Swine Mania

Noah called from school to ask if we had enough food on hand for a 3 month quarantine. His psychology teacher said the Swine Flu will be huge and I could hear a touch of panic in Noah's voice even though he was trying to sound clever in front of his friends. They tease him about the shelves full of food in the basement. They drop by our home for canned food drives. He said they aren't teasing any more.

Ike thinks a quarantine would be even better than a snow day.

In the next few weeks Roland is going to San Francisco and Australia. I hope those trips are canceled. I probably sound paranoid but well meaning people keep sending me end-of-the-world emails and I listened to Glenn Beck for 3 hours yesterday while I cleaned so I am a little jumpy.

I did a quick check and I think I will go buy more:

cooking oil
allergy meds
toilet paper
chocolate chips
candy bars
cookies
fudge
chocolate
chocolate
chocolate

If I end up stuck in a house for months on end listening to bad news, I am going to need chocolate.

On the other hand, my dad sent me this video:

Look on the bright side, right?

Tea Party Part II

In the post below I talked about the Tea Party I attended. I asked JD to leave a comment and he sent me an email instead. He has a lot to say about this topic and I like the way he says it. He is easy to understand, even though English is his 3rd language, and he looks at our country through a world view that is refreshing.

I am impressed by JD. He is a serious competitor. He likes to win and isn't afraid to work hard to win, on the track, on a bike, and in business. The man is married to an amazing woman and they have beautiful, smart children. He is an excellent public speaker, generous with everyone he meets, and is constantly hosting parties and dinners. I am proud to have him post his guest opinion on my blog.JD and some of his smart beautiful children.

JD - I turn it over to you (its a little long, but worth your time):
.............................

I came here in 1992 as a young man. I felt that even though I could not speak the language and with very little money, I was more likely to succeed here compared to Socialist France. After 15 years of hard work I am now a VP over the country in my business line in one of the biggest bank in the country. I know I would have never had this opportunity back in France in my own language and culture. My wife and I had hard times getting there, we had good times, but if I had to do it again, I would do it all over again; the good and the bad.

I applied for citizenship after 911. That is when I realized I shared more common values with America than any other country. I lived and worked before in France, Switzerland, Spain, England (very short) and The US, I did not choose where I was born. My only choice was to apply for citizenship here. I feel this is the place I enjoy the most, I want my kids to grow up here, and believe they are most likely to succeed too.

Now my biggest frustration has been this horrible "deja vu" feeling with what is going on in the country. I feel I know where we are going and it is not good. I already went through that many years ago. Back in 1981 the socialist (Mitterand) won the French election by promising something for everyone. Could not get elected on popularity, so he had a giveaway for everyone. Originally not very popular, he barely won the election by giving away something to everyone.

• Older workers could retire earlier.
• Dramatic expansion of the welfare system.
• A minimum income for everyone even if they are not working.
• For workers, more vacations, less work for the same pay; Employers forced to keep employees they don't need
• Huge increase in government program which would offer lots of jobs to everyone.
• For retirees, higher retirement benefits.
• His campaign motto at the time (1981)... and I am not kidding... Hope and... "Change!..." He got elected!.

Soon after the elections a lot of big companies got nationalized. This was a way to support companies in trouble, but also bring some revenues to the state from good companies. As a result, major international investment went away from the country and a lot of companies closed. Unemployment went from 8% to 10-12%.

They supported an open door policy for immigration. Most of this immigration came from Muslim country (North Africa) who never wanted to integrate to the Judeo Christian traditional French culture. They obviously wanted to maintain their cultural and religious difference. Most would come unable to work because of language differences, living in their own community on government subsidies and bringing more family members every years. Those minorities now represent close to 20% of the population and growing fast... obviously they will never vote against the hand that is feeding them and they are a huge support for the socialists. They have impacted France’s international involvement in modern conflicts, as they refused any involvement with countries fighting Muslim brothers... No Iraq, very limited Afghanistan. They require government funded mosques all over the country.

A third of the country is now working in a government position... so obviously, those people when voting, will never vote against big government either... Makes it hard to change a government when you have half the country that will vote for you, no matter what. It is the addiction of socialism, just like cocaine... you might not like it much after a while, but you just can't get away from it. Your existence depends on it.

Finally, after many scandals and corruption, a few years ago a true conservative was elected (Sarkozi), but even if his intentions are right, you can't just take away benefits that have been there for 20 years... You can't say... "You retired 15 years ago... sorry, now you have to go back to work!" "You had free healthcare? ... Sorry now you are going to have to pay for it!", because this has become an entitlement in everyone's mind. He would get lynched if he would even try.

