My Rant

I was just over at Making Home reading a very good post. It's about birth control. I personally don't have a problem with birth controll and believe that it's a personal decision between husband, wife, and God. However, the post put me in mind of something I've wanted to write about for some time. Professionalism seems to be a thing of the past. Everywhere you go people are just plain rude/and/or take liberties with how they treat others. I constantly hear complaints about how unprofessinal somebody was. I continually see unprofessional behavior everywhere I go. Society today is all too familiar. When I was a girl, children referred to adults outside of their families as Mr. Mrs. or Miss (that was before Ms). I would never have considered calling a friend of my mother by her first name. Nowadays children call adults by thier first names and don't even consider using a title. At businesses people no longer are respectful and kind. Instead they are rude as if they are doing you a favor for being there instead of you doing them the honor of using their business. People on the street assume they can and should address others by thier first names without asking. Nurses in the hospital address patients by their first name without permission. Patients insist on calling nurses by their first name. Doctors call everyone by thier first name but then insist on being addressed as "doctor". That is so wrong. If you want to be called by your title then you must refer to others by their title unless they ask you to use their first name. I feel that if we as a society would go back to addressing each other with respect a lot of the disrespect out there would go away, and a lot of the inappropriate conversations out there would stop. People you don't know or don't know well will ask you if you're husband is good in bed. Co workers tell you intimate bedroom details as if you wanted to know or talk about their many conquests publicly. Whatever happened to a lady/gentleman doesn't kiss and tell? If you have more than 2 children people tell you to stop it or ask you if you haven't figured out how that happens yet. If you have one child people ask you if you're having another and when. If you don't have children and you've been married more than a year people want to know when you are starting your family or what you're waiting for. If the person anwers that personal question indicating that they are trying or they do want kids they get bombarded with even more personal and completely rude questions about their sex life, positions, etc. Honestly! I have struggled with infertility and people ask me if it's me or him. If we are having enough sex. What positions are we using. Have we tried this or that. Are we going to try this or that. I have had complete and total strangers ask me things like this. I had one lady I had only just met who discovered Alaina is adopted say, "Why? Can't you have your own?" And she said that as if adoption is a lesser choice. My question to the nosy people is this. How is anyone else's family life any of your business? We have already had odd looks as we are raising our daughter to call our friends Mr. or Mrs. etc. calling a non family adult by their first name is not an option for her. She is also going to be learning insanity like yes sir and yes ma'am, and may I be excused. We apparently have lost our minds. I have always called my patients Mr. or Mrs. I do not allow a doctor to call me by my first name if I may not call him or her by his or her first name. If he asks may I call you Rebecca? I say sure if I can call you Fred or whatever the name might be. They might be a doctor, but that doesn't mean they derserve more respect as a person than I do. The same goes for a first meeting with a new GYN. He can meet me for the first time with my clothes on or he can choose to take his off and put a paper robe on and meet me that way. The same with ministers. If you call me by my first name expect me to call you by your first name and not pastor so and so. I had a pastor and his wife that I loved dearly, but they drove me nuts as they demanded to be called pastor and sister so and so while calling me and my husband by our first names. The pastor even told everyone from the pulpit that we are not allowed to use his wife's first name as she deserved our respect. I respected her very much and still do, but I do not agree with people holding themselves up as deserving more respect than others. I am an army wife. I refer to everyone by their title unless asked to do differently. If Col. so and so wants to call me Rebecca he had better expect to be called Jim. Otherwise he can call me Mrs. P. and I will call him Col. so and so. The same would go with president Bush. I will call him President Bush and he will call me Mrs. P. or it can be George and Rebecca. There, I've had my say.

Connie From Texas

I'm a little worried about Connie of Connie's Thoughts From The Heart. Her home was in the way of hurricane Ike. Has anyone heard from her or know anything about their current circumstances? Let's all say an extra prayer for her and her family today.

