Put the Stones Down

I know that I said that the last post would be it for a while, but I was reading my news apps this morning and the big story that is getting overplayed right now is the story of the radio hosts that prank called the hospital that the Duchess was getting treated at.

Being the obscure blogger that I am, this post will more than likely serve no purpose but to let me feel at peace about sharing my thoughts.  For those who may not know the story:  Austrailian Radio DJs Michael Christian and Mel Greig prank called the hospital that Kate Middleton (Duchess of Cambridge) was being treated at.  They posed as the Queen and Prince Charles and inquired after Middleton's medical condition.  The prank call was successful and thus begins the drama.   Maybe its the future nurse in me, but I believe that the privacy of medical information should be respected.  I think that when doing things for entertainment value, this should be considered heavily.

Unfortunately, this privacy wasn't respected by Michael Christian and Mel Greig, however, that was their only crime.  Jacintha Saldanha, the nurse who took her life after what some believe was a result of humiliation from the prank call, was a tragic loss, but her loss cannot be blamed on Michael and Mel. I can't say for certain, as I have no ties to this story personally, but it is a high probability that this nurse was suffering long before these DJs ever prank called that hospital.  This incident may very well have been the breaking point for her.  We likely will never know, because now everyone wants to politicize this, but this nurse probably suffered from depression or some sort of personality disorder.  It is likely her issues were running deep and long before that fateful phone call.

Bottom line.  Many people are bullying these DJs right now.  They are throwing proverbial stones and failing to see the times in life when they hurt someone's feelings.  You know we all have.  We all have said things that hurt.  Just because that hurt didn't happen to effect someone who was suicidal doesn't mean that you aren't just as wrong.  This world would be a much better place if before placing harsh judgements, death threats, and accusations, people would stop to examine themselves.  If after examination you can without a doubt claim that you have never played a joke, pulled a prank, or laughed at someone's expense, then by all means carry on.  Throw your stones... however, if I am right, you aren't in the clear.  You were just lucky that your actions didn't trigger an emotionally unstable person to do the unthinkable.  Put your stones down and walk away.  This was a tragedy.  Let the DJs work through this and let the family of this precious nurse mourn. 

Michael and Mel:  If they were to, by some magical miracle, read this, then I would let them know that not everyone blames them.  I don't.  They had no way to know this would be the outcome of something meant for silliness.  I would tell them that I hope that someday they will be able to reconcile this horrible tragedy and not let it damage them.  I would say that I am sorry they are going through this.  Then I would give them both a big virtual hug.  Not a real one because hugging a stranger is just awkward and weird, but seriously... they are going through a lot of emotional turmoil right now.  You can debate whether it is deserved or not, but I believe that since there was no malicious intent behind the initial act, then they don't deserve to be treated so harshly by the raging masses.  I dare say, they deserve a little sympathy from all of us who have at one point or another hurt someone's feelings.  Oh wait... that's all of us.

NOW, I'm signing off for a bit.  For real this time.  Blogging has, in a fashion, been put in drawer for safe-keeping until I once again feel the desire to dump my personal thoughts and feelings on poor unsuspecting blog reader! ha.  Find me on instagram.  @amyschmamey  I tweet... very rarely, but I do have a twitter @amschmamey

Let's all love.  I was told recently that we all have a white wolf and a black wolf in us.  One capable of great evil, one of great good.  The one that wins is the one you feed.  Think about that.  Feed the white wolf ;)...

12 Months... and this is it.

Avery turns 12 months tomorrow.  She has lit up our world so brightly.  We love her so much and could have never imagined how much better our life would be with our 3rd sweet baby.  At 12 months we have gotten to know more of her personality.  She is stubborn, silly, and adventurous.  It's going to be exciting watching that develop more over the years.  Not much is different from month 11 to now except that she is walking 7 steps at a time on her own.  She can push herself up to standing from the floor... and that's about it.  Everything else is pretty much the same.
I know you all don't come here to hear me ramble on, so here are the pictures.

