the anti-soma

FFOT: NOT WORTH GETTING ANGRY ABOUT?!??!!

2012-01-27T06:48:00.001-06:00

Who does Romney think he is? Barack Obama?

Seriously, I remember him saying what Santorum paraphrases him as saying. Romneycare is the same damn thing as Obamacare, just on a smaller scale (and it's failing there, too). And it is worth getting angry about--it's what the country is angry about. We don't want mandatory Medicaid, Mr. Romney, and electing you is going to make sure we keep it, because that's exactly what you signed into law in the once-proud state of Massachusetts.

I seriously don't know how, with how much he obviously loves his hair, he managed to get his head crammed so far up his rectum that he's licking his own tonsils. And he, and the amphibian can fuck off, with cheez, for helping the establishment eject the candidates that really represent the majority of the American people, and forcing us to choose runny, thick, or crunchy for the shit sandwich we're being served come November.

As if we needed any more proof.

2012-01-26T14:44:00.000-06:00

Glenn Beck is a nutter--I will be the first to admit that--but just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that there haven't progressives out to tear our country apart for more than a hundred years.

The Puppet-in-chief proved that in his State of the Union Address. According to The Blaze, it had an "uncanny resemblance" to Teddy Roosevelt's address in 1906--more than a century ago.

I can't wade through Obama's dribble (and believe me, I tried--it's bad enough to listen to, but as a teacher of composition, I wanted to scream and throw my netbook), but I did read the text of the 1906 speech--and the progressive/liberal talking points haven't changed substantially (except in a few areas, like integration, and treatment of crime and criminals) in over a hundred years.

So, the next time anyone wants to know what happened to the sense of self-reliance that this nation was founded on, just remember that we've been electing traitorous creeps that want to return us to serfhood, and have been working toward that goal, for longer than many of our grandparents have been alive.

Unless the American people as a whole wake up and start demanding leaders that not only verbally repudiate the progressive agenda but actually act against it, we as a nation are sunk.

New Follower Alert!!!

2012-01-26T10:13:00.000-06:00

Welcome, Matt from Troublesome Times, and thanks for hitting that follower button. Relax, put your feet up, and let me know what you'd like to drink. I got bourbon, scotch, coffee, tea, or cocoa--your pick.

(By the way, his post over the State of the Union address was spot on. I can't wait to see him write more.)

I wanna move to Freehold!

2012-01-25T21:53:00.000-06:00

I reviewed the Barnes and Noble Nook reader earlier this month. One of the first things I did (rather, made my husband do) was go to Baen’s free library website, and pull a couple of their books for the nook. One of those was Michael Z. Williamson’s Freehold.

The book starts on Earth at some time in the possibly distant, possibly not so distant future. Earth is now run by the UN. Needless to say, the entire world is an inner city nightmare, and all the ~~citizens~~ subjects accept that!!! They also accept crimes that most decent people would not, like rape, mugging, and theft.

Not surprising, I suppose. Guns had been criminalized, so only the criminals had guns.

Our heroine (tough girl) is in the UN’s military, and starts the book by deserting ahead of some bogus charges. She runs to the embassy for the planet Freehold, and they manage to get her offworld and to their little libertarian paradise.

And it really is, too—she goes from a world where it’s too dangerous for a soldier to walk around off-base in uniform (certainty of mugging, assault, and/or rape—and none of it prosecuted); too dangerous for a woman to wear certain styles of clothing, or walk around in certain places, or after dark at all; and too dangerous for children to play outside, to a world where everyone is armed, polite, and the world is nearly crime-free. She can’t quite comprehend it, at first, and freaks out about the local styles (nearly nude during the long, hot summers), the children playing unattended in the parks, and the way nobody locks their doors.

Another thing that Freehold has going for it is that there is no central government. Few laws. No laws governing behavior that only impacts the individual—recreational pharmaceuticals are sold openly in the park bazaars, right next to the tables selling guns and any kind of ammo you would ever want to have. No social safety nets—no social security, no welfare, no food stamps, no free education. No payroll taxes—you pay fees voluntarily, or get hideously fined if you come up before a resident’s court (i.e., a witness in a case of actual crime, or if you helped out during an accident and they needed statements).

Yet, despite the whole lack of social safety nets, few starved—capitalism was totally unrestrained, and needed no licenses to sell goods and/or services (and what services! Prostitution was legal and unregulated, especially since blood-borne illnesses were screened for before anyone was allowed on planet). Despite the lack of gun control laws, there was no blood in the streets—until the UN tried something against a free world. Not only was there no blood in the streets, but very little crime, and almost none of it committed with guns (there was a lovely illustration about what happened when that was tried—punk from Earth picked up a gun and ammo from a dealer in the park, tried to steal the gun by shooting the dealer, and got ventilated by at least one bystander who then proceeded to check on the vendor [who had been wearing a vest against accidents] while the punk bled out).

One of the more interesting things I noted was that Williamson described the Occupy Whatever movement—and the behavior and general personality features of the occupidiots—to a fare-thee-well, at least seven years before the ~~riots~~ demonstrations began.

Seriously, I want to live on Freehold. We had that, once—not in my lifetime, nor in that of anyone I know, but we had it. Sad that we gave up freedom for the illusion of safety.

Seen on a post-it stuck on a colleague's computer monitor:

2012-01-25T11:55:00.000-06:00

"An MFA is a terminal degree"

Talk about God's honest truth: a Master of Fine Arts is a terminal degree--if you try to depend on that to make a living, you're gonna starve to death.

This is rich...

2012-01-24T14:18:00.000-06:00

...coming from the guy that deliberately collapses national economies for fun: the cause of our current economic troubles is unrestrained capitalism, combined with ignorance on the part of some, and evil on the part of others. From a story from The Blaze:

So you might want to pay attention to a recent story from The Daily Beast that claims George Soros is nervous about the future of the global economy and that he warns of dark things to come.

“At times like these, survival is the most important thing,” Soros said.

As he sees it, the world faces one of the most dangerous periods of modern history—a period of “evil,” writes the Beasts’ John Arlidge. “Europe is confronting a descent into chaos and conflict. In America [Soros] predicts riots in the streets that will lead to a brutal clampdown that will dramatically curtail civil liberties [emphases added]. The global economic system could even collapse altogether.”

Yeah...good luck with that clampdown in the United States, you evil bastard. You might want to remember why Admiral Yamamoto didn't want to invade the American mainland.

And don't count on the military to squash the citizens. There aren't many sympathetic with your politics amongst the rank and file that would be doing the dirty work. All of your sympathizers are amongst the REMFs that can't find their arse with both hands, a map, a navigator, and a GPS system.

Good thing that the Constitution and its amendments overrides all other laws...

2012-01-24T09:16:00.000-06:00

Otherwise, we might be forced to give evidence against ourselves by judges who interpret the fifth amendment to not include our personal computers.

Oh, wait...never mind.

Seriously, were I in Friscou's position, I'd refuse. I'd refuse the judge that issued the illegal order, and I'd refuse if an appellate judge supported it, and I'd insist on the Supreme Court telling me that I had to decrypt my laptop. Then, I'd refuse again, because it is a violation of the fifth amendment, whether the "justice" system recognizes it or not. The prosecutors that want her to decrypt her laptop have said they won't hold the action of decrypting her laptop against her. What about the evidence that may or may not be on the laptop? If that's what might convict her, the lawyers aren't what will hold the act against her.

In short, they're trying to force her to testify against herself with this absurd order to decrypt her own laptop.

That's bad...

2012-01-22T21:59:00.000-06:00

Parents are falling down--badly--on the job with their daughters. What kind of parent doesn't have "the talk" with their own child? What kind of parent depends on the public school system to educate their daughters in how procreation works?

Oh, wait--never mind. I forgot that society's been brainwashed for a few generations, now, into letting the government raise their kids for them.

Government's not doing a real good job, either--apparently, a lot of teen moms didn't think they could get pregnant the first time they had sex, so didn't use any kind of contraception.

Whups! They're taught all about how to use condoms from third grade on, and nobody bothered to tell them when to use them (i.e., every time)? Or even that there is a slim chance that it could fail anyway when used correctly (that means using one every time, putting one on before any genital contact, and/or putting on a new one if one breaks), and they should use a backup method in conjunction? Or even (God forbid) that, since sex was designed to make babies, the only sure way not to get pregnant is not to have sex (after all, there's so much other fun stuff to do)?

This is stuff I plan to teach both of my kids. I'd prefer they wait until they're psychologically and emotionally ready before they have sex in the first place, but I really prefer they're safe when they do.

Now, this is funny.

2012-01-22T21:45:00.000-06:00

Romney sent Gingrich a cake celebrating an important anniversary in the amphibian's career.

Sounds like Paterno's case was kicked upstairs.

2012-01-22T21:43:00.000-06:00

I'm waiting for Sandusky to join him. Penn State said of the late ex-coach "Few have done more." One assumes they weren't talking about protecting the innocent (or making sure their predators were dealt with properly), since Paterno said he "didn't know which way to go" when asked about the grown man that worked for his program, under his authority, fucking little boys in the shower.

I don't EVEN think so.

2012-01-20T17:00:00.001-06:00

Two stories I've run across recently fall under this heading:

A couple of clinical researchers, upset by the lack of healthy volunteers to test new vaccines, is proposing that it become mandatory. For "the good of society."

New York City police want the ability to use backscatter x-ray to turn their city into a completely gun-free zone.

In the first story, you have egg-head researchers who haven't studied history (or maybe they have, and just think that the Nazi scientists had a brilliant idea in using the concentration camp victims in their experiments) naively proposing something they don't realize the full ramifications of. After all, "for the good of society" could include things like mandatory organ donation. After all, we all have two kidneys--if a national leader needs a kidney, and one of us is a match, surely we don't need both. It's for the good of society.

Scary thing is, this will be far easier to implement when/if Mandatory Medicaid (Obamacare) goes into effect.

In the second story...well, there's so much wrong with it that it's hard to know where to start. Wait, I know: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." Trying to turn an entire city into a gun-free zone, despite some of us being licensed concealed carry, is a major infringement on that right. The attitude behind the whole x-ray surveillance is basically telling us all that only criminals carry guns, ergo, all of us that carry guns must be criminals and need put in jail. It's also telling us that we're subjects, not citizens.

Hate to tell HRM, Mayor Bloomberg this, but this isn't Europe, and that won't fly in the United States of America. Although, there are enough sheep living in NYC that it might fly, there.

FFOT: Lost week...

2012-01-20T08:20:00.001-06:00

Losing track of time can definitely fuck off. I thought I had another week before classes started (and I didn't--they started last Monday, not next Monday)--last week's back and forth between my town and the small city where my mother was in the hospital is, I think, to blame for that.

Another thing irritating me is the weather: it's bouncing around like a bouncy ball thrown at a cement floor by a three year old. We've been having small cold fronts come through nearly every day, then it warms back up the next day. It's playing hell with my knee (which I haven't had much trouble with since my son was born), and my hands (which I think I may be developing issues with).

Last, but not least, not having trusted babysitting truly sucks. My .22 upper for my STI (a Kimber) came on Tuesday, and I have no idea when I'll be able to get to the range. :(

Shame

2012-01-19T10:37:00.000-06:00

It's a crying shame that barbarian cultures have the same access to modern technology as civilized ones.

A young, intelligent, politically-active, Iranian-heritage woman was murdered in Texas. Shot in the head at close range.

Authorities are claiming to not know why, but I would be willing to bet it was politically/religiously motivated. She was, after all, a living demonstration that women are intellectually capable of as much as men, and was actively campaigning for women to be granted the same basic, human rights in Iran.

I do wonder if she was murdered because she was a political activist working against Iran's culture of barbarism, or if she was murdered because she was a living example of what women can become--one that the animals ruling Iran can't afford.

I also wonder if she was murdered by one of her male relatives for being a stain on the honor of their family by being smarter and more successful than most Iranian men.

But--but--they're not GREEN jobs!!!

2012-01-19T08:28:00.000-06:00

And The One promised us green jobs! Of course he'd nix the oil sands pipeline from Canada! He's keeping his promise! Don't you people know that green jobs are far more important than silly concepts like national security?!?

SOPA/PIPA

2012-01-18T07:37:00.002-06:00

Interesting...

2012-01-18T07:09:00.000-06:00

Apparently, junk food doesn't cause obesity in children of middle-school age (and likely younger). I can kind of see why the researchers sat on the findings for two years--it not only goes against conventional wisdom but nuts a leftist sacred cow pretty thoroughly.

Hmm...I wonder, if it's not junk food, what is it? Do you think it might be recess being removed? How about all the kids that live in cities where it's not safe to play outside after school, with or without adult supervision? How about those video game systems and televisions and computers that many parents stock their little darlings' rooms with?

Do you think that the food nannies are going to admit they were wrong on this instance, or do you think they're going to continue to usurp parental authority by getting rid of things like chocolate milk, birthday party cupcakes, potatoes in school lunches, and sending your kids' lunch from home? I'm betting the latter--God forbid any government agency give up any power at all. And God forbid anyone enjoy the food they're eating. Don't you know that enjoyment is sinful against nature? And the food nannies are nothing if not Puritanical in their fervor that you have to eat what's good for you. Where best to begin that than those who can't fight back: children?

It's not the food they eat--that's just fuel for their little bodies to grow on. Granted, junk food may not be the best fuel, but that's not what making kids get fat. That would be the complete and total lack of exercise while they're shoveling down the potato chips.

Like war is peace, and ignorance wisdom...

2012-01-17T20:55:00.000-06:00

...somehow the increase in food stamps is the fault of the Republican party.

Whose policies started the Great Depression? Hoover was the man in the seat when it started, but his policies were sabotaged by a congress that wanted protectionist laws passed, which, when FDR (a raging progressivist Democrat) did so, did nothing but lengthen the duration of the financial crunch. Before his policies were enacted, most recessions/depressions lasted somewhere between one and three years. The effects of the Great Depression lasted much longer--we didn't totally recover until the federal government's attention was distracted from domestic policies by WWII.

Who was it that started the War on Poverty, creating food stamps and welfare checks for bums? Lyndon B. Johnson, a Democrat. Meant well, he did, but what a clusterf**k. Went totally against Franklin's admonition to make the poor uncomfortable in their poverty to help them work to leave it, and created what is now a permanent underclass.

Honestly, the only Democrat POTUS that did anything to reverse the march of increasing entitlements was Bill Clinton, and he was pushed into signing the Welfare to Work legislation (which Obamoron rolled back, increasing the number on the dole, and decreasing the number leaving it) by a conservative majority in congress.

Yes, there is a major increase in the number of people on food stamps. That's due entirely to the policies enacted by a congress that veered left during Bush II's time in office--hello, remember Pelosi's idiotic assertion that economic recovery would be aided by extending unemployment benefits, keeping people on their butts at home instead of working at whatever jobs they could find?--not because of any "lack" of regulation on Wall Street.

If they really want to point fingers, then they need to realize how many fingers are pointing back at them.

Found in my sixty-something orange binder Betty Crocker cookbook...

2012-01-17T15:21:00.000-06:00

One of the best, easiest chocolate drop cookie recipes I've ever eaten. These are fluffy, soft, and really tasty--easy to eat way too many, and they go great with milk or coffee.

