Subtitles..for American English???

I guess I don't watch that much T.V. or at least recently produced TV. Recently, on a whim I made the mistake of watching Honey Pie Boo Boo or something of that sort. Oh, what a disaster! Besides being obscene, one thing that really stuck out to me is how poorly this family spoke. So poor in fact, that subtitles were needed. This is an AMERICAN family. I don't know what part of the country they were from, but they didn't even have any strong accents, it's just their ability to speak and form words was SO poor, subtitles were needed.

I wrongfully thought that perhaps it was just this one show and this was an extreme case. WRONG!! More recently I watched "Beyond Scared Straight" and SAME thing. Subtitles needed for American born and raised people!

First thought I had was that perhaps these people spent so much time online and were used to using "internet slang" IE: LOL, BFF, ROTFL, etc...that they were left incapable of speaking proper English due to lack of practice. Second thought though, I wondered how much was due to lack of education.  I really don't know, but I have seen other shows with subtitles for English speaking people too, and I am no longer shocked, but just sad and scared for the future of our country. Seriously.

Meanwhile, I think I will stick to the classics and older T.V. shows or better yet, DVD's of Oldies but Goodies where the people still speak an understandable version of the once beautiful English Language.

Walk For Life 2013

This year for the first time ever my family participated in a "Walk for Life" event.  This was the first time there was one in San Diego, rather than the much further away San Fransico or Sacramento. 

We heard about it kind of last minute and basically went on a whim, not sure what to expect. I am SO glad we went and we will be planning on going next year and possibly even to the bigger event in San Fransico next year. For little publicity the turn out wasn't bad. Nearly 3000 was the last report I heard. 

One thing I found so neat about this event was the interdenominational support it received. The opening prayer was offered by a Catholic Priest, the closing by a Lutheran Pastor and several talks by other pastors and speakers of all denominations, all with one goal in mind; to speak out and not remain silent on such an important issue of our time.

Even my teen boys are eager to join in again next year.

Just a glimpse of the large crowd.

My youngest son marching.

My 13 year old and husband.

My family with another couple that we do a lot of volunteer work with for Compassion International.

Made In America?

We recently hosted two Chinese college students through our church's youth program. This is our third time hosting students, though our first from China.

As always it was a great time and we learned so much and made great, new friendships that hopefully will last a very long time. I highly encourage families to try hosting at least once. It truly is an experience you'll never forget, and rarely regret.

One thing that came up this time, that hadn't in the past was that these students and most others in their group of 13 really wanted to take home products "Made in the USA." You would think that wouldn't be too hard, right? WRONG! Three weeks here, several trips to various malls and shopping places, including small towns and big, you wanna know what they found to take home with them? A box of Crayola brand crayons and a mini-flash light. That's it, period.

I can't tell you how angry and embarrassed I am over this! With our students we looked at labels on several products ranging from shoes and clothing to touristy type stuff including AMERICAN FLAGS, and all we could find, fully made and manufactured in America were crayons and a flashlight. This is something to be concerned about people, it really is.

Curious where most products were made? While we found some made in South American Countries and of course India, Malaysia and a few others, the majority were made in: CHINA! I would estimate about 80-85% made in China.

With unemployment so high right now, my first thoughts wandered to, what if we brought back some of this manufacturing to America? Of course we'd have to fix the reasons manufacturing left to begin with.

I am highly discouraged over this. I know we'd have to pay more, probably a lot more to purchase products made in America, but I for one would gladly do so! Let's bring back quality too, while we're at it. I remember when you might pay much more for a blouse or other piece of clothing, but it would last for many years. Now you can buy a shirt at Wal-Mart or else where for five bucks. But how long does it last? In my experience, a couple of washings.

I am all for bringing jobs to America, making products we can take pride in, and yes, paying more for those products.

Like I said, I was terribly embarrassed that we couldn't find any made in America products for my students and their peers, and equally embarrassed that most of what we found was made in their country. But, this wont change anytime soon, if others don't care, and don't speak out against it, or refuse to buy and use cheaply made and foreign manufactured items. Let your pocket book speak for you.

Not all hope is lost. I did an Internet search and came up with these sites I will link below that specialize in locating and selling American made products. While I am extremely grateful to them and what they do, I can't help but think how sad that we need such businesses to help locate and find American made items, right here, in America. It should be as simple as walking into your local market place, but it's not. And something just isn't right with that. I am SO not okay with that. Are you?

American Made Products Directory


10 PRODUCTS STILL MADE IN THE USA


MADE IN THE USA STORE

QUIZ: DO YOU KNOW WHAT PRODUCTS ARE STILL MADE IN AMERICA?

