Strap on your boots and grab a shovel ...

Pull on your mud boots, we're about to get knee deep in it.


It was election day yesterday in Texas.  Primary election officially.  But for all intents and purposes, in this state it was the general election.  We now know who will be our new attorney general and lieutenant governor. 


And we are in some deep doo-doo.


The biggest news was the toppling of current Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst by Tea Party candidate Dan Patrick.  It really came as no surprise.  Just needed the period at the end of the sentence which was yesterday's low-voter-turnout primary election.  Out with the old old, in with the new old.


So what are we getting with Patrick?  Well, if we have any different views on multiple policy or political positions, such as heart-felt perspectives regarding immigration and abortion, than we get nothing.  Mr. Patrick has promised to push through his Tea Party positions, democracy be damned.  He proudly and unashamedly proclaims he will minimize the role of Democrats in the Texas Senate by reducing their committee chairmanship numbers.  I guess taking a page from the Putin School of Leadership.


Ken Paxton, another Tea Party politician, will be the state's new Attorney General, a position vacated by Greg Abbott, who is poised to be the next governor. 
Paxton's endorsements included Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Patriots PAC (Tea Party), Texas Right to Life, Young Conservatives of Texas, Freedomworks, Grassroots America – We The People PAC,  Kingwood TEA Party,  Montgomery Tea Party,  Texas Conservative View PAC, Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee, and  Family Research Council Action PAC. 


That's some company he keeps.  This guy could be further right of our current AG.  Didn't think that would be possible. 


Where are my boots?

Insightful moment

Apparently I enjoy talking about myself.


I "discovered" that yesterday at the doctor's office.  Sinus stuff, blah, blah. 


So the doc asks me what I do, specifically what's my job.  It's been so long since anyone asked me that, so I go into so much unnecessary detail I suspect he regretted the question. 


In hindsight. 


Just before asking what I did, he asked if I smoked.  No.  Just before asking if I smoked, he said he heard a rattle in my lungs.  And then came the question: what's your job?


Not a social moment.  A House moment, as in Dr. House the medical detective with Asperger's on the former television show.  Perhaps the rattle comes from exposure in the sweat shop that is my work environment.  It doesn't.


What I do know is we will not be getting a coffee later and becoming BFF's. 


Crap.

Hostage video

I was watching a hostage video recently.  My heart bled for the captives forced to speak to a camera with words that clearly were not their own.


Their eyes darting from videographer to camera.  You could even hear a voice behind the camera giving them the words to be recorded.


Their facial expressions said it all.  Their lack of real emotion was telltale.

"We love you, Mare."  Their tiny monotone voices declared in unison.  They looked to their captor (my daughter and their mother), hoping for freedom.  After all they had done as asked.  Nope.  A muffled command could be heard and the girls look back at the camera.  "We miss you."


After that, the screen goes to black.  My darling granddaughters set free!  For now. 

Trend setting

If cleanliness is next to godliness then for sure I am going to hell.


I was inspecting the top of an armoire in my bedroom; the top being at my eye level.  Calling it dusty is an insult to dust.  I am figuring no less than a leaf blower will remove the debris.


Then there's the disaster that is underneath the bed.  Stuff dating back to ... when did we move in?  About 20 years ago. 


I could say it's because we live such busy and full lives, but that would be lying.  However, since I'm going to hell anyway, let's say my house is messy because I can't find the time to clean. 


I really hope my mom doesn't read this.  She did her best.  Our home was always spotless.  Six kids, five of them boys.  One a really messy girl. 


Paul's mom the same.  She had beautifully kept homes.  As a single mom of two boys, she worked outside the home and also managed the cooking, house cleaning and laundry.  Amazing!


Turns out house cleaning has taken a dive on just about every one's priority list.  Multiple studies of social behavior all come to the same conclusion: The amount of time spent on housework has been cut in half since the 1960s.  And women still do most of it.  Just less of most of it to do. 


I see that in my own family.  Two out of three children fit this description.  NOT naming names.  In their defense, they had horrible role models as far as mopping and sweeping are concerned.  And dusting and wiping.  We did OK in the laundry department if you don't count putting the clothes away.


Knowing that the trend is going toward less time spent cleaning, I finally can hold my head high.  Dare I say it?  I think I may be a trendsetter! 


   

Mother's Day is a fake holiday (someone had to say it)

Come on.  We all know that Mother's Day is a fake holiday.  I've written about this before.  About not really being a fan, even as the mother of 3 adult kids who I love dearly and believe they love me.  But could this year be different as I think about my daughter Jenny who will celebrate her first Mother's Day as a mother?  Will that soften my view?


Hell no.


I still am not a fan.  I am a jaded social worker for sure.  Maybe if we called it Good Mothers Day.  Or call it Mothers Who are Just So-So Day.  Or even Mothers Who Did The Best They Could Day might work.  All moms are not created equal and there are many who have not earned this special day.  It's tough on their kids to be reminded every second Sunday in May that they were cheated out of good childhood.


For the record, I am not talking about my own mother.  She gets a gigantic package from Collin Street Bakery in Corsicana, Tx. 


Mother's Day started out as a real holiday in 1908.  Young Anna Jarvis so loved and honored her own mother she began the process for setting aside an official day for "the person who has done more for you than anyone in the world."  Her mother, Ann Jarvis, cared for soldiers in the Civil War - from both sides of the conflict.  Ann Jarvis also advocated for public health issues.  The idea in the beginning was to simply communicate to your mother the reasons she is important.


It didn't take long before Hallmark and others (candy makers, florists) hijacked poor Anna Jarvis' holiday.  She began protesting the idea of profiting from Mother's Day, even getting herself jailed.  Hmm.  She really loved her mother, I think, who by that time had died.  In the end, she lost her fight to keep it real.  Sad fact.


Paul will be glad to know I'm not that invested in a Mother's Day protest.  In fact, I am part of the problem as I will be receiving gifts (I am told) and have (as previously mentioned) purchased a gift.  But NO Hallmark card!  Gotta draw the line somewhere.


 

A tini Jodi bunni

Here's Jodi Lynn Cole, one week old!  She doesn't know this, but she is soooo lucky.  She won the parent lottery!  And she's got some pretty cool grandparents too.  And aunt and uncle.  And cousins. 

Tears of pride!!

Jodi Lynn Cole is 6 days old today.  Where has the time gone?


Her parents would tell you the time has been spent staring at a tiny human person.  Inspecting fingers and toes and lips and ears and hair and a stretched head. 


The rest of the time, they would tell you, has been spent figuring out feeding.  Breastfeeding.  Dad has taken charge with shifting little Jodi sideways on her right, then her left, then standing little Jodi on her head and .... you get the picture.


Speaking of pictures, this blog won't let me post.  I've had the problem for a couple of months now.  No idea what happened.  I am working on it.  Stay tuned.  Believe me, there are pictures!!


Mom is doing great by the way.  Her parents are so proud.  No words.  Tears of pride.