Politics

Once upon a time, I was a Republican. I admit this now to offer hope to those who have not yet seen the light. I was not just a little Republican, either. I was a vote-the-ticket, Democrats-are-evil, hate-everything-about-Bill-Clinton 100 percent GOP voter. I did this because I was raised in a Republican household and because I was really a one or two issue voter--lower my taxes and quit giving my money to lazy people who use food stamps and welfare. All of this changed when I became a fan of reality tv...Survivor to be specific. An odd leap, you say? Well, yes. Yes it was, but I can say with absolute confidence that what turned my thinking around was the thoughtful and persuasive writing of some really smart Survivor watchers.

Many of my bloggy friends know what OT is because they have hung out there too, but for those who don't, it's the Off Topic board on Reality TV World. Like most off topic forums, a little bit of everything gets discussed and on OT, politics is somewhat of a bloodsport. I went in a staunch Republican and came away a moderate Democrat thanks in no small part to reading the postings--civil and not--from landru, tech noir, mistofleas, buggy, dave, history detective, wheezy and countless others. I was able, for the first time in my adult life, to really look at things from a different perspective. Over the course of a year or so, I found myself changing sides and now consider myself a Democrat, albeit a moderate to conservative one when it comes to taxes and money.

All of that is background to explain this: Rush Limbaugh is a big fat obnoxious dummy. Bill O'Reilly makes me want to scream. Sean Hannity scares me. And my parents watch nothing but Fox news...blech. I've been really disgusted to see how the talking nimrods have reacted to Obama's first week in office. It saddens me to see that some adults simply can't put away the childish things and work together to achieve a common good. Shame on them. Shame, shame, shame.

Do You Ever.......

~~wonder what the turning point in your life really was? What was the moment that changed your path and took you to the place you are now?

~~talk to yourself in public places?

~~use medications in methods other than those they were intended for?

~~just break into dance randomly?

~~fear farting in public?

~~sit and mindlessly watch television that you don't pay attention to?

~~wonder if you would find Gordon Ramsey hot IRL or just incredibly pompous and annoying?

~~speaking of Gordon, do you ever want to tell him to shut the fuck up about rustic, honest, authentic food?

~~fight the urge to cut your own hair?

~~wonder if you spend too much time at work?

~~think you could totally pull off being famous better than the nitwits who are?

~~avoid answering the phone because you just don't want to talk to someone?

~~curse when you shouldn't?

~~wonder how the hell people can believe junk science about things such as autism being linked to vaccinations just because they read it on the internet?

~~wish you could fast forward your life?

Merry Christmas To All And To All A Good Night!

Christmas is almost over here in Middle Tennessee. The kids and W. are long since asleep. Me, I had to wait up until 11.30 so I could take my last dose of Demerol for the night--the knee is being partiularly ornery tonight. I did fine most of the day, and I suppose I overdid things--the back is has a nasty looking knot on it. I shudder to think what is inside that knot--it's looking a bit red and funky, so I think I'll be calling the doctor just to check in. I need this to heal, not drag out into some medical horror story.

Anyway, today was a very lovely, laid-back Christmas. W. was up around 4.30 to make breakfast before he went to work--he definitely has some keeper qualities. Steak, country ham and biscuits. Yummy. I had planned to get up around the same time, but since I was up in the middle of the night dealing with an asthmaticly coughing 8-year-old, I 'slept in' until 5.00. I'm such a bum, lol. Got up and puttered around in the living room getting things just right and then we woke the kids up around 5.15 or so. It took about ten minutes to get them up and going, but once they were awake, they were bouncing. It was so much fun to see Jay and Sam's reactions to their loot. Five was more subdued--it's hard when one of your presents costs two or three times what a brother's does. I tried really hard to make sure they each got three 'big' gifts and then supplemented. I got this idea from a friend--she explains to her kids that Jesus was given three special gifts and that's why we get gifts now. My kids have actually gotten much more into the whole list thing since I told them to just choose three things. They put lots of thought into it and shuffle stuff around as needed.

