Here comes December

We drove all 13 hours yesterday, from Georgia to Michigan, under an overcast sky. Perfect driving weather, really. No squinting in the sun, no snow, no major rain, just 800 miles of grey skies.

And now we’re decorating the house for Christmas. I must say I’ve never decorated for Christmas with snow falling outside. It does make it very Currier and Ives.

The kids are in charge of the Christmas tree. Rebecca’s putting on all the homemade ornaments, and Amy’s getting out all the dollhouses Grandma’s given her over the years. One entire side is cars. Guess who’s doing that?

I love this time of year.

Turkey Day Humor

I wasn't a huge Friends fan but who doesn't love Monica with a turkey on her head?

Happy Thanksgiving Week!

Many moons ago we watched as people packed up their minivans, loaded the kids and drove over the meadow and through the woods to celebrate Thanksgiving with family. Sean and I would look at each other with knowing glances, thanking the good Lord we weren’t one of those poor folk who had to travel to see family and friends for holidays. We even felt sorry for my sister who lived four hours away; her family had such a long drive to get home for the turkey. We hardly knew how they handled it.

Fast forward a few years and lookie here: we’re the ones loading up our CUV, packing the kids in like sardines, hitting the road to be with loved ones for Thanksgiving. We made the annual trek last Saturday; it wasn’t as horrible as it could have been but holy cow, 12 hours in the car is a dadgum long time. When you factor in the 14 year old boy who acts out entire movie scenes from memory (if I hear, “Hello, I am King Julian!” from Madagascar II one more time I’ll tear my hair out), the 12-going-on-18 year old girl who’s very concerned her hair is messed up (the man in the Shelbyville, TN Shell station does not care that if the ponytails are even) and the 8 year old girl who manages to lose her coat and shoes between stops, making her last to the bathroom when she should be the first, well, it’s just a long, long ride.

But we made it once again with no accidents or tickets or marriage-ending arguments, and for those things we are grateful.

We’ve already seen four grandparents, two nephews, a niece, an aunt and uncle and several friends. Tomorrow brings a visit with more friends and the arrival of a great aunt, great uncle and my sister’s family. The rest of the week is crazy-busy, but a good kind of crazy-busy.

As I type I’m yawning and Sean’s just turned out the light. I suppose he is right to try and sleep now; my parents’ house will be packed tomorrow and I know we’ll want to stay up all night visiting. The thought of that makes the 12 hours in the car worthwhile.

I guess so

So GM's returning two of their leased jets... a good move but a week too late.

I found this tidbit interesting:

....the company has not decided on what mode of transportation Wagoner would take if had to travel to Washington again.

Wagoner and Ford CEO Alan Mulally are required by their companies to fly by private aircraft for security reasons, according to company documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Hmm... these guys are in the auto industry. I guess they could take, oh, I don't know, a car? If driving is good enough for John Madden I think it should be good enough for the car guys.

Unique Family Planning

We attended a forum on adoption last night at church. Stefan organized the event and ran it like a pro. She’s so young to be so poised in front of so many folks. She invited three adoption representatives to discuss their particular organizations and I was excited to hear from each.

The first speaker (another young lady quite self-confident for the tender age of 23) spoke about refugee foster care. There are 16 refugee foster care centers in the United States and Lansing has one of them – who knew? Most of these kids, usually in their teens, come after losing their parents and have no adult guardian. Foster families are needed to help these kids learn the language and adapt to a brand new culture. One example the rep gave was, “You have to teach them to vacuum. You have to teach them what a vacuum is.”

The next representative was from Bethany Christian Services, an organization that helps with domestic and international adoptions. As I listened to her talk I couldn’t help but think of my precious nephews and niece, all three of whom came to our family via overseas adoption.

Finally a gentleman spoke on fostering hard to place children, those children who are older, above the age of 14, or with handicaps. This was the guy I wanted to hear. For some time now I’ve felt like Sean and I should consider opening our home to older kids without a stable home. The thought of a child turning 18, aging out of the system and having nowhere to go for Thanksgiving puts me over the edge. Who’s going to teach him to drive or balance a checkbook or help him apply for college? The thought of older kids being bounced from foster home to foster home… I can’t stand it.

Before anyone calls and asks if I’ve lost my mind, let me be clear: we aren’t thinking about doing this next week or even next year. I don’t want to change our birth order, plus I’m not naïve enough to think being a foster mom will be a tiptoe through the tulips. It will be a struggle and I want to make sure I have the time to devote to it.

