Laura's Riches

"Smart" Choice Labels

2009-09-13T21:15:00.000-07:00

Being a mother of 3 hungry little beasts my household isa hefty cereal consumer. And by cereal, I mean healthy, low sugar cereals such as cheerios, Kashi and Total. Fruit Loops, Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Cocoa ANYTHING are banned in my kitchen. In my opinion, those have slightly higher nutritional value than sending your kid off to school with a Snickers bar for breakfast.

Apparently the "Smart Choice" label, which is being slapped on cereal brands everywhere to help parents make healthier purchasing choices, fails to agree with me. According to this article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/05/business/05smart.html?_r=1&partner=rss heavily processed, sugar-laden cereals such as Fruit Loops are getting this seal of approval.

On a similar note - I am not a popular mother among neighbor children. Nor (I presume) will I ever be. Last week, we took the kids swimming and brought along a 7 year old bratty little boy that Jacob recently befriended. I packed a lunch consisting of bean and cheese burritos, fresh picked apples, and a bag of chips. A good balance of fun and nutrition, I thought.

The boy was excited about the bean and cheese burritos until he opened one up and realized it was not a lard-ridden carb wrap filled with lard drenched beans and cheese that he had anticipated. Nope. Instead, it was a whole wheat tortilla filled with fresh picked diced tomatoes, beans, cheese, avocado and sour cream. The kid promptly (and rather rudely) told me that he didnt like my food and that he just wanted the chips. He continued by telling me the juice box I supplied him with was gross. And after he squirted it out on the sidewalk he asked for a soda.

I ordered him to eat my crappy food because in our household we have to eat the healthy stuff before we get any of the snack food. And as for the juice box - well he was going to have to make do with good old fashioned H2O because I don't allow my kids to waste money and food like that, so he wasn't going to get away with it either.

Bottom line - I sent the kid home at 430 with a very hungry belly. Do I feel bad? Not one bit.

Seriously...

2009-08-29T16:31:00.000-07:00

The following is a FB status update of someone I know and comments supporting it. I originally had inserted my own little smart remark to each comment, but ultimately I realized that the clever art of brainwashing will trump logic and reasoning any day.

And we wonder why our students are falling behind in science when compared to the rest of the modern world. Hmmmm......

*******************************************************************************

1st day at school and they teach my kid about the Big Bang. So, we spent the evening teaching him about God's creation that took 7 days, not millions of years. I gotta stay on top of things at that school.

WHAT?! That's not allowed!!

I hate that! I remember when they did this with ***. I told *** to raise her hand and ask if this was fact or theory?! She did and then said the bible is fact and that's what I believe!

It's totally allowed. And totally unbalanced. I always taught it as a theory and then also presented Creationism to balance things out. "Some believe... and others believe..." My students always ended up asking what I believed. Once they ask, we can tell!

For me, *** is the one that is always confused after those "lessons" and we go through the explanations, but *** is the one who "clears it all up" for anyone who will listen! He's my feisty one!

Wow! On the first day of school? Geez! Was it in ***'s class? I'm sure he thought it was all silly. I remember thinking it was silly when I was a kid.

I think God did a "bang" of a job creating this world:) AMEN!

Where do your kids go to school? For some reason I thought you were homeschooling.

They are in a Montessori program at XXX. I homeschool 2 days and they go to school 3 days.

Nice! That's the best of both worlds.I'm really surprised that you'd have that problem there. There are so many Christian parents there. Don't be afraid to speak up. The school will respect the parents' wishes. It's easier than swimming upstream.My kids have been at Alta for 5 years and haven't heard of the Big Bang yet. Partly I think it's ... Read More because we've been blessed with Christian teachers every year, but I know that the active and involved Christian parents hold a lot of sway.Don't forget Moms In Touch, too. I think **** is leading a group there.

Folks, please disregard everything you learned in geology and most of the material you absorbed in biology - because apparently its only THEORY. Folklore passed down from generation to generation and translated over and over is a much more reliable source supported by irrefutable FACTS.

Buttons...

2009-08-22T09:35:00.000-07:00

Bring it on. I dare you.

Thats the kind of mood I've been in for the past week or so. Its great if I have to deal with idiots like my smug next door neighbor. Not so good for the rest of the family though.

Everyone has that one button that sets them off and mine, fortunately, is pretty difficult to push-very few people are successful at it. But now that mine has been set off, I must learn to overcome it and not let it consume me.

Im hoping my girl bonding time tonight will be some welcome therapy. The plan is to cook a several course meal together and feast afterward. One of the gals is into green-living and is bringing her co-op grown organic veggies and the other is a fantastic cook. I can't help but think dinner will be a success! Jake and his friend are pretty excited that they get to reap the benefits of this girl-fest.

