Moon

Will cuddled next to me on the pew. At church, he looks at his books and then when bored, he’ll try to sit on my lap, touch my face and lovingly utter a non sequitur, such as “moon,” or “Joe.” I know people watch him because they make comments. Todays' was, “He’s really gotten big.” He is big. But I hope the day never comes that he’s too big to sit in my lap and tilt my head to touch his and whisper, “moon” in my ear.

One more step

On Thursday, I watched I am Legend instead of McCain’s speech and I think it was a good decision for my mental health. Then on Friday, I watched about six episodes of Jon Steward’s Daily Show which helped me feel better about the election.

I’ve decided that Jon Steward is my celebrity crush!

Bringing me back from the Abyss

My dad called me to mention that my blog seemed angry and hostile lately. I said it was because I cared so deeply about our country. He suggested that perhaps I could try screaming in my bathroom as an alternative to blogging about it. I told him I’d think about it.

He said that my political rants seemed at odds with the rest of my blog. I agreed. But I’ve always had strong opinions and the editing feature doesn’t always work in my brain. I feel so strongly about some things that it’s hard for me to understand why everyone doesn’t agree.

When I asked my husband why politics doesn’t drive him as crazy as it does me, he said, “I find out enough to make my voting decisions then I let it go.”

Oh . . . that’s seems healthier doesn’t it? I think it’s because he has a calmer personality than me. I agreed to tone down my rhetoric. Then my dad said that I could always get a dog.

I will blog about the winner of the election and about my conversion to the Dark Side but I'll try to leave it at that.

It is always in season for old men to learn. Aeschylus

Almost Paradise

My husband just asked me, "If you were stranded on a desert island who would you want with you?" I said him. Thinking that his Boy Scout training would come in handy.

He said most Americans would rather be stranded with a pet. Then I asked him who he would want to be stranded with. He replied, “You.”

Surprised, I asked him, “Wouldn’t you want someone who would contribute to your survival?”

He thought for a couple of minutes, and then said, “No, I’d choose you but I’d expect to hear a lot of complaining.”

In a hypothetical competition for most exciting Vice Presidential Nominee . . . the clear winner is John McCain.

I’ve decided that selecting Sarah Palin is either a brilliant or disastrous political move! It has energized the conservative evangelicals who have never been enthusiastic about McCain’s candidacy to actually canvas for him. She’s an attractive Pat Robertson. It was interesting that she seemed to get more enthusiastic cheers than did McCain from the delegates last night.

McCain excited Republican women who I’m sure never thought a woman would be on the Republican ticket in their lifetime. And I think women across America owe him something for dragging the Republican Party across that line. (Although, I doubt a woman will be on the Republican presidential ticket again for 20 or 30 years, I’d be delighted to be proven wrong!) If McCain hoped to pull in Hillary voters I think he’ll be disappointed. But that may not have been his motivation at all.

Regardless of Palin’s lack of qualifications, and however much I’d have preferred McCain to pick one of the many qualified Republican woman, I think it was an important step for the Republican Party to take.

The Republican's attempt to deny Palin's lack of experience and qualifications is amazing. I’m watching in awe and with a significant amount of horror as the Republican machine repeats over and over again the big lie that Palin has more experience than Obama.

The choice of Palin has driven an incredible amount of media attention away from the Democrats. It’s fair to say that since McCain announced that Sarah Palin as his pick I and many other engaged Americans have spent a significant amount of time thinking and reading about her. He could have done worse, she has energized the conservative evangelicals in his party and we’ll see what happens in November.

Catch and Release

I think I’ve mentioned the active animal life in our new neighborhood. I’m concerned there’s a Killer Squirrel close by because something chewed a huge hole in my plastic garbage can lid. I only moved a couple of miles away from my old house and nothing ever tried to eat my garbage can when I lived there. Sure one Halloween it was tagged with a smiley face but to my knowledge the plastic was never actually consumed.

I’m starting to miss the skunks, and the huge albino possum that at one point may have lived under my front porch for a couple of weeks in my old neighborhood. Now I have to contend with foxes, wild turkeys, killer squirrels, deer, snakes and small frogs in my backyard. Actually, I’m fine with all of that because I can hide in the safety and sanctity of my house.

Saturday, I went in the kitchen and heard a rustling behind the stove. It was unmistakably an animal. As ghostly fingers started running up and down my spine, I stifled a scream and went to find the only person who could help -- my husband. He was in the middle of a project. Poor Brianne was given the old office as her bedroom. The only problem with that was that it has six glass panels in the door. That doesn’t give a twelve year old a lot of privacy. So, my husband was replacing her door.

We went upstairs with different emotions. I was freaking out. My husband was annoyed because this messed up his schedule and Brianne was excited at the idea of an animal in the house. As my husband tried to figure out how to take off the stove hood I taped sheets over the doorways and stuffed suitcases in at the bottom. I wanted the animal to have only one way to exit the kitchen; because if I had a wild animal loose in my house my brain could actually explode and I might have to move.

As my husband started the process of dismantling the hood and decorative shelf, I huddled behind the sheet for safety, peering out at Bri who was holding the bag and flashlight. J. took out screws and banged on things with a hammer then . . . silence. We thought it flew out. I was so relieved. J. put stuff back together and went back downstairs. We stationed Lizzy on the ladder watching the roof and everyone returned to what they were doing.

I started making dinner as we needed fortification after that stressful experience when . . . rustle, rustle, rustle. “It’s not gone!” I scream in my head. This time my husband brought up something to pry apart the cabinets because he was determined to remove the animal from our premises; I retaped the sheet over a doorway and stationed my six year-old at another with a rug to wave. I cowered behind her. I peered in the kitchen and I saw a little bat nose poking out from the vent duct. I retreated again behind Lizzy and very maturely did a freak out dance. J. and Bri captured the bat, took it outside and let it go. It circled a couple of times before flying away, hopefully never to return to my oven vent!

Then I walked into the bathroom only to find a spider.

I learned a couple of lessons from this experience. 1. Apparently maternal love only goes so far with me. If I am scared I will throw my children to the curb. 2. It is good to have children that are not scared of animals. If this ever happens again Bri will know what to do and that could come in handy if my husband is away. 3. I can simultaneously realize a bat's nose is cute while being close to death. 4. I am without doubt a complete and utter wus.

Just us and our two boys out for the day

My friend Marcy and I took Will and Pete to the Boston Aquarium Friday. Everyone else was in school but the boys don’t start until Tuesday. The ride in was uneventful except for Marcy rolling Will’s fingers up in the window but he has plenty so I wasn’t worried about him losing a couple.

It was nice for the boys to be able to explore on their own terms instead of being dragged from exhibit to exhibit. It did mean that we split up because Will loved watching the penguins and spent a half hour watching them. We also enjoyed sitting on a bench looking at a bronze snake.

Will touched a ray, a starfish and a sea urchin because he’s braver than me. I only touched the ray and it creeped me out. It’s interesting to see what he wants to look at because it’s impossible to predict what will catch his interest. He didn’t care about the fish; well, it’s an aquarium – who goes there to see fish? He liked the penguins, seals and the two snakes.

More than three days later he still occasionally walks up to me and says, “Two snakes.”