Mirror Mirror on the Wall...

...my nemesis sounds so much like me.

This has to be what our esteemed president says when he hears stuff like this. (find the entire bit here)

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's president on Tuesday blamed the U.S. and other "big powers" for global ills such as nuclear proliferation and AIDS, and accused them of exploiting the U.N. for their own

But, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said, time was on the poor countries' side.

"The big powers are going down," Ahmadinejad told foreign ministers of the Nonaligned Movement meeting in Tehran. "They have come to the end of their power, and the world is on the verge of entering a new, promising era."

How is that 2 of the worlds leaders can sounds so - well juvenile. Do they have the same demented speech writers? Iran's president is talking about "big powers" and last week Bush is lamenting the "Wall Street Thugs." Are you kidding me?

There is an obligation fellow voters - to show up on election day and to CHOOSE the best man for the job. The Iranian's I can excuse - given that the democratic process is a bit corrupted and well it is kinda a police state - vote for the wrong guy - lose your hand. What I ask is this country's problem?

I will say the comments of the President of Iran have vision - misguided and kinda scary sometimes - but there is a twinkle of vision. More than I can say for our ducky guy!

While throwing stones - I will also say that Obama seems to have vision and can articulate it well - and McCain has been known to have vision - articulation optional. I am not sure either man has enough of either - vision nor articulation to really energize the American voter. It is really sad.

One wonders:

Are they a reflection of our apathy?

A bicycle made for three....

L is too heavy for me to pull in the Burley - with E. It is well over 100 pounds now and I just cannot manage it. Furthermore they cannot handle being stuffed into the trailer together. It is nothing short of a riot.

So we bought a bike that attaches to mine for L to ride. It fits under the seat and has one wheel and handle bars. We are hoping this will make it more fun for all of us and help her prefect her balance so that eventually she can ride her own 2 wheeler. She is very much struggling with this.

Now - in theory this approach would take 2 adults - one to pull E and one to pull L. But in my world I am solo most of the time. So I asked H to try linking the Burley trailer to L's new trailer bike.

So we did and it totally works. I rode with them to the park today. We look like a mini bike train - but it is wonderful. I have my doubts about any really big hills - but it works and everyone gets to enjoy the ride.

All in all - I think E has the best deal - but now we can at least all cruise around in style.

Where in the US have I been?

visited 28 states (56%)
Create your own visited map of The United States or determine the next president

I thought this was super cool. I have been alot of places. Mostly before H became a pilot! LOL! Must be why the airlines are faring so poorly these days!

All I can say is thank you...

This one is for SS & JS - your gifts are without measure.

How can this be?
Because it is she says to me

Because it is, like the starlight
and your Power buried deep within burning bright

Given courage you will rise above
conquering it all with love

When you stop hiding
cease to believe the mirrored lying

Then you too will see
what is truly meant to be

It is not for me to say
Life does not unfold that way

It is not a story to be rewritten
but rather a chance to sculpt what you are given

Courage is all it takes
for a masterpiece to take shape

WOW!

I just hit the 20,000 word mark in my Work in Progress. Yipee! This is my serious novel, not a sexy fun story, but a serious work of fiction! Even better - I hit this milestone on my birthday!

For those of you wondering 20,000 is about 40 pages single spaced and 88 pages in manuscript format. By the time the book is finished I should have between 80,000 and 90,000 words. Maybe a bit less, so I am 1/4 of the way there!

I knew there was something corny going on...

I tend to read these this ditties on YAHOO about food because well it is interesting to read about food I know I am not eating - ergo the dietary traps I am avoiding.

Today's topic sugar. None of this surprised me - although this paragraph was interesting.

All that from a simple candy bar or soda? Not exactly, but consider this: A dollar will buy you about 75 calories' worth of fresh broccoli, but food manufacturers can use that same dollar to purchase 1,815 calories of sugar. And thanks to government subsidies, high fructose corn syrup - the synthetic sweetener found in so many of the foods in our grocery stores - is even cheaper. It should come as no surprise, then, that added sugars are sabotaging nearly ever packaged and prepared food we put in our bodies — pasta sauces, smoothies, even whole grain breads.

I was shocked to see that the government subsides High Fructose Corn Syrup! Ugh that stuff is the bane of my existence and is frankly everywhere. This is the screwed up mess our government is - on one hand they are publishing Food Pyramids which make no flippin' sense and on the other hand they are footing part of the bill to manufacture corn syrup? Huh?

In it all, I am committed to eating food closest to their natural state as possible. So while butter is dairy - I have a hankering for something on my rice cake other than PBJ - I choose really organic or European butter. If I bake I go with butter and not margarine - it has too many ingredients I cannot pronounce and frankly oil should be a liquid at room temp.

We have processed ourselves into a food and weight crisis in this country and it is sad. My friends always tell me I am spending too much at Whole Foods. Well duh, I am buying foods made with real ingredients - obviously the government is only subsidizing the synthetic stuff!

If I want something sweet - I want it sweetened with natural sugar - so it can be as naturally sweet as I am!

Eat your rhetoric - maybe someone will believe you

I am in a mood these days - but here we go another entry full of constructive criticism.

We are members of the Zoo. Love the Zoo. It is a killer Zoo. A few weeks ago we did a breakfast with the keeper event and then took in the newer exhibit - Asia Quest. The central focus of part of that exhibit is green practices and buying locally produced products and locally grown food. (Breakfast was donuts, frozen fruit, single serve bowls of cereal - ect. Lots of waste I might say.)

