Reflections

When you look into a mirror or standing water you see a reflection, not reality as it actually is, but one that is flipped. Often times reflections allow us to see things in a different way or notice things we did not by looking straight on. So here I am going to attempt to flip my reality of the last 2 weeks on its head.

Starting school again is always hard. Christmas vacation was very challenging this year. We lost 2 dear family members, one expected due to cancer and the other my dearest Grandma, very unexpected. And what hurt was not so much her loss, because of my faith, I know that she is still with us and that I will see her again, but because I could not be there for her transition. I was in Florida on a long-awaited vacation. Vacation was fun, and still hard in some ways. Losing Grandma in the middle of it put additional pressure on the family and organizational challenges a trip of that size demands, but then my baby (toddler) sprained his ankle and had to be carried everywhere and required a fair amount of doctor visits. So I was nowhere as prepared for school as I would have liked, but it came roaring down upon me, and my baby who just started walking again the night before school started got used to having Mom always hold him, and wasn't happy about her going away routinely at all. (I am beginning to suspect grammar is one of the early things that get distorted in a reflection.)

So when I enter the class, I was relieved that most of this stuff is old hat, to a blogger of 14 years. Yup, this blog has been running since 2004. When I started the blog it was to connect with my extended family and share with grandmas lots of baby pics. The blog ended up connected with an online internet business I ran for the next 5 years and then Facebook came on the scene and stole the blogging steam. In some ways that freed my blog from the self-editing of having readers I knew and loved, and in many ways it just plain ignored it.

It is fascinating to blog again, to bring about snippets of life that deserve more permanent time than Facebook would give them, and to also share knowledge gained in the process. In this blog resurrection, I have updated both the look and functionality of my blog, adding widgets and blog roles (at the bottom of the page). I finally gave up pink as my background color,  as I no longer hope for little girls, but am a proud and exasperated mom of one pre-teen girl and one sweeter, smaller one.

I am enjoying using the RSS feed on Feedly. It has proven a most effective way to keep on top of class bogs and assignments, however, the news feeds are overwhelming.  I am much less enthralled with Twitter. The best thing about Twitter is the NASA feed I connected with. I guess I enjoy some permanence, some continuance as if I could save the perfect day (or minutes) on my blog and come back it when I need a lift. Wait, I do that. I lose myself in my blogs past to rediscover myself in the now. That alone is the most valuable reason to blog.
To see all the blogs for class, click on my tag #en3177

Toddling Through Demolition Zones

"I've been to Jr High, and you can never pay enough to go back."

I have heard that quote or ones like it several times in my life. Today was a day like it.
"I have been to hell, parenting young, over active and extra destructive children, and never wish to go back."

But today, just like when one has a minor heart attack, walking back through the halls of the Jr High they went to, I tasted it again.

My first child has autism, and was extra tall for his age. The second child was very happy to follow his lead for the first 4 years of his life. I lived in a demolition zone for the first 12 years of their lives. Every day they would find new and more creative ways to wreak havoc and permanent harm upon our domicile and all things in and around where ever they were.

As parents of the destructive whirlwinds, we were always trying to out maneuver their abilities, putting locks on doors (the one blocking the kitchen off was a key to sanity), building shelves 10 feet off the floor and giving up the concepts of ever having an intact door, dry wall with no holes, an un-ripped book, or un -shattered glass wear. This got so bad, that when we finally had a house built for us, we had drains put in every floor and wood boards put behind all the dry walls.

It wasn't until about 2 years ago, when the addition was built, that we actually decided the extra expense of the boards behind the drywall would not be necessary. It is really nice when your F5 tornadoes of children become teenage ready leaders, and are starting collage classes before they are out of high-school.

So, I still have youngsters, preschoolers, toddlers, babies. They have all been calm and happy compared to the first 2/3. ... However, my sister and mother somehow maneuvered so we would have her 3 young children today.

Hello Hell, I have to say, I haven't missed you.

We got a kiddie pool and sprinkler to help keep them busy. So they were running in and out of the house with buckets of hot water to help warm the pool. Not bad idea if you enjoy having a trail of wet sand through your house, from the side door, through the entry, the living room and the laundry room.

Then they got tired of it and wanted to play upstairs, so I some how found clothes for them all to wear (it turns out all their clothes, except their swimsuits were in grandpa's car).  And they went upstairs to play. A little while later one of the kids comes down and says he needs to go outside to see the results of the water experiment they were doing upstairs.

