Grateful Thoughts

Lucy’s labs came back normal, which is great.  The next steps will be allergies, intolerances and other digestion issues.

My boss approved my alternate schedule, which will start not this week but next (unless my surgery remains on the 9^th, in which case it will start when I get back).  My surgery date is up in the air again until I my next doctor’s appointment on Thursday AM. 

Thanksgiving was nice, it has been a good weekend.  I’ve been sluggish, but got a lot of kid time and housecleaning in.  Poor Noah got a really bad stomach flu the last 2 days, with fever and absolutely nothing staying down.  Last night was a rough one.

Aside from that, I’m feeling very grateful for a lot of things—it is clear the Lord has really taken care of us this year—always has, really, but all those years I felt a little out blown in the wind I can now better see what He was teaching us and that he was arranging things for our better good through all that.  It’s good to feel God’s love in that way. 

David will be out of town this coming week, it’s going to be a hard one, but I have a lot of family and friend support.  We went out this past weekend and I decided that even though I see him less often than ever, I really like him still, and I’m really proud of the work he is doing at the Federal Defender, and particularly proud of why he does it. 

We went to see a much-awaited vampire movie Friday that was very sweet and intense.  And I although I’m sure it goes without saying which one it was, I will clarify that it was the new Swedish indie film “Let the Right One In.”   I broke my rated R movie rules to spend time with David, who was already going with other friends.  Then I got a talking to today from a youth speaker who explained that it is not just about the rating, but about any content which makes it so you can’t feel the Spirit.  And since this particular much-awaited vampire movie was about a real vampire who—although only 12 and lonely and sad—actually has to reluctantly but desperately feed off random people to survive, and who takes bloody (and I must say gratifying) vengeance  to defend her only friend in the end—it was still a real vampire movie.  Anyway, the youth speaker’s point is taken. 

Tomorrow for FHE we start advent.  David picked up the required advent calendars from Trader Joes on his last visit.  I’m going to try to sing Christmas songs each night as a family this month and for our lesson tomorrow ask my family to participate in giving the gift of more regular and fervent prayers through the advent season to see if we can have the spirit of the Savior more strongly felt in our home.

Well, that’s my update.  Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving.

Your Favorite Alternate (and Derisive) FDA Acronym Here

Subject: Did you hear about this yet?

 

http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/INFANT_FORMULA?SITE=MABOC&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-11-25-19-57-30

FDA wins again. The only way we know about this is some reporter filed a freedom of information request? This is sad.

Jen

The most CHRISTmasy Christmas ever

Most people are pulling back this Christmas—one study I saw today said people expect to spend 50% less than last year!  Retailers are petrified that Black Friday will be red after all.  Our family is definitely being more conservative this Christmas in an attempt to save and in a realization that we (and our kids) just don’t need more stuff. 

 

While people are spending less on Christmas, people are also spending less on charitable giving.  And while charities’ budgets are shrinking, the need is growing, with more families out of work and money stretched tight.  Here in SLC, Sub For Santa and several other organizations that help needy families at Christmas have already stopped taking new families entirely, having reached capacity and the limits of their budgets.  They say this hasn’t happened before so early in the season. 

 

There is a growing movement to encourage people who are still above water to still cut back some and give instead to charity—and by replacing gifts to friends and family with a card or a letter that explains that a donation has been made in their name.   For our normal family gift exchange this year, I was going to suggest that instead we all put a $10 toward a donation to the local shelter to increase the spirit of the season not just for us, but for families—and especially children—who are really having a hard time. 

 

We’ve been reading in the Book of Mormon lately King Benjamin’s service about our responsibility to care for the poor, and these ten short verses really hit me hard and made me commit to a different plan for this Christmas, and I hope you’ll join me in encouraging others to sacrifice more stuff this Christmas to help our fellow brothers & sisters.  “Are we not all beggars?”

God’s plan is not that we should be forced to give our excess substance to the poor, but that we will CHOOSE to give it.   He says, “It is not given that one man should ^apossess that which is above another, wherefore the world lieth in sin.”  (D&C 49: 20).  In Morm. 8: 37  and  2 Ne. 28: 13 the prophets go so far as to say that when get excess or fancy stuff, we are actually robbing the poor.

