was a blessing because it was messed up from the start and couldn't walk. I really felt like the chick saved me the trouble of having to put it down myself [which I appreciated :) ]. The kids were very upset about it, but they are going to have to learn to deal with stuff like this if we are going to raise chickens. [They did insist on a proper funeral though LOL!]
The other 11 chicks are doing just great and growing strong. The brown leghorn chicks are just adorable. Here is Monkey1 holding one:
Yesterday I got to *receive the Eucharist*! Which sounds so silly, but for months now my 3 youngest children have been so awful in Mass that I ended up taking them out to the van and making them sit strapped into their carseats until their dad and older bro and sister were finished with Mass. This week they all behaved *beautifully* and it was SUCH a blessing - a wonderful Mass!
Then we came home and helped DH get ready for his trip. He's going out of state this week to Microsoft's Tech Ed for work. He will be back late Friday night - so gone for almost 5 nights. It is a great opportunity for him [his work is sending him there - the first actual training they've given him in the almost 4 years he's worked there!]. But we will miss him a lot. The kids are really upset about it. I think partially just because this is the first time we've been away from him since he left last fall - I think they know that daddy is coming home and this is just a work thing, but part of them is still anxious about it. Which I totally understand - I'm not really happy to have him gone either, even though I know he is very stable and doing great now.
So, say a prayer for me to get through the week with my 5 depressed children all on my own! LOL!
Hope you had a great weekend too!
Kelly
My awesome hubby built us two "Square Foot Gardening" raised beds. My friend Megan gave me the idea, and we are really excited about it. So, we took the big trip to Home Depot and got tomato plants, squash plants, pepper plants and seeds for carrots, green beans, and cucumbers. We spent a few hours planting the garden and getting it all ready - the kids were *so* excited. It looked very nice too when we were done:
We let the dogs out in the back yard while we were still out there so we could watch them - they sniffed the new beds, but then went about their business. We thought we were "good". Within an hour of us going back inside though, Tyr, the boy dog [the one I like - or liked LOL!], dug up the entire bed - each little square he completely destroyed. EXCEPT for the tomatoes because we had tomato cages over those that made it hard for him to dig. So, he and I had the "NO! Bad dog!" conversation and I thought he got the idea. [He is allowed to dig *anywhere* else in the back yard and he does so it isn't like we are being mean here....]. The next morning the kids and I cleaned up the bed and Monkey3 replanted it very carefully. A few hours later, the dog had dug the entire thing up and I caught him at it and gave him a VERY stern reprimand.... only to have him dig the whole thing up again a few hours later. We've given up at this point [guess we'll just have tomatoes this year] but the kids are so sad and so am I - not to mention how much money in plants and seeds he just wasted for us AND the hours my husband spent building these beds for him to "dig up". *sigh*
On Saturday DH and I got the chance to go to a local Catholic Homeschool Conference and it was AWESOME! It was really inspiring and really helpful and just FUN! My parents came to babysit all day and it was so nice - we had a blast and so did my parents and the kids. :) It was *really* nice to have some time alone with DH too!
Then we came home to find one of our new chicks dead. One of the blue andalusian chicks had died, but I felt really it was a blessing because it was messed up from the start and couldn't walk. I really felt like the chick saved me the trouble of having to put it down myself [which I appreciated :) ]. The kids were very upset about it, but they are going to have to learn to deal with stuff like this if we are going to raise chickens. [They did insist on a proper funeral though LOL!]
The other 11 chicks are doing just great and growing strong. The brown leghorn chicks are just adorable. Here is Monkey1 holding one:
Yesterday I got to *receive the Eucharist*! Which sounds so silly, but for months now my 3 youngest children have been so awful in Mass that I ended up taking them out to the van and making them sit strapped into their carseats until their dad and older bro and sister were finished with Mass. This week they all behaved *beautifully* and it was SUCH a blessing - a wonderful Mass!
