Hoping beyond hope

We watched the convention in its entirety last week, and I sat in wonder at the sheer historical implications of what was happening. Hillary Clinton making her speech on the 88th anniversary of women's suffrage, Barack Obama accepting the Democratic party nomination for president on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. It was an amazing week.

And now I hope beyond hope.

So much to do...so little time

Bryan drove me up to my classroom this afternoon. I'm still green and my muscles are noodle-like, but I had to go, I couldn't imagine being away another moment, as school starts on Tuesday and I have yet to get my classroom ready.

So we went, and I saw, and I had a mild heart attack. There is so much to do, and well frankly, a very small window of time to do it in.

I am thankful for a wonderful team of teachers who surrounded me and offered their help this weekend, they gave me ideas and all the crucial information I missed this week whilst I was getting re-hydrated.

Then my boss saw that I was there and after thanking me for stopping by, he promptly kicked me out of the building with strict instructions to go back to bed. I guess I was looking pretty green.


So tomorrow at 10am, my co-teachers and I are meeting, with Bryan, (who has tomorrow off,) and we are putting the room together. We are also putting together a plan for what I will do on Tuesday. I will most likely be sitting there holding my head in my hands, but I will be there, and we will get it done.

I can't stand the cuteness

My niece Oceanna is three months old.

Go ahead, try to resist the cheeks.

A new level of stupid

I just got home from the urgent care. Again.

When I arrived, my blood pressure was 84/42. Nice. I was so dehydrated after spending yet another day having my body reject everything I tried to ingest.

They gave me another 2 liters of fluids, another two doses of anti-nausea meds and an injection of pain meds for the stabbing abdominal pain, which they felt was caused by the bad viral infection in my colon.

After being there for several hours, still nauseous, but no longer puking, they sent me home to rest, hoping things would soon clear up, while we wait for further test results.

Of course, the pain meds? Yeah, first side effect is constipation. Second one is abdominal pain. Third? Nausea.

So now I'm home, doubled over, nauseous, and I have the added bonus that because of the first side effect of the pain med., combined with my sickness, I'm having a really nice time.

Oh, and just in case you were curious, I'm NOT pregnant. They checked.

This is getting ridiculous

I tried eating today...a plain egg. Then an hour later, some rice pretzels. Big mistake.

We're back to square one.

I need to go to work, I laying here in bed, nebulizer sticking out of my mouth, bucket next to me, waiting until I have to hobble back in to the bathroom for round two. (More like round 50, actually)

All I can think about, when I'm not rushing to the bathroom, is how I need to be getting my classroom together, how I need to be planning for next week with my co-teacher. This is absolutely the last thing I need to be doing right now, and it is causing even more stress for me to be laying here sick in bed.

If you are keeping track, in the last eight weeks, I have broken my foot, been sick with pneumonia, and am now sick with a secondary infection allegedly caused by the antibiotics treating the pneumonia.

You could say I'm just a bit frustrated.

The health gods are angry with me

I just got back from spending yet another glorious morning in the local Urgent Care facility. Today I had the pleasure of being hooked to IVs for a few hours as I can't hold anything down (or in for that matter) and have been unable to do so since last evening around 9:00pm.

The good doctor took me off the steroids and the antibiotic I was on for the pneumonia, determining that I have a high white blood cell count and a bad viral infection in my gastrointestinal system. Apparently the antibiotic I was on is well-known for making people have this problem, and the steroids weaken your immune system limiting your ability to fight off said infection.

Good times.

I am now going to have to miss the first day (at least) of a three-day staff meeting/orientation at my new school, (always a nice way to start off the year, and a great impression to make on others.)

Bryan leaves to fly to LA for the week in less than an hour, so I will be a single parent once again, baby in one arm, bucket in the other. Since he stayed and worked from home last week, he can't afford to stay this week. In case you're counting, this is the third week in a row that they have demanded he fly to LA. Third unscheduled week. Yeah. And what do they do there? Why they call all their clients up here. Don't get me started, it's just so absolutely ridiculous.

Lucky for me, I have daycare during the day, which I am paying for so that I can go to work. Apparently this week, I'm paying for it so I can be sick and not puke on my kid for at least a few hours of the day. Thank goodness for kind-hearted neighbors who have offered to be her ride to and from so I don't have to try to drive her this afternoon and tomorrow while I'm still retching in the bathroom.

