The Simple Woman’s Daybook – March 30, 2009

The Simple Woman’s Daybook
is hosted by Peggy at The Simple Woman’s Daybook
Thank you Peggy.

FOR TODAY : March 30, 2008

Today is a bit chilly and windy.  The cherry trees are starting to bloom, snowdrops and crocuses have given way to daffodils and the lawn is springing green.  Easter is fast approaching.

Outside my Window – The plum tree is starting to bud out – there is moss everywhere.

I am thinking – Twins…. what would we do if we have twins.  Yes, I will find a way to worry about anything.  

From the learning rooms – We are starting into Rome.  I am putting together some preliminary ideas for a “life skills” unit-type study.

I am thankful for- The new baby on the way.  It seems so ironic that a month ago I lamented right here that I was wistful over there being no baby in the house.  Now we are expecting again.

From the kitchen – Crock-pot night.  Beef stroganoff, bread and salad

I am reading – I have the next Honor Harrington book on my nightstand, I still need to start it.

I am hoping – That everything goes well with the new baby.

I am creating – Hannah’s first communion dress.  This is the big project for the next few weeks.

I am hearing – Sarah playing,  her little playmobile people are going for a car ride.

Around the house – Trash bag challenging, working on some little projects that need tending to.

One of my favorite things – My big water cup.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week – I have no idea.  I am just taking this week one day at a time.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you –

The Oregon Coast

Fun on the coast

Yesterday we travel out to the coast.  Some days I am very well organized and have everything I need, plan for contingencies and all goes smoothly.  That was not yesterday.  I totally spaced bringing a change of clothing for the children, but thankfully the beach house had a washer and dryer.  I also managed to run Hannah’s chap stick through the wash… *sigh*  I guess I have to blame pregnancy hormones for making me a complete twit.

The kids had a fantastic time and so did I.

A day trip

Today we are planning on going out to the coast.  Two of my sister-in-laws will be there and several of my nieces and nephews.   Hopefully the getting out and doing something will do me good and help me get over the last bit of this cold thing.

Seascape - Joseph Rodefer de Camp

Sarah Palin, Special Olympics and reality check

Ok, so apparently our President said something surprisingly stupid and impolitic on  Jay Leno describing his bowling as Special Olympic worthy.   I really can’t get that worked up about it.  I know I should – Rachel has competed in several SO track events (and she likes to bowl), my cousin Brian won a silver medal in track at the Special Olympics world meet (a big deal, his family traveled out to Toronto and everything) but I guess I just don’t have the energy to really get upset about this.   It was dumb to say  — but coming from the same lips as “punished with a baby”,  I am just not surprised enough to get upset.   In the end  I think this (Special Olympics Champ to Barack: Bring it On!)  is the best response possible.

In one way I am sort of grateful for the gaffe (if you want to call it that) in that it unearthed this video.  Apparently in the rush to defend the president some of the die hard faithful Obama supports (or maybe those who just really hate Sarah Palin) brought this video to light.

What is the difference between a Hockey-mom and a Special Olympics Hockey-mom?  Nothing.   Perfect.  I also like how she talks about the absolute terror of knowing that your child is disabled and how love melts those fears away.  Say whatever you like about her, but this I absolutely respect: she lives this, and is open about it.  Plus it gives me my little excuse to say Special Olympics is wonderful.

Back when I was working downtown I would occasionally take the evening bus home.  One my route was a gentlemen who (I think) was autistic.  We got on the 72 at the same stop and I started talking to him.  I noticed he had a medal and asked him about it.  He had won it in the Special Olympic because he had ran “really, really fast”.  I told him that was really cool and that my little girl ran in the Special Olympics.  “Is she fast too?” he asked.  Yeah, she is fast.  I couldn’t even guess how many years that medal hung around that gentleman’s neck.  But he wore it everyday that I saw him.  It obviously meant a great deal to him.

Our world can be very hard for people who aren’t “perfect” but the Special Olympics gives everyone a chance to be a winner and a chance to be their best.  It celebrates the fact that we are all worth everything, that we all count and deserve a chance to try to be our best.   It is simultaneously what makes the president’s comment insensitive and stupid and what keeps me from getting too worked up about it.  None of us are perfect,  Barak Obama no exception, and no one is well served by the destructive politics that has reared its ugly head in our Nation this fall.  Picking up this one moment of stupidity isn’t useful unless it  is used intelligently to say something worth saying.

People with disabilities have much to offer our society and the Special Olympics has much to offer them.  So if you are so inclined, or if you have your dander up on this point please take a moment and donate to the Special Olympics while there you might want to read what they have say on the Obama/Leno thing.

H/T to Hotair for the Sarah Palin video and the challenge.

woozy morning

This morning was the first real pregnant morning.  After tossing and turning most the evening I gave into the morning and crawled out of bed, then the woozies hit.   Morning sickness has plauged all my pregnancies.  It starts out with the “normal” morning sickness at about 8 weeks.  The typical barf before breakfast sort of thing.  This gets steadly worse for the next two month until I am nearly incapable of eathing anything all day long or even smelling anything at all.  Then it goes away just in time for me to feel waddelly.  But babies are so sweet (just keep thinking that and it will all be ok)

Good news.

