This is something the 99% will tell you isn’t possible, it’s not feasible.  If you try to tell them otherwise, they’ll shake their heads exasperatingly.

“When you live in the real world, you’ll understand,” they insist.

“When are you and Dan going to grow up?” they ask.

“When is all this going to end?” parental units inquire

“What about socialization?” the unenlightened will prod.

“Are you done having kids?” family seeths.

Our response is and always has been the same.  We enthusiastically explain that happiness is not our goal, it is our way of life.  We flat out deny the “real world” from ever infiltrating our lives.  People have thought we were crazy from the get-go.  Dan and I were married uber young, Kerry was born when I was 20 and we were well below the poverty level, believe me — Dan was barely making a double digit salary and I was a stay-at-home mom.  Most people we knew, if not all, were certain we’d never see our first anniversary.  We gave people a lot of reasons to gossip, that’s for sure.  We kept having babies, we took giant leaps of faith without really thinking, Dan quit his stable job and started a consulting business, we up and moved across the country in a 30 day span, we bought a house we really couldn’t afford, we were living a dream life and to our family and friends, we were crazy immature!  And when we finally made that proverbial leap and decided to homeschool, in most people’s minds, we lost the last bit of what kept us semi-normal.  We were lost, no way to get into our kids heads, our heads, we were gone!

What has always puzzled me about the way the 99% live is that they are content to be unhappy, at least that’s the impression when you read people’s facebook pages!  But that’s the “real world” guys.  That’s following the road fully travelled, the road everyone ventures down, it’s tried and true.  You know where it leads and what you’re getting.

The real world consists of 40/hr work weeks, day care, educational systems, political bureacracy, peer pressure, shuffling the kids in all different directions, stress, anxiety — in a phrase — the ultimate breakdown of the family.  As young kids we are told our path. Go to school, go to college, get a job, get married, buy a house, have a child or two, work some more, take a vacation once per year, retire and maybe, if you’re lucky, you might have a few free years to enjoy your life.  No wonder they are miserable!

Our society has somehow bought into the idea that every person must go to college if they are to be successful. At Freshman orientation students are told, college graduates, on average, make 1 million dollars more than those who don’t.  What they fail to tell you is those kids would probably make 1 million more anyway.  They are the hard workers, the good students, the driven kids with goals and ambitions.  What they also fail to tell you is that life isn’t about how much money you make, or about how big your house is, or how nice your car is, or how many Easter Dresses your daughter had, or how many cloth diapers you can buy, or dressing “to the nines” or any of the other myriad of lies we are fed. Life is about love and family and relationships and personal growth and God!

We’ve always told our kids, when the subject arises, that we think college is a waste of time and money.  I’m a college graduate, the proud owner of an English and Poli Sci Major.  I wasted $40,000 of my own money that could have been used to start my own business or travel or something other than earn two completely worthless degrees.    Dan’s a self made man.  He learned everything he knows himself.  Spent money on books, not on college.  Unless you are going to be a doctor or a lawyer or something like that, a professional, you don’t need to spend what now equates to $100,000 on an education that will nine times out of ten lead to more education and more education.  Life is the best education, living outside the box is THE BEST education you can ever give yourself.

We’ve done pretty well for ourselves, really, when you look at our life as an entire story.  Together, we’re raising 11 of the most diverse, amazing, talented, kind, smart, generous, loving, children ever.  They understand the meaning of life, their goals don’t consist of all things monetary.  Their goals are more simple.  They actually enjoy and want to spend time with their siblings and their parents and they want to kayak … every day.  In fact, we spend every waking breathing minute together.  We are each others best friends, confidants, teachers, and cheerleaders.   We are fully dependent on each other for everything, we answer to no-one but each other.  Our youngest kids will never spend one minute in a formal classroom … the world is their classroom!   Our kids have discovered the art of making videos and they rock at it.  Grady has 1 video with 2 MILLION views, many in the hundreds of thousands.  They are really really good at this.  Grady has an eye for directing, Kerry’s an amazing actress, Brody is funny and loveable … they are discovering their talents long before any of their peers.