My mood is improving already.

OId and Forgotten

2009-08-17T22:05:00.000-07:00

I never imagined work would make me feel so good and so bad at the same time. Today was a surprisingly emotional day. I spent the day conducting client interviews on people who use the Personal Assistance Services program through a State of Nevada funded program. Part of our duty is to monitor the level of service the grantee is providing to its clients. I went into it somewhat blinded since I really did not have a lot of knowledge about the program itself - only that people who qualified could receive a care attendant for a determined number of hours to assist with daily living tasks (anything from bathing to housekeeping).

My first in-home appointments today involved an older folks. The first was a couple in their late 80s. The husband was trying so hard to take car of his wife, when he could barely take care of himself. She could hardly speak or move and he could barely hear. Communication between the two was minimal but the husband was determined to care for his ailing wife even if it cost him his own. It made me think of Jake, because I know he would be that man if we were in that situation.

Another man on my interview list surprised me when he told me he was in his 90s; because other than his inability to move about easily, I would've guessed he looked like he was in his late 60s or early 70s. The poor man almost brought me to tears. He was genuinely happy - although I couldnt figure out how. He lives in a trailer and has no family other than some stepchildren that dont bother to contact him. His wife had recently died and from the looks of it, he had gone out of his way to provide her with the best possible care and attention until the day she died. Again, he looked as he was almost unable to care for himself, so I have no idea how the man was able to assist his ailing wife. The thought of that alone made me hurt inside. But then he said something so selfless that I had to look away so he would not notice the tears welling up in my eyes. He mentioned that all his funds were in a trust, but that his wifes wishes were that her children (his stepchildren) receive certain financial benefits. So even though they do not call, visit or write, he continues to pay out because this is what she wanted. Not once did he complain about his living conditions nor the fact that his lack of funds drive him to build his own homemade home modifications so that he can get about his house more easily.

What made me feel the worst: the realization that most of these people were excited to see me and talk with me because other than their personal care attendants, they don't have a whole lot of interaction with others. Not one asked me for Identification.

Its just a Phase.......

2009-08-09T17:40:00.001-07:00

This is related to my earlier post (and theory) about everyone being a freak. I thought my rebeliousness and thirst for constant excitement was only something I was going through. Maybe a pre-mid life crisis of some sort? Or maybe it was that I never really got to experience it during my younger years? Nope. I have come to the conclusion that this is a perfectly normal phase. At least from the photo evidence I see on FB, most of my other friends (even the uber-religious ones!) are letting loose and pulling the sticks out of you know where.

So to elaborate on my theory... I think most of us live the wild days during our teens and early 20s. Then we settle down, get married and have kids. During this period, we (I can only speak for the women) decide that we must be mature and essentially grow up to be responsible adults. So we do the "right" things. This includes joining playgroups, church stuff, learning to cook, non stop talking about your babies... you get the picture - be it a grim one. This is all fine and dandy - at least for a while. Then you wake up one day, realize that your life is limited to a constant discussions of yours and your "friends" birth experiences and what recipe you perfected the night before. Your low rise jeans are quickly metamorphasizing into mom jeans and your lingerie drawer is filling up with granny panties.

Then there is a magical day. It creeps up on you so fast that its difficult to pinpoint the actual moment when it becomes vivid. You realize that you are still a person. One with wants, needs, and goals. Its clear now that this person you thought you were required to become was never a prerequisite to parenthood. Its possible to have fun, be wild and immature and break free from the conservative chokehold on occassion.

The other day someone at work gave me a piece of advice: "Don't lose Laura" is what she said. I responded with "I just found Laura". And I am completely satisfied with my self-discovery.

Random thoughts for the day:

2009-08-06T19:55:00.000-07:00

Crickets: How do they all manage to sing in unison and how can one tiny insect make such an intense sound?

Swimming: Why do I float so well? Even after losing so much weight, it takes almost no energy for me to tread water. Am I full of air?

Everyone is a freak. It doesnt matter how professional, how educated or how innocent one looks.

Cash for Clunkers? Why does the federal government favor the car industry so much?

Cover up!

2009-06-30T19:18:00.000-07:00

Why must my 4 yr old daughter be required to wear shorts under her dresses? Granted, its been a while since I was a preschool student, however, I am pretty sure the little boys are not secretly fantasizing about the little girls wearing nothing but underwear under their dresses. Its completely ridiculous in my opinion - and I plan on ignoring this little modesty rule. Beside the fact that dresses look cute on little girls, the added benefit is that they are easy - throw on some undies, the dress and, voila! The kid is dressed. Adding the extra step of finding acceptable shorts to wear underneath the dress eliminates all of the cuteness and convenience benefits.

