Saturday, June 27, 2009

Saw this on another blog...

I am catching up on my reading. Can you tell? 
I like this. I hope you do too.

The following email is making the rounds. Figured I’d share.

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, why do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don’t propose a federal budget. The president does.

You and I don’t have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of representatives does.

You and I don’t write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don’t set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don’t control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don’t care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator’s responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? Nancy Pelosi. She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand convicted — by present facts — of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can’t think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it’s because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it’s because they want it in the red .

If the Army & Marines are in Iraq , it’s because they want them in Iraq .

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it’s because they want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like “the economy,” “inflation,” or “politics” that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.

They, and they alone, have the power.

They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.

Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.

We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!

Saw this on a blog...

I decided to post something mindless that I saw on another blog.... 

A - Age: 30

B - Bed size: Queen

C - Chore you hate: dishes and laundry 

D - Dog’s name: I am all about cats. No dogs for me! 

E - Essential start your day item: COFFEE!!!!

F - Favorite color: In order: Blue, Green, & Purple

G - Gold or Silver: Silver

H - Height: 5’6”

I - Instruments you play: Djembe

J - Job title: Residential Operation Officer 

K - Kid(s): Evan - 9 years old; Kaya 5 years old

L - Living arrangements: A wonderful two story unit of a duplex in Ghent 

M - Mom’s name: Debra

N - Nicknames: Sara Beara, Puss, EBW - can't think of anymore at the moment....

O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: Hysterectomy in 3/2007 and wicked kidney infection in 10/07

P - Pet Peeve: People on power trips & hypocrisy 

Q - Quote from a movie: "Always with the f***ing chicken!!!"

R - Right or left handed: Right

S - Siblings: 2 sisters: Lisa, who I grew up with. Her birthday is 8/26/70. Grace, sister on my Dad's side, who I have really enjoyed getting closer to in the last two years. Her birthday is 8/27/87. I still think it is crazy how close their birthdays are!

T - Time you wake up: If I am on top of my game, 6:30am so I have about 1 hr to 1.5 hr to myself before the kids wake up. Unfortunately, I am not always so great at that & I wake up when the kids get up ~ 8am. 

U- Underwear: clean :)

V - Vegetable you dislike: can't really think of one... I really disliked broccoli, peas & brussels sprouts when I was a kid.

W - Ways you run late: I have this memory of my mother yelling at me as a kid: "Sara! QUIT DAWDLING!!!!" I never grew out of that & both of my kids suffer from the same disorder =) So there are three of us that are daydreaming instead of having any sense of urgency to get out the door. Hence,my motto: "I consider on time to be when I get there" 

X - X-rays you’ve had: Chest, abdomen, teeth. That's all I can remember right now....

Y - Yummy food you make: everything I make is delicious but I'd say my chocolate chip cookies are the best :)

Z - Favorite zoo animal: NONE. I hate seeing animals in cages.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Here it comes....

This is the part where I lament that I have a MILLION thoughts running through my head but no time to write. 

I want to write about the upcoming march (On the Road to No War) that the kids and I are participating in, helping out with Food Not Bombs, update on how the garden is coming along, the kids current interests, this recurring theme in my life regarding the dualities of life (light vs. darkness). Alas, writing is not something that comes easily to me. I usually have to dedicate a few hours to a post and I just haven't had the time or dedication. 

Maybe I'll start keeping a journal again. That way I can write when the spirit moves me, then post it if here if I feel so compelled. 

Hope everyone has been enjoying their springs/summers so far! 

Saturday, May 23, 2009

New Wave

I am experiencing a new wave of creativity these days. I am welcoming it with open arms. It has been TOO long since I felt creative enough to actually work on a project. 
Here's a picture of what I did last night: 


It isn't the best quality photo. I don't know if you can see what it is exactly so I will explain it. I started out wanting to "write" a poem for Uncle James just using words and/or phrases cut out from various magazines. I ended up with the following poem by the time I was done clipping:

Namaste friend 
      Every breathe you take 
Come as you are 

Our hybrid life 
Desert's best... CASHED OUT... Chesapeake Bay
Integral grassroots fertile ground
Not all who wander are lost

Where to? 
      Adventure to greenstreets
              Phoenix Rising
         Leave no child inside 
            create.play.care.
              Works of art
      dream                  coexist
Welcome the heart of Nature 

Dare to dream with pure intentions
Seek the truth 
Survive THIS! 
It's not about escaping reality
It's about finding it....
READ
       express yourself...
A kind spoken-word 
       is not hard to believe....

