See Past All The Hoopla.
When I was very young I heard people use racist language. I was even related to some of them. As I grew older and began the process of thinking for myself I learned this was wrong, and decided I did not want to be that kind of person. I decided at some point without even realizing it, to deal with people as individuals, and judge them based on their actions. That is who I am. I've always been this way.
With the nappy headed ho's scandal, my husband and I have talked a lot about the reactions that some people have had. We both seem to believe that people have generally over reacted to the thing, although we think it was a stupid thing for him to say. My dad always says, "these days everything is taken to the extreme position." I believe he is correct, there are countless examples of this every single day on the news.
When my husband and I decided to announce to the world that we were going to get married, his parents sat us down and said, "Do you really think you know what you are getting into as a mixed couple?" We assured them we did, and were ready to deal with whatever came our way. We were young, and believed that race relations would only get better over time. Plus we came from a community that was very well integrated racially, and neither of us had known much racism.
That was 13 years ago. We have only run into a small number of situations where anyone had the nerve to express disapproval of our bond. I used to believe that racism was practically non-existent. I really did. As I said, I saw people change their ways, and turn away from those ideas as a child, I assumed this was a widespread phenomena, and I think it was for the most part.
After the Imus thing, my husband told me that his boss expressed anger over the situation and the reactions to it. He said, black people say all sorts of racist things, but if a white person says anything they are attacked over and over. His boss even used the N-word. My husband was somewhat put off by that, which was a bit extreme of his boss. He said it to illustrate his point, but it was lost on my husband.
Look, it may be a double standard, but it generally alarms black people when whites say that word. I recommend not doing it, even if trying to illustrate a point. Early on in our marriage, my husband sometimes used the word when hanging out with his friends. I asked him not to. I told him it made me uncomfortable, and that I didn't want our child growing up talking that way. He agreed and doesn't use it.
I have watched my husband let racism roll off his back. I'm afraid to say that there have been occasions where he has been called that word by total strangers. I wish it weren't true, but it is. I also wish that there were not times where I was treated harshly because of my race, but I have. I actually had a woman tell me she hated me for being married to a black man, she was a black woman. She told me that once she got to know me, she decided that I was too sweet to hate.
I believe the vast majority of whites do not use that racist language. I also believe the majority of whites are not bigots who hate people based on their race. Unfortunately it is not these ordinary people who get the press. As a result of the press presenting everything that happens as white racism gone mad the resentments grow on all sides.
Sometimes I ponder what will happen if the extremists get a hold on the ordinary people. What if people start acting out on all of these resentments. We see cases of this now. What if things get worse instead of better? Where will that leave our little family in all of it? My husband and I have discussed this, we know how far we can be pushed. We won't let anyone tear us apart, we know where we stand.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Spring Changes
Time Rolls On.
I love spring. Yesterday we had a minor blip in our Spring weather, it was pretty major in some parts, but not where I live. I had to bring in my new pots of flowers, but they were fine in the garage. It was not super cold, but it was extremely windy, and I thought it might get too cold for the plants.
The kiddo is going through a growth spurt. She's been really tired, hungry, and suddenly very concerned about bathing and combing her hair. This is a new thing. My sister used to joke that my daughter only takes 52 baths a year, and we would laugh to ourselves. I hear from other parents that sometimes kids go through this phase. There comes a point in time where bathing is viewed as optional, a chore even. Everyone knows we have been going through this phase for a while.
It is not a particularly pleasant time for the parents of children with soap and water aversions, but if one is patient the phase ends (in best case scenarios of course, I have known of people who seem to enter adulthood stuck in this phase). In our case it went on for what seems like years, in fact, I think this has been something we have been dealing with for years now, but I think we are coming out of it and the future where I can proudly proclaim that my child takes 365 baths a year may be just around the corner. She has taken two baths today so we may be onto something yet.
Just last summer I remember arguing with her that just because she goes swimming everyday, it is not the same as bathing. My friend and I even contemplated throwing a bar of soap in the pool with her and encouraging her to use it, but thought that might offend the other swimmers. She seemed to think immersing herself in a swimming pool for hours would do just as well as a washcloth and a good old bar of soap, I had difficulty convincing her otherwise.
And so we've reached a new high, the point where the girl looks at me and says, "Mom, can I go take another bath?" Oh how long I have waited for this day.
I love spring. Yesterday we had a minor blip in our Spring weather, it was pretty major in some parts, but not where I live. I had to bring in my new pots of flowers, but they were fine in the garage. It was not super cold, but it was extremely windy, and I thought it might get too cold for the plants.
The kiddo is going through a growth spurt. She's been really tired, hungry, and suddenly very concerned about bathing and combing her hair. This is a new thing. My sister used to joke that my daughter only takes 52 baths a year, and we would laugh to ourselves. I hear from other parents that sometimes kids go through this phase. There comes a point in time where bathing is viewed as optional, a chore even. Everyone knows we have been going through this phase for a while.
It is not a particularly pleasant time for the parents of children with soap and water aversions, but if one is patient the phase ends (in best case scenarios of course, I have known of people who seem to enter adulthood stuck in this phase). In our case it went on for what seems like years, in fact, I think this has been something we have been dealing with for years now, but I think we are coming out of it and the future where I can proudly proclaim that my child takes 365 baths a year may be just around the corner. She has taken two baths today so we may be onto something yet.