On a similar note - elementary students in our school district are prohibited from wearing anything with spaghetti straps. OMG, a shoulder is exposed! Shield your eyes! Do we live in Iran? Maybe I should send my kid to school wearing a burka.

PROUD

2009-06-28T18:28:00.000-07:00

Why do people waste their time forwarding emails? Honestly, any email that shows an "FW:" in the subject line is promptly deleted every time I check my email.

The other day I was spammed with a few of these by a friend of ours. Without even opening them, I marked them all for deletion. It wasn't until I got to the last one that the subject line caught my eye. "Proud to be White". WTF? I wondered what this email could possibly have to say, so I opened it.

As it turns out the email was worse than I thought. It was a long rendetion about how if you drive through any well known violent neighborhoods, they are only populated with blacks. About how Mexicans are the reason for every problem in this country. About how whites can't use derogatory racial adjectives, yet its perfectly acceptable to use that language toward white. About how they have black colleges, yet you cannot have an all white college. How gang members are all black and the second a white police officer shoots a gang member he is labeled a racist. You get the point. The end of the email states that most people will not have the cojones to pass it, but the author states he is passes on "proudly".

Maybe it was because I have been unexplicably overly emotional lately, but I was completely offended. I did not forward it on - instead I replied with this:

Hmm... not something I'm down with. Too many people are racist - white and
black alike - and too many people feel the need to identify with a race,
religion etc. in order to make the other group feel inferior. This is what
leads to the violence in the world. Emails like this are a prime example
of spreading hate. Sorry if this offends you, but I had to say it because this email offends me.

It felt awkward sending such a response to a friend, but I felt that it I needed to make a point. Ironically, unbeknownst to me, a coworker of mine received the same email and responded to her friend in a similar manner. Neither one of these proud white senders were proud enough to reply, but both of us are fairly certain that we have put a stop to any future spam emails they may have been inclined to send our way.

What a little TLC can do for your sanity

2009-06-04T10:01:00.000-07:00

I realized last night that TLC must no longer stand for 'The Learning Channel' because its becoming 'the family with the biggest litter of children' channel. Seriously. Other than the two little people shows that they have on there, it appears that the rest of the programming follows families with an overabundance of kids and complete lack of knowledge on birth control methods. Oh yeah, and that 'What Not to Wear' show too.

I have to admit, I like watching Jon and Kate Plus 8. My kids even follow that show. When its on their eyes become glued to the TV. Its kind of addicting to watch Kate belittle and rip away at Jons manlihood one scolding at a time. Regardless of how ruthless and demeaning Kate is, the family appears to be a typical one, with real problems and situations that everybody (not just those with sextuplets and twins) can relate to.

Now, that OTHER show - you know, the one that changes its title every season because one more child comes along - I think now its called '18 and Counting'. I cannot begin to explain how weird and obnoxious that family is. 18! EIGHTEEN! At this point, all that comes to mind is hot dogs and hallways.

They say its because god wanted them to have that many kids. Using that bizarre logic, I would counter with the argument that if god wanted you to have that many kids, he would not have blessed mankind with condoms or the pill. It makes me wonder if the Duggars would use that same logic to an infertile couple. "Oh well, god must not want you to have babies - tough luck, eh."

I have to hand it to them though, you never see their kids (all 18 of them) misbehaving. Although Jakes theory on that is that their lives are so controlled that they have no opportunity to misbehave. He's probably right. The poor kids arent even allowed to DANCE - its a family rule. And here I have my 4 year old singing the 3oh!3 lyrics "shoosh girl, shut your lips. Do the Hellen Keller and talk with your hips!". And god forbid they listen to rock and roll. They brainwashed their kids to think that sort of music is evil. I guess 1950 called and warned them about what swinging hips will do society.

Public schools fail to meet their standards as well. One of the younger boys commented that there are too many children in the public schools to enable a teacher to teach a child effectively. Nope, his non-college educated mother of 17 other children will do a much better job at teaching him algebra and chemistry. I think not.

I had to laugh at the newest episode where they followed the newlywed oldest son and his wife on their honeymoon. They were at the beach but were never in bathing suits - or so we thought. That is, until the camera man asked why she wasnt wearing her bathing suit. Her response: we believe in modesty, so I wear this. (pointing to what appeared to be a moo moo type dress over a short sleeve shirt on a thin womans body). OMG. Barf.

My prediction: either the kids will grow up to be totally unprepared and unenlightened to the real world around them or 2. they will completely rebel, which leads me to Jakes prediction: the girls will go into porn.

