Sarah Palin - Future President or TV Celebrity

I have to admit that when John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate I did not know much about her but I quickly became an admirer.  I liked the renegade attitude.  I appreciated her willingness to take on the status quo.  And frankly, I was very exited about setting up a possible female presidency, especially with someone who seemed so down to earth.  I was very saddened to see how the Republican handlers handled Sarah and her family, and I felt very angry at the way the media treated them.  I really hoped the McCain / Palin ticket was going to pull it out but to no avail.  But I continued to follow Palin hoping that we would see her reemerge for the next Presidential election.  Then she resigned as governor of Alaska.  I was dumbfounded and figured that she had basically committed political suicide.  It was difficult enough that she was only a one term governor and people were already questioning her leadership ability, but to quit.  I pretty much wrote her off the political scene at that time.  I was interested in her involvement in the Tea Party but saw her more as a celebrity spokesman than a "candidate".

But then I read, ok, actually heard, Sarah Palin's Going Rogue, which as I had hoped, explained why she stepped down as governor.  She explained further how she had become paralyzed as  a government official.  How law suits were pouring into the state and attacks on her government were jamming the cogs.  This certainly did not excuse her in my eyes but helped with the understanding. My hope for her and 2012 wast starting to reignite.

Then yesterday I sat down to see if OnDemand had my 19 kids and Counting episode.  As I plugged through "Life and Home", then to "TLC", I saw it - Sarah Palin's Alaska. 






WHAT?  The Palin Family was becoming TLC's newest reality TV family.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  It is an eight week series in which the Palin family is supposed to introduce us to Alaska.  Now I can't figure out if this is genius or insanity.  It is supposed to get us to know the family better and show us that Sarah is not a diva, but I think this may just be too much knowing.  if she does run after this and wins, what does this say about the US electorate?  Is the presidency becoming a popularity contest?  A beauty pageant?  Do we choose our president based on issues or a great smile?

Of course, having said all that I do have to tell you that I will be tuning into TLC for Sarah Palin's Alaska and there is still a part of me that looks forward to seeing:

http://www.zazzle.com/sarah_palin_for_president_2012_poster-228135818804125228  

A Woman's Weekend Alone

Ok,  all you people looking for a description of a wild, sexy weekend of partying based on this title, I suggest that you surf on,  you will find no such article here.  All of you mom's who think that you will never have one minute to yourself ever again, read on.  This weekend was a first in our house.  DH took both of the kids camping and I was left home alone with the the animals (thus the Movies that Make You Cry entry). I had an entire weekend to myself.  Granted Sunday, I walked with 20,000 other people in the Rays of Hope Breast Cancer Walk, but the rest of the weekend was mine.  You are probably thinking that this sounds heavenly.  What you wouldn't do just to be able to go to the bathroom without someone knocking on the door.  Let me tell you, it was ........................................................HORRIBLE! 

Yes, there were enjoyable points.  I watched a couple of chick flicks.  I got a lot of writing done.  I didn't have to fight for the remote or my blankets.  I didn't have to cook and there were practically no dishes.  But there was no laughter, no snuggling, no reason to make dinner, and no kisses goodnight.  I found myself aching for them to come home.  I missed my daughter prattling on and my son's bear hugs.  I wandered around the house wondering what I am ever going to do when they grow a little older and move out.  I felt serious empathy for my father who lives alone now and could not imagine enduring this boredom day in and day out for weeks, months, years.

So, I advise all you mothers who think you will never have another solitary uninterupted thought to appreciate it.  It will not be long until your little ones are out of the house, until their social calendars are busier than yours, until not only do you have a moment to breathe but seriously unending silence.  On those days, you'll miss the knocks, the laughter, and even the dishes.

I'm so glad that today they are home!

Breast Cancer Awareness Month or Breast Cancer Action Month

This is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Everyone is turning everything pink and posting cancer support statements on their Facebook pages, but who is taking real action.

Instead of taking the 10 minutes to change your blog background, do a self breast exam.  Directions are here, but how you do it isn't as important as doing it regularly and notifying your doctor of any changes.

Instead of wearing a cute pink lapel pin, how about tying up your sneakers and participating in one of the many Breast Cancer Walks planned.  I myself am planning to participate in one this weekend with my church.  If you can't walk yourself but would like to sponsor my walk, you can visit here.