Betty Crocker Cocoa Drop Cookies

2/3 c butter

1 c sugar

1 egg

½ c cocoa

1/3 c buttermilk

1 t vanilla

1 ¾ c flour

½ t soda

½ t salt

1 c chocolate chips (optional)

Mix thoroughly butter, sugar, egg, cocoa, buttermilk, and vanilla. Stir in flour, soda, salt. Cover; chill 1 hour.*

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes** or until almost no imprint remains when touched with finger.

*I omitted this step, and they turned out fine.

**I used a tablespoon sized cookie scoop, and 10 minutes was pretty much perfect.

Interesting case of discrimination

2012-01-16T09:39:00.000-06:00

Not racial. Financial...though, I don't blame the hospital at all.

A few years ago, a good friend of mine had a baby at the same hospital I had my two in. She was on Medicaid, and did not get the same level of care that I, a self-pay patient, did. Her nurses didn't change the way they treated her--they brought her water, juice, snacks, and anything else she asked for, as well as helping her with her personal care, and with caring for her baby.

No, the telling difference was this: as a Medicaid patient, she was never notified that the hospital had a lactation consultant, and that she could request a consultation appointment. She never learned that no mother starts out with adequate milk, that we all start out with a very little colostrum (which is all baby needs right at first), and that milk comes in as the baby keeps nursing. So, without a meeting with a lactation consultant, she didn't know that, and nobody that did know told her. She wanted to breastfeed her baby, but thought she couldn't, so wound up feeding the baby with formula.

This didn't happen just once. It happened both times with both children she had at that hospital.

I suspect that, if she'd known about the lactation consultant going in, and had asked, she never would have been turned down, but that's not the point. I was told by the hospital administration when I filled out the insurance claim after having my son eight weeks early, and when I filled out the self-pay paperwork before I had my daughter. She was not told at any point during her check-in or stay.

I suspect that, once Mandatory Medicaid (otherwise known as Obamacare) comes into play, the lactation consultant will only be made available by the hospital to those individuals who self-pay, or who pay through the nose for what will swiftly become inadequate private insurance. Once those are made against the rules to accept (like Canada did), the lactation consultant will more than likely be forced out of the hospital altogether, to cut costs. Never mind that a good start in breastfeeding will cut costs just by itself, with the boost to the baby's immune system, and a lower cost to the WIC voucher system (formula costs something over $400/month!). That's long run savings. They won't have the ability or the authority to go with long term thinking--they'll be government workers: well paid on the part of admin, and indentured servants on the part of the actual medical staff.

I also suspect that, once Mandatory Medicaid comes into play and the triage and rationing starts, cases like my mother's won't be treated at all any longer. After all, my mother is on the older side, in poor health, and is a net drain on the system. It won't matter if she's a taxpayer or not, they'll just send her home to die because she won't be worth it in their numbers game.

Because numbers don't have grandchildren that adore them.

Pasta bake

2012-01-15T08:22:00.000-06:00

Quick, easy, and very tasty. We took one to my mother's yesterday, and assembled and baked it there, to try to make sure Mom would stay put and not do anything. That part of the plan failed spectacularly, but everybody enjoyed it.

I don't remember precisely where I got this recipe--I think it was from the back of a jar of Prego, but I'm not sure. In any case, it works with pretty much any sauce you like, and with most noodles that aren't the long, thin kind.

16 oz pasta (macaroni, the 6-serving bag of tortellini, mini ravioli, ziti, rotini, shells, etc.)
1 jar (24-26 oz) tomato-based pasta sauce, any variation
2 c or more shredded mozzarella

1. Preheat oven to 425. 2. In a 9x13" pan (or a disposable half-sized steamer tray, about 11x14"), mix uncooked pasta and pasta sauce. 3. Refill jar with water, pour in with pasta and sauce, mix well. 4. Cover tightly with aluminum foil. 4. Bake covered for 30 minutes for unfilled pasta, 35 for filled pasta. 5. Uncover pasta, stir, and top with cheese. 6. Bake for 10 more minutes, until edges of cheese are lightly browned, and pasta is tender.

Usually, the unfilled pasta needs a bit of time to set up, while the tortellini or ravioli doesn't.

Serve hot, with salad and garlic bread.

Want to smack my mom...

2012-01-14T21:46:00.001-06:00

The doctors told her: no housework, no bending over, no falling, no lifting anything over ten pounds.

So, Mom tries to unload and reload the dishwasher. Sneaks around my sister who isn't letting her do any more than I am. What does that take? Repeatedly bending over. And that's not all: she keeps trying to pick up the living room (bending over and lifting more than ten pounds, in some cases). She's also refusing to use support to wander around (the house is a trip hazard, and I've seen her trip over her own feet in the driveway up to my aunt's house), and huffs that she doesn't need it.

And she won't. Stop. Whining. Mostly about how she's done this all her life, she's never liked depending on other people to do her housework, she's not an invalid.

Okay. Yes, she's done this all her life. She tries to be independent, but with her health, it's kind of spotty. But yes, she is an invalid. She is going to be an invalid until the aneurism she has in her head behind her ear is repaired, and the doctors tell her she can get back to her old routine.

If I wasn't worried about a blow out, I'd swat her a good one. Petulant, selfish snot. She's acting worse than my three year old son does.

Simple chicken pot pie

2012-01-13T20:16:00.000-06:00

For those of you watching your sodium, you might want to substitute a few things, as this recipe is high in it, as is.

2 pre-made pie crusts
1-2* cans veg-all, drained**
1-2* cans cream o' mushroom soup***
1 can/1 cup chopped cooked chicken

1. In an 8.5-9.5"* pie plate, unroll one premade pie crust. 2. Mix chicken, veggies, and soup, pour into pie crust. 3. Top with second pie crust, and either tuck excess under bottom crust and crimp, or trim and crimp with a fork. 4. Cut vents in top. 5. Bake at 425 for 25 minutes, or until crust is golden brown, and filling is bubbling through vents.

This freezes well, and cooks well from frozen. If you do want to make a few and freeze them, I'd recommend buying the disposable aluminum pans--and those take 1 can of veggies and one of soup each--and wrap well with foil. Label and date--don't want to accidentally grab a cherry pie when you want chicken (or vice verse). Just budget about an hour and a half, with about the first hour and ten minutes covered with foil.

*If you use a slightly smaller pie pan, use one can each veg-all and soup. The larger pie pans take two cans of each.

** While you can get away with the low sodium versions of the soup, I'd recommend using frozen veggies over the low sodium canned--those make the pie taste awful.

***If you are using the large pie pan, try one can of cream of mushroom, one can of cream of chicken.

FFOT: again, the distance learning course redesign crap

2012-01-13T08:40:00.000-06:00

I can't get into my course site until Monday to see how they've redesigned it, and can't rework/revise my textbook until I see how badly my course is FUBARed.

I will admit that most of the distance learning teachers suck: they don't pay attention to their course material once they've set it up, don't pay attention to how their students are doing in the course work, don't pay attention to course site foul-ups, and don't answer emails from students. I don't really blame the distance learning department for taking over the courses to try to force more attention and contact from the crap teachers.

That said, collective punishment (i.e., punishing those of us who do a good job with the same treatment as those who do the crap jobs) never works. Distance learning can fuck off for trying it, and those creeps that sign up to teach but don't teach can fuck off for ruining it for those of us that tweak our course each semester to better serve the students, and answer emails within twelve hours (or less) of getting them.

I'm not sure it's worth the extra money they pay me.

Update II

2012-01-12T08:56:00.003-06:00

Visited Mom again yesterday. She was out of the NeuroTrauma ICU (where they put stroke, aneurism, and head trauma victims), and in a regular room. That meant she got to see the pixie (which cheered her up immensely). She was less dazed, and more at herself. She followed conversation and was able to play with the pixie. And able to complain about her yellow fall risk bracelet, and how she wasn't allowed to get out of her bed for anything without help.

Yesterday, the nurse that worked with her team of doctors visited while I was there to tell her what they had been discussing. Apparently, they're working to get her meds adjusted properly. They want her on them and stable for a couple of weeks before they do the repairs--I assume to shrink the problem as much as it will.

Apparently, the aneurism has been there, without rupturing, for a few years. They don't think it will rupture anytime soon, as long as they get her blood pressure down and stable. So far, so good.

In any case, the nurse said that if the meds doc was satisfied with the way she responded yesterday, they'd let her go today. I'll be calling her later to see if that's the case. If so, then we'll take the imp to stay with Odysseus's parents tonight, and take Mom home. Otherwise, it's nasty cold, and we had snow last night, and I'd rather not take the kids out in it.

Your prayers have been helping. Please keep 'em up. Thanks.

Update: She's home, now. Stubborn as a pig, insisting that she doesn't need to pay attention to doctors' orders (i.e., don't pick up 10 lbs +, don't bend over, and use a walking support [walker or quad cane] because she's a fall risk, and shouldn't fall with a freakin' aneurism), but she's home.

Updates

2012-01-10T21:57:00.002-06:00

My mother has had uncontrolled high blood pressure for several years. They got it under control in the hospital, with only one side effect: being so sleepy she can't think straight (informed consent is going to be thankfully fuzzy, considering her attitudes about lifesaving/quality of life improving treatments).

I'm betting that that issue was what has caused the weak spot in the tire wall behind her ear. Which in turn, doctors speculate, has been causing memory/thinking problems, and has been causing vision (and possibly hearing) loss.

The doctors were still doing testing today to figure out the best way to go about fixing the aneurism, but they're confident that they can.

Mom thinks she'll be home in a couple of days. I'm betting it's going to be a week or longer.

I've had an idea or two for a post from musing about Mom's treatment. I likely won't get it written tomorrow, possibly not even the next day. It depends on Mom, and how she's doing.

Thanks to everyone for their prayers and kind thoughts. Keep 'em coming, please.

Prayers needed...

2012-01-09T20:48:00.001-06:00

I'm still not tracking well, after the shock of the news, but my younger sister called about 7:30 or so (central time) to tell me that our mother had been life flighted to the nearest larger city (about an hour and a half from her, an hour from me). She'd gone to a new doctor this afternoon, got shunted over to testing, then had to check in at the ER (stupid Medicaid rules--they wouldn't pay for the proper tests on her doctor's referral), and was diagnosed with an aneurism. Brain, not abdomen.

My first thought was "thank God we took the kids to visit yesterday." Yes, they caught it in time to try to do something about it, but my mother isn't in the best of health, and has odd (and bad) reactions to a lot of treatments. Her heart isn't the strongest, and neither are her lungs or kidneys.

She needs prayers--prayers to come through this at all, and to come through as close to normal health as she can.

My kids aren't old enough to remember their granny, yet.

UPDATE: Mom is in the hospital's neuro-intensive care unit. We'll be going up to see her today. According to the nurse I just talked to, she's stable. We'll be leaving shortly. Prayers still requested.

Sometimes...

2012-01-09T18:06:00.002-06:00

Sometimes being a responsible, loving parent sucks.

I fixed a simple, cheesy chicken noodle dish (about a cup and a half of wide egg noodles, a can of condensed cream of chicken soup, and a couple hands full of shredded cheddar) for lunch for myself and the imp.

And he wouldn't eat. And wouldn't eat. And wouldn't eat.

He'd put the fork into the food, then lick the cheesy soup off the tines, but wouldn't eat the noodles. Sat in the high chair for two hours, but wouldn't eat.

I'll leave those of you that have raised children to imagine the screaming tantrums with tears, and the begging to get down, for a cracker, a chip, some crunch (generic Cap'n Crunch), some cheerios, applesauce, milk--anything but what was in front of him.

Of course, the answer's no. Still won't eat. So, I put him down for a nap.

I don't think he slept, but he laid in there and was mostly quiet for two hours. I think he was too hungry to sleep.

When I let him up, I asked if he was hungry. He ran to the kitchen gate, chanting, "eat? eat?" So, I put the bowl of noodles, heated up and shredded (with a spoon to eat it with, this time) in front of him.

Still won't eat. Spent two hours trying to get him to. He doesn't get anything to eat unless he eats that.

I really hate it when my kids are upset and in tears. Hate it. Hate being the bad guy. Hate having to discipline them. Hate spending an entire day fighting with the imp about a bowl with maybe a half a cup of cheesy chicken noodles in the bottom.

Guess what he gets for breakfast in the morning, if he still won't eat in an hour?

Supper tonight

2012-01-09T13:24:00.002-06:00

I now have three lasagnas sitting in the deep freeze, and one in the fridge, waiting for supper time.

Do you have a good lasagna recipe? Here's mine, in case you don't have one:

1 lb meat
1 jar (24 or 26 oz) spaghetti sauce
1 egg
16 oz container of cottage cheese
3-4 c shredded mozzarella or Italian blend
6 oven-ready* lasagna noodles

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 2. Cook meat 'til done. 3. While meat is cooking, mix egg into cottage cheese.** 4. Add spaghetti sauce and 1/2 c water to meat. 5. Lay 3 lasagna noodles in the bottom of a 9 x 13" casserole dish.*** 6. Layer half meat sauce over noodles. 7. Layer half cottage cheese/egg mixture over meat sauce. 8. Layer half cheese over top. 9. Repeat steps 5-8 once.

Bake 30 minutes (until noodles are done, if using oven ready) until warmed through.

*Strongly recommend using oven-ready noodles. Not only do you not have to spend the time and effort pre-cooking the noodles, and then arranging the slippery, limp noodles, but you don't have an extra pot to wash.

**I usually mix the egg into the cottage cheese in the container it comes in. If you're careful, it can be done without making a mess, and saves on how many dishes you have to do.

***I use half-size disposable commercial steamer pans for a few reasons. First, you can cover with foil and freeze without tying up a pyrex baking dish. Second, you can take it right from the freezer and stick it in the oven without bothering with preheating, or with thawing the food--just bake 1 1/2 hours with foil, and 1/2 hour without. Save the foil, and cover the leftovers with it--no need to put them in a different container. Last, but not least, when the leftovers are gone, just throw the aluminum pan away.

For the Brady Bunch, with love...

2012-01-08T20:09:00.004-06:00

Just to let you know how safe I feel: the one on top is my STI Spartan in .45, and the one on the bottom is my CZ-82, with which I did this:

If y'all feel unsafe, try taking a few classes in firearm safety, and in self-defense. Worked wonders for me.

Homemade hamburger helper

2012-01-08T10:43:00.003-06:00

I put together two beef enchilada casseroles for the freezer, yesterday afternoon (but left out the nacho cheese soup because I didn't have enough. Turned out good, anyway). I thought I was being generous with the filling layers (chips--beef & soups mixture--cheese--repeat once), but wound up with about two cups of taco beef & beans, enchilada sauce, cream o' 'shroom soup, corn, and rotel left over. So, I added the one can of nacho cheese soup I had, and about 2/3 of a 16 oz bag of wide egg noodles, and about three cups of water, and covered the skillet.

Wound up with a reasonable facsimile of the cheesy taco hamburger helper...but tastier. Especially after adding cheese to the top of the servings.

So, the recipe is:

2 cups beef enchilada casserole meat & sauce mixture
12 oz wide egg noodles (or 2 c macaroni noodles), uncooked
1 can Campbell's Nacho Cheese Soup (condensed, undiluted)
3 c of water

1. In the same skillet you used to make the casserole filling, add noodles, soup, and water. 2. Return heat to medium-high, and cover. 3. Bring to a boil, cook for about 8 minutes. 4. Stir, check the noodles for level of done-ness.

