Norcal2's Blog

And the Jeopardy question is "Why?"  No one is arguing against breast feeding being quite natural and no one is saying don't breast feed but it isn't as if the child is starving and you suddenly have to feed him or her.  This is after the fact.  Feed the baby.  Film it.  Post it.  Sit back and act shocked when posters respond and the website acts.

Pullllease.  There are many things that are physically natural that you can't post.  Strangers don't see the beauty of a mom and babies shared moment - now downloaded and plastered in uncontrolled conditions by those who only see a boob mainly because the breast feeder can't control the reader and viewer's mind.  But she knows that and that alone should have stopped her.  It isn't like it takes a rocket Scientist to breast feed.  We all do it or have done it.  We all don't toss it up on the Internet.  Come to think about it there are no qualifications whatsoever other than having milk.  Same holds true for having a baby in the first place. 

I don't care if someone wants to breast feed a baby because the baby is hungry.  I do care that a mom isn't satisfied with that and decides to plaster the picture where it doesn't belong and without permission.  And it doesn't belong there or they would not have removed it.   My question then is why the driving need to be so silly over something so trifling? 

We think of things like love, family, home, and yada, yada, yada.  Nope, it is none of that.  Those come with the season so I take them for granted because love is free.  Get your bad self over here and let me hug you then please go home!

Do I sound harsh?  I'm not.  I am a sentimental mush bucket every Christmas and in between.  But this is about my best present ever.  I once got a pair of sexy PJ's 2 sizes too big,  EXCUSE ME?  What was he trying to say?  I returned one present when it cost so much that the price outdid the wish to not disappoint.  It was that ugly.  It was a GIANT pin made of freshwater pearl and diamonds that looked like a seagull hit me dead center on the chest.  I hate to return gifts but sometimes "you gotta do what you gotta do".  I've gotten gift baskets that contained mystery food and I ate it.  I just don't like returning things so it has to be remarkable to cause me to do that.  I even nibble on the dreaded fruit cake.  How sick is that?

But Christmas is not just about gifts I receive.  Christmas is truly about giving and hugging and getting together and planning and bling-bling.  I do love the bling.  This all brings me back to the best gift I have ever received.  No it isn't love, fulfillment, joy, or anything like that.  It is simply a gizmo called IROBOT!  That little monkey cleans up the mess every other day, including Christmas day after everyone leaves, and makes my life easier.

Sure I sound 'surface' but ya know what,  I DON"T CARE!  This non-home-goddess hates vacuuming so bite me.  Oh and...

Merry Christmas from the Lazy Grinch!

I am putting my foot down.  I am sick of the two words "Happy Holiday".  No more.  If the stores are going to get my money they are going to have to give up the PC and go for the big no-no.  The greeting I was raised with, the greeting that is a part of Christmas, the greeting that is in the holiday we are celebrating, the greeting that is in just about every Christmas song.  You know the words...SAY IT!  I don't know what a Happy Holiday is.  It is too ambiguous to be a specific holiday.  There is no hint of what you are wishing me.  Am I celebrating all the holidays or perhaps you are slipping Groundhog Day in to trick me.  Maybe you and I are celebrating different holidays and when I answer Merry Christmas back it becomes offensive to you, the store employees, still celebrating Thanksgiving.  Maybe Christmas is a secret holiday.  Hidden somewhere between Thanksgiving and New Year?  I no longer care whether I shock you by revealing a secret holiday.  Otherwise I am going to demand that you work on the day that is not being celebrated and only take the holiday named Holiday off!

If you want my money you must say:

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

If Fox 13 is going to highlight the "He Said/ He Said's" then the least Fox can do is supply popcorn.   This environment is a funny thing in that strangers bother to fight like siblings or lovers for the appreciative crowd screaming "No More!  No More!" while drawn to them. 

Like staring at an accident scene, we are all drawn into something unwinnable for something we don't much care about and we do so against our own better judgement.  But I don't care because I personally read the callouts because it means "When I'm good, I'm very good - but when I'm bad, I am never as bad as this wingnut!" 

Popcorn anyone? 

I saw the airline representative on Fox 13 saying if you go to the wrong tarmac and miss the plane because you are now assigned to the new acquisition line, Northwest, as "To bad/so sad."   They will look at it as if you missed your plane because you were late.  Interesting way to look at it since even making a reservation is a game of "Here today, gone tomorrow."  We reserved a Delta flight way back in March.  I lost track of how many times they have changed us.  We went from a non-stop to a three-stop to a two-stop on four flights.  I didn't mind as I know things are tough for airlines right now.  I even chuckled when they did one change and had us taking off in Atlanta before we even got to Atlanta.  I assumed they wanted us to skydive to the connecting flight.  I was game.

Still no problem.

I cringed at the added cost of luggage but I understood.

By booking early I paid too much and there is no adjustment but fine, I knew the rules.

