ID teaching in Dover declared Unconstitutional

Nice to know there are some Fed. judges left who know their basic Constitutional Law.

Heck the Dolls with Hows of Bolly falalalala, la lalala

See what cold medicine does to you?

 

I managed to sleep without if for 4 whole hours last night - the first time in 2 weeks. Which means my system should just be getting better and therefore primed to catch the next nasty bug when we hit the germ-ridden skies on Friday morning.

 

Santa brought an early Christmas present this weekend - a Roomba!  I've been dying to get my very own robovac for a few years now.  Sunday Curt and I spent alternately entertaining the Critter, bemoaning the amount of mucus the human head can produce, coughing up various parts of lung tissue, and cheering on the little red wonder:  "Go Roomba, Go!  Get that Cheerio!  Yay - he got it, he got it!!  Sucked it right out of the corner!!"   Now if the manufacturer could just modify their Explosive Ordinance Disposal unit to tackle poopy diapers we'd be in heaven....

 

Another Critter mystery solved this weekend.... Duncan had unexplicably & suddenly started shaking his head back and forth rapidly at us last week.  He was happy while doing it - was not a sign of frustration, and even though we've been telling him "No!"  more frequently lately, hadn't really been accompanying that word with it's appropriate head gesture so could not, for the life of us (nor that of his daycare teacher) figure out where he'd picked up the habit.  We feared it was a seizure of some sort brought on, no doubt by Curt's tendency to keep letting him fall of the furniture*.   Then, Sat. night we had dinner at Dad's and as soon as Duncan saw my grandmother, started shaking his head and smiling like a maniac.  She promptly picked him up and said "See?  He wants an Eskimo Kiss!  We had a ball doing that last weekend (when they were babysitting while we were packing for the upcoming move).  We'd rub noses and he'd giggle out loud and do it over and over again!"  Then she demonstrated and sent our darling boy into hysterics.

 

Duh!  What kind of idiot parents are we not to recognize the universal Eskimo Kiss signal? We're such failures.

 

*True conversation from this weekend: "See honey, this is why I strap the boy into the diaper changer when I change a poopy diaper."

"I'd have been OK if the wipes were on the side of the bed where they were supposed to be!"

"What do they call it when you do the same thing over and over and expect a different result?"
"Optimism?"

"You're doing this just to get out of changing poopy diapers, aren't you?"

 

No worries, folks - we've got a family full of healthcare professionals and very thickly padded carpet. The boy is fine (9 months wellcheck was last week!).  Aside from delusions of Eskimo heritage, that is. If he starts craving whale blubber I'll worry.

Posting will likely be sporadic to nonexistent the next 2-3 weeks due to travel and moving of house. Hope your holidays, whatever they may be are happy and filled with joy. Cyber Eskimo Kisses to all....

Might Christian of ya' Pardner....

The problem with making fun of Fundiots (Fundie+Idiots) is they don't have much of a sense of humor. Tackling ID "theory" from a mythological standpoint I thought was brilliant. That's where it should go.  But if you're going to subject someone's hard-held religious beliefs to academic scrutiny, you usually don't do it as a 'slap in the face'.  Even academics who look at South Pacific Cargo Cults  don't disparage the object of their study.

Happy Tuesday

So far so good... the real estate gods have yet to smote (or whould that be "smite?) our 3rd deal.  Inspection was a little depressing (looks like we'll need to replace the fabulous deck at some point in the next 5 years) but nothing deal-killingly major. We've asked them to fix one little bathroom vent and are proposing to take a few grand off the price to compensate for the needed deck & other repairs, and are once again anxiously awaiting word of approval.

 

Inspection on our house is this afternoon.  We're hoping their inspector is nowhere near as picky/thorough as ours!  Our buyers actually refused to go along with an earlier close date so it looks like we'll be moving *after* the New Year.  Which takes a little stress off.  But our sellers have yet to formally OK the change in closing date so I suppose that could go squirrelly,. too.

 

The Critter is getting cuter by the minute.  He's about mastered the Gene Kelley carseat tipping manuever.... climbs in when it's on the floor, crawls to the other side until it tips and dumps him out on the carpet on the other side.  Then repeat.  He's like a little tank on all fours... will actually go OVER any obstacle even if it means going out of his way to do so.  I am praying this tendency does not grow into a love of all things monstertruck or military.  

