A HUGE RANT

I'm mad tonight, actually I am beyond mad and it is killing me not to have fowl language all across this screen. My sister called me this morning to tell me about Sarah Palin being chosen as Mcains running mate. I wasn't surprised at all, since this rumor had been rampant in my community boards for parents with children with down syndrome. But I knew the news was going to bring controversy, lots of it. First I was mad. I thought, why is this woman with a baby running for VP. After hours of thought, it hit me, that if she was a man I wouldn't think twice of it.

Then tonight many of my friends are angry, they are angry with ABC Charles Gibson. This is what a friend of mine posted on a board and.

After he confirmed Sarah Palin as Mcain's choice, he mentioned her yougest baby Trig. He said "She had a Down Syndrome Child, she and her husband Todd knew she was going to have a DS baby and chose to do so anyway...." WTH!? His tone wasn't so nice......

So I'm guessing Charles Gibson is Anti Choice, why do I say Anti Choice?? Because like some (not all, mind you) so called Prochoice people I have ran into, when it comes to a woman KNOWING and HAVING a child with a disability, they believe that woman should of aborted that child . No offense, but no one is going to tell me what to do with my body. But yet there is this group of so-called Prochoice people, whom are pissed that I and the many other woman, who knew ahead of time that we would have a child with a disability, didn't abort. They don't think we deserved a choice. I have heard to my face, many times, "Why didn't you abort!" Only cow, I thought I had a CHOICE, and I made one!

Also Mr. Dear Charles Gibson, it is "a child with down syndrome" not "A down syndrome child". This child is a person, not an object. Your a professional, learn some people first language.

Now on to another rant with this all, it should not manner that this baby has a disability. Woopeedo, so far, the baby seems healthy, hasn't been in the hospitals, so what is the deal? Let's not throw disability into something where it does not belong. As far as her having a baby and running for VP, yes, I do see concerns there.....BUT, do any of your have concerns about Obama's child? He is running for president, and his wife would be very busy also. So are you concerned about his child? If the answer is "no" then you shouldn't be concered about Palin's.

If Palin were a man, none of these things would manner.


I'm temporary jumping off my soapbox, but after I calm down, I may make other changes in this post. I'm so angry that I can't think straight and the valium hasn't kicked in yet ;)

A HUGE RANT

http://wheresmyangels.blogspot.com/2008/08/huge-rant.html

Whining, Wii Fit, and OMGOSH Mercede NO!

Poor Cheyenne didn't get her special birthday post up :( But I took her out to eat, ate a spice I am allergic too and spent the rest of the evening curled up on the sofa, crying and whining for over 6 hours (not to mention the endless trips to the bathroom).

Child husband bought Cheyenne (and me) a Wii Fit. Wii Fit told Child Husband that his fitness level is that of a 40 year old, and he is only 28. That cracked me up. Wii Fit told cougar me that my fitness level is that of a 28 year old(and I turn 40 next week). Okay, I know that Wii Fit is a Liar. But let me bast in the glow for a bit.

Wii Fit did tell 4 of us that we were overweight (Wii Fit flew into the trash for a nap), only Mercede my not even 4'6, 76 pound girl girl was in "normal" range.

The really cool thing is that my 4 year old daughter did so well on one of the balance games. She got an Amateur scoring her first try (normally you just get Beginner).

I was able to crawl off the sofa long enough to get dirty foot prints on the Wii Fit pad, then I went back to whining.

I wonder if it will ever get used again?

In other news, school has only been in session for less than a week and Mercede just started High School. In that time, she has done so many things that I really want to beat discipline her for. I'm not going to go into them because they are so bad(even though ever one I tell about it laughs their butts off). But I knew the girl would be trying to see how much she can get away with. Last year on her bus, she mooned some kids and told them to "kiss her butt" (you know if I am tell you this story that the other ones must be really bad). How she did not get a bus ticket for that is beyond me. But her sister got a bus ticket for kissing her boyfriend on the bus. Course, Mercede has countless bus tickets, so guess she didn't need more. I could paper her wall with them. Her teacher and para's of past, thought the bus drivers were lying about her. I knew that if she can get away with something, she will. The teachers she had in the pass didn't let anything get by, but I'm afraid this year the teacher has no idea what she is in for. If I sign a note that the teacher can use duct tape, will that be legal?

