MDC 34: Breaking A "Funny" Bone

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     Backstory time! Since the last episode, Adam has gone through a wave of illness and injury that has lasted for over a month.
 What started as a flu that the whole house had, turned into a sinus infection. After a wave of antibiotics and prednisone, the infection was gone but the cough had gotten worse. A stabbing side pain led to a trip to urgent care and the discovery of a cracked rib. A new prescription for codine cough syrup hoped to relieve the cough and help the rib heal. It didn't help. Back to the Dr. with a new rib fracture. This time came with a new wave of cough treatments including tessalon perles to help the cough, symbicort to open up the lungs, and Aleve for the pain. Now, after over a month, it finally looks like things are getting under control.
 On the more positive side of things, it's the holiday season. We recently placed our amazon order for the boys gifts and ouch is that a hard number to see all at once. We have a system so that the boys all have an equal number and type of gifts. Something they want, something they need, something to wear, and something to read. It also helps with when grandparents want to buy things because we already have an amazon wish list set up along those guidelines.
 Things have been good with the boys. Bug turned 4 and got his latest set of shots. He was definitely not happy about that. Sam has been growing his vocabulary and been using more short sentences. Damien has been doing great in school. We've all but thrown out Charlie's contract because he wont keep up with it.
 ReAnna's last words this week: a joke barely worthy of a Laffy Taffy. If you think it's funny, or if you agree with Adam and can't roll your eyes hard enough, let us know on the Mom and Dad Cuss Facebook page. Thank you everyone and we'll catch you next time.

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MDC 33: Crime and Punishment and Turkey

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 It's been a busy time since we last spoke. As seems to just always be the case, we're both sick so excuse the coughs and sniffles. At the same time we're both thoroughly medicated so as things progress it starts to show.
 In happy news, our littlest munchkin has graduated to his toddler bed. He now captains the pirate ship bed that has lasted through all 4 boys. That means that Bug now gets moved up to a brand new twin bed like his big brothers. The absence of a child in our room is taking getting used to but is ultimately great.

 In less happy news, our oldest, Charlie, has been super ultra deluxe level grounded for the foreseeable future. In a nutshell, lying, stealing, sneaking around, poor school behavior, fighting with his brothers, all crammed into about 2 weeks. Since our regular punishment methods haven't worked, ReAnna called a "Mom Pow-Wow" to come up with a more creative course of action.
 With all of that out of the way, let's not forget that this week is Thanksgiving in the US. This year we're gonna try to make the meal as gluten-sensitive as we can, on account of ReAnna's meds.
We're making cornbread stuffing from scratch, and attempting gluten-free rolls. Short of that there aren't too many issues. After all these years we've got our little family Thanksgiving down pretty tight.

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MDC 32: Sit For A Spell

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Happy Halloween! After the obligatory catch up portion of the show, we've decided that now is the time to "come out of the broom closet." In a nutshell we are, what's best described as, Neo-Pagan Witches. Don't be afraid, we're more hippies than monsters.

In our house, Halloween is a time of renewal and cleansing of old negative energy and welcoming in new positive energy for the new year. We still do all the traditional Halloween things. We take our boys trick-or-treating every year. We usually do a sort of family group theme. This year the boys are country mice. But we also perform a physical and spiritual cleansing of the house from top to bottom and hang up new cinnamon brooms for protection. Along with all of that we also enjoy a feast to celebrate Samhain.
We get into how we celebrate holidays in general, the issues of raising our boys in a non-traditional spirituality, how gay euphemisms seem to get co-opted by pagans, and we (mostly Reanna) rip on the over-commercialization of most holidays. (Apparently Christmas carols are like AIDS.) So sit for a spell and let us tell the tale of how our family of (under the radar) witches celebrate Halloween.

Trying... Very Trying: MDC 31

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Lately it seems like the older boys have been getting to be bigger and bigger pains. We've repeatedly caught them sneaking around early in the morning, stealing treats from the cabinets, and outright lying to us. Maybe it's because they are in a new school, and are picking up bad habits from other kids. Maybe it's because they seem to be getting bullied by a couple other boys on the playground. Either way, it's been trying our patience for a few weeks now as they come home with increasingly jerky attitudes. We're open to any suggestions to remedy said jerkyness.

On a happier note (at least for her) ReAnna renewed her library card! Let's all remember, she's going to school to be a librarian, so a trip to the library is fun times... fun... times. Of course this means stories about going to the library that have way more excitement than stories about going to the library should, bless her heart. 

