And......

I'm back! It's been a while but I was thinking about starting a personal blog and then thought, hey... don't I have one already? Yes I do! So I'm back to complain, nag, and pretty much share whatever I have on my mind at any given moment. Yes, I do realize that's a scary thought but stay tuned anyway. =)

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)!