A New Family

Tae Kwon Do has had a lot of unintended side effects. The biggest two are the facts that I am in amazing shape (And if Gary gives me permission, I'll show you pictures of my legs. Wow! I'm just sayin') and that I have a social group that I see on a daily basis. It's almost like being back in school, only better.

Of course, since I hurt my leg (we think it is a sprained ligament in my shin, but since my doctor sucks so bad, we're just guessing) 2 weeks ago, I've been getting a lot of grief. (Grief is one of Dominic's reading words this week. I'll have to let him know I used it on my blog. He'll be happy. Can you tell I have ADD? Oh, did you see that bird? Wow, I need to shave. Think I'll check my email. What? I'm blogging. Sorry...) Anyway, I've mostly been catching it second hand, since all the moms are very sympathetic and I was not there most of last week.

Gary took last week off to stay home and take care of me the boys. Gary has been doing Tae Kwon Do for about a month, and he was still attending classes last week, while I sat at home and wallowed in my misery. Each night, he came home and told me what various people had to say about my 'injury'. My favorite is the 15-year-old boy who said, "Tell her she needs to quit milking it."

He really is my very favorite 15-year-old boy, so I'll let him get away with it. But, really, I haven't caught this much slack since I moved away from my family. I feel like I have found a second family. It's wonderful. (But don't tell anyone I enjoy being made fun of, or I'll never hear the end of it. Never mind that I'm telling the whole world. That's not the point. That I know of, only two people from Tae Kwon Do read my blog. So, I think I'm relatively safe. Ahem.)

We Should Stop Grouping Children by Age in School

As part of Xavier's homeschooling, I am reading Understood Betsy by Doroty Canfield Fisher to him. First, this is a delightful book that we both enjoy very much, and I highly recommend it.

Yesterday, I read something that said, much more clearly than I've ever heard before, why we shouldn't worry about what grade someone is in, and just let them learn:

"Why - why," said Elizabeth Ann, "I don't know what I am at all. If I'm second-grade arithmetic and seventh-grade reading and third-grade spelling, what grade am I?"

The teacher laughed, "You aren't any grade at all, no matter where you are in school. You're just yourself, aren't you? What difference does it make what grade you're in? And what's the use of your reading little baby things too easy for you just because you don't know your multiplication table?

"Well, for goodness' sakes!" ejaculated Elizabeth Ann, feeling very much as though somebody had stood her suddenly on her head.

"What's the matter?" asked the teacher again.

This time Elizabeth Ann didn't answer because she herself didn't know what the matter was. But I do, and I'll tell you. The matter was that never before had she known what she was doing in school. She had always thought she was there to pass from one grade to another and she was ever so startled to get a glimpse of the fact that she was there to learn how to read and write and cipher and generally use her mind, so she could take care of herself when she came to be grown up.

Hence the reason that my children (and I) have no idea what grade they're in. If you ask Xavier what grade he's in, he'll reply with something along these lines...

"Well... I'm doing 4th grade math, 2nd grade reading, and I hate writing." And, that about sums it up.

Our New Gas Guzzler

When Gary got back from Afghanistan, he promptly traded in our little truck for a nice, shiny 4x4 gas guzzler. I was in full support of this. In fact, I attempted to do this before he got home, but had no luck finding a truck I wanted. We got an amazing deal, and I am quite happy with our new vehicle.

It came at a good time, since it has a bench seat in front and I've needed to keep my left leg straight the past couple weeks. Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep your leg straight in a car? It is almost impossible. I tried it a few years ago when I feel down the stairs. We had a van, then. I got an immobilizer put on my right leg, then left for D.C. from Kentucky the next day. It was NOT comfortable. There I was, hopped up on drugs, my leg propped up on top of 3 pillows, and my foot barely clearing the bottom of the dash. Even though I am one of those people who are immediately knocked out by most drugs, I still uncomfortable enough that I could not sleep. So, having that bench seat has been wonderful. And, it has made me realize that all vehicles should have a bench seat in the front. Besides, no vehicle should have less than 6 seats. That's just all there is to it.

