Thanks go to

This week's topic is about thanking people, specifically:  Make your "Oscar" speech. Thank someone (can be as many people as you feel necessary) for something special that has happened in your life.

Gratitude.  All our lives are incredibly blessed.  I find that it is easy to get caught up in the trivial unpleasantness that impacts us.  To allow that unpleasantness to let us be negative.  At the end of the day, most of us have a great deal to be thankful. 

When I am getting caught up in the minor inconveniences of my life, I find it important to remember how things could have been.  I spent my very young life in foster care.  The first 6 weeks of my life were with a family that takes in unwanted infants.  It is part of the process of adopting out babies.  The plan was not for me to grow up in foster care, but rather to be adopted out to a family that wanted a baby.  Which is what happened.  But, things could have gone down differently.

My birth mother was 16 years old when she got pregnant with me.  She could have chosen to keep me.  It seems most 16 year olds these days keep their babies.  It is a very massive amount of maturity to make the decision to give up you baby, most 16 year olds do not possess that.  What if my birth mother did not possess that?  What if the people around her did not encourage her to put her baby up for adoption?

It is those what ifs that I go back to when ever I am feeling like things are not going as well as I would like.  If my mother had kept me it is very unlikely that I would have ended up outside of the welfare system.  Perhaps I would have figured out how to get out of the system, but I am not sure I am exceptional enough to have done that.  I am incredibly blessed that I was never put in the situation where I had to see if I could drive myself out of poverty.

So, while I have never met her, my birth mother made a decision at 16 years old that had a profound impact on  my life (I imagine it had a profound impact on her life too).  I appreciate that she had the maturity and strength to choose the life that was best for both of us, even if that meant we would not be together.  I can not imagine that it was an easy choice.  My only wish is that now, I could meet her and tell her thank you.

Here is the audience participation part, if you know an adult who gave their child up for adoption, thank them for me.  I can not thank my mother, but I can try and thank all the other people who made the same choice.  It was heroic.  They are heroes.

For all the teens that are pregnant, consider before you abort, giving your child a chance with another family.  You don't make a big change to your outcome, and you give that child opportunities.  Consider before you keep the baby, that adoption might be the best choice for both you.  That giving the child up might allow you opportunities and your child opportunities that the two of you cannot get together. (I am not pro-life, but that is a different discussion.)

Thanks mom, you made an amazingly difficult choice and every day I benefit from that.

Want to see who the other ladies want to thank?  Check out them out at: Froggie, Momarock, and Merrylandgirl

Flu shots? Not for me

The topic for this week relates to the article linked below.  Essentially, a 61 year old nurse was let go after 21 years of service for refusing to get a flu shot.  She had refused to get a flu shot for the past 21 years.  This year, it was a firable offense.

Nurse Fired for Refusing Flu Shot

I shout foul.  Everyone thinks the flu shot is the best thing ever.  Well, I am here to tell you that it isn't as effective as you might think.  Good hygiene, that is the way to go. 

I vaccinate my kids with all the "have-to" shots.  We do not do the flu shot.  I am sort of cavalier about this.  We have never had the flu.  If we ever get it I might change my mind.  But, my issue with the flu shot is just this, it doesn't really work. 

According to the CDC the flu shot was only 9% effective with older people.  (One source for this statistic)  They categorize that at people 65 and over.  But, I imagine it is some sort of bell curve.  So, the nurse in the article could have gotten the shot and it most likely would have had little impact on her health or the health of her patients.  In my mind, it is not worth putting a forgein substance created by big pharma in my body.  9% effective?  Yeah, I think I'll risk it.

The shot changes from year to year, and since it has to be made before everyone really knows what the flu strains are going to be it is all just a guess.  So, the effectiveness is based on how well the flu forecaster forecasts.  I would say they are probably as good as the weatherman.  Sometimes they nail it, sometimes they don't.  So from year to year, you just don't know.  I appreciate that this is the best that we have.