So I looked around the zoo and well they are doing none of those things. It is frozen pizza and hot dogs and french fried and soda. Bottled water and some sort of dots ice cream (which so says processed to me.) Served on disposable plates and I did not see any recycling cans - or at least not very many or not screaming green anyway.

So I contacted the zoo via their web page. Pointing this out and suggesting that perhaps they should live the rhetoric. How about having Whole Foods come in and have fruit cups or fruit kabobs. Whole bananas anyone. Dipped in chocolate optional. How about apple slices with a side of Krema nut butter. (Krema is local here in Dublin.) I will say they serve Grater's ice cream - which is made in Ohio - locally so that is a start.

How about hosting a farmers market during the summer months. Give local farmers a place to sell and promote their enterprise.

Looking around Zoombezi Bay and the Zoo - there is next to nothing for me to eat. Next to nothing healthy. I know the "fair" food sells well - but sometimes being an instrument for change takes time and I gotta tell ya - Whole Foods is busy busy busy - as is the North Market and Northstar Cafe. All those places are focused on healthy and nourishing food.

It makes such sense - clean up the food offering - which is good for the environment and good for everyone's long term health.

Thanks Jack! Hot water is so nice.....

I got the update from my brother and yes - after a very long saga and a lot of hardship - He and his roommate have gas and therefore can cook on their gas stove and take a hot shower! Did they have it yesterday as promised by Columbia Gas - no - it happened today. Are they still reeling and totally unimpressed by Columbia Gas - you betcha!

After I created the post - now famous - they had a gas leak on Saturday. Apparently there was a build up of pressure and well that caused a leak in various parts of the line and damaged some of the internal plumbing. So the entire 4 unit apartment building - my bro and his roommate and their neighbors have been without gas since Saturday. It looks like it is all back on tonight.

I emailed a copy of my blog entry to Columbia Gas on Friday evening and I will say - a Ms. Davis contacted me on Monday around 11 am and then I spoke with her at 2 pm. She was very nice and did some leg work and got with my brother and was helpful. Thankfully when she was speaking with my brother - she discovered some missing information in the work order or it is very likely they would still be without gas. The lack of appropriate communication is staggering.

I think Ms. Davis was doing her best to put her best foot forward and assured me that my complaints and observations were being reviewed. I am not sure I am going to hold my breath while waiting to see if Columbia Gas effects any type of substantive change.

My brother also found out that the call ahead system is automated and in no way is an accurate reflections of where the service tech is in reality. The computer calls ahead at a preassigned time - generated by computer - and the tech may or may not be on his way. It is not tied not grounded in reality of any kind. MMMM - cheap perhaps - helpful to customers - NOT SO MUCH JACK!

The bottom line Mr. Jack Patridge is your company is fraught with system wide failure after failure - which I think if the entire situation experienced by my brother and his roommate is reviewed - the policies of Colombia Gas are simply flawed and not customer focused. You are tailoring your service standards to meet minimum State of Ohio guidelines and you are seeking to do the minimum amount required of you by the PUCO and the State. I gotta say - there is no Outstanding Customer Service to be had in that model. Might be good for the bottom line and your personal bonus Jack - but the rest of us - well we are still waiting to be SERVED.

The Zen of Green Mud

Last night I communed with the green mud (henna - I colored my hair for the 2nd time with Henna.) So as I worked on the hair project last night I was very aware of the following:

1. While you cut it up like you would a big block of dark yummy chocolate - Henna smells nothing like chocolate and the decidedly green tint to stopped me from tasting it.

2. I have ALOT of hair. A TON actually. I divided it my hair into sections, so that I could apply the henna and while I have always known I have alot of hair - it is on my head - I was shocked at how long this dividing and sectioning process took. It felt like the hair was growing as I worked. For those you wondering - when H does not keep his hair super short - he has lovely thick hair also - so yes ergo - both L and E have tons of hair also. Mine is coarse and wavy to naturally curly and his is poker straight - the kiddos got his straight hair - L with a finer texture and E has my coarse texture. I could be a stand in for Rupenzal except that my hair at a certain point does not get longer - just wider and fuller and well It is just bad! Again - I have hair for me and several small children. In college my roommate's boyfriend (a total wet blanket) was complaining about my hair shedding everywhere and I looked at him and asked, "Hey what is the difference in me loosing hair and when you lose hair?" LOL - Mine grows back!" For some reason he was not laughing!

2a. Clothes pins actually are great for holding the sections. My little butterfly clips the first round were not such a good choice. Clothes pins - those versatile little guys - they did a nice job! (Well except for the one that got tangle in the big mass of hair. That kinda hurt!)

3. The paint brush is nice for along the hair line and for really coating the visible grays which make me crazy. Otherwise, my fingers (covered in latex gloves) work better for the rest of the process. Might not be the traditional approach, but it works.

4. If the children decided to coat their heads in mud (the regular kind) I would more than likely be very upset with them - unless it was bath night - but really I might not handle that with as much grace as I would like to think I would.

5. We associate Henna and Hash with Middle Eastern Culture - both of which are good herbal substances. Why then are we in the West so sure that OUR WAY IS ALWAYS THE BEST WAY. Seems to me - some of the ancient stuff really does work - so why the rush to embrace all things new fangled?

6. It really is hard to rinse a the semi dried crumbs of green mud out of this much hair alone. It took awhile but I got rid of the grit!

7. Once again - the organic hair treat worked like a charm. My hair is a beautiful natural shade and I smell all herbal and earthy!