Look by *no-existence87
A small note about DeviantArt on Display: I have saved all of the artwork and uploaded to this blog simply because it only takes one person reporting this art as offensive for it to be removed from DeviantArt.com. They are beautiful, not offensive. This is why I am displaying them here.
My name is Chris.
I am three.
My eyes are swollen.
I cannot see.
I must be stupid,
I must be bad.
What else could have made
My daddy so mad?
I wish I were better,
I wish I weren’t ugly,
Then maybe my mommy
Would still want to hug me.
I cant do a wrong.
I cant speak at all,
Or else i’m locked up
All day long.
When I’m awake,
I’m all alone.
The house is dark,
My folks aren’t home.
When my mommy does come home
I’ll try and be nice,
So maybe I’ll just get
One whipping tonight.
I just heard a car.
My daddy is back
From Charlies bar.
I hear him curse,
My name is called.
I press myself
Against the wall.
I try to hide
From his evil eyes.
I’m so afraid now,
I’m starting to cry.
He finds me weeping,
Calls me ugly words.
He says its my fault,
He suffers at work.
He slaps and hits me,
And yells at me more,
I finally get free,
And run to the door.
He’s already locked it,
And I start to bawl.
He takes me, and throws me,
Against the hard wall.
I fall to the floor
With my bones nearly broken,
And my daddy continues
With more bad words spoken.
‘I’m sorry!’, I scream,
But its now much too late.
His face has been twisted
Into an unimaginable shape.
The hurt and the pain,
Again, and again.
Oh please, God, have mercy!
Oh please let it end!
And he finally stops,
And heads for the door,
While I lay there motionless,
Sprawled on the floor.
My name is Chris,
I am three.
Tonight my daddy
Murdered me.
From an email I received this morning. It asked to be passed on, like a chain letter. But I don’t have many email addresses. I come into more contact with people online so I wanted to share it this way.
Some of you may know that I have had trouble with breastfeeding in the last two weeks. Penny’s upper front teeth have finally broken through, and well… they’re rubbing me raw. She’s not biting me, and she doesn’t mean to hurt me. But over the last 8 months we’ve both become lazy with breastfeeding and her latch has suffered. When her latch suffers, I suffer!
I am not pain-free yet, but I’m making a great recovery, thanks to many people. All of the following ladies helped me with advice and suggestions on Twitter: @PeppermintPam, @zealandsmom, @BrookleenJ, @dsandbrand, @ckpwong, @bfmom, @DagmarBleasdale, @devaskyla, @AVeryGoodYear, and @fentonslee.
I also spoke to Melissa, aka Birth_Lactation by email. That lady is an utter fount of knowledge! She wished she had more suggestions for me, but didn’t have her books with her. But her list of suggestions was amazing! So many different positions to try that I had never heard of and never in my life would have thought of. Melissa and Melodie from Breastfeeding Moms Unite have an Ask an LC column they started recently. I definitely recommend reading the questions! Even better, subscribe to Breastfeeding Moms Unite and you’ll never miss a question.
This Wednesday, I got to be a Breastfeeding Demonstrator for a class of future maternity nurses. Well, what an opportunity that was! 2 other mothers and I got to speak to the class about our labour and delivery experiences, and how breastfeeding has been for us. We got to talk about problems we faced, the lack of support for breastfeeding, and so many other things. The message I wanted to pass to the class is that new moms in the maternity ward aren’t exactly in the best state of mind. Yes, sometimes you need to be forceful with them. But there is never a need to be a bully. I guarantee if you bully a new mom, that is one aspect of her experience that she will always remember – even if she doesn’t remember your name or what you bullied her about. Well, not only did I pass that on, I got to show the class exactly what it’s like to feed a newborn – with a few added pounds. With my painful nipple, and Penny’s poor latch, it was just like we were in the hospital when Penny was born. I needed to swaddle her nice and tight, like a little burrito. And I needed to put her up on top of a nursing pillow again. I haven’t used a nursing pillow since Penny was 6 weeks old.
And how did I go about getting the gig of demonstrating breastfeeding? My La Leche League leader (who facilitated my class to quit smoking last summer) asked for volunteers! She teaches the nursing class as well as everything else she does – quite the amazing woman really. Of course, being a LLL leader, she also gave me a few suggestions to help out with the bad latch thing.
