Quin

I'll post more later (shocking, I know)... But just wanted to give you a physical "get out of jail free" card (although, in all fairness, not guilty by mental defect etc. usually entails incarceration in a psychiatric facility, and not a get out of jail free card). Seizures & heart attacks often happen while driving. Often causing fatal or Injury motor vehicle accidents. While those same accidents would be charged with criminal offenses if the driver was reckless, under the influence, etc (vehicular manslaughter, vehicular homicide, etc)... A driver who has caused -even a fatal- MVA due to a physical condition outside of their control* is NOT charged criminally. Drivers who have a known "predictable is preventable" physical impairment and CHOOSE to drive anyway, however, are often charged. As a case in point, if a person has a seizure, their drivers license in most states is revoked for 6 months... Or until their doctor signs off that the likelihood of a reoccurrence is slim to none / aka the same probability of anyone else. If that person drives anyway, they get charged. Q

Actually... It has a LOT to do with genes. I used to be a competitive athlete. I'm also ex-military. I know a LOT of women from both fields whose bodies fell apart while pregnant. In fact, pregnancy ruins athletic careers of a LOT of women. Sadly, I'd say more often than not. And, in the military, where one has NO choice but to be eating right/exercising (in the first place, it's required... 3 miles in under 21 minutes several times a week as well as several other PFT standards..., and in the second place if you don't meet the standards, you go to jail)... Pregnancy STILL wrecks bodies. More often than not. Again. Even in the two places where one might think that wouldn't happen. Not just sour grapes. One time I WAS fine, the other I wasn't. But from observation of literally thousands of others who are highly motivated to be back in top form, and can't manage better than middling, if that. Not because they don't want to. Not because they aren't working hard. But because pregnancy can seriously wreck your body. While in athletics, it's personal tragedy... In the military, it's your freedom & livelihood. One of the things active duty military women have to consider when planning pregnancy is the recovery. Including lining up surgeries to repair joints softened/stretched/nowmprone to injury, and reattach split muscles, and cut off skin that will simply not snap back (and the weight of hanging abdominal skin can seriously injure your back', in addition to slowing you down). People like to think its a choice. Just work hard, eat right, exercise & you'll be FINE. Is completely and totally untrue. It's only a piece of it. Anecdotally/ from my experience & observation, a very small piece. Q

Okay.... These are dinosaurs... But the idea is sound: Dinovember: The Month When Plastic Dinosaurs Come To Life | Refe Tuma It's kinda viral right now... A lot of sites that have it are running sloooooow. I know a lot here don't like HuffPost, but their site is fast! Q

In Japan we had heated toilet seats!!! I miss heated toilet seats. Waaaaaaaah. Q

I've been ringing my (very Trekkie) family all day showing this off! Too fantastic! Q

I usually do cooking related stuff (spice blends like Raas el hanout, Harissa, Za'atar... Or truffles... Or fancy schmancy distillations/decoctions) BUT Who doesn't want an ice cube tray of Han Solo frozen in carbonite??? Band-aids that look like bacon? Princess Bride "as you wish" & "iocane powder" pint glasses? Gingerdead Men (skeletons) & NinjaBreadcookie cutters? Biohazard & Warning: Zombies Ahead crime scene tape? 7.62 ice cube rounds? Grow your own world's hottest pepper kit? Chopsticks with a fork & knife as the other ends? My little ponies for Lakumi. Doctor Who paraphanelia? And let's not forget unicorn meat! Interests :: Gifts Under $10 :: ThinkGeek I <3 ThinkGeek Q

I now have Right Said Fred stuck in my head.

For all'y'all ThinkGeek :: Gold-Plated Tungsten Carbide One Ring The Silver Chain of Frodo is a separate item. If you're not brave enough to wear the One Ring on your finger, you'll have to order one separately. Q

Don't forget "Home of the brave!" Q

I lived in a house with 4 stereotypical/flaming gay men at one point. I NEVER looked better in my whole life. Before being allowed to leave the house each day I had my hair done, makeup applied, and wardrobe chosen... As apparently Im utterly hopeless. Sometimes I risked their wrath to sneak out in sweats, but always made the point of turning the hose on myself before coming in. "OH, I was just going for a run. I'm all sweaty. Let me shower." I fooled no one. Q

Not to mention the poor thing was so sick during her pregnancy that she was hospitalized. 1st the press eats her alive for being sick her entire pregnancy. 2nd the press eats her alive for being slim after being sick her whole pregnancy. While severe "morning" sickness affects only a tiny portion portion of the population (it used to be universally lethal, and still kills), at the VERY least... One hopes that some benefit could be gained out of 9 months of uncontrollable vomiting, broken ribs, and terror of miscarrying. Not even all of them GET that... As severe emesis can trigger severe weight gain. That's just adding insult to injury.

