7 Quick Takes-Just Stop Buying Stuff and Grow Something!

For more (and better) Quick Takes, visit Jen.

Oh, I do have a restless mind these days. There is so much going on, so much to accomplish toward our goal of being overseas next Summer, so many little people with big needs and even bigger smiles. I am overwhelmed. Then there are the big problems of the world that always seem to crash full force into my brain all at once. I start thinking I need to solve the problem of injustice, save the environment, get my house perfect to put on the market, teach my children poetry and music, and have all the laundry folded and put away. Something has to give...but usually I just get paralyzed and collapse on the couch unable even to get dinner on the table. Ever feel that way?

1. Big Problem of the Week: Consumerism
I was passing a dollar store today and saw a sign in the window that said "Be Part of the Solution" with a photo of a reusable dollar store bag. Now I am all for reusable bags, but isn't the whole dollar store (home of cheap, plastic, landfill-cluttering goods) a bigger problem than my occasional plastic bag? Besides, do all of these bags that stores are now selling come from recycled plastic? Maybe. Isn't it better to just use random canvas tote bags that you already have around than to buy new bags? I hate how we have turned even being green into a chance to consume.

2. Fair Trade and Justice
I think I mentioned the book Everyday Justice last Quick Takes. The first words of the book are "Don't panic" (or something like that). I am supposed to read the book and think about baby steps I can take. But that is not how my mind works, so I just get overwhelmed thinking I will never be able to make sure everything I buy is from fair trade sources. Then I give up.

3. Consumerism Mecca: The Mall
We were at the mall yesterday eating lunch with the hubby, and I couldn't even enjoy it at all. I kept wondering where and how my Chick-fil-A chicken was raised and what conditions the workers in the slaughterhouse worked under. Then I looked around at all of the stuff for people to buy. SO MUCH STUFF! And I thought that even if I buy everything second-hand, use Freecycle for stuff I no longer need, and cut down on consumption of things that aren't fair trade it would never be enough.

4. Sometimes I just wish Jesus would come back and make us all agrarian again. Speaking of that, I get to hear Norman Wirzba tonight. I love living here!

5. I need rest. And these this lovely blog post by my friend Catherine was exactly what I needed to read today.

6. Things that do not worry me? Swine flu (excuse me, H1N1) and the economic crisis.

I know we could get the flu, but we live in such a privileged place, that it is highly unlikely the outcome would be bad. And we would all have stronger immune systems.

I know my husband could lose his job, but we have resourceful families and could make it in a depression. If this crisis could stop the awful, cheap urban sprawl building that is destroying our good land, force more people to learn to grow their own food or buy it locally, and make more conservationists out of consumers, then it is a good thing. Unfortunately, I fear we are too hasty to turn things around and are just propping up our economy on more greed and consumerism.

7. And now, to end it with some humor...

Thanks to Jennifer for this excellent link on the new Dan Brown book (speaking of stuff not to buy). If you hate his books as much as I do, you'll love this.

7 Quick Takes-Politics Edition

I don't usually get on a soapbox and rant on this blog. But I am sort of in the mood to do it. I am just overcome by the craziness in our culture right now. Visit Jen at Conversion Diary for more Quick Takes, many of which are not rants and are better than this post.

1. Have you read my post about health care yet? If not, quit reading this, and go do it. I am totally lost on this issue and really do want some help. It is so hard to find arguments for either side that are based on reason and not trying to manipulate my emotions. Tell me what you think and why. Convince me.

2. I am sure Senator Kennedy wasn't a horrible person. I am also sure he was not a great person. He championed a lot of causes he believed in, but he also seemed to be just a sleazy as the next politician, especially when it came to women. Really, I don't like making people into saints just because they die. And I especially don't understand why feminists would weep over the senator's passing. I just don't get it. I hope he came to the end of his life with an honest view of his rights and wrongs and a spirit of humility and repentance. I hope I can do the same, acknowledging my faults before God, dependent on His grace, and knowing that I have done some good. Please, don't feel the need to say things about me that aren't true, just because I am dead.

3. Have you read about the 13-year-old Dutch girl who wants to sail around the world? The government has taken temporary custody of her, and psychologists are saying the isolation of the two-year-trip would be bad for her and that she is too young to attempt it. Maybe she is too young, but she was born on a boat, has sailed alone since 10, and is supported in this by her parents. It seems to me that being separated from girls her own age right now, attempting something so incredibly challenging, and gaining a broad perspective on life would be a GREAT thing for a teenage girl to do. I certainly think her parents, and not state courts and psychologists should be able to decide this one.

4. Want to do something good in the world of politics? Go here and let the Army Corps of Engineers know you don't approve of permits for Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining. Yep, I'm asking again. Why? Because it is the worst environmental disaster in our country, hands down. Help. Please!