She's A Tough Cookie

My little girl is one tough cookie. We're all sick right now. Those colds have moved on to a sore throat for Alan, a sinus and ear infection for me and bilateral ear infections and a cold for Alaina. If it weren't for the snotty nose you just about wouldn't know she is sick. She is such a trooper! I knew she was a little whinier than usual but now that she is getting tylenol around the clock even that has cleared up. The doctor was quite surprised to see how great she was doing with both ears so yucky. I thank God that he has blessed me with such a tough little one and I thank Him that He has blessed Alaina with such a cheerful disposition even in the midst of illness. Thank you Lord!

The Previous Post

Jungle Mom posted the What spice are you thing in the post below but somehow I was unable to link to her on that post.

You Are Cilantro

The bad news is that there are some people who can't stand you. The good news is that most people love you more than anything else in the world. You are distinct, unusual, fresh, and very controversial. And you wouldn't have it any other way.

What Spice Are You?

Sarah Palin

I love the fact that she has been selected to run for vice president. I love the fact that she is a woman, wife and mother of 5. I love that she is the mother of a soldier, a special needs baby that she is still nursing (although with campaigning that may not last long I don't know) and though I hate the circumstances, I love that she can set the example for the nation in her response to her teen in trouble. To those who say she can't parent 5 children while being VP I say nonsense! She will only be parenting 3 children as her son is now in Iraq and her daughter will soon be married. Now that's not to say that once your children are out of your home you no longer interact with them, but it is to say that only 3 will be under her roof. Her husband will be there to parent them also and there is no indication that he is incapable of this. To those who are saying that it is unBiblical for her to be vice president I refer you to the Bible itself. Romans 13:1&2 "Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling aginst what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves." NIV

I submit then that God set her in her postiton of authority as the governor of Alaska and I believe that if elected it will be by God's ordination. I personally believe that God has put her in this postion at this critical time in our country. My prayer is may God bless Sarah Palin. May God put His angels around her to protect her and her family and may God give her wisdom and the words to say when the tough questions come that His name will not be maligned.

Wifezilla

Alaina, Alan and I all have colds. How fun is that? Alaina is whiney and snotty and not old enough to blow her nose so if I don't catch it in time she wipes it with her hand and then wipes her hand on whatever happens to take her fancy. How fun is that I ask you? I'm hoping Connie from Texas is alright as her home apparently was in Ike's way. How rude of Ike. I was doing laundry earlier (still am) and cleaning bathrooms and decided that there is nothing sexy about cleaning toilets. Not that this is a revelation to many of you however I felt it needed to be said. I mention this because the first week or two after Alaina came home was exhausting. One day I looked in the mirror and realized that my husband had just come home from a long day at work and here I was with my hair a mess, no make-up, no shower and in ratty (but comfortable) clothes. I saw myself as I prayed he didn't but feared he did. At that point I decided that I needed to take/make the time to keep after my appearance. Not so much for vanity's sake as for Alan's sake. How awful to come home from a long day at work to a screaming baby, and your wife looking like godzilla. Well, thankfully the baby no longer spends much time screaming. She is much more interested in playing with her toys or getting into things she ought not to. I have done a pretty good job I think of keeping myself up so I always look presentable. It was just today as I was swishing the toilets that I decided there was just no way to look good doing that and if my husband were to see me doing it the last thing he would be thinking is boy is she hot! lol oh well. I'm sure he appreciates it getting done as much as he appreciates not having to see it.

September 11th - Where Were You?

