Who are they really hurting? The Duggar Crew

You've heard of the Duggars, right? The family with 17 (or is it 18?) children that have a TV show on TLC. Well, all over the internet today I've been reading a bitch fest about how they're ruining the earth with their crappy diapers in landfills and how they have their older children raising the younger children, etc. Okay, I do understand they are the extreme but they're not asking anyone for a dime. They don't use tax payers money to support their children. Hell, they don't even use the public school system. Do your kids go to public school? Ahhhh, you're using taxpayers money to fund your child's education!

I have seven children myself and let me say that I wish my kids were half as cooperative and well adjusted as theirs seem to be. I realize you only see a portion of their lives on television so we're probably not getting the whole story but these kids are great. Michelle has such a good hold on them parenting wise. It just amazes me. The older children help out, sure, but what's wrong with that? They're learning skills that will only help them later in life should they choose to have a family of their own. I could just imagine what would happen if I had my kids in charge all the time.. I don't think it would go so smoothly. I don't know what they do or how they do it, but by God, I admire them for it. Just look at how calm Michelle looks most of the time and she looks so young. I'm 35 and most days I look like some worn out, dried up hag bag. So what if she wants to keep having kids? She's good at it and she's popping out "quality" kids!

These people are pretty darned self sufficient if I must say. Look at their house. They built that! Sure they had some help along the way but there's nothing wrong with that. They know how to take care of themselves, the children included. They know how to take care of each other. In my opinion, the world needs more self sufficient people and parents who aren't afraid to teach those skills to their kids. I'm doing my best and feel like I'm falling short when it comes to giving my kids responsibility. Who do you think will be better off, the child who is catered to all their life or a Duggar kid who has chores, responsibilities and knows their role in the family. They're raising productive, kind, resourceful children with great values and I think that makes up for any "waste" they might cause.


I read somewhere about them taking away from others because of food shortages.. Um, what food shortages? Sure, sure I know what you're going to say but have you looked at what YOUR family throws out on a day to day basis? Look at all the food wasted by the restaurant industry, not to mention the grocery chains.

Now Jim Bob and Michelle are going to be grandparents. Yep, that's right.. their eldest son, Joshua and his wife are expecting their first child. The more the merrier I say.

Hey, It's been a while!

I haven't added anything to my blog for a while. I promise, it's not because I want to keep you out of the loop.. I've just had so much going on! I'm writing for eHow now, trying to keep my resolution to write something every day. It's going well so far and I've found I can churn out an article usually in under an hour. Hey, I'm not a "real" writer but I do okay.

ChaCha is still going alright I suppose if you don't mind working through the glitches and crazy lag times between screens. For those who don't already know, ChaCha is a mobile search company that you can text from your phone to get answers to just about anything. And folks, I do mean anything! Oh, and they're hiring again.. or at least they were last night. If you want to make a few extra buckaroos here and there without leaving home, this could be for you. Go to ChaCha.com and check into it.

The weather is seriously pissing me off. It was so nice for a few days that I got spoiled. I seriously thought Spring had sprung but nope, snow later this week. WTF? I would love to have a decent Easter Sunday when we didn't have to worry about flooding, mudslides or freakin' snow. I haven't even checked the local forecast for the 12th, I'm afraid to. They're probably predicting a typhoon or some strange voodoo hexxed weather.

Speaking of the 12th, my eldest daughter's birthday is on Easter this year. She'll be 14 and I've threatened to get her a bunny cake. I know, I know.. I'm so lame. Actually, I think she said it was "random". Whatever.. Random? How do kids come up with perfectly normal words and turn them into something negative. I like random.. random strangers, random advice, random blogs, random acts of kindness.. See? Random is good, dammit.

Anyway, before my fingers totally get away from my brain and I really start making sense and scaring myself, I think I'll back away from the keyboard for a bit. I'll leave you with a bit of advice... Never eat the cheese if the cow has passed on.

That's all I've got for now. Lates!

