Failure.
It happens to everyone, in every aspect, at some point in their life.
Some handle it better than others.
Then some handle it like me.
A complete and utter breakdown resulting in anxiety and obsessive behavior. I’m pretty good at just not giving a fuck most of the time.
But sometimes it’s different.
Like right now.
I hate allowing myself to feel things as a direct result of someone else.
So fuck it.
@FoolishReporter and @AnonSikko worked together to create a document titled We, The People? It was originally posted on pastebin, and later on FoolishReporters blog.
When I read We, The People? it really hit home. I’ve been feeling this way for a very long time. I’ve written about it here and here before. I know that a lot of Americans have been feeling the same way also.
The idea that we start becoming We The People rather than what we have now is an incredibly impressive undertaking because;
We The People have been collectively reduced down to soundbytes and 140 characters.
We The People have become so accustomed to a “I’m right, you’re wrong” mentality that we can’t even understand what a true compromise is.
We The People rely on commentary for decision making rather than information.
We The People have been reduced down to finger pointing, name calling, and complete lack of civility.
We The People have lost what meaningful, logical and respectful debate is.
We The People have had our sacred Honor stripped from us.
The Republicans vs. Democrats vs. Right vs. Left vs. establishment vs. grassroots needs to stop. We need to stop feeding the people that line their pockets off our divisiveness.
We The People need to rise above what we have been reduced to.
We The People need to check our egos and party affiliations at the door.
We The People need accept that we are not always going to agree with each other, but we will be heard with respect and understanding.
We The People have more in common than what divides us.
This is the exact idea that scares the pundits, the leaders, the lobbyists, the politicians, the lackeys;
We The People will restore our sacred Honor.
the last line of Declaration of Independence;
…..we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
“Mommy I’m going to throw up.” He said as we all sat on the couch. It’s that split second mommy thinking – which is quicker – grab a bowl or carry him to the bathroom? I opted to carry him to the bathroom. I had not been feeling the greatest either and had my hair done about two hours prior. I’m rushing him down the hall and the Kidd just lets loose. A massive explosion of half digested chicken ‘n stars soup, all over me and all over the floor. And all over my pretty new salon hair.
Then I puked. All over him. He starts freaking out.
The hubs comes to clean up our mess. He starts puking.
The dog runs in and starts trying to eat it.
The Girl starts crying and trying to run through it.
I get the Kidd in the shower, he starts puking in there.
Hubs makes me decide to either take the Girl or clean the mess. duh, I’m taking the Girl. As I pick her up and cradle her on my hip, she nuzzles up and pukes into my hair.
That was twenty minutes of my Thursday night and the death of my pretty hair.
Hey Lindsey Stalkers.
Have you missed me………..Or did you just totally forget about me?
My feelings are hurt. Not really. But if it makes you send me yummy treats or those stiletto Louboutins I’ve been dying for, then by all means my feelings are hurt.
I gotta admit that it’s feeling good to have my blog up live again. Let’s discuss for a quick second why my blog went down and my twitter went private. Around here we had a little bit of an issue about a company moving in that treated the mentally ill. My neighbors were very passionately against this company doing business here. I was not, and thought it was pretty unfair the way some were treating the mentally ill people in this program. As with all highly passionate issues, people get mean and angry. I experienced that first hand in person and online with some members of this group. However, I have also had very positive conversations and dialogue with other members of the group that were positive.
The issue has settled down some, the group has taken to political lobbying over name calling and hate speech. So I’m happy.
And with that………………..
I went out with one of my mommy friends the other night. Our kids are roughly the same age. We talked about potty training, tantrums, eating habits, preschool, whether the kids will really know if we don’t buy the name brand mac n cheese. All typical parenting gab session type of stuff. The conversation moved towards education and I started talking about how ridiculous Kindergarten in my area is.
“If I want all day Kindergarten its $300 a month, and if I do the am or pm option, then it’s only 2 hours with every other Friday off. My son goes to preschool longer than that now. That’s why I’m hoping McKenna gets in.”
“Who is McKenna?” she asked. I did a double-take, and was pretty baffled. “How do you not know who Rob McKenna is?”
“Is it someone I’m supposed to vote for? Because I’m not even registered.” Face to Palm. I’ve had this conversation way too many times before.
