Friday, January 30, 2009

Glad to see the weekend!

My throat is still killing me. Not so much sore all the time as it is feeling as though it is simply coated. One false breath and bingo, I'm coughing up a storm and I swear it just rips my throat apart :o(

Ugh. I hate being sick. I don't have time for being sick. I'm a Mom...we don't get sick days :o( At least not this Mom.

I suppose it could be worse. I could have all 8 of them down with something. Even having 2 or 3 down with something would be a bit much for me right now.

One bright note in my mail today -- the woman who gave birth to octuplets...they already had 6 children. She refused selective reduction of the babies early on. I know several folks will jump on that bandwagon, saying they will be over-their-heads, already having 7 yo, 6 yo, 5 yo, 3 yo and 2 yo twins. I suppose I'd be feeling some moments of being overwhelmed with the daunting task of being a good mother to so many myself, let alone all of them being so young. But I say Bravo and God Bless Them Richly. Not many would have passed up the selective reduction with childdren at home that age.

I also saw where the FDA is wondering over the safety of a 50-year old pain killer in use. Hmmm...it's been around some 50 odd years and they are concerned over its safety? What does that say for all the drugs they've fast-tracked into use over the last decade? I have a long way to go in learning about medical uses for all the herbs and such I can grow and harvest myself, but I'd much rather take my chances with something from my own garden instead of the chemical-overload in all these fast-tracked drugs doctors push on you based on what the Pharmacy Rep offered them this visit.

On the Homestead Today -- we have restocked the wood bin on the porch, and gathered new kindling. LOL...how do you get children excited about roaming the timber for kindling? You start off by reading a few chapters from The Long Winter, then you hand them some baskets and pails and set them out toward the timber :o) They put in 4 5-gal buckets of cut-to-size sticks and twigs, and 3 baskets. And they found another motherlode of dry pinecones to boot.

I have a batch of beef in the canner, and a pot of chicken soup simmering along on the stove next to it. I haven't bothered with the cookstove the past many days :o( I just don't feel like dealing with it, as well as I know my mind simply isn't on the task. Not really on any task, to be honest. I have kept to smaller tasks...working on the crochet squares for the lap afghan, putting the questions and information on the school board for The Long Winter, via Prairie Primer, adding buttons to Abbey's birthday dress. She turned 9 years old yesterday :o)

All she wanted for her birthday was a gallon jar of dill pickles all to herself and $3 to spend at the Dollar Tree.

How many 9 year olds do you know who want such a thing for their birthday? A friend of ours bought their 9 year old a fancy MP3 player and loaded it with tons of music. The 'family' got a Wii on her birthday.

Mine just wants pickles she isn't having to share :o) And three dollars.

That's what keeping life simple will do. As long as she could get a trip into town and select her own pickles, she was thrilled.

President Obama:
"I do not view the labor movement as part of the problem. To me, it's part of the solution," he said. "You cannot have a strong middle class without a strong labor movement."

"It's a new day for workers," said James Hoffa, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, who attended the ceremony with other union leaders. "We finally have a White House that is dedicated to working with us to rebuild our middle class. Hope for the American Dream is being restored."

Of the White House Task Force on Middle Class Working Families, Obama said, "We're not forgetting the poor. They are going to be front and center, because they, too, share our American Dream."

Yes, Dewey was Union a lot of years. Still holds his Union card, actually, though he isn't working Union right now. My dad was a life-long Teamsters member as well. Probably half my family's men are Union-yahooers. Still, I'm not part of the Union hit-parade at all. I don't see the poor being lifted at all by anything Union, and I sure don't see this idea as being part of The American Dream, let alone restoring it. It's very name says it all...it's a task force on middle class families. I just don't find any sort of comfort in knowing the Union is tickled pink and doing the happy dance with Obama in office now. That so-called American Dream should be for everyone, Union aid or not, maybe even moreso without it.


