Exercise...

So, recently I've been exercising... and when I say exercising, I mean every day. I figure I can either not exercise and feel like crap and hate my weight and maybe get depressed or I can whip my butt into gear and just decide to do it.

So, I just decided to do it.

And low and behold Jer decided to join me! :) I'm happy about that, mainly because I want him to be healthy with me and I don't want to be concerned about either of us getting diabetes... he is insulin resistant too and diabetes is a horrible horrible thing to have to live with for the rest of your life.

One thing I have noticed as I have been trying to take better care of myself is this: People who have never been in shape (and never really tried) tend to have an easier time sticking to the process of getting into shape.

I think there are a couple of reasons for this... 1) we see we are getting into shape and say to ourselves "I've never been this strong! Woooooot!". While those who were athletes in high school tend to say "Holy crap!!!! I'm way, way, WAY out of shape... how did I let it get to this point?!" and 2) we made the word "exercise" in our minds synonymous with "torture" because, hey!,everyone complains about it... so it must be absolutely dreadful!! While those who were athletes know the real story... it isn't so bad, it's just kind of a pain to find the time for.

So my conclusion is this... people that haven't ever tried to get into shape are more positive about themselves as they slowly step into a stronger body and they are pleasantly surprised that it really isn't that bad of a thing to do... while those that have been in really good shape tend to get down on themselves about the whole "letting themselves get out of shape" thing.

To that I have only this to say: Be nice to yourself, you're working on it and that is what really matters. Truly trying goes a very long way...

Belated St Patricks Day..

On St. Patrick's Day the weather was beautiful (unlike today which is dreary and snowing from time to time), so of course Lissa and I took the kids to the park together... and of course we didn't consider that all of the kids would be wearing green that day... so at times it was hard to spot which were ours! But I was glad we went anyways, it was so good to enjoy some time outside with good company. Plus the added bonus of having one of my kids best friends in the whole world there :)

On No, Someone Told on Me...

  So recently I've been having a bit of a faith crisis, or whatever you want to call it. I've recently change my status on Facebook to "Cultural Mormon" because I have decided (at least temporarily) that I no longer believe a lot of what the LDS Church believes. I will continue to go at least every other Sunday to the LDS ward because Jer adheres to it and I respect that choice. Plus, I don't think it's a bad thing for my children to at least understand the culture. The other Sundays I will be attending whatever church I choose fits me... I haven't really found one yet, but who knows. Could happen, then again, maybe not.

  Now, just to be clear, I don't have any problem with other people believing as they will, I won't try to break down anyone's faith intentionally. I will not take offense to people talking about church in front of me etc etc etc... I think that would be, at very least, overly sensitive.

  Who knows, maybe some day I will decide to come back to the LDS faith, then again, maybe not... we will just have to wait and see really. Life goes on, things change, people change.

  Anyways, today the missionaries showed up on our doorstep :) They really are great kids, but we had friends over that were getting ready to leave and it was a inconvenient time for them to come and want to share a message. So they made an appointment to come again on Thursday. Did I mention that they are good kids? :)

  Anyhow, I found it somewhat amusing that they showed up within a couple of days of me changing my status on Facebook... where I have a few friends who are orthodox LDS to say the least. I know if someone DID tell on me that they had the best of intentions, so no hard feels... I still find it amusing though.

Obsessed Much?

 

(Turbo and Jer this morning)

 Turbo is a funny kid. He adores anything "Dinosaur" or "Crocodile" ... or really anything that is remotely lizard-like... this includes dragons of course. He commandeered one of Goober's sweatshirts (that has a dinosaur on it) and refuses to let Goober actually wear the darned thing without throwing a fit because he "wannit!" 

 

  Every day he asks to wear his "Dinos-or" shirt (he has three including the commandeered one) and when one isn't clean he is not a happy camper. He loves Shrek because of the Dragon, he loves Ice Age 3 because of "Roooo-deee", and he always asks Goober to play the "Cock-a-dile" level on LittleBigPlanet...

 

  He recently discovered that when Jer plays World of Warcraft one of his characters has a flying dragon mount and a dinosaur mount he can ride too. He gets upset whenever Jer is playing another character or when his character is not in a place that he can be on his mounts. lol
 

  Needless to say... I will definitely have to make sure he sees "How to train your dragon" when it comes out in theaters! Silly kiddo :)

Tired of People "Soiling" Religion.

Over the last week I have noticed something that greatly irritates me. I think I have finally been able to put into words why it irritates me.

