Current issues and random thoughts

Since I don't really have a regular journal these days, I wanted to put some of my personal thoughts in the blog to get them down. I haven't figured out how to have a journal and a blog-hard to keep up with both.

So, I have a list of what I call "current issues" and random thoughts to go through. Feel free to read if you want, skim, or skip completely:) I'll put pictures in the next post. Not that I really know who even reads blogs much anymore since Facebook seems to be preferred.

These are in no particular order.

Cancer scares me. I didn't realize how much until the other day. I was in line at the grocery store the other day in the process of checking out. A lady got in line behind me talking in an ear piece. You know how when you hear someone speak into thin air, you turn and look-especially when you see the person is alone. Those head pieces are strange to me. Anyhow I heard her talking and turned. Not that I was on purpose listening in, but I heard her say "we just left the doctor. He's in the car. It's stage 4." She continued on that they have to go back, etc. I felt horrible. She looked very emotionally spent. I paid for my groceries and left the store with that on my mind.

I got to the van and saw in the car next to me a gal looking so distraught. She was telling what seemed to be her father to close the door because I would be getting in. I don't know why, but it came to my mind "that's the guy. He's the one with stage 4." Well, I saw him walking toward a lady with a cart, and sure enough it was the lady who was in line behind me. I felt such a sense of sadness for this family. I just wanted to say something, but what do you say? Who am I to them-some strange lady at the grocery store. I just felt horrible for them.

So I thought about it all the way home. I know family members who have died from cancer, I had a mission companion who had gone home and had cancer taken care of and returned to the mission. BUT I have never been through it with a very close person to me. I can't imagine the pain and agony of going through it. I know people get strength and there are many many survivors, but it still scares me.

Next.....

Bullying. It's big in the news. There have been some recent suicides in the news of gay teens and young adults who were bullied and ended up committing suicide. I read lots of stuff about it online. There is a huge celebrity outcry at the moment. There's lots of websites for gay kids are bullied, etc. It seems to be Hollywood's cause of choice at the moment.

Well, it got me thinking. Why is there all of a sudden such an outcry about bullies, etc. Not to sound insensitive, but kids have been bullied and teased and committing suicide for years-all kinds of kids. But we have never seen the suicide of a fat kid televised. Where are all the celebrities when other kids are bullied? The geeks, nerds, etc. Labeling the different groups sounds so bad as I write this, but I just feel like there are other kinds of kids who are suffering and where are all the websites and public service announcements for them?

I was bullied relentlessly my whole school years. I was chubby and there was group of boys from 5th to 9th grade that did not leave me alone. I remember walking down the hall and hearing "fatty fatty two by four, couldn't get through the bathroom door" and many others like that. It stays with you for years.

Continuing on...

I hate election years. Do any politicians tell the truth? And living in Virginia, we not only have Virginia politics in all the media outlets, but Maryland and the District. It is relentless. Commercials, ads, flyers. How do you decipher who is telling the truth? The all say the other one is lying. They accuse each other of using foreign money. The president gets involved then sends the first lady to campaign. I am often wondering how much of a democracy we have. It's all just a game of numbers. Republican rule a while, then democrats, now the Tea Party wants control. Can't we just all get along?

Observations and judgements

I judged a lady the other day and am now feeling bad. I was leaving Landon's preschool and it was raining. Not monsoon rain, but it was coming down pretty good. I saw a lady in the distance with a little girl and I thought she was holding what looked like her little girl's doll. When I got closer I realized it was a baby!!! The baby was tiny-I suspect not any older than 3 months. The mom had no umbrella and the baby was not covered up at all. I couldn't believe it. I offered my umbrella but she said they were fine and turned me down.

I confess I was appalled. How on earth could she carry such a tiny baby and not at least even drape a baby blanket over her-it was raining, after all!! I wondered why she just didn't keep the baby in infant seat. I thought about it for a couple hours, then realized how horribly I was judging this mother. I have no idea what was going on with this mom in the moments just before I saw her. Maybe the baby had been screaming in the car, or maybe the older girl was having a tantrum. Maybe it wasn't raining that bad when she left her house. She could have had a horrible morning for all I know.

I felt really bad and wished I did something more. I also felt bad after because I worried that I had made her feel bad by offering to walk with her with my umbrella. I know at times when things have been stressful with the kids, I may have done things some other moms would not approve of. Goodness, I let my kids do some things that I think are normal that other moms wouldn't do.

Moral-don't judge other moms if you don't know the situation.

On a happier note....

I am need to give myself a big pat on the back. I have been trying so hard lately to keep up with the house cleaning. We decided that since the kids are in school, including Landon 2 days a week that we would only have the cleaning lady come once a month. So I have taken Tuesdays when Landon is in school and spent the 4 hours cleaning the house. Well, it's about 3.5 hours by the time I get home, then go get Lanny. I've also tried to do better every night after dinner-not leaving dishes in the sink, etc. And in the mornings after the kids have been picked up, I clean up the kitchen and dining room before I take Landon to school. I have about 20 minutes at that time.

Today I spent a long time on the downstairs cleaning and organizing. If felt good to get things cleaned up and looking nice. I forget how much dust piles up. Yikes....I'm wishing I could start getting things packed up for when we need to get ready to sell the house. It will be nice to clean less stuff, but I'm also worried about keeping the house clean when we need to show it; but that is a whole other story.

And I have been pretty productive in other areas. I have settled into a good schedule for the week:
Monday-Music class with Landon, then Brownies after school.
Tuesdays-cleaning
Wednesdays-teach classes at RECenter
Thursday-errands, help at kids school
Friday-catch up, Costco when needed, grocery shopping, etc. Hang out and play with Landon. Lately he's very into puzzles.

The weeks go by so quickly when you have so much going on. I'm enjoying all of it, too!! The Brownies are so cute. It's been a little crazy getting the paperwork done and get going, but doing the actual meetings with the girls is really fun. I have some fun things planned and am really looking to camping with the troop in the spring. My friend Carla Price is really helping me a lot, and I'm so thankful for her help. She was leader of the troop when her girls were in and her ideas have been soooo helpful. I'm also thankful that Bishop is letting us use the church. It is really the best place to have the meetings-so much space and lots of options.

I love helping at the school. The kids get excited when they see me come. The teachers are so happy to have work done for them. Yesterday I learned the tricks to the copy machine-so I could staple and colate. Woo Hoo. I'm also learning all the names of the kids in the classes. Well, I know most of Jordan's, but I'm learning Spencer's. It's fun to put the names together from the stories Spencer tells when he gets home from school.

My little tumbling classes are going really well, too, I think. I am enjoying it, but am tired when my 3 hours are over!! I have some pretty cute kids and nice parents. There are a couple kids who are hard to get to participate, but overall I have good classes. I do have one little girl I'm trying to get to separate from her mother, but I don't know how to do it. I want to tell the mom to wait outside, but I think the girl would just about have a nervous breakdown. I'm excited for the next session when I'll get to teach classes in the soft play room.

Whew-that's a lot. I'll stop for now.