Never one to be left out.....

A wallflower my child is not. I got a phone call this evening on my ride home from work. Apparently my dd had gone up to her friend and classmate and told him that she needed to spend Thanksgiving week Monday and Tuesday at his house. ? So of course, being the sweet little boy that he is (and he is a doll) he went home and told his momma that my kid needed to come to their house on those days. So his momma was calling me to find out what days she would like to come over. God I love my neighbors, they rock. I had, of course, already asked my mother if she could take care of her (even though I can't stand the woman I have less choices sometimes). Made sure the kid was ok with it and figured it was all hunky dory. Why do schools give kids an entire week of for a 1 day holiday? Do they think everyone has an at home parent? I have this funny feeling that my kid is starting to understand why I hate my mom, I think she doesn't like my mom all that much either. I don't talk badly about her in front of the kid but I make sure she doesn't believe everything my mom says. Mom makes promises she doesn't keep and it's hard to sugar coat it and not tell the kid that grandma is lying. Plus grandma can be a mean ass bitch to her just like she's always been to me. You can't hide that from a kid.

So I guess he kid took matters in her own hands and re did her schedule. I had to call the dh and let him know that we are obviously nothing but a hinderance to our much more well connected child. I can't see her being the one not invited to a party in her high school years. No no, she'll probably show up and take center stage at most of them, no being left out for this Diva. So as of today we've decided she has very little use for us, she can obviously take care of herself. Ah parenthood, didn't think we'd be outdated so soon.

All American Rejects, featuring Roxy

Roxy has personal space issues....





So I figured I was tired of ranting today and the dh finally downloaded pics for me for a series of posts I've been wanting to do for awhile. We have 3 dogs in our home and each one has a story behind them. I was a vet tech for 5 years while putting myself through college (college took longer than 5 yrs for me I just couldn't deal with the women in the vet business anymore so I quit) so I'm always the person who gets the dog that's a total mess that no one else wants. I figured I'd do a little bio on each of my pooches for your entertainment. Plus you'll know why I want to occasionally shove them off a cliff. Yeah it happens, often. The feeling of, not the actual action, we don't have cliffs in Texas or they'd be in trouble.

We are going to start first with the numero uno girl, Roxy. She was the first of our 3 to come into our home. I had a dog prior to her (black lab, reactive dog) but he loved my ex boyfriend more than me so I figured they deserved each other and I left him back in MD when I graduated from college. So my dh and I were finally at a point where we could have a dog and he wanted one bad, he's never had one before. This was when the kid was 5 I think? It was a few years ago. Anyway we started the hunt at the dog shelters in San Diego and for whatever reason decided that we'd go to the Chula Vista animal shelter. It wasn't close to us and it was in a nastier part of town, pretty ghetto actually. The upside is that their shelter always had dogs in abundance and they wanted to place them asap, some of their runs were doubled up with dogs.

When we first started looking I had a day off and the dh had the day after off so it was my job to go through the shelter and write down all the dog id's that were appropriate for our home (with a young kid) since the dh didn't know much about particular breeds nor what to look for in the health and outward temperament of the dog. And so I did, narrowing it down to about 5 dogs. Hey out of the 80 or so we had to choose from I wasn't doing too bad! It was like 3 labs a boxer and something else big. We knew we didn't want a small dog so I didn't need to look at those. I know, I know, I have a small dog now but that's All American Rejects blog post #3, have a little patience you'll get that story too. The dh went the following day with the kid and they looked at ALL the dogs. DH called me on the phone while he was looking/swooning over all the cute pit bulls. Don't ask us why, we have a thing for bully breeds and let me tell you, in ghetto towns pitty's are dumped by the boat load. I told him not pits, house insurance goes up with the dogs that are on the 'bad' list and I don't want to find out about any wayward emotional stability issues after adopting and having the family fall in love with a dog. More on that in All American Rejects blog post #2. Don't worry, we've never had to give up a dog, once we have them it's for the long haul, be it a hellish haul or not. Usually it is but I am well rounded in the behavioral and physical issue dog things, I can make a purse out of a sows ear. If a dog can't hack it in our home it's time for the blue juice (anyone in the vet field knows what that is) because they can't be trusted in the general population.

Back to the pound though, Roxy was one of my choices. When the dh came across her cage oh that was it, love at first sight. She was known as Wiggles at the pound because she had that boxer thing going, no tail? No problem we can just wiggle our whole body and you get the picture. She was sooo lovey through the cage doors, smashing her face up against it to get lovins'. Totally emaciated, skinny as all get out, probably 35-40lbs when she should be 55lbs. She had obviously just weened (or lost) puppies, she was a stray and no puppies were found with her. She had 3 or 4 more days before she was available for adoption and there was another person/family that was signed up to get her first. They were supposed to show up at 10 am on the day she came available but we put in for second chance. If they didn't come in by 11am she was ours if we showed up. We came back at least once more before her adoption day so that the dd could meet her and we could see how she handled kids. No problem, Roxy is such the mellow lovey dog, very sedate for a boxer girl. Best we can tell is that she was a back yard breeder dog for some gang banger. All she wants is to be loved on. And of course, even now, she has no respect for personal space. Her adoption day came and we were there an hour ahead of time, just in case. They gave the original people 30 minutes to show, once they didn't we were signing paperwork and paid the whopping $60 adoption fee. This was a Friday and so the scheduled her spay for Saturday morning so we could pick her up after 2pm.