This "something" is people using religious quotes to uphold their political opinions.

You may be someone that has done this at some point, maybe being unaware of the effects it has. Being culturally LDS I understand that by far the majority of LDS people are, in effect, Republican. I don't really have a problem with that per se, my issue has something to do with people assuming that all other people of a similar belief structure must agree with them politically because they share a belief system.

When people use religious quotes in such a nastily soiled area as politics if usually comes off as being condescending, somewhat like saying "I know better than you", or "you must not have a testimony if you don't agree". While I could in turn share with them quotes from the same sources... ei Book of Mormon, Bible, and Conference Talks... I do not, because what point is there in getting into a religious debate over political issues?

Not only does it come across really badly for the person quoting but it also makes the religious quote or person being quoted look like they too may be condescending... which often isn't the case. In effect soiling the quote and sometimes the religion.

So please remember as you go about discussing politics that if you put a $100 (something valuable to you, religion for instance) in a pile of cow poop (politics) it is going to get dirty.

Because it needs to be noted...

So, for anyone that was paying attention yesterday the Health Care Bill passed.

I'm the only person I know who is undecided on if this bill is a good thing or a bad thing.

While I feel that our politicians are mostly corrupt and mostly only out with only their own careers in mind I also feel that there are many unfortunate people that are dying because they can't afford the cost of medical care.

I do worry that the Health Care Bill is little more than a D.C. Power grab though...  a way for our politicians to make more money and have even more control over things that don't effect them. The fact that most high level politicians are lawyers is (in my mind) not a good thing. While I don't think all lawyers are bad people I do think that they have all been schooled in how to twist things, find loop holes, and sometimes put aside moral concerns to better do their jobs. Knowing how to "pull the wool over peoples eyes" in a politician can play out to be a very bad thing.

I worry that the pharmaceutical and insurance companies have effectively bought our elected officials. Why is nothing ever said about the price of what it take to make a pill vs the cost of that pill? Why don't we realize that insurance companies benefit from having everyone required to use them? Why is it that the supplies that are used in medicine are so outrageously expensive? These things aren't high priced because insurance is high priced... I believe these things are a big part of why insurance costs so much. Why is a plastic piece that costs pennies to make being sold to us for oh so much more?

Having a bill pass that is full of problems an loopholes pretty much guarantees that those problems and loopholes won't all be fixed...  if only because they benefit the politicians. Who has ever seen a bad government program dissolved? I haven't...

Besides the fact that our government is in over it's head as far as debt goes... and this isn't just our grandchildrens money we are talking about. Do you know who we borrow that debt from? That's right... China. A country that is the epitome of justice (can you feel the sarcasm?). What happens if we can no longer pay our debt? What happens if they decide NOT to be understanding when that happens? What is the collateral? This is a HUGE problem.

Now to the other side...

If you think that earlier when I said that people are dying because they can't pay for medical treatment that I'm exaggerating, think again. The poor in our country wait until things are to a dire state before they take  themselves to the Emergency Room and often by the time they get there it is too late to do anything... specifically when the "thing" that they were "waiting out" is diagnosed as cancer. It would cost us, the taxpayer, so much less if they went in to a regular doctors visit when they first noticed something is wrong and then we (the taxpayer) paid for that instead of the ER.

While I think that many social programs are too far reaching and that in many cases if the public was made directly responsible for taking care of their poor and downtrodden (no longer being able to just drive past that beggar on the corner thinking "he can go to a shelter" or "if she is really in that bad of shape then the government should be helping her all she has to do is fill out a couple of forms...") then they would give more, willingly, than what the taxes take by force. Just look at what happened with Hurricane Katrina with the amount the public willingly gave... just look at Haiti... when the public is made aware of major issues by the media they step up and help. The American people are some of the most caring people in the world as far as being willing to give of their time and their resources.

However, how does that work for medicine? I know that I, for one, don't know how to diagnose pneumonia, nor how to properly treat it... I don't know how to tell when someone is foregoing without medical treatment without them telling me. Why in this world does a child that is born to poor (or even middle class) parents and happens to need a tonsillectomy have to fight with the insurance company over if it was a "pre-existing" condition? Are you kidding me? btw, I have a friend who had exactly that happen to them.

The opposition to prioritizing who gets treatment based on need is a bit ridiculous in my book... be opposing it people are saying that their elderly terminally ill grandparent who is going to die of cancer anyway deserves a kidney transplant to live 2 months longer while the same cost and procedure could save a childs life... as of right now, the prioritization isn't by need... it's by social class. Those who see that as just... well, lets just say, they baffle me.

