Tuesday, November 28, 2006

The Fun Never Stops

I got an effing speeding ticket on my way to my sister-in-law's house after work. I had stopped by an outlet mall to do some shopping (in/out 4 stores, 15 minutes). This happened to me last year at this time too when I was headed to Big Lots! to buy Mr. Long-Suffering a 3 million candle power flashlight.

Must never shop again. Did buy my mom a very ugly blouse that she will love (it's green and brown, her fave...I could vomit).

Monday, November 27, 2006

Pity Me

Everyone here at Casa Sarcastic has a cold. Some of us are small and don't know how to cover our coughs (Chuckles, I'm looking at you).

Some of us are big and want our sleep but small dictators are preventing that with their demands. Speaking of demands, nap time is over as I am pretty sure he just knocked the crib off of its wheels.

How Techno-Savvy am I?

Well, yesterday, I watched last week's Grey's Anatomy on abc.com's streaming video site. It worked well and I did not need to download a special player to do this. If you missed an episode of Desperate Housewives or Lost, you can watch it at abc.com while writing out your Christmas cards like me.

Also, I just bought this set of Ginsu knives from amazon.com for $24.99 as a gift for Mr. Long-Suffering for Christmas. Poor man hasn't had a sharp knife in years.

Because it was only $24.99 and qualified for free shipping (fi I spent $25), I looked for something inexpensive (less than shipping) to buy to get the free shipping and I found Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks from A to Z, which got a good review from askmoxie.org (where I hang out and read up on all things parenting. In fact, I had a question featured over at askmoxie last December when I was ready to tear every single one of my hairs out one by one. In fact, last December I was so sleep deprived, I had some thoughts that I won't repeat now because they were so crazy, we'll just say I was tired. I do know now why sleep deprivation is prevented by the Geneva Conventions on torture though.

Emailbag

I got an email today from an old friend. We went to HS together, way back in the day. Anyway, we email regularly, but we lost touch for the last year or so. He emailed my work but it bounced, so he emailed my house and I got it this morning. He recounted his year, so I recounted mine and here's how it went:
Turned 30
Kid turned 1
Emergency Appendectomy
Cut off my hair for charity
Cat died
New Job started
Quit old job (which is merging with a private equity fund...since he cares about that sort of thing)
House for sale
commuting
Please buy my house
Looking to relocate
Please buy my house - I have good schools
Did I mention my house is roomy?

So that's my year in review, Cliff's Notes style. Would you like to buy my house?

I fell like chicken tonight, like chicken tonight

I am going to cut up some BSCB (shorthand, Rachel Ray-style, for boneless, skinless, chicken breasts) into 1" cubes, brown them in a non-stick skillet. I will add in carrots, celery, onions, and garlic (which is already chopped and in a container in the fridge). I will then add sage and a can of cream of something soup and maybe a can of mushrooms. Serve over noodles or brown rice.

It's not gourmet, but it's dinner.

Fisher Price Annoying Sounds Animal Choo Choo

It was on sale today at Target for $26, so I got mine price adjusted. Woo Woo. The annoyance is now $2 cheaper.

Saturday, November 25, 2006

Thanksigiving Revisited

Thanksgiving was lovely even if I didn't host it. Chuckles decided not to nap all day but was still an amazing, adorable, well-behaved, polite angel. His first cousins once removed and he got on like peas and carrots. They are 9 and 11 years old and dragged him all over their house. He climbed up and down more stairs than I care to count. And yet, he still did not sleep through the night after that. Ugh. But I am thankful for him nonetheless.

My oat flour cookies were a bit hit as were the Christmas cookies. Many other people made many other wonderful things (bruschetta with olives and mini balls of mazzarella on tiny toast points comes to mind...oh man was it good....the bruschetta was from Costco, mozz from the local Italian imports store and anyone can make toast points, so I think I'll snatch this recipe right away). My aunt did the turkey on the back porch in a turkey roaster and she made the stuffing in the slow cooker. I will be getting recipces. The turkey was stuffed with fresh sage leaves and thyme and the whole everything smelled divine.

Did I mention we had the doors and windows open because it was absolutely gorgeous out? Well, it was and we did.

Husband's birthday was good. He got a Home Depot gift card from his parents because they know him (and supposedly we will be buying a new house here soon, so we'll need things).

We had three showings on the house this week. Two were the same people (they should be making up their minds soon). The other was this morning at 9:15 but they didn't schedule until 9:02 this morning. I asked to have it at 9:30 instead so we could get dressed, clean up and get out. The dishes were tossed (pots, pans, high chair tray) unceremoniously into the dishwasher to hide. I pulled my bras and panties off the drying line and threw them into the dryer to hide. I put our pajamas under our pillows and made our beds in a flash. The house wasn't "clean" but it appeared tidy.

My sister saw one of those "these kids need a home" things on the news and now she wants to adopt a pair of siblings. She totally fell in love with the boy. I think that is great if she's serious but adopting older kids is so emotionally risky. I hope she knows what she's doing.

I'm starting to think some things about Chuckles. I think I am going to contact our state or county early intervention services about having him assessed for various motor skill conditions and speech and language conditions. I'm not worried exactly. I'm just thinking things. And if there is something, I want to know how to help him best and reach his potential. I'm not worried he is delayed. His speech is excellent. His direction following is wonderful. He has good gross and fine motor skills. In fact, all of everything is excellent. He's performing language and counting tasks at a 24-month+ level. I'm wondering if there might be some little Asperger's thing going on with him. That's not bad, but his learning would be a little different from everyone else's and we's just need to work with him on that. OK, actually, I just read the links I put in there on Asperger's and I guess it's not that. He makes eye contact and engages socially with others. I just can't figure out why I think something is not quite perfect. (Note: I am a worrier. It is who I am.) Now I am googling speech and language development milestones. According to NIH,
By eighteen months of age, most children can say eight to ten words. By age two,
most are putting words together in crude sentences such as "more milk." During
this period, children rapidly learn that words symbolize or represent objects,
actions, and thoughts. At this age they also engage in representational or
pretend play.

What strikes me most about that paragraph is this...Chuckles uses between 100 and 200 words (mostly nouns). He uses a few verbs, makes two word sentences (Where Dada? (with the voice up at the end to show it's a question), More Milk. More Apple. Apple All Gone - More? Buh Bye Dada. Buh Bye Mama. Choo Choo on Shoe. Eat. Eat. EAT!!!!! Ball Buh Bye (when the ball is thrown or rolls into the street)). He does pretend play like dusting, swiffering, vaccuuming, and makes "vroom" noises whenever he plays with anything even remotely like a car or truck and makes choo choo noises with anything longer like a train. He understands prepositions like "in", "on", "behind", and "under". With the exception of pronoun use, he's functioning at a 3-year old level verbally. That seems weird to me. I guess I'm glad because he answers questions, follows complex directions (multi-part like "Go into the kitchen, get your train, and bring it to Grandma"), knows his colors, likes to play that Memory game with me, and counts to five or so, but I mean, that's weird, right? I guess I want him evaluated because I want to know if there is anything special we need to do to help him continue developing. Also, he does not like babies. I don't know if he seems them as competition for his cute or what, but he does not like babies. Kids are fine. Babies - no.

So, all-in-all, very thankful, all healthy, big fat worrier, Christmas lights have been hung, and we had carry-out Gyros for dinner. Good. Very good. Life is good. Oh, and the Christmas cards should bei n teh mail by mid-week. I had to pick the very adorable pictures up from Meijer yeaterday (at a store on the Firday after Thanksgiving, I know, but it was not crowded....bad economy or dinnertime is a slow time).

Thanksigiving Revisited

Thanksgiving was lovely even if I didn't host it. Chuckles decided not to nap all day but was still an amazing, adorable, well-behaved, polite angel. His first cousins once removed and he got on like peas and carrots. They are 9 and 11 years old and dragged him all over their house. He climbed up and down more stairs than I care to count. And yet, he still did not sleep through the night after that. Ugh. But I am thankful for him nonetheless.

My oat flour cookies were a bit hit as were the Christmas cookies. Many other people made many other wonderful things (bruschetta with olives and mini balls of mazzarella on tiny toast points comes to mind...oh man was it good....the bruschetta was from Costco, mozz from the local Italian imports store and anyone can make toast points, so I think I'll snatch this recipe right away). My aunt did the turkey on the back porch in a turkey roaster and she made the stuffing in the slow cooker. I will be getting recipces. The turkey was stuffed with fresh sage leaves and thyme and the whole everything smelled divine.

Did I mention we had the doors and windows open because it was absolutely gorgeous out? Well, it was and we did.

Husband's birthday was good. He got a Home Depot gift card from his parents because they know him (and supposedly we will be buying a new house here soon, so we'll need things).

We had three showings on the house this week. Two were the same people (they should be making up their minds soon). The other was this morning at 9:15 but they didn't schedule until 9:02 this morning. I asked to have it at 9:30 instead so we could get dressed, clean up and get out. The dishes were tossed (pots, pans, high chair tray) unceremoniously into the dishwasher to hide. I pulled my bras and panties off the drying line and threw them into the dryer to hide. I put our pajamas under our pillows and made our beds in a flash. The house wasn't "clean" but it appeared tidy.

My sister saw one of those "these kids need a home" things on the news and now she wants to adopt a pair of siblings. She totally fell in love with the boy. I think that is great if she's serious but adopting older kids is so emotionally risky. I hope she knows what she's doing.

I'm starting to think some things about Chuckles. I think I am going to contact our state or county early intervention services about having him assessed for various motor skill conditions and speech and language conditions. I'm not worried exactly. I'm just thinking things. And if there is something, I want to know how to help him best and reach his potential. I'm not worried he is delayed. His speech is excellent. His direction following is wonderful. He has good gross and fine motor skills. In fact, all of everything is excellent. He's performing language and counting tasks at a 24-month+ level. I'm wondering if there might be some little Asperger's thing going on with him. That's not bad, but his learning would be a little different from everyone else's and we's just need to work with him on that. OK, actually, I just read the links I put in there on Asperger's and I guess it's not that. He makes eye contact and engages socially with others. I just can't figure out why I think something is not quite perfect. (Note: I am a worrier. It is who I am.) Now I am googling speech and language development milestones. According to NIH,
By eighteen months of age, most children can say eight to ten words. By age two,
most are putting words together in crude sentences such as "more milk." During
this period, children rapidly learn that words symbolize or represent objects,
actions, and thoughts. At this age they also engage in representational or
pretend play.

