Thankful Thursdays

I meant to participate in Mrs. Fussypants' Thankful Thursdays last week...but never got around to it. Sometimes I have such good intentions but like I said in this post, you know what happens to people with "good intentions".

In spite of my grumpy attitude most of this summer month week, I have plenty to be thankful for. I have a fantastic husband, wonderful children, friends, a home and all of the clutter stuff that goes with that. I have food. Boy am I thankful I have food. I don't do "hungry" well. I'm grateful for my chickens as they bring me laughter & joy. Aside from the times they poop on my porch, they never irritate me at all. They may in fact be the "perfect pet". Although only 2 of the 22 actually let me pet them on a regular basis because they are...well...chicken. Still, they make me smile. My cats are so self sufficient that I don't have to "deal" with them much. Yes, I'm thankful for that. Training that dog Jake is starting to pay off. He really is sweet. See how sweet he is...

Look at those sweet eyes and big floppy ears. Yep, in spite of the lack of sleep, getting chewed on with needle like teeth and the rip in my favorite skirt...oh wait, I was focusing on the positive. I'm so thankful that every day Jake is learning to be a more obedient puppy. That's better.

So have you taken a moment to list the many things you are thankful for? I think it is powerful to reflect on the things you are thankful for at least once a week. I'm sure once a day is even better but I'll settle for every week as a start. How about you? What are you thankful for?

Elite Club?

I am now officially part of an elite club. Oh yeh, I'm cool. (Do you hear me snickering in the background?) I'm part of the BGs. No we have nothing to do with the BeeGee's. Nothing in common at all, I'm sure. The BGs are the "Bad Girls".

Someone please run over and resuscitate my mother. Don't worry mom, we're not really bad at all...are we girls? Actually...I can't really remember why we are "The Bad Girls" except that I told them I wanted to blog about our time together but I knew no one wanted to be mentioned by name. I told them they had to come up with a pseudonym so I could freely talk about them. The Bad Girls it is. Wait, someone remind me why we are "bad". I forget.

So if you are not the writer, is pseudonym still the correct term? Inquiring minds want to know.

Twice a week I get to see some of the Bad Girls. Our children have lessons together and apparently I'm not allowed to tell you where we are having lessons or you may be able to figure out who some of the club members are. Does that make us a "secret club"? Ooooooh, this gets more intriguing all the time.

I decided everyone needs a club like ours to belong to. It's a safe place. We talk about everything from laundry to spiritual issues. Wait, no, I don't think we have discussed laundry yet but I know we have discussed mundane things before and laundry fits right in there. I guess we'll have to discuss laundry next week so that I won't be made into a liar. Someone remember that please.

The point was supposed to be (there was supposed to be a point?) about the importance of groups like these. Especially for the Homeschool Mommy who spends most, if not all, of her time with her children. We often don't have an outside career where we get adult interaction. Especially "safe time". That would be a time you can discuss issues, even disagreeing with each other, and not have to worry about being mistreated for your point of view. I so appreciate having intelligent discussions (or even non-intelligent ones) with other people who don't mind if I agree 100 percent or not.

So here's to the BGs! You gals are uplifting, inspiring and super-de-duper fun. Thanks for listening to my ramblings, checking in on my blog and for being my friends. Now, if I could only get you to come out of "lurkdom" and actually comment on my blog. Come on...just one little comment...I know you are there...

You get what you pay for.

If you are going to have your 9 year old and 3 year old paint, well, you just have to lower your standards a bit. Of course the good news is that their stamina is short lived and you will soon be able to take over and do the job right finish what they started. It doesn't help that the temperature would soon be in the upper 90s so that you kick yourself for waiting until 10am to start this project (actually I think it was 101 degrees that day). Having a puppy running about your project chasing the chickens isn't too helpful either. More good news...the puppy just likes to scare them to death, not actually eat them...yet anyway. Even more good news...the puppy only ended up with one red whisker and one small red paint splotch on his hind quarters. I thought that was pretty good.

I don't know what I was thinking. That chicken coop sure doesn't look all that big. I can finish it in no time...so I thought. I didn't count on the fact that OSB totally soaks up the paint. Yes, only minutes into the project I realize the error of not priming first. To top that off, OSB has all of these little nooks and crannies in it so that you can't just roll over it with the roller brush and expect it to be covered. NOooooo, you have to go over it 6 kazillion times with the force of a freight train in order to get the paint everywhere it needs to be. "It's only a chicken coop" I say to myself. "It doesn't have to be perfect." For the friends that know me and are reading this, you can stop snickering now.

