Wednesday, January 31, 2007

I have the stinkin' flu again...

So I decided to take this test instead of actually posting anything interesting. I have the achy flu this time which stinks because I can't do anything with the kids (although we did have a pirate treasure hunt today which was fun) and I have a temp of 102 which makes me alternately freezing cold and burning hot. I think my ibuprofen just kicked in so now I'm hot. I think the fever is melting my brain cells. Also, it looks like I need to bone up on the ol' bible, take a look at my test results:

You know the Bible 88%!
 

Wow! You are awesome! You are a true Biblical scholar, not just a hearer but a personal reader! The books, the characters, the events, the verses - you know it all! You are fantastic!

Ultimate Bible Quiz
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I know it says I did awesome, but 88% isn't exactly stellar in my opinion. I did read about King Saul to the kids the other day so I got that one right. I guess a couple more years of homeschooling religion and I'll be a biblical expert.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Sorry For the Hassle

I have recently enabled comment moderation because I had an annonymous commentor that was ridiculous and I can't be havin' that. So from now on my comments go to my email which I check almost every day. I will get your comment posted asap but you won't see it right away which could discourage you from commenting but DON'T LET IT! I like comments, all kinds...except annonymous ones, apparently.

Monday, January 22, 2007

Law of The Land

I was browsing around on The Smart Girl's blog when I found this old post that I must have missed. It's really cool how you find blog entries that pertain to your life so aptly, isn't it? When things happen in life that seem too strange for coincidence, I call them "God Moments". You all know what I mean. Maybe I should call what happened today a "blogincidence" or a "coinciblog"? Anyway, this morning I was filling out a form for the school district so I wouldn't be DUMDUMDUM DUMMMMMMMM put on the "non-compliant" list (what the heck would happen to me? would they take my children and forcibly put them in public school? would they take my birthday away?). It was the form that I have to put my (school age) children's names on and info on our school year and curriculum, testing, etc.. I hate that thing. I always feel like "big brother" has one up on me when I subject my family to those kinds of things. Our school district is very hands off, but still, it's just a matter of time before some new, I'm-gonna-change-the-way-we-do-things-around-here administrator says, "Heeeeey! If we force all of the homeschoolers to enroll in our schools, we'll get sooooo much more federal monies for our schools AND we'll be saving all those kids from the living hell of having to actually be raised by their unqualified parents! WHOOOOOO are the homeschoolers in our district, again...why, here is one..." and then it will be allll over and There goes school choice and happy, well rounded kids who have stayed innocent for just a teensy bit longer, show more respect for adults and people in general, love learning and finding out about the world around them, bonded with their siblings as they NEVER could being away from them all day long every day...you get where I'm going with this.

I was resenting the fact that I have to pay TWICE to educate my children while I was filling out that form this morning. I heard on the radio later today how Tim Pawlenty is practically SHOVING our couple billion dollar state budget surplus at friggin "education" instead of giving it back to the people who paid in and making more tax cuts (where have all the fiscally responsible conservatives gone?). UGH!!!!

Lady at the checkout counter: Ummm, you gave me a 20 instead of a 10.
Me: WHOOPS, it said on the tag that it shoud be 20, so can I have my ten back as change?
Lady: Ahhhh, no. Sorry. We've made it a rule in this store that we figure you'll be back and you might get a good deal on something at some future time that we won't make any money on. Because of this, we'll just be keeping the "extra" you paid. You should be glad that your money may be going to the "good cause" of getting the next customer a good deal. Maybe. Sometime in the future, that is. Possibly. I don't know for sure, but I DO know that if you don't just suck it up and be happy, we will just make you feel like a whiney, ungrateful, ignorant baby, oh, and have a nice day!

Don't laugh. It's coming. Mark my words.
Also, mark Smarty's words too. I read and re-read her post until I understood it well (law-type speak is so darn convoluted, talk about double negatives and inside-out thinking!) and I'd advise you to take the time to do the same. Fascinating!
P.S. Janene, you'll love reading it, check it out!

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Clarihews are Fun, The Flu Most Definitely Is NOT

The stomach flu is bad.
When has it both mom and dad.
It really isn't much fun.
To repeatedly barf up a lung.

Monday, January 15, 2007

Stomach Flu...

...is wending it's ugly way through the whole town since before Christmas. Unfortunately, my lovely Katrina did not escape it's wrath. We thought it was gone on Saturday and early this morning at 4 am (Sun.) it was most definitely NOT gone. Lots of wash loads. Lots of disinfectant. One good thing is we got to go shopping for some pretty new rugs in the upstairs bathroom. Also, Target had a sale on some matching new bath towels which also needed to be replaced. So there's that. Always look on the bright side, right?

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Gourmet Bathwater

The other night I had a bad sinus headache and Butch suggested I take a nice, hot bath. I popped a couple of Tylenol and hopped in and tried to ignore all the noise from downstairs ("calgon, take me awayyyy") but about five minutes, and a half a chapter of The Man Who Was Thursday, and before I got a chance to shave my legs, I heard a knock at the door...

Niklaus: Mama, mama,(knockknockknock) mom, MOM,(knockknockknock) MOOOOOOO-OOOOOOOOHHHHm. Can I take a bash,(knockknockknock) please?(knockknockknock) Can I take a bash, please? PLEASE???????(knockknockknock) Mom, can I please take a BASH!!!????

Me: (sigh) Yes, Niklaus (I had just given him one the day before, and all day he was asking for a bath, but I had stupidly thought that he would forget all about it) you can come in.

N: YAY! Will you take a bash wif me?

