7 Quick Takes - Vol. 3 (Formerly Off The Top of My Head)

Go visit Jen - the original "quick taker" at Conversion Diary......

--1--

I am glad it is time for "Quick Takes" again. I have been thinking of posts all week but been unable to write anything because I've been so busy with the simple task of being solely responsible for my childrens' care, nutrition, safety, and education. It is overwhelming and I do not believe that past societies did this alone, nor did they have the majority of mothers in the work force.

Anyway. It makes it very hard to find time to one's self for the sole purpose of connecting with an online community.

I'll be staying on my soapbox for just a few more minutes.

--2--

I was talking with my aunt this morning about some of the problems with mothers in the workforce in today's modern society. This conversation came about because we were talking about the elderly, namely my grandmother, grandfather, and her husband's (my uncle) dad.

My grandmother spent the majority of last year in a hospital or long-term care facility (a string of words which I doubt would have been strung together 60 years ago). After about 8 or 9 months of that, her condition worse, she died. My uncle's father died a few weeks ago. My grandfather is still doing pretty well and lives alone in the house my mom and aunts grew up in.

The problem I want to mention is that there is no one left to care for the elderly, or the young for that matter. When mothers were not in the workforce, there was always someone there to help care for those that fell ill or could no longer care for themselves. This also helped to foster a sense of responsibility and empathy for our extended families.

That sense of responsibility is mostly absent in today's families and we tend to cart our elderly and our children out to others for their everyday care.

I will now remove myself from my (rather large) soapbox.

--3--

My children are driving me crazy. I really just want a few minutes to finish this post. I've got one constantly yelling some foreign, two-year-old language I can hardly understand. One is crying and cooing for milk, and another is on the phone with my aunt (Hi!) which is just very distracting.

Maybe I should find a more appropriate time to post.

--4--

Christmas shopping/lists/asking for appropriate kid presents/budgeting is going good, so far. My extended family is going easy on the gifts this year which is very encouraging. I am doing well on keeping the gifts to a minimum also. I decided that since Jesus only got 3 gifts that I am only getting 3 gifts for each of my children. My gift to my husband this year is showing him how little money I am spending on the kids.

--5--

I am so excited this year for the season of Advent and Christmas. I am (hopefully) going to be getting out the Jesse Tree on time this year (since last year, I was still making all the parts for it because it was the first year we had it). Ours is a felt tree, with felt ornaments. I am also hoping to incorporate St. Nicholas' Day and The Advent Wreath into our celebrations.

A lovely thing about the Catholic Church is that "Christmas" celebrations start on Christmas Day and continue for another couple of weeks - unlike secular society that stops celebrating it as soon as the day is over.

--6--

Black Friday. This is a new term for me. Apparently the shopping day after thanksgiving has a name. Do you "Black Friday"? If so, where do you go? What time do you get up? Do you take the kids? I am fascinated by this. I know that I could not handle it. I remember going shopping once with my mother on that day when I was in high school, I think. But can you even imagine going with babies and toddlers in tow, probably half asleep and cranky? Ugh. Not to mention that, as an adult, I now loathe shopping. With a big, fat L.

--7--

I think we've got a few (okay, more than a few, but hey - it's just a saying) things backwards in this country. Yesterday my son watched a show on Animal Planet called "Frog Mania". It was about, yeah, frogs. After that was another show about frogs. I don't remember what it was called but it focused on how the frogs are dying from this fungal disease in their skin and we have to save them. They even have a website.

What gets me is that there was an hour long show on TV about how we have to save FROGS. And human beings are being killed at the rate of 4,000/day in this country and we see/hear nothing in mainstream media.

~H