Whining, Wii Fit, and OMGOSH Mercede NO!

http://wheresmyangels.blogspot.com/2008/08/whining-wii-fit-and-omgosh-mercede-no.html

Don't you wish you were all this cool!

Tomorrow is Cheyenne's 16th birthday so this weekend we grabbed my little SIL whom is Cheyenne's best friend to celebrate. I wanted the girls to have a memorable night so we spent it at........................................

the Laundromat, cause I'm such a rocking mom!

Now it ain't all that bad, cause between slaving away at washing and folding clothes (from 8pm til 1030pm), they got to play bumper baskets...

Now today, I did decide to take them out to eat. Yes, I know that nothing could top yesterdays fun. We went to HuHot where we were lucky enough to arrive during the busiest time, and got to sit outside with those little pager do dads. The girls posed for the pictures while the sun burned down on their vampire white skin. Hey nothing like getting a burn waiting for some food.

Mercede was bummed to find out that the cigarettes she found on the bench were empty, but she did enjoy showing us what she planned to do in a week when she turns 18.

We finally get in after obtaining 3rd degree burns, and the girls headed to the line to get their food cooked.





Aw girls, they so sweet, and the guys in back of them are cooking our food. Yum

I didn't realize they were cooking our food in sweat, until I took this photo, and the grill....are there even words??????


Mercede says"Thanks for the food that makes me poop!"



Aidan and Cheyenne dreaming of doing laundry again!

Hope Cheyenne enjoyed her early birthday weekend, cause all she gets tomorrow is a spotlight on my blog ;)

Don't you wish you were all this cool!

http://wheresmyangels.blogspot.com/2008/08/dont-you-wish-you-were-all-this-cool.html

Something that went thru my mind today

Child Husband, Child Husband,
How does your garden grow?
With little care, and rotting plants,
And terra cotta pots all in a row.

Something that went thru my mind today

http://wheresmyangels.blogspot.com/2008/08/something-that-went-thru-my-mind-today.html

When I wasn't looking

Mercede wore these shoes to school.


They aren't her shoes, they belong to her sister. Mercede at age almost 18 has a child size 12 foot. These are her sisters size 7 shoes. I was so proud seeing her walk off the bus with them on. What the teachers must think of me. UGH



Sorry Scott, I just couldn't do that post I told you about, I know you understand why ;)

When I wasn't looking

http://wheresmyangels.blogspot.com/2008/08/when-i-wasnt-looking.html

Out of the mouth of Babes

While Aysha was at my parents house, this was part of a prayer over heard by my mother...



"Dear God, .........please may it not be boring..."


When she got home and I asked her what that prayer was about, she said "Upstairs church". Which translate to the sermon, cause "downstairs church" to her, is all about food :)

Out of the mouth of Babes

http://wheresmyangels.blogspot.com/2008/08/out-of-mouth-of-babes.html

Educate Yourselves Please.

I have never used the word "retard" as a slang. I just always knew it was wrong, not sure how, but I did. Maybe God knew I would feel horrible later and assisted me in knowing that it was not appropriate. I have used the word "retardation" as a medical term, since both of my older daughters do have it. I'm not bothered by the medical term, yet most parents of kids with developmental disabilities are, because of all the hurtful slangs that are used today. You might think it is okay, but it is not. There is a new film out with Ben Stiller called Tropic Thunder which I will be boycotting. The word "retard" is used throughout the movie and to promote the movie, shirts with "Full Retard" are already being marketed. You can read more about it here.

A high school senior Soeren Palumbo explained it best in a speech he gave in 2007.

"I want to tell you a quick story before I start. I was walking through hallways, not minding my own business, listening to the conversations around me. As I passed the front door on my way to my English classroom, I heard the dialogue between two friends nearby. For reasons of privacy, I would rather not give away their race or gender. So the one girl leans to the other, pointing to the back of a young man washing the glass panes of the front door, and says, "Oh my gaw! I think it is so cute that our school brings in the black kids from around the district to wash our windows!" The other girl looked up, widened her slanted Asian eyes and called to the window washer, easily loud enough for him to hear, "Hey, Negro! You missed a spot!" The young man did not turn around. The first girl smiled a bland smile that all white girls – hell, all white people – have and walked on. A group of Mexicans stood by and laughed that high pitch laugh that all of them have.