Steroids and Barbarians

I had to go back to Urgent Care yesterday after being unable to catch a full breath. So now on top of the antibiotics, I'm also on a mega dose of steroids and have a nebulizer I have to use four times a day...Bryan calls it "smoking the peace pipe." I think it looks like something a little more illicit than a "peace" pipe.

I'm propped up in bed, per the physician's orders, (plastic pipe in my mouth) and am shaking, pretty much all the time. That's fun.

I'm currently on hour three of a day-long History Channel marathon on the Barbarians, you know, the Huns, the Goths, etc. You could say I'm brushing up on the curriculum for the upcoming school year.

They just discussed a torture technique involving somehow pulling the lungs of a prisoner outside his ribs...nice. I think this is a good time to switch over to "Tori and Dean"...to counter-act all the "learning."

Never a dull moment

No sleep was found in the Scott house last night; Evie was sick. Around 3:30 in the morning, I heard her cry and Bryan (who has been sleeping in the guest room to avoid my coughing) frantic. Evie had puked all over herself, all over the bed, all over her wolfie, her blankie, everywhere.

I hobbled into the bathroom, where he had her perched on the edge bathroom sink, the fuzzy feet of her jammies dangling in the basin. Poor thing was covered in the nasty, crying. I sat on the toilet lid and held her over the sink, rubbing her back, while Bryan ripped the bed apart. Luckily, we had another mattress pad and sheet at the ready below the first, so we didn't have to re-make the bed (thank you Holly W. for your genius!)

We stripped her down, cleaned her up, held her until she acted sleepy again, and determined the crisis was over, she was laying with her head on Bryan's shoulder, nearly asleep. He put her back in her bed and we both made our way to our's.

We had no sooner made it to the doorway when we heard her going again; round two. We rushed back in to find the same mess. Evie was crying, looking at us for an help. We cleaned her up again, cleaned up the bed again, and then took her to bed with us, with a pile of towels and a bucket.

For the remainder of the evening, we stayed on our sides on the mattress, she in the middle on a towel; every time she'd get sick, we'd simply roll her to her side and try to aim her for the bucket. I can't tell how much fun it is to try to help a baby throw up, who doesn't understand and tries to fight the whole time. That's great fun.

It was a grand evening.

This morning, I still had to go to my new teacher orientation at 8am, and of course, I'm still coughing and generally feel like caca from the pneumonia.

I only went to half of the orientation, once they released us to go back to our classrooms to meet with our mentors, I ducked out (with permission) for the rest of the day. I'm now home, trying to rest before our little sickling wakes up from her nap.

Blue Eyes

My niece is already two months old, I cannot believe it.
She is certainly taking after her brother; both such good looking kids!

A question about school supplies

There has been much talk in the news about the recession and how retailers are worried that they will suffer this year in the back to school shopping season.

On ABC news.com, the top story is "back to school on a budget" where parents are lamenting not being able to buy fancy pencils, having to instead resort to plain #2 pencils, for example.

So my question is this, why do we need new school supplies every year? You see, I grew up "poor" by most standards; on the other side of the tracks, quite literally. Mom had to stretch every penny, and thus we didn't have a lot of extras. My lunches for example, never had pudding "snack packs" or prepackaged food items with a logo. Usually, I had a sandwich and a piece of fruit, maybe some generic crackers (in a sandwich bag,) and if I was lucky, some homemade cookies. I never had a juice box or a soda, it was always the $.25 cent milk for me. I didn't have brown paper bags either, I used the same washable cloth lunch bag every day for years until it got too funky, and a new one was required.

When it came time for school supplies, my mom would take an inventory of the stuff we already had and compare it to the school lists. My siblings and I would bring all our school supplies to the kitchen table and mom would lay every thing out. Then, using our list, she would go through what we already had, and check the things we needed. We RARELY bought new items, because we still had things that worked perfectly well from the year previous. Things like scissors (I think I still have my scissors I used in school,) glue, markers etc. Crayons last forever, so we rarely got a new box, and if we did, it was never the box of 64, it was the $.25 cent box of 24 crayons in the clearance bin.

As for pencils, we usually needed new ones, but we always just got plain old #2 pencils, I never dreamed of ones with a cartoon character or an animal on them. Mom just bought a big bulk box and divided them up between the three of us.

