Hate You Can Believe In

So the First Lady supposedly hates her current position. You can believe this or not, of course. Ms. Bruni is not all sweetness and light herself, it is said. Plus why would Michelle say something so damaging to someone with whom, by many reports, she does not get along?

The sad thing is, Michelle acts like she hates her current position. The constant scowling, the talking on a cell phone while walking up to where our citizens lost their lives on September 11, 2001, in Pennsylvania, the being proud of her country for the first time in her adult life. There is even starting to be discussion that she is intentionally wearing bad outfits and making all sorts of gaffes as some sort of passive-aggressive move, because she is so unhappy. Honestly, when she is being compared unfavorably to Liberace, the Grimace, and drag queens, you'd think someone around her would figure out what was going on. Unless she just doesn't listen to anyone who isn't fawning over her. It's all very interesting speculation. I just wish it wasn't being made about someone who is supposed to be representing us as a country.

We're on the Road to Nowhere

Okay, so this doesn't actually concern roads, but this "stimulus" deal has mostly been used on roadwork, for what it's been worth. And heck, right now it feels like our country is on the road to nowhere! Anyway, I happened to drive by this site where there is an expensive stimulus sign, and... absolutely nothing happening. Not shovel-ready, is it?

Never Gonna Give You Up

Due to the incredible pop culture movement that is rickrolling, Rick Astley has returned to the music scene!

This, after rickrolling the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

XKCD also caught rickrolling fever.

H/T: Ace of Spades

Communication

Not only do we access our daughters' grades, homework and other notes online, the "newest thing" among our daughters' teachers seems to be having blogs. Do you think time putting up homework assignments, updates on what the class is currently working on, and pictures, time well spent? It certainly can help give parents a handle on exactly what their child is learning.

The Whirlwind of Life

Life has not slowed down; it has instead gotten more hectic. I think I have been more tired in the last couple of days than I have been my entire life. Sure, in high school and college, I burned the candle at both ends often, but I was also a lot younger and so I think I bounced back more quickly. The past couple of days I was operating on auto-pilot, and not doing well when I had to go off-course. This caused a lot of laughter for those around me, especially when I ended up asking for scrambled pancakes at the IHOP yesterday.

Friday night was the first high school football game, and the Musician's first night in the marching band. The place was absolutely packed, on both sides, since the rival high school directly adjoins our town. I find it interesting the way they have the home team stands set up. One section was for season ticket holders (yes, seriously,) three sections were general admission, one section was for the high schoolers, and one section was for students at the middle school and intermediate school.

We saw quite a few people we knew. Our GP was there, our favorite phlebotomist (who is now a stay-at-home mom and who we called our vampire,) a young man who works at the local grocery store, and of course lots of teachers and students the girls know. Thursday night a young woman who taught the Musician's riding classes came to the marching band preview. She could very well have been in the crowd on Friday night, since the place was so full you couldn't see everyone.

Mr. BTEG worked one of the concession stands Friday night; the profits go to the band, and all band parents have to help with some of the fundraisers. Yes, fundraisers can be a pain. On the other hand, our band room is beautifully appointed, the uniforms are nice, and we don't have a pay-to-play system like some local schools do. Concessions did a booming business; they were pretty much out of everything by the time the game ended. Some other group was doing a Krispy Kreme fundraiser which also seemed very popular. I will have to find out where the donuts are next time!

This was my first Friday night football game! My high school had so little money at the time I attended that our football field did not have lights, so all games were on Saturday afternoon.

It seems to me that people give more readily when there is some sort of incentive. There was a Souper Bowl fundraiser for local food pantries that pitted the two schools competing against each other to see who could raise the most in money and nonperishable food donated. It did spectacularly well. Human nature, I suppose. Our side won the fundraiser, which is just as well, as the football team played poorly and lost the actual game. :)

Tired

I have a post brewing, but at the moment I am tuckered out. The Musician is in marching band and had Band Camp this week, so I drove her to and from the high school twice a day, in addition to dropping off and picking up my husband at the bus stop. Then there was an Ice Cream Social for the band tonight, in addition to getting all the parents to sign up for stuff.

We're seriously getting into that time of our lives when we're going to spend our time driving our girls around to activities. We may as well enjoy it, because I'm sure it will speed right by. Mr. BTEG is already working concessions at the high school football game next week. Let the fun begin!

