Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[ladyrsanti]

Thanks for all the sympathies and commiserations guys. I wish it were so simple as saying, 'well yeah, I'm grateful to be able to be a stay-at-home mom and my kids are better off for it.' They ARE better off, no doubts about that and I'm very grateful to be able to mold them into such fine young men. They're great kids. While it's true that the women in my life work because they have to, that decision was made prior to having kids, in ALL cases. They all went to college to follow their dreams of being whatever they became, most of them in the fields of science, and then they decided to have kids and couldn't afford to quit their dream jobs. So it's the same but it's different. When you plug my circumstances into that formula, I just come off as lazy and unmotivated and that's how I feel they perceive me. Plus I'm a failure as an artist, not having produced anything in years. Guy in Detroit bought four of my large pencil drawings several years ago for his art collection and asked if I was making more because he'd buy them too. I had told him I would, of course... and haven't picked up a pencil since. FAIL. DH helped me pay off my student loans with his hard earned money and that's how I've wasted it. Doing squat. Pbbbbt. -_-

Time, time, time... see what's become of me...

Anyway, @Amy PT , I went out the night you posted about the Happy Light and bought one (JoAnn's was having a sale that ended that day). Cost $26 with the online coupon so it wasn't too bad. As I mentioned, I'm a huge skeptic of these type of things, especially anything called a "happy light" so I didn't want to post about it until I gave it a good try. It's been five days now and I've used it every morning for a half hour. While I can't say it's done anything for my mood and energy levels just yet (or maybe it's just because DH keeps ticking me off) but I am sleeping well at night now, which is just as important, if not more important. Usually I wake up at 3-4am and can't get back to sleep so I just get up for the day but now I'm sleeping all night - every night since I started using it in fact. At first I thought it was a fluke but four nights in a row is pretty convincing to me. So, it's worth it and I hope and expect that the mood and energy will follow with time. I was almost disappointed that my blood work came back 100% normal, which sounds funny but with how crappy I've been feeling lately, I really wanted something so simple to pin it on, something easily fixable. Not the case. And I refuse to go back to psych meds for depression. So thank you for that recommendation.

My chickens are clear of their de-worming medication now and they're only laying 2 eggs a day. That's not much to go on. I've got two eggs to my name and a family that wants eggs for breakfast. They were drooling over the prospects of egg sandwiches yesterday and I can't deliver. COME ON LADIES!!!!

@ChicwannaB , I roasted that midget turkey Friday night for dinner and I have to say that that was the single most flavorful bird I have ever had the pleasure of tasting. Yesterday I boiled down the carcass into soup with homegrown potatoes, homemade noodles (made from homegrown eggs and buttermilk from Daron's cow) and the most insidious brussels sprouts that I picked that day from the garden. So good! I would definitely go out of my way to raise those again. It tasted different than turkey that I'm used to, a unique flavor and so rich. Just perfect. Thank you so much for that opportunity.

Oh and I finished NaNoWriMo! Yesterday afternoon I finished with 50,070 words. I'm posting it in it's unedited entirety on my DeviantART account, chapter by chapter. It's probably not a genre anyone here would be interested in but I'm just glad to have it done and have finished *something*, even if I did copy a couple of song lyrics in there as filler. Don't tell anyone, k?

 

[naglady]

Ladyr- So glad the happy light is working for you.. without proper sleep its really is hard to function.. your mood and energy will change big time..

 

[chickflick]

Good Morning! Glad you're feeling better, Lady. Hope it continues to improve.

Where is everyone? Not done shopping yet?? I have not stepped in a store all week end. Did order online, tho.

Loving this milder weather. Chickens sure are enjoying their time out in the grass.

Meeting Shellyb to pick up my soap order. Well, shampoo, lotions and even dog soap. My girls love her stuff, as do I. It makes the skin feel so nice and and smells sooo good.

Have a good day and enjoy!

 

[chickwhispers]

Hi All! So sorry haven't kept up with all. Just a bit ooverwhelmed with all the chores to finish for the cold season. I am glad everyone survived the "Turkey" day events. Ours was nice. We spent with myoldest daughter and her husband. They live Iin Canton. It was her first time hosting Thanksgiving. She invited my 83 yr old mom and my brother, who recently moved my mom back here this summer. They too now live in Canton. It went a smoother than I expected. My brother is well we'll just say pushy sometimes. Anyway we usually don't get to worked up over Thanksgiving. Just try to go with the flow.
Christmas is my favorite time. Usually not too bad of family time. Usually spend with kids and grandkids at our house. This year will be in Canton.

