Happy Halloween!!!

7:29 am

Good morning! And Happy Halloween!!!

I don’t know how much time I have because Joanna should be appearing any moment needing to use my computer.

Amena did her thing this morning and did not wake up in time to get up in time to catch the bus. She probably thinks I’m joking about her bedtime being 9:00 now but I’m dead serious. Girls who keep sleeping through alarms or going back to sleep once the alarm goes off obviously are not capable of staying up until 10:00 or later. If homework is a problem, it needs to be done as soon as she gets home. She really needs to learn the lesson that Daniel did—homework as soon as you get home and early to bed on school nights. For him, that was 8:00 because he knew he could get up in time which for him was 5:30. He ate, got ready and only missed the bus once that I remember for sure. Today was the second time this week and that is just absolutely ridiculous. Especially when it’s foggy out and you get stuck behind a vehicle whose operator takes at face value the words on the back of the bus, “KEEP BACK 100 FEET.” Are you SERIOUS!!! If not for that wonderful person, we could have caught up with it on the last stop on Ragged Hill. As it was, we had to follow it down Elm to Barre where Hale turns off.

9:48 am

I knew it would happen, and it did. About five minutes later than I expected it. Now that I have my computer back, I have more to say than I probably want to take the time to but I’ll begin with the reason why I stopped reading and decided to fold a load of laundry.

As you know, I’ve been reading Silent Knife: Cesarean Prevention & Vaginal Birth After Cesarean by Nancy Wainer Cohen and Lois J. Estner. It was published in 1983 and I would love to see a new edition with newer research but it still is an excellent book with some excellent points. I’m in the chapter titled “Birth Interventions and Their Consequences” and just finished the section on Episiotomy. I had to stop reading for a bit when I read this: “Occasionally, a needle is jammed into the baby’s brain when the anesthetic is administered, causing its death. . .” Oh my gosh. Are you kidding me? I had an episiotomy with Alisha but with none of the others. I did tear a few times but always they were minor and only required stitches fewer times than I tore. I am so glad I did not give birth in hospitals.

That’s just a bit of what I read this morning. More good stuff about the noise women make during labor: “When someone eagerly offers you a drug, he or she may be dealing with his or her own fears about pain in labor. If those around you are nervous, suggest that they take something!” What a good idea!

About anesthesia: “Erickson remarks that it is indeed a paradox that the drugs most toxic to the fetus and newborn are precisely those which produce the most desirable effects from the obstetrician’s point of view, and are most widely used.”  I won’t even begin on the effects these drugs right now but I will tell you that I would NEVER use one unless there was an extremely good reason (like a heavenly messenger appeared to me and told me to).

Quoted in the book is this little quip that I agree with from other things I’ve read and heard, “Insurance companies and golf games must run doctors’ practices, because good, caring judgment certainly does not.” Yet another reason to GET RID of those darn insurance companies. Once and for all.

“Dr. Delee, who introduced forceps and episiotomy around the turn of the century, stated just before he died that if he had his whole life to live over, he would do home births and nothing else, realizing that the majority of his work was probably going to do bad instead of good.” He isn’t the only person to have regrets such as this. Louis Pasteur regretted his work as well, realizing that pasteurized foods are not, after all, good for us because we are not sterile beings and ought not to be eating sterile foods.

About draping (which I don’t think is done all that often for routine births any more): “. . . discard the drapes by throwing them on the floor. If the doctor replaces them when he enters the room throw them on the floor again. If he questions your behavior, tell him doctors in California are no longer draping. And if you’re in California, tell him doctors in New York have stopped this strange custom.”

This is just funny: “You can Kegel when you are stopped at a traffic light. You can Kegel when you are making love. You can Kegel to music. Ready? And-a one, and-a two, and-three. . .” Are you Kegeling?

My other noted topic of interest is about pushing and I could write a few paragraphs about that I think so right now it will have to wait.

In other news, I took Snowflake over to Raven and Bella’s because they have a very nice buck. It was funny watching them for the ten or fifteen minutes I was there. The buck was very interested in being amorous and Snowflake’s body language said she was interested as well but any time he tried, she ran away. Hilarious. Raven and Bella are interesting people but I am ready to call it quits for today.

Have a fantastic day!

Ignorance

Good morning! Joanna had my laptop yesterday morning and when I got it back, the ‘r’ wasn’t working and I just had to fix the ‘g’. I wonder if she’s been eating while she’s using my computer. The ‘0’ sometimes doesn’t like to produce 0’s or )’s either but nothing seems to be stuck there.

I’m pretty sure that I am really not in a writing mood. I read some good stuff yesterday about cesarean-sections and found a good quote that I will share with you once I go upstairs and get the book and find the quote again. Here it is: “Ignorance is not bliss; it is, quite simply, ignorance (Nancy Wainer Cohen and Lois J. Estner).” Good quite. Very true.

I went to the Meet the Doula Night at the hospital Tuesday night and got to meet some of the ‘veteran’ doulas. Very interesting. I signed up for my first seven shifts which was also interesting. I’m sure actually going will also be interesting. Not being able to talk about different women is going to be difficult but I suppose I will have to do it. Perhaps I should clarify. It isn’t not talking about different women that will be difficult; the difficult thing will be not sharing a part of my life that is so wonderful. Birth, to me, is a way to feel close to God. He created our spirits and we create the bodies; together we create individual, unique people. If there is a way for me to share that with you without breeching confidentiality, I will. Otherwise, I’ll just have to tell you that I had a wonderful night and you will have to guess what that means.

Yesterday I registered for the phlebotomy exam. That was fun. I wasn’t having any luck registering online so I called and got a woman who had a hard time enunciating English. If I had a hard time understanding her, could she understand me? I got the confirming email yesterday afternoon so I know that everything worked but I really do wonder sometimes about this lack of effective communication when the person on the other end is so hard to understand. Anyway, my date is November 14^th and I’m seriously thinking about seeing what dates are available for December so I’ll have more time to study. As long as I change the date at least 24 hours before the scheduled time, I’m good. We’ll see how it goes.

I also came up with a new look yesterday. I decided it was time to clean out the fireplace. Our fireplace isn’t what most people think of when they think of a fireplace which is a firebox made of some kind of stone or brick with a chimney. Ours has an enclosed firebox. The flames, heat, and smoke go up through another chamber (the oven) and then down the sides to below the firebox and then back to the chimney. So, the heat and smoke travel a good 10 to 12 feet before meeting the chimney. This allows lots of brick and cement to collect and store heat which then radiates once the fire has been let go out and the chimney is closed. That 10 to 12 feet need to be cleaned upon occasion and since the chimney was cleaned on the 22^nd and it’s been rather cool as of late, I decided to clean what I could of that 10 to 12 feet and as a result got covered with soot and ashes and banged up my knuckles and made my fingers sore. There is a little more to do in the basement before a fire is lit and Paul wants to put a gasket around the top door (to the oven) which would be nice because sometimes the smoke leaks out around it. When I went downstairs earlier, I discovered that the chimney was open which would partly explain why it’s been so cold in the house as of late—all the heat we’ve managed to generate with laundry and baking has gone right up the chimney. Anyway, that was fun and a shower got rid of most of the grime but there is still a bit of black on my hands (fingernails and knuckles). Today I’ll get what needs to be done in the basement and hopefully Paul will get gasket material so we’ll be good to go for a fire tomorrow. I am ready.