Serve hot, with shredded cheese, and possibly sour cream.

Great news!!!

2012-01-07T09:47:00.002-06:00

One of my blog buddies, oldcatman, is a great uncle, as of today. Go here for a picture of the new great nephew (total cutie). According to a comment left on this morning's post the kid was a big one (9 lb, 2 oz; 21 1/4 inches), and I feel for his niece in law.

Wander over and admire the adorable new arrival!

Issues with sleeping

2012-01-07T07:56:00.000-06:00

No, not the imp--he's great about going down for the night without too much protest (though, he has learned that he can ask to go pee-pee and get it postponed for as long as he's on the potty...longer [for candy reward] if he actually goes).

The pixie.

She has never gone to sleep easily, or slept for long. For a while, between about three months and about two weeks ago, she'd nurse down, and I could (usually) put her down at night.

Naps were (and are) another issue. Until recently, she wouldn't nap unless nursing, and would wake up immediately upon being put down, or else she wouldn't sleep longer than half an hour (if that). Recently, though, she suddenly began sleeping an hour and a half or two hours, and at fairly predictable times of the day.

Unfortunately, along with that has come bedtime battles: she won't nurse to sleep anymore. She'll nurse pretty good, then let go and start talking to me. Or trying to roll off my lap. So, I put her to bed. And she screams. And screams. And screams.

Yes, she's eating a good supper about an hour before bed. Yes, she has a bedtime ritual that we usually follow. Yes, she's teething. Yes, I'm giving her something for the teething pain. She just does. Not. Want. To. Go. To. Sleep. It takes an hour of letting her scream before she's willing to let either her father or me snuggle her down.

If anyone has any suggestions (beyond earplugs, which I already use; or a nice, stiff drink, which I indulge in after she's asleep), I could use all the help I can get.

GRRR!!!

2012-01-06T03:25:00.001-06:00

I tried to get into my class website to do some pre-semester maintenance, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. Wednesday afternoon, I logged into my university email to see if there was anything from the IT people about it, and found that there was: they'd taken over all of the course websites, and they won't be available to the professors until a week before semester starts. Along with that comes the wonderful news that every semester is going to be a new course shell: we can't set up the course and keep it the way we like it, anymore; we'll have to rebuild from scratch every semester.

That can fuck off. I have spent three years getting my courses set up and refining them. The pricks have just thrown that away, without prior notification. (I suppose they didn't notify us beforehand because the last time they did, every professor that taught an online class set up a fuss and shut it down before they could do it.)

They just gave me incentive to work harder on my writing so that I can tell them where they can shove their job. Which sucks, because I love teaching.

Second, spammers can FTFO. I went to sign into my personal email yesterday morning, and found out that I'd been locked out. Apparently, someone had either hacked my account and was using it to send spam, or had used my email address to send spam from. Either way, spammers can FO and die. With cheez. And flames.

Third...well, the third one is one that my guy readers wouldn't want to know about, and is posted on The FFOT blog.

I miss my imp.

2012-01-05T10:20:00.000-06:00

Day before yesterday, Odysseus took the imp to stay with his grandparents. He's spent two nights with them. It's been really quiet, without him here. Kinda nice, at first, but I'm glad he's coming home this afternoon. I've really missed him, temper tantrums and all. The pixie has really missed him, and has been a real momma's girl for the past couple days.

I hate letting him out of my sight and out of my care for this long, but I know it's what's best for him, and what's best for his grandparents.

Considering e-publishing...

2012-01-04T08:56:00.006-06:00

I've got about three short stories I'm going through, trying to decide which I'm going to submit to an online subsidiary of a print publisher that we like. This is going to kind of be a "do it and forget about it for a while" thing--they take six or more months to wade through the submissions they get.

I'm also considering offering the short story anthology I have finished through Amazon's Kindle publishing. The stories in that one are non-genre, and mostly about abuse situations, and the survivors of such (wrote most of these when I was dealing with the aftermath of what I went through). It'll probably be a while before that one is on offer, though--I'm working on a different anthology of admittedly genre work (the ancient Greek gods retired, and are living in the USA, instead of disappearing--and they're not the only ones), and I want to finish the stories I have in my head for that one before I do any editing/additions to the survivors anthology.

(Unless I hear back from you guys that you want to read the anthology I already have mostly finished, that is...)

Other ideas I have in the works are:

a novel about a young woman that's been through hell in the child welfare system and gets plunged sideways into a different type of hell (this one is modern fantasy--the character is half elf, and the elves aren't the Disney kind)
a speculative novel set in modern times but rooted in the Camelot era (King Arthur, not JFK--also modern fantasy, considering that one of the main characters is a shape-shifting dragon and another character is Merlin), and
a third, kind of experimental novel about a different kind of CPA. The link goes to the first post in the character's blog (haven't done any work on that one in a while. The world is more complicated than I first suspected).

So, yeah--I've got a few years' worth of work lined up, considering that I have a full-time, unpaid job as a mom, a part-time paid job as a composition teacher, and a part-time, paid job as a teacher's assistant.

Let me know if any of it sounds interesting to you guys.

Update: first story flung into the aether. Wish me luck. I should hear back from the publisher in six or eight months.

Some people need to be discriminated against.

2012-01-03T16:30:00.001-06:00

Namely, progressive idiots that think nobody should be discriminated against by law.

I will agree with them, to a point, that laws discriminating against people because of the color of their skin,* their sex, their religion, or their beliefs** is wrong. I disagree with this.

The whole bunch whining "But...but...you can't sentence one person doing this more harshly than another person doing the same thing" needs to have this put to them another way: Will a corn snake kill you if it bites you? How about a coral snake?

A normal, healthy person who bites someone is guilty of simple assault. They're basically a corn snake. A person who has HIV/AIDS who bites someone is guilty of attempted murder. They're a coral snake--they look like a corn snake, but are a lot more dangerous. The difference between the coral snake and the person with HIV/AIDS is intent: the coral snake bites to defend itself, or feed itself, all without malice or intent to cause grievous harm; the people under discussion are intentionally trying to pass their disease on with malice aforethought. They are trying to kill the person they spit on/bite.

Personally, I wouldn't let either close enough to bite me, because I can't tell the difference from just looking. Snakes or people.

*Some colors indicate a greater likelihood of committing some crimes, especially in inner cities, and it's not discriminatory when it's basic statistics.

**Some beliefs, like those held by NAMBLA, are enough to dictate that the individual holding them should be killed, slowly and painfully.

A study in contrasts

2012-01-03T10:04:00.000-06:00

I knew, on an intellectual level, that my kids would be different from each other. I knew that before I ever even decided to have the imp, much less the pixie.

It's amazing to watch, though. Almost like reading a textbook study about the differences between the way boys and girls mature.

The imp is (oddly, sort of) more cautious than the pixie, when it comes to trying new things--I think, since she sees her brother doing it, she figures it must be safe, and throws herself into it, not realizing that he's two years older than her, and bigger and stronger.

Be that as it may, he's a lot more physically active than she is. You can see it watching him watch TV: he'll be sitting quietly, paying attention at first, then he'll start to wiggle. A few minutes later, he'll jump down off the couch, run a few laps up and down the hall (body-slamming doors to change direction), then come back and hop up to watch some more. The pixie is a lot more sociable than the imp--usually, if he wants to play with anyone, it'll be with his baby sister (or he'll want to play "try to grab me and let me run from you"), but usually he wants to be off by himself playing with his blocks or trains; she wants to sit in a lap and play with someone. Quietly, most of the time. Usually with a baby doll.

One thing that gets both of their interest is books: they both love to be read to. The imp is doing his best to figure that reading thing out. He knows his entire alphabet, knows what sounds they make, and is starting to recognize some words. I'm trying to teach him about how the sounds go together so that he can sound things out and figure out words he doesn't recognize (you know, phonics: that thing that isn't taught in schools anymore).

He's going to be reading before he's caught up with talking.

The pixie is really starting to talk. Her vocabulary is expanding from mama, daddy, [variation of brother's name], kitty, and baba (for breast, when she's hungry). I've heard "see?" "look" "book" "door" "bath" and a one-word version of "I love you". And she's starting to string words together: she's said "shut door" recently, and this morning "hi bye Pawpaw" as she and the imp were heading out the door with Daddy to go meet Grandma and Grandpa to drop the imp off for an overnight visit.

The imp is at the same stage, but with less parroting and more meaning behind his two, three, or four word phrases.

She's got a lot more fine motor control than he does: he's better at carrying large things (I've seen him carry a three pound canister of chocolate milk mix from the car trunk to the front porch with no problems), but she's better at manipulating small ones. I tend to wear a pair of jungle combat boots (the same basic design as our troops wore in Vietnam), and tend to double knot the laces to keep from getting them untied by little fingers. Yeah, that doesn't work. The pixie has clever little fingers that make very short work of the knots. The imp still doesn't seem to know how to fasten or unfasten the Velcro on his shoes. Or maybe he doesn't care.

I posted yesterday that the whole idea that women and men are exactly the same except for body shape was not just wrong, but dumb. Watching my two kids and their development and sex-based personality traits (boy is active, loves building towers with blocks, or playing by himself with trains; girl is quieter, loves playing with and cuddling her baby dolls, or sitting on a lap and playing with someone) just proves that it is a dumb ideology.

Women in the military

2012-01-02T07:19:00.000-06:00

As I said earlier, I got one of the Barnes & Noble nook readers for Christmas. First thing I did was send my other half to Baen's free library after a few books. Included in that was some nonfiction. The third piece "The Amazon's Right Breast" by Tom Kratman, brought some past musings to the forefront of my mind. The piece explained, from a military man's perspective, why women in integrated combat units don't work, and will never work.

Musing #1: I hate ignorant, "but this isn't fair! We have to fix it to make it fair!" reformers.

Fair or not, society works. Society works for a reason, and that reason is that God made man and woman, made them different. My husband is a wonderful man--but he's not a nurturer. He's great with the kids, but often can't figure out what's causing a tantrum. Sometimes I can't, either, but I tend to have a better shot. Honestly, I'm not a nurturer by personality. I don't like people. But, somehow, with my kids, it just...happens. I assume it's biology/brain biochemistry, because it sure as hell wasn't socialization.

On the flip side, I can tell our son to go to his room, and half the time he'll try to tell me no. When Daddy says "go," he goes. I am just as strict, just as consistent as he is, but Mommy's the one that kisses boo-boos to make them better, or fixes chocolate milk. Yes, Mommy spanks, but Daddy's huge, and you do what Daddy says.

Same goes for the military. Men just tend to not listen to women (and that's assuming that the woman can bring herself to be more the disciplinarian than the nurturer). I've read studies that they just don't hear them--that they're trained by evolution and by socialization to listen for quieter, lower pitched sounds than most women's voices.

So, no: women can't be in command very well. Many of the ones I've met are too nurturing, and not...hardasses, I guess would be the best term I can come up with.

Musing #2: I hate the whole mindset that claims "A woman is just a differently shaped man."

No, I'm not. I am a woman, yes. I'm a very small woman. I'm under 5' tall. I'm not very strong, physically. I can't do even a quarter of what my husband can. Yes, I'm a better shot with a rifle. No, I can't carry that rifle and all the gear I'd need for hours and days on end. And no, I can't possibly expect someone else to carry my gear. Yes, I considered going into the military when I was young, but I was planning to take some desk job somewhere to free up someone who could cut it in the field.

The "anything you can do, I can do better" radical feminists haven't ever tried to do what men can do. Yes, we can keep up in any intellectual pursuit. No, we can't keep up physically.

Yes, there are exceptions, but they are just that: exceptions. That is not to say there aren't things women can do that men can't: women tend to have a higher pain tolerance than men, and tend to be able to multi-task much better than men. However, again, I do believe that's mental work, not physical.

(Although, on the physical side I dare any man to try giving birth to, or breastfeeding, a baby. Those little suckers bite, even before they have teeth. And they do it randomly and without warning.)

Musing # 3: I hate the whole "we can't let the awful men shut us out of their he-man woman-haters club (i.e., the military)" mindset.

I daresay that there are places in the military where women are invaluable: nursing (the whole nurturing thing--I've had male nurses and do not care for their bedside manner), clerical work, mechanical work in small spaces (small hands are great for something), armorers, and other light work.

Other than that, the military has always, always been a refuge for men--for them to learn how to be men, and for them to unapologetically be men. There has to be a place for them to joke around, to be rude, and to be able to express sides of their selves that make women uncomfortable without having to worry about who they're offending or frightening.

Each and every one of us has a dark side. Each and every one of us has a part of our psyche that they feel they can't express, mostly because they're afraid others will look on them with horror and revulsion. Men are told "You need to express your feelings," both by significant others and by society in general, then they're vilified for being so different from women: violent, angry (don't blame them, with the way they've been hemmed in at every turn to where they're afraid to give someone an honest compliment without being slapped with a charge of sexual harassment), focused, driven--just not women. The military gives men a place to let that side of themselves out for the ones in whom it's too strong to psychically amputate.

A lot of this post has probably seemed like hyperbole to many. To others, it will ring with God's honest truth. I will not apologize for my opinions. They are what they are.

Tune in next week for a post about how women are different, with different needs, from men (as well as more of what they're better at).

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

2012-01-01T00:00:00.000-06:00

May your 2012 be brighter than your 2011 was. And may your hangover be minimal.

A little early for that...

2011-12-31T22:34:00.003-06:00

It's about 10:30 p.m., and we're already hearing sporadic fireworks. If there's one thing it's bad to be, it's an ordinance tech with a premature detonation problem.

I wonder if it carries over to irritate their wives?

The year in review

2011-12-31T10:50:00.002-06:00

Much has happened, this year. We're all still alive, a year older, a year wiser, and a year more developed in the case of the kids.

Odysseus started blogging, early this year (welcome to the blog world, babe)--he does mostly commentary on politics, occupidiots, and posts a lot more videos than I do. I'll leave him to do his own "year in review" post, if he wants to.

I'm still blogging (trying to get back into at least one post every day), still teaching, and still writing fiction (in fact, I've managed to nearly finish an anthology of short fiction this Christmas break). I've managed to drop the pregnancy weight I gained with the pixie, and am now working on what I couldn't lose after I had the imp, thanks to a then-undiagnosed under-active thyroid. It's been treated, and breastfeeding a rapidly growing baby is melting the weight off of me. I've lost 35 pounds, and am still losing.

The imp has learned all of his letters, and can tell you what letter you show him (as long as it's capitalized). He can count to four, and still adores his baby sister (even though he's always pushing her away from his toys). He's started drinking chocolate milk, and can put away a full gallon inside of three days. He's finally topped the 30 pound mark--barely, and recently. Best of all, he's started really talking--independent two, three, or four word phrases; answering questions; asking for things he wants, and saying "please"; parroting new phrases, and working them into his rapidly ballooning databanks of words, word combinations, and ideas--though the frustration of being unable to communicate is still there, to a degree, it's being rapidly replaced by the frustration of being able to communicate his wants, and being told no.

