All in the Family

It is hard to believe that Catty NKA Snickers has been a member of the family since late 2009. I really can't imagine not having her as part of the family.

She really has grown on me. I can also say that my cat allergy or my allergy to her, has waned significantly. Either the near daily exposure to her for 3 years or perhaps me finally getting my health issues in check, has meant less trauma to my immune system and has lead to a significant change in household protocol.

Snickers comes in now.

In the early months with us, she never tried and we never offered. This continued until last fall. In part the reason we kept her out was my allergies and my mother's allergies. If mom was to come spend her last days here, there could be no indoor cat action.

Over the winter, mild as it was, Snickers seemed to want in more and more. To sleep. She just wants to curl up, with all of us around and sleep.

The other day, I swear she was passed out on a dinning room chair like a frat brother after a weekend long kegger. I clocked the sleep time at roughly 5 hours.

I really do want to keep her off the soft furniture and out of the newly remodeled family room. I also think the basement and the first floor are domain enough for her, no being on the second floor. So far she has gravitated to the morning room and the dinning room. She seems to like the big windows and the sun light. She loves to jump up on a dinning room chair and hide under the table or be in the corner. In the morning room, she favors a corner, under the plant stand, near the register.

This is not at all to say that she isn't testing those boundaries. This past weekend she hid in both of the children's closets on two separate occasions. When she burst out of E's closet, she scared me to death.

I think once we put the patio furniture on the deck, she may stay out there more, as she can hide on a chair under the table, which seems to suit her just fine. Last week our neighbor and L's BFF took care of the food and water patrol and predictably Snickers got huffy and ran off, as we were not home. I suspect she would have returned on her own, but the storm Friday might well have gotten her in a state of affairs. She also is minus a bit of fur and her collar.

On Saturday, I dispatched L and her BFF and H to a house up the road a bit. For whatever reason, after storms, she hangs on this family's deck. It is possible, that that house used to be her home or she just goes there when she has lost her way. I theorize that perhaps she did live there, because that house changed hands at about the same time we acquired Snickers. Maybe they didn't want her making the move or perhaps she ran off and they never found her. Either way she favors this house. H carried her home and other than some loud meows and haughty stares, she allowed the in arms transport. Happy to be home, but reminded H not to make a habit of this transport method, thank you very much.

 

Snickers is one of the most social, pack minded cats I have ever known. When we are outside, she is right there with us. She often "stands guard." I will joke that she is our vicious attack cat. I am only half kidding. I think if she thought someone was threatening us, especially the children, she would do her worst to protect us.

This was St. Patrick's Day. I was watching the kids ride their bikes, while waiting on my BFF to come over for dinner. Snickers was one part protecting me and keeping a close eye on her small charges.

Look at that determined face. I wouldn't cross her in a dark alley.

Lady Liberty's Closet

The first grade classes at E's school do a monthly special share. It varies from writing a few sentences to making a how to video. This month we had to make something that involved the Statue of Liberty. E could choose to write a story, a poem, make a poster or build something.

Naturally he wanted to build something. I have to say my building talents are not the strongest and H was slated for a lot of traveling. E and I kicked around Lego creations, foam sculpture and paper mache and chicken wire.

L kept reminding us that we only had a week and that all of those ideas sounded great until you actually got started. She was lucky, in 1st grade her classroom got to do the Flag and we wrote a story and drew a picture.

Then while watching reruns of Bravo's Top Chef, it hit me. We could do a deconstructed Lady Liberty. It is all the rage in food, why not in national symbols?

While we are used to seeing Lady Liberty looking a bit like this:

E and I have transformed her and we proudly present Lady Liberty's Closet:

 

and inside her closet:

She really is very one note when it comes to color. I think she may need a fashion intervention.

E and I crafted all of her items using stuff we found around the house. The box we got from a neighbor's trash pile. It was exactly deep enough and in very good shape. E and I covered the "doors" in duck tape. JoAnn's has piles and piles of colorful duck tape. The door nobs are drawer pulls from a table I got from my mom but immediately changed the drawer pulls out.

For the closet bar, E and I measured and cut some old pvc pipe we found in the basement. I used a hack saw. H was in the kitchen and yelled down, "Are you cutting PVC pipe." I yelled back, "Like a pro."

For the sandals, we traced E's feet and then cut a top strip. The tablet was easy, just free hand a gravestone shape and cut.

For the torch we used a plastic cup and part of a paper towel roll and duck tape. (on the day of the presentation, we have gold tissue paper all prepared to act as the flames.)

While the building was fun, I think E enjoyed dying a length of old white sheet, using hot water and Rit Dye. He got to pour and stir.

The only part of Lady Liberty's outfit, which we bought was her crown. It was a 99 cents foam crown, which came in grey sparkly. The down side is it only has five points and the real one has seven points, but we are working with what we have and seriously, the crown is sparkly. (Even after we painted it.)

While many people thought me using a hack saw was the scariest part of this project; it wasn't. The scariest part of this project was allowing E to spray paint the props. We found, at JoAnn's, blue spray paint that is pretty close to the correct color.

So last Saturday and again on Sunday for touch ups, I placed the sandals, torch, crown, and tablet on newspaper and shook the can of paint and handed it to my six year old. Crazy I know. It was not lost on me, as he began spraying, that this was a spectacularly poor idea.

Although with some coaching, he actually did a pretty good job.

So for about $15, E and I have built something for his project and he is excited to share his creation and the fun facts he has learned about the Statue of Liberty. He has note cards all set, with each clothing item on it in big letters and 1-3 sentences about that item on the back.

I hate to be cliche, but sometimes you just have to think outside the box.

Around the house...

H and I have been making some changes around the house. When we bought our house, we both fell in love with some aspects and others we knew we would some day change. It has been a long process, filled with babies, new jobs and a busy life. The kitchen and master bath came first. Then I tackled the mudroom this spring and summer (and the hallway that connects the mudroom and the kitchen.) Then we moved immediately into the family room. We were couchless for much of the process. This amazed and confused the children's friends. L's BFF asked repeatedly, "when are you getting a new couch?" E's new school buddy asked, "Where do we sit?" E explained that is why the room had a floor. I know we are quirky. No way was I painting the room with new furniture.

About a month ago we moved in these guys from IKEA. It seems strange to unpack your couch from a box and then assemble it, but we did it and I think it was more than worth it. I love that in a few years, if I get bored, I can change slip covers and much more cost effectively than buying a brand new couch. (The current slip cover is dry cleanable also! A decided bonus in my opinion.)

I would also be remiss - not mentioning I finally have a chaise. I have wanted one forever... we did put the chair and chaise together for a unconventional love seat.

