He said WHAT????

I’m annoyed. I’m annoyed because I would like someone, anyone, to rationally explain to me how Michelle Obama’s quest to educate people on better nutrition for our children is a bad thing. Someone? Anyone? The statistics don’t lie. In the last three decades, childhood obesity has tripled! The numbers are even higher for minorities where 40% of Hispanic and African American children are obese. These numbers are frightening. These skyrocketing statistics hurt ALL OF US, whether you lean left or right. Michelle Obama decided that this would be her cause. She started the “Let’s Move” (www.letsmove.gov) initiative which goal is to help raise a healthier generation. The movement seeks to help educate parents, children and schools on ways that we can turn the tide on this frightening trend of obesity in children.

From Day 1 of launching this initiative there has been nothing but criticism. Sarah Palin, started the negative ball rolling by touting repeatedly that government has no business telling her what she can feed her children. She reminds me of a jr. hi girl with all of her drama and exaggeration. For crying out loud, the initiative isn’t banning foods. The initiative isn’t taking away parental choice. The purpose is to EDUCATE people that there is a healthier way to feed our children. It aims to EDUCATE people that our food choices matter. Our children today spend more time sitting in front of screens than being outside MOVING. Again, I ask how can backing an initiative that promotes healthy eating and exercise be WRONG?

My Mother was terrible at providing us with healthy eating choices. To this day, I am addicted to Coca Cola because there was no limit on how much I could consume as a child. Maybe if it hadn’t been so readily available for consumption during my formative years, I wouldn’t have such a hard time going a day without it. I don’t even remember us really having real fruit juice in the house. Sure, I remember TANG, the preferred drink of astronauts, but seriously, there is more sugar in that than Coke. Thankfully, my Mother loved milk, so that is still something I enjoy today, and which probably is the reason that I had SOME Vitamin D in my system (although .2 isn't that high of a reading). I’m not saying my Mother is to blame for all my poor eating habits, but she certainly didn’t help. I strongly believe it is because she wasn’t educated in such things. We rarely, if ever, were we given fresh fruits and vegetables. We had plenty of meat and potatos and gravy, but I think I was 10 before I had my first tossed green salad (thank you Grandma C!). To my Mother’s defense, a lot of this was due to economics. Canned vegetables were a lot more economical than fresh back then, and more available. My mother believed that a PopTart with a glass of milk was a balanced breakfast–after all that is what the commercial said. You get the idea...I digress, back to Lets Move.

Today, Rush Limbaugh has been all over the news criticizing Michelle Obama and her waistline. I’m ready to blast the guy. On his radio show on Monday he said:

I'm trying to say that our First Lady does not project the image of women that you might see on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, or of a woman [professional baseball player] Alex Rodriguez might date every six months or what have you. I mean, women are under constant pressure to look lithe, and Michelle My Belle is out there saying if you eat the roots and tree bark and the berries and all this cardboard stuff you will live longer, be healthier and you won't be obese. Okay, fine, show us.

So apparently, according to Mr. Limbaugh if a woman isn’t a size 2 she isn’t following good nutrition. WHAT??? Oh and I have read the “Let’s Move” website and I don’t believe it says we should only eat tree bark, berries and cardboard stuff. I believe that it encourages balanced eating heavy on fresh fruits and vegetables and light on processed sugar foods. It should also be noted that Mrs. Obama has never suggested that ALL junk food should be eliminated from our diets. Instead she has advised to eat in moderation. For instance, limiting desserts from an every day thing to special occasions.

Today it continues with Limbaugh taking aim again saying:

These were highly civil comments for crying out loud. I mean, people are going nuts. USA Today, the Politico. And some people were suggesting that my comments were below the belt. Well, take a look at some pictures. Given where she wears her belts. I mean, she wears them high up there around the bust line. Isn't just about everything about her below the belt when you look at the fashion sense she has?

How dare he criticize a woman that is an amazing example of a healthy woman. She may not be a size 2, but I look to her as a healthy example of how a woman my age should look. She isn’t a bean pole, she is well proportioned, and has muscle tone I dream of having. Mr. Limbaugh, at least she can find her waist you big blow bag. Let’s compare the two of you:

 

 

 

Yup, you are right, how dare she say anything about nutrition and fitness. She is such a mess.  Really, we should follow Rush's example.  He just SCREAMS fitness and nutrition!

