Yet another leg of the Journey

I have written a little about my sons sensory processing disorder. Well now he is at an age where they need to find out if some of the things he is dealing with are in the autism spectrum or some other kind of delay. So this weekend I filled out a form that will rule out (or in) "regular" autism. His teachers and therapist have assured me that they don't think he is autistic. But by having me fill out this form it will help them to start to narrow down what is happening with G. In February we start another leg of our journey into special needs by having G tested by a woman who is amazing. She comes to us highly recommended by friends of ours who are colleagues of hers in the field of psychology. She is the go to woman for high functioning autism and a plethora of other things. She has no agenda other than the child's welfare. Sounds good.
We are doing all of these things in hopes of getting G the right programs and help when he starts school next August. By getting him tested early we can get him started on the way to learning in a way that he can understand. These test results will also help his teachers to help him and understand him better.
I have had many friends talk about being uneasy with children being labeled. I understand that. I really do. Unfortunately if you want any help, your child has to be "labeled" so that those around them know how and why to help. I am hopeful that whatever the out come G won't ever feel like "I am a kid with speech delay" or "I am the high functioning autistic kid." Our goal at home, and away, is to for him to be G, our son, who learns the way he learns, and is just as special and cool as anyone else.
This is an interesting leg of our journey.( Not that any twist or turn with G has ever been dull or uninteresting.) I feel that we are getting even closer to having questions answered that have tugged at my heart for the 2years that we have been on this road. I don't want my son to be anything that he is not, but I do want him to be comfortable with who he is. I really feel that these tests are getting us one step closer to getting us all there.

If you would like more information about Sensory Processing Disorder, The SPD Network has a very informative site. http://www.sinetwork.org/

If you would like more information on Autism, Autism Speaks will keep you informed. http://www.autismspeaks.org/

Christmas Shopping China Free

A local artisan turned me onto this great site called Etsy. It is a website filled with crafters/artisans from all over the world, but mostly from the US. I have yet to order anything yet because I still have to narrow down my gift ideas. There is so much to choose from! Most,if not all,of the artist take paypal. Etsy tells you how much that "shop" has sold and its approval rating. There is something for everyone ,or anything, on your Christmas list at Etsy. If you like giving one of a kind gifts,without breaking your budget,you are bound to find something on Etsy.

http://www.etsy.com/

Long Time no See

Well October was one crazy month that did not go according to plan. To make a long story short we were suppose to sign the papers on both homes the first Friday of October and be out the following Tuesday, 4 days later. Something came up for our buyer and so we had to post pone closing every week for the next 3 weeks! Then the buyer went MIA therefore voiding our contract. It turns out she was not pre-qualified like her realtor had told us. The buyer was so frustrated with the people she was working with that she just stopped returning phone calls. It has been a disheartening situation for all of us. The kids are very sad/mad that they won't have their new bedrooms. Because our buyer wanted all of our appliances I went out and bought new appliances, of which are currently in my garage. To top it off my house is emptier than ever and for the month that it has been back on the market we have not had one showing. We have always had,at least, 2 showings a weekend. So, I took it upon myself to list the house on Craigslist, in addition to it being on our Realtors website. I am really struggling to understand Gods rhyme and reason for all of this. We have had our house on the market almost a year. I am really getting disheartened/ depressed about this.

On a good note, The Other Half started his new DM job at the end of October and loves it. His districts numbers are totally in the toilet. These poor guys have not had a manager that cared. And for the last 6months they didn't have a manager at all! Luckily for them the Other Half is a total optimist and loves a good challenge. He has met every single one of his distributors and they were all down in the dumps, but they are hard workers, and are ready to do better, they just want someone to help them get there. Most of these guys already know The Other Half because he trained them to do their job or they've met at work conferences. We both know this has helped him get off to a good start with these guys.

A week after the Other Half officially started his DM job we went with some friends to San Francisco and Napa. I will post more on that later, with photos. It was a great trip!

To sum it up, October was interesting.

My House is in Contract!!!