The seemingly "couple of hours" job ended up taking ALL DAY. I finally got smart and had Mr. P bring me some water. "What?" you might ask. Why wasn't Mr. P out there painting alongside me? Well, Mr. P "doesn't do painting". I had to chuckle. I figured he spent time out there sweatin' while building the thing so I certainly didn't begrudge him not painting. In the end, he did come out and paint that part above the chicken wire pen. I was really grateful for that! I didn't want to have to balance on top of that to paint the top part.

So, I say I finished it in a day. Technically I didn't paint the inside of the windows but I wasn't sure if I was going to paint them red or wait and paint them white when we put white trim up. All in all, it looks okay although it would have been nicer had I started with primer. It probably would have saved me a bit of money because I wouldn't have had to send Mr. P back to the store for another gallon (did I mention that OSB totally soaks up the paint?). So what do you think? Do you think it looks okay "for a chicken coop"?Yeh, that's me...the Chicken Whisperer. I don't think that is all 22 but it sure is funny having these girls run after me. We have discovered that we do have 2 roosters. Yeh! I just love my chickens and I am happy that they have 2 roosters to keep them happy.

I fully intend on posting more regularly. First I need to get Susan her own laptop so that I don't have to "duke it out with her" to get some computer time. In the mean time, bare with me and I'll start getting more regular. Thanks for coming to visit and let me know how wonderfully my chicken coop is painted. HA!

Wordly Wednesday, Thankful Thursday

I originally intended to post this on a Wednesday. That will be "quote day". It sat as a draft for a week and I am don't want to wait to post it. So here it is...

"Reflect on your present blessings, of which every man has many; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some."
--Charles Dickens

This quote really gives you something to think about. It's so easy to dwell on the negative. As a matter of fact, our society, being media driven, appears to train us to dwell on the negative. If it isn't sensationalism, it's not worth reporting. Occasionally I read an article that focuses on something wonderful or positive but that doesn't seem to be the focus. Drama, drama, drama. I think Dickens had it right though.

If you look at your life, I mean seriously look at it, for most of us in the United States of America, our blessings far out weigh our misfortunes. And how many of us take the time to reflect on our present blessings? I know that I get so wrapped up in all that I am doing that I forget to just stop and take time to be thankful. I'm not talking about drive by thankfulness either. You know, the kind where the words slip out of your mouth and you say something like, "I'm so thankful the toast landed jelly side up!" Although for moms, sometimes that is truly a moment to rejoice. Especially if it is only 8am and your day already seems to be going to the dogs.

Occasionally when the world is falling down around you, it may take a little more effort to be thankful. Take a closer look at your life. Do you have someone who loves you? A spouse, a child, a mother, or a friend? Do you have your health? Your health isn't so good? How about the fact that you are still alive which means there is time to do something to improve your health? There might be a lot of things wrong in your world, but take Dicken's advice. What are you grateful for?

Just do it.

Just three little words. Occasionally I have to use those words on myself. Often followed by "just start out" or "just do 15 minutes, you can do anything for 15 minutes."

I learned that last phrase from The Flylady. If you don't know who she is, check her out. She isn't only about decluttering but so much more. It's worth your time to nose around on her site for a bit. She has updated it too. A bit more user friendly now.

If you're one of those people who "poo poo" the "you can do anything for 15 minutes" idea let me just say you are acting like one of my kids. Have you ever heard the saying, "Don't knock it 'til you try it?"

Almost 6 years ago, my father died from leukemia. About 4 years before that, my mom had open heart surgery for a complete blockage. After my father died, I really got to thinking. Why would I wait until I had some major health issue before doing positive things for my health? I decided then that I would change some things in my life. I wasn't sure what to do. I remembered the Flylady saying, "You can do anything for 15 minutes." Lucy was still pretty young so I wasn't sure I could exercise away from home. Videos just didn't sound interesting so I decided to start jumping rope. I could do that on the back porch while the children were still sleeping.

Have you ever tried jumping rope for 15 minutes when you were out of shape? Holy Smokes! I had no idea that jumping rope was one of the most intense forms of exercise! I had trouble jumping rope for 5 minutes, much less 15. I kept at it though. When I went out to Texas to visit my grandmother, I forgot my jump rope. Fortunately for me, she lived across the street from a high school which had a track. I decided to strap on my shoes and go run. Of course I gave myself permission to be done after 15 minutes. I don't really know how long I ran. I would jog a 100 yards and then walk a 100 yards. Yep, that's all I would do. A few years and one more baby later, I ran my first marathon. 26.2 miles for those who don't know.