Just last summer I remember arguing with her that just because she goes swimming everyday, it is not the same as bathing. My friend and I even contemplated throwing a bar of soap in the pool with her and encouraging her to use it, but thought that might offend the other swimmers. She seemed to think immersing herself in a swimming pool for hours would do just as well as a washcloth and a good old bar of soap, I had difficulty convincing her otherwise.
And so we've reached a new high, the point where the girl looks at me and says, "Mom, can I go take another bath?" Oh how long I have waited for this day.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
The Cracken Has Released The Evil Rabbit
I Actually Said That To Someone.
My niece once had a dream that my mother stood up on the table and became an evil rabbit. She was a little kid, and it was a big deal to her at the time. We don't let her forget it either. I've been showing up at mom and dad's house regularly this week, which is something I haven't been able to do for the past several months. Their cat is sick, and my mom happened to ask me if I thought I could help my dad give the cat some medicine.
She said that they have been having a horrible time getting the cat to take the medicine. Which reminds me I need to find that email about how to give cats medicine, I think my dad in particular will get a kick out of it. Well, I don't know how to do a lot of things, but I DO know how to give a cat medicine, so I offered to help out with it. She needs two doses a day so I've been showing up here and there at medicine giving time.
The cat likes to hang out in their bedroom the majority of the time, so dad and I go in there, close the door, and then proceed to chase the cat back and forth between the Lucy and Ricky beds until she finally makes the mistake of coming out long enough for us to grab her. We try to use calming and soothing voices during this process to alleviate as much stress for her as possible, but even doing so she still scratched my dad's arm really bad yesterday. Catching her is the hard part, once we've got her dad holds her down while I give the medicine. There is a trick to it, a vet taught me a long time ago, but if done correctly it is pretty easy.
My dad works night shift, and has done so for as long as I can remember, so he usually takes an evening nap. I guess the cat was fussing tonight while he tried to catch his zzz's so he was grumpy as he was leaving for work he stopped in the doorway of the kitchen and told my mom, "Go ahead and sack up that stuff at the end of the hall and throw it away!" I asked, "What is it one of your useless dogs?" He laughed and went on out the door.
My mom got this look on her face, she was not happy. It seems there were some clothes hanging on this hook thing on the door, and like everything in my parents house has been there since the year I graduated high school, well dad apparently decided at that very moment he could not tolerate the things on the door any longer and took them off, leaving them in a pile at the end of the hallway. This combined with his command that it be sacked up was not acceptable to my mother who had a few choice words to say in his general direction.
My brother was there, and he and I were sort of amused by this whole scene, and were cracking jokes about how she should cut up the clothing and place them in a neat pile on the Ricky bed, but she was not laughing. She was stewing. And then I realized something, when my husband and I are 65 years old, we might still be fighting about stupid things. I thought we might outgrow our petty arguments, but I see now there is a possibility that we might not.
I said, "well mom, that's the difference between you and I, I would have told him to shove the pile of clothes where the sun doesn't shine, and he would have told me, 'if you keep talking to me like that, one day I will just leave'" Instead, she was just mad, but I knew she wouldn't say anything to him, she never does, and I guess it is a good thing they don't read my blog since now I've let the cat out of the bag.
My parents don't fight openly, or when they are alone even. I've never seen them fight. I know they take an opportunity here and there to poke a jab at each other, but it is never discussed. I tried to do things differently in my marriage. I told myself, I'm not going to just take things and say nothing, I am going to speak my mind, I am going to stand up for myself, and I do. Sometimes I don't do it right, and I say mean things like, "Go cram X item," when I feel angry or cornered. I am actually only speaking about one incident where I said that, it was a few weeks ago, and my husband has not forgotten it yet. In fact, he brought it up tonight when we spoke on the phone and were having a disagreement about something, he said, "I'm surprised you haven't told me to shove it yet." I felt bad, but I assured him I had no intention of saying it.
I know it was the wrong thing to say. I shouldn't have said it to him before, I guess he is still bothered by it. I shouldn't risk the love of the man by saying stupid things in anger. We will get over it. I just shouldn't make the mistake of assuming we will always get over it, I would hate to lose him over something like that.
Well, I'm off to bed. Have a good one.
My niece once had a dream that my mother stood up on the table and became an evil rabbit. She was a little kid, and it was a big deal to her at the time. We don't let her forget it either. I've been showing up at mom and dad's house regularly this week, which is something I haven't been able to do for the past several months. Their cat is sick, and my mom happened to ask me if I thought I could help my dad give the cat some medicine.
She said that they have been having a horrible time getting the cat to take the medicine. Which reminds me I need to find that email about how to give cats medicine, I think my dad in particular will get a kick out of it. Well, I don't know how to do a lot of things, but I DO know how to give a cat medicine, so I offered to help out with it. She needs two doses a day so I've been showing up here and there at medicine giving time.
The cat likes to hang out in their bedroom the majority of the time, so dad and I go in there, close the door, and then proceed to chase the cat back and forth between the Lucy and Ricky beds until she finally makes the mistake of coming out long enough for us to grab her. We try to use calming and soothing voices during this process to alleviate as much stress for her as possible, but even doing so she still scratched my dad's arm really bad yesterday. Catching her is the hard part, once we've got her dad holds her down while I give the medicine. There is a trick to it, a vet taught me a long time ago, but if done correctly it is pretty easy.
