Dear Blog

Darling, I'm sorry to say that there is another way of wasting time online internet app that is competing for my attentions. It's Facebook.

Nothing can ever compare to the lengthy, insightful, highly entertaining posts I've written on you. But it is so alluring to write just one sentence. Just one, simple sentence. No effort. No thinking. Niiiiice......

Each time I turn to you with an idea, I think "It would be so much easier to write on FB". And lately, that's what I've been doing.

Plus, Facebook has pictures.

Part of my problem, in general, with all this social networking, is that I have to be so CAREFUL of what I say. I dare not write what's really going on in my heart and head for fear of offending friends, hurting loved ones and dooming my children to years of therapy.

I read lots of mommyblogs, and they write all kind of stuff about their *little* kids. That's because their kids don't read their blogs! I have no such liberty.

So if I must be superficial, why not go all the way? Exchange one liners with bare acquaintances from high school. Tell whoever cares that I think it's a nice day. FB is like the superbowl of superficial.

And, people actually COMMENT(!) on my FB blurbs... hint... hint...

Never fear, dear blog, I'm not saying goodbye. I would never give up the opportunity to write in depth about chocolate chip cookies, rant about politics and share odd happenings in my life.

Hey! Maybe if I just write all my posts about whats going on on FB...........

Nah.

Health Nut

Since the flu claimed about two weeks of my family's life in the last month, I have embarked upon a new healthy kick. I may be trying to control something that is uncontrollable, but I feel it's my duty as a mom to at least try to provide more healthy meals and snacks for my fam.

I've already purchased the obligatory Omega-3 oils, probiotics and vitamins. I also tried to bake sugar-less oatmeal / dried fruit bars. They were OK. More like a crumbly power bar than a cookie. I'm still working on it.

Because somehow (I really can't imagine how) my kids have developed a strong desire for dessert after lunch and dinner. I can be assured that within the last bite or two of the meal I'll be asked, "What's for dessert?"

Since I can completely relate to sugar addiction the desire for a sweet after a meal, I am trying to provide things that aren't quite so sugar-laden, that have more nutrients, fiber...etc. It's not too exciting to eat a whole wheat, oatmeal, sugarless apple cake. But I suppose it's better than nothing.

Unfortunately, I'm having dreams where I eat piece after piece of cake. Chocolate with cream frosting. White with fruit. In the dream I kept thinking, I'm going to get sick if I keep eating all this cake!

Another challenge I have is differents food needs / desires amongst my kin. ARG is a vegetarian, so I always have to provide a non-meat protein for him. Ugh. Then Rosie is at that "picky" stage where she only likes meat with no sauce, or won't eat sweet potatoes because they are too mushy. Stuff that makes me want to pull my hair out. MiniMe is actually the best eater ( next to moi ) and will eat almost everything I serve. Hubby is good too, though he balks at too much starch. Potatoes and rice are not high on his list. So, juggling all the different tastes and needs can be hard. Especially when I'm trying to offer healthy, colorful meals.

At this point, the only meals that we all enjoy are:

pizza
pasta
lasagna
tacos
burritos

As you can see, there's not a lot of variety there. And lots of carbs.

But I've got to keep trying. I've got to kick my cooking mojo into high gear, try new recipes, bake new, healthier snacks.

What is the most likely outcome of these efforts? One of my kids saying, "Eeeeew. Disgusting!"

It's tough being mom.

Paper Pushers

A few days ago I had need to enter a county government building to get some papers. I went to the county center in Redwood City. The department was the county records for the sherriff.

No, I was not trying to beat a rap against me. I was trying to get a security clearance letter, so that I can be approved to volunteer at an orphanage down in Mexico. The letter basically says there are no warrents out for my arrest, and I haven't committed any felonies. I got the letter, no problem. Whew!

But what struck me as slightly odd about the whole set-up in the sherriff's records department, was that every single employee there was a young, rotund woman. There was a huge open room with cubicles filled with these large girls, all wearing sherriff uniforms. Badges and all.

There were no men. There were no skinny, or even regular size women. They were all young. All large.

Now, I don't have anything against large women. I happen to be one myself. But it was just slightly surreal that all of the paper pushers in that office shared the same demographic.

It made me wonder about the nature of people who work for the government. The bureaucrats. How do they get there? What are their motivations?

It's got to be the good benefits, because those uniforms were doing nothin' for those ladies.

Minority Report

Once again I am so far out of the mainstream I am practically beached.