To those that have sleep issues I recently saw a piece on the science channel about the effect of light on sleep and mood. They said to get 20 minutes at least of bright light early in the day because it sets your "clock" for sleeping. And helps with hormones for mood. I can't remember all the technical stuff. But the sleep part is what I needed. I have always had trouble since 12 yrs old. Anyway I tried it. It helped me sleep better. Now I try to do that everyday with natural light but they did say that the type of lights at Joanns is a good replacement but only a percentage of natural light. They said the key to that was doing early I the day . definitely before 11 am for best results.

Glad to see you are almost done with your meds Opa. Hope it alls goes well and complete health to you!

Congrats to taps family on the good news!

Take care all through the Christmas season and watchout for us Christmas nuts...we mean well. Lol

 

[SillyChicken]

Hi Whispers!
Hi Bobry!

Nice to see you both!

Farmer - congratulations to your family.

Hope all goes well!

Sam, Hopefully you're doing better... this too shall pass!

My holiday went well.. my family is really small so there's not much drama to deal with. Save my niece who I worry about sometimes. She loves my DH, but I caution him about spending too much time with her, esp alone. Not that I worried about DH, I just don't trust teenage girls having dealt with his own daughter and the BS she pulled.

My house chicken is trying to take a dust bath in my carpet..... lol silly chicken. and no it's not dirty! LOL!

Deer season was one of the least productive I've seen. I did not see one deer after the third day of gun season. Made for a disappointing season as far as filling the freezer goes.. but the weather was great for the most part for just being out side and enjoying nature and spending time with my fam.

 

[NovaAman]

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. 

I am not technically a stay at home mom... I am a single mother though. I refuse to work any shift that requires me to have child care beyond my mother. I work 5-10am at michaels in the morning. John gets chase to school for me 3 days a week. Aiden is not to hard on my mom on the other 2 days when I work for the press. And the 3rd day I work for the press and the Sentinel, they are with their father. If I had to work a shift that required a babysitter, I would not. I would sit on my butt at home and collect welfare first while trying to find a first or third to work while my kids were either sleeping or at school. To be awake and with them after school. They are MY kids. Some one else raising them is not an option for me.

I have/had a good friend who works second. Her husband works first. Her kids are in school. I asked her how she could not see her children all week long, or her husband for that matter. She had no remorse/regrets for not being there. She was fine with the weekend thing. Said she went out of her way... OUT OF HER WAY... to spoil them on Saturday and Sunday. Really? Now... Here is the kicker. She doesn't have to work at all. Her house is paid for. The land is paid for. Her Husband makes 90g a year.... If it were that she HAD to work, I would be understanding, I would. But she's chosen to let some one else raise her children, and then is upset that they have no regard or respect for her and her time with them....

 

[NovaAman]

Lady... are you working with natural therapies for you depression? Color, aroma, exercise, SUN, light therapy, (have a sun lamp also) vit d, a hobby (like chickens aren't enough) Avoiding prepackaged foods(thinking hamburger helper types), MSGs, fake and/or modified sweeteners?

I am Bi-polar my self. I do not take meds either. I was prescibed depacote once upon a time. It brought me so low all the time. I felt like a zombie. I flushed them. In hinde sight, probably should have returned them to the pharmacy for proper disposal. I am very in touch with my moods. I can tell when I am about to shift up or down. I can tell a day or so before it happens that I am about to have a bad day. (I dream in color and I rage in my sleep) I am very careful to read label. Now I am even doing my best to avoid food that have GMO, which can be hard if you haven't grown everything yourself, so, read the labels, numbers on the produce and even have a phone ap that tells me if the producer of foods is a user of gmos. Really shortens the list of food in our stores. BUT brings you back to real homemade meals also.

I feed my chickens GMO free feeds also. We are what we eat, and I eat my chickens eggs...And occassionaly a chicken.

I avoid crowds, hot stores (wal-mart is the most unpleasant place for me to shop, no air in there) live just on the outskirt of town. Don't listen to the tv high... to much noise and I am instantly pithed off. Having two boys can be a challenge when they are both screaming, running and sword fighting... (!@#$ star wars) But I have picked up my paint brushes again, writing when I can. Snapping photos. Cleaning the garage coop... always fun to scrape down the cement floor. It's solitary, and peaceful. Go figure. Raking up the out door coops, scraping down... solitary and peaceful... Audio books are also an outlet. I don't think much when I listen to an audio book. Still function on auto pilot, but peaceful. Sometime suspenseful. I even use my audible on my phone at work in the AM and it's nothing to hear my coworkers radio that the crazy lady is laughing to herself again. ( I just finished Takedown 20 ) I have few personal friends. The friends I have don't get mad at me when I don't call them for a week or two. They know. And a true friend will not hold it against me. They know me. They also know that I will drop everything, no matter what mood I am in, and go and help them.

I do not apologize for who I am. I do not expect my family to always be happy with me. BUT if they were to treat me badly... Well you can't pick your blood relatives, but you can pick your family. And the people who love and accept you the way you are, related or not, those are the people to surround your self with. The rest can just be bystanders that you can ignore for the most part.

