Your Valentine

I was un-tagged by Stephanie for this.


Brag About Your Husband:

What is his name: Greg

How long have you been married: 20 years this month

How long did you date: 2.5 yrs (lived together one of those years)

How old is he: 42

How old are you: 41

Who eats more sweets: him

Whose parents do you see most? About the same

Who said I love you first: I did

Who is taller: he is

Who can sing better: depends on how much we've had to drink (kidding!)

Who is smarter: we are both smart, we know different things

Who does the laundry: I do

Who does the dishes: I do

Who pays the bills: I do

His guilty pleasure: muscle cars

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed: the boy does

Who mows the lawn: mostly him (I'll do it if I want to and it's not too hot)

Who has more friends: we have each other :)

Besides you, who is his best friend: probably Jason

Who cooks dinner: mostly me, but he's better at it

Who is more stubborn: he tries to keep up with me, but come on...

Who kissed who first: From what I remember it was mutual

Who asked who out first: Me

What was your first date: a party.

Who proposed: He did @ the LSU lake

Who has more siblings: both have 2

What is your favorite thing about him: he makes me laugh, he loves me, and he comes home everyday!

I won't tag anyone but please participate if you want to.

Boomtown Rats

I debated where I should post this. I think people get me most here. Or at least I am allowed (I allow myself) to be more *me* here than anywhere else.

ANYHOO - something I got from my brother today made me think of I Don't Like Mondays. Remember when you'd just have to call the DJ and hope he played it for you? No MP3, no CDs even. And I rarely had the cash to actually buy music. I recall waiting with my tape recorder next to the radio speaker holding that pause button and waiting just incase so you could catch that favorite song.

And music video? Maybe you'd see one on The Midnight Special or Saturday Night Live. Video had not yet killed the radio star.

It was 1979. I was 12. Life was wierd. And I hated Mondays...




Were you distracted by how much Sir Bob looks like Jerry Seinfeld in the puffy shirt episode??

A good doctor

I'll do just about anything to keep from seeing an allopathic doctor. I had a lifetime of mostly bad experience with specialists and surgeons while a teenager. But since the age of 17, I've suffered from depression and anxiety. Most of that time I have been on meds. Most of that time I did not really like my doctors. At best I felt they were just guessing and at worst they were idiots. Part of the disease is the aversion to taking the meds. As a Christian, from time to time I question myself. If I truly gave this up to God, if my faith were just stronger, I'd be healed.

About 12 years ago Greg & I began seeing a GP that we both really like. He remembers from visit to visit who we are and that we are a family. About 3 years ago, I'd really had it with seeing psychiatrists who always seemed to prescribe the drug whose logo graced his coffee cup and note pad. They didn't listen. So I went to my GP with my baggage. He did listen, and after talking for quite a while we came to the conclusion that I was indeed mildly bipolar. With a bit of trial and error we've found meds that do help me. I discovered quite a while back that he is a Christian. My ring tone was a Newsboys song, and my phone rang while I was in his office. He commented that he really liked that song. We talked a little about that and he asked where I go to church. Since then, when I go for my med checks he'll ask me if I'm still making it to church and little things like that. Well I went to see him yesterday because I've been having panic attacks. We talked about what's been going on around me - stuff like my sisters not speaking to each other and Joey's illness. I told him I've been feeling like I'm failing those who need me. I told him I felt like if I just believed enough, I'd be healed. He said any feeling of guilt or condemnation is an attack straight out of the pit of hell and to recognize it as such and talk back to it. He recommended staying active with my church and keeping in contact with a Christian support system. I told him about my CCU sisters :). He even said, "It's very important to stay in the Word."

How blessed am I??

Beautiful Babies

Babies sure have a way of reminding us how time marches on.

My great-nephew Joey had his surgery just a week ago and is doing fabulously. He's gone from being able to keep down just 1.5 to 2 ounces of formula in the past to taking 6 ounces at a time. They've also taken him off of the cereal for now. He had over a foot of his colon removed, and as little as he is, there can't be too much left. I can only imagine how his mom feels, having to give him an enema everyday since Oct. 2nd, and now she doesn't. Their planning a "poop party" in a few weeks to celebrate.


And Miss Stella, our niece, is growing like crazy (finally!) Momma's milk is doing her body good. It's such a joy to watch my SIL fall so in love with this little girl. They are nursing and co-sleeping, trying to find the right sling, and she's asked me about cloth diapers. I gave her my Dr. Sears Baby Book while she was pregnant and she loves it. She just graduated from UNO in Education, so it'll be interesting to see if she ends up homeschooling. I have my crossables crossed!

Wii did it!!!

We all agreed several months ago that we'd be getting a Wii as our big Christmas gift. We've also known that by the time we had the money, there'd be no Wiis. We'd all come to terms with that. I'd even decided to not go around trying to chase one down before stores ran out.

Then I saw on the news last weekend that Friday morning (2 days ago), GameStop stores would be selling Wii rainchecks, guaranteeing delivery by January 25th. Knowing how hard they are to get, that sounded like a great deal to us. No trying to hunt one down. So Tuesday night, I stopped in at GameStop and talked to one of the associates (John). He very strongly suggested I check with him in the morning(Weds.), early. So Wednesday morning, Gregory and I go off on our quest. It was short and sweet. John had already gotten a call from his UPS driver - no Wiis today. So we did it again Thursday morning. Thurs., he hadn't heard from his UPS man, so we waited, along with 2 other customers until around 11:30 when UPS got there. Again, no Wiis. I could tell John was very disappointed for us. He asked if we'd be coming for a raincheck and I assured him we would. He told us to get there early; they only had 12 rainchecks to sell.