Me: Sure, just stay on your side of the tub and don't crawl on me! And NO splashing, got it? (We have a big, corner-style whirlpool bath so there's lot's of room for "swimming" in the bath and more than enough room for two which makes it almost seem a waste to just bathe one person at a time, you know...yeah, I just got worn down by his begging. Stamp "sucker" on my forehead.)

N: Okay Mommy.

So we hung out in the bash for a while. We played "OH NO! The SHARK IS GONNA EAT THE RUBBER DUCKY!", and good old "Monster Truck rally" with the now sticker-less mini monster trucks, "We're Drowning in Bubbles!", "Bubble Suit", and the always popular, "Bubble Beard and Hair". At one point, he grabbed an empty bottle and filled it up with bath water, held it up to drink it and saw my horrified look. Before I could even get the inevitable words out, he dumped it and turned on the tap and said, "THIS is the GOOD water, right mama? I'll ONLY drink THIS water, right?". That's right son.
I had a hard time getting him out because we had so much fun and while I was drying him off with the towel he said,

"Wow, Mom, that bash was superdeeelishus. It was the best bash I ever tasted!"

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Paulina Noelle

Here is big sister Gabby meeting her little, baby sister for the first time (and probably wondering where the "other" baby might be after being so used to the twinks!). Notice Paulina's big, ol storkbite on her forehead? Gabby had the same, exact thing when she was born!

I thought I'd include a picture of my cute bro-in-law since he might have had SOMETHING to do with that baby too. I should probably mention my gratitude for his openness to life as well. Matt, thank you so much for your part in making all these beautiful babies for me to be auntie to. I love you too.
(Matt's thinking, "Hey, it was my pleasure! ANYTIME!" heehee)

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

"Tell Someone"

"Cervical cancer is caused by certain types of a common virus called human papillomavirus (HPV). For most women, HPV clears on its own. But for some, cervical cancer can develop. It can be devastating to you or the people you care about."

...Oh yeah, and while you're at it, since NONE of the commercials (tv or radio ads) includes it in their schpiels, tell someone that the so-called "common" virus is an STD! Boy, does it irritate me. I heard that ad on the radio and got steamed because it is so misleading. A good friend of mine brought her daughters in for a check up and routine immunizations and her doctor recommended the HPV one with the whole explanation about how that (HPV) could lead to cancer and my friend trusted the doctor and agreed to it, not having been told that HPV was an STD that her daughter is at NO RISK of contracting! To me, that is an agenda on the part of the doctor. She might have thought she was doing the right thing by leaving out this bit of info. but my friend was horrified when her hubs told her the truth.

If you have to immunize your daughter against HPV when she's 12 or any age for that matter, then you have a bigger problem than getting cancer (oh yes, there are bigger problems than getting cancer, contrary to what the secular media might tell you!). We're talking about the fight for our daughter's souls here, people! It makes me sick that the commercials portray this HPV as something any girl can get maybe by a sneeze, or by coughing too close to someone else, (remember, "common virus"!) or not washing your hands. This whole thing smells BADLY of a conspiracy. I don't throw that term around loosly, but how could they advertize it in this way unless people believed it in some focus group and suckered into getting the immunization under false pretense? When you go to the HPV "Tell Someone" website, it takes a while before you even find out that HPV is an STD which is disgusting, if you ask me. If they really cared about women they would be up front and give the info honestly. It might save women from making some pretty stupid decisions even if they don't have people in their lives that care about their moral or physical health. They did the same thing with the Hepititis B shot about 10 years ago and were promoting the first in the series of 3 shots to be given before the babies left the hospitals after just being born (I KNOW this because they did that with Matty when he was first born. I said no in the hospital but after pressure from the doctor I had to look it up and found out it was another STD so I said no again later). How could they do that? The poor babies didn't even have a chance to develop their own immunities before they pumped them full of a largely experimental immun.. By the way, the hospitals don't even recommend that anymore for newborns. Yet another HMMMM?

Do I believe that all immunizations are inherently bad: NO
Do I believe that all immunizations are inherently good: NO
Do I believe doctors who lie, or mislead, or guilt parents into giving questionable immunizations? NO WAY. And if you have one of those doctors (even one who is just plain ignorant) inform them and get rid of them. Period. This is an easy test, just ask them to give you a good reason to immunize your child against HPV. You know your child, the doctor doesn't. Any doctor worth their salt helps you to be a better parent and doesn't "lord" their doctor status above you with statistics and CDC informational booklets that make them feel smarter and you feel absolutely powerless to defend your rights as the parent of your child.

(Ugh. Sigh. Throw up my hands and stomp away.)
(deep breath, coming back...)
OKAY:

DO NOT blindly give your children shots without at the very least questioning the doctors as to their efficacy and risks involved. Study up and weigh the risk/benefit before you give your child something that you can't take back. You read the label on the ibuprophin bottle, don't you? You stress out when you think you might have given your child too much cold medication, so why not do a little research before you inject something into their bodies just because your doctor told you to and the government approved it using scare tactics to advertize and make you believe it's absolutely necessary for your child's health and/or their attendance in school (if you are told your child cannot attend school unless they are updated on their shots, the doctor/clinic is in violation of the law in MN because you CAN opt out. All you have to do is sign a form stating you object to whichever shots for concientious/religious/etc. reasons). Always ask questions about any medication/treatment/shots and discuss it with everyone who cares about the health of your child (husband, grandparents, aunties and uncles) before making those kinds of health decisions.

I know this is a rant, but it ticks me off... can you tell? The next post will be a fluffy one, I promise.