31 May 2016

Pics

Rose with her Barbie collection.

Rose just painted part of her doll bed with outdoor patio paint.  This is a hideous old 1980s bed with five different colours I got for $1 at a garage sale ages ago.  Rose wanted to keep the pink and green bits for now.  I still need to sew a canopy cover for the top.

Woodjie's artwork from class at the community center in the city.

Rose's.

The original picture is about eight feet long.  Because.

Your Replacement Hasn't Been Built Yet.

"Guess what? It’s not the job of corporations to provide jobs. The only reason people had jobs is because companies had this 'problem' of not being able to do their work without people. Once that goes away, so does the concept of human employment."  Article

Daniel Miessler notes that basically?  Employees are a big pain in the butt and open employers up to all sorts of expense and inconvenience.  The second our employers can fire us, they will.

He's not far wrong, I don't think, but I'm not following his argument that therefore everyone ought have some wage just for existing... and yet still where that wage would come from.  It's true we all have this "right to life," but that doesn't mean I have the right to exist on YOUR money.

30 May 2016

#JusticeforHarambe ?

What we know:  a four-year-old boy got into an enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo, forcing zoo workers to kill Harambe the gorilla after he refused commands to leave the area. 

The internet went wild after the story broke.  Folks are screaming that we should charge Michelle Gregg, the boy's mother, with child negligence, that she should lose all her children, that she should have to pay for all 17 years of Harambe's care and for any expense the zoo would undergo to replace the rare gorilla. 

There are even questions as to whether it should have been the boy who was rescued.  Maybe the kid should have been shot instead.

"Why should a human life be more important than a gorilla's life?" asked Alia Marie on Washington Post's facebook page recently. "We have too many humans on earth and not enough gorillas. We can definitely stand to lower the human population."

Wow.  The amazing part of this all is that there are plenty of other similar comments on the internet.  Some of them also remind Ms. Gregg that she'll get hers later and so on.  If I were her, I'd be changing my name and moving to another state right quick, the very second I were legally able to do so.

Look.  I'm pretty sure after something huge like this happens, it gets investigated by the cops, by zoo officials and whatever licensing organisation they belong to, and yeah... CPS.  Everyone screaming about how the kid said he'd like to get in to see the gorillas, how many other kids the mom had with her, whether she ran XYZ/ Whatever Name Childcare... guess what?  I will betya that is all being investigated, as well as how to prevent the public from getting into the enclosure again.  

Personally?  If I'm not there?  And I haven't inspected the enclosure?  And I am not an expert on gorilla behaviour?  I'm leaving this alone and letting the experts deal with it.  

29 May 2016

Indianapolis 500

Here's a photo of my dad's third cousin, Deacon Litz, who came in fourth place in the 1934 competition.  :)

23 May 2016

Caregiving in the Homeschool Community

Dad's dementia is progressing.  He needs ongoing help using the restroom, feeding himself, brushing his teeth, that sort of thing.  Mom needs to work, so Jacob is homeschooled.  He gets his schoolwork done and just keeps an eye on Dad to make sure he doesn't wander.  Not a biggie, but it does mean life is a bit harder.  Co-ops are harder to get to if they happen at all for him, as is studying at a higher level in high school courses via tutoring.  Extracurricular sports, field trips to the state capitol and so on are simply out of the question. 

I know several families who are homeschooling in whole or in part because of the needs of a family member.  It isn't always Grandma and it certainly isn't mostly single parent households as this article implies.  In fact, the people I know with this sort of arrangement usually have multiple siblings who take turns helping out here and there.  And they're married families with higher education statuses than you might expect. 

They often don't have very much money.  Get yourself eight or ten children with a working parent and a healthy homeschooling mom, and you're ok.  If a kid or Mom suddenly develops disability or needs intensive medical treatment?  Oh yeah, your life is hell.  Casseroles and visits from church friends only last the first week, folks.

I would venture to say that some families also homeschool specifically so they have that caregiver in the home at all times.  There are just beginning to be programs for children who have caregiving responsibilities who also go to school.  May I just say gently, these school-attenders are probably the people who have some extra help or a person at home who does not need help 24/ 7.  No one seems to care about homeschoolers who deal with parents with MS or other conditions.  You'd better be attending an accredited school if you want help (read the link if you don't believe me).

That's really chicken and egg to me.  I'm super pro-homeschooling, but I also see the reality these families face and the opportunities they miss.  In many cases, they're afraid to seek help or tell things as they are for fear of losing their children.

I don't mean to paint it as all bad, however.  There is something to be said for helping one another, spending time together as a family and that sort of thing.  I just wish people would recognise that you don't have to be in some poor, city-dwelling single parent family to deal with "issues." 

19 May 2016

"The girl was homeschooled..."

Really? Do you think these two fellas filed the requisite paperwork with the state of Ohio and spent actual time teaching this kid? Because I'm seeing a kidnapping and abuse story here, not a story about "homeschooling."

 
 
 

11 May 2016

Give Me A Better Gift.

Nice that you came to my wedding but your gift of about $144 USD is not enough.  Since you're rich and stuff?  I'm expecting more.  Pay up.  Oh... we'll totally appreciate it when you do.

What would you do if you got that email?  Puzzledandpissedoff asked online and has well over 1,000 responses.  Most of them don't involve sending a larger check, although one smartie said to send a check for a penny. 

My fave response is that she ought email back, "I am so sorry for the oversight. Please do let me know how much you deem reasonable to gift and I will ensure I get this issue sorted urgently."

Because I want to know the answer to that one.  Just for fun. 

I would, of course, promptly "sort" the issue by having a good laugh.