Which meant I had to go see what they were doing upstairs. They had ripped a hole in the bedroom screen and tossed things through it to the roof below them, and then commenced pouring water through the window, which in our house, allows the water to possibly be caught in the insulation under the window.

So I sent them all outside again and locked the doors. Of course they couldn't stay out of the kiddie pool. so soon they are playing mostly naked outside, having taking off the sets of, now wet, clothes I put on them. Then they decided to come inside and empty everything in search of the swimsuits they had on only and hour ago.

After they left the former contents of our sandbox in my bath tub, and the floor full of sopping towels, Grandma called. She was done with her meeting.

Even though I did laundry all day. I think the pile ended up bigger than it started.

Amy, I love you, and I love your children, But I have decided I prefer kid over kids, and I am really starting to like teenagers. Whenever there is enough of them to gang up on you..... you should at least be allowed to use a tazor, or tear gas (only I couldn't handle any more crying!). When I left the bathroom to grab them a towel I literally overheard Kira and Shannon plotting against me.

WOW, now I remember why whenever I tried to clean the house that the house would end up dirtier then when I started. I think I will keep my teens.

Dress well, thy part.

So let me ask a few questions. Does one go to a business meeting in a bathrobe or swim suit? What would happen if you did? You would turn a few heads, be snickered at, perhaps asked to go home and change, or maybe even get fired?

Does one get married in their grubbies? Or go to the fancy restaurant in the same clothes you use for scrubbing a toilet?

How many hours does the average lady spend in front of a mirror everyday to look the way she thinks is her?

Does not every stage costumer purposely construct the look of the character down to the smallest details to tell you what you need to know about them before they even open their mouth?

Do we not dress for the parts we play everyday?

And if so, then it is only reasonable to assume that if we dress like we are seeking male sexual attention that we would then get male sexual attentions? (ie, if you dress like a slut, you are must likely going to be treated like a slut.)

But wait- You don’t want this attention? Then just maybe you should consider dressing for the kind of attention you wish to receive.

I just finished reading an article that complained about the school asking the girls to refrain from wearing tight pants and belly showing shirts to school because they “distracts the boys.” They writer of the article claims that it teaches girls that they are to blame for how the boys treat them, and this creates the “rape culture.”

Seriously, we are now blaming men for the fact that they are hard wired to look at girls?

Yes, ideally, real men will look and never touch, and treat you like a respected equal no matter what you are wearing. But let’s face it, it is hard for the best of us to do that, (not to mention 12 year old boys) we try, but we still judge others on how they present themselves, and quiet often we treat them according to how they dress and behave.

So either you can agree with the writer and believe dress codes blame girls for being raped. Or you can accept the fact humans are humans and subject to biological follies, and use that to your advantage.

And one more word: if you drink to much and walk down dark alleys alone at night, it is not the “rape culture” that will get you. It is your own stupidity. Years ago there were a lot of concrete rules to prevent women from behaving in those ways that were most likely to compromise them.  Dark alleys and drunk girls are putting themselves in compromised situations, no matter what the decade or century is. Yes, the raper is guilty, 100%, but you most likely could have prevented it had you first thought about the possible consequences.

girly movies

I have to admit that having a little girl is forcing me to take a whole new look at the "girly" movies. for the first time in this house we are actually putting the movies with female heroines instead of the action packed boys' movies.

I do like the change of not having to have constant action, but then I look at what kind of a role model these female heroines are portraying and some of them make me shudder.

The Little Mermaid tops my list of shudder producing. As a young teenage girl, I thought it was the perfect fairy tale, but as an adult ***shudder****. In that movie Ariel is a spoiled teenager who has some unrealistic dreams, not based at all on knowledge, and she puts her father's kingdom at risk to achieve her dreams. And in the end she gets what she wanted for no other reason then her father couldn''t stop spoiling her. Ariel is sweet and innocent, but offers no moral behaviors to emulate.

I find this same quandary with Jazmin in Aladdin and Sleeping Beauty, more spoiled princesses gets what they want, in return for almost nothing.


I do not mind Mulan, as she is out to save her father and family honor and ends up saving all of China, and she doesn't act like a spoiled brat. Belle in Beauty and the Beast isn't too bad either, she has dreams, but is obviously well read, and saving her father is what introduces her to her future love.

