HOW TO PICK A NEW PRESIDENT

I'm as confused as the next person over what to do in the next election. I know that we can't afford eight more years like the last eight. Is McCain just another Bush with a better service record? He's a war hero and we should honor and respect him for that, but is he up to the job of turning the tide? I heard that he voted in lock step with our current president 95% of the time. For that matter has President Bush been a victim of circumstances that may cause him to be remembered unfairly as the person in office preceding a major recession/depression? Does Barack Obama have a track record that indicates that he will do better?

As voters we have a lot of homework to do researching the Sarah Palin voting record as well as that of McCain, Obama, and Biden.

Here's an idea; let's shop for our next president using the same techniques that we use to shop for a new car.

• 
  Read reviews: What opinions do their constituents have about them?
  
• History: Did they vote how you would have liked for them to have voted on
• issues that are important to you in the past?
  
• Performance: Did they leave the voters that elected them into office in debt up to their eyeballs?
  
• Environment: Are they environmentally friendly?

PALIN'S VOTING RECORD - SHE'S PRETTY - NOW WHAT?

Before you start bashing me (or patting me on the back for that matter) let me say that I'm not anti-Palin...or pro-Palin. I simply don't have enough information on her voting record or political history as an elected official in the State of Alaska to say at this point. But what I do want to say is that I hope that my fellow Americans are not going to allow their vote to be swayed on the merit of looks rather than the candidate's ability to run the country. Repeat after me: This election is not about looks.

I would like to think that the McCain camp didn't choose Governor Palin because she's attractive and they felt they needed some weaponry in their arsenal to fight the rock star appeal that Obama had going for him. I hope that the Sarah Palin voting record can be brought more into focus rather than what her teenage daughter is doing or the color of her lipstick. I'm more concerned that my choice is environmentally friendly and interested in alternative energy sources than cute.

I don't object if a politician is easy on the eyes, but they don't get my vote because Mother Nature blessed them with shiny hair or pretty teeth. Abraham Lincoln was hard what one could call handsome, but he is rather well thought of and remembered.

So what if John McCain's wife is drop dead gorgeous, or if Barrack Obama is handsome? It should not matter to us how they look. Do you want a president that is beautiful, handsome or stylish when walking by you while you are standing in a food line or sick from exposure to radiation? Or do you want to elect a president that will make a contribution to the planet and turn this country around for the benefit of our children and grandchildren?

Don't just study the Sarah Palin political voting record, study them all!

Can MRSA Spread be Spread with a Toothbrush?

Maybe I am being paranoid, but when your baby has MRSA you can't afford to play around. I am faced with a very odd situation. The call has already been made to the pediatrician’s office to discuss this situation with him or his nurse assistant and in the meantime I will record it in a blog entry. It may seem that I’m going around the world to get to the point, but stick with me and you will see what’s bugging me.

Three days ago, I noticed that my little girl (the one who was infected with MRSA as a baby) was gnawing on something. Knowing that I had not given her a cookie, cracker or anything else as a snack, I set out to see what it was that she had in her mouth.

As it turned out, the yummy treat was my middle daughter’s toothbrush. How the baby managed to get it is a mystery. The only feasible explanation is that in the morning rush the older girls must have knocked it out of the toothbrush holder and onto the bathroom floor where the little one found it.

Even though I do my best to keep the facilities clean (MRSA will make a better housekeeper out of you when nothing else will!), the thought that one of my kids was chewing on something that had been kicked around on the bathroom floor was not exactly a pleasant thought. After failed attempts at cajoling her to relinquish her treasure willingly; I eventually had to forcibly remove it from her grasp. The results of this wrestling match were a screaming baby and a mommy that was late for an appointment. I threw the toothbrush on the bathroom counter by the sink, picked up my unhappy baby and headed out the door to see if I could manage to make it to my appointment without being more than a few minutes late.

While I was busy, my husband was responsible for picking the older girls up from a play date and preschool and feeding them their lunch. By the time the baby and I got home the rest of the family had eaten and was busy folding a basket of laundry. I couldn’t help but feel how lucky I was to drift in to find things so very under control. Mentally searching for what I needed to take care of while the rest of the crew was otherwise engaged; my mind drifted to the toothbrush incident and I remembered I had not cleaned it nor thrown it away.

I headed off to the bathroom to dig out a new toothbrush and throw the dirty one away. Imagine my surprise when I found that dad had not only fed the girls, but made sure that they brushed their teeth afterwards albeit with a nasty toothbrush. I’ve learned that it’s useless to cry over spilt milk so I just substituted the new brush and moved on.

