Bystander

In Which Roseanne Roseannadanna's Words Haunt Me

2012-01-31T12:45:00.000-06:00

"You're overqualified. You're under qualified. Don't call us. We'll call you. A woman's place is in the home. It's a jungle out there. Drop dead. Have a nice day. Goodbye!"
She goes on to say, "But I didn't give up!" and then goes into a hilarious description of being interviewed by Walter Cronkite while he was eating a bologna sandwich.

Careful Out There!

2012-01-25T16:22:00.000-06:00

Since I'd mentioned my unemployment in my last post, I thought I'd write a post about it here. I've been holding off writing about it for fear that potential employers would find it whiny or angry or at least find something they didn't like about it. But not blogging hasn't helped me find a job, so I'm just going to go for it.

It's not easy, you've probably already imagined. It's tough on the psyche. Susannah Breslin is blogging and tweeting about it for a Forbes blog called Pink Slipped, but I think she's skipping a lot of important detail.

Looking for work in the 21st Century, at least from my perspective--an introvert with few connections--is a cold, impersonal daily exercise in what I can so far call futility.

I check Monster.com, Indeed.com, Glassdoor.com, Dallasjobsite.com, WorkinTexas.com. and Craigslist. In the search fields I put "writer editor," and in the location field I write "Dallas" or "Irving". I average about five to nine applications a week, and it's snagged me interviews with three companies, the first of which, I completely flubbed.

The second company made me suspicious that they were on the up-and-up. They claimed to be a 501c3 but I found no evidence of that. I had a pretty strong interview at the third company but it could have been stronger. It was a panel interview with three editors who were so eager to get someone new that they overwhelmed me with every publication they cranked out the previous year. I must have looked like a deer in the headlights, which was how I felt. Also, the position was a tiny bit farther than I want to travel every day. But now I'm six months looking for a job and still without one, so I wish I'd expressed more eagerness to jump right in.

Anyway, job searching is an online wilderness, thick with traps to fall into and hucksters to fall prey to. After you sign up for job search sites, your e-mail address is sent to all kinds of folks not interested in hiring you but interested in "helping you get a job." They "help" you get a job by luring you to their site with an position that looks appealing. You click "Apply." The next page has you fill in your personal information--name, address, phone numbers, etc.* You finish that and click "Next." The next page has you fill in your work history. You finish and click "Next."

About three more pages follow asking you to fill in your education, references and whatnot and then you get to a screen that says something like, "Only one more step to go. Click here."

For only $89 a month, they'll send you open positions in your field that closely match your resume, blah, blah, blah. Got that? You just spent an hour or so for a huckster. It's bad enough to be unemployed, but job agencies that trick you like that -- bah! It's salt in the wounds.

Speaking of salt in the wounds, I got an e-mail from one "job counselor" telling me my resume was all wrong. This is after I had it professionally done by a recruiting company my former company hired to help me find a new job when they laid me off.

That e-mail was just mean. (Note, I'm using AP Style for "e-mail." Is that killing you? It's killing me! Who gives a hoot about an AP hyphen?)

This guy says

The official unemployment rate may have fallen, slightly, but the real unemployment rate — the number of working-age Americans who aren’t working — rose from about 12% before the 2008 crisis, to about 23%, and hasn’t come down.

(Via Instapundit.) Huh. I don't know if that makes me feel better or worse. But I do think the way people live and are going to live is changing. I like working. No, I LOVE working, so I hope I find something suitable soon. If I don't find a professional job, my kids want me to work at the local ice cream shop. Now you know that will be hell on my waistline.

*This site and some others that don't even require subscription has just sold your phone number to a college that will "help" you get a job by furthering your education. As soon as you click "Submit"on your job application, your phone will ring.I told the person who called me that I was still paying off my graduate school loan. So. No thank you.

Somewhat finished cabin

2012-01-15T19:44:00.000-06:00

Honestly, I feel a little weird going public with our cabin adventures. It's what's in my thoughts and heart and mind lately, so I'm dying to write about it. I think I have some form of capitalist's survivor's guilt. But when I feel that way, I think about my difficulty finding a job, which I need, and somehow the survivor's guilt is diminished. If you think I'm throwing my family's fortune (good or bad, time will tell) in your face, remember I lost my job in May, started looking in August and haven't found a professional home yet. If we can rent this baby out, that will fill in a lot of holes my lack of income is creating.

We will always have work to do on the cabin, but we were able to achieve a finished look (if you don't look too closely!) while up there during the Christmas break. Our mission was to finish furnishing it and install a used washer and dryer in the basement.

We hauled up some inherited furniture (cedar armoire, cedar chest, small dresser and table) from Oklahoma and put it in a borrowed 5' x 8' trailer. Gene and his stepdad covered it with "Flappy the Tarp."

(Flappy was not unflappable and we stopped several times to strap him down.)

We arrived in the dark and unloaded the trailer using a hand truck. Then we realized we couldn't get the trailer back up our 280-foot snow-covered driveway. Worry, worry, worry. So Gene shoveled snow (in the dark) off the whole 280-feet, detached the trailer and confirmed that our VW Passat station wagon was able to get back to the road. Hurray!

Tuesday morning, Gene tried every way he could think of to get the trailer back up the hill, even with me behind the wheel and him pushing, but the trailer would only go as far as 270 feet, ten feet short of the road. Dang it!

New set of plans. Instead of going into the Springs to purchase a used washer/dryer set, we'd go to Wal-Mart to buy snow chains and other needed supplies. We'd eaten up half the day on that trailer and it was too late go into the city to rent a truck.

Wednesday, Gene and the kids had reservations for skiing. I was resting my knee (which re-injured while I was sitting in the ski lodge!) so I hung out in the lodge with a book and some coffee. And then a beer. And then a snack. And then another coffee.

Success! The kids had fun!

Thursday morning the muddy divots our tires had left from Tuesday were dry and the trailer went up the hill without a hitch, that is to say, easily. We hit the Springs for our washer/dryer and some used furniture. Now. How to get the washer/dryer into the basement ...

(I'm the president of Gene's fan club.)

Friday we went back to the Springs to finish furniture shopping, oh--and to take our umpteenth trip to Lowe's Depot. We were keeping our car and trailer parked on the road just in case we couldn't get it back up our driveway again. On the walk up there, I took a few pictures:

Pretty in the snow, huh? Here's a different view from the road:

Anyway, we found a few nice pieces to fill in the holes inside the cabin. Here are some pictures. Click to enlarge:

You can barely see it in the above picture, but there's a 30-year-old donated butcher-block dining table that Gene sanded and re-finished. (See below.)

Below is the master:

I give you the guest room:

Where you put the kids:

Gene fell for that chair (below) at a used furniture shop. The cedar chest is inherited and the side table was part of a used set we bought. It goes with the coffee and end tables downstairs. They wouldn't let us buy two pieces; we had to buy the three.

We were supposed to leave Saturday, but we were behind schedule, so instead, we stayed to clean out the basement and load up all the remaining refuse from the furniture packaging and whatnot so that Gene could install the washer/dryer. Our dryer had a plug with three prongs; we had an outlet for a four-pronged plug.

It's always. Something.

We left the mountain at about 1:45 and arrived at the dump 11 minutes after it had closed. On a Saturday. On a Saturday that was New Year's Eve. (See above paragraph.)

So at Emma's suggestion, we decided to haul the whole trailer full of trash back to Texas.

And as we'd promised the kids we took them to Manitou Springs to stop at the Wizard Shop for some wand-browsing. (First we stopped by a local hardware store for a new plug for our old dryer.) We hauled the trash there as well, eventually parking in front of the swanky 125-year-old Cliff House Hotel, where they seated us in the music room because the dining room was not yet open. We had a very nice waitress who asked us what our plans were for the holiday weekend.

Oh, we're just going to haul our trailer trash up to Wal-Mart and then back up to our cabin and then haul it back to Texas tomorrow.

And that's exactly what we did.

Cabin becomes homey

2011-10-17T11:41:00.003-05:00

I am just returned from Colorado where I spent five nights and four days. With the help of a good friend, who is an absolute pro at shopping and organizing, here's what we accomplished:

Received refrigerator. Bought and hung kitchen curtains from Wal-Mart.

Sorry, husband. I want a TV for movie-watching. Bought one a Wal-Mart. Found this stand at American Furniture Warehouse. On clearance. Because we found so many other clearance items, it had to be taken out of its box to fit in the car. All furniture had to be assembled.

Hung coat hooks from Lowe's and wall clock from Target.

Received "leather" couch from American Furniture Warehouse. The dimensions are a bit over-sized for the space. (My bad.) But it's comfortable. Found ottoman (with storage!) at AFW, as well as that wicked cool shelf next to the couch. Tray from Target.

Received two twin beds from AFW, (Did I mention I love men? The delivery guys just brought n our stuff and put it where it needed to be!), found night stands and lamps on clearance while in the store. The bedding was a last-minute find from Target.

The upstairs loft. Plan is to buy more blinds and bring them up on my next visit.

The bathroom needed that shelf from Bed Bath and Beyond. Also, hung curtains (just out of picture view but visible in the mirror) from Wal-Mart.

Facing west. You see the aspens in their full yellow glory.


Received bed from AFW. Found bedding at ... Ross? BB&B? Can't remember. Two sets of lamps for bedrooms on clearance from BB&B. That little nightstand also a real find.

Studied window treatments at Lowe's and found perfect roller blinds. Then found out Lowe's no longer stocks privacy liners for the roller blinds so switched to wood blinds, brought them back and hung them. Bedding from ... Bed Bath & Beyond? At this point, four days of shopping is all a blur.


Facing west. You see the aspens in their full yellow glory.

Facing north.


East facing.

