Normal

Now I am just copying an dpasting things :) No time to really blog but really want to share. But does any body still read this thing?? Probably not, so more like I really want to preserve....

A psychiatrist tells the truth -- it's OK not to be 'normal'

By Dr. Dale Archer

Published March 15, 2012 | FoxNews.com

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When Mark Twain’s hero Huckleberry Finn was forced to study spelling for an hour every day, he said, “I couldn’t stand it much longer. It was deadly dull, and I was fidgety.” His teacher, Miss Watson, threatened him with eternal damnation if he didn’t pay attention. Huck admits it didn’t seem like such a bad alternative. “But I didn’t mean no harm. All I wanted was to go somewheres; all I wanted was a change, I warn’t particular.”

If that had happened today, Huck would have been diagnosed as ADHD, put on Adderall, and forced to attend school, while the book about his adventures would never have been written.

The American Psychiatric Association invented the term "ADHD" in 1980 to give kids with hyperactivity, impulsivity, short attention span and easy distractibility a diagnosis.

Who would have thought that 28 years later, the National Center for Health Statistics would report that over 5 million American kids (8 percent) between the ages of 3-17 would receive this diagnosis? That’s 1 out of 12, with about half of those on medication.

William Evans, Ph.D., with the Journal of Health Economics found that a huge predictor for the diagnosis of ADHD was the age of the child with respect to their grade. In other words, younger children in a given grade, have more ADHD symptoms than older ones. No surprise there- younger kids clearly are more restless and less able to concentrate on a topic, or sit quietly in a classroom all day long. According to his research, “approximately 1.1 million children received an inappropriate diagnosis and over 800,000 received stimulant medication due only to relative maturity."

Let me quickly point out that I’m not opposed to medication to treat those with severe symptoms, but does 1 out of every 12 kids really have ADHD?

I wish this was just about ADHD, but that’s just what I’ve chosen to illustrate my point. I could have chosen bipolar disorder, OCD, generalized anxiety, social anxiety or many others because this is about the over-diagnosing, over-treating and over-medicating of psychiatric problems throughout America The first psychiatric diagnostic manual, DSM-I, in 1952 had 106 disorders listed. The revised DSM- IV in 2000 had 365!

The National Institute of Mental Health has found that 26 percent of Americans (1 in 4) have a diagnosable psychiatric illness.

The only word for that is “ludicrous.”

A disorder of any kind is by definition something wrong, screwed up, malfunctioning. A mental disorder is an irregularity in the functioning of the brain. If the brains of one quarter of the U.S. population are disordered then something is very, very wrong with the human mind.

Or with our mental health system.

In a Wired magazine interview in January 2011, Allen Frances (lead editor of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental disorders –IV) blamed the DSM- IV itself. “We made mistakes that had terrible consequences,” says Frances. One of these consequences, the article notes, is that diagnoses of ADHD have skyrocketed. Greenberg writes: “Frances thinks his manual inadvertently facilitated these epidemics— and, in the bargain, fostered an increasing tendency to chalk up life’s difficulties to mental illness and then treat them with psychiatric drugs.”

Here’s the problem: The profession of psychiatry has taken on the role of defining ‘normal’ in our society. Even Webster’s dictionary defines normal as being, “free from a mental disorder.”

As we purposely shrink the box called normal and it gets smaller and smaller, the abnormal universe expands to include almost everyone. But we say, “don’t worry, we can fix that with a pill and make you normal just like everyone else.”

My profession has not only redefined mental health by over-diagnosing and over-medicating an ever-expanding number of diagnoses, we are also taking away the hope of human nature by telling our patients that they are inherently "abnormal" and need to be fixed.

The psychiatrist’s office has gone from being the place no one would be caught dead visiting...to the place where a pill could fix anything. And psychiatry itself has gone from being stigmatized to glamorized.

Psychiatric conditions don’t come with an on/off switch, but rather occur along a continuum. High levels of any given trait may represent a severe psychiatric diagnosis requiring medication, BUT in small to medium doses, these very same traits can represent your greatest strengths.

On a scale of 1 to10, what separates an ADHD 7 from an ADHD 10? Who gets medicated…..and why? How could one person use a set of "symptoms" as a springboard for success while another with the exact same symptoms needs meds and therapy? How are CEOs like Richard Branson (Virgin Airlines), John Chambers (Cisco), and Charles Schwab able to parlay their ADHD into tremendously successful careers, while others are searching for a magic pill and a cure?

