It's All About Economics

Good morning! So far, so good. Well, other than the fact that Seth needs to take the goats out and is still abed. Amena was up and dressed when I got up. She still came close to missing the bus (it had taken off from the lower driveway but she can run the other way and catch it) but not because she wasn’t ready—because she was busy doing other things. Cedric got up when I went in and asked if he still wanted his hair cut. He did and it was done and he took a shower. Joseph got up not long after I went in and told him and Seth it was time to get up. He is now eating a banana with Jiff chocolate hazelnut spread. Cedric is getting ready to have some cereal, having finished his banana with chocolate stuff. Seth needs some incentive, maybe in the form of a glass of cold water, in order to get up and get moving. I’ll be back shortly.

He is moving, albeit slowly. The fact that he is moving is good. The fact that he does not want to take the goats out is typical.

Saturday was a pretty nice day. Cedric and Joseph had games at 9:00 in Hubbardston. Joseph’s team won 6 to 3 although no one was keeping score, of course, since the score does not matter at his level. Cedric played well and his team did get one goal but they still lost 6 to 1. Cedric’s team got another goal but it didn’t count because someone on the other team was hurt. I think I heard a whistle blow when he got hurt but it wasn’t loud at all and I don’t think anyone on the field heard because they kept going like nothing had happened. In fact, the injury appears to have been minor and he might have been able to just keep playing. Such is life.

Paul was able to get more wood cut and split and it is all stacked. The fifth row is getting filled up. He really wants to get the fifth row filled because he says the other rows aren’t as high as he usually would stack them. The problem with stacking them so high is that it is going to be difficult for Joseph to get wood if he has to from the top and even Seth might have difficulty. Still, having the wood there and ready to go is good and I wouldn’t mind having the fifth row just because more wood is always better because you never know how the winter is going to pan out.

Seth is finally on his way out to take the goats out. He said, “So I won’t get any breakfast today.” Well, that might end up being the case but it wouldn’t happen if he would get out of bed when I first go up and tell them it’s time to get up, would it? Joseph is almost done with his breakfast and Cedric is all done. Joseph still has to get dressed and brush his teeth but that won’t take too long. Seth is definitely my lollygagger. He’s almost as bad as Alisha was. Sometimes even worse and that’s going some.

Saturday after soccer games, I repotted three plants. Two are begonias that were outside. In looking at them this morning, I hope I didn’t leave them out too many cold nights because they’re looking rather bedraggled. Hopefully they’ll pull out of it because one Paul has had forever and the other is a really pretty red. The other plant is a Jade tree that was way too big for its pot. The pot it’s in now is better but it really is just a bit top heavy and mostly on one side so it has trouble standing up straight to begin with. Right now it’s propped up with a stick. Part of the problem is that it was leaning against the window and window sill where it was because it would fall over otherwise. I’m sure it will end up okay even if it has to be cut down again. There actually are a couple other Jade plants that could stand repotting but I’m really not sure how many one house needs—we have four.

Yesterday was a pretty good Sunday. We were supposed to be able to see an eclipse from about 6:30 until 7:00 but it was cloudy so no way could we see it. I dreamed about it Saturday night so that will have to be good enough this time around. Church was good. We had Indian chicken for lunch. One was korma and the other was Punjabi Tikka Masala. The korma was good but I don’t care for raisins in my food. The masala was good but it needed some heat added. That’s not a problem here because we’ve got lots of heat to add.

We actually had a Family Home Evening yesterday. Monday evenings just really don’t work because we often have soccer during soccer season and cub scouts and Paul is never sure when he will get out of work. Therefore, Sunday evening works for us and we need to get back into the habit. Yesterday we talked about the restoration because it doesn’t hurt to begin at a beginning.

Up for today is a little of this and a little of that. I’ll let you know how that all goes. The boys are currently on the bus and now it is time to begin my day. Again. So many beginnings to so many parts of the day.

Last night in my reading, I ran across this in the “Consumer Power” section of the chapter “Labor Support” in Silent Knife: “Those of you who continue to use hospitals not supportive of normal birthing concepts are giving tacit approval to their nonsupportive policies. Your business thus helps to maintain the status quo. Hospitals will never change unless consumer pressure, with its threat of lost dollars, forces that change.” This is a well-known fact in all business. If you complain about the high prices at the mall but keep shopping there, you are giving them permission to keep charging the same high prices. If you complain about the lack of quality at Walmart but keep shopping there, you give them permission to keep offering crap. It is just like terrorism and despotic governments: if you don’t speak out against the atrocities performed by them, you are no better than they are and are, in fact, part of the problem.

So, why do doctors keep dishing out all the unnecessary interventions? Because women and their families are not educated about them and keep going back for more thinking that there is nothing that they can do to affect change. Well, guess what? Have your baby somewhere else and change will happen. Want a water birth in a hospital? Be healthy and go to Greenfield. Don’t want a cesarean? Go to Heywood.  Don’t want fetal monitoring? Stay at home. If you don’t support the very nonevidence-based practices at hospitals with your dollars, they won’t be able to keep doing them.

It’s all about economics people. Life is all about economics. Let’s wake up and smell the roses or coffee or whatever get to you.

Have a great day!