My dad works night shift, and has done so for as long as I can remember, so he usually takes an evening nap. I guess the cat was fussing tonight while he tried to catch his zzz's so he was grumpy as he was leaving for work he stopped in the doorway of the kitchen and told my mom, "Go ahead and sack up that stuff at the end of the hall and throw it away!" I asked, "What is it one of your useless dogs?" He laughed and went on out the door.
My mom got this look on her face, she was not happy. It seems there were some clothes hanging on this hook thing on the door, and like everything in my parents house has been there since the year I graduated high school, well dad apparently decided at that very moment he could not tolerate the things on the door any longer and took them off, leaving them in a pile at the end of the hallway. This combined with his command that it be sacked up was not acceptable to my mother who had a few choice words to say in his general direction.
My brother was there, and he and I were sort of amused by this whole scene, and were cracking jokes about how she should cut up the clothing and place them in a neat pile on the Ricky bed, but she was not laughing. She was stewing. And then I realized something, when my husband and I are 65 years old, we might still be fighting about stupid things. I thought we might outgrow our petty arguments, but I see now there is a possibility that we might not.
I said, "well mom, that's the difference between you and I, I would have told him to shove the pile of clothes where the sun doesn't shine, and he would have told me, 'if you keep talking to me like that, one day I will just leave'" Instead, she was just mad, but I knew she wouldn't say anything to him, she never does, and I guess it is a good thing they don't read my blog since now I've let the cat out of the bag.
My parents don't fight openly, or when they are alone even. I've never seen them fight. I know they take an opportunity here and there to poke a jab at each other, but it is never discussed. I tried to do things differently in my marriage. I told myself, I'm not going to just take things and say nothing, I am going to speak my mind, I am going to stand up for myself, and I do. Sometimes I don't do it right, and I say mean things like, "Go cram X item," when I feel angry or cornered. I am actually only speaking about one incident where I said that, it was a few weeks ago, and my husband has not forgotten it yet. In fact, he brought it up tonight when we spoke on the phone and were having a disagreement about something, he said, "I'm surprised you haven't told me to shove it yet." I felt bad, but I assured him I had no intention of saying it.
I know it was the wrong thing to say. I shouldn't have said it to him before, I guess he is still bothered by it. I shouldn't risk the love of the man by saying stupid things in anger. We will get over it. I just shouldn't make the mistake of assuming we will always get over it, I would hate to lose him over something like that.
Well, I'm off to bed. Have a good one.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Last Pair Of Underwear
Maybe Do Laundry?
I'm not really going to write about underwear, although it has been a great topic of interest to many people who find this site by doing searches on underwear. I do need to do laundry though, which is another topic I write about with too much frequency. What does that tell you about me? Does it suggest that I have no life? I don't know about that. Underwear and laundry are definitely a part of my life, which suggests that in some way I must have one no matter how boring it may be.
I love the rain we had last night. I went to sleep to the sound of it hitting the house. I even cracked my window so I could hear it better as I drifted off to sleep. It was quite a pleasant experience. Sometimes it is the little things in life.
I'm hanging in there at school. I think a lot about the decision to go back. I feel old in so many ways when I sit in a classroom full of kids. There are other adults there too. We all have reasons for being there. I suppose others feel the same way. I sometimes want to kick myself for not having done this earlier, but the choices I made led me to this point in my life. I sometimes think I should give up, that it is too late.
I can't stand the idea of doing what I do now for the rest of my life. That is why I am there. I must get over my pride, my shame, my own disappointment and continue. In a few years no one will care that I went to school in my 30's. At least that is what I am hoping. Sometimes I think maybe I should just go get a job at a bank or something, sure it would be a dramatic pay cut, but at least I wouldn't have to work every weekend and holiday for the rest of my life, all the while making my employer much richer, when in truth, my employer doesn't even know my name, except on paper in some HR file.
What to do? I guess I will keep going. I will swallow my pride, keep my mouth shut, and do it. I hope it is the right decision and that I am not just wasting time and money. The answers will come.
I'm not really going to write about underwear, although it has been a great topic of interest to many people who find this site by doing searches on underwear. I do need to do laundry though, which is another topic I write about with too much frequency. What does that tell you about me? Does it suggest that I have no life? I don't know about that. Underwear and laundry are definitely a part of my life, which suggests that in some way I must have one no matter how boring it may be.
I love the rain we had last night. I went to sleep to the sound of it hitting the house. I even cracked my window so I could hear it better as I drifted off to sleep. It was quite a pleasant experience. Sometimes it is the little things in life.
I'm hanging in there at school. I think a lot about the decision to go back. I feel old in so many ways when I sit in a classroom full of kids. There are other adults there too. We all have reasons for being there. I suppose others feel the same way. I sometimes want to kick myself for not having done this earlier, but the choices I made led me to this point in my life. I sometimes think I should give up, that it is too late.
I can't stand the idea of doing what I do now for the rest of my life. That is why I am there. I must get over my pride, my shame, my own disappointment and continue. In a few years no one will care that I went to school in my 30's. At least that is what I am hoping. Sometimes I think maybe I should just go get a job at a bank or something, sure it would be a dramatic pay cut, but at least I wouldn't have to work every weekend and holiday for the rest of my life, all the while making my employer much richer, when in truth, my employer doesn't even know my name, except on paper in some HR file.