As I mentioned, this summer we focused on the family room. It had been a yellowish cream and we changed it to a warm, rich light brown. I love the color. H isn't in love with it, even though he picked it. We also got a new sofa and love seat chaise combo. The biggest change is we replaced the drafty, cheap and poorly installed faux french doors with a beautiful, energy efficient window. I love the change. Another coat of paint and it will be time to buy blinds, curtains and lamps.

And no we did not forget to remove the stickers, the kids and I have been decorating for Halloween. We love window clings.

For anyone who has visited us, it is noticeable that there is very little art on the walls. H and I have different and I mean radically different taste in art. We also put it off, because we were always going to "redo the family room." Knowing he favors pasture scenes with cows and dogs and I am more into impressionism and modern art, I decided, why not photographs, better yet, why not our OWN photographs. Better yet, why not photographs of one of the most beautiful places I have ever been, Iceland. So when Living Social did an offer for Image Canvas I jumped on it. It really was a good deal and the results are very nice. Exactly what I wanted.

While nothing can be done about the awful cold air return, we have done our best and I love the photos. Also, the service from Image Canvas was wonderful. Reasonable turn around time and reasonable shipping costs.

And while H was hanging pictures, a task he relishes with the utmost joy, I asked him to hang these two as well. I bought these, almost 4 years ago, while in NYC. I stumbled upon a market or flea or something at University Circle (or is it a square) and I really liked them. Just this summer, I finally, had them framed. They are vodka bottles with flowers, so I decided we should hang them over the bar.

The pumpkins my mom gave us and the owls are my most recent obsession. They stay, the jack-o-lanterns will be with us through Halloween. The tape - that is caution tape and I have plans for that, just wait. We are going all out this Halloween.

Remember those squash vines I blogged about all summer. Well they yielded three pumpkins, two possible squash and about three dozen gourds. The kids' teachers got gourds, neighbors have gotten gourds and my BFF got some too... I arranged these guys on our mantel. Again, the paint color really sets them off nicely.

I think the kids have rearranged them about a dozen times but they are all from our yarden. A few of them night be squash but I am not sure, so I am going to refrain from eating them.

We really love Halloween and this weekend is apple picking and pumpkin gathering. Some of the most fun things to do in the fall. I cannot declare the family finished until I tackle window treatments and lighting, but it feels good to get cozy on the new sofa or chaise and blog!

While everything might seem legit...

H and I were busy today, minding our business and tackling house projects, planning a nice lunch out, when bang, bang, bang - this horrible noise shook the pipes in the basement.

I was downstairs hanging laundry and yelled up at him to go see what was causing that banging outside. It was a random guy. This random guy told H he was surveying the gas lines.

H came in to call the gas company.

I marched outside and told the guy he cannot be on my property without first knocking on the door and introducing himself and telling he plans to bang the shit out of my gas meter.

He informed me if he had to knock on everyone's door he wouldn't get anything done.

I told him he had no right to be assaulting my property with my permission and he needed to move it along.

At no point in time did he offer to show either H or I his ID or his work orders. His truck is basically a beater with stick on signs.

No PUCO permit numbers, no phone number... not helpful in the verification process at all.

H held with Columbia I am a Pain in the Ass, oops I mean Gas Company for a bit but when he found out it was going to be a 30 minute wait and the guy had left, he hung up. I posted the above photo to the Homeowner's Association Facebook page and tried to google his company. I contacted a company from Fairfield, Ohio who while they have the same name ARE a different company, as they sent a guy out to check on us. He also saw this truck in the neighborhood and assured me my random guy was not with them. This is a good company folks - they were genuinely worried one of their employees had gone rogue... They get an A+ in customer service from me, and let's face it, I seldom hand those out.

This made me feel worse NOT better.

I tried again to find a number for the "Premier Utility Services", who visited my house today. No luck. I nosed around the BBB, PUCO and Columbia Gas's website. Nothing. No mention of a project in this area, nothing.

As I left the development to run errands, I spot the truck and I stop and take more photos. (I love my iPhone. It's camera is powerful.)

Then at my mom's, I try yet again to locate a phone number for this company. Nada.

I then called the police and file a report. What other resources did I have. He was behaving in a suspicious manner. He offered no ID, no work orders and no project specs and fled when I ordered him off my property. You hear about these scams all the time. People posing as utility workers, who aren't. The PUCO did a public service campaign urging people to only allow people with IDs into their homes and onto their properties.

Just tonight a Facebook friend posted that her neighbor's A/C unit was ripped off their house, leaving all sorts of exposed and live wires. Who is to say this guy was not casing my gas meter, with designs on stealing it for its metal content.

It really would have been so much easier had this guy been polite, knocked on our door, warned us he was going to be making some noise as he surveyed the gas lines. (Maybe he could have explained why and how one surveys gas lines. Please if you know, the comments are open.)

I am not holding my breath, that I will ever really know if this guy was legit or not. I have alerted the authorities. I am sharing my story in order to alert other people near and dear to me, I have photos. Should the PUCO, Columbia Gas, or the police contact me, I will gladly share my photos.

If my gas meter malfunctions, I have proof that it was not H or I who messed with it, I can prove that I attempted to verify with the proper people, who was messing with my meter. Columbia, I am a Pain in the Ass, I mean Gas Company cannot pin this on us.

It just isn't good business to enter someone's property and then do stuff with their gas meter - without telling them first. On so many levels this guy was raising suspicions and making it appear that he was not legit. So it is one of two things - he is legit but very poorly trained, employed by a company with zero interest in customer care OR he is not legit and I hope he gets caught, before he hurts himself or someone else.

Music Monday: Ke$ha Blow

Ke$sha - Blow


She sings of going insane - Throwing glitter and making it rain. I am not sure about you, but glitter makes me insane. It goes everywhere, sticks to everything except what you want it stuck to.

Which is why I had to be a class A nut job to agree to help with L's dance costumes for her upcoming Wonderland show. She is a mad hatter and making the glittered vests nearly drove me mad.

It is no secret that I have been getting my craft on more regularly and that I do have some talent in that department. So when the dance instructor asked for help, I agreed, reluctantly to tackle this glitter project.

It was a bigger project than I ever imaged. She suggest I free hand the checker board pattern. I have to say that would have been a disaster, so I created a template using 2" lightly tacky painters tape. My friend and proprietor of Rogue Bakery watched as I taped out each vest. (6 in total)

Then using glitter and gem glue, I painted each square and dusted it with black glitter. This was not without its challenges. The glue ran, causing fabric discolorations. Keeping a handle on piles of glitter is a challenge, I used a cookie sheet and wax paper, but still, it is messy business.

The glue dried very quickly, so even working efficiently, I struggled.

When I removed the tape, I will say the squares were very square, which was nice, but it did not look right.

After sleeping and mulling over the problem, it occurred to me, I had to complete the checker board, so I went back and free-handed the remaining squares.

All was going well until I ran out of glitter.

