Another Day Another Dollar...

Or in this economy it's more likely to be a quarter.

It's that time of year. Time to clear out the old and bring in the new... er, no, that's not right.
It's time to clear out the cobwebs and dust, move the furniture to see exactly what the kids have hidden underneath, clean out closets and cabinets filled with winter clothes and coats and shoes that no longer fit anyone in my household.
That's what time it is.
Once the floors are clean and the corners of the rooms are cobweb free it's much easier to settle into the routine of winter.
Days spent indoors, instead of out, watching all those shows I DVR because I can't seem to stay awake past sundown...
Days spent baking cookies for the holidays and searching out recipes for new things to make for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner.
Days spent making gifts for family and friends... crocheting and knitting while watching all those DVR'd shows or Hallmark Countdown to Christmas movies.

I love this time of year.
Not only do I get to de-clutter and clean, but I get to relax and enjoy being home.
Football and Soccer season have finally ended. Not that I don't love them as much as TeenBoy, BratChild and SIX do, but they've been going since mid-summer and quite frankly, five months of practices and games and cleaning uniforms and cleats... there is a limit to what a BusyMom wants to do.
Now we can sit down to dinner, together, instead of eating on the run on the way to some ball practice or another.
Now I can make dinners that don't have to be portable or pre-fab frozen deals that can be microwaved in a snap.

Yes, now I can do all of these things...
but will I?
All?
Probably not.

What I want to BE when I grow up List

Over at SITS I joined a group with activities to help me find my voice, my blog voice that is, and my audience... again the blog-reading one.

This week we were called to write a list- in 10 minutes- and the grocery list was not the one they meant so... here goes.

This is my list of things that I would like to be... when I grow up, or when my kids do, which ever comes first.

1- a Super Hero- any kind will do... I just think it would be cool to have people actually need me for something other than a meal and clean clothes and as a chauffer.
2-a doctor or a PA or a Nurse Practicioner or an herbal healer or Wise Woman - but not the kind that were burned for being witches.
3-a college graduate... a prerequisite to number 2
4-an acclaimed author... with a real book with my Nom-De-Plum or alter ego's name on the cover.
5-the best person I can be... and not feel guilty for wanting to be ME instead of Mom or Wife or person-you-can-always-count-on...

I know that I will in all likihood not acheive any of these because, let's face it, I am Mom amd Wife and Person-you-can-always-count-on and...

I like who I am and that is probably the thing on my To Be list that matters most...
6-Happy to BE me!

Veteran's Day... a lesson and a Thank You... No,Really- THANK YOU!

Below is a repost of mine from last year...

Since then another fine young man died while fighting for the things he believed in... things like Love of God, Love of Family and Love of Country...

To Kurt and Charlie and all those who GAVE THEIR ALL during the last 12 months...

Thank You from the bottom of my heart.

Original Post November 11, 2009
Today is Veteran's Day.



A day set aside to honor those who have served to protect and defend our country.



Everyone knows that. We learned about it in grade school- you know back when the holocaust was real and the 'Cold War' was still being fought?

But what many people may not remember, or possibly never really learned way back when, is that Veteran's Day was originally Armistice Day.



What is Armistice you may ask... again because you were too busy watching Nixon being impeached on TV or listening to your grandfather rant how the Russians were planning to take over the world to remember what your teacher was telling you in school.



Armistice is a cessation of fighting by mutual agreement between all parties involved.



And Armistice Day was originally intended as a remembrance of the Armistice Treaty that went into effect at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, thereby effectively ending the First World War... or as it was called by many, "The War To End All Wars"... well, until the next one that is.



So, November 11th at 11:00 am is when the guns stopped shooting and the soldiers stopped marching and the tanks stopped rolling in 1918. And those left standing were able to return to their homes and families in time for Christmas and the Peace-full New Year of 1919.



But the armistice did not last because, well, let's face it, we ARE human after all, and eternal peace and happiness just aren't part of the genetic code of our species.


Someone had to decide they were "The Man" and start taking over the smaller and less adequately defended countries in Europe-- oh so slyly and quietly so that the bigger, badder nations across the globe did not realize exactly what was happening until it was almost too late.


And of course, The US being the Defender of the Defense-less, and Global Conscience that it is, we got involved. Oh- I mean before Pearl Harbor- we had pilots flying for the RAF out of Canada and Great Britain, we had intelligence personnel in Europe sending back some not-so-nice reports on Adolph and Friends and there were discussions in the governmental bodies about how and when we should intercede.



Then Pearl Harbor happened and just how much trouble Adolph and his Pals in Italy and Japan had gotten into became alarmingly apparent.

Thus the US was thrown into World War II, and although it was not our brightest hour, it was certainly not a good idea to piss us off from the get go.
 Japan was not very smart about that, or they under estimated us as a military force? Maybe it is because we frown on killing perfectly good people by using airplanes as bombs like those crazy Kamakzi guys. But hey, maybe it was something else.


So WWII happened. Lots more of our young men died defending those in need across the globe against a mad man, who had some serious mental-health and self-love issues, because he could talk a good game.



That 'War to End All Wars' ended in 1945, and not a moment too soon for those interred in concentration camps across Eastern Europe.


In 1954- only 9 years after WWII ended and a year after the Korean Conflict- cuz I do remember learning in school that it was NOT a war, just a conflict where people got killed... a lot, had been ... er, un-conflicted?


Anyway- 1954 saw the signing of a bill making Veteran's Day a day to honor American veterans of all wars by Dwight Eisenhower, who was himself a great veteran and who said... ( I had to put a quote of his here because he is my favorite president)...


"On that day let us solemnly remember the sacrifices of those who fought so valiantly on the seas, in the air and on foreign shores, to preserve our heritage of freedom, and let us reconsecrate ourselves to the task of promoting an enduring peace so that their efforts shall not have been in vain."



