TMZ Reporting
I love how in some of their stories, they refer to this woman as "The Octo." Because judging from their other stories, they could never differentiate between starlets by using a nickname like "The Cleavage."
Anyway.
"Octomom" is in the news again for alleged child neglect. According to her peroxide/pirate hairdresser, the kids are half-dressed and their hairdos are all bad so you can't tell who's a boy and who's a girl. And they have potty seats everywhere and she locks the kids into their rooms.
OK.
If you had 14 children and many of them were toddlers, how many potties would ever be enough? And would YOUR house ever be clean enough to meet decent standards unless you had some help? How much help does she get? Because if I had 14 *little* children with me constantly, I might have to lock them in their rooms a sec while I opened the stove or took a shower. I don't know. I really don't. I've never dealt with that. Though I'm thinking she has disgusting decorating skills with the graffitti everywhere, and it sure looks like there are things she could improve on, but let social services sort it out.
Maybe it's a real and serious situation, but this hairdresser seemed a little overeager to speak on camera to my mind. Though yeah, spending over $500 on hairdos when your toilets don't work is prolly not so wise.
Remember Triptics?
I do. When we'd go on a super-long roadtrip we'd call ahead and order Triptics from our AAA Office. Then we'd wait in line to get them the following week. It would have a flip map from beginning to end of trip and construction sites hand-stamped in there. Oh yeahhh. It was like MapQuest, only... 1970's/80's version on paper with highlighter.
Does anyone else remember doing "let's go down this road and see where it leads?" These new dashboard thingo-s remove all the mystery. I still want one, though.
I am going to Iowa this weekend with Elf and Emperor. We'll be riding with my friend and her son who plays at our club. It will be fun to get away and play in a new place for a tournament.
Frederick Douglass
A friend was blogging about a child whose essay about how Douglass relates to students today touched a bit of a nerve. Today I gave Emperor an excerpt of Douglass's book, about how Frederick Douglass got an education. Emperor returned the book to me this morning with a smile. "That kid was so smart," he told me.
Yes, he was. I am surprised at how little the local public school children know about Frederick Douglass, but then I reason that they're trying to prevent exactly the sort of situation Andrea blogged about.
Measles
I am so flippin' tired of all the judgment. Calling parents crude names because they don't do something you think is important for their children's health is NOT going to convince them to do what you want. It's not. And I love how they place the blame for children contracting diseases on the parents who don't vaccinate.
I'm not a doctor, but lemme tell you something. Sometimes people go out in public with germs and they really should be staying home. They infect others and sometimes people die because of their inconsideration. That's the first thing. The second thing is that blaming parents when children get sick means that you somehow think parents are godlike and can protect their children against disease.
They can't. I got a medically documented case of the measles and my parents vaccinated me PLUS gave me all the "going overseas to Australia" shots. Nobody blamed my parents because I got sick with the measles. Nobody blamed parents for a lot of things back then. I wish I coulda parented in the 1970's! It sounds like a parenting Golden Age or something. Only look at the dopey outfits parents got away with dressing their kid in. Without judgment! It was even considered GROOVY!
But somehow? If one of my children got sick with the SAME measles and I hadn't vaccinated? Bad mom. All your fault.
Also? I want you to know that I have lost track of how many times people have asked me why my children are autistic and did I vaccinate.
EVERYTHING is my fault, people. I admit it. Earthquake? Tornado? Pestilence? That's me, too. Okayy, maybe just the "pestilence" part. :/
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Look Out, Dad!!
My father is the purple dot above the blue weather station. He's juuust outside Milton's evacuation zone. Well! My brother and I jus...
The Octomom situation saddens me. Those 14 children will pay dearly for having a mental case for a mother whose main priority is breeding en masse. To have 14 small children and placing potty chairs outside because you don't have workable indoor plumbing is inexcuseable when you are paying some flake 500$ for two haircuts. And as a hairdresser, I will be the first to say, NO haircut is worth 50$ let alone 250$. A messy house is one thing, a DIRTY house is another. A doctor already paid for a year of cleaning services for Octo's house because they were in iffy conditions before. It's just sad how this woman prioritizes.
ReplyDeleteGood luck in Iowa! I hope you all have a great time, can't wait to hear all about it. Safe travels!
Ah, see? That shows how LITTLE I know about "The Octo" and other important social issues. I had no clue she had a cleaning service. I have been subjected against my will to the knowledge that she is on welfare, though. The pictures reveal a house in California that no way could my husband afford with our measly number of SIX children, and he works full time.
DeleteI think "The Octo" is smarter than a lot of us want to give her credit for and is laughing all the way to the bank. Then again, I see these news stories of her hairdresser turning her in and going, are these her friends? Not worth it.
Have fun in Iowa!
ReplyDeleteSay Hi to the corn for me. :)
Ok, Dad! I will wave as we go by the farms. :)
DeletePffft!!
ReplyDeleteVaccinations do not cause Autism.
Many millions of vaccinated children are not autistic.
Many millions of autistic children are not vaccinated.
Now I'm off to check the other links in your story.
I don't know about millions of unvaccinated autistics, but maybe! Hard to know. I know my most severely autistic child didn't have vaccines until later. By then we figured what, are they gonna make him autistic twice?
DeleteMy husband was fully vaccinated too (the Navy makes sure you are when you raise your right hand). He got a medically documented case of the measles in 1992. Just because you are vaccinated doesn't mean you are immune.
ReplyDelete1988 here. :)
Delete1. One word for Octo... ponytails...everyone gets ponytails. All you need is a brush and rubberbands.
ReplyDelete2. That got intense... good idea to blog about cupcakes afterwards.
3. Have fun on your trip.
4. Triptics were cool... but I still got lost with the dashboard thingy.
Yepppp... even boys could use ponytails, yk? Think of all the cash she could save. :)
DeleteDavid's middle name is Douglass...
ReplyDeleteAnd it's an awesome name, too. Also, his initials mean he has gotta be a great dentist someday. :)
DeleteSo many things ...
ReplyDeleteOctomom-Personally irresponsible, for having so many kids she can't possibly support. The only ones more irresponsible are the doctors that put all those embryos in there. On the other hand, I don't favor government control of who can/can't have children, and how many.
Triptics-Still use them. Despite having mapping functions on our phones, there are some advantages to having physical maps (like when you're out of range of cell towers).
Measles-No question, that vaccines DO NOT cause autism. No amount of Donald Trump hype will change the overwhelming scientific evidence. And vaccination does not provide absolute protection to everyone that gets one. It's the collective action of the vast majority in the community getting vaccinated, with the majority of them being personally immune because of it, that keeps epidemics from starting. Low vaccination rate cities (like Boulder, CO) have endemic whooping cough and measles outbreaks, which is due to the collective low vaccination rates. Every non-vaccinator bears some small part of that responsibility. Sometimes I think we put way too much emphasis nowadays on "me, me, me", and not enough on civic and community responsibility.
That being said, there's no excuse for calling names, EVER.
Frederick Douglass-Definitely a cool dude. Strong guy, great advocate, hard worker. A great role model for us all.
Joe
Triptics are still around?? I didn't know that!
DeleteI hear what you're saying but to my mind, it isn't a vax/no vax issue. It's DON'T GO OUT IN PUBLIC WHEN YOU ARE SICK. If everyone made more of an effort to do that, and THAT were made the central issue? We would see a lot less sickness. I guarantee you I was just as germy as an unvaxed person with the measles when I had them myself. :)