The store was out of glitter and I was out of time to shop the free world for the same glitter, so I bought something similar.

It yielded mixed results.

But I finished. They looked fair, to poor to ok. I was not in love with the results. Everyone has said, it won't matter on the stage.

That said, if I were to do them over and there is no chance that is going to happen, but if I were, I think I would have used black fabric paint and then gone over that with some glitter glue. The fabric was satiny and it seemed to absorb the glue like crazy.

I do think using the tape was smart, at least to get the pattern going.

In general I do not allow glitter in the house. L was never allowed to have glitter in any of her art kits. I threw that stuff out. While I have some glitter-y make up, I seldom wear it. I once had lotion with glitter in it until H said one day, "Just throw that stuff out. We both end up with glitter everywhere when you wear it."

Just like I posted to facebook, glitter really is the spawn of the devil. I thought I had it all cleaned up, only to find more of it Saturday morning and L,  late Saturday, after her dress rehearsal came home caked in it. Even a shower couldn't shake it all loose and now, as I type, I am picking pieces of glitter out of my hair.

Go Insane, Go Insane, Throw some Glitter, Make it Rain...

Music Monday: Spoonman, the case of the missing spoons...

This has to be where all my spoons have gone...

Soundgarden - Spoonman

I always seem to be short on spoons. Even though the set of everyday flatware has both tablespoons and teaspoons. I am always chasing spoons. Even more frustrating, I have back up spoons, from the various random spoons I have accumulated over the years. My parents old flatware, random pieces from H's bachelor days, spoons left by friends after potlucks and unclaimed, spoons brought home on accident from the crash pad in NYC, spoons from the college dinning hall, and other random spoons. The long and short of it is, I also have a set of silver, which had dozens of spoons. My MIL was a huge fan of spoons it would appear and bought a set of silverware with ample spoons. I never use the silver. It is tucked safely aware for special occasions.

I am seriously short on serving spoons. I just broke a cooking spoon the other day, I am short on those as well. Let's face it in a house where Indian is prepared often, sometimes those spoons are multi colored too. One would think they would stick out, if they were, I do not know, stolen or misappropriated.

I went to raid my stash of plasticware yesterday, those odd left overs from take out and picnics and school events, where I am inevitably assigned to bring plasticware. I have knives and forks to feed a gaggle, but in the mess there is nary a spoon.
 
I do have a plastic spoon in my purse. In a pouch with tissues, lip gloss and other important items. I keep this for on the go snacks. Thus far I have managed to keep track of it and not lose it or break it. This spoon has saved the day more than once. It is like my super secret spoon weapon, which isn't so much a secret anymore.

I will admit, I got rid of all the baby/toddler spoons awhile a go. My baby turned 6 last week, so we really haven't needed those type of spoons for a long time now.

What I am not at all short on are measuring spoons.

I have three full sets and then a few random measuring spoons, left behind by old college roommates and given to me when my mother moved or saved when my MIL passed away. I could bake all day and not have to wash a measuring spoon. One of these sets, might actually be my grandmothers, come to think about it.

When we remodeled the kitchen, we invested in this type of dishwasher. (Ours is not this modern and angular looking, but same idea.)

 (photo from Fisher Paykel)

So I could wash smaller loads. With H traveling so often, it is often just me for most of the day or me and two smaller people and we were often running the traditional dishwasher half full, mainly because we were short on spoons or sippy cups. This gives us options and I chase spoons less, but still I seem to be spoon poor and fork rich.

So for E's family birthday gathering I was chasing spoons and yesterday at our Easter egg coloring brunch, I was also searching high and low for spoons.

All I can say is it had to be the spoon man's fault. Where else could all of these spoons have gone? It's not like they could have hopped away...

Music Monday: J. Geils Band - Centerfold

J. Geils Band - Centerfold

So I remember this song from the roller rink. I had these great, white skates with a blue swish, I think and I got from the "skate shop" these red pom-poms. I thought I was just the coolest. Also the coolest - the red creme soda. Loved that. Especially with those crushed ice pellets. Delish!

For those of you who didn't skate or aren't old enough to remember the skating rinks fashions, I found this picture online. To help with the visual.

My pom-poms were bigger and fluffier and I wore them at the base of the laces. This skate however is the correct shape.

I could skate backwards and forwards and do all sorts of fancy moves. (I know, right, the things you thought you knew about me. Last week I come out as a capitalist and this week, I am admitting to being a skating rink fashion plate. What might I reveal next week? Stay tuned.) I remember working SO hard to be able to skate backwards, because it increased your options when it came to couples skates and well, I was determined to be able to do it.

I am also pleased to announce, well pleased is the wrong word. Bemused. That seems to fit slightly better.

On Wednesday I got to be featured as Uncle Sam's centerfold. That's right, the first time I fly since the TSA (which I think stands for totally stupid assholes, and I will explain why, in just a moment.) started taking non consensual and "porn by extortion" pictures, I get to give it a try. So yeah, I had my right to say no to sexual situations violated and my constitutional rights violated all at once.

Now since I was clear about my being a capitalist, I will say, I am really ok with porn. I might be willing to sell pictures of myself, for an appropriate fee, but they stole the images of me. They have rigged the game. (I also am willing to bet that those pictures are in some database somewhere or worse yet on some porn site by now. I just don't trust their rhetoric at all.) They say, if I want to fly, then I get to be criminally violated. What they do is no different than holding a gun to your head. They have criminalized the purchase of an airline ticket. (See my related posts.)

And in the interest of candor, because your elected officials will lie to you, in fact I am convinced that is a test, you cannot run for elected office until you can prove beyond a reasonable doubt, that you will in fact lie and cheat your constituents. They do it all the time. Show me a politician that hasn't ever lied about something, and I will give you a kiss.

So in the interest of candor, I will say this, I am totally opposed to having pornographic pictures taken of me without me receiving due compensation, but that is not really what made me angry Wednesday morning.

What made me angry is that the TSA officials insulted my intelligence. When I suggested it was odd that only women were being put thru the scanner the supervisor sort said, "Nope. Nope, it is random."

Ok, let's recap. I have an MBA. As an MBA, I have recently taken not one, but two higher level stats classes. I can tell you more about random sampling than the average writer.

How was it random, when there were say 45-50 waiting at the check point and the ONLY people going thru the prono scanner? All female. Every last one of them, save the guy with the bilateral knee replacements.

Look, I get it. You want to see boobs. You are a pervert and the US government has hand delivered an easy way for you to get your kicks. You would be stupid to not avail yourself of this opportunity. So don't lie to me and insult my intelligence, simply cop to being a pervert and tell me thank you. I know I have pretty perky girls.

To make matters worse. We have this porno machine at our little airport and then in NYC, nope, nothing, nada. Just a plain old metal detector. At one of the busiest airports in the world, the metal detector is good enough. That speaks volumes.

