Haven’t shared a strange search terms post in a while. Been getting lots of perverted lookie-loos, lol. I’ve sprinkled this edition with some odd tidbits of knowledge to intrigue or to just educated those perverted lookie-loos. Enjoy!

how many nipples do babies have at birth
-> Um, usually just the two if you are talking human babies. Did you know the Tailless Tenrec is the mammal with the most nipples? Tailless Tenrec babies are born with 24 nipples. What is a Tailless Tenerec you ask?

nipples: the next big thing
-> You know big nipples make for an easier and clearer landing for baby especially if you are in to letting newborn baby perform the “Breast Crawl”.

men blood blisters breast
-> If someone pinched it or was sucking it you probably do have a nipple blister my friend. To pop or not to pop? Personally I am a popper. Grab that sewing needle, sterilize it, pop that baby and squeeze. But don’t leave the needle on the counter for your dumb cat to swallow like I did.

before and after nursing nipples
-> I took a poll on twitter. It’s true nipples do change after nursing! Responses were:

Yeah, they were pretty flat before. I had an oversupply and my first baby used to yank wicked hard at the breast. Now they protrude.

very much!

yep! They are huge!

yes, unfortunately, they got bigger, will they go back to normal?

hear nipple woman
-> Yeah, I searched this term and came up with lots of stuff I’d rather not share here on the blog. I am sure there is someone out there referred to as “nipple woman” that you could listen to. I’d rather not find out anymore about that though. Besides could Nipple Woman actually have anything to share that I’d want to hear?

fun open Christmas gifts with gloves on?
-> Yep, I’ve heard of people opening gifts with gloves on, kind of a fun- make people laugh idea. Even better us to try wrapping the gifts with gloves on. Speaking of gloves, did you know they make gloves for texting and using various other touch screen devices? Yep, you can be warm and use those electronics, Score!

Each batch of kids I teach is different and in order to effectively “reach” each of them I try to adapt my approach, so I can best help them. I’ve never taught the same from one year to the next because no two batches of students are exactly the same.

The ultimate goal is to leave the students with some life lessons in addition to teaching them how to do colorguard/ winter guard. Things like:

1. You can do whatever you set your mind to.
2. Discipline and hard work always pay off.
3. Actions speak louder than words.
4. It is better to try and fail than to sit on the sidelines scared.
5. Without risks and hard work you have no chances for huge success.
6. Life is not about the end result it is about the journey.

Of course I also want to teach them about showing up on-time, fulfilling commitments, being a team player, planning ahead, time management, setting goals and so on…

Each kids responds differently to various approaches. Right now we are tackling discipline and focus in rehearsals.

I’ve been toying with the idea of physical punishment (aka push-ups and so on). It is something many marching bands incorporate in to their rehearsals as a means to refocus the kids and to give them incentive to do their best.

For me it is something that I’ve never really been able to fully appreciate. Sure I was forced to run a few laps in marching band when we all were having a really, really bad rehearsal… it only happen like twice the entire 4 years of high school though.

Now that I am teaching in a totally different place (culturally) I am having to revisit the idea of forced discipline & focus as opposed to simply expecting it. Does that make sense at all?

I guess what I mean is I am used to just being expected to act properly or leave as opposed to being expected to behave improperly and then to pay for the misbehavior.

You know on the one side there is no room for acting up but with the punishment there is the expectation of acting up followed by a punishment. It’s a glass half full or half empty sort of thing… with expectation of good behavior as opposed to expectation of bad behavior

What are your thoughts? Do you think there is any benefits to one over the other? How do you think they translate in to life lessons and shape young people?

TwitterMoms and Target want to know about the most surprising holiday gift I’ve been given. My answer (I wish I had the photo they took of this morning):

A car! The Christmas after I turned sixteen my parents wrapped a key and a steering wheel cover for me and had them under the tree.

I opened the steering wheel cover and made some smart ass remark about how it would be nice to have a car to put it on…You know sixteen year old sarcasm and bitterness in full force. Ha!

Then I opened the box with the car key in it and the gears started turning, I was still a bit confused and just thought they were messing with me though. Then my parents opened the front door and told me to start the car. They had a old-school Chevy Nova parked in the lawn with a bow on it, my first car!

I so wasn’t expecting that at all and didn’t even put two and two together when they gave me the steering wheel cover first. LOL! Then there was the day I left the car unlocked and they pushed it around the corner to make me think it was stolen… That’s a story for another post though.