Instead of putting it off again, set a date to get your mammogram done.

Instead of positing a frivolous Breast Cancer post on Facebook, learn a new fact to help reduce your odds of getting breast cancer and share that with your friends.

How about just get off the computer entirely and get some exercise  ; The fact I learned today is that with as little as four hours of exercise a week, you can reduce your chances of getting breast cancer.

Let's change this month from just awareness to action.

Book Review - Sold

In this time of Thanksgiving, we so often overlook the simple things that we should be thankful for. When you read this book, you will realize the true depth of your thankfulness. Sold is young adult book written in a simple diary / free verse style. The writing style will bring you closer to the 13 year old narrator, Lakshmi, who begins as the hungery Nepaleese child who has just entered womanhoold. As if her suffering without food isn't enough, it actually becomes "the good old days" when her gambling addicted step-father sells her into the child sex trade of India.

This book will tear your heart out. And while it may be easy enough to read for a 3rd grader, its mature content should be left to older children who can process some of the horrors that they will read.

Kidnapping Brides

At the library where DD volunteers, there are often free magazines that you can take (a great way to Reuse materials by the way). DD loves to take Modern Bride - mind you she is only 14 and a few years away from matrimonial bliss. Together, we look through the magazine praising and heckling the designs. I'm actually surprised how traditional DD's taste is. This time though, the magazine surprised me. Among the beautiful wedding dresses and just before the description of exotic honeymoons, was an article, "This Woman is Being Forced to be Married" by Esther Haynes. Certainly, this was not typical bridal reading, but I am married, so I'm not the typical Modern Bride reader. I have to admit that I did not realize that in our current time such a practice was still in effect.

Apparently, in Kyrgyzstan, a country in Asia, it is still common practice to kidnap your wife especially in the more rural areas. I don't mean like a cute reenactment of an old tradition. I mean a brutal, scary abduction that leads a young woman to the house of someone she may barely know, where she is forced to marry. If she can resist the attacks of the woman of this household and can extricate herself from the situation where even the law turns a blind eye, she may be shunned by her own family for breaking the tradition.

The piece was so compelling that I followed a link to find more on this story which was covered by PBS's Frontline. Please be aware that this is not a story for children and the harsh reality of what is going on can be disturbing, but I believe that you cannot change what you do not acknowledge. Kudos to Modern Bride for bringing up such an important subject.

Palin's Resignation Leaves Questions of Why?

Have you seen the news? I logged on Comcast.net to send an email for my daughter and the story hit me in the face “Palin Resignation Leaves Questions about at 2012 Run”.

As a Palin fan, I quickly scoured the article. It frankly did not have a lot of facts, but instead a lot of speculation of why. The only fact for sure is that Sarah Palin has resigned as Alaska’s governor effective July 26th. Frankly, two things cross my mind: one, that there is something wrong with her or the family and I truly hope that this is not true or two, there is some sort of scandal about to blow-up (this would disappoint me greatly). The article though implies that this may be part of a larger plan to run for President in 2012. To that all I can say is “Are you %^$%* mad???” If this is her plan, she must have the worst political advisors out there. Even Palin supporters, such as me, cannot support someone who quits such a high political office. If she feels that she is leaving the state in better hands by passing the position onto Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell who can give the position better attention than, I think she better reconsider the message she is sending. If he’s better to run the state, then why shouldn’t he be the nominee? If people chastised her for not having enough experience during the last race, imagine what is going to be said now – not only hasn’t she appreciably increased her experience, she quit. She left her state hanging. I guess the only thing that I can hope and pray for Sarah is that maybe she just decided her family had to come first. . . that I can respect.

Going Pink for October

If you will notice, we have gone pink for October. When I saw the button on a fellow blogger’s site, I knew that we had to join in. Unfortunately, too many friends of mine have dealt with cancer, not just breast cancer, but all different types. In fact in 2001, I lost my mother to esophageal cancer. We have been blessed that most of the other women have won the battle, but our friend Mary succumbed to breast cancer leaving her five homeschooled children without a mother. And about a week ago, a dear friend of ours was diagnosed with breast cancer, so going pink could not be any more apropos.