What to do? I guess I will keep going. I will swallow my pride, keep my mouth shut, and do it. I hope it is the right decision and that I am not just wasting time and money. The answers will come.
Monday, April 16, 2007
A Reminder
Sad Stuff.
As the Socialist Democrats have taken hold of the government for the next couple of years, at some point in the future the thought that we might have Hillary or Obama in the white house is a real threat Americans must accept. I remember the last time Hillary was in the white house, I was much younger then, but I distinctly remember that she wanted to socialize medicine in this country even back then. I can't imagine her passing up that opportunity again with a bunch of democrats in congress just waiting to give her everything she asks.
One of my biggest concerns since the last election is that we may very well end up with socialized medicine here in the U.S. It always chills me when I hear people spout off what they have heard about how Cuba has the greatest medical system in the world, blah, blah, etc. Really now? Who says so, well famous Hollywood socialist agitators and the left biased main stream media of course. And it's all "freeeeeeee" they cried. Well my mom told me a long time ago, nothing is free in this world, and judging from the photos I just looked at, I say she must be right.
Now, I want you people to go and look at these horrible, and gruesome photographs of the "best medical system in the world" and you tell me what you get for free. I mean it, go look. Notice the picture of Che looking down on the victims of his communism from the photo on the wall.
Democrats want this for us. Oh sure, they'll say it won't be like that here, or this is an isolated incident, but they would be lying. There are people in these photos, why would they go there if they didn't have any other choice? I'm sorry, but I don't trust our own government to treat us any better. Next time you are at the DMV ask yourself, would you want these people running your health care? ASK YOURSELF.
Link found at Fighting in the Shade
Read his post on the subject.
As the Socialist Democrats have taken hold of the government for the next couple of years, at some point in the future the thought that we might have Hillary or Obama in the white house is a real threat Americans must accept. I remember the last time Hillary was in the white house, I was much younger then, but I distinctly remember that she wanted to socialize medicine in this country even back then. I can't imagine her passing up that opportunity again with a bunch of democrats in congress just waiting to give her everything she asks.
One of my biggest concerns since the last election is that we may very well end up with socialized medicine here in the U.S. It always chills me when I hear people spout off what they have heard about how Cuba has the greatest medical system in the world, blah, blah, etc. Really now? Who says so, well famous Hollywood socialist agitators and the left biased main stream media of course. And it's all "freeeeeeee" they cried. Well my mom told me a long time ago, nothing is free in this world, and judging from the photos I just looked at, I say she must be right.
Now, I want you people to go and look at these horrible, and gruesome photographs of the "best medical system in the world" and you tell me what you get for free. I mean it, go look. Notice the picture of Che looking down on the victims of his communism from the photo on the wall.
Democrats want this for us. Oh sure, they'll say it won't be like that here, or this is an isolated incident, but they would be lying. There are people in these photos, why would they go there if they didn't have any other choice? I'm sorry, but I don't trust our own government to treat us any better. Next time you are at the DMV ask yourself, would you want these people running your health care? ASK YOURSELF.
Link found at Fighting in the Shade
Read his post on the subject.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Monday, April 09, 2007
Lazy Pigs
Sleeping All Day.
My dad would accuse me of thinking it was my birthday or something, and it isn't but I still slept the day away as if it was. I wasn't alone, my lazy dogs were right there with me zonked out and sleeping like the lazy pigs we are today.
It was nice though, and really I had some very entertaining dreams. Dreams that kept on coming as I hit the snooze button on my alarm every ten minutes for an hour. I thought I would only sleep 4o minutes, but I kept on sleeping until I finally realized I had better get up and get something productive done.
I guess I can't complain about all the things I didn't get done today, my day off, but I will spend the rest of the day trying to catch up. What's the difference? I am always trying to catch up. It takes hours and hours of reading and note taking to keep up with my one class and the tests are still next to impossible to pass.
This semester is almost over, and there is no one more thankful about that than me. I am just glad my math class is fairly easy, I have had to devote so much time to the other class, I barely have time to do my math homework. Which makes me incredibly thankful for the brilliant math teachers I had in high school, it is on that basis alone that I have achieved A's on all of my math tests. Actually, my current math teacher is wonderful, I enjoy her teaching so much. Every time I go to class it is the same thing, I look at the material, feel completely clueless about it, then she explains it, and a flood of memories returns to me, and I am able to do the math with little or no problem at all.
The teacher told me I was a good student. She asked about what math classes I had taken. I told her this was my first math class in way too many years to count, and that I can't remember how to do any math at all until she shows us on the board. She laughs and says you must have had good teachers in high school, I agree that yes indeed I did. Sadly, there are people in my math class who have trouble with basic multiplication facts, they never learned them. I recall very specifically that I was forced to learn them by rote memorization in third grade.
That's the problem with schools these days, they don't force kids to learn anything by rote. I believe that. My math instructor and I discussed how kids are given just a bit of everything now in schools, but they become masters of nothing. You can't learn math doing a few problems a day, you've got to do at least 30 to master the problem.
Anyway, I've been thinking about homeschooling a lot lately. I am really considering it for next year. My sister in law is homeschooling their daughter, and she's doing quite well. I think it is time to take a giant, although scary leap with out own daughter. I found the most wonderful homeschooling website, I can't remember where, but I intend to sit down and follow the many links this lady has on her site. That's just one of the things I want to do this week.
