Pre-requisites?

We began reading A Child's Introduction to World History tonight and discussed some history of Mesopotamia and the location of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. We also read about the explorations of Christopher Columbus and Ferdinand Magellan. Dear Daughter listened with intent fascination. At the end she excitedly asked, "Can I be an explorer some day, Mommy?" I responded as I always do to my precocious child--the same way I responded to her aspirations to become an astronaut when she was not quite three, and a deep sea diver when she was just over three, and then to do both simultaneously when she was three and one half--"Sure, Sweetie! You can do anything you want to do with your life!"

Her face looked puzzled tonight as she contemplated the implications of being an explorer. She was truly concerned about whether she met the "pre-requisites" when she asked next, "But...is my name long enough?"

Xanax, Please!

As you can see, I've been updating stuff around here. It's still not the way I really want it to be, but I'm kinda stoopid when it comes to web design and html. I have to say, though, that I began this blog four years ago, and four years ago Blogger was NOT as user friendly as it is today. Therefore, back when I started this gig, I didn't too bad to figure out some of the stuff I figured out. After all that figuring out I did back then, I was afraid to change anything and mess it all up, and so I never updated. I got brave the other night, am I'm glad I did. Now Blogger gives you all these easy to use tools that didn't exist four years ago. You used to have to manually make all those changes in your html template.

In other news, my Dear Daughter has apparently reached a new rite of passage, and one that I am truly not ready for yet. As I helped her finish brushing her teeth the other night, I discovered that she has a permanent tooth pushing through her gums right behind the baby tooth on the lower front. I freaked out a bit, and this did not seem right to me. You will remember that not quite a year ago we had the shock of discovering that Daughter was hiding an extra tooth in her upper jaw that would have to be surgically removed. It was a tad traumatic for me, and the attached price tag was not an easy thing to accept either, so perhaps my freak out was justified. Let me further justify by stating that Dear Husband has a colleague whose daughter (a couple years older than my Dear Daughter) recently had NINE teeth pulled for what would seem to be the same issue. My friend, who is a pediatric dentist, thought my freak out was over the top. Despite his reassurance that this is no cause for alarm, I still contacted Daughter's dental clinic immediately the next morning, and the receptionist calmly asked me if my daughter's tooth--the on in front of the permanent one coming in--was loose. "Well, I don't know...." I responded rather stoopidly. It hadn't occured to me to check. She waited patiently for me to clear away the Life cereal my daughter was eating and wiggle her front teeth. "Why yes, it does appear a little loose." I responded to her feeling a little silly as I anticipated where this was going. The receptionist giggled a bit and informed me that she expected the tooth fairy was coming soon. I argued that my daughter is barely five years old, and she reassured me there is a pretty wide window for what's normal in the way of loosing primary teeth.

Okay then. Works for me. I don't need more dental worries or dental bills right now. Meanwhile, however, that front tooth hasn't fallen out yet and is barely noticably loose when you try to wiggle the thing, and that permenet tooth is coming in rapidly. I fear she will look a little freaky if that tooth doesn't find its way out of her mouth sooner than later. At the same time, I am really NOT ready for my firstborn to begin losing her little girl teeth. Next thing you know I'll be buying her a traning bra. Lord, help me!

...in the eye of the beholder

I dressed for work in the closet off the master bathroom in the same manner that I get dressed everyday regardless of where I am going, or if I'm not even going anywhere at all. I exited the closet and made my way through the master bathroom (because that happens to be the layout of our home), and passed Dear Son on the way. He had just awakened from his nap and was being my shadow, following me wherever I went. He waited, however, by the double vanity while I dressed myself in the closet, and then he watched as I passed by him in the bathroom and stated, "You look beautiful, Mommy!" in his sweetest little almost-three-year-old voice. I barely finished informing him of his sweetness when he added a little more sugar with, "You always look pretty, Mommy."

And this took the edge off his big sister's sentiments a few days ago that she was going to be sure to eat more spinach so that she wouldn't start looking like Mommy.

Stoopid Holiday

If you've read me for long, you already know my feelings about Halloween. Nonetheless, the kiddos, for some very mysterious reason, are fans. So I got over myself, stuffed my own opinions, and indulged them.

