Treat Us Like Mushrooms

I heard a very disturbing statistic a couple of days ago. It started as ways the government keeps us from focusing on what they are doing. For example, there was a total of 22 seconds of coverage on all three of the major networks regarding the man that is taking over the Medicare and Medicaid systems. On the flip side, a used-to-be-star going to jail got over 50 minutes of coverage. Why is this man important? This doctor is all about redistribution of wealth. He wants to take what we all earn and give it to other people. You do understand that's what redistribution means? It doesn't matter if you have nothing, your nothing will be evenly divided between the rest of us. Instead of putting this man front and center of the American people, he was slipped in the back door. And instead of fixing a broken system (again), the current administration would rather break it down further. Are you paying attention?

The POTUS keeps asserting that he was in charge of the Gulf oil spill from the beginning. That's scary. It has lasted more than 80 days, and may still be going on if this recent "fix" isn't right.But he's been there and aware of it from the start. Which is why he went on vacation, as did several high ranking officials that should have been taking care of this problem. He's taking care of it by going on vacation again. I cannot imagine the difficulties involved when you hold such a high ranking position and have young children. I cannot imagine how difficult it must be to try to explain to your children that the family cannot go somewhere or take a vacation or whatever because daddy has to run a war, or clean up the oil spill, or attack one of the 50 states that belongs to this nation because they support immigration laws. I also cannot imagine how you could go on vacation with all of this going on. Doesn't it make you, Joe Public, feel important?

And speaking of immigration, let's talk about the "sanctuary cities" that are being touted in California. Apparently you can be illegal there and they won't hunt you down and throw you out of the country. Wow, but Arizona is getting a bad rap. Did you know that Tennessee recently passed a similar law to Arizona's? Where was that in the news? It wasn't. I didn't even hear one little blurb about it. Wait, yes I did, but it wasn't on one of the big three. It was on Fox News, though. Arizona is being treated as the red headed step child, but the handful of other states that are worried about this country and it's borders and who comes across those borders are OK. I know where my vacation dollars are going. I would rather support states that have this country's best interest at heart than one that is sucking up to the commander in chief. Hear that, California?

The thing I don't like about things like blogs is that you don't hear the tone that all of this was meant to be read with. You can add a vicious tone that makes me seem like I'm spitting acid. Or a sing-songy tone that makes it seem like I'm not taking this seriously. Take this somewhere in the middle. Or, if you have my number, call me and I'll read it you. I really am just trying to educate people. You know my mantra: find the facts for yourself. Do you own research. Make your own decisions. Just don't be one of the sheeple.

Spanking

I know I've blogged about this before, but I couldn't find it and I got tired of looking for it. I was watching the national news this morning and there was an interesting story about spanking. The debate started when a couple got mad at the grandparents for spanking their two young boys. Apparently, Grandma got a little irritated at one grandson for pulling her plants out of the ground. Then, the second grandson did something and she spanked him, too. The parents were "outraged" that she had done that and it started a rift. Then, of course, the experts weighed in on spanking and other methods of discipline. The general consensus was that spanking is bad and you should do other things so as not to ruin the delicate psyche of children. Whatever.

My mom was a spanker. She spanked for every offense, and sometimes just because. There were times when we definitely needed a good butt whooping. Sometimes, not so much. Time out was not very wide spread when I was growing up. My dad, on the other hand, only spanked us once. It was harder on him than it was on us. He never did it again. But Dad had the look. One of those and you knew you screwed up. It was worse than a beating, not physically, but mentally. Here's my take.

Spanking was and is a great discipline tool in our home. I was a big spanker for many years. Because of that, my two older kids know that I mean business. The baby took a little while to get the picture, but she has come around. The two older kids know that the serious tone in my voice and the elevated level of that voice is just a warning. I will only take so much and then I'm done. I will only be pushed so far.

