Help Us Rebuild: Our Story

Can you give Katey a helping hand?

Katey Needs Our Help! * Katey Needs Our Help * 

Help Us Rebuild: Our Story  Aprils Army  Chickatey (Katey's Etsy Shop)

Please click on this link to read the story about Katey from New York who recently lost everything in an apartment fire, including her beloved pet rabbit, Olivia. She did not have renters insurance so she is left with only with only a few things she was able to retrieve from the rubbish. She and her fiance were also in the middle of paying for a very small, frugal wedding. I'd love to see people from all over the country step up and help this nice couple in some way - if you live in the NYC area, you can contact her through her blog Or, you can purchase an item from her Etsy Shop. The awesomely snarky-fun website Regretsy has also written about it (and done a much better job) and you can read about it here. Finally, a great group of Etsy artists & designers have gotten together to help too, you can see their amazing creations here where sales will benefit Katey. I know people are genuinely good and I can't wait to see how great this all turns out.

Are you obese?

Illustrated BMI Categories - a set on Flickr

This is a fascinating study on the extreme differences in weight between people with the same weight/height and who is considered "obese" (when they look fine to me), "normal" or "underweight.

Morbidly Obese

Obese

Normal

Overweight

Underweight

I wonder what other people think.  No wonder there are so many people in this country with eating disorders.

Steve Jobs responds to iPhone tracking concerns, and accuses Google | Technology | guardian.co.uk

Steve Jobs responds to iPhone tracking concerns, and accuses Google | Technology | guardian.co.uk

Really Steve Jobs? When will people ever learn.....this Apple has worms.

U.S. Measles Cases Hit 15-Year High : Shots - Health Blog : NPR

Cynthia S. Goldsmith; William Bellini/CDC

Oh my word, I hope the anti-vaccination people will LISTEN to THIS!!! This could get bad really fast and for no good reason. Thanks a lot, Jenny McCarthy. You really need to do damage control pronto, you started this mess.  U.S. Measles Cases Hit 15-Year High : Shots - Health Blog : NPR

Your and You're

It is now my goal in life to post this on every comment section of the entire internet of the entire universe forever and ever, amen:

Sister Wives

I have been following the Sister Wives tv program on TLC.  At first, I probably felt similar to a lot of people - a snap judgement about people I don't even know.  As I followed their family story throughout the first season, I grew to really like the family.

I just finished watching the episode where they were forced to move from their family home, friends and everything they knew and loved because of their lifestyle choice.  A choice that wasn't hurting anyone, wasn't challenging anyone, it was just a choice that happened to be, in their state, illegal.

What was this choice?  Polygamy.  I'm sure most people immediately associate polygamy with this man.  Which is unfortunate and, completely incorrect.  The Sister Wives family, a polygamist family of a man named Kody Brown and his legal wife Meri Brown and his other wives, also known as "sister wives", Janelle, Robyn and Christine, all of whom he "married" in private ceremonies.  I put "married" in quotation marks, not out of disrespect, but to show that this family was not trying to defraud anyone but were trying to do the right thing by showing that each relationship is serious and meaningful.  It is not a harem where there is one all powerful man who is served by a number of subservient, beaten-down women.  It is a plural marriage where a group of women have adopted one another as sisters, raising their children together, depending on one another, sharing a household, child-rearing, finances, domestic duties and....a single man.  Only Meri is legally married to Kody, but Kody is the biological father of all of the children, ranging in ages from under 1 year old to 16 years.

At first, Kody seems like a goofy man who doesn't put a lot of thought into anything but being on TV, driving a sports car and sleeping in a different woman's bed every couple of nights.  But as you get to know him (as much as you can know someone from a TV program), you realize he is a very thoughtful, deeply religious, kind man and a very good father who genuinely loves and cares for his children and his wives.  The kids are each obviously very loved and know that, well-mannered, playful, healthy and seem so happy.  The wives seem like typical women who definitely have a say in what is going on in their lives, feel free to express their opinions and are in no way oppressed by their lifestyle or husband.

