Saturday, May 18, 2013

You're such a retard!

Now that I have your attention ...

Imagine this. You're hanging out with your friends. There's at least 4 of you. You decide to try to do some new trick. Epic fail. You fall flat on your face. Your friends crack up hysterically, because let's face it, when it happens to someone else, it's pretty funny. Then one says "You really thought you could do that?! You're such a retard!!"

Imagine this as well. You're reading the new dress code at your local school. What?! Only blue jeans are allowed? No shorts? Not even in summer?! That is such a retarded rule. Who ever came up with that is retarded.

Now, imagine that you said all that out loud, next to a group of parents who have special needs kids. Or what if you said that right in front of those special needs kids? Loud enough for them to hear. Do you have any idea just how offensive that is?

Let's get something straight. I have no problem with it being used properly. Some people are mentally retarded. Children's pajamas are flame retardant. Some things have been proven to retard your growth. Those are all acceptable ways to use that word. Calling someone retarded because they did something stupid? Not acceptable. Using that term to describe something you don't believe is right? Not acceptable. Retard does NOT mean stupid. Stupid means stupid. Unfair means unfair.

My son has some learning disabilities. Stupid, he is not. He is many things. He is

                                                                  a boxer:

                                                            a decorator:

a member of the SWAT team:

and a storyteller:
Most importantly, he is Anthony. My son. A wise friend once told me that a child's disabilities are a part of them. They don't define him or her. 

Speaking of said friend. This is her daughter Emily. She has Down syndrome. She is not "that downs baby". She is not stupid. She is
a gamer (a pretty chatty one, too!):

a mess maker.

a Beauty Queen.

your typically happy-go-lucky toddler.

Most importantly, she is Emily. A BEAUTIFUL 6 year old girl, who happens to have a little something extra.


Another friend of mine has an almost 4 year old daughter. She has SPD as well. A more severe case than my son has. Krista's speech is also delayed. It is sometimes hard to understand her. She is in OT for her speech and sensory issues. Stupid? Definitely not. She is

a water baby:

a mud-pie baker:

a painter:

a ham for the camera:

But most importantly, she is Krista. A 3 year old whose 4th birthday is being celebrated in a few days. My son's best friend.




If you happened to look around before you spoke, and saw them, would you still proceed to call your friend a "retard" for doing something stupid? Or would you not care? Would you even understand just how hurtful that would be, not only to our children, but to us as parents? Our children are not stupid. They are very bright. They may not show you just how intelligent they are, but we see things every day that we're told they would never do. Emily's mom can attest to just how true that is. 

Emily's mom also said "Why do we need to use labels at all? Labels are for jars and my daughter is not a jar. The R word is hateful as is any word that deems my child somehow "different" than anyone else. Her name is Emily. She has Down syndrome. Call her Emily and she will answer."

Won't you take the pledge with us?

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Fair Trade giveaway!!

Do you belong to Klout? I do, and because of it, I get a TON of free stuff. Pretty cool things! I've gotten McDonalds gift cards ($5 each time), a book (Oz Reimagined), a thermometer (Vick's behind the ear), makeup, hair products, and SO much more!

It's pretty easy. You join (connect via FB or Twitter), add topics that you think you're influential in, and ask your friends to give you K in that topic! Don't forget to give them K back, as well. After a little bit, your offers should be coming in. My topics are (in no particular order): Amazon, beauty, social media, shopping, health, moms, movies, gardening, diapers, and music.

One of the perks (as they call them) I received was this from Fair Trade Businesses. Fortunately for you, a lot of this, I just wont use. So, what better way to put it to use, instead of just throwing it out? GIVEAWAY!!!

So, what's included in this pack? 
And 2 coupons-
$1.00 off any Alter Eco product
One free Iced Bhakti Chai


Giveaway will start as soon as I hit 200 fans on my page, and will end on Monday, May 20th, time to be announced. 

Good luck!!!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Friday, May 10, 2013

Throwback Thursday

I am having an extremely rough day today, and yesterday wasn't much better. I have stopped taking my medication because I thought I was doing better. What a joke that was. Anyways, I need to blog a bit to get my frustrations out.

