Therapy anyone?

Last night, my son was invited to go to a baseball game with his very bestest friend. He hates going with me, which is why I haven't been able to go to more than one game this year, but with his friend, he was thrilled. What gives? Momma's not good enough for ya? Ok, I know I would prefer to go with a friend over my Mom, but it makes me feel old.

Anyhoo, my husband was supposed to be at a meeting, but it got cancelled, so my daughter and my "girl's night" got shut down. Bummer, too, because girl's night around here usually involves a really good girly movie (Princess Bride) and some junk food. Oh, and snuggling on the couch the whole night. It's loads of fun!

My daughter wanted to go see Grandma, so we hoofed the whole 3/4 mile to Grandma and Grandpa's house, dog in tow. It was a gorgeous night. We had a lovely visit until... my Dad brought up politics. Well, to be fair, he brought it up, and I went totally ballistic about what he was complaining about.

You see, I'm a black sheep. My whole family believes some very strange things (to me, at least) and I have a really hard time keeping my big mouth shut. Anyone else have these issues? The good news is, it's mostly just politics and religion, so there's lots of other stuff to talk about. And I just can't be calm about something I passionately believe is wrong, even though I KNOW I'm not changing minds here.

The part that will soon require therapy, well, the most recent part anyway, is that I found out my Mom is a birther!



You read that right. She wants to see Obama's real birth certificate. And when I walked into their home, Fox "News" was on. They claimed they just wanted to see more about the last combat troops leaving Iraq, and that no other station was carrying the info. Then I turned to CNN, and whadaya know? It was also broadcasting about the last combat troops leaving Iraq.

My Dad was a lifetime Department of Defense employee. He's a Vietnam Vet, and still has issues related to his war experience. He's a staunch hawk, and thinks we should always carry the bigger stick. (Imagine what he must have thought when his oldest daughter nearly joined the Peace Corps and started wearing Birkenstocks!) My Mom and Dad were engaged right before he went off to war, so she's lived through some trying times as well.

At 35, I should know better than to get involved in a political discussion with anyone in my family, but damnit! I hate listening to people I love regurgitate the trash they hear on tv and think it's the truth! I'm sad that I feel like such an outcast in my own family on these matters.

And, more than anything, I wish there was an easy place to go where you knew you'd hear the truth. There just isn't that place anymore. Journalists get press releases and copy and paste their stories. "News" organizations are bought and paid for. The internet is full of crazy stories trying to pose as truth. It's insanity!



There are those walking around these days wanting "their America" back. Well, I'm not one of those people, but I want the America that I was taught existed. The one that was tolerant, and free to discuss important topics with each other using facts and truth, not scare tactics and blatent lies. The older I get, the more I wonder if it ever truly existed. Maybe it was all just a dream.

My Lucky Day!

Today is Friday the 13th. I know most people think horrible things happen on this day, but not me. Friday the 13th has been a historically lucky day for me in my life. How?

1. My husband was born on Friday the 13th. (He was also born breach, which makes me believe his Mom doesn't exactly think of this date as very lucky. :-))

2. Our first date was on Friday the 13th. (Double date, to be exact. We saw "Ghost.")

3. We got married on the 13th. Not a Friday that year, but it has fallen on a Friday since then, and I always feel it's a bit more special then. On our honeymoon, we met a few couples who chose to get married on Sunday the 14th, to avoid the possibility of their anniversary falling on a Friday the 13th!

4. I love to flip the bird to anything unlucky, just to tempt the fates. :-) (Not really, but I didn't have a 4th.)

So, in honor of this lucky day, I'm including a link about weird Friday the 13th things. Superstitions we still cling to, even though we know better. Right?

Oh me, oh my!

I've got to get something out in the open right now: I LOVE food! I love eating it, of course, but I also find that I love reading about it in any form. I have a list of blogs that I browse regularly, and most of them are food blogs. I won't name them here, because I'm sure there are so many others I just haven't found yet. :-)

Why do I love reading about food? Is it because it soothes my soul? You know, that comfort thing? Is it because the people who write said food blogs have a knack for photographing the food in an artful and tasteful (see how I did that?) way? Partly.

My son and I went to the library (or Library! in my neck of the woods) yesterday and checked out a bunch of books. When we got home, we were looking through each others finds, and he noticed something very odd. Most of my books were cookbooks. I have a TON of cookbooks in my cupboard in the kitchen, just waiting for me to break one open and try a new recipe. Why do I need to look at yet more cookbooks? Because it makes me happy.

We ended up sitting down together, looking through one of the cookbooks, and trying to decide the best, yummiest recipe in that darn thing. It was a hard choice, but made harder because there weren't any pictures of the food! Really? If you're gonna write a cookbook, please take the time to print photos of each and every recipe in there, so that we readers can drool over, and fantasize about, the food!

So thank you to every foodie blogger out there, who's taking the time to make their food and posts so tasty to read over. And maybe someday I'll try my hand at taking photos of all the yummy treats that I make for my family. If nothing else, it will make my smile.