Under normal circumstances that may have been the end of it except our middle girl woke up in the middle of the night screaming in pain saying that her mouth hurt. I took a look and sure enough there were blisters inside her cheeks (MRSA or something else?), the roof of her mouth and her gums looked red and inflamed.

Could this have resulted from using her sister’s toothbrush? We are cautioned not to use the razor belonging to a person with MRSA, but what about their toothbrush?
The baby has not got any active blisters at this time, but I want to hear it from the pediatrician that we don't need antibiotics as a preventative measure. Wish me luck.

THE USA'S LOSS OF WORLD STATUS

The buzz on the street is that in fifty or less years that the United States will no longer have the superpower status that it has enjoyed since the beginning of the last century. There are quite a few reasons given as the cause of our country’s diminishing importance in the world community.

Some say that it’s because we have dropped the ball where originality and innovation is concerned. Others maintain that it’s not so much that we are sinking, but that other countries are rising to meet and greet us and possibly wave in delight (and scorn?) as they pass us by.

Do nations have to make it a competition? Aren’t we in this boat together? The one encouraging development on the horizon is that I see more thought along these lines. I find hope in the realization among the broader thinking of great minds that third world countries deserve to have clean water, pollutant free air and basic infrastructure. Nothing is to be gained by keeping the more deprived regions of the world from gaining in status.

Does America have to continue to decline to achieve these goals? The answer to that question is an unequivocal no. Will we? The answer to that question is yet to be determined.

It’s my opinion that we have an excellent chance to lead the world in new technologies regarding alternative energy resources if we will make that our focus and not drop the ball where funding and dedication are concerned. For the sake of the planet not just for ourselves, I hope that we are up to the task.

ANTIBACTERIAL SOAP and BODY WASH BE HANGED

I was trying to remember when America became so germ phobic. It came to me that the early 90s was when antibacterial became a buzz word. Everything from antibacterial body wash to baby clothes was manufactured along with increasingly powerful antibiotics all with the purpose of keeping super bugs away from our families.


For those just cruising through, my baby has MRSA. And antibacterial products may have been a contributing factor. Yep, antibiotics and antibacterial products may be partially to blame for the misery and worry MRSA has put us through. Putting the questionable safety of the chemicals contained in household antibacterial products aside; we have killed the good guys and handed a free pass to the criminals and reprobates of the bacterial world.


The big joke is on us because it has been proven that triclosan doesn't wipe out the germs, but may cause them to mutate and become powerful beings intent on destroying all in their wake (read: become resistant). Indeed, early studies have found that e-coli that we were all sweating bullets about morphed into resistance when exposed to as little as 0.1 triclosan in soap.


That doesn’t exactly make me feel very secure when I see shelf after shelf in our family discount stores filled with products with these chemicals. It makes me wonder who is at the wheel and how many new germs are coming our way. I can't help but wonder why, when studies clearly show that plain soap is just as effective at bacteria removal as antibacterial soap, is this stuff still going strong? Would consumers go into a tailspin at the prospect of not getting their daily dose of toxic, superbug breeding chemicals?


Here’s something else that should be of interest to triclosan fans. The results of one study stated that when triclosan was exposed to sunlight after having been mixed with water the results were (drum roll) chloroform! Do we really want more of that in our planet’s water supply?
Here’s the rundown as I see it. Antibacterial soaps may have the ability to increase the number of super bugs. They may contain dangerous chemicals. Triclocarban, another handy dandy chemical with antibacterial properties, is believed to disrupt endocrine function in rodents and humans which could lead to an increase in cancer and reproductive issues. They are more expensive than more environmentally friendly household products. The average person should be able to find at least one reason to bypass antibacterial body wash in that list even they aren’t concerned with the world’s ecosystems.

HOME RENOVATIONS MAY BE BETTER THAN BUILDING GREEN

Sometimes I ponder how home renovations got such a bad reputation. Very few people seem to realize that building an energy efficient house may not be as environmentally friendly as renovating an older home. It's true; the greenest house that you can buy may be an existing home. There’s no doubt that most existing homes, ancient as well as modern, can be made more environmentally friendly. But, it's rare for even the most extensive renovation to eat up even a fraction of the natural resources that building from the ground up requires. Why not devote your time and money towards bringing an older home up to snuff rather than engage in new construction that will leave an additional and unnecessary footprint?

