Housecleaning is a never-ending job I hate

I have small children.  They make messes, like all small kids do.  Tonight, I found myself picking up change after a lesson between two of the kids on money.  They finding a train track in the hall.  Don’t forget laundry, which is definitely getting more sex than I am.  By 9 p.m. I am tired, cranky and it is time for the kids to be in the land of nod.

I am still puzzled at how I could once stay up to see the sunrise, dance until 3 a.m., camp out of a car and still make it back on Monday.  Remember that popular (in certain circles) Smith’s song? “Everyday is like Sunday?” Yeah, my every day feels like Monday.  A crappy side note: There was a girl Sunday who ran around the same parties I did.  She was pretty but would lay down with anything.  Her so-called friends would laugh and say “Every Lay is like Sunday.”  Another mind fart.

I am tired I had surgery on my leg.  It sucked.  I am so glad to not be a perpetually ill person. Well, discounting my crazy.  You know I had a lover who once said the more psycho the girl, the better the sex.  He is DY, and I think he would know.  Amazing what smooth charm, an above average vocabulary and a nice nest egg will bring you.  I was never in the running for a future Mrs. Y.  Sometimes, I look around and think why couldn’t I have been less me.  But, I know my happiness is in my truth.

I am a romantic and I love, love love the ABC series “Once Upon a Time.”

Why cancer?Why so young?

I have been back in NC for about a year and a half.  In that time, I have had a high school friend, a church acquaintance, and one of my oldest friend’s husband have a cancer diagnosis.  Two are already dead.  I am not that old, middle-aged really.  I don’t think about dying now – except when I bought life insurance and when my crazy husband started calling.  Cancer is so scary to me.  It doesn’t seem to discriminate and I don’t know how (besides not smoking) to cut the risks.

Tammy Dockery was a sweet lady and I still remember her sweet smile from high school.  She seemed to go downhill so fast, I felt bad I didn’t go to the hospital when she went the first time to reconnect.  The other cancer victim, Sherri Alvarado, attended the same church.  She was upbeat and involved even after she had lost her hair and then, her hope.  Both of these women left behind children.  The third person I know with cancer has the supposed best kind to get, prostate.  He lives on and stills drinks and eats like he is going to live forever.

I wish I could say that I live each day more meaningfully  because of these people, but I would be lying.  I am like most folks I know, wasting hours of my life on driving, sleeping, watching dumb tv and basically not being (as Oprah says) my best self.  I recently took a personality test in the Oprah magazine.  Apparently I am not very driven.  It is true.  For the most part I am content with my little pie, as humble as it is.  I don’t know if that makes me wiser or dumber than most people on this merry-go-round, but that is who I am.  And hopefully, I can live with that.

Why “Joe Pa” Deserved the Axe

Listening and reading about the molestation scandal at Penn State, I have been outraged at the worry over the “legacy” of Joe Paterno.  Sure, he is considered a legend, but he lost his place when he decided to look the other way at child abuse.  This wasn’t just a whisper campaign against Jerry Sandusky, but another trusted employee saying he saw Sandusky in a sex act with a child.  Paterno chose to not fire Sandusky, but merely pass the information up the administrative chain.  How could he turn a blind eye to a child molester?

I tried to answer this question for myself.  First, I thought about his age, but he was still in control of his mental faculties, so he did know right from wrong.  Then I thought about the differing social mores of the era in which Paterno would have developed his “moral consciousness.”  Even as late as the 1980s, spousal and child abuse were considered a “family matter.”  Still, attitudes have changed and I think you would have to have been dead to not notice the new emphasis on child and spousal abuse as personal and societal crimes.

So, I cannot give him a pass.  Not for being old or old-fashioned.  Basically, children were sacrificed to keep a coach in place.  Shame on the administration that kept these coaches on since an investigation has been going on since 2009.

On to receivers coach McQueary, another huge failure in moral character.  He says he witnessed Sandusky  having a sexual encounter with a ten-year old boy.  He was there!  He chose to do nothing, not confront the situation, not call the police and especially, not to jeopardize his job.  It has been reported in the media that he has received “threats.”  I completely understand why.  When we sit back and watch abuse happen, we are just as guilty as the perpetrator.  So McQueary can out on the side of money.

I hope there is a continued fall-out at the school.  It should not just be relegated to the sports page.  This is not a story about sports, but about human degradation and greed.

Being Part of the 99%

Whoever said money is the root of all that kills has never had the joy of a welfare Christmas

Adapted from Everclear lyrics

With the Occupy (Insert City Here) Movement, the idea of class inequality comes to the front and center of what will be on voter’s minds next year.  I have thought for years that government programs like food stamps, public housing, LIHEAP, SSI for children and a whole host of others are the way of quieting the masses.  We do live in one of the most admirable countries.  I would not want to live anywhere else.  However, I think most entitlement programs are just a balm for the poor to keep them satisfied enough to not cry out for justice.

