ism ism ism…

There’s been a lot of talk lately.  In my head there’s maniacal laughter.  There’s a lot of talk every election year, going back to the beginning of Democratic times.  It’s easy to fall into the trap of buying into the fears the politicians are peddling, because the fears that an election brings to light are, to some extent, very real. 

Our country hasn’t always been the bastion of relative peace and prosperity that it is today.  We’ve been through growing pains of war, depression, and violence; any one of which could have ended this great experiment in Democracy.  Somehow we’re still standing, and right or wrong it seems almost like the hand of a divine intervention that’s preserved our way of governing.  That’s just how unlikely our continued existence truly is.

What’s great about America is that we are better today than we were ten years ago, twenty years ago, and most certainly better than we were a century ago.

So I want to pose the question, what is it that makes us better?  How have we been pushed to persevere and improve?  From laws preventing the exploitation of women and children in sweat shops, to the Civil Rights Amendment, to Social Security, to the overall security of economic stability and a sound infrastructure. 

This brings me to the problem of political campaigns.  Every year we are told we should fear one man or the other, because that man will single-handedly bring about the death of Democracy and the advent of totalitarianism.  Whatever side you are on, you will lose some important Personal Right.  Something in the very core of your identity will be squashed, until you are barely able to crawl out of bed in the morning.  The sky will be blood red, the oceans will die, the four horsemen are stopping to graze in your front yard, etc. etc.

One of the biggest talking points is Socialism vs. Capitalism.  I find this terribly irksome.  It’s this argument that drives me crazy.  Yes, our founders were in large part upper class merchants who had a vested interest in securing free trade.  In other words, they didn’t want the Government putting an undue burden on their ability to make a profit.  A large profit.  These men were, among other things, being taxed and tariffed to the point where their businesses couldn’t survive.  So to over simplify the matter, the United States was born out of the impetus to create a free market, where business could compete and grow and where any man had the potential to succeed. 

As time went on the social problems of a growing nation making the transition to an industrialized economy forced politicians to question the merits of a free market.  Monopolies were broken up, limits were put on the amount of hours you could force people to work, children were protected.  As our country grew so did the amount we were taxed.  The depression threw a bright light on the corruption of Wall Street and the need for regulation.  Each law enacted, each regulation enforced, is meant to correct the faults of a free market system.  It still goes on today.  The market has many tentacles that reach throughout the world and into our very homes.  To allow it to self-destruct under the weight of its own greed and corruption is appealing to many of us, but we cannot just throw the baby out with the bath water, can we?  That would be a great example of shooting ourselves in the foot.  We like to think we’re not complicit, but truly this is our culture, our economy, our politicians, is it not?

So this brings me back to the Great Argument over Socialism and Capitalism.  The fact of the matter is that in our economy we have both.  The reason we have both is because we are not solely Capitalistic or Socialistic or Communistic, we are a DEMOCRACY.  Each person has value and a voice.  It is the mandate of our Government to protect our rights to LIFE, LIBERTY, and the pursuit of HAPPINESS.  That requires some flexibility when it comes to which ism we will prescribe to.  Above every other ism what we treasure and most need to preserve is our Democracy.  My voice.  Your voice.  Grandma’s voice.

As a conservative, I want my government to keep itself from getting involved whenever possible.  I want freedom to live my life and raise my family.  I don’t want to be taxed for government programs that don’t work, that have a history of not working.  I want laws that are enforceable and well thought out.  I want a minimalist government that is transparent.  If we’re going to give away billions of dollars to bail out a corrupt system, I want the oversight of that money explained to me, I want to know how we’re going to keep that particular type of corruption from slapping us again.

It’s a fallacy to think we can prescribe to one type of economics.  We’ve had socialism for years, particularly since the New Deal.  It isn’t going anywhere.  All I ask is that we don’t forget that a large part of our founding as a nation was based upon the right of anyone to take their economic destiny into their own hands, to become as wealthy as they want, without the government legislating personal ambition right into the ground.

That being said, in these pre-election days I can’t help that I frequently think of the words of that preeminent economic scholar, John Lennon.  I think he was right when he said, “You’re all ****ing peasants as far as I can see.”  Thank you, John, for putting it all in perspective.

Is it over yet?

The election, that is.  I didn’t watch or listen to the news all weekend, and the first thing I heard on the radio this morning was ObaMcain, blah, blah, blah.  Blech.  I can’t take it anymore.

Election day can’t come and go soon enough. 

I still can’t shake this fatigue.  I did just about nothing all weekend long, with the exception of accompanying Tommy to a Halloween Party yesterday.  The result was a terrible migraine that sent me to bed early.