Prospective buyers often say that it would cost more to renovate an older home and make it livable than to build a brand, new home. We have all seen the movies showing how those beautiful historical homes are bottomless money pits making home renovation seem a luxury afforded to only those who can afford to throw endless amounts of money at a property. However, as a person that has remodeled several homes with success I can tell you that the stories portrayed in the films were greatly exaggerated.

The key to home renovation where you buy an older home that can be made into a livable space is to make sure that the basic bones are sound and that the location is good. The rule of buying the worst house in the best neighborhood is sound advice. This is where the “money pit” myth may play out in your favor. Price the improvements that you want to make to the home and get reliable estimates on what the home will be worth once they are complete.

Leave yourself some wiggle room for fluctuations in the market and then rock back and enjoy the beautiful woodwork, the high ceilings and all that wonderful square footage that you would not have been able to afford if you have moved forward in building a brand new energy efficient house rather than to turn an old home into a green home. And give yourself a pat on the back for doing something positive for the environment.

LOWER GAS PRICES BUT WHAT ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS

There are days when I get so defeated and feel so frustrated with my fellow occupants of poor, suffocating planet Earth. I spend my days (and many semi-sleepless nights) searching for small ways to make a contribution towards fixing our environmental problems such as air quality and energy conservation only to see a lack of concern in others other financial issues. We are all feeling the pinch, but why don’t people see the big picture?

Oil prices are dropping and gas prices are slowly following suit. I can practically hear the engine’s of the neighbor’s Ford truck engine revving. It’s only Wednesday, but regardless of any oil crisis or inflationary environment you can bet he’s getting ready to make his end of the week cruise around town in an endless circle to view the same scenery over and over. To be fair, along with the repetitive views he does get to wave and yell obnoxiously at the other spoiled brats in their gas sucking machines.

Passing the hours on the road is so much easier than taking the time to learn how to entertain himself in a more productive manner. His parents both have government jobs and plenty of discretionary spending money so why not throw the kid the keys to the gas guzzler, kick him the credit card in case he runs out of gas and turn him loose on society rather than have him lying around the house? Their attitude seems to be, “There’s a little more pinch when the bill comes at the end of the month but nobody’s going hungry and if we all sit at home on our hands, that just contributes to the economic slowdown and we don’t want that”. How much more brilliant and environmentally responsible could they possibly be?

Somehow people just don't get that an inflationary environment and price increases at the pump are not the most pressing environmental issues at hand. I can remember a friend of my grandmother’s making the statement that if you want to see huge changes or make a lasting impression you should save your words and find a way to hit the offending person or any problematic situation on the hip pocket. I took this to mean that emotions and common sense rarely had the effect that a decrease in financial power might.

Are we so stupid that we rank bank balances, the ability to travel and spend without caution above the basic necessities like breathing and heating and lighting our homes?
What about eating? The citizens of the United States are very fond of that particular activity as is readily evidenced in our ever-increasing waist size. When farmers can no longer afford the fuel to feel their equipment tanks to cultivate the crops because hotshots with big pockets can afford wasteful SUVs and trucks with hauling and storage capabilities, what then?

Will the general population finally take notice when their dinner plates are as empty as their heads and their gas tanks? What WILL it take for people to realize that over consumption is going to have a devastating effect that could reach far past the poor into areas previously untouched by the environmental problems? The wealthy may be the last to go hungry, but when the planet hits crisis stage, wealth is not going to provide the privileged few with comfort and protection from this particular issue.

Or has production already started on special self-contained bubbles (with a price tag that’s out of this world, of course) that is capable of providing desalinated water and filtered air for an acre or two of property that the majority of us could never dream of affording? That would certainly explain a lot regarding this "don't care" attitude that I see.

Maybe the major offenders are betting on being able to move to Mars and leaving the people who can’t afford to make the trip behind to deal with their mess? Talk about the ultimate in NIMBY mentality.

Sorry for the bitterness with no positive contributions or energy conserving tips today, but sometimes that’s just the way it is.

BEGINNING TO REAP THE BENEFITS OF HIGH OIL PRICES

Whether it's the high cost of oil and gas, the lack of money overall or the blistering hot heat; we are beginning to reap the benefits of fewer people on the highways. Each and every weekend, there are fewer automobile fatalities reported on our local news. I just hope that families are using this financially motivated time at home in a positive way.

Putting my money where my mouth is; we caught rain water in the wading pool and rather than drive to the beach the girls played in the back yard while daddy cooked on the grill. After they got tired of splashing around, I filled containers with what water was left in the pool and watered some plants with it.