Ben, Sophie and I just read in Little House on the Prairie about their Christmas, and how thrilled the girls were to find in their stockings their very own tin cup (so they wouldn’t have to share at the table anymore), a big stick of candy, a cake made out of (gasp!) both white flour AND white sugar and a shiny penny.  They were overflowing with tears and gratitude—and that was their whole Christmas.  My kids were simply horrified. 

It’s not that I haven’t thought about these things before, it’s just that as I was getting ready to put together our list, and I have felt that I need to show my kids how to enjoy Christmas beyond the presents.  Sure, they’ll still get presents, but I’ve seen in years past that too much in that arena doesn’t help anybody.  I want to work on this in a way that doesn’t make them resentful or feel deprived, and I think there is a way to be more modest this year and still do that.  At the same time, I want to show them that the needs out there are great, and we need to do what we can to help the uncomfortable become more comfortable, rather than just add to our own comforts.

That’s what’s on my mind today and I wanted to pass it a long in my own lame way of trying to help the sad cause of charities right now—pass along the thought if you feel so inclined.

Your "Fear Factor" Cred Just Went Up

Apparently you probably have been eating insects for quite some time now, among some other things, thanks to a food industry that values pretty colors over the healthy food. 

 

Thanks to Doris for passing on . . . she says:

 

Time for another “that’s not food Thursday”…  http://money.aol.com/bw/general/canvas3/_a/whats-in-my-food/20060808141909990001

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

www.dorisandsam.blogspot.com

 

 

 

TV study

Thought this was interesting:

 

What Happy People Don’t Do

 

Lucy is still not growing and we’re starting another round of testing—she was tested for cystic fibrosis yesterday—let’s just pray it’s not that.  I just put in my request for a schedule change last night, please pray they’ll do it for me.  Things are amazingly intense and busy, but not bad.

 

Let Beer Companies Pay for your Food!

I'm passing along a fun tip from my dear friend of 25 years (how far we've come since 8th grade earth science class!)--A word from Janet--

All,
I hate mass email but I love good food - and a good deal and thought you might too. Beer companies are paying for groceries this holiday in an insane marketing ploy. They should have a disclaimer for Mormons who don't drink, but hey.

I saw this on the news last night (KSL http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=4847389). Beer companies are giving rebates on food. For example, Budweiser is giving you $15 back on a deli tray of ham or turkey. It doesn't say what store (you could go to an grocery store or deli). It just has to be at least $25. This means you'll get about half the cost back. It expires at the end of Christmas.

You have to look at the grocery store to find the rebate forms. They are on displays by beer and on the ends of aisle displays. I found one at Smith's today at the end of the beer isle. You don't have to buy beer to use it. I'm going to look for more...

I couldn't pass up this deal!

Janet

Don't panic--but it's time to panic

I was reviewing my “That’s not food” articles over on mamamelodrama.blogspot.com  the other day and wishing I had time to be more careful with my kids’ diets.  They just are clearly not healthy kids—not really sickly, but I can see they are not vibrant and well.  With the flu season coming on, I’m trying to figure out what I can do to help them build their immunity and be more healthy (besides passing out the chemical-laden Flinstones, which I’ve resorted to in my chaotic life).

 

Then I read this article in the NY Times and realized that it simply needs to happen whether I’m busy or not.  More than ever I need to know exactly where our food comes from, and wherever possible we need to grow and cook it ourselves.  I’ve always known that the essentially pre-digested processed foods we consider normal when we eat out (and in) are now more likely than ever to contain some very, very scary things.  As an example, this article discusses wheat gluten, which is almost ubiquitous in processed and restaurant foods, is almost ALWAYS made in China, and one of the top melamine contaminated concerns over there. 

 

Globalism, my @@$.

 

What’s more—meat, as the top of the food chain, is increasingly where the trace contaminants accumulate—through the feed, air, water and even grazing land if you buy the fancy meat.  Meat is becoming the catch-all for these things to bring them beyond “trace” levels.  And then, our small kids are taking in such a heavy load for their small bodies.  This stuff is just not imaginary or the realm of the paranoid anymore.  Let’s face it—being actively concerned about the growing levels of scary things our kids are consuming under the name of “nutrition” can no longer be written off as the rant of crazy hippie parents, or the luxury of having enough time--it needs to be the mantra of all concerned parents despite our finances and schedules. 