Dear Nancy Pelosi

I oppose an Islamic worship center, under whatever name, being built in that particular location in New York City. To make it easier when you investigate me, I am eagerly awaiting my big check from Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated any day now. Now get out of this country, you traitorous, Botoxed hag.

Yes, That's a Cute Dog...

In my continued and determined quest to find us someplace to live, I looked over pictures of a condo which is currently priced too high for us, but I was curious to see what you were getting for the asking price. One of the pictures in the listing is a picture of the owner's dog. It's a cute little dog, to be sure, but unless it comes with the condo, I don't quite see the point. Is this like having fresh-baked cookies on the counter when you tour the house?

Also pictured was one of... the floor. Just the floor. Yes, it's a slate floor. Do we need a picture of it to revel in its wonderfulness? Slate floor is listed in the description. You can marvel at its beauty when you take the house tour.

For that matter, I think with the poor economy, interest in things like slate floors and stainless steel appliances and granite counter tops is going to go way down. We currently have stainless steel appliances; I hate them but they came with the house. They are hard to keep clean. I don't know about slate floors, but granite counter tops are apparently also notoriously hard to keep nice. The place we're currently most interested in has granite counter tops; I'm interested in spite of that. As a matter of fact, there are rust-like stains on the counter top around the sink. So why have all these poncy features that jack up the price of the house but add no true value, and may add more work? When the economy was rocking, maybe, but not now.

This house hunting is frustrating, but I'm certainly getting an education!

The Things You See When You're Looking

House hunting has brought out some interesting things that make me go "Hmm." For example, the people describing their listed home as a bungalow. I was pretty sure I knew what a bungalow was, but I went and looked around on the internet a bit to update my knowledge. The only thing I had wrong is that the bungalow terms I saw described them as one or one-and-a-half stories. Although I did see pictures that looked like they were two stories. Still, I had the general idea right. A long, sloping front roof, with a porch at the front of the house. Long lines. What today would be called an open floor plan. Built-in cabinets.

However, when I see somebody list their house as a bungalow, I'm pretty sure by now what I'll see, and it's not a bungalow. It's more akin to what I would describe as a cottage. No front porch. No long lines. No built-ins. Just a small square house. People also seem to have forgotten the description of Cape Cod, a cottage with an extra bedroom or two on the second floor. Even realtors are not immune to not knowing how to describe a house properly, and it's their job, for goodness' sake!

I'm also seeing a huge difference in prices asked for homes. For example, two condos are listed in the same condo development. One is an end unit, with a basement. One is a middle unit, with no basement. Same number of bedrooms and baths. Yet the one without a basement is asking $500 more to rent! The only guess Mr. BTEG and I have is that those whose asking price is high either did not put enough down initially, or took out an extra loan on their property. Still, when housing prices have dropped dramatically, it's difficult to ask someone else to make up for your shortfall, when there are lower priced homes that are about equal. Of course, this also belies the idea that a drop in house values automatically translates into lower prices for the renter. People who bought high, or did something else like I described, may still be trying to make up the difference on their homes. It doesn't mean they'll get it, but it's one less home out there to interest you.

Oh, and if your home is "just listed," your realtor really ought to have a picture up that doesn't show snow on the front lawn. That just screams, "We tried to sell the house earlier this year, and didn't get any takers." Which in turn smells of desperation.

The Modern Church

Incense kicks off people's asthma (among them, my husband.) Recovering alcoholics would like grape juice instead of wine for the Eucharist. Others need gluten-free wafers for the host. Me, I have OCD, and as I have said before, using the common cup for the Eucharist, for me, is liking kissing everyone in church on the mouth. Fortunately, our church allows dipping the host in the cup. I see the arguments for a common cup, but I personally wouldn't mind individual being an option, because of my own frailties. Obviously things that affect health are more important than OCD.

Where am I going with this? Just thinking how many things are happening in the life of the church that St. Paul and Luther and probably even Walther would never have dreamed of. I wonder what kind of human idiosyncrasies affected the church in their days?

Look at It This Way

I'm kind of glad I have a good excuse not to run for public office. Being mentally ill is a huge negative factor that I don't think I could overcome. Not to mention I think the added stress would push me over the edge. So I wouldn't want to overcome it.

Of course, being unhappy with the current state of politics from every politician at just about every level, I feel like I ought to being doing something to represent my ideas. Maybe if my life ever settles down in other ways (yeah, I know) I might at least get involved with helping local politicians whom I support. Who knows?