Even though this venture is a few years off I was interested to hear what this man had to say and I was specifically interested in knowing if foster families can homeschool their foster kids. Someone asked the question before I even could (our church is very sympathetic towards homeschoolers) and the man said, “Well, most people want to put these kids in school so they have adequate social interaction.”

A momentary but palpable hush fell over the assembled and I had to bite my lip to keep from saying anything. There were at least six home school families in attendance; I think we all did a remarkable job not taking that man to the woodshed and teaching him a thing or two. We could have demonstrated good socialization and bad socialization...

All in all it was a sad but hopeful evening. About 70 people from our congregation came out on a cold, snowy night to find out how we can look after orphans, either as foster parents, adoptive parents or supporters of those who chose to do either. The need is great. But we, who once were orphans, know what it is to be adopted by our Heavenly Father. How can we not provide for the orphans living among us? I think tonight was a good start in that direction.

Fire His Ass

I was willing to cut Rick Wagoner, GM’s CEO, some slack. He has an unbelievably difficult job and I’m not one to pile on. That charity ended yesterday when he flew to Washington D.C. yesterday in GM’s private jet instead of flying commercial.

His little commute to D.C. in GM’s Gulfstream IV cost $20,000. He could have flown on Northwest for under $1,000.

Apparently Rick Wagoner thinks nothing of using a private jet to fly his sorry self to Washington D.C. to beg for money. Apparently Rick Wagoner is a moron. Doesn’t he have a board member or VP or administrative assistant who would kindly question that move? At the very least his wife should have said something! And if he’s surrounding himself with such lily-livered advisers then he needs to be gone. Like yesterday. Maybe like a year ago.

Don’t get me wrong: I am all for big pay for big work. But leading by example goes a long way and if Wagoner wants anyone to think he’s serious about saving a company that directly and indirectly employs a gazillion people he needs to park his jet and open a Delta Frequent Flier account.

What does "itemized" mean to you?

Two months ago I had to take Amy to the Sparrow ER because I thought her finger was broken. I should remind myself that when I think something’s broken it’s not and when I don’t it is, but nothing I can do about that now.

Anyway, last week I received several bills for the visit. Seems everyone involved was quite proud of their participation and would like me to send them great big checks as a thank you. I’m all for paying for services rendered but in this case I have no idea what I’m paying for.

I received a bill for the doctor (which I needed a lot of help with because it was billed, “For Sadhishkuar” and I had no idea what a Sadhishkuar was until the nice lady explained that was the name of the doctor who saw Amy), a bill for the radiologist and a bill from the ER. The doc and radiologist I get but the ER bill is puzzling to say the least. It simply said pay $957. But for what? I didn’t know if they were billing me for the doctor too, or for the radiologist for that matter. There was absolutely no explanation whatsoever.

Calling for some clarification proved helpful. The lady on the phone said she’d be glad to send out an itemized bill so I could understand just what exactly I was being billed for.

I got that bill today. If they were going for clarification they missed by, oh, about a freaking mile.

From what I can tell I’m being charged for three x-rays for $266. Okay, I get that. What I don’t get is just what, exactly “Emergency Room” means or why they want $691 for it.

I am all for paying what is due. But I would really like to know just what, exactly, “Emergency Room” means. Is it the nurses or ice pack or clean sheets or use of the room for three hours or the cable on the TV? And does the billing department really consider “Emergency Room” as fully itemized as it can get?

I’m looking forward to talking to the nice lady at Sparrow again.

New neighbors are overrated

Amy made a big batch of chocolate chip cookies, I piled them up on a fun snowman plate, called the kids and we shuffled through the snow yesterday to meet our new neighbors. We rang the doorbell with high hopes we’d be meeting new friends.

Within 10 seconds I was ready to snatch the cookies from the lady’s hands and go home.

Our new neighbor, while lovely, I’m sure, is from this area. Not just from the area, born and raised right here in our little town. They moved from a subdivision one mile away and they’re only renting for six months while they build a house in the subdivision they moved from.

Why would the news that she's from our town set me off? Because people who have ties rarely need new friends. They have family and established friendships and their dance cards are already full.

I should have figured – who the heck moves to Michigan? It’s not like there’s a booming economy pumping gobs of money into the area. (I still get quizzical looks when people find out I moved here from Georgia.) And in the three years I’ve lived here I’ve met only one – count ‘em, one – family who moved here without an already established support system. I thank God I met them as soon after our move as I did; I don’t think I would have made it through that first year without Molly and Jeff.

