November 21, 2014

Some thoughts about Bill Cosby.

I, along with many others of my generation grew up with Cosby. Listening to his records, watching Fat Albert. The sit com in was in was enjoyed by many, many Americans. So, with the latest news, we are heart broken. Not the Cos!! He could not be like that. He was funny and warm and we loved him.

It's like a big crash.

What if, and this could be my age, where I welcome change because I see so much NOT working, what if he stood up and admitted he did these things? He could start conversations among men about rape that they have not been open or comfortable dealing with before. Problems can't be fixed until it is admitted that it is a problem.
I don't know. Something has to start the change with rape culture, couldn't this be a good starting place?

This is just a thought I had and I wanted to see what others think.

October 3, 2014

In 12 days I will be 50.

I have been on this site since November 2004, pretty much daily. I am going to try to get my post count to 1000 before my birthday.
I find I have been posting more the past few months because I seem to have more time now that my youngest child is almost 20. Even though I do spend a lot of time taking care of my grandsons while my oldest daughter works.

The last goal I had in life was saving enough stamps at the Shop N Save to get a cheesy cheap Rachel Ray bowl. I managed to reach that one. I think I can do this.

September 19, 2014

Can anyone help me understand...

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29256443


there have been 8 health workers killed in Guinea, and it does not even seem to make the top stories of the news (granted I don't watch cable or local news, so I could be wrong). But ISIL kills journalists and many people are yelling for war.

I don't get it. I understand that the health care workers were killed by misinformed villagers and ISIL seems to have more structure and are openly saying they want to kill more. Ebola is killing a lot of people, and the workers are there to help them and stop the spread of the disease. We can do a lot to learn more about how ebola starts and is spread and can be prevented, and Obama has tried to send as much funding as he could.

I just don't understand how some people can be so ready to bang the drums of war in the middle east but don't seem to care much about a deadly thing that we could actually stop.

September 12, 2014

A republican running for state representative just came to my door.

I am surprised the peace sign and the "I am the 99%" sticker on my garage door did not scare him away.
He was polite, and I was as well (feeling pretty mature of myself for my 50 years!). I told him we were happy with what we get for what we pay in taxes. Our community would benefit from better jobs, but that is true most everywhere these days. I did bring up that it is a shame so many young people are drowning in student debt. I mentioned my son in the Peace Corps and how it would be nice if he could get a break on his loans.
Afterward I thought maybe I should have been more...outspoken? But, on the whole I am happy with myself for being polite. And I do give him some respect as he is the first person running for office I have ever had come to the door in 22 years of living here.
But, I still won't vote for him.

August 31, 2014

There really is no such thing as a simple household project.

Today, after 21 years of living in my house, I decided we needed a new mail box. The old one was very rusty and the door no longer shut right. We are on a rural route, and as soon as we installed this one after moving here, someone came by playing mailbox baseball and dented in the side. Shortly after that, the entire bank of mail boxes was covered in a drive by spray painting. Yet it still served its purpose until today.

At first, I was going to get one online, finding irony in having our new mail box delivered through the mail. I looked on line and the shipping was as much as the box itself, and I did not find humor in paying double, so I headed down to the farm and home store. They have everything. Finding a mail box and one made in America was quite easy. But, they were out of the exact numbers I needed for it. I went to the Dollar General down the street and I bought a pack of numbers. But, they were black numbers, even though the package made it look like they were black on a white back ground. So, that wouldn't work for a black mail box.

I decide to save time and gas and go to the dreaded Walmart. I find numbers with a reflective background. I buy them because they were made in America, instead of the other package of smaller numbers made in Taiwan. I get home and go to stick them on, and they are too big. Turns out the not made in America ones would fit the made in America mail box better. I decide I will just wait until I go out tomorrow to visit my mom and where they have more stores.

But then my husband informs me that he has already removed the old box and now he has lost his crow bar in the process. I start looking around for the crow bar, because that is something I am skilled at after years of household projects with him. I couldn't find it. In the meanwhile, I get an idea. I can use the black numbers if I put on a strip of contact paper and put them over that. While I was reaching for the contact paper, I got a splinter down my finger nail. Despite the pain, I put a piece of the contact paper on the mail box door and affix the black numbers. Looks pretty good. Husband goes down to put it on the bank of mail boxes we share with the neighbors. He finds his crow bar sitting right next to one of the other boxes.

So it is up. And now the mail won't even run until Tuesday!

There is no such thing as a simple household project.

I bet even here on DU there are a million stories of how "let's just fix this" turned into a major ordeal!

August 25, 2014

This is the biggest problem in America today.

http://tinyurl.com/logosocolink


I do not know how to make a small, fancy link (this one has to be copied and pasted), but I really wanted to post this. (...thanks guys, I guess little old ladies on the internet is another problem in this country, but easily fixed!)

Over the years I see these stories here and there, but, this page really makes it clear that this is not just a huge problem, it is...well, what better way to say it than overkill.

This page shows that it is past time to end the drug war. Counties and cites are too reliant on the money that brings, and they are becoming more and more brazen with killing and maiming citizens.

Now would be a good time for the good cops out there to step out from behind that thin blue line and say enough is enough. Cops should be there to help communities and solve the actual crimes, not create new ones.

I hope the death of Michael Brown was the thing that changed where we are going in this area.

I cannot wish enough peace to all the families affected by this. Something has to change.

It is said that there are more people killed by police in America than those that were killed in the Iraq/Afghanistan wars.

We need to be working on protecting the environment and helping those in countries worse off than our own. How can we do that successfully when we have this type of thing going on?

April 7, 2014

I am very proud of my kids.

Sometimes I ask my husband how we ended up with such great kids.
Getting used to the fact that they are adults now but still "the kids."

Oldest will be 24 this month. Married with two super great sons, buying a home (2 miles away!) and moving up in the senior living community where she started as a receptionist (now a business office assistant). She had her first son in the middle of her senior year in high school.

My son will be graduating next month with a BA. Then he is off to Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer. Hard to let him go, but wow, what experience! He is supposed to give a speech at the graduation. He was in marching band in high school. Don't know where he got the guts for public performance, not me or his dad. He is very smart (has been smarter than I since he was in grade school).

Youngest daughter is still at home and still borrowing my socks. But she has a job in the dining room where her sister works and she is finishing her first year at the community college where I got my AA over the course of 27 years!

I worry about them, and my grandsons, so much, but really shouldn't because they are starting out their own lives in a good place and I am pretty sure they are happy (that was all I ever wanted them to have...happiness!)

Could not let a chance to brag pass me by!

March 27, 2014

Any current or former Peace Corps volunteers here?

My son has been accepted and he is going to Tanzania this July. I am so proud of him for deciding to do this. But I am also a mom and I worry!
I would love to hear of any fellow Duers experiences.

Anyone with kids in the military can chime in, too! Need to learn how to worry less and just be excited for the experience my son will be having.

He graduates in May with a BA in biology and education. We are taking a road trip (along part of Route 66 as he has had a job at the Route 66 state park). We are having a going away party so friends and family can come and visit before he leaves.

I feel pretty confidant about his safety. I was worried at first but then I look at things in this country and figure it is not always that safe here either! I worry more about things like malaria, but I figure he is a science guy and pretty clean so hopefully he can avoid things like that?

Thanks for sharing any stories and thoughts!