 

He began planting big fat slobbery open mouthed kisses on everyone this weekend.  While the dog was ecstatic to see her affection returned in kind, the kitties were much less thrilled.  They've upped their baby evasion training regimen as aa result. The Critter has also begun whining in a much more pleasing tone of voice.  The old Draconian shrieking was earning him quick trips to his crib... I think he is much more pleased with the delayed bedtimes, cuddles and hugs that he is earning now.  He finally had a wonderful time at swim class last week, too.  Thanks, we're sure to the club actually turning up the temperaure in the pool to a more baby-friendly level.

 

Oh, and *I GUESS* you could say he's started saying his first word.  Not "Mama", no.  Not for the 10 months of nausea, hemmorhoids and indigestion I endured to bring him into this world.  Not for the roughly 3 hours of time I sit around with my tit in a wringer pumping out life-sustaining breastmilk every day.  No.  No "Mama" for me.  Instead, one night last week when I brought him to bed in the wee hours of the morning and Curt as usual presented his back so he could go back to sleep.... the Critter sat back on his heels, slapped his shoulder and clear as a bell shouted "Da!".  Followed by another "Da!".  With that he turned his father into the biggest puddle of putty to be manipulated with the palm of his tiny little hand. Now it's "dada" whenever he's feeling neglected.  And still - no word for the Mama. *sigh*

Rape as punishment

Echidne revisits the issue of rape victims "asking for it" by dressing provocatively, being drunk, promiscuous, etc.  This time after an Amnesty Int'l survey of British views on rape, which found that:

 

"more than a quarter (26%) of those asked said that they thought a women was partially or totally responsible for being raped if she was wearing sexy or revealing clothing, and more than one in five (22%) held the same view if a woman had had many sexual partners.

Around one in 12 people (8%) believed that a woman was totally responsible for being raped if she'd had many sexual partners.

Similarly, more than a quarter of people (30%) said that a woman was partially or totally responsible for being raped if she was drunk, and more than a third (37%) held the same view if the woman had failed to clearly say "no" to the man."

 

Our divine bloGoddess tries to draw a parallel between rape and a brutal mugging and then wondered if it was an effective analogy. Many feminists don't like it as it seems to perpetuate the "woman/sex as property/commodity" dynamic and downplays the added psychological trauma associated with sexual assault.  But I myself think it's an excellent analogy and is the one I prefer to use when the subject comes up.  Not perfect as rape is such a complex issue, but I do believe it's the most effective way to illustrate how hypocritical the "blame the victim" mentality is to folks who have never experienced it themselves, or are so self righteous and naive they think it will never happen to them.  So, some more analogies:

 

If a man were to go to a sports bar every Monday night and was very "promiscuous" with his money by buying the house a round everytime his favorite team scored, and got totally drunk and very friendly himself in the process... does that entitle other patrons of the bar to take him into a backroom, take turns beating the shit out of him and then each take $20 from his wallet?  What if he was dressed "provocatively" in a rival team's jersey?  By the logic of those who blame the rape victim, yes, yes it does.  He was asking for it. 

 

What about the very generous guy who routinely gives a handout to every homeless person he sees.  If some other homeless person knows he's an easy mark and asks him for a handout, but happens to be refused this time... does that entitle the rejected recipient from physically assaulting the good samaritan and stealing his wallet?  By the logic of those who blame the rape victim, yes.  Yes it does.  What do you expect when you "put out" willingly on a regular basis?

 

Or, to put it in the context of character.   What if you're a drug addict.  Or addicted to gambling and go blow your paycheck every week at the local dog racing track or Indian Casino.  Or you regularly drop a few c-notes down the g-strings of strippers at the local titty bar.   Obviously you don't value your own money and financial well being.  Why should society blame a potential mugger or ID/Credit thief for taking your money/good credit from you by force what you give up so willingly?  Why, by the logic of those who like to blame the rape victims, even brutal, potentially fatal physical force is justified apparently.

 

There is no excuse.  No justification.  No defense.  This mentality of blaming the victim needs to stop NOW.  And increasingly I'm convinced, the only way to do it is to steal the wallet or purse of anyone who is stupid enough to verbalize it. "you really think she deserved it, huh?  Where do you bank? Why do I ask?  oh, no reason... just having a friendly conversation...." 