I went to Walmart and lived to tell about it

That's right! I survived a shopping trip at Walmart. You see, I've been getting these texts that say

"dont go to walmart tonight. gang initiation. they are gonna Shoot 3 women at a local walmart"

Checked it out on snopes.com and it seems to be a big hoax. A lot of people are talking about it.. even the news stations. I bet some exec at Kmart or Target started it trying to take away Wally Worlds business. ;) Anyway, I went and the worst thing that happened is I spent too much money on things I probably didn't really need. I doubt there's much gang activity in my neck of the woods anyway... but ya never know.

Life is insane but so am I

The past couple weeks have been crazy! Jason had his surgery on the 5th and all went well. He had more of a hernia than a hydrocele. Some fatty tissue from his abdomen had slipped down through the opening. Dr Vaughan took care of it and he's perfect now!

Hannah (2 year old) broke out into hives all over her body on the 8th so I spent a few hours in the ER trying to find out what was wrong with her. I hate that since her doctor's office is directly linked to the hospital her health plan won't allow her to be seen anywhere else but the ER. I guess we'll be changing doctors soon anyway so it really doesn't matter.

We got home from the hospital around 2 am and by 6 am, Joshua (1 year old) was throwing up. He caught a really fun stomach bug and proceeded to pass it along to everyone in the house. My past week has been nothing but puke and poo, I'm tellin' ya. That's one of the joys of having lots of children - chain illnesses. Just when one is getting better, another is sure to come down with the ailment. Fun, fun, fun!

The weather today was beautiful so we just had to get out of the house! Being cooped up for over a week with a bunch of sickos isn't fun for anyone involved and it was time to get some fresh air. We went to the park and let the kids walk around and feed the ducks and geese. Joshua is going through a duck phase and it's so much fun when he yells at them and quacks. He also does the "Eee, I, Eee, I, Ohhh" but according to him all the animals on Old McDonald's farm "quack, quack" here and there! Dogs quack, cows quack, chickens quack.. Eee I Eee I Ooohh! They're so much fun at that age!

Calling All Freaks!

Now don't get me wrong, I love a good suspense/horror movie but I'm slightly offended by this.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_554266.html

I live in West Virginia and I've had the pleasure of meeting some of these "holler" people. I have to admit, some are a little odd and there is a definite inbreeding problem in some areas but sheesh, do they have to be exploited?

You may think they're "freakish" but they're our neighbors so Hollywood, leave 'em alone.

SAT for my 5 year old son!

I had an SAT meeting the other day for my five year old son. No, he's not a genius preparing to take his college entrance exams early. SAT stands for Student Assistance Team. A group of school faculty and the parent meets to discuss a students possible retention.

My little guy is a "young" 5 year old kindergarten student who didn't have any preschool experience. While he's definitely shown improvement from the beginning of the year to the middle (More than doubled most of his scores, I'm so proud!) he's still not up to par with what they expect. He knows a lot of the information but apparently isn't mature enough to translate it into a written form.

I knew going at the beginning of the year he might have to repeat kindergarten. I was actually prepared to enroll him into preschool for this school year but his would be principal rejected the idea and said it would be best if he had two years of kindergarten. Also, we moved and his new school's preschool program was full.

My main concern is that he not feel like a "loser" because he's behind the rest of his class. I'm afraid that might result in self esteem issues that will hinder his education. I know that at this young age it's highly unlikely but it's still a possibility. I'll need to be sure to offer him extra encouragement and praise for his accomplishments. He really has come so far considering he has slight ADHD. He may not be a genius but he's one smart cookie (he likes to be called that, don't know why)!

Hernias and Hydroceles and Surgery - Oh my!

We had to take my 5 year old son to WVU Medical today to have a pre-op visit to fix his hydrocele. His left testicle is affected by fluid that drains down from his abdomen due to the inguinal tube that should have closed inutero or shortly after his birth. He isn't in any pain and it currently isn't causing any problems but it could in the future considering his intestine could slip through and cause a painful, dangerous hernia.