Then, there's the fact that we now have more room when we go camping. Although Gary has been trying to convince me to do minimalist camping, we are not anywhere near there yet. We would like to do it within the next year, but not as a regular thing. So, the extra cargo space is nice. And, quite frankly, the cab of our other truck just would not hold the 5 of us. Jump seats are not meant to be ridden in by full size people for longer than about 5 minutes.

Next, there's the fact that we're doing a lot of yard work this year. So far, we've put up a flag. It is absolutely beautiful. Plus, we've bought the cement, sand, and posts to put in a fort. We've also bought enough sand to put in a patio. The previous owners of our house were kind enough to leave us a stack of about 2,000 bricks. So, we're going to put in a, mostly, free patio. There is no way our old truck would have carried the weight of the sand and cement. We also want to level out our yard a little to make it easier to mow. That will take a couple loads of fill dirt. Fortunately, we have a good truck for that, now.

Plus, there's the towing capabilities. I just want everyone out there to understand that I do appreciate towing capabilities. Just think of the possibilities... Motorcycles, boats, jet skis, RVs, trailers, horses...

Oh my gosh, and winching. Truck winches help enable offroading. Is there any more basic fun thing for a family of boys to do than go muddin'? Every boy should go muddin' at least once in his life. Ah, I love my our truck.

Home Improvement: The Workout Room

When we moved into our house, one of the things we had big plans for remodeling. Unfortunately, Gary has been gone a lot, and the only thing done, before now, was adding a small deck. With the advent of Tae Kwon Do in our lives, it became obvious that we would need some place to work out. Previously, we had a small area in the huge shop that we used to workout. However, it was not sufficient to do our forms or sparring. So, Gary and I decided that we could take the space that we had originally planned to make a 'man room' and transform it into a workout area. This particular project would be fairly inexpensive and easy to accomplish. We had to remove two doors and two walls, cut a new door through the laundry room into the shop, put a door in a new spot for the workout area, and add a wall between the shop and the workout area. Gary started working on it within a week of being home.

The area designated as our future workout area consisted of about half the shop, part of the basement hallway, and our old schoolroom. Our basement is cut up into small rooms and hallways. It included a long, unfinished portion under our kitchen and dining room. We were using this portion as a shop and for storage. It was approximately 30' by 18'. Since Gary does not do as much woodwork as he would like to, he really did not need the entire thing for a shop. Then, there was a small room that was 8' by 7', a long hallway that ran almost the length of the basement, another room that is 14' by 17', a bathroom in the middle of the finished side, a laundry room (with the furnace and water heater) in the middle of the basement with the stairs running down the back of that. There is also a family room that is approximately 24' by 15'. It is quite a large basement. It just was not cut up in a good way. So, we are starting to re cut it. :) Eventually, it will be much better.

Right now, this is what we've got going on. Gary tore the walls out of the room that was 8' by 7'.

And used the wood he took from those walls to build a wall halfway through the shop.
That left him with two doors. He cut a whole for a door in the laundry room, which backs up to the shop. This set up is much better than it was before, since it allows a straight shot out the basement door for larger woodworking projects.

He will be adding the other door at the bottom of the stairs to enclose the workout room.

We got used mats from our dojang. All we really have left to do is add the sheet rock, paint and hang the door. It is already usable. And, it is being used every day. Thanks, Gary!

Personal Responsibility

"Why'd you let me drink so much?"

"Why'd you let me do that?"

"Why didn't you stop me?"

"Why'd you let me go home with him?"

"How could you let me............?"

"Why didn't you make me.............?"

"Why'd you let me................?"

These are questions I hear all the time. Why have the adults in this country given up their personal responsibility to such an extent that they actually rely on their friends to make all their decisions for them? Why are so many adults dependent on other people to decide how much to drink? Why are so many adults willing to give up control over their actions to other people?

I really do not understand this. I can, sort of, understand the need to blame other people for my actions. However, when you blame other people for your actions, you are giving up the ability to make your own decisions. That I cannot understand.

My Not-So-Secret-Passion

As just about everyone knows, I love children. I love them to the depths of my soul. I bleed for children that are unwanted. I wish I could adopt all the teenagers out there without homes. But, my true love is babies. I love babies. And, I love everything to do with them.

