Help, Max is holding my computer hostage!

Doing nothing about the weather

Isn't it funny how the weather is always better on the other side of the fence. I would love to be bundled up and be sipping something warm. I'd be cooking a soup with the smell filling the house. My sweaters would all be airing out and I would take nice brisk walks to warm up and when I came home my face would be all rosy. 

Instead I sit in the house because the sun burns when you walk anywhere and it is so bright you need to walk with your head down and a hat covering half your face. The hat also is uncomfortable as it keeps the heat in and your hair becomes all wet and sticks to your face.

If you want to walk anywhere you must get out of the house by 5:30 am so that the sun doesn't rise before you get back home. Once you are home the house is so hot that you have to open all the windows and put on all the fans. The warmth makes you feel like a slug so you just sit because moving around causes you to perspire so heavily that you want to stay in a cold bath. On and on. Oh and no beach because the gas is at $4.17 a gallon so you don't go anywhere that is not necessary. 

A sugar day

The sky is gray, hanging low and keeping the heat and humidity floating throughout the house. I'm hoping for a storm. Thunder claps that rattle the house and ring in your ears. I'd love to see flashes of lightning that would light up a dark closet and splits the sky. Then after that show is over let it rain, pour, soak the whole island. 

Of course there is Max. That would mean that someone would have to walk him in the rain. Well it aint me babe. They bought the doggy in the window and I'm not going to feel guilty anymore. I don't care how much he loves me and follows me through the house and settles at my feet. 

I wanted the little fox terrier my sister in law wanted to give me. I would not have to worry about walking it for miles to get him to do his business. I could even use a little piddle pad. It would then sit on my lap like a peacocks feather so soft and light.

Instead Max lands on me and sinks me into the chair unable to move, licking me with his sloppy tongue, and breathing his fish breath all over me. 

The little terrier would sleep on my bed hardly taking up an inch. Instead Max jumps up on the bed trying to sleep on it with his head on my pillow and his back smashed up against me daring me to move. He then bounces off like Tigger bouncing from a tree leaving a hair shirt behind. 

Oh, so what's with the sugar day? I'm still in a mood so the sugar? Ah, it's coffee Haagen-Dazs. While the stew cooks I will stew with my ice cream and watch the debates. And when Nico finely finishes his sandwich I will let Max in and it will start all over again. 

I Blog Therefor I am

I'm thinking. A lot of people interact with perfect strangers on the web because, if the truth be known, who else will listen? I'm not even sure if anyone reads what I write but sometimes I need to speak. 

I'm getting into the years when what I say means absolutely nothing to my family. In fact the less they hear me speak the more they like me. 

A few of my unwanted words; 

I think we should not bail out the big cats. And I don't mean Todd, our fat cat. We will suffer either way so I would rather that those @#$%%^& suffer right along with us instead of hard earned money from "Main Street," as they are calling us now days, be given to them so they can further run us into the ground. 

I want to see the debate between Obama and McCain. Why do I feel like McCain has run off into a cave to put a paper bag to his mouth so that he does not hyperventilate during the parley.

I really enjoy "The New Adventures of Old Christine." I think she brings into her show some very touchy subjects with such wonderful humor. Best of all she does it by making a fool of herself but you have to love her. And her side kick Brenda is wonderful with her dead pan humor. Of course I think that they will not stay married because it will be shown that her brothers ability to marry them will prove to not be legal. This marriage though will give opportunity for so many funny episodes. 

I've not been writing so much because sometimes I just feel to stressed and I don't feel I have a place to sit and concentrate nor do I even have a place where I can look at a book and use the computer at the same time. Of course that is my fault. I'm not Main Street, I'm on he other side of the tracks. With that kind of an economy I'll never have "a room of my own."

Well, thanks for listening, or not. I will now zip my fingers back up and keep my opinions quietly to myself.

So why have a kid at all?

NPR asked this question on todays show. Can a woman be a mother while holding down a high powered job? Well I thought what's good for the goose is good for the gander. If men can be fathers and hold down these powerful positions, Why can't a woman? 

The real question should be; what kind of quality parenting can be given while holding down a high powered position? Lets see. How can you parent and still be powerful? Let me count the ways.

Let's say your child is in school. That will give you some time on your own. Oh, but you leave the house at 6 AM? Well, you can have a live in care giver. She can get them dressed and fed, and she can get them to school. Anyway, having breakfast with your children isn't really quality time as they are grumpy having to get up for school so, you really couldn't have a nice conversation.

So you've had a good 10 hours to be powerful and it's time for the kids to get out of school. Super care giver to the rescue. Of course you don't want your children to be bored after school while waiting for you to come home you can put them into, dance, music, sports are art classes. That should occupy them so they won't notice your aren't around.

After school programs and then home to do school work. And what better help could there be with homework then tutors? After all being powerful has not given you the time to know what they are learning in school so how can you be helpful. Hire the best. After all you can affford it. 

Well it's time for dinner. Hum, maybe you can make it home in time. But the problem may be that you have to entertain clients, finish up on a meeting to save the company, world, or just your job. But you have a lot of extra minutes to give them a call and say you love them, they are the most important thing in your life and to remember to do what the super care giver says to do. 

But lets say you do have time to come home for dinner? You sit down at the table after hasseling with problems all day, people talking into your ear, your cell, your email and your head is buzzing after dealing with the cares of the world. You sit down to the table and the kids start in, I need help with my new toy, game, bike, etc. Can you take me to the store I need this and that for school? 

