The Outspoken Mom Blog

moving up in the world

Hi all!

I just wanted to let you all know, I am in the process of building my blog into a true blogging site with hopefully many different aspects to it.  I am working on getting my blog to be more things to more people and hopefully to really turn this into something that people not only read for entertainment or because they like me but, to also turn to for help and to truly become a part of my blog and to create a true blogging community. 

If I can figure it all out...the new community will consist of local and small business owners/advertisers, most of which are other moms!  It will also consist of guest bloggers writing about their lives and blog posts related to and in connection with my own postings.  I am also hoping to get some sort of forum going too.

So, as I work on redesigning my current blog, my posts might not be as frequent or as long but, if I can get this all done, the outspoken mom will be more things to more people and I am excited to see where it will go from here.

I do have to tell you all, this seems to be where God is leading me as many doors are opening for me and my blog right now that I never could have imagined.  He has been putting amazing people into my life lately and frankly, I thought I already had some pretty awesome people in my life already!  But, lately he is showing me and leading me to people from all over the place and from all walks of life and I feel truly blessed to be in a 'community' with them all.

So, I hope you all continue to walk with me and to stay with me through this growing process and stay tuned.......

-Liza

Get unyted!

Good Morning Everyone!

Once again I don't have much time but, I haven't written anything for a week now, which is NOT a good thing!  Sorry about that.  Life sometimes gets in the way.  There are so many things going on right now in my life and those that surround me, but, Housekeeping is NOT one of them,heehee.

Oh yes, my house has officially exploded again over the past week.  I can keep my house clean for a while but, once it starts to go, it is like trying to keep a truck from falling over a cliff with one person pulling on the rope....  Do you get my analogy?  So, once again I am living in the middle of the pit of Schwab and once again I am trapped in my own mind/body because I become paralyzed when my house gets like this.  I need an obvious starting point, I need to find point A to get to point B and if point A leads to point Q instead, forget it, my mind freaks out!

Yes, I bug me too.

But, that isn't what I was going to write about today!  No, happy, happy, joy, joy I am going to write about something I was going to say I stumbled across but, truly it stumbled across me.  There is a movement going on and it is just so great!  There is a movement that is picking up such steam and so many supporters and wow, it is fun to watch it grow and to be a small part of what is happening.

What is the movement?  It is a movement focused on uniting Gen Y females to stand up to sensationalism.  However, it is truly not just for Gen Y as I am obviously not a Gen Y person but, as a mother of a son and 3 daughters, I feel it is such an important movement I had to jump on board!  Plus, as a child who grew up believing in the sensationalism of the 80's and the excesses, the movies, the lies, I know I want to protect my children and others against those things as much as I can.

So, today I am dedicating my blog to the movement of Dave Drever and his amazing team over at TheUnYted.  I cannot say enough good things about Dave and his team of truly amazing people trying to change the world through media, music, movies, and themselves. 

If you are between the ages of 8 and 27 or if you have children between those ages, that is Gen Y!  Even if you only have boys around, I truly believe this movement can help them to understand more about treating women and understanding what a true strong woman is really about.  Plus, as I am listening to their music on the website, how can I not feel happy and joyous about this movement!

I think our mass media has destroyed our sense of security, sense of hope, sense of empowerment, sense of truly living a good life.  Not the lies that are portrayed in the media.  Come and join me and join Dave and his crew and take a stand against sensationalism! 

They are in the process of launching their new site and have a lot of exciting things happening right now!  They have many celebs on board, great musicians, actors and business leaders that have committed to take a stand. 

Please visit www.theunyted.com and www.beunyted.com

Also, Dave Drever is on Facebook and Twitter.

Come join the movement and make a real difference for our young women :-)

Blessings to you all!

-Liza

Earth Day and What are we doing to our children?!

Good Morning Everyone,

This is going to have to be another very quick post, I have my son's bus coming in 15 minutes!

So today is Earth Day.  Which I think is an important day however, I am also NOT a tree hugger.  Which makes me giggle because at one point in my life I longed to be one and today, I am writing my blog based on a blog from 'tree-hugger'.