So, I ask you, do the risks out weigh the rewards in this situation?  I don't think so.  If I knew that the flu shot would protect me 90% of the time, I might feel differently.  50/50?  Yeah, I think I'll take my chances with good hygiene. 

It is just fairly unlikely that the flu will kill you.  According to the CDC about .05% of the people with the flu actually die from it.  Since the shot is maybe 50% effective and the likelihood that I will die from what I am preventing is fairly small, I do not think that the risks outweigh the rewards of the shot.  At the end of the day, I could get the flu shot and still die from the flu.

I feel fairly strongly that until the vaccine is actually effective hospitals have no business firing people for not getting it.  All this hospital did was loose a good nurse.  The statistics show that vaccine or no vaccine she was not protected against the flu this year.

Check out the other ladies take on the subject: Froggie, Momarock, and Merrylandgirl
 

Falling?

The topic for this week is:

Are you afraid of success? Why or why not? Are you afraid of failure? Why or why not?
 

I would like to start and really finish with my over-riding belief that if you aren't falling you aren't learning.  It was summed up by my yoga teacher very nicely, as we were in tree pose, falling all over the place.  If a person falls out of tree pose in the forest and no one is there to hear it....  but I digress.  As we were falling, she said, "It doesn't matter that you fall 7 times, only that you get up 8 times."

We packed up our entire family, sold our beautiful house, bought a less beautiful house for a crap ton more money, and plunked ourselves down in a new place.  A place where we knew no one.  A place that quite honestly after living here for 4 years, I don't like.  We did this, because my husband wanted to run his own business.  We were given the opportunity for him to try that out without us having to buy a business.  It seemed like a good idea at the time.

It wasn't.

We failed.

It didn't end well....    or did it?

It hasn't really ended, because we are all organic creations of our successes and failures.  We got back up.  We repositioned ourselves.  Things worked out ok.  You could look at where we are with one lense and say it continues to be a failure.  I choose not to do that.  We got back up.

My Dad, was a great guy.  When we would ski and I would be proud of making it down without falling, he would calmly look at me and tell me next time we would do a harder run.  When I run, I try and run faster and better.  I am always trying to do it better.  Every day is a new day, a new chance to do it better than yesterday.  If I fall.... I get back up.

Wanna see if the other ladies are falling?  (will they make a sound if no one is there to hear them?)  Find out at: Froggie, Momarock, and Merrylandgirl

My Purse

 

Topic for this week is to share what is in your purse.  A woman's purse is like a secret place.  I remember as a kid, my mom's purse contained everything you could ever want or need.  It was not huge, but still she always had the answer in her purse.  We were never allowed to look in it, because it is rude and intrusive to go into a ladies purse.  In fact, to this day I feel strange looking for something in her purse, even when I am being directed to do so.  My husband would never, ever go in my purse for something.  It is a confidential satchel of stuff.

With that said, I am going to spill out the contents on my purse.  In the spirit of full disclosure, I got the idea for this topic as I cleaned my purse out a few weeks ago, so things aren't that bad.

The main pocket has the usual stuff, my wallet, the kids wallets, sunglasses, gift cards, store loyalty cards, etc.

The side pocket has our family mascot, Captain.  He is a sheep finger puppet.  He occasionally comes out when the kids are being really bad.  He is a harsh disciplinarian.  He is also super funny and can keep them entertained.  Captain has crayons that he shares as needed.  The other side pocket has emergency paper, to go with the crayons.

Finally, the pile of receipts I pulled out of my purse!

My purse is no longer the receptacle of kid stuff.  I no longer carry snacks or juice boxes.  Generally, all I have is my stuff.  Check out what the other ladies are toting around at: Froggie, Momarock, and Merrylandgirl

Candy... Oink

This week's very delayed topic is about Candy.  Yes, it was supposed to be posted last week.  I was so sick that getting out of bed was not really an option.  Then I had to catch up all the things I didn't do for 2 days, while I lazed around in bed.  So, this blog is on the list of things to catch up on, and here I am catching up.

