Clean Up of Terminology

I listened to my boys, all three, last night and enjoyed the sounds of Clayton making them and himself giggle during bath time. Never in my life has there been a sweeter sound than our children’s laughter as they enjoy the simple task of bath time. While I was listening to the sounds of laughter in my house I was reading the events of the day at the US Supreme Court. A recent tragedy to a close friend of mine reminded me why the briefs this great country is reviewing are so important to me and many other people who want to protect, be responsible for, and just plain love another person. We are all familiar with the many benefits marriage can bring to a couple but I am wanting to focus on the not so widely known benefits and why they are important to the LGTQ community.

·         Federal Civilian and Military Service Benefits

o   Extends benefits to the spouses of the service men and woman who sacrifice their lives every day for our freedoms

o   Includes health insurance, survivor benefits, priority for receipt of final paycheck, insurance benefits if a beneficiary is not designated, unpaid leave to care for a spouse with serious medical issues, commissary privileges, and transitional services for spouses of employees leaving the military.

·         Private Employee Benefits Regulation

o   Continuation of health benefits after employee’s death

o   FMLA, Family Medical Leave Act, allowing employees 12 weeks unpaid leave to care for a spouse

o   Spousal access to pension

o   Black lung disease benefits for coal miners

o   Death and disability benefits for harbor and longshore workers

o   Railroad pension plans

o   Recovery for employee injury  due to railroad negligence

·         Federal Natural Resources

o   Extend life estates of individuals and their spouses owning homes on property which the government has purchased for national parks, monuments, battlefields, and other federal lands.

o   Determining property ownership eligibility for government leases of irrigation water and mineral rights.

·         Trade, Commerce, and Intellectual Property

o   Joint filing for bankruptcy protection (Saves on filing fees)

o   Survival of alimony payments after bankruptcy

o   Limitation of mortgage “due-on-sale” provisions in cases of sale between spouses

o   Surviving rights of copyrighted work

·         Immigration

o   preferred immigration consideration

·         Indians

o   Eligibility for Indian Health Services

 

Finally I want to look at the terminology related to marriage. The word marriage means many different things to many different people. Often when we thing of getting married many of us thing about a wedding in a church or being orchestrated by clergy. In today’s society this is not always the case. There are many couples that are now opting to have a close friend or family member conduct the ceremony and this is legal in many US states. Another option couples are using is to have their friend become “ordained” using an online site through a church such as The Universal Life Church.  In these cases the couples are simply getting married. The ceremonies that are performed in churches are holy matrimony due to a member of clergy is performing the ceremony and is usually done in the church of the couple. Same-sex couples are not asking to have the ceremony of holy matrimony performed in your church especially if that is against your core beliefs. What same-sex couples are asking for is the civil right to have a marriage performed in order to gain the many benefits (local, state, and federal) that so many other Americans already enjoy.

I have not discussed civil unions because civil unions are not the same and separate but equal does not work. This has been tested time and again throughout history. The above benefits are by far not a listing of all the benefits that married individuals already benefit from, usually unknowingly, but it is a start on the benefits many people are not aware of. In our family we have around ten legal documents to ensure the other will be consulted for medical decisions, making financial decisions, and to receive any funds that are not held jointly after death. As you can imagine we constantly have to ensure these documents are up to date which costs money with any alteration but would no longer be needed in some cases if we just had a simple piece of paper, a marriage certificate. I hope that this article has helped those who are against same-sex marriage understand that we are not after the right to be married in your religious institution but the right to ensure our loved ones are protected.

Pets, Kids, and Carpets.....A Love/Hate Relationship

Since my first apartment I have not liked having carpet. Carpets trap in dust, dirt, and other things that I do not want to even think about. Being an allergy sufferer I have learned that you can never get your carpets clean enough! Add kids and pets into the equation and then you end up with carpet that who knows what was dragged across the carpet! Until we can afford to replace the carpet in our home with hardwoods I went on a search for the best method or product to help fight stains and pet accidents on carpet.

The biggest secret I have learned about fighting pet stains is time. The longer you let a pet stain sit the harder it is to get out. If you don't see it because it is under a piece of furniture or in an area you are not in everyday you better plan on keeping that piece of furniture there, dye back the carpet, or have the carpet replaced because there is no way to get that stain out!