So now it's your turn. What do you think the black window washer did? What would you do in that situation? Do you think he turned and calmly explained the fallacies of racism and showed the girls the error of their way? That's the one thing that makes racism, or any discrimination, less powerful in my mind. No matter how biased or bigoted a comment or action may be, the guy can turn around and explain why racism is wrong and, if worst comes to worst, punch em in the face.

Discrimination against those who can defend themselves, obviously, cannot survive. What would be far worse is if we discriminated against those who cannot defend themselves. What then, could be worse than racism? Look around you and thank God that we don't live in a world that discriminates and despises those who cannot defend themselves. Thank God that every one of us in this room, in this school hates racism and sexism and by that logic discrimination in general. Thank God that every one in this institution is dedicated to the ideal of mutual respect and love for our fellow human beings. Then pinch yourself for living in a dream. Then pinch the hypocrites sitting next to you. Then pinch the hypocrite that is you. Pinch yourself once for each time you have looked at one of your fellow human beings with a mental handicap and laughed. Pinch yourself for each and every time you denounced discrimination only to turn and hate those around you without the ability to defend themselves, the only ones around you without the ability to defend themselves. Pinch yourself for each time you have called someone else a "retard".

If you have been wondering about my opening story, I'll tell you that it didn't happen, not as I described it. Can you guess what I changed? No, it wasn't the focused hate on one person, and no it wasn't the slanted Asian eyes or cookie cutter features white people have or that shrill Hispanic hyena laugh (yeah, it hurts when people make assumptions about your person and use them against you doesn't it?).

The girl didn't say "hey Negro." There was no black person. It was a mentally handicapped boy washing the windows. It was "Hey retard." I removed the word retard. I removed the word that destroys the dignity of our most innocent. I removed the single most hateful word in the entire English language. I don't understand why we use the word; I don't think I ever will. In such an era of political correctness, why is it that retard is still ok? Why do we allow it? Why don't we stop using the word? Maybe students can't handle stopping– I hope that offends you students, it was meant to – but I don't think the adults, here can either. Students, look at your teacher, look at every member of this faculty. I am willing to bet that every one of them would throw a fit if they heard the word faggot or nigger – hell the word Negro – used in their classroom. But how many of them would raise a finger against the word retard? How many of them have? Teachers, feel free to raise your hand or call attention to yourself through some other means if you have. That's what I thought. Clearly, this obviously isn't a problem contained within our age group.

So why am I doing this? Why do I risk being misunderstood and resented by this school's student body and staff? Because I know how much you can learn from people, all people, even – no, not even, especially – the mentally handicapped. I know this because every morning I wake up and I come downstairs and I sit across from my sister, quietly eating her cheerio's. And as I sit down she sets her spoon down on the table and she looks at me, her strawberry blonde hair hanging over her freckled face almost completely hides the question mark shaped scar above her ear from her brain surgery two Christmases ago.

She looks at me and she smiles. She has a beautiful smile; it lights up her face. Her two front teeth are faintly stained from the years of intense epilepsy medication but I don't notice that anymore. I lean over to her and say, "Good morning, Olivia." She stares at me for a moment and says quickly, "Good morning, Soeren," and goes back to her cheerio's. I sit there for a minute, thinking about what to say. "What are you going to do at school today, Olivia?" She looks up again. "Gonna see Mista Bee!" she replies loudly, hugging herself slightly and looking up. Mr. B. is her gym teacher and perhaps her favorite man outside of our family on the entire planet and Olivia is thoroughly convinced that she will be having gym class every day of the week. I like to view it as wishful thinking.

She finishes her cheerio's and grabs her favorite blue backpack and waits for her bus driver, Miss Debbie, who, like clockwork, arrives at our house at exactly 7'o'clock each morning. She gives me a quick hug goodbye and runs excitedly to the bus, ecstatic for another day of school. I watch the bus disappear around the turn and I can't help but remember the jokes. The short bus. The retard rocket. No matter what she does, no matter how much she loves those around her, she will always be the butt of some immature kid's joke. She will always be the butt of some mature kid's joke. She will always be the butt of some "adult"'s joke.

