Moaning Monday: Duggar Haters

Seriously.  I follow this family like some people follow Britney Spears.  I check for news updates, I was holding my breath while Josie was in, out, then in, then out of the hospital.  I was just joyfully happy that she was given the help and diagnosis she needed and the healing she needed to start growing and get healthy enough to join her family.

And I see EVERYWHERE people complaining.  I thought about including the links, but they'd be followed and I don't want to reward those posters with more individual attention.

You hear/read TERRIBLE things.  People just violently hate this family
*It's not a clown car (vulgar and inappropriate in my opinion, not funny
*She's addicted to babies (they are quiverful, the believe children are gifts, and they are doing what they feel God wants them too...she loves babies but so do many people)
*They make their older kids raise the little ones (not true, read their book, watch the show, the parents are disciplining, teaching, helping, and loving their kids all the time, they teach allllll of their kids responsibility...not a bad thing)
*They are a drain on resources (they are actually very ecofriendly as a family, most of their clothes are second hand, they get tons of stuff used, etc)
*They better not be on government assistance (they aren't...they are actually debt free and have been FOREVAH)
*How could they possibly want #20 when Josie was a preemie (um...1, because they follow Gods word, 2, because Josie was a blessing to them 3, because Michelle is not likely to get pre-E again since hers was most likely induced by the GALL STONE SURGERY she had to have while pregnant)

The list continues and gets plain nasty.

They have different beliefs that challenge or vary from a lot of people (I know because they differ from mine!  I am NOT a creationist)

So why the absolute hate?

My theory is that MOST people who are hating on the Duggars are shamed by them.  Shamed by the calm and loving way the 2 parents address their kids, shamed that this family has 19 kids that are relatively well behaved (that Johannah is a SPIT FIRE!! My the spirit on that girl) and that they can't control their own 2.3 children OR their tempers.  Shamed that this family of 19 does so well staying debt free, shamed that they are so strong in their faith when so many aren't.

They don't shame me, they inspire me.  Even as I disagree with a lot of their views I admire the way they stand strong in their convictions.  Even as I do things different I appreciate and am in awe of their calm and gentle mannerisms.

I think its sad that people cannot accept that there are people out there winning virtual gold medals for parenting that should win our respect like gold medalists (that aren't on the juice) should win in the Olympics.

Don't hate the Duggars.  Love em for their care and responsible method of raising so many children that will be great citizens (even if they will probably vote differently than I do.)

Whats on your playlist lately?

Are you listening to oldies (or songs they CALL oldies but can't possibly be all that old cause that would mean that you were...oops)?

Are you up on the latest hits?

Rap? Rock? Pop?  Christian Rock?  Classical music?

I'm wondering cause we are just mish-mashing so many old and new and newish songs up in here.

Hubby and I both have laptops and played musical tag.  We would take turns playing song after song.  Some that the kids were requesting, others that we wanted to hear.

Don't judge us...we forgot that some of these weren't all that kid friendly :P

Just a sample:
Beastie Boys!!  Sabotage!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5rRZdiu1UE&feature=av2n

Usher and Will.I.Am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GRm7nl1eHk

The Darkness: I believe in a thing called love
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRYNYb30nxU

Ke$ha: Your Love is My Drug
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLGtc1pLWMw

Carrie Underwood: Cowboy Casinova
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oM7NQQ0Lfu4&feature=av2e

Robert Palmer: Simply Irresistible
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ-eisHzA84


Man I love music :)  I miss real MTV :(

Wonderful Wednesday Part Duex, some pics to share

The boy reading...yep, thats pretty much his favorite thing to do.


The baby and her four teeth


The girl missing SOOO MANY


The toddler asleep on his bean bag chair :)

Just had to share my growin children :)

Wonderful Wednesday: Teething is over!

For now...

After 3-4 long weeks of popping out one top tooth and then JUST as that one broke free popping out another one the Baby is finally done with the teething process for now.

Hopefully the next one/ones won't come through anytime soon!

She was miserable, drippy, slobbery, she had a slight fever at times, slept terrible, and bit the hubby and I.  I have bruises on my arms and cuts in ... other places :P

BUT we are done for now!  And she's sleeping better!  And smiling more!  And just a much happier baby.

WOOT!

Moaning Monday: toys.

Toys, toys, toys EVERYWHERE.

Sigh.

Yeah, I know its my fault.  I know I can control how many there are and where they go.  I know I could toss them all and save myself some heartache and maybe get some order back in my lives.

But its not that easy.  Every birthday we get tons of gifts and everyone wants to give one the kids will like...so they bring toys.  And we end up with gifts from uncles, friends, aunts, grandparents, us, and even members of our church family.

And it adds up FAST!

And they end up on my floor.

And I bag em up, toss em, donate em.  And STILL there are multiple toy boxes worth and other big ones and the tooth fairy comes and suddenly someone has money to spend on another toy.

ARGH.  I.am.so.tired.of.it!  How very, very, very frustrating.



By the way...have you seen these 'siftables'  wonder when they are coming out....