Walking a Mile...

I've always liked the expression "Don't judge a person until you've walked a mile in his shoes." It is such good advice.

I have to admit, I can be terrible about judging. 99% of the time I keep my judgements to myself, but the truth is I STILL judge none the less. I try and stop and pray forgiveness right away and ask for help to stop these feelings. I think it's just human nature to judge. It doesn't make it right, but it's a fault many of us have.

I couldn't imagine judging a person and sharing that judgment with them, either to their face, or worse yet on a public forum. It's so easy to assume what you'd do in a similar situation as the person you're judging and maybe you would do something different than they are, but perhaps the rest of the circumstances in your life are different than that person that would allow you the freedom to do something different.

I remember being very harshly judged by several people about some of the hard decisions we were forced to make in regards to my eldest child. Everyone had not only unhelpful advice to offer, but felt at liberty to tell me what THEY would do and what I am doing wrong. This is NOT helpful, especially when dealing with a crisis situation.

While I would never wish something bad to happen to a friend or neighbor, I have found over  the years as some of my worse critics had children come of age and experience their own difficulties these people all of a sudden finally UNDERSTOOD what we went through and in some cases even apologized for their earlier criticisms of my family and our choices.

It's funny that those with young, cute babies and little ones try and dish out advice to those in the trenches with teenagers. They're all full of advice on what the parents of the teenagers are doing wrong, and what perfect parents themselves are. Easy to do when your oldest child's biggest issue is teething or potty training.

The same goes with financial issues. It's easy to pass judgement on how someone should handle their finances or what they should or shouldn't be able to afford when your own financial lifestyle is so different and you've never lived below a certain income level. I know if I had an emergency crisis today, I would be hard pressed to come up with $1000.00 but alone any more than that to deal with it. Sure, I could come up with $1000.00 but it would mean taking payday advances, credit advances and such. I have no family to lend that kind of money. For someone else, 1000.00 may be an unimaginable amount to come up with. For others obtaining $5000.00 may be what getting the 1000.00 for me would be. It's doable, but will take some juggling. I know people who can't come up with $20.00 to put gas in their car this week.

I remember once someone shared with us that they were broke. I had a hard time believing that, as they were still ordering take out pizza. For them, "broke" meant they had to order Little Caesars rather than Pizza Hut. For us, "broke" was were we going to eat that night at all? Today, I am thankful that we are in a place that I could order pizza any time I choose, luckily I don't care for take out anymore.

My point though, is even finances are relative to your own situation. If a certain amount of money would offer you at least temporary help for your situation, especially in regards for help for our hurting children, I don't think there is a loving parent alive who wouldn't "move heaven and earth" to come up with the funds. But realistically, in today's world, for many families a relatively small amount to you might as well be millions to the person needing it. While a certain amount to you would be like the comparison of Little Caesars Pizza vs. Pizza Hut to the other person that amount  may be inconceivable.

I see the same sort of judgments in the homeschool community or maybe it's just parenting in general. One style of homeschooling is superior to another. One method is just evil and the devil is in the work. And of course, public school is the spawn of Satan himself. Any loving parent would never choose the method you've chosen not to, because yours is the only right one.

The foods we eat, the foods we feed our kids, vegetarian vs. paleo vs.???? Someones weight problem, anothers religion. There are so many things we can judge others for or be critical about.

I'm sure we'd all like to think we have the answers for every issue someone else is suffering from, and our wise words of judgement is like waving a magic wand that will make everything better. The truth is our words can and do hurt. The fact is when someone is really hurting and in a crisis, while the right words might help, what a person needs is tangible help. That help could be offering child care, offering to help raise money, offering prayers, starting a prayer chain, or perhaps just an open ear and closed mouth. Maybe just a shoulder to lean on.

More often than not, when a person seems to be asking for advice, what they really want and perhaps more badly need is love and support, a safe place to vent and some understanding.

Understand also, that while you may in your heart feel you are not judging, but sincerely trying to help, when a person is in a crisis situation they may not hear your love and concern, they only hear the negative criticisms no matter how delicately you try and phrase them. That's why sometime and open ear and closed mouth policy is best.

Happy in Their Unhappiness?

My twelve year old repeated something to me that his martial arts instructor told him the other night; "Some people find their happiness in being unhappy."

Odd as it sounds, I think he just may be right. The more I am on social networking sites and even just talking to friends, family or acquaintances, I am more convinced than ever he's on to something!