Happy Birthday to my sweet sugar bear, princess, bug.  This year has gone by way way too fast.  I am going to beg and plead that these next few years slow down a bit.

This is also my last post for now.  I really have no time, motivation, or reason to post blogs anymore.  School is the center of my world right now.  Please keep up with me on Instagram.  @amyschmamey  I will always post there.  My account is private, but if you request and your account doesn't look like spam, I ALWAYS follow back.  Look forward to seeing you there.

Eleven Months.

My Bug is eleven months old today!  This time last year, I was 37 weeks pregnant.  This year has been unfair with how quick it has gone by.  It doesn't feel like she has been with us this long, but then, I'm beginning to think that a year isn't as long as I once thought.

Here is what Avery is doing:

• She is standing up by herself
• She is walking around furniture
• She will take 5 steps before crumbling to the floor or throwing herself into mommy or daddy's arms.
• She is trying to stand up with no support, not even furniture.
• She is wearing 24 month pants... CHUBBY!
• She loves her pink zebra
• She loves anyone to surprise her... like getting behind something and popping out with a boo.
• She loves watching PBS kids... for about 5 seconds at a time.
• She loves to stick her fingers in people's mouths and noses... I know... gross.
• She likes to crawl all over mommy.
• She flutter kicks in the bath.  Her older siblings would splash with their hands, nope, she splashes with her legs. It's hilarious.
• She is eating big girl foods cut up small.
• Her babbling is starting to have purpose, not just so she can hear herself talk.
• She still loves Mumford and Sons
• She likes to crinkle up mommy's homework while mommy is trying to do homework.
• She loves to go places.

Here she is in all her eleven month old awesomeness.

Happy Election Day

I voted today!  I hope you did too.  I took my kids with me, so they were able to witness the voting process.  I am teaching them young that voting is an exciting and responsible thing to do as an American.  Brendan kept asking why they don't let kids vote.  He also asked other questions that were difficult to answer, but I did my best.  I began the day with a cup of coffee and my laptop to do some last minute research on the propositions and amendments, and  I also did further research on a couple of the candidates that I knew little about.  After I felt confident enough that I knew what I was voting for or against, I gathered up my kids and made my way to my polling location.

October 31st

Halloween has come and gone.  Is this year going super fast to anyone else?  It's so frustrating.  Time went by so slowly when I was a kid, and now it seems like the weeks are like days and the days are like hours and the hours are like minutes.  Everyone says it, but really, it's true.  Time flies.

Halloween day started with me trying to study for a math test while trying to get Brendan's costume together.  His costume wouldn't have been difficult except that I had to paint a white t-shirt with orange stripes, since oddly enough, there are no orange striped t-shirts to be found.  It's my own fault.  I should have taken care of their costumes so much earlier.  I really mismanaged my time and ended up short changing my study time, and I ended up making a 78 on that math test.  It bums me out because that has been my first C of the semester.  I'm currently making A's overall, but it brought me down to a low A.  Besides the math test, Halloween was a fun day, and my kids looked so cute.

Bren was Phineas of Phineas and Ferb.  If you haven't watched that cartoon, look it up on Netflix, it's SO funny.

Lindsey was Silvermist from the Tinker Bell movies.  She wanted a picture of her holding one leg up like the fairies do when they fly.

Instead of going door to door this year, we went to James River Assembly's October 31st Party.  It's their Halloween alternative.  I liked it, but getting candy was so difficult.  They had buckets at every ride, slide, and event, but sometimes the lines were so long just for 2 pieces of candy to be dropped in.  Part of the fun for me on Halloween was coming home with a bag full of an insane amount of candy.  They got a good handful, but that was it.  I'm not sure if we will stay there the entire time next year.  I'm thinking we will go to JRA and catch the show, then go door to door.  Get the best of both worlds.  Moving on.  Here are some pictures from the night.