Rightie Echo Chamber

Barbara O'Brien over at the American Street document the not-so-elusive Rightie Echo Chamber in action. Here's an interesting experiment in social psychology. Someone set up a rightie persona (that self-identfies with the Right and throws in a little liberal bashing for credibility) and use it to post comments on rightie sites using actual quotes from lefties. See what kind of a response you get. Then when they all start bobble-heading with you in unison throw out the "funny... that actually came from so and so's blog....". Someone should totally do that... someone with more time and energy and a stronger stomach than I, that is. I'll help compile the results, though.

Excitement Free Zone

This time, I'm not getting excited.  I'm not posting pictures, not even crossing my fingers.  Until AFTER the inspection on Wednesday.  Hell, maybe not even until after we close & move in.  But if I were to have gotten excited, it would have been because we made an offer on a house Saturday and it was accepted yesterday.  A 1978 split level. yes, I know BUT that happens to be the most common floorplan that is most conducive to having a mother in law stay with us (within our price range, that is).  It's been totally cleaned up & repaired... new paint, new fixtures, new carpet, new linoleum (the faux stone stuff I like because it looks EXACTLY like tile but is softer on little baby heads). Nicely landscaped.  Huge kitchen - range and dishwasher are old but the old cabinets were stained a beautiful cherry finish that look new.   New sink.  Gorgeous decks on the backside.... one with a view of Mt. St. Helens over the neighbor's roof!!!  In fact, if we put in a window in the dining room... we could watch all of her eruptions from there.  Pretty cool, huh? Could use some prettying up on the outside (shutters and different paint, eventually new windows/front door or other more extensive entry "makeover"). But otherwise?  Totally move-in ready.  Which it looks like we'll have to do before we leave for as week in Indiana at Christmas.   Ugh.  Good thing we'd all pretty much agreed to go low-key & cheap for Christmas 'cuz I sure won't time to shop!  Though I'd hoped to make the Critter's first Christmas a little more memorable.  Not for him (I know he won't remember) but for us. 

 

Mini-Me

Last night the Critter got two baths.  Thanks to Mommy not realizing the sitter had left some formula mixed in with the bottle of breastmilk she sent home with us and giving the bottle to the boy following our trip to the grocery store.  Who, in his own defense *did* give us fair warning about his imminent pukage by waking up and whimpering in his crib a couple of times after we put him to bed (a fairly unusual occurance lately... the frequent wakings in the evening that is).  Which warning we did ignore by simply retrieving the binky and patting his little head and shushing him back to sleep.  The sleep which was next interrupted by a pitiful wail, emanating from a puke-covered baby wallowing in his own puddle of regurgitated organic sweet potato and chicken dinner.  Which he had so enjoyed going down.  Shame. Hope it doesn't sour him on sweet potato forever.  

 

For those keeping track at home - that's two puke fests in two weeks.  One viral induced, one bad-formula (and bad mommy) induced.  Don't worry, bad-mommy got her come-uppance in the second round of come-upping when she couldn't get the baby to the sink fast enough and was coated in vomit for her tardiness.  The 3rd round came when Daddy was trying to get the baby dressed and diapered and forgot to grab the handy-dandy puke pail bad-Mommy had used while giving the Critter his second bath.  Bad-Mmommy may have even thought to herself "maybe I should tell Daddy to be sure the puke pail accompanies the child" before summarily thinking "fuck it - I've got puke in my hair... let him deal with it" and once again may have earned herself another come-uppance when the 3rd come-upping erupted all over her & Daddy's down comforter.  But then again... Daddy hogs the comforter anyway so no big loss.

 

An hour or two and one bottle of formula-free Mommy's milk later the Critter was once again feeling himself with no further come-upping in sight.    And cracking Mommy up while sprawled, exhausted - in the parental bed with his little pinkie hooked in the corner of Daddy's sleeping mouth, the vision of a Minnie Me Moment.

 

Tomorow Daddy & the Critter will be staying at home while Mommy accompanies the realtor for one more marathon house hunt, since yes... the real estate gods shit on our second deal, too.  Let's hope the 3rd time is a charm.