Thank God that's over for another year.

Don't Box Me In!

I'm back from "the ledge," but we'll see if my blood pressure thinks so. I get it checked again tomorrow after registering 186 last week. A little chainsaw therapy helped this weekend. I was apparently really into what I was doing as I had no idea that Dear Husband took several pictures of me in the act.

As I've described in the past, I like to run the chainsaw and the big ass lawnmower. I also like to drive my Grandpa's 1967 Chevy pickup around our property. It is in its original condition and it has a standard transmission and groans and whines and lurches as we go. Recently, the entire family crammed into the cab--Dear Husband, the two wee ones, and I took the wheel. The kids and I giggled ourselves into tears as we lurched the entire drive to the edge of the woods. Dear Husband was not amused, so I remind him that it was his idea to let me drive.

It turns out that I'm not a very refined person. Yes, I have an advanced degree. Yes, I work a in a very skilled profession. Furthermore I consider myself to be a Christian, but I refuse to be pious. I hate to be stereotyped or shoved in a box, and this may contribute to why I am the way I am.

While I am not one to cuss, I apparently use a few words and phrases that tend to offend some. Personally, I am amused that the things I say would offend given that the "f word" is not a part of my routine vernacular, and other than that the most colorful I get would be an occasional "damn" or "shit" if I'm really tweaked about something. It certainly isn't every day and prolly not even once a month that one of those words slips my tongue. However, I have been known to utter words like "ass" (which I didn't even know was a cuss word) or "crap," or phrases like "pissed off!" which I also didn't know some people loosely categorize as cussing.

I learned that some consider "ass" as a cuss word when I was teaching freshman / sophomore psychology at the local Christian University as an adjunct professor several years ago. A student complained on their evaluation form at the end of the term that I cussed in class. I was thoroughly puzzled until I finally remembered a particular lecture that included a real life example of a child I was seeing for therapy whose father was a pedophile and who had sexually abused this child. I made some comment regarding the formal questioning of this creep in determining if he were guilty or not of the crime. I think the comment was something like, "What I really wanted to do was nail his ass to the wall!" What's the big deal? He's a pedophile! I think "ass" is a pretty mild reference to make! Nonetheless, I took the initiative to discuss the incident with my department chair, who never questioned me at all and who simply suggested that some would consider "ass" crude vernacular but that is also dependent on which part of the country you live in (he is a social psychologist). I was never chastised for it, and I continued to be asked back to teach. I also continued casual use of the word "ass"--just not in my classes anymore.

A couple weeks ago I had two teachers in my daughter's homeschool co-op class report to me that my darling daughter had gotten angry with the boys in her class that would not share toys with her and said something like, "These boys are just really pissing me off!" Yes, it's a Christian co-op, but I honestly didn't think this was such a big deal. I guess I don't think saying or even being "pissed off" is "un-Christian," and if it is, you better just count me out now. Don't forget how Jesus threw over the tables of the moneychangers in the synagogue. I think it is fair to say He was a little pissed off!

At any rate, my daughter was asked to use better words to express her feelings, and she rephrased it as, "I'm am feeling really frustrated with these boys!" Okay, I agree, the second option is a bit more classy and mature. Whatever.

I dare say that I also don't find "crap" that offensive. My casual use of this word was also reflected the other day when I was excited over my idea to teach my children to make paper hats. I thought this would be fun, and so I looked up a quick how-to online and found instructions complete with step by step photos. Dear Daughter couldn't wait to see the pics I pulled up on the computer, so I left her to study them while I headed to the wood pile to gather some fuel to stoke up the fire before we got started on the hat project. Dear Daughter met me at the back door where I was heading back in with my arms full of wood. Her face was a bit long as she stated that these hats were not what she was expecting. I asked her what she was expecting, and she replied, "Well, it's just that these hats are going to look like crap!" Apparently I should have asked her to rephrase how she felt about this, but instead I just busted up laughing.

In summary, I've been really pissed off at how the election went, and I think we're in for a heap of crap the next four years. However, dwelling on this concept while trying to deal with numerous other stressors in my life right now is only raising my blood pressure. So I decided to work my ass off today to vent some steam.