What strikes me most about that paragraph is this...Chuckles uses between 100 and 200 words (mostly nouns). He uses a few verbs, makes two word sentences (Where Dada? (with the voice up at the end to show it's a question), More Milk. More Apple. Apple All Gone - More? Buh Bye Dada. Buh Bye Mama. Choo Choo on Shoe. Eat. Eat. EAT!!!!! Ball Buh Bye (when the ball is thrown or rolls into the street)). He does pretend play like dusting, swiffering, vaccuuming, and makes "vroom" noises whenever he plays with anything even remotely like a car or truck and makes choo choo noises with anything longer like a train. He understands prepositions like "in", "on", "behind", and "under". With the exception of pronoun use, he's functioning at a 3-year old level verbally. That seems weird to me. I guess I'm glad because he answers questions, follows complex directions (multi-part like "Go into the kitchen, get your train, and bring it to Grandma"), knows his colors, likes to play that Memory game with me, and counts to five or so, but I mean, that's weird, right? I guess I want him evaluated because I want to know if there is anything special we need to do to help him continue developing. Also, he does not like babies. I don't know if he seems them as competition for his cute or what, but he does not like babies. Kids are fine. Babies - no.

So, all-in-all, very thankful, all healthy, big fat worrier, Christmas lights have been hung, and we had carry-out Gyros for dinner. Good. Very good. Life is good. Oh, and the Christmas cards should bei n teh mail by mid-week. I had to pick the very adorable pictures up from Meijer yeaterday (at a store on the Firday after Thanksgiving, I know, but it was not crowded....bad economy or dinnertime is a slow time).

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Where have all the shotguns gone?

No, this is not a post about how it is deer hunting season (although, it is deer hunting season....three men in Wisconsin were found dead (in three separate incidents) (apparently of heart attacks) in their tree stands after not coming home after a long day of hunting).

This is a post about how 37% of babies born in 2005 were to unmarried women. That's a lot. In the county where I live (where do I live? I think I live in my car...but the county where my car is registered) it is about 50%. Why are women not getting married when they find themselves pregnant? It is women in their 20s who are driving the increase, so we're not talking teenagers here.
I know several women who had babies recently without the benefit of marriage. Let's look at the reasons for each (names changed because I feel like doing that):

Morgan was 19, just out of high school, and about the start community college when she had Mason. She moved in with the baby's father, but they did not have enough money to do up a good wedding, so put it off. Currently, things are not going well between them, so I'm not so sure they'll get married next year as planned. Oh, and I think Morgan will lose her WIC, Medicaid, and TANF if they get married. They neeed the subsidized day care so they can both work, so marriage is not economically attractive to them as it might be if the Dad had health insurance he could provide for all of them.

Jackson is a 39 year old divorcee. She got engaged to a great guy in summer 2005. Since her clock was ticking away, they opted to start trying for kids right away. Less than 6 months later, she was pregnant. So, they put their houses on the market and started looking for one together, baby was born, etc. Baby has his last name, and I think they will get married soon, but with all that other stuff (new baby, selling 2 houses, buying one, etc), they didn't have time to plan and execute a wedding before the baby's birth.

So, apparently, there is no stigma to single motherhood anymore. I think that's both good and bad. It's wrong to stigmatize children for things they didn't do wrong (sins of the father and all that). The lyrics to Diana Ross's "Love Child" are heartbreaking.
But, but, but, study after study has proven that children with two parents who are committed (married) to each other do better in life than children with precarious family situations (even long-term cohabitating parents). So, the baby of the 39 year old woman is probably going to do better than the baby of the 19-year old girl no matter what just because the mom was stable prior to having the baby, but I am pretty sure they will actually tie the knot.
  1. But, what if the 19-year old had gotten married while pregnant? Forget the big wedding with limos and fuschia dressed bridesmaids. Maybe they just went to the JoP like so many before them, or had 25 of their closest family in attendance and had dinner at the Olive Garden afterward (hey, all you can eat salad). Would parents in a notsogood marriage be better for the kid than unmarried parents? Most studies say yes. But a good marriage is better for kids than a bad one. How's that for "staying together for the kids"? Here are the ideal family situations for children ranked in order from best to worst...

  1. Living with two stable, committed (married, if possible) lesbian mommies (apparently, kids with two moms do better than kids with only one)
  2. Living with your stably married parents
  3. Living with two stable, committed (married, if possible) daddies
  4. Living with one of your parents with frequent contact with the other, happily divorced parents who don't fight
  5. Living with your unmarried parents together
  6. Living with your very unhappily (think physically abusive, alcoholic, emotionally stunted) married parents
  7. Living with one of your divorced parents but they still fight and bad mouth each other
  8. Living with one of your parents who was never married to your other parent
Let's point out right here that most kids do fine no matter what. Most kids will be fine. Where did you fall as a kid? Were your parents happy in their marriage, not married, were they married but unhappy and going through the motions?
My parents were a 2, became a 6, then a 7, and wound up as a 4. I'm happy (mostly, except for the hating everyone and everything stuff) person. I have a good marriage. I love my husband dearly. Sometimes, we are just going through the motions of being married, but the rest of the time, it's good. We put our marriage first because we put our son first. We know that we need a strong marriage for him.

Now, I'm not advocating pregnant women all across America run out and get married, but I do think a little less emphasis should be placed on whether she can have fun (i.e drink) at her wedding or fit into a nice dress and a little more emphasis on creating a stable environment for the baby-to-be is a good idea.

By the way, shame and stigma did a lot to keep the unwed birth numbers down. Lots of women waited to have sex until they were married or with a guy they were pretty sure would marry them if something were to happen. It also used to be that unwed mothers were denied welfare benfits and other societal recognitions. So, huh.

What day of the week is it and I have nothing to say

So, is it Monday? The first day I went to work this week.
Is it Tuesday? The actual day that it is.
Is it Wednesday? The middle workday for most people.
Is it Thursday? The day before the last day of the week.

I have no idea. I'm here at SIL's house with nothing to do. Everyone is out for the evening and I hate their TV. So I guess I'll take a long bath and go to guest room #2 (some other loafing sister-in-law is staying in my guest room, dang here. Hi Shee Shee, we love you).

Did I tell you that Chuckles and I did Baby Pretzels yesterday (yoga for babies) or that I am making French Toast Casserole for Thanksgiving breakfast ( a new tradition my husband is starting because he is a big baby who cannot spend a holiday away from his mummy)? No? Well, we did and he is.

Monday, November 20, 2006

Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

Jenn, as I have mentioned, works at a big, faceless corporation. There are teams and conference calls and emails about the conference calls, there are team leaders, etc.

Friday, Jenn got an email from her team leader. Here is my artistic impression of said email.

To: Jenn & team
From: Leader
This is to confirm that we will be having a conference call this Monday, Nov. 21st at 3:30 pm ET (4:30 CT). Please advise your availability.

Jenn replied politely that she'd be there. This is what she should have said:

To: Leader
From: Jenn
CC: Rest of Team
I will be there on Monday with my time machine in the alternate universe. I will bring a black hole, a woodland sprite, a leprechaun, and a swingline stapler. We'll need the luck and we'll have to repair the fabric of time when we're done. Regards, Jenn

I'd like to state now that sometimes people are in charge just because they volunteered not because they are better than you.

Let the Holiday Baking Commence


I started my Christmas baking officially today. See photo. These are Betty Crocker Sugar Cookies. I care enough to make homemade cookies. I do not, however, care enough to do them really nicely. I only made stars and Christmas trees this year. Then I just pulled the leftover dough off the parchment paper and made free form cookies. It's a holiday Rorschach test.
Left to Right, Top to Bottom
A nice Christmas tree, a horse galloping off into the sunset, a candy cane made like a play-dough snake, a sombrero (or alternately, a Christmas candle and base), a snake (or if you look at it sideways, it's a guy on a rowing machine), right below the snake on the middle right line is Santa's sleigh (or what is left over after the Christmas tree trunk has been removed), Bottom Row: a nice Christmas tree; a red, white, and blue star because we are Americans dangit; a green, white, and red star because we are Italian Americans; a splat; and lastly either a dollar sign or a sea horse.
So this was "efficient". Here at Casa Sarcastic, we're all about the Lean Manufacturing.

When you become what you hate

Many people hate many things and say they'll never do that, buy that, etc.

For example, perhaps you hug trees and would never buy an SUV and then you have three kids in five years, all of whom need to be in car seats and your Prius can't fit three across the back. So, you buy a hybrid Toyota Highlander. Ahh, you now have an SUV and have become what you hate.

In that vein, I used a leaf blower today. I have become what I hate. I have no defense, but I am pretty sure I'll never do that again. My hands are still vibrating and it's been almost an hour since I stopped.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

While at Meijer

We saw a bunch of people camping inside waiting for the release of the PlayStation 3. They were a sad looking bunch, but they were out in public almost interacting with each other. I'm sure they'll all go home to play by themselves (or maybe play against eachother over the internet...those new game boxes do that, right?).

Why I'm glad I don't live in Guatemala

This report by the Guttmacher Institute on Abortion and Postabortion Care in Guatemala: A Report from Health Care Professionals and Health Facilities covers the unsafe abortion procedures currently occuring in Guatemala.