Only one of our children had a 'nursery', although each of them started out life in their own room. However, since we were renting those houses, I never got around to decorating much. And, I have always wished I could do so. If I had a baby now, that baby would sleep in our room until it left its crib. So, it would not have a nursery, either. However, I am at peace with that. I realize that the whole nursery thing is probably a little overrated. On the other hand, I do love looking at baby bedding. After all, even though the crib would be in our room, the crib would need baby bedding sets. As I keep telling my husband, a crib and rocking chair would fit very nicely in our room. So, although I no longer lust after the beautiful nurseries in Pottery Barn Kids, I do still peruse the baby bedding occasionally. Some day, Gary will want another baby (ha-ha!) and I'll be ready for him!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there!

Enterprise and Ebates Hook Up

Okay, I know I've talked about Ebates A LOT! However, today, I got the opportunity to write about them for money. So, I thought I'd have a go at it. Besides, they're wanting to highlight something that I took advantage of recently.

Ebates is a website that allows you to shop through them and get money back for the shopping you were going to do, anyway. I have found that I can use online coupons, in addition to getting the money back. Dominic shops through them for Legos at least once a month. Whenever I have to do shopping online, I always go through them, first. They have a ton of stores that allow you to get cash back, or have special coupons for free shipping, money off, etc.

When we went to Florida to pick Gary up, we needed to rent a truck. I went through Ebates, where they had Enterprise Coupons. Enterprise was the only company that rented the size truck I needed. Plus, they had a local shop and were willing to let me park my car at their store or come pick me up.

Check out Ebates. If you do, please, use my email address as your referal. gmpklp at bellsouth dot net. Thanks. By the way, Ebates is free to sign up for. They will deposit your money via Paypal. Plus, they're extremely easy to deal with.

Happy Father's Day to My Love

Twelve years ago, you entered fatherhood at a time in your life when you were not even thinking of children. Suddenly, you had a wife and a child. Although you had never before thought about having children, you jumped into the life of a father with both feet. You became a wonderful father. Yes, I know I profiled you. Why else would I enlist you to help me babysit? But, you have outdone my wildest dreams.

I never could have imagined what a wonderful father you would make. You are loving, kind, and thoughtful. You take the time to listen to our sons. You understand them and love them, all their quirks included. You accept them where they are and help them grow.

You listen to Gabriel talk about superheroes for hours. You play chess with Xavier day after day. You tickle Dominic and laugh at his jokes.

You support me in my motherhood. You love me and make me a better person, in turn helping them.

I love you. Thank you for being all that you are.

Hummingbirds Make Me Think of Nonnie

Nonnie was my grandmother. She was like a second mother to me. We lived two blocks from my grandparents and I spent a lot of time at their house. One of Nonnie's favorite things to do was watch hummingbirds. When we lived in the city, there was a hummingbird feeder on her back porch. Her house was set up in such a way that the den, kitchen, and dining room made a U shape around her patio. As a result, you could watch the hummingbird feeder from any of those three rooms. Plus, she had a porch swing that we frequently sat on and watched for hummingbirds.

When Nonnie moved to the country, one of the first things she had Grandpappy do was set up the hummingbird feeder. Now, Nonnie loved watching any birds, but hummingbirds were her favorite. Over the years, I came to associate hummingbirds with my grandmother. Every time I saw something shaped like a hummingbird, I thought of Nonnie. Every time I saw a hummingbird in art, I thought of Nonnie. This has kept Nonnie close to my heart, even though she has been gone for 3 years, now.

My boys have not yet discovered the fascination that hummingbirds hold for millions of people. They have not found out, and been intrigued by the idea, that a hummingbirds wings move so fast they are a blur, or that they can move backwards. It is summer time, again. I think that I should plant a hummingbird friendly garden, and in meantime, put up a hummingbird feeder. My little birdwatchers, Xavier and Dominic, would be thrilled.

To Ma'am or Not to Ma'am

Update at end.