A Really Fun Day

This past Friday, the kids were off of school for a teacher work day.  I knew the day was going to be cold and cold days are my favorite time to go to Silver Dollar City, so we decided to be spontaneous and go.  I hope that I tuck this day away in the file cabinet of my mind under the tab "best day ever" where only the best of memories go. 

We stopped to watch the glass blowers make things.  The guy standing on the left dropped the creation in the oven and shattered it.  Major fail.  It was sad.  The whole audience let out a collective "awwwwwweee."  He was making a glass pumpkin.

 Just the three of us, having a blast.

The train is always fun.  There is a show half way through the ride and even though the humor is used over and over, it's still funny.

 

We went through "Grandfather's Mansion" and no the below picture is not upside down.

No amusement park trip is complete without a funnel cake.

We watched the Cowboy Stunt Show, which was cheesy for the most part, but still fun.

Last.  Lindsey is obsessed with Caves and Silver Dollar City has Marvel Cave on it's grounds and they give tours.  Lindsey has been wanting to go for a long time and so I decided to give in and take the hour long tour.  It's pretty magnificent to see that water formed all of this.  The first picture is the ceiling in one of the cave rooms, and the last picture is looking down over a ledge at a room below.  I was scared I would drop my phone taking that picture, but obviously... I didn't.

Venomous

The title of this post is basically how I feel about this election season.  Venomous.  Democrats and Republicans are at each others throats in the most hypocritical of ways.  I saw this tweet under the hashtag #vote on twitter.

I'm trying so hard to not get offended by everything that is posted about this election but it's so difficult.  What makes me angry about this post, isn't the fact that they think that President Obama should win.  It's the blatant racism.  The thing is, every person that is Caucasian and voting for Romney are being accused of being racist.  Why is it a difficult concept to grasp, that a majority of Caucasian voters are voting for Romney NOT because of the color of his skin, but because his vision for American lines up better with their beliefs, and that if Romney were brown skinned, he would still get their vote because of his belief system?  Is that so difficult to believe?

Furthermore.  STOP ASSUMING THAT YOU ARE THE SMART ONE BECAUSE YOU ARE VOTING FOR OBAMA!!!!!!!!!! Sigh.  That boils my blood.  There are very intelligent reasons to vote for Romney, none of which have to do with the color of Obama's skin.  I feel it's necessary for me to state that the following are MY opinions and I am not trying to sway you to think like me, the point of this is to SCREAM OUT! SHOUT OUT! that I am not casting my vote without having evaluated what I believe to be truth.  I encourage you to do the same.  Even if you think I am wrong.  I don't care.  I think you are wrong too (insert winky smiley).  The whole point of this is to say I am not a "dumb racist white woman."

Let's start with the economy: Obama has run up the debt $5 TRILLION! T R I L L I O N! The argument could definitely be put up that he inherited that.  WHO CARES!?  The fact remains that he didn't stop the debt from climbing... He didn't decrease it even by a penny.  NO, it went up.  It is still difficult to get a job.  Gas prices are soaring and getting higher all the time.  I can't vote for the man who promised "Change" and didn't deliver.

Let's move onto Foreign policy.  Libya.  I won't even say anymore.  Democrats can't argue that one away.  The explanation has shifted on that topic so many times.  We have been lied to and deceived, and without going into detail, we have all heard enough about it in the past month.  I am not a blind follower.  That aside, Israel is being shuffled to the side and being treated like the friend we don't want but have to keep for appearance sake.  Israel needs priority and needs America to be a true friend.  Egypt doesn't need to be told they aren't our friend.  I don't pretend to know a lot about foreign policy, but in real life, if I tell someone they aren't my friend... when they weren't my enemy... I don't see that going over very well for me.  Just saying.  President Obama hasn't shown me that he cares about our allies as much as he cares about not offending our enemies.