I frowned when they rebooked a rebook of a rebook that they rebooked.  But I remained understanding.

No cheap snacks?  Oh Well!

But I think the representative should be aware that you can wind up passengers, tie them in a knot, transfer them a bazillion times, charge for luggage and then lose it , or not, but IF you send me to Northwest at zero hour while I stand in line at Delta and use that "Too bad/So sad" on me, you will finally know how this yo-yo feels.  I may be forced to start flying on Cropdusters to get to any destination but "Oh well, to bad, so sad!"

Ya need to be a little more gracious when yanking chains on customers who have future flight choices, particularly since you are beating them half senseless long before the flight.

When the snow falls and covers the landscape it is a renewal.  It covers homes like a fresh coat of paint and everything that looked tired and dusty from the long, hot summer takes on a fresh, new appearance.  The snow covers anything in our yard that we should have put away.  How can anyone not celebrate it when snow hides dead leaves from trees that prepared the way for a month or more?  That one house in every 'hood with 'junk in the trunk' displayed on the lawn...no problemo!  Snows gonna turn it into an art form.

It has been slow in coming but I am putting out the welcome mat in hopes snow is inspired to creep in and bury the frayed edges.  So here we are again, you, me, and snow cooperating in unison for a renewal that came too late and may leave too soon.  But for this day, if we are lucky, we will all get a peek at the fresh white coating that hides how lazy we were all year. 

The Christmas lights are up so "Let it Snow!  Let it Snow!  Let it Snow!  It is all very much like a new President coming into office and starting over isn't it? Out with the old and in with the new, and in this case it is a renewal I can live with.

We are going to discuss everything except the calories we will be consuming on this fine Thanksgiving Day Feast.  I see how FOX rolls, ya turkeys, but no one said it would be gravy!   And nothing gets between me and my Pumpkin.  Soon enough we will be stuffing ourselves. 

This is the official countdown for the Weak of the Feast.  The days and hours before we will all be attacked by our scales but for now FOX is keeping our minds off our bums, and mostly, THEIRS!  And to think we get to start eating all over again at Christmas.  They do say that if you close your eyes while eating the calories don't count so I will try that this year.

This pre-holiday finger aerobics isn't gonna cut it.  Time to dust off the treadmill...

I used to be the casual shopper. Meandering down the aisles of any store I would grab the necessities and place them in my cart without thought.  Bells go off in all of our minds when we get to some items like eggs, a favorite food, or any delicate item that we must handle with care.  Those items go into the top of the cart.  Our version of the "sweet spot" holds anything we appoint a status to.  Often it may contain an escape from a clear plastic bag.  No problem.  This is the "precious spot".  This is where the rest of the groceries just dream about elevating their status too.

One day my husband and I were casually shopping in a Big Box store.  A young mother was in front of us.  Her cute baby sat in the precious spot and smiled at anyone who looked her way.  Suddenly in a lull a horrific sound permeated the store.  Beautiful baby was tinkling.  Not just tinkling but tinkling like a dam had opened the flood gates.  As mom scrambled to cover up the mess with a mom lie "Oops she spilled her cup of..."  There was no cup or glass to be seen.  Checked out, I watched as she pushed her bag and baby to the door, removed both and left the cart for the next shopper.  I realised for the first time in my life that shopping carts that hold our most vulnerable foods share their throne with butts.

From that day on I automatically close the noro virus seat and try to place food toward the front of the carts.  The wipes provided by the store should be used for the handle and whatever area you worry about but don't expect miracles.  The stores in other states with the misting disinfectant should be required everywhere because those innocent, beautiful and precious babies are grocery store cart terrorists.  They are just too cute to report! as a health hazard 

;-)

Now that the mean season has ended the fallout of altered words still rains down on us.  Like a big ol' snowball fight after the snow has melted, words like AmeriKa and DemoRAT and RepuliCON litter the floor and someone from the Sanitation Department may be forced to clean it up. 

This doesn't have to happen.  No longer must an innocent ,hard working, employee deal with the muddy language residue from elections.  Call: 1-800-wecleanupyouralteredwordsafterelections

Our company and hazmat team can clean out your mouth, mind and/or fingers in record time.

Our American Made tools can free you of your AmeriKa affliction.

Additionally, you can be freed from the anchor of dragging RAT or CON inappropriately into a conversation.

Call us today and allow our team to rid you of Political Residue Syndrome and get back your logic, your reputation, your life.

Besides if I read that one more time I will personally sKream...

I've been watching Utah's Mormon reaction to Proposition 8 in California and it seems to me that while I understand churches do give their opinion on these issues, the active activism and focus is a little odd.  I was born and raised in California and in fact only left a few years ago and it never occurred to me that any church or state other than the voting public would actually believe they can influence California voters. 

I don't want to be the bearer of bad news but in all the years I lived there NO ONE can influence how they will vote.  If this bill passes or fails it will have exactly zero to do with anyone outside California.  San Francisco's population alone is almost half the population of the entire state of Utah. 