We had over for supper yesterday Elders Smith and Stoa. Since Paul hadn’t been able to catch Ruth for home teaching, I thought we could have her over as well and since Julia and I weren’t able to get out visiting teaching, I thought we could invite Laurie over as well. With them we of course got Jared as well and we also had Zack because Joanna decided to not go to class. So, we had a houseful. Thirteen. Gosh, that’s almost twice what we have when everyone is home. I made bread that didn’t rise as well as I’d’ve liked due to the temperature of the house in spite of laundry and the oven being on but it was still tolerable. I made a cocoa cake with coconut pecan frosting except that I didn’t have any pecans so I used walnuts (and some rolled oats because they soak up the excessive juiciness). And I made cheddar chowder. I made my 8-quart Pampered Chef pot full and we have about enough for one person to have some for lunch. Unless the one person is Paul in which case we do not have enough. So, the cake is gone, I didn’t even get to take pictures of what was left for Laura because there was nothing left. The soup is almost gone. There is some bread left but not much. I can turn it into garlic bread tonight. Pretty exciting. I wish the beans were gone.

Because Joanna was home yesterday afternoon, much house cleaning was done. Cedric did most of the living room while Joanna and Amena worked on the library and kitchen. The dining room needs to be done now and I’d really like to get a couch out of here. I’ve heard that Salvation Army will come and take furniture away for you if you give them a call. I might look into that. While I was with Seth for soccer practice the brown couch in the living room got switched with the green one in the library. That might be okay. I might like sitting on that couch in the winter because it’s nearer the fireplace and will be warmer and it might be a good place to read. Or maybe even knit although I like to be doing something else while I do that because the mind isn’t very occupied while knitting.

Anyway, this is actually quite longer than I thought it would be and I need to get on with other things. Sooooo. . . . Have a fantabulous day!

ACA and Beans

Good morning! And a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! to Laura who is an ancient 22 today. And yes, if she is ancient at 22 and I am her mother, I am aware of what that makes me. Just so you know.

Busy, busy weekend so I didn’t get to this but you can be sure that I haven’t forgotten my topic for the day now that I am here. Laura can handle it; she’s a big girl. And you know what’s great about that? I feel like I’ve at least partly done a good job with Laura because I feel that she can think for herself. It just so happens that many of our thoughts and feelings regarding politics and birth mimic the other but I believe this is not because Laura is a blind follower but because she has learned to think for herself. That is a wonderful thing.

So, the following I ‘borrowed’ from a friend, Lena Sansom (who is an awesome woman: she is beautiful, has three terrific children and an awesome husband; she has not had an easy life and has had many trials but has risen above those in the past and I am sure will rise above those yet to come—I am honored that I can call her my friend), from Facebook:

“The following is about Obamacare/Affordable Care Act. I am definitely not one to proclaim that I understand the entire scope of what it is and what it means for our country. I recently read a post/rant from an old Army friend about how his insurance rates are going up exponentially fast because of it. $1000 a month (ish) to cover people who can't afford it otherwise. What's it going to cost for those who can't afford it?

“Anyway, this got me thinking about when I lived in Sweden about 10 years ago. They are a socialistic country and I’m afraid we are on that path. Everyone can go to the doctor AND everyone can go to college for as long as they want-all on the government's dime...well, on the people's dime. At first I thought that was so smart-"everyone can go to college?!!?"-but the longer I stayed there, the clearer the negatives of that system became. Swedish citizens just accepted that 48% of their income was going to be taxed. They just accepted that they would never become wealthy. Not many people could afford a license to drive a car (over $1000 US dollars), let alone afford the car to drive. Because Sweden takes in so many refugees from the Middle East, Africa, Asia and South America, the native Swedes have developed a new kind of racism. Possessing NATIONALISM was outlawed. On their independence day, they are not allowed to outwardly celebrate it. Their colors are blue and yellow and on June 6th, you see less of those colors. It's apparently offensive to the refugees. These refugees have the same rights as native Swedes and can do all these things for free. They also don't have to work, since that would be morally wrong to expect them to do. Are you drawing parallels yet?

“If you are an alcoholic, the government sees that as a medical disability. If you're drunk in the morning, you obviously can't work. So, the government gives alcoholics a monthly stipend to live on AND money for beer, since you can't deny him/her that - he/she has a medical condition! It’s very common to see refugees in this situation. Speaking of the government, because everything is on the extreme side of political correctness, the government, by law, requires that it be made up of 51% female personnel. This includes law enforcement and the fire department. As a female American Soldier, I have seen women trying to do “men’s jobs” and VERY RARELY have I seen another succeed. I’m sorry if that’s offensive and hurts someone’s feelings, but that has been my experience. If my house is on fire and my family is stuck inside, I want a man to come get us out. It’s very rare that a woman can match a man’s physical strength. Since they have to honor the 51% rule, if there's a man who is better qualified for the job (government, police or fire), the less qualified woman will get the position.

“So let’s take a peek at some other law-related things. Since the whole country of Sweden runs on people paying taxes, the punishment for not paying taxes is YEARS in jail. I can’t remember exactly how many, but I remember it was around a decade or more. How does this compare to murder? I had the pleasure of meeting a man who was involved with the Russian mafia who was ordered to kill two men. He served FIVE years in prison and, at the time I knew him, was working as a train conductor. Another interesting story concerning the government and other cultures: A Muslim girl, around 17 years old, was dating a white Swedish boy, also around 17 years old. Her father forbade her to see him. She disobeyed so the father and her brother beat her to death. Neither of them went to jail, since it is their custom that if she disobeyed, they could beat her. I only know this story from a Swede who went to school with the girl and boy.

“I hope and pray that we are not headed down this road. The Swedish people are the offspring of the VIKINGS, for crying out loud!!! How sad it is that they are not allowed to be proud of their heritage? We, as Americans, are the children of our forefathers and I can’t imagine a day where we would be fined for flying Old Glory on Independence Day. We need to do more than rant on Facebook and other social media sites, though. Start organizing your thoughts and get involved with your local government, call your mayor, governor, senator, or whoever and hold them accountable for what’s going on in our country and where we are headed!”

It seems to me that we are under the erroneous opinion that the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, is socialized medicine. This does not compute. Socialized medicine is, ‘by definition, a health care system in which the government owns and operates health care facilities and employs the health care professionals, thus also paying for all health care services. Examples abroad include the British National Health Service, and national health systems in countries such as Finland and Spain, but NOT including Canada’s Medicare system (which is publicly funded but which does not own all of the health facilities). Closer to home, the Veterans Health Administration is, as one author points out, “actually socialized medicine, where the government owns the hospitals and employs the doctors.” ("Health Insurance Glossary." Health Insurance Resource Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2013.)’

This is just one example of a definition I have found. There are many more and they are all similar and they all indicate that the Affordable Care Act is NOT socialized medicine. What the Affordable Care Act is, is this: “A federal statute signed into law in March 2010 as a part of the healthcare reform agenda of the Obama administration. Signed under the title of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the law included multiple provisions that would take effect over a matter of years, including the expansion of Medicaid eligibility, the establishment of health insurance exchanges and prohibiting health insurers from denying coverage due to pre-existing conditions ("Affordable Care Act." Investopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2013.).