Then we came home and helped DH get ready for his trip. He's going out of state this week to Microsoft's Tech Ed for work. He will be back late Friday night - so gone for almost 5 nights. It is a great opportunity for him [his work is sending him there - the first actual training they've given him in the almost 4 years he's worked there!]. But we will miss him a lot. The kids are really upset about it. I think partially just because this is the first time we've been away from him since he left last fall - I think they know that daddy is coming home and this is just a work thing, but part of them is still anxious about it. Which I totally understand - I'm not really happy to have him gone either, even though I know he is very stable and doing great now.
So, say a prayer for me to get through the week with my 5 depressed children all on my own! LOL!
Hope you had a great weekend too!
Kelly
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Missing Teeth and Tap Shoes
So, "The Boy" lost his first tooth last week while he was spending the week with his best buddy out of state. He brought it home in a plastic bag and put it under his pillow. The Tooth Fairy brought him five bucks, which he immediately spent on a Day Lily to plant in our front yard. [Yes, I'm still scratching my head on that one... LOL!]
Isn't he cute with his little lost tooth smile now?
He is also the Master Chicken Caretaker around here. He has this amazingly great way with the chickens - they all love him. He and Monkey3 [5yo] take care of the chickens, feed them every day, etc. They never get tired of the chickens - I am still amazed by that. But the chickens love them too - especially The Boy.
Last week while he was gone, the chickens stopped laying. I am SO not making that up - they went from laying 3-5 eggs per day [from 6 hens who are laying right now] to laying 1 or maybe 2 on a good day. Those girls MISSED their Boy! It was so funny - I was like "WHAT is wrong with these chickens? Why have they stopped laying?!!!". Then, once he came home and started caring for them again, they started laying 3-5 eggs a day again. How wild is that?!!! [We DID feed the crazy hens - they just wanted their Boy to feed them LOL!]
Meanwhile, little Monkey5, who I guess is the Toddler Monkey now because she sure isn't a baby any more, started walking a few weeks ago - finally. Right at 16 months she decided she'd start walking everywhere. And now that she is walking, she has become *obsessed* with shoes. She MUST be wearing shoes at all times, and if her feet are bare, she will FIND some shoes and beat you with them until you get shoes on her feet. LOL!
Lately she is most obsessed with her little black Church Mary Janes - they look like little tap shoes and we laugh at her - she's so cute trying to walk in them. She's not quite steady yet, and the shoes are fancy and slick, yet she manages just fine... it is really funny to watch.
And this last pic is just for cuteness sake. This is probably why the kids will remember their dad so fondly - *I* don't eat their faces often enough. ;)
Oh - and at this very moment we have some more eggs in the incubator pipping and peeping - sometime today or tomorrow we are going to have more chicks - some Blue Andalusians and some Brown Leghorns. Supposedly both are excellent, high production egg layers, so that's why we are hatching them out!!! The kids are seriously planning their own egg business in the fall once all these chickies start laying eggs!
Isn't he cute with his little lost tooth smile now?
He is also the Master Chicken Caretaker around here. He has this amazingly great way with the chickens - they all love him. He and Monkey3 [5yo] take care of the chickens, feed them every day, etc. They never get tired of the chickens - I am still amazed by that. But the chickens love them too - especially The Boy.
Last week while he was gone, the chickens stopped laying. I am SO not making that up - they went from laying 3-5 eggs per day [from 6 hens who are laying right now] to laying 1 or maybe 2 on a good day. Those girls MISSED their Boy! It was so funny - I was like "WHAT is wrong with these chickens? Why have they stopped laying?!!!". Then, once he came home and started caring for them again, they started laying 3-5 eggs a day again. How wild is that?!!! [We DID feed the crazy hens - they just wanted their Boy to feed them LOL!]
Meanwhile, little Monkey5, who I guess is the Toddler Monkey now because she sure isn't a baby any more, started walking a few weeks ago - finally. Right at 16 months she decided she'd start walking everywhere. And now that she is walking, she has become *obsessed* with shoes. She MUST be wearing shoes at all times, and if her feet are bare, she will FIND some shoes and beat you with them until you get shoes on her feet. LOL!