First things first: Throwback Thursday!! Anyone ever have Glamour Shots done of themselves? No? Yeah, me neither. Okay, I lied. I did. And I felt so special. Makeup all done, hair done, fancy-ish clothes. I felt like a star. It's one of the very few pictures of myself that I actually like. So, this was me before I had kids. I want to say it was 2000? Maybe 1999.


Now, as for my frustrations ... Today was busy. I had to meet someone in a nearby town for some milk she was donating for my nephew who is having a hard time keeping weight on. After that, I had to come BACK to my hometown to drop the milk off, then back out to the mall (I hate the mall) to take back a recalled crib. We got store credit for it to use towards a new crib or bed. Unfortunately, they didn't have a bed that we liked, so we're holding off on that for now. She's in love with Dora, and they only had Disney Princesses. I showed her the bed, and she said "NO NO!". So, no bed for right now. We'll stick with the port-a-crib until they get more beds in stock.

After we were done looking in Burlington, I let her play in the little play place in front of the store. This isn't from today, but this is the same place.

She decided that she wasn't going to leave, and had repeatedly thrown herself onto the floor. I couldn't pick her up as I had so much in my arms, so I attempted to walk away, thinking she'd come after me. I said good-bye, she waved, said bye back to me, and blew me a kiss. Then she climbed up that bridge thing, and attempted to jump off of it. Oye vey. She surely is something else.

After our mall excursion, we rushed home to get here before Sofia and AJ got off the bus. While waiting, all Abbey did was meow and cry out. She's in heat, which I honestly didn't know could happen SO soon after having kittens. Kitten is only 5 weeks old. I thought we had a few more months to go. She kept me up ALL night last night with her crying out. Not to mention, hubby snores, so I was up because of him too. Then Gianna was up because it was so hot in our room last night. But with the fan on, it was too cold. It really isn't any different than a typical night, in regards to my lack of sleep. But I haven't been taking my medication lately, and I just completely snapped today.

I was irritated yesterday while trying to figure out the details for returning the crib to exchange it for a bed. I called my friend who works at Walmart 4 or 5 times, she called me back an equal amount of times, and we got no where. When I text my cousin about it, she still had the receipt luckily. I was able to call Burlington and get it figured it. Sort of. The lady I talked to tried to tell me the recall was expired. Ummmm, 'scuse me? How does a SAFETY RECALL expire?! Because if that damn crib was supposed to fix itself, then it didn't get the message. I told the lady that recalls don't expire. I was nice at first, then she kept insisting it did. For those of you who REALLY know me, you know how impatient and bitchy I can be. I try to not show it often because it's not what I want people to remember of me, but I will let it show when I feel like I need to. And yesterday warranted it. I was joking with my cousin about how people need to take a stupidity test to be able to work with he public. Burlington has TERRIBLE customer service, and they have even worse people skills. Once they get a bed in stock that we can use, I will be done with them. Their prices are unbeatable sometimes, but it's just not worth it.

So, the cat ... yeah. Like I said, she's in heat. We don't have the funds to get her fixed right now, and I am going insane. I can't take it any more. I don't even know if the kitten is old enough to be without her, but I can't take the whining. Plus Gianna has just been AWFUL to them both lately. She pulled a whole handful of fur out of Abbey's back today. Stomped on her, used her as a step stool, threw things at her, pulled her tail, her ears, etc. As for the kitten, she's doing the same. But she's also picking him up by the neck, the arm, the tail, and also by the skin on his back. Poor things. I'm thinking I may need to rehome them, for their safety, but I really don't want it. It makes me feel like I'm throwing them away. I'm not. I just can't do this any more. If I can afford to have Abbey fixed, then we likely wouldn't be having all these problems right now with her. But she's always trying to rub up on one of us, she's sticking her rear up, she's definitely in heat, and I do not know how much longer I can sanely tolerate it. I am doing all I can to scrape by and pay the bills and make ends meet. It's hard.

Anyways, bed is calling to me, and I am ready to spend some quality time with it. Good night!