Un-popular Opinion

It's not popular to be a Republican these days. I frequently find myself in the minority with my political views, my values and my morals. And my lack of excitement over our newly elected president. While the concept that our country has elected its first bi-racial leader is awe inspiring given the fact that it was such a short time ago that black people were so oppressed in our nation, I am inspired in concept alone, and not at all by this particular man. Honestly, I am horrified at what I see transpiring in this nation.

I found myself engaged in a political discussion with a colleague the other day and was shocked at the entire conversation. Okay, so she's a die-hard Democrat, but I really try not to stereotype. I don't like to be stereotyped either. So I tried to keep an open mind. In the end I was still sick to my stomach. I indicated that I was not a supporter of abortion, especially partial birth abortion. She did not minimize the facts that this "procedure" results in babies being dismembered as they are pulled piece by piece out of their mother's wombs, followed by being stabbed in the skull as they scream their passage from life to death without ever being given the right to life in the first place. She defended her own defense of this murderous act with statements that women are going to use rusty coat hangers to abort their babies, so it makes sense to legalize it since they are going to do it anyway. Really? It really makes sense to legalize this heinous and uncivilized and inexcusable act because...because people are going to do it anyway? Well, ya know what... people also going to rob, and rape, kill in cold blood, prostitue and rape children, and any number of other acts we fortunatly still still label as crimes in this country. But since they're going to do it anyway, shouldn't we just make it all legal?

She also endorsed the idea of making prostitution legal. After all, what's the big deal if someone wants to pay for sex? And apparently we also need to legalize pot. I suggested perhaps we should also legalize meth, I mean, people are going to do that too, so why not just make it legal? "Freedom of choice and free speech," she asserted. Yes, yes...why not? YES WE CAN! for God's sake. I mean why the hell shouldn't we as a group just freely be able to make whatever choices we want regardless of whether it involves violence, murder, drugs, sex, you name it? Why not? Really. Why not?

Here's why I think not: Because I also have a dream for my country. It's a dream that we can co-exist as CIVILZED PEOPLE, and a people with VALUES, MORALS, RESPECT for one another and for the sanctity of LIFE ITSELF, and that those who do not act civilized are not allowed to destroy the fabric of our country. I have a dream that I can work my tail off and reap the rewards of my work. That if I work hard, I will prosper. Not that if I work hard I can foot even more of the bill for those who do NOT work hard. That I can access quality healthcare and obtain it from a competitive resource. That I can educate my children the way I see fit and that if I do NOT want my Kindergartner taught about sex when she is only FIVE YEARS OLD that I do not have to expose her to it, and that I most certainly do NOT need to expose her to ideals that I do not believe in. That I can teach my children creationism and when they are old enough I can teach them about sex and to wait to engage in it until they are married. That I can teach them at home if I feel I can do a better job than the government can. I have a dream to live in a country where I DO have freedoms and that they are freedoms that lead to propserity in the quality of my life, my relationships, my health, and my finances.

It may be a dream, but I do not truly hold a hope for that in this particular lifetime. I know it is not going to happen and that certainly our new presidential elect, with the platform he endorses, will not bring us any closer to this dream. I know our only real hope is for our real savior to come and save His people from a world spinning out of control. Maybe for the majority of our nation, Barack Obama is that savior, but he sure as goodenss isn't mine.

You can call me a lunatic if you will, but I most certainly am not as looney as the ones who call Obama "The One" and who look to him to fill their gas tanks and pay their mortgages and who look upon him with belief that he has now arrived, "The Chosen One" who will save us. The one who has expressed no patriotism or loyalty to our nation, who has made innummerous lofty promises of how he is going to smooth talk our way out of war and terrorism and pave the way for our country back into prosperity and essentially "fix" all our problems.

While the rest of the nation swoons, I've got my head in the toilet because I'm gagging on the thick sappy syrup that mesmorizes some, but only leaves me throwing up.

I don't want any comments on this particular post. If you know me and want to comment, you know how to to find me. Otherwise, this is my rant on my blog and you don't have to agree with me. Feel free to write your own blog about your own views. God knows I've read plenty of them already. I already know I'm not expressing popular opinion, and I'm not interested in any more debates at this time.