David Neeleman, founder of JetBlue has said that if he found a magic pill to make his ADHD go away, he wouldn’t take it. Creativity and innovation are hallmarks of those with ADHD. When a child first presents with symptoms, why aren’t we telling them that they are 3 times more likely to form their own business, will thrive in disruptive situations, will embrace adventure and are adept at multitasking, as opposed to giving them a diagnosis and a pill?

We must stop thinking about how to give the “patient” what they think they want and start taking a look at what's good about what they have.

We must empower individuals to think it's ok to be "not normal" and change the mindset that everything can be "fixed" with a pill or a few therapy sessions.

We must help them understand that what they perceive as their worst trait, may in reality be their best.

It's time for a new order of business in mental health, based on the premise that when you try to conform to a perceived "normal," you lose your uniqueness—which is the foundation for your greatness.

Dr. Dale Archer is a psychiatrist and frequent guest on "FoxNews.com Live." He is the author of the new bestselling book "Better Than Normal: How What Makes You Different Can Make You Exceptional"For more, visit his website: Dr.DaleArcher.com.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/03/15/psychiatrist-tells-truth-its-ok-not-to-be-normal/print#ixzz1pWmXQweO

No Carpe DIem

My mom send me this and I FINALLY just got a chance to read it. I LOVE it. So much that I woke my sleeping blog to share. Josh and I stayed up til 2 am talking last night. Me mostly crying. Feeling like I am the worst mother. Feeling like I should be enjoying this more. I told him, "I LOVE my children. But sometimes I really don't like them." I want to not yell at them. I want to not be frustrated with them. I want to love every minute. But I don't. After reading this I thought, hey maybe that's ok. I glad I had a moment to read this today, especially after a tearry night with the exact same thoughts. Here is the link, but I'm pasting the entire article here in case some day the webpage disappears into cyber space. I want to archive it forever :)

By

Glennon Melton

Blogger, Momastery

Every time I'm out with my kids -- this seems to happen:

An older woman stops us, puts her hand over her heart and says something like, "Oh, Enjoy every moment. This time goes by so fast."

Everywhere I go, someone is telling me to seize the moment, raise my awareness, be happy, enjoy every second, etc, etc, etc.

I know that this message is right and good. But, I have finally allowed myself to admit that it just doesn't work for me. It bugs me. This CARPE DIEM message makes me paranoid and panicky. Especially during this phase of my life - while I'm raising young kids. Being told, in a million different ways to CARPE DIEM makes me worry that if I'm not in a constant state of intense gratitude and ecstasy, I'm doing something wrong.

I think parenting young children (and old ones, I've heard) is a little like climbing Mount Everest. Brave, adventurous souls try it because they've heard there's magic in the climb. They try because they believe that finishing, or even attempting the climb are impressive accomplishments. They try because during the climb, if they allow themselves to pause and lift their eyes and minds from the pain and drudgery, the views are breathtaking. They try because even though it hurts and it's hard, there are moments that make it worth the hard. These moments are so intense and unique that many people who reach the top start planning, almost immediately, to climb again. Even though any climber will tell you that most of the climb is treacherous, exhausting, killer. That they literally cried most of the way up.

And so I think that if there were people stationed, say, every thirty feet along Mount Everest yelling to the climbers -- "ARE YOU ENJOYING YOURSELF!? IF NOT, YOU SHOULD BE! ONE DAY YOU'LL BE SORRY YOU DIDN'T!" TRUST US!! IT'LL BE OVER TOO SOON! CARPE DIEM!" -- those well-meaning, nostalgic cheerleaders might be physically thrown from the mountain.

Now. I'm not suggesting that the sweet old ladies who tell me to ENJOY MYSELF be thrown from a mountain. These are wonderful ladies. Monkees, probably. But last week, a woman approached me in the Target line and said the following: "Sugar, I hope you are enjoying this. I loved every single second of parenting my two girls. Every single moment. These days go by so fast."