Selling it Saturday: The Bumblebees Closet!

Supa hot stuff.  Seriously, adorable things for your little ones.

A great take off of the pillowcase dress, crayon roll-ups (that my kids are LOVING), custom paci/bippie clips, these really great bibs, and just a plethora (yes a plethora) of ideas churning out of there all the time.  :)

http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheBumbleBeesCloset?ref=seller_info

I got three of her crayon roll ups as back to school gifts and my kids just LOVED them.  The Girl takes hers to church every Sunday (where she gets 'oohs' and 'aahs') and I am DEFINITELY getting them for the little kids in my life (that aren't mine) for Christmas (unless she comes up with something ELSE fabulous before then!)

I adore handmade stuff and I hope she does crazy well in her business :)

Check her out!!!

Marks of Grace. A Great chance for charity!

Here is the explanation for what these bookmarks can do:

Marks for Grace! 

We are selling these bookmarks to raise money for 3 missionaries headed to Kosovo. They are on a mission to bring God's light to this war-torn country. Your prayer is the biggest support you can give, but if you are interested in purchasing a bookmark to aid financially, please contact me at ahall27@gmail.com.

You can read more in this card that comes with the marker!

These are an awesome way to support youth that give lie to the stereotypes of disenfranchised/do nothing teens and young adult that are out there.

Headin for the 90's livin in the wild, wild west...

I listen to the 80's station a lot...that ole synthesizer sound just really gets me.

So I'm sitting there...listening to said station.  And this comes on:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wq0XZx_a7Y8

Its safe if you are allowed to have music play at work :)  Its just The Escape Club's song "Wild, Wild West"

The concept that they were barreling towards the 90's has always sounded so hopeful to me.  Like they knew so many things were in store for the world for that decade.  And indeed it was a crazy decade with tons of things happening.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990s

But I think to myself that we haven't yet jumped off that ride.  We are STILL transitioning.  We're up to 6 in 10 people having cellphones, cellphones becoming smartphones, smartphones becoming computers that call people.

And everyone is connected all of the time.

Our economy is tanking, tankers are spilling oil, and oil prices are fluctuating.

Nothing is settled.  The reigning rhetoric before November 2008 was so pro Obama you couldn't turn around without hearing great things about him.  Now...not even 2 years later, you can't find people saying good things about the poor guy :(

Things look bad for a lot of reasons, mostly economical and environmental.

BUT...somehow there is still an overall feeling of "great things are coming".

We're moving closer and closer to that Jetson/Star Trek era of teleporters, space travel, and moonbases.

Hovercars (long promised), medical technology, and dome houses are all on their way to our world and the anticipation still has that electric feel to it that we had in the 80's.

I don't know if this has always existed.  It seems like, from comments from older generations, that it didn't exist in the 50's or 40's or before then.  The changes started slowly in the 60's and barreled into a huge avalanche of "New" till now we are reading our books in tiny, slim, pocket puters that hold more than a huge bookshelf can at once.  We are calling people across the coast for almost free.

Its just insane and it struck me that this transition paper is long and huge, and that is probably normal, but since I wasn't there for other transition periods I wouldn't know :)

Wonderful Wednesday: GODZILLA

No seriously.  This Wednesday Godzilla is bringing a smile to my face.  I took the Boy and the Girl to see it at a local library last night.

The little 2 stayed home with Daddy.

I cannot remember the last time it was just me and the big two.  It was SO lovely to share that with them.  And none of us had seen Godzilla (really I hadn't!) so it was new and exciting for us.

And it was "Destroy All Monsters" so ALL the monsters were in it.  SO neat.

They had a blast, loved the movie, and I loved being with them just the 3 of us for a short period of time :D

Moaning Monday: Cell Phones

Clearly Cell Phones are awesome.  They are fantastic and helpful and one of the single biggest advances in personal safety.

That said...there is a side of cell phones that annoys me SO MUCH.

Its like this.  You call someone.  They don't answer.  You wait for them to call you back, they don't get to you in five minutes.

You start to worry, you know what they are doing (especially if its a spouse) and they should be able to call you...you know...if everything is going okay.

You call them back...maybe they didn't hear you, maybe they were busy.  They don't answer.

The worry grows.  You start run through the things that they could be doing that would stop them from answering.

Another 5 minutes passes and you call again.  Seriously...why aren't they answering??  What in the world could they be doing???

They aren't answering and you are crazy worried by this point.

You maybe even call a 3rd party "Have you heard from this person?" "No??"

Your panic is full blown.  You think about driving to where they should be.  You think about calling someone else.

Just when you are about to call some other fourth party your phone rings.  Its them.  They are fine...of course...they were in the bathroom, or talking to someone, or their phone was turned off or out of reach while driving, working, etc.   They are fine.  You worried for nothing, stressed out for nothing, freaked out for nothing...

and now you are left calling back the National Guard and explaining to them that everything is fine.

:P

So yeah, cell phones rock...but once again technology adds one more stress to our lives even as it removes another.