Are you starting a softball team? Have you ever heard that question before? I have, even though we’re nowhere close yet (just a basketball team, so far).
This family of 11 kids, however, can answer: yes!
I think this sounds like a lot of fun to see all those kids working and playing together, especially for a cause.
Have you ever had a family team like this? Did you find it fun or frustrating to play with your siblings or kids?
In this article, we see Lawrence Dillon talking about how being the last of 8 has helped to inform his artistic direction as a composer but didn’t help him so much with dental hygiene.
Do you have any budding composers in your house? Do you see your goslings art effected by their older siblings?
While changes in grocery and fuel prices will naturally lag behind the price of commodities, they are linked. In an article at kiplinger.com, we see that the commodity prices may be a bubble about to burst.
What’s the takeaway? Commodity prices are inflated due to speculation (ie: people wanting to make a quick profit). This speculation is further driven by lower returns in most other areas of possible investment.
ETFs are allowing more and more investors to jump in and out of the commodities market, increasing volatilty and adding to the market. The dollar is falling, which inflates prices as foreign suppliers try to compensate to maintain profits.
In the end, we’ll hopefully see a drop in some of these commodity prices in the summer but not that much as supply is still low compared to demand.
Have you seen these price increases recently? Have you changed any of your habits because of them?
… whenever you look at cars passing on the road, you’re silently tallying the number of seats.
… every once-in-a-while you walk into your living room and think to yourself: Hey, where did all these kids come from!?
… you go out to a buffet, they ask you “How many kids?” and it’s a hard question for you to answer.
Looks like the new CEO for Eli Lily offers his big family as inspiration for many of the skills that got him to the top.
A large family taught Lechleiter how to negotiate, cooperate and get along with others. It also taught him the importance of education. He tore through high school, taking advanced chemistry, physics and calculus classes.
I’ve certainly seen a lot of negotiation happen around here. Too often it’s the “Take it or leave it” negotiation tactic, but I’ve often seen some wonderfully giving moments between my children that make me feel ashamed for my own “It’s MINE!” attitude that I have sometimes.
How about you? Do you see any budding CEO’s in your brood? What kind of “business skills” do you think your goslings are learning?
This Marketplace Report entitled: Rice prices straining developing nation is another example of food price problems much like our rising food commodities prices here in the U.S This rice shortage is due to a combination of environmental factors, the falling value of the dollar (which much of rice trades are priced in) and strong economies in some nations that use rice as a staple.
We are eating a lot of rice because of Goosey’s temporary (we hope!) gluten-free diet but it will only be an inconvenience for us. These people are depending on this as a staple. When you are spending $0.80/day out of your $2.40/day on your food, a small shift makes a big difference.
For a deeper discussion of political implications of the rice shortage, take a look over at The Warrior Lawyer for The Politics of Rice.
Have you seen an increase in the price of your food staples locally? Are you doing anything to adapt?
Reading this article via Catholic Mom of 10 a line stuck out to me, reminding me of ourselves:
“I have absolutely no regrets. It was never our intention to have a big family but I wouldn’t go back. It would be lonely. It’s hard work but very rewarding.”
That’s exactly how I feel about or significantly smaller (but hopefully growing) brood. When they go out of town for any reason, I get lonely! When they’re around, I know exactly when to go to bed, get up and do my things around the house. Without them, I wander around feeling dazed and wasting my time on frivolous and distracting activities (usually watching dumb TV or surfing the Internet too much.) I find myself staying up until 1am, just wasting time.
My life is more of a mess without them, than with them!
How do you feel when you’re brood’s not around? Lonely, relieved, sad, all of the above or something else? I’d love to hear your comments on this.
Just found this blog entry entitled “You might be a big family if…” over at Mama Archer’s Blog which is simlilar to our “You might be a big brood if…” series and I can totally relate…though, when we get the question “Are you Catholic or Mormon.” we can always answer: “Catholic….why?”
