Legitimate...of a sort

In case you didn't notice, I'm a blogHer blogger now. It's kinda a badge of achievement. all the cool bloggers are bloghers.

Follow their links if you see something that interests you. I may get a little something if you do (but that's not the point) I may not, I didn't really care enough about that part to read the small print.

It's just cool to belong to a cool club.

Later, gators!

I won't talk about it here (too much, anyway)

But I've ranted on "Thinking Out Loud"

I'm mentioning because i promised to keep politics off of this blog - but I'm not sure if civil rights is politics or just plain human rights.

Until I figure it out (or lose my ability to keep it off of this blog), go over to the other space and see what's got me ranting.

I have the right to remain silent - I just don't have the ability.

I'm not sure I should have the ability in this case.

Slow Brain, Slow Posts

Hey.

I've been slow to post lately...mostly because my brain is slowed down by all the little cold bugs running around in there.

they are trying to come out my nose too. NOT a pretty sight.

And I ache. Everywhere. Mostly.

It's Goofy's fault.

Seriously.

Sniff.

And, YEAH...they do kinda look like that.

I'm just sayin...

The Dawn of A New Day

For the first time in the history of this country (the one we all feel is so progressive and forward thinking) :)

Yes We Can!

Get Off The Couch, People!

Today is the day! You need to get out and vote (or make sure you send in your ballot before the deadline) TODAY!

I voted last week when my ballot arrived in the mail. You better vote too.

If you don't you have no one to blame but yourself if things turn out differently than you wanted.

In fact, if I hear people bitching about this bill or that politician, nearly the first thing I say is "did you vote?".

If the answer is "no", then SHUT UP! You have nothing to say to me or anyone else.

Voting is not a right, people, it's a privilege and more importantly, it's a RESPONSIBILITY!

I am not particularly interested in who or what you cast your vote for...but I am interested in whether or not you voted.

This country is having in challenging times - whatever your leanings - and we have the responsibility to do our best to make our voices heard.

So VOTE! or shut up...or better yet, get out. We need responsible people to help us out of this mess.

Mothers and Babies and Stuff

My Mom would have been 67 years old today.

Not particularly old, not particularly young. Just 67.

We would have gone to dinner and bought presents and had cake. And laughed and laughed.

She would have been 67.

I was practically a kid when she died. Way too young to lose a mother and best friend. I'm still too young - but that's just a broken heart talking I guess.

The deep, bleeding, seeping hole in my soul has healed a bit since then. The physical pain is diminished. I don't wander around wondering why the world continues to spin and assholes honk and flip the finger to anyone they feel some imagined slight from. I don't cry every time I see someone from afar that resembles her (not every time any more).

Now, I simply miss her. Still. Every single day. That part never goes away.

I have learned to live with the pain. Something chronic and incurable. It's always there, I can always feel that empty place where she used to be, but I have learned to just accept that pain and keep going.

She wanted me to. I know that because we talked about it before she died. We talked about a lot of things in those last days and months. We knew it was coming. We could hear it just outside of our sight. And so we talked. About everything and nothing. And we laughed. And we hugged. And we cried (but not too much then, as we had much more important things to do).

This year, on her birthday, we visited another November 1st baby. It was her first birthday and she is full of life and love and happiness. She's an awesome baby girl. Her name is Violet and she is a ray of sunshine. Amazing how life goes on even when - at times - we think it shouldn't or couldn't or wouldn't. This small child can give so much just by being in the same room with you. Just being there and smiling or laughing (which she does a lot!). Something new for me on November 1 of any year since 1996.
I think that Mom would have adored V. She's a little pistol. No shrinking violet, our Violet.

A new reason to smile again on that first day of November...who'da thought? Life moves on, and we do too. And sometimes, our baggage is lightened by the littlest ones.

i

Sometimes You Just Have to Take the Pic

Well...it's that time of year again.

The time of year when we dress our children up in plastic masks and home-made costumes, hand them a pillow case, bundle them up in their parkas and send them out into the world begging for candy. In the rain around here, usually...lol.

Wait.

That was our childhood.

These days, kids don't know how great they have it. Or do they really?

Malls offer candy to kids whose parents bring them around. It's nice and warm and bright in there...what fun is that?

We always had the one "big kid" who went around with a bloody "finger in a box" scaring the little kids. We ran screaming when we were the little ones, and laughed til we almost peed when we were the big kids...sad that our own children won't get to enjoy that little rite of Halloween passage.

When we were little, Dad would take us through the neighborhood. Mom stayed home to hand out the candy to the other kids in the neighborhood. We'd be so excited and awestruck by the fact that we just had to ring the doorbell, say trick or treat, and grownups (GROWNUPS) gave us candy. Back in the day, we would get home-made treats as well. Rice crispy treats with the marshmallow dyed orange was a bit hit. Popcorn balls. Like that.

It was all ruined by some wakko when we were all about 10 or 11. Razor blades in the popcorn balls kinda brought the reality of crazy people into our little worlds. Then the wakkos started slipping drugs and blades into candy bars and such. Hospitals actually started xraying our little candy bags for free. Didn't detect the drugs though, so pretty soon the kids were at the mall.

Bummer.

Now, however, we are the grownups (kinda), and we get to do fun things to (I MEAN WITH) our children.

it's fun..try it. The littler the better as they have WAY less control. Bwahahahahahahaha!

Case in point: SPENCERSTEIN




I mean...seriously...how cute is that? And he looks thrilled, doesn't he? He's a good sport though.




Here he is with Auntie...not too upset about the whole thing (YET)



Here he is actually smiling a bit. He liked it...for about a minute and a half.



This might have had something to do with it...lol. As long as his vest is all good, auntie is happy. Too bad the boy can't see anything...



And here's the result. My fave of the group by far. He's just HAD it!

A note to those of you out there that refuse to "take" the crying picture of your child. The one with Santa or the Easter Bunny or in the costume that they have just had enough of.

Those are the precious ones that you'll enjoy the most later...so DO IT. Take that screaming Santa pic and frame it for the mantle. It's a hoot!

It's FINALLY DONE!

After millions of dollars and hundreds of hours of back breaking work...the the Office is FINALLY DONE!


Woo hoo!!

Hallowe'en Funny From My Buddy KR...LOL

What happens when friends let pumpkins drink...

Commenting...Now Easier Than Ever

Hey, Y'all!

I hadn't realized that the comment function was somewhat restrictive. They've added security features now, too, that keep 'bots from spamming as well.

Let us know what you think, eh?