I don't know... Refusing to participate in a thing, unless or until those that are excluded can also participate, shows quite a bit of moral fiber in my estimation. Even if I don't agree with his politics, I understand his motivation. Scientist do NOT like politicians telling them who it's okay to talk to. The best minds of a generation span across the world. Excluding so,e of the best minds, because of political riverly, makes sense politically. But not scientifically. It's like seeing the world's most brilliant surgeon pumping gas and mopping up, instead of cutting. The Israeli/Palestinian conflict means a lot of the best minds are not actually put to their best use. Also, that the best minds on one side are being used almost exclusively by the military ticks a lot of scientists off. They want their science to be used to save lives, or explore solar systems... Not take lives, or guide missiles. I can completely understand why S.H. Is taking the side that he is. It makes complete sense, scientifically. Israeli minds get full use. Palestinian minds don't. Strike 1 Israeli minds are being used militaristically Strike 2. Palestinian minds are being excluded Strike 3. From another source: Stephen Hawking's boycott hits Israel where it hurts: science | Hilary Rose and Steven Rose | Science | theguardian.com

1) Annatess is completely right. 2) last go: I was trying to explain cross-religious significance... Which can be a difficult thing. Catholic Blessed Objects Islamic Samctity of Qur'ans LDS Temples All working from, actually, a Shinto perspective. Which will either confuse things even more, or maybe add clarity. When I was a small child, there was a huge old tree in my neighborhood, that was ringed round with flags. When I asked my caregiver why the tree was like that, it was explained to me that the ancient old tree was still young. It needed to grow for another hundred years or so, before it could be cut down. Then, it would still not be used. It would be sunk to the bottom of a lake for another hundred years or so. Only then, would it be raised up, and fashioned into the timber for a Temple. The tree was a sacred tree. Not for what is was, but for what it would be. HERE, we don't have that concept. We don't plant trees, and protect them as sacred. All trees are cut, aged, planed, shipped about to stores, bought by contractors. Wood sitting in a mill or Home Depot can & will go to myriad sources. Some will be carved into Rosary Beads, some built into Temples, some into Play Sets, McDonalds, Strip Clubs, Strip Malls, Swimming Pools, Schools, Mansions, Low income housing, police stations, crack houses. Is all just lumber. It doesn't become sacred until much later. If ever. When we build our Temples, we use the same wood/ metal/ stone used in myriad other buildings. When we complete our Temples, we open them to the public for tours. It's not UNTIL the space is sanctified, the Spirit invited in, that the public is kept out & the space is sacred. The sum is equal to more than its parts. A Temple is more than wood and stone. Or as Carl Sagan says: "The beauty of a living thing is not the atoms that go into it, but the way those atoms are put together." I was trying to get people to think of WHEN it becomes more than just wood & stone. Not in the lumber yard & quarry. Not during construction. Not even AFTER its finished being constructed. It's only afterward. After its blessed, set apart, sanctified, given purpose, meaning, etc. As a child, the culture I loved in didn't have this concept. A thing was sacred from the root. Not here. Here, things become sacred. Synergistically. = In Catholicism, certain objects that one carries with them at all times are blessed & sanctified. In Islam, the Word of God is sanctified. In the LDS Church, Our Temples are sanctified. In every religion, and every schism, different things are regarded as sacred. For different reasons. Which can be a hard thing to translate. Which is why I usually put the shoe on the other foot LDS - We write in our bibles, but don't spray paint our Temples. - We bless people & spaces, not things. But other religions do those things, for the same reasons we do things. The OP undoubtedly feels as weird wearing an unblessed cross, as you would in a Temple open to the public. Q

