To be in Public or not to be

(just a heads up, my browser will not let me edit or use proper paragraphs lately on this blog site. I was a good english student and this drives me crazy!) AGAIN! with the breast feeding in public controversy. This time brought to us by the military. There were some pictures take of women in uniform, nursing their babies. They looked happy and content. As any mother would be in this situation. I am not against breast feeding at all. But, I'm also not going to judge you if you don't breast feed. Either way, breast or bottle, works just fine. I attempted breast feeding. Miserable failure! My kids didn't want to latch on. Aria and I fought it for about a month. After a month, I was like this is nuts. I just want her to eat. She was a good eater. I decided if I had that happen again, I wouldn't even force the issue. I tried with Taryn for 4 or 5 days. No go, no problem. She is healthy. Breast feeding would've been cheaper, but bottle feeding is a pleasent option in this house. I still feel like I have that closeness with my kids. Whether you breast feed or not, your kid is always going to have a special attachment to their mom. Don't kid yourself. My problem sets in with PUBLIC displays of breast feeding. We have a lovely (and I say that with my teeth clenched) gal at my church who is one of these pro breast feeding types. Pastor will be right in the middle of the sermon and there she is, nursing away, 4 seats away from me! (she also gave me a very unneccessary, pity look when I told her I don't breast feed) "It's so natural" is the common excuse. So is burping and farting. That isn't condoned in the public square. Would you birth your child in front of the whole church?! (well there are alot of attention whores out there) Would you concieve your child in front of the church?! I know I'm getting ridiculous, but c'mon! Some things are meant to be private. Why does our nudity censor disappear when it comes to breast feeding? Any other time, whipping out your boob in public would be frowned upon, not to mention indecent exposure! But we'll sweep that aside cuz there's a hungry baby there. Go into a designated area and take care of business. Peeing is natural,too, but we don't squat where ever and let nature take it's course. Or, how about, heaven forbid you give your baby a bottle during those public outings?! For crying out loud. They are asking us to respect their decision. Well, how's about you respect our right to not be exposed to your breast every time little Jimmy or little Susie wants to eat? I will admit, I'm about as far right on the modesty issue as one can be, but it's really, offensive and frankly distracting to the rest of us. Stop being so self-centered.

Why I sort of hate the month of April

Earth Day. I hate April because of Earth Day. Look, I turn of my lights when I'm not in the room to save $$ on my electric bill! Not to "save the world"! People who buy electric cars are certainly entitled to do so and have every right in the world. But, where, pray-tell, does the electricity to run your stupid vehicle come from?! Oh, wait! I know! A magic unicorn who runs on a magic treadmill in the middle of Kentucky and eats butterfly farts for energy. That's where electricity comes from. Seriously, there's a word for you hippy-morons out there and it rhymes with dip-nits. Anyway, so now that I have a child in the public education system, we get bombarded with Earth Day memorabilia all month long. Apparently the cirriculum hasn't changed much from when I was a kid, tho. It's still turn off your lights, shut off the water jibberish from my childhood. Aria was pleased to report she tattled on me to her class that I always leave the water running when I brush my teeth. Yes, I do, but it's because it takes like 5 minutes for the hot water to travel from one end of the house to the other! I'm mostly okay with it, tho. Whatever. I don't mind bringing my unused grocery bags (yes, I use plastic ALWAYS!) to the Walmart recycling bin. If there were a recycling center close by, I might even recycle more paper and cans. I don't have a problem with these things. I do have a problem with a group of people telling me or my child that the world is going to implode if we don't do what we can to recycle.reduce.reuse everyway, everyday, earthday! The mindset of these people, sadly, is a belief in mother earth, not a Creator of the universe. Their world view is pretty narrow, and as such so is their tolerance. WE are the only ones who can save the world. We created this mess, so WE must fix it. My belief is that God created everything we see and use. And that HE supplies all our needs and HE is in control of everything. And if HE decides that the world will end, it will. There will be nothing that WE can do to stop it. It's actually pretty liberating and a relief to know that the things I do today, 10 years ago, 10 years from now, will NOT destroy the world; whether it's drive my car, throw out my garbage or leave the water running. Now, I'm not going to delibrately leave the water on, that adds up finacially. But, I'm not going to be guilted into feeling bad about living! Again, feel free to recycle as much or as little as you want. It won't change the outcome in the end, tho. We are to be good stewards of the land, and I believe that also goes hand in hand with common sense. If there is a naturally occuring good being produced, and we have the ability to gain access to and use it, we should! If we can find ways to make that product benefit millions, it just makes sense to keep producing and distributing it for others to enjoy. And if we can find ways to duplicate it or even reuse it, all the better! But doing it in the name of saving the planet is foolish and ignorant. I did however observe Earth Day like I normally do; I drove to work, I washed my laundry and dishes, I vacuumed my floors, I threw out my baby's dirty diapers, I turned on my lights when it was dark so I could see to cook dinner on my electric stove... I lived out my ordinary life on an ordinary day! Happy EVERYday!

