Waiting for the Doctor to open is torture and as a mom, it is horrible not being able to do anything…..I will update later

I couldn’t think of a better day/time/events to blog about than right now.  So far 2012 has been an unbelievable year for us Schwab’s, although not sure if it is a ‘good’ unbelievable.

Since the new year, we have had barfing, cha-cha(figure it out…the real word is gross), and for the first time and please dear God, the last time…LICE!   Blech, stay away from the Schwab house!!!!  I would if I could, but unfortunately, I am mom and mom’s well, we are stuck with all the gross, ickyness that is called motherhood.

Not only have we had barfing, everyone BUT me and my 3rd children has had it.  Yes, 4 out of 6 people have barfed in our house in 2012 and the barf sessions weren’ t at the same time and some people (my darling hubby) has had the barf sessions now, multiple times this year.  Um…isn’t it only January 11th?! 

I have already been blessed enough to ruin my eldest daughters sleepover (or life as she would put it) with her best friend who moved away a couple years ago, by calling her parents to pick their daughter up at 8am because my daughter had barfed.  It wasn’t until they got here, that I realized, it was probably just the HUGE bag of cheesy popcorn she had eaten the night before, because that was a one time deal.  But, since my hubby had to sleep at his mother’s house the night before because he was sick, I thought it was better to be safe than sorry.  However, might have been a good thing to be safe, because that night after her swim meet….she got “the cha-cha” and had that until Monday morning. 

Right before this incedent though, the baby had blessed my hubby and I with barfing in our bed numerous times in her sleep and during the day.  She also barfed on our tablet again!  Oh yes…just 5 days after purchasing the new tablet, she had barfed on it and we had to return it.  Nice.  The tablet survived this round of baby barf, thankfully.

We thought we were finally making it through it all and I had been cleaning the bathrooms, washing sheets, and opening up windows, the good news was Minnesota was having a heat wave in January and it was in the high 30’s to low 50’s through out all of this, so we could open up and air out the house…then the lice hit and hit hard!

Lice, it truly is a 4-letter word (pun intended).  We had made it through so many lice scares and all of my close friends can attest to me saying, if we ever got lice, I would either have to burn down the house or they would become our pets, there just wasn’t any other way.  I really thought that, as I have said many times in many posts, I SUCK at housekeeping, really suck at it.  Paralized by it and utterly incapable of keeping a house clean and tidy.  I try, it just isn’t in my nature, end of story.  So, for us to get lice, that is the ultimate nightmare situation because we have the worlds smallest capacity washer and dryer for a family of 6 and we already are the proud owners of the worlds largest laundry pile, so having to wash 5 beds, towels, hats, mittens, jackets, and anything else someone might have touched since getting lice….holy cow people!

Plus, after discovering that my little 8 year old has probably had lice for at least 3-4 weeks by the amount of nits and the 5 live lice I actually found (not to mention the ones I haven’t found yet) and all the red marks and sores/scabs on her poor little head from them biting her, holy cow…we must have an infestation!  

After seriously contiplating setting the house and all of the crap inside on fire and then letting calmer voices inside my head prevail, it was time to spend almost $250 on lice products at the hair place and getting that ‘electric’ nit comb all my friends have raved about over the years when their people got lice.  My hubby ran to homdepo (wrote it how we say it in our house) to get a dumpster and garbage bags, I came home and started treating my 2 younger children.  Delightful is the only word I can use to describe this process.

Actually, it wasn’t that bad, we used the natural Ladibugs line of lice stuff and my girlies sat through it all very well and even though it took almost 2 hours to complete both of them, they were champs throughout the whole thing and mommy didn’t gag once!  When my older children came home from school I checked them over too.  I think I found a nit in my son’s hair, but only one…so not sure, but treated him anyway and my other daughter, NOTHING!  How is that?!  Unbelievable, she seriously is one of the luckiest people in the world, just like her father.  I checked my hubby too and while I have no idea if he had lice or nits in his hair or not, (his hair is too dark, impossible to see) I told him he had lice anyway and treated him   Hey, for all I know…he was the one who got it in the first place, lol.  Actually, I think I did find a couple nits, but again not sure. 