Since that proclamation was made 51 years ago many more veterans have arrived on the scene... From the cuban conflict, Operation Desert Storm, Viet Nam, Operation Iraqi Freedom and so many more that I am sure We, The People have no idea ever happened.






For ALL of those Veterans I want to say thank you... and I include those who are left who bear a tatoo identifying them as true veterans of war because, unlike American History books who barely mention the "alleged holocaust" I believe that their lives were endagered, taken and tossed aside without care... and I KNOW that without OUR Veterans of that war, and the many since, history books the world over would be filled with more atrocities than even I can imagine, and let me tell you, I have a really good imagination!






So- Thank You to Marty, Vic, David, Steph, Dad, Uncle Dave, Wink, Mr. Schuyler, Matthew, Smitty, Charlie Cartwright- KIA Afghanistan November 2009, and those whose names I cannot remember and those whose names I have never known... you are ALL to me like family... the family of Man-Kind with the emphasis on KIND.

The Heartbreak of Defeat.... or the broken hand... take your pick

SIX broke his hand.
Badly.

Actually, he didn't break it, the kid on the other team did.
Or in the words of SIX, 'Thunder Thighs broke it".

For a team of 11 year olds, there sure were a lot of BIG kids on it.
And by BIG, I mean Thunder Thighs probably weighed in around 230.
No joke!

SIX is 5'5" and 107... just a little difference in size.
But SIX stopped Thunder Thighs from getting the touchdown ... which was good.
His team still lost... which was not so good.

The season officially ended with the play after SIX's hand got crunched... yeah, figures.
No more nightly football practice.
No more Saturday's spent at the field.
No more searching for elusive uniform pads and socks before a game.
That's what our team has to look forward to.

The other team?
According to SIX...
They're at home eating donuts by the fire.
Fattening up for next year.

You know, I think he just might be right about this one.

A Scary Thing Happened On The Way To A Football Game

Driving.
Many of us do it. Usually several times a day.
How many of us are safe drivers though?


A law went into effect October 1st that no one can text or talk while driving in my state. 
One MUST use a hands free device to converse on the phone while driving.


There was a cry of outrage from the media, the public, the teens who's cell phones have been surgically attached to their wrists! 


Somehow, in all the to-do about that law, another more important, and to my mind totally for dummies law, went  into effect without so much as a whisper of commentary.


As of October 1st, failing to move to the left, or if unable to move left, to slow down, when passing a police vehicle on the shoulder with lights on is a ticket-able offense.


I know, it's a long law. And it's a totally 'Well Duh!' kind of law. Everyone I asked, like me, was taught to move over a lane when a police car is on the shoulder with lights on when they were in driver's ed way back in the dark ages. 


Apparently, the driving classes now don't teach that? Or perhaps they don't emphasize the importance of this little courtesy to our men in blue? Either way, it appears that there have been so many police officers injured, or killed, during routine traffic stops by cars side-swiping or rear-ending the police cruisers, and/or the cars they have stopped, that lawmakers felt this had to be addressed with this new law.


Just when I thought that, yet again, the lawmakers of my state were wasting tax payer money writing laws for things that are common sense, I was put in my place. For thinking, that is.


On the way to TeenBoy's final football game of the season ( no you do not want to know the score), I was driving in the right lane. In front of me was a brand new full-size pickup with the ginormous tires and a gun-rack in the rear window. 
As we approached a red light the truck turned on his right turn signal and moved into the right turn lane. Only to slow, then swerve suddenly to the left, cutting off a car that was coming through the intersection - as he DID have the green light - then continued across all the lanes of traffic, pedal to the metal, only to turn into the McDonald's parking lot on the other side of the road.


I give up.
There are no 'Well, Duh!' laws. 
All of them need to be written down and THEN they need to broadcast them daily on a loudspeaker along the highways so that all the stupid people, like that truck driver, will have no excuse to say they did not know the laws.


Oh, the driver was not a youngster, or even an older person who was perhaps confused... but someone, who in all appearances, seemed to be 30-40 and in good physical health. 
At least from what I see for the10 minutes he was driving in front of me before he went insane.


TeenBoy will be eligible for his learner's permit in one year. 
Great, like I don't have enough to worry about already! 

Writer's Workshop: Like Ace of base.... I Saw the Sign

Welcome to another offering from the writing prompts at Mama Kat's


Todays prompt is : 


5.) Describe a moment when you saw someone hit their breaking     
      point.





She seemed calm, normal actually, at first,  as I watched from across the room.


Then, an eerie light began to glimmer, just beyond her pupils, as if from some other place behind her eyes, an almost manic look.


Her mouth turned down with sadness, her brow furrowed with anger and then her coloring got, well, blotchy.
Her face, her chest and down her arms grew cold, then hot,  then prickled with goosebumps as she balled up her fists.


It was then, right then, as she slowly slid to the floor, that she surrendered to her anger, the sense of inadequacy, and cried...


" I give up. That's. It.  I'm. Done"


She sighed, her body going limp, her eyes filling with tears, her head drooping as she leaned against the mirror, slowly breathing in, then out... as I realized that I was the only one in the room.

The Day After...the day after

Today is the day after the day after Halloween.

It was a laid back and relaxing one, for a change.

The kids carved their pumpkins without much fuss or fighting.

They dressed themselves and only asked for help with the little things like the 401k-that-took-a-beating make-up.

Before I knew what happened they were out the door and I was left...
alone
in peace
and quiet.

Just me, the TV and Ghost Hunters Live...

It was wonderful.

And then, they came home...

with 10 pounds of candy each.

Note to self-  call the Dentist!