Speaking of holiday gifts, I am kind of peeved with some online retailers! Holiday shopping has been frustrating for me this year. Like I said in the last post, I do most of my holiday shopping online. I typically use amazon.com but am willing to branch out to other retailers if the deals and products are interesting.

This year I’ve shopped at Etsy, Amazon, Target, Kohls and Buy.com. I tried to shop online at Old Navy, Walmart and Macy’s but didn’t end up buying anything because their sites were either jacked up, products weren’t available or sales weren’t impressive. I’ve also been known to changes my mind about a purchase if the shipping charges are insane.

This week has been the week of “just kidding about that order you placed” because two different stores have “modified” my orders because their items are out of stock or just wont ship until like Feburary. Seriously? You have the item listed on your site and on sale but you forgot that you only have a limited number of them in stock?

If they can’t keep those online inventories in order I don’t want to suffer the consequences. Oh, don’t even get me started… Wait! I already am!

Kohl’s is especially craptastic because their shopping cart dumps like every 10 minutes. I spent all this time browsing and picking things out. Got them all added to my cart and went to checkout only to learn that my cart was cleared due to inactivity… Even though I was still browsing the site and adding to my cart.

Oh and Old Navy? Well they are advertising all these sale items and on their site the items aren’t at the sale price and they too have a pretty limited inventory this season. I tried to check out three times with them, each time I got another notification about what item was not longer available. Eventually I just stopped trying to place my order, I’ll just buy something elsewhere.

I wonder how everyone else’s shopping has been. Is your shopping done? I’ve still got to find some stocking stuffer type things somewhere. I know N has a list of stores and items he still need to get locally. Are you shopping online much this year, have a favorite store? Wanna share your story about the most surprising gift you’ve been given?

No, this is NOT at paid post just me blogging and trying to get an entry in for their contest. I love contests! You can enter too. Just follow the TwitterMoms link at the beginning of the post.

Did you know that today, January 22nd 2009, is the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade? I am sure you already know that I am pro-choice big time, since I blogged for choice last year and all.

I don’t think I’ll ever have an abortion but that doesn’t mean I’ll let anyone take my right away. Besides I am just not of the belief that government needs to be ruling on what we are and are not allowed to do with our bodies.

Each of us should be free to decide what is best for us and our current situation. It is all a freedom thing you know. With freedom comes the need for informed decision. Just because someone chooses something that you feel is wrong doesn’t mean we should take the right to choose away.

I don’t like women who use abortion as a means for birth control, I personally do not agree with it and it makes me sick. Those people need to be taught better morals and better self control not refused the right to have an abortion. I am not going to rant on and on about this though. I know where President Barack Obama stands on choice and abortion. If you need a refresher here is a video:

Today’s Blog for Choice question is: What is your top pro-choice hope for President Obama and/or the new Congress ?

I hope that our administration can get away from using the law to force us in to doing what one group views as not being for our own good. Now that is wishing huh? I also hope we can reform the health care/ insurance industries so that they are all inclusive and are a benifit to everyone not just a manipulation and money making device.

Seriously a woman’s right to choose goes beyond abortion and the pill. Women should have access to and insurance coverage for ANY type of family planning/ birth control method she chooses. I don’t just mean birth control either. Insurance should cover birth control but it should also cover all types of family planning and birth control methods including FAM (fertility awareness method) and NFP (natural family planning).

To me a woman’s right to choose also encompasses birthing rights, how can states outlaw midwives and force women to birth in hospitals? That just goes back to how the health care/ insurance industries have an unfair monopoly and are acting unethically but that is a rant for another day.

So there you have it those are my pro-choice wishes for the new administration. What are yours?

Did you know the United States is ranked 29th (among industrialized countries) with regards to infant mortality rate?

“Since ranking a fairly respectable 12th in 1960, the U.S. fell to an all-time low 29th in the world in infant mortality in 2004, according to the report Recent Trends in Infant Mortality in the United States from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The U.S. infant mortality ranking has been falling steadily, from 23rd in 1990, to 27th in 2000.” Quote source

Maternity care in this country really bothers me because it is so one sided, it is way to medically managed. I think that modern medical advancements are wonderful and that they really do save and help so many. Hospital birth is a fitting option for many women due to medical complications, risks and even because of convenience. I am glad we have so many trained and skilled professionals in these hospitals to treat us.

