Category: Life

Life-condensed

Dressing Up the Guitar

Karen

Quick: This guitar looks like the guitar of a famous rock-n-roller from the 80’s.

Who is it?

If you guessed Eddie Van Halen …… YAY! You ROCK my socks!

*high five*

Kevin’s band, Midnite Thunder, has a gig this weekend and the place they’re playing at is hosting an 80’s night. Which is perfect since Kevin’s band plays 80’s music. But Kevin had the bright idea of using his guitar as part of his costume. So, he grabbed some tape and started playing around keeping Eddie Van Halen’s guitar in mind.

And he ended up with the guitar you see pictured above.

Pretty cool, right? (He’s so creative).

Now if we could only find him a square-tipped tie and funky plastic glasses, he would be set.

(And speaking of the 80’s, I would have DIED for hair like this back then. The bigger and rattier, the better. Whatever. Don’t EVEN deny that’s not cool. Ha!)

Life

More Random Crap About Me

Karen

You can find the first 75 things about me on this page.

76. I love coffee.
77. I love chocolate.
78. Neither likes me too well.
79. But I don’t care – it’s worth the pain.
80. I hate seafood.
81. I love chicken.
82. I could easily be a vegan.
83. Red meat makes me gag sometimes.
84. I have a hot temper.
85. I also cool off fairly fast.
86. Unless it’s serious,
87. Then I hold a grudge.
88. For a long time.
89. I like my in-laws.
90. I have 12 nieces and nephews.
91. I love walking on my treadmill.
92. I watch movies while walking.
93. I hate to write.
94. But I feel compelled to do it.
95. I never know what I’m going to write,
96. Until I start writing.
97. My goal is to publish a novel.
98. But if I don’t, I’m okay with that.
99. I will leave my mark on the world.
100. One way or another.

Hey! I see you over there snoozing. Wake up! I’m interesting, dang it!

Okay. I’m not. Thanks for visiting anyway.

Politics

Compromise That’s Not a Solution is a Waste of Time

Karen

I challenge you to watch this video and LISTEN to what the man says. Rubio perfectly sums up what we’re all thinking.

If you don’t wish to spend 15 minutes watching this video, then read the transcript.

And if you don’t want to do either, then I’m assuming you like being told what to think instead of taking the initiative to think on your own.

That’s right – meow. I’m tired of people not getting involved in our messed-up politics.

I really LOVE how he keeps on task. I love how he doesn’t rise to Senator Kerry’s bait and allow himself to be put on the defensive. For you see, that is the Democrats’ biggest strategy – to put the Republicans on defense. For if they’re put on defense, then they spend most of their time defending their position instead of debating the REAL issues. Democrats are masters of delay tactics because if they can delay talking about the tough issues, then they don’t have to vote on the tough issues and tick off their voter base.

Because that voter base keeps them in office and we must not bite the hand that feeds us, now must we. That might mess up their political CAREER. Forget doing what’s best for the country, let’s focus on getting re-elected and furthering one’s CAREER.

It’s not a CAREER, it’s a SERVICE. It’s an honor to SERVE the American people and to be their spokesperson. But too many career politicians either have forgotten they’re there on behalf of the people, or they simply don’t care – it’s all about kissing the right asses so they can stay in Washington.

The whole thing makes me sick.

We need more people like Rubio in Congress who WILL NOT allow themselves to be distracted from the real issues. Then they can get back to the crux of the matter and hold the feet of these Democrats to the fire who refuse to deal with the real issues at hand.

I mean seriously, just HOW deeply can one party bury their heads in the sand?? It’s time to face reality and make the tough decisions. Someone, and I’m addressing both parties here because the Republicans have been spineless wimps in this whole debt ceiling issue, needs to grow a pair of balls and DEAL with these problems.