So this morning I am reading the Drudge Report trying to get some information on the Freddie Mac exec who killed himself last night/this morning.  After I read a quick article about him, I scanned the other headlines and came upon one that said something like, 'Poll:  1 in 3 children fear Earth Apocalypse.' 

Um, what?!  First of all, WHY are we polling children to ask them such questions and two, why are we polling CHILDREN via phone asking them such questions!?  These are the times, I am very glad I don't have a home phone.

Who are the parents that allowed their children to partake in such a poll?  Really, those parents should be investigated by Child and Family Services. 

We are filling our children at such a young age with such an amount of fear and anxiety.  No wonder so many children are getting into sex, alcohol, drugs and whatever else earlier and earlier in life.  We are killing our children's childhood.  KILLING IT.

Children shouldn't be worried about the Earth blowing up, if they will have clean water when they grow up, if they will have food, etc.  They shouldn't be worrying about anything other then when is Christmas, my birthday, and when do I get dessert again?  Those are the types of things children should be worrying about.

What happened to childhood?!!!  What was so wrong with being innocent?  What is so wrong with not having a care in the world? 

I understand that it is important to teach our children to take care of the Earth, I understand it is important to teach them about recycling and reusing and such.  I understand we need to teach them about being careful around strangers but, when did it become important for them to understand about fear, death, destruction, Apocalypse?!!

The children that were polled were young too, the youngest being 6 oldest being 11.  People, 6 is Kindergarten/1st grade!  These children are worried about an Earth Apocalypse?!!  Do they even know what that means?

Turns out inner city children worry about it the most and minorities have it even worse.  What is going on here?  We are doing our children a great injustice with this poll.

What does this tell us as parents?  Why did they even do this poll in the first place?  And I can bet the people responsible for the poll aren't parents themselves. 

I really believe this poll is skewed.  I think the children were asked the questions in a way that made them say yes and didn't really know what they were talking about.   Because my children don't fear no clean water, no clean food, pollution and such.  They can't think past next week!  But, if you ask them questions, you can get just about anything out of them if you ask it the right way.

I don't know but, this poll is disturbing to me in every single way.

Here is the link, read the article and let me know what you think.

Blessings to you all,

-Liza

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/04/kids-worry-about-environment.php

Twitter and Schwab Challenge update

Good Morning Everyone!

I am in a much better mood today, the sun is actually shining again.  Just a few clouds in the sky but, other than that, blue, blue, blue.  I love it.

I needed the sun to shine on me again after this week and its mostly downs. 

Yesterday was my first day I made it through without crying so, I think I might be on the mend.  I even looked at a few dogs that are up for adoption on www.RAGOM.orgbut, so far, not one of them even comes close to Griffey so, I will keep looking.

I have toyed with the idea of getting a puppy but, ugh, I don't think I want to do that.  I have a hard enough time keeping the house picked up and clean I couldn't imagine picking up pee and poop from a puppy so, I think we will stick with an adult dog that is already trained.

So, I have been trying something new that so far, is a bit better time wise for me as Facebook is becoming very hard to follow with all of its changes and such.  Have any of you tried Twitter yet?  www.twitter.com

It is pretty much just the updates part of facebook.  So, you get to follow people and post updates and that is it.  I really like the idea and it is much faster than facebook because on your phone you can just text the message and done.

You can get updates sent to your phone or email if you want and when you go to your home page you get to see everyone's posts right there.  No ads, no people you don't care about popping up, and it is much easier to block and unblock people.

Plus, I get quick 1 or 2 sentence updates of pretty much anything I want.  I would suggest everyone check it out.

Of course I will continue with Facebook as it is a good way to keep up with people long term I think but, for quick daily updates, Twitter is definitely the way to go.

So, today is the last day of my children's spring break..well we still have the weekend but, last 'school' day off.  I am so glad they will be going back.  It has been a tough week having them here and frankly, I think they are so bored with being at home so, we will all be glad to be back to normal schedules.