One of the things I have always wanted my children to do is say, "Yes, Ma'am" and "No, Ma'am," "Yes, Sir" and "No, Sir." Call me old fashioned, but I have always considered it just a tad bit more polite. However, it has been difficult to get them to say 'sir' and 'ma'am' because so many other adults don't want to be called 'sir' or 'ma'am,.' I have heard so many reasons for this. The main reasons are these: It makes them feel old. They don't want the child to feel inferior.

Now, personally, I want my children to continue calling people 'ma'am' and 'sir' after they are adults. To me, it is not about superiority, it is about respect. It is not just about respecting the other person, it is also about respecting yourself. When you respect yourself, you should show respect to other people. It is about manners and being polite.

Since starting Tae Kwon Do, where we are all expected to call people 'sir' and 'ma'am', the children and I have begun calling people 'sir' and 'ma'am.' I noticed this within a week for the kids. I noticed it last week when I was in the emergency room. I called the nurse 'ma'am' and she gave me the funniest look. Now, I can tell you, I did not call her 'ma'am' because I felt inferior to her. In fact, she was getting a bit annoying. But, I do try to be respectful when speaking to people. It just sounds a little better than the typical southern 'honey'. This form of respect has fallen out of fashion. Well, really, any form of respect has fallen out of fashion. But, apparently, this particular form of respect has to leave the Senate.

Boxer, the U.S. Seantor, Chides Brigadeier General for Calling her 'Ma'am'

Senator Boxer, ma'am, may I respectfully say, you're being ridiculous!

There are many people who are saying this is an issue of Senator Boxer disrespecting the military. Quite frankly, I think that is ridiculous, too. I don't think this was about the military, at all. I could be completely wrong. It could be about the military. But, I don't think so.

Mom Power

I have often told my children about adrenaline. Adrenaline will allow a person to lift a car off another person. Adrenaline will allow a person to swim further, run faster, and jump higher than he could normally. Adrenaline may save your life. Adrenaline may save your child's life. However, adrenaline alone cannot do it. You have to want to save your child's life. You have to want it bad enough to be willing to sacrifice your own life in the process. This woman was willing. As a result, she was able to save both her child's and her life.

Mom Fights Off Cougar Attack on 3-Year-Old Daughter
It never ceases to amaze me that some women are willing to do anything to save the lives of their children, and some are not willing to even disrupt their lives long enough to give birth to a child. The ability to love, care for, and even save your children is there. You just have to value their life more than your own. In a society such as our, as selfish as ours is encouraged to be, it is assumed to be hard to find women like that. However, I do not believe it is a rare quality. I just think it is a quality that has been hidden and dissuaded. If we all stood up and took a stand for our children, we could show the world that children are worth the effort. We live in a society that wants all people to be selfish. But, I don't believe we are all selfish. We just need to let out that side of ourselves that is not selfish. We'll all have a much better life as a result.

I've Seen it All, and I Don't Want Government Run Health Care

Okay, so health care is next up on the Democrats' agenda. In fact, Democrats want to take us to a single payer system. Many people try to scare people by calling this socialized medicine. I'm not saying that it's not socialized medicine. In fact, the very definition of socialized tells me that a single payer system is socialized medicine: from Merriam-Webster:

2a: to constitute on a socialistic basis <socialize industry> b: to adapt to social needs or uses
3: to organize group participation in <socialize a recitation>

The word socialistic is defined as: and adjective describing: one who advocates or practices socialism.

Socialism is defined as:

1: any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods (the US auto industry except for Ford)
2a: a system of society or group living in which there is no private property b: a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state (the US auto industry)
3: a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done

We could really get bogged down in terminology. I don't want to argue about whether or not what the Democrats' are demanding is socialized medicine. I just want to let you know why I'm not interested, and I don't think you should be, either.

In America, we already have several forms of government run health care. I have personally used all but two. One of those, the VA, I have experience through my husband, brother, both grandfathers, and several great-uncles. The other, Medicare, is so closely related to SCHIP, that it is almost indistinguishable from it. However, SCHIP pays for medication and Medicare does not. The forms of health care I'm talking about today are: military health care, military insurance used through civilian providers, Veterans' health care, Indian Health Services, Medicare, and SCHIP.