Lately she is most obsessed with her little black Church Mary Janes - they look like little tap shoes and we laugh at her - she's so cute trying to walk in them. She's not quite steady yet, and the shoes are fancy and slick, yet she manages just fine... it is really funny to watch.
And this last pic is just for cuteness sake. This is probably why the kids will remember their dad so fondly - *I* don't eat their faces often enough. ;)
Oh - and at this very moment we have some more eggs in the incubator pipping and peeping - sometime today or tomorrow we are going to have more chicks - some Blue Andalusians and some Brown Leghorns. Supposedly both are excellent, high production egg layers, so that's why we are hatching them out!!! The kids are seriously planning their own egg business in the fall once all these chickies start laying eggs!
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Me and Rodney Dangerfield
I get no respect. ;)
Seriously. And usually I'm OK with that, but sometimes it stings!
Now, I don't mean that my children don't respect me in the discipline sense of the word - no, they are, for the most part, very respectful with their nice Southern manners.
I mean that I am so taken for granted that I feel like I may as well be furniture at times! My children *worship* my husband - he can do no wrong and the slightest positive thing he does is remembered for ever and always. [And he is a very fun, nice, wonderful dad, so I'll give credit where credit is due there]. But me - every thing I do is taken for granted and forgotten....
For example: I have read to my children pretty much every day of their lives that we were home [maybe not on all day trips to the zoo or something, but definitely on every "normal" day]. I often spend well over an hour reading aloud to my children on any given day. And I have done this since before my oldest child was big enough to *hold* a book... LOL!
About a year ago, we stopped the "bedtime stories". Until then, I had read to them extensively before bedtime each night - I read the whole Laura Ingals Wilder series to them this way, Anne of Green Gables, etc. We stopped last year because it was making bedtime too stressful with the little bitties going nuts while I was trying to read. So, now I do their read aloud in the afternoons, yet still it happens almost every day.
So, last night my oldest child says "I wish we could go back to having bedtime stories. Daddy used to read to us every single night before bed." I almost choked. I said "What?! What do you mean?" and she replied "You know, Daddy read us the whole Laura Ingals Wilder series, and Anne of Green Gables, and all kinds of stuff! He used to read to us every single night!".
Now, this is so far from the truth that I just wanted to scream. My husband was sitting there and he looked at me and then looked at her and said "That's not true at all! *I* never read those books to you!". To which his daughter adoringly replied "Yes you did Daddy, don't you remember?". To which *I* replied "NO, *I* read all those books to you, not your daddy!". To which He replied "Yeah, I read maybe 5 chapters to you out of that whole Laura Ingals Wilder series - your mom read all the rest!". [And he did - he read to them a few times on nights I worked].
She had no memory of this - she does not remember that I read these books to her. In her mind, her daddy did it. I'm just "mom" that cooks, cleans, wipes up puke, and takes care of kids who are up all night.
I found it very disheartening. She does the same thing about homeschool - I spend hours every day teaching her and helping her and her dad does about 2 science experiments a year with her - if that - and if you ask her what is great about homeschooling she will say "Daddy does science with us". [In reality, Mama does science with them and once in a blue moon daddy does something with it]. If someone tells her she's smart and asks her where she learned something, she will say "Daddy taught me", when, in reality, it was *I* who spent months pulling my hair out to teach her that thing...
I try to take this in stride. I know that one of the reasons I am taken so much for granted is that I am the *reliable* one - the one that they can count on to do everything the way they count on the air that they breathe. [Nobody stops to thank the air for letting us breathe it. LOL!]. I know this, and I am GLAD that I am the kind of mother that *can* be counted on like that and taken for granted. I am also the "enforcer" in our household - de facto if not by design because of their dad's periods of instability. I get to be "bad cop" all the time, what fun.
And I know that their dad is funny and makes them laugh and is exciting. I like him too. :)
But I sometimes wonder how the children will remember their childhoods. I think that they will really NOT remember anything I did - at least none of the good stuff. [I'm sure my daughter will remember that I am the one that wouldn't let her read evil books and wouldn't let her wear mini skirts...*sigh*] I imagine that their memories of their childhood will be something like "Wow, dad was so fun and we had a great time. And mom was just there - boring old mom."