And that is my latest rant.

Summer has begun

2009-05-30T19:55:00.000-07:00

Between work, school, family and fun, my blog has taken the backseat. I apologize to those who have asked about my new endeavours and have received the ever annoying sound of crickets as a response. I've been pretty busy, and now the summer has officially begun, its only going to get better.

Last weekend was spent in large part at the lake. Once by ourselves and the other with some friends and their kids. Between those days we were invited to a BBQ where we partook in some yummy food, jager and margaritas.

This weekend we decided to host our own BBQ. It went well, but the fun was halted when a sudden summer thunderstorm came on. So it ended a little early, but all in all, we had a good time. Jake happen to be browsing through classmates on FB and stumbled upon a girl he graduated with that lived in Reno (which is quite a coincidence given the distance). They emailed back and forth a few times, so I encouraged him to invite her over for the BBQ. I didnt think she would come (personally, I applaud her because Im not sure I would have had the courage to go), but she did! And I'm really glad too because she seems really fun.

Next weekend we are going to San Francisco and Monterey. My cousins wife (from Spain) is coming to visit her sister studying at Stanford so Jake and I are going to meet them for the weekend.

Life as a FT worker has been great. It has been easier to make that transition than I originally thought it would be. I really believe the kids are benefitting from being in a schedule driven environment - both at home and at school and the afterschool program. The constant bickering has decreased and keeping them in line seems to have gotten a little easier. As for work, its quite an easy job but its enjoyable. My boss keeps mentioning how I will have tremendous opportunities once we merge with the other division and how he wants to expose me more to the program side of things so that I can take advantage of those opportunities soon. That is definately nice, but at this point, having an easy job to get my feet wet is certainly coming in handy.

Working

2009-05-03T21:02:00.000-07:00

I'm a working woman. Not that I wasn't before, but this is my first "real" job in over 9 years. The transition into the working world hasn't been as bad as I had anticipated. It's a little ridiculous, but the thing I was dreading the most was waking up early. I'm a night owl, and frankly, waking up before 830 is considered early in my book. Up until now, the kids didn't have to be at school until 9, so typically the kids and I would wake up about 8. That time has now shifted to 6am for myself and 630 for the kids. It helps a lot to have Jake around to feed them and keep them in line while I get myself ready and fix the girls' hair, so it has gone a lot smoother than I thought.

As far as work, its definitely a piece of cake. Granted, I'm the low man on the totem pole with an easy going boss in a relatively low work volume office, but hey, its still work. I work in the office of Disability Services, which facilitates the funding and grants that get distributed to non-profit agencies that assist those with disabilities (blindness, deafness, wheelchair assistance, etc). My main job requirement is to assist the program managers with council meetings. Oh yeah, and we also have "volunteers" (e.g. people that have community service alternative sentencing arrangements) that my boss decided I would manage as well. So really, its a pretty easy job - for the time being. We are being integrated into the division of Aging Services in July, so my duties may change. In the meantime, I'm surrounded by people that are much more educated that me (that's uncommon when working for the state government) and that are genuinely concerned about the people that have much more difficult lives than the rest of us.

The family has adapted well. Jake and I hit the gym every day at lunch, so we see each other a lot during the day. The kids no longer spend most of their time fighting and bickering with each other; they are much too tired for that after spending in scheduled activities in the afterschool program. I cherish the time with them moreso now than I ever did before. Tonight I even played a couple rounds of Uno with them, which is something I would not have had the patience nor desire for when I was at home.

The money is surely not the motivation. Our lovely governor wants to cut 6% (oh wait, he upped it to 15% on Friday) of my already low salary (which covers daycare costs with a little left over to pad our 401k and a few hundred dollars of extra spending money). But I have to start somewhere and as far as I can tell, this "somewhere" is about the best place I could have chosen to begin my working life.

Kids Say the Darnedest Things

2009-05-03T18:54:00.001-07:00

We moved Lexi to a preschool near my new work (no worries, I will blog about that eventually). Its a christian preschool that Jacob attended for 3 months when he and Jake moved back to NV prior to us girls. Jake almost nixed that idea when he went to sign her up and he saw an enormous "We love Jesus" sign plastered across the main entrance wall, but he decided to overlook that given that the preschool is so convenient and we were familiar with it. Plus, he reassured himself that he was exposed to Jesus for many years and it failed to make him a follower.

Lexi and I always seem to have the best conversations while I'm in the shower. She just sits there and tells me about her day or whats going on in her little 4 year old brain. It was no different yesterday. As I am lathering up my hair, she begins asking me if I knew that god made the stars and the sun and everything else. It was cute because we haven't really mentioned the whole god thing to her, so it was all brand new information to her. I explained that some people think that, but that nobody knows for sure.