This is a quickie update. I hope to post more in the up coming days. A quick recap of the past 2weeks and why I've been on hiatus. The kids started school! Yippee! We all have been passing the flu around the past 2weeks, booooooo! On Tuesday of last week the other half received a promotion and on Wednesday a woman put an offer on our house?! Crazy great! By Thursday we had finished negotiations and I had the real flu, leaving my sick self, The Other Half, and our realtor to look at houses all this past weekend. We have to be out of our place by the second Tuesday of October, No pressure! It is a challenge to find a house you like when you are well, but let me tell you it is down right no fun when you are sporting a 102 degree fever! But we think we found something we like, out of the 20 we saw this past weekend! I kid you not, 20 homes and I have only found one that seems to have what we need. Just our blessed luck it happens to be Bank owned and in PERFECT condition!!! So we place a bid on Tuesday and we should know by tonight or tomorrow what the bank thinks.
Please say a prayer that we get the right place for the right price. God has really been moving the past two weeks and it is so exciting! I am so excited to see what he is going to come up with when it comes to our lodging!
I hope you all are well and I will blog more soon!
:)

Mini Hiatus

I will be back and blogging in the next couple of days. Life has been a little crazy with all the back to school stuff and getting use to the new schedule.
Best of luck to all of you gearing up for the new school year as well!

What's in Your Shopping Cart?

It's that time again,back to school shopping! I usually love shopping but this year it was just too much! I think everyone had the same idea as C and I. We went to the uniform shop, busy. We went to Target, busy. As we were almost done at Target I remembered that C needed a "dressy" pair of shoes and my little niece needed a birthday present. Being that my niece is 3 I knew there was a good chance that some of her favorite things had been recalled.Which in turn reminded me that I am trying my darnest to boycott China. I was looking for My Little Ponies and some of her other favorites. None were to be found. They were recalled, I suppose. Then I remembered I had promised her Playdough. When she was over 2 weeks ago she and G had played with it and she loved it! I had told her next time I saw her I would bring her some. So I was off to find the Playdough. We found it. I figured it was there because it wasn't made in China. WRONG! Playdough is made in china?! Yup. Did I give in? Yes. Why? I made a promise and I couldn't find any substitutes. After that my guilt ridden self took C to the Target shoe section. All I could find were made in china shoes! I'm not saying ALL of Targets shoes are made in China, but all of the ones in her size and of the dressy persuasions were! Geez! I was tired from shopping but determined not to give in again, so I asked C if we could go to Once Upon a Child and see if they had loafers or something there. She was fine with that. (Thank God!) I don't have alot of time to shop and run around for shoes, but I figure if the item is second hand I can live guilt free, right?

After are shopping I was exhausted. It was a while before I decided to unload our days purchases. As I was unloading it dawned on me to look and see where everything had come from. This is what I found:

Made in China

• Body Loofah


• Foohy Erasers


• Crayola flash cards


• Rose Art Washable Markers


• Elmars Glue


• Target Bandages


• 2 Piggy Banks from the dollar bin


• Starpoint Tinkerbell folder


• Focus folder


• Sweet Art folder


• Maybe it's time,inc folder


• AND the big heart breaker......High School Musical Folder

Made in USA or else where

• Cotton Cotton balls, USA


• PaperMate pens, Mexico


• PaperMate pencils, USA


• Bic pens, Mexico


• Crayola Colored Pencils, Brazil


• Crayola Crayons, USA


• Color Sharp highlighters, USA


• Target Disinfecting Wipes (their answer to Clorox wipes), USA


• Method aroma spray, USA


• School Uniforms, USA


• Norcom construction paper, note books, and loose leaf paper, Mexico


• Fruit of the Loom tank tops, El Salvador


• Hanes crew socks, USA

As you have seen from my list, not all of Crayola's products are manufactured in the same country. I found this to be true with several companies. I'm sure there are many more. Target's Circo brand, for instance, had blue knee socks made in China. Circo also had similar socks that were made in Mexico and the United States.

As I have fully realized,from today's adventures, boycotting China is not easy. However it is necessary. The companies of the USA and China have to see that we know what goes into Made in China and we care about what goes into Made in China. I am willing to read labels and do the best I can to stop buying Chinese manufactured products.