South facing, overlooks a little valley (not seen here) where twice we saw deer grazing.

Cabin, outdoor shots

2011-09-20T16:09:00.001-05:00

I've never had a basement before

2011-09-20T12:40:00.001-05:00

But here it is in its vast glory:

The stairs look kind of rickety. They're solid though.

I've never had a cistern before either:

The contractor said he'll clean all the junk up.

Moments of zen

2011-09-20T12:35:00.001-05:00

Let's remember why we did this:

Our neighbors say big horn sheep use our front yard as a place to eat in the fall.

Fall was just making its impending presence known when we were there two weeks ago.

What have I been doing with my time away?

2011-09-20T12:23:00.001-05:00

Greetings friends and family of Bystander!

Whoa! Blogger's changed since I've last been here. Here are some updated photos of our cabin. A good friend of mine is going to help me furnish it. Below is Gene trying to do what the stove guy couldn't, that is, attach a pipe to the wood-burning stove.

We have a railing!

This is the living room before we got the hardwood down.

This is the kitchen. By now we have a stove/oven in it, plus a real laminate coutertop.

Le water closet:

As you can see, it needs a curtain in the window.

Below are two pictures of our floors. The carpet is in the loft. The hardwood is all over the living space on the main floors. I cut the planks to size and Gene hammered them in. More pictures to come ...

Impatient Gardner

2010-04-04T16:48:00.020-05:00

Hello strangers, long time no blog!

Last fall, a good friend of mine said I should take some monkey grass off her hands, so I spent a day in her yard digging it up and she spent a day in my yard, planting it, plus a few extras she didn't want anymore, and we created a skeletal frame of a garden.

All of that work reminded my husband that he had wanted to change the slope of the yard, so he bought three yards of dirt and two yards of pebbles for drainage.

Of course it rained hard before we could complete the job.

Spring was a long time coming.

But we finished the chore.

And then Gene put down sod.

I planted some begonias, and some other things, too.

The asparagus ferns are being terribly stubborn, but a few are starting to show signs of life.
Gasp! Just look!

Still, they were a bit late, so I brought in some southern woodland ferns to make them jealous.

What are some of the things I planted? Ha! The peonies I beheaded while planting in the fall survived!

Here's a rose bush we replanted.

A donated ~~mandiba~~ nandina tree, below, surrounded by lilies we inherited from our home's previous owners. Only a few of the lilies have bloomed so far.

I bought a plantain lily. Don't let the name fool you; there won't be any flowers:

Here's the hydrangea that started the whole thing!

What is this?

So much shade that I had to hang some flowers to catch some sun:

Is this a hosta or is it a autum joy sedum (thingamadoodle)?

What the whaty what what?

The calla lilies are in bloom again. Such a strange flower. .. I wore them on my wedding day..." Annotate that!

Long shot:

It is a long shot, or at least, it feels like one. I'm an expectant father for this garden, walking up and down the aisle looking for signs of life, digging up the detris and hoping, hoping, hoping to see some green.

Rush Out and Buy the CD

2010-02-28T08:07:00.002-06:00

Rumor has it Tom Catmull's All the Good in the World was heard as bumper music on the Rush Limbaugh show. Go here and click on "noise and words." Anyone hear it?

Anchorman untethers himself

2010-01-15T08:36:00.002-06:00

And rants. This was long, but I enjoyed it. He's writing anonymously:

Here’s the formula. Highly trained Anchorman (booming authoritative, focus-group-tested voice at the ready) or better yet, Anchorwoman (compassionate voice and pouty face, furrowed brow at the ready), reads the headline, tosses to reporter. Hyperventilating reporter further frightens with victim sound bite, followed by sound bite from plaintiff attorney (”This poor victim needs to be compensated.”). Followed by politician sound bite (”I’m introducing legislation …”) followed by reporter tag, which may or may not include response from big, bad, deep-pocketed corporation. Interestingly, that last component — the response from the corporate evildoers, often becomes, in my experience, a throwaway part of many stories — something along the lines of, “The XYZ company denies any wrongdoing.” Or even, “The XYZ company was unavailable for comment at news time.”

I’ve even noted a pattern among some media-savvy trial attorneys. Often, they’ll fax or e-mail a press release of a pending lawsuit or action to newsrooms on Friday afternoons — enough time for a reporter to get a camera crew, head to the law office, get the sound bite for the evening deadline, but not enough time for the deep-pocketed corporation, with it’s multi-layered media information office, often located in a distant city, to respond before deadline time. So, the story airs, unchallenged, with the charges stewing and brewing over the weekend. The corporation is sucker-punched, feeding frenzy gains steam, politicians take note. Damage is done, forcing corporation to consider out-of-court settlement, sparing them more bad publicity, but most importantly, sparing the plaintiff attorney all of that hard work of trial preparation, but with an easy payoff .

Nancy Recommends...

2010-01-07T09:16:00.001-06:00

An interesting look at wealth disparity, income distribution and the value of experts with Thomas Sowell.

Tonight

2009-10-02T16:55:00.002-05:00

Hint:

"Better get under cover, Sylvester. There's a storm blowin' up, a whopper. Just speakin' the vernacular of the peasantry. Poor little kid, I hope she gets home all right."

There will be popcorn, among other goodies!

Good Viewing

2009-09-30T08:35:00.002-05:00

Tom Coburn makes some very compelling arguments. Kudos to the Huffpo guy for his very honest question on the comparison of public option flood insurance to public option health insurance.

Safire and Me

2009-09-27T19:40:00.005-05:00

I used to read William Safire's political columns when I was a receptionist for a pret-a-porter line on Seventh Avenue in New York. I played a game with my friend Kenneth, whose birthday is next week (happy birthday, Kenneth!), in which we picked an unfamiliar word and tried to use it in a sentence before the end of the day.

When Kenneth said he was going to obviate to the 16th floor, I knew he wasn't taking me seriously.

Thank you, Mr. Safire and rest in peace.

"You should have seen my crab."

2009-09-22T18:33:00.001-05:00

Whoo! Can I clear a room or what? Nobody here but Bob Dole.

Let's push that opinionated non-rant down the page. How about something completely different?

Here's an acting coach curing an actor of "the chokes" or a tendency to freeze up on stage. The actor, "Howard Moon," will be competing against "Sammy the Crab," a famous actor who happens to be a crab, and who long ago beat the acting coach out of a job and ruined his career.

Substitute for a Rant

2009-09-10T09:54:00.009-05:00

Well. I have a very long and very irritable post on politics, politics and Facebook, the Left, rudeness, the usual double standards and all other things that are rocking my world today, but I'll save that in drafts for a while before I decide to publish or delete.

Right now I'll just ask, since 16 million Americans magically got health care insurance last night, according to the president's speech, can we slow down in the the rush to pass health care reform and instead make measured, thoughtful decisions? We were so sure a few weeks ago that it was 46 million. Are we really sure now that it's 30 million? Has that number been vetted? I know vetting isn't a priority in this administration.

Can we talk about it a little more? No? Because, I'm not so sure 30 million is correct either.

Who exactly created the mess you speak of, Mr. President? Doctors? Well, doctors as a group, are no more or less self-interested than politicians, journalists software developers and artists.

Well, maybe less so than artists.

If only someone would just tell us what to do--then we wouldn't have to bother debating the issues at all! Just ask Thomas Friedman:

One-party autocracy certainly has its drawbacks. But when it is led by a reasonably enlightened group of people, as China is today, it can also have great advantages.

Enlightened enough for what?

China banned plastic bags, man. P-l-a-s-t-i-c b-a-gs. Gone, with the single enlightened stroke of a pen. They just got rid of them. No votes. No debate. Those inspired rulers said There Shall Be No More Thin Plastic Bags. "Bam! Just like that — 1.3 billion people, theoretically, will stop using thin plastic bags" he [Thomas Friedma] writes in his chapter "China for a Day (But Not for Two)."
We could do that here if we could just get rid of our constitution — just for a day, mind you. I mean who wouldn't want to go 24 hours without habeas corpus or the first amendment, if it meant getting rid of these petroleum-soaked turtle-choking wind-socks of doom?

Cool! What else has democracy-free China done?

In the past few months Chinese dictators who Tom Friedman called a “reasonably enlightened group” have jailed blogger Wu Baoqun for posting information that the government forced Chinese peasants to sell their land at extremely low prices, so that the Communist Party could auction that land off for a hefty profit.

But jailing those who are complaining about government expropriations from peasants is not all the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been up to. Let’s take one of Friedman’s pet issues, the environment. His favorite enlightened despots have sent Sun Xiaodi, a Gansu environmental activist and recipient of the 2006 Nuclear-free Future Award, and his daughter Sun Haiyan to re-education-through-labor camps for exposing official corruption and nuclear waste pollution in Gansu Province. Likewise, the CCP has sent activists Wu Lihong and Tang Zhirong to jail for complaining about industrial pollution.

Too bad for them, but hey, no more plastic bags!

Still. Kinda funny talk coming from a Lefty, isn't it? The longing wistfulness over autocracy. We could submit ourselves to unscrutinized policy makers and submit ourselves to the ideals of the Left and what they stand for. What do they stand for?

what do Democrats stand for, if they are so ready to defame concerned citizens as the "mob" -- a word betraying a Marie Antoinette delusion of superiority to ordinary mortals. I thought my party was populist, attentive to the needs and wishes of those outside the power structure. And as a product of the 1960s, I thought the Democratic party was passionately committed to freedom of thought and speech

Sorry, Camille. You thought wrong.

But somehow liberals have drifted into a strange servility toward big government,

Which I find bizarre. Liberals wouldn't lie belly up for an Exxon or an Aetna or a Wal-Mart-- other large organizations that influence our lives--but a Democratic administration, which by virtue of being able to pass laws, arguably holds more power over our lives?