Our days are spent looking for the next adrenaline rush and typically it’s found in the river, in a kayak, on a wave.  We aren’t spectators in our children’s lives, we are participants.  We experience the same challenges, the same fears, the same emotions, the same exhilaration and we experience it together.  We push each other and challenge each other in everyday life to be better people, stronger people.   We rely on each other in the water as on land.  I’ve been rescued a number of times by Dan, Grady and Brody.  I can’t wait for the day when Kady, Kenny & Dally and the rest of the gang rescue me too!!  In the water the dynamics are different.  I’m the liability!   On land I’m competant, but in the water, I rely on my kids — it’s bizarre and amazing!   I couldn’t ask for a better life, better husband, better kids!

And now, God has blessed us with the realization of a dream!  In the last few days we finalized the last piece of the puzzle in our quest to become nomads, travelling gypsies.  We purchased an RV!  It’s our first big purchase since buying our house in 2001.   It’s something we’ve been dreaming about for years and finally all the stars aligned and made it possible.  It’s huge, a 36′ Georgie Boy, Diesel Pusher and big enough to cart our rather large family from one river to another.  We’ll be nomads this summer, just travelling from one kayaking spot to the next.  It will be an unbelievable summer filled with family bonding, and extreme fun!  Who knows, maybe it’s the beginning of something life altering?  The thing about the road untravelled is that you don’t know where it’s going to take you, it’s exciting and new every single day.  Sure, there are lots of bumps along the way, probably, possibly bigger bumps than those encountered by the droves of people on the other paths, but those bumps define you, they make you who you are.  Personally, I don’t want the cake if I can’t eat it, and you shouldn’t settle for any less either!

“Indeed, man wishes to be happy even when he so lives as to make happiness impossible.”  ~St. Augustine

It’s 6:30 am as I sit here sipping  hot Peppermint Tea, exceptionally quiet here this early in the morning, especially after an evening spent kayaking.  I”m learning to enjoy waking early to get some peace and time to reflect as the majority of the kids tend to be night owls rather than morning people, Elly especially.   Free time to pray, reflect, meditate is becoming more and more of a rarity as I am feeling the need to go to bed earlier and earlier and the kids are staying up later and later bc of daylight savings time.

I’m fervently waving goodbye to the first trimester!!  Can you believe it?  I literally awoke on Wednesday (the day I turned 13 weeks) expecting a magic switch to have jolted me into the sex crazed, energy laden, second tri chick I adore.  Here it is Friday, Friday people, and still nothing!  I’m tired, in a “I really can’t drag myself off the couch” tired kinda way.  I’m still stuck eating disgusting food, and drinking Ginger Ale by the case load.  Around week 7 I started to get exceptionally nauseous, literally almost throwing up a few times.  I couldn’t stomach RAW foods any longer, the thought of fresh Graperfruit Juice turned my stomach, fresh veggies, forget about it.  I was craving meat smothered in cheese.  Normally, I hate meat, mind you.  I’m a RAW foodie, I love juicing and dehydrating and Smoothies.  Fast forward to today and, sadly I’m not as nauseous as the excessive nausea was due to a twin, that didn’t grow or thrive or ??  Truth be told, I’m struggling with this.  I’m not sure how to feel.  I felt at once grief and relief at the fact that I did had a baby who was living and thriving within my womb.  Who am I to look God’s gracious gift and ask for more?  But at the same time, there was another baby who by 9 weeks was being expelled from my body.  What does that mean?  How should one feel?  But recently the nausea has subsided, however, not the utter distaste for all that is healthy.