The pixie was born a year ago, so she's changed the most. She was sitting up by herself by May (as in, sitting herself up, not staying sitting when somebody sat her up), crawling by July, cruising by August, and taking independent steps by October. She started running right around her first birthday. She consistently refused a bottle, refused to eat baby food, but now eats whatever we do, has been saying a few words (mama, daddy/papa, a version of her brother's name, baba [meaning breast, since she's breastfed], and kitty), and is beginning to add to her vocabulary. She recently repeated it when I said "shut the door" when it was naptime. She's gone from six pounds at birth to 21 pounds (briefly, just after Labor Day, before she started walking) and is quickly running her baby chub off (and stretching it out vertically).

I've managed bupkis on the whole self-improvement thing--I haven't managed to keep the house clean, I haven't managed to improve my teaching or my classes for my students, I haven't managed to not yell at the kids as much, haven't made it to church as often as Odysseus would like, haven't kept in contact with many of my friends or family (outside of the grandparents)...basically, I've totally failed at everything I promised myself I'd do.

But I'm trying. I keep trying. I don't throw my hands up, say "I can't do it, life just knocked me down, and I'm not going to keep getting back up" and give up. So, that means I'm managing one of my main life's ambitions: I'm not turning into my mother.

As for this coming year, I'm going to try to...

... get the back room (currently junk storage) cleaned up to the point it can be a play room for the imp while the pixie is sleeping (cement floors--he can jump to his heart's content without it reverberating through the whole house).

...teach the imp to read--he's on his way there, so I just need to help him a bit.

...be more patient with the kids.

...finish my short story anthology and get it sent to a publisher. Then forget about it until I hear back one way or the other.

...finish the novel I've got a third of the way done.

...keep writing one post per day, on average.

...attempt to get caught up on the housework. And then keep up a bit better.

I hope everyone who reads this did better on keeping their resolutions than I did last year, and has a great year in 2012.

(And please, Dear God, don't let Obama stay in the White House without a supermajority of real conservatives in congress roadblocking him and his progressive agenda at every turn. And please don't let the GOP replace Obama with Romney or the amphibian.)

Item review: Barnes and Noble's nook

2011-12-30T18:27:00.002-06:00

First impression: it's cute. It looks kind of like reading on a traditional paper and print page (i.e., if you want to read this in the dark, get a light for it--it isn't backlit like a computer screen). Baen's free library supports this type of reader, Barnes & Noble has a huge selection of free and low price novels (not to mention magazines and newspapers) for download, so there's a lot of stuff you can read on it.

I've had it for a day, now, and I can think of a couple of downsides to it: first of all, I can't figure out how to get the Baen free stuff from the website onto the reader--"zipping" has to do with what you do with your pants before leaving the bathroom, and "unzipping" is what got Clinton in trouble.

Second, I have a horribly fast reading speed--real reading, with comprehension and retention, not this skimming stuff they teach in speed reading classes on campus. It took me five hours to read Dune, and two days to read The Hobbit and all three volumes of The Lord of the Rings. I read most of the Harry Potter books in four hours or less. It takes me less than ten seconds to read the text on the screen (about three screens to a paperback page worth of text). Seriously. I'm telling it to flip to the next screen before it's done realizing it's on the screen I've just finished reading.

I do think it's worth the trouble, and definitely a brilliant idea--this little thing can hide in a legal pad (and then in my lap) to keep me from being bored spitless in the next academic meeting.

FFOT: bone deep exhaustion

2011-12-30T05:39:00.002-06:00

I love my family. I adore my children. I get along with Odysseus's parents better than I do my mother and aunts.

That said, I am so glad the holiday season is, for the most part over. Now, we just need to recover from it, and the colds that we each had going into it. I have a house to clean, kids (and spouse) to care for, and this utter exhaustion that Christmas caused can FTFO. With cheez. I don't have the time to deal with it, or the luxury to indulge it.

As always, the floor is yours. If you need to get something off your chest to go into the weekend with less tension, have at it.

Disgusting intrusion into parental territory.

2011-12-29T08:28:00.005-06:00

But what else are we to expect from the federal government? From a New York Post piece:

Would it bother you to know that the federal Centers for Disease Control had been shown your daughter’s health records to see how she responded to an STD/teen-pregnancy-prevention program? How about if the federal Department of Education and Department of Labor scrutinized your son’s academic performance to see if he should be “encouraged” to leave high school early to learn a trade? Would you think the government was intruding on your territory as a parent?

Given that it's my opinion that the government is stepping all over parental territory every day: schools that take teenagers to Planned Parenthood for abortions without parental notification, much less consent; children taken from decent homes because they complained that their parents swatted their hands or rears or grounded them, while children that live in abusive homes keep their heads down and are left with their vicitmizers; schools watching your child's weight and trying to take over who gets to decide what your child eats--yeah, the government is majorly overstepping its boundaries on the local, state, and now federal level.

Under regulations the Obama Department of Education released this month, these scenarios could become reality. The department has taken a giant step toward creating a de facto national student database that will track students by their personal information from preschool through career. Although current federal law prohibits this, the department decided to ignore Congress and, in effect, rewrite the law.

And this surprises people...why? Every government is, at heart, a tyranny. Tyrannies work best if there is nowhere they cannot look into an individual's life, especially their personal life. And where best to start but in their childhood? Get 'em used to it young, and they won't notice the way their privacy is slowly stripped away (except in cases of murdering their unborn babies), and their rights infringed upon.

Assuming they understand what their rights are, given how crappy civic education is on nearly every level.

The administration wants this data to include much more than name, address and test scores. According to the National Data Collection Model, the government should collect information on health-care history, family income and family voting status. In its view, public schools offer a golden opportunity to mine reams of data from a captive audience. (emphasis mine)

Okay, here's the nub: the federal government assumes that you will use public schools to educate your child. Currently. So, if you care about this (and you should), one way to neatly sidestep the whole issue is to sacrifice some of your lifestyle to put your kids in private school. The government is right to assume that individuals in public school are, in a sense, a captive audience: they have total authority over public education. It's one of the only reasons I have issues with Ronald Regan and his policies.

Right now, they only feel safe invading your privacy through your kids' public school records. Right now, it's still legal to choose whether to put your kids in public school, private school, or take them out of school systems altogether and teach them yourself.

I have two little ones, the oldest of which is three years from public school age (born after the cutoff date), if I were planning on sending them in the first place. Thing is, I am an educator. I know what the quality of public school education isn't--I see the end results, and the average readiness for college is falling, year by year. There are a few individuals who've been to private school their whole lives (we have two good K-12 ones here--one is Catholic, the other costs more per year than the university does), and a few who have been home schooled who are better students than the private school kids. Guess which route I'm planning to take with my kids?

Right now, the federal government assumes that your kids are their property, and assume that you are a captive audience through their education. The federal government doesn't realize that their captive audience isn't as captive as they'd like to think.

Unfortunately, their "captive audience" isn't likely to shrink, as most parents are either uninformed, or just don't care.

What a parent must do.

2011-12-27T18:10:00.001-06:00

Okay, this is pretty disgusting. I want to know who paid the guy to turn his back so that the 9 year old girl could be taken.

I also want to know how the stupid parents could ask someone who lived in a trailer park populated by registered sex offenders to babysit little girls in his home.

A parent's first responsibility is to ensure their kids' safety. The parents failed their daughter badly.

I have had the flu while taking care of my kids. It doesn't matter that I'm sick--I get up and do my job anyway. Armed. Because if I'm sick, I'll be a little slower making it to a tool to ensure my children's safety in the event of my door being kicked down. If I was down sick too hard, Odysseus would pick up with whatever I couldn't do, even if he did work nights.

Our kids come first. They eat before we do, they get new clothes before we do, their medicine (if any) is bought first. We don't stop taking care of them just because we're sick, or tired. We don't hand them off to "trusted family friends." It is our joy and responsibility to care for them before we care for us. They come first.

No way would we permit them to go anywhere near a registered sex offender (or one that's even a little creepy around kids)--much less fifteen of them--without both armed guards (their parents) present, and at 100%.

(story linked via Odysseus)

Human beings v. animals

2011-12-27T08:59:00.002-06:00

I posted a while back about the difference between the species of H. sapiens and human beings, and whose responsibility it is to turn new members of the species into human beings. I'd like to go into that a bit further, today.

As everyone who reads my blog knows, I have a small son (three years, going through the terrible twos a year late) and daughter (just turned a year earlier this month). They're great kids for their age, but their attention is firmly planted on what they want, getting what they want, and doing what they want, all when they want it.

Last week, I had just sat down with an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie, and the pixie walked up to where I was sitting, and gave me the big, pitiful eyes, smacking her little lips. So, of course, I broke off a pixie-sized bite, and put it in her mouth. Unfortunately, I put my cookie (which I'd eaten maybe two bites of) within her reach, and she yanked it out of my hand and took off at her full running speed.

Cute as that is, that's a behavior I'll have to work to curb. She also tries it with her brother's toys. Granted, he does the same, but I've been working on his behavior a lot longer than I have hers, and he tries to wait until we're not paying attention to take toys from her.

So, rule 1 that we're trying to enforce is: Don't take things from other people.

It's pretty obvious that not everyone is teaching their kids the same thing. There are videos all over the internet of purse snatchings, robberies, and all manner of animals taking things from others.

The imp has taken to shoving the pixie, recently--sometimes, he pushes her away from a toy they both want (that neither has picked up yet), sometimes, she's just in his way. Occasionally, he'll slap her for picking up something he wants, either a Cheerio or a toy or a book. Sometimes, there doesn't even seem to be a reason: he'll run up to her as she's standing in the middle of the room and just push her over. That behavior gets Mom or Dad showing him what it's like, and then gets him sent to his room.

We've been working on curbing this behavior, too. Rule 2: Don't hit or push people just because.

Apparently, not many parents bother to teach their kids these rules, either. Anyone heard of the "Knock Out" game? Basically, a pack of wild children/teenagers pick out someone who don't look like they'll fight back, choose one of their number to be the aggressor, then attack the chosen victim. They literally beat the snot out of them until they're down and unconscious or badly hurt.

The story linked blames lack of brain development, and how kids can't foresee the consequences of their actions: in other words, it's really nobody's fault.

Bullshit.

Kids are vicious, selfish little beasts, by nature. A child has to be taught empathy (putting themselves in someone else's shoes), and the rules of civilization. The best teachers are the parents. Currently, most parents are giving birth, then dropping their kids in daycares, Head Start/preschool--basically doing everything but teaching their kids themselves. I would be willing to bet that not one of the animals in the stories/videos I linked have even one parent invested in raising them, not one regularly attends a church that actively teaches right from wrong, and not one has anyone who cares enough about them to set boundaries.

Unfortunately for the rest of us, that means nobody is raising these kids. I foresee an epidemic of violent, stupid sociopaths that lack any idea of what it means to be human.

Celebrate! For unto you is born this day a savior.

2011-12-24T20:25:00.002-06:00

1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. 2 ([And] this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) 3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) 5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. 6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 12 And this [shall be] a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Luke 2:1-14, KJV

Just a short reminder of the reason behind the season. Merry Christmas, and may God bless you all.

FFOT: grinches

2011-12-23T07:37:00.002-06:00

I'm not the biggest fan of the Christmas season, partially because I think the commercial aspect is so overdone that the meaning behind the holiday disappears, and partially because my family overspends so horribly (when they're on fixed income and in debt over their heads), can't seem to get together without fighting, and kind of go into hyperventilating hysterics of excitement where it comes to opening presents.

That said, people who get offended by the mere mention of Christmas can f-off. I do not appreciate political correctness trying to marginalize those of us who are Christian at any time, much less during our highest holy days of Christmas and Easter. They bend over so far backwards for Muslims on their holidays that they wind up with their heads firmly inserted into someplace dark, humid, and fragrant, but choose to be "offended" by any mention of Christmas or Christ that they hyperventilate over a simple wish for a happy holiday season. They work so hard to force Christ out of the season that they've harassed cashiers into saying "Happy Holidays," and taken all references to Christmas out of Christmas plays (now called "Solstice concerts" for small children), Christmas Break (now called "Winter Break"), and even Christmas trees ("Holiday trees--the one at the White House features Obama, this year).

I'm so tired of all the political correctness that I've started going out of my way to offend those individuals. I wish people a "Merry Christmas," loudly, and with a smile that carries the glee of feeling like I've pissed somebody off.

And that, especially in this time of year, isn't right.

Welcome

2011-12-22T17:00:00.002-06:00

I found a blog through Duke's blog recently--Preachers and Horse Thieves--read a few of his posts, then added him to my blog roll and hit his follower button. He has since returned the favor.

Welcome, Shepherd. Put your feet up and let me pour you a drink. I got bourbon, scotch, coffee, tea, or cocoa--your pick.

Interesting case of spin

2011-12-22T11:17:00.002-06:00

Headline reads: "Romney: I'd deport Obama's uncle"--sounds petty, doesn't it?

The headline doesn't include the information that Obama's uncle is in the US illegally, nor that he'd been arrested for DUI in August.

And, if you click on the headline, you get this: "In an interview with Boston radio host Howie Carr on Wednesday, Romney said 'yes' when asked if Onyango Obama should be deported."

So, Romney didn't actually say "I'd deport Obama's uncle."

The manipulated headline shows exactly where the story writer's political opinions lay. An honest, factual headline would say something more like "Romney: Illegal immigrants should be deported" or maybe "Romney: I'd deport illegal immigrants"--maybe not quite as short, but definitely not as petty.

Nope, the writers just make it sound like Mitt Romney (who I really detest as a closet Marxist and a hypocrite) is just a petty s.o.b. who would deport someone just because he's related to someone in the political opposition.

A fortunate turn of events

2011-12-22T10:34:00.003-06:00

Ran across an odd headline on Drudge this morning, one of those you just have to click on to get the story.

Basically, a man (apparently drunk) shot at a mouse in the kitchen with his 9mm handgun (type undisclosed by the story). Bullet went through the wall, and hit a housemate in the chest while he was in the bathroom. As the police were investigating the shooting, they found the third housemate's girlfriend hiding in the basement.

The guy with the questionable judgement and unreasoning fear of mice was 27, the one in the bathroom that got shot was 28, and the third guy was 34. The third guy's girlfriend was 13.

Wait, what?

Yep, the 13 year old girl had been having a "relationship" with the 34 yo man for several months, sneaking out so her daddy didn't find out about it.

Needless to say, Johnny Perv got arrested and charged.

Thank God for drunk idiots with guns and a fear of mice (even if the other housemate would disagree).

Comfort food needed

2011-12-21T18:08:00.005-06:00

I've come down with a bad cold. My sinuses are so swollen I feel like my eyes are about to pop out.

Needless to say, I've got a headache, can't breathe, and don't feel like eating.

Supper, however, was really good. I made biscuits and sausage gravy. The biscuits turned out better than the Pillsbury biscuits in a can, and the sausage turned out stick-to-your-ribs thick.

The biscuit recipe is in the recipes tab above (or just click on this link), and we usually use the Morrison's Country Gravy mix, but my mom's recipe for gravy is below:

1/2 bulk sausage
1/4 c oil
1/4 c flour
2 c milk

1. Brown the sausage.
2. Add the oil and the flour, stir constantly to make a paste.
3. Slowly add the milk, stirring constantly.
4. Bring back to boil, stirring constantly, for 1 minute.
5. Remove from heat. Should thicken as it stands.