"But my teachers know. And they also said that god made the food too".

"Didn't the farmers make the food?"

"Yeah, but god helped them make the food" she said adamantly.

I was kind of curious so I started picking her brain a little. I asked her who god was and what he looked like.

"He's a monster. But a nice one."

"So where does he live?" I asked, fully expecting to hear something along the lines of heaven or the sky or something.

"He lives inside us."

"Inside us? I don't want anything living inside me. How do I get him out?"

"Well" she says "you have to punch your belly and your legs and arms and maybe he will come out. Lets do it together because I don't want him living inside me either"

After a minute or so of jokingly beating ourselves up, she decides to tell me more about her concept of god.

"Mom, god does everything and makes everything. He even made your shower. And he even cleans it too. Except that really you clean it. We just say he cleans it." Then she smirks with her 'I know, I don't believe it either' smile.

And for the talent portion of our competition....

2009-04-21T21:23:00.001-07:00

I was reading the news this morning (as I always do) and found that Ms. California made the front page in almost all the media outlets. First of all, I have to give her props. She stood up for what she believed in, knowing how unpopular it was among the target audience, judges and not to mention 48% of Californians. That takes a lot of you-know-what.

It kind of got me thinking about her statement 'I was raised that marriage is between a man and a woman' and I found myself correlating my current cognitive and moral development course with real world situations (whoa! I'm actually learning!). Many psychologists and researchers in the field have suggested that people operate at different stages of moral development. This is not to say our morals are better or worse, they are just more developed. Its complicated and requires much more than a few paragraphs to explain, but basically the beginning stages entail a black and white perspective and then move on to eye for an eye. The consensus is that the higher the level of moral development, the more tolerant one is of others and their choices. It is also characterized by individualization and the intense scrutinization of social norms. In other words, instead of merely accepting "because this is how its always been, this is the way it should always be" one begins to question and make ones own decisions by critical self-investigations.

I guess what I am saying is that Ms. California obviously hasn't reached that level of moral development yet. Others are doing the thinking for her. And her boobs are taking care of eliminating any other thinking she may encounter.

A Small World

2009-04-05T15:31:00.000-07:00

So a while back ago I was subbing at a high school that I sub at quite often and ran into a teacher that I recognized from my own high school. She used to be my art teacher. Now for the background:

It was my sophomore year or maybe my senior year... I can't remember which (I skipped my junior year). My ceramics class was something I dreaded going to every day. Why? Because of a certain guy that would not leave me alone. He was a football player, and a big, muscular one at that. And he had no problem using his strength - even toward a female. For some reason he took a liking to me, and not the good kind of liking. He spent the entire period harassing me. He would block the doorway to the supply room and try to force me to make my way through his blockade, grabbing and groping the whole time. Disgusting. When he ditched class, his friends would try to act cool and do the same thing. However, I had no problem standing up to them, so it didn't get quite as bad with them. Thinking back on it now, I have no idea why I didn't tell someone about the situation.

Actually, I know why I didn't. This same guy would do similar things to the teacher - not so much in a physical way, but he would ask extremely inappropriate questions. Mainly about her sex life and sexual acts. She would roll her eyes and tell him it was inappropriate, but that's about it. I was sure this teacher had to be somewhat aware of this guys actions with other students - me in particular, yet she had never taken any action. So either she was completely oblivious (which I highly doubt), or she looked the other way.

Fast forward a few years. I was working at the Carson Nugget Casino in the personnel department. Basically, I was in charge of taking applications and setting up interviews for those who I thought were a good match. The guy came in and applied. I don't think he even remembered me (granted, I had put on some weight). He was applying for a dishwasher position. I took his application and made sure to leave a sticky note saying 'this guy is bad news. Do not hire. See Laura for details' , just in case one of the other girls in the office were to be deceived by his clean cut, charming appearance and give him a job. I never saw him again after that.

Fast forward another decade or so to February 2009. I'm subbing at the high school (keep in mind, this is 30 miles from where I originally went to high school) and see a teacher come through my room. I immediately recognize her. So I introduce myself, and of course, she doesn't remember me. However, when I mentioned this other guy, she rolls her eyes and says "oh yes, I remember Chad." I'm not sure if it was just me, but I felt a little uneasiness from her after that. As if she was embarrassed.

So today, I check my email and I see that I have been assigned a 3 day sub job. I was caught a little off-guard because normally the teacher will contact me first before just assigning me to the job. I look to see who is requesting me and am a little shocked. Its her. Obviously I will be working for the state and will have to cancel the sub assignment, but there's a little part of me that wonders if she ever put two and two together.

