How many recalls must there be before Mattel says they have to raise the prices of their toys because they are going to have ALL their toys manufactured in the US where these laws are more seriously enforced.
Clearly China does not care about who dies as a result of their lack of quality control.
We insist on low prices. This is what we get.
It is next to impossible to refuse to buy anything from China. At Walmart virtually everything comes from China (so they say.)
We must be willing to pay more and have less things in our life.
I know this presents the greatest hardship to people on disabilities who live on a measley fixed income as it is. So we also have to insist on spending more of our taxes on programs such as SSI and SSDI.
We in the US have the right to believe that the goods we buy in our stores are safe. Where is the quality control?
I cannot boycott all goods made in China, but I sure am going to try to boycott them to the best of my ability.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Saturday, August 11, 2007
More sunshine
Today my friend said her first words since going into her coma 3 weeks ago. She said the name of her fiance. She doesn't remember she has a baby daughter. She doesn't remember the days of the week, and she can't feel her legs. And she has no idea what happened to her to get her in the hospital. But she is responsive. She feels pain. And she is getting better, albeit slowly.
Depression is a scary thing and should not be ignored. If a person says there life is too hard and they are doing things like not eating and cutting themselves and getting so drunk they don't remember what they did - those are warning signs to pay attention to. Don't be like my friend who decided one day that driving her car into a tree was easier than the life she was living. It isn't now and I doubt it ever will be. She has a very long road to whatever recovery she accomplishes.
Depression is a scary thing and should not be ignored. If a person says there life is too hard and they are doing things like not eating and cutting themselves and getting so drunk they don't remember what they did - those are warning signs to pay attention to. Don't be like my friend who decided one day that driving her car into a tree was easier than the life she was living. It isn't now and I doubt it ever will be. She has a very long road to whatever recovery she accomplishes.
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Today was good.....
Silly day. Did mostly nothing. But did it without a schedule. Without consideration for anyone else. Did not feel once I should be a good example. Felt no guilt for talking on the phone to my friend for several hours. And now I am going to read - perhaps read all night - and tomorrow sleep all morning. A life alone. It feels good.... for a few days.
Monday, August 06, 2007
Lonely until
Yesterday my son went to camp. This morning my lover left for home. Today I am lonely. SO I will blog.
I won't miss Teddy tomorrow or the day after - as I will have settled into my solitary life. But today the house seems so quiet. No TV set on. No questions about what we are going to have for dinner or do tomorrow. No unnecessary lights on. No announcements of where he is going or that he is back. No one to feed the rabbits. No one to remind me to eat. Just me.
I don't get the chance to be lonely often. I sometimes think of Teddy and me being attached at the hip. I support him in the work he does. He supports me in the work I do. We enjoy doing the same things. I have to know where he is at all times. I never get to stop being responsible - no matter how independent he becomes.
I do get breaks from him. 4-5 hours in the summer when he goes to the pool or during the school year when he goes ot school. But the only time we are away from each other for more than a few hours is when he goes to camp for a week in August and December.
Rich is here when he leaves - so the first day Teddy is gone is rather blissful. A day where Rich and I can be alone with each other. We make love for hours on end without any concerns. We go to a wonderful romantic restaurant and I don't have to feel a bit of guilt for leaving Teddy home alone with his pizza. I feel more free than almost any other day of the year.
But than as is typical, Rich leaves and the silence without Teddy gets so loud. Today I miss Teddy. Today I feel a loss. Today I worry if he is having a good time and if he is fitting in. Today all my fears about a young man with Down syndrome going to a camp for teenagers without disabilities being OK are on alert. Today I worry. Today I miss the men I love. Today I blog.
Tomorrow I read uninterrupted. Tomorrow I play music all day. Tomorrow I cook with ingredients Teddy doesn't like. Tomorrow is mine and mine alone. Tomorrow will be wonderful!
I won't miss Teddy tomorrow or the day after - as I will have settled into my solitary life. But today the house seems so quiet. No TV set on. No questions about what we are going to have for dinner or do tomorrow. No unnecessary lights on. No announcements of where he is going or that he is back. No one to feed the rabbits. No one to remind me to eat. Just me.