I chatted with the neighbor a few minutes then let her get back to the cable guy who was helping install her high-speed internet connection. As we walked home I felt tears burn my eyes. I tried to hold them back but it was just too much.

A trip to Target helped get me ready to face cooking dinner, but when Sean asked if I’d met the new neighbors tears once again stung my eyes.

“This is ridiculous!” I sputtered. Even so, I knew exactly why I was crying: I was hoping someone else was in my boat – another expatriate in a foreign land who might need a slightly more seasoned tour guide.

Don’t get me wrong; I have met wonderful people from my home school community and church who have completely disproven my "dance card full" theory. But none of them lives in my neighborhood and thinking that a new friend might be mere steps away…

Leave it to Michael to look on the bright side: “Well, Mom, we don’t have any fewer friends back there than we used to!”

Who's there?

I saw two surprises when I looked out my kitchen window this morning. First, the snow. I know; snow should not surprise me any more. But after last Monday’s snow melted I thought maybe we wouldn’t see any again until December… but here it is again.

And the second surprise was seeing a portion of a swing set in the backyard of the house behind us. No one has lived there for almost two years and it’s been a tad depressing to never see any lights on or any semblance of life back there. But this morning a portion of a big ol’ swing set is sitting in the backyard, with lots of footprints in the snow around it.

This, obviously, means there are children back there. (Well, I guess the owners could be grandparents but in all likelihood the new occupants have kids.) My kids immediately began guessing the ages of the new neighbor-kids. Amy was disappointed because she figured the young ‘uns must be really little to warrant the swing set, but then she realized the little ones could have older siblings. Michael and Amy both thought potential babysitting dollars could be waiting just beyond the pines. Rebecca’s hoping an eight year-old girl lives back there.

I’m hoping it’s a home schooling family of three (boy, girl, girl) with a mom who’s passionate about algebra and physical science but needs help with grammar and writing.

All speculation will be put to rest this afternoon when we take cookies over in an attempt to welcome them to the ‘hood. An update will follow.

No good night kiss tonight...

Oh my. Sean is not happy with me. Michael is not happy with me. I am not entirely happy with me.

We had the, “Should the government give loans to the car industry?” talk a few minutes ago. “If GM doesn’t get the money it will go bankrupt. Who’s going to buy cars from a bankrupt company?” said Sean. “And they have to keep making the Corvette!” said Michael. “Nowhere in the Constitution does it say the job of government is to float loans to car companies,” said I.

A brouhaha ensued. I will not recount the gory details here, but suffice it to say my boys are not speaking to me.

No one wants to see GM, Ford or Chrysler go out of business, least of all someone whose husband works for one of them. It would be devastating for the country’s economy and the personal economy of nearly everyone I know. Millions of people would be out of a job and the ripple effect would be felt far beyond Detroit. And there is a humongous part of me that wants to see Congress give the loans to the Big Three because I don't want to see the once-mighty GM file for Chapter 11.

But when I unemotionally (and believe me, that’s a trick) look at the issue there is no way I could support the loans. I don’t think Congress should have given the loans to Chrysler in the 80’s, I don’t think they should have passed the $700 billion bailout last month for Wall Street, and I don’t think they ought to do it for my husband’s beloved industry. What in the world is Congress doing messing around in private businesses? Like they’ve ever solved anything or done anything with great efficiency…

If the loans go through one way I’ll soothe myself is knowing that Congress is partly to blame for GM’s demise. Their complete lack of gumption to do anything about Japan’s manipulation of the yen, the passage of onerous laws (CAFE standards, anyone?) and a refusal to address the corporate tax rate have done little to help the domestic auto industry.

The bottom line, though, is the government has defined roles and giving money to companies on the brink of bankruptcy isn’t one of them. I know that view won’t win me many friends at GM, but it might make America a better country for my children.


___________________________________


Michael Barone's wrote an interesting piece about this yesterday.

Seriously?

I was feeling ambivalent about Obama’s win last week. I wasn't crazy about McCain but I also wasn't invested in much of the Obama-bashing that was going around the web. And immediately after his win he zeroed in on the auto industry which was quite unlike the current White House occupant who waited seven years to meet with the Big Three execs and did so only after some serious arm-twisting. But then I saw this picture, taken last week at the first meeting of Obama's 17-member economic advisory panel:

See the woman sitting next to Biden? That's Jennifer Granholm, governor of Michigan. Why in the wide, wide world would he select Jennifer Granholm to be an economic advisor? The two-term governor of Michigan has been at the helm as her state slid to a single-state recession with the worst unemployment rate in the country. And that’s who Obama picks for his economic advisor? Are you kidding me?