Did you catch the part where the Senate hasn’t produced a budget, not even a proposed budget, since Obama has taken office?!? And did you catch the last part where he said, “I would say it’s impossible to negotiate with someone who doesn’t offer a plan. How do you negotiate with someone who will not offer a plan and will not put it on the table?”

I mean, COME ON, Duh people.

And I’ve heard lot of talk today about delaying tactics and delaying votes. I would argue to you that this issue has been delayed at least for the last two and a half years.

In the two years before I even came here, this chamber neither proposed nor passed a budget. It is a startling figure that for the last two years this government has operated without a budget. So think about that. Two years have gone by without a budget. The first two years that the President was the president, no budgets.

Some people would say, well, that’s because of partisanship in Washington. Well, that’s not true. In the two years before I got here, both the House and Senate were controlled by members of the Democratic Party, which are the President’s party. In fact, in this chamber for at least one of those two years, 60 votes, 60 out of the 100 members here caucused with the Democrats. And as you recall, on Christmas Eve of the year 2009, they were able to pass a health care bill that was very controversial because they had the 60 votes in the President’s party.

Over two years, no budget. In fact you know how long it has been since this chamber proposed a budget? Forget passed a budget, proposed a budget? 822 days. That’s a long time. A lot of things have happened in the last 822 days, but proposing a budget is not one of them out of this chamber.

So then I got here – and we got here in January, seven months have passed, still no budget. Again, not budget passed, proposed, offered. Here’s our budget. Still no budget. 822 Days and every single day that I’ve been here.

Now, in the last seven days on this debt debate, we have finally seen a proposal from the esteemed senator from Nevada, the majority leader. You would think, has he brought it to the floor to vote? Not until last night. So, again, offered a proposal over the weekend and still for six days we sat around and what did we do around here? Nothing. It was never brought to a vote.

You would think these issues would have been worked on in January, February, March — nothing. This chamber has done nothing. You talk about delay tactics? They’ve been delaying for two and a half years.

And the Democrats have the AUDACITY to accuse the Republicans of delay tactics?!? The left side is truly delusional.

Marco Rubio seriously needs to run for president and if, nay, WHEN he does, he has my vote.

Period.

Life-condensed

I Flipped My Hair Out Today

Karen

I was trying to get it to look like this chick’s hair.

But I think it still might be too short to really spike.

Here’s a side view – sort of.

I’m going to grow it out, but only just. I really like having shorter hair (even though my dad doesn’t. Seriously. He came to Dude’s graduation party, took one look at me and said, “Karen, what did you do to yourself??” HA!)

I like the spiky look. I sort of feel like I might be too old to sport the spike look but too bad too sad. It’s my hair.

Deal.

*grin*

(Also? My face is really not that much whiter than the rest of my body – it’s just that I am holding the camera too close to my face and the flash is washing my skin out. At least, that’s what I’m telling myself anyway).

Home Movies

Testing the Johnny Jump Up

Karen

This was the first time we put Dude into a Johnny Jump Up.

I apologize for the maniacal laughter, I was delirious from fatigue. Also? His expression of like, “what do I DO with this thing??” just cracked me up. HA!

Dude soon picked up on the concept behind the Johnny Jump Up (I have a video of that for later, of course) and I have to say, this Johnny Jump Up SAVED my sanity. Both of my boys loved this thing and spent hours in it.

I’d recommend it for new parents.

P.S. The cord hanging down by his foot is from this.

Home Movies

Playing Ball … Sort Of

Karen

This is another one of those “nothing is happening” videos that I just couldn’t resist posting. I told you I spent HOURS taping my kids just breathing. I loved to watch their facial expressions whenever we played. They were so eager for my attention, open and waiting for new experiences and the innocence in their eyes just took my breath away.

I’m so very grateful that we were able to work it out so that I could stay home with them. I wouldn’t trade these memories for anything.