Again we sadly observe the 7th anniversary of the terrorism of September 11th. I am sad today not only because of what happened then but because we as a nation have forgotten the terror of that day. We are busy screaming no racial profiling! Today I'd like us to remember where we were on that day. I was in bed in my apartment in Springfield, MO. I worked the evening shift in the burn unit of a hospital. My phone rang and it was my friend Carrie. She said someone flew a plane into one of the buildings of the World Trade Center. I thought, "who could be so stupid as to not see that building and fly right into it?" Carrie said she thought I might want to see what was on tv. I was going to go back to sleep but something told me get up and see this. I turned on the TV and a few minutes later saw the second plane crash in. At that moment I realized and thought, "Oh my God! We are under attack!" At work later that day I was there when we recieved a call asking us how many survivors we could take. We didn't end up taking any. Our chief of trauma who is with FEMA and was called to work the site said they thought there would be more survivors than there were. I remember the shock and the pain and the pride I had in the men who foiled the plane headed for the White House. They gave their lives for their country. They are true heros.

My husband's story is quite different. We had not met yet. He was in officer candidate school in Georgia. His group was out in the field on a training mission. They had been given a senario they were supposed to do. They were accustomed to surprises being thrown it as part of the training. Someone came out to the field and told them about the attacks. He said that if any of them had family in New York or Washington DC they were to try and contact their family to see if they were ok. He had brought a phone. My husband was from New York but he was unable to reach his mother. The training group thought this was a training surprise and were talking among themselves about what they might do. It wasn't until they were taken to the main gate (which was an open gate that anyone could come in and out of) and given M-16 with live ammunition. They were told what to do and that if anyone did not follow their orders they were to shoot to kill. You see they don't give you live ammunition in training senarios. That is when they knew it was real. Most of them had never seen combat before (many of them were prior enlisted) and had never been in a situation like it. Military life changed that day. Now we get searched etc. when going on post. No more open gate. No more easy military life. Now it's frequent deployments and everyone has seen combat.

So share with us. What were you doing and how were you feeling 7 years ago today?

Coupons

I have had some questions about how I do my coupons and how with the coming of Alaina I have time for it etc. So I decided that I would do a post about it.

I use a baseball card organizer. You get 9 coupon slots per page and the pages are a lot sturdier than photo album pages are. I keep my coupon center at my desk which is in the living room and where I spend a great deal of time. I have a small basket on my desk. As coupons pages come in they go in a stack to be cut out. Loose coupons go in the basket. When I am on the computer doing things it often takes time to download or upload or for a page to change or whatever. I use that time to cut out the coupons and put them in the basket. Then as I have time and as I'm waiting for things to upload, download etc. I grab a handful of coupons and sort them. I have my baseball card organizer divided and tabbed acording to the isles in the commissary I visit most often. That way as I am shopping I have it open to the section that corresponds to the isle I'm on. Even if I visit another store and it isn't set up the same way I know where things are in my commissary so it's easy to find the coupon I want. So, as I sort the coupons, I sort them according to the isle the item is in. I only do a handful or so at a time. Once they are sorted I put the isle one stuff in the isle one section etc. I also have each section divided but not tabbed into smaller sections. For instance in isle 4 they have nutritional supplements like slimfast and ensure, dental stuff, feminine hygiene products, all the baby stuff, medications, haircare, and body care like bar soap, body wash, lotions and face care products. So, in my organizer in section 4 the first page is nutritional supplement coupons, the next is dental products, then haircare coupons etc. each section has as many pages as is necessary. I make it easier on myself by putting all my coupons for the same product in the same slot. As in all my coupons for Cascade dishwasher detergent go in the same slot even if it's $1 off 2 or 25 cents off one or liquid vs powder vs packs etc. One thing that cuts down on having expired coupons in my book is that if the coupon is going to expire this month and it's something I need it goes in the stack of things I must get this trip. Otherwise it doesn't go in unless it's an exceptional coupon.

The benefit for me in doing things this way is that when I am in the store, and I see something on sale that I want, I already have a decent idea of what coupons I have so I can just turn to the page corresponding with the isle I'm in and see if there is a coupon and then pull out the one that gets me the best savings. As I pull them out to get one I weed out the expired coupons. ( I always wear something with pockets to the store. One pocket is for coupons to be used and one is for coupons to be tossed.)

