Swishy Pants and a Fishing Pole

Do you have an event in your childhood that stands out and now when something triggers it a flood of memories stream through your mind? I have two really. One of mine will always be snow; sledding down the hills at my Grandparent's house. I had the "swishy" coverall pants that you could get some distance in. I remember I would step back from the hill and then jump sliding down on my knees or rear end. I ruined so many sets of the coveralls that way. I used a sled too - but that was missing something :).

I also remember falling asleep on the long car ride to the lake that my father picked out. We would get to the dock and set the boat in the water while it was still dark. I remember floating on the shore casting along the banks by the docks until the sky would change. The pink and orange colors on the horizon are still very vivid in my mind. The cold water on the fishing lines and the dew on the boat.

What memories are you sharing now that later will be memory triggering events? It does not have to be Disney World or even an expensive vacation. In fact, I do not remember any of that stuff. When I think of my childhood and search for what joys I remember as a kid - that is it. Simple.

"Today is yesterday's tomorrow." ~ Anon.

God Bless - Joe

Breasts don't have PCB's (Revised)

Below is an article that I created some time ago. I'll never forget it. It was the first article that I have written which sparked a few arguments. Those of you that know me, will understand that I share my point of view. I am not trying to necessarily persuade you but am stating my feelings based on observations and living life on both sides of the issue. I, of course, do also make some bold statements which one who would wish to argue would have to defend against. I suppose I should have taken debate - but I never saw the benefit. Well, if I would have studied Dale Carnegie at an early age maybe things would be different.

Below are two articles. One (the original, which was several years ago) and the adaption, from a more current family and male perspective.

[Original Article]

I am not an expert. Nor do I have the proper organs to facilitate the argument of this quick blog. However, while I was looking for pictures for a website that I am assisting with - I noticed something. Breast feeding is a natural function of the human female body and was the intentional design. The rest of the world and world health organization, supports breast feeding and notes the advantages. So, why have we, as Americans, downgraded human life to an expendable, form? Our animals are now considered babies by most. Our babies are considered vermin by some. After that confusion we then move to the people that actually "want" children. You can cut your baby out if you like (c-section), you can cut your baby up (abortion), you can drop your baby off at random places if you do not want them... Before I continue, I must also state that dropping your baby off is a MUCH better option in efforts of preserving life. We can hire someone to even raise our babies for us. 

So, while I was looking at photos - I just wanted to note that most people would call these beautiful... The animals are naturally performing a feeding. We will place these on public office walls, admire on our screen savers, send photos to friends, show our children, play on tv commercials.... This is a work of art divinely inspired!

I have not really seen advertisements of the animals being hand fed and that being associated with beauty. Unless, of course, it was some sort of rehabilitation. Even the little piglets are tandem nursing. Which, for those of you that do not know, is nursing more than one infant at a time. Humans turn their heads at two children nursing at the same time. The cute little pigs though are expected to nurse 7-8 in a sitting.

This is a topic that I could continue blabbing about for a long time so I will just skip the body and hit the main point.

Look at the baby's faces in these photos. The nursing vs. bottle fed. I am not even going into the health (nutrients) of feeding. Only the attachment. The bottle fed baby stares into the sky, or out into the world - no real look other than dazed. Of the 65 pages for the stock photos, I only found 1 photo of a bottle fed baby smiling at his or her mom. The other photo is of a breast fed child. How can you deny the absolute connection that the feeding shares? 

Of course then we wonder why our kids need supplements, are detached, and cannot confide in us. We fed them a replacement from birth, let them feed themselves from a replacement mother and Ferberized them for the remainder of their life. Deal with it, cry it out.





[Adaption Article]

Of course I still feel that same about what is best for a human child. I have also come to terms having seen many people on both sides of the issue that a healthy baby is best. I would give anything to see a bottle fed healthy baby over a malnutritioned child or one which endures smoke before they are even able to crawl.

This adaption is simply to pose several photos which I found bizarre. As Americans, our culture finds the next two photos to be normal, sexy and glamorous.

 

The next two people will often be asked to cover up or go to the bathroom to nurse. In some states, this is not protected, and there are even stories of women getting kicked out of places for what is shown below. Even the women who are never confronted have to brave cruel comments or criticizing looks.

 

To feed the children they are asked to go to a room, which is provided to them.

 God Bless - Joe

Free things for you or your family

So being a parent of 5 small kids is an awesome thing but does come at a cost, unless you are wealthy or are apart of that select few where "everything" always works out perfect. Most of us have chosen to fill our homes with family and that will leave little left in the bank at several points.So today I thought that I would come up with a list of things that I have found, or use that are free. Some of the lists are just items that could be used by you, and are free, but not necessarily "for the family." If you have other suggestions please leave feedback and I will add your links on this entry!

 

Free Reading Material

 

Project Gutenberg.
Project Gutenberg offers over 40,000 free ebooks: choose among free epub books, free kindle books, download them or read them online. We carry high quality ebooks: All our ebooks were previously published by bona fide publishers. We digitized and diligently proofread them with the help of thousands of volunteers. http://www.gutenberg.org/


FreeBizMag
This website gives away free magazines for sumitting information about your current job in the form of a survey. I have personally received Forbes, Information Week, Time Magazine, The Wall Street Journal and more. http://www2.freebizmag.com/?ref=fbm

Lego Kids' Club
Lego also has a virtual world that a child can explore and sign up (with a parent's help) for an online magazine for free. http://club.lego.com/en-us/behindthebricks/default.aspx
 

Free Software

 

Download.com
Cnet's download website is a great site for just about any software that you could think of. Most companies or people that develop software list their trial versions or free versions on this site. AVG (virus scanner), TeamViewer (remote program), OpenOffice (free word, spreadsheet suit), and Gimp (free photo editor) are several good titles to start with. http://download.cnet.com/

If you are looking for games for kids then you should check out www.PBS.org, www.lego.com, or possibly another favorite kids' toys site.

Free Movies/Shows

 

Hulu.com
Hulu is an online site that houses streaming video for most major shows and/or networks. With an option paid service you could stream to your media box, entertainment device or HDTV. If you are like me - a quiet movie on the PC is sometime just as fine. http://www.hulu.com/

Crackle.com
Although Crackle is not as mainstream as Hulu, it does provide some unique entertainment. There are several shows on this service that you cannot find anywhere else. (Sometimes that is for a good reason). With that being said, Crackle also provides apps for your Android or iOS phone. http://www.crackle.com/

Suggested By Viewers

Nothing at the moment.

 

 Best wishes - Joe