At that particular moment, Amma had arranged one of the new bras I was buying on top of her sweater and was sucking a lollipop that she must have found on the ground. She also had three shop-lifted clip-on neon feathers stuck in her hair. She looked exactly like a contestant from Toddlers and Tiaras. I couldn't find Chase anywhere, and Tish was grabbing the pen on the credit card swiper thing WHILE the woman in front of me was trying to use it. And so I just looked at the woman, smiled and said, "Thank you. Yes. Me too. I am enjoying every single moment. Especially this one. Yes. Thank you."

That's not exactly what I wanted to say, though.

There was a famous writer who, when asked if he loved writing, replied, "No. but I love having written." What I wanted to say to this sweet woman was, "Are you sure? Are you sure you don't mean you love having parented?"

I love having written. And I love having parented. My favorite part of each day is when the kids are put to sleep (to bed) and Craig and I sink into the couch to watch some quality TV, like Celebrity Wife Swap, and congratulate each other on a job well done. Or a job done, at least.

Every time I write a post like this, I get emails suggesting that I'm being negative. I have received this particular message four or five times -- G, if you can't handle the three you have, why do you want a fourth?

That one always stings, and I don't think it's quite fair. Parenting is hard. Just like lots of important jobs are hard. Why is it that the second a mother admits that it's hard, people feel the need to suggest that maybe she's not doing it right? Or that she certainly shouldn't add more to her load. Maybe the fact that it's so hard means she IS doing it right...in her own way...and she happens to be honest.

Craig is a software salesman. It's a hard job in this economy. And he comes home each day and talks a little bit about how hard it is. And I don't ever feel the need to suggest that he's not doing it right, or that he's negative for noticing that it's hard, or that maybe he shouldn't even consider taking on more responsibility. And I doubt anybody comes by his office to make sure he's ENJOYING HIMSELF. I doubt his boss peeks in his office and says: "This career stuff...it goes by so fast...ARE YOU ENJOYING EVERY MOMENT IN THERE, CRAIG???? CARPE DIEM, CRAIG!"

My point is this. I used to worry that not only was I failing to do a good enough job at parenting, but that I wasn't enjoying it enough. Double failure. I felt guilty because I wasn't in parental ecstasy every hour of every day and I wasn't MAKING THE MOST OF EVERY MOMENT like the mamas in the parenting magazines seemed to be doing. I felt guilty because honestly, I was tired and cranky and ready for the day to be over quite often. And because I knew that one day, I'd wake up and the kids would be gone, and I'd be the old lady in the grocery store with my hand over my heart. Would I be able to say I enjoyed every moment? No.

But the fact remains that I will be that nostalgic lady. I just hope to be one with a clear memory. And here's what I hope to say to the younger mama gritting her teeth in line:

"It's helluva hard, isn't it? You're a good mom, I can tell. And I like your kids, especially that one peeing in the corner. She's my favorite. Carry on, warrior. Six hours till bedtime." And hopefully, every once in a while, I'll add -- "Let me pick up that grocery bill for ya, sister. Go put those kids in the van and pull on up -- I'll have them bring your groceries out."

Anyway. Clearly, Carpe Diem doesn't work for me. I can't even carpe fifteen minutes in a row, so a whole diem is out of the question.

Here's what does work for me:

There are two different types of time. Chronos time is what we live in. It's regular time, it's one minute at a time, it's staring down the clock till bedtime time, it's ten excruciating minutes in the Target line time, it's four screaming minutes in time out time, it's two hours till daddy gets home time. Chronos is the hard, slow passing time we parents often live in.

Then there's Kairos time. Kairos is God's time. It's time outside of time. It's metaphysical time. It's those magical moments in which time stands still. I have a few of those moments each day. And I cherish them.

Like when I actually stop what I'm doing and really look at Tish. I notice how perfectly smooth and brownish her skin is. I notice the perfect curves of her teeny elf mouth and her asianish brown eyes, and I breathe in her soft Tishy smell. In these moments, I see that her mouth is moving but I can't hear her because all I can think is -- This is the first time I've really seen Tish all day, and my God -- she is so beautiful. Kairos.

Like when I'm stuck in chronos time in the grocery line and I'm haggard and annoyed and angry at the slow check-out clerk. And then I look at my cart and I'm transported out of chronos. And suddenly I notice the piles and piles of healthy food I'll feed my children to grow their bodies and minds and I remember that most of the world's mamas would kill for this opportunity. This chance to stand in a grocery line with enough money to pay. And I just stare at my cart. At the abundance. The bounty. Thank you, God. Kairos.