It is funny though, making him go to the laundrymat with our bedding and his greasy/lubed up hair piled up in a messy little pile on top of his head!  He is having fun with it too with his business partner, as they share an office and have close quarters, my husband has pretty much told him, he will get them and tell him that often and considering my husband started barfing again late last night (why?!) he was sure to tell his partner that too, so now his partner is freaking out and itching everywhere…yes, us Schwab’s are like 10 year olds

Good news, we are purging our home, we got a NEW Oreck vacuum cleaner out of the whole deal, which if any of you have seen our old vacuum and have heard our stories of why we don’t have carpet in most of our house anymore, you will all be probably more thankful than us we now have a good and powerful vacuum….now I just have to remember how to use the thing!

BTW, if I haven’ t put laundry away in a while and it has been sitting in laundry baskets or piles in various places around the house…do I have to rewash all of it?  Because, there is still plenty of time for me to start the burning process!

We still have 2 1/2 weeks of January left, do you think we can make it to the end of January without anymore barfing, cha-cha, or lice?  Haha, yea I don’t think so either, but it is a nice thought isn’t it?

Here’s to making your day/life sound so much better!

Blessings to you all,

Liza

(PS:  to top it all off, spellcheck/grammar check not working…deal with it, I have )

I didn’t realize how good my smoothies were until my hubby said that!  So, thought I would share my ‘power’ smoothie recipe with all my readers, especially as winter sets in and the colds/flu and winter blahs start to set in.

So, here is Liza’s Power Smoothie Recipe

crushed ice

1/2 bottle of Amasai plain

1/2 bottle of SueroViv (either citrus or raspberry lemonade)

5-6 Organic Strawberries

3/4 cup Organic Blueberries

1/2 cup Organic raspberries

1 1/2 Tablespoons Organic Hemp powder (Vanilla flavor)

(If you need an extra ‘boost’ put 2 teaspoons of lemon flavored, liquid Omega 369)

Blend in your blender and serve immediately.  I always try and keep frozen Organic fruit on hand in my freezer, since I live in Minnesota and fresh fruit isn’t always the easiest or cheapest to come by in December.  The powdered Hemp you can get anywhere, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, or Vitamin World are my faves.

Your children will love it, it is packed full of Omega’s (even without adding the extra omega 369), B Vitamins, antioxidants, and calcium!

Stop feeding your children that sugary cereal that only gives them short bursts of energy and fill them up healthy

So, what is Amasai and SueroViv?  They are new products from a new company called Beyond Organic, my children love the stuff so much, I can’t keep the product stocked in my fridge!  My hubby loves it too and drinks the Raspberry Amasai by the bottleful almost daily.  (disclaimer…I am an independent mission marketer for Beyond Organic) 

Blessings to you and start 2012 healthy this year!

-Liza

I am an Independant Mission Marketer for Beyond Organic and as many of you know from reading my blogs, I am a firm believer in what you eat, will change how you live…now I found a company that believes the same thing!

Tonight, I know it is late, but if you are in the Minneapolis area, come and visit me at LynLake Chiropractic

http://www.bing.com/maps/Default.aspx?encType=1&v=2&ss=ypid.YN449×8220013&style=r&mkt=en-us&FORM=LLDP

tonight from 7-10pm and come see what it is all about, come taste some of their great products (I promise…you will be pleasantly surprised) and learn more about the company!

I will be writing more about the company and what they are about here and there, but if you would like to be updated a bit more, you can visit my website at www.mrsorganic.mybeyondorganic.com or follow me on Twitter at @MrsOrganicMN  or Like my facebook page Mrsorganic

Hope to see some of you faithful Outspokenmom followers tonight

-Blessings to you,

Liza

We were speaking about my children in public schools and in private Christian school and how I could really see the difference in their moral compasses.
After more small talk she said something that made so much sense to me.  She told me, she doesn’t understand when parents pull their children out of christian schooling to do public (for this reason, not financially) or starts them in public so they can minister to those around them.  She said, “that is a lot of pressure to put on a young child and it is like putting a missionary out in the field with no training.”

