The Wilhelmsen Botanical Blog

To the person who was in the silver car in front of me; I saw you blatantly throw your napkin on the road.  Planet earth is not your one big giant garbage can!  Next time please leave the garbage on the seat next to you and throw it away the next time you pass by a trash can or recycling can.  Really, is it so difficult to do that?  One piece of garbage does make a difference.  People have to pick it up and if everybody through their trash out the window can you imagine the mess of a world that our children would grow up to live in?  Please don’t litter!

To preface this blog post, I am not always very eloquent in expressing my thoughts, I sometimes wonder if the things in my heart have come across as I intended them to nevertheless I feel it important to put my thoughts into words regarding the Chick-fil-a insanity (and yes, that is just what it is INSANITY).  Let me start off this post by giving you the text from the 1st amendment of the Bill of Rights.  It reads as follows:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

This tells me a couple of things: 1. We have the freedom, nay, the RIGHT to worship how, where, or what we may and that the government can not make any law that takes away that right, 2. We have the freedom to say what we want, when we want, how we want, to whomever we want with out fear of retribution from the government (without probable cause).

So, the Chick-fil-a insanity is wrong on several levels, first of all, why even ask the CEO his views on same sex marriage?  What does it matter as related to the business of selling fast food?  I say that it does not.  Secondly, we are all entitled to our opinions.  It does not make us hateful, bigoted, etc.  It does not make it right for others to attack Mr. Cathy and his company.  It is a well known fact that most Christians are pro-family as defined in the scriptures.  This does not mean we are anti-gay.  In fact some of the people that I know and love are living that lifestyle and it does not change how I view them or how I feel about them.

Lastly, I would like to end with this simple fact, Chick-fil-a has the VERY BEST customer service of any fast food restaurant that I have ever been to.  They do not discriminate against anyone.  They are friendly, kind, helpful, and they go out of your way to make sure that you feel welcome in your restaurant by refilling drinks, swapping out kids meal prizes for ice cream or another toy so that you don’t have duplicates, bringing dinner mints and food samples by your table, and keeping the restaurant clean and even making sure the tables have fresh LIVE flowers.  Chick-fil-a cares about it’s customers.  It is evident to me that the values of Christ like love have trickled down all the way from the CEO to each individual branch.  We need more of this love in the world and less hate, slander, and belittling.  As such I am grateful for Chick-fil-a’s efforts to welcome me and my family into their restaurants.

I would like to let the random people of the world know that the word lose becomes LOSING when you add -ing to it.  Losing means

1. Failing to win, as in a sport or game: a losing team; a losing lottery ticket.

2. Of or relating to one that fails to win: a losing season; a losing battle.

The word loose becomes loosing when you add -ing to it and it means:

1 a : to let loose : release b : to free from restraint
2 : to make loose : untie <loose a knot>
3 : to cast loose : detach
4 : to let fly : discharge
5 : to make less rigid, tight, or strict : relax