I had the same purple canvas Jansport backpack all the way through elementary school, when finally it tore and I got a new, navy blue Jansport. We all had one, a different color for each kid, and we each used the same backpack every year until it finally tore or the zipper broke and we would have to get a new one.

I'm not saying we were better or worse off, but when parents are lamenting not being able to buy their little darlings a new backpack every year, and new sparkly pencils, especially in a time when we as a people are wasting so much and are trying to save so much money, it seems to me a bit ridiculous.


As a teacher and a parent myself, I feel the allure of the new, cute and fun items. But then I remember the size of my house (and the little amount of room I have for even more junk,) the size of my bank account and the need to be wise, not wasteful.

Can we not teach our children to be more wise with our goods and money? If you have perfectly good scissors and a perfectly good backpack, you don't need a new one, just because the school year is new.
If the kids REALLY want a fancy new backpack, maybe they have to earn some money and buy it themselves, or perhaps that's what they get for their birthday or Christmas?

I don't know, maybe it's just me, but that seems like one very simple way to cut down on wasteful spending and the over consumption in this country.

The drama continues

Last night, controversy cohttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifntinued at the Beijing Olympics when China's He Kexin received the same score as Nastia Liukin for her routine on the parallel bars, even though by all accounts, Nastia's routine was superior. The drama only continued when suddenly Kexin was placed 1st over Liukin and ultimately given the gold medal, even though both competitors received the same scores. Apparently, due to some convoluted tie-breaking algorithm (making no sense to even the competitors) Kexin was on top.

This comes after the controversy over whether Kexin should even be competing due to her age, and of course, the vault with Alicia Sacramone of Saturday night, when Sacramone was given huge deductions for a tiny hop, while the Chinese competitor was given only a fraction of a deduction for landing on her knees, ultimately placing her in third place, and pushing Sacramone out of medal contention.
While some contend that it was just the way the tie-breaker worked that placed Kexin on top, Kexin acted as if she knew she was going to win all along, before the ranking, and the scores has been posted.

Once again, things are just a little bit smelly.

The war wages on

Yesterday I discovered I have pneumonia, or P-newmoan-ya, as I like to call it, just to annoy the spouse.

Yesterday was the first day of the third week of my fighting a "mild cold;" however over the weekend things had taken a turn. Suddenly I was hacking and wheezing and my chest felt like it was full of stuff.

So I went to the Urgent Care, they took an X-ray, and yes, the place where my chest hurts, where I said I thought there may be a pocket of fluid? It's full of stuff. So they put me on antibiotics and told me to use my asthma inhalers three times a day and stay in bed as much as humanly possible.
And so I came home and got in bed. I'm lounging as we speak.

But yesterday was a picnic compared to today. There is a war raging today, and I am just an innocent bystander as the medications and the infection battle it out to the death.

This is my fourth time having pneumonia, I had it once when I was 12, once in college, once a month before Bryan and I were married and now, the week I have to go to orientation meetings for my first year teaching in my own classroom.
There is nothing quite like the feeling of having one whole side of your chest full of goop; all you want to do is stick in a straw to help the air flow.

I continue to convalesce and hope that the meds will start to win soon, and I will be able to have enough OTC meds to get me through the meetings tomorrow and Thursday, before coming home and crawling back in bed.

Pneumonia

I have it. Awesome.

I've been fighting what I thought was a cold for three weeks, turns out I have pneumonia.

Of course I report to school at 8am on wednesday for new teacher orientation meetings etc.

So, I'm on mega-antibiotics, inhalers etc. and I'm in bed until then. I'll go to my meetings and then come home and get back in bed.

The silver lining to all of this? Bryan's trip to LA is canceled. Evie will be in daycare during the day, and then he'll play Mr. Mom at night while I sleep.

Never a dull moment here at the Scott infirmary.

Dirty pool

I'm sorry, I don't care how the judging works, and how the point deduction system has been arranged, but if you FALL, you don't deserve to win a medal.

Last night, the women's vault finals ended without American Alicia Sacramone on the Olympic medals stand. Not because Alicia failed to do well, oh no, she did very well, and except for a tiny hop on her landings, she, according to the commentators and people who "know" gymnastics, nailed her vaults.

This apparently was not good enough however.

Cheng of China did get on the medal stand however, with a Bronze medal. Her first vault was impressive. Her second? Not so hot, and then on the landing, she fell.