The ethical collapse of the left was nowhere more evident than in the near total silence of liberal media and Web sites at the Obama administration's outrageous solicitation to private citizens to report unacceptable "casual conversations" to the White House. If Republicans had done this, there would have been an angry explosion by Democrats from coast to coast. I was stunned at the failure of liberals to see the blatant totalitarianism in this incident, which the president should have immediately denounced. His failure to do so implicates him in it.

The list of awkward, amateurish bungling in this administration is getting suspiciously long. When do we quit calling them rookie mistakes and start calling them ideology?

Democrats may have collapsed as Republicans have collapsed before them. It's not the Left (well, it is today); it's not the Right. It's the culture of political corruption and it needs to be routed out.

I can't even tag this piece, at least not right now. Aren't you glad I published this instead of my rant?

On Relationships

2009-09-09T15:26:00.002-05:00

...there are some things that women should simply not try to get men to do - such as make coffee, pick up their socks or clean the loo.

Now she tells us.

The Speech, III

2009-09-08T16:32:00.003-05:00

When Bush I was president and gave a speech to school children,

Democrats, then the majority party in Congress, not only denounced Bush's speech -- they also ordered the General Accounting Office to investigate its production and later summoned top Bush administration officials to Capitol Hill for an extensive hearing on the issue.

I know--dog bites man story, but I can't help it!

The Speech, II

2009-09-08T08:05:00.006-05:00

I thought the same thing Mickey Kaus did when I read that passage.

Those are all the people who are trying to help--families, teachers, and Barack Hussein Obama? He's "working hard to fix up" classrooms? I hope not! He has two wars and a health care bill to worry about,

The other thing I thought about the speech, was that he's really trying to inspire poor kids. He could have made it broader to include the disaffected middle- and upper-middle class suburban youth. Kids can get cynical out in the 'burbs, ya know! Maybe it comes from having too much--I don't know.

But it was very paternal, which isn't a bad thing (well, it is, if you're a Republican president). I think the country can sometimes use some more parenting. (That remark will surely come back to haunt me. Don't confuse that remark as support for nanny statism.)

Althouse smartly points out, "Obama's speech to kids is nearly 10X as long as the Gettysburg Address (which was given to adults). The kids will need to sit still for 2540 televised words."

She's right, of course. Long speeches, I learned long ago, don't go over too well with audiences.

Politics aside, I think if presidents want to give speeches to the nation's school children, they need to give school districts time to plan and put it in the curriculum. A huge part of running a school is organization--moving one big group of kids from one room to the other. I'd give schools at least a year's notice with an early draft of the speech.

Why Does this Shock Me?

2009-09-06T07:21:00.007-05:00

How the Times characterizes what he said:

"Mark Steyn, a Canadian author and political commentator, speaking on the Rush Limbaugh show on Wednesday, accused Mr. Obama of trying to create a cult of personality, comparing him to Saddam Hussein and Kim Jong Il, the North Korean leader."

What he actually said:

"Obviously we're not talking about the cult of personality on the Saddam Hussein/Kim Jong Il scale."

According to Steyn, and I believe him.

(Via Instapundit.)

Update: This is why group think is such a danger in journalism: The Chicago Tribune, the Examiner, The Sacramento Bee, The Las Vegas Sun, and The Irish Times picked up the story.

Here's the clip (provided by the Times story) in which he is absolutely clear.

The Speech

2009-09-05T07:42:00.006-05:00

I don't know. If the president can inspire a lot of kids--who would otherwise drop out--to stay in school, I say it's worth it.

Problem is that's a big immeasurable if.

My kids' school will not be airing the speech live because it conflicts with lunch, but will record it and put it up on their Web site so parents can watch with their kids later.

More: I'm surprised that Stephen Green is so fussy about it. Too much vodka? Tom Maguire is always hilarious. (Hmm ... maybe I should make that a tag.)

Your kid will have to put up with twelve years of public school indoctrination anyway - one more day can't hurt.

I well remember President Carter urging Americans to control the temperature in their homes to save energy, and it fit snugly with my burgeoning frugal self. I've got plenty of green friends who turn blue at night when it comes to adjusting the temperature on the p.m. A/C -- can't not snuggle under warm, thick covers as though you're living through a Colorado winter without heat, even though it's North Texas where night time summer lows generally hover at 78. Let us keep the cozy!

The president's got a similar deal going on during the a.m. hours.

With all the gen-x passion I can muster -- after his campaign remarks about not wasting energy -- I proudly declare: whatever.

People Still Don't Like to Pay Taxes

2009-09-03T06:44:00.002-05:00

No, they don't. Via The Corner.

Face Search

2009-09-02T10:08:00.000-05:00

This site found mine.

Pick Up That Barbell

2009-08-30T19:22:00.002-05:00

This would have saved me from slacking off a few years ago. H/T JOM.

Britain

2009-08-30T07:27:00.001-05:00

Falters.

Swine Flu

2009-08-26T19:12:00.002-05:00

It's been 24 hours. I am not a bad citizen for sending my daughter to school! The Texas Department of Health and the Center for Disease Control support my actions.

Cheers

2009-08-16T10:51:00.006-05:00

Breaking blog silence to comment on this bit of writing:

The outrage and bafflement over mothers who drink to excess exploded recently, after Diane Schuler, speeding the wrong way on a New York highway, killed four children, herself and three other adults.

(Emphasis added.) Only over mothers who drink to excess? I'd think there would be an explosion of outrage over anyone who drinks to excess, at least where safety is concerned.

My guess is Stefanie Wilder-Taylor, the subject of the above link who famously wrote about mixing momming with drinking (cocktail party playdates) and has recently gone cold turkey, is too busy and too stressed and too ambitious. If her husband is coming home at 8 every night, and she can't handle the kids and meeting her writing deadlines without a bottle of chardonnay, perhaps the family needs to rethink their career ambitions or lifestyle ambitions.

Contrary to conventional 1980s wisdom, you can't have it all--with or without children.

By the way, you're welcome! For what, you ask? Why, for giving you my unsolicited opinion, of course!

Home reconstruction

2009-04-19T16:25:00.017-05:00

Remember when we took down the fireplace to put in a bar? We put a new fireplace in. (Can't shake the underline function right now, fyi.)

First you remove the window on the wall.

Actually, first you pick out a few pieces of slate:

You have to cut a hole in the eve hanging over your backporch:

Unknown unknowns emerge:

For a few weeks, you'll have a hole in your house. You can sing "There's a hole in my house that can only be filled by you..." by Extreme to your husband during that time.

Here's what it looks like from the other side:

You'll need to put a hole in your roof for a chimney:

And then you need to build it:

Looking up:

Here's another shot, taken from the deck of the playhouse:

Only don't forget to take down the old chimney:

And throw away the refuse:

Patch up that hole:

Keep patching:

Did I mention the hole in the house? Here it is with some framing:

And the fireplace arrives:

It has some sort of catalytic converter. It has some sort of EPA approval.

Put some cement board around it and start bricking it:

Keep going:

But wait! Free firewood listed all over Craig's List! [Added: You'll have to chop it down and make a place to store it.]

Aw, come on! I can't take the dust anymore:

OK. I'll take Emma to her party. Meet us later for cake. And when I get home:

Yay! Thank you! (Now what about the other side?)

I am 100 Percent Behind the Stimulus Plan

2009-02-14T09:41:00.004-06:00

Well, if I'd known I was included in the Stimulus package, I wouldn't have been so irritable about it. Hat tip: Patterico*

Want your piece of the pie?

*Yikes! Blogger is behaving strangely. I can't add a link to Patterico. Huh.

It's Time to Say it

2009-02-04T06:41:00.004-06:00

People don't want to pay taxes. They may want to raise taxes--or belong to a party that does--but once those taxes are raised, they don't want to pay them.

I feel better now.

Update: Oh, he would SO be in trouble if he were my husband!

"Be loyal to the party"

2009-01-24T18:24:00.004-06:00

Rob Long lands in China and finds the customs' agents code of ethics. "Have the interest of the whole at heart, and do one's utmost to cooperate."

What if Bush Said That?

2009-01-24T15:01:00.004-06:00

In comments below, Dana points out Obama's comment regarding His Royal Rushiness:

You can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done," he told top GOP leaders

Let's go to Tom Maguire for some pithy remarks:

Second, although he is long gone and nearly forgotten, for old times' sake let's play the "What if Bush had said that?" game. If Bush had said "You can't just read Paul Krugman..." libs would be leaping from tall buildings and wailing about free speech, a free press and a crackdown on dissent all the way down.

Gasp! I have a new label! This dust-up reminds me of a Bush proxy who once cautioned people to watch what they say during war time, and I do believe that was not met well by the opposition party.

The Fairness Doctrine created Rush Limbaugh; will Obama bring it back?

Loyal Opposition

2009-01-24T13:45:00.005-06:00

Speaking of the opposition: Heartthrob Andy Levy has some advice for the loyal opposition (count me among them, by the way):

DON’T question the motives - question the policy. When you disagree with Obama’s policies, say so, and make it clear why. But remember that President Obama is doing what he thinks is best for the country, as President Bush did. Both men love America and want what’s best for her. End of story.

DON’T make it personal. We don’t need another Derangement Syndrome. We don’t need people doing things like emphasizing Obama’s middle name in a derogatory fashion. How anyone would think that’s beneficial to their cause, or to the country as a whole, is beyond me. Also, it’s not even clever. Neither are smushwords like BusHitler, or sillywords like Rethuglicans and Dhimmicrats.

More "Don'ts" at the link. He also says don't use the phrase "speaking truth to power," and my question is, not even for parody?