These days, all I want to eat  is Pepperoni Pizza, ooey gooey pepperoni pizza!  Mmmm.  The cheese must be hot and melted and the Pepperoni must be crisp on the sides.  No-other meat, veggie, fruit, nothing is permitted to reside on my piece of pizza.  I eat pizza everyday, drink ginger ale and down my Pre-Natal Vitamins, which I loved during Lent because they are gummy vits covered in sugar, but now they are repulsive.  The end result of this diet is that the scale and I are not on speaking terms, in fact I may have broken it when I threw it at the ground.  This could get ugly if I don’t get my mojo back, get into the river, get moving in my running shoes and start eating some healthy foods.  However,one of the wonderful things about being pregnant is it’s truly the new black.  The bigger your stomach gets, the smaller the rest of you seems.  Golden!

I’ve also begun the obsession of seeking a dr who will do a vbac after 2 C-sections!  Exciting.  My previous dr told me I’d never find anyone in the entire US who would do this, but I have an appt May 11 with a dr a mere 1.5 hours away who makes the decision on a case by case basis!   Those of you who followed us back in 2010 when I was pregnant with Elly will know the agony, not an overly dramatic word in this case, I put myself through regarding VBAC.  I had a dr who seemed somewhat ok with the idea.  However, the hospital had a 100% zero tolerance policy for vbac’s.  So, the scenario I was looking at was that I could not arrive at the hospital before I was actively in the final stages of labor and I had to demand my dr perform a vbac.  She said I’d have to sign my life (and that of my baby’s) away with a gazillion forms and she wouldn’t be able to really stand up for me except to say, I must do what my patient wants me to do.  This sounded fine at 6 months, but at 8.5 months, I was freaked, especially when she told me that if a problem did arise there was a 99% chance the hospital would not be able to save the baby.  They simply were not equipped.  I threw in the towel and had a repeat C, and it was just as glorious and amazing as any other birth I’ve experienced.  Nothing can sour the beauty of a new life, of seeing your new baby for the first time.  Birth alters the world, it makes everything perfect.  This is the feeling I’m addicted to.

As I hinted at,  C-section’s are not the end of the world, people.  They aren’t terribly painful, you can get up within the first 5-6 hours and walk around and you can see your baby immediately after.  They are quick, almost instant gratification and no pain/pushing during labor.  My only reason for craving a vbac is the excitement, the unknowing of when your baby will be born.  With a C-section, the due date is planned, and I’m not a planner, planning goes against my grain!  Hence, I enjoy the chaos of the inevitable, is this labor?  Is THIS labor and I’m truly one of those freaks that loves being in labor, the anticipation is out of this world!

And talking about obsession, I’m obsessed with baby names.  This is a fun obsession, for me!  For friends and family, sorry if I speak of nothing other than baby girl names.   We have a boys name should we be blessed with a boy, the middle name is up in the air, but we do have the First Name, and no, I’m not telling you!  The girls name is quite a different story.  We are in trouble should God choose to bless us with a baby girl, primarily because we have perameters.  The name must be 3-syllables and end in “n”.   I love the name Gianna (St. Gianna Beretta the Patron Saint of Life and the St I prayed fervently to when I thought I was miscarrying), and this will be our baby’s middle name should we have a girl.  But that’s where it ends.  I’ll give you an idea of how desperate I feel, here’s a list of names that struck me as possibilities when I first heard them:  Maelen, Adelyn, Gabriellen, Hadrien, Evangeline, Briallen (I still like this one), Camelyn, Rhiannon, Belen, Arielyn (pretty still), Cymbelin, Magdalen, Gwendolyn, Eadlen.  Pretty stinking desperate!  We will definitely take suggestions, but it’s gotta sound good with Gianna.

So that’s where we are (I am).   I don’t rush pregnancy, I absolutely love being pregnant as I would expect one would have to in order to be pregnant for the 12th time!  That blows my mind.  I am going to have 1 dozen children.  18 years ago, who would have ever thought?  Who would have thought that the  college drop-out and his stay-at-home wife could make a go at a life and make it such a fantastic, amazing,  joyous, adventurous and  blessed life at that?  God Bless, have a wonderful fun-filled weekend!!