Or when I curl up in my cozy bed with Theo asleep at my feet and Craig asleep by my side and I listen to them both breathing. And for a moment, I think- how did a girl like me get so lucky? To go to bed each night surrounded by this breath, this love, this peace, this warmth? Kairos.

These kairos moments leave as fast as they come- but I mark them. I say the word kairos in my head each time I leave chronos. And at the end of the day, I don't remember exactly what my kairos moments were, but I remember I had them. And that makes the pain of the daily parenting climb worth it.

If I had a couple Kairos moments during the day, I call it a success.

Carpe a couple of Kairoses a day.

Good enough for me.

BEEF BURGANDY (CROCK POT)

Makes 4-6 servings
1.5 pounds beef cut into 1" pieces
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup red wine (You can use cooking wine, but seriously tastes better with real wine)
1 small onion chopped
1 can 4oz sliced mushrooms
1 package dry onion soup mix
1 tablespoon minced garlic

Freeze in Gallon Size Freezer bags. Crock pot on low 6-8 hours. High 4-6 hrs. Serve over spiral noodles (stroganoff?)

Easy Teriyaki Chicken (crock pot)

Quickly I'm going to answer a question. I pull out all my oven (in Pyrex) meals in the morning so they defrost on my counter top . So the cooking time is the same. If you pull them straight from Freezer to Oven, which is fine, it just keeps your oven on longer, cook for an additional 30-45 minutes. Oh and I don't preheat, I just plop the food in right when I turn on the oven. Some ridiculous part of me thinks this helps the frozenness adjust better to the hottness. Slowly getting warmer :)

Made this yesterday so I cannot tell you if it tastes good, but it smelled good :)
By Barbara Shie, Colorado Springs, CO

2-3 lbs skinlees chicken pieces.
20 oz can pineapple chunks. (juice and all)
dash of ground ginger
1 cup teriyaki sauce

With the chicken there are options, I bought at Harmons already cubed fresh chicken breasts. Same price per pound, why wouldn't you. They didn't have enough so I had my butcher cut more, so if your store doesn't sell it that way I bet they can do it for you. Or you can get the fresh chicken breast strips and then just have to cut the additional direction, or you can get the entire breast and cube it your self. cut into about 1-2" pieces.


To save dishes, I just pulled out my gallon size freezer bags wrote on them and then dumped everything in them. Seal TIGHTLY squish it all around to mix and plop in the freezer.

Place bagged goods in slow cooker. Cook on low for 6-8 hrs or high 4-6 hrs. I'd serve over instant rice with a side of veggies:)

Lasagna

This one's going to be quick. You can freeze lasagna. So your favorite lasagna recipe will work.
Its a time consuming meal so I always like to make more then one batch and freeze extras. It is also one of the more expensive meals. This one you'll want the Pyrex for as well.
I'm giving you my friend Liz's recipe. You'll have left over sauce. Just put it in a freezer bag and use it for spaghetti. Sometimes I'm lazy and I'll just buy the already made sauce in a jar (Ragu, Prego...), but making it yourself is much cheaper.

"K so I don’t have measurements cuz I don’t measure anything…

This will make a 13x9 pan, sometimes a 13x9 pan and 9x9…

I generally have sauce left over, but I don’t know how much…

Sauce

1 lg can of crushed tomatoes (at the grocery store – don’t know the size but it’s the lg can – not lg costco size:))

1 reg can of diced or cut tomatoes

1 reg can of tomato sauce

1 small can of tomato paste

Italian seasoning

Oregano

Basil

Parsley

Garlic powder

Chopped onions (fresh or dried)

Pepper

Salt

(if you add a little bit of sugar it will make it less spicy if you like less spicy)

Simmer for a few hours to blend all the flavors (or as long as you can :). Simmer while you are preparing everything else. The flavors will blend during the weeks it spends in the freezer)

Brown Ground Italian Sausage and add to sauce (you could also do ground beef, or meatballs, or Italian links for spaghetti too:)) (if doing italian links squeeze out of the skin and brown then add to sauce)

Cook one box of lasagna noodles (you need 9 unbroken ones and can have an equivalent of 3 broken ones to fill a 13x9 so when you do a whole box you can generally do the 13x9 and 9x9 since you have enough sauce)

