Raaannnddooommm Thursday?!

It's Rannnndddommm Tuesday!

OH, wait, dang, I missed it!

Ok, we'll just skip the clicky button this week, but I need to get this post out.  I was away at a work retreat and neglected my posting duties.  At the very least, I need to get in one post a week.



Ok, here goes, a vomiting of what's on my brain matter:

Have to share an FB friend status.  Too funny.

FB friend #102 Has been kidnapped by her bed! Don't worry though, I should be able to break free in the morning. If not, please DO NOT pay ransom!!


Ok, just saw a news bit.  In Wisconsin, the legislature is working on passing a bill to fine $1000/day schools that continue to use a Native American mascot or name for their sports and school.  Apparently, Wisconsin is the state with the most mascots that use race based names east of the Mississippi.  I'm not sure what to think.  On the one hand, if Native Americans find it offensive, we should remove them, but if they don't have a problem or if they find it to be honorable, then should they all be removed?  I don't know how to land on this issue.  More here or here.

So, I'm driving down the road today.  I don't like to talk much about religion.  Much of that due to my upbringing, we just really didn't talk about it openly.  I went to church and Sunday school when I was young.  My early life was spent in the Christian Church, Disciples of Christ.  The second portion of my at home life was spent in a Congregational Church.  Part of my adult life with very young children was spent with United Church of Christ.  For the most part, I believe, most of these organizations are what you would consider more "liberal" whatever that really means.  Our move to a smaller town created somewhat of a dilemma for our little family.  I would like for my children to attend a Sunday school, but I want to be sure the church we attend is open minded and does not use religion to put down groups outside their belief systems.  The other thing I like, and maybe I put too much stock on this, is for Sunday school to occur during the sermon.  Seriously, is that too much to ask?  The one church we finally chose to attend in this town was actually because at first, they had Sunday school during a church service.  You know, they have the opening, some prayers and then the children's sermon, then the kids head to Sunday school before the offering and actual sermon.  To me, being an educator, I feel this is the best way for children to learn.  They are in an age group where they can play and learn at their level.  When our children were very young, the UCC church had Sunday school lessons based off the same lessons and Bible verses read to the adults and the sermon preached.  Brilliant.  That made sense to me.

Alas, the church we chose, just like all the other churches in town, went to Sunday school in between two services.  Our attendance dwindled precipitously.  I just can't stand the torture of taking my children to a sermon.  They are bored, bug me and neither they, nor I get anything out of it in the end.  The last time we were there (when my in-laws visit, when we HAVE to go to church because they think we're seriously bad if we do not go), not only did our children still have to sit through the church service, but we were greeted with an advertisement for a Christian movie before the service started.  And I read in the bulletin that the Sunday school was "Singing and Cinema."  I do NOT want my children watching crappy "Christian" videos for learning.  They get enough video crap all the time.  And the movie advertisement was just too much for me.  I do not want to go back there.

However, that leaves me with the problem of still not finding a church I am happy with.  There are no churches around here that have Sunday school during the service.  I do not like making my kids sit through a service, nor do I feel I need Sunday school.  I did Sunday school when I was a kid, okay?  I think I'm set and if I feel like reading the Bible, I will if I feel like it.  I also do not want to have to drive to another town 30-40 minutes away, just to get to a more populous area that might have the denomination and type of service that more closely fits what I'm comfortable with.

So the idea hit me as I was driving to work today.  How about a HOME SCHOOL Sunday school?  And I started getting serious about these thoughts.  People don't send their kids to schools because they don't like how things are done there or what beliefs are taught in schools.  Why can't I keep my kids at home on Sunday and give them age appropriate lessons with my religious belief system because none of the churches fit what I want? (which, really, I think means I will share about other religions and beliefs and let them know why I believe the way I do)  So, I'm thinking I'll look up Sunday school resources for Disciples of Christ or UCC beliefs and work it from there.  Anyone have any connections or suggestions for good Sunday school materials?  That may be tricky.

However, I think the not going to church will not work for our in-laws, so I'll have to think about that one.  Wish me luck proposing this to Mr. Wild.  Though maybe he'll see the logic in it.  I feel my children will benefit knowing the basics of Bible stories that are batted around conversations, TV, and news pieces, because, like it or not, our culture is Christian based.  And maybe some of those stories will give them a chance to think about consequences of actions whether good or bad, the blessings of forgiveness, and the rule of doing to others as you would want done to you (which I think works for anyone no matter where they come from).