Lastly, I have to comment that buying Chinese manufactured products isn't always cheaper. Many of the competing products out there are BOTH made in china. I picked up 2 packages of undershirts. One was Fruit of the Loom the other was some Target off brand. The off brand wasn't in it's rightful place, so I decided to take both packages to the scan station to see how much it was. Turns out the off brand was a dollar more expensive for the same about of undershirts and the off brand was Made in China. I suddenly had two good reasons to go with Fruit of the Loom.

Another Recall ?!

Mommyzabs from http://www.mommyzabs.com/ has recently started a new site. While she will still be blogging on mommyzabs.com, she now has a site devoted to a cause she is passionate about. Her new "baby" is http://www.notchinamade.net/. It is a blog devoted to exposing the harsh reality that is the oppressive communist regime of The Peoples Republic of China. She explores and uncovers their harsh treatment of their own people and their lax business practices. It is a site that answers the question "is cheaper really better?".

We, as a people, can no longer think what China does is its own business and it doesn't effect us. We have seen in the last 9months how much China does effect us right down to our home lives. We kicked off the year with the menu foods pet food recalls that spanned from Walmart dog food to Eukenuba. Then we had the Thomas the Train lead paint recall. This week we entered into not only another toy recall but we are also having a toothpaste recall!

If this causes you to ask your self,"What in the heck is going on over there?" Then click on the notchinamade button and go find out!

What do you do?

What do you do when it suddenly dawns on you that a family member has changed and not for the good? What do you do when you don't recognize who they are anymore? What do you do when you are concerned about their health and well being? What do you do when it is the proverbial "damned if you do and damned if you don't." What do you do? These are some of the things that are weighing on me currently and I don't have any answers for any of them.

Things My Kids Love

I don't know about you, but I have a picky eater. C isn't really a picky eater. She'll try most things and then we have her brother.... G has Sensory Processing Disorder, lactose intolerance and is allergic to citrus. We've been told because of his Sensory Disorder that he doesn't like alot of texture when it comes to clothes, food, the world. I don't know how much I believe about the food thing, but I do what I can to get him to eat healthfully. Having him eat healthy can be a challenge. I have to make sure the food he eats doesn't contain any citrus or dairy. (Although he can have cheese.) I am continuously reading labels. One of the things I was bummed to find was that he couldn't eat anymore was applesauce. Almost all brands of applesauce have cornsyrup and citric acid. If they don't have cornsyrup they still have citric acid. G adores applesauce so this label find was a real bummer. A couple of months ago I came across the greatest thing, Mott's Healthy Harvest. They are snack size applesauce by Motts. They come in blueberry, granny smith apple, country berry, summer strawberry, and peach melba. They are all made with all natural fruit. G loves the blueberry the best. He thinks it is pudding because it is a similar color to his sisters pudding cups. :) He also favors the strawberry and the peach. I love it when I find a win-win food item!

A Gymboree Gift Card Contest @ Shakadoo!

The ladies at Shakadoo have a really neat site and a really neat contest. Shakadoo is a site that has "Everything to do with your Shak." They have info on home decorating, kids,home improvements (currently with a tool give away!),gardening, electronics, and a section for if you work from home. To top off how fun the site is,they are having a contest for a $250 Gymboree back to school gift card! All you have to do it sign up by posting under the Gymboree post by posting, then post on your own blog about their post. Then you are officially entered!
Even if you don't want to enter the contest I recommend the site,it really is informative.

Shakadoo is at http://shakadoo.com/ , and may the luckiest mom win!

Oh my goodness gracious!

First off, our house has been back on the market for a whole week. When we re listed it, our realtor warned us that the housing market it even slower than it was a year ago and that we shouldn't count on having as many showings as we did in the past. We completely understood. Well, this weekend we had 3 showings! Our realtor just called me and said one of the prospective buyers, a single mom with a 3year old daughter, would like to bring her father though our house on Friday to see what he thinks!!! The single mom's realtor told our realtor that she is confident that they want to make an offer. I know it is all preliminary and that the negotiating part can be a pain, but I would REALLY appreciate any prayers on this situation. Our prayer is that our house will have the right buyer. A buyer that is a christian, a family or person who will be a benefit to our court and that our house will be a blessing to them just as it has been to us.
All in all I am excited! Our house and court really would be so perfect for a single mom and her daughter......
Thanks in advance for the prayers!