This is the ultimate goal of parenting is to raise productive members of society. You need to be concerned with voting because it’s one of the single most important decisions you can make for your child’s future. The people you vote into office and the policies they support directly create the environment and future of your child.
I was in high school in the late ‘90s when meth started making its way into schools and my community. I saw people destroyed by it. Good people. I saw early on that meth has no place in our communities. I don’t want to live in an environment where meth labs thrive. That’s why I’m voting for Rob McKenna. As Attorney General he made Washington state safer with his “Operation: Allied Against Meth” task force. Every year he has been in office we have seen a dramatic decrease in meth labs and toxic dump sites. The task force isn’t just a ‘find the bad guys’ platform, It focuses on education, prevention, awareness, legislation and advocacy. It also focuses on interdepartmental workings of the various law enforcement agencies. McKenna recognized a problem and handled it responsibly, effectively and efficiently. He did not handle it the politics-as-usual way: Throw a Lot of Money at the Problem, Hope It Goes Away. His approach in taking on the meth problem is one of the many reasons I feel comfortable raising my children in Washington state.
Our state has suffered from continual budget shortfalls in the last four years. That followed a period of extraordinary budget growth, but during that time, our education budget allocation has dropped from 51% to 43% over the past several years. It’s not that we don’t have the money to fund education, it’s that our leaders in Olympia decided that nearly everything else was a higher priority.
Parents, we need to start taking an active role in who we are voting into office. We can’t decrease education funding anymore. We need to stop wasting money. We need a responsible, logical, clear thinking Governor who puts the safety and the future well-being of the citizens first and foremost. We need Rob McKenna as our next Washington Governor.
I had tweeted one night about how I was making ghetto pierogis. I got a ton of “WTF IS THAT?” Well, it’s easy, delicious, it’s easy for the kids to help make it and they LOVE it. Piddy always asks for them and Missie always eats her weight in them.
Pierogis traditionally are a Polish pasta dumpling filled with a seasoned potato filling. Boiled then baked or fried. They are delicious. Time consuming for fresh ones and the frozen ones just bleh. I love pierogis, but good ones are hard to find.
Here is the basic recipe. I trust that you are smart enough to figure out how and what to change.
* Mashed potatoes. (I like IDAHOAN brand Loaded Baked Potato mashed potato – but hey, feel free to also make your own and season them accordingly.)
* Jumbo pasta shells.
* Packet of some pre-made creamy pasta sauce I usually buy one of these Knorr Pasta Sauce (Once again, feel free to make your own creamy pasta sauce.)
** I also like to add either chopped bacon, italian sausage, spinach, roasted red peppers, fresh basil, caramelized onion, etc to the potatoes or sauce.
The reason that women get paid less is because they don’t ask for what they’re worth.
I’ve hired upwards of 100 people in my working days. The majority being for the exact same job – promotional team member. You know, those people that hand out samples of some product at an event encouraging you to buy it? I hired them. I trained them. I organized the event. That was me. I was one of two promotional directors at an advertising consulting company. I was damn good at it to.
Whenever I hired someone, my standard package that I offered was $15 an hour and if they logged fifty hours they became qualified for a raise. That was it. I never had one woman negotiate pay with me. Never. Almost every male that I hired negotiated with me on some aspect of the package. Here’s the thing, for the right person – which was everyone that I hired – I could, in theory, pay $21 an hour. Anyone that negotiated pay with me always got more than $15 an hour. The other promotional director only offered $11 an hour.
I had a salary, but also a commission structure off the profits of every event. In theory, I could have paid less money to my team so I could make a higher commission. However, my staff kept growing, my events that I was in charge of kept growing, clients were requesting my team for more events because they were so successful. Eventually I overshadowed the other promotional director. I did my job better than him. I was paid more both salary and in commissions. Work smarter, not harder.
This is a little known fact; When companies hire you – they want YOU and they want to pay YOU as little as they can. Because its more money in their pockets.
I have always negotiated my pay and raises.The original salary they offered me was $5,000 LESS than than the other promotional director. I negotiated. My starting salary was $13,000 MORE than their original offer. Every review I’ve ever gone into, I’ve received more than even I believed I deserved. When you work hard at your job and can demonstrate a return on their investment in you, you have the power to negotiate.