The truth is that I have made amazing sacrifices for them and their well being - I have made *serious* personal sacrifices so that they can have the kind of childhood that they reflect back on and go "Wow, that was so awesome! Dad was so fun...." It is only because of what I have done, the work I've done, the protecting I've done, the "carrying everything on my shoulders for the whole family" that I've done that allows this. I'm not trying to brag here - this is just the truth.
And I'm realizing that none of that will be remembered, and, IF I do my job right, they will not even realize the tremendous sacrifices I had to make for their happiness.
And mostly I'm OK with that. Jesus told us to look for our reward in Heaven - that those who received their reward on Earth couldn't expect any reward in Heaven. Hopefully I'm racking up some rewards - because I could sure use those Graces to help me get there with all my sins and shortcomings.
And I feel tremendously rewarded just by the fact that my children *are* so happy in spite of less than ideal circumstances. I love to see their joy in life.
Some days however, I'd *like* to get credit for reading Little House on the Prairie.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
I Don't WANT To Have A Baby In This Country!!!!
Really - I don't.
This past weekend I had to do my annual "observation" of Labor and Delivery at the hospital where I work. This is where I "shadow" a L&D nurse to see what the "real" practices are where I work.
It was really sad.
When I started my job 9 years ago, the hospital where I work was very "mother-baby friendly". They had just opened a new women's center and it was totally based on "couplet care" and keeping mom and baby together and promoting breastfeeding ... William Sears, MD, was the keynote speaker at the ribbon cutting ceremony. It was *exactly* where I wanted to work - a place that empowered and respected women and allowed them to have the births they wanted...
Over the last 9 years, I have watched this ideal slowly erode... it started when they ended the free Lactation Dept [as many consults as you needed for free!] about 6 years ago. It has gone down hill since with different budget cuts, policy changes for the "convenience" of the nursing staff - regardless of what is good for mom and baby... etc.
It is very disheartening.
Now I find myself working at a hospital just like every other crappy hospital out there - where babies are ripped away from their mothers the moment they exit the birth canal so that nurses can do the "important" stuff - giving shots and eye goop and taking multiple unneccessary blood sugars and heck, even inserting an IV blood draw line due to the "technicality" of a Group B strep positive woman only having antibiotics for 3.5 hours before delivery instead of the 4 hours the "policy" requires - even though the baby showed no signs of any problem... [until they harpooned his arm anyway... :( :( ].
I watched a midwife yank on the umbilical cord after delivery [instead of waiting for the placenta to deliver like she should have] and she caused the placenta to tear off inside the mom [which often happens when you YANK it out *sigh*]. Then she had to reach her entire hand and arm inside the woman's vagina and uterus to remove the rest of the placenta before the woman bled to death or got septicemia from a retained placenta - and the woman was unmedicated - it was EXCRUCIATING and horrible and scary to observe. But it is "common practice" according to the nurse I was shadowing...
And, the even more sad news is that MY hospital is still the best hospital in this area to give birth - they at least do "rooming in" and don't demand that your baby be taken to a nursery. They at least employ "real" Lactation Consultants to help you breastfeed [instead of regular nurses who have NO training in Lactation and are just assigned as the "Lactation Nurse" when they get to work that day...] The nurses are mostly nice at least...
I literally cried all the way home from work [there was a bad thing that happened with one baby/family I observed and that was part of it, but despair at what has happened to the care at my hospital was also part of it].
I just feel so trapped. NO WAY IN HECK do I want to have my baby at this hospital [or any hospital]. But, with my complications, I have no choice of course. Home birth would be suicide and homicide for my baby and I unfortunately. So, I know I'll have my baby there. I know bad things will happen to me and my baby.... *sigh*
I want to scream to my students [who are mostly healthy moms with no complications] "ARE YOU CRAZY? HAVE YOUR BABY AT HOME - PLEASE! YOU WILL BE SO MUCH BETTER OFF!!!!". They & their babies would be safer, happier, and less likely to die from something stupid [like a CNM in a hurry yanking their placenta out...].