Coffee, yum!

I am a hopelessly devoted coffee freak. I make no apologize. I love it. Every cup has a different flavor. All beans are not created equal and hence I do discriminate in my choosing of coffee. I will not,unless under duress, buy coffee at a gas station. There has to be no hope of finding another coffee supplier before I will, hesitantly, lay down my 59cents for a cup of the acidic brown water they tell me is coffee. I am a coffee snob.
But there really is a reason for the snobbery. Coffee beans are like grapes that are grown for wine in that the coffee beans take on the nuances of the area they are grown in. The sun, air,water, and soil play a huge roll in how the coffee not only grows, but tastes. I recently read in a magazine that coffee beans grown in Hawaii are "light, delicate, and floral with well balance acidity." The beans in Kenya are "lush with big, bold, fruitiness and complex qualities that mimic a hearty wine." I personally adore Brazilian coffee's. My favorite Brazilian Ipanema by Starbucks, is grown in a volcanic soil. The volcanic soil of Brazil gives the coffees a nutty taste with a light sweetness, and low acidity.

There is also the issue of shade grown and fair trade coffees. Shade grown is actually the traditional method of growing coffee. With coffee production at an all time high, trees have been cut down in order to plant more coffee plants. According to eartheasy.com next to tobacco, coffee is the MOST chemical sprayed product consumed by humans. When coffee is shade grown chemicals are not used on the coffee because it is usually being grown organically. The trees that are used to shade the coffee house migratory birds that, among other things, eat bugs that threaten the coffee. Another bonus of shade grown coffee is that the coffee beans mature at a slower rate, which increases the natural sugars of bean and enhances its flavor. Yummy.

Now fair trade coffee is another great way to feel good while drinking your cup o' joe. If you come across the fair trade symbol on your coffee that means that often times is not only organic, but the farmers are paid a livable wage. A "livable wage" is not always the case with non-fair trade coffee. Often coffee farms are akin to sweatshops. The farmer is paid a price for their coffee that is less than the price of production. This makes it hard for the farmers to sustain their farms and their families. When you buy fair trade you are helping to ensure that farmer is getting paid and treated fairly. In exchange for the $1.26 minimum per pound the farmers are paid, Fair trade coffee farmers are also asked to grow their coffee in an earth friendly manor. Fair trade coffee promotes economic independence for the farmer and his family/workers and it helps them to want to farm in a more earth friendly way.

Now if all of this talk about coffee has made you a little parched I have found the yummiest iced coffee recipe.

Thai Iced Coffee

1c ground coffee

1/2 tsp ground cardamom (an Indian spice. it has a cinnamonish taste to it)

8Tbsp low fat sweetened condensed milk

1.Brew 8 c. of water with coffee grounds and cardamom to make double strength coffee. Transfer to large pitcher, and chill. ( I left the coffee grounds out during my transfer and it wasn't easy, but it was worth it.)

2.Pour 1c coffee into tall glasses filled w/ice. stir 1Tbsp sweetened condensed milk into each glass, and serve.

Last but not least here are some brewing tips from Wild Oats Market places own magazine. I found these quit helpful and I hope you will too. Happy Brewing!

Best Brew Tips:

Choose whole beans and grind at home for the freshest taste. (It really doesn't take long to do this and you will notice a difference in the taste of your coffee!)

Store coffee in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.

Do not store beans in the fridge or the freezer as they will absorb smells, which translates int o off-tasting coffee. (been there, done that, yes the freezer does.)

Use whole beans within 2weeks of purchase.

Choose a coffee maker that brews between 195 and 205 degrees Fahrenheit. ( or buy a french press and broil the water yourself. Talk about yummy coffee!)

Grind according to your type of coffee maker.

Use very cold, filtered water fro the purest coffee flavor. (believe it or not it does make a noticeable difference.)

Use about 2Tbsp or ground coffee for each 6 to 8 oz of water, adjusting for taste.

