Well, we don't have our own to elf

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How is it . . .

How is it that there are so many wonderful, caring people who yearn to have children and never get that opportunity when I see children every day with parents who are unable to care for them or just don't want to? For instance, there is a little four week old girl I have been taking care of since she was a few days old whose mother was in jail for most of the pregnancy, did not get adequate prenatal care, was taking four different types of narcotics including heroine and came to visit her daughter zero times during her hospital stay. The baby stayed in the hospital for over three weeks because she was withdrawing from narcotics.

And then there is the 15 year old girl who was pregnant and kept it a secret until her water broke and she was in labor. And she has no idea who the father is because she had three partners at the time.

Then there is the 20 year old who has toddler twins and a six year old at home, all of whom should probably be in foster care because she is unable to care for them. She told me they weren't brushing the twins teeth everyday because "they can't really hold the toothbrush." Right. I let her know that as the mommy, she was supposed to be brushing them! Sometimes it is really hard to hide my feelings of amazement at peoples' low levels of functioning. People should have to take drug tests and parenting classes before they can get pregnant.

How is it that parents are allowed to name their children ridiculous things like Meconium, La-a (ladasha), Genocide, Unique, King, Nevaeh, (heaven spelled backwards) and Desire? I am not kidding around, I have met children who have been unfortunately labeled with each of these names. Seriously, meconium? You know what that means right? Baby poop. Wow, right? What were these people thinking? Maybe choosing the name of future children could be some sort of screening test to weed out those people who shouldn't be allowed to have children.

How is it that one psycho lady has so much control over my life and happiness? I am speaking of, you guessed it, our landlady. Super crazy. Completely irrational. And she continues to cause all sorts of emotional distress in our lives. This is one very big reason I will be excited to leave this place soon.

Ok, I guess that's all I have for now. Sorry for the rant. Sometimes it is the only thing I can do to help myself cope.

Do you wanna win a prize?

I like to win things. At least, I think I would like to win something, but I am pretty sure I never have. Ever. So, I'm going to try it out. My sister-in-law is having a fun give-away on her blog for these really cute crocheted headbands. Not only are they super cute, but they are made from recycled materials, so you can be stylish and green simultaneously. That's pretty cool. To see all the fancy headgear (not that kind of headgear) that is eco-friendly, check out Salt City Design products here. But beware, you will want to acquire lots and lots of cute accessories.

From Jill's blog

Make a wish come true!

Make a Wish Foundation is an organization that helps children with life-threatening medical conditions realize their dreams. As a pediatrician I know many children who have been helped through this program. Some children choose a trip to Disneyland. Other kids want to meet a certain celebrity. Make a Wish grants all types of wishes for these sick children.



Riley is a little girl who was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer when she was 6 years old. She has been battling this cancer for the past three years. Her cancer has returned and she is back in the hospital. Make a Wish foundation was contacted and Riley's wish is not a trip to Disney World--it is to have the mailman dump "a million" get well cards at her door when she returns!!

Please take the time to send a get well card to Riley. You do not have to know this little girl to make her wish come true. Please pass this message along to friends and family who might also help make her wish come true.

If you are able to send a card to Riley, leave a comment and I will send you the address. Please have your card in the mail by October 16th.

To learn more about Make A Wish Foundation, and other ways to help check out www.wish.org.

hmm?

So, I have no idea what happened to chapter one of The Hills Have Eyes? Does anyone else? It mysteriously disappeared the other day, and I am baffled. I was really looking forward to chapter two.

A little update

So here's some news . . . we don't have to move! At least not right now. Once again Dan has proved himself an excellent communicator, a people person, a diplomat. He's amazing. He discussed things with the landlady and the end result was: we stay until my residency is finished! Hooray for Dan.

Since Dan has been so busy communicating and painting, there hasn't been much time for blogging. Alas, you will have to settle for the second rate blogger. Hopefully this time my entry with pictures won't be mysteriously deleted. We still haven't figured out how that happened.

Anyway, I have taken the opportunity to do some baking this weekend. I like to call it bake-therapy. It is definitely therapeutic--does wonders for my mood, psyche, soul. Yesterday I made honey wheat bread with my Mama's recipe. Then I used the Leamington cookbook to make some good ol' breadsticks, half savory, half sweet. They were delicious!

Today I got all crazy and made some hamburger rolls. Ok, so the recipe is called beef rollups but that conjures up strange images in my mind, so I prefer hamburger rolls. I have wanted to make them since I received my cookbook from Grandma Finn for Christmas. Today was the day. I had to do some fenagling of the ingredients with substitutions and such. (I always think I have ingredients and then get surprised by what I need). Plus I like to add different spices, to keep things interesting. Everything turned out well. It was a nice little reminder of childhood dinners at grandma's. Dan said he liked them too, even if they do look like cinnamon rolls.



I have the recipe for all you daredevils that want to try it:



I made a gravy to go over them with white sauce, cream of mushroom soup, chili pepper, white pepper and a touch of season salt. Super tasty.

Moving again!

It turns out our landlady is a real jerk. Even though we signed a rental agreement for two years, she decided that she needs to move back to the Kirk and live in this house. We just found out this morning in a "regretful" email. Really not cool. I'm pretty pist about it. I have had many unkind thoughts today . . . many. Even some thoughts of litigation, revenge, criminality. But don't worry, I won't be acting on any of those thoughts. I can't vouch for Dan in that department though. There has been talk of sneaking back into the yard and getting the produce from our garden he has slaved over all summer. Which, if you think about it, isn't stealing. I mean, we planted, weeded and watered it. (And by we I mean mostly Dan). It's still ours, even if someone else is living in this house.

So, Dan and I will be moving yet again. We are really on a roll. This will be the 4th time we've moved since we've been married, and we have only been married 2 1/2 years! Simply ridiculous.