So this is how it’s going to be from here on out, meaning from here until I throw off this mortal coil.  Aches and pains and undefinable fatigue.  Days when you can shrug it off, and days when it overtakes you.  I’m glad it’s gray today, it takes the burden off of my desire to stay curled up indoors.  The sunshine only serves to mock me, forcing me to take the kids outdoors. 

I have a beef with the outdoors right now anyway.  I had a TICK in my back on Friday that Ed had to extract for me before we took off to an evening filled with elementary and preschool Halloween parties.  Disgusting.  Them woods is infested with the little bastards.  We’ve all had one now except for the baby (well, he’s almost 2 but who’s counting).  Ryan had to be taken to his doctor for an extraction when one of the buggers latched into the tender skin inside his belly button.

I guess it’s global warming that’s to blame, or maybe it’s the apocolypse.  I don’t remember anything about ticks in the book of Revelation per se, but I don’t think I would have to labor too long to find something akin to them.  A plague of ticks or some such thing.

Overwhelming Worry

I don’t think there’s a mother anywhere that is a stranger to that sudden feeling of overwhelming worry; a feeling that seems like it might just knock you over with its strength. 

Perhaps it’s just more common for parents who have a child who’s been diagnosed with a life-long developmental disorder like Asperger’s Syndrome.

Right now the worry is centered in Tommy’s sleeping habits.  They are poor to say the least.  He has great difficulty falling asleep at night, even when he is very tired from a long day.  This is made worse by the fact that he is a light sleeper, and usually wakes up very early in the moring, sometimes in a state of extreme hyper-activity.

Like this morning.  It was probably 11 PM before the noises of foot steps finally went quiet upstairs, signaling that Thomas had finally fallen asleep.  Even more troubling is that it was probably 5 AM when I heard him shouting at his father downstairs, and running around in a state of over excitement.  He was practically hysterical, almost in a state that wasn’t quite…him.  It was more like him on speed.

So I think hard, trying to remember if he ate anything weird the day before, or the day before that, but can think of nothing out of the ordinary.  I can find no obvious cause and effect.  I worry.  I wonder if he’ll be able to handle a day that starts with him getting on the bus at 8:15 every morning, and not coming home until almost 3:30.  It’s one thing to have these disturbed sleep patterns when you are only attending half-day kindergarten, but the expectations grow as he does.  I worry how his behaviour and his learning will be effected by getting so little sleep, compounded with his other learning difficulties like his slow auditory processing.

The sleep problems are nothing new.  Even when Thomas was an infant he would wake up in the dead of night in the throws of an inconsolable fit.  Ed and I would stand in the livingroom with him, not able to do anything except hold him tight to keep him from hurting himself.  The last time he had a very bad episode he was 3 years old.  He woke up having a violent fit and ended up putting a hole in the wall with his head.  It seemed to morph into middle of the night vomiting episodes.

You just become so accustomed to the peculiarities of your children that they barely continue to register with you, but now that Thomas is in the public school system I am facing a renewed awareness of those things that will create challenges for my son.  There is so much that is unknown about children that are on the Autism Spectrum, even those who appear to be neuro-typical to the untrained eye.  There is so much going on inside that head that no one seems to understand.

If I could just help him to sleep, to get that basic biological need met.  Like eating, another difficulty for him, I would just like to be able to take the basics for granted.

A Look At Obama’s Record

Most of the few people who regularly stop by my blog know that I’m pro-life.  There are many reasons for this that I would love to explain over time, and probably will when I have more time for blogging.  Let me just say that it was a decision that I came to over many, many years, after having known too many women that have had abortions.

I hope that if you plan to vote, you will read the following essay on Obama’s record on this matter.  Here is one small excerpt, followed by a link to the entire essay.  I find it hard to believe that most Americans do not find Obama’s positions on this important matter objectionable, if not completely heinous.  If only people knew what their politicians really wanted to do to our country.

“He has promised that ”the first thing I’d do as President is sign the Freedom of Choice Act” (known as FOCA). This proposed legislation would create a federally guaranteed ”fundamental right” to abortion through all nine months of pregnancy, including, as Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia has noted in a statement condemning the proposed Act, ”a right to abort a fully developed child in the final weeks for undefined ‘health’ reasons.” In essence, FOCA would abolish virtually every existing state and federal limitation on abortion, including parental consent and notification laws for minors, state and federal funding restrictions on abortion, and conscience protections for pro-life citizens working in the health-care industry-protections against being forced to participate in the practice of abortion or else lose their jobs.”

