Patriotism

     On this, the weekend of Memorial Day, I'm noticing a lot of people getting all up in arms over patriotism and what it means... so being an egghead, I looked it the hell up. 
pa*tri*ot*ism n. Love of and devotion to one's country.
     Hmmmmm...
     I thought for sure, the way people act that the words blind obeisance to one's government would be included in there somewhere.  Guess not.  Love of and devotion to one's country.  Okay, that seems pretty simple and straightforward.  I have love for and devotion to my mother.  I have love for and devotion to my daughter.  I would not blindly follow either one.  My mother is a Jehovah's Witness (I'm not getting into that, it's a whole series of blogs in it's own right) and my daughter is 17 months old tomorrow.  blindly following either one of them could lead me into some serious problems.  Because you have to know what you're following and why.  The same holds true for government.  I hope nobody blindly follows our government.  The last time we had blind obeisance, hundreds of thousands of Jews were slaughtered to make way for a new world.  Now I don't know about you, but I think that's a travesty.  Besides, Jewish women are hot.
     Anyway, the point... and I assure you I do have one... is that nobody, let me repeat that with emphasis, NOBODY should ever follow anyone or anything blindly.  Ever.  I will never just follow anybody for any reason.  It will not happen.  I demand to know why my country is doing something and who I can hold accountable specifically if it goes wrong.  I will not just accept policies and decisions because my government tells me to.  NO!  I will not bow down.  I will not follow like a sheeple.  not government and not organized religion.  Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
     I'm just saying... nobody has the right to tell anybody else how to be an American.  Nor does anybody have the right to tell anybody else to get out because they disagree with you and what you think is patriotic.
the point is this:
Dear America,
     why must you be so damn stubborn in the way you look at patriotism?  Do you not realize that without our diversity and the freedom to be diverse we are no more than a communist country... maybe socialist.  You get the point.  We all have the god given right to our freedom, it's guaranteed in our constitution.  Which means that when you get right down to it, you have the right, even to disagree with the constitution.  Probably not going to do you any good, but well, there ya go.  Learn to cherish diversity.  It's what makes America the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Even if you choose to remain the ignorant bastiges that you have been lately, I refer you to my favorite impromptu quote: "I may not agree with what you say but I will fight to the death to defend your right to say it."
That's all for me today.  Take care and have a great Saturday night.

Moments

If I could impart one piece of knowledge to my daughter, it would be that life is all about moments.  Not just the big, grandstanding moments, but every little tiny moment and when you miss too many of those, life starts to lose it's meaning.  We have so many things in our lives that take away from those moments, television, the internet, work, school and our busy busy lives.  Sometimes I think it's a good idea to slow down a bit and savor those moments like a fine wine.  So start savoring!  Today's blog is a short one because I am about to go out and savor some moments with my baby girl.
My point being:
Dear America,
     Sometime in your overcaffeinated, supercharged, speeding, charging, hard working, blur of a life, please take a moment to stop and assess why it is that you work so hard and run so fast and drink so damn many caramochalatte splits or whatever they're called.  I doubt it's just for the sake of doing it.
Take care and enjoy your Friday!