I have a few friends who snap back that quickly. I have MORE friends who c-sect & abdomonoplasty in the same go (usually with their last kid). It's a fairly easy thing to have the OB & plastic surgeon in the same theatre. I think its hard for people who are genetically lucky (skin tone, no ab-rectis split, no toxemia, etc.) to comprehend that those that aren't ... Actually DO work as hard (or even harder) than they do, themselves. There seems to be an "If i can do it, anyone can!" attitude amongst a lot of people. Which is actually more indicative of low self esteem, than a viable working model. I was lucky with my first pregnancy (in this sense at least, as I was a full term miscarriage) in that my body snapped back almost immediately. My second pregnancy was rough from day 1 (but successful in that I got my kiddo out of it!), and it took YEARS for my body to recover from it. I worked harder with my second pregnancy, but had a better body with my first. I sometimes wonder, if I got pregnant again, what would happen? Anyhow... I was in military-land (instead of parenting land) so I missed the "battle". Which Im grateful, for. I've gotten my comeuppance in so many other ways, that I love it when I get to skip any pride = falls. Anyhow... It's something one sees a lot of in parenting-land. Especially amongst moms of singletons, that usually come from small families, themselves. The idea that instead of being lucky with XYZ (like having a naturally good sleeper, or no colic, or whatever), it's due to this thing that *I* did, that clearly *YOU* do not. Second or third kids usually destroy that sense of success over gratitude. But not always. There's a parenting forum Im on, that about once a year someone comes on posing the q of WHY don't other moms WANT svelte gorgeous bodies??? Um. Most do. Most CAN'T however, due to a lot of factors which clearly don't apply in your life. Not because its easy and they're all just lazy slobs. Again, it's that weird combo of ego+low self esteem. Honey. If it were easy, everyone would have it. And yes. Simply working hard counts as easy. Just because its easy for you, doesn't mean it's easy for everyone. Q

You know the upside of having totally different kids? See! See! Is not me! My other kids are FINE. I don't actually get to do that, as we're all ADHD all the time... But my mom got to say that with my brothers and sisters after ME (until my baby brother was born, and she bookended her neurotrophic all kids with "God give me a burst of patience!" Kids. . It's become a family joke/term of endearment. Super loving home. But still true. So many people blame kid personalities on parents, when hello!, we all have our own personalities, challenges, struggles, assets, strengths independent of how our parents raise us. Q

LOL...Yeah. ADHD toddlers = several years of 'accidental suicide watch'. Our friends were trying to limit screen times / encourage activity... Meanwhile I was thanking HF for the blessed blessed electronics because "plugging him in" was the ONLY break I'd get in a 14+ hour day. His little bum safely glued to one spot for an hour? Hallelujah angels singing in chorus on high. I didn't get that kid "playing quietly" for 15 minutes until he was 8 years old!!! Even then, it's "Hey, Mom! Look at this cool thing! / Ha! Wanna see something funny?/ Hey mom, check this out!" Every 5 minutes. Also, I turned my living room into a play gym. And never, ever, used a stroller. (We'd do more than 10 miles a day. 3 in he morning, 3 in the afternoon, 3 in the evening, plus parking as far away as possible whenever we shopped or went anywhere, and was in 2 hours of gymnastics per day, and had stove piped corners in every room on my house, and little hands washing cupboards/doing "running laundry" -grab one item, run as fast as you can to the machine, lob it in, grab another. Ditto, until the machine is full- cooking... CONSTANT activity. From 5am to bedtime. Constant vigalence.) It gets intense. Fun, though. Q

I'm hearing that you're tending to take your Revelation as an all or nothing kind of thing. Revelation that hard times are coming = end of the world Revelation that you're going to need to devote time to your children = cancel everything else Also, in your husband not trusting you, that rather than taking that in a moderate way (rebuilding trust over time) = leaping to why bother doing anything at all. _____ Do I think you're using PR to get what you want? Not necessarily. But I think it IS blinding you. As an example... I often have 5 ADHD kids in an 800 sqft house (for months). My own, plus kinship providing. Love. It. And my house is totally clean. Does it get trashed? Yup. Often. But starting from about age 2 the kids have their chores & responsibilities, so it's cleaned every single day. It took a lot of work to get a system down that worked (aka was fun, if its not fun, it doesn't happen). And every time I jumped number (1-3-5), the added kids highlighted every flaw in the previous system. And every time the other kids go home, we're left with holes in the system to fill. So we have to be fairly flexible in readjusting how we do things Improvise, adapt, overcome. It's not... My kids and I are ADHD... So my house isn't clean. It's... My kids and I are ADHD... so I had to work out a system to keep my house clean. It's not... I have to choose between spending time with my kids and cleaning It's... Figuring out how to do both (which meant enlisting their aid, and us cleaning as a unit in both daily and weekly chores) ________ My (very ADHD) family has a mantra: When in danger, Or in doubt Run in circles Scream and shout! Which is a very tongue in cheek thing for taking a problem, and turning it on its head. Q

I agree, with a caveat: with the section I bold-afied.... When something is so rigid, stagnate, or narrowly confined as not to allow individual integrity and forces an either/or choice. Q