He's scheduled for surgery on March 5th and it will be performed by the same surgeon who did his surgery for pyloric stenosis when he was just 3 weeks old. I'm glad that he's previously had anesthesia with no adverse effects because that puts my mind at ease a bit. His dad has decided that he should be there and is taking off work to join my husband and I at the hospital on the day of his procedure. It's an outpatient surgery so he should be able to come home later that day. He'll be sore for a while, will have to be out of school for a few days and can't do anything strenuous for a couple weeks.

I'm sure I'm more nervous than he is. I know it's a fairly common procedure but just the same, he's my baby and it worries me. I trust the surgeon and I know he's one of the best. I'll be sure to update on his surgery and condition. Please, if you pray, say a little prayer that all goes well and keep us in your thoughts.

Disappointed in my fellow man

I went shopping today with my hubby and two youngest children. We saw my mother parked outside a local thrift shop and decided to stop and say hi. Inside the store, my husband sat our youngest inside a cart so I placed my purse inside the basket like I always do. I got distracted talking to my mother and chasing after my 2 year old daughter and when I looked up, hubby had taken my son out of the cart and was ready to leave. We were heading into the next store when I realized I didn't have my purse. At that point, I couldn't remember if I had left it inside the van or inside the thrift. My mom went to check the van and I went back into the thrift store. I checked where the carts were but the purse wasn't there. I saw an empty cart on the other side of the store and THERE was my purse. Phheewww! Was I relieved!

I went on over to the store next door where my hubby was waiting. As we got to the back of the store, I told him about how I thought he'd put the cart back with the others. He said he did. I then told him how I found the cart on the other side of the store. He insisted he put it back with the other carts so I thought I'd better check my wallet. Reaching into my purse I immediately noticed my wallet was upside down and hadn't been snapped. I knew something was up. My money was gone. My credit cards, cell phone and all were still there but all my cash was gone from the center of my wallet. In less than 5 minutes, someone came into the store, got the cart, saw that my purse was there, dug into my wallet and took my money, leaving my purse inside the cart. They even zipped my purse back up. How nice of them.

Now, I have to let you in on the ironic part. This person who stole my money made a huge mistake. They only took the ten dollars in ones I had in the center of my wallet. I had a 100 dollar bill rolled up inside the zippered compartment in back and it hadn't been touched. How sad for them that on the day they decided to steal something, they did a poor job of it. Not to mention, they were stealing money inside a Christian based thrift store. No wonder they did it in such a hurry, they probably 'felt' God watching them! I just tell myself they must have needed that money more than I do. I also believe in karma so I'm sure it will come back around to them. I'm just thankful they only got $10 and left my cell and cards alone.

Lead Law, Shmead Shmaw...

For the past several years I've supported my family mostly by selling children's clothing online. This past summer a bill was passed into law that is causing many people like me to have no choice but to close shop. The CPSIA has decided that our children are eating too much of their clothing and therefore have placed a lead law into effect which can land us with fines and even jail time.

I'm short on time so I'll save the specifics for another post. This is just a rant for now. I've read over this law and I can't honestly believe that anyone who voted and passed this through even read it. I think they heard "This is a law to protect our children from unsafe lead levels in toys, books, etc" and they thought if it's to protect children, how can it be bad? Well, what about the children whose parents are left without income because of the stiff penalties they face for operating their small businesses?

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for protecting our children and as a mother, my heart goes out to any parent whose child has been hurt by lead poisoning. I simply don't think this law was well thought out and planned for. I've read that there's already a stay of enforcement for one year but in the meantime, what are we to do? I have inventory that I'm not able to sell because I can't afford to have each item tested. With the way our economy is, this is the last thing we need to worry about.

The thrift stores in my area have cleared out most of their children's clothing as well as toys and books. Think of the drop in sales they're going to face because of this. Also, with some people scraping to make ends meet, they rely on thrift stores and second hand clothing to keep their children clothed. What are they supposed to do? Let their children go naked? Oh and don't say they can get hand me downs from Freecycle or Craigslist. Nuh uh. This law makes it illegal to even GIVE the clothing away.

As I said earlier, I don't have time to really get indepth on the subject right now and the more I think about it, the more irritated I get so I'll save it for another time, maybe. I'm done ranting for now. I feel so much better, NOT!