The girls didn't miss the trip out of town a bit and learned a thing or two about water conservation in the bargain! Dad and I realized that spending the day in the back yard eliminated a long car trip with tired, fussy babies. When they got tired, their beds were just a short walk away. Everybody was a winner.

While I hope for the good of the economy that high oil and gas prices are a temporary irritation, I can see some benefits and bonuses

OIL PRICES ARE DROPPING AND NUCLEAR POWER DISCUSSIONS ARE RISING

Amazingly, tbe price of oil has dropped considerably the post few days and yet I am hearing more and more about decreasing the time it takes to get a nuclear power plant up and running.

People! Wake up and remember 3 Mile Island and Chernobyl. Do we really want to be stampeded into making rash decisions and rushing into pushing forward with a power source that leaves us with the problems of dealing with nuclear waste that nobody wants in their back yard that can poison everything within a large area if things don't go perfectly?

On the upside, I hear that Texas is jumping on wind power. I find this very encouraging to hear that a traditional oil state is moving forward with alternative energy sources. Cheers to Texas! I wonder if turbines could be mounted on the roofs of buildings in the same way that they have installed microwave towers? Anybody know?

PULLING AWAY FROM FAMILY TRADITION

Fourth of July weekend is drawing to a close and the only good thing that I can say about it is that the children slept late this morning and that it rained. This is a good thing because when the children want to set off the few firecrackers they have left over from Friday night, they might not set the woods on fire. Don't think for a minute that those horrible images of wildfires in other parts of the country didn't make an impression on me when we had not had any rain for several weeks.

As far as the holiday weekend went there was the usual round of picnics, backyard softball games splashing in knee deep kiddie swimming pools in a vain effort to beat the heat. I suppose we did our part to represent a picture of the traditional American patriotic family at play.

Speaking of tradition, I couldn't stop the thought from running through my mind that while there are so many things that are truly right about our country, one of the things that I see wrong (my apologies to President Bill Clinton) without country is that young people seem to have no appreciation for tradition or what came before them.

When I was a child I loved for my parents and grandparents to tell me about their childhoods and the way things used to be. I adored my grandmother and grandfather and enjoyed spending time at their home where I knew there was lots of time for hugs, kisses and stories about little girls and boys that were long gone but would have loved me to pieces if they had only known me.

After dinner they would open the family photo album and not only tell us that those people in the pictures were the details about the background of the photograph and details of the day when the picture was taken. I am relatively certain that my oldest daughter even at a young age would find this to be somewhat less than exciting and probably downright boring. How could my children that I had raised not find the same things entertaining as their own mother?

I loved the one on one time that this older couple was willing to give to me and was so proud when they came to my school functions or ballgames. I recently went to see a neighbor girl play ball and was sitting with her parents. In the second or third inning her grandparents joined us. Her grandfather went to the dugout to wish the little girl luck and she seemed utterly embarrassed and seemed unwilling to speak to him, much less thank him for coming. Who has put the idea that older people are not “cool” and should be ignored into these young people’s heads?

My goal for the week is to try and teach my children respect for tradition and to appreciate the history of her family. I’m open to suggestions if anyone else has found a way to do this and work against the growing tide of the anti-tradition movement.

I would like to say that I doing this out of respect for my parents and grandparents, which is true, but I'm smart enough to know that I'm going to be older one day and I don't want my grandchildren to feel that they shouldn't speak to me in public.

TOP REASONS HIGH GAS and OIL PRICES ARE GOOD

In the decade of the 90s we really began to know what the definition of terrorism was. Terrorist groups were crawling out of the woodwork, becoming more sophisticated and shouting their hatred of the United States to the heavens. Perhaps the scary thing about it was that they in no way tried to be sneaky or keep their feelings for themselves.

Al Qaeda took over Afghanistan and turned it into their personal playground of terrorism apparently while our own government apparently rocked back and watch to see what was next on their agenda while there were attacks on American interests and our citizens. At this time Bill Clinton was president so the Republicans were blaming him for the problem. Never mind that from 1995 on the Congress was Republican-controlled and handled (or didn’t?) things in the same way. Another odd fact of that was that during the entire presidential campaign during the year 2000 neither of the candidates seem to find it advantageous to bring up the tide of terrorism that was rising ever higher.

Am I the only one that sees a similarity in our government's lack of response to the threat of terrorism as well as to the energy crisis? I'm not talking about a lack of energy resources. Indeed we are told that energy resources are rather plentiful and that the United States has enough coal for the next 100 years.