I keep white lights on my porch year round (for socializing, reading, etc.) twined into my jasmine, clematis, & bougainvillea. During the holidays there is a white light explosion as they infect all surrounding surfaces. Trees, garland on fence, wreaths, and the outlines of my house & windows BUT NOT my roof peak, as I have something clost to a 90degree slope. Obviously it's not that bad, but it's close. And there's no place to attach a climbing rope for my harness, so it's just too dangerous. My neighbors are also too close to get the right angle on my 20' ladder. I love climbing on rooves, and have spent significant time on top of most of mine. But not this one! Inside on the tree we have colorful lights. I like the juxtaposition of austere white outside and a riot of color inside. Q

I just read this last night for the first time. The comments section is reeeeeeally long, but perhaps even more worth reading than the article itself. Female Garments: The Underwear Business – By Common Consent, a Mormon Blog Q

While its sitting in the lumbar yard? Yep. Just a piece of wood. What makes a thing special isn't the thing itself. It's the spirit inside of it. Q

I am exceptionally wary of people who LOOK homeless. Why? Because I've BEEN homeless. For a little less than 2 years, a loooooong time ago (not quite back when God was a boy, but close ; ) Being homeless, one gets a feel for certain things. Like the types of homelessness. Very first off... Most homeless people DON'T look homeless. When someone LOOKS homeless, they fall into one of a couple types - stupid (or brand spanking new/ aka ignorant although not actually stupid, they're not street smart, yet) - dangerous (drunk, high, mentally ill, scamming) Lets deal with stupid first since it's the longest...and why smart homeless kids/adults don't look homeless: STUPID - YMCA is free for po'folk, and if there's no YMCA there are super-low-cost-gyms. Which means its possible to shower each and every single day, for free. Which most do. - Laundry costs $2. In a populated area it's possible to spange (spare change) $2 in minutes. With a ziplock back in your pack to keep clothes dry in wet climate, there is absolutely no reason to be wearing filthy clothes for more than an hour or so (spangle and head to laundrymat) - Free Clincs for Youth(under23) are amaaaaazing. Almost all of hem are staffed with high end children's hospital docs & dentists doing volunteer hours. Free clinics for the over 23 club vary, but one very quickly finds the good ones by word of mouth. - Sleeping rough. Most shelters are used almost exclusively by the dangerous &/or deranged folk. They aren't clean, they aren't safe, and they don't have enough beds. There are dozens of other options for sleeping available (indoors) that I won't get into here, as well as camping (literal) options. - Sleeping rough part II. Most smart homeless people migrate. Meaning they head south for the winter. Some don't (friends and family up north), but most who have friends and family are "couch surfing", so only are borderline homeless. They dont have one of their own, but they have a place to stay. - Food The hardest parts about food are - not being able to cook it (why do people donate food that needs to be cooked??? Argh. Not everyone (most don't) camp with stoves, or have pots/pans, etc. And most cities have burn bans. Meaning starting a camp fire to cook the random low cal junk someone gave you is a fast way to get arrested. - People donate "healthy" junk. When homeless, that's the worst thing to eat, period. You're physically active most of the day, and eat intermittently. Which means we need CALORIES AND FAT, not fiber and low cal waste. The best thing to donate to a homeless person is fast food. It's already cooked, super high in calories, and it keeps fairly well without a fridge (at least 24 hours), it portable, and easy to share. If you want to donate "healthy" things to homeless people, give a bottle of multivitamins. They're freaking expensive. Also, please, avoid high fiber foods. They're lower calorie, and make people have to eliminate more frequently (before our bodies can squeeze every last nutrient from what we've eaten). What's "healthy" for people eating several meals a day, from a rich and varied source, with such an excess of nutrients that they have to go to the gym to burn off the extra calories is NOT healthy for a person fighting off malnutrition. That said... Food is moderately easy to come by. The dollar menu is a gift from God for homeless people ($2 in less than an hour, means you can generally eat something at least once a day!). There are also soup kitchens, church programs, et cetera. Clothes There are dozens of clothing sources out there if you've somehow ended up homeless nekkid, or have been homeless for awhile, or have had all your stuff stolen. Most homeless youth/adults avail themselves of these sources. Jst like there is no reason on earth to be wearing filthy clothes, there's no reason to be wearing rags, either. What'd ya do today? Most homeless people are doing something productive, or sleeping (it's safer to sleep on the daytime than at night). If "what you're doing" is sitting on street corner, or in an alley, at BEST they're stupid. More likely, they're dangerous &/or deranged. You dont find smart homeless folk "SOCMOB" (standing on corner, minding own business), unless they're spanging. Instead they go to the library, look for work, go to the mall, the beach, a museum, any one of hundreds of free places to go in a city. (In the country, fishing or hunting gigs a popular past time, as it kills time and feeds you). Ahem. Or WORKING. A