By no fault of her own, she will spend her entire life being stared at and judged. Despite the fact that she will never hate, never judge, never make fun of, never hurt, she will never be accepted. That's why I'm doing this. I'm doing this because I don't think you understand how much you hurt others when you hate. And maybe you don't realize that you hate. But that's what is; your pre-emptive dismissal of them, your dehumanization of them, your mockery of them, it's nothing but another form of hate. It's more hateful than racism, more hateful than sexism, more hateful than anything. I'm doing this so that each and every one of you, student or teacher, thinks before the next time you use the word "retard", before the next time you shrug off someone else's use of the word "retard". Think of the people you hurt, both the mentally handicapped and those who love them. If you have to, think of my sister. Think about how she can find more happiness in the blowing of a bubble and watching it float away than most of will in our entire lives. Think about how she will always love everyone unconditionally. Think about how she will never hate. Then think about which one of you is "retarded".

Maybe this has become more of an issue today because society is changing, slowly, to be sure, but changing nonetheless. The mentally handicapped aren't being locked in their family's basement anymore. The mentally handicapped aren't rotting like criminals in institutions. Our fellow human beings are walking among us, attending school with us, entering the work force with us, asking for nothing but acceptance, giving nothing but love. As we become more accepting and less hateful, more and more handicapped individuals will finally be able to participate in the society that has shunned them for so long. You will see more of them working in places you go, at Dominicks, at Jewel, at Wal-Mart. Someday, I hope more than anything, one of these people that you see will be my sister.

I want to leave you with one last thought. I didn't ask to have a mentally handicapped sister. She didn't choose to be mentally handicapped. But I wouldn't trade it for anything. I have learned infinitely more from her simple words and love than I have from any classroom of "higher education". I only hope that, one-day, each of you will open your hearts enough to experience true unconditional love, because that is all any of them want to give. I hope that, someday, someone will love you as much as Olivia loves me. I hope that, someday, you will love somebody as much as I love her. I love you, Olivia."

Educate Yourselves Please.

http://wheresmyangels.blogspot.com/2008/08/educate-yourselves-please.html

Mamma Mia and Satan music.

Since I came back from vacation last Tuesday I have worked 16 hour days everyday except Monday (I only worked 10 hours that day). It is mostly my fault cause I let three staff go on vacation last week. Then I also have a pager for another person who is on vacation and one of her staff went into the hospital so I am covering their shift, until today. I got someone to work it and I spent most of the day with my kids. We spent quality time together this morning by sleeping in til 11am. Well that is trying too. My pager went off over 7 times before 11. I also had two phone calls from staff. Then I worked about 3 hours came home and took the girls to Mamma Mia. I really love ABBA and couldn't wait to see this. It was cheesy but so was the best movie of the 80's Dirty Dancing ("No one puts baby in the corner"), which I also watched today. I didn't have pockets on what I wore and I needed to have my pager on vibrate so it wouldn't PO the movie goers. I finally thought of a place to put it that another person I work for uses. My bra!! lol I finally have something to put in it. The girls loved the movie, Aysha slept thru half of it and Mercede only started saying "I want to go home" during the last hour of it. Cheyenne will watch any movie and even after she drinks 64 oz of caffiene, she still won't budge and leave a movie to pee. Pierce Bronson gave a stellar singing performance, if he has a CD out, it will be a must buy. His singing was so incredible that you could hear laughter all thru the theater. Oh and remember when Meryl Streep played in Death Becomes Her, I swear after watching her in this movie, she has actually stubbled aross a magic potion to make her younger (like in the movie), she could really move like a teen. After waking up during the ending of the movie, I took the kids to Barns and Noble so I could get the Twilight books the SITS sisters are always squealing about. Then I came home and read up on Emma Hope and your prayers are working. She is doing so well. Hopefully Emma will be alot sweeter than my Mercede. Mercede like's listening to the radio and turned on some horrid Satan music, I can't believe there is a station that even plays such music, leave it to Mercede to find it. She also refused to turn the station or turn it off. I told her she had at least 26 more days til she was old enough to run off and join a cult. I wish she could be a good child like her sister Cheyenne and just stay in her room all day watching TV and reading and never being seen. I need more children like that ;)

Oh on a note to my father. Dad, you know there are links in a lot of my post that you can click on? You don't have to go and do name searches trying to find out what I am talking about. (please don't get mad at me for poking fun of you and not come get my kids this weekend. Oh, hope mom wasn't keeping that a surprise)

Mamma Mia and Satan music.

http://wheresmyangels.blogspot.com/2008/08/mamma-mia-and-satan-music.html