No 4K for the Bitty Girl

Well, we are pretty sure Bitty will NOT be going into 4K.

The 4K teacher who evaluated her, a lovely, bubbly, sweet woman SO unlike last year's teacher, told us she was 6th on the back-up, if-a-slot-comes-open list.  So the chances are slim.

In a way I'm pleased and in a way I'm disappointed.

During open house, when we asked what the chances were, the teacher (who does NOT choose - a computer ranks the kids based on the findings), told me that Bitty aced every question.  Every one.

She said; "She's really smart!"

I had to stop myself from doing what every proud momma will and blurting out: "well, duh!"

ROTFL.

I did tell her that Bitty could read at the same level as her sister (they can both read simple books like Sandra Boynton books, and the simpler Berenstain Bears ones).

So I'm glad she's doing well and I'm glad she'll get to be home with me another year, but I'm disappointed for her because she was SO excited to be going.

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Sort of on-topic, I have begun giving my three oldest fish oil for the omega-3s. I have read a LOT of stuff saying that kids don't get enough Omega 3s and that the human brain needs them to the point where it can help with things like ADD, Autism, and general memory and concentration.

Anyone out there have any feedback on using fish oil?  The whole family is taking them (except the two youngest), lol!

Dieting for weight loss now

I want to stress again that the Paleo 'diet' is actually a diet lifestyle, like vegetarianism.  You change the way you eat  for life (presumably) because you think it's better for you.

If you want to lose 20lbs to fit into your wedding dress or bathing suit, but then go right back to your coconut creme frappacinos and your chicken and bacon ranch subs, then try Atkins.

All of this said, I dropped 10lbs immediately after starting Paleo (over the course of 2 weeks), then leveled off.  It wasn't water weight, because it never came back, so I'm assuming it was just my body adjusting to the new lifestyle and the sharp drop in calories that happens when you give up grains and lentils.

After a week of no dieting, no watching anything, and my weight staying steady (this was week 3) I decided to start watching calories.  I've been limiting myself to 1550 cal per day.  Carb counts have been a no-brainer.  I intended the limit to be 30g per day but, since I started watching my calories, my carbs have stayed about 27g/day.

Of course, I've also just gotten Heroes, season 2, so perhaps just looking at Sylar with lust in ones heart burns way more calories than we realise!  LOL!

Large family mom could be VP

Two posts in one day?  What's the world coming to?!

Large Family mom and mother of a special needs child, Sarah Palin, Govenor of Alaska, has been tapped by John McCain as his Vice Presidential running mate.

I know nothing about her, so I can't comment yet on her politics, but I'd love to see a strong woman in the white house and a fellow mother of many would be cool.

I wonder if she's gotten all the lame-brained comments?  I could send her a t-shirt.

EDITED to add:

Like this bit:

"She hunts, eats moose hamburger, ice fishes, rides snowmobiles, and owns a float plane  Palin holds a lifetime membership with the National Rifle Association."

Cool Palin quote:

Palin refused to let the results of prenatal genetic testing change her decision to have (her Down) baby. "I'm looking at him right now, and I see perfection," Palin said.

I do NOT like that she opposes gay marriage and is pro life, though.

But, if it had been a cloth nappy

... he'd never have hit the ground at all!

(I just had to post this as a poke at folks who get all rabid over the cloth -vs- sposies thing.)

SAO PAULO, Brazil – A disposable diaper has saved the life of an 18-month-old boy, breaking his fall from a third-floor apartment window, officials said Thursday.


Caua Felipe Massaneiro survived a 30-foot (10-meter) fall because his diaper snagged on a security spike embedded in the concrete wall around his apartment building in the northeastern Brazilian city of Recife.


The boy dangled from the spike for a moment, then "the diaper opened and the baby fell to the ground, but at a much slower speed," a police officer said. "The diaper obviously lessened the impact of the fall and saved the baby's life."


"It was a miracle," said the officer who declined to be identified because she was not authorized to speak to the press.

I'm really glad the baby is alright!  And while I'm commenting, I hope they crack that dad upside the head with a board.  What idiot leaves an 18 month old in a room with a sofa up against a window?!

He'd "never done that before"?

My 17 month old can climb on top of his sisters's bunk bed and it has no ladder!

Calling an audible

Definition: (football) Changing a play at the line of scrimmage.

Yep, we're totally reworking this blog.

The reason?  New diet!  Happy dance!

It's called the Paleolithic Diet and it's actually a diet lifestyle.  Here's the synopsis I posted on the 11th on the diet board in our new forums. (Feel free to join us over on the forums, BTW!)

I offically "went Paleo" on the 9th of August.  I weighed 199lbs (I'm 43, 5' 8 1/2"), this morning (18 days later) I weighed 186lbs.

