Good Things about the Ox

No-frills, determined, ox-like me. I was born in the year of the Ox and always felt slightly insulted that such an unlovely, ponderous beast of burden was my Chineese astrological animal.

My other astrological sign, Saggitarius, I liked better. It was sexier; it made a better tattoo.
However, now I see the value and the importance of being an ox.
The ox is not sexy, but the ox gets the job done. The ox will work at a steady pace, each day, making that day something solid in which to plant seeds and later to harvest. The ox drops into bed each night knowing that the day was not wasted, but that it was part of a larger scheme, a master plan for survival and growth.
It's not glamorous being an ox, but it's very practical.
Practical becomes a commodity in itself, the practical animal can guide all those other silly animals with their tricks and their vanity over a mountain, across some treacherous waters and safely to the other side.

Economic Crisis

I am loving this economic crisis.
Gas is down, groceries are down. I don't have a 401 K or any investments, so I have nothing to lose.
I can only benefit from a global recession.
Thank you crazy-ass bankers and stupid-ass home owners.

Plumbing and Bagpipes

A steady drip from beneath the kitchen sink turned into a steaming geyser expoloding into the kitchen proper.

The water spread so fast within minutes I heard it dripping into the basement.

Thankfully this geyser was caused by my land-lady attempting to fix the original leak.

Now the kitchen floor is so warped my kids were playing "King of the Mountain" on the huge lumps rising beneath the carpet.
I am so not kidding.

There is a hole in the living room wall; Samson pointed out that it's shaped like an "L."

No water in the kitchen and only cold water in the bathroom. I just washed some cups and silverware in water I heated on the stove.

I was snapping at my kids tonight. It wasn't their fault, but I was snapping at them anyway.

A bagpipe band and fiddling family were giving a free concert tonight by the library.
After a day like this, no way we were going to some bagpipe music.

My kids loved the bagpipes and especially loved the fiddling family. They were both dancing and we were all laughing.

Who can be maintain a bad mood watching pipers in their kilts and sporrans playing traditional tunes and the wee ones a laughing and dancing?

Not I.
Well, not for long anyway.

National Politics

This Sarah Palin pregnant daughter story is just too much to ignore.
I am not a McCain voter, never would have been but he certainly got my attention with his pick for VP.
However, today I think she was not a good choice.
A woman with a special needs infant and a pregnant teenage daughter has some personal problems to attend to. She really has not business leaving her family; they need her worse than John McCain does.
Did her daughter get pregnant as a cry of attention? Who is taking care of the baby? First Dude?
As a woman with children, I learned that many of my own ambitions and desires were put on the back burner for the needs of my kids.
I can't respect a woman who puts her political career above her home.
There are other women in the Republican Party, women whose children are grown.
Why didn't McCain pick one of them?

Kindergarten

Samson's first day of Kindergarten.

I felt very guilty because I couldn't personally drop him off then pick him up from his first day of school, but he didn't care.

It's a hot, hazy day. There must be a fire somewhere because the whole valley is smokey.

The only indication that fall is coming are a few brownish edges on some leaves, and not that many leaves are affected.

Samson saw many of his friends at school, friends from church and the neighborhood. He was delighted to see kids he already knew and right now he is playing down in his room with two friends and Nathan.

I have this swelling feeling of pride. My boys are doing so well. They are just as happy and as healthy as two little boys should be.

Taking care of them is hard, hard work, but really it's worth it because we love each other so so much.

Hey! The Olympics Start Today.

I met Sophie at Terra Linda Park last year, just a few blocks from my home in Portland.
Sophie, a small Asian woman in her late 30's, made eye contact with me and immediately approached me with the look of someone with something very important to say.

In broken English, she explained that she was a practitioner of Falun Gong. Because of this, she had been imprisoned, beaten, and tested for organ harvesting in China.

Despite my shock and initial refusal to believe that such things could really happen, I knew she was telling the truth.

Sophie had to go into hiding when she was pregnant with her third child. She gave birth in a mountain village, far away from any hospitals or modern medicine.

When her husband and children emigrated to the United States, they were forced to divorce and she was left behind. She knew her life was in danger; she was going to be killed.
Somehow she escaped.

Now,Sophie gets up every morning at 3am; she calls people in China, talking to them about things they already know.

Several weeks after our initial meeting, I happened upon Sophie and some of her friends practicing Falun Gong at the park while I was walking home after dropping my son off at school.
They were some of the nicest people I'd ever met.
They kindly invited me to practice Falun Gong with them, and I did.
The practice of Falun Gong was basically some stretching and breathing exercises. Sophie and company gave me a book to read and invited me to Sophie's house to learn more about the philosophical side of Falun Gong.

I wasn't too interested in learning more about Falun Gong's deeper spiritual aspects. I have already chosen a spiritual path and really don't need any distractions.
However, I was very impressed by the reality of Sophie.
She is a real person whom I met and touched and spoke with.
The human rights violations I hear about whenever China is mentioned became real to me, through her.
http://www.falundafa.org/

Still Republican Friendly

Yesterday I took my kids down the street to watch the Ogden Pioneer Days Parade.

I haven't been to a parade for years due to extreme hassle of attending one in the Portland area.

The parade started with alot of military representation. Hill AFB sits just to the south of Ogden and is a huge employer and influence on the whole area.

Also making their presence known, as if it weren't already, was our Lord and Savior's church here on earth. A procession of at least 50 missionaries, elders and sisters, walked down the parade route, clutching their scriptures singing "Onward Ever Onward." The crowd went wild and I got all choked up, encouraging my kids to cheer them on.

The state rep for our congressional district showed up, as did the news team from Channel 5, along with few other local minor celebrities I didn't recognize.

Sitting behind me were a few women decked out in all their Utah-esque glory. Teased and bleached hair, nails, carefully coordinated outfit, you know the type.

One of them was particularly loud, she was shouting out in her best Utah twang, "We're proud of you guys," or curiously, "Thanks for coming to Ogden," revealing Ogden's status as 2nd or even 3rd choice when it comes to Pioneer Day Parades.


Then what did we see coming down the street? A huge Barak Obama in a cowboy hat float.

I encouraged my kids to go wild over that. It was the Weber County Democrats- yes, they exist.

I raised my arms and shouted, "YAY DEMOCRATS!"

One of the Democrats walked over to me and we did the fist bump thing in an awkward, white, way.


The loud woman behind me was strangely quiet, no "We're proud of you guys," no "Thanks for coming to Ogden."

I kept cheering on the Weber County Democrats and I felt alot like myself.