Just thought I would spread the word…

So this evening we went to our local parade.  We got there about 15 or so minutes before it started and found a spot on the sunny side of the road just big enough for the four of us and between two big blue awnings.  It was hot as the blazes (103) but we had water and our KFC.  🙂  Anyway, when the parade got started and the candy started to fly, it quickly became apparent that our view of the parade would be blocked by school age (jr. high) kids without any awareness of their surroundings (such as moms with toddlers who are trying to see) or any desire to heed my request to move because my son couldn’t see the parade.  After this went on for 15-20 mins. or so (during which time 2-3 officers asked the kids to move back because somebody had been injured by a vehicle and they STILL kept moving out into the road) I finally moved my chair and Aiden’s stroller forward to the line that we were not supposed to pass.  Despite my moving forward and the kids repeatedly being asked to move back, they still continued to inch forward and a couple of times they even stood directly in front of me.  HELLOOOO!?!?!?!?!  We are trying to WATCH the parade please, they are capable of throwing candy to you in your SEAT.  Good grief.  Finally my dad asked the kids to move back.  They looked at him like he spoke some foreign language and blatantly disregarded him.  He asked a second time, then the parents got involved and were all huffy and in utter disbelief that their child would do anything wrong.  By this time a cop had come by another 2-3 more times to push people back and still they were not doing what they were asked.  Honestly.  Isn’t it common courtesy to make sure the people around you can see?  How about the toddler who will only be interested in the parade if they can actually see it?  We asked politely, the police asked politely, we asked more assertively, we asked aggressively, and when we left what did we get?  No, I’m sorry my kids were blocking your view, no, oh please don’t go I will ask my kids to move, instead we got “It’s about time you left.”  What?!?!?  We weren’t the ones in the wrong!  Oi.  What happened to respecting your elders?  What happened to obedience?  What happened to common courtesy?  If I choose to return to this parade next year I will go early, tape off or rope off our spot on the shady side of the street and make sure that no one croads in front of us.  Likely though I will just stick to the West Bountiful parade.  It is much better organized and people stay seated between “candy” floats.  There is my rant for the night.  I am learning more and more the things I want to teach my kids.  I think my guiding quote as I raise my kids will be, ” I teach them correct principles and they govern themselves.”  Thanks for letting me stand on my soap box a bit…very few things get me this worked up…  🙂

Oh I am so frustrated with how the hiring process for jobs goes these days.  Whatever happened to seeing a sign in the window, going inside, asking for an application and then filling it out.  After which you would return the application and then make follow up calls each week until they either hired you or informed you that the position had been filled?  The other excellent way was to read the help wanted in the paper which used to be 4-6 pages long (now it is 1 maybe 2 pages) call the number in the paper to see if they were still hiring, get the address, go in and follow the above process.  Either way you were able to have verbal communication that you were or were not right for the position. 

Now a days you search for job openings on 25 different job boards online.  Apply to 50-100 half of which say “NO PHONE CALLS ABOUT THIS JOB” in a threatening manner and then wait for weeks in silence.  When you do find contact information to try and follow up if you accidentally call one of the aforementioned job listing that say, NO PHONE CALLS.” then they are very cranky with you on the phone.  They should at least have the courtesy to let you know the postion has been filled.  I mean how hard is it to hit reply to all and compose ONE SINGLE E-MAIL stating, “Thank you for taking the time to apply for ___ position.  We reviewed all of our applicants and you are not a fit for our company at this time.  Good luck in your future endeavors…”  Oi.  There are the occasional few (I think Brandon has gotten like two) that do send an e-mail letting applicants know that position has been filled.  It is wonderful when they do, inconsiderate when they don’t.  If anybody has any job leads for Brandon let us know.  We are hoping for $15 an hour, great benefits, and Sat/Sun off.  Sigh.

So, I just have to say once again how amazing the nurses at St. Mark’s Hospital and my doctor were during my labor & delivery.  Seriously I will never have anyone but an obgyn deliver any of my children AND if there is anyway in the world to stick with Dr. Nielson for all of my pregnancies and labors/deliveries then I will.  Now some of you may be wondering why I am bringing this up considering it was nearly a year ago and because I am not currently pregnant.  Let me just tell you why, since I had Aiden I have had several friends and family give birth to children of their own.  Three situations of which I would deem (in my opinion only of course) nightmares and each of which have made me more and more grateful for my entire situation with Aiden from conception to delivery. 

The first one situation involved a baby who needed a little bit extra care due to a heart problem, and they ended up starting pitocin, which got stopped and started several times, they also didn’t break the water right away so the mom ended up being labor over two-ish days (I don’t remember exactly) and when they finally decided to break her water the baby went into distress and need to be delivered c-section.  HELLO, they could have saved A LOT of time and energy if they had broken the water within 2-3 hours of starting the pitocin. 