A Lovers' Quarrel

2009-01-24T07:00:00.005-06:00

Ha! Funny:

As a print reporter who covered the Bush White House told me: When a Republican president takes office reporters think they're self-appointed prosecutors. But no one wants to prosecute Nelson Mandela. And Obama is a lot more like Mandela, to a lot of reporters, than he is to some run-of-the-mill liberal like Dick Durbin. Let's just call Obama's little tiff with the press a lovers' quarrel.

Why does Obama remind them of Mandela? Because they both opposed the Iraq war?

Anyway, time to psychoanalyze the president. I'm noticing some control issues in him that I think he might struggle with.

Exhibit A: Obama let his annoyance show when the vice president made sport of Chief Justice Roberts for flubbing the oath.

Exhibit B: He showed annoyance with the press for doing their job. "I can’t come in and shake hands if I’m gonna get grilled every time." (Although, honestly, I don't know the rules for a situation like that.)

Exhibit C: "I won." (Can we really afford four more years of this type of swagger?)

Mac is Back!

2009-01-23T08:51:00.006-06:00

McCain gets good press because he bucks Republicans. WaPo writer Shailagh Murray glows about him:

The surest sign of McCain's return to his "maverick" ways came when he caught wind of an effort by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) to delay Clinton's confirmation vote by a day, pushing it from Tuesday to Wednesday because he was seeking greater disclosure about foreign donors to former president Bill Clinton's charitable foundation.

Yeah, because why should a silly thing like possible foreign influence on domestic policy slow up Hillary's consolation prize?

*I'm already in a bad mood this morning, if you need an explanation for my terseness.

PS I loved her lecturing the State Department staff on working together (read: no leaks to the press). Yeah? Well, good luck, sista!

I'll Second That

2009-01-21T06:39:00.001-06:00

The pursuit of individual prosperity is not selfish and the effort to defend it is neither a tired dogma nor a childish thing. (Goldberg.)

PS Happy Belated Peaceful Transfer of Power Day!

This has been bothering me for a while now

2009-01-17T16:45:00.000-06:00

Favreau.

Precedent

2009-01-17T09:20:00.004-06:00

$160 million. (Via DRJ at Patterico's.)

Update:

MediaMatters follows the money trail and finds apples and oranges.(Via commenter K.):

Here's why using the $160 million number and comparing it with Bush's 2005 costs represented a classic apples-and-oranges assessment: For years, the press routinely referred to the cost of presidential inaugurations by calculating how much money was spent on the swearing-in and the social activities surrounding that. The cost of the inauguration's security was virtually never factored into the final tab, as reported by the press. For instance, here's The Washington Post from January 20, 2005, addressing the Bush bash:

The $40 million does not include the cost of a web of security, including everything from 7,000 troops to volunteer police officers from far away, to some of the most sophisticated detection and protection equipment.

This explains a lot, but I'm still having trouble figuring out the breakdown of projected, or as MediaMatters puts it, unsubstantiated $160 million.

The federal government has budgeted $49 million for this year’s inauguration, more than triple what taxpayers spent at Bush’s first inauguration in 2001, according to the Office of Management and Budget.
Earlier this year, the District of Columbia, Virginia, Maryland and the Washington transit authority sent a request to federal lawmakers for more than $75 million to cover a variety of inaugural costs ranging from security to transportation.

I don't find anywhere that says, "that $49 million includes security." Now, the $75 million includes some security. So anyone who can break it down for me, please do. (I suspect, however, we won't know the answer until after the festivities--just like my wedding reception. Are the Obamas offering an open bar?)

Two-Day Shipping

2009-01-08T18:17:00.002-06:00

The Post-Christmas Post

2008-12-28T13:03:00.004-06:00

Oh, for Pete's sake! Check out Bendaroo's Web site; it's got a video on it that must have sold my four-year-old son on them (and his chump parents too!).

Update: Twelve 'uhs' or 'ums'. Not as bad as I first thought.

The Christmas Post

2008-12-23T19:18:00.002-06:00

Green Room Blues

2008-12-14T19:55:00.001-06:00

I have no tag for this post.

Freedom and Peace

2008-12-14T18:25:00.003-06:00

The Secret Service was alarmingly slow on this attack. (Video at lower left.) Aren't they supposed to put themselves between a bullet and the President? They couldn't put themselves between a shoe and the President. Yikes!

Sorry, Super Target

2008-12-13T15:02:00.002-06:00

Useful link

2008-12-13T10:38:00.004-06:00

Here. I think I found it at Dynamist, but don't remember for sure.

Hello, World

2008-12-12T09:47:00.003-06:00

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-02T07:33:00.002-06:00

Above, our new spider web that I mentioned in the post below, complete with giant spider.

Above, an old friend, a mechanical ghost who moves up and down in the corner of our front yard.

Above, one geeky executioner and two not-very-scary trick-or-treaters. Emma is a sweetheart bat and Brendan is some type of ninja, mask and shoulder spikes not worn in this picture.

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-02T07:16:00.003-06:00

Above, our daughter required costumes for the whole family this year. I'm wearing a "Dark Angel" costume, plus a witch's hat at her request. I asked for a medium or large and Party City only had a medium. It was a bit too small, but with all that fabric, not very noticeably so. My husband, who flew in from New Jersey just for the weekend, went as an executioner geek. (If I had a close up you'd see his glasses make him look a little geeky.)

Above, an old feature. Our 15-year-old neighbor helps my kids put the bones in the right order. My husband bought the skeleton from a medical equipment supply magazine.

A few new features this year.

The kids loved the rats.

You can't see it, but also added are a giant spider web and giant spiders. Plus, we had a fog machine and Gene rigged up thundering sound effects through some old speakers.

Parents were having their kids pose for pictures in our yard!

I was not well this Halloween, but duty calls on the most exciting night of the year! So, I did a little trick-or; I did a little treating. I think I hit the hay at 10:30 after holding up pretty well.

THE greatest poem ever known Is one all poets have outgrown: The poetry, innate, untold, Of being only four years old.

2008-10-05T15:51:00.003-05:00

But there were days, O tender elf,

When you were Poetry itself!

Kangaroo Court

2008-09-16T06:46:00.003-05:00

If I wrote that the Canadian Human Rights Commission was made up of a bunch of jack a$$e$, would I be hauled in front of them to answer for my crime?

Ms. Blight said there is no "free pass" for anyone.

Well, according to the article, she was only talking about Canadians, but how much longer before the urge to limit free speech comes south of the border?

Via Instapundit

Peg or Palin?

2008-08-31T21:01:00.001-05:00

Now here's a funny comparison.

Who Started the War?

2008-08-28T09:43:00.005-05:00

[Update: What the--I thought this posted days ago. Yet it's been sitting in draft form behind the scenes. Let me give it another try.]

[Updated at the bottom to add more quotes.] It's unclear. Or, maybe not:

“Can I stop you for a second?” I said. I was still under the impression that the war began on August 7 and that Georgian President Saakashvili started it when he sent troops into South Ossetia's capital Tskhinvali. What was all this about the Ossetian violence on August 6 and before?

He raised his hand as if to say stop.

“That was the formal start of the war,” he said. “Because of the peace agreement they had, nobody was allowed to have guns bigger than 80mm. Okay, so that's the formal start of the war. It wasn't the attack on Tskhinvali. Now stop me.”

“Okay,” I said. “All the reports I've read say Saakashvili started the war.”

“I'm not yet on the 7th,” he said. “I'm on the 6th.”

“Okay,” I said. He had given this explanation to reporters before, and he knew exactly what I was thinking.

“Saakashvili is accused of starting this war on the 7th,” he said.

“Right,” I said. “But that sounds like complete bs to me if what you say is true.”

Thomas Goltz nodded.

Added: Why did Totten bury the lede?

Added: It's a very long post.

The [Georgian] peacekeepers had a military objective, and the first rule of warfare when you're talking to the media is not to reveal to your enemy what you're going to do. So they weren't going to blather into a microphone and say well, actually, I'm trying to go through Tskhinvali in order to stop the Russians. So what did he say instead? I'm here to restore constitutional order in South Ossetia. And that's it. With that, Georgia lost the propaganda war and the world believes Saakashvili started it. And the rest of the story...you know.”

Attention Instapundit

2008-08-15T10:02:00.003-05:00

A school district in Texas is allowing teachers and staffers to carry guns on campus.

That is all.

Update: Prof. Reynolds, you are a gentleman.

Wasatch: Mountain Flowers

2008-08-02T15:35:00.004-05:00

The mountain air was fragrant with the smell of sage, potent with it, really. I've never seen the mountain so lush and green. These were taken with the Olympus.

Wasatch: The 'Time Allows' Post

2008-08-02T15:14:00.007-05:00

Here's what Aunt Jolene's cabin looked like when I was a kid. Back then, it was Grandpa Joe's cabin. In 1963, he caught wind that lots were being sold in Big Cottonwood Canyon in the Wasatch Mountain Range for $750 a piece and wondered out loud if he should buy one. Nah, he said, he didn't have any cash on him anyway. His adult daughter, my Aunt Jeanne was with him at the time; she had $50 on her and encouraged him to purchase the land.

You can't tell from this picture, but you're looking at the upstairs, with a bedroom and living room, to a two-story cabin. Down a narrow, steep staircase is a kitchen and door to the outside.

It must have been in the late 70's or early 80's when they added this part to the cabin. The upstairs is a bedroom and modern bathroom. Before the only toilet facility was a (very clean) outhouse. The downstairs of the addition is a living room with couches that can be slept on.

If you turned around, this is what you'd be looking at:

This is the view from the back side of the cabin. (More pictures of the backyard below in the "Moose" post.)

