i promise to wirite something soon!!!

I know I am horribly bad for not posting since the election but things have been in flux-all good, no worries. I promise to sit down and come up with something interesting to say (I hope!) after Christmas and before we go back to school!!
Until then, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Hannuka, Kwaanza or whatever holiday you choose to celebrate or not celebrate as the case may be!!!

Do Your Duty!!

VOTE!!

Here are some quotes I ran across lately that I like:

"Liberalism is trust of the people tempered by prudence; conservatism is distrust of the people, tempered by fear."~~Wm. Gladstone

"John McCain, putting the "ick" back in Maverick."~~poster on DailyKos.com

"If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich." JFK

"The penalty that good men pay for not being interested in politics is to be governed by men worse than themselves."~~Plato

Reasons to vote for Barack Obama

This post is a result of a letter sent to The Huntsville Times by a writer asking for an Obama supporter to tell him why they support this candidate. Since Letter #2 did not get printed (I may have sent it in too close to the first one) I reworked that letter and this is the result. For any of you who may be on the fence, I hope this helps clarify things for you.


In Thursday, October 16, 2008 Letters to the Editor, Mr. Igor Gerhardt asked to hear from those voting for Barack Obama for the reason they are supporting him over John McCain. Okay, I’ll bite…

Barack Obama’s resume includes:
• President of the Harvard Law Review.
• As a community organizer he created voter registration drives that registered 150,000 voters.
• Twelve years as a Constitutional Law professor.
• Eight years as a State Senator.
• Chairman, Illinois Senate’s Health and Human Services committee.
• Four years in the US Senate where he sponsored more than 100 bills and served on Foreign Affairs, Environmental, Public Works and Veteran’s Affairs Committees.
• Organized a summit with leading economic advisors from both sides to discuss the nation’s current economic crisis. They all came.

As to his plans as the next President:
• Barack Obama will offer tax cuts to families making less than $250k, while McCain continues cuts only benefiting the top 2% in income. The breakdown of what you pay/save for both candidates’ tax plans was included Sunday’s Parade Magazine. Under Obama 95% of Americans would pay fewer taxes.
• McCain relies on Phil Gramm for economic policy-the architect of banking deregulation which has brought us to this point, including four million Americans facing foreclosure.
• Barack Obama’s plan includes a $3000 tax credit for each new job created in America. Unlike current plans which never prevented companies from giving monies from tax breaks to CEO’s and allowed companies to spend their cash overseas.
• Barack Obama will negotiate with other countries in a global economy.
• Barack Obama will rebuild our infrastructure and keep American jobs in America.
• Barack Obama supports renewable energy sources and offers incentives to support those technologies-not limited to offshore drilling. McCain, was against offshore drilling until he received a HUGE campaign contribution from the Hess Corporation.

I cannot support a candidate who constantly “cheer leads” about our troops going off to war and doesn’t vote for Veteran’s benefits because they are “too generous” (GI Bill 2008). McCain doesn’t realize that not every vet can come home and dump their current wife for a multi-millionaire beer heiress. Only after it became clear that there were enough Senate votes to override a Presidential veto did McCain endorse the bill. Unfortunately, it still did not warrant his attention-both Obama and Clinton left their primary campaigns to return to DC to vote. McCain did not.

McCain can’t even stand up to his own party to select the VP he wanted-Joe Lieberman. McCain continues to denigrate this election with lies, smears and distortions unbecoming of his own reputation. John McCain’s entire persona is wrapped in war, so guess what his priorities will be!

Please don’t mistake tough talk of war and provocation as “leadership.” Please don’t accept balloons, flag waving and cheers as “support for our troops.” Our soldiers and our country deserve better. The fact that Barack Obama is bi-racial, signaling a change in race relations in this country (finally!) and how the world sees us is just a bonus.

Letter #2

So now I have written my second letter to the editor and sent it off. I find myself quite dismayed by a whole lotta stupid out there. Then I read Richard Shelby's (R-Alabama)comments regarding the government bailout of the mortgage industry and find myself agreeing with him, which REALLY frightened me! In any event, here is the letter I sent off Sunday night and we shall see if it makes the paper-the first one took 2 weeks to get in there so we shall see what happens here. The first one was hanging on the wall in the Dems HQ when I went by there to pick up my yard sign!

I apologize. My anger with McCain’s choice for Vice-President allowed me to be sucked into the very hype Palin’s selection intended. She is exactly where the white, Republican establishment believes women should be: Second, in a skirt, heels and red lipstick. Palin is there to distract the public and media from issues vital to our country i.e. soaring debt, two foolhardy wars and an economic disaster which grows every day! I should have focused on important differences between McCain and Obama.