Self Improvement

In conjunction with my previous post, I am on a quest to shake up my life a little. I get this way periodically. This time, it's because Mr. Evil Genius was ill for so long, and since then we have been going through a period of not much cash flow. Plus just when Mr. Evil Genius got a new job and things were looking up, we found that we have to move. That was a serious blow which took me a while to overcome.

I will also bring up here, that though my bipolar medicine has done a good job of taking out the bad parts, or the bottom of my moods, it also seems to have taken out the top part of my moods as well. Was the most active and productive part of me the manic part? Can I achieve without that high? Time will tell.

I'm starting to feel like I'm ready to tackle life head-on again, instead of just going through the motions. I hope it will last, even if where we end up moving is not ideal. I miss the old me.

Awkward Me

I'd like to make more friends, especially friends nearby. While online friends are great, real-life friends are nice also. I went out to lunch a few weeks ago with an old friend. We attended college together, and later on we worked at the same place and even lived in the same apartment development. Unfortunately, we live a couple of hours apart, so getting together is not an easy task, especially since she works full-time. But it was so much fun, and so rejuvenating, that I think it would be good for me if I could get together with friends often.

The big problem is how to meet people. The easiest way seems to be to join organizations. The problem (and of course there always is one) is that I dislike organizations! Or maybe I have never been in one I enjoyed enough. I generally don't like outside influences on my time, like appointments or set meeting dates. I also don't work well in large group settings. Is it a matter of leaving my "comfort zone" or is this just the way I am? I think the large group thing absolutely relates to my introversion. I find it hard to put myself out there to get noticed. But if I found some group where I really enjoyed the activities and the people, my other issues might not be a big deal.

I'm going to at least try the Parent/Teacher's Association this year. Last year, we didn't even move into the area until just after the girls had started school, and we didn't know until the last minute where we would even be moving to. With all the unpacking and stress, I was not interested in joining anything. This year, we're moving again, which I never would have expected, but the girls are staying in the same schools, so that uncertainty is gone. Once the stress of having to leave this house, which I had really come to feel at home in, is better, perhaps I will have the interest and energy to find more places to meet people.

Gifts

Do you ever feel that you have certain talents that you don't use? When I was in college, I loved studying foreign languages, German and Spanish in particular, and was fairly good at them. I also enjoyed the smattering of Hungarian I picked up from a Hungarian friend. I was sure I had been given these gifts for a purpose, to make use of them in my future. Unlike Miss Kate, I don't have the gifts necessary to make a good teacher, so I gave up on that idea, but I still felt somehow something would come out of my abilities.

Well, here I am twenty years later, and I use a small bit of German when I talk with a friend who originated from Bavaria. I've started to pick back up on the Spanish since the Musician started it this past school year. Of course, after three years of Latin, Spanish was fairly easy-peasy for her. She'll actually be in Honors Spanish at the high school this year.

Of course, my German was extremely valuable when I visited relatives during a ten-week college trip to Germany and Austria. I spent a few days around Christmas with my mother's first cousin, her husband, children and grandchildren. Only one of the grandchildren spoke much English, and I didn't bunk at his apartment.

My Spanish brightened someone's day at a food trailer during that same trip to Germany. I can only assume this guy was a migrant worker from Spain who had come to Germany for opportunity, and he was buying something at the trailer. I don't know how I picked up that the guy was from Spain, probably something the food trailer guy said. They seemed to know each other. So I spoke to him in Spanish, and the man seemed thrilled with this little touch of "home." I can still remember him exclaiming excitedly to the man behind the counter, "She speaks Spanish!"

And I had a fun time on that same trip when the future Mr. Evil Genius and I ate dinner one night at a Spanish restaurant. The menu was dual German/Spanish, and I ordered in Spanish. The waiter began his very own version of Germish, along the lines of, "Gracias, Fraulein." Poor Mr. Evil Genius was very lost.

Who knows what the future holds? I'd definitely have to brush up on my foreign languages if I was to make use of them again in the future. In the meantime, I sometimes wonder, "Why?"