What I'm referring to is the fact that our planet possibly can not survive another 100 years using coal and oil as our primary energy resources. The reason I believe that high gas prices might be a good thing is that it will prevent further resistance to the avoidance of conservation. We need to develop new energy sources as well as to practice conservation of our current energy resources.

Perhaps with these high prices creative individuals will be given funding from major corporations in response to the need to develop new sources not because they are philanthropic but because they see the opportunity to make a large profit. It's my opinion that if oil prices were to stay at sky high levels might actually prevent a true crisis. These are thoughts that crossed my mind last night after a mind blowing trip to the gas pump. After I thought it over I reconciled myself to the fact that higher gas prices might prevent a few of those last-minute trips that are unnecessary and indeed might serve to make better planners of us all. Then this morning the reports are out that inventories are up and the prices of a barrel of oil began falling. It seems that I can't get used to one scenario before another unfolds.

WHERE OH WHERE DOES OUR GARBAGE GO?

In the area where we are spending the summer (we have to travel hither and yon for dear husband’s work) nobody seems to recycle anything unless you count the large deposits of fast food cartons and boxes that I see thrown onto the sides of the roads to biodegrade. There are no recycling receptacles in public areas and no separate bins for household trash whatsoever.

When I asked some of the locals where to put the recyclables they looked at me like I was from Mars and then looked at each other with an almost imperceptible nod and a wink to acknowledge to each other that “She’s not from around here.” I almost wanted to scream at them that while I might be a temporary transplant from another part of the country that they should wake up and realize that while each area might have its own unique culture (or lack of) that we are all part of the same planet.

In the face of this frustration, you can imagine how beautifully it kicked off my day to see that a news program will air this evening regarding how foreign countries are considerate enough to be taking garbage off the hands of the United States of America. I don’t have time to do in depth research on the subject but have read some excellent books by those that do track the “American Garbage Trail” that were very interesting. One was Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash by Elizabeth Royte who was surprisingly non-judgmental of non-recyclers as she states the pros and cons of the practice. I especially found the section on the New York waste-water treatment plants riveting. Gross facts on waste water for enquiring minds who just want to know and then might wish they didn’t.


What I would love to hear more about is why foreigners can find it profitable to buy our waste and pay the expensive cost for transportation in order to ship it overseas for recycling and yet we as a nation can’t find a way to skip the fee for transport and do it ourselves. What is the deal? Could someone please explain the economics or environmental reasons that our garbage is traveling so far from home?

When Birth Control Becomes an Environmental Problem

There is a path in the park by a lake where I like to take my children strolling every day that we are in the area. It's a lovely place to teach them about nature and we have managed to take some fabulous pictures of owls, redheaded woodpeckers and most magnificent of all of our birding efforts was the day that we saw a bald eagle perched in a treetop no more than 20 feet above our heads.

This is a wonderful, wild and wooded area where we can watch people catch fish, do some bird watching and get our exercise with the children. It's a rare day when the weather is so poor that it keeps us from enjoying our daily walks on one of our favorite paths. Last December as we were strolling along something caught my eye about a foot to the side of the nature trail. As we drew closer it became crystal clear that someone had been enjoying our favorite place to observe nature and all its wonder to experience a little something more adventurous.

To put it bluntly, what lay directly ahead and that my oldest daughter almost stepped on was a neon yellow condom that from all appearances had been used. While I’m no prude I also don’t like to dodge people’s used personal products when out for a walk with my kids. Whether it’s chewed bubble gum, women’s sanitary products or a q-tip; I would rather not have contact.

Getting back to the issue, after the stroller and my toddler moved ahead a bit I nudged the condom off the trail and under some leaves. That prophylactic sighting took place in late December and yesterday afternoon after a strong rain came through the area guess what? The bright yellow condom resurfaced. It was dirtier, partially ripped away from the top, but in the same place. Here it is almost July and I know that it’s been lying there covered in leaves, has gone through one of the wettest seasons that we’ve had in quite a while and yet shows no signs of deterioration. Pardon me for the pointing out in a rather graphic manner that this condom is just one of the millions that have been thrown out the car window, flushed down the toilet or put into the trash in seven months. Along with all of the other environmental problems we have to deal with; I wonder if are going to wait until the ozone is gone and the garbage is on our doorsteps before we do something about it? Is there such a thing as a recyclable condom?