Stay-at-home mom vs. Working mom

I would put my self right in the middle. I don't work full time, I don't stay home full time. I know plenty of moms who do one or the other. Here's the thing: they're all pretty good moms. Now do they live up to MY standards? No. Does that matter? No. Do stay at home moms deserve to be called lazy an out of touch? NO! Do working moms deserve to be called neglectful and selfish? NO! But both sides to a pretty good job at judging the other.

I read an article, it's coincidence that it came out the same day as this Ann Romney controversy is to me no accident. The article was about a mom who was a stay at home mom, SAHM from here on out. She was exasperated with the endless questions of how's the bon-bon's and life must be easy for you from her condescending working mom friends. She laid out her typical day (which I might add was somewhat exaggerated) for these moms to contemplate. Basically, she kinda made her kids sound like all they do is scream, cry, pee, and sleep thismuch. Now, kids have their moments, but they aren't like this ALL THE TIME! Some of her comments were funny and I could identify with some as well (I never thought putting my kiddos in the basket of a shopping cart was dangerous! Honest!). Now, however, this was her side of the story. I know life is busy, but how stressful one makes it is kinda a personal choice. If bringing your daughter to ballet class is too stressful, don't do it! If you can't handle that, then don't... duh. I know you want to give your kids the best opportunities, but if it stretches you too thin, the only one to blame is you. Work or not. Working or not has nothing to do with this issue. It about our assumptions, our opinions, what we do or don't put on our plate.

To me, dusting isn't a big deal; I live in an area with hardly any paved roads. It's dusty all the time! So, I'm not quite as anal about dusting. Someone else may have the opinion that dusting must be done weekly, and if they go to someones house like mine and see it's dusty, well to them, clearly, I work too much and don't take good enough care of my home. Or the other way: I am pretty anal about laundry. I hate having piles of laundry. When it does pile up, I do it all in one day. I get it over with. I don't drag it out because to me, a pile of dirty clothes is just plain nasty. Now someone else may have the opinion of laundry as I have about dusting. But when I go to someones house and notice a HUGE laundry pile, I tend to judge them rather harshly. It's not fair but it's how we all are. Some moms notice the littlest things about their own kids or other kids. It's their gift, tho annoying, it's what they're good at. Perhaps it's the competitor in all of us that wants to be better than anyone else, but we tend to notice the negatives to make ourselves feel better. But there's no reason for it, really.

SAHMs do what they do and do their best, I'm sure. They take pride in being with their kids full time, caring for them %100, running the house. Working moms also do what they do and do their best. They take pride in earning an income, helping their kids with homework, keeping up with the dishes, running the home. However, we both work hard to keep our family, our kids and our sanity in check all day. To ultimately criticize one group over the other is plain ignorance. To say one group doesn't have a say in something because their lack of experience with the other group is just plain mean. As women, we all devote our time, energy, love to our families and home. Pitting one side against the other is counter-productive. Each side probably envies the other on certain days. We all want to be the perfect mom, who can juggle home, kids, marriage, social gatherings, bills, pets, dusting, laundry and still make cookies and drink a hot cup of whatever before going to bed at a decent hour. It never goes as we plan and why should it? Life is full of surprises, unexpected's, uh-oh's. Saying a working mom has it harder or easier doesn't matter. We will always have our opinions, our perceptions... it's maybe not fair, but it really fine. But when your kids have a mom they love, no matter what they do or don't do, the rest just plain doesn't matter.