Before you drive the private road a quarter mile up to the cabin, you have to stop to unlock a gate over a bridge at a rushing creek. We walked down to the creek and I climbed out on to a rock and encouraged the kids to follow me. They were hesitant but also eager. While on the rock, my brother called. That's me on the cell phone holding on to my four-year-old.

Should be a mountain flowers post up next. [Added: there's definitely a metaphor for parenting in the above picture.]

Another Taste of Wasatch

2008-08-01T15:43:00.006-05:00

Lake Mary is a nice little day hike in Big Cottonwood Canyon with enough uphill climbing to keep you huffing and puffing, but my seven-year-old daughter and six-year-old nephew were able to make it up unassisted. My four-year-old son likes to be "up on shoulders." The ascent was somewhere around 760 feet in the one-mile hike. The trail head is in the parking lot of the Brighton ski resort.

We stopped at nearly every rock because the kids think they're great photo opportunities:
My nephew Jack loved carrying around some plastic binoculars that the kids got two years before at Yellowstone.

The kids started whining not long into the hike, but when we caught site of either a beaver or badger sunning itself on a slab on concrete a quarter of the way up, and when we heard about a moose on the trail ahead, they set the pace ahead of me and Gene, who had a four-year-old "up on shoulders."

Here's the moose cooling off on a patch of snow:

Sigh. It was a very nice hike. I'm taking a guess, but I think we ended up around 9300 feet elevation.

More later as time allows.

Both lists

2008-07-30T16:42:00.001-05:00

Blacklist to black list.

"When the blacklist hit, I saw actors walk across the street to avoid me. The doorman at 485 Madison Avenue (former CBS headquarters) turned his back as I walked by. But I never felt hated by the ring-wing blacklisters. They just felt we were terribly wrong," he said.

"These days, the left doesn't just disagree with right-wingers - they hate them. People actually shudder when I tell them I'm a Republican. I should have to carry a bell and yell, 'unclean.' It doesn't bother me, though. I've been on both ends. Being hated is like voodoo. It only works if you feel hated. And I just won't. I know it will pass."

He's right about that feeling hated part, you know.

Hat tip Instapundit.

"A moose has come out of the impenetrable wood."

2008-07-27T10:59:00.003-05:00

The title of this post is taken from one of my favorite poems by Elizabeth Bishop, entitled "The Moose." We had a visitor munching on leaves at my aunt's cabin. More later, but for right now, here's a taste:

You're Sounding So Good to Me

2008-07-17T20:55:00.002-05:00

Why are We Fat?

2008-07-13T07:57:00.004-05:00

One of my favorite lines from Absolutely Fabulous comes when Edina is complaining about her weight to her daughter, Saffy, and Saffy tells her if she took in a little exercise and stopped eating so much, she'd lose weight.

Edina replies, "Don't be ridiculous, darling. If it were that easy, everyone would be doing it."

The LA Times has a collection of theories of why we are fat. I'm stuck on the exercise thing because I don't have time for regular exercise anymore and I can't get control of my weight because of it.

I was visiting my husband's grandfather the other day. At 81, he goes to the gym three times a week. But he said there were times in his life when just don't have time for exercise. I think I'm going through one of those times right now... although ... I could be out power walking instead of blogging right now...

Oh, the guilt!

Rest in Peace

2008-07-12T07:42:00.001-05:00

Tony Snow, at 53. He seemed to love life.

Obama's Emergency Landing

2008-07-09T07:04:00.002-05:00

I've never heard of an emergency slide accidentally deploying in flight either, and I wonder if the secret service is looking into this. Hat tip: Instapundit.

"Named him after a man of the cloth...

2008-06-15T20:01:00.005-05:00

...called him Amos Moses."

Somehow I inherited a 45 of Jerry Reed's Amos Moses when I was a little girl. I must have been about 7-years-old. It gave me nightmares. "...tie a rope around his neck and throw him in the swamp! Alligator bait in the Louisiana bayou! Ha ha!"

Tough childhood that Amos had.

Promised photos

2008-06-08T19:55:00.007-05:00

You may all breathe a sigh of relief. Operation kitchen renovation, started nearly a year ago, is now complete. It was about year ago that we began by taking down the fireplace.

See where those square orange lamps are hanging? That used to be our fireplace. The color is all yellowish due to my unprofessional picture-taking. The little squares accenting our tile floor are samples of the countertop. The back splash is made of clear, purple and green 1-inch glass tiles.

Below is a shot showing the other side of our kitchen.

Part of what took us so long to complete the kitchen was a mini-construction project in between--the children's playhouse. (I say "us" but the reality is my husband is a one-man construction crew. I pitch in where I can.) It was a nice interruption to what became a physically and mentally exhausting project.

A few days after he put up that corrugated roof, a hail storm put holes in it! Here's another shot:

Cool, huh? Very nice by that ivy'd tree. Some type of oak, I think. Emma did her part on the inside:

What's next, you ask? Well, hopefully a lot of rest, though Gene tends to rest by starting a project. (I've tried to convince him that vacuuming is a project, but he's not buying it.) Our goal is to take down a wall in our living room and its windows and build a new fireplace. But for now, we're breathing a sigh of relief and enjoying the luxury that we put so much heart into.

The Grinch who Stole Birthday Parties

2008-06-08T16:50:00.002-05:00

And the noise, the noise NOISE, noise, noise!

I am recently returned from a birthday party at an evil place called Going Bonkers. Going Bonkers is larger version of Chuck E. Cheese, only with less organization. We arrived with present in hand for a pre-school mate's birthday party and, not knowing what to do or where to go, wandered through the entry area into the party area, following another classmate and his mother.

The place is the size of a warehouse with hamster crawls on either side that, leggo-style, reach up to the ceiling, about three stories high, maybe higher. If your child crawls up the high part, you have to go to the back of the warehouse to get a glimpse of him.

The other mother snooped around and found out that we were to play for an hour and have the party after. Shrug, okay. She lost her child in that 20 second conversation. I spyed him a few feet away, but she had already gone back to the giant erector set kids were crawling in. So I chased her, "Jack's mom! Jack's mom!" (And Jack is super cute by the way, with a round face and curly strawberry blonde hair). Caught her. Pointed to her son, then realized I'd lost mine and set out to find him.

He was checking out the erector set. Well, okay. I guess that's all right. I'm going to sit in the "fast food" area. The entire place was staffed by harried teenagers, working hard, but clearly without any adult guidance and structure.

For instance, someone was supposed to have stamped our hands when we came in the door because the gal manning the exit wasn't letting anyone out without matching stamps. Fine. I hunt down my son, and we get mother-son matching stamps.

Meanwhile the noise does not become a dull roar in the background. It's constant yelling and screaming--children's joys, sorrows and fears echoing off the cavernous suburban party warehouse. God, I hate it.

Armed only with a current copy of National Review, I ordered a 7-inch pizza and two medium diet pepsis, totallying close to $9. Twenty-five minutes or so more, my order was up. My son found me, adorably heeding my advice to check back with me for some lunch in a little while.

Finishing that, he then asked me if we could play some of the video games upstairs. Sigh. We'll have to climb the stairs and find out how to get tokens. Wouldn't you rather play in the hamster maze some more? No? Oh, all right then.

Upstairs wasn't so bad. Thank the Lord we didn't have to buy tokens from a living person and only had to interact with a machine. We wasted a few bucks and then got into a rousing game of air hockey. I kicked his butt 5-2. (Yes!)

Our party is called to the pink room so off we go. Ice cream, cake, and then nothing. A teenager, who I think was our party hostess, hands me a 1/2 off ticket for the next time we visit. I don't think I glared at her, but she laughed nervously and said, "if you visit again."

I'd heard a rumor we'd be getting some free tokens, ala Chuck E. Cheese, but they weren't forthcoming. Nothing was happening in the birthday room except for happy gazes at the birthday princess and a few ancy and fidgety four-year-olds. My son being one of them, we exited the room to spend our last token.

He went right to what we found out was a four-dollar golf machine. But first while testing out the buttons, he was overtaken by a kid twice his age. Just sort of pushed aside, as the kid slithered his way in.

When is it appropriate for a mother to discipline another mother's child? I've been asking myself that for seven years. Seven long years while both my children have politely said nothing as bigger kids (and sometimes smaller ones) worm their way impolitely into their play spaces.

Hey kid, you gonna put a token in that machine because my son was there first, I said firmly and with a hint of irritation. He walked away, no doubt untouched by that incident. He will probably grow up externalizing every bad instance in his life (crazy lady!) and internalizing every good one, while some of us do the exact opposite.

As badly as I want my kids never to take others' toys without asking and always to share and play nicely, how do I make them more like that kid?

We went back to check on the birthday princess, and she was opening the first of 73 presents.

"I want to go home," my son said.

Me, too.

On the way out, we passed who I think was the birthday girl's father outside smoking a cigarette. Thanks so much for inviting us, I say in my best preschool mom voice.

"My pleasure," he responds.

Wish it had been mine.

"Mom," says my son.

Yes, honey?

It's quiet out here.

Yes it is, I say as we make our way through the parking lot, then up a hill to a nearby bank's parking lot in 96-degree heat, the closest place we could find to park.

Poorly done, Bonkers, poorly done.

The reviews are in

2008-05-23T08:08:00.001-05:00

Twenty Dollar Know How.

Kausfiles

2008-05-10T18:25:00.003-05:00

I'm fascinated that Bob Wright (writer? academic?) and Jonathon Alter (Newsweek, NBC) require from Mickey Kaus advocacy over analysis. Kaus is a Democrat who likes to criticize Democrats. It drives Wright and Alter crazy.

Pants clarification update

2008-05-10T17:51:00.002-05:00

My four-year-old son said he wished he could jump into his pants, during this morning's clarification, so I showed him this video (via Althouse). I love guys like these.