All of these ladies were so helpful. For Fanfare Friday, I want to thank all of them! They encouraged and sympathized, cheered me on and calmed me down. I came so close to weaning Penny because a) the pain was so bad b) the pain wouldn’t stop even after a week. All of these ladies were tremendous in helping Penny and I continue our breastfeeding relationship. Thank you!
breastfeed by ~Seveth
A small note about DeviantArt on Display: I have saved all of the artwork and uploaded to this blog simply because it only takes one person reporting this art as offensive for it to be removed from DeviantArt.com. They are beautiful, not offensive. This is why I am displaying them here.
I’m not even going to touch on American moms returning to work. We know the situation is pretty bad for most of them – ranging from 6 weeks government-covered leave, up to maybe a year. But more likely about 12 weeks for most moms.
Here in Canada, we get a year. Yep, that’s right. 52 weeks. That’s 12 weeks of maternity leave that the mother gets pretty much no matter what. And 38 weeks of parental leave, which can be split between mom and dad to whatever degree they’d like. And 2 weeks is just an unpaid waiting period to start getting your EI payments. The pay is a maximum of 55% of your earnings (we won’t get into the nitty gritty details of working out how much you get). Unless you were self-employed. In that case you get squat.
I’m one of the lucky ones. I have a full year entitled to me, and since I was working a pretty decent job for the year before I got pregnant, it works out that I get about $1400 a month (no I’m not scared to say what I get – the government can’t fire me for breaching their confidence). That’s not a huge hardship to us, and I actually find I spend less money now than when I was working. OK, that’s not completely true – you darn Etsy shop owners and your cute diapers! Now I can go for days without even leaving the house, where before I ate out usually at least once a day.
So if I have it so good and I enjoy my time at home with Penny, why on earth am I job hunting?
Nevermind the idea of leaving her – we’re moving to the other end of the city at the end of November. How would childcare work if I found a job now? Would I look for something close to where we are now that I could use for 2 or 3 months? Or do I look for something permanent close to our new home and have to drive there EVERY morning until we move?
Returning to work is an issue that I haven’t wanted to touch with a 50 foot pole AND a hazmat suit. I don’t know what I want to do. First of all, I don’t have a job to go back to. I left my secure job when I was 5 months pregnant, and worked a temporary contract job for 4 months. I could go back to the same industry, but when we’re talking about an industry like newspapers, there’s only so many places you can go in any given city. I thought about starting my own business doing marketing products, mostly for real estate agents to advertise their listings and services. But I don’t have any money saved for that (and have I mentioned we’re building a new house?) and I don’t know how to go about getting funding. I thought about just doing my graphics work (see the links in my right hand bar for that), but I can’t see myself doing $1400 worth of graphics work every month, and we need AT LEAST that to be able to survive in our new house. So that leaves a job. Like a leave-the-house, someone-else-takes-care-of-Penny kind of job. So, do I look for a ‘real’ job where I make the kind of money I was before I got pregnant, generally a 9 to 5 kind of office-y job? Or I thought about a part time job where I’d have some flexibility in my scheduling. But if I go that route, chances are I’d be making like $10 an hour. I even considered childcare or house cleaning. But honestly, if I can’t be bothered to keep my own house clean, who in their right mind would pay me to clean theirs? As for childcare, it’s a possibility, but not a very strong one. I could see myself looking after one other child. But I don’t have any sort of accreditation or training. In this day and age, people just don’t willy-nilly hand over their kid to someone with no experience.
Well, out of all of that, I found a job posting last night. It’s the best of all worlds – partly the graphics I want to do, partly dealing with real estate. So I applied. I redid my resume, I wrote a whole new cover letter. I’m enthusiastic about the job and what it entails. I’m thrilled that the employer will consider somewhat of a flexible schedule – after all, real estate is not a 9 to 5 industry. I got advice from you, my friends. And I applied. It sounds like the money would be good. I think the employer would be great – as befitting a top realtor in the city.
I’m not going to think about the childcare issue until I get an interview and get offered the job. Same thing – I’m not going to think about the breastfeeding thing until I know either. I would feel comfortable weaning Penny during the day and still nursing in the morning, evening and overnight. But does she need to be given formula with her meals during the day then? I don’t want to give her formula, so then I’d need to look at renting a pump again. Then I’d have to deal with the pumping at work thing. So I’m just not sure about some things.
But in the end, I am really hopeful about this job. It would be a wonderful opportunity for me, and I can totally do everything they’re asking. So cross your fingers, wish me luck, and of course – leave me any childcare or pumping at work advice!
Baby Looks Up by ~dlh1029
A small note about DeviantArt on Display: I have saved all of the artwork and uploaded to this blog simply because it only takes one person reporting this art as offensive for it to be removed from DeviantArt.com. They are beautiful, not offensive. This is why I am displaying them here.
