Month: September 2011 (Page 2 of 6)

tell me about those balls

September 21, 2011 / Michele Minehart

It’s quite evident that I love a good boycott. Give me a cause (Walmart… short skirts… chips in the ice cream… Times New Roman…) and a platform and I shall wave my banner high. However, I’d like to give my fellow boycotters a few lessons in Banning Behavior.

Apparently there are close to a million moms (or, at least an organization of them) who dislike Ben & Jerry’s new flavor. That’s fine, I tend to show preference to Chubby Hubby (who can resist pretzels + peanut butter + fudge?! Such salty/sweet goodness). However, a letter-writing campaign has ensued, trying to force the flavor off the market, taking away the right of the consumer to purchase a batch of Schweddy Balls as s/he would like.

So, my Million friends that are Moms, I say: It’s fine to dislike a product. Put your money where your mouth is and DON’T BUY IT. Purchase Breyers. Or Edy’s. Or give Columbus a little love and go for Graeter’s. If you don’t want to explain to little ~~Caeden~~ ~~Braeden~~ ~~Jayden~~ Frank why the balls are Schweddy, then don’t point them out to your kiddos. Surely you’re not narrating the entire aisle of ice creams and frozen food novelties?

And while we’re this close to the topic, a word on marketing to children… because I read again about the perils of McDonalds and cereals and every other red dye #5-filled food on the market and the regulations regarding such propaganda: it wouldn’t work if parents would simply say NO. Again, don’t buy it. If they don’t have profits, they can’t make the expensive flashy commercials that have your kids whining about the unfairness of life, why they’re so deprived and how you’re the worst mother ever.

Folks, sometimes there’s power in the pen, but always there’s power in the pocketbook.

guess who won’t get re-elected

September 21, 2011 / Michele Minehart

I’ve written before that parenthood offers a new perspective on life, such as God’s love. Today I’ve decided that being a mommy echos that of a politician. Why, you ask?

Mutiny.

It’s fun to blog about all the small joys of parenthood – the funny things kids say, the way they explore the world and offer creativity and new perspective. The giggles, the playfulness. And we’re good at complaining about late nights, tempter tantrums and expensive diapers. And stories of going to the grocery. But we say little about how exhausting it is to be in charge all the time and come off seeming like the bad guy. And when you have 2 close in age, often in cahoots, it seems you’re always redirecting to an activity a bit less hazardous or refereeing over stolen toys. No matter how much you allow them to direct themselves in play and conflict resolution, it seems they always want a 3rd party opinion.

So during a recent non-existent nap time, I decided that perhaps we need to give our elected officials a bit of a break. Much like parenting, I’m sure their goal really is the greater good. But with that comes asking citizens to do things they don’t like to do. Like clean up their messes. Authorities are often caught in the middle of differing interests, both of which are quite valid. And there’s just not enough time or money to do what everyone wants to do, all the time.

Some try to govern and keep peace, and then there are those who think they have a better idea. And the “better idea” rarely has anything to do with looking at it from all angles. Yes, perhaps the peacekeeper does have an agenda: sanity. A large group of relatively happy, healthy, well-adjusted citizens. So next time we’re griping about the state of the nation, I’ll have a few thoughts.

Yes, it may seem as if the younger one gets what she wants at the expense of the older one, simply because we can ask more of him. That’s part of being the oldest. You’ve got a better chance of being a CEO or President because of it.
Sometimes you have to take care of disagreements yourself because others are busy TRYING TO PUT THE BABY TO SLEEP FOR THE 11TH TIME.
Even when you ask and use your nice words, others might simply not want to do what you’re doing because you have differing interests. This is allowed, so please don’t throw a fit when everyone isn’t doing what you find most stimulating and rewarding.
You are able – even encouraged – to find solutions all by yourself. Need more milk? Go find the cup. Ready for a new activity? Look in the toy box. Change begins with you, my friend.

I wonder about my ability to run a household of 5, let alone an entire community or country, of thousands. Hats off to you, my public official friends. The office is all yours.

dig in

September 20, 2011 / Michele Minehart

At the end of the day, one of measuring sticks of a good day is the fact that my family ate and slept well. I feel that life is best enjoyed when you’re physically feeling good, so I do everything I can to help my kids in that way. Then they can play hard, their minds are ready to see new opportunities for adventure. For the past several weeks, since we’ve settled in from the move and I’ve been on maternity leave, it’s been very easy to establish a pattern for making sure dinner is on the table and ready to be enjoyed. I’ve actually enjoyed this part of my day and feel a sense of pride at doing it well.
Yesterday, I just didn’t feel like it.
Blame it on the rain (yeah, yeah). Blame it on the Mondays. Blame it on the whiney children and the infant getting into new sleep patterns. But whatever be the case, I was done with yesterday by 11:30am with no intentions of wanting to restart. Thank goodness the kids were overdue to have a long nap and obliged.
But we still needed something to eat for dinner. We had the innerds of potatoes, leftover from the skins we made for game night on Saturday (the best part of the game, I must say), so I told myself to use them up in some form of mashed potato. So I “fried” some chicken a la my mom, which is actually browning it and putting it in the oven. Then I attempted some gravy. The potatoes were lumpy, the gravy too thick, but it was filling and wholesome. Mission accomplished.
I started thinking how often faith is like dinner. Sometimes you have to dig in because you need to eat. Faith is easy at the extremes – when prayers are answered or when life seems to be falling apart. That’s when we know where to look. But for those times that simply “blah”, we’re tempted to sit around and sulk and then order in. The good and the bad aren’t there to propel us into action so we become spiritually sedentary.
Sometimes we don’t feel like being faithful. But that’s the work of faith; living outside of our feelings at times. Not that we can’t take a break from normal routines; not that sometimes faith calls for us to change things up. I’m not saying that if you fail to open the Bible one morning that you’re stumbling in your faith. But it’s much like love; some days we just don’t feel like doing the loving thing; selfishness is easier and appears to meet our needs at the moment. But love is about much more than how I feel at a given moment in time. At least, if I want the love to last, it is.
I’m all for creating space; I understand the need for refueling. But sometimes the thing that will fill your tank is to dig in and do what you don’t want to do.

Month: September 2011 (Page 2 of 6)

tell me about those balls

guess who won’t get re-elected

dig in

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