My blood runs cold, my memory has just been...

Boob Tube

This song doesn't exactly fit my topic, but it is the song I have been hearing in the back of my head as I think about what I am about to write. Television. I have had a mixed bag of feelings about television most of my life.

There was a time, I thought television was an instrument of the those who wanted to control us and turn us all into lemmings. In college, I was passionately opposed to marketers and their hype (read:lies) and I was absolutely certainly there was a plot on the part of some secret government society to control us through the use of television programs and commercials. I am not convinced that on some level that is actually not not true. One of my American Studies survey's was on television and its role in American Culture.

As I approach 40, I think it is more complicated than that. I think the motives are mixed, the masters many and that for the most part, television, like anything, food, drugs, alcohol and the like is best in moderation.

H and I limited L's television when she was very young. Same with E. I struggled with the use of television when they were each a little older. I am a lousy clock watcher. I would get involved in things like folding the clothes and washing dishes and lose track of time.

About 18 months ago, I had had enough. TV before school was making getting ready a total struggle. So I put a stop to it. The TV is off limits Monday through Friday at 4 pm. It is unlimited on the weekend. It goes off again Sunday at 6 or 7 pm. With the rare exception of holidays, snow days, and sick days. (The discovery of YouTube on the IPad has been a new wrinkle, same time frame applies.)

This works for us. This weekend E forfeited his television privileges and L in solitary watched no television most of Saturday and honestly very little on Sunday. I find the kiddos lose interest and go do something else very easily. Television for many kids is a habit and a bad one at that. That said, I think they need to learn to manage their television time, just as they need to learn to manage their study time and leisure time in general. Just like alcohol is neither bad nor good, it is the management of alcohol that is the issue. Drinking a glass of wine on a special occasional is not a big deal, drinking three bottle every night, is another matter entirely.

H and I watch very little television. There is only one in the house. For as long as we have lived together (15 years and counting) we have only had one television and never one in the bedroom. I have had periods of time in my life where I have watched more television, than I do now and I have had periods of time where I have watched less. I watch next to none now. Sometimes some HGTV while I am home during the day. Occasionally I surf a bit or I fold laundry in front of the television. Now that I can watch programs on my laptop or on the iPad, I find myself doing that more often.(I feel it is worth the nominal cost.) I like the commercial free option. Commercial are just not necessary. L has made up a little song about commercials. It is very cute and she says, "they make your head want to explode" and they do, don't they. The kids don't even like radio ads. Both L and E will say in the car, "Blah, Blah, Blah! BlahBLAH!"

My biggest problem with television and I think why this song, which is horribly dated and the slang, deplorable, is the disconnect. The reality television show. It is no more about reality that flying. The Real Housewives of Wherever might well be real people, but they aren't really. It is drama, like a play is drama, and it is not really reality. It is edited and they know they are on television, they are managing a persona the way any star or television personality manages a persona. All of those shows, the "reality" television shows are packaged garbage.

Even the cooking ones, which I will admit to being a Top Chef and Chopped junky,  (Project Runway too...) are engineered and edited for maximum dramatic impact. No one would watch hours of unedited footage of someone cooking or sewing or cleaning their house. (Well ok, someone might - but, that seems kinda creepy. One of those secret footage shows...)

The point is I think culturally we have a warped view of was is reality. Back to this perfectly awful song, there is a disconnect between US and THEM, whoever the US is and the THEM are. Television is not reality and reality is not television. Never has been and never will be, no matter how much we want it to be. Shows may well be about "real" people, but that snapshot, that few hours of footage is only that, a snapshot. Just as in the video to this song - while perhaps being in a band is better to being an appliance delivery guy, it is not all fun and games. Bands tour long hours. They live in a tour bus, which is hardly the Ritz. That album that is platinum, the profits feed at least 100 people when it is all said and done. Perhaps it is better than the appliance delivery gig and perhaps not.

I think Americans in general are lazy about their leisure pursuits but that said, historically theater, even exalted Shakespeare, were common pursuits.  Culturally speaking, our programs say something about us. What that something is, I am not sure. I remember going to Germany the first time and many Germans actually believed all Americans lived in either NYC of on the ranch of JR Ewing. Crazy but true. (They also seemed to think many of us dressed like the guys of Miami Vice.)

Television is a wrapped sense of who we are. One school of thought is that art imitates life (and wow I am loathed to actually call much of what is on television art.) and in some respects I think television is a reflection of our culture, but not exactly, more like a fun house mirror. Everything is warped and distorted. With the proliferation of channels, we have so many niche genres. I think in some respects this has made television better and in someways, certain networks, seem to have better programming and certainly it has opened up possibilities, in the area of SciFi, Home and Gardening and Cooking. Things that used to be relegated to public television on Tuesday nights.

So do I think there is a master plot to brainwash us emanating from every set? No.
Am I convinced that television is a good for us? No.
Do I think that television could do with some tweaking? Yes.

As with everything, it is moderation and the mature management of television, which I think is the answer. It is a matter of choice and understand, there is more choice than when I was a child. That I do like. Content is sketchy. The reality is as a culture as a society, I think the makers of television will provide what the masses are hungry for, the question is, why are lapping up what we are. And that ladies and gentleman is a question, I just don't have an answer for, at all.

(next week, I promise - a song I actually LIKE will be featured.)

Music Monday: Survivor

Eye of the Tiger.

Does anyone else remember QUBE? I remember going to a neighbors to watch MTV. This was one of those first videos. I am quiet certain it was popular at sporting events and dance classes too. The song is an anthem of the 80s.

I remember Rocky running to the song in one of those movies.

Now I hear it in bars on the juke box and sometimes I feel a punch of nostalgia in my gut or I get annoyed. Depends on the day. 

I have been thinking about this song every time I look at our goldfish, Frankie. Frankie nearly died this week and now she is back swimming around that bowl like a champ. I guess it was only a near knock out, she pulled it out at the last second.

H was taking E to school and L was running around doing whatever it is she does in the morning and I was upstairs considering what I was going to wear, when I hear L yelling, "Mommy where is the fish?"

I responded that she was in her bowl.

Only she wasn't. She was laying on the counter, next to her bowl near the candle.

Not breathing. H, who had just gotten back,  scooped her up and put her in the bowl, then she did this weird twitching thing, lay on her side and kinda floated near the bottom. I decided it was only going to be a matter of time.

We were sad, H took L to school and I lamented to friends via Facebook and Twitter that the fish was dead. I was sad. I know it is just a fish, but she is no ordinary fish. She is really aware of her surroundings and she is friendly. I eat lunch at the breakfast bar and we bond. You would be surprised how good a listener a fish can be. Also let's face it, I am not allergic to her. This is a key detail. I can love my fish with no nasal or skin reactions.