I share my many coupons in several ways. One is that coupons for things I don't use I pull out and put on the shelf there with the product. For instance I don't use Tide but lots of people do. So I put all the tide coupons right there where others can be blessed by them. I don't do this with every coupon but I do it with ones for products I don't use and with coupons that are due to expire. Another way I share my coupons is that I bring my book to the support group I help to facilitate and PWOC. The ladies can see quickly what they want or don't want. The baby item coupons are always a hit. I also sometimes offer one to someone in the store who is stressing over the price of an item. I might offer it to them or I might just put it on the shelf by the product where she can see it.

As If!

I was watching some of the commentary today about Gov. Palin's speech last night. Obviously, as a rule, the Dems were dishing her and the GOP was praising her. The one thing I laughed at was (and I do forget who they are) the people watching for the Hollywood stars. They were laughing and making fun of the fact that there were few stars there and the ones that were there were B-list stars and below. Aside from laugher, my reaction was SO WHAT! Hollywood is not known for being overloaded with great thinkers! I would actually consider it a good thing that there were few of them there. I get a big kick out of the Democrats parading around their high school drop out Hollywood supporters as if they know anything more than the average American and we should all follow them. I really think the Democrats are scared out of their wits (both of them) about Gov. Palin. If they weren't they wouldn't be making such a fuss.

Punish?

Senator Obama says that if one of his daughters came home pregnant he wouldn't "punish" her with the baby. I'm intrigued. He proposes that the baby be punished for his daughter's mistake. He would rather put his daughter through a dangerous proceedure and kill her baby than have his daughter go through an unwanted pregnancy. Whatever happened to teaching your children personal responsibility? What ever happened to people facing the natural consequences of their actions? That is what Gov. Palin has done. Her daughter is taking responsibility for her mistake. She has chosen to marry the father of her child and raise her child with him. Sen. Obama deems that punishment, and he seems to be implying that Gov. Palin has pronounced this punishment on her daughter. Nonsense! No one can force anyone else to do something they don't want to do. Aside from that, have we all forgotten about adoption? Why couldn't any young woman in this position choose to give her child life and let some loving couple who wants a child adopt? What is wrong with him?

First Birthday!

Sunday was Alaina's first birthday. I can't believe it has already been a year since this wonderful child came into our lives. At her party there was a lady with a newborn. Looking at this baby I could hardly believe Alain was that small the first time I saw her. Sigh. I love her so. Here are some pics from the party. She is walking quite a bit now and soon will give up the crawling I'm sure. We have introduced the cup to her and she is getting the idea, so the bottle will likely be gone in a few months. Sigh. She is growing up so quickly.

Equal Rights For Women?

I have had several things on my mind for blogging lately. The first is equal rights for women. Now, I'm not a feminist although I do believe in equal pay for equal work done. I also believe in voting rights for women and that women can and should hold public office. What I take issue with is this equal rights agenda that the feminists are putting out there. Last week I was watching the Mike & Juliette show. They had a segment on about "manamony". Manamony is alimony for men. It's when the wife was making a lot more than the husband or even he is staying home and she is working. In the case of divorce she has to pay him a monthly amount of money instead of him paying her. They had several people on to talk about it and the thing that astounded me is that the women complained about having to pay! I have never heard of a woman complaining that she got alimony. One wife who had been married 10 years to her husband prior to divorce said she thought he had married her for her money and he shouldn't get it. She made millions per year. I don't hear women complaining about other women who marry men for their money. And in the past century they have been getting alimony. Now obviously I am not referring to everyone. I was really annoyed. They want equal rights. They want to wear pants and have the same jobs and get all of the benefits of being equal without any of the sacrifices. True equality would mean all women registering for the draft. It would mean women forced into combat. It would mean women paying alimony if the situation is appropriate. You wanted equal rights baby and now you can't handle the responsibility that comes along with that. Personally, I do not want equal rights. I'm too old I think, but I do not want my daughter to have to register for the draft or be forced into combat. These women want to have their cake and eat it too. Nonsense!