I love my children and I love being around them it was just a really hard week.  I am very excited for summer though!  It will be so fun to hang out at the pool with the children and to go on bike rides and such.

Oh, it has been a long, long winter and I just need warmer weather and to be outside again! 

Hey.....just thought, I haven't given you an update on the 'Schwab Challenge'.  Ok, here goes, my husband is already WAY ahead of me as he lost 24 pounds on his cleanse.  Since I am still nursing, I can't do the cleanse so, I am having to do it the hard way.

I am starting my daily workouts on Sunday, I am very excited as Steve is going to help me by 3 mornings a week letting me go to the gym to lift weights before he heads off to work.  Then, the other 3 mornings I will do aerobic something or other and then I will take one day off completely.

I am also going to start keeping a daily food journal.  I am very excited about this because I think it will help me in knowing exactly how much food is really going in to my body and I will be more aware of things.

My goal is still by my birthday, which is in July, to be down to a much more acceptable size and weight for myself.  I will continue to give you all little updates here and there. 

So far not too much to report, just a pound or two and no changes in my clothes but, I am on that long, long road to "Old Liza Recovery" :-)

Blessings to you all,

-Liza

PS:  Hi to all of you coming to visit me from my friend Lee's blog.  I also encourage my people to read her blog...it is listed under other blogs as 'fitnessmama'. 

 I love her and am so glad she is a part of my life.  What she does is amazing work and I very much understand her passion for eating disorders.  As her and I comment on each other's blog, I want you all to know that her and I like 'debates' :-)  We don't get to do it often and we do it out of love and our own passion for our lives, etc....

I just read her update on me and my 'diet' and just wanted to let you all know...this is NOT a diet.  I am not starving myself of food and what many of you may not know...I already have a lot of food issues with myself and my family.

We have to deny ourselves certain foods because of food allergies.  Doing this has been a big part of me gaining the weight I have.  I am so focused on the foods I can't eat that I over stuff myself on the foods I can eat.  Plus, I am now eating certain types of foods I wouldn't have touched with a 10 foot pole before food allergies.

Just a quick info on our current and past food allergies that have brought me to this place in my life.

Me:  Sugar...I have always struggled with sugar and am not supposed to eat ANY sugar except for fruit sugars....I was able to do this until children....I CRAVE sugar like a heroin addict.

Husband:  Dairy...but, he fights it.  He gets so sick from it he vomits.  But, he fights it every once in a while.

Son:  Dairy/Wheat/Casein/Gluten.  Our son not only has these allergies but, also is on the Autism Spectrum so we have tried to cut ALL of these things plus a few other things out of his diet completely, very difficult and expensive but, worth the results.

Daughter:  Dairy.  She had massive sinus infections when she was younger and so bad that her sinus 'crap' would come out her eyes and she would get eye infections. 

2nd Daughter:  Wheat.  As an infant she looked like an Ethiopian baby.  She had a HUGE belly but, super skinny arms and legs.  She looked malnourished.  We thought she had Celiac but, her tests kept coming back negative.  Finally, about 2 years ago we had her allergies tested and she was allergic to Wheat!  Since then, she is much healthier, has a flat stomach and is filling out a bit more in the arms and legs.

3rd Daughter:  From about 2 weeks through her 8th week she vomited every meal she was fed(I only nursed her) and screamed every time she pooped and had blood in her stool.  After seeing a 'gastro' doctor I was told to stop eating wheat and dairy myself which brings me back full circle to me....

Me:  Sugar issues(not ready to give that completely up yet).  No wheat or dairy. 

Food allergies are a hard and difficult thing to live with but, it is do-able.  However, your body needs to adjust and you need to find other ways to fill yourself up with healthy foods to compensate for the foods you are missing.  I love food, always have.  I have a horrid love affair with food and sometimes that love affair is magical and other times, like right now, it is a sick, sick relationship that isn't healthy for me anymore.

Unfortunately, it has taken its toll on my body this time and I need to get 'myself' back.  I am not dieting...I am changing my life....more importantly, I am reclaiming my life.

-L.