Dan & I are the ultimate non-conformists and I’d like to think we are raising our kids to be the same. I want them to experience the road less travelled, the freedom of living without societal constraints, the joy of waking in the morning to a completely unscripted day. That is truly living; what most of the people we know do is exist. They wake to an alarm clock, wake their kids, hustle them out the door to school, go to work, eventually pick their kids up from the sitter, or race to a sports practice, do homework, make dinner, watch TV and then do the same thing all over again the next day. They live for Saturday and Sunday. T.G.I.F. is pasted all over their Facebook wall. These same people are always complaining about how busy they are. How different their lives could be if they chose a different path, if they took a long hard look at their lives and really chose to live off the grid.

For us, it wasn’t an all-at-once realization, it came in waves and with each decision came a welcome easing of our lifestyle and each time we shed a modicum of normalcy, it made it that much easier to do the same with the next opportunity. By far, the hardest and the one decision holding us back from ultimate freedom was the decision to homeschool. Dan knew and had basically made the decision that we were going to embark on this whole new lifestyle that would bring us closer than ever before; however, I was still holding onto a few ideologies that were holding me back. What about socialization? What about friends? School sports? Surprisingly, I wasn’t worried about my ability to teach my kids, I’m their mom, it’s what mom’s do 24/7. Surprisingly, I wasn’t worried about curriculum and scheduling and all that real life stuff. Thankfully, the things I was worried about were complete non-issues, that I realized as such on the 2nd or 3rd day. After making the decision and committing to it for the long haul, regardless of how hard it was on any given day; after making this commitment everything fell into place. We were free. For us, homeschooling is a multi-faceted blessing. Yes, we do it to stay close and connected. Yes, we do it to teach our Faith. Yes, we do it because we can teach them and they can learn more, better, and faster at home than at any private or public school. And, we do it because it offers us a lifestyle so drastically different than the one 99%  of the population subscribes to.

Surprisingly, many large families share many of our values. I wonder if somehow it’s not the lifestyle persay, but more a calling, a conviction to follow Christ. As Catholics, we are called to educate our children. “Parents are the first and the most important educators of their own children, and they also possess a fundamental competence in this area; they are educators because they are parents.” Pope John Paul II. It took us awhile to fully undertake all the educating, but better late than never (one of my favorite sayings, btw). Life is difficult, even for, or maybe especially for, non-conformists like us. Oftentimes, life gets in the way of living, however, it is my goal everyday to remember that Christ doesn’t simply understand our pain and suffering — he lived it. As we enter this Easter season — a celebration of the promise and hope of resurrection for all of us – I am particularly mindful of the suffering and sacrifice that led the way to the resurrection. If we, as Christians, can understand the meaning and purpose of His Passion, we might better be able to live despite our own struggles. I can’t say I’m always able to stop myself in the middle of a particularly large pity party and say, “Hey, Susie, get a grip. Jesus suffered 1,000 times worse and never once took pity on Himself.” Though I can say, when I do, the suffering usually ends rapidly. It’s the times when I allow myself to go down a dark road that somehow I find myself in dire straights and I’m praying simply to get to where I started. It’s funny how thankful you are for the little things you were only hours ago disregarding, when you are fearful you may lose them! The knowledge that it can (and very likely will) get worse unless I buck up is very motivating!!

I can tell you, I’m incredibly thankful for the husband who is my light, my soul mate, my provider and my protector, the children who have made my life have unequivicoble value, the lifestyle we are so blessed to live, our home, our beautiful mountains and rivers, our quest for never-ending adrenaline rushes and for the undying flame inside every one of us to live a life completely and thoroughly devoted to God. I’m thankful we don’t have to keep up with the Jones’ because we are Kellogg’s. That crazy, adranaline charged, never content with the status-quo family that goes with the flow, tries to duck the punches and live life to the fullest. Life is not easy when you take a different road than most, but it sure is a lot more exciting!!