<center><a href="http://bit.ly/nw0Q" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="Newly Wed Newly Bred" src="http://members.shaw.ca/nicolemarr/NWNB_diaperswap.png"/></a><br/> <textarea rows="4" cols="15"><a href="http://bit.ly/nw0Q" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="Newly Wed Newly Bred" src="http://members.shaw.ca/nicolemarr/NWNB_diaperswap.png"/></textarea></center>
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Everyone can tell you how to add a blog badge (aka button) in Blogger. It’s harder to do in WordPress because they don’t allow the textarea tag. But they do provide their own proprietary way of displaying what you want.
<a href="http://grudgemom.wordpress.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://grudgemom.wordpress.com/files/2009/07/button.jpg" alt="GrudgeMom.wordpress.com"></a>
Now how did I do that? WordPress has this fancy code tag [ sourcecode language='html' ] [ /sourcecode ] (without the spaces around the [ and ]) that you can use to display your html as html, without it being stripped. It also comes with a handy “Copy to Clipboard” link and “View Plain” which opens the html in another window as plain text. VERY handy!
No need to use the textarea tag at all for your badge. Just the link, image and end link.
If you can’t get it to work, let me know and I’ll see if I can help.
Edited to add an image of my current code as a sample, in a format that WordPress can’t render!
A while back I posted about Tupperware and BPA, regarding Tupperware’s attitude toward BPA. Since I posted that, I am getting around 5 searches a day hitting my blog regarding Tupperware with many of them specifically trying to find out which lines of Tupperware have BPA in them. Thanks to Tupperware’s Types of plastics in Tupperware products and Recycling Codes pages, we know that the following product lines contain BPA.
This line contains many more items, like a martini shaker and glasses, coasters, stir sticks, and oil bottles. The bowls and the pitcher/tumbler set are the most common that you will find.
Note: I’m not sure if this is the correct Pitcher. It was listed in an August 2008 advertisement as “Tumbler Bouquet and Pitcher Set” but it is the only one I could find.
Keep in mind that not all of these products are offered anymore. And many of them were offered in different color combinations, depending on your location and season.
None of Tupperware’s children’s products contain BPA.
Tupperware’s microwave products are supposed to be heated on medium microwave heat, not high. This is why they won’t replace products from microwave damage. Plus, when you use high heat, the chemicals in the plastic can migrate to your food. Don’t be lazy – change the heat setting before nuking Tupperware!
Hopefully this helps. If you do have any other questions about Tupperware and BPA, please ask me, or even better, Contact Tupperware!
Also, why don’t you Contact Tupperware and tell them you don’t want BPA in Tupperware products and that you would be more likely to buy it if you knew it was BPA free (if that’s the case anyway). Maybe mention to actually make their products BPA free, and not just TELL US they’re BPA free (!SIGG!). We are consumers, hear us roar!
I’m not one to participate in memes. But someone said on Twitter today: “We need a follow friday habit in real life. When is the last time you told ppl why you appreciated them…WEEKLY?” I love the idea, or my take on that idea. So I’m going to do Fanfare Fridays. There’s no rules. It’s just an acknowledgement of people in my life and what they did that week that was memorable to me.
This week I’m bragging about my best friend, Joie. We’ve been friends since GRADE 1! No matter where we each live, no matter what is going on in our lives, we’ve managed to stay friends for 20 years. She has walked down every path in life before I have, and in doing so she paved the way for me. She’s always been the one I turn to for advice, even though as I grow I actually follow her advice less. That’s more from me being stubborn than anything though. When I don’t follow it, I usually turn around later and think I should have listened to what she said. Anyway, we got to spend an afternoon together yesterday, which is pretty rare these days. And I’m reminded how much I appreciate having Joie in my life, and how much of a better person I am for having her.
I also want to shout out to one of my earlier Twitter friends, @mommyisrocknrol. The first time I read her blog, I thought how similar we are. And the more we interact, the more I think that’s true. I suppose that could almost be expected with birthdays only a few days apart (if you believe in astrological kinds of things). Our little girls are close in age – only 2 months between. We’re both building our first non-rent houses right now. We both wear green glasses. Both of our husbands are computer-savvy and would bend over backwards for us – if we tell them they need to. I love talking to her, and wish we talked more. Looks like she’s opening up an Etsy shop for baby bows and headbands. You’ll definitely have to check them out when she does!
There’s so many more people that I could feature! But I’ll wait till next Friday. Until then, who did you really appreciate in your life this week? Will you tell them?
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