Healthcare.  I don't like "Obama Care."  I am not convinced it is the solution that we need.  Everyone sees it as free healthcare for all.  No, that is not what this is.  This is a requirement for everyone to have a healthcare insurance plan by threat of a fine penalty if they don't.  That is money out of my pocket one way or another.  This is a requirement for businesses to provide their employees with a healthcare insurance plan by threat of a fine penalty if they don't.  Guess what?  A lot of companies will take the penalty before shelling out the the money to provide the employees with that insurance plan.  I promise you that will happen. I will not let my vote support this.

Now onto some social issues.  Same Sex Marriage.  This is where I differ from a lot of Christians and Republicans.  America is known as "the land of the free" and we can't afford to be hypocritical on that.  EVERYONE deserves equal rights, even if their choices aren't choices that the majority of people would make.  Take this snippet from The Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."  There were not a list of exceptions to that.  We are all created by God and because of that, EVERYONE is entitled to unalienable rights (Not to be separated, given away, or taken away - the free dictionary).  The fact that this is even something that is being argued about baffles me.  Obama has shifted his position on this issue.  He came out saying he supports the traditional definition of marriage, but today, I believe he is saying he believes that marriage should be allowed between same-sex couples.  The fact that he has changed his view, which is allowable, I change my mind about things a lot, but it suggests to me that this isn't a priority issue for him.  To put your vote toward someone because of this issue might end in disappointment.  As sad as I find it that we claim to be a free nation yet keep freedoms from citizens, I can't put my vote to either candidate based on this issue.

Women's rights.  I do not like that women can kill a baby and consider it their right as a woman to do with their body what they want.  This is the way I see it; it is not only your body at that point!  That is a life!  That is a soul!  That is a future that is being snuffed out.  I can only wrap my mind around one excuse for abortion, and that is if the baby and mother will, in high probability and certainty, die if the pregnancy continues.  With that being my stand on abortion, I am not oblivious to the fact that some pregnancies happen through rape.  In that situation it is easy for me, a person who has never been in the position to carry a child in my belly that came about by such violence and violation, to say that adoption would be the ideal solution.  I can only imagine a fraction of the emotional turmoil that would come from a 9 month reminder of such a traumatic event.  The way I see it, though, is that life is still a life that didn't choose to be brought into this situation and I can't see the justice in destroying that life because of the evil that a man did.  I will concede that because I haven't been in that situation, I can't accurately say what I would or wouldn't do, but it is my natural inclination to preserve life.  Abortion aside, Women should definitely have access to contraception.  Birth control of all types should be readily available.  Preventing pregnancy is the only real way to prevent abortion, in my mind. In this situation, NEITHER candidate lines up with my beliefs on this issue, so I can't base my vote on this issue.  I don't think that makes me dumb.

These are clearly not all of the issues, but these are the ones that stand out to me.  Notice how race wasn't even a factor in all of that.  Open your eyes people!  Vote with your conscience, not your emotions.  Don't be bullied into a vote.  Know what you believe.  Find the person that fits best.  If that's President Obama, I may disagree, but vote for him.  This isn't about white vs. black.  This isn't about dumb or smart.  This is about voting with the best interest of America as a nation.  This about our future.  Let's stop the cat fights.  Let's stop the ridiculous assumptions.  The person voting for Obama isn't any better than the person voting for Romney.

I understand that I likely wrote all of this out for no reason.  Nobody is going to listen to an obscure blogger.  Nobody is going to realize that the hate they claim is represented by others is coming out of their mouth too.  Nobody is going to realize that the racism that they claim is represented by others is being represented by them too.  This election season is eating at the very core of me and making my heart heavy.  I can't believe that we have come to this.  Disagreement doesn't have to mean hate, unless you allow it to.

Vote.  Know what you believe and Vote. 

(Reply Rules:  Any hateful replies will be ignored and possibly deleted.  Mature discussion with opposing view points is welcome.  Any hateful replies that demean democrats or republicans will be deleted since the sole purpose of this was to point out how ridiculous that is.  Please be mature.  Please be respectful.  Thank you.)