Rinse noodles and lay flat on the counter

Cheeses

1 tub of ricotta cheese (I like the lowfat precious brand – there are two sizes, you want the larger size)

1 egg

Italian Seasoning

Italian Bread crumbs

Parmesan cheese

-mix above ingredients together

Grate a ball of mozzarella cheese (I like the low fat precious brand)

Lasagna

Spread a little bit of sauce on the bottom of pan

Lay 3 lasagna noodles and the cut/broken ones to fill the bottom of 13x9 pan

Spread sauce over each noodles

Drop small spoonfuls of cheese mixture

Spread grated mozzarella cheese over top

Layer more lasagna noodles on top and press down to evenly spread cheese mixture

Repeat sauce, cheese mixture, mozzarella

Another layer of noodles again pressing to evenly spread cheese mixture

Sauce and mozzarella

Put in Freezer or Bake in oven 350 degrees 30-45 minutes till top is golden brown

Dinner tonight / Freezer Meal Meatloaf

Tonight we are going over to a friends house for dinner. Sales presentation dinner :(. But free food and a room for the kids to be away from me. SOLD. I however won't be buying anything. I will be thankful for that salesman in my prayers tonight though :)
I made up this recipe so if you hate it, you suck! Or mess around with it until you like it. It's fun to create.
This is one that you need to put into a pan/Pyrex/casserole dish. Or sometimes I put it in a big loaf pan and then seal it with a food saver, if you have one.

1 lb. Lean Ground Beef
1/2 lb. Ground Pork
1 1/2 tsp. Crushed Garlic Cloves
1 Egg (slightly beaten)
1/4 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Pepper
1/4 tsp. Basil
1/4 tsp. Thyme
1/4 cup Oats
2 tbsp. melted butter
1/4 cup minced onions
1/4 cup Parmesan
1/2 cup Mozzarella
1 tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce
1/4 -1/2 cup Spinach (you can just put the leaves in whole. When you start mixing with your hands it breaks up the leaves. BUT if you really don't want your kids to know its in there, finely chop them up before putting them in the bowl)

Combine above ingredients in a bowl. Squish together with hands :). Shape into a loaf. once in loaf shape, poke a few finger holes through out the loaf. Pour another 1 tbsp, Worcestershire sauce into the various holes.
Surround with 3 cups (75% cooked) Wild Rice Blend. I under cook the rice because they with soften some with the cooking of the meatloaf juices:)

Note: My friend kept thinking this was not cooked because it was still pink in the middle. The pork makes it a little pink so don't keep cooking it until it's brown. It will not get completely brown :)
Also it's been a while since I cooked this. Just guessing here, 365 for 40-45 min (if its completely thawed) longer if partially frozen still....

Have you heard of this!!!!

I want a referal bonus!! HOW MUCH DO YOU PAY FOR A BOX OF DIAPERS!!! YES I'M SCREAMING IT. I PAY $23.51 FOR THESE NAME BRAND DIAPERS. Here's how... Go to Amazon.com. Sign up for the mom's club. Just type mom's club in the search box. That gives you free 2 day shipping, just wrap the kid in a dish rag if you are completely out of diapers. It's only two days. Or I bet if you are like me, you can scrounge up enough to last 2 days. Car, diaper bag, church bag, downstairs, moms house..... Then sign up for "suscribe" next to the item you want to subscribe to, wipes are a great deal too. Mom's club saves you 15%, Subscribing saves you another 15%. Subscribing just sets it up so they are delivered regularly. Every month, 2 months 3 months or 6 months. You can ALWAYS change your subscription. I just got an email saying mine was about to ship, but I still have quiet a few, so I just pushed it out 2 weeks. AWESOME! GO DO IT NOW!!!

Taco Soup

This recipe came from Jenny

This is what we are having tonight. This is the easiest of the last minute, because it doesn't even really need long to defrost. This is the one where, "Oh crap I have been gone all day and didn't pull something out before I left."
This one is a great beginner one because you just put it in a Ziploc gallon freezer bag and lay it flat like a book. They stack up nicely and take up little room in the freezer. Do this one even if you aren't going to always eat freezer meals and just need that last minute meal. Much cheaper than eating out and better for you.
I always have sour cream in my fridge. It doesn't expire for a long time and a bunch of my freezer meals are Mexican :). I also always have cheese, who doesn't. I always have tortilla chips too. Even if they are stale, they taste great crumbled up in this soup. (if you don't have anything to top it with (sour cream, cheese or chips, it still tastes great)
The canned beans and corn are great to buy in case lot sales and just have in your food storage



Taco Soup (serves 12 skinny people, more like 8-10) So divide one recipe into 2 bags unless your Mormon or a polygamist.