God Bless All of You this Easter Season, May the Grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ, be with you always.  xoxoxoxo

Many people wonder what I’m doing standing on the sidewalk, alongside Dan, with our 11 kids holding signs.  We’ve even been asked what it is we are accomplishing.  ”Are you shutting down Planned Parenthood?” they ask.  Nope.  ”Are you turning people away?”  they sneer.  Not to my knowledge.  ”Have you saved any babies by standing out here?” they confidently ask.  Unlikely, I admit.  So exactly what is it I hope to accomplish by standing on the street in front of Planned Parenthood for a little over 2 hours every day?  I guess my answer would lie in one word … hope.  I have faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, hence, I have hope that maybe, just maybe, someone will see Elly or Rowdy or Maddy or Brody or whomever and change their heart.  Or that maybe a teenage girl will see Kerry and ask for help.  Or a young would-be father will see Dan and have the courage to reach out. I have hope that by standing out there we will alter at least one baby’s fate…others have across the world, so maybe, the possibility exists.

One baby?  One baby?  You cry, in the wake of all that Planned Parenthood does, you hope for the safekeeping of one baby?  Let me refer you to a letter that was in our local paper (i’ll post the link later in the blog) written by a PP fan, Becky Penn.  She scoffed at our Community Activist, the female, conservative counterpart to President Obama, she scoffed at Betty because she had a sign that read “65 Babies Saved in 7 Days”.  Becky Penn laughed and proudly announced all the good that Planned Parenthood does in each locality – she said it far outweighs the pathetic 65 babies saved.  I was horrified, yes, horrified, when I read her letter.  What an ugly human being to have written such a disgusting letter.  I don’t care how pro-choice you are, you ought not be rejoicing over abortion.  You ought not be thinking, that’s 65 babies we could’ve killed.

Another letter appeared in the paper by a Ryan Bosco, to this one I sent a response. He doesn’t approve of my choice of locality, he doesn’t approve of my decision to bring my children, yet he proudly announced his support for liberty and independence of everyone, even pregnant women who want to kill their babies, yet Dan & I are not deserving of this same liberty and independence to choose to teach our children our faith by doing instead of preaching? REally? What is is with you liberals? You tout tolerance and exceptance as long as it’s in line with what you believe, but the tolerance and acceptance ends at the foot of faith.

6 very large “women” and I do use that term sparingly, showed up with signs last Friday, unfortunately we missed them, because the stories and photos I’ve heard and seen are very interesting, to say the least. Their signs read, “Get Your Bible Outta My Vagina” — to which the obvious response is, “As soon as you remove my wallet.” “Ovaries Open for Business” … gross! They munched on “Vagina Cookies”, smoked their cigarettes, and carried on like floosies, cropping their already short mini-skirts to cars passing by, etc. You PP supporters can have this group of hookers, they can join Sandra Fluke as your woman of the year…

What is it about PP that has these women gushing? That draws support from all walks of life?Planned Parenthood has a history of distorting the truth.  First they claim to be the unyielding force for choice, yet they tirelessly fight against informed consent laws, they don’t want women to see what they are discarding, because if they did, it would be an entirely different ballgame.  Planned Parenthood isn’t about choice, Planned Parenthood is about the bottom line and abortion is where they make their millions.  Planned Parenthood applauded President Obama’s HHS Mandate, thereby taking away the Catholic’s Church’s ability to choose it’s own HealthCare policies.  Planned Parenthood stands strong against Parental Consent — again taking away the parents’ authoritative rights over minor children.  Their Choice moniker is hypocrisy at it’s most blatant … choice comes when it suits them and what suits Planned Parenthood is money lining their pockets.