Guatemalan women have an average of 4 to 6 children each, and the average Guatemalan woman has one more child than she would like. Only 1 in 3 uses any form of modern, reliable contraception, and 1 in 3 children born were unplanned pregnancies. Abortion in Guatemala is illegal except in very rare circumstances to save a mother's life (and even then, it is hard to find). Wealthier urban women tend to receive their abortions from legitimate doctors. Poorer and rural women induce their own abortions, have a friend or relative do it, or go to a witch doctor or pharmacist. Overall, between 40% and 75% of women who have a clandestine abortion in Guatemala are hospitalized for complications following the procedure. Even when an actual gynecologist performs the procedure, 17% of rural women are hospitalized following the procedure for a variety of reasons (including language barriers and poorer overall health and well-being). Even hospital care for post-abortion complications is poor, and approximately 17% of maternal deaths are due to abortion complications. The burden of these complications on the already-strained health care system is significant.

Why? There is a lack of education about birth control/family planning and lack of access to quality family planning services. Access is difficult for women who are too poor to travel across town or to another village for care/services.
Why? Overall, there is poverty and a lack of money to spend supplying birth control pills and condoms to the population, and there are cultural issues as well.
Why? There are two kinds of people in Guatemala. There are the indigenous peoples (like Native Americans) and people of Spanish descent. The indigenous peoples do not speak Spanish as most of the doctors do, they tend to be very poor, and there are cultural issues with women seeking care from male doctors and pharmacists. The Spanish portion of the population is overwhelmingly Catholic and so they do not actively seek birth control services. However, a poor woman with two or three children already who finds herself pregnant again must have some sort of emotional and religious crisis when she decides to seek a clandestine abortion.

Note: the advent of the RU-486 abortion pill has made abortion much safer in Guatemala as hemmorhage and infection rates are much lower with the use of the drug. This makes sense since two of the major complications of abortion in Guatemala are bleeding due to puncturing the uterus after introducing a foreign body to the uterus to cause the abortion and infection caused by unsterile conditions and the introduction of a foregin body to the uterus. The abortion pill (not to be confused with Plan B, the morning after pill, which does not cause abortion) basically interrupts all the hormonal signals sent by the embryo and then induces contractions to expel the embryo. No foreign bodies need to be introduced anywhere and no tools have to scrape anything. No tools = lower infection rates.

Why am I telling you this? Because I want you to know that I am glad I do not live in Guatemala. I am thinking about a possible, theoretical baby #2 someday. If I develop HELLP or pre-eclampsia and need to end a pregnancy, I can. If I discover that my fetus carries a fatal, painful genetic condition, I can end the pregnancy and prevent the futile pain my baby would suffer. I have access to high-quality birth control and can (to some degree, infetility notwithstanding) control how many children I have and when. I live in a country where men and women are mostly equal and no man can force me to have sex with him if I don't want it. He cannot refuse to use a condom and get me pregnant against my will.

I am not pro-abortion. I don't think anyone really is. I think we are all pro-life, and some of us are also pro-choice at the same time. I'm really pro-empowerment and pro-education. Having a baby, though, has taught me a lot of things, and since his birth, I have become a lot more pro-choice for the following reasons:
  • I loved and wanted him so much, I cannot imagine being pregnant and not feeling that or resenting my baby. It must be just horrible.
  • I loved and wanted him so much, if anything were wrong with him or if he was doomed to die at birth or suffer at all from some medical condition, I almost feel I would be obligated to prevent that pain.
  • I now know just how much work a healthy, full-term baby is under ideal circumstances.
  • I have learned a lot about HELLP and pre-eclampsia, prematurity, and other conditions that often necessitate that a pregnancy be ended (usually rather late) to save the life and health of the mother. Women who do this are often heart-broken as they were sick and their bodies made their babies sick and they wanted their babies, but if they did not end the pregnancy not only would the baby not live anyway, the mother would die too.
Even as a teenager, I had access to effective, high-quality birth control. Right now, I could get probably eleven kinds of birth control if I wantd them (let's count: birth control pills, IUD, diaphragm, cervical cap, sponge, condom, female condom, NuvaRing, Ortho Evra patch, Depo injections, NorPlant and that other new implant, foam, spermicidal gels/creams, tubal ligation, vasectomy, and natural family planning methods...that's 17). All this is to say, I am really glad I don't live in Guatemala.

What hath I wrought?

The Fisher Price Animal Choo Choo is in my house. It's really quite a charming toy. We picked it up at Target for $27.97 plus tax. Meijer was all out of them at $37.99. The Fisher Price Catalog lists them for $30. Amazon is showing a ridiculously high price of $56.99. It's not for Chuckles. It's for my nephew. Chuckles saw it and pushed the buttons, so I am off to exile it to a closet until Christmas. It seems to be a hot seller this year, so maybe I'll sell it at a mark up closer to the holidays.

Working on my thoughts

Let's say I am undecided on whether to have another baby. Let's now say that I somehow decide to do that and get pregnant and stay that way long enough to have a baby.

I had a cesarean the first time around (unplanned, emergency, slightly scary scenario). I never ever ever ever ever ever (did I mention never ever?) want to do that again. In the end, everyone was fine, but I really think I have a little post-traumatic stress from the whole thing. So, I either want a planned c-section with theoretical baby #2 or I want the labor and delivery I didn't get the first time. I want the "no pitocin, no interventions, push 3 times, no tearing, baby fine, please nurse right now" delivery I deserve, dammit. I'm torn because I really do think we do too many cesareans in the US. I think there are a lot of reasons we do too many. And in fact, I think I could have avoided the cesarean myself had a lot of things been different (things like the entire medical model of childbirth). When you try to deliver vaginally after a c-section, it is known as VBAC.

I'm sort of a crunchy granola person. Sort of natural about a lot of things. Childbirth and nursing are two of them. I just believe so much that the mother and baby are designed to work together for so much of childbirth and nursing. They are just such a perfect pair. Chuckles and I are like peas and carrots.

I have a lot of thoughts about this topic, but I can't make anything coherent about it right now because I don't even know what kind of health insurance I will have in a few months, I don't know the rules regarding VBACs of the hospital in our new town (some hospitals won't let you try VBAC), I just don't know. In fact, I don't even know when or if I will try to have another baby. Just sitting here thinking about it makes me start to tear up. I guess I'm still not completely over the trauma of Chuckles's birth (and like I said, everyone is fine, so I must be really messed up about this).

So, since I can't make coherent thoughts, I'm going to give some bullet points. Let's start with PROS of a Planned Repeat Cesarean:
  • I know what to expect
  • Date is scheduled months in advance, so I can get childcare for Chuckles lined up
  • I hear through the grapevine that a planned c-section is much less stressful for everyone than an urgent, unplanned one
  • 8 weeks short-term disability off of work (instead of standard 6 weeks)

CONS of a Planned Repeat Cesarean:

  • Major abdominal surgery
  • Women who have c-sections have poorer breastfeeding success (and breastfeeding is very important to me)
  • Not being able to laugh, cough, sneeze, or walk upright for at least 2 weeks
  • Risks of anesthesia
  • I am actually scared of surgery

PROS of VBAC

  • Nature's Way
  • Shorter recovery
  • Greater likelihood of breastfeeding success
  • Heal some of the psychological wounds of the first birth
  • prove to myself I can do it

CONS of VBAC

  • Uterine rupture
  • Possible need for a c-section anyway (the worst possible choice of all of this)
  • The possible need to fight with medical providers every step of the way over doing this...in fact, I won't have the mind about me to do this, and I am pretty sure my husband won't either, so I would need to bring someone with me to the labor (maybe a doula or a trusted, informed friend....not my mother....under no circumstances can it be my mother)

So, there are pros and cons to each side, and some hospitals don't even let you try to VBAC, so I could possibly end up needing to hospital shop or look around for a specific new OB (I'll need to find a specific OB no matter what, because I want someone who is familiar with treating PCOS anyway, so I need a good PCOS treater who loves VBAC and breastfeeding and is a little humorous to boot).

All this to say we have no idea if we want another baby, no idea if I can even get pregnant (what with no periods since July 2004 here), no idea if I can stay pregnant (as I have a pretty significant progesterone shortage here and bled like a stuck pig while pregnant with Chuckles), and no idea what to do if I do get and stay pregnant. So, huh.

A big post about nothing.

Yay to Freedom for Women

Silicone breast implants have been re-approved by the FDA for cosmetic purposes. The science won out.
Women are now free to make their own informed choices about whether to get breast implants and if so, what kinds. I think this is great. We women are smart enough to read up about our choices, the risks of each, and make a decision. Personally, I opt for natural breasts (for myriad reasons like I don't like surgery, I like mine just the way they are, I am proud of what they did nursing my son, my husband thinks they are just fine - great even, engineers don't wear pasties to work, etc). Should I be stricken with cancer and need them removed, I will make informed decisions about whether to reconstruct them and if so, how.


In the interest of full-disclosure, it must be noted that one time a million years ago, I worked as an intern for Dow Corning, but I have no ongoing relationship with them.

Have I mentioned that 2006 is the Year of Hating Everyone and Everything?

I named it that while still at my old job. There are shiny, happy people in this world. There are also cynical, jaded people. I vacillate between the two.

Things that make me shiny, happy are few, but they are good.

Things that remind me why I call myself SarcastiCarrie are numerous and frequent, and are like a pebble in the bottom of my shoe.

Lots to Say for a Sunday (now with bullet points)


My husband is working this weekend, so Sunday might as well be Wednesday but with no The Price is Right.
  • By the way, did you all hear Bob Barker is retiring?
  • Why did Brooke Shields go to TomKat's wedding? I thought Tom and Brooke were feuding over the chemical origins of Post-Partum Depression. Actually, if you click the link, it says Tom and Brooke have mended fences. I sure hope she got them more than a toaster for their wedding. Nicole Kidman got the couple a lovely crystal vase.
  • When you are rather religious (scientology) and you clearly already have a child together, a cream-colored Armani dress does seem to be the right choice. I'm not a fan of the color white anyway. In fact, most of my favorite people have had ecru, ivory, shimmery silver, grey, etc dresses for their weddings.
  • Some people say that the Nestle Tollhouse cookie recipe is the perfect chocolate chip cookie and you should not mess with it. I say, "hey, I'm the one making cookies here. If you don't like my cookies, make your own." All that is to say that I made chocolate chip cookies this morning (made dough yesterday, baked cookies today). The recipe calls for 2-1/4 cups of flour. I used 1-1/4 cups of flour plus one cup of oat flour. I took 1-1/4 cups of Quaker Oats and put them in the food processor for one minute. That made one cup of flour. I used the oat flour in the cookies. Added fiber and nutrition and there is not much of a taste difference at all. In fact, I prefer it because the cookies are both chewier and crispier. I think everyone can agree that's a good change. And if not, make your own dang cookies.