Health insurance exchanges are not socialized medicine. Countries with socialized medicine have tax rates of around 50% of income. We do not have that. Even in countries with socialized medicine, there are some private practices that do not come under control of the government. In Great Britain, for example, you can have a homebirth if you’d like but if the midwives are too busy in hospital, you have to go there as well because there just aren’t enough midwives to cover all the pregnant women. You can, however, hire a midwife out of pocket and she will attend your birth at home and you won’t have to worry about her not being able to come (generally speaking).

My only point here is that there seem to be a lot of people who believe that what we are getting with Obamacare is socialized medicine and this just is not the case. The government neither currently owns our health care facilities nor employs our health care professionals. What Obamacare does seem to be is the springboard or a stepping stone to socialized medicine. So, if you like the idea of socialized medicine, you should hop on board and help it come to pass. If you do not like the idea, then you should stand up and fight for your rights and encourage everyone else to do the same.

My personal belief is that we should completely do away with insurance companies. Doctors who do not bill insurance (and they do exist and do practice in the United States) are able to charge much less because they do not have to pay people to bill insurance and are not responsible for keeping insurance companies in business. The only insurance that might be useful is something along the lines of catastrophic insurance for when something really big comes along. Still, it would be insurance and as such I would be very hesitant to embrace it. It might be better if we all learn to live frugally and save money and have a few thousand in the bank for when really big things happen. I know, I know, like that will ever happen.

What Obamacare represents to me is legislation gone amuck. When only 40% of the populace is in favor of something, Congress is not doing its job in representing we, the people.

I’d really love to take the time to discuss cesarean-sections more but I have other things to do today than sit at the table in front of a computer so that will have to wait for another day. I’d also love to discuss the little black boxes that Democrats in Congress want us all to have in our cars so they know exactly how many miles we have driven so they can tax us for them and so they can know exactly where we have been going. No way, man. This is still a free country. Right?

Cedric, Jospeh and Seth. Blinded by the sun.

Saturday we had three soccer games. All in Hubbardston. Seth and Joseph were both at 9:00. Seth’s team won and Joseph’s did as well. Seth’s score was 4 to 0. They played Barre and Barre did seem to learn from the last time; they didn’t lose by as much. Seth played well. Joseph’s score was a tie 6 to 6. Joseph did alright. He doesn’t seem to like soccer as much as his brothers. I know he’s younger but I’m thinking that next fall if he doesn’t want to play, I’m certainly not going to make him.

Cedric was sure the socks would be itchy. He was surprised that they aren't and loves them! (Groovy non-period hat, eh?)

Cedric’s game was good. His team also played Barre but lost 0 to 4. However, for the first half, they only had enough players to have a full team on the field—no subs. Ryan showed up just before the half so they were able to have someone out in order to give the kids on the field a break every now and then. To Cedric’s credit, he was never out. He was very tired at the end of the game though. All four of the points they let Barre get were in the first half; they allowed none in the second. Cedric almost got two goals and other than that there were three almosts. It’s too bad they were almosts and not actual goals. Cedric was awesome.

Seth loves his outfit; he even wore it to church yesterday.

I had almost finished outfits for all the boys. I got them all done after Cedric’s game. I was going to make a cake and cheddar chowder for the chili cook off at church Saturday but when I got home from Cedric’s game and saw that someone had adulterated my beans, I was in no mood to do any more baking or cooking. I did finish the bread that I’d started Friday night but it didn’t turn out as well as it does when either I have time to let it rise more or the house is warmer. Still, it won first place for the bread. When I left for Cedric’s game the beans filled my 8-quart Pampered Chef pot about 2/3 full and were on the back left burner and it was turned to 1. They were looking good and I figured if they needed any tweaking, I would have time to do that after the game. When we got home, they were still on that burner but it was turned to 2 and they had boiled over. Who messed with my beans!?! I was not happy. I actually threw two empty jars into the sink. Noone has confessed. Paul made spaghetti for the four missionaries for lunch but says he did not mess with my beans other than to turn them down from 3 because they were foaming up. Cedric wasn’t here. Amena and Sarah Trivett were here and Seth and Joseph were here. SOMEone messed with them.

Pretty cute, I'd say.

Anyway, we had beans and cornbread for supper last night and that is what we are going to have them again tonight. I’m not excited because they don’t taste anything like I wanted them to and the reason I didn’t even make a whole pot is because I didn’t want to be eating them for a week.

Cedric being himself. Loves the hat.

Other than eating beans yesterday, it turned out to be an okay sort of Sunday. And today has the potential to be an okay sort of Monday. Another busy one, but that’s okay.

He's quite the boy.

Have a wonderful day!

Nuts and Bolts

Good morning! I’m debating on one of two subjects for today: Obamacare or c-sections. I have an awesome introduction that I stole (with permission) from a friend on Facebook for Obamacare and I just read something really scary about c-sections. I think I’ll tell you about yesterday first and then decide.

I got two waistcoats done yesterday. I decided to take the seams out on Seth’s breeches and do them the right way. Then I did Cedric’s. Right now I have the pocket flaps done for Seth’s waistcoat. They don’t take very long but because they have long slits at the bottom on the sides and in the back, there is a lot of starting and stopping and it’s really fun and exciting. The socks that my mother made for them arrived yesterday and they are awesome! I want some. Anyway, Seth’s waistcoat shouldn’t take long and then there is just the button holes and buttons, the waists on the breeches, and the ties for the legs of the breeches. Not bad. It will take some time, there are a lot of buttons. But it won’t be hard.

I think I’ll go with c-sections for today. I have been reading Silent Knife by Nancy Wainer Cohen and Lois J. Estner. I have met Nancy; she’s a wonderful source of information and a wonderful person who happens to have some pretty strong opinions on a variety of things pertaining to pregnancy, childbirth, and infant care from avoiding c-sections in the first place, VBACs for when they haven’t been avoided, and circumcision. In spite of the fact that I’ve had the book for some time and have been wanting to read it, I really expected it to be somewhat dry and maybe even hard to read. Quite the contrary. It is not dry and is easy to read (unless there are many boys running around asking questions and just generally needing attention). In fact, I would like to be reading it right now and likely will be reading if I ever get the sewing done today that I would like to.

This morning I read a very graphic description of what exactly happens during a cesarean section. It isn’t pretty people. I have a pretty good imagination and it just isn’t pretty. Also, Sunday as part of the doula training, we watched a video of a cesarean section. It isn’t pretty people. You don’t need an imagination when it’s right there in front of you and you can see that it just isn’t pretty. If you are brave, here is the link to a very good video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIw-FnRsUlU It is somewhat long but they do a good job (I know, like I’m a really good judge of a ‘good job’ when it comes to these things). What I mean by ‘good job’ is that it looks like they’re taking care to get all of the layers individually (I’ve heard and read horror stories about that) and everything looks really good. Not my idea of fun sewing, though. Not my idea of how I would choose to give birth to my babies.

First of all, it is a major surgical operation. Major. There is a lot of cutting involved and there is a lot of blood involved. In a vaginal delivery, blood loss of more than 500 mL (that’s about two and an eighth cups) is considered a hemorrhage. A routine cesarean results in a minimum blood loss of 700 mL. It appears that more than 1000 mL (twice that of a vaginal delivery) is considered hemorrhage for a cesarean. So, blood loss.