My favorite "girly" movies though are some of the older classics. Cinderella is a lovely role model. She works hard, is modest, and only puts herself forward with the pushing of her fairy God mother. I also like Snow White, she is helpful and sweet and tolerates all challenges put upon her.

I haven't watched the 2 latest fairy tales put out by Disney. I have no idea what they portray the heroine as, but you can bet it will be linked to how often I let them get watched around here.

night densities

How come it takes until morning before you realize that 1 little Tylenol would have let you sleep all night?

Do we really become that dense when we are trying to sleep that we don't realize the reason the baby isn't sleeping is because she isn't feeling well.

After her tossing and turning on top of me all night I finally got her off to sleep this morning. And of , course like every good pregnant mom who has had no sleep the night before, I am going off to bed too.

How to be a girl

By my 20 month old....

Being a girl means:
-snuggling pink kitties
-wrapping dolls in pink blankets
-putting the wrapped doll and pink kitty in the stroller and pushing it around
-walking around in mommy's slippers
-then walking around in daddy's boots
-tromping around in my pink boots
-wearing pearls all day and all night (also during baths)
-wrapping daddy around my finger
-growling
-laughing
-using my stormy eyes
- trying on mommy's pink turtleneck
- adoring shoes, especially fancy ones
-twirling in dresses
-tolerating hair bows and extra ruffles
-talking on the phone
-hamming it up when the camera comes out

for those who can't get enough of her

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Blessing Day

Today was Shannon's Blessing Day. So she is officially recorded on church records and we learn a bit about the plan her Heavenly Father has for her on Earth.

We were told that she was specifically sent to our family and ward. That He loves her attitude. That she will have the strength to be a shining light and an example to others.

And that she will be loved and respected.

PIcs de jour and thoughts about clothes

Shannon is an angel and starting to look more like an older baby then a newborn. She weighs 13 pounds and is 24.5" long. And she actually slept a whole 6 hours (in a row) last night. Wow- that means I got to sleep 5 1/2 hours in a row last night!

I noticed today that the little dress she is wearing is about the 2nd most worn item she has owned. I like analyzing what clothes people actually wear and why they do. To me, designing a piece of clothing that people will wear until there is nothing but bare threads is the ideal. It means that my clothes was loved while it was on.

So anyways.... this is about the 4th or 5th time Shannon has worn this striped pink dress. And the there are several reasons why it has that many wearings. 1. It is cute and very girly. 2. It was bought used for $.99 off of eBay so I don't have to worry about staining it or wearing it out. 3. It fits, at first as a dress, and now as a shirt over pants.

So in general it is the design of the dress and then the lack of worry about it.

Kinda fascinating.... kinda says a lots for pre-used clothing.

And on that same line of thought... I talked with Karen of Wild Rose Farm and she was telling me that she is going to change business, do more food farming and less clothes sewing. And one reason why is because at many of the art fairs so goes to, she gets people in her booth her stop by and say "HI, I already have a jacket and a rug and love them." But they don't buy more, because the jacket and rug don't wear out.

I have a nice handful of jackets from her, and they do not wear out. I have, however, worn some of her skirts and pants enough to literally wear them out- after 5 years of hard use.

Come to think of it, about 1/2 my wardrobe is from Karen. More then 1/2 in the maternity suitcase.

a natural model

Look at that beautiful baby girl, showing off 100% organic clothes, as only a cutie could.

First Shannon is modeling an outfit that is so new it is not even on my website yet. Next she is wearing a pink striped organic cotton footie.

And then she sports the soft and lovely organic cotton fleece Sunny Footie and hat.

living doll

women time

When I asked for a little bit for feminine energy around here, my cat started mewing at me. "Feminine, not feline." I told him.

So being Saturday, after a very busy week of cleaning, homework, laundry. cooking, gardening and shipping, I thought it might be time to reach out to some women kin. I only managed to reach one of them. But she took me to an arts and crafts fair- where I actually found a few things I liked, and added a few touches of (dare I say "pretty") to this house. Let's just say, we have lived here for over a year and I think this is the first thing that was bought to do any form of indoor decorating here. (if you don't count that paint for the kid's room).

And then we visited a quilt show. And quilts embody many of women's amazing charateristics- they are so full of feminine energy. I love how women work as groups on quilts, I love the hours of intricate work, the careful sewing together of so many scrap piece to create something so warm and beautiful- and that they have to see the whole picture of what they are doing, when all the men see are piles of old clothes. Quilts also represent many hours of unselfish service, so humbly done.