Children's laughter ...

2008-05-02T20:23:00.001-05:00

... is life's palate cleanser.

'Four on the floor!,' 'Do I leave my underwear on?' and other scenes from childhood's incubation chamber

2008-04-27T09:26:00.008-05:00

Let me start this off by noting that pancake and sausage day is not a good time to begin a diet in earnest. But if you're beginning a diet with not much earnestness, it'll do.

Yesterday was our big boy's fourth birthday party. "How old are you?" asked the father of one of his junior pre-K classmates. "Three and a half!" he replied. He's still a bit confused about having a birthday party on a day that is not actually his birthday. So, three-and-a-half he remains until Tuesday, which coincidentally is dinner-out night, also known as no-bath Tuesday, or as my husband calls it, Dirty Tuesday.

We dine out on Tuesdays, because, as I've noted before, I work a marathon day on Tuesdays. Last Tuesday started off well. I had my home life well in place to get to the office even earlier than my usual early time--all this before my husband was even awake--when CRASH! from the breakfast counter, I knew what we'd been waiting for since we bought the barstools had finally happened. Emma tipped herself over.

She got right up, shaken, not injured. Phew.

On the floor were about a dozen well-greased ball bearings, a thick sludgy hard-to-clean grease. "Sorry, Mom." Derrr! Inner poise, inner poise, inner poise. "I'm just glad you're okay. Now go get dressed for school."

It did not come up easily--the grease--but it did come up. Even so, I blamed my husband for not being up helping me. How--I ask you, how--is it that he can sleep through the morning shenanigans of two children?

While contemplating the moral turpitude of my spouse's sleeping habits, I got my twice daily call from across the house for clothing clarification from my "three-and-a-half" year old. Hollered from his bedroom, every costume change requires a little guidance: "DO I LEAVE MY UNDERWEAR ON?"

Right back at him: "Yes!"

And again: "YES?"

One more time with feeling: "YES!"

Later, passing by Emma's room, I had to ask her--I mean there must be some sort of disciplinary remark even though falling over in the chair was a scary accident--what had she learned from the incident. "Four on the floor!" All right then.

Today is the last day of a week without television for my daughter, brought to us by the good people at her school. If she makes it through today without watching television, she'll have no more homework assignments, except reading, throughout the rest of the year.

No video games either, which I actually lament because playing video games has taught her how to have fun in a competitive arena. But whatev. I'm currently a slave to the political forces of public education, so no TV, no video games.

At this stage of our family's development, television is not an overwhelming force, anyway. My son could sit in front of it all day, but can easily be coaxed away, too. My daughter generally prefers socializing to TV watching. I like to use the TV as a method of creating peace between the kids when they get into each other's hair and peace in the house, when the racket gets too high.

No such luck today--and a rainy day at that--too bad. Perhaps a mother-daughter trip to the grocery store for us. She did point out, as I poured the syrup over her pancakes, so there'd be plenty for everyone, that I should have bought more syrup at the store. And she's right, I should have, but it didn't make the list.

Last week, I considered out loud whether or not to do some grocery shopping after the kids went to bed, but decided against it. My daughter remarked that she thought I should go, so that I could pick up her favorite cereal. "But I need a little me-time," I responded. "Mom," she said, "you get me-time when you're sleeping."

Hmmm...an excellent candidate for Westpoint, I should think. If she keeps her grades up.

You're being watched...

2008-04-12T19:53:00.002-05:00

...perhaps by this hawk.

Remember

2008-04-12T19:50:00.003-05:00

Did it really snow here just a month ago?

Light Sleeper Magazine

2008-04-04T05:18:00.004-05:00

Sixty mile per hour winds, quarter-size hale and tornado sirens kept three members of my family up at half past 3 this morning. It was big doings for my daughter who was scared at first but caught weather fever when her dad turned on the television. Then she was all chatty, chatty, chatty.

I knew I'd never get back to sleep, and here I am nearly two hours later, living that bad dream. It'll be a rough day at the office and then a rough night at Family Fun Night at the elementary school, where I am on duty at 8:00 to do ... something. Assignments have not yet been handed out.

Here's an interesting article about a study that links too little (or too much) sleep to weight gain:

Over six years, short sleepers were 35 percent more likely to gain 11 pounds than average-duration sleepers.

I can attest that when I'm sleep-deprived I grab for any sugary food that will help me get through the day. Witness yesterday's Twix bar. Yesterday, I was still trying to catch up from Tuesday's 5 a.m. clap of thunder that kept me fuzzy-headed before a weekly office meeting. The sugar gave me knee-jiggling energy and probably a false sense of confidence. My witticisms were received with polite smiles.

But this morning, after willing myself back to sleep for two hours failed, I rummaged around in the drawer of my night stand, looking for a reading light for just such an occasion (disturbing my husband) and came up empty. So here I am and here are you, when we'd probably both be better off horizontal and unconscious. What's your excuse?

Hamstrung and punch drunk

2008-03-23T10:18:00.004-05:00

[Warning: blog post ahead written on lack of sleep and unedited!]

Easter is early this year because Easter is on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring equinox. Is there a spring equinox? I may be misremembering the story I heard on the radio station, KEOM out of Mesquite. It's all 70's all the time and run by high school students. I like to listen because I like hearing their young, untrained voices reading the news or telling us what song we just heard. "Thankths, Tiffany," I can hear through John's braces. "And now to the traffick report." They enunciate slowly and well, so that their consonants are harder than most on-air voices.

Back to Easter. Of course, like all our Easters, it's overcast, cloudy and threatening rain. That's also a sign that we're headed to a backyard gathering for brunch. I have been assigned to bring the meat, as my hostess is a vegetarian. It did not occur to me until this morning that ham is probably a good choice. So, I'll be doing some last minute shopping.

Plus, even though it's her party, I want to use a punch bowl I bought at a flea market, so she asked me: do you have any punch recipes, and the answer is, of course, no. So, research, shop, produce.

One of my dearest and oldest friends is Jewish and this time of year, she generally wants to know what my family is doing for Easter. She starts hinting around about ham. From her perspective, Christian families have ham for Easter, at least, that's what television Christian families do, she said. I don't remember ham being an Easter tradition in my house growing up, and it's not the first meat I think of when I think of eating meat as a grown up. Luckily, my husband thought of it, so hopefully, the store will have a pre-cooked half-pounder waiting to be sliced.

As I am in touch with my inner senior citizen, I have been awake since 5:30, and am ready for a nap. Unfortunately, the middle-aged don't get to indulge in that part of senior citizenship.

My husband has made good progress on a backyard two-story playhouse this week. Since it was the kids' spring break and he has gobs of vacation time, he took the time off. It rained Monday and Tuesday, but he put in 11 hours straight yesterday and has completed the floors and framing. This morning he's toying with the roof. (Pictures to come.)

I predict in less than a month, our town's ordinance "sheriff" will spot the playhouse, which is higher than the fence and order us to take it down. Just guessing, but that sounds like what a community would do to itself--pass a law making life 70% less fun. If that happens, I'll request a variance. (Mr. Ma-ya, I'm jest uh po' country chick who's found huhself in a twelve piece bucket o' trouble!)

A-ha! you say. She's been following town council meetings. And indeed I have. My newspaper covers five of them and government, at its most basic level, is fascinating to watch from the outside and without a doubt somewhat frustrating from the inside.

But all that's for another day. The eggs have been hunted, the candy devoured, and I'm off to buy a ham and a can of punch. Happy Easter, friends.

Interesting

2008-03-17T06:48:00.004-05:00

Morning Edition ventures conversations with conservatives.

According to NPR ombudsman Alicia Shepard, more than 60 angry e-mails and phone calls arrived at the network, calling the programming "shameful" and a "lovefest with radical, right-wing nuts." There were only a few, she said, that praised the series as "refreshing" and "articulate," among other things.

I guess they were jolted out of their comfort zone. I wonder if it was Grover Norquist's comments? Who could get upset by a guy named after a muppet? (Via Pajamas Media via Instapundit.)

Yesterday and yesterdays

2008-03-05T20:41:00.009-06:00

Yesterday was going to be the best day ever, according to my six-year-old daughter because it started out with snow on the ground, would wind its way to bought lunch (baked potato) and finish with dinner at The Olive Garden. (Lately, Tuesday is our night out for dinner because that's my busiest work day.)

So, how did it really go? Well, they don't offer cottage cheese as a topping for baked potato at school, so she had to eat it plain, and she got a check mark for leaving her textbook at home, but all in all, it was pretty good.

She forgot her textbook because I'm a working mom. These days first graders get homework. In our case it's a short story to read, write a few sentences about and draw and color a picture, plus about three front-and-back math worksheets. It comes home on Monday and is due on Thursday. The short story, in the form of a paperback, is due back Monday, but upon request can be sent home again. To avoid that hassle, I make Emma do the reading part of her homework on Monday.

(Are you with me? Wake up!)

In addition to all this, she must read or be read to 15 minutes a night. Occasionally, the teacher sends home a textbook to help this along. Naturally, we forgot about the extra reading assignment that night, so she read it Tuesday morning, but forgot to put it back in her backpack. Long story short (I know--too late!) she got a check mark.

Along comes little brother, "My Ol' Gummer got a check mark, too!" Ol' Gummer is his imaginary friend. I'm delighted one of my children has an imaginary friend. I had one at about the age of 6 or 7, but I was completely conscious of the fact that I was making her up, so I don't think she really counted. Her name was Penelope and she shot hoops with me.