We were there promptly at 2 to pick the poor girl up. She looked AWFUL, she obviously didn't have enough reserves in her to pull through the spay surgery so well. We don't think she had ever been in a car before, the dh had to pick her up to put her in (sore and scared as she was) and he kept asking if I thought she was ok. Yeah well she was alive and really, that's all you can ask for with a shelter spay. If you expect anything more than 'alive' out of a shelter you're asking a lot, they've got a lot on their plate there.

We took her home and she slept, for like 5 days. We had a coupon for a free exam at the vets that most pound dogs come with. I took her in at like week 5 maybe? I wanted her to be able to relax and recover before onslaughting her system with other new things. Plus her immune system was taxed enough with the spay and all the grub from the pound. When I took her in she had gained a few pounds but she was still grossly emaciated. They weighed her and said she needed to gain more, yeah no really? And we checked everything out. It was all ok until the dr listened to her heart. He looked all grimly at me and told me she had a heart murmur. I fully think he expected me to take her back to the pound or fall apart or something...yeah right, no I don't think so. This dog is a doll, why would something like a heart murmur bother us? I have a chinchilla that has a severe, and I mean severe heart murmur. He's going on over 10 years old now and had like 3 surgeries (other chin tried to kill him, it was bad) and is still truckin, don't know why. So murmurs are rated on a scale 1/5-5/5. The 5/5 being the worst. My chin has a 4/5. I asked the vet to tell me where she was on the scale and he wouldn't. I knew it was pretty damn bad and he fully expected her to kick off right then and there. WHATEVER have a little faith man! I took down the info they gave me for the cardiologist and took my girl home. Silly doctors, like that would make me give my dog back to the pound, hell no. I told the dh what had transpired and he asked if we should worry. I told him no. I've been in the vet field too long, lots of things are tragic and this wasn't one of them. No way this was going to make us love her any less.

Fast forward...2 or 3 months. I didn't want to take her to any more vets until we put weight on her and she was in good well fleshed out health. No more stress for my girl until she felt up to it. So when I was good and ready I made an appt for her at the cardiologists. She went in and had a full work up, x-rays, ekg, bloodwork. And the vet listened to her heart. Guess what? No murmur. Could not find even a hint and all her labs came out normal. So what in the world was wrong with the other vet? Most likely, nothing. Most likely she was soo malnourished that her heart was starting to die and her body was living off her muscle due to lack of nutrition and running out of fat. Nice huh? When I got her good and plumped up her body was able to bring her heart back to normal and not feed off of it any more, murmur gone. I can't believe the vet at the shelter saw her fit enough to spay, it's a miracle she lived through it.

Good thing she did though, she's a sweet dog who deserves a chance at a nice home. We have found out through the years that she is terrified of guns. I don't know about the sound (since we don't shoot in our home) but just the sight. If the dh goes to clean the guns he has to do it outside or put her outside because she just falls apart. That's why we figure she was owned by some not so nice gang bangers. Plus the dd was walking around with a magazine rolled up and using it as a 'telescope' and Roxy was just a mess. We think people beat her with a newspaper or something. One time I was vacuuming and she was directly in front of me. I yelled (over the vacuum noise) at her to move and then reached over to move her and she totally coward into a puddle on the floor. Someone has raised a hand against that dog. I don't know why you'd need to, she is sooo placid. We don't think she had ever been in a house prior to us owning her either. Just her behavior initially after we got her was like she thought she wasn't allowed in and it was totally foreign to her. BTW, all our dogs are indoor dogs. They like to go out and lounge in the sun but when we are home or not they are inside. It's just safer that way and brachycephalic breeds can't take heat. Plus they are total wusses, they don't so the whole 'outdoor dog' thing. They'd be horrified. Spoiled brats....

Next up tomorrow, dog #2 to enter our lives, mental boy, Jayne. And you are going to ask why? Lordy just why did you adopt that dog?

Now this I find interesting....

Did you know that there's a petition out trying to strip the Mormon Church of it's 501(3)(c) status? And that the UK has already begun this process in their own nation? Wondering why yet? It shouldn't be a big surprise here. In the US Constitution, you know, the one the Framers wrote so very long ago? There was this little tiny thing they included, separation of church and state. You all remember that little clause? Yeah sometimes I think it's gone by the way side, I keep getting these friggin email petitions to allow for prayer in school. I DON'T THINK SO. Do you know why? Because we're not all Christians. I know, that sounds just absolutely horrid to many but it is true, we allow other religions in this country. You don't like it, fine, move somewhere else. But in this country we have a Constitution and it states, very clearly, because the Framers (they had had enough of the religious persecution) that there needs to be a separation of church and state. People can trample all over the Constitution but it's still there and it still says the same thing.

So again, why is the Mormon church being sued? Oh I love this, pedophilic freaks actually put in quite a bit of money into the Yes on 8 Proposition. From the SF Chronicle:
The Yes on 8 campaign estimates that up to 40 percent of its donations come from Mormons. Some others estimate that Mormons account for over 70 percent of donations from individuals.

There were a ton of other religions that were supporting it verbally yet it was the Mormon church that started throwing money in the pot. Legally speaking the individuals are totally allowed to do so with out it being a conflict of interest as far as the church's tax exempt status. Much to the chagrin of the Morman church I'll bet. The question is did they break the law? Lets see here, and I quote:
the Salt Lake City-based church has sent letters, held video conferences and in church meetings asked for volunteers to support the campaign. In response, some church members have poured in their savings and undertaken what may be an unprecedented grassroots mobilization for the effort.