Why can't I do this or that? How come you didn't go to my class play, PTA meeting, soccer game? You get the picture. 

You finely tell the kids to please be quiet as your head hurts. You look at your partner who also is high powered and he, she is no help. His, her, stomach is killing he, she and they need to do more work or go  back to the office etc. 

Maybe you have nice conversations at the table but it may only be an hours time. Then super care giver takes over with bath, entertainment and bed time. And so it goes day after day. And don't forget the fighting about who doesn't stay home enough to help with the kids and who is always getting stuck on weekends taking care of them. Well that's if your not working on weekends. 

So Let me see, you spend maybe 5 hours a week with the kids. And maybe one day on the weekend if the kids are lucky, so the kids are yours for 21 hours a week. The other 147 hours are taken care of by the Super Care Giver. 

I think that the real question here is; Why have kids at all? Oh I forgot you are both powerful people trying to save the world and by having children you can hire a caregiver and pay them thus your contributing to the economy. Wow, I'll vote for you.

Unless your children are just for show, they need parents. They need attention and the love that can only come from them. That is where the child gains his self worth. If you need to be taking on the world then someone else should be taking on having a family. It definitely should not be someone who is a parent in name only. 

I do believe that either a male or a female can be powerful and even rule a nation. But someone needs to be a parent. And if it can't be the father or mother and then both on weekends then leave the job to someone else. And I don't mean the Super Care Giver.

AS IF I HAD A CHOICE

As I was leaving Starbucks today, I noticed the sign that stated, "Thank You For Choosing Starbucks!" Well aren't they appreciative I thought. Yeah, right! Thanks for choosing? Did I have a choice? Well I guess in a sense I did. I could have chosen to sit in my car and write while I waited for three hours for Nico to finish school or I could have chosen them. Not much of a choice I would say. 

It would have been a bigger choice if more coffee shops were allowed to open within so many miles radius of Starbucks. But they aren't. There were some nice little kiosks that used to sell coffee around here until starbucks stepped in and demanded that these little places had to be closed or they would not open in any of the shopping centers. Of course these malls wanted their rent so the little places were shut down. So much for freedom of choice.

As I walked to my car I then thought about the wonderful little book stores that once existed. The ones that knew you and could say, "Hey, we got in a wonderful book  just recently that made me think of you. I know you'll like it." Remember those days? If you don't then your a young kids who doesn't know what community is. You only know Borders and Barnes and Noble. The big guys who moved in and closed down those little stores. 

Lots of places have been shut down by those big conglomerates. Grocery stores, fabric shops, hobby shops, and five and dimes to name a few. Sometimes it made things better but not much. My daughter is looking for a camera for Rachel as she needs it for one of her classes. She has been looking at one of those big office stores. Not one of the sales people can help her as they haven't a clue as to what an f stop is. And neither does my daughter. 

That is the choice we are left with. No interaction, anonymity, and last but not least  no customer service. And if you don't believe me, try walking a half a mile in one of the Home Depot's to find a sales person. 

In a way the price of gas going up was starting to give me hope. People have been staying closer to home. What would that mean for these big stores that are "conveniently" placed miles from your house? Well, I thought that would eventually mean that little stores would start popping up again like in the past. You would be able to walk to your little strip mall but this time it would not be so stripped. a little book store, drug store, hardware etc. might open for your convince and save you gas. We would once again have choice. And the biggest benefit of all would be we would once again become communities. Hum. Maybe we would get to know our neighbor again. What an old fashioned thought. And if I had a choice, that is what I would choose.

Another Day Older

As I woke this morning, Thursday was upon me. Man it was just Monday. The week was moving so fast I felt the swoosh of the steamroller as time flew by me. At first I thought, great the weekend is almost here. Then I thought, It's September, we can start decorating for the holidays soon. Then I thought, oh my god the year is almost gone. And then I realized I'm going to be 64 in no time at all. It was amazing how fast I went from elated to depressed before I could stretch my arms.

Who wants another birthday? It's funny the one I remember the best is when I was turning nine.  Nine to me is like turning 29 to some women. I am always stuck in that year even if I wasn't nine I will pick that age because for some reason I feel every thing happened in that year. 

Well anyway, Mom was giving me a birthday party and I was so excited because, she had made me a birthday cake with little plastic circus animals all around it. I was more excited about having those animals then I was about the birthday presents I would be getting. It might have been all of the different pastel colors that they were painted or just the fact that they were all little animals but I just couldn't wait to get my hands on them. 

All the kids crowded into the house.  We ate cake and ice cream,  played Pin the Tail on the Donkey,  ran all over the house with balloons, and  I opened my presents. Then it was time for everyone to leave. I went into the kitchen to take the plastic animals off of the cake that remained. 

My mother was putting them on the side and little peggy from across the street was standing there watching my mom. I went to pick up the little animals when my mother stopped me. "Those are not for you, Peggy has asked for them."

"But Mom it's my birthday cake." I argued in a tearful voice. 

But Peggy picked them up and off she went. Mom said I was selfish.  I felt cheated. I believe that was the last birthday party I ever had. And maybe that is why I never grew older after that year. Till this day I ask myself, was I selfish? Should I have given away those things with a happy heart? 

I don't know. But if I really think about it I know what I was a victim of. My mothers mania for cleaning. To her those little plastic animals were just more garbage and she was more then happy to "throw" them out by giving them to peggy. And I am sure she thought I would forget all about them by the next day. 

Hum, wrong Mom.