Again, this isn't how I generally make gravy--I can never manage to get it quite right. The Morrison's mix works really well, and is really easy to make.

Adulthood vs. childhood

2011-12-20T18:07:00.003-06:00

I've got about a dozen books I want to read. I've got a few Simon Green books that I've had on my list for a while, four by Larry Correia, and two by David Weber. I also have the second in Rothfuss's Kingkiller Chronicles. And those are just the ones we have. I want to dive into a book as soon as I wake up, and not come out until the book is finished, then dive into the next. I think, were I to do this, I'd have my reading list knocked out in, oh, about a week (given that I can devour two to three novels in a day, if I do nothing else but read--I used to do that all the time).

I want, very badly, to go shooting. I want to load up a ton of ammo, my two favorite rifles, and that lovely little .22 Winchester that someone so defiled (filed the front sight off, but put a 3/4 inch by three inch long rail for a scope that I had to put a holographic red dot sight on) and go play. I've done my work, now it's Christmas break, and time to play. Right? Right.

Only, I have a three year old son and a one year old daughter who's just gotten over a virus. Both need constant supervision, and care, and for Mommy to get in the floor and play with them and read to them. I have a house to continue to catch up on cleaning. I have Christmas baskets to assemble, cookies and meals to cook. I may be done with what I get paid to do, but I still have responsibilities that I have to keep up with. I'm an adult, and that's what adults do.

I want to go out and get about a dozen more books that I've had on my mental list for a while, and one of those CZ 527s I had an opportunity to handle before my son learned to walk. I want to remodel my kitchen, my hall bathroom, and my back room. I want to take the (sagging, splintering, and generally unsafe and ugly) deck off of the back of the house and replace it with a nice patio, and maybe an arbor to train flowers up over for shade for a bench. I want about four or five new bookcases, all solid wood, not cheap knock-together crap from Walmart.

Only, right now, we're treading water. Currently, mine is the main monthly income, and it's just enough to get by on, and that only with help from our savings account. We've cut expenses nearly as far as we can, and I can't think of anything much else we can cut. We can't afford to buy more books, or guns, or do anything but basic repairs and maintenance to the house. So, we pinch pennies, spend as little as possible, and that on things we need, while making plans for what we want when we can afford it, after we've gotten our retirement accounts and kids' college funds fully funded. I'm an adult. That's what adults do.

Sadly, Odysseus and I are two adults in a nation of children. I have, maybe, two other friends that I'd classify as "adults"--they take care of needs, first, then wants with any money they have left, and don't overspend much or often. They take care of their responsibilities and their kids before they take care of themselves. The saddest part of this is that I have about a dozen people I'd call a friend, in real life, and only two that I classify as adults. Not a good proportion, but an accurate representation of the level of maturity this country's citizens tend to have.

No, it's not "fair" that we can't do what we want, when we want, or buy everything we want when we want it. Then again, "fair" is a concept for playgrounds and classrooms, not one that applies in the adult world.

Every attempt to make it apply where it doesn't has either started with or ended in tyranny.

And only a few days to go.

2011-12-20T12:23:00.003-06:00

Well, I now have all the materials to make the gift baskets for my family. All I have to do is get over whatever virus I've caught, clean up the kitchen, find my sifter (I have cocoa, sugar, and powdered milk--might as well make some hot chocolate mix to add to the baskets), assemble spice packets for the crock-p0t chicken recipe, and assemble the baskets.

Oh, and make cookies. We're almost out, my recipe makes a good four dozen, and a half dozen or so would be a good addition to the goodie baskets.

The imp, who's a big fan of Thomas and Friends, is getting this from us, and this* from his granny (he calls her genny--sounding like the name of this bird). The pixie is a huge baby doll fan, so we got her a little purple pajama doll--the body of the doll is the pajamas, with a rubber baby doll head.

Yes, I'm looking forward to the excitement that I know the kids will have in getting their gifts, but I'm also looking forward to the busy part of the season being over. I cannot express how grateful I am that the shopping part of the season is over. Now, I just can't wait for the rest of our town to revert to what passes for sanity.

Grocery shopping at this time of year sucks.

*cute story attached--the imp was playing with another engine, squeezed his eyes shut, and wished real hard for it to turn into the one he's getting for Christmas. He wasn't real bummed when it didn't, but he asks for that particular engine every so often.

Dinner tonight

2011-12-19T08:21:00.004-06:00

Thank God I've recently gotten into the habit of pre-planning dinner. The pixie woke me up at 7:00, a little fussy, and when I picked her up, she felt like she was running a fever. Couldn't tell you how much--the imp loves the thermometer because it beeps! And poof--it disappears shortly after we find it, every time we find it. Acetaminophen isn't helping much, and we ran out of baby ibuprofen drops last week. (Odysseus is out to Walmart for both.)

I will be going into the kitchen as soon as he comes back and can watch the pixie for a few moments and putting a chicken into the crock pot, and turning it on low for the day. 'Round supper time, I'll put some frozen veggies in the microwave, and maybe a sweet potato or two, and some biscuits* in the oven. When those are done, the chicken will be, too.

Total prep time (if you don't include the way the chicken has been marinating in spices overnight) will be about 5 minutes, with maybe 15 minutes of cook time (again, not counting the chicken).

Best of all, tomorrow night will be the leftover chicken turned into a chicken enchilada casserole*. One of those chickens makes three casseroles, so we'll have one to eat, and two to freeze.

*Recipes for easy simple biscuits and Chicken Enchilada Casserole are in the My Recipes tab above the posts.

this explains so much.

2011-12-17T06:22:00.003-06:00

I kind of understand how and why Duct Tape offers scholarships for the best prom formals made from Duct Tape. A) it's great publicity, B) it displays creativity and ingenuity, and C) I'd bet the individuals that design and make their own clothes from Duct Tape would make great engineers and/or troubleshooters.

What I don't understand is this: exactly what does Twitter display about being college material? How can tweeting demonstrate any abilities that would be an asset to a college student? The essays that were required for scholarships from everything like an MBA program to the KFC and Amazon cash prize scholarships displayed an ability to write (even if it was formulaic and "unoriginal," as the MBA program in the article claimed), and an ability to do unpleasant things to get a chance at a reward.

The MBA program hopes that using technology might bring life back into an application process that got "boring." Hate to tell you, sweetie, but "boring" is part of life, and to try to teach kids otherwise is what helped to create the Occupy movement.

Oh, wait: most of my colleagues are spoiled brat Occupy types that got lucky enough for their degree in women's studies, African-American post-Colonial literature studies, and Harry Potter studies (I only wish I was kidding on that last one), to actually help them find a job instead of proving them worthless to employers.

If programs want to incorporate media into their application process, they need to look at full-length blogs, or the sum total of someone's Twitter account if they must use Twitter as a yardstick to award a scholarship.

Because, seriously, one of the main sources of whining about the papers I assign isn't "I don't know what to write about" but "Does it have to be that long?" And, with the exception of the research paper (6-8 pages), the papers I assign are usually a minimum of 3 pages. The whining about length of the weekly blogging assignment--three 300 word posts (Comp I) or two 500 word posts (102) per week--is far worse, especially from kids that have gotten used to Myspace, Facebook, and texting. Using a single, 140 character message as a basis to award a scholarship is just going to exacerbate that problem.

FFOT: this.

2011-12-16T00:01:00.001-06:00

This can fuck right the fuck off, with rusty chainsaws dipped in rancid habanero cheez sauce and broken glass. If the fucktard in the White House does not instantly veto this abortion of a set of laws, he is going to find out what happens when you rile the generation that his generation fucked over in Vietnam, and it is not going to be pretty.

May the authors of those bills wake up with the fleas of all the camels in the world nesting in their genitalia. May their homes be infested with bedbugs, body lice, crabs, and roaches. May every exterminator refuse to help them and make it clear that the vermin will not leave because of the shitpiles that attracted them. May their pets be frigid and their spouses incontinent.

May their lives become so miserable that they each and every one suck-start a shotgun.

Go to the link, then chime in in the comments.

Oh, and lastly, for Ricki: CCFOAD.

Let me think about this one...

2011-12-15T15:56:00.003-06:00

I turned grades in early yesterday morning. Had a pretty good spread through the grading scales with a few Fs because students can't be arsed to do the work for the classes they sign up for, but won't drop the class.

This afternoon, I got an email from a student begging for an incomplete instead of the F she so richly earned.

Back in early August, I met with her in person to help her get her blog set up. She was kind of intermittent in her blogging, and in early September, contacted me to tell me that her mother was ill. That was the last I heard from her, and she never turned in a lick of work.

So, now that semester's over, she's emailing me begging me for an incomplete (like I have the time or desire to grade her entire semester's worth of work she didn't do) because her mother died, her brother died, she has her kids and her brother's kids, and she's on some kind of government scholarship to pay for her classes, but loses the money if she fails even one class, she can't keep going to college if she loses the money and it's worse now with so many more kids to care for, oh please help.

I'm a sucker for a sob story. If a student is having trouble early in the semester, tell me, and I'll go out of my way to help them. If a student has crap happen just before a due date, and tell me before the due date, I'll usually offer an extension. I'll keep offering extensions as long as communication happens. (I had a married couple stay in contact dealing with an in-law's death, and then a daughter's messy divorce with the daughter and grandkids moving in with them. They were a few weeks late with a lot of it. They caught up and earned Bs--and if they hadn't been in contact with me, I would have failed them without blinking.)

I don't have a lot of sympathy for this girl. She's one of the stereotypical cheerleader types: pretty, popular, has gotten a lot of special consideration for it, and expects that consideration. That's demonstrated by contacting the teacher almost a week after the last day of classes, begging for an incomplete instead of the F she earned.

Couldn't sleep.

2011-12-14T06:35:00.003-06:00

Those orange foam earplugs come in really handy during allergy and cold season. Odysseus can snore, sometimes, and those things aren't uncomfortable to sleep in.

In any case, he woke me at ten 'til six this morning to go feed the pixie, and I found myself wide awake. No way could I get back to sleep. So here I am.

On the one hand, I'm kind of wistful--it's going to be a long day, because my mom is bringing one of my aunts to help me with getting caught up on housework that I fell behind on during the semester, and some I never got caught up on from being pregnant and exhausted and miserably sick. But I will admit that being the only one (besides the cat) up is...surprisingly peaceful.

I've got some last minute grading to look at--one of my students begged me to take enough late work to at least manage a D. She wrote 18 blog posts, at 300 words/post, all between 9:45 and 3:15. I'm a little stunned at that, given that she hasn't worked so hard all semester. She basically wrote the equivalent of four papers in five and a half hours. So, since I'm feeling generous, I'll give her the D.

The other thing this lets me do is work on writing. I've got an anthology of short stories about two-thirds of the way done, with one of the stories about half done and up in Word; a novel about the same; and two more novel ideas and two more short story anthologies in the works. I've got five and a half weeks free (well, free except for the bustle around Christmas), so I'm going to see if I can't get at least the short story anthology done. If I finish the novel, well--that's just gravy.

The pixie has actually been napping, for the past several days. Two hours at a stretch. Yeah, sometimes she'll wake up, but she's got a new friend that seems to be just magic at getting her to go back to sleep. Heck, "Dog-dog" seems to be able to get her to go to sleep, after a little bit of fussing that gets shorter every day. Seems like the pixie gets distracted from standing screaming and jumping at the rail by the toy, sits down to play with it, lays down to play with it, then blinks one time too many. I hate, hate, hate noisy toys, but that one seems to just be magic.

The imp has a new "toy," too. I think he's going to learn to read early--he's able to name all of the letters of the alphabet, in or out of order. Any case, he's obsessed with coming up to Odysseus's knees or my elbow while one of us is working on the computer, then he'll name the computer (Odysseus's computer's name seems to be "Green" for the light around the power button), then start pointing to keys on the keyboard and telling us the letters. (He also knows "delete" and can say that pretty clearly. Thank God he doesn't push the buttons he names.) So, since he really likes the alphabet, I took an old keyboard from a computer that died long ago, cut the wire off, and gave it to the imp to play with. It has quickly become a favorite.

I think we'll have to start teaching him to use a computer, soon. There's at least one cute game on Odysseus's desktop that's designed for kids his age. Before you know it, he'll be blogging, too.

Discipline issues

2011-12-12T21:06:00.003-06:00

I'd like some advice from those of my readers that have raised kids, and maybe have a grandkid or two. My imp apparently didn't skip the terrible twos after all--he's hit them, just now, a year late. I've tried all the tricks I know to curb the tantrums: offering a choice between two things I'd like him to do, time outs (which do not work to prevent them. At all. All it does is get him out of our hair while he screams and stomps around--and at least they're shorter in his room with the door closed and no attention), spankings, removal of toys and/or privileges...we've tried it all, and none of it works. It's his way, or a temper tantrum.

A good example happens every morning. I fix his breakfast (sausage links) and leave it where he can reach it, but the pixie can't. He screams and shakes his head that he won't eat, then turns around and asks for milk. I don't grant this, because I've learned that he fills up on the milk, and won't eat. So he doesn't get milk until after he eats. He knows this, but does the same thing every morning: screaming, stomping temper tantrum on sight of sausage; I turn off the television, say "fine, go to your room and close the door until you're done screaming"; he goes, calms down, and comes back out, and asks for milk. I tell him "sausage, first, then milk," so he tries for orange juice. "Sausage first." Screaming temper tantrum, exile to calm down, then back, and asks for milk, orange juice, and then water. I give him a little drink--enough to quench thirst--then wait. He asks for milk again, and I point at the sausage. He throws a screaming tantrum, tells me "NO!" gets a spanking, and gets sent to his room. When he's let out, the cycle continues.

Breakfast sometimes takes half an hour, sometimes takes until lunch. Sometimes he'll settle down in time to watch Sesame Street, sometimes he won't. And it doesn't matter if it's sausage (though that's the most likely to be eaten), Cream o' Wheat, yogurt, or what have you: he insists on his way or throws a tantrum.

I am at the end of my rope, and don't know what I'm doing wrong.

What to do for clutter bugs for Christmas?

2011-12-11T15:41:00.003-06:00

Give them food, of course. There are baskets out there already put together with gourmet jerky for exorbitant prices, or fruit for merely outrageous. There's the Omaha steak option, if you can afford it, and the Fruit of the Month clubs.

Frankly, that's totally out of our budget. Especially since my whole family tends to be clutter bugs.

Don't get me wrong--I understand why. Most of my family are on a fixed income, the rest on near-minimum wage. And they own property they really can't afford to pay taxes on or take care of, can't budget (or stick to one, when they try to set one), and can't plan ahead well enough to be able to predict "unexpected" expenses, like oil changes. They almost have to keep everything--they're not able to predict what they'll need to fix something that breaks, so they wind up throwing away exactly the part they'd need.

With examples like that, I don't know how I wound up even as functional as I am.

So. I'm on a very tight budget, this year, and want to do treat baskets for my family (Mom & sister are planned for--three other households to take care of). Best I can do is buy everything separately and assemble them myself.

