It has been great fun to see the Babes for Obama shirts fly out the door! This tongue and cheek look at Women for Obama has caused some ruffled feathers with my feminist friends who wanted me to take a more serious stab at this. But the younger women are grabbing them up - which I figured. We are a proud group of girls and we want to be women and supporter of Obama.
Being able to be sexy seems to offend some of the old school feminist women - which is usally why younger women have trouble seeing themselves as feminist - which in turn drives the older women nuts. A terrible cycle.
Personnaly I say express your inner babe AND your inner feminist! Oh, and support Obama!
We visited our Sparkly Girl this weekend for Parents weekend at Hendrix College. It was delightful to see her so happy. I don't know how many times we looked at each other and said, "She has friends!" She looks and seems entirely at home on campus and that is an amazing feeling as a parent. Her roommates are nice, her friends are supportive, and she is navigating campus life well.
Class is killing her, but she knew that after leaving the hippy dippy environment of her private school experience she would have a tough ladder to climb. Many of these kids come from prep school environments or at lease Advanced Placement classes at their public schools. Her experience was the complete opposite of that and she is having to work really hard to keep up.
Spanish is kicking her butt. She has never had it, and the class moves so fast that she is struggling to figure it out, but that is just part of life and we know she can do this - even though she may not be at the top she will figure out how to play along.
Because her dad and I did not attend college like this, we did separate programs that went towards certificate programs - we are amazed at the college life experience. There are so many things to adjust to. Just getting your laundry done is a challenge! It does seem like a beautiful time in a kids life though because they can continue to grow as people. A suspended reality of sorts from "real life" to concentrate on what matters to you.
I am off for the weekend to visit my darling daughter at college. We are so excited to see her, meet her new friends, and just be with her. I miss her smile and although I talk to her it will be good to be with her and see her talk. - A much different experience!
Prayers or whatever it is you do for my family on what has become a tough week. Just to say that when a family member is in distress it is hard on the whole family. I hope that they all can find healing and real peace. More later when I know more.
I am so excited! I love birthdays. I am 39 and feel great. I just want to take this opportunity to say that I feel so lucky to have made the incredible friends that I have in my little hamlet. I would never have thought that small town America would be as loving and kind to this California girl, but they proved me wrong on every count. This is for them!
Update: Thank you to all my online friends for wishing me a happy day! Thank you to one of my clients who noticed on Skype that it was my birthday. Thank you to Kathy for the great coffee and mug. So so sweet. Thank you to Janie for singing with that lovely hillbilly twang! And thank you to the Library Ladies who sent an eCard just for me!
Final Update: My darling daughter sent me three CD's of music I assume she thinks I will like. We'll listen to them on the way to Parent's Weekend on Friday. Boy, my husband went all out. Well, we missed out on going to dinner because the chickens refused to go in and by the time that we got to the restaurant it was closed. So, we made a quick fajita dinner and he brought out this HUGE assortment of gifts. I couldn't believe it.
He got me: a bamboo cutting board, bamboo silverware drawer organizer, two different kinds of can openers (I have can opener issues), a meat thermometer (I wanted this!), a huge box of chocolate, 400 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets in chocolate brown, two new pillows for the bed, coffee, the deluxe game of Scrabble, a bigger exercise ball, two 10 pound weights, and a thermos (our song is Picking out a Thermos from the Jerk). It was extravagant. Nothing expensive, just the time it took him to find each thing and decide we needed it and buy it. I just felt a little spoiled.
So, as you know I am an Atheist. Yes, with a capital A. Being a Unitarian Universalist it has taken me a long time to even accept UU Christians or other spiritual paths into the fold. I was raised by a Humanist who didn't stomach spirituality very well. Not even to his dying day, I might add.
I though see that I might need to find something, some skill, some path to add into my life to have a little more peace. I don't know what that means for me. I have dabbled in Buddhism, Paganism, was baptized Mormon... yeah it is a varied place to be. But these aren't quite right. I always go back to writing, drawing or some form of meditation (not that I actually DO them) as an idea.
What works for you? What brings you a bit of peace?
I was with a friend today and she reminded me that when we speak to our parents, family members, friends we can often be hard - thinking that they love us so won't get hurt. I challenge you this week (and myself) to listen more thoughtfully and to speak with compassion. Let's see how that goes towards building our relationships. Report back on your successes! I am interested to hear.
For those interested in Camp Obama - I am keeping that on the Babes for Obama blog!
Granted the farm has 8 chickens, a dog, 3 cats and only 12ish acres - nonetheless it is a farm with farmish chores. These are the things I am struggling with and maybe you have some answers:
The house is OLD (over 100 years) and needs some sprucing up
The bathroom gets moldy, yes we can add a "fart fan" but the electricity is spotty and that seems scary, so I am planning on repainting again - my question, what color is good for a bathroom? Seriously, I am clueless. After being in rented apartments most of my adult life I never paid attention to those things. I don't want some garish color - just something normal. Any suggestions?
When do you find time to work outside? I have a garden which is in it's fall stage and I am fine with that mess, but when is there time to rake leaves, plant pansies, or pull out dead plants? Granted, you might not be able to help here, but I am struggling to keep up.
Our floor is literally falling apart - my husband just replaced a rotting board. We are planning on putting down a layer of plywood and then something else. Question, what would you suggest as the something else?
Clutter - the house is just 800 square feet and there is crap everywhere - what simple storage advice do you have for:
50 pounds of dog food
30 pounds of cat food
bathroom supplies (shampoo, etc.) with no bathroom storage
Outside crap that piles up everywhere by the back door/family entrance
Books, magazines, etc.
I work from home and I can't seem to do it all, work out, work, clean, make dinner, shop, etc. It is just more then I can handle. My husband works construction projects and comes home exhausted and dirty - and too pooped to help out during the good months (no real work in the winter). I need some kind of solution to the above and a good way to handle all the pieces of this farm life.
How do you do it? I can't buy a bunch of storage junk and think that will fix this, I need real time/clutter/home management techniques. What is working for you, your parents, your grandparents? How are you all doing everything?
I have designed a T-Shirt with my friend Kathy to show our support
of Obama across our chests. This shirt is our opportunity as women to
stand united - and in style!
The
shirts are printed locally in Arkansas and are being sold for $20.
(There is no profit there, they are done by hand by an incredible
printer who wants Obama to win, too.)
They are printed on white
shirts an have the Babes for Obama message scrawled across the front.
To order yours call Geographics at 479-253-9995. The cost includes
shipping anywhere in the US - Alaska even!
Be the babe you know you are - a Babe for Obama! More on why we are Babe's and not women on my other blog: babesforobama
I am not one of those Democrats that sign up for Republican things to see what they are doing. I prefer to get information through news sources, etc. Well, this morning in my email inbox was an email from John McCain's campaign about taking Missouri.
They got two things wrong - I live in Arkansas & Spam is a no-no!
I went to the website to unsubscribe and it had four choices:
Reason for Unsubscribing:
There were no options for "I have been spammed by the McCain Campaign! I wrote a comment and sent it off, but I am sure this won't be heard. To me it symbolizes all that is wrong with the McCain Campaign - they are out of touch with today's world. They are buying lists, emailing because they think that is the cool way to communicate, and missing the whole point.