In a similar kind of connected vein, we've gotten pretty hooked on the NBC show "Midnight, Texas" which is based on the book series by Charlaine Harris. Naturally, after the season ended, ReAnna had to see if the books lined up with the show. So, on her most recent trip to the library, she borrowed the audio book of the first novel in the series. Its been fun listening to the book being read and hearing the differences in the characters compared to the show. We definitely can agree on one thing for sure, Lemuel is better on the show. Looks like commuter podcast listening is gonna have to take a break until we finish this 8-disk story.

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MDC 30: Speaking of Hurricane Harvey

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     For those new to the show, Reanna was born and raised in South Texas, in the exact area recently ravaged by Hurricane Harvey. That being said, seeing the destruction in areas that used to be our home has been quite difficult. Obviously we still have family and friends that live in the area and have had to endure all the pain brought on by the storm. 

MDC 29: One "Sick" Show

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     This episode is literally "sick." And by literally, I mean literally. Both of us are in the middle of fighting off some sort of crud that the boys managed to bring home on the first week back to school. That being said we actually end up spending most of our time talking about all the wonder drugs we've taken to fight off this crap.

MDC 28: School Changes and Shopping Meltdowns

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School Changes and Shopping Meltdowns

     We're back! After an unplanned 3 month hiatus, we have returned to share our tales of our summer break, and changes in the new school year. In so many words, we didn't think, when we started this podcast, about the time commitment that would be necessary every week(ish) to produce the show. That being said, between the busy season at work, summer vacation, household duties, ReAnna going to school, and limited home time to do all of those things, the podcast kinda has to take a backseat to everything else in our lives. But we're back, hopefully more regularly.
     First off , we chat about the bomb dropped on us by the boys school the day before we left for our summer vacation back to Texas. Along with the Principal leaving at the end of last year, the Kindergarten teacher, among others, left over the summer and the Montessori program that they were in was ended. Without that program we had no reason to keep them in that school, so we went through the task of finding another quality school closer to home. What an adventure that was.
     Recently, ReAnna has gone gluten-free. No it's not for any hip fad diet reasons. Her medication for her  hypothyroidism has the side effect of gluten sensitivity. Lets just say that when you tell a woman who can just sit and eat a whole loaf of fresh bread in one sitting that she has to cut off the gluten, she gets a little depressed. The good news, it hasn't been as diet crippling as we thought. (Spoilers: good Mexican food is almost all gluten free.)
     We go on a bit about our newfound love of online grocery pre-order. We do almost all major shopping from our computer and just pick it up at a scheduled time. We even did back to school that way. At the same time, ReAnna has a minor meltdown talking about why she hates shopping, especially at Wal-Mart. (Honestly it's worth listening just to hear that part.)

Thanks to Gareth from "Gareth's Random Ramblings" for the twitter message that inspired us to get off our butts and get the show going again.

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MDC 27: New Puppies, and Toddler Glasses

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Fun changes in the Higgins household! In the last couple weeks we've gotten a puppy, we've gotten Bug glasses, ReAnna got a promotion, and we got some shocking news from Charlie's school.

MDC 26: Glasses, Teeth, and Tada!

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• This week we talk about Adam's close call with a deadly wrong way driver. 
• It looks like our little Bug may need glasses for a lazy eye. 
• Charlie is gonna need to get a tooth pulled to make room for a new one.
• We chat about our high school days and turn on the competitive streak talking about ReAnna's academic decathlon days. 
• Talking about the kids at ReAnna's water aerobics class somehow spins us into pain and death and Adam's disregard for his personal safety. 
• Finally, we end up realizing how old we're getting as our younger siblings have birthdays. 
• In the mean time, Sammy makes a few appearances with his new "Tada!"

Thank you to Lily, our first supporter on Patreon.

https://www.patreon.com/arkaena

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MDC 25: Not So Spring Broke

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This week we come back from a little spring break to chat about some of the changes going on around our lives. ReAnna began a new diet and workout plan that has required some adjustment to our daily routines. But the results are proving to be worth it. At the start of spring break, we took family trip to the Phoenix Zoo that more than pushed our hill climbing endurance. Speaking of weight loss and endurance, we go on for quite a bit about our swimming experiences both with pools and beach life.  We also chat about our 8 year wedding anniversary and our little Monster turning 5.

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MDC 24: Home Improvement

Home Improvement

     No plans for this week, just chatting about things. This week we just jump in to how things are going around the house. We discuss taxes, health and diet, and have a small discussion about the gender pay gap.