I'm starting with a partial ten-pound bag of naval oranges--we got it to make cranberry relish before Thanksgiving*, so I don't figure that into the cost of the basket. And a pomegranate apiece for each of two households (again, kind of got a box of four partially for me, so it isn't figured into the cost). Found a six pound box of really good pretzels (six 1 lb bags in the box) that I got to go with sandwiches at home, and plan to use that as filler. I also thought that I might assemble a few little bags of pre-mixed spice packets for whole roast chicken rub that I use, and maybe some homemade hot cocoa mix.

Now, into the things that I'm going to have to buy. I can get a 10 pound bag of apples for under $5, so a bag of those will go into the baskets I'm going to be assembling. My relatives love avocados and guacamole, so I can get a bag of those to split between the households. I suppose a gift basket can't be complete without cheese, so one relative will get some jack with habanero, another will get the jack with pesto, another will get garlic and herb--out of a cheese wheel with four types in individually wrapped quarters.

Last, I'll likely look through the produce section at our local Wal-Mart to find some little things to finish out the baskets to individualize them. I don't have any idea what I'll look for, or find, yet.

And yes, I do already have the baskets for them. You wouldn't believe how much of that crap my family already has, and how much they're sure I'll love (I don't). Or how quickly they forget where the baskets came from, so re-gifting in my family isn't a problem--I swear, they can hide their own Easter eggs (or buy their own Christmas presents, and it'll still be a surprise).

So, no, I don't have my Christmas shopping done, yet. I probably should wait for at least a little while longer, too, to make sure the fruit is as fresh as possible.

Great. I'll have to shop with the crazy people that wait until the last minute.

Oh, by the way, here's the recipe I referenced earlier. It's one of my favorite treats.

*Cranberry-Orange Relish
1 lb cranberries, sorted & washed
1 orange, with peel, quartered
1 c sugar

Combine in blender or food processor. Run appliance until this is the consistency of pickle relish (or finer). Add sugar, if needed. This is really good on club crackers, or biscuits.

Miscellaneous musings

2011-12-10T06:03:00.000-06:00

I've gathered the equipment to start reloading, but since the kids still need constant supervision, I haven't got the time to start doing so. When I do have the time, I also have the space: a back room with a cement floor. All that would be needed would be to take out that cheap outdoor carpeting, and build a reloading bench.

Another thing I'd like to learn how to do (and have the equipment for when I can find the time to set it up) is sewing my own (and my kids') clothes. I plan to use the other end of the reloading bench for this.

I do wish the kids were big enough that they didn't need constant supervision, but I love that they're so small. I love cuddling with them, and reading to them. I really love it when they both climb into my lap, but I'm starting to not be able to hold them both like that. The boy is three and a half feet tall, and just around 30 pounds, and the bitty girl isn't so bitty anymore: she's about two and a half feet tall, and about 21 or 22 pounds. I am under 5' tall, so that's just not a lot of lap.

Do you know how hard it is to write, or knit, when you've got a small child (or two) hanging off of your elbow chanting "up! up!"? Makes me want to scream, sometimes (not at them, just in frustration).

I really hate the V-Tech noisy toys. The laptop, teaching top, and the turtle are incredibly obnoxious. I really hate that they were gifts from family. They're limited to the bathroom during potty training time, or the imp's bedroom.

I really hate that my rule of "Give my kids a noisy toy, and I'll give you a kitten/puppy/obnoxiously loud pet toy" hurts feelings. GET OVER YOURSELF. If it's not staying at your house, I'm the one that has to deal with it.

Grade blogs and post grades, and I'm done with classes until the third week of January.

Next direct deposit paycheck is just before Christmas. The one after that is the last working day of February--after six weeks of work. Four pay periods in five months sucks.

FFOT: Al Gore and this guy.

2011-12-09T01:00:00.001-06:00

I am getting so sick of the hand-wringing, Prius-driving, nihilistic, save Mother Nature ecoweenies. It's bad enough that they're always preaching at us (eating meat is killing the environment, using incandescent bulbs is killing the environment, breathing and farting and fucking and breeding is killing the environment), but now they're endangering our children, too. First, we have the couple almost two years ago that shot their kids (baby girl survived, toddler brother didn't) then themselves, and now we've got a school headmaster in Britain turning off the heat in his school on the coldest day of the year so far to reduce their carbon footprint.

Al Gore, and all of the brainless fart muffins that bloviate about how the earth is going to burn up and drown from rising sea levels AT THE SAME TIME!!! can fuck right the fuck off. May each and every one of the global warming consensus be assplowed by the First Wookie riding a bio-diesel four-wheeler, using her brainless husband as a strap on. With rancid habanero nacho cheez product dip as a lubricant.

I can tell them that no, global warming is not caused by humans, it is a natural cycle , of which we are on the cooler half of. Ask anybody who has joints that hurt when the weather gets cold, and then ask them if they'd prefer some more of that global warming magic.

Addendum: feel free to take over the comments and rant about your week. Don't worry about your language--nobody will mind (or blame you) if you cuss.

pop culture irks me

2011-12-08T12:38:00.002-06:00

Especially popular slang. Most especially popular slang most prevalent in gansta style rap (will not grace that crap with the term "music").

I don't much like diamonds, either. Don't wear much jewelry--don't like it, and have toddlers that are clumsy enough to hurt me with it if I am dumb enough to wear it around them.

Those two things make me really hate when this one particular site--an online jewelry store specializing in diamonds, called Ice--pops up over my news feed.

Simple marinara

2011-12-08T08:44:00.003-06:00

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 small onion (or 1/3 c dried minced or chopped onion, reconstituted)
1 tsp minced garlic (or 2 garlic cloves)
1 can tomato paste*
1 can diced tomatoes
mushrooms (dehydrated or fresh--canned ones are slimy)
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1 sm. can sliced black olives (optional)
1 tsp Italian seasoning blend
1/4 tsp cumin

1. In a small saucepan, heat olive oil to the point that when you drop the onion in, it sizzles, then cook the onions until they're nearly clear, stirring constantly. 2. Add garlic to pan, shaking to spread out evenly, turn burner down to medium heat, cook for a couple minutes while you open cans. 3. Add tomato paste and diced tomatoes, mix well. 4. Add mushrooms, peppers, and seasoning, and turn the burner down to medium low.

On another burner, take a medium-large pot, fill with water, bring to a boil and cook your pasta. (You can do this at the same time as you're making your sauce--or you can start the pasta first) When your pasta is done, drain it, and put it back in the pot. Then, take your sauce and mix into pasta.

I like this because it takes about fifteen minutes to cook, and is good on a variety of pastas, and it's just as easy to brown a bit of hamburger meat or Italian sausage in with the onions for a meat sauce. My kids (both of them) like it over the dry tortellini or mini raviolis you can get at Wal-Mart. Look for the bag that says it has 4-6 servings.

*Open both ends of the tomato paste can, discard one of the ends, then use the other to push the paste out of the can. Tomato paste is thick enough that if you don't do this, you'll have to dirty another utensil getting it scraped out of the can.

We have to help people avoid foreclosures! How can we do that?!

2011-12-07T15:17:00.003-06:00

I have a good idea on that: require 20% down payments, in cash, a good job, very little other debt (including NO student or IRS debt), and limit them to a mortgage with a payment that is no more than a quarter of their family's net income.

I doubt that's what Dear Leader meant when he told JPMorgan to do more to help people avoid foreclosures.

Hey, Obamorons--you cannot tell a mortgage lender to make any size loan to anyone that asks AND expect the foreclosure rate to stay low. That doesn't work in the real world. It doesn't even work in the rock candy mountain with cotton candy cloud dream world that most academics inhabit (though they'd never admit it).

H. Sapiens v. human beings

2011-12-06T10:00:00.001-06:00

Yesterday, Odysseus wrote a post about those in authority turning humans into animals. As I’ve written before, there is a large element of that—as the government makes poverty comfortable, they create a semi-permanent underclass which is difficult but not impossible to escape. Schools are part of that process, as An Ordinary American writes: “Let's face it: Our public schools suck.”

However, he goes into another element of how human beings get turned into animals: “[Public schools] suck because the administrators suck, most of the teachers suck and almost all of the parents who rely on the public school system to raise their children suck.”* He only touches on it briefly, and then goes on into the incident that brought him to write about this realization.

He’s right: parents, in general, suck. I think a good part of it is that since both parents in most families work, they don’t want to put up with the difficult task of disciplining their children for bad behavior. They want to come home to a household without the stress of responsibility.

And being a parent is a huge responsibility. As parents, we are supposed to encourage our children’s curiosity, to help them learn about the world. It’s our job to teach them how to separate wants and needs, and how to delay gratification of their wants so that they can make sure needs are seen to first. It’s our task to teach them the rules of civilization and society, and to help them find their place in it. Our duty to teach them responsibility and reliability. And our blessing to watch them grow into adults that can take care of themselves, and someday carry the cycle on and raise their own families.

Unfortunately, many are falling down on those responsibilities. Parents are no longer raising their children to be civilized beings. It’s sheer laziness on their part, and it’s failing their children, but there it is.

I am a proud mother to two wonderful children: a three year old son, and a newly-turned one year old daughter. Both of them are very well behaved for their age—we’re always complimented on that, and to see the proof, all we have to do is go out in public and watch other parents with their children.

Almost without exception, what we see proves that, as a nation we’re fucked: no one is raising their children to be anything but self-indulgent animals.

And that, my friends, is what is permitting the government to step in. The overgrown children that form the progressive movement still need a minder, and assume that everyone needs the same overseers that they do.

Humans don’t need a minder controlling their actions. Animals do. And H. sapiens is well on his way to becoming just another animal.

*emphasis is mine

For easier use

2011-12-05T10:46:00.003-06:00

I've been posting recipes for a while, under the tag of Mother's Little Helper. I've added a page with links to the recipes (look up top), so if any of you want a specific one, you don't have to go through the entire tag's worth to find it.

Happy birthday to my pretty little pixie.

2011-12-04T16:30:00.000-06:00

From the first hour of her life, she's been a snuggle-bug. She loves to cuddle, and loves to play with people. She leads us over to unhappy, depressed, and lonely elderly people in public so that she can visit with them (climbs right up into laps, she does) and try to brighten their day.

I've never seen her fail to cheer someone up.

She's so very sweet tempered--she rarely fusses unless there's something wrong. She's always happy and smiling, especially when she's wearing pretty clothes and shoes.

She is such a girl...she's happiest wearing dresses, and her favorite toys are baby dolls. A close second are stuffed animals.

None of the pictures we took yesterday turned out very good--we're getting used to a new camera. Sorry about that. Here are a couple of her dressed up for Thanksgiving.

Can you tell she's teething?

Anticipating the flash, here.

She puts up a fight every time we take one of her dresses off her to get her into jammies, or get her into something that she can make a mess with for meals. Anytime we go to put pretty clothes on her, she coos and holds still or helps us dress her.

She and her brother are still absolute best friends. Yes, they're starting to fight a bit over toys, but they hate being separated when they're being disciplined for fighting.

I can't believe she's been in our lives for a year--it seems simultaneously nowhere near as long, and seems like she's always been here. I cannot imagine life without her, or her brother.

Time comes creeping up...

2011-12-03T09:01:00.004-06:00

Lots of things are creeping up. First of all is my daughter's first birthday on Sunday. We're going to Odysseus's parents' today to celebrate it (and to pick up the imp who spent last night to go to the Christmas parade with them this morning). The pixie is about half dressed--a long sleeved onesie and a pair of tights that we'll put a little jumper dress over (I'll post pictures later--she's too cute in this outfit)--wandering around babbling and playing with her baby dolls and the stuffed animals that she and the imp share ownership of. She's walking well enough now that she doesn't crawl anymore, unless there's something she wants under a piece of furniture.

She had her birthday party with my family last weekend, will be getting made much over today by Grandma and Grandpa, and will be getting presents from us tomorrow. I don't really see the point in hosting a huge party for little ones that aren't even in school yet--strikes me as just another one of those "keeping up with (or outdoing) the Jones" things that I have no interest in. Yes, my friends are fond of her, but I think a party that the kids would enjoy would bore the spit out of anyone who isn't a parent. And since both of mine are under five, a party they'd enjoy would bore the spit out of our friends' kids.

The next thing creeping up is the end of the semester. Last day of classes is next Friday. The next week is finals week, but I don't give final exams. I plan to get all of my grading done, grades figured, and get them posted before the middle of finals week so that my Christmas Break can start early.

I've got about three weeks of backlogged blog grading* to do, but I'm done grading first drafts of last papers. I'll be grading revisions as they come in next week.

It's funny, but as much as I love my job, I always look forward to when semesters are over--moreso now that I teach online and don't ever really make the close connections with my students. Don't get me wrong: I love being home with the kids, and I love not having to put up with my colleagues' opinions that just because they have a doctorate in American Literature (women's writing only, and only pre-Revolutionary War--and yes, I do have a colleague with that narrow a specialization), they're an expert in modern politics, economics, and foreign policy. But I do miss my classroom, and I miss interacting with my students face-to-face.

After next Friday, I'll have about five or six weeks off. I really need the break, too.

Another thing creeping up is Christmas. Frankly, I dread this the worst. I haven't got shopping done, can't get some of it done until closer to the date (my family is terrible about hoarding clutter, so I'm giving them fruit baskets that I assemble for them), and don't have any idea what to get everyone else.

Most of all, I'm dreading going to my family's for Christmas dinner--I have three aunts, none of which have kids, and two of whom cannot simply enjoy a peaceful family get together without bickering and quarreling about stupid little stuff. And if I get upset with them about anything, they don't keep it between us, they take it out on my mother (a woman who doesn't have a spine to speak of).

I am, however, looking forward to the kids' reactions on Christmas morning. The imp's and pixie's reactions to decorated and lighted Christmas trees at the grandparents' homes (or at Wal-Mart, or Sam's Club) is cute enough, but I think they're both old enough this year to really enjoy the unwrapping of presents.

*For those who've just started reading my blog, one of my semester-long projects that I've had my students doing since I started teaching online has been that my students have to create and keep up a blog. My Comp I students have to summarize and respond to news stories, and my Comp II students have to write persuasive pieces with three supporting links. Both classes have to read and respond to two classmates' posts per week, as well. It's improved writing fluency and made them more self-conscious about grammar/editing errors than they are for the papers that they turn in to me.

FFOT: CLOSE your DAMN LEGS!!!

2011-12-02T00:42:00.002-06:00

Watch this. Then tell me you don't agree with what I've written below (language alert).

Listen, honey. YOU are the only one responsible for the situation you're in. YOU opened your legs, without the benefit of being married (not that any man worth spit would have you), or the use of a DAMN CONDOM! Fuck right the fucking fuck off, with a--no, never mind that. I don't want to even suggest anything remotely to do with sex to this...individual.

May this filthy, welfare crack whore twatwaffle wake one morning to find that her funds have been cut off, and her children taken, and find herself in some sort of transportation on the way to the veterinarian to get spayed.

ADDENDUM: If any of you guys have anything frustrating you heading into the weekend, feel free to vent in the comments here. Use whatever kind of language you want. I won't mind, and you'll feel better.

To all of my readers:

2011-12-01T05:30:00.000-06:00

I started blogging three and a quarter years ago, about two months before my imp was born. I started blogging because I work in one of the largest left-leaning industries that isn't government: academia. Worse, I work in the hardest-left-leaning section of the industry--humanities, in an English department. And I am an at-will by the semester contract employee.

