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Our Daily Thread 6-5-14

Good Morning!

On this day in 1827 Athens fell to the Ottomans. 

In 1865 the first safe deposit vault was opened in New York. The charge was $1.50 a year for every $1,000 that was stored.

In  1917 American men began registering for the World War I draft.

In 1927 Johnny Weissmuller set two world records in swimming events. 

And in 1975 Egypt reopened the Suez Canal to international shipping, eight years after it was closed because of the 1967 war with Israel. 

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Quote of the Day

“What you lack in talent can be made up with desire, hustle, and giving 110 percent all the time.”

Don Zimmer

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Today is Don Reid’s birthday.

And this song debuted today in 1865.

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Anyone have a QoD?

46 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 6-5-14”

  2. I have “Do You Know You Are My Sunshine” on a CD. It’s a nice takeoff on a popular song.

    I never wanted to be like Arnold Swartznager, I wanted to be like Johnny Weismuller.

    Hi, everyone.

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  9. Good Morning. The dogs have been out. The coffee has been made. I am dressed for the most part. I am still on my first cup of coffee At least at work I can pretend nothing else is going on. I have a party to plan for July 8 and a trip to plan the week before that. I have a Tiny Baby Girl I can shop for. Do you think it is too early to buy her first bathing suit? I saw the cutest one. Girl Babies get jewelry. I need to buy her a little cross or locker to wear home from the hospital. I also have my coming home blanket. I was a January baby. BG came home wrapped in it. I wonder if the would like to use it for TBG.
    I am working on trying to get myself back to life is good status. Right now it is still overwhelming and I am trying to figure out what else I can give away or get rid of I may pack up my mothers china and all my crystal and ask George’s mother to store it for BG. I wish I could convince Mr P to give his mothers china to daughter in law. Maybe I can convince him to send it to Granddaughter.

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  14. This thread is seeming like a psychiatric test to test us based on what we see is an ink blot (I can’t think of what those are called). And yes, I scrolled back to the top to see the face. And I see the angel. And… Oh, never mind.

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  17. Chas, I have 4 sets of china, two china cabinets, 3 sofas, 3 sets of bedroom furniture, 85 Madam Alexander Dolls, a boatload of Christmas decorations, too many cooking pots, pans, and casserole dishes, 2 sets of silver and 1 set of stainless flatware, an antique crystal collection, 2 club chairs, and a whole slew of other things. I have a little dog and a big dog who is part Pit Bull–a lot of people won’t rent to those–so I will have pet security deposits. The humidity down here will ruin anything that isn’t put in climate controlled storage. That is 100-125 dollars a month. Anything to rent is going to start at $1100 a month.

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  18. With all that expense, it seems to me that you ought to negotiate for that house.
    As for junk, we have the same situation, almost. Except for pets. We will have that to deal with when we downsize. But it will be worse than that, because we have decided not to go into a condo, as her sister did, but into assisted living facility, so we won’t have to move again.
    It will be real trauma. And I have a new $330 Craftsman mower that no one I know needs. I hope I can use it a few more years.

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  19. Unbelievable that my children are the only children capable of working around here. Reports just keep rolling in that there have not been employable teens for years. They get job offers all over the place and are kept busy all of the time. I tell them they need to start saying no or they are going to lose their reputation as they will start dropping things. I’ve told them that a good reputation will take them far and they are enjoying the fruits of that now. It is neat to see them. It should be interesting to see how they go when they leave home. Will they drop into zombie land of social communication or will they hang on to what they have and soar?

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  20. Sorry interrupted. Anyway, if that is true, and I suspect there is a lot of truth there, it does not bode well for our country. I have heard for years that only the illegals were willing to take any menial jobs, but now I believe it. There are a number of teens in the area. Some are raised by Christians who keep their children so busy on the home front, there is no time for working elsewhere. And that can be a good thing as well. But a lot of them just won’t work. If they get a job, they are not rehired. I know, of course, that mine are not the only workers, but there does seem to be an amazing lack of workforce out there.

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  21. Hubby and First and Second Arrows have all been and/or still are in positions of leadership in their jobs, and they all can tell stories of the dearth of good work ethic out there among many who have “worked” under them. Too many stories to recount, and I don’t have time to tell them, but it is a definite problem.

