encouraging happiness through a love of children, a love of the earth and a love of being frugal…
A Blast from the Past
Co-Sleeping is better, overall, for moms and babies. It allows moms and babies to sleep better and comforts babies in a way that is unparalleled by sleeping alone. If you have had questions about co-sleeping, check out this post from last year. And please, tell us your stories of co-sleeping – we’ll post them if you like.
After reading (and watching the video) about Alex Barton being voted out of kindergarten by his peers for his Aspergers-related behavior, I was overcome with emotion.
I have an Alex too – and he also suffers from Aspergers. Over the years, I have let him go to school (although not anymore)…and each time I did, he suffered very similar treatment – often at the hands of adults.
Aspergers kids are often very social, at least in their own heads, and this is largely true of my Al. He believes everyone likes him because he likes everyone and unfortunately, that is rarely the case.
It has been about 3 weeks since I instituted the complete ban on cold cereal and here is what I have noticed:
My teenage daughter still thinks I’m a loser for instituting the ban (but she would have found something to think I’m a loser about regardless).
My 3 year old son hasn’t asked for cereal in over a week.
There has not been one cereal bowl left out on the desk, in the living room or anywhere else (for some reason my kids believed that cereal was “portable”).
We used to go through a gallon of milk each day – sometimes more. $3 a gallon (if I buy it in the “big city” and not in town) x 31 days in a month=$93 a month in milk alone! I went to the grocery store last on May 17 for our middle of the month trip. I bought 6 gallons of milk (thinking they would last about a week). I still have a gallon and a half left to last until Friday when I will do the monthly restock.
So, not only have I saved about $80-$100 a month on my grocery bill for breakfast cereal – I’ve also more than halved my milk budget – $18 every two weeks is $36!
I’m amazed! No, really. I just took my $600 a month grocery store budget and cut $164ish out of it. And we didn’t lose anything. We still eat breakfast every morning! How cool is that?
Cereal – it’s a bad thing.
I might be able to afford the gas to get the grocery store now!
Or none at all. While I, personally, am trying to eat none, I will admit that it is a difficult habit to break. And not because I’m a big steak eater but because of two small things – hot dogs and bacon! I have a lot of baseball games to go to this time of year and there is always a hot dog vendor…I’m weak for a good old (gross, yes I know what’s in them) hot dog!
Bacon on a Sunday morning is my second failing. If my husband starts frying bacon with pancakes first thing on Sunday morning, I am out of bed and probably two pounds heavier. I’m also a sucker for a good BLT. But I digress.
I am trying to eat less meat. I rarely serve it as a main dinner dish anymore and we eat it less and less, but a Saturday BBQ with friends is hard to give up!
So, why eat less meat? (more…)
I once wrote a piece for a newspaper about how to end poverty in this country by consuming less. The crux of my argument was that if people in America would recognize what true poverty is (think China right now – or Burma), then we could go a long way toward fixing our socio-economic issues.
I received several letters from outraged individuals who believed that I made it sound too easy…that our societal ills and economic issues were not the result of our own American-style consumerism, but of other, more complex issues. Of course, I understand that there are, in the United States, people with true burdens. But if we look at poverty in this country realistically – and I am speaking as a person who once lived in my car with three children – one could see that most of the “poverty” we speak about is not really true poverty at all.
Poverty is not a lack of cable TV.
Poverty is not a lack of gas in your SUV.
Poverty is not having to shop at yard sales for your clothing.
Poverty is not having to give up Oreos (and I do love Oreos).
Poverty is not having to eat rice and beans and pasta.
Poverty is not having to give up your million dollar condo and go live somewhere cheaper.
I just finished reading a story on CNN about a 67-year-old woman who is living in her car with her dogs. She had a good job in a nice area and after a recent layoff, can no longer afford to make ends meet. In fact, she is working and receiving some Social Security – and still cannot afford an apartment.
It sends me back to the days when I was living in my car with my three little ones. For the last three years, I have been speaking and writing ["Without a Net: Middle Class and Homeless (With Kids) in America"]about homelessness and my concern about the real estate bubble. While I recognize that my own story of homelessness is just that – my story – I have tried to illustrate that such a disaster can happen to anyone…no matter what choices one makes good or bad.
What most people, particularly the middle class, are beginning to understand is that many of us are just one paycheck away from homelessness.
http://yesboleh.blogspot.com/2008/05/chinese-policewoman-helps-quake-effort.html
Just read this story about a remarkable Chinese policewoman who is nursing her own baby, the babies of mothers too traumatized by the earthquake to produce milk and several orphan babies! I wish I could send her food and water – talk about an heroic effort.
By Michelle Kennedy Hogan
michelle [at] organicallyinclined.org
When I was 14, I was never having children. Not one. And I wasn’t going to get married either. I was going to be a politician. I was going to be the President. In my head, being a mother and being the President were mutually exclusive. Not being a woman and being the President. At 14, being a woman was a mere bump in the road to my future fame.
Because my maiden name is Kennedy, I spent a great deal of time in my teen years reading about those other Kennedy’s. The famous ones. My hero quickly became Robert F. Kennedy (he still is), but after reading a number of books, I found a book by Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK and RFK’s mother). She had nine children. And while she had lots of maids and nannies to help, she was a very hands-on mother.
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