This is me at mile 25! Look, you can see my feet were still coming off the ground. I still can't believe I actually ran that far. It's a good thing I have photos, a medal and witnesses to prove it. If you had told me 6 years ago that I would run a marathon, I would have laughed in your face. I couldn't even jump rope for more than 5 minutes, are you kidding?

So when you have something you need to do or want to do, just set a goal of 15 minutes and give yourself permission to quit. Something is better than nothing. You might find that all you need to do is get started. Getting started is more than half of the battle.

Go ahead, just do it.

Is this your son?

Well today is Saturday and I was going to designate Saturdays as "Story Time". I decided to cruise around the internet to see what great piece of information I could dig up. The problem is, there are so many interesting, cool, or bizarre things online that it is incredibly easy to get distracted. I spent some time on a site with amazing coincidences. Reading those stories brought the Twilight Zone theme to mind. For example, the man who was riding a moped in Bermuda when he was struck and killed by a taxi. One year later, his brother was riding the same moped and was struck and killed by the same taxi driver, carrying the same passenger. Personally I think the passenger had it out for that family and was just looking for the opportunity.

Then you have the story of the guy who was walking along in Detroit (in the 1930s) and a baby fell out of a high window and landed on the guy. Thankfully neither were hurt. One year later, the same baby fell out of the window again (where WAS this baby's mother?!) and landed on the same guy. Wow, that kid better be thankful that guy worked down the street or something. There were several stories like this. You can find them at About.com.

Then I ran across this guy.

(I found him through a link on Dave's Daily.com.)

Wow. I'm not sure if I should say, "That's some talent!" or "I've never met someone quite like you." I suppose either would be appropriate. Not everyone can say that they're able to stretch their earlobes all the way to their mouth.

Think of all the money he saves on dangly earrings.

I just kept thinking, "What does his mother think?" Judging by the color of his facial hair, I'm guessing his mom isn't around to care. I'm not sure how I would react if either of my sons showed up on my doorstep looking like this. Sure, I would still love him. I just can't imagine NOT loving my child. I might ask what in the world he was thinking. I'm fairly certain this whole thing didn't just happen overnight though.

So, what do you think? Is this your type of guy? He's probably really nice and funny too. Wouldn't you have to be if you looked like this?

What makes you smile?

At different times today, a thought just made me smile. The first time was about my dh (darling husband). A thought just popped into my head and I had to grin. Go ahead and get your mind out of the gutter. It wasn't that kind of a thought. My husband is a great man so sometimes I think about how sweet he is and just get that silly little grin on my face!

An hour or so later, another thought popped into my head. It was about the newest addition to our family. I just thought about the first time I saw him, only two days ago. He cocked his head just so and I fell in love. Just thinking about his ears makes me smile. Do you want to smile too? Here is a reason to smile...Jake.

Something about a puppy just makes you want to smile. Especially if it isn't yours and you didn't have to get up with him at midnight and 6am. Well, he is ours and I did get up with him at those times but I figure that was pretty good.

Jake has such a gentle manner. He is fast too so this was the best I could do picture wise. I'm reading a great book on puppies. I'll post about it tomorrow so if there are any families aspiring to become puppy owners, they can read this book before picking up a puppy.

Feel free to tell me how adorable my new puppy is. His ears are like velvet so that makes me smile too. As I was driving along smiling, I decided to think about other things that bring a smile to my face too. Looking at Edmund sleeping. Thinking about how much like me Susan is. Actually, that makes me laugh and cringe at the same time because I think, "Poor Girl!" Peter's sweetness (he must get that from his father). Lucy's sense of humor. Each child brings a smile to my face. Thinking how blessed I am to be able to homeschool them and be able to spend so much time with them brings a smile of contentment. Then I thought out Mr. P again and broke out in that silly grin once more. It must be a day for grinning.

There are other things that make me smile. The smell of lilacs. Watching babies. Sitting in the sunshine. There are a lot more but I'll have to leave it at that as I am supposed to be leaving. I guess this is where I am supposed to say something patriotic since it is July 4th. Actually, the fact that I live in a country where I have so many freedoms makes me smile too. Since that ties into what I'm talking about, I'll just leave it at that.

So what makes you smile?

Annual Testing or Assessments

So it's Technical Tuesday again. Boy that week sure went fast. We had our annual testing and assessments this week. I invited Valerie Witt to come to our town and offer the California Achievement Test and give assessments to those who wished not to test. She is an amazing woman. I used to want to be like her but now she has her PhD and I just don't have that kind of motivation. So kudos to her and if you want to learn a bit about her and what she does, you can read her bio here.