BO DIDDLEY

Our household is sad today. You might not think that the fact that Bo Diddley died would cast a pall of mourning over a four year old girl's day, but it most certainly has. But she's no average child, she practically did her teething on the neck of a guitar and she didn't have your run of the mill baby girl nursery theme her nursery was decorated with guitars on the walls and whole and half notes on every possible surface.

The reason for the musical obsession is that my husband is a musician (and a darn good one if I do say so). His dad loved really good guitar and exposed him to the great players. I have nothing against some of the modern players and enjoy listening to some. But anyone who knows squat about guitar knows that if you want to be any kind of a player you have go back to the roots to get to the good stuff. Jimi Hendrix knew it; Eric Clapton knows it and look where it got them. They were smart enough to know that the music that came out of the heart of Mississippi had the best beat. Each guitar god that followed has added a new layer; most are smart enough not to say they improved the original sound and to pay homage to the true stars like Bo Diddley who came before them and gave them the tools of the trade.

I'm very proud that our little girl who knew the words to "Who Do You Love" and "Hey Bo Diddley" before she was three years. But it hurts to see her be so down because she was so connected to the old blues musician and feels the loss so keenly that music lovers all over the world have suffered on this day. She knows in her soul that there aren't any more Bo Diddley's to replace this one that's gone.

I need to find some way to turn this into a learning experience for my grieving daughter. Maybe the right words to tell her that while another of the original blues guys have joined the band in Heaven will come to me in time. This girl might not ever play the first note or become a musician, but she certainly has the sensitivity and the soul of one.

SOCCER MOMS aka ELITIST JERKS

First the tennis moms, now the soccer moms are getting cliquish attitudes. I make no bones about the fact that I'm too darn tired to worry every minute about fashion trends and making a personal statement thereof. I have three baby girls whose appearance says more about me than my own. I know that makes me sound codependent as all get out, but it's just a matter of pride that my girls all leave the house and look clean and well dressed for a few minutes, anyway.

Yesterday the trio and I went to a friend's birthday party at the lake. I knew as soon as I pulled into the parking lot that I was a fish out of water. I have a small SUV, (a Honda CRV to be exact) and have at times felt guilty that I didn't get a hybrid car that would get better gas mileage. In exchange for some inconvenience in stowing gear and loading and unloading children you feel better about your contribution to environmental causes. The parking lot at this party should have done away with my feelings of guilt in spades; it was filled with the biggest trucks that are sold like the Hummer, Yukon and Tahoe.

It became obvious pretty soon after our arrival that the guest list was heavy on soccer moms and their kids. Some of the kids even had on their team uniforms and were bumping a soccer ball around with their knees. I couldn't help but wonder about this, because isn't kiddy league baseball in full swing? Maybe baseball or Tee
Ball isn't as attractive to elitists as soccer?

The botox injected faces and the lips full of collagen of the soccer moms didn't bug me; I do my very best to not judge people by their appearances. But the attitudes of these unfriendly women just about made me want to lose my lunch. Amazingly, the kids all did fine but the women around the picnic table were just about to send themselves and me to an early grave with all their self-centered chitchat.

Each one ran over the other's conversation with soccer mom stories about what they had bought lately, where they were going on vacation or how their child was just so much more advanced than the other kids. One thing that struck me was how none of them had a question addressed to the other moms about anything. Everything that rolled out of their mouths sounded like sales pitch that was geared toward raising the asking price for her and her stuff.

When did people become so wrapped up in themselves that they could not care less about anybody else? When my mom used to take me visiting, the objective was to hear what other people were up to in their family. After all, don't we already know all about our own?

If you are a mature soccer mom that doesn't have a haughty attitude, fake breasts and collagen injected lips I would love to hear your side of the story. Usually I don't paint an entire segment of the population with the same brush and tomorrow I will probably have regrets. But today, the activity is rather therapeutic and feels pretty good.

The bad thing is that we have another invitation to a party next week and I'm pretty sure that the same group will be in attendance. So, this may not be the last of my soccer mom stories.

GIRLS SOFTBALL ENVY

None of my girls are old enough to play with real, hard baseballs or softballs let alone tooth cracking aluminum bats. However, there are enough children in my neighborhood that are enjoying softball season at the moment that my kids are noticing. The little girl next door got a new pair of cleats and my oldest girl completely feminine love with the shoes with the "bumps" on the bottom.