I felt really sad watching this wonderful family go through such harsh treatment from narrow-minded people.  I could see the pain in all of their eyes and feel the fear and sadness they must have been feeling as they were forced to flee their home without even finishing to pack.  But the love, compassion and sense of family they have instilled in their children was something they should be very proud of.

I doubt this family will ever read my little blog and couldn't care less about the opinion of a woman from the midwest in a monogamous marriage with only 6 children.  But I just want to be another voice out there that is saying that I wish only the best for them and we would be honored to have them as neighbors and friends - I hope they are able to settle into their new lives and find lots of friends and a community that welcomes them with open arms.  Different doesn't mean wrong, evil, or bad.  It just means different and maybe more people should embrace each others differences instead of finding ways to use those differences to tear each other down.  That is what the God I worship teaches and it's just possible, that's not a bad thing.

morgueFile free photos for creatives by creatives

Free!? Who doesn't love free? I'm always looking for free (both free in cost and free of licenses) images to use. Flickr can sometimes be a great resource, but so many people trying to restrict their images as well as the sheer number of images can make it really difficult to find something quick.  So I came across morgueFile, a huge data base of free images to use as you see fit* The name morgue? I'm guessing they chose that name because it's where images that weren't used in commercial designs go to "die". Though I'm sure they all find new homes rather quickly, there are A LOT of great images on this site. Did I mention they are FREE?!

According to morgueFile, the license rules are:

*You are free:

• Remix — to adapt the work.
• Commercial — to use this work for commercial purposes.
• Without Attribution — to use without attributing the original author.

Under the following conditions:

• Stand alone basis — You can not sell, license, sublicense, rent, transfer or distribute this image exactly as it is without alteration.
• Ownership — You may not claim ownership of this image in its original state.
• Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the contributor.
• Nothing in this license impairs or restricts the author's moral rights.

Apple Is Evil, Too. So Why Doesn't Anyone Care? - Digital Music News

Apple Is Evil, Too. So Why Doesn't Anyone Care? - Digital Music News

Well, I care. I don't understand the continued support & love for this product. It's like a bad boyfriend. You have to spend a lot of money just to be with him, then he stalks you while you're with him. He wants to know everything about you but you can know nothing about him (because you're not smart enough to handle to truth, he says). He treats other humans in countries you've never visited like animals just to make money and doesn't even act embarrassed when people find out. He's polluting the entire planet we all share and if you say anything about it, he comes back with a sarcastic, arrogant retort. Then he dumps you after you've only been with him for less than a year, saying "I just don't have the energy I used to have. I feel like I can't read your signals". You're so blind to his obvious abuse, that you beg to be able to help. He says "no, this is something that can only be handled by professionals, I need rehab, it's expensive but if you want to be with me, you're going to have to pay", so you do. He doesn't work as well as others but you are so blind to his good looks & perceived simplicity, you become creepily attached and talk about him like he's your child, crying when he's scratched, moping around for days while he's in rehab, knowing it won't be the last time. You are even in the danger of losing friends over your erratic and unstable behavior, it's a PHONE (or notebook, or mp3 player, whatever). He's not good for you or anyone else and you just can't see it. It's sad.

International Monty Python Status Day ‘11

International Monty Python Status Day ‘11

I've never really been a fan of Monty Phython, but I like people who are and as I get older, I am starting to see the appeal. Sort of. So, consider this my contribution:

Paper DOES NOT Beat Rock

Srsly?  Who would NOT know this?

Paper does NOT beat rock!

TOMS Shoes: Good Marketing – Bad Aid | Good Intentions Are Not Enough

TOMS Shoes: Good Marketing – Bad Aid | Good Intentions Are Not Enough

Now I don't have to feel guilty for not wanting to buy those cheap, ugly shoes.