Californians are really comfortable about doing what they see as right for California just as Utah is comfortable with their business.  Hard to get your way here or there.  From the red counties to the blue counties somehow it all works out the way THEY want it to.  The Mormon church would have been better off to donate their money to those who may need it and who attend their church.  Good luck with that California wish though. 

I listened to the explanations by experts who posed their theories that McCain lost solely because he didn't deliver a knockout punch as the candidate who is trailing. I can't say I agree with that. As I watched and listened from an issue standpoint to me there was a clear winner: Obama won, but not because it was close or even.

How he won was with both impression aka body language and information. In the first, one has the sense that standing beside Obama is deadly for McCain who looks frail, angry and distinctly unpresidential. On issue information McCain has never attempted to offer up the how-to in financing his offerings and even Obama with small glimpses of financing brings that front and center. In fact no more is asked of him and that is unfortunate.  As much as I have researched both candidates I still have no idea how McCain expects to offer continuation of the Bush tax refunds to the top producers while modestly upping some few others.   Every evaluation of his offering notes the obvious.  Obama is able to offer a larger refund to 95% of the taxpayers solely because he has a funding plan.

I think McCain's performance was spotty and likely only hinted at his upcoming loss in terms of resignation his own party seems to be emitting in focusing on smears against Obama. Theory being if you toss enough rubbish in the air, something must stick. Given all of the above it seems more of a fairytale than a logical strategy.

Summation: It is over.

I'll start with a disclaimer:  This blog entry is serious and there is no humor to be found. 

In the self-retelling of events from long ago we are usually elevated to heroes. Even if it is Grandma talking about how she captured a rabbit dining on her lettuce. There is no reason to believe McCain is not a hero as is everyone who fights in or is captured in a war. He stands out in the stories and likely stood out in the arena, or not. That part is pretty much just under "The war I fought" but today we are in trouble. Today we need a hero and not someone whose sole merit is he was captured years ago. We need someone who is willing to take this country in a new direction. Someone brave enough to fight against the Bush/McCain mentality. Even the language of the republican convention should have penetrated viewers senses in terms of the future war. The one waiting in the wings. The unnamed war that is certain to happen because the mindset is one of America as ruler of the planet. That is what makes Obama so refreshing. That missing ingredient from McCain, a statesman. A man who has not been in a war years ago and who thinks working with the global community pays off. The one who says "Enough."

But some look around and see a total collapse of their own lives and think Bush in the form of McCain can save them. I don't really understand that this round because YOU have so much to lose and it is more than just your home, if you haven't already lost that. With the deficit at a monstrous level, you are choosing to continue even knowing that what you got for all that money is a war and nothing but debts you can't afford. And as prices in consumer goods rise you will pay for it proud to have had a third chance to get it right but politics and party made you leave every last drop of sanity to vote against yourself and your family.

Fear is statesman handling of foreign affairs, war is preferable.

Fear is having a solid healthcare plan that covers everyone, paying for military is preferable

Fear is taxing oil companies on extreme profits, tax breaks to them are preferable.

Fear is getting more taxes back, protecting the wealthy is preferable.

There is no way to understand what any given person sees as "Well spent money" but for half the population "Well spent money seems to be anything their party says is a good thing even if you already know you have been screwed for 8 years, your party wants 4 more, and then 4 more, and then 4 more. And you are just along for the ride and working hard to pay for your own folly.

Are we masochists?

Taxes:

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Healthcare from Economic Policy Institute:

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And yet, McCain tells a good story.

I read an article that summed up why the writer felt such discomfort with this pick of Palin and many women have expressed the same sentiment; one of dismay. To understand you'll have to define dismay.

Palin is a beautiful woman whose biography reads like a small town success story and to knock her is to knock mom and pop lives and women who chose to live them. They are the backbone to this country. She was exceptional though in terms of actively going after more, and she achieved it and with experience will go even further. There is nothing in her story that would not make me support her if qualified and more moderate on social issues so it isn't against her. She has been as short changed as we have.

It is about a man bypassing qualified women for a woman who no one can realistically parse into a highly qualified candidate to run this country of a scope unimaginable to any of us. It is the audacity of thinking women are so ignorant all it took was a woman on the ticket. Any woman. Deciding to keep a baby and a timeframe of 20 months was all women required to place this massive and complicated country in the hands of a vagina. We are women. We are that ignorant.

Reverse sexism looks every bit as bad and harmful to women as sexism. We pay either way. We certainly pay when leaders assume we are so dumb we can ignore the issues, the lifetime beliefs, the war, the unequal pay, childcare, global economy, NAFTA, Social Security, taxes and more to race out and vote for a woman who has been selected as an object,

It didn't work. It couldn't work.

And now I am left to wonder if McCain really is that disconnected that he thought this would work or if he is simply daffy.