Some homeschooling families may read this and think why in the world would you want to subject your children to the CAT (California Achievement Test)? Many homeschool families realize that most standardized tests are fairly pointless in determining how educated your children are. Truly, if you spend all day with your children, you already have a pretty good idea of where they are academically. I would probably not bother with testing or assessing before high school except that it is required by Washington State Law. Taken directly from the website, the law reads that the parents must...

"Ensure that a standardized achievement test approved by the state board of education is administered annually to the child by a qualified individual or that an annual assessment of the student's academic progress is written by a certificated person who is currently working in the field of education."

The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) for Washington State has some examples of tests (find them here and then click A-3) approved by the State Board of Education. The Buros Institute of Mental Measurements is the test evaluation organization that is recognized by the State Board of Education so if you don't find the test you were looking for, you can go to the Buros website for a complete list. Now just to be clear, the WASL is not an approved test. It is neither nationally normed nor has it been approved by the Buros Institute, the two criteria required by law. If a homeschooler wishes to take the WASL, they may but it will not count toward fulfilling the law.

If you find that a standardized test would be overwhelming for your child or perhaps it just goes against your educational philosophy, you can opt for an assessment of your child to fulfill the law requirements. It is my experience that the assessment will vary depending on the person who is actually doing the assessment. It's not surprising that each person has their own way of performing an assessment. The assessment must be put into writing however and you would keep this with your child's educational records. If you should decide to place your child in public or private school, the institution may request those records.

I have had some parents actually say that they don't feel the need to have their child take a standardized test or have an assessment so they don't bother. Well that's all fine and dandy for you but you are breaking the law. Let's think for a moment what you are saying to your child by your example. You are saying, if I don't feel like doing something, then I don't have to. Okay, what do you think of this...so I don't feel like stopping at the stop sign as you are going through it with your car full of kids. I just barrel on through and run right into you. What are you going to think of that? Is it any different? How about the next time your child doesn't feel like doing what you have said? Are you okay with that? After all, you have taught them that it isn't necessary to follow through with the rules if they don't feel like it.

So you decide that you are going to fulfill the requirements of the law but you don't have a clue how to find a place to test or have an assessment done. The first thing I would suggest would be to contact your local homeschool group. If you don't know who they are or aren't even sure they exist, google "(your town/city) homeschool". You should get several hits. If not, you can always go the the Washington Homeschool Organizations page on testing which you can access here. They have many qualified individuals listed and the area they serve.

Natural is bad?

So I was visiting my friend Mrs. Hannigan's blog. I just had to comment on her blog about sunscreen. I know some people who won't care for the title but get past that and read the blog. As I was commenting on it, I started to get angry about it. Maybe it's the fact that I had to yell at Peter to actually play with Edmund, not just read a book and pretend to be playing with him. Maybe I just have anger issues. I don't know. But the thought occurred to me that the world keeps trying to tell us that natural stuff is bad (like sunshine) while simultaneously feeding us crap that will kill us (like prepackaged foods). Can someone please tell me what is up with that?

It's all around us.

Stay out of the sun. Use chemicals on your skin if you have to be in the sun.
If you want some perspective on that, you can check out Dr. Mercola's website and search the word "sunshine" and get all sorts of articles on the subject.

Are you in a hurry? There are fast food joints every where. Just stop in, grab some food and go. Or go to the store and buy one of those prepackaged foods that you can just pop into the microwave oven. Hey, if you are going to the store anyway, what's wrong with buying fresh fruit or veggies? That is "fast food" too. Wash and eat. You don't even have to wash it but I like to. Shoot, just buy a cantalope, slice it open and eat the whole thing. That would be cheaper than a super sized "value meal" too. A heck of a lot healthier too.

And how about fluoride? In the natural form it good for you but you can't just get the natural stuff anywhere...it occurs in nature. Oh yeh, since we can't just get it anywhere, let's make a chemical version (or use an industrial by-product from the phosphate fertilizer industry), tell everyone how important it is and feed the chemicals to our children by putting it in our water. Do you want more information? The Fuoride Action Network can give you something to think about. Visit them here.

Perhaps if we didn't eat the sugar laden, preservative and additive laden foods that are being produced, we wouldn't need to worry about dental caries. They all look so pleasing to the eye and they taste so yummy, they just have to be good for you (the sugary food, not the dental caries). They say they have all of those chemicals vitamins and minerals in them. They just have to be good for you.

If you know how to google, you can look most anything up. All the info is out there. Just remember, before actually believing some of it, make sure you can verify it with some scientific research (good sites will give you links). Most of all, if someone is telling you that the natural stuff is bad and the man-made stuff is good, you had better think twice before believing it.