Life

Breast Was Not Best – For Me

Karen

I’ve been wanting to write about this for quite some time. And I’ve been wanting to write about it for me, to record it in my journal, to pass on to my boys (though being boys, they probably won’t care one way or another, but their future wives, on the other hand, may find this interesting, who knows), and because if I can help other women out there that feel the same way as I do, they may find some comfort in the fact that they’re not alone.

Are you ready?

It’s about breastfeeding.

*waits for the collective gasp of horrors to die down and braces herself for the immediate Judy-judge-judgeries out there.*

I didn’t breastfeed either of my boys.

*waits for another gasp of horror to subside and hopes they’re still reading*

It’s wasn’t that I wasn’t able to, though I don’t know, I might not have been able to, but rather, it was just that I didn’t want to fool with it.

I know that sounds horrible, but please, let me state my case before you pass judgement.

Before we go any further, let me state for the record that I think I might be missing a vital maternal gene – breast feeding sort of freaks me out. I’ve always been uncomfortable with the idea. Even though I KNOW that that is the purpose of breasts, to provide food for offspring, I just could never resolve myself to that fact. I knew, even before I had kids, that I probably wasn’t going to try it, though I was keeping my options open.

I could sugar coat this and tell you all that I tried and it didn’t work out, or that I was okay with the idea and had every intention of breastfeeding but somehow couldn’t, but that would be a lie – I didn’t want anything to do with it. I didn’t even entertain the thought.

Dude (my first born) was a preemie. My water broke at 32 weeks and I had a vaginal birth. Other than the fact that his lungs hadn’t fully developed, he was perfectly fine. There was no explanation for why he came early, he just did.

Dude was in the NICU for six weeks while his lungs developed. A few days after giving birth, my milk came in. I was so preoccupied and worried about my newborn son that I had little room to think of anything else. Since I hadn’t mentally prepared myself to breastfeed, I walked around with a towel safety pinned to my chest for two days and waited for the boulders that were my breasts (seriously – those puppies were ROCK HARD and HUGE) to absorb the milk and go back to normal. It was uncomfortable, but at least I wasn’t having to deal with all the physical difficulties I had read comes with breastfeeding and between the normal hormones of post birth and my constant worry and fear for my son, I was already a wreck to begin with – I simply didn’t have the desire, or the energy, to deal with the added stress of dealing with pumping, leaking breasts, storing milk, etc.

In short, I had enough on my plate to deal with, I was simply unwilling to deal with more at that point.

I never gave it a second thought, to be perfectly honest. I dried it up and I moved on.

And when I went back to work after my six weeks of maternity leave (yes, just in time to bring my son home from the hospital – talk about HARD), I was never so glad of my decision as I was at that moment. Again. Between juggling marriage, baby and work, I didn’t want another thing to deal with.

Yes. Perhaps I was selfish in thinking this way. And yes, you’re probably right, I must be missing a maternal piece of me to feel that way, but I figured bottle feeding would be so much easier and I willingly and eagerly took the easy road.

I guess we can throw lazy in there with the mix, too.

There are no excuses, this is how I felt. I had educated myself on breastfeeding, I had been given options to breastfeed while in the hospital, I knew “experts” claimed it was best for my baby (though I’m not totally convinced of that fact, personally) – I blame no one for my decision to bottle feed.

It was all me.

I never once felt guilty for my decision. The nurses didn’t give me a hard time about it, no one in my family turned this noses up at my decision – I don’t recall receiving any flak whatsoever. Granted, breastfeeding wasn’t as widely accepted, or so publicly talked about in the early 90’s but still, it was a popular option even back then. Now, it’s just taken for granted that a woman will breastfeed and if she doesn’t, then she’s a terrible mother and how COULD she even THINK of depriving her baby of the very best?

In fact, some breastfeeding advocates nowadays sort of scare me, they’re so passionate about the issue that they’re almost fanatical, but I’m a firm believer of “whatever works for your family is the best decision for your family” kind of person. I try not to judge women for their choices. It’s really none of my business which path they choose for their family. If it works, then cool.