Anytime he tries to change anything from the public sector the country goes on massive strike from the millions trying to protect their turf! So now the conservative government is forced into a pseudo socialism because a socialist was in power.

With the socialist promoting "open mindedness" to everything BUT traditional values, Europe has become a kingdom of immorality and "laissez faire" Where the ones to be shun are the ones promoting traditional values and family values.

Here in the US, I am neither a republican nor a democrat. I just consider myself a conservative (in values). I blame both the republicans and the democrats for the bailouts that started 6 months ago under Paulson (a rep!). I am amazed to read in the European socialist press, the EU socialist economist think the bailout will not work! I get scared when I hear socialists from Europe telling me OUR bailouts are too big!

I have seen because of my job, the government coming to my bank, last fall, and forcing us to take a bailout we did not need. Now my company has to pay 400 million every 3 months just in dividends, back to the government for money we didn’t need. It is like if the government was coming to you and giving you money you don't need and asking for a monthly payment... Thanks for the help... but no thanks...!!

At one point we felt that by being one of the few survivors due to our conservative banking practices, we would reap the benefit of the unwise banks dying. But instead the government wants to artificially maintain the bad companies at the detriment of everyone else. In a world where no one looses, no one wins either... except the government!

Under the threat of nationalization (which means your stock is worth "0"), our stock has lost 75% of its value when we should have been rewarded for being one of the few standing strong. Many of my friends have lost, in a few months, 3/4 of their retirement. Then because of this bailout, the government is telling us what to do, forcing us to lend or not to lend, changing our compensation, threatening to fire our management if we don't comply. We are trying to give them the bailout money back to free ourselves from this insanity. But so far the government is refusing to take anything back from us and other big banks. Their foot is still on our throat and they use the bailout to control the banks.

I love this country, this is the only one I have ever chosen. But I see people falling in the same trap the Europeans fell into by wanting to taste the socialism "Cocaine".

Sometimes I feel we get the government we deserve, and I should not complain; but sometimes I feel people are lied to until they believe their life will be better if they only "embrace Change". So I am not sure who is to blame here... I am amazed to see many believe we will be smarter than the Canadians, the Europeans and will not fall into the same traps... just like those trying cocaine and saying... I am smarter and won't ever get addicted.

Change, is not always good.

Check in again to see the picture he is going to send me.

Making History at the Tea Party

On April 15th, tax day, I attended one of the Tea Parties you probably heard about. I was curious, not quite sure what the whole thing was about, but feeling like maybe I agreed with them. So Whitney and I headed downtown and met JD and Kelly at the party.
The police man we asked told us there were a couple of thousand people there but the newspaper reported only 1500. Glenn Beck said the media would play it down (paranoid voice). The paper also said people were angry. I saw a few passionate people, outspoken people, and people who had to yell to be heard, but I didn't see many angry people. In fact, it had a party atmosphere. It is a tea PARTY after all, right? For the most part people were cheerful, friendly and well dressed. I saw the cutest purse!
See the guy in the Uncle Sam hat with tea bags hanging off it? My friend, JD, had a tea bag jammed into his sun glasses. He was born and raised in France and told us he had to watch this. He said he lived in France when it turned socialist and it is following the same pattern here, just that it is much worse here than it was in France. I wanted to ask him more about that, but we decided to move closer to the stage and lost him.

Dang. JD, if you read this, please comment and tell us more.

It's time to stand up for what you believe in. I felt so proud to be American at this rally. When the entire crowd sang the National Anthem loud and said the Pledge of Allegiance with pride it brought tears to my eyes. I'm proud to be an American.
Not so proud that my grandchildren will be raised in a country so very different than the country in which I grew up .

Spring Forward

Spring Forward - Fall Back.

That is what my mom taught me to remember how to set the clocks for daylight savings. Still, I can't ever figure out if I am losing and hour or gaining an hour.

This Sunday we lose an hour, right?

When my alarm goes off at 6:00 AM, it will really be 5:00 AM. Right?

In Arizona they don't do daylight savings.

BowBama Hat

The very best part of the inauguration was Aretha Franklin's hat when she sang the national anthem.


Roland gave me Aretha's Christmas CD. Such a disappointment. I think she should have retired her voice a while ago. I love her early stuff. But that Christmas CD? - not so much.

It sounded like a bag of cats.

But her hat sure rocked the inauguration. Much better than George H W Bush's hat - did you notice it? Fur lined with earflaps. It made me laugh.

I truly hope Obama will be the greatest President we have ever had.

Talent Show

Have you been to a High School Talent Show lately? Its nothing like High School Musical. I'm telling ya.