Last fall I was called and interviewed by U.S. Catholic for on an article they were working on about autism.  It was really a fun experience.  I also wrote a small companion piece for the article.  Both the article and my little piece are up at U.S. Catholic’s website.

We have also gotten to the official “announcement stage” of our newest little one.  We will be having a baby in late October.  As you can imagine the children are all overjoyed.  I am still feeling that slightly dreamy ‘overwhelmed’, but am I overwhelmed by how wonderful it is to be adding a new life to our home and all the little things that bringing a new baby into the world mean.

I think my brother-in-law said it best yesterday.  “I know your kids mean everything to you guys”.  And they do.  There is nothing we give up, nothing we “miss out on” that could possibly matter more than our houseful of laughing, crying, dancing, playing, occasionally fighting and always loving and beloved brood.

Sort of slow around here.

Yes, I have been lax the past few days.  It must be spring fever.

Around here we are still working on the 40 bags of stuff though I haven’t been posting on it daily as I would like to.

There is the First Communion Dress project which is coming along.

Other than that we have been busy.  This time of year my mind slowly starts looking forward.  I look forward to the summer and my herbs and flowers, the clothesline coming back out, the evenings out in the yard, camping, swimming lessons and days at the park.  I also start thinking about next years schooling.  What will we cover, what has worked and what hasn’t.    Spring is an exciting time.

This is an amazing story

Jesus and the atheist and how a renegade deer, a flat tire, a dying beagle, a glowing dime, a mysterious stranger and a white garbage bag brought them together.

The short and miraculous journey of faith.  Just really amazing.

H/T to Happy Catholic

Clothing storage

What do you do with all those wonderful things that your older child has outgrown, but that the next child probably won’t need for 2 more years?  Or what about the hand-me-downs, consignment store and garage sale finds that are too cute to pass up but you won’t need until next summer?

My super easy storage solution is Banker boxes.  You can purchase them in 10 packs from any office supply store.  They are sturdy, stack well and have their own lids so you aren’t having to tape them shut.   If I am out shopping and see a too-good-to-pass-up deal for next season I can open the box and add the item without having to re-tape it.  I write the size, gender and season(if needed) on the outside of the box and store them on a basement shelf of in the closets.

baby boy and 2t boy winter boxes

You can see more of the Works for me Wednesday ideas at We Are THAT Family

Parenting – a land of confussion

Every once in a while I stumble on something that makes me say “well, duh” then I think about it and it sort of frightens me that I  can understand how much that needed to be said.  The most recent case of this was at the tail of this arcticle:  Are we creating a generation of teenage-timebombs.    It is full of frightening quotes like. “My friends, battling with the issue of discipline, find it almost impossible to impose on their youngsters at any age; the naughty step is all very well, but what the hell do you do when the reach the age where they realize they can just stand up and walk away whenever they like?”.

The article concludes with five points for parents to take to heart: Love, Discipline, Play, Communication, and more vaguely a warning about not starting formal education too soon (until six or seven.)  I generally agree with all that and even thing that the priorities are generally correct, but there is also something that seems to be missing.   It seems ghastly in a way that parents seem to need the permission to actually discipline their children.    As illustrated in the article “Perhaps because we were ourselves brought up with strict – sometimes overly-strict – codes of conduct, as adults we are in grave danger of veering much too far in the opposite direction. The biggest mistake we can make as parents is to want to be our children’s friends. Yes, they may like us more, their classmates may think we’re cool, (Really? Gosh, isn’t that lovely!) but the truth is they also see us as weak. And weakness in those who ought to be powerful will always invite contempt.”

Personally I wasn’t brought up in a “too strict” household.  My mother’s  attempts at discipline were somewhat wobbly, but I really don’t remember the causal disrespect of parental authority that seems so common today.   But that could be the classical problem of really thinking today’s youth is going to hell in a hand-basket — a motto as old at civilization it seems.  So what is it about the five little tips that seems lacking.

Two things:  First is environment and the second is expectation.  I do not think you can raise children who have a good sense of “respect for authority” in an environment that has no respect for any authority.   When every television show for young teens and older children is stuffed with examples of  disrespectful teens who out wit, out smart and out moral the adults in their lives something is seriously wrong.    When a older child’s entire peer group runs the home from the get go it is going to be much more difficult to lay  down any rules and have them met.   Sadly environment once the child is in school is almost impossible to have very much influence over.

The power of expectations is something I see a lot of parents missing.   I have never had even the slightest problem getting the children to sit in their car seats or stay buckled in the car because the car doesn’t move if they aren’t.  From their first ride in the car they are buckled in, nothing else is an option.   One of those moments that made me stop and think was when an acquaintance asked how I managed to get my five year old to mass every Sunday.    She was having a lot of trouble convincing her little boy to go.  I don’t think I had a very good answer for her, “Well, we just go to mass.”   The expectation is just there for my children that they will do what they are told because I am  the parent and they are the child.   I guess it really goes back to that consistency thing.