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Prematurity Awareness Month

November is Prematurity Awareness Month. The March of Dimes who once stamped out Polio is now trying to stamp out Prematurity.
Prematurity currently affects 1 in 8 babies born. We all know someone who had a baby prematurely or who was born prematurely. Many of us also know someone who lost a baby born too soon. It's terrible. It's just such a hard situation to be in. I cannot even imagine and am very glad and thankful every day that I did not have to go through that and that I have never watched Chuckles seriously struggle with anything. I am so so so thankful for him. Even when he doesn't sleep through the night, I still know how lucky I am. I often hold him, sniffing the top of his baby head, by the light of the nightlight, in the middle of the night, breathing deeply so he'll relax and go back to sleep. I know how lucky I am.

There are a lot of reasons prematurity is not dropping despite our advanced medical care and pre-natal care. One of the big reasons is the increase in multiple births. Multiples are on the rise for three reasons (that I can think of off of the top of my head):
1. Increased use of fertility treatments. There are lots of ways with fertility treatments to keep multiple births down (and I am not even talking about reduction (aka aborting some in a multiple pregnancy scenario)), but as long as couples are paying tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket for the procedures, they might actaully want twins thinking they will hit the "lottery" then. So, one big way to reduce people's actual desires for multiples would be to remove the financial penalties and have insurance cover some level of fertility treatment (like they do in NY, NJ, MA, IL, and CA).
2. The older mother. Older women, who are closer to menopause, often spontaneously release multiple eggs in a single month. When you get closer to menopause, it's almost like your body is saying, this is my last chance, so let's throw the whole dozen at it and see what sticks. Older women (even without fertility treatments) spontaneously have more twins. I can't even think of a good way to decrease this. I suppose we could urge women not to delay childbearing (if they are already in a committed releationship and ready), but it seems a little touchy.
3. The rise in obesity and our un-natural diets. Obese women tend to have more twins due to fat cells releasing estrogen-like compounds. Several foods (like milk) have recently been implicated in helping cause twinning. Crazy, I know.
So, if we can reduce the incidence of multiple births, we can probably reduce the incidence of prematurity. Once that's done, we can look at all the other causes of prematurity and fix those, but let's start with the low-hanging fruit first.

And, if you know someone who had a premature baby, tell them something really nice about how they are strong and their child is lucky to have such great parents supporting him/her. One other thing that I didn't always know...people whose babies were born prematurely are every bit as proud of their new baby pictures as everyone else. Their reality is just different. All those wires and tubes and monitors keep their babies safe and alive. So, when they show you the picture, smile, look passed the wires, and tell them they have a beautiful baby just like you would for everyone else.

Friday, November 17, 2006

I need a drink

It's 5 o'clock somewhere, right?

Dang You Target, to heck

I was toy shopping at target.com, and I was shopping by age for push-pull toys. So, I clicked on the picture for that category and the picture happened to be what I wanted since I had seen it in the store. however, the pictured item is not on their website. Why would you do tha tto me Target? Why? I am loyal to you. Now, I have to go to your store and get it, but I could have bought it right here from my rec room.
I hear Chuckles moving the furniture upstairs. His nap must be over (he was sleeping in his shoes, hat and coat because he fell asleep coming home from the credit union - too cute).

I LOVE internet shopping

but it doesn't love me. I just spent $40 in 4 minutes. In my defense, I used coupon codes, got free shipping, used my discover card rewards to make my money go farther, and comparison shopped from amazon, borders, and barnes and noble (every year B&N wins, even though they charge tax because they have real stores, but for gift calendars, B&N is the absolute best with ease of search and lots of calendars).

I does not equal perfect

With all the commotion going around Casa Sarcastic, I got a little behind on balancing my check book. 2 months (plus November) to be exact. Well, let's just say the ledger and the computer do not match. I apparently forgot to write in 3 months of water bills and I neglected to record my October contribution to the joint checking account. Let's just say that three negatives and one positive leave the ledger a little messed up. I pride myself on my exacting recordkeeping. I guess I need to start priding myself on something else...let's see, cooking - nope, cleaning - nope, auto maintenance - nope, returning library books on time - nope, brushing my hair every day without fail - nope, laundry - perhaps, or my uncanny ability to post about boring topics.

Like Father, Like Son


The other day before our open house Mr. Long-Suffering was vaccuuming the family room. Chuckles saw it and had to run his corn popper all over the room too. To be like Dad.

Speaking of my mother

She's coming over to visit with Chuckles this afternoon, but first she wanted to make sure he didn't have the snifffles or anything because she doesn't want to catch anything right before the holidays.
OK, he's a toddler, it's November, and he goes to day care. He always has the sniffles. I don't actually think he is sick or anything, so I told her to go ahead and come over.

How Great is Chuckles?

His new thing is "buh bye to ____".

Buh Bye to Dada.
Buh Bye to milk.
Buh Bye to poo pee (when I throw the diaper out).
Buh Bye to shoe (when we take them off)
and so on. Too cute. It is actually so cute my eyes are melting into little pools of marshmallow fluff.

Dinner Tonight?

I am so uninspired. Take out? Cook, go out? Heat something frozen? What to do, what to do? Suggestions?

Steven L Fiedler where are you?

So, let's all put our best stalker, errr, uhm detective skills, into finding Mr. Steven L. Fiedler. Go now, do. Post in the comments what you find about him.

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Funny Story about my Mother

She's a hypochondriac. She always has some sort of virus or something coming on or is getting over something or needs physical therapy for something.

Anyway, one day she had a fever. She couldn't come visit because she didn't want to get the baby sick. I asked her how high it was. She said she didn't have it right now "it comes and goes". So, this went on for a couple of days. Finally, I said, "Mom, you're not sick; you're having hot flashes." Thank the pharmaceutical giants and Italian nuns for Premarin because my mom needs hormone replacement therpay.

Google is the Devil

I am a neurotic person. I'm not a hypochondriac (I swear my mother is...if you described prostate symptoms to my mother without saying what you were talking about she would have it).
So, I'm not a hypochondriac, but I have an uncanny ability to read everything about anything and then incorporate that info into my psyche. It's unnerving to say the least. Now, that I am a parent, every well-constructed research study on the effects of day care on children haunts me. Every study on maternal apple consumption relating to autism gives me pause. So, let's all rejoice that I did not go into any sort of depth about endocrine disruptors, rBGH and fertility, and phytoestrogens on that last post, ok?

Recipe - Meat Loaf

Meatloaf freezes well. It's a great thing to bring to a new mom or someone who is sick.
Cut the loaf into single-serving slices, wrap in wax paper, then put all the little pieces into a gallon size freezer bag.

Here's my meat-fu (copyright my husband) recipe that I use all the time.
1-lb super ultra lean ground beef (97% lean)
1-lb extra firm tofu, drained & cubed for easier mashing
chopped onions (omit for nursing mothers, if needed)
Chopped garlic (ditto)
Chopped bell peppers (ditto)
1 cup shredded or cubed cheese (any kind works)
1 cup italian seasoned bread crumbs
3/4 cup fat free milk
some chopped tomatoes or grated carrots (very exact quantities)
Some ketchup or BBQ sauce
Some liquid smoke
Some worchestershire sauce
2 eggs
Any other seasonings you like (celery salt, paprika, fresh ground pepper)
(some like to bake it with bacon or catsup on top)
Mash it all up, place into loaf pan(s), and cook in a preheated 350-375F oven for 45 minutes to one hour, 160F on a meat thermometer.

As Chuckles is allergic to milk, I am trying to cut down on his soy consumption (with 1 quart of soy milk per day, I decided to cut back all other soy in his diet because of the possibiliy of phytoestrogens stunting his manly development). So, the last time I made this, I left out the tofu, left out the milk and cheese, and used almost 2 lbs of beef and one cup of V-8 for the moisture. I also thought about throwing in a jar or two of pureed baby food vegetables, but I didn't as I did not happen to have peas, green beans, or carrots in the house. Oh well.

Meet the Cast - Carly & random thoughts after that

Carly and I used to work together (about 400 miles and two jobs ago). She was my maid of honor when I married Mr. Long-Suffering. She is the friend who keeps me honest and grounded. She is also not afraid of hurting my feelings, so I do get some brutally honest commentary from her from time to time (go ahead and comment on this post Carly and tell me how my blogging is going...I can take the criticism).
Carly detests my penchant for sweater sets (which are really quite practical as the over sweater can hide a stain on the undersweater and the over sweater can be used to hide nipples if the office is cold). Carly also thinks I have no sense of humor. At all. In fact, she will tell you that she took me to a comedy club once, and it was painful for her. I swear on a stack of bible-equivalents for secular humanists that I have a sense of humor, albeit a dry one. Very dry. Almost as dry as the nether regions of a nursing mother.
So, that's Carly. Oh, and she's trying to look up an old boyfriend, so if you have any tips on how to find him, please leave them in the comments for her.
Here's the link for Lexus Nexis if you think he has published anything. You might need to get someone in Academia to search it for you (or you might need to go to the library) as I think it is subscription only. Oh, or if anyone works at a law firm, I think you have access to it as well. If I knew the fellow's name we were trying to find, I'd put it right here MR. XXXXXX so that we could all use our best sleuthy tools to find him. All I know is that he has the same first name as some guy who was stoned to death in the bible.

Oh, and you could try doing a zabasearch on him too. Let's all look up old boyfriends on zaba right now...

And, let's not forget to use any alumni connections we might have. Personally, I have looked up old boyfriends on the alumni directory, but the entries do not give the level of detail I want. For example, here is what it says:
Joe Q. Public works for ABC Corp and lives at 1313 Mockingbird Lane. He is an alumni donor.