2 lbs ground beef (I buy in bulk at Costco)

1 envelope taco seasoning (I also buy the huge container at Costco, its 2.25 tbsps)
28 oz crushed tomatoes
15 oz salsa
15 oz canned corn (or I can use frozen)
16 oz kidney beans
15 oz black beans

Defrost and cook in sauce pan. You can serve the soup with cheese, sour cream, and tortilla chips

(whatever you have on hand).

Side note When you are doing this in larger quantities, it is hard to brown more then 2 lbs of ground beef at a time. So just do one recipe at a time but get everything out for 3 (6 meals for a family of 4-6). Ground the beef, put in big mixing bowl, add other ingredients, divide into two bags. REPEAT. You can use all the same dishes so it is still a time saver.

Other side note, write on the bags with a sharpie ("Taco Soup, 1/27/11, Heat in saucepan, top with sour cream, cheese and crumbled tortilla chips") BEFORE you put in the taco soup. Much easier :)

More recipes at a later date

Freezer Meals

I've had several people ask me about freezer meals. We pretty much live off them, since I only now have time to cook once a month. BONUS only really have to clean up once a month too.

Here is the low down. I make 3 meals, 6 times each recipe. Basic math there you have 18 meals. I bet you are thinking, "But Emily there are 30 days in a month." Well we all have pizza nights, eat at parents, eat out, eat cereal, you understand... 18 should be plenty.
Once a month. For me it's the first Tuesday. Set a day, rent a new movie from redbox and stick the kids in front of the TV. Or I get together with a friend and we help eachother. Take turns doing the shopping for both of us. And we are both there if one needs to stop and help with the kids.
It will take a while to build up stock so you can't live off only freezer meals the first few months, or you are rotating between 3 meals. Boring to my palate. But once you have a good rotation, you'll not need to cook again :) other then the first Tuesday.

Best investment I ever made was buying a deep freezer. Look on craigslist, or your local classified ads.
Second best investment. Pyrex freezer wear with the tight seal lids. Kind of expensive, I bet your thinking. Well start off with buying an extra dish when you go to the store. They are about $6 each. When I first started I used the cheap foil like throw away pans. Well those are $2 each and don't hold up well or keep the freezer burn out. You can see how using your Pyrex just 3 times (again with the basic math) pays for your investment. Also tried putting them in foil, NASTY! Foil will change the taste of your food. Not good. You can look online for other ideas, but I have tried them all. Just buy the Pyrex, save yourself some heartache.

When you put your meal in a ziplock bag permanant marker right on it, what it is, the date (meals are only good 6 months or a few months longer in a deep freezer), and directions on how to cook it if you haven't memorized it.
If it's in Pyrex, put a piece of painters tape and write the same stuff on it.

Things that have not worked for me, but may work for you;
Freezer meal swap. You make like 10 of the same meal at your house and swap it with a group of people. Reason this didn't work, I'm a picky eater, I'm a germaphobe (did you wash your hands?), I'd have to drop off my containers beforehand or use disposable pans, above mentioned problems.

Now I wake up in the morning, think what's for dinner? Are we both home (if not it's mac n cheese, cereal or McDonalds)? Are we going out? Then if I determine that its a family meal night, I go out to the garage and pick a meal. Set it on my counter for the day. I plop it in the oven, 30-60 minutes before my husband is supposed to be home. If you are one of those good families that had veggies with dinner, heat hose up at the same time.