I've got to take off and get the kiddo. Back later. Maybe. I've got a lot of studying to catch up on.
My dad would accuse me of thinking it was my birthday or something, and it isn't but I still slept the day away as if it was. I wasn't alone, my lazy dogs were right there with me zonked out and sleeping like the lazy pigs we are today.
It was nice though, and really I had some very entertaining dreams. Dreams that kept on coming as I hit the snooze button on my alarm every ten minutes for an hour. I thought I would only sleep 4o minutes, but I kept on sleeping until I finally realized I had better get up and get something productive done.
I guess I can't complain about all the things I didn't get done today, my day off, but I will spend the rest of the day trying to catch up. What's the difference? I am always trying to catch up. It takes hours and hours of reading and note taking to keep up with my one class and the tests are still next to impossible to pass.
This semester is almost over, and there is no one more thankful about that than me. I am just glad my math class is fairly easy, I have had to devote so much time to the other class, I barely have time to do my math homework. Which makes me incredibly thankful for the brilliant math teachers I had in high school, it is on that basis alone that I have achieved A's on all of my math tests. Actually, my current math teacher is wonderful, I enjoy her teaching so much. Every time I go to class it is the same thing, I look at the material, feel completely clueless about it, then she explains it, and a flood of memories returns to me, and I am able to do the math with little or no problem at all.
The teacher told me I was a good student. She asked about what math classes I had taken. I told her this was my first math class in way too many years to count, and that I can't remember how to do any math at all until she shows us on the board. She laughs and says you must have had good teachers in high school, I agree that yes indeed I did. Sadly, there are people in my math class who have trouble with basic multiplication facts, they never learned them. I recall very specifically that I was forced to learn them by rote memorization in third grade.
That's the problem with schools these days, they don't force kids to learn anything by rote. I believe that. My math instructor and I discussed how kids are given just a bit of everything now in schools, but they become masters of nothing. You can't learn math doing a few problems a day, you've got to do at least 30 to master the problem.
Anyway, I've been thinking about homeschooling a lot lately. I am really considering it for next year. My sister in law is homeschooling their daughter, and she's doing quite well. I think it is time to take a giant, although scary leap with out own daughter. I found the most wonderful homeschooling website, I can't remember where, but I intend to sit down and follow the many links this lady has on her site. That's just one of the things I want to do this week.
I've got to take off and get the kiddo. Back later. Maybe. I've got a lot of studying to catch up on.
Saturday, April 07, 2007
As Good A Time As Any
I should say.
I've been pretty reserved about politics lately, mostly because the subject can be draining, and the quarrels never ending. But I just have to say this, it has been on my mind, practically every day I hear on the news about this candidate has raised XXmillion dollars for their bid. We are just a working middle class family and this boggles my mind. In fact, it the whole thing borders on ridiculous.
Pick yer millionaire folks. What? It's nothing against millionaires at all, I just think what are the people who lose going to feel like after having blown 25 million on a campaign? I can't imagine spending that kind of money on such a thing. I'm not here to tell people how to spend their money, but oh wait, these people are going to be deciding on how they spend my money, perhaps I shouldn't try to be so kind about it.
Oh sure, I guess the losers aren't really losing their own money either now are they? Apparently it is all donated to these people. The draw of power brings out all kinds. I say one thing, I'm not giving a dang dollar to any of them, besides my itty bitty dollar doesn't mean a dang thing anyway, except when they are taking it out of my paycheck of course. I don't care what their platform is, after all it all changes once they get in office anyway.
While visiting my mother the other day she said, "Dad thinks Obama is going to be our next President." It sort of made me chuckle because she pronounces his name, Oh Bam Ma, like Alabama. I said, "Nothing would surprise me mom." I hate to say this now, but I knew the Dems were going to take the last election. I will vote against the Dems in the next one, but I don't think it will matter I'm sorry to say, and I hope I am wrong.
Nancy Pelosi makes my skin crawl. I can say that here. I was very put off by her little comment to the President about how there is a new congress in town. It made my stomach lurch.
As far as the bunch of Republicans we've got, there is no way I will vote for McCain. That is out of the question. Right now I'm leaning towards Guilliani despite some of his more liberal positions, I think he could be quite popular, especially with the fence sitters. As long as he doesn't prove to be an outright socialist commie he seems the best bet, I could be disappointed with him yet. I don't know much about this Romney fellow, and I will give him more consideration in the future. Critics worry that Guilliani is pro-choice and gay marriage, but at this point those are not deal breakers for me personally. I am more worried about the war and stomping out Islamic terrorism.
My husband and I share disgust at the congress trying to pull the funding out from under the troops. That has been very disappointing, but neither of us expected anything else from the Dems.
All this politicking makes my stomach hurt. I'll leave this to the experts. There are people much better at it than I. We will just keep on working and producing so those millionaire candidates have some money left to spend when they get into office.
I've been pretty reserved about politics lately, mostly because the subject can be draining, and the quarrels never ending. But I just have to say this, it has been on my mind, practically every day I hear on the news about this candidate has raised XXmillion dollars for their bid. We are just a working middle class family and this boggles my mind. In fact, it the whole thing borders on ridiculous.
Pick yer millionaire folks. What? It's nothing against millionaires at all, I just think what are the people who lose going to feel like after having blown 25 million on a campaign? I can't imagine spending that kind of money on such a thing. I'm not here to tell people how to spend their money, but oh wait, these people are going to be deciding on how they spend my money, perhaps I shouldn't try to be so kind about it.