Here is what I want it to say:
Joe Q. Public works for ABC Corp as a mid-level functionary. He watches "Office Space" frequently as his job is life-draining. Joe lives at 1313 Mockingbird lane with his wife Melinda, whom he got pregnant on their fifth date and their 5-year old daughter Caitlyn. Melinda is having an affair with her hair dresser's brother and we aren't entirely sure Caitlyn is really Joe's daughter. Joe is sorry he ever left you but he hasn't grown up at all and wouldn't treat you any better today than he did when you were 20. Joe is an alumni donor, but you give more Ms. Sarcastic because your job is better and you are smarter and better off without him.

Television

Have I mentioned that we don't have cable TV at my house? My theory is I don't need to watch that much TV. I am staying with my SIL and her husband right now (as it's middle of the work week for me). They have eleventy billion TV channels beamed to their living room via outer space satellite. I'm unimpressed. Honest to gosh, there is nothing worth watching on TV and their remote is enough to drive me completely fricking crazy. You push the button and it takes an entire second for it to respond. I'm four channels ahead by then. Oh, and I don't know how to turn their TV off, so I just turn the volume down and hope for the best when I push POWER and hold it until some things switch off (they have satellite, TV, receiver, speakers, etc...lots of stuff).

Also, between Mr. Long-Suffering and my BIL, a multimeter is used almost daily in a quest to repair or trouble shoot something mechanical or electrical. Mr. Long-Suffering did fix the Elmo doll the other day. Not only was the battery dead but the little spring where the battery attaches was shorted to something, so Mr. L-S had things to fix. He was in heaven.

Isn't that fun?

Blogger went down last night and now that it's up, all seventy billion tries I made at posting about Joey Lawrence's bald head are up too. cool.
Didn't he have a little brother Matthew Lawrence or something? I should go imdb him. OK, yes, Matthew is the younger brother of Joseph Lawrence, but Lawrence isn't their REAL last name. Joseph Lawrence Mignogna Jr. is Joey's real name, but the family changed their last name to Lawrence before Matthew was born. Joey was born in 1976 (a good year to be born, for sure) and Matthew in 1980.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

My Day at Work

I operated a 100,000-pound magnet crane to unload a rail car of steel. I'm still in training and learning a lot of things and trying out everyone's jobs. Everyone has been wonderful about showing me what they do and how they do it. I unloaded a freaking rail load of steel with an overhead magnet crane and I did not even get the load swinging. My teacher (a guy affectionately known as "Grizzly"...even his shirt pocket says Griz) was very patient and informative.
I love this!

Gimme a Break

The slightly slutty oldest daughter's name was Katie. Thanks to alert reader A for the answer to that vexing question.

Also, Joey Lawrence wound up on Gimme A Break at the very end of its run as Nell's adopted/foster son. There are so many things terribly improbable about that, but we'll put that aside to ask if anyone saw him on Dancing with the (B-list) Stars last week when he got voted off of the show? What is up with him shaving his head? Do you think he's going bald? He always used to have nice, full, wavy hair when he was on Blossom.

Gimme A

Gimme a Break

The slightly slutty oldest daughter's name was Katie. Thanks to alert reader A for the answer to that vexing question.

Also, Joey Lawrence wound up on Gimme A Break at the very end of its run as Nell's adopted/foster son. There are so many things terribly improbable about that, but we'll put that aside to ask if anyone saw him on Dancing with the (B-list) Stars last week when he got voted off of the show? What is up with him shaving his head? Do you think he's going bald? He always used to have nice, full, wavy hair when he was on Blossom.

Gimme a Break

The slightly slutty oldest daughter's name was Katie. Thanks to alert reader A for the answer to that vexing question.

Also, Joey Lawrence wound up on Gimme A Break at the very end of its run as Nell's adopted/foster son. There are so many things terribly improbable about that, but we'll put that aside to ask if anyone saw him on Dancing with the (B-list) Stars last week when he got voted off of the show? What is up with him shaving his head? Do you think he's going bald? He always used to have nice, full, wavy hair when he was on Blossom.

Monday, November 13, 2006

Welcome Freshman

The newly elected congresspeople are gathering in Washington next week to learn about legislating. They are having meet and greets (aka Mixers) to get to know eachother. I assume all the best lobbyists will get their early to introduce themselves and hand out their pens and sticky notes and take everyone to dinner.

How I Know without a doubt that I am a MOM

I used to catch myself humming commercials jingles (Buy Mennon, or that Dr. Pepper commercial that went Doo Doo Du Doo-Du, Doo Doo du-Do, menominmon, and so on). Now, I find myself in my own private Fisher Price-inducaed hell humming "Hop on Board/The Animal Train/People Everywhere...colors, sizes, what they eat..." And so on. This is the Fisher Price Animal Choo Choo and I have decided that it is the worst toy in the whole world. Chuckles loves it. I have convinced him that it lives at Target and we can visit it, but it lives there and can't come home with us because its mommy would be sad if it left.
It's actually quite a charming toy, but Chuckles knows how to turn it on and make it play music. Two things I just cannot stand. It does apparently have a volume selector though, which I LOVE. I think I will buy this toy for my nephew; he can drive his parents nuts and Chuckles can visit the toy there.
If you'd like to buy this for your own niece or nephew, here is the amazon link....
http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-Amazing-Animals-Choo-Choo/dp/B000EULXA2/sr=1-6/qid=1163445052/ref=sr_1_6/102-1830388-4836142?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games
It got 5 stars at amazon and is back ordered, so it must be good. And Chuckles loves it.

New Feature - Blog Admin

I just added little envelope things to each post, so if you see something you happen to like and want to email the post to someone, well voila.

You can also click on the TIME assoicated with any post to get a perma-link (permanent link to that specific post) in case it's no longer on the front page of the blog.

Quick everyone, jump under a table or your desk

Mr. Long-Suffering is absolutely positive I am blogging about him and his private stuff and has vowed to read the blog. So, hide. Nothing's going on here.

Correction on the IUD post & more birth control blogging

I wrote that most women of childbearing age are too young to remember the Dalkon Shield IUD and the surrounding controversy. I take it back. I'm sure we all remember the "very special episode" of "Gimme A Break" where the oldest daughter (the slightly slutty one....oldest one was a little trashy, middle one was smart...Julie I think she was, and the youngest one Sam was the tomboy) wound up in the hospital with IUD troubles. Apparently her mom knew she was dying and wanted to set her daughter up with long-term birth control....remember this is pre-AIDS era. So, we might remember that.

Anyway, I like the IUD. In fact, when I first went on the pill a million years ago, I wanted an IUD, but I was not a good candidate. They prefer to give it to women who have had a child. Our uteruses don't seem to mind having a foreign object in them and our cervixes have dilated before so they are easier to insert. Today's IUDs are smaller than yesteryears' IUDs. They are drug covered with a sythetic progesterone compound. That progesterone lightens period bleeding in almost all women and completely stops menses in many more. That for me would be great. I would love no periods.
(sidebar: if having no period freaks you out because you are worried you would accidentally get pregnant and never know...you could take a pregnancy test every 6 weeks or so....now you're saying that $15 added to the cost, blah blah blah. Anyway, both Dollar General and Family Dollar offer pregnancy tests for one buck. A single dollar. They aren't the pee on a stick type. They are the pee in a cup type and use a dropper to put the pee in the well on the top of the test type...far superior if you like science, anyway. So, every six weeks, drop a Washington on a pg test from the dollar store.)
The progesterone coated IUD lasts about 5 years. The uncoated kind lasts up to 10 years. You can, of course, have either removed at any time if you want to get pregnant. Economically speaking, the cost of the IUD plus insertion in the doctor's office only makes sense if you want to wait at least 2.5 years before you have another baby. But, if you have insurance that covers it, it doesn't matter. If you aren't sure you ever want another baby, it's pretty good while you decide. If you are trying to talk your husband into a vasectomy, you could use it while you work on that.
I love the idea of an IUD, but like I said, I am not a good candidate, so I will continue to take my birth control pills.

Speaking of my birth control pills. I am on Seasonale (4 periods/year). I am about half-way through the 4th week (the week you would normally have a period), so this is great. I'm still looking toward January for my first period since July 2004 (pre-baby). Woo Hoo. No period! Yay.

By the way, I think I mentioned I was on a special low-dose progesterone only pill while nursing. If you are nursing and need non-condom birth control, try one of these "mini-pills". They're good. I am sure there is someone out there wondering why you would need a non-condom birth control method...well, if you have never had a baby and never nursed, I am going to clue you in. Ready? After you have a baby and you are nursing, things get a little, uhm, dry in the nether regions. Nursing shuts off your estrogen production and estrogen makes things wet. So no estrogen = sahara desert down below. I highly recommend the liquid K-Y (not the gel) if you need some help in that area. Anyway, condoms make the whole no lube situation way worse, in my opinion. So, using birth control that does not require a condom works much better for me. Oh, and nursing does offer a fair amount of pregnancy protection anyway. The body is sort of designed not to get pregnant again until the first kid is weaned, but it's not 100% and if you don't want a set of Irish twins, you might want to use something just in case. So how is that for Too Much Information?

Open House

Our realtor could not make the open house yesterday, so some other guy pitch hit on it. They had a turkey raffle, so if you came to the house, you filled out a slip of paper to win a free turkey. Woo Woo.
I'm just not pleased with the realty situation. The sign in our yard for the open house went up Sunday at 12:55 (for a 1-3 open house). Shouldn't that sign have gone up on Wednesday or something?

Monday Dinner

Meatloaf or the cream of mushroom ground beef thing? Decisions, decisions.

For lunch, I had garlic shrimp and Chuckles had fish sticks. Mmmmmm. That's some good eating.

Mr. Long-Suffering, my husband, is home from work today on a vacation day. He discovered the blog but promised never ever to read it. I told him all his birthday and Christmas presents are listed on here, so it would ruin his life if he read it. Do you think that will work? He is capable of not wanting to know about presents (as we were the people with 5 ultrasounds who never found out whether we were having a boy or a girl).