 

[HollyDuckFarmer]

Lady I am SAHM by choice too & I used to work outside, as in Life Before Kids. We moms work harder than I ever did when I was getting a paycheck! And family, meh, Nova's got it: Bystanders. That's a perfect word.

Ok changing subject, here is the afghan I started a few weeks ago. I decided the other night that I was bored with it, and I really wanted to begin a new project, so I stopped at "throw" size. I don't think I'm going to gift it after all, but who knows I just might. It's super cozy.

Ok and my new project is also an afghan. Any BrBa Fans here? The orange one from Walt & Skyler's couch. http://battersbox.tumblr.com/post/45609564604/breaking-bad-inspired-crochet-afghan-blanket

This is what I've got so far with just Red Heart WW and needle sz I-9. (Crochet now, not knit) I'm not liking the lack-of-loft, plus it seems like it just isn't large enough after 10 Rds. ... So what I'm debating on doing is ripping out, beginning anew with double strands and likely a K hook. If I can find it! LOL Any opinions are very appreciated!
Edited to add pic:

 

[ChicwannaB]

Thanks for all the sympathies and commiserations guys. I wish it were so simple as saying, 'well yeah, I'm grateful to be able to be a stay-at-home mom and my kids are better off for it.' They ARE better off, no doubts about that and I'm very grateful to be able to mold them into such fine young men. They're great kids. While it's true that the women in my life work because they have to, that decision was made prior to having kids, in ALL cases. They all went to college to follow their dreams of being whatever they became, most of them in the fields of science, and then they decided to have kids and couldn't afford to quit their dream jobs. So it's the same but it's different. When you plug my circumstances into that formula, I just come off as lazy and unmotivated and that's how I feel they perceive me. Plus I'm a failure as an artist, not having produced anything in years. Guy in Detroit bought four of my large pencil drawings several years ago for his art collection and asked if I was making more because he'd buy them too. I had told him I would, of course... and haven't picked up a pencil since. FAIL. DH helped me pay off my student loans with his hard earned money and that's how I've wasted it. Doing squat. Pbbbbt. -_-

Time, time, time... see what's become of me...

Anyway, @Amy PT , I went out the night you posted about the Happy Light and bought one (JoAnn's was having a sale that ended that day). Cost $26 with the online coupon so it wasn't too bad. As I mentioned, I'm a huge skeptic of these type of things, especially anything called a "happy light" so I didn't want to post about it until I gave it a good try. It's been five days now and I've used it every morning for a half hour. While I can't say it's done anything for my mood and energy levels just yet (or maybe it's just because DH keeps ticking me off) but I am sleeping well at night now, which is just as important, if not more important. Usually I wake up at 3-4am and can't get back to sleep so I just get up for the day but now I'm sleeping all night - every night since I started using it in fact. At first I thought it was a fluke but four nights in a row is pretty convincing to me. So, it's worth it and I hope and expect that the mood and energy will follow with time. I was almost disappointed that my blood work came back 100% normal, which sounds funny but with how crappy I've been feeling lately, I really wanted something so simple to pin it on, something easily fixable. Not the case. And I refuse to go back to psych meds for depression. So thank you for that recommendation.

My chickens are clear of their de-worming medication now and they're only laying 2 eggs a day. That's not much to go on. I've got two eggs to my name and a family that wants eggs for breakfast. They were drooling over the prospects of egg sandwiches yesterday and I can't deliver. COME ON LADIES!!!!

@ChicwannaB , I roasted that midget turkey Friday night for dinner and I have to say that that was the single most flavorful bird I have ever had the pleasure of tasting. Yesterday I boiled down the carcass into soup with homegrown potatoes, homemade noodles (made from homegrown eggs and buttermilk from Daron's cow) and the most insidious brussels sprouts that I picked that day from the garden. So good! I would definitely go out of my way to raise those again. It tasted different than turkey that I'm used to, a unique flavor and so rich. Just perfect. Thank you so much for that opportunity.

Oh and I finished NaNoWriMo! Yesterday afternoon I finished with 50,070 words. I'm posting it in it's unedited entirety on my DeviantART account, chapter by chapter. It's probably not a genre anyone here would be interested in but I'm just glad to have it done and have finished *something*, even if I did copy a couple of song lyrics in there as filler. Don't tell anyone, k?

I didn't slaughter anybody for the holidays, still have my last 3, one little hen who's been laying consistently for 2 months solid and 2 toms. Glad it was good. If I ever get rid of mine I won't be doing turkeys again, too much POOP!!

 

[iamfivewire]

Nova - what is the phone app that lists GMO vs non-GMO food ? hopefully available on android .