If this is the caliber of advisors he’s going to surround himself with, then we are in big trouble. Beyond big trouble. Titanic-sized trouble.

So much for hope.

Enjoy Freedom Much?

Don’t forget to thank a veteran today. And if you don’t know one, you can thank my father. He was in the Air Force and flew in Vietnam, 1968-69.



Thanks, Dad.

Here we go again

Last week I was wearing capri's. Today I'm wearing long underwear. Welcome to winter in Michigan.
Indian summer was in full force last week. Beautiful sunny days with temperatures in the upper 60’s and lower 70’s conned me into believing that maybe, just maybe, this will be the winter where snow doesn’t come. I know, dumb beyond words. But the weather was so lovely last week! No heavy coat needed, no slushy parking lots, no shoveling of the drive… it was wonderful. And it was November! Forgive me for hoping.

On the up side, I won the family contest of When Snow Will Come. Amy and Rebecca guessed late October, Sean and Michael were in late November but I guessed November 7, a mere two days early. Woo hoo! (Hey, when you’re the Mom who, by definition, is always wrong, you’ll take little victories anywhere you can.)

Bad News from Motor City

Thanks for all the calls and emails asking if Sean still has a job. As far as I know he does. Of course, he hasn’t called in a few hours so I’m not certain...

The news out of Detroit is bleak. The Big Three automakers are bleeding cash and are again slashing jobs. Lansing alone will lose 700 hourly jobs at the start of 2009 and is looking to cut even more salaried folks above the 20% reduction already announced.

Yes, those cuts sound dire for the auto industry, and, to be sure, they are. But to put it in big-picture perspective: one auto industry job supports 10 other jobs. And we’re not talking just the McDonald’s worker or gas station attendant but local doctors and insurance agents and dentists. This is bad, bad news for Lansing.

There’s plenty of blame to throw at all participants. As I’ve written before, the company blew it big time in the 70’s, building crap, then wondering why Americans didn’t want to buy from them in the 80’s. I also blame the execs for not handling the UAW more strongly. Sean will tell me the company has to give them what they want because they’ll walk out and cause the company to lose millions, if not billions, of dollars. That is the ultimate example of cutting off your nose to spite your face and who would be stupid enough to do that? Oh, that’s right - mechanics at Eastern Airlines (remember them?). The mechanics put the company out of business. And I do believe, after watching a strike at Sean’s plant, that the UAW would be stupid enough to do that to GM.

(Side note: If you’re a UAW member working at Sean’s plant, please don’t get mad at him. He’s not the one writing this. And, hey, while you’re at it, could you please get your head out of your butt and realize your union is helping kill the company that provides your job? Thanks a bunch.)

What’s the solution? I don’t know (newsflash, I’m sure) but as long as the UAW is involved I don’t see a good way out. Really, how does a company expect to get ahead when its work force is more adversary than ally? The union workers think they work for the Union. Here’s another newsflash – all those union workers at Sean’s plant won’t be working if GM ceases to exist. Beating a dead horse one more time: if you’re in the UAW at a GM plant you work for GM, not the UAW!

Okay, that horse is off to the glue factory.

I’ve wondered if Sean would be better off getting a job elsewhere, perhaps as a teacher. And when we discuss the option he toys with the idea for a few moments, then comes back to the same conclusion: He loves GM. He loves building cars. He loves producing something in America. He wants to be a part of the GM recovery plan.

He’ll get nothing but support from me. Support, some budget-tightening and blog posts, of course.

Ad Sense, or Not

In an attempt to earn a little bit of money from my blog I signed up for Google’s Ad Sense program. They automatically generate the ads that pop up on the side of my blog. I do not control the content, although Google claims the ads that appear relate to my blog’s topics.

Then how the heck did this one show up yesterday?

Grants that Democrats never have to repay? What a riot! If ever there were a perfect example of the difference between the Republican and Democratic ideology, this is it.

Now if we can just get the Republicans back to believing there is no free lunch, not for farmers, not for bankers or, more importantly, not for themselves.

And, by the way, when I say I'm trying to earn a little bit from my blog, I mean a teeny, tiny, itsy bitsy little bit. In the seven months I've had Google's Ad Sense on my blog I've earned a grand total of $2.16. TOTAL. This blog is obviously a labor of love...

