motherhood, politics, faith & whatnot

heraldsun.com: Howard Dean visits Durham tonight

He’s coming to visit our little “blue dot in a red state.” “After offering his comments [at two local restaurants], Dean will travel to a home in southwestern Durham and watch the State of Union address.”

Better go do some cleaning. . .

But seriously, here’s what I would want to say to him if I had the chance. Not really, but you know what I mean.

The Dems need to get a frickin’ clue. The “progressive”/liberal Dems have taken hold of the party. I think they have gained a lot of power as the Administration has moved farther and farther right. However, what the Dems should be doing is NOT letting the more liberal faction of the party call the shots, but rather focus on capturing the middle, trying to woo the moderate conservatives back over. Continuing to snipe about the administration and point fingers about all the bad decisions made on W’s watch isn’t going to help out the cause. We’re not going to get anywhere by further polarizing ourselves from Republicans.

I’m not sure Dean was the right choice for Chairman of the Party. I know that he did a great job of fundraising through the internet, but that really only means that the best position for him should have been in charge of fundraising through the internet under a Chairman who has more broad appeal, could unite all factions of the party and project a forward-looking vision.

Please prove me wrong, Dr. Dean.

I’m having the hardest time with my almost-3-year-old’s behavior.

There are the constant requests:
“I’m riding in Daddy’s car!” he declares this morning.

“Sorry, you can’t ride in Daddy’s car because the carseat isn’t in it,” says me.

“I’m riding in Daddy’s car!” he declares again in his best Caillou - imitation. (why, oh why, did we ever let him watch that show. . . )

Silence from me.

“I’m not riding in the white car,” he goes on.

Silence from me.

“I’m not riding in our car,” he continue not getting a response.

Whether I tell him again or just put him in our car, there’s gonna be a tantrum, so what do you do?

This goes on for like the whole day.

One battle after another. I don’t know how to handle it. . .

Any ideas? What’s worked for you?

It seems like everything we buy is made in China these days. And if it’s not China, it’s somewhere besides the United States. I never used to really care where stuff came from and definitely didn’t buy (no pun intended ) into the whole “Buy American” movement. You probably won’t find us buying an American car anytime soon either. We don’t avoid buying American cars, but it just happens that what we like is usually not American.

Anyway, I am paying closer attention to where stuff is made. I thought that practically everything coming out of Wal*mart (yes, despite my best intentions, I shop there sometimes) was made in China. Especially if it’s plastic. Apparently, America doesn’t do plastic. Well, I was wrong. I bought these plastic kid’s plates that are microwaveable the other day. They are made by a company called Luvncar*e which is based in Monroe, Louisiana — headquarters and manufacturing facilites.

So I thought that was pretty cool.

I mean, what do we manufacture here in the US anymore?

Sometimes, I really wish I could know what people think about me, how I come across. I just don’t know. I feel like at 34, I should know, but I don’t. I think I put people off because I can get kind of quiet.

I stumble over my words when I’m nervous, especially if I don’t know people very well and am in a group. It makes people uncomfortable. Or it seems like it does.

I don’t warm up to people very easily and consequently, they don’t warm up to me.

Sometimes, I feel like I’m slogging through mud or fog or foggy mud or muddy fog when I’m interacting with people. It’s that feeling you have when you are in the middle of a dream and something from the outside like your child’s cry or the alarm clock is going off and you just. can’t. wake. up.

I’m saying things, but seeing blank looks.

I feel too tall. I just want to blend into the crowd most times, but at just shy of 5′11″, I kind of stand out.

Do you ever wonder how you come across to other people? Do you feel like you have a good sense of that already?

I don’t even know what made me think of this. I think it was because we got our college alumni journal yesterday and it had more news about everybody having babies. When we were in our 20s, it was mostly about weddings and who was is whose wedding, etc. (OK, grammar police, I know that probably wasn’t correct pronoun usage. . . .)

One of my closest friends who was my maid of honor hasn’t gotten married yet. If she did now, I doubt that I would be in her wedding party just because we aren’t quite as close.

One of my closest friends from college had a traditional Hindu wedding (no bridesmaids), so there was that.

And for my brother’s wedding, they asked Jim to be a groomsman, but I wasn’t a bridesmaid in their wedding either. I wasn’t enough of a Barb*ie doll to have fit in with the other bridesmaids. And fuschia wouldn’t have been a good color for me.

I don’t know that I’ve really missed out on anything by not being a bridesmaid, except the opportunity to wear some snazzy dresses, not of my choosing.

Who knew?

I’m trying to think of stuff to write about. My digestive tract is better, mostly. Thanks. I’ve been following some of the Alito hearings. Kinda boring, except when Mrs. Alito started tearing up during the hearing when one of the senators was praising her husband. It was sweet. Seriously. I know everybody thinks that he will definitely vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, but I just don’t know, nor can anyone know. We’ve been watching the Front*Line series for the past three nights. It was pretty engaging. The David School is pretty amazing. The founder is from New York. Chris’ family was really sad. I loved Cody and Jessica. What an incredible story. Liz, the woman who was raising Cody in the film, has four kids of her own and raised six other ones like Cody. OK, don’t know where I’m going here and it’s time for bed. Good night.

Apparently, my blog doesn’t show up right for those that have IE as their browser. I’m still working on this, so I apologize. Especially since I know how much my readers are waiting anxiously for each scintillating new post.

Another suggestion, though, is to get a better browser:

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