Middle of the night woes

I lay my head on my pillow tonight and the first thing that pops into my mind is, "I'm not sure I can do this!"
Like I have a choice. I already have 2 kids. It's not like I can return them. Walk up to the counter at the hospital, "I'm sorry, this just really isn't working out for me."
And who do you ask for for help? Everybody I know has their own kids and is probably feeling the same way. At least I hope they are. I hope you all want to cry or scream at the end of the day. It comforts me, imagining a world full of crying moms. I can't be the only one. And if you do miraculously have it all under control, why would I want to ruin that for you by sending over my 2 little nightmares? I can't hold it together with mine, I certainly don't want yours!
Tonight we attempted to clean out the garage. All I wanted to do was get rid of all the baby stuff. I want to be DONE! I want to move on from this stage in my life. All the older people say, "It goes by so fast. You're going to miss it." oh hell no I won't! I am never going to miss days like today, where the whining and crying NEVER stops. Where it takes all my self control not to hit my children. Where my voice is hoarse from yelling. I think the child needs a hearing aid because he cannot hear me. You old people have selective memory.
Do you have any idea what I would give for a good nights sleep? Well I'll tell you, I'd give my first born. Or my second. You pick!

Remember this?

http://blog.omner.org/2009/03/3-for-free.html

Well I obviously didn't! I am scrapbooking and going through our old blog posts to journal on my pages and discovered this. So Sorry!

Jamie and Ali, your wonderful, NOT strange gifts will be in the mail first thing Monday. Sorry they are so late!

Please read

I wish I could write like this. I wish I could wear a sign.

http://bravegirlsclub.com/archives/2151

Sunday Woes

Why do we go to church? It is exhausting! This Sunday was fast and testimony meeting. My favorite :-p

First guy gets up to bear his testimony. He starts crying. Aiden asks, "Whats wrong with him?". Josh says, "He's sad because you won't sit still." That actually made Aiden sit still for about 2 minutes.

A lady gets up and starts crying. Aiden asked,"What's wrong with her?" I said, "I don't know."
Aiden says, "Why did her not get her nap? Where's her mommy?"
This continues with each new crier :)

Eggs (by Josh)

Josh posts to the kids private blogs a lot. This was too funny not to share :)

"Aiden loves eggs. This has been compounded by his love of dinosaur
train, the opening title sequence includes the dinosaur eggs hatching.

We went to the stakes live nativity last week and just before you get
to the manger scene there is a chicken farmer inspecting his eggs. I
think aiden almost totally missed the baby Jesus he was so excited to
tell everyone about the eggs and how they were getting ready to hatch.

This morning while getting ready for church he found some Easter egg
coloring stuff. He asked if we could color eggs even without a bunny
(he named both his bunnies Easter). Em set up a few egg shells for him
to color while I made pancakes after church.

After pancakes he brought one egg over and gave it to me. I told him I
named it sir eggs-a-lot the green. He named his other egg ass-a-lot"

I AM Thankful.

I have missed a few days. I didn't realize how hard this would be. It has been a good exercise for me though. (and the only exercise I'm getting ;))While I go about my day I try to pay attention to the things I'm thankful for in case I write about them. It just so happens that by the end of the day, I'm exhausted. I don't know why.....
I hesitate to write this because it may be held against be at a future date.
Today I am thankful for my husband. (and spell checker). But mostly my husband. Josh and I are opposites. We have some hard times. Neither of us are easy to live with. But when I stop and really see what kind of men are out there I realize how lucky I am.

I can honestly say that I have no fear of my husband ever leaving me or ever cheating on me. That is huge for me. I may go out for cigarettes and never come back, but he won't. I may regularly ask to hire a pool boy, even though we have no pool, but he would never want a pool boy. Or girl.

He is a great dad. He does struggle with the 3 year old, but who doesn't. I know I can leave anytime I want. Not permanently, but whenever I need a break, he is happy to help. That may be because he is sick of me moping or yelling, but he never says no when I want to go out.

I am a light sleeper. I am somebody who NEEDS her sleep. He takes the baby in the middle of the night if Owen's not sleeping. He takes him in the morning (O is an early riser) so I can sleep later.

Every Halloween he dresses up in costumes, some he doesn't like, for me and my favorite holiday.

Plus and most importantly, he puts up with my crazy. I think most of us are a little crazy. Well I am a lot. And a whole new kind of crazy that the likes of you have never seen :).
I mostly can't stand my husband, but I sure miss him when he is gone. I hate not being able to talk to him when ever I want. I hate not having his presence in the house. I hate not having somebody to punch 5-10 times a day :p. He is sorely missed.

I love you honey.