Now I'm no gymnast, and I've never been a sports commentator. But from my limited understanding of the vault, I believe the objective is to run, propel oneself into the air with a flourish and then LAND.

Cheng's second vault was very jilted, and well, there's also the part where SHE FELL. Somehow however this was of no consequence to those judging, and she somehow still deserved to place ahead of Sacramone.

This comes only after the Chinese won the all around gold medal last week, using gymnasts who were by all accounts, underage, until the Olympics started when suddenly passports were miraculously provided, aging them enough to allow them to qualify.

I smell something a little rotten, and am reminded of the winter Olympics at Salt Lake City, you know, when the Russian and the French judges had a little score swap-a-roodle?

Luckily in Salt Lake, the IOC investigated the situation and put things to right, giving Canadian skaters Pelletier and Sale the gold they had earned, the gold they earned by staying on their feet, unlike the Russians who had been awarded a gold, even after falling.

Sound familiar?

Excerpts from a regular evening

*I'm sitting on the couch, wrapped up in a quilt, a pile of kleenex surrounds me as I fight off the sickness that is sweeping the state. My nose is full, my chest is heavy, my head could float away at any moment. My walking boot (for the broken ankle) is laying next to me, my foot is propped up on a pillow.

Bryan is on daddy duty tonight; I'm sick and as he's leaving for week-two of being out of town Tuesday, I've clocked out and am letting him be a single parent for the evening.

*I'm watching the Olympics on the Jumbotron (a monstrosity my husband purchased before we were married and that I usually make fun of;)
I must admit while this thing is obscene and huge, during events such as this, it is really nice see it life-size. It's almost like I'm there.

*E. is running around, bringing me little people. I currently have in my lap a giraffe, a zebra, and two school children. At my feet are the school bus and the mini van that Mamaw bought her during the visit.

*On his way outside with the recycling, Bryan slipped his foot inside his crocs, only to have to stop when he discovered a ball stuffed inside the toe.

*E. just grabbed my walking boot, dropped it on the floor and said "uh oh!" Then looked up at me with an impish grin. This was followed by dropping each little people toy, one at a time, with "uh oh." I think we've mastered the "uh-oh" concept.

*Watching the women's rowing finals, I think the person in front of the boat, (the caller, I think she is called?...correction: she is called a coxswain, thanks Scout's honor) I wonder how she got her job, barking out orders at everyone else while they do all the work.

*I'm coughing quite a bit, what with all the sickness. But somehow, I have an echo. Every time I cough, E. also coughs, a little tiny fake cough. She's currently sitting on the floor playing with her little people (the one's she dropped on the floor earlier,) and every time I cough, she, without looking up, makes a little "eck, eck, eck" sound. When finished with her cough, she looks up at me with a grin.

*Bryan just told E. that it is bedtime, she looked at him and shook her head "no" vigorously, and then ran the opposite direction. He removed the gate from the bottom of the stairs and she stood there with her thumb in her mouth, still shaking her head "no," but no longer running away. Protest she may, but it is obvious she is tired.

Chevy + Michael Phelps = A commerical women can enjoy

Sorry honey, but someone over at Chevy is paying attention, you should pass this on to the big wigs at Chrysler.

Right before the boys of the men's relay team swam their final race tonight (and won another Gold, yay) Chevy rolled out a commercial for their new Traverse.

In their ad, they claim the cross-over vehicle will have "everything we ever wished for, and then some..." Instead of showing us the car however, they show us a well-chiseled shirtless man surrounded by neatly folded laundry. He is ironing while talking on the phone, making dinner reservations for his 6-month anniversary. He then moves on to scrub the toilet.

Apparently, Chevy realized that millions of women, (I being one of them) would be tuning in tonight to watch some swimming, and thought an ad showing a good looking man doing housework would appeal to us. Because we'd be watching the swimming, or at least we'd be watching the boys doing the swimming, and perhaps some would be looking at the suits hanging on precariously...

(Oh my, that is very low.)

Ahem,...back to the commercial...the one with the half-dressed man doing some ironing. The commercial was advertising some half-SUV/ half-min-van thing they now call a cross-over. I won't be buying one, it's a Chevy, and buying a Chevy would be after all, against my marital vows. But the commercial was certainly hilarious and it's nice to see that someone in the auto industry finally understands that women are a VERY powerful demographic that has until now, been long overlooked in the advertising market.