Yeah ok asking individuals to donate, that's not illegal, kinda immoral but don't get me started on the Morman church and what they have thought of as immoral and what everybody else, like the US legal system, think of as legal. Ew. But now the fact that they sent letters, held video conferences and used church meetings to gather these funds, that my friends is walking a very very fine line. Are they going to get slapped for it? Probably not. The fact that they are being called on it? Very interesting.

Now if you look up on the data base where it has the names listed of who donated what, and put in Latter Day Saints it spits out details of a total donation dollar amount to Protectmarriage.com - Yes On 8, A Project Of California Renewal. That dollar amount, $2,864.21, ok not so much. Yet if you look at the article above that I linked the Mormans that were interviewed each donated $30,000. Wow, can you imagine hating gay marriage so much that you'd sink thirty k into a proposition fund? Must be nice. Of course the Mormans, unlike say the Jehovah's Witnesses, are not known for being poor. As a matter of fact as I understand it they are a very wealthy church and they take care of their own. Of course technically the financial records are not open to the public, not even their own followers get to see that info. The same may be true for other churches, I doubt the pope wants the general public to know their financials either but everyone knows the pope is not poor. Regardless it doesn't matter how much or little the Morman Church contributed to Prop 8, the point is that it did. So not right. If they choose to involve themselves in politics then so be it but they can not have it both ways. They are either a tax exempt church or they aren't. If they put themselves in politics then they must not be allowed their church status, period. First Amendment, read it, it's pretty black and white. If the Mormons don't like it they'd better be ready to move the hell out of Utah and the US of A. No all of them of course, just the ones who think their religion trumps the law. Gosh, that's come up a lot recently hasn't it? Why? It's not like the Constitution is new here.

Oh and let me just go back to that little tiny rant I had up there in that first paragraph (if you can call these paragraphs), the separation of church and state thing? And how lackadasical people have been getting about it. I can see it more in the red state that I now live in. Back in So Cal there are a ton of things that no one would dare do at work, the mention of most religious holidays was a land to be lightly tread upon. Out here they shove it down your throat. Welcome to the red states!

They have a gift exchange here at work, they actually asked me if I wanted to participate which I thought was nice, I would have thought they had just assumed that I was supposed to participate. I, of course, declined, I hate the holidays, total Scrooge that I am. Plus I don't like adding more crap to a Christmas list that I'm not going to buy anything from anyway. The kid gets stuff this year, that's it. The co-worker responded with a "Really?" to my no. I said "Yeah, really, thanks but no I don't want to". I am not the most loved person at the office but mass spectrometrists rarely are. We need shirts that say, Does not play well with others. Really, across the board we are the worst, we can't share a damn thing and all of our stuff must be special ordered. We are the ultimate high maintenance chemists, it's bad. Every time they see me coming they groan. My being here has resulted in policy changes across the board, they hate me, I take too much effort and people hate change. And I'm cool with it as long as I don't have to participate in the damn gift exchange! I'd just love to see their faces if they started drilling me on my religious beliefs/non beliefs. Most of them are Catholic latinas. Most are either young with children and unmarried or young grandmothers with grandchildren that are pregnant teens and the products of teen pregnancy. Do you see where I'm going with this one? Hypocritical much? Ah yes, the product of much religion and little to no education. But hey, they go to church on Sundays! Do not get me started, this post is too long already.

By the way, did you know that the California Teachers Association made the largest contribution by any single donor, 1.3 million, to defeat Prop 8 (pro gay marriage for those of you not keeping up)? This article outlines several of the donors for both sides, Apple computers donated $100,000 to defeat Prop 8 which was again, interesting.

Edited to add this article, I love all the cool articles that keep coming up about the Prop 8 subject. It has more to do with what is coming in the wake than the churches but it's still interesting enough to warrant a link.

Yes, I realize this was a one sided debate but if you want both sides you're going to have to go to the media for that. If you want to comment got for it! If you want to rebut do so on your own blog and point me in the general direction. Comments longer than 3 paragraphs will not be published, that's what you have your own blogs for....

Bwaaahahhahaaahaaa!!!

Like we needed CNN to confirm this on the front page:

Bush popularity rating is lowest in history

and I quote from above article,

"No other president's disapproval rating has gone higher than 70 percent. Bush has managed to do that three times so far this year,"

My oh my, don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out moron.

Good riddance, and don't tell me I didn't tell you so, I didn't vote for that jack ass either time he ran. Much as I hate to say this I don't think Obama is going to be able to undo much of what Bush has fully jacked in his 8 years in. He's got a lot of people counting on him and real looong uphill battle. Good luck with that buddy, good luck.

Guess what's going around?

The stomach flu, oh yeah it's that time of year again and it's been going around the dd's school. So on Wednesday the dh brought the kid into my work to get the Flumist nasal vaccine in hopes of her avoiding catching it. We did the Flumist thing last November and while none of us got the flu I did have that aneurysm 4 days later so I am wimping out this year and just not getting it. The dh was going to get his free at work, he was supposed to start his 4 days on shift on Thursday.

Bright (3 am, ok not so bright) and early Thursday morning, not 10 hours after the kid got her flu vaccine, the dh leaves to drive to his carpool meet up point (remember it's 84 miles to his work). He's not feeling too well but doesn't think much of it. He gets in the car of the next carpool guy and they get a few blocks and he realizes that, yup, it's not so good, turn around go back to his car so he can go home. He manages to get home but not with out having to stop a few times and puke. Gotta love the good old stomach flu. Give me the 5000 degree ache temperature flu any day. The body exploding one is by far the absolute worst.