The blood is lost because there is a lot of cutting going on; there are seven layers to get through in order to get to the baby and most of them require cutting. First, the skin. Second, adipose (fat) tissue. Third, fascia which is the base for the adipose tissue. The rectus abdominal muscles are next and because they run parallel to the abdomen and meet in the middle, they can simply be pushed out of the way. Fourth, the peritoneum (lining of the abdominal cavity). In here there are just things to be sure to miss like the bladder and bowel before getting to the fifth layer which is another layer of peritoneum (the ‘floor’ as it were). Then there is the uterus. Yeah. If it gets cut or pushed out of the way, it has to be fixed; sewn up or replaced. (Here’s a good link for the nuts and bolts kind of glossed over: http://www.babyzone.com/pregnancy/labor-and-delivery/cesarean-section-guide_70457.)

Here’s the kicker—the uterus is actually removed from the abdominal cavity and placed on the woman’s belly while it is being sewn up. While this does make a certain amount of sense, it also is just way out there. Beyond left field. Outer space? Beyond the outer reaches of the Milky Way? Yeah. It’s one thing to take a pocket out through a hole you’ve created in a jacket in order to ‘fix’ it before replacing it and sewing up the hole you had to make. It’s quite another to contemplate taking out a uterus through a hole you’ve created in a body—a living, breathing human!—in order to ‘fix’ it before replacing it and sewing up the hole you had to make. Wow.

Here’s another kicker—women do this on purpose. They have elective cesarean sections. If there is a medical reason—if mom or baby might die if it isn’t done—sure, go for it. Otherwise, you’re nuts.

Have a great day!

Making Soap and Sewing

Good morning! Beautiful day here. Sunny with some clouds hanging out and a temperature of 37°F. Just lovely!

Well. Deeeeep subject. Especially for shallow minds. Good thing there aren’t many of those around.

Soapmaking Monday was good. I’d planned on Simply Sandy, Simply Soap, Simply Swirls, Grandma’s Rose Garden and Amena’s Baby Bars but neglected to note that Simply Sandy and ABB take jojoba oil and I had only a small amount so Simply Sandy was replaced with Cinnamint Shaving Soap. As it was, part of the jojoba oil in ABB had to be replaced with olive oil. Not a huge big deal but a change, nonetheless. Right now they are all sitting in a lovely row on the table awaiting the moment when I take them out of the papers.

I’d entertained thoughts of making more soap yesterday but when I checked Monday’s labors, they were not ready to take out of the molds (which I rather expected because I hadn’t actually started making soap until noon Monday). That put soapmaking off to today. I have now a limited supply of coconut oil so I will probably only be able to make two or three batches. I’m going to weigh what I do have and figure out what I’m making based on that number.

I have been thinking about the palm oil that I use in making soap. Almost every soap I make contains palm oil and palm oil has been in the news as of late. I have considered, and am considering still, not using palm oil because of the effects of harvesting it. I have more palm oil left right now than I do coconut oil. I could just use what I’ve got and then replace it. That will mean reworking every single recipe I have. As with many things, however, there are many things to consider. I am a minor player in the use of palm oil. The relatively small amount that I use does not contribute much to the deforestation in Asia. And we won’t get into the supposed effect that this deforestation is having on global warming. Not going there, people, sorry. There is some debate as to whether or not companies boycotting the use of palm oil will really have any effect on deforestation because if there is no demand for palm oil, the forests would likely be burned and used for something else. So, what should I, as a minor maker of soap do? Cut palm oil out entirely? Use a lesser amount of it? Unilever, the world’s largest consumer of palm oil, uses 1.36 million tons of the oil each year. Holy cow. That’s 2720000000 pounds. I currently am using less than 40 pounds per year (2719999960 less than Unilever or 1.470588 x 10^-8 [I think I did the math right]). Not even a drop in the bucket.

Isn’t thinking while you are writing fun? Based on my current thoughts, I think that the small amount of palm oil that I use does not make much difference. But surely I should do my part to be environmentally responsible. And it might not be a bad idea to look into the harvesting practices of the other oils I use. Maybe I should only make castile soap (I hope you can hear the sarcasm on that one because there is no way I could afford that much olive oil).

In other news, Saturday is the Trunk or Treat at church so I think I’d best be getting a move on with construction of outfits for the boys. Yesterday I sewed the side seams on Seth’s breeches inside out so I’ve got to either do the flat feld on the outside or take the stitches out. Still undecided at this point but leaning toward taking stitches out. Shirts are done other than buttons and buttonholes. Waistcoat linings are together. I’m working on breeches. My goal is therefore to finish breeches today (other than buttonholes which I’ll be doing on the other machine), and get waistcoats going. If I get everything to the point of just needing buttonholes, I can get all of them done Friday as well as buttons. Except the breeches which need some buttonholes before I finish sewing the waist. Anyway, should be tons of fun.

No soccer practice for Cedric today and we have a half day so we’ll see how the day goes.

Have a spectacular day!

Doula Training Thoughts, Etc.

Good afternoon! Are you ready?

The biggest difference in the actual material covered in the two doula trainings is...almost nonexistent. The general information is pretty much the same. The slant is definitely...different; but not as different as I expected. I think the reason is because I was expecting something different.

toLabor doula training was good. I am very glad that I took it. Both times. I am also very glad that I just completed the doula training program at Heywood Hospital which is done through Birth Arts International.

Thérèse Hak-Kuhn is awesome. She’s a little bit crunchy and very open and honest. She has a lot of experience and has been teaching doula workshops for a lot of years (since 1996). The toLabor workshops that I attended were both taught by Thérèse and were very similar. Not identical, of course, because they were in different cities (Jamaica Plain and Shrewsbury) and there were different women in attendance. I won’t bore you with names but the first time most of the women there were ones I’d also been attending classes with as part of the Basic Course sponsored by the Massachusetts Midwives Alliance. Those of us who had been attending classes together had gotten to know one another pretty well by the time we took the training and those who were not part of the MMA classes integrated somewhat but not to the degree of the rest of us. I have a list of those who were in attendance and I think it was in the neighborhood of twenty. The second one I attended I missed the first day because children watchers fell through for Friday. There were nineteen women there according to the list but I know that two who were there Saturday were not there Sunday. While I liked the women there, I was not as comfortable the second time, I think for two reasons—one, I was not part of the main group of women taking the MMA course and two, I missed the first day. I now also think that part of it was the size of the group. I do not do well with large groups. Granted, twenty women is not a huge group; from my point of view, five or ten would be better.

I do not believe that Thérèse is one of those doula’s who has a secret, subversive, or ulterior motive. I do believe that she is a doula in order to help women have the best birth experience possible wherever she chooses to give birth. However, I think she has had a lot of experience and some of it has been in/with hospitals that are not friendly toward anything other than what they prescribe. I now believe that this can produce people with a jaundiced attitude. She did stress the importance of working with hospital staff. Still, the overwhelming sense I had from her is that hospitals can be good but often push their own agendas far too often and too hard. This has been my attitude as well based on what I have learned through reading, watching movies, documentaries, etc., and listening to women tell their stories. Not to mention my own experiences, which admittedly have been minimal.

Karen Beaton and Meredeth Boudrieau are equally awesome. I don’t think they’re particularly crunchy but they are open and honest. They are also somewhat more holistic in attitude and practice than you might expect to find in the general medical community. Quite frankly, I was happily surprised by this. As I told the women there today for the closing circle, I was somewhat skeptical going in to this workshop. I’d taken the toLabor training but was basically looking at this as a way to get some actual birth work under my proverbial belt so I could certify. This skepticism stems directly from how I feel about hospitals and doctors and the general attitude they have about pregnancy and birth. What I discovered is that Heywood is different and the reason for this is largely through the efforts of Karen and Meredeth. This group of women was smaller; there were only nine of us. In spite of the fact that I was somewhat reserved at first, I liked the smallness of the group and the fact that it is easier to cover more material and easier to have all-inclusive conversations. The age range was wider; the youngest one there was 20 and the oldest 70. Both of those are impressive to me.