The Moon Shoes that Jay wanted are actually sort of cool. I'm sure they will just be a novelty, but I liked the idea that they required physical activity, so even if he plays with them once a month, that's better than sitting watching tv for that time. Sam got a scooter--he didn't ask for one, but again, I'm trying to push the outside activities. He said that Santa must really like him to bring such a cool scooter AND a red helmet (red is his favorite color). Five tried to be excited about the fact that he got clothes from Santa--I know he wsn't, but it was stuff he needed, so I decided to add it in to his very paltry looking pile of DVD/PS2 games and a huge Beatles Anthology book.

W. had to go to work at 6.45, so that left me and the boys home alone for the day. Our present to him was a clean house, so we played and napped (them and me) and then I organized a fairly effective cleaning of the dining room (the table had been buried for months upon months). We had to move loads of junk here and there--well, I say 'we', but it was mainly Five. Now there is a huge mess in the office, but I've decided that it makes more sense for one room to be a disaster than for six of them to be, so we started the offloading today. I had Jay on his hands and knees cleaning baseboards and Sam was dusting window sills. By the end of the afternoon, the dining room was shining, a bathroom had been cleaned, the hall had been swept (mostly) and the baseboards in the halls, dining room and part of the kitchen were clean. Floors were mopped and vac'd and everything just looked better overall. Tomorrow and Thursday are bedroom days. They will be painful.

Nice time at MIL's for Christmas dinner. I didn't take any cooked food this year thanks to SIL having pity on me being crippled and on my own. We didn't have any other folks at MIL's, so it was very easygoing and chatty. My boys were hell on wheels, but that's the norm when they get in a confined space without a television or other distraction. The fart putty (or toot in a can as Sam calls it) certainly didn't do much to calm them, lmao.

I went to pick up W. and took him back to MIL's so he could eat and do gifts--he'd worked a 12 hour shift at the hospital and was pretty dead. His feet didn't hurt as much and I am crediting the diabetic socks that I gave him. No, I don't know what makes socks 'diabetic', but I figured they would be comfy and easy on the feet, so I bought them. We'll do a comparison tomorrow to see if it was the socks or not.

So, another Christmas in the books. It's hard to believe that I've been doing the Santa gig since 1993...that's 14 times. It's even harder to believe that I'm over halfway done doing it...and just about to the point where I don't have a believer. Today Sam said, "Wow, Santa sure is a generous man." I almost cried it was so sweet. And while it will be nice, I suppose, to get the credit for the gifts in a few years, I don't know that they will be nearly as awe-inspiring as they are right now. That's a little bit sad.

I hope everyone (or three) that reads this has had an equally blessed Christmas. Take it easy this week and let's get ready to welcome in 2008--the year that I personally feel will be Kimmah's Year.

Christmas Lite

For the past several years, it has seemed as if Christmas sort of snuck up on me. I haven't really been in the mood for it all. This year, though, I was determined to be ahead of the game and get the 'must-have' presetnts in plenty of time, have my house cleaned, etc.

Naturally, I ended up having knee surgery instead. This one was much more involved than the three previous ones, so it's meant a lot more down time than usual and much more than I can really stand.

So, instead of being ready at Thanksgiving for the Christmas season, I ended up leaving all the decorations in the attic and only put up a tree yesterday. I decided that we would do kid-made decorations, so we hung the things that were made at school, plus anything that a student gave me this year. I went out and bought a few strands of colored lights to make it more cheerful--normally, I'm a white light kind of girl. Sam and I made snowflakes out of coffee filters and put them up there and that's about it. Naturally, we have a HUGE tree this year, so it defnitely looks a bit bare, but I sort of like how homey it looks. We may make this a yearly thing--for the one tree. Next year I fully intend to be in mega-holiday mode and have all my trees out, have the garland and knick knacks out and the wreaths hung. This year was just not the year for that--and I'm totally okay with that. Sometimes you need to just step back and take a break. W. and I are really focusing on the kids this year and making Christmas about people more than gifts or hoopla. Sam, in particular, has really been full of Christmas spirit. He is quick to tell anyone who mentions gifts that Chirstmas isn't about getting stuff--it's about Jesus and love. He's a smart one, my Sam.

Because I have been hobbling around on one crutch in some questionable clothes (and in a Demerol-induced haze at times), I feel compelled to wrap up with the famous words of that little crutched boy, Tiny Tim:

God bless us every one!