Some people seem to focus on only the negatives in their lives, never even able to recognize the positives.  Some people make it a habit or practice to complain, complain, complain. Bizarre as it may seem, I think they ENJOY it! Just what it is they are getting out of it or enjoying, I am not sure. Could it be the attention or sympathy it draws?

Don't get me wrong, we ALL have plenty of negatives in our lives. I know I do in mine. I am even known to voice those or complain about them from time to time. We are all human, I think it's only natural. But, I am talking about people, that that's ALL they do.

Sometimes the same person will complain about everything from their family troubles, to what they see as major health issues, to being tired, to money woes, to....well, you get the point. It NEVER ends!

Friends, Facebook, forums and especially our families are all safe places to voice our concerns or woes. That's what friends are for. But, they are also to share our joys with as well. Surely, no matter how bad things may seem, there are SOME joys. I mean, you woke up this morning, right? Did the sun shine? Did someone smile at you? No matter how small they may seem, surely we all have SOME joy in our lives, do we not? Why not make it a habit to share those as well? When a friend or family member calls to share a great joy in their lives with you, are you able to share in that joy with them? Is that friend even able to share that joy with you, or do they have to listen to YOUR woes for hours on end, and end up so depressed themselves, they forget why they called?

I am surprised that my friends who ARE going through things most of us could never even imagine and pray we never have to, are NOT the ones complaining! I have some who are battling serious, life threatening diseases. I have some who are struggling with the loss of a child. I have yet others who have lost wealth, home and more all in one clean sweep. Yet, those are not the ones who busy themselves with whining and complaining, though, those are the ones who are certainly entitled, in my opinion. I am sure they must feel like complaining, yet they don't.

What is the difference in these people? Those who complain for sport, and those who it would certainly be understandable if they did, yet they don't? I am not sure to be honest. But I know which person I want to be more like! I know I don't want to be the person who people avoid answering the phone for, or who is hidden on the Facebook feed. I don't want to be a joy zapper, I want to be a joy enabler!  I may not always feel joyful, but that doesn't mean I can't try to bring a little to others. Who knows, maybe in the process I will even find a little for myself.

Success!

While far from being Pollyanna, I must say, the gratitude journal idea has been a great success in dealing with my complaining sons attitude!

Sorry, no pictures yet. This last week has been a little busier than expected. Hope to be back with photos soon of our completed projects.

If your children, or even yourself find you are in a chronic state of feeling negative or complaining a lot, I HIGHLY recommend trying to keep a gratitude journal, even if only for a short while. Something about finding and writing down at least five things a day you can be grateful for does wonders for your outlook!

Gratitude

For some reason, my normally easy going, always happy and cheerful twelve year old has turned into a grumbling, whining, complaining, ungrateful child. Why, I don't know. The whole family is stumped trying to find any reasonable explanation for this dramatic change in personality. Not that such an explanation would excuse said behavior, but perhaps, it might explain it.

For our morning devotions we've been using Mother Teresa's Lenten Devotions( Which I HIGHLY recommend for the whole family!) What is so great about this little devotion book is that each day it has a quote by the Blessed Mother Teresa, as well as prayers, a devotion for mom, a story from her life, then practical applications for the children in the forms of "fasting" and "alms giving." These are the true gems of this little book. Examples are fasting from negative attitudes, or complaining. Smiling to those you may not want to smile to, writing down things you have to be grateful for and more!

I kind of expanded on the day we were to write down things we are grateful for, by making the children start their very own "Gratitude Journel." Each day now, I have them write down a minimum of five things they have to be grateful for.

I did this practice long ago for myself when I too, was suffering from a negative attitude and it really did change my perspective as well as my attitude. I am hoping to see similar results in my currently negative child!

For each child I bought a simple composition book for them to use, but I plan on over this weekend to give them time to decorate them and make them their very own special little journals, using the ideas from THIS website.

Here are some examples of what can be done with just a plain composition book, some scraps and a little bit of creativity:

I will post pictures of our special little books once we are finished creating them! I later will also share the results of this experiment/exercise on the currently, chronically negative child!

Our CSA and a Recipe

In our attempt to eat healthier, untainted foods we once again joined up with a local CSA. This one was new to us and consists of TWO farms working together to bring us quality, fresh and ORGANIC produce!

So far, we have been thrilled with the produce we receive each week. There are usually more leafy greens than we know what to do with. Often there are items we are not quite sure of what they are! And then there are weeks like this last one where there are lots of neat goodies that are like treats to us!