In situation two the doctor allowed the mom to go 4 WEEKS OVERDUE because inducing increases chance of needing a c-section.  Well, I was going crazy because SO DOES HAVING A HUGE BABY and the baby gains 1/2 a pound a week starting at like week 36.  I was imaging a huge 9-10 pound baby.  Luckily, the baby wasn’t even 7 pounds when it was born and I think maybe the due date was off a little.  Who knows, the mother could just be blessed to have small babies.  😉

This last situation started out with the mom losing her mucous plug, she was having contractions and she waited to go into the hospital for a couple hours so that she could time the contractions.  Anyway, the mom went into the hospital around 1:00ish p.m. where they broke her water and the baby wasn’t born until 3:00 p.m. or so, THE NEXT DAY!  30 hours of labor!  She was at a 4 by 9:00 p.m.  a 5 by 4:00 a.m. and a 9 around 9:00 a.m.  She didn’t start pushing until noon and pushed for three hours.  My obgyn (and this is one thing I would change because I felt like he was jumping the gun a little) started talking c-section after I had been stuck at a 6 for 3+ hours.  Thankfully with a little help from gravity (and a smart nurse suggesting I roll from side to side to get the baby to rotate to where he needed to be for delivery) I went from a 6/7 to a 10 in 90 mins.  One of the nurses said the norm for dialating is about 1 cm. an hour.  So anyway, I am just very, very grateful to nurses who have clever ideas, a friendly obgyn who is very smart, for a doctor who broke my water early on in the induction process, for delivering 9 1/2 hours after my water was broken and for only having to push for 55 mins.  It was one of the best blessings from Heavenly that I have ever had and probably the only reason I can even consider starting to try for baby #2 instead of waiting or not having another one at all.  Hooray for the St. Mark’s Womens Center!!!

So, I just had to rant a little bit today.  I feel it is important for everyone to know that I am proud to be an American and for all of the liberties and freedoms that it offers me.  There are just a couple of things that I would like to change because I believe them to be flawed.  One is to get rid of the electoral college and allow the governmental leaders to be decided by the citizens of the country.  If there is not a 2/3’s majority we hold a re-vote and give other candidates an opportunity to rejoin the race.  It scares me to have someone in presidential office who won the candidacy by a 2% margin (leading 51% to 49% which has happened in the last TWO elections).  It also scares me to hear friends, family, talk show hosts, radio show hosts, and others say well, I am going to vote for so and so because he is the lesser of two evils.  Whatever happened to voting for a president because they most closely match our opinions, morals and standards.  It just seems like a bad state of affairs to be voting for someone because they aren’t as bad as the other.  For this reason I plan to vote for a write in candidate of whom I have yet to decide, my top choices are Gladys Knight (first LDS, black, woman president) or Harold Groboznik.  Does anyone have any suggestions on who would be a good write in candidate?  My opinion on voting is that if you don’t vote, you can’t complain.  Not only that but it is our civic duty as citizen of the United State of America to vote so that our government is, “For the people, by the people” as our founding fathers intended it to be.  Why should we let the choices for EVERY MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD in this country be made by the 55% (on a good year) who vote.  I encourage everyone who is registered (because it is now too late to register for this election) to voice your opinions by voting on Election Day!

The second thing that I would like to change is the party system.  I want to get rid of the labels of democrat, republican, green party, libertarian, etc. and simply have everyone vote American.  This would encourage people to take the time to get to know the candidates and decide who truly is the best option as well as eliminate people who opt to pull the proverbial republican or democrat lever.  This has become an even deeper desire of mine during this election year because it seems to me that McCain leans a little more to the liberal (a.k.a. democratic) side of the line.  I feel that he knew he didn’t have a chance in the world to win if he opted to be a democrat and run against Hillary Clinton so he decided to claim that he is a republican and attempt to pull the blanket over the eyes of the more conservative people in the United States.  This is not to say that I like Obama because I certainly do not.  He just doesn’t have as blaringly obvious of a shadiness to him as McCain.  Anyway, no more party system!  Just a bunch of candidates who are American sharing with us their opinions, morals, and values about the way this country should be run and us common Americans picking the one who we like the best.  Well, I guess that is enough ranting and raving for today.  I truly am writing in a candidate for office in order to take a stand against the two poor choices that we have today.  If you are feeling like I am then perhaps you ought to consider doing the same.  Vote American!