So I'm, of course, still asleep when his car rolls back in at 4 am. He comes upstairs to crawl back into bed and is looking a bit green. Poor man only gets to lay down in like 5-10 minutes stints before having to go expel stomach contents over and over. Do ya'll remember this flu? Yeah well it's coming back at us this year. I hope they got the vaccine right this year, they were wrong the past 2 years. I really don't want the kid getting it and it takes 1-2 weeks after the vaccine is administered for it to work. The good news? It only really lasted 24 hours, he was feeling better by this morning, thank God. Sick hubby's are the worst. He was actually whining while he was puking, how do they do that? It's like a y chromosome talent. When I get sick all I can do is be sick, vocalization is nigh impossible. And let me tell ya, I've had this type flu enough times to know. I swear I was sick with it every 3 months in high school. Yuk, by far the most dreaded. We've cleansed and re-cleansed everything in the house with Clorox wipes, here's hoping that me and the kid don't get it. We shall see..

Susie started it so I'm going to run with it

Probably straight into a wall but it's never stopped me before so why start now right? If you want to know what the hell I'm talking about go look at the comment from Susie in the last blog entry, you know, that long ass one I was waxing rhapsodic in. OK it was long I know but you don't have to actually read the post if you can't take that kind of novel right now, just read her comment and you'll be good.

She mentioned that the comments on P Dub's Compassion trip for her daughters and MM were all religious and about Jesus and boy am I glad I didn't even bother looking. No, I am being good and staying the hell out of that boat. I know where the angry people come from that I have to comment moderate, they follow me over from commenting on her blog. Oh that's right, I'm not a bible thumper, that's my problem! You'd think she was writing a newsletter to the Christian right wings of America the way some of those people go on and so help mo God if I'm ever linked on her blog and people follow it over en masse. I'd have to shut down my blog from the persecution. BTW, I'm not saying that they shouldn't be going to different third world countries and doing their Compassionate thing, last blog was about how we have issues in America, not about where the Drummond's spend their donated time. It was just where one of the ideas for the rant came from. See the connection? No? Stop reading now and pick a different blog, no really, you'll be better off with the pink fuzzy bunnies on someone else's blog. Fair warning cause you're not going to like the rest of this one either.

Why you ask? Well I know I've never told ya'll this and since many of you are not from the good old 7th ring of hell, otherwise known as So Cal, you wouldn't know but we don't really practice religion down there. Now I know this may come as a shock to some of you but I don't know anyone out there who went to church on Sunday or was raised in any type of religion. Well that's not totally true, there were these homeschooled twins I knew of in high school and they were Jehovahs Witnesses. Does that count? Now compare that with out here in Texas. I think we are the only parents who don't take their kid to church. The. Only. Ones. Why? Because we never had religion in our lives. It was never ever a part of our lives. I know, to you out there that it's and integral part of your lives that's probably just horrifying but stick with me for a moment here. We have managed to grow up and become adults, not get thrown in jail, not become addicted to drugs, not have a child in our teen years, and have a successful marriage. All without religion in our daily lives. OMG! The horror!

My DH, I didn't even know he believed in God until this past year, no lie. He is so vehemently against organized religion you'd think he was one of those people that was molested by the church growing up (he wasn't, again, no religion whatsoever growing up). What does he have against it you ask? Oh now here's where the debates start, remember children, this is just a view point and I'm not even saying it's my viewpoint, just thowing it out there. He thinks it's a crutch, people use it as an excuse for not being able to do something on their own. You know the type "God will take care of it." or "It's all God's will" Statements like that drive him nuts. There are a lot of people out there that don't take what God gave them (like their brain) and do it for themselves, instead they hide behind their religion and expect it all to come out in the wash because God will take care of it. They call it God's will, I call it Darwinism. PotAto potahto, whatever, get off your ass and do it yourself. Help yourself first and then leave what you can't actually take care of up to fate, God's will, whatever you want to call it cause I don't give a rat's ass just don't push your religious beliefs down my throat. Why? Because they're your beliefs, not mine. Get your own blog, this one's mine.

Consider yourself lucky that I don't stomp all over ya'lls religious beliefs here on a regular basis because let me tell you, as non church go-ers we have our beliefs/lack thereof stomped on all the time. All the emails we get all the pamphlets even the trick or treating stuff. How many of you got little sheets of religious garbage in your child's trick or treat candy bag? Can I tell you how much that pissed us off? The local fun place for kids, Incredible Pizza, all of their prizes have a Christian icon on them. WTF? The family we went there with was from Egypt so I'm pretty sure they were not Christian. Obviously the company doesn't care and figures that if they give our children their religious paraphernalia that's great and they can better convert. So what if we opened a business geared towards kids and started pushing prizes that had religious icons on them that were not Christian? How long until we were shut down? One, two weeks? Less? Ya think? Yeah I think too, this is, after all, Texas. Places of all kindsa tolerance. As long as you are a big fat white male God fearing Christian. OH and only believe in 1 grocery store brand with the last name of Butts. No I kid you not, it's the only one we have in San Antonio. A blog rant for another day, I hate that grocery store. Friggin good ol boy monopoly.