The Grass is Greener

2009-04-04T14:03:00.000-07:00

At least that what I am hoping for.

Despite these hard economic times, I received two calls for prospective employment. One was for a job at the social security administration for which I had sent my resume to over a year ago. The other was unsolicited from the State of Nevada. At one point, I had applied for a similar position and had taken the test. The department head decided to take the names of applicants directly from the top of that list to see if they were interested.

I have to admit, when they called me for the interview, I wasn't really interested. Its just an entry level admin type job and I didn't want to waste my time on that. But I figured it wouldn't hurt to go to the interview. I'm glad I did because the job seems like a perfect fit. The location is a 2 minute drive from Jakes work and the preschool Lexi would go to is on the same street. And Jake and I can hit the gym across the street at lunch together. Also, the boss seemed super laid back and very nice. They recognized that I was overqualified for the position, but they were ok with that because they want me to work on getting involved with their various boards and eventually move into a higher position. The job doesn't pay a whole lot - especially when you factor in all the daycare costs, but it still pays more than a first year teacher would make.

The other job for the social security administration is still in limbo. The salary is much higher and the federal benefits would be a nice addition to Jakes state benefits. However, it seems much more demanding and intense. I nailed the interviews and the people there all seemed very happy (despite the fast-paced nature of the job). So that and the money make it so if they were to offer me the job soon, I'd definitely consider it.

Its a miracle that the federal government has anyone working for them, because the process is long and time consuming. I applied March of 2008, got called in January 2009 once they received funding, interviewed in February, and finally received the formal request from the regional HR office to complete the application and testing process. I was informed that I passed that section and the next step was to wait until the federal budget was passed. It would be a matter of time before congress allocated money for the social security administration and that those funds would further be passed on to the individual offices. I expect to hear from them at any moment.

Why did I make the decision to go back to work, you ask? Well, I realized that even if I finish my masters within the next year, landing a teaching job is likely to be impossible. At least for the foreseeable future. So why spend all that money when I can just get my foot in the door with the state, making more money than I would teaching and still having the satisfaction of helping others (I'd be working in the elderly disability services department).

I expect to finish my first semester of my masters with a 4.0, so there is always a "Plan B" if for some reason this doesn't pan out.

Foreign Perspectives

2009-03-30T15:29:00.000-07:00

As promised, I wanted to comment on a foreigners perspective of the U.S. Its insightful because as Americans, we are constantly fed how we live in the greatest country in the world and no other can compare. Yet Europeans, especially, tend to disagree.

One of the things I was asked is, what do Americans think of Europeans. After thinking about it a few minutes, I came to the conclusion that I think it boils down to education and class. Those with no college education and a lower class status tend to think Europeans live in run down shacks in a third-world environment. When the truth is, although they do live in smaller homes than the average American, the quality of life is much better. In terms of their living environment, it tends to be cleaner and more upgraded than a typical American home. I think lack of exposure (usually this means lack of money to travel, but sometimes it also means lack of desire) among Americans and the "land of the free" type perception makes us very ignorant about the rest of the world.

Of course, I did point out the stereotypes we give Europeans - bad teeth, every-other-day bathers and socialists. I think even though these are stereotypes, they're pretty accurate ones.

So some of the things she pointed out about the U.S. - some I recognize, others I didn't:

- The US healthcare system sucks. I informed her that Americans tend to think socialized medicine is just eerie and that this leads to the government making decisions over who lives or dies. The notion that in socialized medicine there is a master list, rating those who deserve healthcare and who doesn't, is quite prevalent among many Americans. She laughed it off and said that there are no lists and that everyone gets treated appropriately. AND, she said that if you so desire, there is always privatized healthcare. I have to agree with her. My grandpa is 85 and just had surgery twice in the past year, even though it was a relatively minor, non threatening procedure.

- Americans are a throw away society. Everyone uses single-use products. Silverware, tupperware, paper towels, etc..

- College here is in some ways much more time consuming. In most of Europe, your grade consists of a difficult comprehensive final exam. You either pass or fail. Here in the US you are flooded with all kinds of assignments throughout the semester and then given a fairly easy final exam. She thought the American technique was better. And as much as I despise all the papers I have to write, I have to admit students understand and retain information much better this way.

- People here are ultra mega religious. She pointed out that in Europe there are plenty of believers, but nobody really practices, except for the traditional ceremonial events. The whole organized religion thing is perceived as almost cult-like. Amen to that.

- People spend all day drinking coffee here. I explained that 1. our coffee is watered down in comparison to the yummy lattes in Europe. and 2. Americans need it to survive; we don't get the abundance of vacation and holidays Europeans get.

