the little things

another funny video

all the wrinkled ladies!  anita renfroe does it again!

weekly menu[09-15]

i know, i am really bad at this.  i have a hard time sometimes coming up with new menus so i blew this of last week.  still really didn't plan anything this week but here it is...

sunday- (mother's day) KFC- it was my day, so don't judge.

monday- (track practice) chili dogs

tuesday- pork tenderloin, collard greens, and cornbread

wednesday- spaghetti and sweet peas

thursday- (track practice) something with ground beef...

friday- ???? eat out?

i am finding out that there is a lot that goes into menu planning- coordinating recipes with whats on sale at the local grocers takes some researching!

book club

the immortal life of henrietta lacks:

well i said that when i was finished with this book i would come back and give a review.  i read this book in the span of 2 days.  i haven't read a book so fast wince twilight!  first and foremost, thank you to my book club for finally suggesting an interesting book!

taken from a summary from the good reads website:"Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they’d weigh more than 50 million metric tons—as much as a hundred Empire State Buildings. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions.

Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave."

i really did enjoy the book. but, in the beginning i was feeling like the author wanted me to be angry about what happened to henrietta.  the references she makes about the way blacks were treated back in the 50's, though true,(like the syphilis trials-just unsettling stuff. and other things that make you want to drop the book in disgust) were meant to get you riled.  i feel that, according to her book, that henrietta was not treated any differently because of her race.  aside from the fact that she had to be seen in the colored section of the hospital, she was seen by a good doctor, she was diagnosed, she received treatment until nothing else could be done for her.  the fact that her cells were taken from her without her knowledge was standard practice back then.  they did it to everybody, white and black, if i understood the author.  in fact, the man who used her cells to grow in culture didn't even know she was black at the time.  he only knew her name and took the first two letters from her first and last name to name the cells HeLa.  that's just the way things worked back then.  not saying it was ethical, it's just the way it was.  now i did have a problem with the way they continued to use her cells in medical breakthroughs and she never recieved a mention.  it's like they wanted to cover it up(maybe because they thought some one would come after them for money?). her family never even knew her cells were still living until some 30+ years after her death.  the family ended up trying to sue jh hospital, but (and again, according to the book) they(the hospital) never made any money from these cells- in fact, the man who made the discovery about the cells gave them away for free to anyone who requested them in the name of advancing research. it was afterwards, and outside the hospital that companies started selling the HeLa cells. and i'm not really sure i feel like they(the family)should have received some compensation especially in a monetary fashion(tons of money was being made from their mother's cells while they remained poor), but at least some medical support!  i mean, her children couldn't afford some of the meds they were on that their mother's cells probably helped to create!  and i can see how to them(the family), how it might appear like the hospital was hiding things from them because they could never get answers to their many questions, which was wrong.  the family had every right to know what was going on, yet they got the run around.  it was good to see the family's reaction to the whole thing.  losing a mother too soon (henrietta was 31 when she died), two of her children were toddlers when she died.  only to find out years later that a part of her still lives and they were never told.  her youngest daughter only wanted to know everything she could about her mother.  the oldest daughter, i felt so bad for the way she must have been treated.  asylums back in those days, and the particular one she was in- ack! 

i could go on i guess.  has anyone ever read this book?  i would love to discuss, can't wait for book club!!

the mile

photo by edd_fear

this is one determined little boy. he wanted to run the mile. i advised against it, but dad said no. he ran it anyway and won.
the next week, he ran it again, he was timed at 7:11 shaving 13 seconds off his time the previous week! varsity standard for the mile for his age group is 7:14. guess who is going to varsity finals?!!!

the race itself was really fun to watch. once he shot out in front, he had a good distance between him and the kids behind him- girls and boys. on the third lap, a little boy with long legs and good stride came bouncing up and gaining on deacon.

every time the little boy tried to pass deacon he would speed up. no way was this kid getting by him. by the end of the fourth lap, once the little boy saw that he was not getting pass deacon, he starts to walk, totally giving up. poor boy. but he did get second and i thank him for pushing deacon to get first place and getting a personal best taking him to varsity finals!! woohoo!

holla!

this one goes out to all my minivan swaggerin moms and also to all my girls out there who said they'd never own a minivan!

throwing it back [a repost]

from now til mother's day, how about some mom related posts?  here's one i posted back in 2006- funny how i still feel this way!