09 May 2016

Welcome to the Autistic Community!



A new video covering the basics for newly-diagnosed people and their families. Prepared by ASAN, the Autistic Self Advocacy Network.

08 May 2016

Free Mini-Workbooks!

I've used these for a while and just thought I'd pass on the idea.  You can "subscribe" for free and all that happens is that on almost every Sunday, you'll get an email with a link you can click for an e-book you can download and print.  Sometimes if the topic doesn't interest me, I'll skip it and delete the email.

Often, though, I'll click the link and print the workbook.  I skip the cover pages because for whatever reason, the cover pages are rather cutesy and not reflective of the workbook itself.  I would say that the workbooks range from about second to fourth grades in terms of the reading level and activities presented and that they're a good supplement to whatever you might be studying in science and such.

This week, I printed a unit on "simple machines."  We might do this packet over the summer or I might save the packet for when we are doing a more detailed study on levers and so on.

When you click the link, you can also look around and play some of their free "funtime games" (see the tab at the top of the page).  My fave is called Shisen, but the children like to play Mouse Trap.

07 May 2016

U-Pick Strawberries at Weston Red Barn

Woodjie says that he's going to be brave and try a strawberry today.

We had so much fun picking strawberries!

It was the first day of the season and we got there just a bit after they opened.

A view of the strawberry field from the top of the hill/ parking area.


In total, we got about 3.5 pounds of strawberries. 

05 May 2016

Stuff I Want to Buy

Dear Internet Companies:

Thanks for your interest in my business.  I see you've spied on my search history noticed I was shopping for sandals and girls' dresses.  It IS true that summer is coming up, I like to have my children clothed appropriately, and I have some money to spend.

So let's talk.  When I search for girls' sandals on your website, please don't send me dozens of results that look like the Romans took over some dominatrix den (in gold, no less).  I want something cute, preferrably in pink, and "normal" looking.
This is more what I want.  In a size for larger children, please, and with more selection in available colours.  Screenshot from Amazon.  It's cute, right?

What you keep showing me isn't normal.  I'm sort of embarrassed when I log off your website and on to another and the sexxxy Disco Roman Dominatrix sandal keeps following me in ads in the sidebar.

So there's that.  Another thing:  my children have this odd tendency to grow every year.  I have a strong preference for NOT spending $65 on what are probably very nice sandals that would last for years and years.  My children won't be wearing them for that long.  I'm thinking $30 is a more reasonable price, and I promise not to be mad if they look dingy by the end of the season when I give them away or throw them out.

Ok, now on to the issue of "dresses."  Can you please make them out of comfy material?  What is with this tutu stuff at the bottom of most things on the market?  That itches!  My kid will never wear it.  Same with the glitter fabric and the sparkles sewn onto the fabric.  Think "simple prairie dress in a cute princess print" and for older girls, you'd change it up with horses or death skulls or whatever it is that teens are wearing now.  More like this... only with short sleeves.
Rose, not so long ago.
The thing I've been doing of late is getting those cute cotton skirts you make that are wayyy too short for modesty (think "Uhura") and teaming those up with leggings or shorts underneath in summer.  I'm finding lots of cute things like that.

And socks!  Thank you for making amazing socks for little girls.  Lots of selection on that.  There are some things you're doing very right, but pleassse improve on getting some sort of clothing and shoe selection besides strumpet-wear in the "reasonable" price range.  Thank youuuu.


01 May 2016

Remember to Forget: Oh Yes, You'll Want to...

The plotline: Levi's girlfriend dies, so he decides he's gonna have a mental health crisis and refuse to talk to anyone, ever.  Instead using techniques any competent parent of a two-year-old would know to do (take away the phone and refuse to give the kid anything unless he "uses his words like a big boy"), this nitwit of a mother decides to humour him and schlep him off to a million therapists, dope the kid up on xanax and perpetuate the crisis.

Then when the kid is good and entrenched in his spoilt and bad ways and has dropped out of school, let's ship him off to his dad in America so he can deal with it!  Oh.  And no mention is made of changing cell phone plans.  Apparently the kid kept the same cell phone and the same data plan.  I cannot imagine the roaming charges from Australia.  These folks must be made of money or something.  They also sound suspiciously like Americans in their manner of speaking with a few words like "Mum" sprinkled in.  I only spent two years living there, so I'm sure as heck no expert, but even I can see through this fakery.

Ok.  Then!  The kid meets someone with almost the exact name as his dead girlfriend, and of course, she looks exactly like her, too.  And where did they meet?  In the shrink's office where, despite HIPAA laws and any form of common sense, this 17-year-old chick is working and snooping through client files so she can find out allll about the "mystery" of Levi.

He's spoilt rotten, is what he is.  A simple google search reveals this elective mutism from which he suffers is really super-super rare and almost the exclusive purview of bad novels.

Ahem.

There are just some books I can't put down.  I find myself sneaking little moments to find out what happens next to the characters.  Time spent in the waiting room is not so horrible.  I get a little lost in the story.

Remember to Forget is not one of those books!  Oh, man.  I'm reviewing this for BookLook bloggers, so I have to finish the whole thing no matter how much I hate it.  Which makes sense, because they want me to give an honest review on the book and if I were to just look at the cover and go "meh" it wouldn't be very fair.

But I hope to save someone the pain of wasting their day.  I jumped on this grenade for you.  You're welcome.

TL;DR / conclusion:

This book minimises the plight of people with real mental health issues, and it's corny.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Bringing Garbage Home

Some people up the street were throwing this table away. It was in pretty bad shape and one of the legs was off. I've glued the leg back...