McCain will continue tax cuts that benefit the top 2% in income. McCain’s tax plan includes a tax on health care benefits. McCain’s Vice-President selection shows he can’t stand up to his own party to select who he really wanted-Joe Lieberman. In all likelihood he would nominate Phil Gramm Secretary of the Treasury-the architect of banking deregulation which has brought us to this point-four million American families facing foreclosure and the recent Wall Street implosion. McCain’s entire persona is wrapped in war, so guess what his priorities will be.

Obama will give tax cuts to families earning less than $250k. Obama will negotiate with other countries in a global economy; rebuild our infrastructure and keep American jobs in America. Obama supports renewable energy development and offers incentives to support those technologies; not just proposing offshore drilling and tax breaks for big oil.

The fact that Barack is bi-racial, signaling a change in race relations in this country (finally!) and how the world looks at us is just a bonus!

It's time to Barack and Roll!!

I hadn't really intended for this to be a political blog but our local paper, The Huntsville Times, limits letter to the editor to 250 words and I had more than that to say on this issue. I have sent an edited (250 word exactly) to The Times and who knows if it will make publication (the breast and uterus comment may keep it out of the paper), so I am posting the letter here in it's original form.


With John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate, I can’t help but wonder at his blatant misogyny and ridicule for women. This appears to be an attempt by McCain to try to attract the so called “disenfranchised” Hillary supporters who threaten to keep from supporting the Democratic candidate because it is not the one they wanted. If this is the case, he is an even bigger sexist than I had previously thought. The only thing Hillary and Palin have in common are breasts and a uterus. I am personally offended that McCain thinks this is the only thing women voters in this country care about. Does he really think women are that stupid??

This plainly shows McCain’s (or is it McBush?) penchant for making the choice of unqualified people for high ranking positions in his government, just like Bush’s choice of Harriet Meirs, Brownie et.al. No one in McCain’s inner circle knew this was coming which shows just how desperate he is. McCain obviously thinks "maverick" and "hypocrite" are synonymous. Furthermore, this choice shows McCain will put his own best interest ahead of our country by selecting someone so unqualified to succeed him if or when he is no longer able to lead. Honestly, the only thing I can figure is he thinks she will take the 3 A.M. calls when he goes to bed at 8. Inexperience can no longer be used to attack Obama. Alaska has a population equivalent to San Diego and let us not forget, many in Alaska are there to escape the government and therefore do not and will not vote. Obama ran a 50 state primary campaign which defeated the Clinton political machine. That is huge. Upon his return from Europe Obama called an economic summit with members from both the left and the right to discuss our increasingly troubled economy. They all came.


Obama beats McCain on EVERY issue so McCain must be planning to reach for the biggest wedge he can: Abortion. Palin is staunchly pro-life even in cases of rape or incest (directly opposite of Hillary). She will advocate Creationism in schools. Who is she vetted by? Not McCain, he only met her once. Dick Cheney. In addition, her husband is an executive with BP Petroleum. Sounds like more big oil to me. His company stands to directly benefit from drilling in Anwar and the construction of a pipeline through Alaska.

One thing to look forward to, Biden will toast her in the debates. I can’t wait!!

Back to School...

In a very short week schools will reopen here in North Alabama. We are already hearing people complain about the early start and, “Back when I was a kid we didn’t start until after Labor Day!” And there is a group trying to lobby to “Save our Summer” to get the start date pushed back. They’re key point is that the state is missing out on all the tourist revenue that would be generated by a later start date. I don’t know about that, but I do know that summer boredom has some of us firmly in its hot, humid grasp.

We are, however; excited about the coming school year. We are leaving our old school which is K-5 and going to a new one for middle school. It really seems hard to believe that Evan is starting middle school now. Seems like just the other day I was taking him for his first day of Kindergarten.

And then there are school supplies. Why are they so exciting to buy? Even kids who don’t like school or are not good students seem to get pumped up with new supplies. I had to run to China-Mart on Saturday to pick up some things and there was total chaos on the school supply aisles. I was glad that Evan & I had already shopped for his stuff a couple of weeks ago when they first put it out. There is a tax free weekend coming up but stuff is usually so picked over by then and it is often a mob scene that I am just not equipped to deal with anymore! So the few pennies I would save are sacrificed for my mental health. I am sure that there will be some things he will need that weren’t on the supply list or that he will think that he needs.

So next week we will have orientation at the new middle school and he can get his locker assignment and we will get that set up and learn how to work the combination lock. I know we can meet the homeroom teacher but I don’t know if we will get a schedule at that time or not. In any event we shall endeavor to get Evan organized which should help make transition less stressful. I think he will be excited to see his school friends and make some new ones.