I have 2 sick kids at the moment... for me (with excellent insurance mind you) it will cost me $50 to take them both to see the pediatrician. $50 is minuscule compared to what the actual bill turns out to be... but it's still $50 that I need to go a buy Jer some shirts with...  And if I didn't have insurance? Ya... about $200 later....nope, the kids definitely wouldn't be going to the doctor until I was fearful for their lives or the long term effects of "whatever" upon them.

One side looks heartless and the other side looks careless... a choice between "the better of two evils".

So in the end something has to be done about all of it. As much as I hate to give more money to our smug and out of control politicians and hope it gets where it is needed... it looks like that is going to happen anyways. There is no way there is going to be anything bipartisan on this... I wish their were. The people that are for it, are for it, and the people that are against it are against it and they aren't going to vote for it even if it does have many of their ideas in it (which it wouldn't, because that would be like saying they supported it.)... because they are against the whole thing. There is no working together.

I guess it now becomes a "wait and see" situation... hopefully now that the thing has passed we will get some modifications to it from the people who were so dead set against it... because, lets face it, it's going to happen now... might as well tweak something you were against so that it isn't "so bad"... right?

Oh, how I wish there was a better solution.

People I Haven't Seen (or Heard from Personally) in Years.

Okay, so I have a dilemma...

When I was in college I had quite a few sets of roommates, not because I didn't get a long with people, but because I felt it was a good opportunity for change and a good way to meet new people. During the two and a half years I was there I had four sets of roommates, which I was totally okay with.

There was one set of roommates that I would term my "best" roommates, in that I got along fairly well with all of them. They were pretty neat girls. Though, I will admit, that I was always one to be over sensitive about being left out of things... so instead of being left out, often times I would take off for the weekend to do laundry at my parents house (kind of a preemptive "I won't be around to be left out" kind of thing... looking back I maybe should have acted differently, I don't know honestly)

Well, this set of roommates tries to get together about every four years or so. It's kinda neat. Last time we spent a weekend near park city, just the six of us girls... well, except the baby one of the girls brought along. It was a nice get away (though -- I admit -- I felt fat the whole time, that's what happens when you go four years without seeing people and you are one of two people that have gained weight, and the heaviest one by far. This was nobody's fault but my own though! Yup, blaming self there). Everyone was pretty agreeable, and I never felt outcast in any way.

Alas it's been four years again and I recently received an email mentioning another "roomie reunion". My dilemma is this: I seldom hear from these ladies except when one of these "reunions" comes up... I don't know if I should take that as an indication that they really aren't too interested in me or just that they have their own lives to lead and it doesn't occur to them (see, still haven't gotten rid of that overly sensitive to being left out thing... have a feeling I will be struggling with that for the rest of my life...). That by itself isn't a big problem but it also seems that there is a desire to have it only be the "girls" again and most of the ladies have never met my husband and most certainly do not know my children. Besides, we excluded the guys and kids last time and there was mention of sometime doing something with all of them (or at least a lunch or something with all of them) so we could meet each others families. Together these two things (no contact and no family) start to be a problem for me.

I don't want to give the impression that I'm a total spoil sport, that I'm a big party-pooper, but really... it does appear that these people don't really want to know or understand me (or each other, unless they have been in constant contact over the last four years and have all met each others husbands and families...). Yes, I'm much more than just a mother and a wife, I hate it when people assume that there is not more to me... but my husband is my best friend on the entire planet (I honestly don't know how I could handle life without him), and I would give my life for any one of my kids to have the opportunity to become all that they want to be in this life, get that -- give my life for their opportunity. I'm not saying that this isn't also the case with many of these girls... I just don't really know how I can really know them, or they me, without us at least meeting (or having the opportunity to meet) the most important parts of our lives.

Maybe they just need a weekend off from being mom and wife. I understand that. Hell, at the end of May Jer and I are taking off for a week sans kids because I almost went insane this winter because of the overwhelming feeling of loosing my identity. There has to be time to be "ME" in any persons life, but does it have to be an occasion that happens only once every four years? Last time I honestly considered not going because I wouldn't have my greatest emotional support in the world there with me (yup, that's Jer -- just knowing he is around helps me to be, well, more ME! Especially the current me). I think I'd be okay without the kids... then again, atm I'm a little OD ed on them... I would LOVE to meet the other girls husbands and families though!!!