I would find it laughable were it not such a grievous horror that corporations are reviled in this country, yet American taxpayers support this corporation, Planned Parenthood, to the tune of more than $400 million annually!  Can you imagine taxpayers contributing that much cash to Shell or to Microsoft?  There would be an outcry of mass proportions, yet we sit idly by while our hard-earned money is given to an abortion mill.  When the hell did healthcare become welfare? When did viagra and contraception and botox and abortions become part and parcel of the package? Insurance is specifically for unexpected catastrophes…

My question for you parents is what in the world are you raising that it’s ok for college students to stand up at a Mitt Romney rally and say “You know what would make me happy? Free contraception.” UGH! The horror of having any of my children be this girl is unimagineable. To have one of my children grow up expecting you and your neighbors to foot the bill for anything they want is beyond my comprehension. But that’s exactly what these parents are doing, creating bottom feeders. You are supposed to raise adults who will go out into the world and make a difference, not become part of the problem. They are supposed to be able to pull themselves up and be productive. Instead we have lazy parents raising even lazier kids. So lazy that our President’s wife felt the need to start Play 60 … ya’ll can’t even get your kids out playing. Disgraceful!

I subscribe to the comforting promise from God that he will never send human trials greater than that which we can withstand. “No trial has come to you but what is human. God is faithful and will not let you be tried beyond your strength; but with the trial he will also provide a way out, so that you may be able to bear it.” 1 Cor 10:13 He will never push us to the breaking point. He comes close, thought, right? Hence, the reason for Mother Teresa’s quote: “I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish He didn’t trust me so much.” I can relate at this very moment, I wish God saw me for the weak person I see myself as. I’ve been pushed now 3 times to the point where I thought I would never recover … all 3 times involved my children.

The first was in Oct 2004, we were preparing for a camping trip in TX. We were going to meet up with my biological sister and her husband & kids. In our infinite wisdom we decided to leave in the middle of the night. At about midnight we were gathering the kids from their slumber and placing them in our truck. Dan had retrieved Kenny and placed him, sleepily on the seat and was fiddling with the DVD players we had just installed. Next thing he knew he heard a loud crash and Kenny was moaning … it’s a sound that still makes Dan shudder and cringe. To make a long story short, Kenny was diagnosed with a brain bleed and we were ambulanced down to a hospital that had a pediatric neurosurgeon on staff. He wasn’t unconscious but deeply asleep, he had vomited a few times and I was terrified, my sweet happy, otherwise perfectly happy 4 year old had a brain bleed that might require surgery. The guilt, the agony, the fear, it was so overwhelming. All I could do was pray unceasing and unyielding. I invoked every Saint, our Blessed Mother, the Holy Spirit, and had every single person we knew was praying. He was placed in ICU. We were asked if we’d like a pastor to come pray over him. Without hesitation, I said yes. A kind middle aged man came in, introduced himself and placed his hands on Kenny and encouraged me to do the same. He prayed over Kenny and at the end he said, “And when he is healed, his parents will go forth and tell their story of your mercy and miracles.” I felt God at the moment. Kenny was wheeled down to get another CT Scan and on our way, the nurse said to me, “Don’t pray that it’s gotten better, these things don’t heal that quickly, pray it hasn’t gotten worse.” Anyone who knows me knows I pray BIG and this was no exception. The CT Scan showed no brain bleed. None. The perplexed and clearly shocked doctors reviewing his scan called our hospital and requested they resend KENNY’s scan. LOL, it was a great moment. Upon returning back to Kenny’s room I saw a picture of an Iris with the name KENNY below it. I was shocked, pointed it out to the nurse who said he’d never seen it!! God brought me to the edge of the cliffs, but through prayer, faith and hope, brought me back again.

Already more than halfway through March 2012 … how is that even possible?  Elly’s 15 months old, Cardy’s making his First Communion, Grady’s 16, driving & making his Confirmation, Kerry’s graduating High School, has a great job and will be going to college somewhere, I’m pregnant with our 12th baby and wow, all I can say is time really does fly!  It’s a good thing we come up for air and have ensured we take the initiative to spend quality time with each other!!