As for me I shall return to my job as everyone’s favorite substitute. I expect to be at Grissom a lot this year which is good. I enjoy the high school kids, I can be sarcastic and they get it…well some of them get it, and I am certain that it will provide much fodder for this blog. I don’t expect to get anything as good as the note I got for a students absences last year…I was subbing a long term assignment for one of the 10th grade English teachers who was gone on medical leave. A kids in my 3rd period class was absent for 2 days. Upon his return I asked him if he had an excuse which he said he would bring the next day. The next day I asked for the excuse again and he produces a full page letter from his mother explaining to me that on the first day he was absent he had not set is alarm properly (or at all I bet) and missed the bus. Due to injuries from a car accident, she was unable to drive him and so he missed school. But, he would have really only been tardy. The second day he woke up on time but was having a problem with his hair. Yes, you read that right, he was having a bad hair day and she felt sorry for him and let him stay home to try to fix his hair. So after reading this I looked at him and said, “You know, if I stayed home every time I had a bad hair day, I would never leave my house!” I look forward to school starting back, and before any of you start inundating me with emails and phone calls to get my teaching certificate so I can do this “for real,” the answer is NO! I am not going back to school!

Dog Spelled Backwards is God...

Whenever we head out to the cabin on the Elk River one of the things we look forward to doing is the “deer and wine tour.” We drive up into the pastures and look for deer who are feeding along the tree line in the early evening. Along with looking for deer, we also look at my brother-in-law, Dick’s cattle that he keeps on the property, looking for any newborns, looking at their sweet faces. On this trip, we put Trixie, our four legged nutcase, in the back of the Trooper to see how she would react to the cows. The first two days, the trips to the pasture where pretty uneventful although it was quite funny watching her watch the cows out of the car window, crying and barking at those big cows.

Wednesday night was different though. We got out in the big pasture and since it had been mowed and the grass was not very tall, I got out of the car and opened the back and let Trixie out to see what she would do. She was very excited to see the cows up close. The funny thing was, the cows seemed to want to see her. What began as a small group of cows suddenly grew to the entire herd. All the cows started coming up to where we were, some actually running up to us. Pretty soon we had a large semi circle of cattle in front of us, waiting for Trixie to tell them what to do. We laughed, she barked, the cows mooed and then I put Evan & the dog back in the vehicle and we drove on to the back pasture to look for deer.

After driving the perimeter of the back pasture, all of a sudden Evan says, “Look mom, all the cows are following us!” Sure enough, the entire herd was trotting into the pasture looking for us. We stopped again and let Trixie out and again, the cattle gathered in front of her. Once I put her back in the car, the cows followed us out of the pasture. Apparently Trixie has some sort of Rock Star status with the cows that we were not aware of before. Evan thought it was hilarious and was doubled over with laughter, it was a good evening and we will take her back so the cows can continue to adore her… But don’t tell the cat, he is into that whole Egyptian, humans worship cats thing!

Reaction Time

Okay, so here is one difference between mom’s and dad’s/men & women. Our reaction time is vastly different. Perfect example. We spend a day at the home of a friend with a swimming pool. For the most part the day is uneventful, kids swim & play in the pool, parents enjoy a beverage and read novels poolside, no stress, very laid back. It is a Sunday afternoon and around 5 or so I go in the house to change clothes and get ready to head home. I come back out to the pool and we are sitting around having a long goodbye, when suddenly our friend’s 2 year old falls into the pool! He had been sitting on the side playing with the hose that was adding water to the pool and merely leaned over to far and plop, in he went. He was right at the mid line of the pool where the shallow end begins to slope off to the deep end, and yes he had been told repeatedly to leave the hose alone. Reactions-we all jump up, the child’s mom starts to enter the pool from the steps at the shallow end, Pat goes on the side of the pool. Where was I? My friend said she felt this rush of air and looked up and all she saw was my feet as I dove over her head into the pool, completely dressed, watch and all. I do admit that it was important that Pat was poolside and could grab the child when I lifted him up because I could not touch the bottom, but the point is this: I didn’t even think; I just reacted to what needed to be done.