Last night I went to the LHS talent show. My son was playing a piece by Rachmaninoff. He was towards the end of the 2 1/2 hour show in a stuffy, hot auditorium packed tight with hormone riddled teenagers and supportive parents.

It was like being in a Karaoke bar filled with love sick teenagers. Girls wobbled onto stage in ridiculously high heels. They would strike a pose, usually semi-sad, and wait for the sound track to start. The boys mostly played the guitar, same 3 chords, and sang songs about their girlfriends. The girl friends would scream.

It was much like the American Idol Auditions, complete with horrible performances. One couple sang about sex, whiskey, and suicide. It was the saddest song I ever heard at a High School. I started to feel like Simon, Paula, and Randy. I started to feel sorry for myself that I had to sit through hours of nervous, off key, emotional performances. Then I started to notice what was really going on.

Each act, no matter how nerdy, boring, or botched, got huge screaming applause. Performers entered the stage scared witless and left the stage feeling like THE American Idol. These kids were laying it out on the line and they were loved for it. Like the Grinch, my heart grew 2 sizes last night. I wanted to hug each girl and tell her how beautiful she was. I wanted to high five each boy and tell him, "Good job!".

I'm glad this was a show and not a contest. How could you declare a winner? Is it the kid who practices violin, piano, or guitar 2 hours a day and plays a perfectly breathtaking piece and gets a standing ovation? Or is it the kid who has never done this before, almost backs out at the last minute, maybe forgets a few lyrics, and gets a standing ovation?

Actually, I know who the winner was. Me.

Mother's Day in September

I have been at an interesting parenting phase for the last few months. I swing between feeling like I can't wait until all my kids are grown and gone, leaving me with a calm clean organized house and lots of me time, and feeling like I want to freeze time so they won't ever leave me alone in a lonely boring dull home where nothing fun ever happens.

I have had these feelings for about 20 years (this April 6) but I have never had them so strongly, so close to when the empty house is a distinct possibility. The reason I dream of their departure is obvious. They are pigs. They eat everyplace and tuck the wrappers in any crevice; they drop stuff (backpacks, dirty socks, dumbbells) in the middle of the kitchen, hall, family room; they pee all over the bathroom. They leave a path of destruction and dirt. They yell and stomp and roughhouse. They slam the toilet lid, they leave the garage door open all night, they eat the food I am saving for a special meal, they play their music too loud. They exclaim that there is “Nothing To Eat!” the day after I drop $600 on convenience food at Costco. They say they took out the trash when they didn't. They unload the measuring cups into the silver wear drawer and the pots and pans into the Tupperware cupboard. They constantly ask for food, "what's for dinner?" is the Smith Family Motto. They are stinky. They have their friends over and loudly dominate the house. They complain.

But then they make up for it in the most ridiculous way. Like fighting over who opens my car door, or playing with my hands during church and then slouching way down on the pew so they can rest their huge heads on my shoulder. They get sick in the middle of the night and only feel comforted when I tuck their 6'4" bodies under the covers and they sigh and say, "Thanks Mom”. They hug me until I can hardly breathe and then pat me on the head and say, "How's my little mommy?" while smiling down at me indulgently. They sing "Ooo, Ahhh. Isn't she beautiful!" when I walk into the room. They brag to their friends about what a good cook I am. They watch me during movies (and commercials) to see if I am teary eyed, and if I am, they exchange a look that says, "She’s a softie".

They know I will let them have the crowd at our house and are proud to introduce me to their friends. They seek my approval of their latest song, basketball trick, or academic accomplishment. They shovel down the entire meal while exclaiming about how great it tastes. They tell me about how strong and cool and brave they are while they flex their new muscles for me. They check to see if I was watching when they made the goal. They share secrets late at night while I sit on the edge of their bed. They tell jokes, act goofy and do silly dances and skits to make me laugh. They pick me flowers. And the first thing they do when they come home is go to the bathroom, then they find me.

So for now, I will continue to swing between the ideal tidy fantasy of having an empty house, and the noisy chaotic reality of having teenage boys. Deep down I know that this time is short, smelly and full of crumbs, but preciously short. So I will continue to step over that sweatshirt, and turn a blind eye to the messy bedroom. I will keep practicing patience and smile and shrug when I am outnumbered and overwhelmed. I will remind myself that I will have a calm orderly life later. Right now I need to buy more food.

Mammogram

I really feel like a grown up because I got my first mammogram yesterday. I have been putting this off for 4 years. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. The office was clean, quiet and calm. The staff was female and very professional. I even felt a little pampered.



Take care of yourself and get a mammogram.

Is My Earring at Your House?