Look at it this way, You want to pay someone to mow your lawn. You are willing to pay someone $50 to do it, the neighbor kid says he’ll do it for $20. Do you pay him the $50 as you planned or save the $30 bucks and buy yourself a steak dinner? Women get paid less because they do not negotiate their salaries.
There is already a law that allows for women to bring suit against blatant sexist pay differences. This new legislation would require companies to justify every pay differential between a man and a woman.
Ladies, the moral of this story is that you don’t need the government to intervene. YOU need to take control and demand what you are worth.
*** I wrote this post last night, I wasn’t going to publish it but then this morning one of my Democrat friends tagged me in this post on Facebook. That’s when I knew I had to publish this.***
The Facebook Capture
Once again, my perfect sister shows me up by not only having her kid two weeks early, but also pops out one of the best babies ever. He’s six months old now and omgheisperfect. Sis works from 4am to 11am and her hubs works from 8 to 5. Which means I get the little baby CarCar! My sis pays me in boxes of k-cups. (Don’t tell her that I would do it for free!)
But – I have to confess – Three kids kicks my butt, even if it is only four hours a day. I don’t know how these moms that have multiple kids do it. I’m struggling. And I mean lets just be honest here – I struggle with only two kids. I read these blogs of mommysuperheros who organize, clean, participate in thousands of activities, travel, blog, scrapbooking, work, tweet, shower, have date night, feed their kids healthy and nutritious meals, sew, read books, design, run marathons, shop, and really – they all just make me feel like shit.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m a great mom. I have great kids.They think I’m the greatest mommysuperhero ever. Sure, a lot of my parenting philosophy is unconventional… but I find myself constantly asking how in the ever loving hell do these moms do it ALL. I want to be able to do it all! I read the blogs thinking they are going to give me some insightful tricks so that someday I may join their ranks of mommysuperhero. However, when I read blogs that are like “OMG my house is such a mess!” and there is a picture of a four toys on a perfectly clean and vacuumed floor, I tend of get this lets-steal-a-garbage-truck-and-barrel-it-through-your-living-room kind of rage. Because when I say my “My house is a mess” I mean it is prime time for some hoarders-esque type of TV show. I’m not even sure how it goes from clean to total effing disaster within 2 hours of the kids waking up. That’s providing it was clean when they woke up.
Maybe if I start posting pictures of my disaster house you guys can tell me how to become a mommysuperhero? I need tips on keeping the kids stuff organized and together when they are hellbent on keeping it everywhere it is not supposed to be.
Don’t you dare suggest I look at the devil site known as pinterest either. .
I saw this today and it almost made me cry a little. So many people today forget how to be a decent human being. Someone that shows love, compassion, humility, understanding. I try to raise my kids to treat everyone with respect while still having the ability to question authority. I want my kids to grow up in a world, where they can say “This Is What I Believe And Why” without someone calling them names, belittling them or being rude. I want my kids to be able to speak with confidence and know that sometimes people will not agree with them, but their opinions will be treated respectfully.
It made me get all teary-eyed for a couple of reasons. One, being that I’m starting to lose faith in the people that are leading (or who hope to lead) our country. And Two, the people that blindly follow these people, salivating over their every word because they have some great ‘Insight.’
It’s not really ‘Insight’ if you’re just rehashing soundbites or saying something controversial for attention. It’s these people that scare me the most. They don’t have any real ideas or opinions. They don’t think about what impact they’re making. They just assume they are right and everyone else can go to hell. They jibberjabber away in hopes that someone -anyone- will engage them. They’re incapable of having a civil discourse. What they do is make destructive assumptions, name call, belittle and rally all their equally isolated cronies to ‘their cause.’ They’re so devoid of real, meaningful human interaction that they’ve lost all basic decency. The world they live in is so small and dark. It makes me sad that there are people that live like this.
“Live simply, love generously, care deeply, speak kindly, leave the rest to God.”
-Ronald Reagan
It’s no secret that I love Reagan. I’ve read all the books, studied policy and out of all of it my favorite thing was the love him and Nancy shared. It continually warms my heart in the coldest of moments.
Tonight, I had one of those moments.