- Our food is horrible. Everyone eats out or eats junk food. Nobody cooks decent meals or uses fresh ingredients. I couldn't argue with her there.

- Fat chicks everywhere. Ok, so she didn't point this out. I had talked to my cousin on the phone while she was here and somehow the subject of "Americanas gordas" came up. Thank god that I am no longer in that category.

Visitors

2009-03-29T18:18:00.000-07:00

This weekend was a nice change of pace. My cousins wifes' sister (from Spain) came to visit from San Francisco. She is working at Stanford and UC Hayward on her PhD in Environmenal Science, so she will be here through August. I have known her pretty much all my life. Both my cousins hung out with her and her sister as kids, so when I spent the summers there, I too spent a lot of time with them.

So this weekend, she ventured on over to the see all the beauty and culture the city of Reno has to offer. Be sure to recognize the sarcasm there (unless you consider the strippers beauty and gambling an art). She is outdoorsy, so she appreciated Tahoe and having never been in the U.S., she also liked the western theme of Virginia City. After a long day of sightseeing, we went out to dinner where I ordered some pretty tasty fish and a honey sweetened, but oh-so-weak mojito. After agreeing that it was cold and that the casinos didnt sound appealing, we decided we'd head home and finish off the night with a bowl of popcorn and a movie. Appropriately, we watched Spanglish. I say this because she wanted us to speak to her in English so that she could improve her domination of the language, yet, I simply cannot get use to talking to her in anything but Spanish. Last time I had seen her, she spoke very little broken English.

Moving on. Jake wimped out about midnight, so we stayed up talking and catching up. She told me about all her travels, what she thought of the U.S. thus far (I will elaborate on that on my next post), school, money, religion, kids, etc.. Next thing we know, its 4am. YAWN....

If we are freezing, then whats wrong with the volleyball players?

Digg.com

2009-03-26T11:01:00.000-07:00

Digg.com is an awesome site for those of you who have yet to discover it. Everyday people are able to "digg" articles they find interesting, and the ones that are "dugg" the most get moved to the top of the list. These articles cover all sorts of subjects, so you get very diverse reading material. Some are from reputable news sites, such as Time or CNN, while others are from blogs or small, more independent sources.

Here is the link to an article I read this morning. And you can bet, I totally dugg it.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/03/25/turtles-all-the-way-down/

Similarly, I read an article about a pilot in Italy who just got sentenced to prison because he chose to pray during a plane crash rather than follow emergency procedures. His actions led to the deaths of many passengers. Apparently god was too busy making the plane crash to listen to his prayers. Oh but wait....he had a plan.

I remember going to church when I was younger and being assigned a certain number of Hail Marys or Our Father prayers for each sin I confessed to. I wonder how the priest will address this situation. His sin was praying. Will he be required to pray some more in order to make up for the initial sinful praying?

Gotta love it.

Insert Foot in Mouth, Take Two

2009-03-21T23:14:00.000-07:00

Have we become so overly sensitive that one must second guess everything that comes out of our mouths? Obama may have taken some heat over what he said on Jay Leno the other night, but I think Jake may have inadvertently trumped him in the unpolitically correct department:

Me: Am I the only person who thinks what he said wasn't that bad?

Jake: I know! Lets be realistic, its not like the special olympic bowlers are bowling 300's or anything. He was just pointing out that his bowling skills were comparable to those of the special olympic bowlers. Whats wrong with that?

Me: Yeah, maybe slightly insensitive but its not as big of a deal as people are making it sound.

Jake: Yeah, thats pretty retarded.

My To Do List

2009-03-10T20:56:00.000-07:00

Things I could be doing instead of posting on my blog:

Read one of the two 400 page books on cognitive theory I have to read by Friday.
Write a paper on the book (also due by Friday).
Study for a midterm I have tomorrow.
Put away 4 loads of laundry.
Paint Jacobs room
Vaccum my house (its been 2 weeks!)
mop my kitchen floors
Take Brandi out to that lunch I owe her before she leaves for Europe.
Use that massage certificate that I got for Christmas.
Clean my bathrooms from top to bottom.
Working on one of my final projects that I'm sure are due sooner than I'm expecting.
WORKING (who would've thought work would be more fun than school?)
Shop for Jake and Jacobs birthday presents.
clean my backyard after the winter storms demolished it.
I'm sure there are other assignments due by Sunday that I have yet to even look at.

Moody Thoughts

2009-03-03T15:54:00.000-08:00

I must be in a bad mood today. Maybe next week I will follow what Abby was saying on her blog and attempt to reduce my negativity. But I've been thinking about this subject lately, and since I'm in the venting mood, I figured its an appropriate time to blog about it.

