My New Obamaccount

I am so excited! Thrilled! Elated! In January, after the inauguration of Obama, I will have my new Obamaccount that will pay my mortgage AND miraculously fill my gas tank. It's like the loaves and fishy thing all over again! And that was something that I just read about in the Bible. But this is real, it's now and so fantastic!

I'm compiling lists of things to do with all the extra cash I'll be saving once Obama is paying off my mortgage and keeping the big black beast all gassed up. Oh wait! I'm not going to have any extra dollars because my taxes will be higher! I guess that's okay. I mean, I shouldn't be selfish. Instead, I'll willingly give my money to Obama because he is much more enlightened than I and will know better how to spend the money I earn.

For a long time I felt that paying tithing, saving for Katherine's college and using my resources for good, charitable purposes, and of course selfish things like getting my hair cut or buying deodorant, were noble and necessary. Maybe I was wrong. I suppose I can cut my own hair (at least the front) and isn't it tres European to stink just a little? When I lift my arms and take a whiff I'll be reminded that some poor soul who has been oppressed and cannot work definitely needs the cash more than I do. Who am I to judge if someone needs their ciggies, Jack Daniel, cable TV, and acrylic nails? Really I should count my blessings that I don't have addiction to substances (legal ones, anyway, I really never have tried drugs so how would I know) and that my nails are so brittle from rounds of chemo that acrylic nails won't stick to my deformed nailbeds.

It's been really HARD to work at a job for all the 6 years I've been battling metastatic breast cancer so I could have the health insurance to cover the treatment costs. But there are others who have it worse than I do. I mean, I know a person who is going on disability because she gets headaches. That's got to be tough. I say, "Obama! You take care of my friend with the headaches! And while you're at it, give her good medical coverage, and make it better than mine because I've been soooo greedy!"

That's why I'm so glad that Obama will be making those decisions instead of someone like me. He's such a gift to the world. Whenever he speaks its like a beautiful wrapped package, all sparkly with perfectly creased corners on the paper, and the gift inside is his words. The supreme one warms us all with his soothing voice and the gentle lift at the end of his phrases seems to release thousands of people from the force of gravity. His words are so beautiful and yet so powerful that people (and not just ordinary people, Oprah-types, too) cry tears, buckets of tears.

I cry too. I don't expect to stop crying for about, let's see, 4 years!

"But I did sleep at a Holiday Inn last night. . ."

Yesterday I ventured to the mall to make some returns. My first stop was Gymboree and it was all going well, returning my items and then I saw a very cute black furry coat. There were two ladies helping me (one was in training) and I asked the trainer to check the back room for a size 5. While she was in the back the trainee started acting strangely. She bent over the counter, swayed back and forth and then suddenly began trembling violently. Within seconds the poor girl fell backwards, just missing hitting her head on the counter.

I rushed to her side, afraid she may be having a seizure. Fortunately the shaking had stopped once she landed on the floor and it seemed she had only fainted. I was the only customer in the store and yelled toward the back room for help. Then I stepped into the "But I slept at a Holiday Inn last night" mode (as Mike called it) and began trying to take care of the girl, asking questions, getting information, comforting and reassuring her. The poor thing was so embarassed to faint on her first day, as we all would be.

Not that I'm ready to go work in an ER, but I was amazed at how calm and in control I was.
I never did find out if there was a size 5 in the coat.

Caught in a Web

Katherine is OBSESSED with Halloween and all things spooky, creepy or scary. When we were shopping at Albertson's she saw a bag of "spiderwebs" and plastic spiders, just like the ones hanging all over the store's displays. I caved and bought her the items. As soon as we got home she insisted we hang the webs and then she ran to get her butterfly costume on. Here she is pretending to be caught in the web:

Unbalanced. . . And Dealing With It

A photo essay about my life right now:

There's a lot going on right now; stuff of my own choosing and stuff I would never choose. (Why am I the only one looking at the camera?)

No matter how hard I try, there are things beyond my control. (Kat jumping off my knee and the slope of the ground.)

I just have to roll with it . . . and laugh a little, too. Sometimes its best to rest a while before trying to get up and fight again.

Two Naughty Monkeys

This is the monkey business happening in the kitchen while I was visiting with a friend in the next room:

Of course Katherine was the brains behind this naughty body inking episode. This isn't the first time (see previous posts) she has colored herself, but it is the first time she has enlisted a recruit to assist. Poor Haylie is such a good girl and nearly burst into tears when they were "caught" red, purple, brown and blue-handed. When I asked Kat why she colored her body she said, "I'm a China monkey!" I don't know what that means. I don't think I'll ever know what that means.

What I do know: Washable Crayola markers are just that. Washable.

Golfing Buddies

I suggested Greg take Katherine to the driving range on a Saturday. Greg was obviously enthusiastic to have a future golf partner and couldn't resist these little cuties . . .

Because of this little cutie . . .

Michelle Wie in the making?

Possibly Potential Picasso

My latest drama is the great "Pull Katherine out of Northview Christian School Pre-school." I was not impressed with her sick teacher's permanent replacement; she had no experience and little education. Because we had such a wonderful experience and a caring, capable teacher last year, I felt loyal to Northview. But I flipped out when it was I who finally had to introduce myself to the new teacher who stood timidly in the corner and for 3 days neither greeted us or said goodbye. I immediately marched into the director's office, expressed my concerns that I didn't want a formative year of my daughter's life be an experimental one for the school or Mrs. Shelly. Long story short: this pitbull mom got the cash refund and the crayons (supplies) back.

So, now Katherine was a "free agent" and could go to Jolinda's pre-school, where I would have liked her to attend in the first place (my friend was possibly moving again and couldn't commit until September). My friend from college, Jolinda, served a mission in Ireland when I was in Germany. We wrote and kept in touch until after she was married. How surprised was I to discover she was in the ward I moved into when we built the "too big" house. We both sold our big houses at the same time and now live in the same neighborhood a couple of streets away from each other. Jolinda is one of those rare people who is ultra-creative AND goes the extra mile on everything she endeavors.

So, Katherine is in her element with Jolinda and it's going to be a great year. After her first day, Leslie asked her what she thought of her school and Katherine responded, "Fabulous!" Jolinda is so great and wants Katherine's school notebook to be complete and to bring her up to speed. This means we have a lot of homework to do and it's been fun things like recording her hand and footprints. This is the picture she drew of herself and it is not just funny, it explains a lot about Katherine's personality: The purple egg is her as a mommy, pink baby in the tummy and the pink baby sister at the side. Interesting items of note are the lungs, heart and snot coming out of the mommy nose--appropriate since Kat has had a cold.