Randomness

When you're at home with a little one all day and every day, you have quite a bit of time to think, which can often get me into trouble. Here's what my mind's been up to as of late:

* Sarah Palin: (Let's just get this one out of the way, shall we?) SERIOUSLY?!?!?! I really don't know where to begin, really. Maybe that she prides herself with being such a "family person," yet she's willing to (pretty much) abandon her 3-month old baby to be VP. Just about EVERYTHING she stands for (without me going into a long rant), I'm disappointed with (even though you couldn't pay me enough to vote for McCain anyway). How can someone be pro-life and support the war and be a member of the NRA??? I don't get it!!! Also, does it really make ANYONE hopeful that she's so negative? Are people energized by dark, negative, down-right MEAN energy like this??? I'll stop there. I'm probably repeating what most folks have already said a few days ago, so there's no need to continue.

* Leave Every Child Behind: The government needs to take a running leap out of education, plain and simple. Business people don't. get. it. My brother-in-law is a teacher in PA and he was recently telling me that his eighth (EIGHTH!!!) graders couldn't find the U.S. on the map (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), because The Test apparently doesn't cover that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also, with the economy going downhill and parents needing more jobs to make ends meet (which are diminishing, to begin with), the kids really, REALLY suffer. HOW are they expected to go to school and focus on learning when their life at home is in chaos (or non-existent in many growing cases)??? This is the kind of thing the government doesn't understand. There's a whole list of things that are supposed to happen before a child is available to learn and if they're not getting any of it at home, forget it. They ain't learning a thing. Of course the ritzy, wealthy schools in suburbia are doing fine and dandy because those kids have a parent at home who can go to their school during the day and volunteer/show support of their learning/be home to spend time with/etc... and then it appears that the teachers are SO GOOD and get all the raises and extra rewards. It's a bit unnerving to hear both presidential candidates talk about education like they know what's best and it's clear they don't get it. No matter who wins, I'm afraid public education is going keep on that downward slope.

My brighter thoughts:

* Ben has been QUITE the hoot these days! He will dance to ANY beat, drive his trains/tractors/trucks on any surface that will let them roll, and talk up a storm filled with expression and hand gestures. He makes me laugh so much! I'm so lucky to be his mama!

* We finished painting the whole downstairs (minus the bathroom) a few days ago!!! It used to be cold and boring white walls and a hideous bear/moose/pine tree stencil border around the whole kitchen and dining room. Yuck. We had a free session with an interior designer as a closing gift on the house and she gave us a really cool plan of what to do. I tried to take a picture and it's a bit dark, but you'll get the idea. It just feels like... ours. Finally.

* A dear, dear childhood friend of mine (our parents were good friends pretty much the second my folks moved to WI) just had a baby girl a couple days ago. She and her husband had quite the journey with getting her here, so it almost feels extra joyful.

* Fall is coming and it's coming FAST! Isn't it so interesting that when spring rolls around, 60 degrees feels SO warm? Then when it's the end of summer, it's an oh-my-gosh-it's-so-cold-we-need-to-bundle-up-and-drink-hot-chocolate (which we did last night) kind of change. This gets me every year.


* Speaking of fall, Ben's napping and I'm going to take advantage of our new cozy walls (I know, I'm such a nerd!) and cozy weather (60-something, cloudy) and go make some oatmeal cranberry bread.

(Excuse the mess... we're still organizing after the paint project)

I was going to load a picture of Ben rolling his forklift on his arm, but Blogger is being a real pickle about letting me get the task done. Sigh.