Oh sure, I guess the losers aren't really losing their own money either now are they? Apparently it is all donated to these people. The draw of power brings out all kinds. I say one thing, I'm not giving a dang dollar to any of them, besides my itty bitty dollar doesn't mean a dang thing anyway, except when they are taking it out of my paycheck of course. I don't care what their platform is, after all it all changes once they get in office anyway.
While visiting my mother the other day she said, "Dad thinks Obama is going to be our next President." It sort of made me chuckle because she pronounces his name, Oh Bam Ma, like Alabama. I said, "Nothing would surprise me mom." I hate to say this now, but I knew the Dems were going to take the last election. I will vote against the Dems in the next one, but I don't think it will matter I'm sorry to say, and I hope I am wrong.
Nancy Pelosi makes my skin crawl. I can say that here. I was very put off by her little comment to the President about how there is a new congress in town. It made my stomach lurch.
As far as the bunch of Republicans we've got, there is no way I will vote for McCain. That is out of the question. Right now I'm leaning towards Guilliani despite some of his more liberal positions, I think he could be quite popular, especially with the fence sitters. As long as he doesn't prove to be an outright socialist commie he seems the best bet, I could be disappointed with him yet. I don't know much about this Romney fellow, and I will give him more consideration in the future. Critics worry that Guilliani is pro-choice and gay marriage, but at this point those are not deal breakers for me personally. I am more worried about the war and stomping out Islamic terrorism.
My husband and I share disgust at the congress trying to pull the funding out from under the troops. That has been very disappointing, but neither of us expected anything else from the Dems.
All this politicking makes my stomach hurt. I'll leave this to the experts. There are people much better at it than I. We will just keep on working and producing so those millionaire candidates have some money left to spend when they get into office.
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
I love this kid
I have been going to blah blah blog everyday to look at this because it is so cute. I finally decided to hijack it, but of course I'll still go to blah blah blog everyday.
Free Morning
Somewhat.
Got up. Yeah. That's a good way to start the day. I took the youngster to school, and had a fairly peaceful drive home unlike yesterday where every nut job in town with a license was taking a leisurely Sunday drive, never mind the fact that it was not Sunday at all.
I stopped at 7-11 to get a cup of coffee. A police officer was in there getting some too. He said, "I saw some snow flurries on my way here." I said, "Oh I did too, at first I thought it was pollen or something, but it was snow." He chuckled. Got my coffee and headed out.
I got in the car and "I love rock and roll" was playing on the radio, I looked at my dog and sang, "Put another dime in the juke-box baby!" Then I felt very stupid because the police officer was walking by and saw me singing to my dog in the car. By now I am wondering just exactly how long it will take him to pull me over and search my car for intoxicants, what with the, "the snow looked like pollen," and the singing to my dog, who likes my singing very much by the way.
I drive away. The cop must have decided that I was not drunk at 8:30am, and that my bedhead look was more of an indication that I was only half awake and therefore not necessarily breaking any laws, and so he left me alone.
I'm driving up the hill towards my street and see a car slowly backing out of its driveway. I stop for the car who apparently doesn't see me coming, or doesn't care that I'm coming. Whatever, I've got coffee. I notice the car is unmanned. It is rolling out of someone's driveway onto the street and heading for a very nice looking silver pick up. Before I can do anything it rolls up onto the curb and slows to a stop, missing nice truck by about 2 feet. Yikes. A man runs out of the house to get the car. He waves me past. I smile and move on.
I pull into the driveway at home, I get out my camera phone and take a picture of my boy dog sitting in the backseat. I send the picture to my co-worker. I hear a strange rat a tat tapping with rapidity noise. I get out of the car and immediately look for the noise. I suspect I know what the noise is, but I am unsure. It sounds like it is coming from two houses away. I tell myself it is the neighbor working with some sort of power tool from the privacy of their own home.
I get on the computer and start to read blogs and write this post. I hear the strange rapid tapping noise again, this time it is closer. It is coming from my house. I say, "Oh no," and run out the front door and look at the outside of the house. "The little son of a...is back." I look for the woodpecker, for the source of the noise, he flies by me and lands in the tree next door. I've been wondering when the birds were going to make their appearance this Spring.
The hole on the front of our house has long since been repaired. Father in law took care of that before he sold the house. He bought extra boards because he has fixed the hole several times, and he left them in the shed for us as he suspected we might need them. I've been hoping and praying that little turd burglar would not come back, but that tapping tells me he is here to make his home again.
After he is finished with the hole, other birds will move in. My cats will obsess about the noise of the little bird families living in the wall in our bedroom, and my husband will have to fix the board on the outside again. I found a picture of the suspect. My father in law said it was a woodpecker, I thought they were rare or endangered or something.
I found this about the woodpeckers. Doesn't seem like there is a whole lot we can do other than patch the holes. We'll see. Maybe they will decide not to like our house this year. It is a pretty bird though.
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
The Record
Set Straight.
I was thinking about my grandfather this morning when I was stuck in annoying traffic. He and I share the same birthday. He has long since passed, back in 1990, he was on his 9th decade. My mom's parents split when she was in nursing school back in the 60's. He remained in Oklahoma, grandma moved to California where she eventually died in 1978.