Reading Children's Books Entirely too Closely

Note: In If You Give a Pig a Pancake... on the page where the words are something about looking for your rubber duck, on the dresser in the illustration, is a Snoopy, Winne Pooh, and Eeyore dolls. Does this break some sort of trademark?

Saturday, November 11, 2006

We went for Mexican

and the place was packed during a driving rainstorm (with thunder and lightning). Chuckles was charming and smiled at all the other diners. He waved as they came in to sit down and said Buh Bye whenever anyone left (after they were out of earshot, of course). He had rice, beans, guacamole, meat, chips, one million saltines, and a bowl of salsa for dinner (eaten with a spoon). All in all, not too shabby.

Friday, November 10, 2006

Bad Mom

Chuckles needed a drink at 3am (did I mention he only sleeps through the night occasionally, and most nights does not sleep all the way through until morning?), so I dutifully got his cup, gathered him up and sat in teh chair with him while he drank it. I placed him back in his crib and covered him up. When I went in to get him this morning (after letting him talk to himself for almost an hour!!!!), the crib side was down. In my sleepiness, I left the side down on the crib. I am super-glad he did not want to make a break for it...you know because he could have fallen and also because he learned how to do doorknobs today and would have come in to wake me up.

Tonight's Dinner

Leftovers (the chicken from last Friday and the pot roast from Monday) or go to a restaurant for Mexican? I suppose it will depend on Chuckles's mood come 5.

The fine

I paid 30 cents for my Freakonomics late fee.

Thanksgiving blogging

Traditionally, I host Thanksgiving at my house. I love to cook. I roast a mean turkey (with garlic). I have dining room furniture and china and wine and a big kitchen (although it does not have granite countertops). I serve beaujolais with dinner. I make pies and tarts and cranberries and desserts of all stripes. I fix vegetable casseroles and I make gravy from pan drippings. Oh, and I have a tablecloth and cloth napkins.

But, I no longer live in my house full time and the house is for sale and when my family started making plans for the holiday in August, I was sure I would be in my new house far away by then, so I don't think I am hosting the holiday (although that's not final yet). Anyway, I don't have a lot to say. Last year I had recipes and ideas. This year, I'm tapped. Fried. Ohhh, maybe try frying the turkey? Or order one of those fancy Tur-duck-ens? I saw at the supermarket, they now make a turkey in a bag where you put the whole thing in the oven for 3 hours and out comes a roasted bird.

Here is what I think dinner should look like:
Appetizers first:
Spinach dip with Hawaiian bread or rye bread
some kind of savory meats/cheeses
veggie tray/crudites
Main Dinner:
Turkey
Stuffing (but not actually stuffed in the bird)
Gravy
Mashed Potatoes
A green vegetable or a a green vegetable casserole (maybe 2 depending on # of guests)
Sweet Potatoes (not candied)
Cranberry relish from scratch
A can of jellied cranberries served still in the shape of the can in a nice dish
Rolls & butter ( I could do without but others assure me this is required)
Salad (with toasted pecans and dried cranberries with a balsamic vinaigrette)
wine
For dessert:
A pumpkin pie
Something with apples or pears (apple slices, pear gingerbread, apple pie)
One other dessert...something chocolate if you hate your family and just want them to fall asleep or a pumpkin crunch or a praline
Whipped cream
Coffee

Birthday Present Arrived

The factory-reconditioned Skil drill arrived from Amazon yesterday. I let my husband open it to see what he thought about "used" tools. He's thrilled, so I think a factory reconditioned 19 Volt circular saw set might be coming his way for Christmas.

Home Again

I made it back from another week of work. I was reuinted with my Chuckles, who is a genius, I swear. Today, for example, he took a box from Starbucks and was riding it around the family room like a pony. He also now knows how to lather up his hands in the bath and wash his belly (and comb his hair).

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Freakonomics: A Rouge Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

By Steven Levitt (economist) & Stephen Dubner (writer)

What is this book all about? It's just an economist looking at how some incentives make people do certain (unintended) things.

The Chapters in the book are:
1. What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common? The answer is cheating...high stakes tests make teachers cheat, and sumo wrestlers fix certain matches that don't matter.

2. How is the Ku Klux Klan like a group of real-estate agents? The answer is the information they have and how they use it to their advantage. Apparently, Real-Estate agents sell their own homes for more than they sell their clients homes. As my home is currently for sale, I'd like to elaborate on this. Apparently, the words they use when writing the ads for their own homes and different than the ads they write when they are selling my home. Here are 5 terms that correlate with higher sales price (none of which were used in the ad for my house):
Granite
State-of-the-Art
Corian
Maple
Gourmet
Here are 5 terms that correlate with a lower sales price:
Fantastic
Spacious (this is in the ad for my house, it's true, but that doesn't mean anything)
! (there is an exclamation point in my ad)
Charming
Great Neighborhood (and yes, I do live in a great neighborhood, but I guess you only advertise that fact when you have nothing good to say about the house)
So, I enjoyed this a lot and I think I am going to rewrite the ad on my house to be more specific (all the good terms are very specific). Here's my proposed ad:
Great Quad with Maple trees (I think the mention of maple=good had more to do with cabintery but my cabinets are oak so we'll use Maple elsewhere) out front on tree-lined street. Kitchen would look great with Corian counters or granite, but we have laminate in a state-of-the art custom kitchen (circa 1970). A real gourmet could serve dinner in the cavernous dining room. Polo ponies could romp in the oversized family room. School system is top-notch, so bring your brood to this uncommonly good house.
What do you think?

3. Why do drug dealers still live with their moms? The answer most of them make about minimum wage selling drugs. Only the highest-ranking gang members are getting rich. It looks the same as your typical corporation with your officers raking in the bucks and your lowly grunts making a few bucks an hour.

4. Where have all the criminals gone? The authors posit that those children of the last generation most likely to commit crimes (i.e. those of teenage mothers with no education, little money, unstable living arrangements, who don't want this kid anyway) were aborted, so those most likely to be criminals were not born, hence a reduction in crime. It's a provacative theory to be sure, but it seems at least partially plausible (which makes you wonder what will happen in a country like Guatemala where all abortion...including to save the mother's life has been outlawed).

5. What makes a perfect parent? The authors say it is who you are not what you do. On some levels this makes me feel better. For example, if Chuckles eats the french fry, he is not doomed to a life of making the fries, but at the same time, it makes you feel a little helpless since most of what you do really doesn't matter. Some of the things most strongly correlated with higher test scores later on are:
Having highly educated parents (a checkmark for Chuckles)
Having high socioeconomic status (check)
Being born to a mother who was at least thirty (nope, but one of the strong things about this was being settled and wanting the baby, so maybe half a checkmark there)
Being of appropriate birth weight (not low birthweight/premature) (Check at 8 lbs 3 oz)
Having parents who speak English at home (check)
Not being adopted (apparently, the effects of the biological mother are strong and in broad terms a woman who is unable to care for a baby often has fewer resources for prenatal care, etc...certainly not always true but over large numbers of women and babies, being adopted has been shown to correlate negatively with test scores later...good news is adopted children catch up by the time they leave college) (check to Chuckles)
Having parents involved in the PTA (this is TBA)
Having many books in the home (ohhh, yes, Clifford, I am looking right at your Pumpkin Patch Puppy) (check)
So, Chuckles is probably in pretty good standing without me even lifting a finger. That's good. But, what about my breastfeeding and reading Goodnight Moon and keeping him away from TV (all of which were found to have no correlation to 4th grade test scores)?

6. Perfect Parenting, Part II; or: Would a Roshanda by any other name smell as sweet?
This chapter was about socioeconomic status, race, and education levels of the parents and what they name their kids. It was telling. They looked at birth certificate data from California and compared names. So here are some examples. "Whitest" means it was a name picked by many white people and virtually no black people and so on...
"Whitest" girl names: Molly, Claire, Emily, Madeline, Emma, Abigail, Jenna, Heather, Carly
"Blackest" girl names: Imani, Ebony, Shanice, Aaliyah, Nia, Precious, Jada, Tierra, Jazmine, Raven
"Whitest" Boy names: Jake, Cody, Luke, Jack, Scott, Logan, Cole, Garrett, Dylan, Hunter
"Blackest" Boy names: DeShawn, DeAndre, Marquis, Darnell, Terrell, Trevon, Dominique

Common Names for Poor White People: Ashley, Brittany, Amber, Megan, Taylor, Sarah, Emily, Heather, Elizabeth, Hannah
Common Names for Rich White People: Katherine, Madison, Lauren

I found this fascinating. We all agonize a little over what to name our child and apparently, we go in trends. The names that are popular among the rich today are the names that will be popular among the poor in 5 years or so. It all runs in cycles.
Oh, and Angel is the most common name given to a baby girl born to a mother who has not finished high school. Followed by Heaven and Misty and Destiny (and Destinee).
The 13th most common boys' name for a boy born to a mother who has not finished high school is Micheal. That's right. It's Michael, but spelled wrong. Also common to moms who have not finished high school is naming their boys nicknames like Bobby, JOey, Ricky, Steve, and Tony instead of Robert, Joseph, Richard, Steven, and Anothony.

I don't think the name you give your child reflects his or her ultimate destiny (or destinee as they say now), but it is indicative of who you are, and as the last chapter shows, who you are (not what you do) helps shape your child's future. Fascinating, really. Useful, not so much.

So, the book...very easy to read, fascniating, not for the faint of heart though. The ideas are provacative and some people will be offended, truly. So, check the book out of the library and give it a read. It was very interesting and it will make me look for the hidden motives of people and how the incentives we set up make people act in certain ways, but I'm not the easily offended type (at all), so abortion=crime prevention does not upset me. Also, the fact that my real estate agent and I are not exactly on the same team is good info to have.

By Reader Request - More info on YAZ

One of my alert readers (one of the five of you) has requested additional information about the birth control pill called Yaz that I mentioned ealier. Legal Disclaimer: I am not a doctor or pharmacist but I can use google and have a good feel for statistics.
Apparently Self magazine had an article on Yaz this month (link not available because Self's Conde Nast website does not rock the house...in fact it sucks).

