Wednesday, March 31, 2010

A Helping Hand

This evening as I emptied the dishwasher, Katherine ran to my side to lend a helping hand. She exclaimed, "Mom, you don't have to do all the work by yourself--I'm going to help you. You just sit back and I'll take care of this (the silverware)." She took great care to make sure all the utensils were clean and stacked all the silverware neatly in the tray.

Little does she know she has earned herself another job on her chore list (and some brownie points with mom and dad).

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Hisss

This is the funnest game. Grandma gave the game to Haylie for her birthday and Katherine enjoyed it so much that we went out and bought it today. The object of the game is to combine the drawn cards into snakes according to colors, combine sections and then add completed snakes to your pit. When you complete a run with its head and tail, you announce "hiss" and then take all the cards. Katherine came up with a little snake dance while she hissed and that was pretty cute.

Monday, March 29, 2010

Spring Break-ing

Our first real springbreak and I am expecting too much I think. In anticipation of the break, I began creating a TO DO LIST of home improvement projects, cleaning, and activities. Now on the eve of the big week, and I'm not very sure I will actually get anything done but RELAX. Except for a few make-up lessons, I am not teaching this week and I am caught up on all of the office work for Simply Gourmet, so I don't have any excuses. The pile of books next to my bed does look awfully appealing. . .

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Healthcare Heartburn

I haven't had this kind of political heartburn since the 2000 Presidential Elections. Back then I checked news websites for updates on a regular basis, I listened to talk radio all day long and then tuned into Fox News the moment I got home from work. I listened to anything that would be give me a sense of hope that the election would be resolved, the chads would be counted and Bush would be the winner.

(Insert any Bush joke here>>>>> The bigger joke would have been Gore)

Anyway, the point is that I felt my choices and freedoms were related to who controlled Washington.

Now, with the atrocious Obamacare being passed, I feel that Washington has intruded into a part of my life that I feel very sensitive about: my health. Living with a chronic illness for 8 years has made me very selfish and all I can think about is how the quality of care will decline, research and development will be underfunded, and I will not have access to experimental and cutting edge treatments. In a sense, I feel the bill will make me more ill in the end.

A bigger point is what this means to us as Americans. Who are we? What kind of country do we have? Where are we headed? Whatever it once was is no longer and this country has taken a giant step into the entitlement trough. The problem with entitlement is that it is the disease that kills exceptionalism.

For any of you out there that have guilt and self-loathing about America and its exceptionalism must not have children, or do have children and regularly smoke pot. Parents (who care) do everything in their power to raise children to strive in school, excel in extracurricular activities, be the cutest in the class, have lots of friends, etc. Parents on Pot (in this case, people in America who are ashamed of its exceptionalism) don't take score at soccer games, worry about self-esteem and just want their kids to feel happy and fulfulled without making any effort or doing any work.

Okay, so maybe you're not really smoking pot, but it probably wouldn't matter if you did because your brain is whacked. Seriously. You are just dehydrated, lacking basic fundamental principles this country was founded on. What you need is detox by getting back to the moral and political basis this country was founded on. We, collectively as Americans, need to rediscover that revolutionary spirit willing us to break from our oppressor, the pioneering spirit that calls us to adventure, opportunity and challenge.

Maybe that's what we need right now is a way, a method, to become modern day revolutionary pioneers???