I never really had pets growing up.

Early in our marriage H toyed with going to flight school in Arizona. We got a bunny. Some bunny to keep me company. She was so cute. We got her from a breeder, before we knew about rabbit rescue. H picked her out. I was all about a Rex with rusty satiny fur, but H fell for the little lop and we took her home.

Bundles was amazing fun. She was cute and cuddly and was a great pet. She had the run of part of our basement. As she got older, we decided to get her a friend. This time through the Ohio House Rabbit Society. Reuben had been a rescue from in Cleveland. Poor guy had been abandoned at a construction site.

It was not love at first site and Bundles and Reuben did not bond right away but just as I thought we were going to have to send Reuben back north, they reached an understanding. Reuben basically decided the food was good here and if the price of good food was letting the smaller female bunny be in charge, well so be it. Beats getting eaten or run over by a backhoe.

 I loved these bunnies. Reuben passed when L was a newborn. I am not sure I was paying as close as attention to him as I should have been, with a new baby and all, and he got a fatal ear infection. Having him put to sleep was so hard. I cried. I loved his gentle personality and his stand offish ways.

Bundles lived until L was almost 2, which made Bundles 10 years old. She slept most of the time towards the end. She did still like her outside time, was totally afraid of the loud squealing human who yelled - "I love you bunny" into her hutch and she passed peacefully in her sleep. L loved that rabbit and H and I dodged the death question by saying Bundles had taken a long trip. This came back to haunt us a few times. Ever so often, L would ask, if Bundles had gone on a trip, why hadn't she written a postcards. Then when my MIL passed away, L called us on our crap, "Hey did Bundles take the same trip Oma is taking. Is that why she hasn't written any post cards."

 I grieved for these bunnies and I told H no more pets. I just cannot emotionally deal with the lose. I try like crazy not to bond with these creatures.

Long story short, we watched a friend's fish and we ended up with 2 fish and a snail, which died. Bless H for dealing with this. Then a neighbor is moving cross country and gives us Frankie, who is an amazingly hearty fish it would seem. 

So hearty that she basically came back to life. I swear that fish was not breathing on the counter. After we put her back in the bowl and she had basically a couple minutes of what looked like seizures, I decided the smart money was on her being dead in a few hours. 

Not so. She is merrily swimming around that bowl, like nothing happened. She was still for a few hours and then back to splashing us and eating like a pig.

On Facebook I posted this and I mean every word:

The fish is now swimming around the bowl, after "playing dead." Is it wrong to be annoyed - be dead or not... I cannot cope with fish who pretend to be dead.

 So while I am glad our fish is a Survivor. Made of some pretty tough stuff, I am also reminded why it is hard for me to be a pet owner. The near death drama on Wednesday was really upsetting.

Just as last month I struggled with Snickers being gone. She disappeared during that monster snow storm and it was almost 5 days before we found her. I was so sure that cat was going to be dead. I could not fathom why she would run away, especially since she picked us. She showed up and wouldn't leave and no one else would take her despite my best efforts. I would have her in the house in a second. I love that cat. She is spunky, has an amazing cat-in-ality and is fun. She also makes me sneeze like no one's business and I get a skin rash in all of 5 seconds after I touch her. She too is a survivor. She was near deaths door when she arrived at our house. She was hungry and full of worms.

I had begun to give up hope until our neighbor posted on the neighbor association's Google Group, that they had her and had provided her some shelter during the wicked cold temperatures.

So in the span of two months our pets, pets I swore we weren't going to have, have managed to cause us much shock and dismay and I suppose, if we look for the silver lining, inspiration. The will to survive is strong, in bother Snickers and Frankie.

I still say, playing dead, as a fish is dangerous business. It almost earned her a one way flush.

 

Who owns it...

So - recently I espoused that this is not a craft or cooking blog and it isn't. It is being rather political of late and with good reason.

The Constitution of the United States is taking one hell of a beating of late. This is the document, which is the foundation for our political system and our overall culture I would say. It is what defined us as a nation and it was, in its time, a radical document. It was, not to be punny, REVOLUTIONARY.

It is still relevant today. Freedom is freedom. Liberty is liberty. We must as a nation ALWAYS error on the side of preserving freedom and liberty for ALL. I am not saying we should ignore the law, I am saying when there is gray area, the lens we must use, is the lens that allows for the preservation of liberty and the least intrusion of government in the private lives of citizens.

Human rights, civil rights, states rights and then and only then the rights of the Federal Government.

I am tired of beating the TSA horse - whose policies are  a blanant violation of Americans 4th Amendment rights. (Just so we are clear - I am not changing my opinion, just moving onto another topic.)

I am moving onto the 1st Amendment, which aside from the 4th, is my favorite.

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

So....

When we as writers write things, which we have factual proof of or are expressing an opinion we hold dear, the government cannot censure it. They don't have to like it, but they cannot censure it. They cannot just come on over and delete my blog. In China, they can. Here in the US, they can't, even though they might want to.

(This includes you Department of Homeland Security, even though you might like to think otherwise, just sayin' Constitutions trumps the Patriot Act and if doesn't - shame on you court system.)

This brings us to WikiLeaks. (who I would link to, but am either being blocked from doing so by Big Brother and Big Business or they truly have not found a new host server.) Here is a reuters news article on the subject.

I am not exactly sure how I feel about the cache of US State Department Cables, which WikiLeaks is slowly feeding out into the Internet. On one hand, as a writer, I want my copyright respected. No one better be publishing my work, without my permission, I own it, unless I have waived my rights. You can quote me, if you link properly. (see what I did with the Amendment 1 quote.)

What WikiLeaks is doing is hardly quoting. It is publishing documents wholesale. Presumably redacted in certain cases.

Also, do the writers of the documents have copyright rights? Is their work product considered the property of their employer, the United States Government and as such, what must the Government do to safe guard that work product.

And let's clear this up, how did WikiLeaks get the information? Was it really that easy for one army private pencil pusher, to download all this stuff and just pass it along. Did he get paid?

If WikiLeaks paid him to "steal" the information, ie it was their idea and they asked him to do, then I am more upset than if they just bought it from him.

What I am ravingly pissed about is that he, this lowly army PFC could get his hands on it at all! Hello - is my government run by a bunch of circus clowns? (emphatic nodding of head YES!)

Furthermore, some of what is said in what little of this I have read is objectionable. It is not professional and it is the kind of thing I would NOT want my employees writing about co-workers, allies, vendors or partners. Everything we write or say in a professional (and frankly personal) context should pass what I call the "would I want to see this printed on the front page of the New York Times." (any doubts - yes this blog post passes this test and frankly if they want to reprint it, it will cost them. I am not waiving my fee.)