I still want to be a midwife. I still whole-heartedly believe that women deserve to have choices when it comes to where they give birth and that one of the choices should be their own homes. I also believe that they deserve to have a hospital like Heywood to choose from. I asked today what Heywood’s cesarean rate is; Meredeth wasn’t sure exactly where it is right now but it was right around 18%. Compared to the national average of 32%, that’s pretty good. I think there is still room for improvement but that’s not bad. I understand why many doctors and hospitals have attitudes about midwives—they all aren’t good. We heard a story today of a midwife doing something she ought not to have done because she was frightened. Well, I can understand being frightened. I cannot understand letting that rule you to the extent that you attempt to hide from the circumstances. Because there are midwives out there who aren’t so great, I think it is even more important to have midwives who are wonderful. THAT is my goal. Bearing that in mind, I think that working at Heywood as a volunteer doula will help me accomplish my goal and while I am doing that, I can also help women to have the best birth experience possible.

Paul is reading a book to the boys in the back room. Cedric didn’t want to listen because he thought the book looked boring. Joseph wanted to listen yesterday and was annoyed when Paul wouldn’t read yesterday afternoon. He just came in to report that Seth took a Lego from him and won’t give it back. I told him that they would all become my Lego’s if Seth didn’t give it back. As Joseph began to relay this message to Seth a bit too loudly, Cedric said, “SHHHHHH!!!”

Joanna and Amena are going through things in their room and getting rid of stuff they no longer want.

The counter that was lovely and cleared off Thursday is no longer. It won’t take as long to get back to what I need it to be but it has been collecting things. At least it won’t take three hours to clear off tomorrow morning. I do have other things to get done tomorrow, though, and I don’t really want to spend any time clearing off counters.

There is, as always, more that I could write but I think I am tired of writing for the moment. Have a spectacular evening!

Not Your Typical Saturday

Seth. (All pictures at the rec field yesterday.)

Good evening! What an interesting day.

Joseph.

I was wondering how the Heywood doula training would compare to toLabor and I am finding out. Basically, I am impressed with Heywood’s attitude toward birth and that they have a low rate of episiotomies and Cesarean-sections. I would like to know specific numbers but it appears that Heywood has at least one of the lowest, if not the lowest, c-section of rate of all hospitals in the state. Karen Beaton, RNC, BSN, MS is the Director of Maternal/Child Health and one of the doula trainers and she admits that one reason for the low rate is most likely due to the fact that they don’t really have high-risk women. I would think it also has something to do with the attitude of the doctors who work there. Anyway, quite interesting and I’ll give you more later. Probably.

Seth’s team won their game today. Seth said the score was 12 to nothing. I would not be at all surprised if that is indeed the score (he’s pretty accurate in reporting these things). Cedric’s team lost, 1 to 8. He reports that his coach was ready to quit because Petersham was cheating so bad. Something like that, anyway. I don’t remember exactly what he said earlier and he’s too engrossed in Harry Potter to repeat what he said. He actually told me to talk to the coach.

When I got home this afternoon, I walked in the house and Joseph was on the front porch. There was no one in the house and I could hear no noise. I could tell that Joanna had been cleaning in the living room (the Jeep was here and no one else voluntarily cleans other than her). I went upstairs and there was no one up there. I went outside and I could then hear voices. They were by the woodpile, stacking wood: Joanna, Amena, Cedric and Seth. Joseph was supposed to be going to the bathroom. I helped some even though I hadn’t changed yet.

Paul was down by the creek with the backhoe filling the bucket with more wood to bring up to split. He arrived at the woodpile and dumped what he had gathered and the wood that was already split was piled and then children kind of split the scene. I went inside and changed and went back out where I moved a couple of pallets so that we could go all the way to the end of the whole pile. Paul was splitting again so I stacked. When he quit, the fourth row was almost done. Four rows ought to get us through a fairly typical winter. We’ve heard this one is supposed to be cold, white and long so we probably ought to have more than four rows. I’d be happy to have five but we’ll see how it goes.

And that is all for now. Have a splendid evening/night!

Pampered Chef and Public School

See? Some days you just can’t get rid of me. Sometimes, if I don’t commit my thoughts to paper (or an electronic storage device), I just won’t remember when it comes time to write in the morning. Or whenever I get around to it. Sooooo, two topics for now.

As anyone who knows me very well (this might be limited to immediate family or those who can read my mind) knows, I love my Pampered Chef pots and pans. In spite of the fact that they were made in China. And I do love them. They are heavy and they clean up nicely and they have glass lids and the handles are long and I just like them and use them often. Daily? Probably.

However, when it comes to making hot chocolate (which I am doing as I type), I can’t pour out of my Pampered Chef pots for anything. I spill and make a mess all over the place and waste far too much lovely hot liquid. Such a bummer.

The next one deserves a title.

Thoughts on the Values Taught at Public School

As I was sitting sewing the inside of the collar on Seth’s shirt for Halloween, I was pondering the values that my boys, and girls, are or have learned while attending public school. Many of you know that we went to a Revolutionary War reenactment a couple of months ago. It was really cool and is an excellent way to learn about history for that period of time. While there, I got a pattern for the boys which includes breeches, shirt and waistcoat and sizes just right for the three. They were pretty excited about these outfits for a few weeks. Then, as we worked our way through the calendar and Halloween looms ever nearer, Cedric informed me that he doesn’t want to wear that for Halloween.

Why?

He would rather be Wolverine or one of several other characters from movies.

Why?

Because that’s what kids at school are going to be.

What happened to originality? What happened to using your imagination? Must we all be sheep?

I do not think that this is just because of public school attendance. I think we would have the same problem if my boys attended public school. We might even have it if we homeschooled and were involved in homeschool groups. By and large, however, I think that children are too influenced by movies and games; social media and media in general. They play games and watch television and movies at home. They go to school and they play that they are in the game or television show or movie. They come home and because everyone else is going to be an Angry Bird for Halloween, that is what they want as well.

Are you kidding me? They’re being taught to appreciate crappy, cheaply made costumes from China more than something I can make for them. I really want to use bad language here. Crap hardly seems strong enough. What the heck is going on here, people?

Okay, I get it. Not everyone has time to make costumes or period dress or whatever for their children. If I had a job, I might not have time. However, when I was working full time, I made almost all of my own clothes and almost all of Alisha’s clothes. We were well dressed happy. And I didn’t hear any crap about Angry Birds. (I realize that Angry Birds weren’t around 20+ years ago—it’s called generalizing.) My favorite Halloween when we were on our own is the year she was the cutest little witch the world has seen and I was Medusa. And guess where we got the costumes? Yep, that’s right—the fabric store. I made them. And didn’t hear any crap about Angry Birds.

So, if the problem is that people don’t have time, then we have our priorities screwed up that we have to spend so much time working that we don’t have time to do things for our children that involve time. It only takes a few minutes to buy crap from China but it might take hours to days to produce quality costumes that will last forever (well, a long time, anyway).