I've made no attempt to limit my calories, just cut out all grains (rice, corn, wheat), breads, starchy veg (potatoes, corn), and lentils (beans, peanuts).  The diet also calls for the elemination of dairy and alcohol.  I have NOT dropped these.  Alcohol is my personal indulgence, and, like my Evil Genius Husband, I just love cheese TOO much, lol!

It's been surprisingly easy and certainly MUCH more thrifty!

Best of all, I have NOT been hungry, I have NOT had any cravings or weird side effects, nothing.

I could (and plan to) totally eat like this the rest of my life.

Oxymoronic

A thrifty quickie I just HAD to share with you:

My new Van (V for Van-detta) doesn't have a CD player in, so one day (apparently my brain had nipped out for a bit), it dawned on me that it did have a radio.

I've not listened to radio for over 5 years (same reason I don't watch telly - 90% is idiotic drivel and the adverts drive me mad.  Don't get me started on the inane chatter.)

ANYway, before I came to my senses and switched it off with an alarmed cry, I sat through an advert by Harris Teeter.  This is a local grocery chain, BTW;caters to upscale folks; and stores are generally found in posh neighbourhoods.

The gist of the advert was "buy our paper towels, they're cheap, you'll save money in these tough financial times."  Completely disregarding that a large number of the folks in question drove there, alone, in enormous SUVs, for a bottle of obscure wine and the ingredients for that night's supper, and will be back tomorrow, and the next day, and the next ...

Sorry, where was I?

Oh, yeah.  So this soothing narrator chick goes something like: "We want to help you save money during this bad economy thingy that's going on, so we started with the must-have basics, like paper towels. Everyone needs paper towels!"

I beg your pardon?

I haven't used a paper towel, plate, or napkin in my home in 20 years.  And you know how I feel about plastic zipper bags, lol.

We prefer this nifty thrifty stuff called CLOTH and CERAMIC.  And we WASH them and - brace yourself - use them over and over again! *gasp*

You want to save money AND help save the planet? Give it a try. srsly.

EDITED to add: Hmm ... it may have been Publix and not HT.  Can't recall now.

I have a long rant over on the farm blog, if you dare. Also check out Bodog's v. first farm blog post right under it.

I just took Strong American Schools 8th grade quiz:








I took the Math one and missed one, although I don't understand why it was wrong (it was the rectangle one). But I suck so badly at maths that I was chuffed to have gotten a 90! Look at their interactive USA map to see how your state stacks up. South Carolina was shameful.

EDITED TO ADD: apparently the test is slightly different each time. Argh! I took the science one and missed one, too! I suck! How was I supposed to know what causes acid rain?

Whycuz they wern't a English test?

Suburban Sucktards

Did y'all enjoy bodog's first ever post on the farm blog? I just read it and it made me lol. srsly.

But now back to business. Over on The Thriftymom Blog, I just blasted the National Letter Carrier's ASSociation for disallowing a mail man to wear a kilt.

Well, it appears that Stupid People In Charge hasn't reached it's zenith. Check it:


"HICKMAN, Neb. – Talk about your one-horse town. This burg of 1,084 residents is just that.
But some folks don't want that distinction. They want an aging horse named Peter Rabbit, who lives in a pasture in town, gone for good.
Other folks say the horse should stay, despite an ordinance that bans livestock inside city limits.
"I feel bad for the poor horse. He's probably going to die soon anyway," said Jamie Cox, who manages the town bar, Sadie's Place. "As long as he's being taken care of, they should leave him alone."
Hickman, once a sleepy farm town, has become a bedroom community for the capital city of Lincoln and is one of the fastest-growing cities in Nebraska.
With houses having sprung up around Peter Rabbit's pasture, Mayor Jim Hrouda and five of the six City Council members are determined to enforce the livestock ban. Shortly after a council meeting Tuesday, the horse's owner, 76-year-old Harley Scott, was served an eviction notice that orders the animal off the land.
Scott said he has no intention of complying with the Sept. 15 deadline. He faces the prospect of being fined up to $100 a day if he's convicted of violating the ordinance."

Narrow minded idiots and upscale gits!

Please tell me why one elderly animal can't be grandfathered in at this point?

Oh, wait ... it's because it's a yucky horse, right? Horses should only be white, flying through the air, and on telly.

Never mind that your bloody thousand dollar pedigreed dogs cover your house in dander and dog hair and poop quart-sized loads all over the yards, that horse must go! He doesn't match the suburban mailboxes that the housing committee requires being a certain colour, a certain height, a certain style, and landscaped around accordingly.

Besides, all that pasture could be covered with MORE hundreds-of-thousands-of-dollars McMansions so you could have neighbours on the other side who can look right in your upstairs windows!