This time, I don't know if I will go or not, I honestly don't know if it will make much of a difference to them or not if I am actually there. I mean, sure, anyone would say "Ohhhh, I'm so sad you aren't coming!" or "We really missed you!" but sometimes it's really hard to tell if that is just being kind aka not rude, or if it's honestly the truth. Besides... I have no idea if I will even be able to hold a conversation with these girls... I have, after all, gone a bit "apostate" and would most likely no longer agree with any of them politically, I still hate scrap booking, and I have this newly discovered feminist streak in me... then there is the old "I'm going to get left out" ailment...

PS I know a couple of them have been to my blog before (I don't know if they check it anymore) but just in case, my intention is not to offend or accuse anyone of anything or to hurt anyones feelings, just to try to hash it out to see more clearly where I stand on the whole thing. Okay, butt sufficiently covered.

My hands are cold.

and when I got up this morning it was WAAAAAAYYYY to early.

My grandpa called yesterday and mentioned he might be heading up to my mom's house today, it would be nice to try to make it up there... but I don't know, between kids sleeping in, getting Missy to preschool, and getting back home in time to pick both the older kids up... life really makes the 20 min drive one way a little tricky... especially if Turbo decides to glom on to Gma and Gpa's house like he is going to die if we leave.

Jer's work schedule changed today... though not much (thank heavens). He goes in 15 min later and gets home 15 min later now. That is nothing compared to a couple of years ago when it changed by an hour when daylight saving hit. Oh, and if you are wondering why his schedule changes with daylight savings... blame Arizona. Snots...They don't have daylight savings and Jer works with Arizona people regularly, so they kinda jack up his schedule.

I really need to go get some cheese from the store... I don't want to. Why is low-fat cheese so darned hard to find!?! Seriously, it's not like I'm asking for "No fat" cheese (which doesn't melt and is kinda gross), just low fat... you know, cause I'm trying to be more aware of what I eat... but I'm in love with cheese, so somethings got to give. Right?

Yesterday we didn't go to church. Jer had a headache and Turbo wasn't feeling well on Saturday night so instead of wake him up to tell if he felt well enough to go to church we just let him sleep in. But I had a cute outfit I wanted to wear and I was bummed. So I wore it anyways... me, in a skirt, with no apparent reason,.... do you think it snowed in Hades yesterday?

Anyhow, random, random, blah blah blah... guess I should go see if the two youngest are ready to wake up, huh?

Why so Much Divisiveness... so Much Insistance on "You are Wrong!"?

As I've been starting to look into religion and belief systems of people I'm finding something that is rather prevalent. Everyone seems to think that their own way is the only way to get to heaven... that everyone else is sorely mistaken.

The thing I don't get is why we must all focus on the things that divide us so much... be they political or religious or any number of other things. Why can't we focus more on how we are all the same? Isn't this what Deity is trying to teach us?

----

PS there isn't enough time in the day to learn everything!!!Gahhhhh!

He Loves Him Some Boots...

(picture taken this morning as Goober got ready to go out to the bus stop)

So it seems all of my kids have a thing with boots. They LOVE them. Every time we go somewhere they have to be wearing them... I'm starting to be concerned that they are going to insist on wearing them mid summer!
 

Apparently Goober was under the impression that you wear boots for cold weather, after I told him I was considering putting them away for the winter soon (I know, I know, wishful thinking...), he stated "But it's still cold outside!". I then made sure he understood, that boots weren't so much about cold as about snow and keeping our feet dry. 

Now how am I going to explain that to Turbo? Somehow I don't think a 2 year old is going to get that...

Happy Birthday Chuck.

Today is Chuck Norris's birthday. Just in case you all wanted to know.

"When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night he checks his closet for Chuck Norris."

Ummm, Where the H*ll do I put my Coat?!

Okay, so I have to admit, that when we bought our house we failed to notice the lack of a coat closet (among other things). The house is a split level so the entry isn't very large either... so no building one in, and the layout of the house doesn't provide any room to bust a wall out and install one.

So once we noticed there wasn't a place to put our coats (pretty quickly I might add) I started to try to think up solutions. At one point we hung up a set of hooks so that we could hang our coats on the wall in the entry... Goober eventually pulled it down over the course of many days of tugging on his coat to get it down, which of course I nagged him not to do. The solution I have finally set upon is to put a bench in the entry and then a coat tree in the opposite corner.

After setting on this solution I promptly procrastinated it. We put a set of hooks over the laundry room door (downstairs) and made due until I could find stuff I liked.

