musings, ponderings, rantings, ravings, observations....

Any and all of the above may be seen in this update......

For the last month and a half I have been running the store....boss man at another store in another state doing a reset.....no problem, except that when he is not there, at least one someone in the building, and maybe even from another store, sees fit to go running to him if I fart wrong....after i had my mental breakdown one week, I decided I really couldn't give a rat's rear end. I don't have time for the stupid ass junior high games some people play. I know that in every job there are those who love you, those who hate you, and those who can go either way. There is always someone ready to stab you in the back, and usually there is someone who has your back, but not always. So Monday boss man comes back and I am fully prepared to hear how horribly I ran the place in his absence, and then tell him what I think.....hopefully in such a way as to not be fired outright, but get my point across......and then again maybe there will be no need......que sera sera...

I have discovered the absolute need to delegate more at home over the past couple of months. I simply do not have time for what needs to be done...therefore I have come to request, and at times, demand that the kids pick up a lot more slack....for the older ones, they need to know how to do basic household chores, as it is not too much longer before they will have to do for themselves. For my baby, I am just tired of the mess, so she is now responsible for her stuff. I do not help. I simply provide the trash bag when she gets mouthy about it...pretty well gets my point across and she gets it done, momentarily anyway...Tonight I fixed dinner, a baked pasta dish with salad and bread. When it was almost done, I called out that someone needed to toss the salad and set the table. My husband immediately comes in to help, as do both the boys. Shellie washes her hands and sends the neighbor girl home and Kate simply stands there. Never asks if she can help. Has sat on her ass all day watching tv. Now I've been gone a good lot of the day----Chris to ACT, going to yard sales and the grocery store, etc.....not home to make sure she does something constructive with her time. So I say, well I guess Kate can clean up the kitchen after we eat since she has sat around all day. She point blank says no.

I'm sorry. Since when does a child have the right to look at a parent and say No I will not do what you have told me to do? I would have been smacked through the floor for that. And then had to do it anyway. After dinner she goes in and plops her butt back on the couch in front of the tv. Chris is helping clean up. Ron comes in to help. Kate sits there. Even Ben lends a minor hand. So next time I fix a meal, Miss Thang is going to get to clean up all by herself. At 16 damn years old, I should think so.....

Onto bigger and better things.....I have been a little out of the loop in politics the last few weeks, quite honestly I haven't had the blood pressure to spare for the bullshit. However when the current sitting president has the balls to complain that the govt is not getting enough tax money because people aren't buying as much gas, so he wants to jack up the taxes on gas so the govt can get more money I suppose for more stupid ass bailouts for corporations that most likely deserve to die, well that pisses me off. I did change my driving habits after the freaking $4/gallon plus of gas last summer. Sorry Obamabobama, I WORK for a living. I work damn hard for my money and you and your fat ass cronies and pet projects that you're shoving down our throats do NOT deserve any more of it than is absolutely necessary. As they say in my neck of the woods--- Kiss my ass. Oh and you also want to tax my health care benefits. Up yours. Again I WORK for a living. Stay the hell out of my wallet. Stay the hell out of my life and I will be a very happy camper. I did not vote for you and would never have in a million years. No the other guy was not much of a better choice, but hell, stick with the evil I know instead of that I pray against.......

By the way, that is my right of free speech.....like it or not, I can state my opinion of you and your administration and its policies. It's my opinion. I am not a citizen of a communist country, although I fear we are headed rapidly that way under this administration/congress/supreme court.

Unlike what those in power for the last few decades think, there is a division of power in our federal govt (as well as state govt). The executive branch is the administrative branch. The legislative branch (House of Reps and Senate) is the law making branch. The supreme court is there to adjudicate disputes over the laws when they arise---sorry guys your job is not to make the law, simply to interpret it. The sooner ya'll realize this the better off the country as a whole will be.

My dad mentioned in his recent post an issue over the use of turn signals on vehicles in our state. Due to a misreading, I feel, of the law by our state supreme court. They state that a signal must only be used if other traffic is affected. Hello? Now I may have acquired my original driver's license in the state of Ohio, not WV, but I'm pretty sure the manual is explicit in that signals are to be used when turning or changing lanes so as to alert the drivers around you of your intended course of action and direction of movement. So now with much more traffic on the roads than there was 24 years ago when I received my license, I can just forget using my signal unless I think another person might possibly be affected by my intended actions? I guess that explains why my brakes wear out trying not to hit the person in front of me who must beleive that the fact he intends to turn with no warning--just hit the brakes and there you go, I have to be a mind reader now.....