If you would like more coffee info I have listed some sites below:

*Eartheasy.com is a site dedicated to "ideas for environmentally sustainable living."http://www.eartheasy.com/eat_shadegrown_coffee.htm

*Coffeeresearch.org is a site dedicated to coffee education. You can even look at coffee info by region.http://www.coffeeresearch.org/

*Global Exchange is a website that is "devoted to social, economical, and environmental justice around the world." http://www.globalexchange.org/index.html

*Coffeereview.com "The worlds leading coffee buying guide"http://www.coffeereview.com/

Enviro propaganda

I am posting a clip of Robert F Kennedy Jr and Glenn Beck. I am posting because I am really irritated with RFK jr's Live Earth speech. If you watch the clip it will show what RFK said and what he called people who don't support his and the Live Earth supporters idea of environmentalism and climate change. It should also be noted that RFK jr is a environmental lawyer. I am also including the definition of fascist,fascism, and treason.

A fascist is someone who upholds fascism.


Fascism is a) A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.
b) A political philosophy or movement based on or advocating such a system of government.
2. Oppressive, dictatorial control.


Treason is a 1. Violation of allegiance toward one's country or sovereign, especially the betrayal of one's country by waging war against it or by consciously and purposely acting to aid its enemies.
2. A betrayal of trust or confidence.

As you will see from the clip, at Live Earth RFK jr called people fascist who don't agree with his, and Al Gores, stance on climate change. He also went so far as to say they are guilty of treason! He is a lawyer! He understands the weight he words hold. He used these words to get the young crowd fired up. I sincerely hope the crowd understands the miss use of his words. Fascism and treason are some heavy words and they hold no meaning when it comes to environmentalism.

Also I should note RFK jr, in his speech at Live Earth, said to write Glenn Beck's advertisers and tell them they won't buy their products because they fund Glenn Beck show. I would normally agree with this kind of protest, except for the fact that one of Glenn Becks sponsors is Rennai tankless water heaters, which are EXTREMLY enviro friendly.Glenn Beck also owns a Rennai. Does RFK jr check his facts or is he hoping we don't check his? I am extremely insulted by his verbal carelessness.

3 Things of More

So, I am having a crappy day today. I have a sinus infection/summer cold, so does G, I had a mini argument with my mom, and a couple of other piddly crappy things happened. I was trying to think of something to get out of my grumpy funk when it dawned on me... I should think about things that I love rather than things that are annoying me currently. (And doesn't it seem that every thing is annoying when you are under the weather?)

So here it goes:

I love daddy's spending time with their children.

I love the smell of flowers after the rain.

I love senior citizens who still hold their spouses hand and look lovingly into each others eyes.

I love unrequested generosity.

I love little children giving each other hugs.

I love the pure joy my dogs seem to have every time I walk through the door.

I love the quiet.

I love the crickets chirping on a summer evening.

I love a good cup of coffee.

I love having a house in a safe neighborhood.

I love siblings helping each other with out being asked.

I love siblings falling asleep snuggling.

I love that all of these thing no matter how big, small, or "insignificant", are all blessings.



What do you love?

God,Fortune Cookies, and Bottle Tops

This is a fun and , hopefully, informative post. My mom believes and has always taught my sisters and I that God can speak threw anything and anyone. For example Moses and the fire bush, the talking donkey in the bible. For the past 4 or 5 years my mom has this thing with fortune cookies. She doesn't use the lottery numbers on the cookie paper and she has never believed the fortune cookies for more than a good laugh. Starting about 5 years ago she noticed the fortune cookies that she would receive seemed to be "speaking" to her. At the time my mom had been mulling over and actively speaking to God on matters of her personal and professional life. She had also started to feel frustrated about these matters. She and I had prayed about some of this and went out for Chinese one afternoon. We finish up and opened our fortune cookies and, I forget what the fortune was, but my mom started crying. She wasn't crying because the cookie told her she would meet the man of her dreams that day or find success, but it had encouraging words. Words that fit her situation to a T. This has continued to happen on and off for the past couple years to the point that we find it humorous. Where am I going with this? Well a friend of ours,Mimi, is moving and she knows how much my son G loves her son's Jeep. Her son does NOT like the Jeep. So she figured this would be a great time to give this to G. My son was so ecstatic!! He looked like he was going to explode with excitement. He ate breakfast,lunch, and dinner in HIS Jeep the whole next day. It was so evident that Mimi's gift meant the world to him. It really impacted him. I was sitting out back, watching G ride around in the Jeep, and sipping my favorite bottled tea, Honest Tea. They always have fun little quotes and sayings on the bottle top. So, I read my bottle top that day and I fell in love with what it said. It was a quote from Albert Price, "What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal." Wow. I just pondered that. Mimi's gift to G impacted him so positively. He will remember it and treasure it forever, at least in memory. The great people of the Bible and the world have been people that adhere to the quote from Albert Price.
Was it God "speaking" to me through the bottle cap? I think he was encouraging me and reminding me. We all should strive everyday to see God moving, speaking, or sending fortune cookies, you just never know how God is trying to get your attention. :)