So yeah if there are some real bible thumpers out there going on a debate rampage in the comments section of someone else's blog I won't touch it, I know better. Sooo not worth my time plus I really don't care what your religious beliefs are. I just wish people would leave us out of them. Too much to ask for though isn't it? If it makes any of you uber religious feel better our kid sometimes goes to church. We'd take her if she asked too, not like we give a crap what she prefers religious wise, we'll take her to a new one every week if she wants. She is by far the most religious one in the household and we make sure she gets whatever support she wants with some steering when it comes to freakish other beliefs. And yes, that's our definition of freakish, not anyone elses. We don't believe in persecuting gays and we are pro choice. We are not happy about Prop 8 but it just goes to prove to everyone out there that California is conservative, just like we've been saying all along. The nation just doesn't see it as much because the other parts of Cali are more obnoxiously obvious. Hippie communes, surfers, topless lesbian car washes (had to be shut down due to traffic issues, yes, totally serious) you name it Cali has it and you hear about it more often that all the conservative retirees there combined. Until something like Prop 8 comes up. More will come up about that one though, mark my words. Those liberals, the are LOUD and just a wee bit miffed about that prop.

Oh and if anyone out there is worried about our immortal souls don't bother your pretty little heads, we're going to parent hell anyway, remember? Plus we lost our ticket into the pretty shiny happy place a looong time ago, we traded them in for some metal concert back in the 90's.

Political rant and probably some random other things

Because you guys know how well I stay on track. Well ok I really don't but that's just how I roll, like a weeble wobble, I still stand up but it really just doesn't make sense that I do right?

I promised awhile back that I wouldn't make any political stances on this blog and true to form I won't but for lack of better titles that's what I'm putting up there today. Plus it just goes along with every one else's titles today so I'm going with it. Really though it's less of a political rant and more of a bitch about how the American people in general (oh God there I go, making a generalization, I love doing that, it tends to piss people off) are sooo overly pampered and really need to wake up and smell the freaking coffee people! Good lord I really wish Morgan Spurlock (you know, Super Size Me?) was still making those shows 30 days and they were required tv watching.

The people of America really have no freaking clue how good we have it here. We bitch and moan about how terrible our government is, how we have no real choices, health care sucks, our rights are squashed, blah, blah, blah, yeah right. How many of these people have ever stepped a foot across the border? And I can even deal with the northern border because damn Canada may be like the 51st state but it's one ass backwards conservative book burning state boy let me tell ya. Socialized health care, hello, try to get treatment for cancer there and your name may come up, in the year 2133, looong after you're dead and buried. It's got it's drawbacks yessiree it does. And how about south of the border? You ever try going there? I grew up 45 minutes north of Tijuana, it's a shit hole and don't let anyone ever try and get you to go visit there, you will regret it. No never mind, go visit. Give me a call from the jail when they throw your ass in for no reason whatsoever and try and extort money from you and all of your 'rich' relatives because that, my firends, is how it works in good ol TJ. Party hard!

Why does this rant come up now you ask? 2 reasons really, the first being, of course, all the political garbage floating about with the elections. I am a new fangled isolationist of sorts. My dh will probably become apoplectic with my abuse of the term but I abuse the english language daily so it's not a new one by any means. I think that America has sooo many problems on it's own I don't think we need to go delving into other countries problems and, in turn, making them worse. Do not get me started on the Iraq war, it's just somewhere you just don't want to go with me. Do ya'll remember when Bush Sr was leaving office? When he was being interviewed I distinctly remember the interviewer referring to him as Mr.Bush rather than Mr. President. He was so unliked by then that they were even dissing him to his face on tv before he left office. Yeah do you see his son in any better position on his way out? Oh hell the fook no, don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out buddy boy! You'd think the American people would have learned with the first Bush or even with W's first term in office but nooo, they had to go and elect his ass in for 2 terms. Stupid Americans.

But back to delving into others problems, don't you think we have enough here at home? So the second reason for this post coming up now, The Pioneer Woman has sent her husband and 2 daughters off to the Dominican Republic for a Compassion Project so that the project gets exposure and gets more money for the poor starving children and families on the Dominican Republic. Oh yeah I know, I'm criticizing some wonderful families graciousness giving nature, go ahead criticize at will, I have comment moderation on.

A great and noble cause! The kids will get a chance to visit the DR and, lets see, lemme quote: "loved ones will be traveling into poverty-stricken areas, examining the extent of the region’s economic challenges firsthand. They’ll visit a city dump, where families scavenge for clothing and food, as well as neighborhoods where drugs are trafficked and children live beside open sewers."

All right let me tell you what first came to my mind when I read this. Why in the world would you buy 3 tickets to the friggin Dominican Republic to go see this? In todays trashed economy so you really need to be throwing away money like that? It just goes to reinforce my belief that, once again, I truly believe that P Dub is not a city girl she a trust fund baby. She would not survive one second by herself with no money in a city. They didn't need to send their children to a third world country to see that kind of poverty and filth. Newsflash people, it's in your own backyard. Like not right across the border (although it is in Mexico, no problems finding that there) no no, I'm talking right here in America. We've got slums galore, shanty towns, rampant poverty, filth, people living in the trash, devistation, lack of faith, you name it we got it. We are the land of plenty! Grow up in an ivory tower much? Good God just because you have rich parents doesn't mean the rest of the country does, all you have to do is look around. Oklahoma is one of the poorest states, it has no racial diversity and some of the saddest statistics for states that I've ever seen. There are a higher percentage of kids taken to church every Sunday than there are that are read to every day. What the hell does that say about the people who live there? They care more about their children's souls being saved then their ability to read. Hmmm interesting. And there I go digresing again but dang that's a whole other blog post into and of itself isn't it?