Hunted

As some of you know, we are active in politics. However, as active as we are, I am not a fan of trying to "convert" people. I enjoy a good debate, but I respect a person's right to believe what they do, even if I disagree. I have never gone door to door, proselytizing, nor do I believe I ever will.

Somehow, we have become the target of a particular local political candidate; a candidate we will NOT be supporting. Yet everyday, another piece of propaganda arrives in our mailbox, another leaflet is left in our door or on our porch.

We are feeling very hunted.

Although our intentions have been made clear, they persist. They are like telemarketers with cars.

Bryan wants to get a giant banner to hang from the porch on which a printed statement or symbol declares our political affiliation, followed by the words "other parties need not apply."

What really is most annoying is that we have a "no soliciting" sign right on our house for all the world to see, and yet leaflets are left stuck in our door. Apparently such a definition does not apply to them.

Just a little road rage

The neighbor girls got to witness some mild road rage yesterday. The reason? Our road is under construction. It is closed down, blockaded, shut off. You cannot drive on the main road to our house. Our street? It's a dead end, so there is only one way in and out, and that my friends, is the closed road. The county in all their infinite wisdom, have provided us with a detour, so instead of going left from my little road and driving two miles (which takes about five minutes) to the traffic circle to get to the freeway, or Target, the grocery store, or civilization, I have to go right, drive up another street for ten minutes, then turn right again, drive for another 5-10 minutes, then turn right again, where I will go through two more traffic circles only to come back to the original one that I usually go through to get to my house.
The problem is you see, the detour road, the road to get out of my house, the road that requires an extra 20 minutes to get to what is only two miles from my house, it was down to one lane for construction as well yesterday. So not only did I have to drive 20 minutes out of my way to go those two miles, I then enjoyed sitting an extra ten minutes on top of that whilst the construction flagger allowed the cars in and out.
And thus, I seethed. I fumed, and I said things like "FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD AND HOLY, MOVE!"
The reason I was seething? It was 3:45pm, which is exactly when school will be letting out in about two weeks. Traffic was backed up for miles yesterday. There are two schools on the street I will now be forced to drive on, I have no choice. I have a job now, which requires that I drive over the bridge every day, I am going to have to negotiate this construction mess every single day.

At 3:45pm in the middle of August, it took me over 30 minutes to get to my house when I was less than a mile from it. It wasn't rush hour, school was not in session. This was afternoon SUMMER traffic.
I cannot even imagine how it will be once we add the high schoolers and the parents of the elementary school students to the mix.
This construction project is slated to go through October, but we all know how delays happen....if only I had a helicopter.

Observations

1.) Single parents have the hardest job in the world.

2.) 6:00pm is an evil hour for mothers; as if the actual labor and the misshapen bodies are not enough, we have to contend with Mr. Hyde every night while we try to prepare dinner. Offering snacks, treats and/or videos will not pacify the situation. Holding said child will not pacify the situation. A nap will not pacify the situation. There is no pacifier for the situation, except maybe a stiff drink.

3.) Having dogs who are hyper-protective is annoying when your family is together. When you are alone at night however, because your husband is away, having dogs who are hyper-protective is a relief.

4.) You don't know fear until you have bathed a child who has not yet had their afternoon poo.

A bitter pill to swallow

It's a shame that the US women's team was plagued with falls and mis-steps this evening during the gymnastics finals. It's a shame that Alicia Sacramone had such a hard night.

I can't imagine giving up your childhood, training every day to endure such pressure on the world stage only to come up short...by mere tenths of a point.

It must be a much more bitter pill to swallow when your competitors beat you by questionable methods.

Pictures from Mamaw's visit

John Edwards: Why do we care?

Carrie, of Stop Screaming, I'm Driving! wrote this weekend about the revelation re: John Edwards' extra marital misdeeds. She poses the question, "Can a leader be excellent as a leader and horrible at his or her personal life?"

Well, history has shown us that yes they can. FDR died in his mistress' arms, a mistress with whom he maintained a relationship for years, all the while holding the United States and the Allied forces together through WWII. And there is of course, Thomas Jefferson and quite frankly the majority of the past presidents, (sad but true.)

In the same way, being a morally excellent person does not make you any more qualified to be a great president, look at John Adams and Jimmy Carter, both devout, faithful men, both unable to manage the political juggernaut of the American presidency.