Wow.  Never thought of it like that before. 
We haven’t put ours in public schools to ‘mission/minister’ to others, our 2 older ones are there for very different reasons, but I know many families/parents who have said those very words, ‘i want, my children to minister to those around’ and similar saying and wow, i agree, a lot of pressure.

Anyway, those are my words today….I know we all have our reasons for sending our children to various schools, this post are just food for thought.
Blessings,
Liza

As everyone from Minnesota knows, we have put up with high taxes and freezing, sometimes down right insanely cold, winters because we always had top notch schools.  I knew this had been slipping for a while, you have to be living in a bubble not to, and while ‘innesota schools overall are still better than most in the country, we are starting to lose ground as others are starting to gain ground.

I have many theories on this and while I am no politician or an educator, I was raised in Minnesota and was ‘blessed’ to move around enough to have spent almost 50% of my K-12 education in Private schools and the other 50% in Public schools.  Not only that, but I was raised in a lower, middle class area until beginning of 6th Grade and then moved to an upper middle class area.  So I believe I really saw many parts of both worlds and all types of schools, teachers, students, and parents.

I do not believe spending and or cost per pupil is the problem:   I think we actually spend too much on our students, which I know many in my community are cringing right now, because we have a referendum on the ballot this month for raising our per pupil funds.  While I love my community of Richfield, I think it is doing a rather mediocre job with many of its students.  I think the heart is there, but Richfield is trying to be too many things to too many people.  I think if you are super smart (in the K-6 levels) the schools and teachers hands are tied, if you fall too far below average, they try, but fail, because of too many students and too many flooding the special services of the schools.  However, if you fit in the middle you are screwed too, because then you often get left on your own while the teachers and staff focus on the lower and try to figure out what they can do for the upper level students.

Now, I picked on Richfield because I have had experience with 3 (technically 4) of their schools, with 2 of my 4 children.  Richfield struggled to educate both of my children which ended up with my oldest, and way too smart, child having to leave for a multitude of reasons.   So I have experience with Richfield schools as a parent, and I actually really like our schools, but as the article said, the greatest achievment gaps are increasing between the lower socioeconomic and between black and white students….which I believe is one of some of the issues Richfield faces.  We also have a high transient student population, with our high levels of immigrants, many whose parents don’t speak English well, or not at all.   But, Richfield isn’t being singled out, students from even higher income and white, polly purebread neighborhoods and schools are losing ground to other students around the nation too.

Overall, Minnesota schools are still better than average, but not nearly as good as they once were.  We are spending a lot more per pupil than many of our counterparts around the country, so why are our students slipping in reading and math?

Here are some theories, I have:

1)  we are so focused on technology, we are forgetting the basics:  I came from the generation that the teacher wrote everything on a chalkboard and students actually had to clap erasers after schools.  We had computer a few times a month and it was on an Apple IIe playing Oregon Trail.  We used textbooks, tooks notes with a pencil off a chalkboard, and learned keyboarding on a typewriter, not a laptop.  When we looked up information for a report, we went to the library and looked it up in the card catalog, not online.  We had to search and research, instead of just type into a search engine our subject. 