Good Friends, Sappy Post

I've been thinking a lot this weekend and it has dawned on me that I am blessed to have a multitude of fantastic friends in all facets of my world. I don't really appreciate it nearly enough most of the time--I just take it for granted, and I shouldn't. I have a tendency to overlook those friends who are from a long time ago or those who aren't "real" people, just online sometimes, and that's bad because no matter how little I see them, they are still friends and I am one of the absolute luckiest people alive in the friend department.

• Friends who will take my kids to and from school.
• Friends who will cover my classes for me.
• Friends who will let me show up and spend the night with them without much warning.
• Friends who will ride around aimlessly just to cruise and talk.
• Friends who share hashbrown casserole with me.
• Friends who correct my grammar and spelling when needed.
• Friends who appreciate geeky grammar and literature moments as much as I do.
• Friends who cheer with me when the evil bookkeeper and Bubblehead leave school.
• Friends who will sit and shred dumb people mercilessly.
• Friends who will banter back and forth in a thread about nothing for 100 posts just because.
• Friends who cheer on my most mundane accomplishment.
• Friends who drink with me.
• Friends who sit in the rain with me and drink.
• Friends who get the inside jokes and appreciate them.
• Friends who know exactly the right things to say to me, whether it's, "You're right" or "You're crazy" or "Damn it, Kim".
• Friends who appreciate good hair days.
• Friends who share their lunch with me.
• Friends who have known me forever and still like me.
• Friends who loathe stupid people as much as I do.
• Friends who share their good concert seats with me.
• Friends who can pick up conversation after years like we saw each other yesterday.
• Friends who worry about me more than I worry about myself.
• Friends who get more excited for me over events in my life than I ever could.
• Freinds who get frustrated with me, but still come back.
• Friends who lend me clothes.
• Friends who never say, "I told you so", even when it's due.
• Friends who teach me things.
• Friends who debate with me.
• Friends who make me think.
• Friends who have changed my view of the world.
• Friends who can keep secrets.
• Friends who entertain me.
• Friends who amuse me.
• Friends who inspire me.
• Friends who read my endless, blabby chatter here and other places.

Friends whom I love. Dearly.

I? Am Spartacus.

You know, while I have some pretty strong political views, opinions and brain farts, I don't normally blog them since I'm not so much about the serious. However, once again, I'll just throw something out in support of someone who was essentially told to shut the fuck up by those who can't handle disagreement, dissention or intelligent discussion. Suddenly, my blog has a theme all on one page--how handy that there is a little theme song plugged in. Please enjoy this multi-media experience for free on me while you consider the fact threatening someone who challenges your way of thinking with violence is just inexcusably pansy-assed and reprehensible. If your ideas are strong enough to believe in, then they should damn well be strong enough to stand on their own merit and be defended through intelligent dialogue and thoughtful debate. You shouldn't have to resort to whipping a bunch of zealots and media whores into a flame-frenzy or stoop to suggestions of violence or personal harm. That, my dears, is nothing short of pathetic.

For more information and backstory, check out Driftglass, or Cenk Uygur at The Huffington Post, or check out the oh-so-evil blog itself over at Shakespeare's Sister. Oh, but be careful! You might actually have to think for yourself or have an opinion other than that of some blabberhead on Faux News. Eeeek

Best.Damn.Song.Ever.

Congrats to The Dixie Chicks for winning:
Song of the Year
Record of the Year
Country Album of the Year
Country Song by a Duo or Group
Album of the Year

tonight at the Grammys. I don't usually care if a song has a message or a point or meaning, but this one does and it gets me every time I listen to it. Kudos to them for recording the best fuck-you-idiots anthem in the history of music and for not backing down on their opinions. Everyone is entitled to speak her mind, whether folks agree or not and to suggest that they should be arrested, maimed, killed, etc. is just beyond insane. It's a sad commentary on myriad things that are wrong with the thought-police mentality that has swept through this country lately--this Stepfordian attitude that we must all look, act, think and love just alike or else we're not only wrong, but we're unAmerican, terrorists or devil worshipers. Enough.

It's a sad, sad story

That a mother will teach her daughter

that she ought to hate a perfect stranger.