This week we were thrilled with pomegranates, a variety of squash including pumpkin and even a melon that at first we thought was a squash! Then, we had these neat, little, teeny tiny potatoes! They are REALLY little. Actually each one wasn't much bigger than the top of my thumb!

After being on a 4 day long juice fast, and craving lentils, I decided to use them in a lentil soup:

Notice the ring around the pan showing how full it started and how empty it became. We ALL LOVED this soup! Actually we all stuffed ourselves with seconds and then argued over who would get the last for their lunch the next day! I let my husband take it to work for his lunch today, but then my 14 year old started going on and on about how much he loved it and wished we had more. Kind of craving it myself, I relented and made another pans worth!

Keep in mind these are LENTILS my teen is BEGGING for! They were so good, I thought I'd share the recipe here!

Lentil Soup

2 cups red lentils

6 cups water, divided

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 small onion, diced

2 stalks celery, sliced

4-5 cloves garlic, pressed or minced

1 large jalepenio seeded and diced

1 cup diced potato

1 14 oz can diced tomatoes

4 cups organic chicken or vegetable broth

1 tablespoon Tapatio or other hot sauce

1/2 tsp turmeric

2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp chili powder

In a smaller pot combine lentils and 4 cups water. bring to a boil, turn off heat and cover. Allow to sit for 20-30 minutes

In a large soup pot add oil and onions and saute until onions become soft. Add celery, garlic and jalepenio. Cook for 3-5 minutes longer until fragrant. Add potatoes, can tomatoes, broth and remaining 2 cups water, hot sauce and seasonings. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer 20 minutes.

Add lentils and water and cover and cook until lentils and potatoes are soft.

This is yummy and great alone, but it would also be great served in a whole wheat bread bowl, or served with corn bread. We enjoyed it with TLC crackers, with some in the soup!

Never a Dull Moment!

One thing my life isn't is dull, boring or routine! It's been a busy last couple of weeks around here! It all started about three weeks ago when my 14 year old ran into a book shelf and broke his toe. I mean, he really broke his toe! It broke into a Y shape and the toe was about two good inches from where it belonged.

Then the same child was referred to an Orthodontist and it was determined he did indeed need braces on his teeth.

Not to be outdone by his brother, our youngest started back up again with his morning "migraines." When we went into our pediatrician for a refill on his prescription medication it was determined because of his developmental delays he should see a neurologist. The neurologist agreed that his issues needed more looking into and scheduled tons of tests, scans and such.

Keep in mind we live 40 minutes out of the nearest town, and all these doctors and specialists are another 40 or more minutes each further from that town! For over two weeks straight, literally every week day and one weekend day we

were at these doctors!

Thankfully, so far everything is turning out okay for both children, though we are waiting for the scan results on the youngest!

Matthew is thrilled with his braces and for the first time in his life he has become a bit of a ham in front of the camera. Here he is showing off his new smile in the making!

We lucked out with a great orthodontist who even took the time on a SATURDAY to call just to check in and see how the new patient was doing a few days after getting the braces on. I was impressed with that!

We did manage to sneak in a trip to the pumpkin farm which Austin LOVED!

Hopefully, things are slowing down a bit now and getting back to as normal as they get for us around here! Of course with the holidays starting.......???????

I LOVE These Record Books!

While I remain a loyal fan and customer of the Well Planned Day Planners for my own planning I recently came across some Student Record Books that I am totally crazy about!

These would be perfect for families that use a variety of homeschooling methods, especially a Charlotte Mason Style or relaxed approach. Even those using a traditional workbook/textbook style will love these.

This year for the first time ever really, I think in our 15+ years of schooling at home, we are using a very traditional worktext program(ACE PACES) but we do SO MUCH MORE than just our book work! My family leads a weekly PE class for local homeschool families, attend AWANA, one child is in Confirmation Classes this year, one is learning ASL, we take art classes, guitar lessons, voice lessons, participate in the church choir, take frequent field trips, volunteer with two well known organizations, and MUCH, MUCH more!

I feel like by just looking at our lesson plans, you don't see much other than our book work. These Record Books take care of that! It is recommended to get one per child and there are places to record service projects, health and fitness, spiritual life, and MORE!

There is room in the back for recording not only what books the child read, but what books were read TO them! We do LOTS of read a louds around here! There is room to record test scores, grades and even awards.

I will definitely be ordering these each year from now on, I only wish I had seen them sooner! Not only are the books great but customer service is AWESOME and shipping at regular rates was lightening FAST! I just love it when I find something new and exciting! Be sure to check them out, there are even samples to view at their SITE!