To Shop or Not To Shop

Help.

I want cute expensive jeans and purses and shoes.

I also want to buy only recycled items to STOP this consumerism.


The Story of Stuff














ok so I shop at second hand stores and our family recycles all it can. I am PROUD to say that it takes 4 weeks to FILL my garbage can but only 1 week to fill our recycle bin.

We have taught the girls it is a mortal sin to litter and smoke.

But I want my house to look like the inside of a Pottery Barn Store and that shits hard to find used in decent condition.

We do have one big car (need to seat 6 and some friends) that uses WAY too much gas but the other car is small.

We get almost ALL the girls clothes hand-me-downs.  Shoes are pretty much the only thing we buy for them new that and bathing suits every summer.

We have a compost bin we try to use with worms in it eating our food scraps (no meat please).

We do not wrap birthday presents. We only reuse gift bags or paper in the house the girls decorate themselves.

We eat mostly organic non GMA foods.....
anything else you can suggest please (no room for a garden).

What do YOU DO?

I said NO

  Seriously. 


  A working mom is a f*cking saint but a SINGLE working mom is basically God on earth. Is that blasphemy? I am currently NEITHER (not a working mom or a single working mom) and not due to any of my choices.
  I tried working about 35 hours a week for 16 weeks...yup thats a mere 4 months people. The most important part of that is I have a saint husband so it wasn't that hard except when one of the kids would get sick.  I also noticed I cared less about what I fed them for dinner and more about getting some decent sleep to face the next day.
  More about that another day....this ranting post is to be start about the parents who are wusses.


YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!


You cannot say no, and when you try you only give in later which merely reinforces the bad behavior.


Moms: you NEED TO FOLLOW THROUGH. If your child is  being a brat in public and you threaten to take away either tv or a after dinner treat THEN DO IT.  If you don't your rotten child will continue to disturb the rest of the world then grow up and be a criminal, shoot out an office of x - coworkers or steal cause they feel they deserve MORE.

I mean seriously AT WHAT POINT did us parents born 1965-1975 feel the need to swing the discipline pendulum SO far the other way? I get harsh spankings and shoving and slapping didnt really work all that great neither did the FINISH WHATS ON YOUR PLATE OR ELSE...nor did liver and mushrooms ever really go over well for me...but HEY nuggets and mac n cheese every night is too far! Asking your kid to do their homework begging them to eat? COME ON


WHY ARENT PEOPLES KIDS SAYING THANK YOU ALL THE TIME OR PLEASE AND WHY ARENT THEY LOOKING ME IN THE EYE when they talk to me? WHY doesn't your kids answer me when I say hello and why dont you make them when they don't?


REMARKS FROM TEACHERS:


"Believe me, when they start making an appearance in my world, they do. And you are right, teachers are the new parents. We are also the nurses, councilors, therapists, whatever. Forget reading, writing and math, we have to teach them everything!!!"


"We are raising your kids because YOU aren't"

12 best & Worst

Twelve "worst" and "best" non-organic produce items

If you'd like to keep pesticides and their residues off of your dinner plate, your best bet is a diet based on organic foods. Of
course, that's easier said than done if you live in an area where organic food is hard to find or prohibitively expensive. In that
case, what's a concerned consumer to do? Well, you could serve antidotes for dessert... but we think this is better: a list of
the 12 least contaminated types of produce published by the Environmental Working Group.

According to the Environmental Working Group, when it comes
to conventionally-grown produce, these are the 12 cleanest
kinds you can buy:

Twelve "cleanest non-organic foods"

• Asparagus • Avocados • Bananas • Broccoli • Cauliflower • Corn (sweet) AVOID: Probably Genetically Modified • Kiwi • Mangos • Onions • Papaya • Pineapples • Peas (sweet)

We don't recommend basing your diet solely on this list, but it's a
good healthy start towards meals that won't kill your appetite.
Since the EWG reports that more than half of our total dietary
risk from pesticides comes from just 12 foods:

Tweleve "RISKIEST foods

• Apples • Bell Peppers • Celery • Cherries • Imported Grapes • Nectarines • Peaches • Pears • Potatoes • Red Raspberries • Spinach • Strawberries

avoiding these foods for the most part, substituting from the clean list above, and eating organic and/or homegrown produce whenever possible can substantially cut down on your exposure to pesticides. When choosing foods from the above list, however, keep in mind that corn and sweet potatoes are among
those foods most likely to have been genetically modified. When
it comes to these two types of produce, consumers concerned
about GM foods as well will definitely want to seek out organic
alternatives to assure themselves of further safety.

 

credit to: http://www.living-foods.com/articles/twelvelist.html

employee mother friend daughter and more

I am so happy to be working. It has been a while since I have been able or willing to post.  The girls all started school September and then I started my new job the first week of October.  I can hardly express in type how rewarding and how hard it is to be a working mom.

I love sales so thats what I am doing.

I love my children so I am mommy-ing too.

I still have to find time for friends and family which I thoroughly enjoy.

This is a problem when one considers I require a minimum 8 hours sleep EVERY night to function in a non abusive way towards others.

This leaves 16 hours left in the day to do it all.  8 of which are WORKING so that leaves 8 to get kids ready in the morning and pick them up at night and care for them at night.....well unless you take out commuting that takes away another 1 at least 30 minutes in the am and 30 in the pm.... that leaves 7 but the kids go to bed at 8pm so really you have only a couple hours after work before bed to do IT ALL....Get up at 6am make coffee get kids fed and take them to school.  Go to work at 8-9 am start the day....watch phone for any calls form various schools to be ready for emergencies and hope your boss has kids so he/she will have some understanding of such situations....work work work......go pick up kids....get home start homeowkr...make dinner.....bath them, clip nails, brush hair, brush teeth, floss...read to little ones...have sex go to sleep.

Notice there is NO time for reading or tv for the mom......oh and most days I forget to do one load of laundry so o Sundays I have 12 loads.

Being a stay at home mom was the best and I will forever be grateful to my awesome husband the only man who supported that for me.  He is a super worker, super dad and super husband. NO woman can be a some what sane stay at home mother if her husband doesn't understand the sheer insanity of not getting paid, never having completed a job (cleaning, feeding kids, dishes and laundry are never completed therefor you never really feel like you have accomplished anything real) and never getting more than 5 minute intervals to yourself.



AM I a bit frazzled?  Yes.  AM I HAPPY?  Yes.

more to come