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  23. Happy flowers to start the day! Got the dogs to the groomers, filled the car with gas….had it washed, back home to tidy up a bit…then I’m off to Old Chicago’s for lunch….there are 30 people signed up…I wonder if I’ll know any of the attendees? It should be interesting…..
    It has been eerily windy and dry here the past few days…we are supposed to get some much appreciated rain the next couple of days…the year anniversary of the Black Forest fire is next week….and my friends are still struggling to move ahead after losing their homes…
    Praying for you Kim as you prepare to embark on finding a new home…asking our Lord to direct and provide a nest for you to feather and dwell for many years to come ❤

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  24. Our VBS is outside under tents and the wind was so strong it blew down several tents. At that point while under our craft tent I heard some of the children claim to be homeless because their tents (gazebo like) had fallen down. We are wearing costumes so the mild breeze is welcome for its coolness. I felt a few sprinkles, but they left quickly.

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  25. How does one deal with a three & a half year old boy who tries to get somewhat violent when angry or frustrated? By violent, I mean trying to hit or kick the one he is angry with. (His mother does not believe in spanking.)

    He is generally a sweet boy, & he will honestly apologize if he accidentally hurts someone in playing. But when he is angry or frustrated, his impulses seem to take over. One thing his mommy does is to take hold of his hands or arms & tell him “Use your words.”

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  26. KarenO: sounds like a good start, but I think there needs to be consequences for bad behaviour. Even words can be disrespectful and hurtful…

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  28. Does he have a safe place where he can be put into a time out? I used to tell my children they were welcome to be upset and cry– they just couldn’t do it in front of me. They went to their bed. After they calmed down, they were welcome to rejoin us, but I would not put up with that behavior.

    One of my children, however, had ear infections and the only way I knew was when he became impossible. Sometimes I would just hold him tight until he vented the rage. Sometimes I would pray out loud over him.

    Your guy may have issues like this and you should discuss with his mother how she wants to handle him. It should be a general discussion about what she hopes for him and what you need to do now to get him to that place. Frankly, see my current blog post.

    It’s hard, Karen, but he may be acting out like this because you are the one safe person in his life.

    ( The un-Mumsee)

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  30. KarenO, I remember my son’s worst behavior was around four years of age. It was the terrible fours instead of the twos. I was not expecting it, but it was for real. Once he did not want to leave a friend’s house. I had to carry him kicking and screaming to the car. A spanking would not have helped whatsoever. My son was put in his car seat and carried home to show he was not in charge of the situation. It takes physical exertion and determination to not give in and allow what the child wants. A time out away from what they want and can’t have to show the adult is in charge needs to happen. I am not informed in child psychology, but my guess is that at that age the children don’t have the skills to properly control their anger. They should be working toward that goal and over time you should see improvement. I did. So I think it is a phase to get through. I am not sure if it would be healthy to require a little kid to fully bottle up their emotions. Using words is good if they have a well developed vocabulary to fully express their feelings. But some might not know exactly how they feel and how to express it.

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  32. Give him something appropriate to hit. Maybe too young. When his dad left, I bought my son a punching bag. I don’t remember him using it, but it was there. Of course, he was older.

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  34. Hi, all. We’ve had a good day today. Just wanted to check in and say hello. Tomorrow is the very last day of junior high for L. She is ecstatic! Summer is finally here!!!

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  35. Jo, you just reminded me that I think I use to tell my son to, “Hit the floor!” We had a carpeted floor so he would not injure himself. They should outgrow this stage before long and not need to keep hitting on something. But I do recall having one boss who had broken his hand hitting either the filing cabinet or wall when he was angry. Another boss hit at a gal I supervised. I had to set that one straight. I guess the other boss had a doctor set him straight when he got a cast. Is it just accounting offices that make people wanna hit something?

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  36. The young gal I supervised did accounts payable and had paid a bill and included the copy of the invoice along with the original in the backup documentation. The boss only saw the copy and thought she had paid based on that and not the original. He was angry and swatted at her. He tried to lie about it. I did not let him get away with it. He was warned it should NEVER happen again.

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  39. The boss that Janice saw try to hit someone probably also hit their spouse or children or pet in anger. I was once hit by a surgeon, who thought I was being too slow. It wasn’t very hard. One part of me wanted to stop and say, “You hit me and that is not tolerated”, but I knew the likelihood of a student nurse getting listened to over a surgeon was not good and I don’t think my preceptor saw it, as she was on the other side of me and occupied in getting sutures.