Mosque at Ground Zero? I didn't think so.

This is sort of an addendum to my last post, since Newt is also against a Muslim community center being built 2 whole blocks away from the site of the World Trade Center attacks.

Sam Seder, my hero.

Hypocrisy rules the day

I was thrilled to see U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn Walker rule Proposition 8 in California Unconstitutional. Hooray! It seems that he read the Constitution after all. Not like those that were for Prop 8 in the first place.

Take Newt Gingrich, for example. This man had his hey-day already, running Congress (basically) for years, and making that stupid "Contract with America" that seems to have made it wrong to discuss any opposition to what our government is doing, be it engaging in wars or cutting taxes on the rich. I always thought questioning the government's actions was patriotic. Silly me!

Newt's got a YouTube video out to explain the need for Prop 8 and the horrible "activist judges" that strike down unconstitutional legislation. Funny, I never hear complaints about "activist judges" when they agree with him. Anyway, here's the video:



And, of course, he had to go on the O'Reilly Factor back in November to explain why we need to save marriage. Here's the video of that:



Newt's own words, according to Think Progress, are quite hilarious. He says, "Judge Walker's ruling overturning Prop 8 is an outrageous disrespect for our Constitution and for the majority of people of the United States who believe marriage is the union of husband and wife." Apparently, the Constitution is a sacred and holy text, unless it doesn't jive with your religious and homophobic beliefs.

What I really want to know is why is gay marriage so dangerous? What does it do to me? How does it affect my marriage, or my life? No one can answer that question, which makes me suspicious of their motives. Nearly everyone my age couldn't care less if the LGBT community was allowed equal rights. Marriage seems like the least they should receive.

And when people (like Newt) complain about the danger gay marriage poses to marriages in general, I say what about divorce? Now, as I see it, that's the real danger to marriage. And Newt's had 3 wives so far! From my perspective, he's a threat to marriage more than my gay friends and neighbors.

I can understand if there are some who believe that my views are wrong. But those beliefs are not religious in origin. My beliefs about equal rights are from learning about what America was founded on -- Freedom! Equality! I do not believe that our govnernment should be deciding anything moral. That's a religious thing. It seems that many have forgotten that there is a separation of Church and State (supposedly) in this great Nation. Many people talk about how the Founding Fathers were Christian. Actually, not all of them were, but that's another post for another day. Even if they all were, they specifically wrote the Constitution so that the government was not allowed to choose a religion for the people. They are not supposed to favor one religious belief over another.

If the Tea Party and the Republicans have their way, though, the Christian religion will be the theocracy of America. And their blindness to the hypocrisy of that is astonishing!

BTW, if you want to let Newt know your thoughts, you can find him on Twitter. His handle is @newtgingrich.

Mine is @CancerMommy. I'd love to hear your thoughts, too.

Gotta love Colbert!

I stumbled upon this gem this morning, while hopping through the blogs I read.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Word - Ownership Society
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election Fox News

As some of you may already know, I don't watch the news anymore. It's depressing, not relevant to my life (think flooding in Afghanistan), and not really news. There is only the obsurd need of "journalists" to give one political side, and then try and give the other without looking like a "liberal news organization." It's insanity!!

I get my "news" from sources like Colbert and Jon Stewart. (All without cable or satellite tv! Yes, free tv and the internet and I'm still well-informed!) These shows (The Colbert Report and The Daily Show, respectively) actually do the job of fact-checking. Yes, it's all for a joke, but it's not hard to find the funny in what's been going on in America for the last 10 years. Probably longer. And the fact that comedy shows are doing a better job of finding the truth than the news organizations is very, very sad.

Family visits ARE fun!

My husband and I moved away from all our family about 12 years ago. At the time, it was solely to follow a job (for him) and, we figured, after he got some experience, we'd come "home." 12 years later, we both agree that moving away was one of the best decisions we've ever made. He and I became closer as a couple, were more confident in our parenting abilities without constant "advice" from my 2 MIL's, and have a much better quality of life due to the cost of living differences.

That said, we love having company! None of my husband's family visits much, so when his stepsister decided to bring her family over for the weekend, we were thrilled! Her kids are around our kids' ages, and we adults get along smashingly. Between floating the river, swimming in our community pool, and zoo visits, we got those kiddos good and worn out. The adults even got to stay up late and drink beer, without interruption!

Could those kids be any cuter?!

There were, of course, a few incidents between kiddos to handle from time to time. Thankfully, no blood was shed, and no feelings truly hurt. So, all in all, I'd consider that a good visit. :-)

I guess my thoughts today, reflecting on our visit, are that family is nice to have around, if only in small bursts. I try hard not to worry too much about those in the family who are a bit toxic to me and my family. (Yes, we have some toxic relatives, don't you?) I try equally hard to nourish the relationships with those who bring me and my family joy. It's not something I would have spent much time thinking about before cancer, but now I really focus on starving the bad and feeding the good in my life.

And yes, that even goes for family.