That isn’t the only problem, though. We also are losing real-life skills. How many people know how to sew anymore? How many people are teaching their children to sew? My guess is not a lot. I taught the older girls how to sew. Laura is quite good. Joanna probably would be if she spent some time doing it. I’m not sure about Alisha. Amena is not interested because her peers are not. Their parents are buying them crap from China and calling it good. Guess what? It’s crap! It’s not good.

After a deep breath and a few sips of lovely spicy hot chocolate, I think I’ve come to realize that the problem really does not lie within public schools. It lies within society. As a society we have forgotten what is really important. We seem to have come to believe that having a lot of things is the key to happiness when the reality is that being happy is a choice we make and that having a lot of things will not cause us to choose to be happy.

I love my family. I am going to make costumes for my boys and they will wear them for Halloween. I hope that one day they will realize that it is because I love them that I do this.

Incredible

Good morning! I decided to come back this morning after all. Some days you can’t get rid of me, some days you can.

I have decided that people who think children can be stubborn have never had to deal with goats. Actually, they have a lot in common. They are both cute when they are little. They both have moments when they are incredibly stubborn. They both have moments when they can be incredibly sweet. They both have hard heads but even if the goats have been dehorned, the goats would still win in a head-butting contest. Children do not produce milk so we put up with them only because we love them. Goats produce milk so we put up with them.

I have also decided that it is incredible how much difference five minutes can make in a day. Yesterday I got up just before my alarm went off at 5:55. I got up, got dressed, got Amena a lunch ready (and she told me that she’d be late next week on Tuesday and then the following week on Monday [to follow the pattern of being late every six days] and then never again; I told her that wasn’t a good idea—she said she was joking; I told her she wasn’t funny), got ready to milk, milked, fed Kitty, and then it was time to wake boys up at 6:30. This morning I decided to lay in bed until 6:00. I got up, got dressed, got a lunch ready for Amena, got ready to milk, Cedric and Seth were already up, milked, fed Kitty, went up to wake Joseph up at 6:40. Clearly, getting up at 5:55 and being done with things at 6:30 is better than getting up at 6:00 and being done at 6:40.

Right now there are three boys all ready to go at 7:30 and the bus hasn’t been arriving until 6:38ish. Cedric is on his way down to the end of the driveway; Seth and Joseph are playing with Kitty on the porch. Scooter is standing at the door looking like she wants out. She always thinks she wants out and then decides that she wants right back in. She thinks she needs to be wherever the people are so if they go out, she wants to as well; if they go in, she goes back in. Kitty tries to play with Scooter but Scooter can’t see so it doesn’t work very well. Kitty does successfully ambush Scooter sometimes and it is absolutely hilarious to watch because Scooter never has a clue as to what hits her.

Joseph just came running up the driveway and into the house. Very out of breath he said, “Mom, did you feed the cat?”

“Yes.”

“Okay,” very relieved, “Good.” I’m pretty sure Cedric told him to check because Cedric said he wanted to feed Kitty but then got busy doing other things. It’s part of the routine by now.

I am not going to bore you with any of my opinions this morning but what do you think about the state of the volcanoes in the world?

Have a great day!

This and That

7:12 am

Good morning! The good news is that Amena did not miss the bus this morning. The bad news is that Joanna is home and will need to take my computer soon.

Yesterday was a typical Wednesday in many ways. Margaret Armstrong called in the morning and we probably were on the phone for more than two hours. She had some yarn she thought I might like and some fabric as well. Her mother-in-law died and her husband has been cleaning out the house (her father-in-law died also) and it seems she had quite a stash of fabric and yarn and while Margaret is glad to have some of it, it is a daunting task in the sheer volume of stuff. She said she’d send some things to the fireside at Nally’s.

While we were on the phone, I cleared off the counter in the kitchen. That is a job that has needed to be done for some time and it finally was done. And I do mean done. I even cleaned the cast iron pans that have been waiting for a few weeks. They are currently in the oven waiting to be put away.

Awesome pictures from last night. I didn't realize I had an antenna right in the way.

Cedric had soccer practice after school as usual for a Wednesday afternoon. Seth and Joseph played at the park and I walked with Dominic’s mom around the trail. She said she’d seen me walking and thought that she probably ought to do the same. It was nice talking while walking. I think we did four laps.

Joseph had scouts at 5:00 which is a fairly typical occurrence for a Wednesday afternoon. When he was done and we got home (Seth went too, which I don’t think is really the best thing but he behaved even though I told him he could not play soccer with a couple of children outside) it was time to eat before I needed to take Amena to the fireside.

The fireside was outside by the fire. It was cool but not bad by the fire. I’m actually kind of glad that I didn’t stay (the boys were at home and Joanna wanted to leave) because I didn’t realize it was going to be outside by the fire. I suppose I should have figured it out since they were having s’more’s for refreshments. I was leaving as Jared arrived and he asked if I could give him a ride home. Never a problem so of course I said yes. I delivered soap to Drayton Troop for his mom and Jeremy West. (One of my motivations to get the counter cleared off is soapmaking next week.) When I went back to pick Amena up, I asked Steve Trivett if he might be able to give Jared a ride just because Jared lives so close to the Trivett’s and I had some boys at home in bed. He was happy to.

And now Joanna wants my computer so I’ll be back.

The moon was so bright. It is tonight as well.

8:49 pm

Took a while but here I am. Joanna had class and then she had tutoring and then she had class. By the time she got home, I was gone. Orientation was pretty exciting. Kind of repetitious. But different. We got to get our pictures taken for our name tags which we will get tomorrow when we go in for the first part of our training. Pictures were taken in Human Resources so I checked to see if there were any phlebotomy openings. It said there was one pending. I’m not sure what that means but I got an application just in case and I’ll find out tomorrow.

We actually got done early so I could have just had the boys ride the bus home but they had fun at Riley’s and it sounds like they behaved and they probably wouldn’t have gotten their homework done if they’d ridden the bus home because I wouldn’t have gotten here until whenever I did. I think it was approaching 4:00.

This morning I got Joseph’s shirt done for their Halloween ‘costumes’ (I like period outfits or clothing better). Cedric’s took two days; Joseph’s took half a day. I think it’s because I was kind of experimenting with Cedric’s—finding out what would work and what probably wouldn’t. With Joseph’s I definitely had ideas of what to do. Seth’s ought to be slightly faster even and that is going to be my project for tomorrow morning.

Since I’m here so late today, I probably won’t be back in the morning. So, have a slumberful night and a spectacular day tomorrow!

Great Start

Well, Amena is off to a great start—she missed the bus again. The light was still of at 6:00 when I went in to investigate and, sure enough, she was asleep. I don’t know when she is going to learn that she cannot stay up as late as she does and still get up in time to get ready for school. She always assures me that she can and we are in the second full month of school and she’s missed the bus twice and come close a few times. I don’t know... I didn’t mind hurrying to take Daniel when he missed it once because I knew that he went to bed at a reasonable hour (8:00, just like everyone else) on school nights and got up at 5:30 and ate breakfast, got ready, and was always out waiting for the bus. Once in an entire school year. Not twice in the first two months. Joanna took her again and I told Joanna that she’s too nice. She said, “Well, do we make her walk?” No, but if she can’t be bothered to get up in time to catch the bus, I’m not going to bust my butt getting everything ready for the boys; I’d let her be late. Anyway, hopefully she will learn this time that it doesn’t matter what time the clock says, if the bus is there, it is time. Also, it does not pay to take your time and rush right before it is time.