Then I got caught up with life and didn't even look for stuff I liked. Any other mom's do this? I'd imagine so.

Anyhow, recently my mom showed me a bench in one of the many magazines she receives in the mail. It was much like my bar stools in my kitchen and looked like it would fit well with my taste and fit in the designated area. I thought it was cute and said as much. Mom asked if it might work if she ordered it (she had a discount or gift certificate of some sort for this particular magazine) and had it sent to my house and then I would pay her the difference. This was fine with me, since--of course-- it encouraged me to get off my lazy arse bum and do something about the issue... well, technically I wasn't really required to get off my bum at all... just write a check lol.

So alas the bench came via UPS today and I quickly put it together.

Fits pretty well, and Turbo definitely likes it... guess this means I should probably start looking for a coat tree, eh? :)

Thought for the Day

Women are   Angels
And when someone breaks our wings....
We simply continue to fly.........on a   broomstick...

We are flexible like that....

(Thanks for sending this to me Mom, this made me laugh)

PS Happy International Women's Day!!! 

Spoiled

Recently we got a PS3... mainly because we didn't want to have to buy a Blueray, and new PS2 (ours died), and a Roku type box and spend a lot more money.

Today we went and traded in our old PS2 games and bought 2 new games for the PS3... one for the kids and I (that can play 4 people) and one for Jer...

Jer got home and fixed a couple of things with the TV (it is having issues, which makes me sad, but at least
Jer knew how to fix it without taking it to a "fix-it" place, which would cost a lot more and have the likelihood of braking it on the way to or from the place. )

Then spent some time teaching Goober how to play the new game... Little Big Planet.

They had fun, and I have to say, I think I'm going to enjoy this game myself!! :)

I wish...

... I could right a good post about how "blah" today is. But alas, when I'm "blah" I suck at not sounding totally whiny in my posts.

The main jist of it is that my legs hurt (which is good, but kinda annoying), my kids have a cough, it's cloudy and cold outside, and I need to go to the grocery store.

blah.

Sent home? Really?

Okay, so the last little while all of my kids have had a bit of a cough. With Missy and Turbo it was accompanied by a runny nose, but Goober hasn't struggled with that so much.

This morning Goober woke up with a cough (not surprised, didn't expect it to disappear over night) and we got ready for school.

I figured that I had woken up with a cough too, and had coughed for a short while (due to a dry throat) and then it died down somewhat... though didn't completely disappear. I figured Goober probably had the same issue. So I sent him out to the bus stop and proceeded to wait for my mom to show up to watch the other kids so I could go get my biweekly beating see my trainer.

After going to the gym to drip on the equipment a bit, I headed home and found my mom and kids gone... they had gone to pick up Goober from school.

Apparently the school called to ask someone to come get him because he has a cough.

Kinda odd really. I mean, I could see it if he was hacking up a lung, but he's not. And he had the same cough yesterday... and they didn't send him home then...

Anyhow, of course I let him stay home, though I wasn't so mean as to make him take a nap (which I would usually do if he were to stay home from school). I did tell him he couldn't play with friends today though... cause, you know, if the school sent him home maybe it's do to worrying about the other kids?

So he had a good day off playing with his siblings, playing on the wii, and watching movies... and occasionally coughing.

I wonder if they sent more than just him home today? Cause if they did, it was probably about half of the class...

Feminism...

 ...most often doesn't mean misandry. If you don't know what misandry means... it's the opposite of misogyny. Misandry is the hatred of men and boys.

Feminism is not that at it's core, though many self professed "feminists" are. I think that is because these "man haters" don't know of a better word for what the feel. That word is misandryist, not feminist.

Feminism is "the doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men." not the doctrine advocating that women are better than men.

Equal.

Or as Jer would say "so really, your an equal-ist." .... well, yes I am.

How is that bad?

Ouch...

Sore.... so VERY sore. Good sore though, cause at least I know that my muscles are getting stronger... but aoooowwwwwiiiii....

Then again, If I wasn't sore I would be wondering what the heck I was doing wrong.

Ahhh the Joys of Children...

Jer: "Missy, why didn't you ask me to do up your buttons?"

Missy: "Cause I don't want them done up."

Me to Jer: "Meh, she always has them undone when she gets up in the morning anyways."

Jer to Missy:"We don't want to see your chest."

Missy:"Yes we do!"

Jer to Me:"When she comes home one day with Marti Gras beads... I'm blaming you."