Read the rest here:  Robert George Abortion Article

Random This and That

If you want more energy for your exercise routine, don’t forget to eat half a pan of brownies for breakfast take your vitamins!  I’ve been trying to remember my Citracal, my super-multi with 800 mcg of folic acid, and fish oil caplets.  That and a little extra sleep can really make a difference.

Last winter my doctor told me I had a vitamin D deficiency, so now that this part of the Earth is tilting away from the sun, I want to be sure to take my supplements.  Of course it also helps that I am neither pregnant nor am I breastfeeding.  That means that all of my nutrients are mine to keep.  Mine!  Bwahahahahaha!  Ahem.

Then again he also told me that the tingling in my left shoulder blade was because I was pent up with my kids.  I still have the tingling, so I guess I can infer from that, and from his astute and scientific observation of my state of mind and living, that I am still feeling all pent up with my kids.  Darn kids.  Stop making my shoulder blade tingle! 

Our beautiful foliage is now past peak here in Upstate NY.  You almost wouldn’t believe it’s a humid 70 degrees out there today.

I’ve recently seen two dead copperhead snakes in the road while out walking.  Now I know better than to think we don’t have any venomous snakes around here:

I hope squashed snake doesn’t gross you out too much.

Didn’t I just clean the dang living room?  How does this happen?  Maybe I’ll start cleaning the house early in the AM, and then take the kids and sit in the car with them for the rest of the day.  That way it’ll stay clean!  Yeah!  Good idea!  Then it won’t just be my shoulder blade tingling, it’ll be my whole body.

Ryan is never going to potty train.  That’s what I’m telling myself, so that when he actually does it it’ll be a pleasant surprise.  He doesn’t go on the potty, at all.  He doesn’t seem to be ready for it, physically or psychologically.  He never fails to go poop right after I drop him off at his afternoon preschool.  Never.  Fails.  I’m so sorry, preschool teachers.

So, so, sorry.  I hope their shoulders don’t start to tingle.

Kinder Update

I got a note home in Tommy’s bag today that he will need a full evaluation from the occupational therapist to determine if he should be receiving continued assistance. 

Never mind that I told them at his IEP meeting that he should probably not be denied OT since he still has issues with his grasp and some hypotonia.  The only reason they gave him this pre-evaluation evaluation (a-hem), is because I insisted on it when they refused him the therapy.

Oh!  Now that he is actually expected to write his letters in a legible manner, in the proper space and the at the proper size, maybe mom was right!  Gee!

I’m only gloating about being right because, no matter how much you expect it, it’s never fun to get a note in your son’s school bag telling you that he needs further assistance.  I should try to get used to it because we really won’t know for several years (if ever), just how Tommy’s Asperger’s is effecting his ability to be educated in the full school population.  All evidence is pointing toward him being able to hold his own, but we just don’t know for sure.

There was this moment during last week’s parent-teacher conference where I made a comment about it being probable that Thomas would lose all services, since he was doing so well.  This was the impression I was given at his IEP meeting last summer, where the Lady From The State made me feel like she was doing me a great favor by approving even speech therapy in the new school year.

But when I made that comment there was a look exchanged between Tommy’s teacher and the special ed teacher, a look that seemed to say, “Uh, I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

So maybe I’m just being paranoid, but everyone is so illusive, not wanting to say the wrong thing or give me the wrong impression, that I’m left with guessing what’s coming next.  That, and Tommy wrote his name perfectly backward yesterday on a (super awesome) piece of artwork that he had made.  So yeah, it’s a roller coaster. 

Let me just end on a bragging note.  Thomas is exceptionally bright.  He entertains me with stories he makes up and with the pictures he draws, and with his super-funny sense of humor.  I have no doubt about the vast powers of his growing brain.  What I am unsure of, is how he is going to do in the general population.  Is he going to have trouble learning the way children in a public school are expected to learn?  Is he going to be misunderstood because he sees the world in a way that is uniquely his own?  Only time will tell, I suppose.

On Sunday we also found out that Tommy has a girlfriend!  Of course, he didn’t know he had a girlfriend until the little girl in question informed him of this.  She’s a cute blond girl who lives up the street, and they played together at a community get together at the fire house.  Tommy chatted her up (in a five year old way) and told her jokes until she was rolling on the floor (What did the grilled cheese sandwich say to the frying pan?  Hey! Don’t hit me in the head!).  When she tried to feed him a potato chip, he drew the line, telling her he could feed himself!  Way to set your boundaries, little guy.

Bailout is a Failure For America

How about a bailout for Sara and her family?  How about a bailout for the thousands of others just like her? 