I first tried all the products I could find in the cleaning aisle and nothing seemed to get the stain AND odor out. I then tried to do a baking soda and vinegar mixture but that just made a wet mess on my carpet that I ended up having to clean with the carpet cleaner. What a waste of my time as it seemed to set the stain instead of removing it. Next I tried a mixture of baking soda and peroxide. I again had a mess on my hands and took out the clunky carpet cleaner again. Now that I had cleaned my carpets twice in one week I went in search of ANYTHING that would help me!!!!

I was doing my weekly run to Wal-Mart when I decided to walk down the pet aisle just to see what they had. We had been using a product from Out! that is a bitter barrier which works really well, when I remembered to spray it daily. They had several products that were for pet stains on hard surfaces and carpets!!! I picked up their basic stain and odor removing product and gave it a shot. I was amazed at the results! It not only got the stain out, even if it had sat for a couple of hours, note not days, it also removed the odor! I have also tried this product on many different stains that our dynamic duo kiddos leave in the wake behind them. I honestly could not be happier with the results!

As for our allergies the best method I have found so far is keeping the animals out of the bedrooms and vacuuming all rooms daily. We purchased the cheapest Bissell you can get that has a HEPA filter and change it regularly. For wiping down my furniture I use an all natural orange oil with a microfiber cloth. Not only does my furniture shine it helps to nourish the wood and keep it's natural luster! When it comes to pet hair on the couch I wear rubber gloves to gather all the hair, or as much as possible, then vacuum up the rest.

The chores that use to take me hours and many different pieces of equipment now takes me about 20 minutes a day, rubber gloves, two sprays, microfiber cloth, and a Vacuum!

The power of vinegar... WHO KNEW!!!!

This week started normal enough with a trip to go see a friend after surgery but after Monday the week quickly slipped away! Clayton came home sick, Tuesday I took the boys to have a check up with the doctor for their skin (another post to come in the future) and found out Ethan had a sinus infection, Wednesday came the call from daycare DeMarco had followed suit and was not feeling well and running a 103 fever, YIKES! I decided to join the party and it was just a family fun week of just not feeling well. This turn of events obviously led to a crabby Daddy, Papa, and boys! Luckily we all pulled through and the boys were bouncing with joy by Thursday afternoon, wish I could say the same for myself!!!

After a full week of germs being in the house it lead to me on a search to "clear the air" in a manner of speaking. So I turned to my handy book Who Knew? 10,001 Easy Solutions to Everyday Problems in a desperate search to clear out the sickly smell!!! The answer... Vinegar.

What exactly is vinegar? Yes, we all use vinegar in our kitchens and up to a year or two a go a bottle of vinegar would last 6 months in our house. Now, I cannot keep the bottle full and buy it by the gallons, I sense other blogs coming in the future about vinegar! Vinegar is comprised mostly of  acetic acid and water (Wikipedia). The process of creating the acetic acid is done through a fermentation process of ethanol by acetic acid bacteria. What I learned in creating this blog is that not all vinegars are created the same. Your cheaper vinegars are created in a process that can take twenty hours to a couple of days while your more expensive vinegars take days if not months to produce. The difference in the fermentation process is the cheaper vinegars use a bacterial culture instead of letting it grow naturally. While this might not make a difference in your home it might in mine since I use it for more than just cooking. Once I try this out I will let you know!

So what did I do to clean up the air in my home? I boiled 2 cups of vinegar in 4 cups of water for 30 minutes. After the 30 minutes I could smell the vinegar in the air but it quickly disappeared ridding the air in the house of the germy smell that was there before. If you have ever had a house full of people that are all sick at once you know what smell I am talking about. This method works great and now I can get my home back to the smells that we love to have! When reading my book this method was recommended for getting strong odors out of your home after removing the source. The biggest culprit they mentioned was burnt food!!!

May all your homes have clean air!!!! Next week I will be blogging about carpets. Many of those that know Clayton and I also know that we HATE carpet because of our allergies and well because our pets, namely Kasey, can't seem to let us know when they need to go out. This leads to the other two following behind him to mark their spot in the house as well! Oh what a cycle!!!! I also discovered the boys love for chapstick, or lips as it is known in our house, on the carpet and of course it is red cherry flavored! I hope the method recommended in my reading works so it can help you too!