We do incorporate other means of discipline. We do use time out. The problem with that is, once again, the big kids know the fundamentals. They are so good about standing in time out, I forget they're there. And they don't ask if they can come out, they just stand there. I have to set a timer to remind me. The reason they are so good at it is because they got spanked while they were in time out for not listening. Or the threat of a spanking instead was always good at getting them to stand. The baby on the other hand is stubborn just like her mama. I could have beat her every minute of time out and it didn't matter to her. She was going to do things her way. You're killing me, here, Baby Girl. She does have it down now, thank goodness. She will stand there just like the big kids. Whew!!

We also take away their fun stuff. Actually we take away any and all fun they might think of having. That means all video games, electronics, TV, movies, whatever. If we had planned something fun for them, they miss out. If that doesn't work, then we definitely spank. You can only take so much crap before you start throwing it back.

The experts' view was that you scar your children and make them unproductive members of society by laying your hands on them. I do not condone beating or abusing your child(ren). But I also think that without the proper discipline for your child, you are making them unproductive members of society. I think that if you coddle your children, if you do not make them responsible for their actions and/or words, you are doing them a great disservice. We are making another generation of people that feels like they are owed something by society in general. They will have no sense of responsibility, no sense of right and wrong.

Children do not fit into a mold. One size does not fit all. Isn't that the way with all of us? Find the way that works best for your child. Find what works best for your family. Just don't tell me what works best for mine.

MIxed Up

I was originally going to title this "Jealous Much", but that doesn't really begin to cover the things I feel like writing about tonight. I'm feeling a little maudlin. Stinkin' hormones. I'm up, I'm down, I'm spinning all around. Stop the insanity. Here's what I have for your reading enjoyment tonight.

When I started taking and being a distributor for JP, my upline was very friendly towards me. I know. They always are. But we knew each other before this. We were friendly before this. We attended the same service at church and spent quite a bit of time on projects and committees. But since the debacle of the breakfast meeting at her house, she doesn't speak to me. It wasn't my fault. I don't feel like I spoke out of turn. I didn't even call any names. I left with my head held high, and my dignity intact. So what happened? Is it because I chose not to be a minion anymore? She doesn't even speak to me at church. I wonder if she's embarrassed? I don't know why she would be, or even why she should be. It wasn't her fault or even a situation of her doing. I don't know. All I know is that she doesn't look me in the eye anymore, she avoids me when she sees me coming, and I feel like I have lost a good friend.

I need to admit publicly that I am jealous of the families that can afford for their children to take multiple dance classes. There are opportunities to take tap, jazz, ballet, pointe, hip hop, lyrical, and modern. Then there is company. You have to take so many years of jazz, tap, and ballet to be in it. Then there are private lessons. You can schedule time with one of the instructors for one on one lessons. They go over fundamentals and offer extra practice. For just four classes, one for me and each of the kids, it costs us right over $100. If you take each of the classes listed above, it would cost one person $169 a month. Then you add recital costumes. If a dancer is in child sizes, it's $65 per costume. If the dancer is in adult sizes it's $75. Multiply that by the number of classes and we are talking some serious money. One mom I know is taking three classes herself, her daughter is taking five, and then there are private lessons. They can run as much as $50 an hour. Then add costumes to all that. I cannot imagine what that must run them after all is said and done. I would very much like to afford to be able to let my kids take more than one class each, but the money is barely there for just our four classes.

I have a tendency to be hard hearted towards people. Who, me? Yeah, me. We were having this conversation at the park with some moms. I'm not the only one, but that doesn't make it right. I will give you enough rope to hang yourself and then I'll tug 'til your feet aren't touching the ground anymore. I get offended mostly when someone has hurt hubby. I don't mean physically, but emotionally. His brothers are on my very short list. I get more offended than he does. I just absolutely refuse to let anyone say anything bad about my man. He works too hard providing a great life for us to be put down by anyone. He is a fantastic husband, a wonderful father, and just about the best person I have ever known. I made it a point that I would not demean or degrade or say anything negative about him on this blog or any other. Whatever issue he and I have is between the two of us. And if you think I'll put up with you saying anything negative, you have another thing coming. All of that to say, I have no nice things to say about his brothers, so I am just not going to say anything at all. I have no sympathy for their circumstances. I got nothing.