29 Days of Thanksgiving ;)

Can I be thankful for Pepto twice? Yep it's that kind of week.

I missed yesterday, bummer.

Lately I have felt like I have no control in my life. It is killing me. So today I CLEANED our family room. Scrubbed walls and baseboards, sorted, organized.... It was something I could put all my anger towards.

I had my temple recommend interview. I cried to the Bishop. I wanted him to fix all my problems. He didn't. But I left with a sense of peace. That if I want my problems fixed I need to fix them. Or just let go. Let go of my contention. I have been trying but I guess I need to be more creative.

I am thankful for Temples. They are beautiful and peaceful and lately the only place I can go and feel calm and like things will get better.

Here is the beautiful temple we were married in. It's alright to be jealous ;)

My greatest blessing

This little boy is the love of my life! He melts my heart. I have never been able to stand to hear him cry. He is sleeping now and as I hear him cough it hurts. I was scrolling through pictures of him to post and there's about a thousand I want to put up.
It bring tears to my eyes, how much I love him and how much joy he has brought to my life. He is the most wonderful gift. I would not live without him.

Oh and I'm thankful for Pepto Bismol! Been drinkin' that stuff like a drunk with his sauce. Then Josh brought me home the tablets (along with the puker). So now I'm poppin' those like an addict :).

WOW! Two thanks in one day! I must be so blessed!

30 Days of Thanks. Day 4

It was as if, my decision to do this, was also a way for the fates to try me. Like they are saying, "Oh you think you have 30 things to be thankful for? I'll show you!"

Today I was sick. I woke up in the middle of the night. That's no surprise, but it was at a different time then the baby. I was super nauseous! Then all day I was have stomach cramping and nausea. I thought it was possibly food poisoning. Josh took the kids out for errands so I could take a bath and relax. As soon as they came home, Aiden called for me. I picked him up to say hello, and he threw up all over the both of us. Thanks for saving that for me buddy.

So granted, I know I have a zillion things to be thankful for. It's just been a rough week, and thinking of the good is hard. It's much easier to dwell on the negative, like vomiting, a bank that double paid your mortgage by accident and now you have no money, a tenant who falsified applications and had her ex husband move in to our property. Totally illegal! It continues, bully guy from island park calling and leaving me a nasty message, another tenant late with rent. Oh and I'm in the Relief Society Presidency, sort of, and I found out that they decided as a ward to only provide ONE meal to new baby families. WTF! I know, that got me all worked up.

I can tell you this, Josh is very thankful for all this other stuff that is bugging me because it takes the attention off of him and I'm not angry with him this week. He actually said that.

So I rack my brain. Think happy thoughts! Today I am thankful for music and the technology we have to play it. ie my Iphone/ipod. I have the strangest mix on my ipod. From Lincoln Park to Miley Cyrus to Peter Paul and Mary to Alan Jackson. Crazy! But oh how music can help to take your mind from things.

If I had some sense, I would know how to add music to my blog so you to could listen.

Whoops, but still Thankful.

Last night while saying my prayers, I got to the "thankful" part and realized, I had forgotten to blog. But I didn't want to get out of bed. So it's late. But I did decide what to blog about last night so it still counts as yesterday.
On a side note, When I got to the "I'm sorry/repentance part" of the prayer, I told the Lord I was a douche bag, hehe. Bet he doesn't here that from most of you :) Now what did I do that caused me to be a douche bag, you ask? I saw a homeless guy on the corner with a sign.......


And I threw eggs at him.....


Just kidding. I looked the other way. Sat there at my red light and wouldn't even look his direction. I felt immediatley bad especially since I have dollar bills in my truck compartment just for that. I must have been in a bitter mood. So now I feel like I need to hunt down the guy, but I don't know what he looks like because I didn't look at him.

I am thankful for this Little Beauty



Our house is small compared to most of our friends. Our house is old. But we have invested so much time and money into it that it's ours. Plus it doesn't help that we are completely underwater on it so we will be living here forever! But at least we have a house. A place to lay our kids' heads to sleep.
I drove by the homeless shelter one Saturday morning and I saw little kids outside playing and riding a big wheel. I don't normally think of children as being homeless. Having to stay at a shelter and share toys, that will never belong to them. It broke my heart and still does.
So I love my little house that is constantly cluttered with toys that my children can play with whenever they want.