Thankful

So the last couple of weeks we have had a lot of ups and downs with our youngest.  This week has been thankfully uneventful, but still exhausting.  It would be easy to get defeated by the annoying things, but this week I have just felt really thankful in spite of it all.  It would be easy to be ticked off at the realization that Dean and I will probably not be able to go away by ourselves this year for more than 2 nights.  It would be easy to get ticked off that our insurance coverage is changing again and it will cost us even more to keep the 'better' plan which covers less than our current one.  It could send me over the top that when I did our taxes this year, I realized Dean's income has gone down the last several years and our expenses have gone thru the roof.  It would be easy to fall apart when we looked at our 'Budget' last night and realized that there is very little wiggle room.

Nope, I've resigned myself to not get upset and it feels really good.  Sure these things suck, but there isn't anything we can do about them except ACCEPT these circumstances and keep moving on.  So, I've decided to view each of these things as a positive.  Here goes.

1)  Dean and I won't be able to go away for a week alone this year.  Nope, that means even if we could get together a team to go to Mexico, we both can't go.  BUT, I am thankful that we have a gift certificate to a local boutique hotel that will allow us to go away for two nights for our anniversary.  Something to look forward to.

2)  Our insurance is changing, again.  This usually throws me into complete hysterics and Dean has to listen to me rant while staying out of the way in case I throw something.  Don't get me wrong, I am always thankful that we have coverage and that most of the cost for our family is covered by his employer, a huge blessing.  BUT I have learned that unless you have been in our family's situation where we have had tens of thousands of uncovered medical expenses, you are not going to be able to understand why little changes in our insurance coverage are a big deal to me.  That's ok.  I'm thankful that I have resigned myself to accept that no matter how hard I try to explain how we feel about this issue, some are never going to be able to understand.  I understand, and that is all that matters.  I am thankful that I no longer feel the need to use the energy to try to make others understand.

3) Our income went down, again.  I'm thankful that no matter what, we always seem to be able to cover our expenses and pay our bills, on time.  Sometimes the budget doesn't look so pretty, but there is always enough and then some.  We have been able to continue to do some pretty special things, travel, a nice home, eating out once a week.  Yup, it will probably take us 5 more years to pay off the debt that we incurred for Annika's care, but we are making headway so that is a good thing.

I'm also thankful for these ding dongs and the laughter that is more and more a part of their time together.  After five years of emotional strain, it is great to have ALL of them laughing together. 



And dear, sweet Evy.  I don't think she quite knew what she was getting into when she fell in love with Joshua.  He comes with two loopy sisters. They are a bit of a package deal.  It is a joy to watch her join in and see how much they all enjoy each other, and having fun with each other:

Yup, IT'S ALL GOOD.  That pretty much sums it up.

Thankful.

Things that make sense

I have come to the realization that our family is a little odd.  When I say that, I mean it in a good way.  I like being a little odd.  Some probably look at us and go 'those Haans'.  We have interesting discussions.  We have quirky humor.  We have a lot of completely random moments.  It is all good, even when it isn't.

This week a few of the events that some might find a little odd.  Kirsten has been B-E-G-G-I-N-G to get a banjo.  No, she doesn't know how to play one.  She just thinks they are cool and she likes the sound.  She has dreams of a quirky band combo with a banjo, bongos, and maybe a viola (the instrument she does know how to play).  She wasn't asking us to buy her one, she just wanted our permission to allow her to buy one.  We finally relented...why not.  So this week, a large triangular shaped box was deposited on our front porch, inside it was her dream banjo....

Oh and she was SO excited.  She promptly sat down on my bed, tuned it and began to figure out how to play this thing.  I told her I thought it was FABULOUS that she was attempting to learn while sitting on my bed...no worries that I was trying to do our taxes and the FAFSA...no problem, I love having bluegrass strumming in my head during those times.

She was ALMOST as excited as she was last week when she went snowshoeing....almost....

Speaking of random (I think I was, wasn't I??).  I received an e-mail from Josh the other day.  It was entitled 'Birthday List'.  I opened it to find a link.  Now, I appreciate receiving gift ideas, but his birthday isn't until May 25.  I tend to work thru one event at a time.  Up next is Kirsten's 18th birthday on February 25.  I get thru that one, and then I will start thinking about Josh's.  Although, since he will be in Europe on his 21st birthday, do I really need to do much?  After all, that sounds like a pretty darn good birthday to me. 

I digress...the link lead me to the following item:

Seems like a perfectly logical gift for a 21 year old, right?  He later sent me an e-mail telling me he was serious.  I replied that I knew he was.

No, we seem like a perfectly normal, sane family to me.