I have lost 1/2 of my favorite earrings. I still have one lonely earring hanging around to remind me of my loss. These lost earrings are valuable beyond their retail price because they, unlike lost silver hoops, diamond studs, or gold tear drops, cannot be replaced!

These are from Art in the Park (in Boise - the best art show ever!). I can't go anymore because we moved away and it is too far to go just for earrings.

How does this happen? I don't casually remove them to talk on the phone. I leave them on at parties (oh! so many parties I have to go to), picnics, and plays. They stay snuggled in my lobes during basketball, football, and soccer games.

These are gifts - the hammered hoop from Hannah, the glowing blue stone and turtle earrings (bought to commemorate the time I did some heavy petting of sea turtles right by the posted "DON'T TOUCH THE TURTLES" sign in Kona) are from Roland.

Occasionally, I have to take them out at the hairstylist's salon, but they always go right back in. Once I took them out at the dentist's office when I thought he might accidentally rip my ear lobe - but I put them right back in. I put them on in the morning, I take them out at night. Sometimes I take them out and put them on the nightstand, but mostly they go in the earring bowl.

The earring bowl.

It sits right next to my toothpaste, contact solution, and Carmex.

The ugly earrings never get lost. They wait, well organized, in my Earring Box. The gold earrings (that rarely get worn), the silver, the colorful, the pearl, the diamonds (all fake except one tiny pair) all in the right place. They don't get worn so they don't get lost.

The one on the left Roland bought for me when we spent our anniversary in Sun Valley. The pine cone earrings were bought to wear at Girl's Camp 2005. I don't think I ever wore the Christmas Earrings - they just make me laugh because the balls remind me of...well...balls.

These, again, are from Art in the Park - all the same artist. The boy in the middle is my favorite. I bought the boy earrings when I was pregnant with Ike and found out he was a boy. Sniff - Oh! the drama!

They were so cute. They were the earrings that got compliments. What should I do with all these 1/2 earrings? Make a Necklace of Loss? Wear them mismatched and have complete strangers tell me that my earrings don't match? Get a mini Christmas tree and use them as ornaments?

I wish I could find the lost ones. Are they at your house?

Cheryl

This is Cheryl.

She is my personal trainer. For the last 6 months I have been going to her house, 2 days a week, for torture sessions she calls “personal training”. It usually goes like this:

6:10 AM I leave my house with a sense of dread. I know how difficult this will be.

6:15 I go in her beautifully decorated house and get mauled by 2 enormous dogs that apparently get no love or attention so they demand it from me.

6:20 I warm up on the elliptical machine or trampoline.

6:30 We start the hard stuff. She sits primly on her wicker love seat and orders me to do pushups, pull-ups, sit-ups, burpees, mountains and all these horrible exercises that she gives cute little names like: “reverse squat lunges with double triceps dips”.

6:35 I start to complain. We do countless reps in endless sets and I get confused and grouchy and accuse her of losing count.

6:40 Cheryl starts cheering. “Good Job!” she chirps as I tremble and wobble and grunt. “Doesn’t that feel great!?!” she joyfully cries as I collapse on the floor.

6:50 Cheryl jumps up to show me a new exercise. She does something perfectly impossible like balancing on one foot on a bosu ball while doing a sit up with a barbell. I say, “I can’t do that!” and then she makes me do it. It is ugly but it gets done.

7:00 We talk about anything, anything at all, to get my mind off the pain.

7: 30 Suddenly – after 60 minutes of pure hell – Suddenly I am done. I feel calm. All the stuff that was stressing me out the day before is forgotten. I am overcome with love and gratitude towards Cheryl. I leave her home peaceful and weak. Too weak to get worked up about anything.

To look at me you can’t tell I am a weightlifting muscle woman. But my whole physical life has changed thanks to Cheryl. I am strong and I have stamina. My diet has improved because I feel like taking care of myself. I won’t be a sexy swimsuit model this summer, but I will be able to hike, raft, bike and ride horses for hours. Besides, I am starting to feel like a sexy swimsuit model on the inside. Thanks Cheryl.

War in Colorado

Colorado Springs has 5 large military installations. Fort Carson Army Base, Peterson Air Force Base, United States Air Force Academy, Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station and Schriever Air Force Base. I was completely unaware of the effect this large military presence would have on me when we moved here (we are one of very few people in our neighborhood whose job is not related to the military in some way).

I am embarrassed to admit this, but before we moved here I had a negative opinion of the military. That opinion was fed mostly by the media who portrays the military as uneducated, harsh, men who enjoy inflicting pain. How very wrong that is. I am surrounded by men and women who are leaders in the military. Our bishopric is made up entirely of retired officers and the YW secretary is a Lieutenant Colonel. They are honest, generous, faithful, intelligent, hard working, warm loving people. I have never had better neighbors than those we have now.