This year was actually my first mammogram. I was very nervous about the whole idea. It was just supposed to be to gather a baseline to compare all future mammograms to, but then I got the note that what they found was questionable and I would have to go for a second mammogram. It wasn’t anything conclusive, just questionable. I wondered if I was going to be the next in a list of too many women friends that have battled for their life. Very fortunately for me, I had the follow up mammogram about a week ago and have received the all clear. But this will be the beginning of annual breath holding. Women should have their baseline mammogram taken between 35-40 years old and then annually thereafter.

For all those friends that have battle breast cancer, we need to spread the word, educate woman (and men), and raise money for research to irradiate this disease forever.

Have you had your mammogram this year?

Ice Cream made from Breast Milk

Have you hear of PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) requesting Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to substitute breast milk for cow’s milk? Here is their press release:

“Burlington, Vt. - This morning, PETA dispatched a letter to Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, cofounders of ice cream icon Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc., urging them to replace the cow's milk in their products with human breast milk. PETA's request comes in the wake of news reports that a Swiss restaurant owner will begin purchasing breast milk from nursing mothers and substituting breast milk for 75 percent of the cow's milk in the food he serves. PETA points out to Cohen and Greenfield that such a move on their part would lessen the suffering of dairy cows and their babies on factory farms and benefit human health at the same time.

"The fact that human adults consume huge quantities of dairy products made from milk that was meant for a baby cow just doesn't make sense," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "Everyone knows that 'the breast is best,' so Ben & Jerry's could do consumers and cows a big favor by making the switch to breast milk."”

So my question, are we going to start having women farms instead of cow farms? Are we going to regulate the diet of those women like we do the cattle?

I don’t mean to make light of something that clearly is important to many, many people, but does this seem ridiculous to anyone else? I mean let’s consider this ad absurdum. Do we keep women lactating for long periods of time to get enough milk to make all this ice cream? What women do you think are going to take this position? The women with college degrees? Or the lower socio-economic women? If women are making money for their milk are they more likely to nurse their babies or sell their milk? And a totally absurd question, if we no longer drink cow milk or eat cow meat, why will farmers continue to maintain cows? Since cows aren’t wild animals, what would happen to the species?

The letter that PETA sent to Ben & Jerry’s sites a Swiss restaurateur who is replacing 75% of their milk products with breast milk. Of course my parents’ admonition comes to mind, “If your best friend jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge, would you?” So in a parental tone, “PETA, if your Swiss friend chooses to drink someone else’s breast milk, would you?” I’m not even going to bother to send a message to Ben & Jerry’s because I’m guessing they just had a really good laugh.

PS I think a better use of excess breast milk is for feeding premature infants, for helping mother's that cannot lactate but would like to breast feed, or figuring out how we can package it and get it to malnourished, starving children around the world.

Sarah Palin Hits a Homerun

Did you stay up for the Republican National Convention? Sarah Palin knocked it out of the park last night. There will be quotes from her speech that will live in infamy. The speech was amazing and her delivery made it even better. Here are some quotes that struck me:

“But here's a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators: I'm not going to Washington to seek their good opinion - I'm going to Washington to serve the people of this country.”

“But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform - not even in the state senate.”

“In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers. And then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change.”

“What is the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick!”

You can read a full transcript at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26535811/

Sarah Palin has brough vigor back to the republican party and she successfully made a case for McCain in the process.

One of the cutest parts of the speech did not even happen on stage, but with her daughter Piper. Piper licked her hand and patted down little Trig's hair. The clear love between these two shows that the Palin family is doing something right.

BTW - Thank you Rudy for standing up for all of us mom's.

If you watched it, what did you think?

Just Call Me Woman . . . Thankful Woman

It is 10pm EST. My eyelids are heavy. I could easily put my head down. I’m tired, but the washing machine says 11 more minutes before I can put it in the dryer. The garbage that my son was supposed to take out is still full and unless I want to clean it up from the kitchen floor, I will take it out. The dogs have not gone out yet and the casserole dish from dinner needs to be washed. I will get it all done before I get to bed . . .Just call me woman.

Of course if you are watching the DNC Convention with me, you just saw Spielberg’s tribute to the men and women in Iraq. After watching that, my tired eyelids don’t seem so tired and I am truly blessed to have my children close enough to forget their chores. I am thankful to have food in my stomach and a bed in which I can lay my head. . . Just call me thankful for all that our men and women of the armed forces do and for all that their families sacrifice.