That's all I've got for tonight. It's not much, but it's something. Got anything you need to get off your chest? As Dr. Frasier Crane used to say, "I'm listening."

Quick Couple of Things

It's been a busy summer. We haven't been so busy that I feel disconnected, but busy enough to try to keep me out of trouble. I'm trying to make the busyness a little more routine. Sometimes it works, sometimes not so much. And then there's the occasional wrench that gets thrown in there. Cue lights, music. And bullet points:

1. I have been reading this summer. Oh, sweet books, I have missed you so. I don't have much time during the school year to grab a book, so summer is my time. The kids play video games all day and tear the house down. I don't see a thing. My Sookie books have been really good. I have also read a book for book club, and a book that I found in one of the Literary Guild magazines. I joined that group at one time (Don't do it. They will try to milk you for more and more money. Long story for a different time.) and I still get their magazines. I just read through them and request the books from the library. Then I have friends that love to read. One blog post leads to a frenzy on the library web site.
2. The baby slept on the couch last night. She came into the room last night but didn't seem to want to sleep in our bed. OK, do you want to sleep on the couch? Off she goes, only to come crawling into our bed later. Soaking wet. Baby girl, what is that? She wet the bed. Well, the couch, actually. That's one way to get woken up out of a really good sleep. And I didn't have hubby drag the shop vac in from the shed before he went to work. I could do it, but have you seen the mess that is the shed? No way, Jose. He made the mess, he can dig through it for the shop vac.
3. Melasma. Do you know what that is? It's dark spots that appear on a woman's cheeks, forehead, and/or above the mouth caused by a hormonal imbalance. It can start in the pre-menopausal stage and continue until the hormones are balanced. It can also occur during pregnancy. Guess what I've got? There's really nothing you can do about it. There is a cream that you can use that will lighten the dark spots, but it also lightens whatever part of your skin you use it on. I don't want to do that. So, I walk around with these dark spots on my cheeks until my hormones balance out. I'm hoping the imbalance is explaining this weight gain issue of mine as well. Hormones suck.
4. Do any of you know how to rebalance the drum in a washing machine? Ours is off kilter. While normally it doesn't affect anything in particular, if I do a heavy load, like towels or jeans, it's horrible. I am constantly readjusting the clothes until it will spin without thumping the damn machine half way across my kitchen. I can't start a load of towels and leave the house. I won't be able to get in the door if I do. The washer will walk wherever the imbalance leads it. That's funny. Me and the washing machine are unbalanced. You would think we could keep each other straight.
5. I was going to try to go more vegetarian this summer. Back off the red meat, eat more lean protein, more beans and legumes. Yeah, every time a steak or hamburger even crosses my path, it has no hope of survival. Maybe that's part of my imbalance. Maybe it's just the carnivore in me screaming to get out. Maybe I'm just crazy. There's always that option number three. I wonder if that has something to do with this weight gain?
6. I need to clean the piles in my house. I have piles of junk in every room. How can I yell at my kids to clean their rooms when the house looks like this? I have piles that have piles. I have clothes in the corner in my kitchen that need to be dropped off, but I'll be darned if I remember to take them anywhere. I started cleaning off my book shelves of curriculum that I won't be using and some that just needs to be tossed, but have I done anything with it? No, it's sitting in a pile next to the book shelf. I had great plans to get them all taken care of this summer. But on a bright note, summer isn't over yet. Now if I could find the motivation somewhere in one of those piles...

That's what I've got so far. It's not much, but at least I have a cleaner spot in my brain. Just in time to fill it with more useless drivel. Great! Another pile. See ya'.