Quotes

"I then first became aware of the presence of those enemies who change, but are always there; the forces we fight against. To let oneself be carried on passively is unthinkable. 'That's your course, world.' one says, 'mine is this.'"
Virginia Woolf, The Waves

"One of the greatest feelings in life is the conviction that you have lived the live you wanted to live--with the rough and the smooth, the good and the bad--but yours, shaped by your own choices, and not someone else's."
Michael Ignatieff

Pablo Neruda

I was surfing YouTube and found this video from one of my favorite movies. This movie is how I discovered Pablo Neruda. Enjoy. We watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and are now awaiting the meal to be complete. Thankfully my husband can cook. Happy Thanksgiving.

Why We Fight..

People's Choice Awards

Savage Chickens

Tolkien vs. Austen



Check out more Savage Chickens cartoons.

Emergency in Darfur

Emergency in Darfur, broadcast premiere on HDNet on Tuesday, September 25 - 10:00 PM ET/ 7:00 PM PT-

How Pavarotti Saved My Sanity

When my 9 year old son was born, he had a lot of health problems and had a really hard time sleeping. Crying a lot was inevitable and understandable. One day, while trying to calm him down, I sat in the rocking chair to rock him and began flipping the channels on the tv, because I knew if I didn't occupy my head with something I'd be asleep myself. He continued crying until I got to the PBS channel and The Three Tenors were on. He stopped crying. I changed the channel and he started crying again, so back it went. I played with it a bit more, but it was always the same.

So, Pavarotti became a huge part of his first year of life. I'm saddened by his death today, but thought I'd share the story of how he saved my sanity that year.

Beautiful Disaster by Jon McLaughlin

Gilmore Funny Moments

This is absolutely my favorite show of all time. I can see so much of myself in Lorelai it's not even funny.

Super Size Me opening

It's a Sad S.A.D. World...

Am I the only one that finds the irony in the abbreviation for the Standard American Diet--S.A.D.? It truly is a SAD diet. Overall, we are a malnourished, but overfed society. As a child we weren't taught how to eat. In health class you get that you should have more carbs than fruits and veggies, and in the lunch rooms you might get one veggie for lunch (and no fruits or veggies for breakfast for those that eat at school). It's all fatty, processed foods, and why are we ok with our kids eating that? Is it just because it's easy? We're too busy to cook or pack lunches?

I homeschool and our "school" lunches for years haven't been much better, but over the last couple of years I began to question what is actually in food and here began my quest for the truth regarding food. The more I learn and begin to change our diet, the more I realize how this S.A.D. diet is killing Americans.

We've been split between two states over the last couple of years and 2007's report on obesity puts Mississippi as #1 and Tennessee as #5 in the country. Here's the site: http://healthyamericans.org/reports/obesity2007/

If you haven't seen the documentary "Supersize Me," then I highly recommend watching it. Another group is putting out a documentary called "Supercharge ME! 30 Days Raw." It's hitting the film fest circuit right now and when it comes out it will be worth checking out. Here's the trailer: http://30daysraw.com/trailer/

Jamie Oliver began a campaign in England trying to reform the school lunches there. His experiment took him to a school with a high percentage of children with asthma. They even had a teacher who was in charge of the medicine distribution right after lunch. After a couple of weeks on the meals that Jamie came up with, the teachers reported that the kids focused better after lunch. They weren't sluggish and the biggest shock was from the teacher in charge of the asthma medicine. She was no longer having to administer the asthma medicine.

Here's an article about Jamie and some changes that are being made in America;
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8769548/site/newsweek/

I'm still working on changing our diets fully, but each little bit is an improvement. Have I mentioned I hate cooking, so ease of prep is still a struggle for me. I'm getting ready to try the 'raw for 30 trial' so maybe it will be enough to break the "bread-cycle" and I'll be able to continue on the journey. I never have been huge on meat, but bread and sugar... Let's just say there should be a 12 step program.

This house will not pack itself (moving yet again), so I better get busy.

To cook or not to cook...

...that is the question. Due to health reasons (basically figuring out that I evidently have a few food sensitivities--mainly gluten and preservatives) I've been researching the raw diet. It's basically a vegan diet with nothing cooked. So far the food is yummy, though making my own almond milk hasn't been a success, thus far. Part of me really wants to get better and stay better, and the other part really wants a hamburger with everything. One major change in my health has been the fact that I've not had any sinus infections, and before the diet change I was averaging one every other month. Basically, about the time I'd get off the antibiotics, another one would start forming. I haven't had one in over a year now.

I'm still trying to achieve it full time, but it's hard when you have to cook for 6 other people every day. One step at a time, right?

Here's a video that will explain it a little better:



Note to self: Putting spaghetti squash on the top shelf of the refrigerator may cause freezing, which greatly inhibits the ability to cut and de-seed said spaghetti squash.

Bourne Ultimatum

Went last night to see The Bourne Ultimatum. It was just as good as the last, maybe even better. Definitely a must see.

Check it out:

http://www.thebourneultimatum.com/

In Your Eyes Only Sadness

The video speaks for itself.

My youngest son

My husband just pulled the camera up and snapped it and this is what happened, no editing.

Brandtson-Nobody Dances Anymore

Shadows at the Parthenon

This pic is of my kids summer of 2005. Just found the disc with them on it and I love this one, so here it is.

Life here...