 

Yes, time is scarce.  Time (and money) to plant, grow, prepare, cook and serve food to our families is short.  I’m really, really feeling that.  But this is one very important way I can show them I love them.  And more than ever, I’m grateful for a living prophet and the gospel, which has been telling us to grow and preserve food, save money, eat very little meat, pay down our mortgages, follow the Word of Wisdom and the example of Daniel, and avoid debt—long before these things became an emergency.  This is why ongoing revelation from God for our times is such an expression of God’s love.  Let’s not be afraid, but let’s listen to what we’ve been told.

 

Op-Ed Contributor: Our Home-Grown Melamine Problem

Thought for the day

You know what I like better than diet shakes?

 

EGGNOG.

 

 

Yes, it’s that time of year!  Hail the anti-diet shake! 

Hail the EGGNOG!

reasons to email me

First, because I changed my cell phone number and finally went local.  (To quote Doris, “NOOOOOOOOOO!”).  If you want to have it, email me at hivalerie at g mail dot com.

 

Second, because I work for “the world’s largest discount network,” I can get 8 free one-year discount memberships for my friends.  There are some lame discounts, there are some amazing discounts—like 15% off at Target.com.  (Can I just tell you right now I’ll be ordering Christmas from there this week?)  Other brands include Kohls, Disneyworld, tons of hotels, restaurants, etc.  They tend to be pretty fast turning around cards, so if you want to get one and see if can help you with Christmas, I’m happy to send one your way.  I simply want to give them to the bargain-hunter type people who are inclined to go online and find the places they can save.  Email me your name and address if you want one.  I can’t request them until I have a list of all 8 takers.

 

Email today—and put the power of 250,000 brands behind your family.  At Access, our experience is your advantage. 

 

Hm, I guess that would be my cue to switch over to REAL work now, while the Access “muse” is turned on.  J

 

United we stand, divided we fall

Welcome to my lunch break.  I thought I’d take a break from all that writing to write.

 

Some ugly and unsettling things have happened with me and my family personally since the election, and because of the election.  The election is over, and you all know too well I have been more than willing to share my political say.  However, I now see that there are more pressing problems that cannot be mended—but only exacerbated—by political discussion.  The time for sharing opinions that can divide may have had a place in the election season (maybe not, I honestly don’t know) but I feel it’s time to keep my political thoughts to myself and to try to foster a spirit of unity in myself, my family and among my friends.  It’s time to take down the signs and bumper stickers which now only serve to highlight differences, and to emphasize our common goals.

 

The emphasis on unity in the recent general conference (I just got my Ensign copy of it yesterday) seems more prophetic than ever after this week (and the past months).  I’m reminded of what we’ve been reading with the kids in the Book of Mormon, as it continually warns about the dangers of allowing contention to come in among us.  Today we read King Benjamin teaching that if people become contentious, they will cease to prosper in the land.  The destructive contentions among the people in the Book of Mormon are almost always over politics, economics and class.  The divisions and contentions are not just between church members and those outside of the church, but very often within the church.  It has never been clearer to me that the Book of Mormon was given to us in our day as a roadmap and a warning of what will happen if we continue down this path.

 

We value our country, which is why political issues are important, even though they can’t fix everything, and much of our nation’s problems are spiritual issues.  Policies and laws both effect and reflect citizen behavior, and is only one of many factors that influence the choices people make. Politics do not take precedence over the principles of the gospel—politics cannot excuse unChristlike behavior, even toward politicians, and even if we think “they deserve it,”—whether it’s Bush, Cheney, Obama or Palin. 

 

We have had to sit down and teach our kids this week that God expects us to respond with kindness and respect with everyone no matter what—whether they treat us with respect or not, whether we agree with them or not, whether we like them or not, even when we are speaking about politicians or other public figures we don’t personally know-- others’ behavior never justifies abandoning our own principles of how the Lord asks us to act.  

 

And we’ve had to explain that good people, even good grownups, can forget this and choose to act poorly toward us, but we cannot write off those people for their poor behavior or just say they are bad.  We talk about how Christ tells the Pharisees: Sure, everybody loves their friends, that doesn’t make them righteous—it is the ability to love those whom you disagree with or who treat you badly.  It’s hard for kids to understand that because we adults don’t understand it, and the kids are seeing adults around them take an “eye for an eye” approach. 