I have a good friend whose husband has been in Iraq for 6 months and will be gone 6 more months. She has 5 kids under age 11. He is an Army doctor in the trauma center where he works on soldiers and Iraqis. Recently he worked on an Iraqi who planted a roadside bomb, was hurt and sent to Adam for help. He helped him. Watching his wife, Liz, get through this as gracefully and calm as she can is inspiring. Many of the moms at the bus stop are officers or officer's wives. After the bus leaves they stand around with their coffee mugs and talk about deployments and assignments the same way I talk about my husband’s business trips. My next door neighbor was in Iraq last year leaving behind his 2 teenage kids. I get an email every other week from a man in our ward who is a police officer in Iraq – he has 2 teenage sons. He sends stories and pictures of his interactions with the Iraqi people – mostly uplifting and always fascinating.

Right after we moved here we were at a party and I asked a handsome guy what he did and he casually said:
"I work at Space Command."
I was amazed and immediately asked, "Wow! What do you do there!?"
"Sorry, I can't tell you." he said, with a smile.
That has happened several times and I still get a little James Bond thrill from it. Infact, if they don't say "Space Command" I feel a little disappointed.

These people have shared experiences with me, both good and bad, about the war. Nearly everyday there is a front page personal story about the war. Most of the time they are obituaries and I am compelled to read every word. The media here handles the war in a patriotic supportive way, but they don't shield us from the gory details. They also do a much better job of sharing the good stuff that is happening in Iraq due to our presence there.

Many Americans have disconnected with the war. They are tired of hearing about it and it is so very far away, it hardly affects the daily life of most Americans – besides, there is the tragedy of Britney Spears to think about.

Do you have a family member there? Have you been asked to grow a victory garden? Or give up all your medal so they can melt it down for ammunition? If every American could experience living here during war time, having friends and neighbors who are affected by it as mine are, there wouldn’t be such a disconnect.

I am sure I wouldn’t have this opinion if we still lived in Boise.

Mii

When I was 10 years old mom and dad gave me a Makeup Barbie. She was a life size Barbie head complete with long glossy blond hair. She was very pretty and I was so enamored with her that I cleaned my room so that when she sat on the freshly cleaned dresser my room looked perfect. She came with her own cosmetic kit and I spent hours and hours applying makeup to her already perfectly made up face and styling the fake hair.

I have never seen anything, for a boy, that is the equivalent of playing with a Makeup Barbie. That is until we got the Wii.

My boys spend hours and hours making Mii’s. They’ve made a Mii for every person in our immediate and extended family. They’ve made a Mii for every outrageous stereotype - including aliens. They gather around the TV and work as a team to pick the most appropriate face shape, hair style, eyes, facial hair, body size, lip shape and where to apply freckles or wrinkles. They debate over the placement of the nose and the shade of the blush. If glasses are needed the options are fairly limited but the effect is dramatic so the choice cannot be rushed. The eyebrows convey emotion, more than the style of smile, so each pair of eyebrows must be carefully considered. If someone has a prominent mole – or beauty mark as I like to call it- they love applying that to the Mii because it is such an identifier.

This “Makeup Barbie” behavior isn’t limited to boys. The men are very involved with their Mii’s. Roland has recreated himself perfectly with a sandy colored goatee, starry eyes, and long luscious eyelashes behind his trendy new glasses. My brother-in-law Mike proudly showed us his Mii, a little skinnier than the real Mike but still, quite a resemblance. And the Mii he made of his wife Chris is just as darling as the day he first saw her in High School.

I haven’t had the opportunity to create a Mii. Whenever I try the boys usually take over and become so distracted they forget the game they originally planned to play. That is okay because I really don’t feel compelled to create Mii. But the boys do. The first week of Wii Ownership found Gabe, Noah, and Ike waking up as early as possible to get extra Wii time in, and one of their greatest joys was the creation of a new Mii.

Unlike my Makeup Barbie which supplied endless hours of creative individual play time, Mii Creation seems to draw a crowd. Fancy salon music plays in the back ground, and there is a general atmosphere of an upscale boutique. Fellow Mii enthusiasts offer suggestions and immediate feedback with each detail of Mii Creatation. Mii Creation is best enjoyed with others.

Now that our Mii’s are well populated the boys enjoy looking them over while they walk around waiting to be picked for a game. It is like they are visiting dear old friends. Mii Creation is an old thing now, unless someone new comes over to play Wii and they want their own Mii. Then I can feel the Makeup Barbie fever take over the room.

Create your own Mii here.