You may wonder where all this came from.  An acquaintance of mine is asking other people about their beliefs, as she's trying to define what's good for her family in regards to religion and it started me thinking about mine and my family and our struggles to instill something in our children while we as parents are still not quite sure about where we stand (I think I'm stronger in some convictions than Mr. Wild.  The belief system he was raised in fell apart when he went to college and met other perfectly nice people that didn't fit into his parents' world view.  He hasn't been able to reconcile his new views with the old belief system that still clings to him).  I think it is something we all struggle with in different ways.

Get your scifi geek on!

I get occasional emails from a company that I once bought a Mimzy rabbit from for my daughter's 5th birthday.  They sent an email just recently of some new dolls they've just come out with.

DR WHO dolls!

TORCHWOOD!

So, besides buying all the BBC DVDs you can get your hands on, you can display proudly (for well over $150 each) dolls of your favorite characters!

Yeah, nah, I can't imagine spending that much money.  But David Tennant is still awfully cute as a doll.

Tales from the Darkside-Random Tuesday Thoughts

Most of my thoughts are about diseases lately, but I will not bore you all with the details of the Wild Child household.  Suffice it to say I am glad for my ibuprofen and I wish our health care system was more timely in response.

Speaking of which, should you be worried when your doctor looks up something to diagnose you with on Google?  Or should you see it as a sign of the times and he uses the internets to store his reference information and he doesn't have to lug a heavy book around to double check something?

I learned something about German kids' foods.  Our children love stuff in the shape of their favorite cartoon characters.  They love their sausages in the shape and colors of cute cuddly bears.

Thanks to Zuhause in Germany.

Isn't he cute all cuddled up there next to all the other interesting pork products in that case? They are called Barchenwurst in German.  If you Google Barchenwurst, you get more interesting images.  Go on, try it.

My daughter is the queen of sneak.  The big marshmallows are drying out because she's sneaky enough to get into them, but not smart enough to put the bag back like she found it.  If she would tie it shut, we wouldn't know she was sneaking until the marshmallows were gone.  It works in reverse.  She recently picked out some chewable vitamins and begged me to buy them, even after I told her that they were the vitamins she didn't like.  She begged and promised to eat them, no matter what, until they were gone.  Guess what?  She didn't like them.  So I've been making her eat them.  At least I thought that was what was going on until Mr. Wild came into the den with his coat on after the kids had left.  He pulled out an orange vitamin from his pocket and said, "This is the third one I've found."  I replied, "That little stinker."   Our dear daughter had been hiding the vitamins she didn't like in my husband's coat pocket.  Today I made her chew the vitamin in front of me.

That's all I got.  Click the funky button.

Social acceptability

Is it perfectly ok to stay in your pjs until noon?

I have been away from blogging because I've been having fantastic headaches, shoulder and neck pains, and some strange rash in my scalp area and around my eye.  I have been to the doctor and dermatologist, neither with definitive answers.  I am hoping a biopsy on one portion of the rash will tell me what the heck it is so I can find out how to best deal and get on with my life.  Of course, my dermatologist appointment was on a Friday, so I'm betting I won't get an answer until Monday or Tuesday.

Hopefully, more interesting things in my life later.

Jeers and Cheers

Jeers:  Pain in my ear, headaches, really bad neck kink, and mysterious red bumps in a semi-circle on my head that are painful to the touch, occasionally itchy, but not a lot.  After internet searching could be ringworm, psoriasis, or shingles.  Stayed home.  Not sure what it is and why does it take forever for the nurse at the doctor's office to call back.

Cheers: my in-laws finally left town this morning.  Nuff said.

Unpleasant parenting

Nothing like waking up at midnight by your child retching on the hallway carpet.  Not pleasant.

Worse is trying to clean it up wearing a mask and rubber gloves and still gagging so hard you can't get the mess clean.

Even more worse is having your in-laws in town for a visit staying downstairs.

Yeah, I'll be tired and cranky in the morning.

Random Tuesday, Random Tuesday

Say the title of this post like "Taco Tuesday, Taco Tuesday."  That's what I hear in my head.

If you don't like my gibberish, I'm sure you can find more at the Un Mom!  Tell Keely I said hi.