MDC 23: Valentine's and The Price of Love

Valentines and The Price of Love

With Valentine's Day approaching we just couldn't avoid discussing what we think of the most "loving" of holidays. In a word, it's expensive.
We are not the type of people that gripe about Valentine's being too commercialized. We enjoy buying sweet gifts for each other, but holy cow are these things expensive. ReAnna found a coffee cup with flowers in it being sold for $50 on one site. She also found a $600 flower arrangement that included 100 roses. That may be a large flower arrangement, but $600!? Really!

In our case, we are very practical in what we like to give each other. ReAnna's go-to Valentine gift is one of the grocery store candy bouquet baskets. After all, what guy wouldn't want a basket full of candy and DVDs? Flowers may be the standard to get the wife, but when you have cats, that can lead to chewed up roses in the morning. While Sherri's Berries, and Edible Arrangements have been tried in the past, when your wife isn't a big fan of chocolate, you are pretty limited. So that is the ongoing battle of the day. What do you get the wife that wants everything but doesn't like much, without spending too much money? Lemme know if you figure that one out.

Do you think that being married gives you more of an obligation to make the big impressive purchases for Valentine's Day? We seem to be split on the subject, but with the same reasoning. As a man, there is a great deal of social pressure to have a great gift throughout the dating period, but less after marriage other than demand from your wife. (And ReAnna can do a lot of gift demanding. J/K) But for ReAnna sees that social pressure more after marriage, when all the office is looking to see who got the best gift delivered, It is less about getting the best gift, rather more about everybody else seeing it. Same argument, different perspective.

Let's not forget about all the kids in school at this time of year. Nowadays kids have to bring a gender neutral/ non specific card for every student in class, without writing any names. Back in the day mom would make you sit down with the entire class list and hand write every name of every classmate on each card and envelope with fitting gender cards. Some teachers suggest not doing anything for Valentine's Day, and that is fine. It is a pain trying to pick out cards for a 2nd grader anyway.

-Thank you to everyone who listened to the previous "bonus" episode, "The Incident."  We know it was definitely not the type of show you're used to from us, but we felt that it was time that we shared the story with our listeners. Plus we wanted to do it without being a total buzzkill at Valentine's. We promise we wont be getting that dark and heavy again. Thank you for all the comments and messages, we appreciate it all. And again, thank you for listening. -

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The Incident

On February 13, 2010 Adam was the victim of an "aggravated robbery" in which he was held at gunpoint and beaten over the head with a bat. After 7 years we are now sharing the most complete version of this story as it is a major part of who we both are today. It is not pretty, it is not funny. We make a few jokes to relieve tension, but it is still quite a heavy and dark tale to tell for both of us. We intentionally avoided names out of respect to others involved, and did not get into the court case involved, although it has already been settled.

If you would like a link to the video mentioned, email us momanddadcuss@gmail.com

MDC 22:Leading by Example

Leading by Example

     This week we discuss the best way to raise the kind of children you want. We're not talking about how to get you kids to behave, or how to make them stop fighting with their brothers. Those sort of things are pipe dreams. We are playing the long game and talking about how to turn your children into the kind of adults you want them to be by leading by example.

MDC 21: Dads are Parents Too

Dads Are Parents Too

     What is your image of a "traditional" family dynamic? Is it the one where dad goes to work all day while mom stays home to raise the kids solo? Or is it the one where mom and dad both go to work and leave the kids with a nanny or babysitter resulting in a total detachment from raising the kids? This week we are talking about how our family dynamic functions in a much less "conventional" way.
     In our house, we have a sort of topsy turvey system. We function in a way that turns both traditional family and gender rolls on their heads. We both work full time, but we also don't use babysitters. ReAnna works a traditional day job in an office and Adam works overnights. Further flipping convention, ReAnna makes more money. What's more, Adam is essentially a stay-at-home dad in the day and works a full time job at night.
     We find it strange that this is so strange. Why is it that in 2017 men are still thought of as being inept as parents? People still seem to think that it's mom's job to take care of the kids while dad sits in his "man cave" watching sports. In our house ReAnna is the one that can't be disturbed during a football game, and Adam is the one doing ALL of the cooking. But for some reason today, simply being a capable father on any level makes you a "superdad." A dad that actually takes his kids to doctor's appointments without his wife is some kind of magical unicorn. This should be the rule, not the exception. If a home has two parents in it, they should both equally parent. There is really no excuse for being an inept parent. You have a kid? Raise it! The end.

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