Off to the Fair once again!

Going with another family this year, it should be fun with a younger child along.

Pix of ribbons tomorrow!

Peace.

Just a little schadenfreude

I don't even want to say why, but someone got their comeuppance today.  And it was NOT me.

What a crock!

The L.A. County Fair has seen fit to change the date AND the time of the spinning contest to yesterday at noon. Rather than today at 6. I was never told anything. Others were called, but not told the time was different. I couldn't even have gone yesterday at noon and I've paid my fee and never received my ticket, my parking pass or anything.

I called them on Friday and left a message, because my friend had gotten a call, and STILL never heard from them.

I called them on Saturday, but of course, got the voicemail again.

I am ticked.

Did they decide Saturday was a better day for the people who spend every day there and spin in the contest (most of the entrants)? Did they decide this the day before? The contest information has been on the website since May. Sunday at 6. It's been Sunday at 6 (usually the final day of the Fair) every year since I started competing (2005).

Ho-the-[expletive deleted]-hum.

Guess I'm staying home today after all.

My Day Off

We had quite a week at work. All the new classes started and I'm in charge of registration so I had to make sure I knew who was in what and what they were missing for each day's schedule. And then be there to answer questions and collect all the missing stuff.

Meanwhile, I'm still coughing like a 3-pack-a-day smoker with no improvement (2 weeks). Then last night my tooth starts bothering me and if you know me at all you know I spent quite a few hours just hoping it would go away with no luck. I am a terrible dental-phobe.

Anyway, so this morning I started out in the Dr.'s office and ended up with cough medicine with codeine, antibiotics, scrips for blood work and mammogram and had had a Pap smear AND an EKG. Sheesh!

Spent the rest of the day scared of the dentist appointment at 4:30, which was fine although I have to go get a root canal done over, which scares the bejesus out of me, of course.

So my day off work, after my really, really busy week of shuffling papers and such, was pretty lousy all in all.

And now all I want is to start something new for me, me, me but I have to knit sweaters for the kids by Halloween.

Oh, and my son's class, after 4 weeks of school, was split up and his half went into a combo 2/3 class with a teacher who has never taught 3rd grade before. I only had a small fit about this, understand, which was mostly due to not being told properly or at an appropriate time and the principal not being available to listen to reactions AT ALL. He's going to be fine and so am I, but it was not a good week there, either.

Praying for a nice quiet week, next week, root canal notwithstanding. And the spinning contest is on Sunday! Wish me luck!

Thinking of pulling the kids out of school tomorrow

If they are NOT showing the President's speech.

Trying to find out!

Peace.

My letter to President Obama

Dear President Obama:

I have been so proud to have supported you. I have been a huge fan, a campaigner one-on-one, a wearer of hats and shirts and buttons.

I cried when you won, I cried when you took the oath. I cried when you spoke to us about "our moment."

When you said, "This is our moment, this is our time," I believed you. I believed that what you said during the campaign was true, that we were going to take our country and turn it back into what it was meant to be: by the People, for the People. Our civil liberties would be restored, our country's shame ended, our dignity rebuilt. Yes, we can, we said, because we must.

I believed you. I will never forget that.

As of today, I still believe you. And I want to believe that you are smarter than me, that you see all of the pieces and know how to do what you promised. That you will not abandon us now that the real "moment" has arrived. Because, of course, that wasn't really the moment. That was only the moment of possibility and it had to happen to get us anywhere. But the real moment is now, sir. The real moment, when you stand up and say to the people who don't care if children die of cancer next door as long as they have their money in their pockets, the people who are screaming about socialism and death and fear and fear and fear and racism, that we just don't need them any more. We have the votes, we have the procedures and we will get this done.

If you cannot do that, if you cannot stand up for me and my kids and my parents and my neighbors and your own mother, for God's sake, and tell them to go away, we don't need them, I will be done with you. I will wish you well, I will pray for you, but I will not be with you, sir. I cannot be with you if it all was a lie. I cannot.

And it will make me cry again, sir, because I really did believe you could do it. I really believed that soon I would not have to worry if my kids got sick or my best friend needed surgery or I got into an accident. Someday soon, I could stop worrying about that because we would join the other civilized nations in this world and act like civilized people and not allow the rich to profit off the suffering of their fellow men.

I want to cry with joy again, sir. I want to cry with pride that my leader, the man I voted for, a father of children the same age as mine who understood my life, stood up and did what he said he would do. But if you make me cry with disappointment and shame, sir, I will never forget that either.

My children, my mother and I visited Washington, DC this summer. We stood in front of your house, sir, as your neighbors and your friends and we were proud. Please make us proud again.

Washington, DC with the kids: Day 1

Day 1 was mostly a travel day, the drive being astoundingly videogame-free, as the kids were entertained by a book on CD the whole way. In fact, the Gameboys never came out of the bags while we were there, incredible!

We got to our hotel just in time to race out, grab a hotdog and walk to the White House Visitor Center. Keep in mind, it was 104 degrees and 500% humidity at 2:30 in the afternoon.

We made it before they closed at 4:00, though: Kids were hot and sweaty, but happy to be somewhere cool and cool, if you know what I mean!

Funniest thing about the White House Visitor Center: No Obama pix AT ALL. Okay, one little photo on an easel wishing the President a Happy Birthday. Nothing in the displays, nothing in the gift shop. You would never know W wasn't still in office. WTF?

We took some pictures inside: the chandeliers: The pretty ceiling: We sneered at all the pictures of W and Crazy Eyes.

We had already decided that the Visitor Center was all we could do on travel day, so we walked (slower) back to the hotel via the real White House: No one was home, they were all away in various places, although later we knew that the President was going to New Hampshire for a town hall and we though we saw Air Force One fly over, but are not really sure.

Kids were impressed but hot so we headed back to the hotel for a swim on the roof! I can seriously say Thank God for that pool. Sometimes the idea of that pool before dinner was the only thing keeping us going in the heat!

On another topic.

Healthcare Reform without a robust public option is a bailout to the insurance industry that has indeed been holding us all hostage, Mr. President. If you hand them a mandate, with the billions that come with it, and do not make sure that every single child, every single pregnant woman, every single cancer victim, every single accident victim are able to have treatment without losing their home or going bankrupt, I will be done with you.

I have been your biggest fan, sir. I have campaigned, I have blogged, I have cried and I have hoped. Remember you said, "This is our moment, this is our time." That still chokes me up. But if you do not stand up for healthcare for the children, the workers, the mothers and fathers of this nation, sir, I will know and millions of others who voted for you will know that it was all a sham.

We will know it.

And we will be done.

No parent should ever have to decide if their child is "sick enough" to go to the doctor. No one should ever have to die because they can't afford their treatment. No sick person should ever become homeless. No one should profit from the suffering of others. That is NOT what we voted for.

We will be done.

Please, sir, justify our faith in you. It's still there right now. Show us that you're not just one of those politicians after all, that you're not beholden to big donors, that the greedy and the selfish and the self-centered cannot make you fold.

I am waiting. Lead.

Peace.