I don’t know what  the solution would be – ending corporate welfare, flat taxes, cutting military spending in half?  I am open to solutions, but so far all I see is a restless beast that demands to be feed.  Occupy Wall Street has taken on an organic quality.  I feel the pain of the poor.  Maybe not the poorest, since I don’t have to choose between eating and shelter.  I do know that public perception is that the American pie is shrinking and the wealthy are hogging the slices.  Whether this is completely true will depend on who you ask and probably where they fit on the income scale.

I am glad to see people move in real numbers to demonstrate, even if temporarily, their agitation  for a system that values the lobbying class.  I am not for a socialist government and sometimes I think the system gives people disincentives to work.  In a world where the people who are the poorest get medical care on the government’s back and middle-class families are penalized for making too much to get these benefits.  It does chap the ass to think of going to work to support those who don’t.  Especially when the rich pay the least for the privilege of using our roads, our workers, our police system to run their profitable businesses.  I think the winter will quiet things down, just because the cold will keep people inside.  So, 2012, will that be the American Spring?

Steig Larsson – The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest

I was a huge fan of Stieg Larsson’s other two titles “The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo” and “The Girl Who Played with FIre.”  Lisbeth Salander is a character who may have been kicked around, but she is not taking it nicely.  A couple of women I talked about his books with felt Larrson glorrifed violence against women, but violence is real.  Bring the smelly garbage up under our noses doesn’t make it stink any more or less.

I knew “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest” would be different in tone from the first page.  It is a brief aside about women’s role as warriors.  Lisabeth is a warrior, as she has proven in the first two books.  We open now with her waiting on brain surgery to remove a bullet placed their by her father.  As detailed as the first two books, this one seems mired in the begin with explaining various political and intelligence circles in Sweden.  I found those parts rather dry, but I am hoping as the book progresses, it will come alive.  Update to come.

UPDATE:  I finished the book and it was great.  Lisabeth gets her revenge and even all of the details about the various political and intelligence alliances made sense at the end.  One of the greatest revelations I found was that Lisabeth may have Asperger’s Syndrome.  That would definitely explain some of her quirks and intense focus.

Lisabeth is a character I wish had a further life on the page.  I know there have been talk of a fourth novel that is unreleased, but I am not counting on it soon.

Herman Cain’s Smoking Hot Ad

Herman Cain is sitting out the rooster fight going on between Mitt Romney and Rick Perry.  Instead, he is putting his brand out there, first with his 9-9-9 plan and now an ad featuring his Chief of Staff Mark Block.  The zinger is Block is smoking during the ad and blows smoke at the end.  Wow.  Seeing politicians smoke has become a no-no.  Look at how hard President Obama tried to quit. (I don’t know if he still does and don’t mind either way – I’m not kissing him).

The Marlboro Man, Johnny Carson and countless movies show smoking.  Our current policy of banning smokers even from some outdoor spaces is really too much government, even for me.  I think we all know smoking has risks – hence the nickname, coffin nails – but it is a legal product.  Herman Cain is finding his feet early. Romney has to deal with the side issues of his faith and policy changes and squabble with Perry, who comes across as an ill-prepared speaker and a blowhard.

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Hot Toys Christmas 2012 – Kmart Style

Two wonderful things happened as I went to take the garbage out tonight.  First, the awesome sight of two does in my yard.  Deers are so lovely and graceful.  Then waiting in my mailbox to join the ToyRUs Christmas 2011 catalog….the Kmart Toybook.  None of these are as wonderful as the hours I spent browsing the Sears and JC Penneys catalogues, but time does march on.

<Drum Roll Please>

The Hottest Toys I Predict So Far

• Sesame Street Neighborhood Playset - cause these are reminiscent of the “little people” Sesame Street Playhouse from the 1970s.
• Leappad Explorer Learning Tablet with Built-in Camera - so the kids will quit whining for an iPad or using yours.
• Imaginext Bat Cave – my nephew got one and it is sturdy, full of features and can be used by kids from 3-10.  Actually I caught my Brother-in-law playing with it.
• Matchbox Squid Sub – gross squid attacks sub – sounds like hours of gross play
• Baby Alive Baby All Gone kids already like pretend feeding dolls and now you can really do it.  Wonder if it comes with lots of diapers?
• Monster High Dolls Grossly goth and even more provocative than Bratz.
• Mini Lalaloopsy Treehouse Playset and Lalaloopsy Mini Dolls  My daughters love them and so has everyone we have ever given them as a birthday gift.
• Disney’s Light Up Hair Rapunzel just because most of the Barbie brand dolls I have seen haven’t been exciting.and the movie is empowering for girls.
• Bikes, Scooters, Basket ball Backboards and Balls.  Kick those kids out for some playtime.

My other favorites are books, journals, art supplies, and science kits.  My daughter got a personalized pillowcase with her name on it, and she loves it.

I am not making any gaming recommends yet.