Then there is the very real issue of who needs to know. There was a time I would have said that some things need to remain secret. I don't feel that way now. I have about zero confidence in the elected officials in Washington and their appointees. They allowed slanderous material to be stolen and then leaked. What kind of security did they have in place. (Um, poor.)

Freedom is not a game. National Security is not a game. A police state is not what we want. We have to have a balance between Freedom and Liberty and frankly I think it is HIGH time the American public wake up and realize we are not getting what we are paying for in terms of representation and good stewardship of our national ideals.

Members of Congress and the President are public servants. They serve at our pleasure and we pay their salary.

Shifting gears -

There is some speculation that Amazon and other web hosts were pressured to kick WikiLeaks off their servers. I am inclined to believe phone calls were made. I am also inclined to believe that WikiLeaks violated Amazon's terms of service vis a vi the ownership of content posted and hosted via Amazon's web service. (This is what Amazon has said in a press release/comment)

The thing is, in this case, I think it should have gone to court. It would be incumbent on the US and other Nations to prove that WikiLeaks had no legal right to the content. Who owns the documents. Was there a reasonable expectation of privacy?

In my experience, Terms of Service  Agreements are the scapegoat. Is Amazon actively monitoring all of its clients and the material posted to the servers. Not a chance. Did someone with some political clout recommend they take action. You betcha.

I think everyone deserves a slap on wrists here. Amazon for appearing to cave (and as a book seller, that scares me. What if someone with some political power suggests not selling a book about this very case in a year. Will they cave? The press must be allowed to continue.)

The US Government, sloppy with your security of documents and archives much. For shame. For shame that it was that easy to get that amount of information, embarrassing information stolen. You have no one to blame but yourselves and I were the boss - a good number of you would be fired.

WikiLeaks - I am not sure of your motivates. I am not sure you are the good guy. I do think, that you have an agenda that I might not be 100% in favor of, but I do think you are exposing the truth, embarrassing though it might be.

I will leave you dear readers with this. I used to wonder how Hitler did it. How did he get a nation, if not half a continent to follow his insane plans? I could not for the life of me as a young passionate contrary woman get my head around the idea that all those people went along. Hello your neighbors are being marched to a gas chamber. Your co workers are disappearing. Didn't you smell something, anything?

I will tell you how it happens. Erosion of civil rights and then the justified seizure of your basic human rights. It really is that simple. It is systematic and it is brutal and it is happening right now in the US at airports. It happened with your investment accounts right after 9/11 - too bad most Americans didn't notice.

It may start at a train station near you soon.

It may already be happening with our ability to gather information on the world wide web. It may be happening at the largest retailer of books/media, Amazon. (Why can't I get WikiLeaks to come up?)

When the STATE decides what information you have a right to see, that is censorship.
When the STATE decides it is ok to sexually assault you in an airport, that is a police state.
When the STATE decides to exempt themselves from the rules (notice congress members are exempt from sexual assault at airports.) It is the slippery slope to Big Brother running rampant.
When the STATE decides to run it citizens to the ground in a public square with tanks, that was China, it could just as easily be the United States.

When WikiLeaks leaks largely unedited and highly embarrassing documents, which it easily obtained, I think it is unethical on one hand, but way preferable to being felt up in an airport and being told what to read by the State.

It is preferable to being forced to join the Hitler Youth and hiding in my cellar as Nazi soldiers ransack my family home and physically and perhaps sexually intimidate my mother, which is EXACTLY what my mother in law experienced as a girl not much older than my daughter, in Germany during WW II.

Let's be careful what we wish for, as we level judgment on those who publish the truth. WikiLeaks did not write these documents... they are merely exposing those who did.

The real question is - is the tone and tenor of those documents the tone and tenure we want our elected official and government employees to be using? Is this what are tax dollars should be spent on? Should we believe what the President says because he is the President? Or should we be more critically thinking about how we are running this nation. Do we want to follow (goose stepping along like lemmings) the "this is what WE decided is best for you" bandwagon?

Those are the questions, which we must answer.

Destination - SUK

In the interest of full disclosure, H works for a regional airline. He is a pilot. I am very aware that airlines are businesses, but seriously, something has to change. If the business model is not working and ALMOST every single customer - even your really, really loyal ones think you do a pretty crappy job delivering the service they pay for, it has to make you think that, um, I don't know you are doing it wrong. Don't believe me, go check out this travel watch dog website. I have yet to read a story that talks about Airlines getting it right.

Let's play word association - I say Airline(s) and this is what ten people said just now at the local farmers market:

1. Suck
2. Stupid fees
3. No fun
4. Rude service
5. No customer service
6. Lost baggage - always
7. Not getting what you pay for
8. PIA (pain in the ass)
9. Bloated CEO's
10. Out of touch

Wow. No one at the farmers market had anything nice to say. Not a one. Zippo. (ok, in all fairness #4 said Delta first and then followed up that remark with "rude service")

I conducted this informal poll, after reading this story, posted to Twitter by a friend. Seriously. Charging for carry on bags. Charging for drinks, charging for seat assignments. The bathroom? Ben Baldanza the CEO of Spirit Airlines must be high from inhaling too much Jet Fuel.

Feeing people to death has gotten the banks nowhere and it will get him nowhere too. It will I predict lead to his airline being grounded. While on its face, the idea of a la carte pricing makes sense. Ruth's Chris has made a mint doing it. The difference between Ruth's Chris and other steakhouses' ala carte menus and the airlines - at a great steak house - you really DO get what you pay top dollar for.

At a fine steakhouse, they will not lose the baked potato you ordered and will likely pay $7 for when it is all said and done, they will not tell you that your medium steak, which comes to you black is your problem. No they will serve you the meal of your dreams and then bill you handsomely at the end and you will gladly pay it - becasue the food is fantastic and the service is divine and their a la carte model - does allow you to build the meal of your dreams.

The airlines' a la carte model only serves to annoy the hell out of consumers. Pure and simple. I pay $50 for my checked bag, which the airline loses and then has the gall to tell me, it is my problem and when or if they find it, I can come pick it up. Seriously. What did I just pay for exactly?

Another example. My trip to Cancun on Continental. Per their own website children 5 and under may not travel alone. Naturally fees apply when children 5-11 travel alone. So on the Houston to Cancun leg, an international flight, they busted us up. Now believe me, I had to put in our ages when I booked, passport numbers, the whole deal. I selected seats together, cuz duh, we are traveling together. Still they had E sitting in the rear of the plane, me in the middle and L up ahead of me. Seriously? I called to fix this oversight and was told to address it at the airport after she reseated L and I together, but told me there was nothing they could do for E. At the local airport, I was rudely told, by a grunting gate agent to deal with it in Huston. It was not "his problem to fix." In Huston, I have never, not ever been treated so rudely and told it was my problem and the gate agents were busy dealing with important work. I should be happy I have seats, I pay to be flown to my destination, everything else is not their problem.