 

As I’ve had to sit down and discuss these ideals to my kids, I’ve committed myself to stick to common ground and avoid any cause of contention, and that I will try to recognize that divisiveness for what it is—a strategy of the adversary that starts on both sides with righteous indignation, then ends in division, anger and bitterness.  This week when we were faced with this response from some individuals, I noticed that although I didn’t react openly, I internally felt the same progression of negative feelings.  While defending a cause is good and needed, too often it turns into an attack on others  (mentally or literally) and getting absorbed in fear and anger, which causes us to lose the Spirit and undermines our attempts to bring about positive things.  It is so important that our children learn how to support what they believe without resorting to tearing down others. 

 

Also, as part of that, I’m committing to get my information from sources that do not work to stir up contention and anger, be it for political, religious or entertainment purposes.  Unfortunately, this angle is far too common in the standard exchange of information.

 

I don’t think we need to stop being who we are or thinking our own thoughts to unified, to be “as one,” but if my self-control and restraint are required, I think it’s worth it, because I for one think the only true temporal remedy for the state of the nation and the world is the establishment of Zion.  And Zion by definition is a unified people “of one heart and one mind.” Christ says, “If ye are not one, ye are not mine.”   Divisiveness leads us away from Christ.

 

So I need to make some changes not just in what I say, but in how I think.  I want to apologize to those who have felt offended by what I have said and for any time in my political frustration I have gone against the things I’ve committed to strive for here.  While we pray for our leaders and that our government will make good decisions for our country, and while we hope that as a nation we will turn away from divisiveness and ugliness, and we hope against hope that people can civilly disagree and still respect and love one another—all I personally can do from day to day is try to increase the love and the Spirit in my home and in my interactions with people.  Since this blog counts as one of those interactions, the same rules should apply.

 

I can’t edit my blog from here, but you can look forward to it being depoliticized shortly.

Predictions

I hope if you were saddened by the election results that you didn’t run off to bed before the victory speech. Both men’s speeches were definitely essential listens. They can be viewed at their campaign websites and on most newspaper sites—NYT has them.

Those frustrated by the kid gloves they feel the media has used with Obama can take comfort in the coming days and months, as scrutiny and skepticism will soon take it’s place. As he actually takes office and is forced to make difficult decisions, it is very likely his supporters will feel disappointed. Our American Idol-style politics lend themselves both to infatuation and to backlash—whether the man is a rock star or a worthy leader or both.

Can you imagine a more difficult situation to take on? Not only one of the most challenging periods in our nation’s history, with even global chaos looming—but the weight of all that hope he asked for (and got), being the first black president, the MLK parallels, the JFK parallels, the enormous antipathy, mistrust and downright bigotry of many of those he will govern. And how will he sell his own party on his flavor of bipartisanship? I just can’t imagine the pressure—choosing to step into that looks more like masochism than powerlust.

As I watched his acceptance speech, I did have that sense of historic significance and felt again that appreciation of his direct style so foreign to the political mannerisms of the past several decades. I felt that his seriousness, his practicality, his tendency to surround himself with smart people would help him face everything as best as can be done under the circumstances.

But at the end, when he was slowly walking the front of the stage, smiling but somehow still serious, waving to people in the audience—every so often the camera would catch a glint of the enormous wall of glass that surrounded him on every side of that seemingly open and public stage. Something about this image of the serious man waving from inside the giant glass cage, and the enormous personal, national and global threats he just was handed—I was overwhelmed with sadness.

My Feelings Today

I swore I’d be on “radio silence” this week since I’m swamped at work, but I took a minute to read this short editorial, and I decided it, especially the last paragraph, really encapsulates how I feel today.

 

http://jamesfallows.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/11/obama_for_president.php

 

Regardless of who wins, and especially if at the end of the day you see this as a bad day for America, I hope that you will pray for our new president, that he will be wise and try to do the right things for our nation.  If Obama wins, and you do feel that he will despitefully use and persecute you—all the more reason to pray for him.  In our family we have been praying hard for our country, that who ever is selected to lead it will be wise and humbled by the responsibility rather than corrupted by the power.  If we are all praying for the same man, that would surely be a healing measure to unify us as a country after this nasty election.  

Thanks and Pics

Thanks for all your nice messages and emails. If I was fishing, which I wasn't, I surely scored many fish.

I tried to post pictures via my new magical email method last night and they didn't go through, so I posted them the old way in a few posts (below).

Today Seaworld came to my work (we sell a LOT of Sea World tickets) and they did a short presentation with a kookabura, a porcupine, a great horned owl, a baby kangaroo, a hawk, a lemur, a reindeer and a camel. I didn't plan on doing it, but my coworkers said, "hey, the boss is out, go get your kids and let them see it, it was great last year!) So I surprised all my kids and picked them all up and we saw the animals and I just went home after that, with only the permission of all my co-workers, no real permission. It was over at 3, and I couldn't see dropping them all back at care to arrive back at work at 4 or 4:30.