I don't get the chance to be lonely often. I sometimes think of Teddy and me being attached at the hip. I support him in the work he does. He supports me in the work I do. We enjoy doing the same things. I have to know where he is at all times. I never get to stop being responsible - no matter how independent he becomes.
I do get breaks from him. 4-5 hours in the summer when he goes to the pool or during the school year when he goes ot school. But the only time we are away from each other for more than a few hours is when he goes to camp for a week in August and December.
Rich is here when he leaves - so the first day Teddy is gone is rather blissful. A day where Rich and I can be alone with each other. We make love for hours on end without any concerns. We go to a wonderful romantic restaurant and I don't have to feel a bit of guilt for leaving Teddy home alone with his pizza. I feel more free than almost any other day of the year.
But than as is typical, Rich leaves and the silence without Teddy gets so loud. Today I miss Teddy. Today I feel a loss. Today I worry if he is having a good time and if he is fitting in. Today all my fears about a young man with Down syndrome going to a camp for teenagers without disabilities being OK are on alert. Today I worry. Today I miss the men I love. Today I blog.
Tomorrow I read uninterrupted. Tomorrow I play music all day. Tomorrow I cook with ingredients Teddy doesn't like. Tomorrow is mine and mine alone. Tomorrow will be wonderful!
A bit of sunshine...
A person I met thru my message board has had a very very hard time of things lately. His girlfriend inspired my post about the whether people with psychiatric labels like Borderline Personality disorder should parent. Since that post things with her got much worse.
This young woman drove her car into a tree. She has been in a coma now for over 2 weeks. She broke many bones - some so badly they were removed. There is no way of knowing if she will recover and if she does what she will be like.
But this post is not about her, it is about her 7 month old daughter and her daughter's Dad. I have become very close to him. Worrying with him. Fearing the worst, wondering what the best could be. I have tried to help him help his daughter - who of course has no way of understanding why her life has been turned upside down. I have tried to support him wherever it is he needs to be as it fluctuates from moment to moment. He says he thinks of me like a mother - and I think of him like a son.
So when social services picked up their baby last week because he had no proof he was the father I cried. It was as if they snatched my son out of my arms. I remember all too well when my son was my foster child the tenuous hold I felt I had on him. I lived in fear that one day the foster care agency would say they had decided he needed a 2 parent home. I wanted what was best for him - but I felt in my heart I was what was best.
Today I also cried. Today she was returned to her father. They apologized and said they made a mistake. The midwife contacted them and evidently said the magic words. I feel as if my granddaughter is back home where she belongs. Sometimes there is a bit of sunshine where before there seemed to be none.
This young woman drove her car into a tree. She has been in a coma now for over 2 weeks. She broke many bones - some so badly they were removed. There is no way of knowing if she will recover and if she does what she will be like.
But this post is not about her, it is about her 7 month old daughter and her daughter's Dad. I have become very close to him. Worrying with him. Fearing the worst, wondering what the best could be. I have tried to help him help his daughter - who of course has no way of understanding why her life has been turned upside down. I have tried to support him wherever it is he needs to be as it fluctuates from moment to moment. He says he thinks of me like a mother - and I think of him like a son.
So when social services picked up their baby last week because he had no proof he was the father I cried. It was as if they snatched my son out of my arms. I remember all too well when my son was my foster child the tenuous hold I felt I had on him. I lived in fear that one day the foster care agency would say they had decided he needed a 2 parent home. I wanted what was best for him - but I felt in my heart I was what was best.
Today I also cried. Today she was returned to her father. They apologized and said they made a mistake. The midwife contacted them and evidently said the magic words. I feel as if my granddaughter is back home where she belongs. Sometimes there is a bit of sunshine where before there seemed to be none.
To Silly Man
I know you read this blog. So you can come here and read this over and over because I never tell you often enough how much I love you. I never say often enough how much I appreciate how much you care about my son and his future. I never say often enough how patient you are with him and what a tremendously good influence you are on his life. I can't know how you put up with me when I have my fits of despair, but you do. You hang in there with me and are still there when I emerge with regained composure. You love my body which I do not love myself. You make me feel like no one else in the world can. I cannot imagine my life without you. Everyday is better because of you. Weekends with you here are like my own little piece of utopia. My life changed the day you reentered it and waited patiently for me to notice you there. I can never ever communicate in words how incredibly significant it is to me that you love me.
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