PS. Very interesting, here we are at the DNC convention listening to a discussion about who the Republican nominee may choose for VP. Hmmmmm! Botched text message or interupting announcement. And maybe a woman??? McCain, let's shock them all with a great choice.

Becoming a Woman

Just Call me Woman . . .
And my daughter too. It has finally happened my baby girl is not a little girl anymore. Last night when I was on the phone with my father, she came out of her room very excited. I thought this a bit odd because she had just gotten in trouble for her use of the computer. I kind of shooed her away as I finished the conversation with my father. She was supposed to be getting ready for bed anyway. “Let me know when you’re done.” She responded as she bounded down the hall.

So when I finished my conversation with my dad. Out she came again, a huge smile on her face. “I have my period.” She was practically jumping up and down. “It is so funny because my friend and I were just talking about it tonight and she was frustrated because she was the only one that had her period. But mine is here!” I was glad that she was taking it so well. I wanted her to see it as a positive change in life, but I was amazed at her exuberance. I remember being depressed and wanting to hide in a closet. I’m not even sure that I went to school that day. I congratulated her, but said that she may not be so excited month after month after month. I think the thrill will wear off very quickly. So now it’s Just Call US WomEn in this house.

Doing It All or Living an Inspired Life

I can often be hear singing, “I can bring home the bacon, fry it up in the pan, and never, ever let you forget you’re a man – ‘Cause I’m a woman.” I think it is from a perfume commercial when I was young. And yes I can do all these things. I can do it all, but you know what? I prefer not to!

Can I work full-time be a mom, homeschool, volunteer, keep the house, and cook dinner? Yes. Is it best for me? No! In fact, when I was trying to do it all, I emptied myself. My spiritual flame flickered low. I was moving through all the paces, but I was not living. Time was flying by but I didn’t feel like I was really experiencing it. I was clawing at the passing time trying to bring it back or at least mame it so it couldn’t move so fast.

When life changed and I was forced back in balance, my flame started glowing brighter than ever. Ideas began to flow. Time is slowing down to a savorable pace. Everyone is getting what they need from me (except possibly my pocketbook but I am working on that).

So for now, “My husband brings home the bacon, someone in the family (after I go grocery shopping) fries it up in the pan, and I’m awake enough to you feel like a man. ‘Cause I’m a woman (not a robot).”

The Olympics Brake Age Barriers

What do the names Dana Torres, Constantina Tomescu Dita, and Oksana Chusovitina have in common? All of these women are over 30 and competing on an international scale. We may be admiring many of our Hollywood stars for how they are looking at 50 or 60, but these woman, Dana, Constantina, and Oksana, are showing us all what the true possibilities are. Middle age and over-the-hill are becoming terms of the past (of course I’m not sure that my knees know this). Dana is 41. Constantina, who just won the woman’s marathon, is 38. And Oksana is competing in her 5th Olympic Games as a gymnast at the age of 33.

This reminds me of the day I knocked on the door of a local artist Lois Leston. Lois is a painter. She proudly showed me many of her pieces – mostly local landscapes. So I asked if she had been painting her entire life. “No, I didn’t even pick up a paint brush until after I retired.”

Such phenomenal woman.

I say
It's in the click of my heels
The bend of my hair
The palm of my hand
The need for my care.
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally
Phenomenal woman
That's me.
-Maya Angelou
An excerpt from Phenomenal Woman

What possibilities may lay in front of me . . .and you. I am proud to be called “Woman”!

Iconic Women

I have been doing some research on Eleanor Roosevelt lately for a unit study that I am working on. What an amazing woman! A woman who may have been born with a silverspoon, but endured countless family tragedies before even her adulthood. She married her distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt and became first lady. Her laurels though do not lay as the wife of a husband but in her own right especially in her work on human rights. Most interestingly, she began her life being very unsure of herself and in fact feeling like she was an ugly duckling. She was very self conscience of her voice and feared public speaking. She completed her life as a well respected female power house. She was a prolific writer and one of the most requested public speakers of the time. She earned herself the title “First Lady of the World”.

There have been many great women in history and I am wondering who you all admire. Who do you think has reached icon status in our society? What in their life made them deserving of this status? Let us know.