Since beginning home school nearly a month ago, the kids have chosen the Otter as our mascot. Our colors are, as reflected in the 'M' logo - blue and tan - because, they said, otters live in both the water, the blue, and on the land or beach, the tan. We even found $2 Beanie Baby Otters (two of them) at the local resale shop, which now each reside on the children's desks.

A motto is still in the works, but my son has created a sort of symbol-stamp with the date to act as a 'copywrite' or seal (pun, ha ha) and my daughter altered a saying of mine: "Leave Mommy Alone" time to work with the new theme: CLAM Time.

Ok, well, only in the sense that I'm starting to want to tell the government (especially the state government) to get the heck out of my life - my children's lives.

Recently found in the Student Handbook of the Junior High and High School in my area the following statement in a BIG BLACK BOX.

"Refusal to Obey

If your daughter went to see Kit Kittredge: An American Girl this past Summer 2008 or is one of the millions who has read the six or more books that detail Kit’s life from 1929 to 1934, you might be fielding a few unusual questions from your daughter these days.

Every channel that reports news and nearly every sound byte has compared the recent 2008 economic “crisis” to The Great Depression. Some say it’s not even close, some say it’s “in the same family”, and some even say it’s got the potential to be worse. To your daughter (and many of adults) the details matter very little. What matters is that your daughter overheard that we’re facing another Great Depression.

When was the last time you, yours kids, you family really participated, just participated... in something?

I'm talking perhaps of nostalgia participate; the kind that rarely exists spontaneously anymore but a lot of the artificially created 'events' still do the trick. I'll be more specific. We all live in a town or city or some zip code, which typically has a department of recreation or even just a library. They host Clean-Ups, National Night Out, Plant a Tree, Free Storytellers, Christmas Parades, or weird festivals (Mosquito Festival, Collard Green Festival) etc.

But when was the last time "we" actually participated?

I'm not exactly what one would call knowledgeable about the military. If I was John McCain, I might say, "matters of the military aren't my strong suite." But that has never meant that I don't revere, respect, and appreciate the work of 99.9% of the members of the US All-Volunteer Forces.

Today on CNN, I was pleased to see a positive report regarding Iraq, the War on Terror, and especially our fine Military. After Abu Grabe and Guantanamo, the majority of our sacrafising troops took the blow of shame and humiliation that they did not deserve.

The report today was regarding Camp Buca a retention facility/jail/compound for suspected Al-Queda members. In the past, CNN itself had done stories on how this facility was almost like a training ground and any releases were simply flooding the area with newly indoctrinated, re-inspired, and Al-Queda trained individuals - even when some were not before.

Leave it to my son to bring me to my knees in laughter with the best thing I've heard all campaign season.

Son: Who is this Obama guy anyway?
Me: He is a man running for President.
Son: What happens if someone get there before he does?


Let it sink in....now L...A...U....G...H!

 It all started with a nice little note sent home from all the 3rd grade teachers to all the 3rd grade parents. They requested that we send in a little note of encouragement for our child to open right before they take the TAKS (Texas State required benchmark test) test. “Many of the children are very nervous” it says. And our note to encourage them to “just do their best” would be greatly appreciated.

A year ago I was earning twice what my husband did working only 30 hours to his 40, now I have no paycheck and no business casual wardrobe. Learning of my second pregnancy seems to have sealed the deal. I wasn’t just going to try staying at home; I am now a stay-at-home mom. I should be celebrating, but only if I weren’t a self-admitted female chauvinist.

Staying at home had never been a moral issue to me. It actually annoyed me when other women talked of it as a morally superior path. I saw them as scared women who’d never had to sit through a meeting and hide the breast milk leaking through their blouse.

[written in 1993 before there was an Internet]

I sit here and dream about having a baby
About the sweet way I’ll hold her
And the cute things I’ll buy her
And then