I can admit that I let someone get to me. Someone that has no place in my life. Someone that doesn’t even exist in my life, got to me. And it wasn’t so much them as an individual, as it was the past 3 weeks of cumulative jibberjabber hate mongers. I’m tired of them. I’m tired of being called names or belittled because my opinion is different. Is it right? Not any more so then theirs. But the difference is these people like to put words in my mouth. I say “If I pay for health insurance, I want it to cover my health.” They take that as I want the government to give me free health insurance and birth control. It blows my mind. I respond with “That’s not what I’m saying, I pay $647 a month for my health insurance. I want it to cover my health needs.” Then they tweet out “Everyone @LRJD wants you to pay for her birth control because she’s having to much sex.” Then all the cronies come, “Why should I pay for YOU to have sex?” “You probably want me to pay for your abortions to?” “Move to Canada if you want communist healthcare” And my point is completely lost. Never to be found again. Incapable of actually reading what I had written. Are my thoughts just too complex for little minds? I think I’ve made it pretty simple. I pay $647 a month for my family to have health insurance but I can’t get my monthly medical necessities, but yet my husband could get all the viagra and vasectomies and prostate exams he wants. Is that so wrong to want my health covered when that’s what I’m paying for?
Most recently I came under attack for the Trayvon Martin Case. I’ve been following the case and it’s very heartbreaking. I’m well aware of Florida’s Stand Your Ground Law, and I’m a HUGE fan of it. I live in Washington and we have our own version of it. You must absolutely stand your ground if you are imminent danger. I have no comment on whether it happened like Zimmerman said or if it the incident happened the way Martin’s family is saying it happened. But we have a dead unarmed teenager who may or may not have attacked Zimmerman AFTER HE WENT CHASING HIM. What I do know is that the law doesn’t allow for you to go chasing after real or perceived dangers. Just because I have a gun doesn’t mean I’m running down people I perceive as dangers and if I run after them, they are just as likely to perceive me as a danger and stand their ground. I don’t have an opinion on whether Zimmerman should be charged with murder or manslaughter, the facts of the case aren’t public yet, if Martin did attack him then absolutely he was justified. However, did Zimmerman chase after him? According to the 911 tapes he did, he needs to be held accountable for his actions that led to the shooting. This isn’t a black/white/latino thing. This isn’t a cut and dry, already been decided either all or nothing. This is cause and effect. This is about the change we want to see in the world. Guns are not there for people to take the law into their own hands, to decide what’s suspicious or not or go searching for dangerous situations. I actually believed I could have a civilized conversation about the case. Discuss the ideas, the rationale, theorize. I stated that he could have avoided the situation and it was downhill from there. But sadly I was left with this gem (among others)
“Someone call the police. This woman @LRJD was able to solve this shooting from 2000 miles away from part of a 9-11 call.”
Once again, my point was lost and here come the cronies.
Of course I unfollowed, Of course I quit responding. And he just wouldn’t leave it alone. So I did what every grown adult does: resort to childish antics. I probably tweeted him twenty times with whatever letters my fingers could hit. And maybe that’s the reason I’m so upset. Is because of the way I acted versus the way he acted. I hold myself to a higher standard. I allowed myself to get upset about someone that doesn’t matter. Someone that has never mattered. And someone that will never matter.The only thing left to do is pray for him.
“The ultimate determinant in the struggle now going on for the world will not be bombs and rockets but a test of wills and ideas — a trial of spiritual resolve: the values we hold, the beliefs we cherish and the ideals to which we are dedicated.”
- Ronald Reagan
I hate people that park like complete jackwagons. We went to Woodland Park zoo last summer. Now parking in Seattle is no fun. I hate it. Even though I excel at parallel parking, other people royally effing suck at it. Case in point:
Total jackwagon park job, right? That gold Honda parked THAT close to us! We had to load the stroller and everything into the backend. This guy is so lucky he didn’t come back to his car while we were trying to load the stroller in. This guy made it impossible for us to get out of our spot. Which is totally awesome when you have two tired cranky kids. The hubs literally had to reverse the Explorer and push the Honda back. I left a *super* nice note on the car that went something like this:
Feel free to copy this and print it out and put in on every jackwagon park job you encounter.