One more note: I removed the Google Ad Sense from my blog today because, in addition to the Democrat ad, they placed an ad for bras on this morning. That isn't a big problem for me except that they had pictures with the ad, showing great big boobies nearly bursting from the advertised bras. Man, I love alliteration... Anyway, the ad block will return when I can figure out how to moderate it more fully. And when it does, feel free to click on it. I could use another penny or two.

The greatest nation still is

What an amazing country. We select new leaders in a peaceful, orderly fashion. No guns, no militias striving to keep their party in power, no forceful coercion. No – millions of Americans go to the polls, vote via secret ballot, the results are collected, tabulated and announced by over-anxious talking heads – and the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue moves out to make room for the next guy.

This is a great country.

Life in a Blue State

Surely make you lose your mind…

When I lived in Georgia I took for granted my red-state roots. My friends and family (minus my mother-in-law, bless her heart) all held similar values and voted Republican. This homogeneous mix led me to believe everyone held my values and voted the same way I did. Moving to Michigan corrected that thinking.

Over the last few weeks I have put my foot in my mouth several times. I mean, I’m careful to not talk politics with people I don’t know well; my mistake was talking politics with fellow homeschoolers, people I assumed held the same values I do. I was oh so wrong. So wrong that I have perfected the art of back-peddling. Here’s a snippet of one of my conversations:

ME: I am amazed at all the Obama signs in my neighborhood? Don’t they know what he’ll do to health care? And their paychecks? And haven’t they heard about his stand on abortion?

Fellow homeschooler (FH): I’m actually leaning towards Obama.

ME: Yes, exactly – no, wait, what? What did you say?

FH: I really like Obama’s stand on health care.

ME: Oh, absolutely, um well, I totally don’t agree with you but we both love Jesus so let’s focus on that, okay?

This happened with not one but four homeschool friends; when the last conversation occurred I was at a local Baptist church picking up Rebecca from Bible club – I thought all Baptists voted Republican. But then I remind myself I’m not in the land of the Red State anymore.

So the election is today. I am glad it’s going to be over. Well, the running part anyway. If McCain wins (which, I concede, will be a miracle but not entirely out of the question) then the struggle will be getting Republicans back to being Republicans and not simply moderately-less-spendy than the Dems. If Obama wins, well, hold on to your pocketbooks because he’s coming for them. And be prepared for activist judges on the Supreme Court, which is really my main concern.

Anyway, this election is certainly the most contentious I’ve experienced, and I am not exaggerating when I say I will do the happy dance when it’s over no matter who wins because I am sick to death of the robocalls (six yesterday) and nasty political ads that are more lies than anything of substance. Of course, I’ll be doing my jig in black of Obama wins, red if McCain pulls off a surprise victory.

When do you think a third party will emerge with a viable candidate? I wish it had been the Constitution or Libertarian parties this year. I think that’s the real change we need.

Eggs on counter top = bad

Hey guys out there! I have a little head’s up for you:

If, one morning on the way out the door to work, you discover a dozen eggs sitting on the counter that your wife forgot to put away the night before, please don’t put them in the fridge. I realize you will have to fight the urge to solve an apparent problem, but in order to be truly helpful you will need to think about the entire situation. Again, I realize this may be difficult if you are walking out the door at 5 in the morning, but still, you must think further than, “Eggs belong in the refrigerator.” You must think, “Eggs belong in the fridge. These are warm and have obviously been sitting out all night. I should throw them away.”

However, if you do put them in the fridge, it would behoove you to tell your wife that before she bakes an 11-egg casserole which not only calls for nearly a dozen eggs but a pound of sausage, fresh red pepper and chives, and diced potatoes.

But, I suppose if you do finally remember to tell her it is best that you do so before she serves the casserole. Yes, that would be good.

Not really great, though. What would be better is if you threw out the freakin’ eggs when you found them warm on the counter top. And what would be even better than that? Once you discover the room temperature eggs you think back to the night before, ponder what your wife was doing, remember that it was an incredibly stressful evening, remember also that it was day one of her period and, upon remembering that, you not only decide to toss the eggs and pick up another dozen on your way home from work, you also bring home a pint of Haagen Daz Vanilla Swiss Almond ice cream.

Yes, that would be best.

But non-grocery shoppers, remember: we primary grocery shoppers will settle for simply being told the eggs were left out.

I have to go to the store.