Whoa Horsey!

Oh my gosh have I had a whirl wind 2 weeks! I am so glad it's coming to an end! Two weeks ago today we received a call from my other half's doctor letting us know they wanted to preform surgery on his vocal cords ASAP. From what we under stand, the size of the "nod" concerned them and they didn't want to leave it in there any longer. We were very excited! So they scheduled us for a 6:30 am surgery on June 25th. Sadly, Monday the 24th we received a call that my other half's grandfather had passed away. His grandpa was a really nice man. So the other half had surgery, as scheduled, then we traveled out of state Wed for the wake and Thursday for the funeral. It was so nice to see people we hadn't seen in ages, but it was frustrating for my other half because he was instructed not to utter a peep, or laugh, for 10days! Sadly he had to converse with family and friends via a white board and lip murmuring. I have to say I was very proud of him, he didn't utter a peep! We came home from the funeral on Thursday evening, stayed in town until Saturday then it was out of state again to visit the in laws! Whew!
It was a nice trip. The kids became proficient in lip reading and translating, we boated, looked for toads, hot tubed and all around lived it up while trying to keep the other half silent. I think being out of town helped him alot. Instead of staying home waiting for the days to roll bye until he could talk, we were out of town for a most of his silence and having continuous amounts of fun.

The other half went for his check up yesterday and clean bill of health!!!! The doctor was amazed that my other half had managed to stay silent for so long, except for a 4th of July party :) The doctor said the throat looked great and my other half can now start speech therapy and talking 5minutes an hour yesterday, and 10minutes and hour today. He was so ecstatic. The doctor also let us know that when he preformed the surgery he had to do more than he thought he would because of the size of the cyst. And he was concerned how the voice would be, but God is good and he sounds "great". It will be a while until we will see how his singing voice will be, but that too is up to God and the other half has amazed me with believing Gods will will be done either way. I know how important his voice is to him and that expression really touched me.

Because of all the things that went on the past two weeks we had to reschedule putting our house back on the market!!! I am so excited to do this again. I have no idea where God wants us. We are totally clueless to this, we are just praying like crazy. I am praying that God will have a strong Christian family buy our house. A family that will build up the neighborhood and be an asset to our neighbors and the neighborhood. We have such great neighbors that I am really saddened to have to move, but we have really out grown our house and it has served the purpose that it was given to us for. I also hate to close the book on the parts of my kids lives have unfolded in this house. I am so sentimental! But I know God has good things for us if we just pray, listen, and wait. (It's the waiting part that always gets me! Oh my gosh am I a proactive waiter. I really need to work on that! ;) ) I just know that if we keep praying God will bring the right family and the right time, people that will enjoy "our" house and create memories of their own too.

I know I haven't written in a while but I hope everyone had a great and reflective 4th of July!

Made in China?!