Needless to say, I didn't (still don't) feel safe airing my opinions with any but very close friends who were as busy as I was, and on very different schedules.

So, I got the bright idea to start a blog. Then realized, as I was setting it up, that anyone would be able to find it by Google-searching my name, and spazzed out a bit until I figured out how to keep my name off of it. A few days after that, I came up with my pen name.

No, I won't explain the name. Run an internet search with the engine of your choice on the first name--the last name comes from the author of Brave New World.

I write my opinions and reactions to the world around me as the muse takes me, and as I have the time. I've never had a particular audience in mind. I never expected to gain an audience outside of my husband (who now has a blog of his own) or a few friends who visit the blog once in a while.

That I now have a fairly regular audience of followers is humbling.

So, thank you, all of you. Anyone who hits my follower button in the future will get a public thank you--maybe not immediately, if I have grading to do, but you will be acknowledged.

I bet I shoot better than Dr. Adams.

2011-11-29T21:18:00.003-06:00

I used to read Mike Adams' columns from Townhall pretty much every time he posted one. I found them funny, and a refreshing change from the rabid, militant feminism verging on man-hating evangelical lesbianism on the campus where I got my MA.

Just after my imp was born, I found myself short on time between juggling my class, helping a colleague with his grading, and baby care (as if you guys who've read my blogs for long can tell). So, I gradually stopped reading the opinion columns. Stopped that long before stopping reading the news when I was pregnant with the pixie.

In any case, I went to Townhall today, just on a whim to see what-all was being said about Barney "You can't fire me! I quit!" Frank, and found an Adams column about guns. I thought, "He likes guns, likes shooting, and is usually a fun read. This should be good."

Yeah. About that. He was a good read three years ago. I thought he knew a lot about guns four years ago, before I got into shooting. My opinions have changed. Because of this article, and the way he's so concerned and condescending (and totally ignorant) about what women should carry.

I have nothing about his first choice--Smith & Wesson J-Frame Revolvers--except that I don't care for revolvers. They feel bulky, the cylinder makes it feel front heavy, and I hate the angle of the grip. For others that like revolvers, they're great.

I do take issue with this: "For women, I strongly urge the Model 638. Less recoil, but still enough stopping power. There is no need to drop down to a .380. The 38 has enough power and is both light enough and concealable enough for most women."

Really? Really? Are you seriously suggesting that a light .38 is a good, controllable gun for a woman to carry? I have an airweight .38, and if that were what I was carrying when I got into a hairball, my first inclination would be to throw the gun because it kicks so hard I wouldn't want to shoot it!*

His second choice has the same sexist BS. I don't personally care for Glocks, M&Ps, XDs, or any of the other striker-fired square chunks of polymer and steel. I really don't like the ones that require the trigger to be pulled for takedown--too much potential for NDs. For those that like them, great. However, "Women may want to opt for the 9mm version with less recoil."

Again...really? Dude, I routinely carry a full-sized 1911 in .45. I have less issue with recoil with that gun than I do the airweight .38. Stop stereotyping, or I might have to start shooting back with the insults. And, I think, I might well do a better job.

His third choice I have some major issues with. I do not think a Taurus Judge is a good gun for anything but "SNAKE!" country, when you're out fishing or hiking.

Next, the S&W 629. Again, no major issues, with the gun, and he's actually not sexist with it! He is, however, dumb as a box of rocks: "With a Judge under the seat and a Model 629 in the trunk there is little that can come your way that you cannot handle." Why in the hell would you carry something wildly inaccurate/underpowered in the car, and keep the good one in the trunk?

Last, the Remmington 870. Good choice. Good gun. Idiot's preference is the Tacti-cool version. No big deal. No, the jaw-droppingly stupid mindset is displayed here:

"Generally, all you have to do is rack the pump once and the intruder leaves the premises. The sound of a pump shotgun is unmistakable. All you have left to do is clean the burglar poop off the floor afterwards. Generally speaking, that’s better than raising an argument of self-defense. That can only happen if you find yourself on trial."

Okay, where to start on that one...

1. Dude, do not depend on the hopped up meth-head Occupidiot being sober enough to recognize the sound of a pump action shotgun being put into battery. Nor smart enough to run when they hear it.

2. Poop off the floor? What do you have, naked burglars? Generally, the poop will stay in their clothes, and won't make a mess for you to clean up.

3. Most of us live in a free state where the law permits us to shoot someone who breaks into our house without having to worry about proving self defense. The burden of proof (that we weren't acting in self defense) lies with the other side of the argument. And worrying about facing trial by twelve will see you, your family, and your pets being carried by six.

I get the impression from the tone of the article that I know more about guns than Dr. Adams does, even though I don't have a PhD.

*I wouldn't really throw a gun at a goblin unless it was empty and I had no reloads. But the .38 makes it tempting.

Not quite the way he envisions, perhaps, but yes.

2011-11-29T11:25:00.000-06:00

Cornell West has been quoted by Real Clear Politics as saying that “the push for more entitlements ‘is going to be fought in the streets.’” He’s probably right, but I strongly doubt things will turn out the way he hopes, considering that he’s heaped praise on the Occupidiots for their foray into “civil” disobedience.

What’s more likely to happen is that the Occupidiots are going to get frustrated, the violence they’re keeping contained within their squatters’ camps is going to spill out, and the adults in this country are going to have to spank the spoiled children. I can foresee some dumb, lazy, entitled punk deciding that he’s got a right to the money carried by some productive member of society walking past a squatters’ camp, and attempting to redistribute the wealth without the power of the government and the IRS behind him. Like as not (anywhere but the People’s Republics of Illinois, Massachusetts, and other “crime-safe, gun-free” zones), said productive member of society is going to be armed, and lazy, worthless punk is going to wind up ventilated.

That’s going to spark a riot. And then it’s going to have to be contained. If the government is unwilling to do it (likely, given Richmond’s preferences), then it will fall to the citizens.

And we, the people, are getting damn fed up with the vicious beasts biting the hands that are forced to feed them in the first place. I strongly suspect that, should we, the people, be forced to contain the Occupidiots’ riot(s), there are going to be heads busted, followed in short order by either another civil war (please, God, no), or a complete and total rout in the voters’ booths of those who refused to do their jobs in the first place.

FFOT: Black Friday

2011-11-25T07:35:00.004-06:00

Usually, I'd only post this over at The FFOT, but readership there is down, and this seems kind of like a vital service to my friends--providing a forum to vent frustrations before heading into the weekend--so I'm going to start posting here, too.

By the way: there will be much foul language in this post, and all others marked ffot. Just a friendly warning.

Black Friday hysteria can fuck right the fuck off. I don't think even the opening of fucking hunting season garners as much media hysteria as Black fucking Friday, the opening of ~~Christmas~~ Holiday Gift Giving Shopping Season. What kind of stupid fucking putzes fucking trample each other to be the first to buy that 55" flatscreen TV that's on sale for 2% off the regular price (after figuring for the stores carefully jacking up their prices weeks before so that they can hype that the thing is 40% off!!1!1!!)? And what kind of fucking jackals fucking set up fucking NEWS CAMERAS in fucking hopes of fucking catching footage of fucking twatwaffles worked up BY THE FUCKING MEDIA'S FUCKING OVERHYPING OF THE FUCKING SALES fucking TRAMPLING little old ladies and children?!

May whoever started that particular shit-ball rolling find their own special level of hell when they die, and find that their punishment is to be the door greeter at a big box store on Black Friday--for all eternity.

And if they're already dead, I'm sure they've been reincarnated as a dung-beetle by now.

The floor is yours: address whatever is frustrating you in the comments. Don't be shy about language. I won't be offended, and you'll feel better.

Happy Thanksgiving.

2011-11-24T06:30:00.001-06:00

I'm thankful for my husband and my children. I'm thankful I have a roof over my head, clothes to wear, enough to eat, and lights, water, heat, and internet. I'm thankful for my friends and family. There's lots of other stuff, too, but those are the major ones.

Come to think of it, I have a whole lot more to be thankful for than I do to complain about. Most of us do. Most of us forget that fact.

Let's try to do better this year. One of the easiest ways to do better is to think about it.

What are you thankful for?

AAARGH!!!

2011-11-23T10:53:00.003-06:00

So, I sold my PK380 to raise the cash to buy a .22 upper for my STI. Got home and ordered one. They said it was in stock when we ordered it, then sent Odysseus an e-mail saying they wouldn't have one to send us for 6-8 weeks.

I need to go shooting again. Better to put holes in paper than let my head explode with frustration over lying sacks of $#!& that don't have in stock what they say they have in stock.

Anybody know where I can get a good .22 conversion kit for a 1911?

CHICKEN ENCHILADA CASSEROLE

2011-11-23T08:01:00.005-06:00

Similar to the beef enchilada casserole I've already posted, but different enough to need its own recipe posted. This is a little simpler and easier to make, because you can use canned chicken if you don't have leftover. Basically, just substitute one 13 oz can per pound of cooked, diced chicken. You can substitute the water the chicken is canned in for the chicken broth, too.

1-2 lbs cooked chicken (diced)

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 c chicken broth

1 T chili powder

½ t garlic powder

¼ t black pepper

1 can ro-tel (drained)

1 can cream style corn

4 c crushed tortilla chips

8 oz or more shredded cheddar

1. Combine diced chicken, soup, spices, chicken broth, & Ro-Tel. 2. Layer half the chips, half the chicken mixture, and half the cheese. 3. Repeat layers. Bake at 425 until cheese is melted and lightly browned--about 25 minutes.

Make two and freeze one. If you're starting to cook this from frozen, leave covered with foil for 1.5 hours, then uncover for the last half hour to melt and brown the cheese.

I would imagine you could use this recipe, substitute turkey for chicken and cream of mushroom soup for the cream of chicken, and deal with Thanksgiving leftovers quite nicely.

An exercise in futility

2011-11-22T11:06:00.002-06:00

Has anyone else tried to pick up clutter in a house with two toddlers? It's imp0ssible, unless you get them penned out of the room you're trying to clean. My son can scatter toys faster than I can pick them up. My daughter is almost as fast.

Sometimes I wish I could teach them to put toys in boxes rather than fling them all over their rooms. And the hall. And the bathroom. And the living room.

I feel much better, now.

2011-11-20T08:00:00.001-06:00

So, I did get to spend a couple of hours shooting. I'd've spent longer, but there was this nice man with his son that showed up...sans stapler, sans ear protection. And with a BB RIFLE!!

Guys, you were really nice, and I enjoyed meeting you (and enjoyed watching you shoot a .22 pistol for the first time), but NEXT TIME, BRING HEARING PROTECTION!! I didn't feel right keeping shooting what I was shooting (or starting shooting the rifle) when I WAS THE ONLY ONE AT THE 25 YD SHELTER WITH EARPLUGS!!!

Jeesh. Between nice, clueless guys that want a rifle just like what they shoot in Call of Duty (and don't know the first thing about even what caliber it shoots, much less how hard it's going to kick), and the dumbass white trash* shooting nickle-plated Beretta-style .40 caliber handguns without hearing protection for them OR FOR THEIR 8 MONTH OLD DAUGHTER!! OR WIFE!! I was about ready to call Odysseus and ask him to pick up a couple packages of the cheap, orange foam earplugs sold at pretty much every Wal-Mart, and start handing them out so I could shoot without worrying about damaging someone else's hearing.

Anyway, enough of that. I promised pictures, if I was satisfied that my skills hadn't atrophied too badly. Well, as you can see below, they really haven't. The first magazine was emptied into the (free conservation range free paper target) on the right. If I'd had to empty that into a goblin, they'd be missing from their aorta to the bottom third of a lung.

As for the second magazine (the target on the left)...yeah, I couldn't do that again on a bet.

Both of those were done with my carry piece: a CZ 82 that Odysseus got me for Christmas just after our imp was born.

Seriously, I love this gun. Its ergonomics are such that it feels almost instinctive in the way you acquire (and keep) the target. The controls are well-placed for someone that doesn't have little kid hands (i.e., I can't reach the magazine release or the slide release with my shooting hand, but everyone else can), the trigger is clean and crisp with no travel in the single-action pull. The double action is a little difficult, but that may just be my size working against me.

It's also very simple and easy to care for. Here it is, taken down for cleaning.

The take down lever is the trigger guard: yank down, and the slide comes right off.

The gun came with an ambidextrous field holster, a spare magazine, and a cleaning rod. Neat little package, isn't it?

With the flap buttoned down, this could almost be mistaken for a binoculars case.

As for the others...I didn't really have a chance to shoot rifle (you should see some of the specimens that the free public range** attracts--even on a week day afternoon). And the Walther pistols were...disappointing in comparison to the CZ. The trigger on both suck, and the tolerances in my particular PK380 were looser than a dockside whore: I'm not a great shot, but I'm not bad enough to have the front sight on the x and miss two inches to the right one time, and two to the left the next two times, then right again. And it wasn't consistent in the way I missed, so I strongly suspect that it really was the gun. I suppose it would have done well enough in a tight situation, but I have other guns I would prefer to rely on.

So I sold it. And turned around and ordered a Kimber .22 upper for my Spartan. I do want to shoot it, but, since I don't have the time (or space) to start reloading, I can't afford to shoot it as much as I'd like to get comfortable with the feel of it.

All in all, yesterday was a whole lot of fun. I only wish I'd taken more Makarov...

*Believe me: I know the difference between redneck and white trash. It has nothing to do with income, and everything to do with behavior and planning ability.

**Best use of tax dollars I've ever seen in my life.

A rare treat.

2011-11-18T09:28:00.005-06:00

I get to go to the range, today. It's much needed, given the nasty flashbacks that the whole Penn State issue is causing.

Let's see...what to take.

This (this one is my carry piece, so it's going first). It was a Christmas gift, just after my son's birth, and came with a field holster, cleaning rod, and extra magazine. When it's not riding in it's inner pants holster in the small of my back, it lives in my purse in the field holster.

And this (my first real gun--my beloved little bitch).

And this (I would carry this, since it feels like and shoots like it's older sibling, but it only came with one magazine, and spares are pretty much impossible to find).

And this, just for fun. It's my husband's, but most of mine kick too hard to shoot while I'm still nursing a baby. I absolutely do not want a wet shirt in this weather.

This is only the third (or so) time I've been able to make it to the range. And today, I get to take my time, because the pixie is finally eating solid food well enough that she doesn't need me to feed her every four or so hours.

I foresee an entire afternoon cheerfully given over to lead based therapy, loud meditation, or whatever else you want to call it.

Thank God. I need this.

Update: Thanks, Stephen, for the good wishes. Much fun was had, pictures will follow tomorrow. (As will a rant about range safety--including being prepared).

I can see the finish line!!

2011-11-15T09:40:00.003-06:00

I just picked up papers yesterday and this morning (they were due by midnight last night--no way am I staying up that long, just to collect papers), and managed to get about half graded as I was picking them up.

That makes three out of four papers for both classes. And we've got two more full weeks and one partial (Thanksgiving Break starts next Wednesday) before semester's over. Then, I have five weeks off before doing it all again.

Hopefully, in those five weeks, I can find the time and energy to get some of my planned writing done.

snort

2011-11-14T22:54:00.002-06:00

Shamelessly stolen from The Feral Irishman. He's got some good stuff--go read. Some of it is definitively NSFW, so beware.

