sad but true

When I voted for Obama I felt I was voting for the guy who voted against the war.
Now I realize I instead voted for the guy who promised to go into Afghanistan during his campaign.
Joan Walsh (who often drives me crazy) gets it right in this article.
She writes..."I'm deeply disappointed, saddened even, but I don't feel betrayed. Obama has governed like the centrist he told us and showed us he is..."
Yeah, but I really hoped, even up to right before the speech that he would say that he changed his mind and just couldn't do it. Yes, I knew he wasn't as liberal as the right says he is but I somehow thought he would never do this, being a nobel peace prize winner and all. Damn. My big mistake. His big mistake.
So sad and miserable, this decision.

Read the article.

;(

Thanksgiving in Idyllwild

It started like this...


And turned, overnight, to this....


We had a great dinner but missed nana!(This is "THE
Official Thanksgiving Dinner Photo")

We went to the meadow, played games, read a lot, made an indoor cabin hammock
went to see "New Moon" at the Rustic Theatre with Mac and ate a LOT of everything
but the best was the split pea soup.
And here are two videos for Baby Feee! Wish you were here!


And now we are SOOOOOOOO ready for Christmas.

Zombie Christmas

Cami knows how to start Christmas off right with a book called
"Zombies: A book of Zombie Christmas Carols".
Our very favorite...


"Deck the Halls with Parts of Wally,
Fa la la la la la la la la la
'Tis the season for brains by golly
Fa la la la la la la la la la la la

Chew we now our friends gray matter,
Fa la la la la la la la la la
Wear old clothes 'cause fresh brains splatter,
Fa la la la la la la la la la"

etc etc etc.

Emmett and I cracked up and up.

Thankful.

We are off to Idyllwild while we get our house tented for termites. What a humongous pain in the butt this has been. Nana is staying close to home with the cats and it should all be over by Sunday. The final straw happened when squiggly termite larvae fell on Silas and me while we napped. Yes, when I woke up there were hundreds of maggots on the bed. Nasty.
And if you think you hear chewing or licking sounds in your walls and wonder "do termites make sounds?", the answer is YES!!
Anyway, after all this we should have busy but smooth holiday sailing with the usual Plum Pottery Student Sale and the house full of 1/2 completed Christmas present projects. I love this time of year no matter how crazy it gets...and even when I say I don't love it, I really do!

We have come up with a thankful list over the past month that is surely incomplete but you should know that if you are reading this YOU are in there deeply!! That means YOU and your babies too!!
We are thankful for...
family, BOOKS, nature, converse hightops, maps, fudge mint cookies, barbeque sauce, music, christmas, mashed potatoes, SEEDLINGS, butterflies, snuggly jams, hotels that take pets, candles, the end to termites, zarina, RAIN, school, days off from school, day shifts, good HEALTH, 'weener dogs', color, long tree swings, the ocean, forest pansy redbuds (like the one above!), time spent together, ELEPHANTS....and all that is YES!







(May you all be happy
and healthy and have
love in your lives
and heart sight!)

Emmett Ripping on the Piano

And a brief peek at Silas' new haircut!

3rd Grade and 7th Grade

These pictures slay me.
And, yes....after much deliberation Emmett decided to wear
the same hat as last year.
(8 years old and 11 years old.)

Good-bye Tree and Grass...

Our smaller, not-altogether-healthy front yard tree came down yesterday and we pulled up more of the grass to make room for another garden space.
This was step one and we don't expect to proceed with step two for a while...but the guys we got to take down the tree were just so quick. In the plans are a path and more retaining bricks like the other side and hopefully some fruit, herbs and vegetables as well as more drought tolerant plants.
We will see how this works with conserving water. We may have to pour all of our shower water out the window to pay for it!

We were able to cut much of the tree into firewood, stumps for sitting and stepping stones.

And Silas will be happy. He loves the dirt piles. Guess what he like to do now?...

"I am King Silas!"

Challenge the lying "Deficit Weenies"

READ THIS ARTICLE NOW and spread the word each and every time you hear
that ridiculous argument about the deficit.

Why I Love Our School!

Last night we went to Emmett's 3rd grade classroom for the celebration of the kid's service projects. Each student had to somehow make the world a better place and there were so many great projects. Really wonderful. (Check out this video by Bidane !!!)
But then to top it all off they decided, with the inspirational direction of Merrill and Dmitry and help from Allison Bell, to make their "project completion party" into another service project.
For $10 each of us received a handmade pottery bowl made by the kids, classroom made vegetable soup and salad (lettuce, radishes and herbs picked that morning from the school garden) and fresh bread AND then delicious apple bars (made by Cindy, Dmitry's wife) with apples picked by the kids on the field trip they went on last week.
And all the proceeds go to Food Not Bombs.
Wow.
It was a delicious meal...and one the kids deserved more than any other as they grew it, nurtured it, and put thought and love into it.
There were over 100 people there!
It felt like thanksgiving to me.
It was just awesome.
These kids get the best here...they just do.