Um, hello - isn't customer service part of their work?

The airline had totally created an unaccompanied minors situation, a safety risk, and to make matters worse, a possible flight delay when my five year old freaks out, becasue he is 10 rows behind me.

The flight crew sadly was of no help. They were more interested in up selling me on direct TV than helping us get reseated together where we belong.

I paid well over $400 for those tickets. I was not flying cheap. L dealt with it. She up sold the guy next me to the emergency exit row, explaining that he would get more leg room and she would get to sit with her mother and brother. She had bravely taken the other seat, but was very tearful about it.

I also happen to know - that becasue the flight crew was too busy and the gate agents were too busy, I could have created a situation where the flight was delayed leaving. I told the lead flight attendant about my issue, upon boarding. He told me he would send someone back to help us. Which never happened. Had L and I not dealt with the issue, I am not sure who would have and I will, in the interest of full disclosure, state, I authorized her to throw a fit to end all fits, if it came to that.

While I can totally see the advantage to the fee model, from the perspective of the balance sheet. It makes sense, on paper. The problem is for consumers, it makes the fee bearing items/services a premium item and then you actually have to deliver. I pay $50 for my checked bag, you damn well better have it waiting for me when I get to my destination. I pay for my seat assignment, you better have provisions in place to ensure I get exactly the seat I request. You charge me for carry on, you better be prepare to let me have my pick of the overhead bin.

The bottom line - airlines are not just providing carriage, the sooner they realize that, the more likely they are to find consumers willing to pay more per ticket.

Some customer service would go a long way here boys and girls. Airlines, your customer service attitude from CEO down to baggage handler sucks and no fee can fix that.

Do you really want that list of ten words to be what defines you? I surely wouldn't.

Wow

I live in a suburb of a pretty large metropolitan area. I will say that my neighborhood is park-like and right on the river. We have all manner of animals sharing the habitat with us. Deer by the dozens, groundhogs, chipmunks, squirrels, birds of many varieties, raccoons, skunks, rabbits, moles, field mice, bats, and many others.

In the spring and fall, a large red tailed hawk roosts in the pine trees by our driveway. I have pictures on facebook, she is majestic. There are herons and cranes along the river, as well as geese and ducks.

Along the drive to E's school, is a house on a number of acres and we see deer all the time. It is a beautiful site in the winter, the deer feeding as the sun just peeks over the horizon.

Tonight as I waited at the light, to turn onto the bridge that takes us over the river and towards home, I saw a red tailed hawk, swoop and I mean swoop at full speed, across the intersetion, into the flower bed and nearly I thought into the rock walk, only to return to the air, with I think a rabbit in its talons. Across the intersection, prey dangling, returning to the larger clearing, behind another rock wall, to nosh.

It happened so fast, executed with razor sharp precision. I wished I had been quick enough to snap some pictures. It was amazing. I have never seen this up close, I was the second in line to turn and I had a bird's eye view of the flowerbed.

I was struck by how cleanly the hawk, plucked the little animal up. No malice, just a clean kill. Saw prey, grabbed prey, ate prey.

I suspect there is some reason, the Universe put this in front of me, while I sat at the traffic light. I just don't know what that reason is in the moment.

Hello God it's me...

Susan, calling St. Michael's and getting hung up on. (bonus points if you know the book title I am playing with here.)

For my new readers, my mother in law passed away November 2006 after nearly a year long battle with congestive heart failure and renal failure. She was a parishioner of St. Michael's and until she was too ill, she sang faithfully in the choir.

That said she has been gone almost 4 years. H and I had her mass at his home church in his home town and then as she had requested, we made a donation to St. Michael's and asked that a mass be said in honor of her death.

It should be noted that H and I currently do not practice any particular faith for a variety of reasons.

Yesterday in our mail, was a letter from St. Michael's, on St. Michael's letterhead, addressed to my mother in law, requesting her pledge to the Bishop's annual fund.

Are you kidding me? She is dead, if her faith is to be believed, she is hanging out with angels and singing a heavenly tune. Furthermore, for us mere mortals, I distinctly remember both H and I calling St. Michael, in 2006/2007 - informing them of her death. I might have actually written a letter. I did alot of letter writing on her behalf that winter.

I found yesterday's letter to be in extremely poor taste and insensitive. This is not the first time in four years St. Michael's has solicited a dead person for money. With reincarnation, this might actually make sense, but given that she is dead and I am not counting on her coming back, the polite and sensitive thing to do is remove her name and our address from their mailing list(s.) One would think there would be a procedure for that.

In my mind it would work something like this -

1. Get notice of parishioner's death
2. Delete name from master mailing list
3. Once a month, update all committee lists.

In the world of email and word processing, it is really that simple. Four years hence, there is simply no excuse.

So I called.

I spoke to who ever answered the phone. I explained that I found it to be insensitive and rude for them to soliciting money from my mother in law who is deceased. I explained that we have contacted them a few times in the past.

She began to make excuses and I cut her off. I explained that their administrative inefficiencies were not my problem, but that I wanted us removed from the any and all mailing lists. Before I could finish my sentence, she hung up on me.

Yes, let's type that in BOLD.

THE WOMAN AT ST. MICHAEL'S WHO ANSWERED MY CALL AT ABOUT 2PM on APRIL 28, 2010 HUNG UP ON ME.

Where is her grace and humility is what I would like to know.

So I called back (but then you all knew I would.)

I called back and asked for the priest and instead got his voice mail, so I left a very clear message as to how I felt about being hung up on and how I felt about getting a letter on their letterhead, four years after my mother in law passed away asking for money. I shared with him we are not members of his church, nor do we intend to be and could he do the right thing already and get us off the mailing list(s). I also suggested that whoever was answering his phone needed to look deep and find her humility and grace.

It is bad business to solicit money from dead people and it is rude to hang up on people. If you want to run a campaign asking for money, then you need to scrub your lists and make sure it is accurate. You wanna play in the big leagues. Act like a big league player.

I have no patience for excuses or people who are rude. She should be fired and St. Michael's should have to pay a fine, that is what happened when I worked at Merrill Lynch. If we solicited someone who had asked to be removed from a calling list or a mailing list - we got fined.

And no, I am not in a charitable mood, thank you for asking.

I wore Yoga pants...

to Yoga yesterday. Imagine that. Then after Yoga, I changed into chic jeans and a top and went to lunch with E. I rocked those Yoga pants and I rocked the jeans if the smile on a young fellows face is a good barometer of my rockabilly.

I started a bit of a debate on my Facebook page posting about why I think Yoga pants are only for Yoga. Hot moms in Yoga pants sipping latte's as visually appealing as it might be, I think the moms would be just as hot in well fitting pants or jeans. A skirt anyone???