As always, we are just beginning a new endeavor & for anyone who knows us, this is no surprise.  We are always ALWAYS starting some new project/career/philanthropic adventure and, well, we are full on dedicated to ensuring Obama does not reside in the White House for the next 4 years!  We have joined forces with the American Patriots of the Roaring Fork Valley and are launching Western Patriots.  We are the West … Colorado, the United States … it’s all West.  We don’t think small.  When we started our family, we didn’t think small & look at us today.  When we started KelloggShow, we didn’t think small & have made so many great friends across the globe.  When we started SubSavvy, we didn’t think small and it exploded so quickly that we had to get a new server within 1 month of launching.  So of course we didn’t think small launching Western Patriots.  Our future and the future of our children depend on the success of this wonderful Republic and we will stop at nothing when it comes to our children.

“The observance of Lent is the very badge of the Christian warfare. By it we prove ourselves not to be enemies of Christ. By it we avert the scourges of divine justice. By it we gain strength against the princes of darkness, for it shields us with heavenly help. Should mankind grow remiss in their observance of Lent, it would be a detriment to God’s glory, a disgrace to the Catholic religion, and a danger to Christian souls. Neither can it be doubted that such negligence would become the source of misery to the world, of public calamity, and of private woe.”           —Pope Benedict XIV

Every year our family follows the typical tradition of giving something up in our lives, of doing without something that will be a burden, something that will be a sacrifice to give up.  We always reach for the stars and this year is no different.  For example,   I struggle with food.  I use it to celebrate, I use it to console and I use it to fill up that God hole all of us have inside us.  This Lent I am going to embark on a Fast.  46 days of RAW juice, nothing more, nothing less.  Fasting transforms my life, it puts things in perspective and, after the first week or so (during which, Watch Out) I find a peace that is quite unusual in my crazy life.

Let me ask you. Do women have a place in the intellectual world? Is it unattractive for a woman to have opinions and to feel compelled by the Holy Spirit to do whatever she can to make the world a better place for the sake of her children? Can a woman be wildly feminine and be a bear when it comes to protecting her family? Does she have any place outside the home?

This may seem obvious to most, if not all of you, but there are some people in the fringe of society who have chosen to manipulate their religion into something grotesque. They are using their religion as a way to elevate themselves and denegrate all women. I’m floored at the lengths they will go and I’m no femininist. I truly believe if you are a mother, you have an obligation to stay home with your children, regardless of the sacrifice. I don’t want to hear all the “but what if’s”, especially the “what about single moms?” I have a friend who is a single mom to 2 kids and she stays home, works AND homeschools. Owned. “But not everyone can do that” — Why not? She sacrifices on every social level known to man to do what is right for her kids, why can’t you? What is your specific excuse?

You’ve all seen it, the tongue-in-cheek blog making its rounds on facebook about the poor overworked mom who is accosted by the elderly ladies in Target who tell her to seize the day, to cherish the moments while her children are young … because they go so fast.  Well this advice, “while all good and right”, bugs poor Glennon Melton, because seizing the day, just “doesn’t work” for her.   Glennon Melton finds parenting to be “Brutiful”, both beautiful and brutal and often writes to help her heal from her “bulimia, alcoholism, and jerkiness”.  No, I did not make this up, she wrote that tag herself — catchy, isn’t it?

Every time I’m out with my kids — this seems to happen: An older woman stops us, puts her hand over her heart and says something like, “Oh, Enjoy every moment. This time goes by so fast.” Everywhere I go, someone is telling me to seize the moment, raise my awareness, be happy, enjoy every second, etc, etc, etc.

Along with the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker and the Amur Leopard, there’s another endangered species nearing or having reached extinction: The Tough Guy. At some point in my 30+ years, men laid down their their brawler, their chin, for Dancing With the Stars.  They are sensitive and compassionate now, instead of providers and protectors.

My opinion, we need more men with chin. Chin, in the boxing world, is a badass. Having chin means having the ability to absorb punches when you get hit with a big shot and stay standing, to remain on your feet despite seeing black flashing lights, blurred, double or triple vision and feeling a buzz that goes all the way to your toes. Some say you are either born with a good chin or not. Other say it’s a mental toughness that when your brain tells you to go down to the canvas you will yourself to stay on your feet.