Time Out Kids New York!

Hurray, we made it to a top ten list for best family CD's of 2009.
Our awesome competition is Recess Monkey, Lunch Money and Billy Kelly-all really great!
So we are really proud.
Read about us here and, friends, if you like the CD too...don't forget to pass it along to other
families who you think would dig it!
Thanks everybody and Hurray!

The Goddess of the Hunt

Tally: 8 mice in 3 days!
Most definitely the Artemis we were looking for to
solve our rodent problem in a circle of life kind of way.
Zarina is bad ass.

pots, vegetable soup, kids, matt laughing really hard...

...things I love.

Remember this song from Sesame Street?

Mac loved it. Emmett loved it. And now Silas IS it!!!!

I just can't believe it.

I really thought Maine was going to lead the way by legalizing Gay Marriage.
Here's a quick article at Huffington Post called "The Power of Fear and the Obligation of Hope"
I know the pendulum is supposed to swing back and forth and all that
but it seems the arc is shorter than ever...so the opposition doesn't have to
work as hard to keep up this momentum of gloom and fear. 6 months for HOPE swings to negativity in 3 months. And this manifests itself in all sorts of ways. I believe this vote against gay marriage is one of those ways, unfortunately. If employment were on the upswing I bet this would have gone down differently.

One year ago when the world economy truly was a nightmare Obama was elected. And we heard over and over from both sides that it would be a long haul to merely slow our decline! I worried that no one would be taking pottery classes or music lessons or buying antiques or art going out to eat or to movies for sure. I actually thought it would go much further than that...I thought most people would be in soup lines. Really.
So now it feels like a recession. A bad one. But not a depression like we were all afraid of...
I know the economy is bad but it's no where near as bad as expected after only a year. I still do think that in 4-6 years there would be a full recovery as was the projected estimate but I thought that everyone was on board with this. I thought everyone knew this was going to take a lot of time and patience. Sure I figured in the FOX factor distorting this reality once Obama was in office but I really never expected such resistance to change after the overwhelming majority of the country voted for it! I never thought the support would dwindle so quickly.

Are we really already swinging back to fear and racism and self-preservation over long term good so soon?
I know the economy and gay marriage are two completely different issues and I am mixing my metaphors here. But I have this overwhelming feeling that nothing positive can happen without some YES action.
I all I hear is NO from the conservatives...and it's spreading. Sadly it seems nothing will change unless Obama plays dirty and alters his course in a way I do not approve of. He would have to go the way of all slimy politicians and do what Bush did to approve the tax cuts...sneak little bits of legislation in other bills.
He could perhaps hide some healthcare tidbit in a bill about Christmas Singing in Schools so the Republicans would have to vote for it. Or maybe slip in something about assault weapons in a bill about teaching 6 year olds to shoot.
Because everything is shot down at this point if it's perceived to be liberal. In this case, it's gay marriage.
Crap.

Someone to Help

Check out the website weloveyouberyl.com

Two videos: One Crazy, One Kooky

Volleyball

Mac's SDCCS volleyball team (yet to be named) won 2 out of 3 games at their
first tournament. It was sooooooo fun to watch her play even for ME who really
dislikes completitive anything and tends to feel really sad for the losing teams.
But in this case everyone from every team was so enthusiastic and supportive,
high fiving all over the place...I loved it and didn't wince once!
Mac has a killer serve, by the way!

Halloweenish

So this year like every year we have multiple Halloween events which gives us all the opportunity wear our costumes until we are sick of them...even Silas who has been Buzz everyday since his birthday decided to be Flash to trick-or-treat. Mac who is always at least two things over the course of the Halloween festivities was a bee and a mime.

Sooooo, here we are... before the preschool party, at the SDCCS halloween carnival and trick-or-treating with the gang.(In no particular order;)

I just had to post some of the shots of the costumes from school. Once again, the teachers give it their all!
I can't tell what I love more...the "care bear" or the "gorilla" or "Pigs in A Blanket" or "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" or the "sweetest little owlet" or "Andy Warhol" or "the humongous winged girl ". But Mac's mime is ridiculously good and Emmett's dead crazy rocker dude is truly creepy (and rockin') and Buzz/Flash, well, just look at him!

Who knew ?

Well, I suppose a lot of people knew...but it's
NEW to me and hurray its de-lish!!
Go out right now and buy Quorn Roast (Fake) Turkey.
Bake it the way they say, in an oven bag with
olive oil and herbs brushed over it. Then eat it.
Too crazy delicious. I can't believe it really.
(Meg, this must be the brand they have at Sips...)

doing the natural candy thing this year for halloween

I suppose it's about time!
found this great website that has some good options for packages of free-trade, no sweatshop, vegan chocolate, natural lollypops and glee gum (love that stuff!)
Check it out. The Natural Candy Store. I ordered regular mail today and hopefully it will be here on time...probably shoulda done the 3 day option....