5. I am slowly working my way through Perfect Madness: Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety. And it is fascinating. I don't agree with everything, and I am not sure I am going to agree with the author's solution of better government programs. I do agree with her assessment of American overparenting. We have such an obsession with arranging our children's learning environments, their experiences and activities, to create successful, perfect people. We have forgotten how to let our kids be kids. I am seeing the fruits of this now, with Calvin, who just needs me to back off and let him do his thing. Linus is such a different, and more well-adjusted, child because I haven't obsessed over him so much.

6. Did you know Reading Rainbow is no longer going to be made? So many issues come up in this article. I was devastated when my local PBS station stopped showing Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood except at 6:30 on Saturday mornings. I don't like ANY of the new shows on PBS. They are so flashy and quick and assaulting to senses. I don't think television should be used to teach reading, as the article mentions. Children don't need to learn to read before they are in school; they need to learn it in school. Reading Rainbow simply encouraged a love of books. It was a good show. Now no one is willing to pay to keep it on because we need one more ugly cartoon to teach kids phonics? I think this ties into the Perfect Madness book somehow. I may have a longer post here.

7. I heard on my local NPR station yesterday that parents should be on the lookout for flu-like symptoms in children starting back to school. Apparently, the swine flu is expected to go around, and, get this, BE JUST LIKE ANY OTHER FLU. It may spread more easily, but it poses no more threat to the majority of the population than other seasonal flu strains. Just one more reason 24-hour media is a bad idea. When there was nothing to talk about, H1N1 was the next great plague. Now that we have Kennedy's death, Jackson's homicide, universal health care, and all sorts of things to talk about, it is just another seasonal illness that may be a bit worse than most.

Post Partum Depression...

...sucks.

As a friend of mine at church pointed out, she sometimes wonders why God doesn't give new mothers a bit of a break. You come home exhausted from labor only to be faced with little sleep, crazy hormones, painful nursing, and a constantly needy baby. I know I am five months out and things should be better. They are to some extent. But the sleeplessness and crazy hormones can go away anytime they want. Really, they can.

Loser Morning

I broke my sideview mirror on the way to the boys' preschool this morning. I was swerving to avoid a pothole and hit a garbage can that had been left partway out in the road. Then I got home and started the laundry only to find that the washing machine seems to have lost its rinse and spin mojo. Then, instead of taking a nap while Baby Linus slept, I started thinking about my parenting, always a bad thing to do when you are already having a bad day. Then I started questioning my inability to help my children find friends that they can really connect with and enjoy. Don't other moms go out of their way to arrange play dates with people they might not click with but their kids do? Then I started worrying about my milk supply and whether Linus was gaining enough weight. Then I realized the boys have appointments at the dentist in the morning and I should have been preparing them (or at least Calvin) for a few days. Springing this on him just a day before is a bad idea. Then I looked around at the wreck that is my house and wondered when I was ever going to get my act together. Then I started thinking about moving overseas in 15 months and how I am never going to be able to do it.

Then I sat down and wrote this post and realized I am spending too much time wallowing in self-pity and that I just need to get on with my day and clean some bathrooms.

Please tell me someone else out there feels like this!

Sometimes I have...

...lots of things to write and no energy to write them.

...a very messy house and no energy to clean it.

...very funny and sweet boys and no energy to play with them.

...very disobedient and mischievous boys and no energy to deal with them.

...a house to be decorated and presents to be wrapped and no energy to do it.

You get the picture. I think I'll go take a nap on the couch now. Anyone want to cook our dinner?

But It Can Get Worse

Update: My friend, Catherine, tells me that Mr. Rogers is gone from all PBS stations. Please consider e-mailing your local PBS station and the national organization, asking them to return the best children's show on television. (Go to PBSkids.org and send an e-mail from the "help" page.) I truly cannot imagine my kids growing up without Fred Rogers' compassionate, respectful, and loving way of interacting with children. It just makes me sooooo sad.

Unfortunately, things have gone downhill since yesterday.

My team lost. In overtime. With a missed field goal. To and unranked team. They looked terrible.

And then I just discovered that Mr. Rogers is no longer being shown on our local PBS station. No Mr.Rogers?!?!? It makes me sad to think my kids suddenly won't have access to him anymore. We can't buy DVD's because Mr.Rogers is only available on PBS, no videos for sale. I am almost as sad as I was when I found out he died. If you can't imagine being sad about losing Mr. Rogers, here's why I love him.

"I think I'll move to Australia."

Today was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

Calvin woke up whining and being defiant and didn't stop all day.

Hobbes decided picking fights with his brother was a good way to spend the day, the whole day.

It was too hot and muggy to play outside.

I really needed a nap and a break from kids.

Calvin took a nap for the first time this week, but Hobbes woke up 15 minutes after his brother went to sleep.

It was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

My mom says some days are like that, even in Australia.

A little Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck seems like the perfect cure.

The Start of Summer

record highs...too hot...cannot think...or write...summer lasted through October last year...90's and 100's the whole time...please let it no be so again...I miss summer in the mountains...