For me it is one part fashion and one part being appropriate. Yoga pants have the title of a sport in them for a reason. Would you wear jeans to Yoga, I think not. (We are so not going to get on the topic of jeggings, that as a concept gives me a headache.)

I think what set me off was my neighbors assertion that she did not have time to look chic in the morning, when my efforts took less than 5 minutes all in. It takes no more time to pull on chic jeans and a blouse than it does to pull on Yoga pants and a tattered T-shirt. My neighbor had on more make up than I did and she had spent way more time on her hair. So really - don't diss me for looking sharp and put together. (If I had done more make up than lip gloss, it might have taken me 10 minutes)

I am not vain, but I do care.

My mother offered me some advice on my wedding day and I think it was some of the best. Remember the woman he asked to married him. Taking care of ones appearance, is not all about vanity. It is about being loving to yourself. It is about honoring your partner and yourself. It is about having a personal sense of style and branding yourself. It is about being appropriate and respecting others. We sadly as a culture have lost site of this. We no longer take the time to honor ourselves and others.

My outfit the other morning was the result of some strategic shopping and some thought about my wardrobe. It is about wanting to look confident, put together and appropriate.

It is also not about spending alot of money. In fact, one could be super chic at Target. It is about knowing your body, picking a sense of style and working it. The beauty of the what not to wear franchise is it works. Take some time and get a proper bra fitting, it matters. Take some time to figure out what styles flatter your body. Trust me, certain pants on me, not flattering... Figure out how to work your assets. It will put a smile on your face.

I am just saying... Yoga pants are for Yoga, chic jeans are for running errands and knowing the difference is priceless. In my opinion. Heck I love summer - a cute dress - takes like 2 minutes all in, cute flats and flip flops 30 seconds.

Done.

February

February is always SUCH a long month, never that it has the fewest days of any month. Last years was all kinds of craziness and this year is shaping up to be the same.

Today we are getting an insane amount of snow. Always a pleasure. Luckily H is home and he has been shoveling it ever few hours. H went and collected the kids today, as school let out early.

The big news thus far in February is that H is likely being transferred to NYC to be based at LGA. For those of you who have followed me here for awhile, I might have blogged about his time being in Detroit. He was based in Detroit when E was a baby. This mean his scheduled trips begin and end in NYC and then he has to commute home. It is an added layer of complexity. No the airline does not pay for his hotel or apartment in NYC, he is on his own. That is an added expense.

It also means he is home less or potentially home less. When E was a baby it was really really hard and his mom was sick then also. Now E is almost in school full time, so hopefully this will be more manageable. I often say that as a pilot's wife, I am a single mama with husband. Starting in March that will be more so.

We have made some changes to the after school schedule and I think we are in a position to adapt.

Now February is not all gloom and doom. I am pleased to announce that I am done. I have completed my MBA with the University of Phoenix. I am writing about it for an article which will appear in an upcoming issue of Stiletto Woman. I will post a link when it is published.

Now I am looking forward to rebuilding my business and perhaps teaching.

For now, I am going to curl up and read a book and pretend that there is not going to be nearly 2 feet of snow outside my door come morning.

This and That for the New Year

Yep I know I have not been around much. Been busy, you know, so here is a bit of a random update for those of you who might or might not be curious.

Christmas Cards.

Right I know you got none. No it was not a mailing error. I decided, it is silly to send all these cards. It is a costly and time consuming task. It is not that I do not care about you. I just had so little time this year and postage is seriously expensive. Seriously.

I was torn, make no mistake. I do like writing cards. So I decided, I was not going to be a lemming, but rather, more proactive about writing random cards through out the year and less inclined to add to the Christmas madness.

MBA School

I have officially 4 weeks and 6 days left. Do I have senioritis. Hell yes I do. I just want to be done. February 8th, I am a free lady. I will have completed my masters degree. Now seeing as I officially started this process before L was born, it has literally taken years, but I am done. UOP is an efficient way to go.

I am thinking of trying to teach once I am done. It would be a good fit for my life and I think it suits me.

Speaking of working...

I am now working at Indie House Collective on Wednesdays and hopefully expanding that to Fridays once school is over. I like the energy there. I like the creative buzz and I find I am very productive. No piles of laundry. It is not home. While I do love my home office, I am sitting in it now, I also find real value not working at home. There is a balance to the process of going to work.

Upset Tummy Troubles

As many people who follow the blog know, I have really struggled with my gut for much of the year. After an agonizing glutening in April of 2009, I have struggled mightily to get back to center. My weight has been crazy weird and the gluten caused me jump nearly a dress size, even thought he scale hardly budged. Then the scale budged and I languished. On top of that - I just felt genuinely bad.

In the last 6 weeks, my weight and frankly my hormones I think, have shifted. I have lost about 6 pounds. Rapidly. My blood pressure has bottomed out a bit off and on and I have been really trying to find that gut balance point. While the weight loss is welcomed, the other issues have been a challenge. I mean a challenge.

We might be there. I am now back at my normal weight and the waist band of my pants reflect that. This is a recent development. I have to be the only person in America to lose 4 plus pounds the week of Xmas and New Years. Without even trying. I will even admit to splurging on some chocolate...

I also have moved forward with new doctor and had a serious amount of blood drawn, in order to under go some testing, in an effort to pinpoint exactly what is the trouble with my gut. Let's hope 2010 is about putting the gut issue to bed for good.

Subtraction

So for those of you, who are math challenged and childless - be happy. Be very happy. L is learning double digit subtraction with regrouping. (Like 41-29)

Now let's just say that there is no memorizing jack. It is an intuitive approach and they teach the kiddos like 7 different ways to look at adding and subtracting - then they throw the regrouping idea at them. Seriously. Then they wonder why the kiddos are confused.

I am really decent at math. I have been working extra with her. We are slowly getting there. Between this and them wanting her to finish the 2nd grade reading at least the 4th grade level, I actually wonder exactly what 3rd grade has in store for us.

Cancer Live

Mom is in a 2nd Level Chemo trial at the James. So far so good, but I have to say, they expect alot out of a woman, with cancer. Lots of appointments and running around. The side effects are manageable, but my bro and I are circling the wagons. It is very exhausting. She is in amazing hands, but it is still a long road...

Snickers

Our cat is fab. She loves us and we love her. The kids are still, 3 months in, being very responsible about her care and she has mastered the cat door. I still am convinced it was fate. She was sent to us for a reason.

This blog

I am not sure if I will continue blogging here or not. I find I have less and less time and my creative energy has been taking me in different directions of late. Needless to say, I do not want this blog to be stale and only updated once in a while. That said, nor do I want it to be filled with mindless drivel.

I am unresolved on this point. How much is enough for it to remain relevant? Useful. To what end is it.

So we shall see. I am thinking it over and will get back to ya'all!