For me, bottle was best. It took a lot of personal stress off of me and I had the mental stamina to focus entirely on my baby and not on whether my body was performing correctly, or even to capacity. (Not implying that women who breastfeed don’t have mental stamina – please don’t split hairs, you know what I mean).

When my second son came along, (he was born two days early, healthy and ready to go home the next day because our insurance wouldn’t cover longer than 24 hours after birth), again, I dried up my milk and went straight to bottle. Again, it was never an issue for me. I didn’t have the whole preemie issue to deal with my second son, I simply went back to what worked out so well the first time – the bottle.

I figured if it wasn’t broke, why fix it?

Again. This was my experience, this was how I felt. Both of my boys were bottle fed and were hardly sick a day in their lives. Though I’m not trying to imply they were healthy BECAUSE I didn’t breastfeed, I’m saying that just because I bottle fed they weren’t lacking for nutrients and didn’t grow up with any physical problems because I had. (Granted, some of that good health was likely attributed to genes, as well as to their upbringing – again, I’m not entirely convinced that breast milk is the best alternative. I’ve read how sometimes milk can lack essential nutrients and the baby is virtually starving because of that deficiency. I’m not dissing breastfeeding, I’m simply trying to point out that just because it comes from the breast doesn’t necessarily mean that it is completely nutritionally adequate for the baby).

I hope this admission doesn’t shock or repel you. If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, you’re probably not even that surprised, but I try to be as honest as I can be in my journal and this experience is no exception.

It was just one of the decisions I made in my life. I feel comfortable with that decision and I feel like it worked out for the best for me.

If you’re still reading (you ROCK, by the way), then I’ll turn my attention to what sort of bottles worked best for me for those moms out there that are bottle feeding their babies. Again, this was my experience and it was what worked for me.

We started out using standard bottles. But I soon learned, after many sleepless nights burping and comforting a gassy baby, going through countless spit cloths and the joys of projectile vomiting, (which completely freaked me out the first time it happened and even though I was repulsed, I was sort of impressed, too), that the standard bottle was simply not working. The baby was swallowing too much air and it was causing all sort of problems.

Because I’m simply not smart enough to think of these things on my own, I know I must have either read about this, or my pediatrician suggested I try it, I can’t really remember, (it was 16 years ago, after all), but I went to Playtex bottles.

For those that don’t know, Playtex bottles come with liners. And you can squeeze as much of the air out as you can with these liners, thereby keeping more air out of your baby’s belly. In addition, the nipples are shaped more like a breast nipple, so the baby instinctively latches on a little better than with the longer nipples.

These bottles SAVED my sanity. Seriously. I could tell an immediate difference when I switched over. I also felt it was a bit more sanitary than scrubbing the inside of a standard bottle as the liners were sterile to begin with and afterward, you just threw them away.

So, bottled-feeding moms out there, if you’re having a hard time, try the Playtex bottles and see if they work better. (And no, Playtex is not compensating me for writing this in any way).

Like I mentioned, I’ve been wanting to write about my breastfeeding (or lack thereof) experience for quite some time, but if you’ve been around the blog-o-sphere for any length of time, then you know that there are some topics you just don’t cover – not unless you’re willing to be bombarded with all sorts of nasty.

But I decided, a long time ago, that I want to write what I want to in my own journal and if people don’t like it, then they don’t like it. I can’t apologize for being me. That’s why comments are closed because even though I APPRECIATE your time in reading what I have to say, I simply don’t care to spend hours defending the choices I’ve made, or my thoughts about sensitive issues. Like I said, this is me, my journal, my life.

I actually crossed the breastfeeding taboo line largely due to some of the posts that Lindsay at Suburban Turmoil wrote about the issue. I admired her honesty and her courage for talking about an otherwise taboo subject: bottle feeding.

I Hated Breastfeeding. Deal With It.

Sharks vs. Jets Breast vs. Bottle

At any rate, this is my story. And I’m not afraid to tell it.