The most horrible thing has happened, my Betula Birkenstocks are made in china! I ordered the cutest pair of Betula Birkenstocks the other day. I have been anxiously awaiting their arrival. My feet could not wait to wear these hippy cute things. The finally arrived to day! I excitedly pulled them out of the box, put them on my feet, wore them around the house, and then decided I better check them for damage before I headed outside to show these babies off! Much to my dismay they had a stamp on the inside leather strap "made in china". Not cool! My first thought was I had been taken for a ride and the vendor had given me a pair of knock off's for a not so knocked off price. I decided to search google before I contacted the vendor. I'm glad I did. It turns out my beautiful Betula "Birkenstocks" are LICENSED by Birkenstock and thus they are not made in Germany, like a regular Birk. Further research yielded that the Eurowellness line of shoes by (or licensed by) Birkenstock are also made in China! It is very puzzling to me that a shoe company that is synonymous with hippy foot wear would do something so unhippy, like support a shoe line made in China. One thing I have learned from this ordeal is that when buying online, from the TV, or a catalog I am going to have to check ahead and see where the item is made.

If you would like more info on why not to buy made in China products go to:
http://www.boycottmadeinchina.org/


P.S. Very trivial update: I have found a small portion of my summer clothes!!! I'm not sure if the little clothing sprites decided to throw me a bone here or what, but I am not complaining. Now if they would just give me back my 2 other containers of clothes....... ;)

Party fun

I just had to share. My eldest had a birthday in May. I've been debating about whether or not to put some photo's up from party. The party was so much fun though, that I just had to post a few. We hired a nature person to come to the house and educate everyone on nature and the "nuisance" animals that one might find in their neighborhood. It was great. The kids played games, observed a live opossum, tarantula, bats, and a snake. I think the adults had as much fun as the kids, which is always great! I love putting together birthday party's. It seems a birthday is really a time for celebrations. It's a celebration of life, love, and how far one has come. Birthdays are also a great excuse to load up on my 2 favorite foods, Cake and Icecream! In my opinion cake and icecream can be the only food groups. I just love birthdays party's, can you tell?The only problem I find with birthdays is the family is so large that we are up to almost 40 people by just inviting them! It is easy to blow a budget on food alone for those eating machines! :)


P.s I also have some prayer requests. We have has several family members have surgeries related to cancer recently. One member is still in the hospital because they haven't any white blood cells!
We have a friend who has had some complications with a transplant organ and would appreciate prayer for them.
And lastly my other half has, in the last month, found out that he has a vocal nodule that will need to be surgically removed! We've been told that he will have to be silent for 10days following surgery, then on day 11 he can speak for 5minutes every hour, the next day it will be 10minutes every hour, so on and so forth. It will take about a month or so to get back to normal for speech and even longer for singing. Really crazy...
We appreciate all your prayers on behalf of ourselves and others.
Thanks!

Is it just me or.....

Is it just me or is there something weird going on? I can't put my finger on it but it seems there is something not right going on in the world today. Gas prices have been going up over the past 2 to 3 years. Visa is continually running adds on how uncool cash is. Illegal Aliens are constantly being given newer and cooler titles, other than Illegal Alien, by our government leaders. And our president seems to be for illegal aliens, against a wall for our border with Mexico, and against strict searches and crack downs on the boarder, all while conducting a "war on terror".

First up on my blog of confusion is Gasoline. Lately it seems that all I see on TV are these commercials for ethanol. Congress keeps talking about ethanol. Why ethanol? The government has said it would like the US to have 1/4th of its gasoline usage converted to Biofuels, like ethanol, by 2024 (I believe that is the correct date.). I was listening to Glenn Beck several weeks back and he had some experts on. They said it would take a corn field the size of Texas in order for us to convert 1/4 th of the nations fuel to ethanol! They said that one of the problems with ethanol is corn. Corn is the plant that we use to make ethanol. They said we would have a spoilage problem with the corn before it is made into ethanol, therefore making the price of corn go up. That means corn wouldn't be affordable for people who like to eat corn. Instead of eating corn we would be putting it in our automobile tanks. I heard on NPR last winter that ethanol also uses and pollutes more water when going through the process to become ethanol. They said the water is unable to be cleaned and converted back to water. So it seems to me there aren't alot of bonuses to switching to ethanol. My question is why does the government think it is so great? Are they trying to drive up the price of our foods by making gasoline or ethanol more expensive, but giving farmers steady jobs? I really am scratching my head trying to figure out this issue.