I've had enough for tonight----must go push kids through showers.......

WTF, part 3000

Sitting here at my pc trying to chill after a trying day at work, and what to my wondering eye should appear but a little news blurb at the top of my screen which says that the US House of Doofuses (Representatives) is trying to expand the federal hate crimes law to give gays more rights and protections.

EXCUSE ME????????

Ok, pardon my language, but this is a definite WTF moment.......Why should ANY certain group have more rights and protections than any other group? I don't care if you are gay, straight, what your religion or ethnicity is, or anything else... we are all members of the human race, and we ALL deserve the same treatment.....

So someone beats the crap out of you because you are gay......so????does it mean any less that someone beat the crap out of my son because he is Christian? and white? Why should both instances be treated differently from each other?

They shouldn't...and therein lies the problem.

For too many years now, the gay rights groups have flaunted themselves, as have numerous other groups/causes, and when they are attacked, they blame everyone around but themselves....I am straight, but I don't go around flaunting my sexuality and then demanding that I be given special protection because I am a heterosexual female. I do not demand special rights because I am female.

I guess what it boils down to is this-----those of us who are straight have just as many rights as gays. Christians just as much at Muslims or athiests, red and purple as well as white and black. I am tired of dancing on the line of "am I going to offend someone by breathing?" Quite honestly, if I offend, I am sorry. But that does not mean I am going to change my stance to suit you. I am sorry for causing offense, but not sorry for my belief. I am not going to hide my Bible because you don't want to see it. I am not going to tell my kids they can't wear their tshirts with religious slogans on them to school because the classmate next to them with the "I did your girlfriend" shirt doesn't like it.

Food for thought....

picks and peeves

ok, so I made the mistake of opening up my local paper on Saturday, and instantly became aggravated at the arrogance of so called experts.

The topic this time is childhood obesity. I live in the state of WV---wild wonderful, and usually dead last or near it in most categories. Except those related to poor health, it seems.....So the headline is that almost half of all 5th graders in this state are obese. And of course as you read the story, it is all the fault of the parent. We apparently force feed them McDonald's grease and (from an earlier article) Mountain Dew. We make them sit in front of the tv and PS2 for hours on end and refuse to let them exercise.....

Now, yes, I see the merit in this....I agree that as parents we should do more to keep our kids active. And I see it in my home as well........I have to admit that I, as an overweight (to put it mildly) 40-something, do not set the best example for my kids to follow. I come home from work and crash on teh couch with the remote in hand. Yes I eat chips and things that are quick and easy. After being on my feet constantly for 9-10 hrs a day, yeah, I do.......and after 7-8 hrs a day, not including the bus ride to and from, in school, yeah my kids think they deserve the same break.

BUT.....I look at what my kids eat, overall, and they do eat pretty well....there is really not a lot of overeating, especially of the wrong stuff, which changes on a daily basis anyway, so who the heck can keep up with it? We eat, especially once the weather gets nice, a lot of grilled food (the health of which I'm sure some will debate)--chicken, pork chops (both bought boneless and skinless), steak (which my husband picks out the leanest cuts he can get---eschewing his favorite ribeyes and such since I don't like the fat content). We eat more rice than potatoes any given time of the year, and in warmer months I am more likely to make a salad than open a can of highly preserved vegetables. Our bread consumption at meals goes way down when the weather is warmer too----just less to load us down. Not that we are perfect......heck no....and I know there are ways to improve. Getting rid of the pop would be a big start.

But then again, our grocery budget takes a huge hit to eat like this. It IS cheaper to buy the fatty, quick to fix and eat meals and snacks....I shop, I know.....has any of these so called experts figured out how to do this without taking out a second mortgage? I mean really.....take a walk through your local produce dept and then walk through the snack aisle.....hmmmmm.....look at pop vs bottled water (oh yeah open up another can of worms)...

The exercise thing is a biggie too. During the winter months and on extreme weather days--excessively hot or stormy--yeah my kids play a lot of video games. They play what I consider to be a lot anyway....but once they can get outside that's where they are. Even if they are sitting there reading, at least they get the fresh air and sunshine benefits....But then too, reading what the graduation requirements are for phys ed now---where is it? Only ONE phys ed credit is required for graduation. I had to have 2 back in the dinosaur days of the '80's. Now my kids enjoy phys ed, unlike me. I don't know, maybe it's the boy vs the I don't want to ruin my hair girl mentality, but they do. Ben ran track last year, and loved it.....he'd be in it again, but with all his honors classes we felt he couldn't afford the late nights for meets and stuff...But he stays active outside. Spring break killed these kids this year with all the rain that kept them in. They were chomping at the bit to get outdoors when it finally cleared up.