I am having serious issues with continuing to work my job. It is a bad place to be - I *need* the job, I love my boss & co-workers, but I feel complicit in something horrible at this point.... I feel trapped between doing what I HAVE to do to support my family [I can't *afford* not to have a very good, stable job] - and doing what my conscience dictates...
I hate that feeling.
Did I mention how good homebirth would be for you healthy birthing moms [90% of you are!]? I beg you - do some research!!!! SAVE YOURSELVES!!! LOL!
This past weekend I had to do my annual "observation" of Labor and Delivery at the hospital where I work. This is where I "shadow" a L&D nurse to see what the "real" practices are where I work.
It was really sad.
When I started my job 9 years ago, the hospital where I work was very "mother-baby friendly". They had just opened a new women's center and it was totally based on "couplet care" and keeping mom and baby together and promoting breastfeeding ... William Sears, MD, was the keynote speaker at the ribbon cutting ceremony. It was *exactly* where I wanted to work - a place that empowered and respected women and allowed them to have the births they wanted...
Over the last 9 years, I have watched this ideal slowly erode... it started when they ended the free Lactation Dept [as many consults as you needed for free!] about 6 years ago. It has gone down hill since with different budget cuts, policy changes for the "convenience" of the nursing staff - regardless of what is good for mom and baby... etc.
It is very disheartening.
Now I find myself working at a hospital just like every other crappy hospital out there - where babies are ripped away from their mothers the moment they exit the birth canal so that nurses can do the "important" stuff - giving shots and eye goop and taking multiple unneccessary blood sugars and heck, even inserting an IV blood draw line due to the "technicality" of a Group B strep positive woman only having antibiotics for 3.5 hours before delivery instead of the 4 hours the "policy" requires - even though the baby showed no signs of any problem... [until they harpooned his arm anyway... :( :( ].
I watched a midwife yank on the umbilical cord after delivery [instead of waiting for the placenta to deliver like she should have] and she caused the placenta to tear off inside the mom [which often happens when you YANK it out *sigh*]. Then she had to reach her entire hand and arm inside the woman's vagina and uterus to remove the rest of the placenta before the woman bled to death or got septicemia from a retained placenta - and the woman was unmedicated - it was EXCRUCIATING and horrible and scary to observe. But it is "common practice" according to the nurse I was shadowing...
And, the even more sad news is that MY hospital is still the best hospital in this area to give birth - they at least do "rooming in" and don't demand that your baby be taken to a nursery. They at least employ "real" Lactation Consultants to help you breastfeed [instead of regular nurses who have NO training in Lactation and are just assigned as the "Lactation Nurse" when they get to work that day...] The nurses are mostly nice at least...
I literally cried all the way home from work [there was a bad thing that happened with one baby/family I observed and that was part of it, but despair at what has happened to the care at my hospital was also part of it].
I just feel so trapped. NO WAY IN HECK do I want to have my baby at this hospital [or any hospital]. But, with my complications, I have no choice of course. Home birth would be suicide and homicide for my baby and I unfortunately. So, I know I'll have my baby there. I know bad things will happen to me and my baby.... *sigh*
I want to scream to my students [who are mostly healthy moms with no complications] "ARE YOU CRAZY? HAVE YOUR BABY AT HOME - PLEASE! YOU WILL BE SO MUCH BETTER OFF!!!!". They & their babies would be safer, happier, and less likely to die from something stupid [like a CNM in a hurry yanking their placenta out...].
I am having serious issues with continuing to work my job. It is a bad place to be - I *need* the job, I love my boss & co-workers, but I feel complicit in something horrible at this point.... I feel trapped between doing what I HAVE to do to support my family [I can't *afford* not to have a very good, stable job] - and doing what my conscience dictates...
I hate that feeling.
Did I mention how good homebirth would be for you healthy birthing moms [90% of you are!]? I beg you - do some research!!!! SAVE YOURSELVES!!! LOL!
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