It was fun but bittersweet, because we all had such a nice weekend together and I could tell the kids were really bothered about the whole work thing--and so was I. It's not an optional thing, but I'm missing them more and more. Every day Noah says, "Mom, I don't want to go to school or Lincoln's, I want you." And I think about how it won't be long before this sweet little four year old won't feel that way anymore--it is such a short time, and I'm missing so much of it. I'm just really sad about it today. Sadness I guess in the air the past few days.

But again, thanks for your sweet words.

And for those of you who are asking me, "It looks like Obama will win? Are you happy?" I say no, although I will feel relieved. If McCain won, I would be wonderfully off the hook for all the negative future events which will surely be blamed on the next president, whether within the realm of his influence or not. With my being outspoken for Obama, it's like a personal liability for every dumb thing he will do, and every dumb thing that happens, whether he did it or it would have happened either way.

Yes, I think we'll be better off, but since we can never know what "would have been," and since we seem to be headed for even more difficult times, I think it will be the easy road for folks to take to comfort ourselves with how great it would have been if we'd only chosen otherwise.

And then there's the fact that he's a politician, and for all the things I like about him, he's still that. So it's a matter of seeing how he will disappoint, while believing he'll disappoint less than the alternative.

To quote Jon Stewart, "Oh Obama--how will you break our hearts?"

I've already voted, and I'm in Utah, so that's all kind of anticlimactic.

Oh, and Gina, on the gay marriage thing, I read an interesting article about that last week:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/01/us/politics/01marriage.html?_r=2&hp=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1225511260-d/kZUCg84l1R8pwJ7/1QTw&oref=slogin

Personally, they both are against it, Obama for religious reasons, McCain in the name of tradition, and it sounds like both of them are mired in federalism, state issues, and policy technicalities on why they will or won't support various laws surrounding it. But when it comes to respect for the family, I think Obama has shown much clearer support of it personally with one wife whom he shows respect. McCain has shown very little concern for family matters in his treatment of his ex-wife and shockingly misogynist statements toward women in general.

But blah blah blah. It's all over tomorrow. Thank heaven for that.

Last Harvest Pictures (See post from many weeks ago)

This was a beautiful day. We literally had 3 HUGE wheelbarrows of squash. Everyone helped all day that day—Sophie and Ben helped pick grapes, Ben chopped down corn stalks, and we all carried our 30 pumpkins around in a festive mood. We have so many kinds of squash I don’t even know what some of them are. (Note to self for next year—Valerie, please WRITE DOWN and MARK all your plants like EVERY gardening book tells you to! Why do you ALWAYS think you are the exception to the most basic rules??!)

Silly Kids

A few random pics of Lucy and Noah—always happy to ham for the camera.

Sophie's Birthday

September 27th—that’s how far behind I am on pictures. We went to the Kangaroo Zoo—a bouncer-house play place. Ben was there, but somehow I managed to not get a picture of him. I can’t believe my girl is seven! Not because she’s grown up so fast, but because she already acts like she’s 17!!

I’m in for it!

Not rainy days but Sundays always get me down.

Forgive me, Californians, but I had totally forgotten how glorious a real autumn was--we had a picture-perfect Halloween, with leaves of every color imaginable blowing gently in a moody wind under gloomy skies, Ben's vampire cape fluttering Hollywood-style after him as he ran (literally ran) from house to house. He ran because he was excited about candy. He ran because he loved the way his cape fluttered so perfectly.

Sophie was an adorable witch, Noah a very muscular spider man, and Lucy rejected her Bumblebee costume for one of our many princess dressups (see her 2-year-old pic). David is working in No. CA, so I had no camera. My mom took a few on her phone, which I'll post if we figure out how to get those to me.

I have never seen so much candy in all my life, and our cousins were shocked to hear that my children had never before been trick-0r-treating! Of course, in post-apocalyptic Southern California where supposedly creepy pedophile murderous psychopaths find joy in poisoning children's candy, were were relegated to trunk-or-treating. I always thought that was fine, but now I know that --sorry my sweet CA friends--it is a very distant second. Our Halloween was something like Norman-Rockwell perfect. I was sad David had to be gone, but we made do, thank again, as always, to my mom.