The best gift I have to offer 
            OM
Last words 
           Love you.....


Each "paragraph" will be one picture for five in total. Last night I completed the first page. I went through old magazines and cut out pictures that I felt matched the emotion of the words. I am not sure how I am going to put together the final product... each an individual framed picture? a bound "book"? I'll be sure to post pictures of the final product...





Tuesday, May 19, 2009

One Year Ago Today

I quit my job as QA manager of a start up eye & tissue bank. I didn't give two weeks notice. I just left. Yeah, sounds REALLY "responsible" huh? I am not going to go into the nitty gritty details but there had been a domino effect of events leading up to a meeting on 5/14. At this meeting, we were informed by the CEO that the company needed to hire on another person to do family approaches yet the company didn't have the money (keep in mind that he had *just* hired another surgical lead, a position that was already fulfilled by the Tissue Recovery Manager. Did I mention this person was his friend??). He pretty much told the TRM & I that we would have to do even more and not be paid for it since the new surgical lead didn't want to be bothered with calling families. Furthermore, he informed us that we would be meeting again on 5/19 to present him with ideas on how to raise money for our company. His premise? Since we were a 503b non profit organization, we could convince people to make tax deductible donations to us. For serious. This is where the proverbial straw began to crack my back. Things continued to brew during the following four days between meetings. Although I had the gut feeling since my first interview that this organization would crash and burn (not to mention take down my career in eye & tissue banking), the realization FINALLY smacked me in the face following a few more events those four days. I couldn't take it. My husband convinced me to walk. I was scared. I wasn't sure that it was the best idea. Shaking, I walked into the meeting with my keys & a disc with all of my work on it. I told them all that I had come up with a way for them to save some money - I was out of there. The only questions that was asked: "You aren't going to give two weeks?" HELL no. I had already given WAY too much. I was done.


Thus began my journey as a stay at home Mom. I walked away from a career that I thoroughly enjoyed (even if it was stressful & consuming) to be home with my children. It has now been a full year. I look back & don't regret a thing. I only regret not coming to the decision sooner. I will say, though, that it has taken a full year for me to get comfortable in my new role. I have been racked with doubt regarding my capabilities to not only be available for my children, but to educate my children. The doubts have only recently been assuaged. When you first make the switch to homeschooling, you are told that a good "rule of thumb" is to deschool for every month in school. For example: my son had been in school for four years. He thus needed four months of "do nothing but what you want" time in order to decompress and be comfortable with the new routine. I have come to realize that I, too, have been deschooling. It has taken me the last twelve months to FINALLY shrug off all of the negative emotions I have carried in conjunction with learning and responsibilities. I had to shed all of my societal indoctrination to be able to be comfortable in this new role. I would say that deschooling did indeed last for four months for Evan. I would say that I am about 90% complete with my own deschooling. Kaya luckily did not have to deschool since she never really went to school in the first place :) Want to learn more about deschooling? Check out: www.sandradodd.com/deschooling

I want to write more about this new life I've entered but, lo and behold, we have a BUSY day getting ready to start. It is our last day of co-op www.hsobx.org for the semester. Time to get ready for a fun filled day!!

Monday, May 18, 2009

Perhaps some insight...

... into my crazy mind :) If you actually watch what I post on FB, then these will all be repeats for you...... Otherwise, enjoy!




Thursday, April 23, 2009

So Much to do & Not enough time...

The kids and I have been BUSY!!! This is a good thing, obviously. I have so much I want to write about. I want to share all of our late adventures with you guys. Alas, I will not be able to do so today. I have TOO much to do to sit in front of the computer anymore today. You all will just have to hang in suspense - MUAH HA HA!!

I hope all of you are enjoying the spring weather. We sure are! Maybe I will get the chance to write tonight... until then, PEACE!!