So Friday morning, with snacks, drinks, DS, my crochet bag, and an old blanket to sit on, we headed out at 7:30. We were the second people there. I had flashbacks of camping out for concert tickets, but we all waited calmly in our cars. By the time they opened at 9:00, there were only 3 of us waiting. I called DH and let him know that if anyone at his office was interested, they'd better come now. So we go home quite happy Friday morning, confident that we'd have a Wii within a month.





At about 8:30 Friday night, the phone rings. Gregory comes running, phone in hand, calling "EB games! EB games!" (they've only recently changed name to GameStop). I answered. It was John. "Penny, I have your Wii." We were there in about 10 minutes, and playing by 9:30. We love it!

Grrrr

Okay, I am really working on letting this go, but I think I have to type it out to do that. When is the allopathic medical community going to recognize the importance of breastmilk??? (That is a rhetorical question - I do know the answer is *never*)

Little Joey has an intestinal disease. We know that his intestines do not function properly. But are the doctors promoting breast milk for him since it is the perfect food for him? **** no!

He's back in the hospital and this time they suspect it is reflux unrelated to his Hirshsprung's disease. So what are they recommending for this 6-week-old baby? They want Mom to try adding some rice cereal to his formula. The sound you just heard was my head exploding.

Did you know that in their entire medical schooling doctors get a 2-hour lecture on breastfeeding? And I don't mean a semester class worth 2-hrs credit. I mean literally 120 minutes of someone talking and that is it!

Don't get me wrong, this is not just the doctor's fault. It just doesn't matter to way too many people. And that really breaks my heart. I hurt for every baby who doesn't get to breastfeed. Now I'm not talking about those who try and are not successful. Sometimes, it really doesn't work out, and for those cases I am glad formula exists (still sad, but understanding). I would never judge a woman I see bottle-feeding. First of all, I don't know what's in the bottle. It could be breastmilk and for some reason the baby won't nurse, or mom is not comfortable nursing in public. Or perhaps this mom tried her best and it didn't work out and her heart is broken over it. I am talking about those who really don't want to breastfeed. Those who think it's yucky or it ties them down too much. And I know way to many of them.

I'm starting to feel a tug in the direction of becoming a lactation consultant. I've just done some basic research and it seems harder than I thought it would be. But I still feel the tug. Maybe that's what I'll be when I grow up.

Joey

Once again I call on my prayer-warrior friends for little Joey. He's back in the hospital unable to keep feedings down. I was so sick when I was sick (ages 16-18) that I have watched my own son like a hawk for any signs of gut problems. Thankfully, none have surfaced. It was honestly a bit of shock to hear that Joey was facing gastro surgery. I really felt if it was going to be passed along, it would be to Gregory. But, like me, Joey has IBD on both sides of his family. None of this is bigger than God, and He can make the nerves grow in Joey's intestines just as easily now as when he was in-utero. I know He has a bigger purpose for this, whatever the outcome. He will carry us through.

Blog readability

Okay, Stephanie got me with this one - had to check it out. :)

Cash Advance Loans

My niece

I became an aunt for the first time 32 years ago. My first niece was born 27 years ago, and her daughter was born 8 years ago. This week I got to meet my newest niece, Stella Rosalie, born to Greg's younger brother & his wife. She's a little bit - only 5lbs 6oz - but she's quite the keeper!


I love seeing my hubby holding a baby :)



She was asleep &/or nursing for a good while after we got there. Then when Mommy decided to change her diaper she woke up! Here she's holding onto her daddy's finger and looking straight at him.



Her Grandma Joan didn't want to hold her since she's so little. We talked her into it anyway. I think she's glad we did.



She slept in my arms for a bit too. Look at the sweet little hands...

an interesting article re: "minimally invasive education"

This article is really long but it's really worth the read!

From a Businessweek Online Daily Briefing
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sugata Mitra has a PhD in physics and heads research efforts at New Delhi’s NIIT, a fast-growing software and education company with sales of more than $200 million and a market cap over $2 billion. But Mitra’s passion is computer-based education, specifically for India’s poor. He believes that children, even terribly poor kids with little education, can quickly teach themselves the rudiments of computer literacy. The key, he contends, is for teachers and other adults to give them free rein, so their natural curiosity takes over and they teach themselves. He calls the concept “minimally invasive education.”

To test his ideas, Mitra 13 months ago launched something he calls “the hole in the wall experiment.” He took a PC connected to a high-speed data connection and imbedded it in a concrete wall next to NIIT’s headquarters in the south end of New Delhi. The wall separates the company’s grounds from a garbage-strewn empty lot used by the poor as a public bathroom. Mitra simply left the computer on, connected to the Internet, and allowed any passerby to play with it. He monitored activity on the PC using a remote computer and a video camera mounted in a nearby tree.

What he discovered was that the most avid users of the machine were ghetto kids aged 6 to 12, most of whom have only the most rudimentary education and little knowledge of English. Yet within days, the kids had taught themselves to draw on the computer and to browse the Net. Some of the other things they learned, Mitra says, astonished him.

The physicist has since installed a computer in a rural neighborhood with similar results. He’s convinced that 500 million children could achieve basic computer literacy over the next five years, if the Indian government put 100,000 Net-connected PCs in schools and trained teachers in some basic “noninvasive” teaching techniques for guiding children in using them. Total investment required, he figures: Around $2 billion.

On Feb. 25, BW Online Contributing Editor Thane Peterson sat down with Mitra, a stocky 48-year-old with a mustache and a mop of graying black hair, in his tiny, triangular office at NIIT’s R&D center on the campus of the Indian Institute of Technology in the south part of New Delhi. Here are edited excerpts of their conversation.