Honoring our Veterans

2011-11-12T17:56:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was Veterans Day. I know that it's also when the guns fell silent in WWI, but today that's mostly forgotten in popular culture*. No, today, we're told "it's the day where we're supposed to show our appreciation for veterans!"

Something about that statement bothers me. "Veteran's Day." A day to honor veterans. Kind of like Mother's Day, or Father's Day.

In theory, it's kind of a nice thought; however, in practice, it turns into a sop to those who don't want to be bothered the rest of the year. Most of the people I work with wear a poppy in their lapels on Veteran's Day, then talk about how horrible the citizens of (insert your choice of third world shithole we have troops in here) have it, and how awful it is that our soldiers are there shooting poor innocent civilians (who have AK-47s, a plan, and a refusal to follow the rules of war by wearing a uniform and not hiding in civilian populations).

So, vets from whatever war you served in (as well as those who've served in peace time), thank you. Thank you for your service, from one who was physically unfit, and is humbly grateful year round, not just on Veteran's Day.

*I blame public "education" for this, among other things.

Occupidiots and the "I want a pony! Make somebody give me a pony!" mentality

2011-11-08T10:24:00.001-06:00

I've held off posting anything about the Occupy Whatever movement, because so many other bloggers have done so much, and said pretty much everything that needs said. Lagniappe's Lair, in particular, talked about the whole "If this is our future, we're fucked" generation.

A few years ago, I wrote a series of philosophical posts, each post focusing on one of the seven deadly sins. Every story about these occupidiots brings to mind four in particular: pride (knowing what's best for every individual better than the individuals in question), sloth (how else do you explain how worthless these kids are?), greed, and envy (class warfare is nothing but).

Basically, the whole movement is based on the idea that we know better than you do what's wrong with this country (pride), it's not us because we're not working (sloth--both on their part and their parent's part in raising their lazy asses), we want money for existing (greed), and if you don't give us the money you've earned in your businesses, we're going to destroy your businesses (envy).

As I said in my post on personal responsibility referring to the beginning of the sub-prime mortgage market collapse, the children involved in protesting are demanding "somebody" give them what they want, instead of going out and working for it.

I'm honestly getting tired of it. I work my ass off for about $10G per year. I pay cash for what I need, and budget for what I want--we don't have food stamps (or SNAP, or whatever they call it now), WIC, welfare (except for the earned income tax credit--which I consider nothing more than a refund of the social security taxes that won't get paid back when I retire), or Medicaid. Between the amount of grading, questions via email and discussion board, taking care of children, and trying to keep house besides (and boy, do I fail on that front), I have not the time, energy, nor sense of entitlement required to sit on my ass and demand that someone else give me money.

Yes, a pony (or a .22 lr upper for my STI 1911, and an unlimited and free supply of both .22 and .45) would be nice, but it's a want, not a need. I'm enough of a grown-up to know the difference, and be able to live with the disappointment.

Flattered.

2011-11-07T17:29:00.002-06:00

Either I'm doing something right, or I'm doing something wrong.

I went in to the department, today, to pick up a grade change request form* and check my mailbox. Odysseus had the imp and the pixie in the car with him, and just dropped me off so I could run in.

It took a little longer than I'd planned, because our temporary department head caught me and called me into his office to discuss my teacher evaluation results. He wanted to congratulate me, because he said that they were spectacular: some of the highest scores in the department, with the highest for an online course.

Either I'm doing something right, and my students are actually learning and appreciating what they're learning, or I'm way too easy on them.

I hope it's the former, because I'm one of the hardest graders in the department.

*I had a student dropped (involuntarily, and by bureaucratic paperwork error) from my summer course just slightly too late to be reinstated before grading time, but late enough that he didn't want to stop working and waste his summer. He kept working on the class work, and earned an A. Then he got the paperwork straightened out. All I have to do is turn in the paperwork for him.

Working on potty training...

2011-11-04T18:59:00.003-05:00

The imp is three, now. He's gotten to the point where he'll run down the hall chanting "PEE PEE? pee pee. PEE PEE? pee pee." He enjoys going because there are special toys in the bathroom that annoy the shit out of mommy and daddy (loud electronic toys we can give him to play with, leave, and close the bathroom door), and when he goes he gets a reward of M&Ms, Reece's Pieces, or Smarties. So, he's discovered that he likes going like a big boy sitting on a potty.

He's also discovered he can scoot the potty chair over to the toilet, lift the lid, and play in the water. Which is bad.

So...when we have to go yell at him for getting into the toilet, and scare the piss out of him, should he get candy for going "pee pee"?

Cherry-pickers and Hypocrites

2011-10-28T18:20:00.000-05:00

Last night, while I was bathing the kids, there was a knock on the door. A couple of “missionaries” from a local church of a particular evangelical denomination were going door-to-door, trying to plant butts in the pews (and, presumably, cash in their offering plates). We’re quite happy with our church, and Odysseus let them know that, but they shoved their “literature” (website here) into his hand, regardless. It rather irritated me, because it made a lot of assumptions, including one that my husband and myself are going to hell for breaking commandments.

I strongly resent that assumption, especially when based on cherry picking bible verses and interpreting them as badly as the writers of this little eight-page comic pamphlet did.

The Ten Commandments are the base on which Western law rests. It’s a good guideline, and we really need to work harder on keeping them for society’s sake as well as for our own, but they have to be understood before they can be followed. And the writers of the pamphlet did not understand what they were preaching about.

Let’s start with their first “commandment”: their interpretation of the 9^th commandment is don’t lie. At all. Ever. What the commandment actually says is “don’t bear false witness against thy neighbor.” In other words, don’t lie about people.

Next, is “don’t steal.” Yeah, that one is clear, and self explanatory, but they say not for any reason, and if you do it once (even as a child), you’re a thief, and will always be a thief. They took a simple commandment and simplified it down so that they could point fingers* at everyone not in their church.

Adultery they took a bit farther than I’d call acceptable—“ever looked at someone with lust? If so, you’ve committed adultery in your heart, which is the same as actually doing it.” Umm…not quite. I lust after my husband all the time (actually, every time I look at him). I look at other aesthetically appealing individuals, and it leads my thoughts back to my husband.

Not to mention, looking at someone with lust falls less under “don’t commit adultery” (Commandment 7), and more under “don’t covet that which belongs to someone else” (commandment 10).

Using God’s name in vain has been, in my opinion, badly interpreted by almost everyone I’ve ever heard talk about it. Yes, using God’s name in cussing isn’t good, and he probably isn’t happy about it, but true blasphemy lies in saying that God would or would not do or think or feel this or that, in support of our own bigoted opinions. You know, the whole “God is on our side, and is against theirs” thing. The worst I’ve ever heard is the Westboro Baptist Church’s assertions that our soldiers are being killed in the Middle East because God hates fags.

I’m not going to argue that He does or doesn’t. Most of the verses dealing with homosexual behavior in the bible are in the sections that are mostly focused on laws setting up health codes. I don’t recall reading much at all about the morality of it. I can’t speak for God, and those who say they can are committing blasphemy worse than those saying “G-D it!” in traffic.

The little pamphlet goes on to assert that we’re all horrible people that are going to hell, without even taking into account that just because we don’t go to their church, we might well have as good a relationship with God (better in some cases, worse in others) as they do. Most of the verses are kind of grabbed from here and there throughout the bible without regards to the context that the verse belongs in. And they condemn everyone not of their church without actually saying that’s what they’re doing. Even better, they forgot a couple of things that Christ said in His ministry: “Love thy neighbor as thyself” and “judge not lest ye be judged”. Granted, they probably thought they were demonstrating that they loved us as their neighbors, but they were judging us for not being members of their church, and assumed that we were automatically bad people that hadn’t accepted Christ into our lives.

The jokers that knocked on our door last night probably had their hearts in the right place, but they have their heads up their asses.

Distinction without a difference

2011-10-19T12:50:00.003-05:00

I was talking to my mom, recently. She was complaining about her treatment in my home town, and how it's everybody's fault but hers.

(In a lot of ways, it reminded me of the delinquents and hippies doing the "Occupy" thing in various cities.)

In any case, I offered a couple of solutions (she could move, she could shop in about four different nearby towns, she could volunteer to let people get to know her and prove that the rumors she thinks are being passed around are false). She apparently doesn't want to solve the problem, just complain about it. She says she doesn't have the inner strength to do anything about it anymore.

"So, you've just let them beat you," I said.

"No, I quit fighting."

"You surrendered. You lost. You let them beat you."

"No, I just got tired of it and quit fighting."

Frankly, I don't understand the mindset behind that. Life, all of it, is a fight. If you quit struggling to keep going, you've lost. You've lost your momentum, you've lost the ability to do more than survive, you've lost any respect anyone had for you, not to mention any respect you had for yourself.

It isn't any wonder that she's so depressed.

Oh, shit.

2011-10-17T11:16:00.000-05:00

The pixie has discovered that she's a biped. And she's only ten and a half months old.

I won't ask how this happened.

2011-10-17T09:59:00.003-05:00

I know damn well how this happened.

The university where I teach has a teacher education program, one of the highest rated in the state. About a quarter of declared teacher ed majors flunk out of the program before they get into the upper division classes, because they're incapable of carrying a B-/C+ average (2.5) in core classes that should be a review of what they learned in high school. Another quarter flunk out because they can't pass the basic skills test required for licensing. Another third of the ones that pass have to take the basic skills test more than once.

In other words, teacher education programs scrape the bottom of the barrel in academics. If they insisted on psychiatric evaluations screening for abusive personalities and/or pedophilia, they wouldn't have anybody graduating with that precious degree that says they're more capable of teaching our sprogs than we parents are.

And it's just another support in the framework of my decision to home school my kids.

Golf clubs?

2011-10-17T09:36:00.002-05:00

Well, I guess that's the best most residents of St. Louis can do. Personally, I wouldn't want to take on a pack of wild dogs bent on attacking my child (or even a single one) with anything less than a .380. And if the city we lived in wouldn't let me carry one, I'd be driving the kids to school--until we could move out of the city restricting our rights to protect ourselves and our kids.

Color me shocked.

2011-10-16T16:52:00.003-05:00

I'd been suspecting that the whole "Occupy" protests weren't what they were cracked up to be. I never thought they were really normal, everyday, hardworking Americans who've been hit hard by this government-caused depression. I honestly thought they were spoiled children in their twenties and thirties (but mentally twelve), thugs, communists, Nazi sympathizers, and useful idiots.

It turns out I was right.

Can we please do something to chase these nitwits out of our parks? Low pressure fire hoses with soap and water ought to do the trick.

What's sauce for the gander...

2011-10-13T14:53:00.002-05:00

The definition of hypocrisy is telling people to do one thing, and then doing what you told them not to.

Google and its CEO are a really good example of that: Google is under investigation for moving profits offshore to evade taxes, while the CEO says "higher taxes would not prevent him from investing or spending. Opponents say higher taxes would hurt growth."

Riiight. I'd think that the CEO of a company like Google would be wise to the fact that Google enables the common person to do a search to find little gems like the bit of hypocrisy mentioned above.

Aw, hell.

2011-10-13T07:23:00.003-05:00

Michelle, did you have to live down to the stereotype that women (and Christians) are stupid and emotional in such a spectacular manner? Joking or not, this is worse than your hysterical shrilling about Perry and Gardasil.

She just lost my vote. Not that, once Cain announced that he'd be running, she had it in the first place.

A gramme is worth a damn.

2011-10-13T06:49:00.002-05:00

I finished up grading last week's blogs for my Comp I students yesterday, and found this. Basically, the headshrinks want to force-medicate us all by adding lithium to our drinking water. They say that it'll reduce violence, dependence on illegal drugs, and suicide. Unlike Aldous Huxley's creation Soma, lithium is used to treat extreme mental illness, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Also unlike Soma, lithium has side effects which can indicate toxicity, or overdose.

Umm...no. Not just no, but hell no. Should this start, I would be switching myself, my husband, and my kids over to bottled water and looking for a home in the country with a well. I have been medicated in the past--including Prozac--and I'm still not over some of the bad side effects (namely, panic attacks, irritability, hostility, and aggression), especially of the drug named. I will not permit some "expert" to medicate my family, with or without a diagnosis.

O brave new world that has such people in't!

Wow. And I didn't think my opinion of bureaucrats could go much lower.

2011-10-11T22:50:00.004-05:00

The bottom feeders in charge of Topeka, KS, in their infinite wisdom, have decided that, in an effort to avoid necessary budget cuts, they're going to refuse to prosecute crimes with real victims.

Odysseus said he didn't want to get into this particular can of worms, so I will. I have a better idea. Rather than telling Cletus that he ain't gettin' arrested when the he hits the little woman and she gets the gumption to call the cops (or Marlene that she ain't gettin' arrested when she hits her old man with a frying pan for telling her he liked his ex-wife's cooking better than hers*), try not arresting those involved in victimless crime. You know, like renting a prostitute, or possessing just enough drugs for your own use.

If Topeka, KS (a college town), would stop arrests on possession, they'd probably save their entire city budget three times over, in just the first six months.

Another (less likely) option would be to get rid of all of the senior undersecretary type positions in the city administration. Buuut....since the suggestion was made in an effort to not have to do that, poor Topeka is going to have to start stocking more concealer to hide the black eyes that each job saved is going to create, and hope to God that it doesn't get worse than that.

Because they can't refuse to prosecute when domestic violence pole-vaults into murder.

*This actually happened to my dad.

What do you do with sloppy joe leftovers?

2011-10-07T17:27:00.005-05:00

If you have at least half a pound of beef's worth of leftovers, try this:

2 c elbow macaroni, rotini, ziti, or penne
1 can corn
1 can diced tomatoes

1. Cook and drain the pasta. 2. Drain corn and diced tomatoes. 3. Stir corn, tomatoes, and leftover sloppy joe mix into pasta. 4. Warm through, top with cheese.

This takes about ten to twenty minutes prep and cook time, and should be about four or five servings. Great for getting veggies down picky kids. The imp ate 'til his little belly was sticking out, and the ten month old pixie loved the tiny bits of hamburger and pasta bits I fed her.

Big day.

2011-10-06T08:11:00.002-05:00

The imp is turning three today. We're taking him to his grandparents for the day in a little while. Right now, he's watching Growing Up... on Animal Planet. Yesterday it was sitka deer, today it's a dromedary camel. He loves this kind of thing about critters, and Animal Planet only has it on before 9:00 a.m.

Today is going to be so much fun, and the imp gets to spend the night with his grandparents tonight (which means I can finish my grading tomorrow before he comes home).

Since when are you not allowed to have firearms in your private property?

2011-10-04T11:22:00.002-05:00

I'm sorry, but Florida has it wrong: it is not acceptable to tell college students (or public school teachers, for that matter) that they're not allowed to have firearms in their vehicles on school property.

Missouri dealt with this same issue, a few years back. It was found that a vehicle is an individual's private property, even if it's parked on public or state property. Schools and universities cannot tell an individual who is otherwise legal to have a gun on their private property that they can't have a gun in their car (private property).

Personally, I don't think the state has a right to tell people that they can't exercise their second amendment rights on state property (like a state university). I have no issues with individuals posting that their premises are target-rich environments, but states and federal agencies that post no weapons policies on their premises are doing so in direct violation of what they were told not to do.