First, military health care: There are some people who will always tell you the bad stories. I have plenty. I have already told one, here. I could go on and on for days about bad military health care. However, I will acknowledge that there are sometimes golden eggs among the dragon eggs. Getting to them, without being killed by the dragon, can be a problem.

Military insurance, on the other hand, is very much like any huge HMO. It is a blessing to have it, but is a pain in the rear to use. It can be very difficult to get a referral. Getting approval for tests can be a nightmare. However, those two things pale in comparison to the problems I have had with getting bills paid due to billing errors. The system is so excruciating to navigate that many doctors have major problems submitting their bills to Tricare. As a result, the patient ends up spending hours on the phone attempting to get bills paid. In fact, sometimes the patient ends up having to pay these bills to keep them from ruining their credit, while they are waiting for the problem to get fixed. If you do not pay careful attention to this, you can have major problems. I'll give you one example.

When I was pregnant with Gabriel, I got a pre-approval for his care after his birth. The approval was for "baby P". The hospital submitted one of the bills as "Gabriel P". Tricare refused to pay it. After a couple years of wrangling with this, we wanted to buy a house. The bill had gotten put on our credit report, and we were refused a mortgage until we paid it. Since the hospital refused to resubmit the bill, again, we had to pay them. Then, we were required to submit the bill, with full documentation of all services, to Tricare. After three years, this was almost impossible to do. I finally gave up on getting repaid.

Veterans' Health Care: Quite frankly, if you need any documentation on why veterans' heath care sucks, you weren't paying attention to the news while Bush was in office. The news has backed off this a lot since President Obama was elected. But the fact remains that the care is not the greatest by any stretch of the imagination.

Indian Health Services: First, I want to know: Do you know why Indians receive free health care? I always thought it was a form of welfare and socialized medicine. In actuality, it is in repayment for Indians' help during World War 2. All Indian Nations are just that, nations in and of themselves. When you are a member of an Indian Nation, you hold a dual citizenship. That is why Indian businesses are not required to pay taxes. They are autonomous of the federal government if they are on reservation land. Now, back to health care.

When we lived in Oklahoma, we did not have health insurance. After the first 6 months, we could have afforded health insurance(it just would have been tight). However, we were all covered by IHS or the VA, so we did not choose to get health insurance. Going to the Indian hospital was like going to the emergency room on a really bad day. If you wanted to see a doctor, you had to get there early. You had to get there when they opened, and you would still be there for at least 3 hours. These were routine visits. Quite frankly, if all health care was like going to the Indian Hospital, I bet we would cut way down on routine doctors' visits. I once spent 3 hours at the Indian Hospital waiting to get a flu shot. This place is not my idea of somewhere to spend a day. On the other hand, I did learn that Gabriel knew his left from his right at the Indian hospital. So, it holds a special place in my heart. I'm just saying that I am glad I had a home birth when we lived in Oklahoma.

SCHIP: Okay, people, I understand the need for SCHIP. I do. However, it should be totally reserved for the desperately poor. And, it should only be used for emergencies. Please understand, I think the things SCHIP covers is ridiculous. But, here are my main gripes with it. SCHIP causes unnecessary tests. When we were covered by SCHIP, the boys were required to have lead testing just because we were in an income bracket that was covered by SCHIP. Even though we did not qualify for the test by the screening (IE the questionnaire that asked where the children lived, played, etc.), they were required to be tested. They were also required to have anemia tests, even though they didn't need them. So, because we fell into an income bracket in which many children live in houses that contain lead paint, or have horrible diets, the boys were subjected to unnecessary blood tests, and the tax payers had to pay for them. The fact is that if you want the government to pay for things, you give up control over those things, in this instance, your health care.

I don't think you need me to talk to you about Medicare. If you think Medicare is the bomb, you need to go talk to some senior citizens.

A Typical Republican

H/T to the Reluctant Optimist

Back in the Saddle

Wow! I've been gone a long time. It's been a busy, but happy, time for us. Gary got home May 9th. That is the main reason we've been busy, and I've been absent.

Gary arrived in Florida (where the command he deployed with is located), and we made the decision to go pick him up the day before he arrived. So, we spent all of Saturday driving to Florida. We got there about 2 hours before he did. We spent Sunday there, and drove back Monday.