Denver, Denver, Denver *shakes head*

Oh Denver, you never learn! As a former Broncos fan (yes, I was a kid, but still followed the game even then), I can say this is why I left you: You'll never learn! Loyalty means nothing to you. Tebow gave you a dream year then you dumped all over him. Now please don't get me wrong. No one loves Peyton Manning more than me. I've been very up-front and honest from the start about that. Ever since that MNF game against Tampa Bay in 2003, when Peyton lead the Colts in the last 5 minutes of the game from a 3 TD deficit to win, I have followed his career very closely. I've been reading a lot on these recent developments, and one author in particular, Mark Kriegel has an obvious dislike for Manning. To sum up Mr. Kriegel's opinion, he thinks Peyton is an old, spoiled-brat princess QB who is money hungry. There are quite a few, to my surprise, who feel the same way. In my view, Peyton saved the Colts a whole lotta mullah when he didn't re-sign with the Colts. That freed up a lot of cash for Irsey to play with. Peyton was pretty vocal in his desire to play for the Colts and remain in Indy. Irsey saw a crack in the door and foolishly opened it wide. Peyton is a gamble as far as his longevity's to play, I understand that. All it could take is one bad hit and he's done. But, BUT this is Peyton Manning! To have him donning your colors is a blessing! He is master of the game (tho his obvious weakness is playoffs). To have him sitting on the sidelines would be good enough. Peyton is a competitor, tho, naturally he wants to play. But, Irsey, has to look to the future, and I guess for whatever reason, he didn't see having Peyton on his sidelines make sense. So let the negotiations begin! In walks, Miami, Arizona, San Fran, Denver... the list grew. They all, rightly so, want Peyton. Peyton went for Denver. I'm not sure what he's seeing in Denver. Frankly, San Fran was his best opportunity at a Super Bowl. Tho, I understand Denver may sign Jeff Saturday and Dallas Clark from Indy also. This may help Denver, but their defense needs work, too. But I really have to lose what little remaining respect I had for John Elway. He went from wanting to work with Tebow to kicking him to the curb awfully quick. Elway's in this for instant gratification and he will pay for this. He was very critical of Tebow at the beginning of the year. As the year went on, he hopped on the Tebow train faster than most did. He then closed the season saying Tebow was the man and he would work with him to make him great. Now, if Peyton Manning was banging down my door, I'd sure jump at the opportunity to have him on board. However, I would not throw my other players under the bus, esp. after stating how making them #1 was my first priority. John Elway looks like a donkey's bottom. He'll pay dearly for it if the Denver fans don't get the excitement and success they did last year. This obvious hate for Tebow is totally uncalled for. He proved he can work hard, work well with others and get the "W". His players respect him, his coaches like him, his fans love him... what is up?! I read that Tebow will most likely be going to the Jets (ugh!) and how they will want him to live in New Jersey to keep him away from the *sinister voice* evils of New York and that "he'll need his hand held here". REALLY?! Because he clearly led a life of debauchery in Denver and Florida and everywhere else he's been. It all comes down to this: the media (cuz this is where these ridiculous stories originate) are waiting for Tebow to stumble and fall, so they can "drive by" and "shoot" Tebow while he's down. "See we told you he's a fraud" they'll mock. But, I'm off topic. Tebow isn't a conventional QB. Who is? Brady? Manning? Favre? McNabb? Montana? Moon? Young? Elway?... sheesh I could go on and on. All these QBs have different styles, different strengths, different ways of getting the "W". Tebow is no different. "Well, his passing ratio is low and he is totally inconsistent throughout the game" So? Was this not his first year starting? Of course he's gonna have pretty low stats... he's not Hercules! For crying out loud, people! He's the model citizen, so he should be a model QB too?! Knock it off. Give him a chance. He's proved his work ethic and willingness to learn and GET BETTER! Give him the chance and I'm sure he'll prove a lot of nay-sayers wrong. But, Elway listened to the pathetic media, and dropped the guy like last years fashion line. I'm so glad to see Manning get a chance to play again and I really hope he does well and proves Irsey a moron. I hope Tebow does the same to Elway. What a great team Manning and Tebow could've been and Elway could've shown Irsey what loyalty is. But, no. Time will tell if these decisions will haunt the guys in the suits and prove their disloyalty towards their players. I could never be a Denver Donkey fan now, and it'll pain me to see see Manning in that ugly orange uniform! As well as Tebow playing for hot-head Rex Ryan... oi!

Happy birthday, Shosh!

To my sister, Marcia, I hope you know how proud I am of you, how proud I am to be your sister, how wonderful a mom you are to Reagan. I love you and miss you terribly. Hope your birthday is fantastic!!

SIX years already?!

Indeed, today, my little Aria is 6. I still remember her birth day so vividly! What a fun, memorable day. The party planning is coming along; she is so excited to have her friends and Spongebob there (her 2 favorite things)! I say it over and over, but I can't believe she is 6. She really is so grown up: she a wonderful help with her little sister, she is polite, she listens pretty well, she is very loving and thoughtful, and she is doing so well in school. I am so proud of her and glad God gave her to me and her dad!

Happy, happy birthday, Aria Marie!! I love you so very much:)

Where to, Mr. Manning?

Jim Irsay just made a HUGE mistake. Who would willing let go of Peyton Manning?! "It's the business end of football... get used to it" I hear the excuse. Forget that! Peyton put Indy on the map, he brought a franchise to the elite list, he broke numerous records... to have him sitting on the sideline would be a blessing. He could mentor the next in line QB, he'd be an outstanding offensive coach. Plus, he still may be able to play next year. WTF, Irsay?!?!? You are a moron. That and loyalty means apparently nothing to you. Business end! BAH! The best business would be keeping Peyton around, no matter what. Now, Peyton is hot on the market (get the hint, Irsay? Everyone wants him!). He's interviewed in Denver, Arizona, Miami, and I'm sure there's more to come. I read something, hopefully just a rumor, that if Peyton is signed in Denver, the Broncs would let Tebow go. Again, sheer stupidity. I hope that is not true. Tebow proved he's a fighter and willing to improve. Who wouldn't want that to work with? There is just so much wheeling and dealing in the NFL. The days of loyalty and playing for one team for your career are long gone. It's sad to see. I did laugh when I read that if Peyton came to Denver, he could mentor Tebow like Favre did Aaron Rodgers. HA! The whole reason I started disliking Favre is when Rodgers came to town and Brett started whining that it wasn't his job to mentor anyone. (sure it is, Brett. It's like passing down traditions to your kids; unless you don't want them doing anything like you did, teach them everything!) This scenario in Denver would be good, but if the rumor is true, it wouldn't matter. The only thing is, I used to be a Broncos fan before I became a 9ers fan. (ps, I am loyal, and won't switch teams) But if Peyton goes to the Broncos, and Tebow stays... wonder if God is telling me something!