As for John Edwards, I was sad to hear of his affair, especially for his family. However, I am curious why I need to know about it, and why all the hoopla now- he is no longer a senator, no longer a candidate for anything. He is simply a private citizen. While it certainly makes for salacious gossip, and we Americans love hearing when our celebrities and politicians stumble, it really means nothing to anyone but his family, it has no bearing on anything now. We can talk about "what could have happened..." but that is a waste of time ans serves nobody's interests except perhaps the media moguls hoping to make a little extra coin.

Ted Stevens of Alaska however IS a senator, and while he didn't have an affair (as far as we know) he has been indicted on seven counts for financial mis-allocation, specifically using campaign money to remodel his house and lying about it. Nobody is talking about this. There is no public outcry, no demand for his resignation

So apparently it's OK for a sitting senator to use public money and remodel his house with it, nobody has a problem with that. We don't mind if people lie about how they use money, we don't mind if they lie, cheat and steal, financially or politically, you know, things that actually have something to do with governance; we're good with that. Just don't lie, cheat or steal with your pants down; that will get you tied to a stake with a fire built at your feet.

Revelations, not surprising

Friday night, China opened up the Olympics with a ceremony so large, so breathtaking, so perfect, that the world stood amazed. We personally did not watch, in our own silent protest. We have however, seen clips and photos on the news and in the papers in the days since.

Most everyone who saw the show have reported they stood (or sat on their sofas) in awe, simply amazed at the sheer precision of the thousands of "volunteers" working in unison. Many have continued to discuss their astonishment at the 2,008 drummers, the breathtaking fireworks and finally, the angelic little girl who sang "ode to the motherland." Her voice, pure. Her face, cherubic.

And then today, revelations that not only were the fireworks faked, (oh yes, they were,) but the little angel who sang was in fact, not singing at all. She was miming, pulling a Milli Vanilli, if you will. Why? Because the real singer, she wasn't "flawless" enough.

Oh she was cute, just not cute "enough." Because whatever child sang had to give just the right impression of the great country. The country who does not allow free expression, does not allow religious freedom, the country who has been jailing anyone in their country who has spoken ill of the government while there.

The same country who is right now, jailing, torturing and sometimes killing Muslims (the Uighurs) in Western China, on the claim that they are terrorists with links to al Qaeda, although little evidence has been found to support China's claims and most human rights groups have long accused China of persecuting the Uighurs because of their ethnicity.

They may put on a spectacular show, they may have a nice water cube and bird's nest, but let us not forget what China is, a place where nobody questions authority, where every act is made to honor the great leader on punishment of exile or even death if one dares step out of line.

Sacre Bleu!

Dear French Men's Olympic swimming team....

You were saying?


Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

Why we need more women in politics

If you have seen the news over the past five days, then you should be aware of the growing violence in Georgia, a country south of Russia, which was part of the former Soviet Union.

What is happening is this:
Georgia is an independent country, as is Russia.
Within Georgia is a province called South Ossetia. In 1992, South Ossetia declared independence and have been basically taking care of themselves since that time, however no other country recognizes them. Moscow does however support the separatist movement for independence in South Ossetia and has even granted passports to their citizens for years.

Why? Because the people in South Ossetia are ethnically Russian, kindred with Northern Ossetians who live on the other side of the border in Russia.

So what's the problem now? Well...big problems began with the election of the new Georgian president, who vowed to bring the separatists back into the fold. In response to his election, South Ossetians passed a referendum demanding their independence. The Georgian president is also a friend of President Bush and vowed Georgian troops to Iraq. He however did not have any troops. So we sent some of our own to train theirs, as well as M16s and fighter jets. Georgia, in return for arms and training, sent their newly trained troops, wearing US surplus uniforms, to Iraq to help the American cause.

Then in April, NATO said that Georgia would be allowed into the alliance.

Moscow was enraged by the NATO deal, who hates NATO and is against Eastward expansion in general.

So in response, Russia sent in troops and fighter jets to South Ossetia to "support the separatists and cool hot heads." Violence has thus continued to escalate until now it seems war is inevitable.

Georgian troops were sent into South Ossetia last week (for reasons inexplicable to me) but have since pulled back and the Georgian government has declared a cease fire in an attempt to stop the pervasive Russian bombing.