I homeschool our kids and July is lesson plan month for me. Honestly, one month of the year I look forward to. I don't have to teach, but I can do what I love....plan for the next year. This year we're studying cultures and geography, starting with the Mediterranean region.

My girls, 13, and 12, just got back from a mission trip in Costa Rica. We're all still recovering. Everyone there got sick, so, of course, they came home sick. So far the other 5 of us haven't gotten sick. They had a great time. They saw sloths, monkeys, and iguanas, rode the zipline through the rain forest, and held VBS for the kids in different areas. They are already planning their next trip.

I learned something while they were gone. I don't know how people with only 1-2 kids do it. They were in Costa Rica and at one point 2 other kids were gone and I only had one. Hmmm...Let's just say I'm happy to have my five kids all entertaining each other. :) There is something to be said for having a built in play group, ya know?

I'm actively trying to work up and finish one screenplay (also trying to figure out if I want to make it into a movie or a series). I need to get my other stuff retyped into my computer since it crashed.

Well, I guess I should get going on something today, huh?

Slightly medical update...

Yesterday, I met with my doctor and it looks like he'll do the biopsy next week. He was MUCH nicer than the first opinion I had of him. Partially because he was just nice in general, but mainly because, though my new symptom confused him, he didn't just blow it off. He called the neurology department and got one of the doctors to come to the clinic I was in to see me. He seems to think the numbness on the side of my head is migraine related but wants to see me in the office next week.

Today was my 8year olds re-check with the eye doctor. It has officially been deemed a tumor--the same kind, Infantile Myofibromatosis (and yes I have to help the doctors spell it...sad, no?). It's in the cavernous sinus:

Def: Cavernous sinus: A large channel of venous blood creating a "sinus" cavity bordered by the sphenoid bone and the temporal bone of the skull. The cavernous sinus is an important structure because of its location and its contents which include the third cranial (oculomotor) nerve, the fourth cranial (trochlear) nerve, parts 1 (the ophthalmic nerve) and 2 (the maxillary nerve) of the fifth cranial (trigeminal) nerve, and the sixth cranial (abducens) nerve. (from: http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=9153 )

If you look on this site it's in the purple part between the pituitary gland and the carotid artery. http://www.meddean.luc.edu/LUMEN/meded/grossanatomy/h_n/cn/dvs/dvs3.htm

He is now a teaching case. They took pictures today to present in class. He thought that was cool. So, anyway, between the eye surgeon, the neuro oncologist, and the neurosurgeon, they've decided to "wait and see" because surgery would cause more damage than just letting it be for now.

I bring him back in 6 wks and they'll study the other 3 kids eye problems and records-- Kelsey's the only one that hasn't had any issues with her eyes--My 15 year old is blind in his left eye (since he was 5/6) due to a tumor, My 13 year old had a virus at age 6 that caused her left eye to not move properly, but it straightened out, and my 12 year old had to have eye surgery about 3 years ago to correct a lazy eye.

That's about it for now. My house won't clean itself.

Savage Chickens: Chocolates Cartoon

Savage Chickens: Chocolates Cartoon


These cartoons crack me up on a regular basis. You should check them out.

A new game show....

You know, I've come up with a new game show--Stump the Doctors. Three of my five children and I have a rare form of tumors and only two of them have been able to be removed, the rest or inoperable or, at best, stump the doctors as to what to do with them. They can go away just as quickly as they pop up, but...the wait... Now, that's the hard part.

Over the years I've seen many doctors just give me a blank stare and end by saying, I just don't know. Doctors are "practicing" medicine, after all, but, eventually, I'd love to just have the flu. Is that so much to ask?

Life, as I know it, has hit again after a few years on a plateau. The end of March I had "one" pop up in my jawline near the front, thus making eating a challenge. On the positive side, I've lost 20 lbs, though I'd love to have lost it another way. (I say "one" because I've had 4 different doctors all have different opinions as to what it might be) and before I could get all my mess straightened out my 8 year old son began seeing double and his eye started not tracking well the end of May, and is not now moving at all.

After a CT and a few fights with hospital staff (which if you know me, you know I don't confront people at all), the doctors were still puzzled, and Tuesday, the 3rd of July, I took him for an MRI. The MRI confirmed it to be a mass, though the doctors are still puzzled as to what to do and exactly what it is. Our regular neuro-oncologist seems to think it's the "usual" type of tumors, but will be investigating it more and getting back with me. He says it's right where the optic nerves meet so operating could be tricky and not and easy thing. I said, "have we ever had anything easy?" He just laughed. He's not having any pain or headaches, just frustration because he can't run, ride a bike, etc because he still sees 2 of everything.

I firmly believe if that game show existed we'd win hands down. Would the prize be to cover all medical expenses? I spent enough time crying over all this. My crying has finally turned to laughter, because life goes on, right? Time to pull the silver lining in this cloud and let the wind blow it away.

AKA Supermom?

Well, let's see. I've been called a "super mom" many times over the years, but what exactly IS a supermom? Do we have any more super powers than any other mom? No. I've never considered myself a supermom, more often than not I've doubted being a good mom in general.

A "super mom," to me, is just someone who does all she can to do the best she can. We all have it within us to be "super," so it's up to us to use the abilities we already have within us.

This blog will be basically the ramblings of a "super mom" about life, kids, movies, music, and any other random thought that floats through my brain.