2)  We went to school (if a public school and still, many of the private ones too) with children from our own neighborhood:  I spent my early years in East Bloomington and walked (gasp) from 83rd and 3rd Avenue to 77th and 4th(?) To my school in Richfield through 4th Grade and then walked from my house to our local public school for 5th Grade which was on 81st and Columbus (or around there).  Everyone at my school was from my neighborhood, we all knew each other and many of our parents knew eachother.  There was not only school spirit, but community spirit and there was accountability.  If I screwed up or did something wrong, those other parents would take me aside and talk to me about it and oftentimes, things you did wrong at home you were punished for at school and vice versa.   Teachers were allowed to tell you verbally how disappointed they were in you or your studies and they kept you in for recess, lunch, or after school if you didn’t finish your school work or were behind.
Now, we have open enrollment, which I personally believe has been one of the downfalls of schools, districts, and students.  No longer is there such thing as a community school, no longer do parents know the other families, is there a sense of belonging and I believe it is to blame for the fall of many districts such as Richfield, Minneapolis, especially North, and others similar, we can’t keep our students because we border more affluent areas with typically better schools.    But, I believe it is also directly hurting districts such as Eden Prairie and Edina where over-crowding and falling test scores are happening too.
I was shocked to learn that once upon a time, Richfield and Edina used to be rivals and similar in sports, education and other things, even though they were typically different status wise and income wise.  I remember the days when North High was the power house in sports!  Who doesn’t remember the Polars coming in and sweeping up victories in football and basketball for sure?  Yet in less than 20 years, that high school is almost completely wiped out.  The children haven’t left North Minneapolis, but the students have. 

3)  parents aren’t taking responsibilty for their children education anymore.

4)  schools and educators believe they not only have the obligation, but the right to make our children more worldly, teach them equality(which doesn’t work or exist) and teach them many things that schools have no right or reason to teach our children things, it is up to families and parents to teach values, morals and such.  Which, you can look at number 3 for why educators are believing they need to do those things.

5) unions and politicians:  enough said…….

Oh I have to quit writing, one more thing……smartboards, while I think they are neat and fun, they aren’t needed.  They are an extravagant luxury item that many of our schools cannot afford and shouldn’t be able to get until they get the BASICS back in order.

Ok, off to do my job, help my children get ready for school and feed them, pray with them and send them off into our broken learning system

Blessing to you,

Liza

Oh and this was typed with thumbs so please excuse typos and grammar!

Just because your dog is small enough to carry, doesn’t mean you can bring it into the store with you.
Just because they make doggy bags or doggy strollers, doesn’t mean it is right to carry your dog everywhere or to take it for a ‘walk’ in a stoller.

Now to add to that, just because they make harnesses and leashes for your children, doesn’t mean you should use them on your children.

Lately, I amseeing more dogs being carried than babies, and toddlers on leashes is NEVER ok.

Blessings,

Liza

Just because your dog is small enough to carry, doesn’t mean you can bring it into the store with you.
Just because they make doggy bags or doggy strollers, doesn’t mean it is right to carry your dog everywhere or to take it for a ‘walk’ in a stoller.

Now to add to that, just because they make harnesses and leashes for your children, doesn’t mean you should use them on your children.

Lately, I amseeing more dogs being carried than babies, and toddlers on leashes is NEVER ok.

Blessings,

Liza

Our church is asking all of us to do this and I am extending it out to all of you and praying you extend it even further.

For 3 days, I ask that you eat on less than $2 a day, like most of the world does, and donate the money you would normally spend on food to famine relief in Africa or if you would like to keep the money closer to home, to your local food shelf.

Here is an example of your meals for the next 3 days:

Breakfast:  small serving of Cream of Wheat (or similar)…we will do oatmeal since our children can’t eat wheat.

Lunch/Dinner:  1 cup of rice and beans.  You can add a small amount of veggies to your meal and up to 1 ounce of meat (size of a small chicken nugget) to your meal.

Drinks:  only tap water.

Our family is starting this after dinner tonight, we pray that you will join us too in trying to understand how good we really have it and even when we are low on funds or hungry, we still have it better than most of the world.
I know our 4 children will be hungry, our 3 year old won’t understand and my 10 year old will be angry and upset, but this is only 3 days for us, imagine if that was really our life?  What an amazing chance we have here to show our children how blessed we all are here in America and how great for them to see how much money we can donate to famine in just 3 short days.

Come join my family and I!

If you would like more information on this 3 day meal challenge or where to donate your money saved, visit our church website at www.cpconline.org

Blessings to you all,
Liza and Family