Brendan has had many imaginary friends since he was 2. When first caught talking to one, and asked for the friend's name, he slowly let out, "Tchummer." That evolved into Gummer, which evolved into Ol' Gummer and his better counterpart New Gummer. Ol' Gummer is responsible for pushing, shoving, talking out of turn and getting check marks. In short, anything that goes wrong is Ol' Gummer's fault. New Gummer is a prince among men and often counsels Ol' Gummer on his behavior.

I've threatened many a time to call Ol' Gummer's mother if his behavior doesn't improve. And I still might.

Emma, conscious of the fact that she's the only kid without an imaginary friend, whips out Mr. Nobody--a rip off from a preschool cartoon called Little Bear. I shouldn't call it a rip off. Borrowing ideas is a great way to learn and be creative, but Mr. Nobody really only comes out when Ol' Gummer does, which is on the way home from school with Emma telling me about her day, and also when she upsets her brother, which is often lately as she's learned what fun it is to mess with a preschooler.

Speaking of preschool cartoons, my three-year-old's thirst for knowledge has moved them to commercial television. He learned how to use the TV before she did. So now, I get "Mom, there's a new purse that has a place for your cell phone and your keys and a special place for your wallet, and if you hurry you can get it before they run out!" Cute from a six-year-old; hilarious from a three-year-old.

I LOVE this because I wanted my mom to buy such a purse when I was a kid watching commercials sandwiched between reruns of That Girl and The Galloping Gourmet. The purse I wanted Mom to buy had a special place for sunglasses, and a key chain that you could snap on the inside. Oh! The organizational benefits!

Mom was not interested. She wanted a big open bag hanging from her shoulder. She hated pockets. Ah, well. We're not all organization freaks. In fact, I hardly am anymore. I had to let all that go in order to get along with people.

One day, however, one day--yes!--the world will bow to me my designs and lay straight and orderly as it is intended to!

And if not? Well, maybe Penelope will. Thanks for stopping by.

You need to know

2008-02-27T21:17:00.005-06:00

I'm breaking my blog silence to alert you to the alarming news that ABC is working with Cox to prevent viewers with digital video recording (DVR) from fast-forwarding through commercials.

I predict Venezuelans will riot, as they should. This is not good marketing. Good marketing is putting product placement back in shows where they belong--next to a cigarette-smoking Johnny Carson--and not bothering us every eleven minutes with commercial breaks. Unless they're entertaining commercial breaks.

This may catch fire for a while with the other networks (not FOX) but I'm guessing it eventually will go away because it's anti-technology and anti-viewer.

I have spoken.

Update: Holy toledo--hat tip to Rob Long.

Forgotten task #994

2008-02-22T06:56:00.002-06:00

Once again it's spelling test day and we have forgotten to study. This is not such a big deal because she generally aces the tests, but has a hard time with the challenge words. This week she was surprised to discover that Washington was easier to spell than ~~Lincun,~~ er Lincoln.

I'm still enjoying the new job, but I certainly appreciate more the time I had just for housekeeping duties. Well, I've been interrupted three time since I started this post and it's time to get dressed and keep the kids from waking their father, who went to bed an hour and a half ago, due to an international conference he had to be on, so I'm off. Posting will resume when free time does.

Happy Valentine's Day

2008-02-15T18:23:00.002-06:00

With the author's permission:

The youth vote

2008-02-07T06:14:00.001-06:00

Pundits and politicians talk about them every election. One candidate is always going to bring them in. This year, it's Obama that's generating all the buzz and excitement. But can politicians ever really count on them?

Obama girl, the gorgeous babe who made the video, didn't show up to her primary.

“I didn’t get a chance to vote today because I’m not registered to vote in New York,” she said.

She's registered in New Jersey and couldn't make it in. Heh. (From Iowahawk, via Instapundit.)

Persona non blogger

2008-02-03T09:31:00.001-06:00

Well, I have no idea when I'll be posting again, or if I will at all. I'm still on edge about the new job and juggling it with the kids, who are doing great, by the way. I try to leave the office early so I can pick them up and still have time before dinner to spend with them, and I often see disappointment in Emma's face when she sees me, and that's a good thing. The look says she was just about to get into something interesting when I arrived.

The pace of life has gone from a leisurely stroll to a sprint and I'm still trying to catch up to the pack. Unfortunately, this is the weekend my husband has to help his office move from Irving to Dallas. His company lost two key IT people in the last few months, who were in charge of the move, so Gene volunteered. It was not entirely altruistic on his part--he's been gunning to get servers set up in such a way as to make them available to different departments at once, so he wants some influence there. The poor guy has an ear infection to add to this busy mix, so he was relieved of Sunday breakfast duties.

The working mom's life is a messy one. The other afternoon my daughter, eating a bagel at our new breakfast bar, dropped it on the floor and I asked her if it got any crumbs on the floor. She said she couldn't tell because there were too many crumbs there to know which were from her bagel. (Note to self: the broom is more than just a home accessory.)

This transition into workdom would be an easier one if I could discipline myself into going to sleep at night and staying asleep for at least seven hours. But sleep is an ocean and I float near its shallow shores. When the waves ebb, my body is tickled awake, and that's it: whether it's 3:30 or 6:00 a.m., I'm up. In the last month, my inner alarm clock has been ringing around 4:00, making for some very groggy decision-making.

It's even cut into my wine drinking. My joie de vivre joie de left! This morning, however, my inner alarm didn't ring until 7:15. Even my son, who usually gets up an hour before that, slept in. The extra sleep is probably why you're getting this post. (Lucky you!)

Thanks to those of you who check in on me. I don't want to leave and never come back without a word. I did that in my twenties and was surprised to find out in my thirties, it left a lot of people miffed. But that's my current story--I'm not at the top of my game, and the blog will have to wait until I am.

Brandeis professor

2008-01-25T20:43:00.000-06:00

Reynolds: "I think that false charges of racism aimed at a professor today are like false charges of unchastity or "loathsome disease" aimed at a woman in 1890 -- libelous per se."

Not just professors, I'd add.

Hint

2008-01-25T07:56:00.001-06:00

Busy, important self-absorbed

2008-01-11T12:38:00.000-06:00

I'm too self-absorbed to post right now, but I wanted to mention that via e-mail I got Jonah Goldberg to link that Flow Mo video. (I should have linked back to my archives to increase traffic! Ah, well.)

George McGovern panics

2008-01-06T09:00:00.000-06:00

in the Washington Post.

Let boys be boys?

2008-01-01T09:03:00.000-06:00

I can't find the post that sparked a debate here about boys playing war or guns or what-have-you, but the British government is now advising nurseries and playgroups to let boys play fantasy superhero and fantasy guns and what not.

The guidance, called Confident, Capable and Creative: Supporting Boys' Achievements, is issued by the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

(Snip.)

The report says: "Creating situations so that boys' interests in these forms of play can be fostered through healthy and safe risk-taking will enhance every aspect of their learning and development."
It cites a North London children's centre which helped boys create a "Spiderman House" and print pictures of the superhero from the internet.
This led to improvements in their communication, ability to develop storylines in their play and skills in drawing, reading and writing.

That's not a whole lot to base a policy on, but it feels right to me. My three-year-old walks into a room and stakes a wide-legged stance that says, I'm ready for action! He strikes a tough-guy pose and tone of voice and starts something with me, and I engage, grateful that it's not girl play, which is boooooooooring! Girl play involves holding a pretty barbie next to your daughter's pretty barbie and having absolutely nothing to say about that. Sometimes my son's talk (I get you with my super power fire! for instance) slides into grunts, Urrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhhhhh!

Get it? You don't have to have dialog!

Of course, I grew up in a family of six, with three boys (four if you count Annie), and that's the way they played.

And I did, too, if I was lucky enough.

(Via Dr. Helen.)

Useful letters, 3

2007-12-31T17:05:00.000-06:00

Dear Third Person in Line at Linens 'n' Things,

I realize that you may have felt rushed this late afternoon at the Linens 'n' Things after-holiday sales event, but when the cashier called for another cashier to help with the ever-lengthening line of customers, and I caught you motioning to take the number-one spot in her line, fate was clearly not on your side.

At that moment, I braced myself to overtake you in that position.

Some people, young woman, do not believe in karma, and I am one of them. However, your heading around to the south end of the next check out line when she said, "I'll take the next person in line," suggests that people do indeed get what they deserve.

I made a beeline around the north end of the next checkout line, while saying, "I'm the next person in line--thanks," to teach you a lesson in manners, civility and fairness, something obviously lacking in your upbringing. I don't know if that was your father or your date beside you, but if he's any sort of gentleman, I'm sure he was appalled by your behavior.

Just a lesson from one of your elders--no need to thank me, deary, though one day, you'll surely want to.

Sincerely,

Nancy Matocha
Second Person in Line, Linens 'n' Things

PS To the man who rolled his eyes: you would do well, sir, to mind your own business!

Useful letters, 2

2007-12-31T12:04:00.000-06:00

Dear Monday 9:45 20/20/20 class,

I would like to apologize for my clumsiness during the first part of class today--the step aerobic part of the class. I'm usually not so clumsy a person--I simply missed the middle of the step, which caused my fall.

Please do not worry about me at all. I suffered no injury--well, no lasting injury that we know of yet, and I'm feeling fine right now.

Also, to the person who was exercising behind me. You got a little close. I wouldn't mention it, but when we were swinging the medicine ball around like a bowling ball, you nearly hit me. I'm not complaining or even warning you. I'm merely pointing out that people in an aerobics room need their space. (Also, I think if you thrust a little higher during the pilates section of the class, you'll find you get a better stretch.)

Thanks, class. I should be back next Monday barring any permanent injury from my fall. See you then.

Sincerely,

Nancy Matocha

Useful letters

2007-12-31T11:41:00.000-06:00

American Medical Association
To Whom it May Concern:

I would like to report that Dr. Edward [Redacted], my family physician, recently informed me that I'd gained seven pounds this year.