After we arrived home, Gary immediately started tearing down walls in the basement. We now have a workout room. It only needs sheet rock and hang the doors. It already has the mats down, so we can work out in there. This is great because we really needed a place that was dedicated to Tae Kwon Do practice. The higher forms can get really long, and we were having to practice them outside. Gary was able to use all the lumber from the old walls to build the new walls, and we'll reuse the doors. So far, we haven't had to pay for anything except the mats, and we got those used. We'll have to buy the sheet rock, but we only have to sheet rock one half a wall, right now. So, it's a pretty cheap project that will get a lot of use.

The second week after Gary got back was the culmination of a year's worth of drama. The boys were going to be in a play on the 23rd, and had practice an hour and a half away twice that week. That was a busy week because of the play. We had last minute costume things to do. I was in charge of the costumes. Saturday, the 23rd, was the play. It turned out great. The boys did great. All the kids did a great job. There was a lot of ad libbing, which turned up some really great lines. This particular play, the kids all wrote, edited, produced, and performed, themselves. They did a great job. Of course, they had adult help, and a lot of it, but they still did a great job. Xavier lost his costume. Fortunately, he had on shorts underneath it. So, he won't get slapped with a public indecency charge.

The day after the play, we drove down to Pigeon Forge, TN. We rented a cabin there for 5 days. We had a really good time. It rained every day we were there. But, that was okay. It didn't rain when we wanted to be outside, so the rain didn't hurt anything. We played a lot of darts. The boys played a lot of pool. We spent time in the hot tub, and I whipped everybody at Monopoly. We went for a walk in a creek. We also went to the Star Cars Museum in Gatlinburg. Our favorite attraction was the aquarium. Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies was awesome. They have a ton of sharks. Plus, they gave a great military discount!

After returning home, Gabriel and I started working on organizing and cataloging the library. I think this is funny, because it seems a common theme, right now. Unlike Michelle, though, I catalog all our books. We are still not done with this project. Dominic and I are reading through all the picture books to decide which ones to keep, get rid of, and box up for future generations. Right now, we don't have enough room on our shelves for all our books. I completely reorganized the library. It is now categorized. It was amazing to me how few books we have about the ocean and water animals. We have a large selection on land animals, a descent selection on geography, a good selection on ancient and medieval history, a descent biography section, and a huge historical fiction section. We could use some more science fiction and good novels for kids. It's been interesting, but I'm ready to get the library back to normal.

Then, last week, Gary started back to work, and we started back to school. It's been crazy. I have to say that we are all happy with our school play. We switched to a Charlotte Mason type approach, using a modified Ambleside Online, in March. It has turned out to be a really good fit for us. I am very pleased with it. It incorporates all the things I like about classical education, and cuts out most of the things I didn't like about it. So, it all works out well. We've actually been supplementing with Son Light's year 3 for American History. This works out well, since the boys are such good readers. The Ambleside was very easy for them. This schedule is still much lighter than what we were doing before, but includes American History more in depth, which I was missing for them.

Now that we are back in the swing of things, I should be able to visit here more often. We shall see. The demands of a husband are different than those of children. I can't be online after the boys are in bed, because that is couple time. So, I'll have to figure out a new blogging schedule.

PayPerPost: Take 3

This post sponsored by PayPerPost v4.0. First, let me say that I refuse to turn my blog into one big advertisement. However, I don’t mind making some money off it. When I discovered PayPerPost, I was very happy. I can choose how often I want to take opportunities, and what those advertisements are about. If there is nothing I care about, I don’t post about anything. However, I can usually find something to post about, when I’m in the mood to make some money.

This is a very easy way to generate a little added income. If you are willing to post more often, you can certainly make more money than I have. It is a very easy venue to navigate.

To date, I’ve made approximately $280. After this post, it will have been $291. They have recently launched a new version of the website. This particular version allows you to set how much you want to make. That can be a good thing, and a bad thing. You may have to play around with that a bit in order to get a good price for your blog. However, if you’re looking to make money off your blog, this may be a good place to start.