It’s sickening, it really is.

And Miles To Go

I’m still training for Team Prevention’s Walk It half-marathon in Philadelphia on November 23.  My sister asked me to join her and a couple of other people, and I asked my husband to sign up too.

I need the motivation to get into a regular exercise schedule after 6 long years of pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, sleep loss, and general recovery.  Ya know, the times when it feels like ice cream is the only friend that really understands you.

So this morning I walked 7 miles in 111 minutes, which is pretty good since I’m only about 1/2 way through the training.  But boy do my hips hurt.

There’s nothing like starting up a new exercise routine when you’re 45 lbs overweight to make you feel every little thing in your body that’s out of alignment or just plain rusty from disuse.  My hips are my biggest complaint.  I can hear a popping on the right side when I walk, somewhere between my hip bone and my coccyx, and last week the pain in that area was really bothering me until I iced it a couple of times and took a few doses of ibuprofen.  I’d bet that has something to do with the three big babies that I carried around on those hips in recent years.

The rotator cuff of my right arm hurts.  I’ve had tendenitis there before, and I’m guessing it’s just acting up with all the new motion.  You’d be surprised how much just the action of walking and swinging your arms can aggravate this kind of injury after seven miles.

I’ve been trying to get up early at least once a week (okay, I’ve only done this once so far), to do the 6 AM yoga they have on Oxygen, Inhale, with Steve Ross.  Oh my Lord Almighty, this yoga will kick you in the pants.  I used to use his program when I was younger, and it’s hard to do some other yoga once you like Mr. Ross, but be prepared to be unable to move for a couple of days after the first work out. 

I’m also walking/jogging at least twice midweek, usually about 3 miles at a time.  I’m down to about a 38 minute 3 miles, but I’m upping it to 4 this week, so all bets are off.  If I don’t feel well, or I’m feeling like I’m pushing myself too much, I’ll switch out one of these workouts for a swim at the Y.  I’m not the best swimmer because I hate having water on my face.   I think once I invest in a pair of nose plugs and some good goggles it’ll be a little easier.  I’m sure it’s charming to see me doing my awkward above-the-water breast stroke, and suddenly start gagging or flailing around because some water splashed in my eye.  Yeah, picture that.  They won’t be making me a lifeguard anytime soon.

The whole point of this is to make exercise a part of my life.  Like any other big change, it’s pretty painful at first.  Some things fall to the wayside, like a favortie TV show, or your best friend, Mr. Ice Cream, but in the end you adjust (hopefully) to better habits.  Maybe Mr. Ice Cream isn’t as good a friend as I used to think he was.

October-National Down Syndrome Awareness Month

Yes, October is National Down Syndrome Awareness month. 

If you would like to warm your heart, go visit these photos, and see all the beautiful babies!  So much love to go around.

Sarah Palin

When Palin-mania hit after the Republican Convention, I was skeptical.  I have a deep distrust for any kind of “mania,” when I have no real knowledge of a politician.

After 5 weeks of seeing her try to get settled into her place as the Republican nominee for V.P., and especially after last night’s debate, I am behind her all the way.

You could see her nerves when she first walked onto the stage.  I can only guess that after weeks of having her and her family ripped apart in the media, she was rattled.  However, she quickly settled in to the task at hand.

Joe Biden was a condescending old man, and I thought he just oozed sleazy sexism.  When he looks at Palin he doesn’t see the intelligent, strong, savy woman that she is.  He sees a girl, and he has seriously underestimated her.

I know we’re accustomed to seeing crusty, media-hardened and Washington-savy politicians who know how to either hide or produce their emotions when it is politically expedient to do so.  This is a very different kind of a politician.  I believe in her sincerity, I believe that she wants to serve her country, not for her own benefit, but because she believes it is her duty.

My favorite part of the debate was when she told the country what her role would be as the VP.  She mentioned that she would work on energy policy, education, and special needs children.  I actually teared up a little when she said that.  She will be in a great position to give a voice to children like her baby who has Down Syndrome, and as a woman who holds a pro-life point of view.  Let her show the world that children with special needs have great worth, even in a country where most unborn children with Down Syndrome are aborted.  Let her life and the life of her son be an example of how to take adversity and turn it into a blessing.

But maybe this is all too much to hope for.  I’ve been reluctant to get emotionally involved in this campaign to save myself from disappointment.  I have decided to dare to hope, that our country can elect this woman as Vice President.  I’m daring to hope for the election of a woman who is intelligent, attractive, ambitious, conservative, and pro-life.  Come on, Sarah, show ‘em how it’s done.