New thing I learned today at exercise.about.com.  You can't "tone" your muscles.  What you are really wanting to do is define your muscles.  Which means you have to lose weight.  And maybe build some strength.  You can't use lighter weights and higher reps to get lean defined muscles.  You should lift weights and lighter weights at higher reps gives your muscles endurance.  But to get that lean, defined muscle look, sigh, you do need to lose weight.  The good news is, I'm doing cardio and lifting weights for strength, which is two out of three things recommended.  As I get older, stronger muscles and stronger bones are important.  And I'm lifting for most of my major muscle groups (I'm avoiding anything with knees at the moment, they are making a funny popping feeling).  The bad news is that I'm not on any diet.  At my last dr. appt. they said, "Good, your weight is steady."  Which is higher than I would like it, but I guess the good news is it hasn't gone up.  I am thinking about what I eat, and I know I do not eat enough vegetables or fruits.

Which leads me to the fact that I think I want to join a produce co-op.  Last year I tried growing my own tomatoes.  They were okay, but I've had better and I think the pots they were in were not big enough to produce good plants.  I'm thinking a locally grown, variety of vegetables, forcing me to make something with them, forcing me and the family to eat them, might help bring my veggie intake up, bring down the processed fried stuff and cut back on the excessive meat and meat fats, that I might be able to drop that ten pounds I want to drop.  You'd think ten pounds would be easy, but it is the hardest thing.  Though, I'm not trying really hard, but I feel I shouldn't change my habits too much, or I won't be able to maintain the diet that will maintain my weight at a lower level.

Ok, so who has been to the Harley-Davidson museum in Milwaukee?  I have!  It's pretty cool, state of the art, lots of shiny vehicles (ooo shiny!).  I have imagined myself a closet motocyclist.  I would not be adverse to riding one (with a helmet on, I don't care about helmet hair).  The best part?  (click this and scroll to the bottom) They had a huge room with a movie screen showing the open road and archive Harley footage and about 10-12 different makes and models of Harley cycles.  This is where I could partly live out the fantasy.  I was like a kid, trying nearly every one.  I should have had my camera just to get a picture of me on a motorcycle, for once in my life.  I feel I'm a sleek-type rider, maybe something like this.  Huh, bet you never would have guessed I was closet biker wannabe.  But not the long distance, wide ones, with the leather and the long haired guys (ew).  I'm more into something sporty.  I might even like a sporty bike better than a sports car.

It snowed last night and this morning.  Last night, in the head lights, the world was all sparkly.  Not so much on this gray morning.  Did anyone check with Phil?  Did he see his shadow?  I have to go look that up next.

Thanks for stopping by!

Ok, I give

I have finally decided, this year, no matter how much I love the Midwest and am a Midwestern girl at heart, I am sick of winter before it's over.

I'm really fine with the change in weather, from the end of November, some snow in December and even through half of January.  But after two months of it, I give up.  I am officially tired of winter and wish it was warming up already for spring.  I am praying that the groundhog does not see that shadow.  However, whether spring comes in four weeks or six weeks is not soon enough for me.  It needs to come tomorrow!


I like the fact that I live in a four season region of the United States.  I love the earthy warm dirt smell spring time has, as the rains come down and the tulips and the lilacs fragrance the air.  (Sidebar: I used to hate Lilac Time where my husband used to work, because we didn't see him for 14 days straight as he dealt with his role in all the festivities)  Now I really enjoy that time of year.

I love the heat of the summer, going to the pool in the evening with the kids, riding bikes in the cooler evening.  Of course I could leave the high heat and humidity, but it wasn't so bad here last summer.

My favorite season is fall.  I had hoped to have a fall wedding or a fall baby, so there would be even more reason to celebrate, but I just celebrate by buying fall tablecloths and towels and enjoying the reds, golds, oranges and browns of the leaves.  The days can still be warm, but the nights are cool and you can sense the change in the air.

Even winter is good for a bit, with the super white snow and the perfect snowflake crystals you can catch every once in a while.  The sparkle of sunshine across new fallen snow.  The fun of rolling in the packable snow great for snowmen.

Then the snow gets dirty and ugly.  All the trash pushed by snowplows and blown around starts to get uncovered.  The grassy patches are muddy and brown, and the skies are gray, gray, gray.

And here we sit and I am begging for warm weather, blue skies, and green grass again.  Come on Punxsutawney Phil, don't let us down!