Well. You can imagine my outrage. I don't blame him, per se, though he is in charge of my health and wellbeing, but I do have a bone to pick. Should this datum really be put on my medical record, making it a matter of historical record, I really do insist that he add my comments about some physical injuries we'd talked about throughout the year--tendonitis, bursitis, lower back pain, to name a few, and then of course, as a busy mother of young children, I can't always be relied upon to make it to the gym regularly. Which exercises do you suggest I do with all those ailments? I think you see my meaning.

I can't just go to the gym to watch others work out. My time is better spent with various correspondences and online work (yes, I'm quite Internet literate, thank you very much).

In any case, I do not write you so much to get him in trouble, but to request that you add my remarks (foot note them, if you must, with an asterisks--I don't mind); I think you will agree that since these extra pounds have been recorded for all of history to one day gaze upon, it's only fair and right that my remarks go along with it. Otherwise people might draw the wrong sorts of conclusions about me.

Thank you for your hard efforts in this endeavor; I know that you will do what's right.

Sincerely,

Nancy Matocha

Fred Thompson, candidate update

2007-12-30T11:30:00.000-06:00

What did I tell you?

Today I had this story written about me regarding what I said at a Town Hall event in Burlington, Iowa by a reporter who wasn’t even at the event. Incidentally, I declined to be interviewed by this particular reporter yesterday for reasons which will soon be apparent.

In referring to me, she reported “he doesn’t like modern campaigning, isn’t interested in running for President, and will not be devastated” if he doesn’t win.

Below is a transcript of what I actually said in response to a question by a local Burlington resident which was the basis of the reporter’s story.

At Redstate, via Instapundit.

Fair, balanced, but not transparent

2007-12-28T18:03:00.001-06:00

Fox News should mention that the lead author of the study that showed Special Report to be the most balanced news program on television is a paid consultant for their network. (via Discerning Texan.) (I'm a regular viewer of the show, by the way.) It's a bit embarrassing to gloat about the study's results without informing your viewership of that minor detail.

Transparency should be Journalism 101; it's not now, but I'll bet it will be in about 20 years.

Fred Thompson, candidate

2007-12-28T17:03:00.000-06:00

The MSM are a force to contend with in government. Members are biased and often hostile as a group. and Fred Thompson handles them well. That's a good reason to support his candidacy. (Hat tip, Instapundit.)

2007-12-23T08:10:00.000-06:00

Clever holiday headline here

Last night, Gene and I celebrated the holidays with our annual viewing of It's a Wonderful Life. I'm very George Baileyish this time of year--the George Bailey after Uncle Billy loses the $8000. (Why did we have to go and have all these kids anyway?) There's no picture of Bobby Anderson who played the young George Baily, which is too bad, because he was a good-looking kid and good actor. His career seemed to end in 1956.

This year was a fairly stress-free Christmas season until three nights ago when my annual belly ache woke me up in the middle of the night and burned a few holes in my mid-section for the next couple of days.

Some freelance work involving a writer, a client, a publisher and me as editor turned into a confusing, difficult game of round robin, pushing deadlines into Christmas day and beyond; my dream of introducing Miracle on 34th Street (with the wonderful Elizabeth Perkins) to my six-year-old was not only sneered at by said six-year-old, but couldn't happen anyway because, even though I pushed record, I'm not allowed to record on the Starz channel.

And then there's the angst over whether I've purchased enough holiday joy for Christmas morning. There's a diary with a star-shaped key that a neighbor girl's grandmother bought for her three years ago. It comes with stickers and markers and she wears the star on a chain around her neck. My daughter is certain that Santa can reproduce this for her.

I assure you Santa cannot.

I'm also a bit squeamish about the Santa Clause in my parenting contract, in great part because of the magic diary that won't appear Christmas morning, but also because my mother disabused me of that fantasy in the bathroom of a Monterey Inn Mexican restaurant when I was five years old. It was my entrance into adulthood.

My daughter is a whole year-and-a-half older than I was when The Truth was confirmed to me. Is this another example of infantilization in our culture? I have neighbor kids who believed in Santa until they were 11. My husband is sternly warning me to lighten up.

I am retaliating by threatening him with lists of things yet to be done for the big day--don't make me write things down, Mister! Once it's written down, it has to happen, you'll be responsible for getting it done and if you don't, it goes on your permanent record!

It's not really as bad as that--we're excited about seeing family, but I am reminded of a Family Guy episode where Lois complains, "You all think Christmas just happens. You think all this goodwill just falls from the freakin' sky. Well, it doesn't! It falls out of my holly jolly butt! So you can cook your own damn turkey. Wrap your own damn presents. And hey, while you're at it, you can all ride a one horse open sleigh to hell! "

During all of this excitement, my daughter has extra excitement, which comes with extra bouncing and jumping and questions (if you knew my daughter, you'd wonder if there was time in the day for her to ask more questions), and my three-year-old son has less excitement. Why? Because he has a belly ache, that's why. [Update: He just threw up. All plans on hold.]

Runs in the family, I guess. Merry Christmas.

[Update: we are all safe and healthy at Grandfather's house. Merry Christmas, all!]

Nobody wants to be Scrooge

2007-12-20T08:53:00.000-06:00

But come January, somebody has to pay the bills.

I feel like HRC's grumpy husband! (The kids don't need new shoes--last year's shoes are barely beginning to ~~fray~~ wear thin!) Also, are these gifts to be bestowed by the president or policies to be hammered out in the legislature? I get a creepy, monarchy vibe here!

Thank you for recycling

2007-12-16T14:18:00.000-06:00

Honey, guess what? Guess what! (Oh, the Homeowners Association must have loved seeing me drive home today.) Guess what!

What, dear?

Come see! You might want to bring the camera!

Why?

I'll tell you why--PALETTES.

Palettes?

Yes--palletes! ! I found a place that sells palettes for only $3 each!

How many did you buy?

50!

Why?

We're going to cover the attic with them. And then, guess what! Guess what!

What?

We're going to put insulation between the boards of the top and bottoms of the palettes!

?

!

?

Everyone I've told this to thinks this is a great idea! Everyone!

:/

This solves our storage problem and will help us heat the home!

:0

Well, I was late with the camera to this project, but below is a picture of some of the palettes ~~Jack~~ Gene brought home Thursday and Friday night. Fifty palettes requires two trips on the way home from work.

I think in the end, he only used about forty, so we're hoping he can sell back the other ten for $2 a palette.

He told me he would have to make two trips to Home Depot for the insulation, but they were able to load him up in one go.

See the dark green metal box in the back? That's the machine that blows the insulation where you want it to go. It's a two-spouse job. One person puts the insulation in and the other person blows it in the attic via a long hose. (That's our tomato plant encased in its tomato protection unit in the foreground.)

Here is a closer picture of the insulation:

We made a mistake with the machine. We emptied half a 20-pound bag in it before we turned it on. At the bottom of the machine is a cylinder with four "curved spatulas" attached. They break up and rotate the insulation into the bottom and the machine blows it in to the tube. But when we turned the machine on, the spatulas wouldn't move. So, we pulled out all the insulation (big mess) and fiddled with it, and then realized they just needed a push. Then, we started all over again.

Each 20-pound bag of insulation cost $6.80. Gene looked on the internet for insulation installation prices and found a couple that charge $80 a bag. If you buy 20 bags from Home Depot, they let you rent the machine for free. We bought fifty bags, but wound up returning 20.

It was in the thirties last night when we started, and misty wet, but the snow was inside the garage:

Gene used his aspirator and I borrowed a doctor's mask from the children's play things.

While I was standing over the machine for two hours last night and three hours this morning...

...I got to know the insulation:

Check this out:

Or this one:
See all the tiny bits of newspaper? Isn't it nice to finally see some of your hard recycling efforts come to fruition? I felt heartened by that. And also by the fact that we'll be better able to organize the stuff...

...in our attic now that the palettes are down.

Fingers crossed for a warmer house and lower electricity bills. And I think I'll pour a cup of coffee right now for a warmer me.

UN follies

2007-12-16T12:38:00.000-06:00

Here's a book signing I would have liked to attend. John Bolton gave a two-hour question-and-answer and didn't turn down or dismiss any of them. While answering a question about Darfur, he illustrated some of the problems at the UN:

Mr. Bolton told about New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg's attempt to get a copy of the UN's floor plans to aid the fire department, as every other office building has handed over such plans. It took months of diplomacy to get them. Ambassador Bolton had to raise the issue in a Security Council meeting.

Via The Discerning Texan.

I'm tired and my fingers are still cold from some follies my husband sprung on me this weekend, which I have documented with my camera and will report here, after I warm up and rest a bit.

Campaign apologies

2007-12-14T08:12:00.000-06:00

In light of Huckabee's apology to Romney, Thompson is apologizing to Huckabee.
We apologize for pointing out that as Governor of Arkansas, Huckabee offered in-state tuition to illegal immigrants. That’s something he’d probably just as soon no one talk about.
There's more. Thanks to Dana for the tip!

"Quality of life for lawyers, he says, "'is a huge raw nerve.'"

2007-12-13T08:16:00.000-06:00

That lawyers are among the most miserable of men -- and women -- is well-known. Some 19% of lawyers suffer depression at any given time, compared with 6.7% of the population as a whole, says the University of Arizona's Connie Beck, a leading researcher on the subject; one in five lawyers is a problem drinker, twice the national rate. Escalating billable-hours quotas fuel chronic overload, and the ceaseless deadlines and adversarial nature of the work feed anxiety. Some 19% of associate attorneys quit law firms every year, research shows.

This was not well-known to me. But here's a site for lawyers struggling with depression.

The Fred I like

2007-12-13T07:10:00.000-06:00