What bothers me is the idea that birthing anywhere but the hospital is bad. Hospitals are great for healing the sick and for managing complications but there are many women who are complication free who would like a different approach to childbirth that is not possible in a hospital. Those of us who have no complications that need managing should be free to choose a birth setting we are comfortable with but the AMA and ACOG don’t want that.

Our current need for health care reform is (in my opinion) a result of the one sided system we already have in place. We already know change is necessary and this is our chance to speak up about our views and concerns so that we’ll be heard.

Soon we’ll have a new president in office and there is no better time than now to start speaking up about maternity care and other issues that are important to us.

I am personally livid that how and where I birth my child is being decided for me by the law. This is a decision that is each woman’s to make much like the debate on abortion. It is a woman’s body and should be her right to choose.

I am all for educated decision making, I welcome the recommendations and advice of organizations like the AMA and ACOG, I also value other information sources such as Childbirth Connection’s Evidence-Based Maternity Care and many other sources. Knowledge is power so educate and advise us but DO NOT force us!

If you are like me and want to fight for change you can contact your representatives and express your concerns. This is what legislation is currently on the table:

Congress:
	S.507 Midwifery Care Access and Reimbursement Equity Act of 2007
	H.R.864 Midwifery Care Access and Reimbursement Equity Act of 2007
Georgia:
	SB480 Georgia Qualified Medication Aides Act; provide for delegation of certain nursing tasks; Georgia Board of Examiners of Licensed Practical Nurses
Missouri:
	SB637 Direct Entry Midwifery in Missouri
	HB974 MIDWIFERY – Davis, Cynthia L.
South Carolina:
	S881 S881
	H4347 H4347

Also consider writing President-Elect Obama about your views on health care and birthing options. With health care reform just around the corner we have a chance to make some changes but only if we all speak up regardless of our own personal preferences. Every woman deserves the right to choose, lets take that right back!

That Is right, I just joined the CommentLuv contest bandwagon and am now a registered site for the CommentLuv contest! This means if you are reading my blog and you leave relevant (non-spammy) comments you have a chance to win! I’ll delete any spam comments and Andy Baily says you’ll be banned from the contest for spamming so don’t try it okay?

The contest page FAQ says that when someone leaves a “comment on your blog and if they’re a winner, their last blog post will come back as a prize notification.” So that means when you comment you’ll usually see something like this:

If you win instead of seeing the title of the post from your own blog, you’ll see a notification that you are a winner. All you have to do when you see the winning notification is: “click that after it has been submitted and published on your site and enter their details on the claim page here to receive the prize.”

I luv my blog readers (and the helpful comments) so that is why you have this awsome chance to win just for leaving comments. Yay! Also, don’t forget to enter Talina’s Baby Weight Contest so you have a chance to win some cash. The more chances to win the better right? Consider it my economic stimulus package. Ha…

While I was making my peanut butter and honey toast this morning I looked in the sink and my blood started to curdle. Right there in the freaking sink the dish scrubber was chillin, this is a BIG no-no in my kitchen! The sink is the dirtiest place ever, food gets dumped in it and down the garbage disposal. When the scrubber or sponge lays in the sink dishes get piled on top of it, it gets covered with slimy food/ germs and after that who would want to use it or reach in to find it? Not me buddy! Honestly, how does it make sense to put the item you use to clean crap off of dishes in the bottom of the sink? You may as well be wiping your dishes down with a raw chicken breast or some old paper towel you found in the trash. Yuck!

Then I thought, what a lovely and possibly entertaining thing to blog about! Something as small as a food covered scrubber that pisses me off is a perfect blog topic! So I headed over to google to search for a pet peeve meme that I could use to share my disgust. Over at Danielles Garden I found a top 5 pet peeves meme that just fit the bill. Here it goes, my pet peeves of the moment..

1. Dirty germ infested, food covered dish scrubbers that are all nastied up and left for ME to deal with! We might as well skip the dish washing and just eat off dirty dishes, that way we are exposed to LESS germs and bacteria.

2. People who are in constant need of your sympathy because “they have it so bad”, everyone deals with sucky shit and they manage to pick themselves and function in the real world. You can to, but if you choose not to don’t make everyone else out to be the bad guys.