Gosh, wanna bet that horrible old Harley Scott has a clothesline up in his backyard?! *GASP*

Get the pitchforks and torches!

Yeah, yeah, I know that much of what I just wrote might not be true, but I'd bet you a $13 bag of feed that most of it is.

But no matter what, it's a stupid, senseless waste of time and an example of folks caring too much about appearences at the expense of personal liberty and that old horse's well being.

Jim Hrouda and the City Council members (and like-minded residents) of Hickman, Nebraska?

FAIL!

Get lives and quit meddling in the business of folks who aren't harming anything or anyone.

Farming is NOT for the Weak of Heart

An old, proud house stands lookout over a gravelly road it has watched for 140 Years. A tranquility surrounds the quaint house.



A dog barks intermitently in the distance at a random squirrel, or perhaps a fox scurrying by. Birds chirp happily, diving and looping playfully over your head. Surely a simple scene of serenity.

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!




The scene changes instantly with a bloodcurdling scream coming from the back. You run toward the sounds conflicted with feelings of fear and concern. As you round the back, you see fencing holding in a flock of goats and sheep. In the fence around a swarm of ungulates is a man being battered to his knees by a rampaging ram.

Ok, there's some exaggeration in that tale. It wasn't a bloodcurdling scream, but I did let out a mid-level, alarmed, "Ahh!" And the ram in question wasn't rampaging. He was ravenous, I had just dumped feed, and his prodigious horns happened to snag my calf.

But if you run an animal farm, you know, and if you are thinking about it, you need to know...It can be treacherous business.



This person with the Llama Troopers knows...


and the guys behind this New Zealand movie, Black Sheep know...



And this shirt knows...













It's dangerous business...BEWARE!

Doubtful Duds?

It was brought to my attenton that I hadn't blogged in, like, forever (*waves at Jodi*) and I realised it was true. Dang.

I guess between my being busy, my being on so many bulletin boards, including my own, plus Twitter, I can just yak all day about whatever I need to, whenever it occurs to me.



Well, I promise to pay better attention to the blog. Heck, school starts in less than two weeks. That aughta give me PLENTY of crap to bitch about, lol!



Here's something right here. What the Blue Heck is up with this?



"SEATTLE - A 6-foot-tall, 250-pound letter carrier is campaigning for the right to take off his pants. Dean Peterson wants the U.S. Postal Service to add kilts as a uniform option for men.


The idea was soundly defeated in July at a convention of his union, the 220,000-member National Letter Carriers' Association, so Peterson knows convincing management will be an uphill struggle, but at least he'll be comfortable in his kilt, or Male Unbifurcated Garment.


"In one word, it's comfort," he said.


With his build, Peterson said, his thighs fill slacks to capacity, causing chafing and scarring.
Peterson, 48, has Finnish and Norwegian ancestry but not Scottish. He began wearing kilts a couple years ago when his wife brought one back from a trip to Scotland. (A spokeswoman for Britain's Royal Mail said kilts are not allowed as part of its letter carrier uniforms.)


Now Peterson wears them everywhere — to one son's football games, the other son's concerts, shopping and gardening."


(snip)



""Unbifurcated Garments are far more comfortable and suitable to male anatomy than trousers or shorts because they don't confine the legs or cramp the male genitals the way that trousers or shorts do," he wrote. "Please open your hearts — and inseams — for an option in mail carrier comfort!"


The union's executive committee recommended disapproval, saying there was not enough demand for kilts to be worth the bother of the resolution, and delegates agreed by a large margin.


But Peterson said there are plenty of approved uniform items that very few mail carriers wear, including a cardigan sweater, vest and pith helmet. He said many convention delegates did express support after his resolution was voted down."



WTF?! Who gives a great flying very bad word at the moon if a bloke wears a kilt? And I'm not just saying this as a proud Scottish American, here.



As long as his bits are covered and the garment is businesslike, who cares? Here's a pic of Peterson in his proposed official USPS kilt:



That looks like a perfectly acceptable form of dress to me. Can't they wear shorts? What's the difference? This has got to be some bizarre male stereotyping thing because there is no logical explaination why they would say no.

This is particularly stupid: "The union's executive committee recommended disapproval, saying there was not enough demand for kilts to be worth the bother of the resolution."

What? You're meeting right that second. Just effing approve it.

So my conclusion? National Letter Carrier's Association: FAIL!

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One last note: many of you know that after my last child was born (March '07) I lost a huge amount of weight (121lbs). Well, at the holidays I gave myself a break and stopped actively trying to lose weight. Well, since about March I have been piddling about and making NO progress jump starting my diet again (I need to lose 20 more lbs).

I was Googling along last week checking out the recommended carbs for a healthy diet and I came across this diet. I posted about it on my forums if you'd like to follow my progress (or comment!) It's pretty cool and thrifty, too.