Fav. Foto Friday

There's nothing quite like the fun you have when
extended family gets together to celebrate!

Living in Gray

We must get beyond the "black and white" of perception and embrace the "gray" of reality. "Terms like 'conservative,' 'liberal,' and 'progressive' do not, and cannot, do justice to the complex reality of our politics and our experience as humans," writes George Lakoff in his new book The Political Mind.

"Barry Goldwater, 'Mr. Conservative,' had the general conservative worldview for foreign and military policy and economic policy, but had the general progressive worldview about Native American rights, about religion, about gays in the military ("You don't have to be straight to shoot straight"), and about governing itself, where he believed in honest, open, and cooperative government as opposed to government by obedience." pg.70

No matter who wins on Tues., as a nation we are going to HAVE to work together, if we expect to address any of the immense challenges we are now faced with. This will require effort on our part, suspension of judgment of others, the ability to maturely disagree without attacking each other with meaningless "labels", and the willingness to find our common ground as a firm foundation from which to build our society. Just as it is with genetics, where we are 99.5% similar, why do we center so much of our energy around that .5% difference?

Inspiration for the Week

"Adults are what's wrong with our children."
* Marian Wright Edelman
in her new book The Sea Is So Wide and My Boat Is So Small

LOVE this woman!! Saw her interviewed on one of my favorite shows Tavis Smiley.

Fav. Foto Friday

Being a long-time politico, I can't tell you how amazing it felt to go vote yesterday and find out that I was the 3,428th voter in just one week of early voting at one of the five early voting locations in my county. Best feeling EVER in the mere 24 years I've been voting.

I Put the S.O.S. in Bossy

HELP!!! I am in need of a massive Bossy intervention!

Because, my house is all...(trust me - this bathroom is off-white; any illusion of color is merely reflection off the floor)

And Bossy's is NOT.

The ONE spot of color in my house is the girls' bathroom, and I agonized a full six months over the soundness of painting this small inconsequential room the EXACT color the shower curtain packaging recommended!!
I figured, now that your web re-design project is over, and your daily poverty party is well underway, you might need a new project to occupy your time - and boy would this occupy some time.

I'm desperate; I'm tired of off-white; and at this point, I'm open to ANY and all suggestions, especially from people with gorgeous kitchens, warm comfy living rooms, cute bathrooms, similar child-induced-chaos issues, or even just great hair.

Just keep in mind that any color for the living room, dining room, kitchen, family room, breakfast area must match the floor - gorgeous "burnt sienna" concrete "tile".

Torn

So, do you know that strange conflicted feeling you get when your college, angst, anti-establishment, fringe music is now MUZAK at the computer store in the mall?!!

I do.

Inspiration for the Week

"When I am working on a problem I never think about beauty. I only think about how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong."
* Buckminster Fuller

Fav. Foto Friday

Even when I wake up in kind of a fog, there's always that bright beacon of hope calling me out of it.

Stuck

Well... I went and got a song stuck in my OWN head, but it seems rather appropriate (and strangely comforting), so I thought I'd share it with you. ENJOY!


[With thanks to Mary Alice for re-planting it in my head months ago.]

The Times, They Are A-Changin'

There's so much talk of change, and now even events that have us reflecting (I hope) on things we've just routinely accepted. So I thought I'd jump on this whole "change" bandwagon, embrace the spirit of the age and... get a haircut! (baby steps...)

Though my original hairstyle was highly versatile:

I'm really enjoying the new look:

What have you changed lately? (meaningful or superficial)

Build-a-Day with MamaMo

First, my apologies Mrs. G - if your day is predictable and routine, mine is... the OPPOSITE of that. There is NO typical day in the life of MamaMo, so sit back and imagine the endless possibilities. [This post should be just a simple and clear as the info on health insurance options I just slept read through on-line; yes, we're contemplating joining the world of the "insured"!]

Wake up WAY too early (I don't know how you do it, Bossy).


Get the youngest one on the bus.


School lunches - if you're organized & on top of things, you prepare school lunches the night before. If you're me, you frantically throw three lunches together while screaming at gently encouraging your middle child to get ready for school. If you're successful, and there are no other distractions (papers to sign, jackets/socks/shirts/clean underwear to find, permission slips to return TODAY!), you won't have to bring lunches in later.

Did I mention I'm not a morning person?!!

Drive the middle one and her best friend to school.


Luckily the oldest one is pretty self sufficient.


The only constant in my day - walking the dogs.


Check blogs for my daily dose of funny.

[see "Places I Visit" on left]

Choose one of a sprinkling of school-related duties [help in class, take care of critters, chaperone field trip]


Pick one or two household errands:


Add a chore or two (or more!):

One thing you won't find me doing any more - dishes! I got "fired" for lack of even trying. [See chores later in evening]

Hopefully, I remember to fix myself lunch - this usually is tied to whether or not I remembered to fix myself breakfast.


Realize I only have another hour or two before the "afternoon shift", and frantically: [organize something, get dinner going M/T/W, and/or prep for soccer]


Meet the bus (and any extra children I may have coming my way - child care, playdates possible only on Tues. or every other Fri.)


Snack, which I sometimes get a reprieve from fixing when the right friend comes over for a playdate:


Shuttle off to one of the following:


Every other Friday - Girl Scouts!


For dinner we have a choice between a lovely home-cooked meal and last minute drive-thru/leftovers/sandwiches (they're not just for lunch any more!)

In between any/or all of that - there's my supervisor/beat-cop role [making sure the youngest 2 practice violin, the oldest 2 do their homework, everyone does pet care, keeping the peace (managing access to radio/computer), enforcing whose turn it is in the shower, chores] and sometimes we have a meeting to go to.


If all goes well - a half hour of QUIET TIME!!!


Followed by reflections on the day and prayers

and bedtime, which is usually delayed by one of the following: need for bandaid/medicine, forgotten homework, urgent need for a particular item/outfit for school the next day.

Then I finally get to sit down with my husband, but I have to watch:


Maybe we sneak in a TiVo'd Daily Show or Colbert Report before he falls asleep - then I get the remote and watch one of MY shows:


A quick pee for the dogs.


One last check of the email/blogs/facebook.


Off to bed (way too late, usually - clock reads 1:37 a.m.).


But through it all - most important is to remain detached and open enough to always have time to scrap all this (or add more to it!) in favor of helping out a friend and/or neighbor in need.