Twice now, Pat has decided to quit fishing. Both times we have been in my sister and brothers-in-law pontoon boat. The first time was the summer of 2006 and I am not sure what exactly happened, but the result was his fishing rod leapt out of his hands and into the murky, brown water of the Elk River. My sister, who was the only one in a bathing suit, immediately pulled off her t-shirt and was ready to jump in to try to find it. Pat on the other hand, is trying to make some sort of logical decision about the attempted retrieval. Last week it was the same thing. We were fishing, probably about 100 yards from where the first incident occurred and somehow, this rod too, decided to make a break for freedom and ended up on the bottom of the river. I said “Jump in!” as the boat was moving forward, but it took a couple of minutes for the reality to sink in and then Pat took off his sunglasses, shirt, shoes, hat etc…and then jumped in. Needless to say, by that time we were all a little vague about the location of where we were at the time and where the rod and reel might be. Of course he kept asking me where I thought we were when the rod & reel went in. I must look like me name is TomTom! So, I circled the area slowly for about an hour while Pat waded around in neck deep water trying to locate the rod and reel. No luck.

It is sometimes a bone of contention at our house. I don’t know how many times in the last, almost 12 years I have caught vomit in my hand (don’t feed Evan apple sauce!) or redirected to save furniture or rugs from either Evan or the dog throwing up and then clean up the mess. It has to be done, but most of the time, Pat helps by staying out of the way. And before anyone jumps on my case, let me be perfectly clear here, I am not picking on Pat, he can and does do many things that I can’t or won’t (electrical and plumbing work and cleaning up “gifts” left by the cat.) I am merely pointing out the differences in our reaction to emergency situations. Maybe it has something to do with being a mom. I tend to see danger at every turn and am prepared to react to it. Maybe it is that invisible dividing line between what he sees as his responsibilities and mine, he cleans up the outside and I get the inside, he handles Math and Science homework and I get English & Social Studies. In any event, we do try to see the humor in the situation and while Pat didn’t find any humor in it while he was searching for the rod and reel, he was able to laugh about it later. On the other hand, I rarely find myself giggling as I clean up the most recent disgorgement.

Bathing Suit Season

Well, I was just feeling too good about myself the other day, so while I was visiting the local mall (which I loathe by the way) I decided to browse the offerings in the bathing suit department. Before I get into this, let me give you some background on this whole debacle.

Many years ago, I think it was in the 80’s, which I vaguely remember, I took a “girls trip” to the beach with a couple of girlfriends. We stopped for lunch at a fast food restaurant on the trip down. While we were waiting in line, some teenaged girls came in wearing bathing suit tops and cutoffs. My friend Tracey kept saying how she hated those girls because they were thin, 16 and very tan, but mostly thin. When we got back in the car, she asked me why I wasn’t pissed off seeing these very thin teenaged girls and I told her that I didn’t look like them when I as 16 so I didn’t think it was very realistic to want to look like them when I was 25 or 28 or however old we were at the time. The point is, I have always had a realistic self image I think. Even when I was at my thinnest (in high school) I had issues both real and imagined. Now at 47, I have had a child, part of my lung removed, survived breast cancer (chemo, lumpectomy & radiation) and if you don’t think those throw some hard facts in your face, think again.

So I am in the department store looking at the racks of suits available for this summer season. As I am looking through the racks of size 8s, 10s and 12s I notice they have a tag hanging off them which reads: “Inches Away.” I remove the size 8 from the rack and hold it up for all to see and say, “Is it just me or does anyone else in here think that the woman who is going to buy this size 8 REALLY needs an inches away suit? I don’t think so; in fact I will smack her up side the head as Greenpeace is rolling me back in the water!” The sales lady and the other shoppers around all laughed and agreed with me (none of them was a size 8 either.)

I continued looking and actually found several suits I thought I would try. As I said before I was feeling pretty good about myself. So I went in the dressing room knowing that at $100 and up I would only be able to justify buying the one that made me look like a tall, willowy blond. I came out of the dressing room with all the suits back on their hangers and the sales lady asked me:
“Did any of those work for you?”
I said, “Well no, not really.”
“Why not, what was wrong?” she asked.
“Well the problem is this,” I said holding up a suit with a large, black tag hanging off of it that read something to the effect of “this suit will remove 10 pounds.” “I couldn’t figure out how to wear 8 of these at one time! And now I am going to go and drink!”

In the end, I bought nothing and am still using last years suit and that is okay, I don’t use it that much anyway. My point, if there is one is that I have always found it better to confront hostile(?) situations with a sense of humor. I’d much rather laugh than cry.

Soccer is a big part of our lives. I especially enjoy watching Evan's games but we go to any pro or semi pro games that we can and watch a lot of games on TV.

Getting Started

So being inspired by good friends who do this, it seemed like a good time to take the plunge. Whether or not I actually have something to say remains to be seen but we'll see how this goes. There is the opportunity to explolre many different topics from politics to parenting and that is the goal of this blog and to also provide me with a bit of a creative outlet through writing. The fact that it will enable me to stay in touch with friends around the world is an added bonus. So I hope you will visit often, leave a comment and keep an open mind...always.