Kind of fun

I typically avoid memes like the plague, but Sarahlynn hooked me with this one:

 

Google your first name + "needs" and find out what the internet thinks you need.  Kind of puts your life in perspective, no?

 

So according to the GoogleGods, MustangSally* needs:

 

A New Pair of shoes (actually just got 'em, thanks)

donations to help pay for costly cancer treatment :(  (thank Maude, no...!!  Knock on wood!)

a few acting lessons

some nookie (well, yes, that always helps)

a family that is patient  (yep)

spice in her journal (very true - it's become veritably vanilla lately)

a life (not true - mine is keeping me way too busy lately.  Resulting in item just above).

help (who can't?)

minor healing from surgery  (again, no - thank Maude)

a good critique (maybe... though I should warn you I don't take criticism well).

some fucking watts - turn the muther fucker up really loud

to write us, we are all feeling FRISKY

lot of positive vibes sent her way (always.... still no word on if they've accepted our offer on the 2nd house!)

 

*obviously, not what I actually googled.

When it rains, it pours....

The real estate gods are not smiling upon us.  I don't know what we need to do to make amends... maybe make offerings of fruit baskets or something.  Fate turned against us this week.... the woman who was buying our house revoked her offer.  Even though our realtor TOLD her the lot was not divideable she didn't believe her and was counting on that for investment purposes.  Only to be given a rude awakening by the county when she actually went to check it out.  Luckily, we still had the other competing buyers who are still interested... though they're asking us to pay $5k in their closing costs.   They, however wanted to buy our place out of pure love, not avarice so I'd actually feel better about selling to them.  Gardeners, who would love and appreciate our yard.  With a new baby on the way.

 

Then, yesterday's inspection of the adorable little farmhouse, pictured below killed any possibility of that working anyway.   First, there was the problem with the electrical.  The owner, an electrical engineer by trade apparently thought he could totally lie his ass off about the wiring to the garage conversion and not get caught.  His story - it was all done as part of a 60's remodel and all he did was put outlets on existing wiring (that was poorly done as it was) so didn't need permits.  Yeah right.  The obviously 90's era electrical panel, wiring materials and total amateurish job (panel itself was a fire hazard) totally gave him away.  An EE degree does not make you a licensed electrician.  Then there was the roof (again a patchwork of amateurish work that would need to be totally replaced... with who knows what kind of trouble underneath).  And the worst problem - the foundation.  Crumbly on one side of the house (and would need to be repoured), plus unstable brick foundation losing its mortar on the other side which would kill any chance of our getting earthquake insurance.  With good reason.  This place being 20 miles closer to an active volcano, and the whole region ripe for "the big one".... no way in hell was I going to risk our lives in an old 2 story house that could very well come down with minor shaking.

 

Oh, and the clincher?  Exposed asbestos tape (peeling) on heating ducts in the stairway.  With that we actually cut the inspection short by an hour or two and ran for the hills. 

 

Today we looked at a 1978 split level that has a mother-in-law's apt. situation totally set up on the lower level.  It would require nothing to move in.  I got over my inherent disgust of all things 70's housing (be they ranches, or split levels) and we're going to make an offer.  They've already got one that's contingent in the hopper but it's bumpable. We're offering $5k over their asking price (it was underpriced anyway).  Cross your fingers.  It's not my ideal but for a split level?  It's damned cute.  Brand new, paned windows with shutters... a deck, hot tub... fantastically landscaped.  Fireplace and pellet stove.  Small kitchen and bathrooms but in this price range I can deal with those.  Terrific quiet neighborhood.  Fully fenced backyard.  With a firepit!  And a pond!!

Bye Bye little house

We sold our little house. Full asking price plus a little extra (there were 2 competing bids) I'm a little torn. I'm really going to miss it. Especially seeing the fruition of all the hard work (and nursery stock) we've put into it. But if there's one thing the new little farmhouse does have in abundance it's plenty of opportunity to personalize! And we're going to take cuttings of some of the more special plants, anyway to help it feel like "home".