"Sometimes I think that the hardest part of being “Mommy” is having the strength of spine to simply live as I feel lead, and not to feel guilty if other people do things differently than I do."

i read this somewhere and this could not be more the way i feel as a mom.  guilty for not doing things the "right" way, or the way others perceive as right, or even righteous.  i constantly compare myself to other moms who seem to have it all together.  i have a friend with three kids.  her home is always immaculate.  everytime i walk into her home i am put to shame.  i wonder, do her kids play?  and if they do, where?  there is never a toy, a shoe, the only sign of children living in her house are their photos nicely placed along the fireplace mantle or atop the piano.  SHE is always immaculate.  i have NEVER seen my friend look the way i look right now- jacked-up hair, no makeup, and in my jammies still.  she is always together.  so, then i think that i want an immaculate house (doesn't everyone?) and start thinking up ways i could have that immaculate house.  and all the while i am comparing houses, mine and hers, one truth comes to mind.  her kids are in school all day.  i have 6 kids to tend to, and they are here all day.  to make my house look like they don't even live here is beyond ridiculous.  i have another together friend who just gave birth to her 6th child and she home schools.  her home is also very nice and is run with lists and rules and schedules.  her kids always know what they are supposed to do and when to have it done by.  i got great info from her and gave it an honest try.  i failed.  there are many other people in my life that i have tried to be like, because their ways seemed right or better, and i always fall short.  i don't bake my own bread, i don't cook my family a meal every night, we have had cereal for dinner and cookies at breakfast.  my house is not always spotless, you can always spot a lego, or polly pocket somewhere, all the time.  i am not organized and neither are my kids.  and i felt bad about all of that.  and then i read this little exerpt:
[…] To know how to work hard is a great benefit for servants in God’s Kingdom. But being a hard worker does not save us. It is an asset to our character, to our lives, but it is not the ultimate end. So if you stink at teaching children to work, stop beating yourself up. It’s just a thing. You can get better at it—God can walk you into the “how” parts, but don’t go fretting over what a failure you are. Raising children who meet Jesus Christ and follow Him is what really matters, and if you only have one ounce of energy to mother with, direct it that way. Learning to work is a nice thing, a valuable thing, but it’s not the most important thing. […]

i am not off the hook here, i will keep trying.  i still don't see myself baking my own bread though :=)

from now til mother's day, how about some mom related posts?  here's one i posted back in 2006- funny how i still feel this way!

"Sometimes I think that the hardest part of being “Mommy” is having the strength of spine to simply live as I feel lead, and not to feel guilty if other people do things differently than I do."

i read this somewhere and this could not be more the way i feel as a mom.  guilty for not doing things the "right" way, or the way others perceive as right, or even righteous.  i constantly compare myself to other moms who seem to have it all together.  i have a friend with three kids.  her home is always immaculate.  everytime i walk into her home i am put to shame.  i wonder, do her kids play?  and if they do, where?  there is never a toy, a shoe, the only sign of children living in her house are their photos nicely placed along the fireplace mantle or atop the piano.  SHE is always immaculate.  i have NEVER seen my friend look the way i look right now- jacked-up hair, no makeup, and in my jammies still.  she is always together.  so, then i think that i want an immaculate house (doesn't everyone?) and start thinking up ways i could have that immaculate house.  and all the while i am comparing houses, mine and hers, one truth comes to mind.  her kids are in school all day.  i have 6 kids to tend to, and they are here all day.  to make my house look like they don't even live here is beyond ridiculous.  i have another together friend who just gave birth to her 6th child and she home schools.  her home is also very nice and is run with lists and rules and schedules.  her kids always know what they are supposed to do and when to have it done by.  i got great info from her and gave it an honest try.  i failed.  there are many other people in my life that i have tried to be like, because their ways seemed right or better, and i always fall short.  i don't bake my own bread, i don't cook my family a meal every night, we have had cereal for dinner and cookies at breakfast.  my house is not always spotless, you can always spot a lego, or polly pocket somewhere, all the time.  i am not organized and neither are my kids.  and i felt bad about all of that.  and then i read this little exerpt:
[…] To know how to work hard is a great benefit for servants in God’s Kingdom. But being a hard worker does not save us. It is an asset to our character, to our lives, but it is not the ultimate end. So if you stink at teaching children to work, stop beating yourself up. It’s just a thing. You can get better at it—God can walk you into the “how” parts, but don’t go fretting over what a failure you are. Raising children who meet Jesus Christ and follow Him is what really matters, and if you only have one ounce of energy to mother with, direct it that way. Learning to work is a nice thing, a valuable thing, but it’s not the most important thing. […]

