I have been told that in times of recession, there are three industries that tend to thrive.  There are three feel good items that people continue to buy and these are alcohol, tobacco and cosmetics.  In this time of economic "crisis" I am pretty sure folks are also going to continue to buy the following:

1. Coffee.  I don’t personally drink it, but I’m sure it will continue to be purchased by the general populus.  Especially if customers get a peep show too.

2. Chocolate.  

3. People Magazine.  Because seriously, I don’t have time to stand at the QFC at 9:30 on a Monday night and read all about how Clay Aiken just had a baby with a 50 year old woman friend, who did invitro for him and now he wants the world (including his newborn son) to know that he’s gay.  I can’t read the whole thing at the store, I NEED to read the whole article on my sick bed Tuesday morning.  And if I need constant updates on the beautiful people, I am pretty sure others do too.

My kids and I are really excited because our chickens have started laying eggs! 

On the downside, they might not lay in the winter unless we turn their lamp on at night, hens need 16-18 hours of light in order for them to lay.  And this little fact got me thinking…

Why do I have to ovulate in the winter if chickens get to be exempt?  I’d like to not have a cycle when there is not enough sun…

Of course, I don’t think I’d like to lay an egg five days a week either, so I guess there’s a trade off there.   

Last time I checked, the way to get a law changed or have your voice heard in this country, you needed to have a lot of people agree with you.  Like, you need a lot of signatures on a petition or everyone you know should send a letter…

So why is this guy getting any air time?  Why is he getting ANY say? Because he’s a lawyer?

Forgive me if I offend any atheists with this post.

But seriously, how many millions of people are there in this country, and one man throws a tizzy fit because he doesn’t like seeing the words in "God we Trust" on our currency and could potentially get those words removed costing this country how many dollars to redo all of our currency?  How many more people with actual beliefs that like seeing those words on our currency and feel that they are part of what this country was founded on are going to be offended and file another lawsuit to get them back on there?  Sheesh.

This guy needs to stop getting so much press.

I just don’t get why as an atheist he thinks he should get any say.  Atheism is not a set of convictions or a set of beliefs.  It is a lack of them.  So why should he, with his lack of beliefs, get to say he’s offended.  He doesn’t believe anything!  And don’t give me that baloney about how it makes not a separation of church and state. Malarkey. I have never had anyone tell me how I am supposed to believe or where I needed to go to church, so I am doing just fine. 

I can kind of understand the whole pledge of allegiance thing, he filed suit against, because yes, by having everyone stand up and say it, it is sort of teaching a certain set of beliefs, but this is ridiculous.  Who even looks at their money before they spend it anyway?

It just really scares me that one man has the potential for this kind of power.  If he wins this (I hope he doesn’t even from an economic standpoint) what’s next?  "Umm, I am sort of offended by this law here that says I can’t speed.  I sort of like speeding and it offends me that you don’t so down with speed limits!"  I know that’s kind of extreme, but…

I just think this guy needs to be treated like a kid having a tantrum.  Put him in his room until he can cool off and play by the rules.  The world doesn’t revolve around you, little one.  And in this house we have the words "in God we trust" and most everybody else likes it that way.

I’m secretly hoping that God strikes him down. 

The trip pics and stuff are coming, I promise!  But until then– a quaint story about how some grown-ups surprisingly still act.

So I was with my kids at music class today and as usual they were not particularly well behaved.  I actually felt they did better than they have in past classes, but there was the typical running around at inappropriate times and all of that.  They tend to feed off of each other, so even though Engineer and Spider are normally well behaved, if they see Sugar being a goob, they follow suit. I’ve  apologized profusely to the teacher several times and she always says the same thing, "Your kids are good.  They don’t scream or cry– that’s the kind of thing I don’t like.  Your kids are fine."

So today, rather than trying to constantly chide them and reign them in and leave class all mad, I just kind of shrugged my shoulders and I stepped in only when I felt they were acting age inappropriate.

Now, hold that thought.

In this class is a little boy and his nanny.  The nanny is infamous among my fellow music class goers for being loud, bossy and generally obnoxious.  She talks really loud, answers her cell phone in class and tries to overcorrect her little "charge" when she thinks he’s not doing the activities right.  She’s really not that bad, honestly, but she does strike me as someone who is a little attention starved.  As I made that realization today in class, I actually started to feel a little bad for her.

That is until she made her snarky comment to me.

Return to the previous thought that my children were not models of behaviour this day.  

And so she says to me, without eye contact, without ever a proper introduction, "What class are you going to be in in the fall?"

And me, sensing what was coming, feeling that pit in my stomache and not wanting to have a conversation with her told her that I didn’t know.  Eh.  Her reply?  

"Because I don’t want to be in the same class as you."

Hi, my name is Stephanie.  I am a real person and I have feelings too.  Didn’t your mama teach you if you can’t say nothing nice, don’t say nothing at all?

If someone had said something like that to me back in my postpartum depression days where I was already feeling low and sinking, and frustrated with my children, I would have been downward spiraling.  As it is, I got that shaky feeling that I get when someone makes an attack on my individual person and then I shrugged it off.  I was a little appalled at her lack of tact, but I don’t even know her, and I don’t really care.  I am actually sort of relieved because it means I won’t have to be in her class either!

It just is weird to me that grown ups still act that way.  It doesn’t bother me that she wants to be in a different class than me and my children.  I can’t really say that I blame her as I am not sure I’d want to be in my class either if I was someone else.  But really isn’t that something she should have just brought up with the teacher?  (Which she did, by the way, very loudly while I was still in the room.)  Did she think she was doing me a service by subtlely telling me that she thought I needed to up the parenting skills?  That it would help me in some way by making sure I knew that my kids were obnoxious in class?  Or do you think she just likes being snarky?