They adopted my mom when she was 9 years old. They were fairly well off and so offered my mother everything she could ever desire. She had been from an extremely poor background, and lived most of her life up to that point in an orphanage. They owned property in several different states, and had several businesses over the years. Grandpa was a builder, grandma helped him by cleaning the homes before they were to be sold. They owned many different homes.
Grandpa liked the women. Grandma was a good Christian. One particular woman was my grandmother's friend, she was married to an abusive drunk who did odd jobs for my grandpa. Grandma befriended the woman and being the Christian she was, she took her to church with them.
Grandma found out about gramps and this woman and their affair. I believe that was the final straw. After all the years of cheating, she decided she could no longer tolerate it. She divorced grandpa. He married the woman, and at the ripe age of 65 fathered a child with her. She was much younger than him, he was older than her mother even.
So, he had his first biological child. My mother had my older sister only a year later than his. His daughter was a fiery redhead, and spoiled rotten. He retained most of the wealth from the years of marriage with my grandmother, and so was pretty much a rich old man with a younger wife.
Mom tried to put the past aside. She loved both of her parents, and so she kept contact with him and his new family despite her own feelings about the whole thing. We would go and visit. My sister and I spent most of our time playing with his daughter who was practically the same age.
Gramps and his wife pretty much kept the kid in the dark about their past, but they lived in a small town, and every one knew the story. Everyone except the kid. She began to get a clue as she got older, and whenever we would visit she would ask us, particularly me, questions about our grandmother, and the past.
As a child I had a sort of untempered honesty about me. I pretty much told the truth no matter what it was. I knew the story, and so I told her. I don't think she believed me, but she kept asking me every time we went to visit she would corner me and ask me questions about it all. Every time I told her what I knew. Her parents tried to keep her completely in the dark.
After grandpa died, she stopped talking to us. We visited a few times, but it was never the same. She got really snotty with my sister, and said a bunch of bad things about my grandmother, and my mother. Her mother on the other hand, for some reason adored me. I could never figure this one out, I was the big blabber mouth who kept telling all of the family secrets, but she did. And for years we kept contact, but as I got older, I decided I didn't want that relationship with her.
It was a combination of things, but mostly because she seemed to pretend like my daughter did not exist because she did not agree with the fact that my husband and I are a mixed couple. It was bizarre, but I knew when I made the choice to marry the man I loved some people would not agree with it.
She called me last year on my birthday, on his birthday. I did not take the call. I just don't want to go there. I think after my grandfather died and I saw the way that they treated my mother, I just couldn't. They wouldn't allow my mother to see him before he died. It was extremely cruel. Of course, all of the wealth he had is theirs now, so my mother will have no inheritance. She has accepted that.
It may seem tacky to speak of inheritance, but it is a part of life. I have actually thought a lot about this as a parent myself. My husband and I have agreed that we have some responsibility to see to our daughter's future. We fully intend to see to that. That doesn't mean we will hand her our livelihood on a silver platter, but that we will try to put something away for her if we can. That is our duty.
Anyway, I was just thinking about them.
I was thinking about my grandfather this morning when I was stuck in annoying traffic. He and I share the same birthday. He has long since passed, back in 1990, he was on his 9th decade. My mom's parents split when she was in nursing school back in the 60's. He remained in Oklahoma, grandma moved to California where she eventually died in 1978.
They adopted my mom when she was 9 years old. They were fairly well off and so offered my mother everything she could ever desire. She had been from an extremely poor background, and lived most of her life up to that point in an orphanage. They owned property in several different states, and had several businesses over the years. Grandpa was a builder, grandma helped him by cleaning the homes before they were to be sold. They owned many different homes.
Grandpa liked the women. Grandma was a good Christian. One particular woman was my grandmother's friend, she was married to an abusive drunk who did odd jobs for my grandpa. Grandma befriended the woman and being the Christian she was, she took her to church with them.
Grandma found out about gramps and this woman and their affair. I believe that was the final straw. After all the years of cheating, she decided she could no longer tolerate it. She divorced grandpa. He married the woman, and at the ripe age of 65 fathered a child with her. She was much younger than him, he was older than her mother even.
So, he had his first biological child. My mother had my older sister only a year later than his. His daughter was a fiery redhead, and spoiled rotten. He retained most of the wealth from the years of marriage with my grandmother, and so was pretty much a rich old man with a younger wife.
Mom tried to put the past aside. She loved both of her parents, and so she kept contact with him and his new family despite her own feelings about the whole thing. We would go and visit. My sister and I spent most of our time playing with his daughter who was practically the same age.
Gramps and his wife pretty much kept the kid in the dark about their past, but they lived in a small town, and every one knew the story. Everyone except the kid. She began to get a clue as she got older, and whenever we would visit she would ask us, particularly me, questions about our grandmother, and the past.
As a child I had a sort of untempered honesty about me. I pretty much told the truth no matter what it was. I knew the story, and so I told her. I don't think she believed me, but she kept asking me every time we went to visit she would corner me and ask me questions about it all. Every time I told her what I knew. Her parents tried to keep her completely in the dark.
After grandpa died, she stopped talking to us. We visited a few times, but it was never the same. She got really snotty with my sister, and said a bunch of bad things about my grandmother, and my mother. Her mother on the other hand, for some reason adored me. I could never figure this one out, I was the big blabber mouth who kept telling all of the family secrets, but she did. And for years we kept contact, but as I got older, I decided I didn't want that relationship with her.