i am not off the hook here, i will keep trying.  i still don't see myself baking my own bread though :=)

book club

i have paid good money for a lot of bad books for my book club.  i have been in it for a year and to be honest out of all the books i have started i have only finished two or three.  i could not finish the ones i thought were bad or did not keep my attention.  with the latest book- the immortal life of henrietta lacks we were supposed to read, well, as soon as i found out that our meeting night would fall on drew's birthday i knew i would not be able to attend to discuss the book so i never intended to read it. 

well, it just so happened that a few of the ladies didn't want to pay money to get the book and wanted to borrow it from the library, but the library was all out and the wait list is long.  it was decided, then, that the meeting would be postponed a month. i now had time to read the book, only i didn't have it.  i figured if i wanted to read it in a month i'd better get started so i went to the bookstore.  the book is still in hardback and i was more than a little hesitant to pay $20 for a book.  what if i didn't like it? 

i took the plunge.  24 hours after buying it, i am already halfway through.  it is so compelling, i could not stop.  it's like you just want to keep going and see how things turn out, but along the way at times i got so disgusted i had to put it down and walk away to process what i'd just read.  but, then i was back to see what would happen next.  the one thing i didn't like was, because of the fact that i read until i fell asleep, i thought of HeLa cells all night!

when i am done with the book i will come back and give a full review, but for now i will just say that it is a very well written book- the author does a great job at telling the story, taking us back and forth through time.  you have to read it!

where does the time go?

he's 15 today.  apparently, he thinks he's too old for mom to take his photo. i had to chase him down to get this photo of him.  he thought he was safe just because he got in his dad's car to leave.  but i wanted to be able to capture the essence of a teenage boy...

oh wait, there it is

the ol' hide inside the hoodie trick.

remember when?

i used to scrapbook?  i was looking through some old posts and came across some of my layouts.  i saw this one and remembered how good it used to feel to pour myself into a layout...

credits can be found through here.

those were the good old days.

question

i know i have readers, just no commenters.  but i need a question answered.  i was just wondering as far as furniture and decorating your home, do you buy/do what YOU like, or what is practical for your family?

for example, i know a woman with 6 children and her living room still looks like it should be in a magazine.  nice furniture, everything pristine down to the drapes.  just the way she likes it.  i am in awe everytime i go to her house.

another woman with only 2 kids, turned her entire living room into a playroom and all of the furniture is beat to hell because that is where the kids play when they are not outside.  oh, and the more friends, the merrier!  she is fine with that because that is what the room is for.

i have an appreciation for both rooms. i also have issues with both of these examples.  in the former home, the kids mostly play in their rooms and are not allowed to be in certain rooms of the house. as a kid, i would think it would be hard to be comfortable living that way, but if that's all you know growing up, then i guess it's ok for them.  in the latter home, yeah, the kids are allowed to have fun and enjoy the room but even with all of the toys picked up and put away, all you see is a beat up room, with beat up furniture. and you know they will beat it up, even if it starts out looking like this:

because they will do things like this:

also, i am not sure i would be willing to give up a living room for that purpose.  it's okay, call me selfish.  if i had an extra room to dedicate to that sole purpose i would.  keyword being extra.  not my living room.

so, i am asking you.  style or function?  or is there a happy medium?