But, if my sweet CA friends are feeling slighted, take comfort in how miserable I get every Sunday when I go to church, but you aren't there. I take my kids to the park (albeit rarely), but you aren't there either.

Today at church I finally indulged myself fully for a moment in what I swore I would not do--total and utter sobbing self pity. Sure, my farm life is what I always wanted--the children have never been happier--Dave's career is taking off--I have a perfect job I love that is helping us get a leg up financially (albeit just one leg)--there is hope I'll be able to transition to more time at home--family is close and helpful--there's more peace, more hope--the marriage is great--the weather--the holidays--it is all perfect.

So really, all I lost when I left California is 1) all my friends and 2) everything that gave my church activity meaning.

That's all.

I have always been very annoyed by people who don't feel included, yet don't actively work to include themselves. I figure if you don't like the way it is, you just work to change it. But today I let myself be that annoying person for a minute.

Remember that Valerie who, along with Shauna P and Lori M all realized we felt lonely in the ward and decided to unionize? Remember the MEPAF Valerie? The "come-join-me-today" Valerie? The one that just LOVED everybody--even the people she didn't like? Ya. I've said it before and I'll say it again--she's dead. She fell out of the Van en route and her mouldering bones lie on the side of the I-15 somewhere south of Filmore.

I'm so sad to discover that the person I thought I was--a person I was really starting to like--wasn't really who I was at all, but a product of where I was and who I was with. I really mourn that, it's like a huge step backward from where I thought I was headed as a person.

I go to church and I'm not excited to see anyone, and no one is excited to see me, and I'm not even sad about that--I'm just sad they aren't other people--how pathetic is that? I go to church and I want to be useful and needed, but there are no needs--and although I know that on an individual level, secret needs lurk and the old Valerie would go and try to dig them up and help fill them, I encounter too many walls and just a whole language I don't understand that seems so unreal to me, so I just am not even trying anymore.

And my schedule is crazy anyway, which only made it worse--my working apparently is a big, very public mark against me--add in the Obama signs (which honestly was not a statement of rebellion but were placed in attempt to make others like us feel less lonely, like we did when we saw them in other yards)--add in my relation to my cousin, who is both a decades-long pillar and bastion of the ward while having crossed, it seems, almost everyone in the ward at some point (the strong opinion gene runs strong in our family--just not the same opinions, apparently--but love her I do).

And my every-other-week calling of playing primary piano (which I do like) is made to seem like a real calling, and if I have to do two Sundays in a row, I am sincerely apologized to about being made to work so hard. And while I'm thinking, "You're kidding me, right?" and feeling so superior about knowing what "real" work for The Kingdom feels like, guess who hasn't bothered to EVER visit teach those I was assigned to SEVEN months ago? Yep. Can you believe it? Never even met them--and couldn't tell you who they were in a crowd.

This from a person who had her testimony of visiting teaching unmistakenly sent home that weekend last year between the suicide and the funeral--what would have happened that weekend if over all those months prior I hadn't kept trying, against her will, to keep touch with her and show love to her? There she was, with NO family and no real support and not even able to stand up from grief over her son yet facing funeral and burial plans? By itself that was an edict to never, EVER forget my visiting teaching. What kind of culpability does that kind of experience give me now, when I don't even try?

Man, I'm a blubbering idiot now.

I've never had trouble connecting with people, making conversation and getting to the real stuff quickly. I don't like talking to people so much if it is not about the real stuff. I feel like I don't speak the language here or something--I know there is real stuff, everyone has it. Either they don't want to talk real stuff, or they have enough people to talk real stuff with. Or maybe what they ARE talking about is their real stuff, which means I'm a big jerk and find their real stuff completely inane?

And, if I actually found a new friend, instead of just lamenting the absence of my old ones, where would I put them, anyway? Honestly, I've met two nice, down-to-earth people that I consider friends here, but they, like me, are working moms of four and five young kids and although we can share moments of concern in the church hallway, outside of that there is simply no time anyway.

So, I can't say I lack friends, I just miss all of you so much, and I miss having time for you, I miss talking to Doris every single day, and park day, and talks while we wandered the zoo. I miss how I happy I was on Sundays knowing I was going to be with my friends doing The Work and trying to lift each other's burdens. Man, I just miss you guys!

And--I really, really miss the person I was when I was with you.