And how in the world

Can the words that I said

Send somebody so over the edge

That they'd write me a letter

Saying that I better shut up and sing

Or my life will be over

Damn straight. Sing it, girls. Sing it loud. Not everyone that listens to country music or lives in a red state thinks that opinions in women are somehow offensive.

VIDEO REMOVED BECAUSE THE MUSIC WAS NONSTOP.

There Really is a Difference

Bitchy and cruel are two vastly different things, although some people in this weird world seem to think that the two are interchangable.

I pride myself on being a bitch when I need to because, well, I am. I can be a little bit bitchy or a whole lot bitchy depending on the situation. I can rant, rave and complain. I can call people on their stupid and I can make fun of just about anyone or anything. All of these things fall under the broad umbrella of bitch.

What I DON'T do, though, is use my skills, lol, to wish ill upon people. I don't take joy in pain or suffering or loss, no matter how much that person wronged me or my family. I can joke about them or make snide comments, but I'm not going to revel in their physical undoing or their personal misfortune. I have precious little respect for those who do, either. I cannot for the life of me understand how people can take pleasure in someone else's ill health or personal loss. I just can't. What kind of a bitter, small person does one really have to be for that to even enter into one's realm of thinking?

I'll stick to snark and bitch, thankyouverymuch.

Blogging for Choice

Today is, in case you didn't know it, Blogging for Choice Day. So usual despite my desire to keep this site relatively apolitical, I'm going to do my part.

I was never one who really had a strong opinion one way or another about the Roe v. Wade thing as a young woman. I was essentially pro-choice because I do not like the idea of anyone telling me what I can or cannot do. Stellar reasoning, no, but that's how my mind worked back in the day.

My attitude toward Roe changed in 1992. That's when I discovered that I was pregnant. I had always wanted to have kids and wanted to have six kids. Under the typical circumstances, pregnancy would have been cause to celebrate and rejoice, but the situation was not typical. For starters, I wasn't married. Not quite the taboo it would have been ten years prior, but in my world, it was unheard of. I didn't know a single person who was pregnant and unmarried in my circle of friends or my entire extended family (which is enormous). Second, I had been dating W. for all of about four weeks when I found out. You can do that math. Needless to say, I wasn't exactly thrilled with the prospect of telling my parents that the person they'd met ONCE and whose family I had never met was suddenly the father of their first grandchild. Classy, yes? Thirdly, I was in college and working as a waitress. Not exactly big bucks.

So there was a quandry. For W. and I there was no choice, really. As soon as we did the test, we decided right then and there that we'd be getting married. Talk about a relationship tester. We had to tell the families and there was much strife, especially from my side of the family. His mother, who worked as a public health nurse and counseled women on birth control took it much better than mine who hung up on me for the first time in my life.

After the initial shock, we move into overdrive and by December--after we'd met in late September--we were married. Seven months later, we became parents. It was not easy. The first couple of years were an almost constant struggle with all the adapting that we had to do as we both graduated from college, found jobs, bought our first house and in our spare time, raised a child.

So, where does Roe factor in? I'll tell you. See, when we got over the inital shock and started deciding what to do, we took our time and really talked about all of our options and what the consequences of our decisions would be. Since we were older--23 and 27--we ultimately felt that we could handle the situation. We'd already been talking about moving in together in January when the new semester started and I had no doubt that he was the person I was going to marry from the day we met, but still, we had to consider everything, which we did. And from that moment on, I understood what "pro-choice" meant. I understood the importance of letting those most affected by circumstances have the CHOICE of how to deal with them. I understood how lucky I was to be able to make the CHOICE that I did, but I could easily see how someone in a similar situation might have felt too overwhelmed and made a different CHOICE.

It's been over fourteen years since that fateful day when my life literally changed forever. I look at my child and realize that no matter how hard things were, I did the right thing for me. I did it because I had a CHOICE.

In Case You Don't Know....

No Child Left Behind, while it sounds admirable, is the dumbest damn thing I've ever encountered as a teacher. I would post more, but we're on a target list, so I'll be busy trying to figure out how to help special ed students get regular diplomas so that the education higher ups will stop counting them as drop outs...of course, those same higher ups wouldn't actually want to come down and try to TEACH a child who can't memorize something how to pass an Algebra I exam. Nah, that would be too easy. It's easier to just say, "Teachers suck" and make the kids feel like crap.