Price Gouging

Have you ever been stinking mad about the price of something? Yeh, that's one of those questions that no one has to really answer because with gas prices being what they are, I don't no anyone who would answer that with a negative. Although most people are just irritated about high gas prices. How about if the price of something directly affects your health or the health of someone you love? Is that irritating or are we boarding on the edge of fuming?

My mother called me the other day to ask if I had a way to get information out to people. She didn't mean just telling my friends but she really wanted to get some information out to a lot of people. Especially if the people had bitty babies or elderly folks they care for. I told her to send me her story and I would post it on my blog and any forums I visit. I wish you could have heard her tell the story. I suppose she was trying to be short and to the point but you can't hear her frustration or anger near as well in her writing. I'll let you read it before I comment any further.
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For those of you who have babies, especially a premie, or have the responsibility of caring for the elderly you need to read this.

My 83 year old mom spends most of her day lying in bed. As with many elderly people she is incontinent which often causes chafing. A week ago she had to undergo gallbladder surgery. Prior to that she went through some tests that required the clearing of her bowels. This of course caused the chafing to accelerate to the point of bleeding.

My niece, who is a nurse, used to work in the neo natal unit of a Dallas hospital. She suggested we get an ointment called Calmoseptine which is what they used on their premies. We were able to purchase this ointment at Good’s Pharmacy at $6.00 for a 4oz. tube and began using it on Mom. By the next day there was no bleeding and most of the redness was gone! Even the nurses were surprised.

Now, we live in a small town and Mom had her surgery in a much larger town an hour away. I tell you this because if you go to a store to buy Calmoseptine, depending on where you live, you might have to buy it through the pharmacy. I found this out when I went asking for it at Walgreens. They did have it at the pharmacy but only in a 2 ounce jar. Now here comes the gouging. This little 2 ounce jar was over $17.00!! There was no way I could pay that kind of money even if it had been 4 ounces!

Well, I went on line and got the contact information for the company which produces Calmoseptine. Then I called and spoke to the owner. He is a wonderful gentleman who runs a very small company making this great product. He shared with me what the selling price was to wholesalers and that’s when I got mad! Ladies this is your opportunity to help out this small business by buying direct from them and stop giving your money to the money grubbing big businesses. Their web site is www.calmoseptineointment.com. They do not take orders on line but you can call 1-800-800-3405 to order.


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Now the reason my mom wanted to share this information is because this stuff worked worked like a miracle. Her mother's skin was so damaged, it was bleeding. Okay, so let's do the math. That first tube they purchased in an adjacent town was 4oz for $6. That's $1.5 per ounce. They get to their town, where they have to purchase it in a pharmacy and it's $17 for a wimpy 2oz jar. Um, that's not going to go very far and you've just paid $8.50 per ounce! Yikes! This stuff must be like gold! Well, if it works like a miracle I suppose you might justify the high price. If you call the manufacturer, you will probably change your mind. This poor guy suffers because people can't afford his product all because the pharmacy marks it up so much. My mom was so spittin' mad that she decided to contact the hospital to make sure they are buying directly from the manufacturer. Do you know how much money is wasted in this world because of stuff like this? How much suffering could be relieved if big business didn't have to make such huge profits?! Now I have nothing against people who make a lot of money...if they are working for it. Dave Ramsey, financial guru, had a great article online recently that talked about people who whine about those making a lot of money. It's called Butt Scratching and Bass Fishing and you can read it here. Do read it as it sure gives you something to think about. Don't be deceived into thinking that is what is going on here. We are talking a mark up of 6 times the cost! Wait, that isn't even entirely right. That is just the mark up from comparing one business to another. That isn't comparing the cost of the product if you are buying wholesale. And might I mention that my mom currently lives in the south. I almost expect high prices for certain products here in the Pacific Northwest. When ever I have visited them, I was surprised at price differences. I'm still amazed at this incident.

So I decided to go to the Calmoseptine website to check it out. Here are some of the things this product helps with...

Protects and helps heal
skin irritations from:

• Incontinence of urine or feces
• Feeding tube leakage
• Minor burns, scrapes
• Fecal or vaginal fistulas
• Wound drainage
• Diaper rash
• Moisture, such as perspiration

If you or a loved one suffers from any of the above conditions, you might want to try the Calmoseptine. If the pharmacy in your area charges ridiculous prices, call up the owner and buy direct. You do have to buy in bulk but for the money my mom saved, it was worth it.

Also, if you feel so led, please pass this information on. Write a blog on it or copy mine (just give me credit for it please). The idea is to get the information out to the public who could benefit from purchasing directly from the company. Thanks.