It's the simple things in life

So last night Ninny and I watched American Idol and she correctly predicted the winner for the second year in a row.  Much the same as last year, I was flabbergasted and confused as to how she or anybody could choose what's his name over Adam Lambert OR how any person in their right mind could choose Lee DeWyze over Crystal Bowersox.  Ninny did.  Both years.  That got me thinking.
Ephiny, by all reasoning that I can figure thus far, is a heterosexual.  You may think you can't tell that sort of thing in an 17 month old baby and you may be right, but she is very male oriented and loves men entirely more than women, which I find odd for a baby.  I always thought that babies would be more female or "mommy" centered.  Either I'm wrong or my child is a raging heterosexual... maybe both.  Whatever makes her happy, right?  Anyway, I digress.
I start to think.  American Idol is pretty popular across the board but it's especially popular with the teeny bopper and housewife crowd.  Sadly, the teeny bopper and housewife crowd tend to root for the underdog and almost always vote for the boy if given a choice.
Personally, I think it's to overcompensate for their latent homosexual fantasies regarding the effervescent Crystal Bowersox.  I know I had them (not so latently) and if you watched Ellen closely this season, I think she did too... just sayin'.
My point being:
Dear American Idol Viewing Public,
     When will you learn to have good taste?  Why would the recording studios leave such important decisions up to an obviously underqualified viewing public?  When will you figure out how to judge the "IT" factor in a musician?  Don't get me wrong, Lee is a great kid, a good singer and very humble but damnit, Crystal has "Rock Star Quality" and you just can't buy that, you can't teach it and you sure as hell can't force it.  Sorry to say it but Lee is bound to be another David what's his name (not Archuletta, the other one), forgotten two years down the road.  Watch Crystal... that girl is going to blossom with or without the victory.  Much like Adam Lambert, she won't need it to flourish if she takes the right steps and makes the right moves.  She never compromised herself, her vision, or her music and that is worth it's weight in solid 24k gold.
Keep the faith Crystal, sign with a good label, make an album and I'll be among the first in line to buy it.  I won't even pirate it off of the internet, I'll let it be among the 6 Cds that I own.  I believe and you should too.

Also of note, Ninny the rock star baby, somehow conned me into buying her a singing, light flashing, microphone at Wal-Mart today.  Possibly because she picked it up while we were looking at bike tire tubes and started singing into it immediately and didn't want to let it go even long enough for it to be scanned.  Luckily for her (and quite possibly me) it was less than $5.
Take care and I hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far!

Pedialyte...

Okay, so this is my first official blog. I have blogged before but mostly just rants about women. There may be one or two of those in this blog at some point or another, but mostly this is my mom blog.

My first official order of business is to ask Why?
Why, Pedialyte, why? Why do you torture mothers everywhere with your products?
Let's delve a little further into what I'm talking about, shall we?

Pedialyte, as we all know, makes what is basically a salty, baby version of Gatorade, right? It's what you give a sick baby, so that they will at least take in fluids and have some electrolytes in their system. Not generally used for healthy babies, although I'm sure you could give it to them if you wanted to. Overall, it's a great idea and a wonderful product.
Except for one thing.
Pedialyte comes in a few flavors, there's grape, strawberry, fruit punch, apple, and plain. There may be other flavors, but those are the ones I have come across. My gripe isn't with the flavors, or even the sugar content... I understand there must be flavor if you want children and toddlers to drink the salty stuff. By the way, the plain tastes nasty and I wouldn't give it to a dog I liked.
Anyway...
We all know darn well that flavor has nothing to do with color. The flavor crystals are colorless and generally they add color into the mix, probably to differentiate between the flavors or to make it esthetically pleasing so that the child in question wants to drink it and can easily identify the aforementioned flavor by the color of the liquid.
However...
Whereas this may be a necessary thing for children who are in their right mind and functioning at full capacity, it is absolutely unnecessary for children who are sick, nauseous, or are just plain under the weather. they don't notice what color the drink is that's being offered to them and indeed with toddlers, it generally comes in a brightly colored spill-proof sippy cup because we, as mothers, are smart and we don't want the brightly colored liquid all over the bed, sheets, pajamas, pillows, stuffed animals or carpeting... which is exactly where it ends up anyway because nobody has as yet invented the spill-proof vomiting child.
As every mother knows, the red, purple, orange, pink, green and blue colors used in children's beverages do not wash out. They could moonlight as Rit dye and you probably would never know the difference. They stain... permanently and the dye doesn't dilute when your child first drinks it and then throws it up.
So again, the point of my rant is this:
Dear Pedialyte,
Why do you manufacture a product that has been designed and marketed for sick, nauseous and vomiting children in such VIBRANT, staining colors? You've cost me two of my shirts, a set of crib sheets three stuffed animals and three sets of baby pajamas because those beautiful vibrant colors simply do not wash out when your child projectile vomits them all over the place.
I thank you for your product and for giving new meaning to the term technicolor yawn, but I think I will be going with something a little more economy friendly in the future, thanks.
Yours Truly,
Sonya Wolf

And that's my rant for today.