Feelin' the Love

Staring at a blank screen is about as bad as staring at a blank sheet of paper. :) There is a lot going on, but not much of it is good. Oddly enough, though, when I think about all the things that are going wrong, I then somehow realize how much good is out there. Lots of prayers and support for friends who are facing illness and other difficulties. Economics forcing us to look at what is really important, both in our family life and in our church life. The ability to reach out to friends online, and have a dozen friends answer back with support within minutes. The ability to be aware easily of what's going on in the world that might effect us. As Red Green says, "We're all in this together." Or as my pastor says, "This is why we keep our eye on the goal, it soothes the pain of the present. St. Paul says: I consider the present sufferings not worthy to be compared to the glory that will be revealed in us."

Being Free

You know what's scary? When you realize your children are going to go their own way, and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it. Oh, you see signs that she is her own person even in babyhood. My daughters started showing some of their strong personal characteristics VERY early on. But when they are young, you can still coerce them into being polite, working on schoolwork, sitting quietly in church, (occasionally) cleaning their rooms. Eventually, though, you come to the Moment. Even as a mid-life crisis can hit you like a bolt from the blue, though you've known all along that eventually you will get old and die, so too can the thought that someday your kids will be on their own and can make some serious mistakes, be startling.

Of course, there are many things that can help influence a child's development. In this category are not only how you raise the child, but what examples you set. When looking at people whom I know personally who have made mistakes in their lives, I can see how seeds of negative behavior were sown by the actions of others who had significant influences in their lives at an early age.

In the end, though, everybody makes their own choices in life. Though it can be daunting to think of my daughters out on their own, in a way it is freeing to think that in the end they are responsible for decisions they make, even as I am responsible for what I have done, no matter the bad things I can point to in my past. It is freeing because none of us can be perfect as parents, or as significant people in a child's life. We should strive for the best, so that our children are not too burdened with a poor start. But our best influences fade before personal choice. The best we can do is pray for the young people in our lives to make positive decisions.

My Day

Yesterday was my birthday! I'm honestly not fishing for birthday wishes, because I got enough yesterday on Facebook to turn anybody's head. But I wanted to mention that my new BTEG icon was a birthday gift from the Musician, as well as this picture:Wasn't that nice?

My younger sister (with whom I don't talk much) shares a birthday with me. It was kind of nice having this in common with my sister, but it also stunk not to have one's birthday to oneself, plus without the "specialness" of being a twin. It also made it more painful when my youngest sister started ignoring my birthday. It's not like she could forget it! However, that's years under the bridge, and I've learned that real family is the people who are there for you and who care for you, no matter whether there is a blood tie or not. Praise God for all of them!

House Hunting

The Musician has always been very sensitive to smells. For the longest time she couldn't even walk down the shampoo aisle or the laundry detergent aisle without getting ill, and of course she is very sensitive to what kind of shampoo and soap she uses, and what kind her sister uses since they share a bathroom. She once threw up when my sister with no sense of boundaries forced smelly hand lotion on her (one of the reasons I don't speak to my sister much.)

She must get it from me, because while house hunting I have been frustrated with how badly some of these houses smell to me because of some kind of air freshener or cleaner. As we were driving away from the last house we looked at, I remarked to Mr. BTEG how badly it smelled and he replied that he hadn't really noticed anything. So perhaps I am extra sensitive, but I would think a person would be careful about that sort of thing when trying to interest a prospective buyer or renter in a property. Easier said than done if you are not sensitive to it, I guess. Oh, and don't leave the dustpan on the stove. That squicked me out as well.

Given

First of all, the Equestrienne is now the Musician.

Secondly, the Musician just returned from a fantastic youth convention in Nashville, Tennessee, through a Lutheran group called Higher Things. The theme for this year was "Given." She not only had a great time with over a thousand other teenagers, but she worshiped, communed and learned more about what being Lutheran means. I'm so glad that she has this opportunity, and I wish something like it had been around when I was a teen. I'm also glad that my daughter takes her faith seriously and enjoys learning about it.

Mind's Eye

A commenter on my blog once noted that people are open about suffering from mental issues--when things are going well. It's true that it is difficult to share things with the outside world when one is in a chemical imbalance state of depression. Even without seeing pink elephants or purple spiders, you know when you are "off" and you don't want to scare people away. I have really been grappling with the issue of having to move, especially when we thought we were settled in where we were. The ground was pulled out from under our feet, and I spent a lot of time getting through the shock. Now I am putting a lot of energy into packing and finding a place to live that I would rather be putting into other areas, like relationships. Such is life, really. This too shall pass, and I hope we will come out better for it.