Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[jorey]

Opa, good morning. It probally has been already suggested or you have thought about it, but could you possibly take a benadryl at night to help with the itching. I'm not sure of drug interactions though. Just a thought. Thanks for your morning musings once again. They are wonderful. I look forward to them every morning.

 

[1muttsfan]

I was also going to say that allergic reactions to medications can initially lead to intense itching, and can progress to more serious, even life-threatening issues. Have you reported it to your doctor?

Farmerboy, CONGRATULATIONS!

 

[taprock]

Finally I got up to a half dozen eggs yesterday, after 1 or 2 and having some frozen. Then I get in the house and Titus manages to trip over my egg basket and crack every one. What a menace, but he is cute! His egg eating is going to end rudely however with some strategically placed mousetraps.

 

[chickflick]

CONGRTULATIONS, FARMERBOY!! THAT IS SUCH GREAT NEWS!!

LOVED THE ANNOUNCEMENT! SO CUTE!

 

[Opa]

I made the doctor aware of the itching that the medication has caused and he recommended benadryl but that has provided scant relief. I've another appointment scheduled for Monday and hopefully the infustions will be over on Tuesday. I will be nice to have my live return to some symblance of normal.

As I sit here typing my old dog lies near. She seems to be shrinking before my very eyes. Her appetite is still good and she doesn't appear to be in any distress so I'll just continue to watch and be thankful for all of the good days she has brought us. Will Rogers once remarked “If there are no dogs in heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.” I tend to believe he had it right.

While I never felt I was a vain person I did care about my appearance. I still care but I'm not overly concerned that when I look in a mirror an old man is looking back. In fact perhaps all these graying hairs and wrinkled skin are something to be proud of. A person travels many roads in life and only a few of them are paved.

 

[ladyrsanti]

That is a neat announcement, Daron. After a miscarriage of my own many years ago, I was reminded of the impossibility of anything so complex forming from a single cell, too small to see with the naked eye, and how the odds of every subsequent cell division occurring successfully are against us. And yet so often it works and it's kind of crazy that way but keeping the odds of failure in mind helped to cope with the loss. Life is pretty cool. Good luck to them.


So it sounds like everyone had a great holiday. That’s good to hear. Mine kind of sucked but only in a relative way (pun intended). I’m one of those people who is thankful every day and doesn’t see a need to specify a holiday to do it, especially since the whole thankful aspect is fiercely personal anyway. But I attend the families' parties out of respect and love for them anyway. Otherwise, I see it as the poultry industry’s special day. Without it, somehow, the entire country would collapse economically or some such nonsense and maybe, just maybe, turkeys would be allowed to breed naturally again instead of dragging their abnormally large breasts in their poo and injected with flavorings only to be served with a side of half-baked thanks for the things others don’t have, like factory farmed turkey. Whoopie! Sorry, I get really cynical this time of year but not completely without reason.


Yeah, so DH’s 92 year old grandfather erupted at the dinner table after some hapless relative uttered a political trigger word that I will not repeat. Luckily I had already left the room but it was most unpleasant, even from afar. I wish, with the benefit of hindsight, that I had gone in there and asked him calmly and politely why he hates so much, why he judges so much and then with the same air of calm asked the rest of them why they were fueling his fire. But I didn’t and part of me regrets it. Instead I stayed in the next room, knitting and cringing at the terrible things that were said. It would be one thing if he were senile but he's sharp as a blade still. I’m reminded of a quote I heard the other day and I will never find it so I will paraphrase, something about nature’s greatest gift being death for renewal, regrowth and change. While I don’t wish death on this man who can be a loving person (or anyone) it is refreshing to know that his brand of hate is dying out with the older generations and being replaced by a greater tolerance that while not perfect is promising and gives me hope. Still, it was not a pleasant dinner and it was hard to be thankful for much in that house, try as I might.

So there was that. And then my own family. There were no arguments or hate speech but I was criticized for being… well, me. They forget and possibly can’t relate to the fact that I am a stay-at-home mom. All of the women in my family have careers. I’m the exception and it makes it really hard, especially when they start dishing out advice that does not suit my situation. I hate to say that they don’t understand because it sounds juvenile but I really don’t think they can understand. Unlike them, I don’t have coworkers and friends or a community that I’m a part of every day or most days or even some days. I struggle every day to be a part of society, to make a difference like they are and not fall into the soap opera and bonbon stigma. Even as an intense introvert, I have to have *some* contact with the outside world, to be a part of *something* just to feel alive. So things like social networking on the internet (including this forum) have become really important to me, giving me a sense of community, amongst other things, but I struggle with it because I can’t always or often be myself.

So long story short, my family gave me the why-can’t-you-just-share-happy-stuff?-treatment which is like saying “why can’t you just be normal like everyone else?” And coming from them, especially my mother, it really hurt. That’s not how she lives and that's not how she taught me to live either. I feel like I was just clubbed and dragged back into the cave. I deactivated my FB account again as a result of the criticism.


Anyway, all that and six hours of driving... I'm exhausted and depressed. I did wave to y'all as I passed your towns, those of you who live off the beaten path between GR and Swanton, OH (I drive M50). Consider yourselves waved at.

