IF: Packed

Stella knew she was no princess, but after a long hot soak in a luxurious tub, a delightful evening snack and a long slumber,even if there was a pea "PACKED" in between the mattreses, she was ready to hit the road and continue on her journey!

What I learned from Photoshop:Branding

As usual, learning about Photoshop has taught something about life.
Like "Branding"- what design companies do, to figure out just who might buy their client's products so they can even make them more appealing in the way they are packaged and sold.
Guess what- political campaigns do it too.
Look at Sarah Palin- she is everything McCain isn't. A women, young, a NRA member, a mother of a special needs child, a mother with a pregnant teen and a son in the army headed to the Middle East.
And it is naive to think that there were not strategist, in a small room all weekend long with take out containers all over the table, figuring out who just might buy what they were selling and how to make it more appealing.
Of course Obama had the same thing happen to- it is the meaning of a VP in this country-to appeal to the people who are still on the fence- which makes no sense to me- because barring the unlikeness of the President ending up dead or something, they have very little to do, but they seem very important as a "statement" during the election.
What seems more and more silly, is the categories the campaigns and the media want to use to "Brand" us, they don't seem to really fit anymore....cause how do you fit me, who thinks..... wolves are not evil and should be protected and we need to conserve way more land in wilderness areas for their benefits, we can find other ways to " fuel" our extravagant habits. But I also think that our right, like "the right to bear arms" is what makes this country great and has to be protected, as do our other rights like- freedom of speech or assembly,because too many great people have served and died for these ideals- including many men in my own family and it is what set us apart from the rest of the world.
America is a place where it doesn't matter who or what your father did- you can get ahead.
But it is also a country that is full of people who can't get ahead, for whatever reason and I don't believe they should be left behind.It is just down right stupid to not invest in our children, all our children! If we do not want to be weighted down under welfare, and the uninsured, then invest Now in our children- in schools, in teachers, in scholarships and funding so kids can go on to college if they want to. Which leads me to other thing I am passionate about I hate "Waste", waste of our tax dollars, where once the money trickles down through all the elected officials, it doesn't seem to get to the people who need it. Where big business and government interest seem to get all the money they need, but rural clinics have to turn people away cause they're overwhelmed
I hate all waste,the waste of a precious life, that does start at conception and has the right to be born and the waste of a wonderful mind that just needs to be educated and nurtured.
I hated the waste of our great planet- whether all the facts of global warming are true or not you don't have to be a scientist to know we can't throw crap into our water systems and suck out all of the planet's natural resources out and throw toxins into the air and not expect a reaction.
Have you been to a dump lately? We consume more then we need to and don't take minimal effort to curb it- like not buying for " convenience" when all we are saving ourselves is a couple minutes and creating a truck load of trash. Recycle- it does not have to a decisive action- its just taking the time to stick a tuna can in one bin instead of in another- what is so threatening about that?
We polarize everything in this country- we can't help it.
If you recycle- you must be a member of Green Peace.
If you vote Democrat- you must be a socialist
If you hunt- you must be a redneck hick
People- its just a tuna can!

I can "Bring Home the Bacon too!

After hearing about John McCain's choice for VP- instantaneously,my brain started to sing that old song, sung by feminists through my childhood and used in some popular commercial-can see it know a women dancing around with a skillet, cooking up some bacon- can't remember what the commercial was for-
" I can bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan and never let you forget you are a man-cause I'm a women- W-o-M-A-N"

It seemed to be the battle cry for many women in the 70's and 80's ( my childhood) the first generation who on their own, with no role models- declared their independence from servitude of husband's and their mother's expectations.

My mother did bring home the bacon- she had too- she was a single mother. I, just as many of my friend- were witnesses to this new Revolution- and were effected by the choices and consequences of our mother's- "bringing home the bacon,". Because of that, I think women of my generation seem to understand- we can have it all too-but not ALL at the SAME TIME.
This is my "gripe" with Sarah Palin- should the song go-
I can bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan, never let you forget you are a man, have five children, still lots of them young, be there for my newborn special needs baby and support my daughter through the tough times of being a seventeen year old mother and hey- since I am a women- ALSO-run for the Vice President of the United States! Cause- hey- I am a W-O-M-A-N!!"
What does this say to young mother out there- who are overwhelmed- overwhelmed with getting a dinner on the table, actually getting a load of laundry done, getting kids up for school- and failing miserably at it- Heah- Sarah Palin does it so well she also got elected as a Governor- so since we women are always wanted to judge ourselves against someone else-lets set the bar there!!
I would of respected Sarah Palin more- if at 55- she ran for President of the United States and had this history- "mother of five- is racing a ten year old special needs child,supported her teenage daughter through an unplanned pregnancy, and she had a decade invested in her young children's life-" all in the past tense.
Because what is a decade really- - or at least five years-to invest in young children- every educator- will tell you those first five years are critical- for a special needs child- an invested mother- can be the the difference between a highly functioning child and one that is not at their potential.
I have been a nanny, a daycare provider, a preschool teacher, a elementary teacher and a mother- no one, no one will go the distance for a child like their own mother- we carried them in our belly's or we claimed them as our own- and we watch out for them the rest of our lives- we are aware of their every need and are their nurturers- Father's are their protectors- and there is a difference- not to say father's are not absolutely wonderful- but it is a second best- when father's have to be the primary provider- that is the mother's job-
Father finches (Birds) get to have the fancy feather, mothers finches get to be plain- yes, fathers, for dating-per say- but also to protect- to guard and then distract the intruder- mother need to hide with the babies- in those first few weeks for a bird and human mothers need to hide away for the first few years of their children's lives.
Of course- I am not putting us back-bare foot and in the kitchen- and I am all for keeping your toe in something so you don't go "loony" at home- with your only existence being "Barney, diapers and laundry" .
I started weaving baskets when I was home with my first child- started doing arts and crafts shows, putting them in galleries and got involved with a weaving guild who met every other Saturday- a great time to get a way- for me and for Jon to be with the girls.
I had friends who worked twenty hours a week- providing plenty of time to be there for their kiddos. Mom' who did some kind of a home based business- but I think we would of all have agreed- when we met up at the park- or the coffee shop- we probably could not of fit in running for Vice President of the United State- or Governor of even the smallest state- between the teething,potty training, cranky night, and sick days that even plague a mother who works a 40 hour week. Now, maybe- knowing how it is to be a mayor in a small town- probably that would be a doable job for a mother of young children- if one was so inclined.
Now- what I find ironic- and so typical of politics- is the "Conservative Right"- are singing the praises of Palin- even though she is a mother of young children working HUGELY out of the home- something that they don't support- in anyway.



And then- there is Michelle Obama- Yes- I know she is not running for office- but this is about being a role model- for women- what Sarah Palin is now, as is Michelle Obama- and what example is Michelle OBama giving- a Harvard Law grad-who was making $200,00 plus a year- she cut back her work 80%- to be a consistent force in her young girl's life. The OBama's only have a housekeeper- the parenting is left up to the parents. Not that things are not getting more intense- but Michelle O'Bama has had a limited involvement in the campaign with a limit to how many nights she will be away from her children- all this is not just her philosophy but her husbands as well-who has taken time off the campaign to "go off the grid" with his girls.
To me- this says something about "character"- and in one way it really isn't about about the election- but in another way it is-