Russia has continued to bomb Georgia and refuses to acknowledge the cease fire, under the guise that they are stopping a Georgian-led genocide. Although Moscow contends Georgians have been slaughtering Ossetians in droves, their accounts are not consistent with those of the UN or the World Health Org.

And here's something VERY crucial, Georgia has within it's border a pipeline, an oil pipeline to be precise, one that runs to mid-east Asia and the only one that is not under Russian control.

So what does this mean? It could mean very little, or it could mean we are all headed for trouble.

If Russia continues to bomb and escalate the violence, NATO allied forces have said they will have to intervene. Saturday night, Vice President Cheney said the Russian aggression "must not go unanswered."

Georgia is America's ally. If America would come to Georgia's aid, most likely Russia would then call in old Cold War friends. Also likely, Iran and possibly North Korea could join Russia, a reality nobody wants to see.

And what is the point, really? A bunch of saber rattling, bombing and more bombing. Answering violence with more violence.

Are there no women in the room telling these men to unclench and sit down for a minute? It's obvious the chests are being thumped a bit too much and little thought is being made.

I'm not saying that men don't think, please do not misinterpret. What I am saying is that sometimes a different perspective is necessary. "This aggression must not go unanswered...?!?" What? How will that solve ANYTHING?!?! Sure it will solve the immediate problem, but what is the long-term effect?

Sometimes there is another answer available and sometimes everyone needs to sit down and shut up.

Let us all take a moment and study Thomas Aquinas and just war theory again, shall we?

It's obvious this is a power grab, it's obvious this is about ego. It's frightening that the ego and want of power of a few men can alter the course of history. It is shocking that we continue time and time again to repeat the same patterns regardless of the information and warnings we have at the ready.

A Conversation, observed

E: "Dada!"
Bryan: "Yeah, punkin?"
E: "Dee da, gerrba blahboo dah!!!!"
Bryan: "Really?"
E: "Yeah!"
Bryan: "Oh"

E: "Dada?"
Bryan: "Yes, punkin?"
E: "Ggrrrr, EEEyaaa draaddda grrrbbllaabaa deeedaaa yaayaa bah!"
Bryan: "Is that so?"
E: Nodding with emphasis, "Yeah!"

E: "bahbo bahbo bahbo bahbo bah!"
Bryan: "What else?"
E: (giggling) "Hi!"
Bryan: "Hi"
E: "Errrbedee brabedeee eeya ya ya ohhhhhhh"
B: "Oh."

Land of the Free?

The Olympics have been a bit of a strange topic in the Scott house this year. Usually in love with the games, we have both felt a bit torn about supporting them due to their location. On one side of the issue, we feel we should support the athletes as they have nothing to do with the politics. On the other side, there's the politics: who wants to give support to the Chinese overlords? We certainly do not.

And so we decided to abstain from watching the opening ceremonies, usually a favorite for us. We would watch the athletics, but fewer than usual.

And so tonight, we tuned in to watch Michael Phelps not only win his first gold medal of the games, but also break a world record. It was exciting, it was heartwarming, it was Olympic magic.

That is until we watched the medal ceremony. He stepped up, they announced the National anthem. The piped in music began to play, incorrectly. Not only was the anthem WRONG, (playing the instrumental version of "and the twilight's last gleaming," three times in a row without moving on) the song finally progressed and when the apex of the song was about to be reached, the part where the lyrics read "and the land of the free!" The part when everyone screams and whistles and shouts for joy, well the song stopped. Silence. No More. They just cut it off, right at "and the land of the..." Nada.

They didn't start it up again, they didn't hit rewind. That was it. Medal ceremony over. Get off the stage, Americans.

I'd like to point out that President Bush was there, in the stands, waving a flag. As was the former President Bush. Now as most of you know, I am not a big fan of our current sitting president. However, he is the president and must be treated with a certain amount of respect. I find it pretty audacious to disrespect the president and our country on such a grand scale. I find it not at all coincidental that not only was our National anthem played incorrectly when the PRESIDENT was there, but that they cut if off at the line "land of the free." Some may think it was a mere accident, but I think not, and here's why.

Just yesterday, President Bush gave his regular Saturday morning radio address regarding human rights in China. His speech included a strong admonition on Chinese freedom. His words were not well received by the Chinese government (which is true for all dissenting opinion, which is the point of his address.) And thus, they were greatly offended by him.