Well, whatever.  Today is a new day.  I am so over it.  But it sure is a good thing I am a grown up at least.  Because my inner teenager came up with some choice follow up conversation. 

So, I have lately fallen in love with a few classic Sesame Street songs.  "I don’t want to live on the moon," by Jeff Moss and "Imagination" by Joe Raposo, along with "Frogs in the Glen" by Tony Geiss.  I was thinking today that I would love to tell these men thank you for these wonderful and beautiful songs.  And when I turned to my internet today, I discovered that two of these men, Jeff Moss and Joe Raposo, have passed on.

I was sad.

And I really hope that someone told them how lovely their music is before they left.  I guess no one could have thanked them for how deeply their songs would touch me, but they have.  And maybe in Heaven they have access to the internet– and maybe they will come across this and know what their works have meant to me.  But I hope they knew what an impact they have had on so many others.

If you are like me and have more than one or two children, I have a recommendation for you: find yourself a friend with only ONE child.  Preferably a child around the same age as yours and that plays well with him or her. (Vice versa as well, parents of one, find yourself a friend with more than one).

I tell you what, it is the best thing ever.

Why?  You might ask, is this the greatest match made in Heaven?  Well, I will tell you.  The reasoning is simple.  Parents of multiple children, like myself are always ready to have some peace and quiet and pawn off a few children.  Parents of one child, like my friend Juniper, tire quickly of being their child’s only playmate and are ready to have a few more children over.  Can you do the math?

I can send one, two or three of my children over to Juniper’s house and get some work done because no one is here to destroy my efforts.  When my kids are at her house, Juniper can get some work done because her daughter isn’t constantly nagging her to play ponies with her.

It is the most perfect, most beautiful thing ever that I sometimes feel a little guilty about.  

(And yes I watch her little princess too, so she can have mom time.)

Conclusion: Get yourself a mom of one friend today! 

I think I am going to start a tradition of every Thursday posting some tidbits that are on my mind, but not big enough to blog about…

*I’ve never met anyone named Aaron that I didn’t think was extremely good looking.  Maybe you have, but I haven’t.  This was recently brought again to my attention by a door to door salesman… named Aaron.  Tylers appear to be hot as well.  I think I will name my next son Aaron.  Or Tyler.

*Apparently I cut someone off the other day as I pulled into the McDonald’s drive thru lane.  The person honked at me.  Seriously?  In a rush to get your big mac fix?  I thought it was uncalled for. 

*When I am dinking around on the internet (often) I sometimes like to look at funny t-shirts.  This week’s favorite says: "unattended children will be given an espresso and a free puppy."  I’m still laughing about it. 

*I’ve been putting off going to the grocery store for about four days now and I’ve gotten really creative with dinners.  I’ve been putting off the bills for a lot longer…

Okay!  That’s it!  Leave your tidbits in the comments section, or post and link back! Happy Thursday! 

I need a magical fairy that can come through my kitchen, see what kind of ingredients I have and tell me what I can make with all of it.  She doesn’t need to cook it for me, as that is a domestic duty I quite enjoy.  But if she has any cleaning fairy friends…. that would rock.

…Or "garage sale finds cost more than you paid for them."

Here’s the deal– I think freecycle total rocks.  Free stuff is great– most of the time.  If you are getting something for free that you really need/want/are dying to have then whoopee! you have arrived.  But you need to know one thing about free stuff– it is rarely, actually free.

Example 1: I recently acquired a freecycled ceiling fan.  Thinking it would be hot around here sometime (joke’s on me and everyone else in Seattle) I felt it would be good to have one in the house.  After significant driving to pick up the fan, I immediately went out and purchased supplies to repaint the "treasure" that now sits in a box in my garage.  I have also noticed some missing wiring that will need to be replaced if it is even possible to do so.  Cost so far: $10 and counting.

Not free.

Example 2: I bought an Oreck vacuum at a garage sale for $30 and also got a free handvac from someone else.  Vaccuum bags anyone?  That little steal just doubled in price.

Not as cheap as I thought it was.

I keep seeing things on the freecycle that I think would be great for me, and I keep re-evaluating the actual cost.  King sized mattress?  I’ve always wanted one, but I don’t have box springs or King sized bedding or a place to put my perfectly fine queen sized bed.  Gas grill?  Oh, well, I don’t have a propane tank.  Size 2 designer dress? Can’t afford the personal trainer, darnit.  

Seriously.  The free?  Not so much.   

Free is good, my friends, it often is.  However, I would advise that you Freecycle wisely. 

(And have you ever noticed how people want their c-r-a-p picked up immediately?  That always cracks me up.) 

I grew up here in the Rainy Place.  I love the rain. I love listening to it.  Watching it.  It makes me want to curl up with a bookand a blanket and eat popcorn. Of course, when I was a kid, that would have been a great thing to do on the weekend, or after school when there was no other obligations.  On a regular Monday though Friday day, Mom kicked me off to school, rain or not, and I was fine with that.

But now as an adult, day after day, it rains.  The kids are out of preschool.  I have no playdates, and a gallon of gas costs more than a watermelon.  I’ve got no mom (ok, I’m here) in my house telling me to get off my bum and get moving.  And as much as I love the rain, I am withering.

Too much water tends to drown things.

I need the sun, and I need it now. 

I never knew I was so much like a sunflower.