3. Truck drivers who can’t wait for a clearing in traffic to pull out on to the road like the rest of us. What rule allows you to pull out in front of oncoming traffic (near the little america in Flagstaff) and expect everyone to stop and wait for you? Pretty sure you are the one who is supposed to be yielding to the flow of traffic not the other way around!

4. When you go through your day trying to be courteous and respectful of everyone around you despite the fact that nobody else does the same. Being respectful and courteous is damn annoying when everyone else is self centered and nasty but what can you do? Stooping to their level is not any better.


5. Loud or frantic eaters annoy me to no end! I don’t understand why people need to eat like someone is going to steal the plate away from them, take time to chew your food and enjoy it. Besides nobody want to watch or hear you inhaling your meal! Also, my skin crawls when people eat their fries like a “wood chopper”… Think about it, I know you have seen this done. They stick the tip of the fry in their mouth, chew on it then they move on to the next part o the fry… Ugh, it is hard to explain. Here is a video illustration fr ya! Watch the girl on the left with the white hat on, she is chopping fries!

So, want to share your pet peeves? You know you want to! Common do it, you will feel better- but link to me too okay? You can say something like, Talina over at Harvest of Daily Life shared her top 5 pet peeves and encouraged me to do the same. Here is my take on the 5 pet peeves meme!

Oh, wordpress users, get your image to show up when you comment by getting a gravatar! I just did, it is not that hard. all you need to do is: “begin by registering a Gravatar image on the Gravatars site by signing up and submitting an image.” or sign in to your “global dashboard” and upload your preferred photo! I just read a nice post about this over @ lorelle.wordpress.com and mine works like a charm now!

While watching the evening news I got to see a very touching story about a man (Earl Morse) who is just trying to help others. Mr. Morse started an organization called Honor Flight whose goal is simply to transport World War II veterans to Washington DC to visit and reflect on the memorials that was constructed to honor them.

Many veterans have never seen the memorial and the goal of Honor Flight is to get all of the veterans to the memorial free. You can read more about this story @ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9992713/

I just thought it was a nice thing to hear about and a wonderful gesture! Those veterans sacrificed so much to give us the freedom we have today and Honor Flight is just another organization trying to honor them and make their dreams come true. So sweet!

I promised I would announce the winners of my bloggy giveaway soon after the contest closed. I’ll admit it was hard to figure out who was the most deserving so I decided to give two away instead of just the one. Here are the winners of the heartwarming mini message in a bottle gifts. Thanks for all your entries guys!

• Becky S
  

  Well, my message would sort of be for two people. I recently adopted our beautiful daughter from China. I would write a thank you to her birth mother for giving us life’s greatest gift. However, we don’t don’t who her birthmother is, so I would have my daughter hold onto it as a keepsake. Then she could someday add her own thank you, too and remember the special woman who loved her enough to let her go.

• witchypoo
  

  I would love to brighten my Grammie’s day because ever since she had to give up her car, she has been depressed.
  She’s 95.

I’ll contact the winners to get appropriate shipping address and to find out what message they would like written on the scroll. Now, don’t be to disappointed if you didn’t win, you can still buy one for your loved one over at Custom Gifts by Talina, they are only $10.00 plus S&H!

Lets see, my favorite pair of pants is my new black pair of Capri workout pants, they say “Guard” on the pant leg. I love these because they are comfortable and because they are durable.

What would a day be like for my pants? Hm, it would be hard I think. I wake up in the morning, have some coffee and then I spend about 30 minutes sitting in the car (dropping N off at work in town and driving back home). Once I get home I have some breakfast, sit on the couch and work on the computer for about an hour. So for my pants that basically means lots of sitting.

I head back into town to teach at about 10:30am, when I get to the school I dance my butt off so that means much stretching, rubbing and torture for the pants. I once had a pair of pants rip in the crotch while I was teaching, we do the splits, kick and all that fun stuff. It’s important that my pants be durable and stretchable. When I can I wear pajama pants or sweats so that I don’t ruin any good pants.

When I get home from teaching I run around the house cleaning, gardening and taking care of the house. That means my pants get dirt on them from the garden, dust from cleaning the house, soap from doing the dishes and an array of other stuff. Dockers contest wants to know what a day is like in YOUR pants, are you creative? If so turn the story of your pants into a video submission and then submit this content to the Dockers TV Commercial Contest. You could WIN and winning is FUN!