Don't you ever feel like just

Don't you ever feel like just curling up and covering you head for a little while? There seems to be so much sadness, hurt and sorrow all over that sometimes I don't even want to read anything or watch the news etc. Do you ever feel that way?

All the time, Diane
Its always more frustrating this time of year because I'm not able to avoid the issues by playing in the dirt.
I turn off the TV, plop in a CD and bake. Funny thing is that nobody eats it anymore because i do it so much, lol, but the people at work love it.
As my mom says "this too shall pass"

Yep. But when I feel that way I don't want to play in the dirt either.

I've been feeling like that for the past 6 months. I swear if it wasn't because I have to take care of the kids (5 1/2, 4 1/2 & 2 1/2), I probably wouldn't get out of bed much. I had been immersing myself in different school & church projects to keep me busier which helped but all that has wounded down after the holidays so now I'm looking forward to getting a new job. The job is working part time in my kids school cafeteria & doesn't officially start till next August but I love to cook & its perfect for me. Next school year the oldest two will be going to school full time & the yougest one can go to the inschool daycare. I'd start working at the same time as they enter school & I'd get off about 1/2 hr. before school lets out. I'd also be off on the days they don't have school. The pay is not that great but its better than nothing.

I'm also like Jen, I love to bake but I end up having to eat most of it or else it goes to waste. The kids will only eat certain baked goods so if I make something "unusual", they won't touch it. DH also likes the simple & usual stuff like apple pie, cc cookies, sugar cookies & velvet cake. If I try something fancier, I'm left eating most of it and I'm already 40 lbs. over my normal weight due to not loosing much after each kid. I've tried going on a diet but thats been hard too. The kids are in their picky food stage & hubby won't eat anything he doesn't recognize so I'm left with cooking the same things over & over again....I'm so bored with that.

So yes Diane, you are not alone. Everytime I see the news, it seems there is little positive things going on in the world. I've cut down on tv watching but now feel like I'm not in touch with all that is going on in the world. I have to admit though, that this week since the kids are off school, I've been staying up late at night enjoying the peace & quiet of the house. I'm getting to watch shows/movies I normally couldn't watch because of the kids being around. Sleeping in the mornings is not possible so I stay up at night instead. Have you tried taking up a hobby you haven't done in a while? I signed up for several xmas exchanges so I had to do some crafts and remembered how much I enjoyed doing that. I'm planning on doing a craft a week to keep me busy & to have things made for next year. I signed up the kids too & they loved getting surprises in the mail. I also went to a couple craft sales to get ideas & got inspired. I saw some really neat things I could easily do myself & save alot of money doing it. Atleast, this will keep me busy till spring comes & I can get out in the garden.

Yep, the world's a mess, but it's always been that way. We simply hear about it much more and often instantaneously these days. We limit the amount of media bombardment we subject ourselves to.

I'm often reminded of the lyrics of that ol' Kingston Trio song, 'Merry Minuete'..."What nature doesn't do to us, will be done by our fellow man."

My significant other and I have decided to simply take care of our little corner of the world and realize that we really can't do anything much about the rest of the world. Except by example and locally, perhaps. We concentrate on this slightly more than an acre that we're responsible for and try not to worry too much about what happens on the other side of the world - especially where we can do nothing to help.
Besides, when we're working in our gardens, all's right with the world anyway!

You all may think this is an ignorant thing for me to do but... I'm telling you anyway! I deliberately avoid the media with exceptions of course (big events), but the daily local and world news you hear over and over I avoid.

After I had my son (he's almost 3 now) I was OVERWHELMED with how news about children/tragedy/soldiers/ etc etc etc bothered me. I would think and grieve about people I didn't know (Laci Peterson for one.) I was pregnant when 9-1-1 happened also.

Anyway, while the hormones have faded a bit I still can't stand that kind of news - I always think- that was someone's child!

I have a 2+ hour commute each day so guess what I used to hear a lot of.. I ended up getting a subscription to Sirius Sat. radio and it just has music unless you choose a news channel.

I must tell you that my deliberate avoidance of certain 'newsworthy' topics put on the air just to gain ratings has increased my quality of life. It brings you down to YOUR world and your daily life. My worrying about things outside of my control just adds more stress for me! I still have to hear certain things of course - but not the day to day bad news most of us don't want to hear..

Try it!!! It worked for me!!! Oh, and excercise helps my mood too!

Nicole

I will admit i check AOL news every morning for the critical updates. I follow Iraq extremely close because of my husband being over there, but i have also realized in the past 1 1/2 years that the news is very one sided. Not wanting to turn this in to a political post, i'll stop there.
There is good that happens in the world and every where around us, the media just doesnt find it worthy of the news.
My favorite channel nowadays is Animal Planet (how did i ever survive without that?), followed by A&E, Discovery and TLC..although those 2 have focused way to much on cars and motorcycles.

MSJen I am with you on Animal Planet! I certainly understand you're following Iraq with your dh over there :(

I am a Sci Fi Channel junkie myself - drives my dh crazy! Oh, and the show The Lost is also a great one. Other than that I'm not much into the TV. Sounds good to say that anyway - LOL!!