After an inpromptu playtime in the side yard, she came in asking what the "bumps" on the bottom of the cleats were for. I explained (as best I could) that the plastic bumps made the little girl be able to run faster and not to fall down as much when playing ball. This explanation was all it took to make the case for buying a set of cleats for everyone in our family. After all, what's not to love about being able to run at record speeds and not to trip and fall while you are in the process?

I could see that even more explanation was going to be necessary and I followed up my previous remarks with the fact that cleats were for girls who actually were involved in softball. After the information that cleats are for girls who are playing sports and as little girls didn't play ball, they didn't come in little girl sizes.

The disappointment in her eyes was sad enough but the pitiful sight of her watching through the glass in the door while the neighborhood kids piled in the cars to go to their ballgames was especially painful to watch. It just so happened that I was having a conversation over the back fence with our ball playing neighbor girl's mom about this sad scenario when a brainstorm struck.

Practically in mid sentence a lightbulb lit up over her head and into the house she ran. I went back to pinning my rugs on the line and in a moment she returned carrying not only a pair of tiny, worn looking cleats, but a pair of those baggy knee length nylon shorts that girls wear to play ball.

I cleaned the red clay off the baseball shoes up as best I could and had them and her shorts waiting when she came back from the pool with her dad. You would have thought that I had given her a new car! The shoes are too big as are the shorts which are pulled up under her armpits at this very minute, but this is one happy little girl!

Race and Gender in the 2008 Presidential Election - Are We Idiots or What?

It should come as no surprise that I have been among the millions of American citizens watching the presidential race with interest. Those of you who visit this blog regularly should be amazed that I have bitten my tongue and kept quiet this long. I'm actually pretty shocked at myself. I almost broke training yesterday after catching a few minutes of the View's opening dialogue.

I have never considered myself and Whoopi Goldberg to be like minded; not that I DISagreed with her, I just didn't pay much attention other than I liked her in the movie, Sister Act. But I could have hugged her neck yesterday because gave my frustration a voice on national television. She and I both seem to wonder why in this day of enlightenment and such public need are race and gender in the 2008 Presidential Election an issue?

Why should anybody with half a brain give a rip how dark or light a candidate's skin might be? Even less important to me is whether they sit or stand to pee. Haven't we sunk as low as we can go by letting these idiotic worries dictate how we vote? We have bigger fish to fry here than sex or lineage. Why can't people understand that it's much more productive to study voting records than pantsuits?

I haven't decided yet who will get my vote, but when I do it won't be determined by gender or race. I'm going to look at how the states these candidates served did under their direction. Forget promises, these people have track records that can be used as indicators of their performance as public servants.

I consider the Presidential race a job interview. We, the citizens of the USA, are the employers. It's up to us to choose who will do the best job and we can't do this to the best of our ability if we allow ourselves to be side tracked by
irrelevant facts such as skin color, race or gender. You don't even have to like the person you vote for. Some of the most successful companies that I know of are run by efficient CEOs that would come in last place in a popularity contest. It's not about how personable a person might be or that they look like us, the person we put in the oval office needs to be capable, experienced and willing to get the job done of putting our country back into a position of greatness.

Travel With Kids

I love looking at homes especially in the springtime when the flowers are in bloom and everything's fresh and pretty without the inevitable layer of dust that dirt roads and dry weather tends to distribute all over everything in its path.

We had had several days of gloomy, stormy weather and just missed being hit by a tornado that touched down way too close for comfort. Being cooped up for several days with three hellions made me want to get out of the house. In my desperation to change my surroundings, I made the grave error of thinking that a road trip to enjoy the local architecture might be in order.

Right out of the box, the oldest one cried, pouted and when that didn't work; screamed that she didn't want to ride anywhere. She wanted to play some stuff! Her words, not mine. Then the car seat pinched the littlest one's leg and gave her an excellent reason to cry for a bit. Amazingly, the middle one out of fear or lack of reason didn't squeak, but early in the ride said that her stomach hurt. Knowing that meant she was car sick and about to vomit up her lunch, I gave up and turned the car around and headed for home. Not the first example of early Greek Revival did I see, but I do have a plan for next time. A baby sitter.

WHY CHEAP GAS PRICES ARE A BAD THING

Why I am against cheap gas prices? Well, pretty much the same reason that I’m against getting drunk or drugged up just because you had a bad day. What does drinking and drugging have to do with lowering high gas prices? They both are quick fixes that put a temporary band aid on a problem that has long term, negative consequences.

What can we do about gas prices? Slow our energy consumption for one thing. History of gas prices notwithstanding, anytime an item is not being bought the price drops like a rock. Every time you get in your car and make a trip that's not necessary you have contributed to our problem.