Tit for tat, they botch our National anthem, they cut it off at the line that refers to our nation as the "land of the free." They do this at the opening medal ceremony where an American wins, the one most everyone will watch because it's Michael Phelps, America's hero; the ceremony President Bush is attending. It's embarrassing, it's offensive. It gets the point across.

I am certain our national anthem will be played correctly for the remainder of the games, however. No more "mistakes" will most likely be made. This wasn't a technical difficulty, this was a political statement, and it was very, very clear.

Ahh the Olympics, so nice that we can join together as nations, united in one common goal.

Trouble

Yes Sir, I said Trouble.

Right here in River City.

We have Trouble and that rhymes with Double, and by double, we mean ear. Ear infections, that is.

We have a poor little tot and she has a bad infection. Both ears are full of the gross contamination.

She has a nose dripping goo and a raspy little chest. When it comes to getting sick, she aims to be the best.

She's on amoxicillin for the 5th time this season, the same darn infection has been every time the reason.

So if I look a bit fatigued and my eyes a little wild, you know to blame my genetically cursed child.

In case you missed it...

Steven Curtis and Mary Beth Chapman were on Good Morning America Wednesday to discuss the tragic loss of their little daughter who died in May after their teenage son accidentally hit her with his car.

While facing horrible tragedy, their family remains steadfast, united in love and hope. They are a remarkable family.

Click here to watch the clip, however prepare yourself, it's very sad.

It's been a while....

So enjoy this picture...

Here's what we've been up to:

My ankle, which we thought was only sprained (after all the jumping with joy), is in fact fractured. I have been walking around in a boot with no crutches or cane, driving to and from Wenatchee and generally going on as if nothing is the matter, other than the large, cumbersome boot and the shooting, stabbing pain that would shoot up my foot. I assumed said shooting would eventually subside, since I am after all, not unaccustomed to pain.

Turns out, I have a hairline fracture of the medial malleolus and all the walking in the boot, without the crutches or cane has been causing more damage. Silly me.

Of course, I can't use crutches, what with the bad arm, so now I have a cane. A super duper, snazzy green (you know, for the environment) cane with a spongy rubber handle. It's really sexy, too.

In other news, Mamaw has been visiting all week. For those of you playing the home game, Mamaw is Bryan's grandmother, his father's mother, she lives in Florida. Meemaw is my grandmother, my father's mother, she lives in Arkansas.
Mamaw, pronounced maaa-mawww, is widowed.
Meemaw, pronounced meee-mawww, is also widowed, but recently married her former brother in-law at the local court house without telling anyone until it was done and is (I am told) as giddy as a school girl.

Both are charming, lovely Southern ladies, I can see why you are confused.

Pictures to be posted of the visit soon. She will depart tomorrow morning and then Bryan departs for LA on Sunday. I cannot tell you how happy I am about that development.

I have meetings next week for school, not to mention physical therapy and doctor's appointments. Evie will get to try out day care a little earlier than planned. It's a good thing we were already paying.

okkaaay.....

In case you didn't know, Evie likes the phone, nay, LOVES the phone. Her favorite activity is to walk around the house with her "cell" phone on her shoulder, and "talk." If we are on the phone, she cries reaching for it. We don't give the phone to her, and thus nine times out of ten, my phone conversation is interrupted by me apologizing to the party on the other side, while whisking the screaming tot to her pack n' play or her room while she screams and flails in protest at my obviously evil parenting methods by denying her access to the telephone.

Today, her "cell" phone went missing. When I say her cell phone, I mean an actual cell phone that once belonged to my mother. We had it sitting in a drawer for an unknown reason, and when Evie started taking interest in EVERY. SINGLE. THING. we were using, I pulled that old phone from the drawer, removed the SIM card and battery and gave it to her. She has been absolutely thrilled ever since.

But, as I said, her phone went missing today. I suspect it is in the couch or in the toy box. But I have yet to go digging.

Apparently, she had some calls to make, and no time to wait for me to look around. She reached for the real cordless phone on the table, we told her no. She reached for the TV remote, we told her no.

And thus, she compromised. She pulled the ribbon barrette from her hair and setting it to her ear, began a conversation. She is now pacing through the house in a circle, around the stairs, talking. I'm not sure who the conversation is with, but it is VERY serious, and at times, very heated. There has even been some pointing and gesturing.

The hair barrette phone has never left her ear.

Whatever works, I suppose.