Self-Indulgence Gives Me a Tummy Ache

And I’m not talking about candy  (although I’m heading in that direction, too)

 

Seriously, you think YOU are sick of hearing me talk? 

 

I am even getting sick of it. 

 

 

 

Just remember, it helps me to get this stuff out of my head, but that doesn’t mean it needs to go into yours.  Read at your own risk.

 

Socialism & Taxes

You knew I lied when I said I thought I might be done talking politics.  At the time, I didn’t.  It was late at night and I felt so tired I thought I’d never have the energy to think about it again. 

 

But, for the sake of the archive (because I’m soon going to print this and need a comprehensive volume so my kids can see how crazy their mom was), long ago when I wanted to blog and didn’t know about the secret email address, I read this great article that really sold me on taxes.  The jist of it was that taxes are an investment in our common future, it is the way we literally support the troops--taxes are the way we train, arm, care for and support our troops and military families. Taxes pay for the police, firefighters, teachers and civil servants. Taxes build highways, bridges, tunnels and prepare a future for our children.

 

In short, taxes are not evil. They build our communities and our nation.  Yes, the tax system is illogical and unfair and yes, tax money is used irresponsibly.  I liked that article, I wish I could find it again for you.

 

But let’s move on to the sin that has replaced taxation.

 

About that time a friend asked me to give her a reply to send to some “Obama’s a militant socialism Muslim” email spam she received.  Since my day job is to write stuff all day, it is in my nature to be happy to be the outsourced option for people’s personal communications (seriously, people here at work ask me to write emails for them—I can’t say that is a testament to my talents as much as a testament to well-intended laziness).

 

I will spare you the full response, but will give you an excerpt.  I’ll warn you that I got a little angry so I may seem a little aggressive, but if you read carefully, you’ll also see why I say I’m secretly a conservative:

 

Don’t you think it strange that the Republican president just last week oversaw the largest socialization effort this country has ever seen?   (So if a few poor people get a handout after all those banks, what can it hurt?)  People call the left the “tax and spend” crowd, but the right has proven to be a “borrow and spend” crowd, so instead of paying our own expenditures and obligations with taxes, we are now subject to our debtors, ironically, China, Dubai, the Saudis--among many others.  Those socialists, communists and Muslims you find so scary actually have increasingly owned this country to the point they could shut us down in a heartbeat without a single weapon should they choose to do so, and not because of some fake Muslim candidate, but because of how W has sold us in the 8 years.  We have literally been sold to the highest bidder, right under our noses.  Now that’s is what is really scary.

 

Now, I’ll be open and tell you that my family’s tax burden has literally kicked us in the @$$ the past three years and I won’t be stretching too far to say it has seriously messed with our lives.  Nonetheless, although obviously my first choice would be the impossible dream of responsible government spending only for necessities, I would rather be taxed for our nation’s needs than indebted to other countries—many of which we do not even consider allies, only creditors.

 

As you know, recently McCain has been playing the socialism and tax cards.  In a recent interview he decried the idea of people who have more paying more taxes as socialist “spreading the wealth around.”  The anchor asked if the government bailout of the banks wasn’t clearly socialism?  He responded, “Well, you know, these very difficult economic times and unusual circumstances.”  

 

Yes, they are John.  But not just for banks.

 

My Favorite Quagmire of Partisanship

Like my friend Lisa, as much as I vent my thoughts out here on the blog about the election, I am in knots over it and also can't wait until it, and its forboding aftermath, is over. I am not sure, but I think I may have finally got all my political angst out of my system in all these long-winded posts and hopefully now I can go back to whatever else it is I use my blog for.

But before I make a lame attempt to swear off of politics, I'll introduce you to www.realclearpolitics.com as a fun place to go if you are a politico-junkie to any degree. It cumulates all polls, both state and national, it gives you the interactive maps and it has loads of featured articles that will make lefties and righties both scream "bias!" The articles are from papers and online sources all over the web from varying viewpoints--left, right and center. It's good stuff if you are willing to read both sides.

DISCLAIMER: Although I think it is obvious, I somehow feel the need to make the disclaimer that I am stating entirely my own opinions here on this blog--the facts I choose to share are the ones I personally believe to be true. I reserve the right to rant, to assume, to speculate, to be angry, sometimes be irrational and snarky, and sometimes be wrong all together. This blog is cheaper than therapy, although not much less self-indulgent, and heaven knows I need a little therapy these days.