The good news is that I think Cedric will be more like Daniel. Their brothers, I’m not so sure about.

In other news, I went in yesterday to pick up a packet of information for the doula training at Heywood. There is a lot of stuff to read and a lot of it is repetitious. After reading, there are a lot of forms and papers to fill out and did I mention that it is repetitious? Holy cow. I think I read about standard precautions (but never called that) three times, blood borne pathogens at least twice. What to do in the event of a fire was covered two or three times and how to safely pick up heavy objects at least two times. Did I mention that it was repetitious?

Tomorrow I get to go in for orientation from 1:30 to 4:30. Seth and Joseph are going to go home with Riley and his mom will take them to practice. I’ll meet them at the rec field when I’m done and won’t have to worry about Seth being late.

The actual doula training is Friday from 5:00 to 7:00 in the evening, Saturday from 8:00 in the morning to 3:30 in the afternoon, and Sunday from 8:00 in the morning to 2:00 in the afternoon. The hours are fewer than the toLabor training so I am curious to see what is covered and what toLabor covered that Heywood doesn’t. I asked my mother if she thought it was somewhat hypocritical for me to do this program though Heywood given my thoughts and opinions and feelings about hospitals and birth. The more I thought about it, the more I think not. After all, many women choose to give birth in the hospital for whatever reason and they deserve to have a good birth experience. Doulas can help ensure that they do. So, while having a doula in a hospital might not be what I want, it could very well be the best way to help some women. Even if I think they’re crazy for being in the hospital in the first place.

Today I need to make some phone calls and get some sewing done. Other than that, not much going on.

Have a wonderful day!

Clouds

Howdy. Have taken a few days off and probably won't get to anything tomorrow due to Joanna needing to spend the day doing homework (on my computer--of course!). Wanted to let you know that we're all alive and well if slightly off our proverbial rockers (but that's to be expected).

An October Day

Good morning! Obviously, I did not write yesterday. I decided to take the day off from such endeavors. Was it worth it? I’m not sure.

I had an appointment with the nurse practitioner yesterday and ended up seeing the doctor instead; not sure why. She says that my ankles are still swollen. If so, they are in a constant state of being that way. Actually, I still do have a couple of knots on my left ankle and they do still swell up a bit distally but otherwise, we’re good. She should have seen them when I went in the first time. Anyway, she said that because my rheumatoid factor was up, she wanted to retest it. She also said to limit my salt intake to 2 grams or less. Seriously? Contrary to popular belief, I do not overly salt my food. I am not going to change my diet to restrict the amount of sodium I am eating. Hmmm, just did a quick check because I wasn’t sure if she said salt or sodium because they are not the same. One teaspoon of salt, which is about 5 grams, contains about 2 grams of sodium. So, in order to limit my intake to 2 grams of salt per day, that would be less than half a teaspoon and I’m pretty sure if I ate a completely raw food diet, I would probably get more than that. Just doing a very little bit of research on the amounts of sodium in the various raw foods that I have on hand and would be most likely to eat confirms that I would indeed be consuming more than the allotted amount. What does this mean? I’m going to pretty much do what I do.

Back to the retesting of my blood. I went straight from the doctor to the lab. I shouldn’t have done that; I should have gone home (or to Armstrong’s but that’s another story) and loaded up on the water for a day or so and then gone to have my blood drawn. Anyway, I went straight to the lab. I got poked in the right arm. Nothing. I got poked in the left arm. Nothing. I could feel veins there (I felt after she applied the tourniquet and before she did the alcohol). I guess she could too, but between the time she felt and the time the needle got there, there was nothing. She even used a butterfly on the left arm and told me a semi-fallacy in that it’s a smaller needle. The length of the needle is indeed smaller but the diameter is not. I learned that from Joe at Reliant. Anyway, she used a butterfly on the back of my right hand and finally got something. Butterflies are a lot slower than regular needles so she got about the bare minimum needed for the test and called it good. I would have done the same thing. Anyway, that was my blood drawing experience for the day.

After that, I went to the Armstrong’s to get the letter that Margaret had for me for the doula program at Heywood. I needed two letters of reference and was told Tuesday that I needed them by Thursday. That’s not a lot of time so I did what I could. By the way, Diane, you wrote one for me as well. Modern technology is a wonderful thing and I know that you would have had I had known sooner; I just hope you don’t mind that I did it without talking to you about it first. 

When I got home, it was time for lunch. I did some dishes and washed another shelf from the refrigerator. I think there are two left and then the door. Zack was here and because he has a truck, Paul asked if he might help Joanna get the wood from the bottom of the hill where he cut some a week or two ago. They didn’t do it. I guess getting food for lunch and watching a movie was more important to Joanna. It’s a pain not having the truck here and a pain that the back hoe won’t go forward. Kind of makes life difficult in some ways. Joanna did go pick Seth and Joseph up from school.

Seth and Joseph had soccer practice yesterday. I made soup for supper before we left so that it would be ready when we got home. We dropped Cedric off at Ryan’s house on the way to practice. Seth’s practice starts at 5:00 so between then and the time Joseph’s started at 5:30, I walked around the trail three times. Then I walked another three times while their practices overlapped. Then I walked another three during the last half hour of Joseph’s. Worked out pretty well, I think. Nine times around is approximately 4.05 miles. It took an hour and a half but I had to take a break to get Joseph up to the right field for his practice and at the end of Seth’s I had a few words with him. Straight through would have taken probably an hour and 15 minutes which is not bad considering I used to do 4 miles in an hour at the gym. I think I’ve already mentioned that it’s easier to do that when you can set the speed to what you want because it just goes.

This morning I have an appointment with the chiropractor. That is at 9:00 so I need to leave by 8:30. A bit earlier would probably be better; we’ll see how it goes. I am going to forgo a shower before I go because I need to do some things when I get back that will probably require getting dirty and I don’t want more than one shower although I have to admit that the warm water does feel nice sometimes. Today likely will be some of those times because it’s not terribly warm in the house.

I forgot to mention the wonderful day that yesterday got off to. I went out to milk and fed Kitty like a normally do. Before that, I had gotten Amena a lunch ready. When I got back in, it was 6:25 and she was still upstairs doing whatever. Five minutes later, she was still upstairs and the bus was at the end of the driveway. She still didn’t appear. The bus makes another stop not far beyond the other end of the driveway but she didn’t make it out in time for that either. She missed the bus. She almost missed it once before but yesterday she well and truly accomplished it. I had to get lunches ready for the boys and make sure they were up and getting ready before I could take her, nevermind that school starts at 7:05. It takes almost half an hour to get there, a few minutes to drop off and another almost half an hour to get back home. That does not leave any time for supervising boys and getting lunches ready. Joanna did jump in to the rescue and took her. That was great because I was able to do what needed to be done.

That was the beginning. The ending was similar in a different way. I don’t think Seth had a particularly great time at practice; he was grumpy afterward. His behavior during prayer and scripture reading was not good but neither was Joseph’s particularly stellar. They got to bed, Cedric finished the homework that he had almost none of but still should have finished before going to Ryan’s and went to bed. Amena went to her room but not bed. Paul got home and must not have had a very good day at work because he wasn’t in the greatest mood and complained about the tires on Laura’s car and the wood not getting done as well as a few other things. I bit my tongue because nothing I had to say would have improved the situation. He went up to his office for a while before going to bed and I went up to bed to work on a talk for Sunday. That was my salvation; working on it kind of melted away all of my irritation and my mood was greatly improved by the time I turned out the light. I even read two chapters of Revelation before.