 

[snowflake]

hey Lady, sorry you had such a difficult day, I feel sad when I hear of families getting together only to end up stressed and unhappy, I am very lucky to have a family that tends to get a long well and enjoy each others company, we had 31 people 5 dogs and 1 cat, dogs stayed outside till late in the day (food was all put away) cat hid and enjoyed the fact the dogs were OUT! it was a very happy time with much food. laughter,card playing and a few tuns from one nephew's concertina, and of course football

Farmerboy, Congratulations, what a wonderful event to celebrate

 

[RTFchickens]

That is a neat announcement, Daron.  After a miscarriage of my own many years ago, I was reminded of the impossibility of anything so complex forming from a single cell, too small to see with the naked eye, and how the odds of every subsequent cell division occurring successfully are against us.  And yet so often it works and it's kind of crazy that way but keeping the odds of failure in mind helped to cope with the loss.  Life is pretty cool.  Good luck to them.


So it sounds like everyone had a great holiday.  That’s good to hear.  Mine kind of sucked but only in a relative way (pun intended). I’m one of those people who is thankful every day and doesn’t see a need to specify a holiday to do it, especially since the whole thankful aspect is fiercely personal anyway.  But I attend the families' parties out of respect and love for them anyway.  Otherwise, I see it as the poultry industry’s special day.  Without it, somehow, the entire country would collapse economically or some such nonsense and maybe, just maybe, turkeys would be allowed to breed naturally again instead of dragging their abnormally large breasts in their poo and injected with flavorings only to be served with a side of half-baked thanks for the things others don’t have, like factory farmed turkey.  Whoopie!  Sorry, I get really cynical this time of year but not completely without reason. 


Yeah, so DH’s 92 year old grandfather erupted at the dinner table after some hapless relative uttered a political trigger word that I will not repeat.   Luckily I had already left the room but it was most unpleasant, even from afar.  I wish, with the benefit of hindsight, that I had gone in there and asked him calmly and politely why he hates so much, why he judges so much and then with the same air of calm asked the rest of them why they were fueling his fire.  But I didn’t and part of me regrets it.  Instead I stayed in the next room, knitting and cringing at the terrible things that were said.  It would be one thing if he were senile but he's sharp as a blade still.  I’m reminded of a quote I heard the other day and I will never find it so I will paraphrase, something about nature’s greatest gift being death for renewal, regrowth and change.  While I don’t wish death on this man who can be a loving person (or anyone) it is refreshing to know that his brand of hate is dying out with the older generations and being replaced by a greater tolerance that while not perfect is promising and gives me hope.   Still, it was not a pleasant dinner and it was hard to be thankful for much in that house, try as I might.

So there was that.  And then my own family.   There were no arguments or hate speech but I was criticized for being… well, me. They forget and possibly can’t relate to the fact that I am a stay-at-home mom.  All of the women in my family have careers.  I’m the exception and it makes it really hard, especially when they start dishing out advice that does not suit my situation.  I hate to say that they don’t understand because it sounds juvenile but I really don’t think they can understand.   Unlike them, I don’t have coworkers and friends or a community that I’m a part of every day or most days or even some days.  I struggle every day to be a part of society, to make a difference like they are and not fall into the soap opera and bonbon stigma.  Even as an intense introvert, I have to have *some* contact with the outside world, to be a part of *something* just to feel alive.  So things like social networking on the internet (including this forum) have become really important to me, giving me a sense of community, amongst other things, but I struggle with it because I can’t always or often be myself.

So long story short, my family gave me the why-can’t-you-just-share-happy-stuff?-treatment which is like saying “why can’t you just be normal like everyone else?”  And coming from them, especially my mother, it really hurt.  That’s not how she lives and that's not how she taught me to live either.  I feel like I was just clubbed and dragged back into the cave.  I deactivated my FB account again as a result of the criticism.


Anyway, all that and six hours of driving... I'm exhausted and depressed.  I did wave to y'all as I passed your towns, those of you who live off the beaten path between GR and Swanton, OH (I drive M50).  Consider yourselves waved at. 

Lady,
I'm sorry your Thanksgiving was so rough. I often wish I could be a stay at home mom. Instead I worked over 18hours at Spectrum Health away from all of my family. Being that "career woman" isn't always all its cracked up to be. Maybe they are giving you a hard time because deep down they know that you have something they do not. Quality time with your family...

 

[Opa]

Sadly personal ambition or economics has made the stay at home parent a rarity and I think our nations children are less because of it. Far too often the care of children is left to strangers from who it is merely a job. Can we be certain that the values they impart to our children are the same values we cherish? Or worse still is the latch key child who is left to their own devices.

I can think of no more important task than raising a child to be a productive, self sufficient, compassionate, and caring individual. Someone who as an adult adds to society rather than expecting society to take care of them. This only happens when parents devote themselves to their children and not their job. The stay at home mother was the glue that held families together and our children were better for it. The families that elect to have only one parent working may have less economically but in the end they are far richer.

 

[preciouskitty]

Couldn't have said it better myself, Opa.

While I don't have children, DH & I were just saying the same thing last night after I read lady's post. I know that the fact my mother was able to stay at home with us kids is why we all turned out the way we did (& I think we all turned out to be pretty good members of society!). My mom's 3 sisters were all able to stay home, too...& all of my cousins are awesome, too. I also believe this is why our family is so close.

I know it is not economically feasible anymore for many families to do this. And lady, I think you, and more importantly, your KIDS are lucky. Told DH last night that I personally think that staying home & raising your own children would be/is WAY more work than heading off to the office every morning...