Yeah we as parents need to boot the kids outside and into a more active lifestyle. Then too, you also hve parents who both, if there are indeed 2 parents in the home, have to work just to make the basic ends meet---so there are reasons why people live like they do.....as old as my kids are, unless I or my husband are home, I would rather them not be outdoors. Even out in the boondocks where we are, things still happen. And with our schedules, that doesn't always happen. So.....

On to another topic......there were a couple of letters to the editor I took picks with. One was a response to an earlier letter complaining about hospital waiting rooms having Bibles in them. The first letter writer was very offended by this blatant Christian symbol being so visible. The latest writer pretty well told the first that he didn't have to read it if it offended him so greatly. Very true. I don't know which local hospital the first writer was at, but when I was at Cabell when Mom had her surgery last month, I did not notice Bibles laying around. Maybe they were there, but not so visible. The other local hospital is Catholic run, and yes they do do Bibles visible to all. Who cares? Just like anything else, if you don't want to read it/watch it/listen to it, don't. Turn the station, turn it off, don't open the book. And check your offense meter, because apparently it is out of whack in the wrong direction if you are so easily offended by simply seeing a book on a table.....

Then we have the obvious Obama supporter who firmly believes that talk radio is egging on "domestic terrorism". Hello? Has anyone looked at the stimulus package? What is being forced onto American citizens? I beleive that is domestic terrorism. How is simply stating an opinion---which we do have the right to do---terrorism? Those who speak or even just listen to a show are not terrorists by definition. If we act wrongly and malignantly on what we hear or believe, then maybe we deserve the label......Timothy McVeigh acted wrongly and hurtfully and delieberately. Yes, I feel he was a homegrown terrorist. My opinion. I firmly believe in at least 95% of cases, abortion is morally wrong. Does that make me a terrorist? NO. Now if I blew up clinics where abortions were performed, then yes I would be. Saying I don't believe this contry is on the right course since our current President took office does not make me a terrorist. I am stating my opinion. I am not building a militia to act upon it. I am simply looking at my values and beliefs and what is going on in this country, and they do not co-exist well together. So I state my opinion. I don't grab a megaphone and shout it to the world on the White House lawn. I state it in discussions with coworkers or family and friends, when it is asked for or appropriate in the discussion. Not terrorism folks......And quite frankly shutting down "right wing" talk radio would be just as bad as shutting down "left wing" talk radio. Which by the way gathers far fewer listeners than the right wing version....maybe that is what the letter writer objects to....sorry life isn't fair.......

RIP Bea Arthur

I don't remember a lot about the show "Maude" in the '70's.....honestly, with some of the topics it dealt with, I'm sure my folks deemed it inappropriate for a grade schooler. But I remember "Golden Girls" very fondly---and I loved Bea's character...her wit and sense of timing were wonderful....and it is very sad to see yet another icon of my formative and much younger more innocent days pass away....

We have lost a lot of truly great actors/actresses and public figures in the last few years, and maybe it is because I am now in my 40's, and realizing that where my folks are--in their 60's--is not as far away as I once believed....when I was 20, 30 seemed like forever away, as did 40. Now at 41, I am keenly aware of how quickly time flies. And if I ever forget, I have only to look at my children...

10 years ago I was going through the painful but necessary process of divorcing my first husband, the father of my two sons.....my husband now was in the process of finding out information that would lead to his eventual divorce from his first wife, the mother of his two daughters......when we met, several months after both divorces were final, our children were 9,7, and 5. They are now 18 (and a high school graduate), 16 (jr and soph in HS) and 14 (freshman).
We also have a 7 yr old daughter. Yes time flies very swiftly.....

And these same children look at us when we stop for a moment or two to mourn the passing of those we remember from our childhood...."Who?" is the question we get. They don't know who these people are.....and it is sad also that there are so few now who have the talent to take their places.

Business as usual in DC

In case nobody saw the morning news....Obama signed the pork filled stimulus bill after declaring he would veto any bill like that, that it was not the time for earmarks.......

So much for change.......

But also as usual the morning news shows are trying to act like they are questioning what he did, but they are doing it so softly, apparently it is business as usual there too..

If it had been Bush, he would have been skewered, instead of gently and apologetically fileted....

Nice to know some things never CHANGE......

bad barbie......