So why glorify it in another country? So we send our money somewhere else? Like we have soo much to send over? Like we aren't all whining about not having enough of it here? I have this wild and crazy idea, why not open your eyes and owe up to the own disaster that we've created for ourselves before delving into others issues? We can't fix everyone's problems if we can't even fix our own. Hell if we can't even admit that we have them. We have been sweeping these problems under the carpet for sooo many years people don't even realize they are there. I'll bet you that the average American has no idea that these problems exist in their own backyards. Go to the average San Diegan and ask them where the closest shanty town is to them. 99% probably would say TJ. 99% would be wrong. There's practically one in every single valley in San Diego, towns with populations in the hundreds live just feet off of the freeways there, they even steal electricity and get cable tv somehow, it's insane.

No, the average American needs to wake up and smell the coffee. It's time for change and many think that a new time has come upon us. I hate to tell ya'll, it's not the color of the president that will bring along change, it's the people. It's each and every individual out there paying attention to the world around them. Maybe this recession has woken a few of them up, who knows. The fact that a few states went from red to blue tells me that somebody was paying attention. I don't care that they changed from Republican to Democrat. I care that they changed, that's what tells me something. I live in a red state. I live in a red state that will probably never go blue. Not because they aren't into Democrats here but because Texans just don't do change, they hate it with a screaming passion. Do I see it as their downfall? Oh my yes, eventually it will bring them down. I don't know how or when but I do know it will not be pretty, it's a big state with a huge ego. It'll go down like a big fat freaking elephant in a big fat tar pit. Enough liberals will move in though and it will happen. Oh my yes, we are coming and we will start the change...

Pay attention people, America needs people to pay attention, no more complacency! Ya'll have been given a chance, don't jack this one up. I hope Obama realizes that the time is now. Really it is now or never. We're all (finally) paying attention and if he doesn't step up to bat and smack some serious people upside the head he may not be able to get this country back up to snuff. And yeah, we're going the way of all those other third world countries boys and girls. We are are weeellll on our way, most just don't even know it.....

MoBoleez

I told you guys I was nutters, ya'll just didn't believe me now did ya? The Great Cloth Diaper Hunt is in full swing, my dh had lost his wife every evening to the laptop (not that this was a new thing, it's just set in stone for the month of November now) and you guys are now going to get these weird ass random updates with cool nifty things that you don't need. Don't worry though, I don't need them either so we can be baby-less together, isn't that nice? I do like my sleep though so I'm only going to complain so much. We'd have another kid, really we would but we are no where near the financial ability to right now. Hubby needs a real job with real pay not in a max sec prison, then we'll revisit that insanity.

Regardless in my hunt for the great owl/diaper icon I have run across a few interesting things that may (or may not) have existed when I had a newborn that I think I would have totally loved to have had. Or hell, they are just so damn cute they are going up on my blog because that's why we have blogs right? Go with me on this one people. I was at least nice for you men that occasionally flit by and only posted the picture of the bonnet, the other picture was of the woman actually nursing. Oh I know you'd get over it but still, I figured it was bad enough I was going all baby on you guys. And if you're wondering as of now I am exactly 50% of the way done with the hunt, found 44 of the 88 icons to be found.


The MoBoleez conveniently fits into both categories, I clicked on the link just because it looked cool (the icon was not there but I did find it, no worries!) and I just thought it was the niftiest idea. I managed to breast feed my dd until she was 6 months old and I had to go in for yet another surgery so I weened her to the bottle. I was not very good at the whole process, breast feeding that is, weening was no big. I usually just used a blanket but I am a card carrying member of the itty bitty titty committee so unlike many/most women I didn't have to deal with 'bigger' issues so those ornate travel thingies with connector dodads were not needed. This bonnet cover contraption thing would be perfect for women like myself. I LOVE it. It's so cute I linked it to my friend and told her I needed to give birth just so I could buy one. Or 6. If you can't see in the picture the rim has yummy written all the way around it. They are just stupid cute and they even have holiday ones for those people with way too much money to spend on things their children will never see.

I just keep reminding myself I need another kid like I need another hole in the head, or another dog, or another pair of shoes.....

Halloween and special requests for Marilyn Manson from our 7 yr old

There's nothing quite like it. Really though from a former goth, what could make a momma more proud? We raced home from school Friday night and she quickly changed into her ever so scary witchy costume. Impatient to get to the trick or treating she had to go outside and practice her 'scary' moves so I put some music on for her and she of course had to have her favorite, the new Halloween remix by the Approved-by-Soccer-Moms-Everywhere Marilyn Manson. Yeah we're going to parent hell but just wait, I'll let ya'll know how we're going to enjoy the ride there in just a bit. So we go out and she starts her dance routine and I swear you'd think I'd taken her to a goth club to train her. I didn't, no no I have not stooped so low. I have no idea where she's gotten these dance moves from but they did not come from Hannah Montana that is for darn sure. Well maybe we shouldn't have shown her that one Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode, Once More With Feeling. Hey, it only had 1 demon and 1 quick scene of lesbian sex, totally mild and waaay pc. Regardless she danced and wanted me to take pics so there you are, my scary witch daughter pictures. She was WIRED FOR SOUND Halloween night. And she didn't even eat that much candy.

