HAPPY HALLOWEENIE!!!

Click on the PLAY button below to watch the pumpkin pandemonium:

YES, WE FELT IT!

The chandeliers rocked...

the wine in my glass boogied a little...

but nothing else even moved...

and both the kids and dogs were completely oblivious.

As per usual.

THIS IS NOT ANOTHER POST ABOUT BRITNEY!

So, here's my two cents...

Neither marriage nor the divorce rate is what's wrong with this country. Neither people's commitment to something that isn't really working nor their early bailing out of something that could potentially work is what's wrong with this country. Neither unions deemed blessed by God nor sworn to in an open field of flowers with or without someone or multiple someones of the same or opposite or mixed sex is what's wrong with this country. Neither the desire to have children nor the decision to abort pregnancies is what's wrong with this country. Neither the support for nor the rejection of higher taxes, or gay rights, or the war, or education is what's wrong with this country. Neither the vast disparity between the poor and the filthy rich or between the salaries of men and women is what's wrong with this country. Neither the overpopulation nor the oppressive and unambiguous xenophobia is what's wrong with this country. Neither the over abundance of information because of the internet nor the over exposure of our personal identities due to the internet is what's wrong with this country. Neither a person's nor an entire people's choice not to believe in a higher power nor their individual or collective belief in one god or many or variations on a theme is what's wrong with this country.

What's wrong with this country is that we're selfish.

We've become a progressively self-absorbed, self-centered, and egocentric society. And if we weren't so completely egotistical, and we tried -- for even one day -- to work from the outside in, to actually think first about how our words and actions might affect someone else, to really communicate concerns and ambiguities instead of assuming or judging, to listen first, and then to listen again but try to actually hear this time, to solicit and heed the advice of elders, to allow others to see and recognize and empathize and help with our own sticky situations instead of hiding from the truth and putting on fronts and pretending to be things or people or couples or ideals that we're not, then it wouldn't matter at all which, if any, of the above situations we found ourselves in, would it? We'd be able to navigate it just fine because we wouldn't ever have to feel, even for a moment, isolated, abandoned, or alone -- and we'd be able to make decisions based on the well being of everyone involved because everyone else would be making decisions based on that same logic, and, if that were true, then wouldn't we be able to push through issues, any issue, without damaging our emotional, psychological, and/or physical states in the process -- obviating the need for therapy, mental institutions, battered women's shelters, identity theft precautions, witness protections programs, home security alarms, small claims courts, attorneys in general, FEMA, government assistance, the foster care system, homeless shelters, student loans, public housing, humane societies...

I mean, really, can someone please tell why someone, ANYONE, has not stepped in to help Britney? That girl is publically drowning, and we're all just sitting around and watching it happen. She's a microcosm of Katrina, and, for that matter, of our own country. We all saw it coming. It was only a matter of time. And, what's worse, is that it was completely preventable.

What this country needs is a fucking intervention!

Okay, I think I past my two cents like $10 ago.

X-posted on my other blog: Digressions of a Mad Lesbian

CHICKEN SOUP'S THE ORDER OF THE DAY

So, just as the flu and cold season begins to ramp up, I just wanted to highlight some recent findings with regards to not administering cough and cold medication to children under 6.

Some excerpts from the surprisingly enlightening article include:

Pediatricians pushing for greater restrictions told the FDA advisers Thursday that the over-the-counter medicines shouldn't be given to children younger than 6, an age group they called the most vulnerable to any potential ill effects. But FDA officials and panelists agreed there's no evidence they work in older children, either.

Some of the drugs — which include Wyeth's Dimetapp and Robitussin, Johnson & Johnson's Pediacare and Novartis AG's Triaminic products — have never been tested in children, something flagged as long ago as 1972 by a previous FDA panel.

One health expert told the panel that children catch five to eight colds each year. Those colds don't necessarily require treatment beyond comfort measures that don't involve drugs, said Patricia Jackson Allen, of the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners.

Click HERE to read the article in its entirety.

BOTTOM LINE: There's so much icky stuff out there these days that it's truly hard to know what the best line of defense really is -- and worse, whether that line will move based on tomorrow's research results. Obviously, as a parent, you'll want to do your due diligence and arm yourself with as much information as your sanity can tolerate, but ultimately, you've just got to trust your instincts and do what you think is best for your family.

So, here's wishing everyone a very healthy season!

LOOK WHAT MEMA CAN DO!!!!

We're just so proud of her!!!

"My first real race!" she emailed this morning. It was "10 For Texas," a 10-miler she walked/ran last Saturday.

She finished in 2.5 hours (which is exactly 15-minute miles). And "only ran when I saw a camera," she was sure to add.

Great job, Mom!!

Click on the PLAY button below to see The Mema in action!

HIDDEN TALENTS

"We've had a little situation arise with Santiago," they said.

"What happened?" I said, but really meant What did he do now?

"Well," they continued, "he seems to be having some difficulty with naptime in general, but yesterday [big sigh] he...well..."

"Yes?" I prod, certain that he must've run screaming through the school at naptime, or that he put his underwear on his head, or something pretty devastating from the look on their faces.

"Well, he took apart his cot."

So, I talked to him, yet again, about the importance of his naps and how grumpy he tends to get without them, etc., but waited until Mommy got home so that we could address his deconstruction of furniture.

As he began to explain to us exactly what happened, he was most upset by the fact that he had not completed his task successfully than by the fact that he'd gotten in trouble.

"So, why were you messing with the bed, son?"

"The screws were loose," he said.

"But you knew you were going to get in trouble, didn't you? Why didn't you just tell one of your teachers?"

"Well," he said, "I was trying to put it back together."

"But," he continued, "I kept trying to put the big screw into the little hole."

And now thoroughly disappointed in himself, "And the only reason I got in trouble was that I just didn't figure out in time about the little screw in the little hole before they came back in."

HANDSOME LITTLE DEVIL

Having a melancholy day today and then in pops this gorgeous pic of my new nephew on my cellphone, and don't I feel like such a lucky girl again?

Thanks for brightening my day, Baby David!