I'm hoping to look at one or two other possibilities besides the farmhouse before we really commit to it (inspection is tomorow) just to be on the safe side, but everything's starting to fall in place which makes us both think it must be fate. Our buyer is an investor who is buying our place as a rental, so there's no big rush to move - we can just rent from her for a few extra weeks to get some of the work done that we want before moving in.

Please notify NASA

...that the Kansas state board of education has voted to formally replace Earth as the official center of the solar system. That might save some embarassment with the upcoming envisioned trip to Mars.

...In addition, the board rewrote the definition of science, so that it is no longer limited to the search for natural explanations of phenomena.

Next meeting, the genius members of the board who voted in favor plan to require all students to learn Biblical tongue-speaking as a second language.

"This is a sad day. We're becoming a laughingstock of not only the nation, but of the world, and I hate that," said board member Janet Waugh, a Kansas City Democrat."

Yes, yes you are. But if it's any consolation, it's the sad, irony filled tearful kind of laughter. That hurts us as much as it does you.

Holy Shit they Accepted our Offer!

So we're on our way to getting the house!!! Woohoo!!

Just need to sell ours first and from the volume of realtors calling wanting to show it in the last 36 hours since we listed it, that should happen pretty quick. Hey, maybe we'll get into a bidding war. A girl can dream, can't she?

I'm a little scared. Excited, but scared. Now we've got to deal with packing and moving and everything. Ugh.

Maybe our new house!

Maybe our new house!
Originally uploaded by MsMustangsally.

We just put in an offer on this 1920 farmhouse. I think I'm nuts. We were originally looking for "newer" construction to save the hassle of endless home improvement projects. But as much as we wanted to avoid that hassle, there are two things we have to have in a house that you can't really get without buying an older home: Privacy and character. This is on almost 1/2 acre lot which is very hard to find around here. Brand new construction going on down the street from this are on 3500 sq ft. lots (just like every other new development). And though there's plenty to keep us busy project wise, there's nothing critical.

The big bonus, though: the detached garage has been converted to a studio apartment and Curt's mom has agreed to a trial move from Indiana for a couple of months to be our "nanny". Which, if it works out, will save us daycare costs. Curt really misses his family - especially his mom and this would give her & Duncan the opportunity to build a relationship. I had my grandma living next door when I grew up and though she caused some incredible problems for Mom & Dad, it was great for my brother & I. So cross your fingers!!

Oh, and in the meantime - what to do with the orange walls in the living room? Just extend the light green from the dining room or something darker? I'm thinking periwinkle.

No Time for NaNoWriMo?

Defective Yeti's got a brilliant idea: The NaNoWriMo For Lazy People. Come On - I double-dog dare ya'. Mostly because short stories match my recent available attention span and I'm too broke to buy any more reading material. And have no time to hit the library. So I want yours :) I'll give it a shot, too but don't bet on getting anything meaningful out of me. Frankly my fingers have been so busy madly being crossed and clenching in prayer to the powers that be in hopes of actual indictments coming down re: Rove/Libby, DeLay and Frist that they've been unavailable for more productive pursuits like typing long uninspired posts about each case. So do your part and say a little prayer that nothing happens to old Fitz the Special Prosecutor... I mean how in the hell did they let this guy actually DO A GOOD JOB? How did that happen? You know things are starting to spiral out of control a the Okie Dokie Repub Corral when they screw up and actually put someone COMPETENT in charge.

Actually, Curt and I have been tossing around the idea of writing a children's book. We're starting to read some of the crap out there and come on, how hard could it be? Start with a cute character or two, throw in some lyrical prose/alliteration/rhyme and voila! Goodnight Moon. Apparently all you need is a paragraph. An entire book comprised of less than a dozen sentences. One per page. That's more my style. Well, not here where I blather on and on about whatever's going through my head, usually in megalong run-on sentences with entirely WAY too many commas, made-up words and almost always employing the passive voice that would have my old college journalism prof turning over in her grave. Though my high school journalism teacher was quite charmed by my writing style. As he put it "I can't put my finger on it. It's not that your grammer is technically wrong... it's just not quite correct". As any of you more copy editor types out there have surely witnessed, I've gone downhill from there and frequently frolic in the land of grammatical ineptitude.