I let her eat a small quick dinner because she just was not going to sit still (big surprise there) and then when night came we did the neighborhood with the rest of the rug rats that live around us. After that she hung out, ok well we all hung out, with our next door neighbor and her 15 yr old son. They are the sweetest people and always buy so much candy that they stay out later hoping that more kids will come. Our 'hood shuts down at 8pm every Halloween, it's got mostly very young famlies so it's to be expected. Consequently she ends up with extra candy every year and we shut down the place with our hyper 7 yr old again, WIRED FOR SOUND.

About 4am said kid wakes up and asks if she could have some tummy pills (pepto bismol for kids) because her tummy hurts. Yeah I'll bet it does. So I let her have one and she goes back to bed. She wakes up late (like what, 8am?) with a headache. Huh, yeah no suuurprise there babe. She's pissed because she has a headache. She looks hungover actually. I personally find it amusing, gratifying even. Yup, here's my fun ride to parent hell. I explain to her the consequences of blowing off most of your dinner and going headlong into a sugar filled happiness evening. She didn't have much candy at all but like I said, she's not a glutton for candy. I told her she could have as much as she wanted and she may have had a total of 5 pieces. Even that was enough to give her the next day sugar crash hangover. But here's the beauty of it, she felt like crap for the entire day. So, being the awesome mom that I am, everytime she complained about how icky she felt I told her that was what happened when kids skip dinner and go straight for dessert. Yeah I'm going to pull that one out of my pocket every chance I get let me tell you. If you're already going to parent hell you might as well enjoy the ride.

Natural disasters, your personal preferences

Depending on where you live in the US you're usually going to be near some sort of natural disaster area, even Hawaii is a volcano, everything in the north gets snow and as far as I'm concerned snow is a natural disaster. You've got the earthquakes in Cali, the entire tornado belt (don't people know God doesn't like mobile homes?) and hurricanes in Florida and all over the gulf. Everywhere you're going to deal with floods and/or fires. Really, no matter where you go in the US it's just a pick your poison type deal. You're going to have to suck it up and buy some sort of insurance on your house, or just get all insurance on your house, you might as well. You could be in the middle of the high desert and end up flooding, it does happen.
Yet we don't really expect some things. Take earthquakes. Being from So Cal I don't think anything of them. To me they are like foot massages. San Diego does not lie on a fault line. San Francisco is a fault line, as is the San Fernando Valley. Stay the hell away from these places people, trust me on this one. Yet people still ask me if the earthquakes freak me out. Oh hell no, unless you live on an actual fault line it's just a foot massage. No really it is! But these midwesterners are scared shitless of earthquakes and then they go out and chase tornadoes, WTF? I'm sorry come again? And the foot massages freak you out? Oh pulease.
So I'm flitting on CNN, because I have, for the 3rd time this week, had my work instrument take a header (really expensive high tech instruments do 1 thing very well, break. Often) and I come across this article:

Several earthquakes rattle Texas, Oklahoma

Hehehe, OK does anyone else find humor in this? Because I though it was friggin FUNNY. Not only is it like the tornado capital but it gets earthquakes too. KICK ASS! DOUBLE YOUR MONEY!
Yeah ok so I have a sick sense of humor and find a lot of it in other people's poor choices in living areas. Like New Orleans, hello, below sea level, get a life stupids! No pity for you. Yeah I know, I'm such a bleeding heart, not. That's why I chose the cities to live in that I have. Forthought people forthought!

The Great Cloth Diaper Hunt!

What the hell are you talking about Michelle? Yeah ya'll knew I had strange hobbies but this one is a little off kilter even for me since (obviously) I don't have any babies in my household. I would have mentioned a baby on my blog at some point right? Yeah I know but I have this friend you see (Danae) and she runs a mommy forum and she's all into the cloth diapering thing which I would be into also had I a baby (which I DON'T). She has a store too with her wares, Night Sky Kids and it's going to be part of The Great Cloth Diaper Hunt. Which is a once a year online treasure hunt.
OK so the prizes are cloth diapers and that type stuff that most of us non baby having people really don't give a rat's patootie about but me and Anna (the mistress of all treasure hunts) helped Danae out last year with and it was insanely fun. Emphasis on insane. And frustrating which just means they did a really great job of hiding that little icon you're supposed to find. It's a diaper but to us it looks like an owl so we just call it an owl. We were absolutely fiendishly looking for that owl on some sites. They have some that are 'extreme' and lemme tell you, it's hard finding that sucker. On one site I just had to float the cursor over everything until I noticed it turn from a pointer to a hand and that's where it was. It took awhile to find that one....
Anyway we are doing it again this year only this time Danae's store is participating so we are going to come up with her clues. How fun is that? Oh yeah, behind the scenes, where we get to move the icon around every week or so and confuse those people who are cheating and calling their friends to find out where we hid our little owl icon. Of course we are doing the same, we have a spreadsheet we are keeping track of where everything is because hey, spread the love! Anyway what are the chances of winning these things anyway? We found each and every one of the icons last year and did we win? Oh hell no but dang was it fun!
So if you're into treasure hunts as fiendishly as we are I encourage you to go on this one. It runs the month of November and yes, it'll take you the entire month but it'll entertain you for that whole damn month! That way you can also email me for hints (or just flat out say I can't find it, give me the answer!) and we can chat it up like I always seem to do with everyone that emails me. It usually ends up being a long email chain of so and so found such and such because there are so many different hints to get though one website. We make it work though and eventually we'll find it. Or it gets moved and someone else finds it for us!
So join in if you'd like, I'll randomly post updates of funniness even if you don't care, it's a highly amusing trek of where's Waldo like proportions plus you get to learn about a whole different world of greenie tree hugging cloth diapering (oh and mama pad wearing) peoples out there. Occasionally you get some other odd website too, like last year I think they had some website hosting site or maybe she made websites proper. I can't remember, regardless there are a lot of work at home mom types that do this so it's very cool. It's a nice way of promoting one's business too!