Everyone in the country today is ecstatically euphoric about our new president. It's all over FB. All over the radio. I assume it's all over the TV but I don't have one, so I have to assume. Someone even said, "Happy Inauguration Day" to me.

My honest feeling about the change in our presidents is shrugged shoulders and a mild curiosity about how he might (I emphasize might) be substantively different than his predecessors. Yes, he can talk a blue streak. Yes, he doesn't sound drunk. I don't cringe with apprehension about what he'll mispronounce next.

But I guess I take the long view. I question whether he will be radically different from those who have come before him. So far, the biggest comparison I have read about is between Obama and FDR. From a libertarian perspective, FDR is seen as a president who severely worsened an already difficult economic situation through his government programs (I know this sounds heretical to anyone taught through public schools). I hope Obama doesn't do that, but I'm optimistic.

So, I'm not on the Obama bandwagon. Nothing against the guy personally. Just haven't seen or heard any signs that he'll be revolutionary. And it he were revolutionary, it would probably be in a direction different from what I think is right.

On the other hand, I happily teach my kids about what an awesome country we have where leaders from opposing factions replace each other with no bloodshed. The old president just peacefully goes away. Now, that is something to feel hopeful about.

Bruises

Last evening I sat on the couch with my little on in my lap. She was crying and trying to overcome the trauma of falling, which she does about ten times each day. As I consoled her with hugs and kisses and general momminess, I shared that everyone gets bruises from falling when they are kids.

"Even I got bruises when I was your age." I added.

She looked at me with big, astonished eyes,

"You did? How many?" with such innocence and wonder, it made my heart squeeze. I told her I couldn't remember how many now.

"Two?" she said with those same, big trusting eyes.

"Oh, more than that!" I said.

"Five?"

"More"

"Six?"

"More"

"A hundred?"

"Well, maybe somewhere between six and a hundred," I said.

MiniMe began to think hard. She lost her sweet baby innocent look. She turned to me with a "here's news for you" look on her face and stated,

"Well, I have a hundred, million, billion, eighty nine bruises."

There you have it.

I'm outdone again.

We are not a Democracy

Did you know that?

I've known it for a while, but I was reminded wonderfully today through ARG's history class. They've been studying Ancient Greece, specifically Athens, where there was true democracy. I really liked his teacher's definition of democracy: unlimited rule of the majority.

In a true democracy, the power of the government was spread out among all the people (I believe slaves were not included, but he plumber came to the door during that part of the lecture, so I missed it). All the people voted on everything. Anything. Literally anything and everything could be voted on. Want a new law? Propose it and vote on it. A new regulation? The same. Want to get rid of a political or business rival? Propose he be ostracized and vote on it.

Yes, in a true democracy people could be voted into exile. People could actually be voted to death. That's what happened famously to Socrates.


The unlimited rule of the majority means that if the majority (half the voters plus one) wants to take away the property of the minority - they can! If the majority wants to restrict the rights of the minority? They can! Something I realized a while ago about democracy is that majorities can vote for bad, immoral, evil things.

Are you still thinking democracy is something we want to spread around the world?

The United States has a far superior form of government: a constitutional republic. Enshrined in our founding laws are the unalienable rights of individuals. They are not up for a vote. Or at least they shouldn't be, if people respected the constitution. Actually as I think about it I become a bit depressed, because some of our "unalienable" rights have been voted away by degrees. I'm thinking of those protected in the 2nd, 4th, 5th,6th and 10th Amendments mostly.

But still, you can't vote someone to death in the US.

Yet.

Byzantine

At the end of last week I embarked upon the treacherous process of applying for a national fencing tournament for ARG. It's in Portland, where he did pretty well last year, and we have already purchased plane tickets.

To my dismay I read this line on the application:
"List the SYC or RYC the Youth Athlete has attended:"

Wait a minute! There hasn't been a SYC or RYC offered in northern CA all season. How is he supposed to qualify for Portland? Mild panic set in.

Immediately I shot out emails to coach, fencing mavens and the national fencing association. I needed to get a handle on this situation.

Guess what? I got different answers from everyone. Hooray! Don't you love clarity?

In my alarm I began to check all tournaments offered between now and the application deadline, and found one RYC down in LA. In two weeks. And registration would be open one more day. Ack! With ARG's fencing future on the line, I went ahead and signed him up for the LA tournament. This is not a small thing - it requires missing two serious social engagements (with hurt feelings involved) - and driving to San Diego to LA to San Diego to LA to home in two days time.