The Critter adores the Teletubbies. I don't know why the Focus on the Family lunies get so upset about their alleged homosexual aspects. I mean really, how is Tinky Winky any more gay than the others? THey hug each other. OH THE HORROR!!! But if they're going to get all up in arms about overt sexuality on PBS children's programming, BoohBah is clearly the better candidate. The first time I saw this show I said "Oh my God - they're 5 dancing clits!! What's the plural for clitoris - clitori?? ". Especially when they nestle down inside their fuzzy little spoon shaped beds. Watch it and dare to tell me I'm wrong.

Somehow, it's no surprise however that a Fundie would be unable to recognize a woman's hooded little go button even if it was sitting on his face.

Bad Blogger. Very bad blogger. Work's gotten very busy lately though so I don't have the time to slack off like I used to. And what with the Critter's newfound mobility, I have less time at home. Then there's the house hunting and endless searches of real estate listings and school district reports. Yes, we at Casa du RiverRocks are contemplating a move. My office is moving north of the River to Vancouver, WA within 6 months or so. We've pretty much decided to move too. Our diminuitive 2 bed 1 bath abode was satisfactory when it was just the two of us, 3 mostly outside cats and the dog. With the arrival of the Critter (and more to the point, his high chair, toys, carseat, stroller, diaper bags, and most importantly - visitors ) it's just too small.

And house prices on this side of the border are outrageous. Those up there - not *quite* so bad. And we'd save on my income taxes, besides. So contemplating the move has about squeezed out any other logical thought in my head lately (it can only hold so much). Where, exactly should we move (I know little about Vancouver neighborhoods/schools)? What kind of a house? Older, newer? And most critical - how much do we want to spend?

Julia's got a timely post today that reminds me to sign the Critter up for baby & parent swim lessons at our gym next month. I can't wait. I really don't want him trying to learn when he's older and has developed fears/water phobias. I just want him to always remember being in the water and swimming. I think he'll love it. Since we graduated from the sink bath to sharing a bath with Mommy he comes crawling in as soon as he hears me getting in and drawing the water. My heart about melts when I see his two little hands reaching over the sill to try to pull himself up & over and climb in. It's about all I can do to get him stripped before he starts splashing around playing with his bath toys.


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Random Thoughts for the Day:

How soon do you think before they create a 6th Category for MEGA Monster hurricanes? Each one gets badder than the one before. And how sick do you think folks in Florida and the Gulf are going to get of packing up and hightailing for the high country every other week before they pack up and move for good and wreak havoc on the population distribution of the national electoral map? If we're really re-entering a cycle of increased hurrican activity, evacuations are going to become the norm rather than the exception.

Also Action Alert - let Target know you won't stand for their allowing their pharmacists to deny filling emergency B/C prescriptions.

Friday Baby & Cat Blogging!!

Kitty Tease
Originally uploaded by MsMustangsally.

It's a two-fer today! Cleo Cat doing her part to teach the Critter to crawl. She stays juuuust out of reach and teases him. I think the tongue sticking out is a little overkill though, even if she is still harboring a little resentment at having to compete for precious lap position with a 17 lb, slobbering grab-machine.

Good news from Afghanistan

Vocal anti-warlord female activist Malalai Joya won a seat in Parliament! Please pray to whatever powers that move you for her safety and success. More about Ms. Joya here and here.

The old Covering Your Ass Nomination

Everyone’s trying to make heads or tails of the Miers nomination. Mahablog has a good roundup. Why would Shrub nominate another questionably qualified crony*? (QQC), much to the displeasure of his conservative base (at a crucial time before the 2006 elections) when his ass is still smoking from the FEMA / Michael Brown fiasco?

Given what I’ve been reading this morning about Judith Miller’s release & testimony last week and what that might indicate regarding the possible outcome of the Plame investigation, I’m betting on the “Shrub is putting a trusted guard dog in a key position to save his ass” angle: (from above linked Mahablog:) “By nominating Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, President Bush is turning to a trusted advisor who has a reputation for keeping her mouth shut—and putting her in a key position for damage control. Her nomination might make people like Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, and Tom DeLay breathe a little easier. ...)"

Why inexplicably nominate someone whose sole qualification seems to be her undying loyalty and ability to pull your ass out of the fire? As a wise person once said, the simplest answer is usually the right one. That would mean Shrub is once again feeling the familiar heat of the law on his buttocks.