The government and the Bush administration also has me scratching my head over their push for an immigration bill. It doesn't seem like their bills are interested in cracking down on anyone. It seems they are trying to make it easier for them to stay and get into the US. I don't understand why we want someone to stay and work in the US who can not follow the rules to get into the US legally. Also, If anyone can enlighten me on why they are marketing illegal aliens to us I would love to read it. They keep coming up with newer and nicer titles for illegals every week. Are they pushing for illegals because they want their votes? Just today Dennis Miller said a poll found that a majority of illegals would vote democrat if allowed to vote. So why is Bush so in favor of illegals being allowed to stay? Is it because he's on his way out and he doesn't care? Is our government,seemingly, in favor of illegals because we are in bed with Mexico and trying hard to become a one world government? Is it because everyone in congress and the white house have illegals working for them and they don't want to lose them? Is it all of the above? The government really has me confused on their push to protect illegals. Mexico and Canada both would throw any American in jail ,and prosecute them extensively, if they were found to be in their countries illegally. So why are we so nice? We are currently funding the Mexican economy, so I understand why Mexico wants us to go soft on their citizens. I just can't figure out why our government wants to go soft on the illegal alien. Why is Bush supportive of us not having a fence on our south boarder and why is he in favor of prosecuting US boarder guards? We have been told over and over again that terrorist and their weapons could easily be smuggled in through our south boarder. Wouldn't it be nice to make it harder for them by building a fence?

Lastly why is Visa trying to make money uncool? The marketing geniuses (I really mean that) at the Visa came up with those great commericals where everyone is swiping or taping their card to pay for their items, then the dork with the cash screws up the flow of things. Yes, I know Visa is a company like any other and they want their product in everyone's hand. Heck, Visa is on my bank card! But here is one thing I know, not to sound all Orwellian, but Visa keeps track of your purchases. Every time you swipe your visa check card at Mejier, at the very least, they know the time you were there, the Meijer you were at, and how much you spent. Say you use your check card for a month, look at your bank statement. Your bank statement will tell which Targets you were at, the day, the cost, ect. It records almost everything. It gives anyone a good view into your life. It tells your travel habits, spending habits, and personal shopping habits. The tag line for Visa is even genius, "It's every where you want to be." That's nice and all, but I don't want people to know everywhere I be. All of the paranoia aside, is cash really that hard to use? It take a little thought to count the coins and the bills, but it's really not that complicated. Maybe we should look at it as a brain exercise, rather than a burden.

Now some of the questions I have posed may seem flippant or rhetorical, but they are truly a quest for answers beyond by first impulsive thought of ," Oh no big brother and one world government!!!!" I'll admit,at times I think the citizens of the world, seem, to busy or too lazy to take notice of what is going on in their communities or governments. Do we really want the government to wrap us in comfy warm bubble wrap with our safety helmets on and sing us a lullaby, all the while assuring us they have our best interests at heart? Should we just give them the steering wheel. We as Americans cannot fall asleep at the wheel, or let big brother tuck us in. These people can't even fix social security! We have to take self responsibility. We have to write our congress person and the president when we are concerned or anger by issues, such as immigration, ethanol, taxes, ect. It is easy to get busy, trust me I know, but the government has email now! Take a second, email your government officials. They are there to do the bidding of their citizens, not their wallets, and not what they personally think. They must never forget that they are there to work for us. Period.

Where O Where Have My Summer Clothes Gone?

I am in an interesting predicament, my summer clothes have disappeared! I am not kidding. I can not find them anywhere. We are trying to sell our house, so I stored some things at my sisters house. She and I dug for an hour or so in her basement, no luck. I have storage building in my backyard, nope not there. I remember putting them in HUGE Tupperware containers at the end of last summer. That's all I can remember. It is so strange, it's like the clothing gremlins have come and hijacked the clothes and are doing who knows what with them now. So in the mean time I've been buying clothes sparingly. I know the moment I go out and spend a ton of cash on new clothes my "old" clothes will magically appear. This has got to be some kind of joke. Who loses 2 big Tupperware things full of clothes? You know a joke like this is right up my sisters alley......Wish me luck on finding my clothes. These things have got to be some where....right?