But that's just another soapbox issue and I did say to a friend I would try to tone my soapbox issues down a bit, especially when I'm not feeling well and tend to be far more less-tactful in those moments.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hope you're feeling better soon. It's no fun having such a sore throat! I heard that clove tea or ginger tea with honey are good remedies. Your daughter Abbey sounds so sweet. I totally support raising children to appreciate the simple things. Too many are consumer driven, and it starts at a young age. I've tried to instill that thinking in my granddaughter Abby (no "e") who is 8 years old. I wish I could be there to give you a hand around the house and make you a cup of hot tea :-)

Trixi said...

I hope you feel better soon!!!

Anonymous said...

Just an FYI about the woman who gave birth to 8 children. She is divorced and chose to have these babies as a single mother. I just don't understand adding to the stress of single parenting (which is difficult with even 1 child) with 8 more kids. All of her children were conceived by in vitro. I do applaud her decision to not do the selective reduction. I have to question the ethics of a doctor who would implant 8 embryos in a woman who already has 6 children...let alone do the procedure at all. Yes, children are blessings...but they are also alot of work. She does live with her parents so that will help with the care of the children. I may be mistaken but I think the state is paying for the care of the newborns right now. Her father plans to move back to Iraq where he has a well paying job waiting so he can take over the financial burden. Which is really great. But is it really his responsibility? I just think it is alot to burden a grandparent with when he is close to retirement age.

basicliving@backtobasicliving.com said...

I hope you're feeling better. And I hope none of the kids ended up with it.

It is so sweet that your daughter wanted a jar of pickles for her birthday gift! That is so amazing - especially for a nine year old. What a sweetheart. She must make you proud.

Take care,
Penny

Unknown said...

I won't argue that her living at home with the parents with 6 children, and now counting in the new 8 isn't a burden. I'm sure it is.
First, I guess I would have to argue that parenting as single parent is rougher than parenting together is. Parenting in itself isn't the rough part at all -- not being in sync with your spouse on the parenting route you are taking is what makes it rough. There are plenty of parents who have a far easier path with parenting -- they know where they are going, they both believe totally in the pathway ahead of them, and they are 150% in-sync with each other.
Of the families I know, single or otherwise, who seem to always have a rough time, it's the ones without a true plan of action. It's the ones too concerned with everything outside their family -- activities of all sorts, jobs, friends, and so on -- the ones who have no standards or rules to guide their lives but play it by ear every step of the way, the ones who say they 'choose their battles' yet really choose none at all, the ones with little to no discipline of themselves let alone control or path of discipline with their children...
those are the ones who struggle all the time. It has very little to do with whether or not you have a spouse sharing in the child raising.
That isn't to say at all that I agree with her whole decision of having children without a husband involved. I don't. I don't believe it will be at all easy for her -- God never planned for women to have children alone. Still, it's her choice I suppose. The articles I've seen so far, it's her mother who is totally against all of this, and her father is more behind her decision and trying to be a help. It's a definite bit of dysfunction, that's for sure, and my heart goes out to the children living under that set of emotional pulls.
As to the doctors, I agree to a point...the ethics of it, from a worldly point, seem missing. But, ethics pretty much only come into play if someone has a backbone of Faith behind them. I doubt it would take much 'searching' to find a doctor to do just what these have done for the money. In Vitro isn't exactly a state-paid or insurance-covered procedure.
I haven't heard anything about the state or anyone else paying for the newborns care at all.

I guess it all comes down to your heart view on children and your spirit. To me, children are a blessing under any circumstance, and as a blessing, they cannot be considered anything less than a gift from God Himself. With that view, you aren't seeing the 'trouble' or the 'work' involved. Just the Gift part. The world's view of children is a burden and added work. The world's view is from the perspective of a spirit of abortion...wait until you can afford to have children, wait until you are settled in your own life, don't have more than one or two because you won't be able to raise them properly or adequately.

Deanna

Jer.6:16

Jeremiah 6:16
Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.

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