It is 5 days later and I still don't have a definite answer about ARG qualifying for the Portland tournament. Turns out the qualifying rules are different for each tournament, and for each age group!

The word that keeps coming to my mind is: Byzantine. Fencing rules are truly byzantine. Here are a few definitions of the word that capture how I feel about fencing rules:

a: of, relating to, or characterized by a devious and usually surreptitious manner of operation Byzantine power struggle>

b: intricately involved :

Probably I will be an expert in navigating the fencing world... just in time for ARG to leave for college.

$100 cold

In addition to the many other excuses I have for not posting often enough, I am adding:

MY WHOLE ENTIRE FAMILY IS SICK, SICK, SICK!

All 5 of us at once. I am over the worst now, which is lucky because I have 4 behind me who need lots of OJ, chicken noodle soup, odwallas, medicine, trips to the Dr., antibiotics, kleenex refills, barf bowls and your basic TLC.

I'm calling it the $100 cold because in the last 2-3 days we have spent that much on above mentioned supplies and Dr. visits. I'm hoping we don't have to buy more medicine.

ARG missed his fencing tournament because he can't stop coughing. Just picked up the Codeine, so he should be sleeping soundly tonight. Rosie is in bed with a fever (just as she was all day yesterday). MiniMe is watching videos all day and demanding more "medithin" every few hours. Hubby's eyes are beet red and he definitely belongs in bed.

But the Chargers are on and it's a play-off game, so that takes priority.

Go Bolts.

It's this darn time of year! Every year we pass around colds from January to April. I dread it each year, knowing what is coming. I try to feed them healthy foods. I remind them to wash hands, cough into sleeves, use kleenex...etc. I disinfect handles, knobs, keyboards, mouses. We take supplements (well I do). We take EmergenC.

We ought to spend these three months in Bermuda.

In Which I Tell About My Morning

Some days are unpredictable.

This morning I woke up to a normal day: breakfast, tidying up, getting kids ready to start their work.

On my mind was the fact that both my girls have expressed (as kids will do) their need for more focused attention from me. MiniMe does this by constantly claiming that she is sick or hurt, when clearly she isn't. Rosie does this by clinging to me at bedtime, and asking for us to "do" things together. (hmmm...don't we already "do" tons of things together all the time??? I'm thinking)

Anyways, thoughts of how I might make some special time alone with each girl floated around as I got ready for the day.

Then I realized that Rosie didn't have any clean unmentionables, and that I HAD to do the laundry. This, of course, is a Herculean task as the laundry room counter is piled high with clean clothes that need to be folded and put away; the dryer is full; and the washer is full.

OK. Special time with girls. Do laundry.

Down walked ARG with eyes red and swollen. "I'm sick" he shared as he plopped into the computer chair (because nothing comes between ARG and his FB).

OK. Special time with girls, Do laundry. Make tea, vitamin C drink for ARG, make sure he is supplied with kleenex and comforted. Get Rosie doing her violin, math, history.

I began to feel a bit frantic. When things that need to get done pile up, I get that way. But before I can do most of my jobs I have "relax" and read to the girls on the couch. Breathe.

Now, I've read Charlotte's Web at least four times. And today I cried AGAIN when Charlotte died! The kids just laugh and say "MoooOOOoooom!"

But guess what? I got it all done! I always do, so I don't know why I get frantic in the first place. I'm wierd that way. A day that felt like a crazy, jam-packed, overwhelming day has shifted.

My afternoon has opened up so much (since I don't have to be home to supervise ARG on the computer) that I'm off to the park to meet my friend and her kids.

And I had time to write this blog.

In the middle of the day on a school day!

My Chance for Revenge

There is some justice in the universe.

Last week I received this email from Shutterfly (the online photo developing company):

We would like to invite you to take part in an upcoming usability study at our Redwood City offices.

At first I laughed it off.

But then, I realized I couldn't miss this perfect chance for revenge for last year's Christmas card debacle!

If I can't make them suffer, at least they will have to listen to my story and advice for an hour. They will have to smile and be polite to me while I tell them how horrendous their site is, how awful their customer service was. Mwah, hah, hah......

And for the privilege of torturing Shutterfly employees (or contracters?) I get a $75 gift certificate to Amazon. Whooee! We order from there all the time.

Yes, I have to drive to Redwood City and spend an hour of my precious time. But hey, the kids won't be there, and I'll be near the mall. Can you see the evil plan getting even better? (Rubbing hands gleefully)

The wheel of justice is comin' around baby!