ton of homeless people actually DO work paying jobs. It takes about 6 months to save up enough for first/last for a single person working a minimum wage job. For those with child support to pay (a lot of parents are homeless, but keep their kids with relatives, so their kids aren't homeless) it takes about 18mo. A ton of KIDS (18-23) are homeless & working while waiting for the "magic 24" which is when they can apply for financial aid for school. These are often kids who have been on the street since 14/15. There are other tips/tricks/ins/outs... But those are the major ones. There is absolutely NO REASON for someone to "look" homeless. Not for more than a couple hours after a tumble into a mud hole. Except for the 3 reasons people DO look homeless Dangerous 1- Mentally ill (president Bush slashed at mental health funding... Which increased homelessness a crazy degree. I've read numbers at 400-800% at various times.) Psychiatric meds are EXPENSIVE... And drug companies will comp a person for a year, but only for a year. Free clinics don't help this group, as most were middle income middle class. They lost their health insurance, or medication subsidies, and tried to save their house/job/etc. But off their meds could keep neither, and end up on the street. No matter how wonderful a person is on their meds, or even off meds most of the time, mentally ill people are dangerous. Not always violently, sometimes "just" by doing stupid things, or even trying to do nice things (lots of women carry around dead animals they've hugged to death, since they don't know their own strength, and miss their kids. Nice folk (usually other homeless, sometimes do gooders) generally try and substitute a stuffed animal for them while they sleep or "in trade". 2- Altered. My FAVORITE kind of dangerous homeless person while I was homeless were the drunks. As they spend most of their time sleeping, and generally can't run very far or very fast, and you can smell them before you see them 9:10, so they rarely get the drop on you... So if they blow up in a rage, you can get away most of the time. Angry stoners or tweakers are generally in better physical condition, and have crazy bursts of speed/strength in addition to paranoid outbursts. (Anyone who thinks pot/weed is a good thing for a homeless person because of the "mellow" has never had to deal with how paranoid it makes people. Or how hungry, in a population where food is a pain to come by). Most people who are altered (drugs or alcohol) aren't the "lived the good life addiction took from me". Most have some SERIOUS demons, despair, heartbreak in their past (dead children is very common with older people, and sometimes they killed them OR feel they did, like drowning in the tub ... Along with years of having suffered physical or sexual abuse/trauma being another common one amongst altered youth.) There's also a lot of overlap in mental illness and substance abuse, as folk attempt to manage the worst of their mental illness with street drugs or alcohol. Generally they succeed to a degree (they aren't killing other people,or themselves), even though it leaves them completely unable to live any kind of a normal,life. No matter how much compassion I may have for both of the above dangerous groups (mentally ill & altered)... They're STILL DANGEROUS. 3- Flat out dangerous-dangerous without chemical assistance. You'll find scammers in both groups above... But flat out dangerous is where you find most of them. These are people who use other people for their own ends, just because they can (or are angry at the world). Rapists, perverts, sadists, robbers, failed drug dealers & pimps, wanna be gang bangers (real,gang bangers don't look homeless), etc. They look homeless because they're either - trying to look tough (and succeeding in a very low rent way) - scamming for sympathy ______________ Again, when I was homeless the above categories of stupid/dangerous were the MINORITY. Less than about 1/3 of people I knew fell into those categories. But ALL of the people who LOOKED homeless did. Which means that when someone looks homeless walks into somewhere I have my kids? My adrenalin kicks into gear. Period. I DO NOT reach out to them. I stay neutral, nonthreatening, and back. Unless there an altercation. At which point I send my kids safely away, and put on my "I speak druggie/ challenged/ stupid/ or crazy" hat. Q

That's my point: we don't bless (most) bibles, so it's not desecrating it to write in it. We consecrate Temples, however, and it would be desecrating it to spray paint on it. Use the Temple analogy. A Temple is just wood, metal, & stone. Same as any McDonalds. Heck, thousands of non-members flood new ones after they're finished being built Until when? What happens that turns a building into a sacred space? Q

Ditto Eowyn, big time. Take your kids home. THEN Call LDS Family Services. If/when you take the kids to church on Sunday... Speak with the Bishop. ((I have a friend whose dad was a member, mom wasnt, who took her and her sisters to church every Sunday until the kids were old enough to be dropped off. Mom never converted/ was perfectly happy with her own walk/ but had agreed to raise the kids LDS & felt it was good for them to keep to Eid routine when things were traumatic, then good for them in general once things settled. I don't know if this is something you'll choose to do, or not, but it is an option. I have friends in other faiths who had similar experiences, and others who wouldn't let kids attend unless parents were members. Just as an FYI that if you want to keep the kids attending, you'll be more than welcome to.)) Q

LDS Family Services. Q