Nicole

It's always interesting to check out the International News Networks on the web, as well. You get a different slant on the news, and it seems there is less hype. We have some very short winter days here in Alaska. It is 11am, and just beginning to look like daytime, and by 3 or 4pm, we'll be back to darkness. I find that looking through my summer digital photos and visiting on Dave's brings a bit of sunshine into my day. Sometimes it is a surprise to look up and out my dormer window at the frosty world outside!

Yep, all the tragic news really gets to me. This latest crisis with all the true and countless stories about mothers running for their lives with at least one child grasped in her arms, only to have the child ripped away from her by the force of the water....well it has just made me so emotional. I couldn't sleep in my bed last night and had to go to my littlest ones bed to hold her. It's always sad to hear about any big tragedy, but when you become a parent, you see the world in a completely different light and as far as I know so far, that just never goes away. I imagine how utterly terrified the children must've been. How ripped apart with grief the parents must've been. Or spouses, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters. It's too incomprehensible when "just" a few hundred people die in a train wreck or whatever. But then these earth quakes that kill 20 thousand, 35 thousand, over and over again each year....and now this. I've turned off my news radar for a few days as I just can't take anymore right now.

Hug your kids extra tight and make sure you tell them you love them before you go to sleep. You never know when your last moment with them will be.

-Julie

OK, Julie you are making me cry! That's exactly the kind of thing I think when I see such stories. It is such a real emotion and I so easily put myself in their shoes emotionally. Speaking of that and not changing the subject but when I see where you are and pictures and such I worry about you! I remember your posts about the outside 'art animals' and your children's bedrooms. I hope that you are safe and I am sure you are - just my ignorance again as I have not much knowledge of Israel except what I hear on the news! AGAIN - the news!!

I think we're all crying to some extent or another. This thing, this terrible thing has got everyone pretty spooked.

Israel is for the most part a very safe and lovely country. I myself won't take my kids on a bus outside of out little town. My DH says a person has a greater chance of getting killed in a car accident than by a suicide bomber. But I then remind him of how terrible Israeli's drive. Nearly as bad as what one hears abotu Italian drivers. But really, what one sees on the news is nothing like what one sees here. IN the news you see the Gaza strip when Palistinians are burnign tires and throwing rocks. This is not real life for either side. But real life doesn't make the news. I would encourage anyone to come here for a vacation. But I wouldn't encourage anyone to ride a bus in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem. Bombings happen very rarely (certainly not as often as drive-by shootings in the U.S.), but they don't exactly put out a news bulletin alerting people not to ride the bus on the day they plan to blow one up. So, I steer clear of busses in those two cities. Other than that, life is pretty safe here. We don't have guns or knives in schools. Kidnapping or murder is absolutely shocking as it just happens so rarely here. Having your kid snatched from the playground really isn't something people worry about here...I've NEVER heard of a child being snatched in the whole 8 years I've been here (well, there was one instance, but it ended up being the father getting revenge against his wife for divorcing him). I know I'd have a whole different outlook on how far I let my kids wander on ahead of me if I were in the States.

On a happier note (bear with me, it really is a happier note):

I have a friend in Germany whose little boy was diagnosed with SIX tumors on both kidneys 14 months ago at 3 1/2 years old. 3 of those tumors were already Stage 3 cancerous and the other 3 were pre-cancerous. One of them was so large it nearly took up his entire left kidney.

He had to go through a full course of chemotherapy just to shrink the tumors enough to do surgery to try to remove them. After the surgery they got bad news that the tumors would need a lot more chemo. They did this chemo, suffered through it for several more months, only to find out in September that the chemo wasn't working...a new tumor developed despite the chemo treatment.

There was only one choice for them. The little boy had to have his stem cells harvested, go through very high dose chemotherapy and then have his stem cells transplanted back. The high dose chemotherapy had horrendous affects on him...painful, miserable effects. But he never lost his cheerful spirit despite needing to also have his left kidney removed due to that last tumor developing......and I've received so many photos of him, always smiling.

19 days ago he had his stem cell transplant. And miraculously (although the doctors said the earliest a child has gone home from this is 20 days after the stem cell transplant...and most go home about 5 weeks later), this little boy got to come home from his very long hospital stay on December 26th....and his family was able to celebrate Christmas one day late - at home together. He went to his mother's bed in the wee hours of the morning after that first day and said "Mommy, it was a good day today, wasn't it." A good day indeed! He's gone through more than I can even imagine enduring and he's still got that wonderful gift all children have of packing something of tremendous significance into a small little phrase.

Now 14 months after this whole nightmare started, at nearly 5 years old, his mother can finally say officially that her son is in remission. He still has 50 days of isolation at home where he must not come in contact with anything contagious and during which there is the greatest risk of relapse. But the doctors say that if he gets past the first year without relapse, it is very good...2 years without a relapse and he has a 98% chance of being home free. It's going to be a long 2 years, but this little boy has overcome really pretty terrible odds like a real champion. And his family have come through it all with awe-inspiring dignity and grace. When I ring in the new year, I'll be celebrating this little boy's triumph....and for a few hours I will forget about the great sadness in the world.

-Julie

This message was edited Dec 30, 2004 9:30 PM

Julie your post is very reassuring and I enjoyed reading it. I'd like to have such accurate information about more places that I read about. And a wonderful story about your friend's son.

Here here Cheryl! I am so glad to hear that Julie! BOTH things - about Israel and about the sweet little boy! Brought tears to my eyes again but for a good reason!!!

Thanks!! Happy New year!!!