So our lovely state has a legislator who has nothing else on his plate to deal with, and all the time in the world to plot how to screw up little girls' playtime. Not like there is an economic crisis, companies shutting down down all over the state, including a major aluminum manufacturer right here in my own part of the state. But this twit's priority is to outlaw the Barbie doll in this state.....

Oh please.

Yes Barbie is not realistically shaped anything like a real woman. Never has been. Not at any point in the last 50 years of its existence. It's a doll. Get over it. It's a toy. How many other kids toys have you seen that are completely based on reality? Anybody watch cartoons in the last 15 years and see the merchandise from them? Please.

Barbie is damaging to little girls self esteems and gives them a false body image to live up to....that's the "logic" behind this attack on an American icon. Get a grip...What is more damaging----and I speak as the parent of a 7 yr old girl who loves her barbies----is the constant barrage of super skinny people touting all kinds of diet systems because apparently unless you are a size 2 or less, you are horrible and disgusting and fat and sloppy and lazy.......

Bullshit.......

Sorry, but when I had to have a talk with my daughter at the age of 5 to talk about the fact that she is not even close to being fat.....something is wrong with this society's priorities.....I personally do not give a rat's rear end for most of the crap coming from Hollywood and Madison Avenue ad agencies......but I do care deeply about the damage their images can cause in a growing child. And Shellie did not get this from her barbie dolls, but from watching the commercials that are played in between segments of KIDS SHOWS!!!!!!! What the heck do we need a Nutrisystem commercial during Hannah Montana or Spongebob?

Not to mention the numbers of parents who place their kids on diets to keep them from getting "fat", when actually feeding them once in a while would make them look a little healthier. Now I have nothing against eating healthier---Lord knows we all could benefit from that---now if I can just bring myself to do so when I go to the store later----but when you have grade schoolers who cannot touch a french fry because Mommy said they would get fat if they did, well......do I really need to publish my thoughts?

I know the pitfalls of being overweight....I have been for years, and have a couple of health problems I could associate with it----my blood pressure and my weakening leg joints for a couple.I am working on it. And very slowly it is coming off, according to the scale, if not my clothes. But I don't walk around wishing I was shaped like Barbie, nor do I deny myself a cookie if I want one. Nor do I tell my kids they are too fat or too skinny....I try to give them a positive self image and if any fingers ever get pointed, believe me, they get pointed back at myself by me.

Parents need to quit focusing on the superficiality of the Barbie issue and the shallowness of what one looks like, and focus on keeping their kids healthy, both physically and mentally and emotionally, instead of scarring them because they do not live up to an impossible ideal.

And stupid legislators need to get off their rears and focus on what is really wrong that needs dealt with instead of finding yet another way to make themselves, and this state, look foolish...

the word for today is.....

SNAFU..........in case you are brain dead, it stands for "situation normal, all "flubbed" up."

Hey trying to be a little nice here---it attempts to be a family blog.......

So the WV legislature is tackling, again, the problem of trying to get the county school systems to adhere to the required number of instructional days. Problem number one, we get snow and ice around here in the winter. Some years not so much, but the last couple of years or so, when it has hit, it has hit. Problem number two, school, by law, cannot begin prior to August 26th, nor end later than June 8th or 9th. Problem number three is we have a bunch of dumbasses in the legislature---hey I did NOT vote for them--you know my philosophy, if in office, vote them out......

The way I see it is we can get those 180 instructional days real easy......cut out the doggone teacher in service days----that gets you about 5 or 6 days easily. Next take away the OSE---or outside school environment days----which are just basically holidays for teachers and students with no actual purpose to them ........

When my generation was in school----I graduated HS in 1985----teachers knew going into the system that they would be "underpaid" for the amount of work they had to do. Granted, then they had to actually work. They had to grade papers and manually enter them into a gradebook, not some stupid computer program which they can then blame for not running correctly, thereby not giving the student the correct grade---been there done that. If they could not get it done on their planning periods or whatever, then teacher had homework too. A teacher actually had to deal with parents face to face, as well as maintain discipline in the classroom. Ah the days of corporal punishment. Not that I want a return to paddling, but maintaining the county codes of behavior would be nice, instead of a teacher or principal deciding on a whim that such and such behavior is no longer acceptable in one group of students but perfectly permissable in another...but I digress......

Now teachers complain that they are very underpaid, but they do less work.....go figure........


This is just the start of the ranting, folks........I'm getting my groove back on....must be the smell of rancid legislators..........