Drugs.com has this to say about the progesterone used in Yaz:

Drospirenone may raise potassium levels in your blood. Other medical
conditions can also affect potassium levels, including liver disease, kidney
disease, and adrenal gland disorders. Before using Yaz, tell your doctor if you
have any of these conditions.

Certain medicines can also affect
potassium levels. Tell your doctor if you use any of the following
drugs:
·
heparin;
·
aspirin or other NSAIDs (non-steroidal
anti-inflammatory drugs) such as celecoxib (Celebrex), diclofenac (Voltaren),
ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil), indomethacin, naproxen (Aleve, Naprosyn), piroxicam
(Feldene);
·
a diuretic ("water pill") such as spironolactone (Aldactone),
triamterene (Dyrenium, Dyazide, Maxzide), amiloride (Midamor), or eplerenone
(Inspra);
·
a potassium supplement such as Klor-Con, K-Dur,
K-Tab;
·
an ACE inhibitor such as benazepril (Lotensin), lisinopril
(Prinivil, Zestril), enalapril (Vasotec); or
·
blood pressure medicine
such as candesartan (Atacand), losartan (Cozaar), telmisartan (Micardis

So, what I think this means is if you have arthritis and are on long-term durg therapy, don't use Yaz. Also, if you have serious diseases of the kidneys or liver, don't use Yaz. If you are going to be taking a lot of painkillers, you might want to take Tylenol (acetominophen) instead of ibuprofen. IF you get sick and need a prescription for antibiotics, make sure to tell the prescribing physician because there are a lot of interactions with this drug (but honestly, if you have ever read the drug warnings on any drug, it's pretty standard). Just to make sure I'm not under-reacting, I looked up the interactions on a few other drugs I have taken.

My Seasonale birth control pills have interactions with Vitamin C, antibiotics, and tylenol. Huh. Who knew? I often down my tylenol with a glass of orange juice, so there's that. The biggest risks with Seasonale are blood clots and strokes (which is a possible, rare, serious side effect with all hormonal contraceptives).

Albuterol which I have given to Chuckles and is often given to children with asthma can alter blood sugar (causing dangerous conditions for some), can increase heartrate, can give you trouble urinating, mental problems, weakness, etc. Overall, this drug has been used a lot but needs to be used cautiously (especially in pregnant and nursing women...like all drugs)>

So, bottom line, if you are healthy, Yaz is probably fine. Just don't take it with St. John's Wort.

Monday, November 06, 2006

Book Review: Pumpkin Patch Puppy

Freakonomics will be reviewed at a later date. I'm only 3/4 through with it, so I need to renew it at the library.

In the meantime, I will review Pumpkin Patch Puppy , a Clifford the Big Red Dog puppy days book. First, I will summarize the plot, then I will review the book.

Plot: We're going to go to the pumpkin patch and we do.

Review: This is one of the most painful and boring books to read to a child, and the way the author writes dialogue is enough for me to want to gouge my eyes out with a rubber-tipped baby spoon. Emily Elizabeth said dreamily.... And the pictures are not exactly cute with interesting background for you to find funny things. Example:
Some of the pumpkins even had funny faces carved into them. Clifford found
one that looked like a dog.

The picture does not match this sentence, at all. Sure there are jack-o-lanterns in the picture, but none of the faces are funny and none of them are dogs (not even cats, for Pete's sake). I supopse that's a problem with the illustrator and not the author. My apologies to her.

This book was a gift from Banjo, so I am not out any money and it's a good thing too.

On my highly scientific scale, where Goodnight Moon and Giggle, Giggle, Quack get ten stars and Baby's first boring book gets zero stars, I give Pumpkin Patch Puppy 2 stars.

I jinxed myself

45 minutes into the nap, just as I was rinsing the Tilex from the shower, he woke up screaming and proceeded to cry and whine and need to be held for an hour (that's 60 whole minutes). He chewed his hands, so teething or sinus infection. Whatever. Either way, he'll need a second nap today.

Monday's dinner

is in the slow cooker. We're having braised beef with lentils. I'm using a boneless 7-bone roast (no idea how that happens with no bones but it being a 7 bone roast). I put in 2 heads (approx 40 cloves) of garlic. Do you know how long it takes to peel that much garlic? About 15 solid minutes of me watching Chuckles pull potato mashers and wire wisks out of the drawer.

Speaking of reaching the drawers, just yesterday, Chuckles toddled out into the living room to hand my husband a knife - point first - that he had just liberated from the kitchen drawers. Oh yes, picture it...an 18-month old is walking toward you...pointing a knife in your general direction.
So, now I have two options: keep a closer eye on him or get drawer locks.

My Favorite Things

In honor of my new, part-time housewife status, I am channeling my inner-Oprah and will now list My Favorite Things (these are things - not people, feelings or relationships....this is stuff you can buy with cold, hard cash). Now, in no particular order:

* Max Factor Lipfinity lip color. It lasts 24 hours. It rocks the house. You have to remove it with make up remover, but no need to reapply at all. So, if you're out on the town and only want to bring a small clutch, you can leave your lipstick at home to make more room for your transit card and house keys. Also, if you don't like the colors available, pick something neutral and smear it over your regular lipstick. It will lock your regular lipstick into place all day. Some people don't like it because it's not creamy (maybe even a little dry feeling). It comes with a glosser you can put over the top, but I use it without.

* L'oreal Color Stay Nail color. It lasts 3 weeks unless you are like me and pick and peel at it. On toe nails, it will last until your nails grow out. It is difficult to remove with polish remover, but so worth it if you can go one whole week without the need to repolish.

* Huggies Overnites - uhm, for overnight wetness protection - for the boy, not me.

* Baby Basics diapers and Baby Basics Supreme (available at Albertson's, Acme, and Jewel foodstores) - good daytime diaper at 11-16 cents per diaper....now that's a deal. The Supreme are even good overnight, but I get the sinking suspicion they have stopped making them.

* Gap Classic Fit jeans

* Trader Joe's Balsamic roasted vegetable mix (frozen bag 'o veggies)

* Costco's own Kirkland brand soy milk (vanilla and regular) - only 88 cents/quart compared to $2/quart for EdenSoy in the supermarket

* Innkeeper's best 18 grain and flax seed bread

* Kroger brand whole sugar snap peas & Kroger golden flax and grain bread

* Stores that price match and honor competitor coupons and pricing.

So, what do you like?

Ahhh, the sweet freedom of nap time

And it only took 10 minutes of swaying, jiggling, humming, rocking, pacing, and leaning backward from the waist at a 45 degree angle. I even made the transfer to the crib without incident. Don't jinx me.

For Sale

My house. As part of the re-do my whole life initiative, the house is for sale. This coming Sunday - Open House. Must go clean something now (I need to get baby snout prints off of all the ground level windows and fingerprints off of the mirrors where he pets the baby in the mirror and says "bay-bee").

My Hair

I'm not really one of those girlie-girls, and I'm not that interested in my hair. So, about 3 or 4 weeks ago, I cut off my hair and donated it to Pantene Beautiful Lengths. They provide wigs to women with cancer. Apparently, the #1 fear among women recently diagnosed with cancer is losing their hair. Personally, I would be more afraid of dying, figuring out who was going to take Chuckles school, and whether my bastard HMO would cover the chemo, but my hair - notsomuch on the radar at that point. But, for other women, it's a big deal. So, if you have at least 8" of hair (or can let your hair grow that long), think about donating it to someone whose problems make yours look like a hangnail. The tag line is "You have the power to help a woman during the greatest fight of her life".

http://www.beautifullengths.com/
http://www.pantene.com/en_US/beautifullengths/index.jsp

Let's talk about Stem Cell Research

Currently, embryonic stem cells don't treat any diseases. Adult stem cells do. But, that doesn't mean that someday we won't have developed a treatment for something.

I'm all for stem cell research - both embryonic and adult. I don't have moral qualms about it. I'm not Catholic (or even really religious) and I don't believe life begins when sperm fertilizes egg. I guess it comes from having a baby. I realize that my living, breathing, walking, somewhat-talking child is about a million miles away from an 8 celled blastocyst living in a petri dish. Having gone through some rudimentary fertility treatment, I also understand that not every 8-celled blastocyst gets the opportunity to become a baby.

The mormons (latter day saints) believe in stem cell research since in their beliefs, life doesn't begin until the embryo has implanted in the uterus. I suppose this also means theoretically, they could believe in the morning after pill (Plan B) and other forms of emergency contraception. I could go off onto a rant about how these are not aboration pills, but I'll spare all 3 of my readers that (right now). The mormons seem pretty moderate on this issue. I even think most Americans want some research on embryonic stem cells.

And heck, if stem cell research is good enough for Alex P. Keaton and Superman, it's good enough for me.

Ovarian Cancer

Consider this today's big Public Service Announcement...

A regular pelvic exam does not detect ovarian cancer. You need to make sure that you get a recto-vaginal exam. You know the part of the exam where she (or I suppose he) puts two gloved fingers in your vagina and presses on your abdomen to locate your organs? Well, they also need to do that same thing with fingers in your rectum. It's not pleasant, but it's the only reliable, inexpensive way to tell. So, make sure you get the full exam. Ovarian Cancer is one of those things that is rarely detected early and as we all known, early detection would mean better treatments. The blood tests and things for ovarian cancer are not routinely offered to healthy woomen with no risk factors. The symptoms of ovarian cancer are vague and often overlooked initially...things like achy abdomen and a bloated feeling.

Here is a link to a much-better Public Service Announcement that mine. This blogger fought ovarian cancer herself. Unfortunately, this past summer, she lost the battle and is gone now, but her PSA lives on:
http://cancerbaby.typepad.com/cancerbaby/2005/09/psa.html

Hooray

Chuckles is learning to blow his nose. So, I don't have to wipe it every 12.5 seconds all day long. The little extra snot I get from the blowing, lets me wait a full 30 seconds between wipes.