When we have cheap gas prices nobody thinks twice about running to the store a couple of miles down the road two or three times a day to pick up a popsicle or lollipop. All the time you are taking advantage of those cheap gas prices, you are working to raise them in the future. The facts are that when the price of a tank of gas hits us pretty hard on the hip pocket we tend to be a little bit more organized and to think twice when we are at the store to remember to pick up extra supplies.

Face it people, we have gotten lazy and unorganized. Abundance of resources, food and inexpensive fuel has not been a good thing for this country. We have become fat, lazy and very overindulgent. Rather than making the most out of what we have, being thankful and reinvesting our resources we have rocked back and said screw it. The live for today (or the minute) attitude is waving like a bright red flag in our faces with the overload in credit card debt, lines of credit and the purchases of houses that consumers can’t afford.

I know that if my fellow inhabitants of planet Earth haven't gotten it from the jillions of news programs shattering it in their faces they probably are not going to get it from this little piddly blog entry, but I’m going to say it anyway; we are running out of time. Even if we have another hundred years of coal, oil or whatever will burn there are consequences with the environment that should not be ignored.

So what if politicians stand up and declare that the federal tax on gas could be done away with which would result in cheap gas prices once again, is that a good thing? Wouldn’t it be better for us to wean ourselves off oil together rather than to find ways to make it cheaper so we can continue to be wasteful and blissfully stick our heads into the sands even deeper?

I heard one eco-minded person making a speech about going green and he made the statement that Mother Earth can’t survive if we continue to increase the poison we pump out. People, Mother Earth will survive....but guess who might not make it? The planet may react slowly to our toxic contributions, but human beings are pretty quick on the uptake. It doesn't take long for humans to sicken and die with bad air and water.

I don’t want a depression or even an economic slowdown to hit this country or any other, but quick fixes are not what we need. Promises from politicians that propose to slap a band aid on the problem with no long term plan should be seen for what they are: popular statements so that the sheep will see that they are elected to public office. Cheap gas prices are no reason to get excited and think that that’s all it takes for happy days to be here again.

NOT SO FUNNY AMERICA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS

I have to confess that I have laughed out loud at some of the amateur home videos that I’ve seen on America’s Funniest Home Videos and other shows with similar content. I didn’t bother to watch any of the Jackass stuff (no matter how hot Johnny Knoxville would be if he wasn’t involved in that crap) because watching people do stupid stuff that could cause extreme bodily harm isn’t my idea of entertainment.

I’m ashamed to say that I gave America’s Funniest Home Videos a free pass because the personal home videos often were of children in a family environment rather than a bunch of ragtag misfits. To put it bluntly the reality show is not my taste, but I really didn’t see harm in watching it, but I have changed my mind.

This show is one of my sister’s family’s favorite shows. The day that it comes on tv is a special day at her house and meals and activities are scheduled around its air time. When I was at her house the other day and it was on, I had to look away from the television screen because it seemed to me that in the making of the video, somebody may have gotten pretty banged up and yet her kids still thought it was hilariously funny.

There were kids getting splashed with water and the occasional face getting smashed with a cupcake; harmless stuff for the most part. But there were some segments where people may have been really injured. Still, I was not ready to put the program on my “banned viewing list” where it is today. The reason the showed has been banned from house is my personal observation of what it teaches children.


My sister and I took our families to the mall for lunch. We were walking across the parking lot towards the entrance and I saw an elderly lady in front of us stumble on one of those concrete barriers that are about four or five inches tall that are located in the front of each parking space. The lady clearly didn’t look down and she tripped on the thing. It’s a miracle that she didn’t fall flat and hurt herself. After a struggle for balance and grabbing a nearby car for support she managed to catch herself and prevent a nasty fall.

I was frozen in mid-step holding my breath knowing that I couldn’t reach her in time to do any real good. Plus, I had one baby on my hip and another by the hand which would have kept me from helping much even if I could have gotten to her. When I saw that she was Ok and I was in the process of releasing a sigh of relief I realized that my nieces and nephews were rolling in laughter.

I turned and looked at them to chastise them and even then; they had no clue that it wasn’t right to laugh at another’s misfortune. My sister was mortified at her children’s behavior. The thought struck me; how can she tell them that that’s the way to act if she’s watching the same thing with them on television and laughing her butt off right beside them?

So, call me a fuddy duddy or dull but no more amateur home video reality shows at my house.