What does a weeks worth of food look like around the world? | Curious? Read

What The World Eats - What A Week Worth of Food Looks Like

My 20-something year old daughter works part-time in a grocery store. She likes to tell me about the stories she makes up in her head about the customers that come in. The single guy that just buys frozen dinners & snack cakes. The harried mom with 7 boxes of cereal, 4 gallons of milk and a 6 pack of Heineken. The "high maintenance" woman with a head of lettuce (organic, of course), a bottle of imported bottled water & a gallon of chunky monkey ice cream. But what strikes her the most are the people who come in with shopping carts heaping full of food - fresh & frozen, canned & boxed, most of it "snack size"or "convenience sized", gallons of soda, bags of potato chips & cheese doodles, etc. SO much food. She might strike up a casual conversation with them & find out those people have 2 children, shop like this every week with several extra trips during the week for things they run out of, plus eat out or order pizza twice a week. They tell her how much of the food they have in their cart usually "ends up spoiling before they use it" but how they vow to themselves that this week, they really, really mean it and will use it all.

I've seen this happen myself when I've gone grocery shopping. We have a big family & we've wasted food ourselves from lack of planning or just being too tired to cook. But money is tight now and I am very careful about spending the bare minimum and maximizing every morsel. With proper planning & organizing, it's possible! But one day, I was using StumbleUpon and stumbled across this link: What The World Eats - What A Week Worth of Food Looks Like Around the Worldand it was shocking. Especially when you look at the stark difference, not only in quantity, but in cost between the typical American's weekly grocery haul for an average family and the meager offerings of a slightly larger family in Chad. It really made me think about how fortunate we are in this country. Even if money is tight and every penny counts, most of us have exactly what we need & usually more.

I've been wanting to say this for a long time...

Hello.


Well, not just hello, but it would be rude, I think, to just start in with no introduction or anything.  I'm one of a million blogs out there and I guess what makes me unique is that I don't fit in anywhere in the blogging world. 


I'm not a mommy blogger, not that there is anything wrong with that! I mean, I guess I am sort of one, since I am blogging and I'm a mother of 6.  But I'm not just going to blog about poopy diapers, breastfeeding and Gymboree, so I don't really fit in there (my kids are way past those stages).  I'm not a technology blogger, but I sort of am because I really, really love gadgets, electronics and talking about them with anyone who will listen.  And I LOVE me some geek-talk.  I'm definitely not a foodie since I have this fun disorder called gastroparesis, so good eats are only an observation for me right now, but I might be a little, because I still have to make sure my family eats.  I'm not an organizational guru, photo blogger, crafts, art, sewing, health or really any specific main focus at all.  I'm just a regular person who wanted a place to write about things that interest me.  Things that make me happy, make me sad, that I find funny and even sometimes make me angry.  And this is a great place for that.


There have been SOOOO many times where I've gotten an ear worm - no, not an actual burrowing invertebrate.  I was referring to Ear Worms (from the German phrase Ohrwurm)  those songs that weasel their way into your head like uninvited guests and then proceed to stink up the inside of your cranium by playing themselves there over. And over. And over. And over. They're those songs that just get stuck in your head, and no amount of screaming, pounding, protesting, and banging your head into your desk will get them out. They will check out any time you like, but they will never leave.  Except I get the type of ear worm that was cut in half by an naughty 6 year old to see if "it really does just grow another body".  So I never know the title or the words, just the tune.  I felt like the best cure for this would be to find a website where you could use your computer microphone to hum a few bars of it and then voilà, technical magic would happen and the song would be identified and everyone would be happy.  Except I still haven't found it.  So part of my blog is going to be about things I'm looking for, in hopes that someone else will stumble across it looking for something else and know the answer to what I'm looking for.


Then I noticed this was an issue with a lot of things.  I'd hear of some obscure disease or disorder, some unusual vacation spot, some unique way of organizing your entire life in 15 minutes or less but when I'd go searching, I'd come up with......nothing.  And I am a MASTER Googler.  I can find anything.  I can find things faster than most people can even type them in.  It's a gift.  It's a curse.  But it works.


So, for now, maybe my blog will be about finding lost things.  Tomorrow it could be about organizing my book case.  Then sewing a baby quilt.  Or the woes of an American teenager.  Or traveling with kids, traveling without kids, money issues, being an adult with ADD and a touch of OCD (though mine generally centers around house cleaning, organizing my closet & picking the font for this blog, which took TWO DAYS!!!)


Stuff like that.  And even if it's just me, my family and a few loyal friend that read it, at least it's out of my head and on the computer and that has to be a good thing.