And now for another day. I hope that you all have a fantabulous one

Really?!?

Good morning! Amena made it on the bus. Barely. The boys made it on the bus. Almost barely. What a morning.

This is one of the shirts Paul got me. Pretty cool, eh?

When I got home after Seth’s soccer practice, I beheld three children in the living room watching a movie. As it turns out, they all had homework that hadn’t been done.

Wow. Let’s backtrack a bit.

Yesterday day was pretty noneventful . I didn’t get any sewing done but I made two lime pies in the morning. I did more laundry; that was pretty exciting.

And this is the other. I really wanted to wear this one yesterday but thought it might not be that great for an interview.

At 3:00 I had an interview at the hospital for their doula program. Having taking the training from toLabor twice, I’m not excited about paying $250 for Haywood’s program but at the end of a year if you’ve done everything you need to do, they give you $100 back and it would get me working as a doula which is a step in the right direction. I hope the interview went well; I never know about these things. I need to get to them a resume and two letters of reference. By tomorrow.

On the way home from that, I stopped at John’s in Gardner to get some patches for Cub Scout uniforms. Now we’ve got everything we need for the general stuff; I need to figure out exactly where they are and what they need to do in order to be caught up and then we need to get to work. Because Joseph is just starting out, he’s in good shape. Cedric and Seth are both very behind where they would have been had they stayed in Hubbardston.

On the way home from that, I stopped at Agway and got some sweet grain and alfalfa pellets for the goats.

When I got home, Cedric was gone to Ryan Trottier’s house. He lives over on Ragged Hill and has cute little twin sisters. He and Cedric are on the same soccer team. I don’t mind Cedric going over at all. If he has his homework done. He didn’t but I didn’t find out about that until later.

I had enough time to get peppers and onions cut up and sausages cooked and cut up and get everything cooked and together in a pan on the stove. I left it simmering and took Seth to practice. While he was practicing, I walked around the path five or six times. I think it was six but I kind of lost count and it might have only been five. 2.25 miles isn’t quite as good as 2.7. If I can get up to nine times around I’ll be doing four miles plus a bit which would be nice. I was walking four miles in an hour at the gym but it’s a lot easier to keep a steady pace when you have a machine doing it for you and all you have to do is keep up.

When Seth and I got home, I found an Amena, a Cedric and a Joseph sitting in the living room watching a movie. None of them had done their homework but I didn’t even ask about that because I needed to get supper finished and on the table in 20 minutes. They stopped the movie or it was over, I don’t remember which, and cleared off the table and then got it ready. I did a salad, cooked pasta, and turned some hoagie rolls into garlic bread. It took 30 minutes instead of 20 but still, not bad. Then Paul got home; he didn’t have any missionaries with him. We were already sitting down and dishing up because it was getting late and some people needed to get to bed and...what is this?...do their homework? What? It wasn’t done?

Paul called the missionaries and they said they thought they weren’t coming over tonight because the calendars were blank. What? I signed up for the English speaking on the 1^st, 15^th, and 29^th and the Spanish speaking the 8^th and 22^nd. Paul saw the calendars and took note that we were signed up. Someone really needs to get a grip on these calendars. They get filled up and then something happens and they start over again. Irritation, man. Irritation. We have a ton of this food that is quite edible and not too bad but is no one’s favorite so it’s going to take forever to eat it all. Not excited. At all.

In other news, the state of our political affairs is almost enough to warrant using, as my children call it, swears. What a bunch of freaking idiots. I haven’t looked at any news this morning so maybe things have changed but given the general climate of things, I kind of doubt it.

This is what I saw last night (at 10:10 if you can read that in the bottom right corner) when I was looking for some information. This is whitehouse.gov.

So. My opinion. The Affordable Care Act and Obamacare seem to be the same bloody thing worded differently. They were passed legally. Great (please read the huge gargantuan amount of sarcasm dripping from that word)! They were passed legally by politicians doing what they do best—lying to the general public to make us (as a whole—not speaking for myself or a lot of people I know) think we want them. Never mind that they (the lawmakers) won’t be subject to them. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander, people. Suck it up. Either live with what you passed or get rid of the monster. Better yet, get rid of yourself.

This is where the one above took me. Pretty cool, eh?

My opinion. If memorials and forests are going to be shut down for the citizens of this country to whom they belong, then they need to be shut down for everyone. Did you catch that? EVERYONE. Did you hear about the rally in DC about immigration reform? They opened up the mall for that. What a bunch of political hypocrites. Actually, since politicians are hypocrites, I guess they weren’t being hypocrites, they were just being what they normally are. Do they really think it is okay? Never mind that question; obviously it is ‘yes.’

In spite of the political turmoil, it is a beautiful day outside and I hope you have a splentacular day!

Weather

Good morning! Beautiful day today! Some clouds, some blue sky, some wind. The goat is milked, the goats are out. Kitty has been fed. The boys have lunches ready to go. Amena didn’t miss the bus in spite of cutting it really close. Cedric and Joseph both like vanilla yogurt with blueberry jam (they both say that they like blueberry yogurt but Paul will only buy Market Basket brand and they only have plain, vanilla, strawberry and peach); Joseph is even having seconds. Seth finished the container of strawberry and is now going to have cereal.

Today marks two years for me and Paul. It’s been an interesting two years, for certain.

Yesterday afternoon/evening our schedule looked like this:

4:30-5:30 soccer practice for Joseph

6:30-7:30 cub scouts for Seth at Pitney’s

6:30-7:30 cub scouts for Cedric at Carignan’s

What it looked like is this:

Soccer practice for Joseph cancelled due to weather. I got an email but not until after 6:00. I decided about 3:30 that we just weren’t going to go because it was rather blustery and wet out.

Scouts for Seth cancelled due to weather. I got an email sometime in the afternoon and Seth was disappointed.

Scouts for Cedric was cancelled due to weather but only because it caused a power outage in the part of Hubbardston where Carignan’s live. Cedric and I drove over and met Nia at the end of their driveway so I was at least able to give her the registration forms for the boys.

I wanted to go to Walmart but Cedric didn’t so I took him home. On the way home, we had to stop for a train. First time in Massachusetts I’ve had to do that; nothing like in Idaho when we often had to stop for one or more where it was an odd week when we didn’t have to stop at least a few times in our comings and goings. I dropped Cedric off and went to Walmart where I got a couple of anniversary cards and a York peppermint patty. The cards are for Paul, the York was for me.

Cedric’s 1770’s shirt is done other than buttons and buttonholes. I am going to work on Seth’s today. It would be nice to get it done since Halloween is fast approaching.

Other than that, I did a bunch of laundry yesterday. Pretty darn exciting if you ask me.

Today Seth has soccer practice and we are feeding missionaries. I guess I’m going to give sausage caccitore (sp?) a try. I am not excited because all it is is sausage, peppers, onions, canned tomatoes, and spices served on noodles but Paul has been suggesting it for weeks so I guess it’s time to give it a go. I juiced a bunch of limes last night and the plan is to turn the juice into pies today. Paul brought home some romaine lettuce last night so the plan is to turn that into salad. I kind of think Italian food just doesn’t excite me right now. Or maybe it’s the noodle aspect.

Well, have a fantabulous day!