I hate to have to do this

but it's come down to it. I have turned on comment moderation. I now am having to approve comments before they come up. So if you comment and now notice that it doesn't automatically immediately come up that's why. I know, I know, it's irritating and offensive, it drives me nuts too but it's come down to it. There's this guy, a whackadoodle mental patient from Australia that apparently is off his meds that spams Pam (Sobriety is Exhausting) like 112 times a day and he's followed some of her readers around and now here he is. Oh and this other lovely scrawney ass lady that, quite frankly, just annoys me enough that I don't need her in my own little world of ME. And hey, since it's my world I can say that. As for the rest of you all that I know and love, feel free to criticize at will. I will always publish whatever you have to say about me. Why? Because you always come back and talk and converse. Creative criticism and discussion, I love it. People that do nothing but get their panties in a wad? Well I think they just need to get off the internet, it's too grown up for them, they need more therapy before going out into the big kid world. There are just those people out there and sadly, that's why Google made comment moderation.

3 1/2 days of Chemistry!!

I got to work for a whole 3 1/2 days, it was great! And then, nothing. Yeah the instrument broke, ah the life of a mass spectrometrist. This really should not be any big surprise to me, and it isn't. It was just so nice to be able to get to work again. I really do like being a chemist, it's an awesome fun job. When the mass spec isn't taking a shit. Damn instrument. For those of you that can't remember I was hired on around my birthday, May 28th, and they did not have a sufficient lab set up. So we had to get permitting done blah blah blah and I've been coming to work every day and clocking in just waiting around for them to get it all done. Almost 5 months later I get it set up and the damn instrument decides it's not going to be agreeable. Typical. So now I wait until a service engineer can make it out. It could be awhile but now you have me back again, flitting about the internet here annoying people at random...

Hey I like this early voting thing!

Have I been asleep all these years? Or did they not have early voting in California? I did vote. Every election I did vote. I voted by mail a few times but I did vote. I just don't ever remember there being an early vote option. Last week a co-worker told me to stop by my library on my way home and get it done so I wouldn't have to wait in the lines on election day. I had my husband do it on his day off (since his hours are JACKED) and he thought it was nifty so I went in last Friday on my way home. WAY easy and QUICK. Yeah won't be doing it old school any more. This way is definitely the way to go. GET OUT THERE AND VOTE PEOPLE. Early vote, vote by mail, do whatever you need to do to get it done but for the love of god get it done because if you haven't noticed the system as it stands needs some help and now is the time. Voice your opinion. Even if it is different than mine. Notice how I didn't give you my opinion? You won't hear it here boys and girls, I don't do political rants here. That happens on the hubby's blog. If I felt like putting out the effort on the useless pieces of crap that are running for office. I know, you have to vote for someone but damn the pickings get slimmer and slimmer ever friggin election I swear. If you want my opinions you can probably go to the link for Margaret and Helen in my side bar. That 82 year old woman is so dead on I love her, she rocks. Some day I want to get old and be just like her. Knowing my luck I'll probably piss somebody off long before I get old and they'll kill me. Most likely somebody I know though so I'm ok with that. At least then I won't have to listen to these moronic politicians anymore...

Did I ever tell ya'll?

Because my dh hears it constantly. I can't stand My Space. That system/area/what ever the hell it's called drives me nuts. Eons ago I tried setting up my own page and I just never got the hang of it. I just assumed I was an idiot and let it die. I had a friend walk me through making a background and had it look kind of right but it was such a pain in the ass. All I wanted was a space I could write in and put stuff up in. I don't know, maybe I'm just too old for it. It's a younger generation thing? Too much flashy shit on it and getting all your friends listed and scrolling down one side and all that crap. So somewhere out there I do have and old dead My Space page, I have no idea what it's called or what the sign in for it is. It's maybe 2 years old.

I have a friend who owns a paintball field and 3 paintball stores. They had a My Space page because all of their clientele are well, lets face it, children. Guess what happened? They got a virus from their My Space page and it ate their computer. It's like having a My Space page is like having unprotected sex with a bunch of college frat/sorority members, why? Dude, grow up and move on to a more stable system. I have another friend who just last week got a hold of me to ask me what other platforms are out there because her granddaughter had set her up on a My Space page and it was being hacked into. Gah! I said why the hell are you on My Space!? Yeah so she's having it shut down and is starting up something else on some other platform.

So why am I ranting today? Because I spent the morning flitting about on a bunch of My Space pages remembering what I had hated so much about them. They are so...high school...with their icon pictures that are more than half the time not even the people that are using them. The lists of 'friends' that scroll down 500 miles long, oh and the friggin backgrounds that I find impossible to read against if I am lucky enough to find something intelligible on the page that makes up a whole sentence much less a paragraph. It's like a patch of this a patch of that something stuck out here maybe more like an adhd kid on crack went at a MS Paint screen and had at it. The OCD in me can't make sense of My Space. I think for that reason I never even bothered looking at Facebook. So to this day when someone asks me if I have My Space page I so want to say to them something like, no I'm a card carrying adult. I look up words I don't know how to spell so I can actually spell them correctly rather than just sounding them out and putting them up and assuming other people know what I'm talking about. Talk about old school, I can spell, how novel....