There are certain celebrity personalities out there that just need to go away. They are evil and do nothing for the greater good. These are just a few I can think of off the top of my head.

1. Ann Coulter - I can't imagine why this woman is still single. She has such a wonderful personality and can be so warm, humble and caring (sarcasm alert)

2. Rush Limbaugh - Rush is not right.

3. Jesse Jackson/Al Sharpton - Both appear to be "activists" however they are really just parasites.

4. Dr. Laura - I'm ashamed that I share a name with this woman. Her and Rush should have babies together. Except she'd probably eat them.

5. Sean Hannity - Colmes was probably trying to spare the public by leaving Hannity and Colmes, assuming they'd scrap the show altogether and thus alleviating us viewers from having to bare Hannity's idiocracies. But no, Fox News kept him on as a one man show.

A "Blast" From the Past

2009-03-02T13:04:00.001-08:00

Ok, so let me start out by saying that I am the least jealous wife I've ever met. I know my husband worships the ground I walk on, so if he gets some attention from the opposite sex every now and then, good for him. Everyone deserves a little ego boost every once in a while, right?

So I had no problem when his first girlfriend requested him as a friend on facebook the other day. They began emailing back and forth and the conversation quickly turned to 'do you still go to church?', followed by her emailing him her 'testimony'. Jake encouraged me to read the emails, so I did. I got the distinct impression that since she recently decided to go back to the mormon church and her husband won't, nor will he allow their children to attend with her, she was scoping out what else was on the market. Her comments and questions made it clear that she was unhappy with her circumstances and almost as if she was evaluating what else was out there. Jake the gentlemen must've come to mind, so she searched for him in hopes that he was the same Jake she knew many years ago. Funny how she was totally into him and asking all kinds of questions until he mentioned that he was no longer mormon and was not contemplating going back. Shortly after that, the correspondence ceased. Crickets. Maybe she crossed him off her list and is moving on to ex-boyfriend #2 now.

Men get a bad rap for being conniving and unfaithful, but from my experience women are just as bad or worse.

Slackers

2009-02-24T14:30:00.000-08:00

So I was told that I have been slacking on my blogs, so here is whats new in my life.

School has been really getting on my nerves lately. Yes, I have complained about it constantly, I know. This being highly educated thing is overrated. Its a good thing I took that wintermester class because one of my classes requires ALL my time and then some. I can barely keep up on the weekly assignments, yet there are still 2 papers looming over me which require reading 2 lengthy (and boring) books about behavioral theories. I'm not sure how I am going to fit that in! Hence, I have decided to take it slow. Since the economy is doing so bad, and interest starts racking up on my student loans the second I finish school, I figure its smarter (and lazier) to extend the time I'm in school and take it a bit slower.

I spent the last week consoling a friend over a breakup. Both times we went out with them, they managed to break up, so I felt a little responsible. Luckily they are back together again, but if my theory is correct, expecting big changes in a person is unlikely. People don't change. Maybe temporarily when they are given an ultimatum, but most people tend to go back to their ways. Am I not correct?

The kids go off track this week, so I have to figure out how to entertain them and get all my homework done. Hopefully the weather will be nice.

My cousin's wifes sister from Spain (yes, thats a stretch, but I have known her since we were kids) just moved to San Francisco for 6 months while she is working on her doctorate in Biology at Stanford and UC Hayward. We've been planning on getting together but the snow over the pass has been horrid. A 3 or 4 hour trip could easily turn into an 8 hour one, so we have been putting it off. I think a quick weekend trip to go hang out with her and show her my neck of the woods would be fun. Hopefully we can do it soon!

There might be other exciting news soon, but I don't want to post it yet because I dont want to jinx it!

I Accidentally....

2009-01-31T18:49:00.000-08:00

Bush - (I can't take credit for this one)
I accidentally the whole economy

My son - I accidentally the toilet

Jake -
I accidentally the toilet too.

Me tonight -
I accidentally the entire tube of cookie dough

My daughter -
I accidentally 1000 minutes and text messages

Sarah Palin-I accidentally the Alaskan moose population (this I can take credit for)

Another one I cant take credit for:

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO ADD YOUR OWN

Personal Growth

2009-01-26T13:42:00.000-08:00

I'm supposed to be working on my CEP 705 class, but I'm sick of Piaget and all his cognitive development theories. And to think, its only week 2. Ughh. This stuff was a lot easier in my undergrad classes.

I'm so over school. Really. My academic drive has virtually disappeared and now all I want to do is have fun. I'm reverting. Although I'm choosing to look at it more as if I am growing socially.