    Anyway, I just buckled down and kept going, even though my preceptor offered to take over for me. When the surgeon complained about having students scrub for him, my preceptor heard it and calmly replied, “You have your students [which he did] and we have our students.” That shut him up, as I knew and my preceptor knew that it wasn’t me slowing things down – it was the medical students who needed a lot more practice suturing before they started doing it in the OR.

    Another surgeon yelled at me, because he thought that I wasn’t listening to his instructions. It was a matter of some urgency, but I had already seen the need and had quickly handed up the right tool to the other surgeon. That surgeon came to me afterward and apologized for how he had behaved, saying that even if I had been so slow, he should not have treated me like that. Now, there’s a surgeon I wouldn’t mind working with again.

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  40. Janice: I’m not an angry person, in general, but I know some. A friend of mine has thrown non-dangerous things at her spouse in heated arguments (usually, whatever she’s holding–the other day it was a plastic, almost-empty Palmolive bottle). She only experiences this type of explosive anger with men she’s involved with (not that there are multiple men in her life now, but she dated others before marriage with whom it happened, too).

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  41. I’m not a big fan of time-out as the “utlimate” punishment. A child who is disobedient enough soon learns that all he has to do is refuse to go on time-out and you have nothing further you can do. Parents who refuse to spank are really handicapping themselves and not helping their children.

    That said, when I did foster care I wasn’t allowed to spank, and I dealt with anger issues that could run pretty deep. The child who most loved dogs would kick Misten in the face or lash out in other ways; the other child would kick and scratch and spit and use bad language, and anything else she could think to do.

    When one child was having a tantrum, I soon learned that my first action needed to be having the calmer child put Misten outside for her own protection (since she’d go up right next to the child as though offering to help). But the rule in my house became “you lose use of any foot/ hand that you use to hurt someone, for three minutes.” I didn’t actually set a timer or anything, but if I got kicked or someone else got kicked, I’d sit and the offender would sit with me holding her foot. One child, fortunately the smaller one (she was older, but smaller) would get upset at the punishment, and would then hit or kick, and she’d lose the second limb. She lost up to three more than once, with some interesting dynamics of me trying to guess when three minutes was up for the first limb, then the second, then the third. What I realized in doing it, though, was that I was also offering badly needed touch. I hugged them, brushed their hair, and so forth, but the holding was also limiting my own movement and putting us together for several minutes at a time. (Late in my foster care career I found out I wasn’t permitted to do the holding, but no one had said anything like that in my training, and it really was effective in giving them a chance to calm down, restricting their actions for a while, and giving consequences they couldn’t avoid.) It also gave me an opportunity to talk to the child and ideally to gentle her during that time period.

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  42. Cheryl – Your story reminded me that Emily does a holding thing like that when Forrest gets especially upset, which tends to be when he is overtired.

    Although Emily doesn’t believe in spanking, she also doesn’t like time-outs. She figures the kid will just sit there stewing about it, & not learn anything from it. She tends to hold Forrest’s hands, & talk to him, in a firm & stern voice, about what he’s done, explaining why we don’t do that particular thing. Depending on what the infraction was, she may ask him how he would feel if someone did that to him.

    I’m going to suggest we try to divert him to a pillow or something when he is angry enough to hit, while still firmly telling him we don’t hit people or animals.

    In most ways, Forrest is a sweet little boy. Emily has taught him that if someone gets hurt by him in play (like if he flings something carelessly, & it hits someone) to “go check to see if So-&-so is okay”. And he will.

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  44. Becca struggles with anger, though she is much less explosive now than she was a year ago… Unfortunately, she still loses her cool sometimes. We have her go to her “chill spot” until she’s calmed down. Of course, she’s much older (nine) and there are known consequences should she refuse. We spanked her when she was younger, but it just made her angrier. She might get one a year now. I don’t believe in disciplining when one is angry. She can push my buttons, though we get along much better today than we previously did. I love her fiercely, but she can be a challenge. My eldest has a more compliant, easy-going temperament. They are on opposite ends of the spectrum. Everything that worked with L., was a complete failure with Becca.

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  46. Good discussion on Karen’s question. I don’t have anything to add except that we’ve used several of the ideas mentioned here.

    Almost done with getting together some new materials for homeschooling. We’ve been on break a couple weeks, and we’re starting back in on Monday, so tomorrow and Saturday are sort of to put on the “finishing touches” in planning.

    Although a lifestyle of learning can really unfold in interesting, unplanned ways, too. 😉 All part of the variety and joy of the (ad)venture. 🙂

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