Tis the season or just call me The Grinch

But I'm not particularly jolly. I've done about two thirds of theholiday shopping, but I have yet to write out a single card.

First, the happy. Here's my (if I ever actually get them done) Christmas card photo of MIkro at 20 months old:



Life seems horribly complicated at the moment, with changes being made to all possible forms of insurance, hub being hugely stressed out at the job (and at home)and his pressure relief valve of the moment being yelling at me, a battle royale with two doctors' office over their bookkeeping snafus, a sick cat, a badly behaved dog, a sometimes cranky boy who has gained eight teeth in the past two months and has discovered the word "no", a messy house I daren't decorate, and a partridge in a pear tree...

All in all, not a particularly happy or inspiring time here.

And opening a box of stuff I ordered online for gifts and finding it to be nothing like what was pictured on the web site from which I ordered (considerably cheaper and shabbier construction than depicted) just iced my grouchy cake.

My Two Cents

Just something I am pondering. I tend to follow my father's advice that the best way to avoid an argument is to keep your mouth shut about politics, religion and money. But being that everyone else has posted an opinion, here comes mine.

It seems that you can sum up an awful lot of the curent "political discourse" as follows:

If you don't agree with me, then...

According to the Far Right: You're a traitor / coward/ unpatriotic/ terrorist sympathizer/ going to hell for sure.

According to the Far Left: You're a war monger / bigot/ stupid/ duped/ a sheep.

How about, none of the above!

I believe that americans generally are people of good will. I believe that extremism, whichever end of the spectrum it falls on, is divisive, counterproductive, and horrifically uncivil and disrespectful. The extreme wings denigrate anyone who doesn't fall into their little clubs by labelling them dismissively. Geez, people, these are your neighbors. They may disagree with you. Why does that make them worthy of vilification? When we discount everyone who doesn't belong to our little club, we risk alienating the vast majority of more moderate thinkers. We wind up preaching to the choir of the like minded and patting ourselves on the backs for our moral or intellectual superiority, and what it gets us is a country fractured down the middle. And a recipe for stagnation and governmental gridlock.

Both parties need to reach out to the moderates in order to get anywhere, and I really hope that is what they do in the future. Comments about people being unfriended on LJ or de-blogrolled because of their political opinions really bother me. How can you ever hope to understand or change the mind of someone who disagrees with you if you cut the lines of communication? How can this hostility ever get us anywhere? Both sides are equally guilty of it. I just don't understand it.

Just because someone doesn’t agree with you doesn’t make them unpatriotic, morally depraved, cowardly, stupid, duped or evil - just different. And no less American.

Life would be so much more pleasant if people could just agree to disagree and respect those holding different ideas and beliefs. I’m hoping that the future holds far more civility, tolerance and peace for us all.

(Also posted on Live Journal.)

Happy Halloween!

Leaves are Falling...

Time seems to be flying. Mikro will be 18 months old in just a few days. It's already getting chilly, and the leaves are changing. Mikro loves the bright yellow ones.

We are not ready for winter here. The fence is still not up, and the ground will soon be too frozen to dig postholes. The electrician never came back to finish the garage portion of the job (which involves trenching), and now it will probably have to wait for spring, like so many other things we had hoped to have finished by now. The Great Flea War (which we seem to have won by literally emptying the house and bombing multiple times) stole a month of prime work time from us, and it looks like we are stuck at this point.

I'm thinking about digging around for Mikro's halloween costume, which I bought last November and packed away, and which got further misplaced in the emptying out of the house process...) If I find it, he will be a purple and green dragon.

I'm sleep deprived, and feeling stupid tired, so this will be an exceedingly short entry...

Updating Mikro's Baby Book

There is a new entry up in Mikro's Baby Book with lots of photos...