And no, I do not use teh blue snot sucker thing they sent home from the hospital with him nor do I go after the boogers with a Q-tip. So, blowing good.

Doogie Howser and George from Grey's Anatomy

are both gay. Why is this even considered entertainment news? I hope they both find happiness and that coming out on their own has prevented the Enquirer from running headlines like "Gay Tryst for TVs Hotties?"

I regret that we still live in an age when this is startling.

Friday's Dinner

What did I end up making....? Lobster and Artichoke Ravioli from Trader Joe's with a bag of frozen artichoke hearts smothered in homemade pesto (with basil from the garden). We finished it off with coffee ice cream served atop a brownie. The whole thing was paired with a notsogood Carbernet Sauvignon. I should have seved teh chilean Sauvignon Blanc we drank a couple weeks back (but we drank it and it's gone).

Friday, November 03, 2006

What's for dinner tonight?

It's either my famous tofu meatloaf (which I swear is tasty) or a ground beef and cream of mushroom soup thing. It's not gourmet, but it's one of those recipes my husband brought with him that he likes. I could steam some broccoli and make a pan of brownies. I can make brownies no matter what.

And why no dessert last night? We had Halloween candy to dispatch. There are still Reese's cups to eat, but I find those to be some of the most disgusting things on earth. I mean, they're no 100-grand or Kit-Kat or Twix bars, you know? Now that the candy is gone, we can get back to regular sweets like cookies and brownies.

Birth control pills with estrogen in the placebo pills & More Meet the Cast

regular pill: mircette (really low dose estrogen all month and even lower during your period week)
Like Seasonale but with a little estrogen for migraine prevention: Seasonique

This information is courtesy of Pharmacist Banjo. Pharmacist Banjo is my sister...we'll be calling her Banjo on the blog. She is married to a guy we'll call Cello. They have a daughter...what shall we call her? What is the offspring of a Banjo and a Cello...some kind of hillbilly violin. I'll work on a name for my niece.

Shopping for non-Christmas gifts is done

My husband will be receiving a factory-reconditioned 14V Skil cordless drill for his birthday. It was $25 with free shipping from amazon. He needed a new drill after a particularly bad home improvement project this summer. He'll love it...even if it is used....or at least I'll keep telling myself that he'll love it. It comes iwth a factory warranty, so there's that and it's Skil brand. I can't afford that brand new. It's like a $200 drill.

Speaking of Shopping

I am soliciting gifts ideas for the following (please leave ideas in the comments):

2.5 year old girl
9 month old boy
13 year old boy (no clue..he doesn't do sports)
11 year old girl (clothes, right?)
5 year old girl
one mother-in-law
one father-in-law (can be a joint gift with MIL and I already got them photos of their grandson)
one mother and her husband (she likes candles, clothes, and picture frames)
one father and his wife (I think I have an idea for them)
one husband (was going to get him the cold heat soldering iron but the amazon reviews were bad-bad-bad, so I need another tool or gadget or battery or flashlight or LED or crank-powered anything or something...)

Halloween is Over, Let Chrismakwanazakkah begin

I just started my "Christmas" shopping. I put it in quotes since it is actually late shopping for other holidays, birthdays, etc that is late, very late, but since I bought some holiday-themed merchandise, it works well.

I love doing online shopping for people far away because the companies ship it to them for me and I don't have to find boxes or wrap stuff up or go to the post office, and i can put a personal greeting right there on the packing slip. OK, so it's not super personal and it lacks a certain Martha-esque attention to detail, but whatever.

more about voting

Chuckles's grandma will also be voting for the republican in this race as will her husband:

State Rep: Libertarian (my husband will vote for the Republican as a protest vote against the incumbent democrat who will (inevitably) win)

The democrat royally screwed us on our property taxes, so we're not real thrilled with her performance - not real thrilled at all. Don't mess with my money.

High Chair Archeology

So, when was the last time Chuckles had peas and does this mean I need to clean more thoroughly?

Thursday, November 02, 2006

What's for dinner

In my slow cooker (aka Crock Pot) right now, there is chicken with carrots, celery, and onions. I may add cannellini beans. I will serve this concoction (oohhh, must add sage, thyme, and garlic) over quinoa (pronounced keen-wah, but I don't see how since it is clearly quinn-o-ah).

Anyway, according to wikipedia, quinoa is considered a supercrop by the United Nations due to its high protein content (it is also much more nutrient dense and has all the good fats (naturally found in breastmilk and the brains of smart people). Quinoa is used like a grain (like rice) but is more technically a psedo-cereal. It's pretty tasty - maybe a little earthy like wild rice. It's easy to fix but you have to rinse it first (which is a serious pain since the individual grains are the size of salt so you can do it in a strainer and a coffee filter takes way too long) because it is coated with Saponin, which protects it from birds and insects making it easy to grow.

Many people use it as flour in gluten-free baking. Withpeople now frequently being diagnosed with celiac disease, it is becoming easier to find in stores as people demand more gluten-free products and alternatives to rice flour.


Absentee Ballot mostly done

What's with candidates not having official websites. Dang it's hard to fine good info. Here's how I'm feeling:
US Senator: Libertarian
Sec of State: Libertarian
Auditor of State: Republican
Treasurer of State: Democrat
US Rep: Republican who specifically endorsed the Fair Tax HR25 bill which I LOVE
State Senator: Republican
State Rep: Libertarian (my husband will vote for hte Republican as a protest vote against the incumbent democrat who will (inevitably) win)
Prosecuting Attorney for Cicuit Court: Democrat
County Sheriff: Republican
County Assessor: Republican (really a vote AGAINST the democrat who screwed us)
Count Council: Not voting - couldn't find enough info
Township ASsessor: Note voting - no info
Township Trustee: Note voting - no info
Township Board Member: Vote for 3 of the 4 (3 are democrats, one Republican (and woman)) - no idea how to vote on this
Shall the judges be retained?: 4 yes votes, and one no on the person scheduled to report to prison shortly

Shhhh

My toddler is napping. He is of the I-won't-sleep-unless-you-trick-me-or-I'm-exhausted-or-I'm-sick school of Toddler non-napping (heck, he was at the same school as an infant). So, shhh. He's napping. I need to prep dinner and finish researching my absentee ballot.

Tire has been acquired

I got it at Tire Barn. Took 'em 10 minutes. Chuckles played on their Little Tikes play set and did not want to go home, so we stayed a while.

Also, Olan Mills tells me they honor competitor coupons, so we're headed there with a JC Penney coupon today for the Christmas pictures. I have a thing about getting the cards out the Friday after Thanksgiving. I wouldn't want to be tardy.

Lost Talk

I hate Nikki and Paulo. We've been on this island for 60-some days with 40 or so survivors. And now, three years into it, we're meeting some extras. I sure hope they are just introducing them to kill them off soon.
Best line of theirs though: "Let's go with them. You're always complaning about being left out."

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Speaking of Nursing

I just happened to mention nursing in the last post. I'm now reminded that I am a huge proponent of breastfeeding for a variety of reasons, some of which I will list... I would probably never say anything to a woman who quit nursing because I know we all make the decisions for out families that we think are right for our circumstances, but I am still amazed at the number of educated women who do not know or don't believe that breastmilk is the gold-standard of food for an infant. I mean, even the formula makers market their products by saying that it's closer to breastmilk and more like mothers' milk and whatnot.

So, here are my top 10 reasons to breastfeed
1. Convenient (always right temp and ready in middle of night)
2. Nothing calms a fussy baby better
3. Very cheap (and have you priced out formula?)
4. Good for the environment (no hot water/energy to wash bottles, no steel for formula cans, no garbage, no waste, no energy/heat for the water to mix the formula, no energy to transport the formula)
5. Good for mothers (reduced risk of breast and ovarian cancer and also lowers fertility for better child spacing)
6. Good for babies (amino acids are good for brain and eye development, composition changes for each feeding and as the baby grows to meet the current needs, reduces risk of ear infections and SIDS, reduces severity and likelihood of allergies, reduces likelihood of childhood leukemia)
7. Really good in case of natural disaster or emergency (like if you're caught in the car without bottles during a blizzard, have no water after an earthquake/hurricane, or are held hostage in a bank without your diaper bag because you were just running in...can you tell I saw the commercials for "The Nine"?)
8. Natural mother's nipple promotes proper jaw development
9. Promotes gut flora colonization so baby can digest foods better
10. Babies are less likely to be picky eaters since they have been exposed to a variety of tastes and flavors already in the milk

Now for some downsides (and proposed solutions):
1. Mom is the only one who can feed the baby in teh middle of the night (someone else can offer a bottle of either breastmilk or....after a month or so of formula). I waited 7 months until I got an overnight relief bottle and I wish I had done it about 3 months sooner, but it won't kill anyone.
2. Tied to the baby (well, yeah, they need you, but you can pump and work and everything)
3. Inconvenient (I don't believe this....I have heard it, but I don't get it)
4. It hurts (only for 2-3 weeks in the beginning or if something is wrong (bad latch, infection), fix teh bad and it is great)
5. Dad can't bond with the baby (there are 900 million other ways to bond with a baby besides feeding it from diapers to snuggling to cuddling to books to making funny facing to bouncing so you please stop crying)
6. Stuck in the house (learn how to nurse discreetly or plan your trips around feedings or embrace your inner hippie and show it all to the world...feeding your baby is not dirty)

Blogging TV - Lost

I like the show "Lost". I got hooked when I was nursing Chuckles. I would sit on the couch for hours and hours in the evening nursing him during his fussy time. I was watching Season 2 reruns over the summer or something. I got hooked. It is coming on in 12 minutes. Am v excited.

Finding a Replacement Tire

I need one by Monday. Wal-Mart won't answer the phone and Costco doesn't carry Goodyears (but they can have the right size tire there on Wednesday). I guess I start calling around in the morning. Looking like about $100-$115, which is about $150 less than I thought it would be. Good deal.
I am only going to replace the one tire, so I want them to match. If I was doing all four, I guess I could do teh BF Goodrich instead of the Goodyear. If it comes down to it, I'll replace two of the tires so they'll at least match somewhat.