Enough preamble, I want Candy!

Candy happens to be a pig.  This pig:

Candy likes to roll in the mud and eat oats.  She hates it when people tell her she is fat.  She is very loyal and is looking for her forever home... which she hopes has lots of snuggles.  Don't worry, she won't make too big a mess at your house.

Candy is up for auction.  If you should want to own Candy, all the proceeds from her purchase goes to the Community School of the Arts.  It is a really cool school that has amazing art and music lessons for children starting at 3 years old.  They aren't horribly expensive, but if you don't have a lot of disposable income or have a couple of kids taking classes the costs can add up.  The money goes to scholarships.

Unlike scholarships given to players on Sam's soccer team, the recipients are expected to attend a certain number of classes or they loose their scholarship.  I like that.  I find that if people don't pay for something, if it is free, they tend to value it less and don't show up.

If you want to bid on Candy, follow this link:  http://www.biddingforgood.com/auction/item/Item.action?id=187164966

The other ladies are talking about Candy too, but I think it might be candy... in any event, check them out at: Froggie, Momarock, and Merrylandgirl

Dedicated to...

This week's topic is song dedications.  There are a lot of songs that are meaningful to me and my family, but we are going to keep it current!

So, to my daughter, I dedicate Hey Soul Sister.  When ever it came on the radio she had to listen to it, because in her words, she is the soul sister. 

To my oldest son, Swedish House Mafia's Don't You Worry Child, because Tiago in Seattle has a plan for you.  It is a long and convoluted inside joke.  But, it is currently the song.

 

To my middle child, Imagine Dragons On Top of the World, he listens to it to pump up before a big soccer game.  We sing it a lot around the house.

To Froggie, Hot Chelle Ray Tonight Tonight.  Because well, it has been seven days of torture, seven days of bitter....

Finally, just cuz I think it is awesome that the song mentions Yom Kippur, I leave you with Train 50 Ways to Say you Died.  The video is awesome.

Want to see what the other ladies are listening too? Check them out at: Froggie, Momarock, and Merrylandgirl

Loyal? Maybe

Brand loyalty is the topic this week. 

This week about a brand loyalty. Is it a good thing? Bad thing? Is there a brand(s) that it would take a vast shift in the universe to get you to stop using?

I have none.  I am not loyal to anything.  There, done with the post... see ya!  Just kidding!  I am loyal to one thing, but I am equally disloyal to anything else.

I am totally loyal to my hair color.  I have been using the same brand and the same color for years.  One time they discontinued my color and it was horrible.  It took me about 6 months to figure out what color I liked.  When I did, I haven't looked back.  I buy it in bulk with coupons. 

Oh, you didn't know I color my hair?  I do, I have been prematurely grey since I was 25 years old.  I started going grey at 16, and was 75% grey at 25.  I am still about 75% grey.  There have been times when I didn't color my hair.  Like when I was pregnant.  I was 8 months pregnant with Hannah, had Mac and Sam in the cart and some asshat salesman said, isn't it nice that you are out with your grandchildren.  At that moment I decided Hannah was far enough along and I was coloring my hair.  I bought a box of dye on the way home. 

I started to color my hair when I was in my early 20's.  I ran into a friend from college at a train station in Boston.  First words out of her mouth where, OH MY GOSH you are grey.  Really?  This was a very shocking chance meeting and all she can comment on is my hair?  I decided that must be really noticeable and colored it for the first time in the hotel room.

I am very disloyal to Honda products.  We will never buy another Honda vehicle again.  I have owned 3 Hondas, and only 1 was any good.  Bob's Accord and my Odyssey were crap.  Massive pieces of unreliable junk.  I know some folks have had good luck with their Hondas, us, not so much.  I will never buy another one.  You could not make me.  There would have to be a massive shift in quality for me to ever consider a Honda again.

Want to see what the other ladies are loyal too?  Check them out at: Froggie, Momarock, and Merrylandgirl