It was a combination of things, but mostly because she seemed to pretend like my daughter did not exist because she did not agree with the fact that my husband and I are a mixed couple. It was bizarre, but I knew when I made the choice to marry the man I loved some people would not agree with it.
She called me last year on my birthday, on his birthday. I did not take the call. I just don't want to go there. I think after my grandfather died and I saw the way that they treated my mother, I just couldn't. They wouldn't allow my mother to see him before he died. It was extremely cruel. Of course, all of the wealth he had is theirs now, so my mother will have no inheritance. She has accepted that.
It may seem tacky to speak of inheritance, but it is a part of life. I have actually thought a lot about this as a parent myself. My husband and I have agreed that we have some responsibility to see to our daughter's future. We fully intend to see to that. That doesn't mean we will hand her our livelihood on a silver platter, but that we will try to put something away for her if we can. That is our duty.
Anyway, I was just thinking about them.
Home
Thank Goodness.
Have you ever noticed that sometimes changing the time you leave the house by just minutes can completely upset your entire commute? Traffic seems to go in flows, some are good, some are teeth gritting, wheel gripping, brake hitting bad, today was bad. It seems we hit every single light, every single 4 cylinder beater in town seemed to be on the same course, and taking their sweet precious time smelling the Spring flowers along the way, or something.
Of course the motorcycle cops did nothing to help the flow of traffic. What kind of sadistic mother sets up speed traps during rush hour? It is brake light central when people see those cops sitting on the side of the road, their mustaches and mirrored sunglasses reflecting the sunlight which is already unbearable and blinding.
Add to that the fact that our roads are in horrible condition due to all of the ice and snow we had this winter. Cracks, potholes, uneven surfaces, and patched spots really make a bumpy stop and go drive just that much more frustrating. That our population has practically doubled in the last 10 years, and our roads were never made for this amount of traffic certainly does not help matters. Pretty much every road in this town needs resurfaced and widening.
Argh. I'm just glad I'm home. I'm not really ready for today. It is back to school, and I spent the last 2 days trying to get all my studying done so I would not start the week off behind in class. I almost made it, but this one class is taking up all of my study time, so I didn't get my math done. Tomorrow I will have to work on it some more.
I go back to work on Friday. I never have much time to study on the weekends. Besides I am not looking forward to heading back to the grind at all. We are heading into our busy time of year which means getting our butts kicked every day at work. I hate to say I don't look forward to going back, but there are a lot of changes going on around there, which mostly means, we work harder, but they don't pay us any more for our efforts.
I am not going to increase my work hours this summer as I usually do. Nope. I am going to take classes this summer. I always liked summer classes, they are shorter, and move along faster. I'm downright tired of this long drawn out semester, it seems the one teacher of mine is using the long semester as an excuse to screw with our heads as much as possible. I have never wanted a class to get over more than this one.
Ahh thank God for coffee. I love the stuff. My day does not go right if I don't start with a nice delicious cup of the good stuff.
I've just got to get through school. I am so thankful I can go now, I can't forget that. It is a blessing to be able to do this. I'm so lucky my husband is supportive of me going to school.
Have you ever noticed that sometimes changing the time you leave the house by just minutes can completely upset your entire commute? Traffic seems to go in flows, some are good, some are teeth gritting, wheel gripping, brake hitting bad, today was bad. It seems we hit every single light, every single 4 cylinder beater in town seemed to be on the same course, and taking their sweet precious time smelling the Spring flowers along the way, or something.
Of course the motorcycle cops did nothing to help the flow of traffic. What kind of sadistic mother sets up speed traps during rush hour? It is brake light central when people see those cops sitting on the side of the road, their mustaches and mirrored sunglasses reflecting the sunlight which is already unbearable and blinding.
Add to that the fact that our roads are in horrible condition due to all of the ice and snow we had this winter. Cracks, potholes, uneven surfaces, and patched spots really make a bumpy stop and go drive just that much more frustrating. That our population has practically doubled in the last 10 years, and our roads were never made for this amount of traffic certainly does not help matters. Pretty much every road in this town needs resurfaced and widening.
Argh. I'm just glad I'm home. I'm not really ready for today. It is back to school, and I spent the last 2 days trying to get all my studying done so I would not start the week off behind in class. I almost made it, but this one class is taking up all of my study time, so I didn't get my math done. Tomorrow I will have to work on it some more.
I go back to work on Friday. I never have much time to study on the weekends. Besides I am not looking forward to heading back to the grind at all. We are heading into our busy time of year which means getting our butts kicked every day at work. I hate to say I don't look forward to going back, but there are a lot of changes going on around there, which mostly means, we work harder, but they don't pay us any more for our efforts.
I am not going to increase my work hours this summer as I usually do. Nope. I am going to take classes this summer. I always liked summer classes, they are shorter, and move along faster. I'm downright tired of this long drawn out semester, it seems the one teacher of mine is using the long semester as an excuse to screw with our heads as much as possible. I have never wanted a class to get over more than this one.
Ahh thank God for coffee. I love the stuff. My day does not go right if I don't start with a nice delicious cup of the good stuff.
I've just got to get through school. I am so thankful I can go now, I can't forget that. It is a blessing to be able to do this. I'm so lucky my husband is supportive of me going to school.
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