YAY, Yoga!

I finally made it back to my yoga. Today I went for the first time since lil' Monkey was born. It felt really good to go back and I SURVIVED my first class. I was really scared that I wouldn't. For those who don't know (I'm guessing everyone that reads this blog already knows this), I practice Bikram Yoga. It's the crazy hot yoga where the room is 100 degrees that most people think is completely, well, crazy. But it fits my personality perfectly. I am, afterall, the crazy mama. ;)

You see, I can't stand doing the "gym thing". You know, walk on a treadmill for a half-hour, then do some weight training, yada, yada. It bores me to tears. I've tried watching the televisions to make the time pass or bringing a magazine to keep me going. But in the end, I'm just not satisfied and never ready to go back. I've also tried what I call "incense yoga" and what Bikram calls "frou frou" or "furniture" yoga (or so said one of the teachers who had met him personally). Those types of yoga classes are just too ostentatious for me. Maybe I just don't think singing Kum Ba Yah with a bunch of strangers and burning incense is going make me feel better or to put me in touch with anything except the need to run out of there screaming.

Also, I guess you could say I've never been very sporty. I was on a bowling league when I was really young (6 until I was 9, maybe 10?) and that was okay. My cousin got involved in softball and my mom thought it might be a good thing for me to do as well. I hated the pressure of being at bat or trying to catch the ball in the outfield. I prayed at each game that they'd sit me. Then the nail in the coffin for softball -- while at bat, I hit the ball very far and was so excited that I threw the bat straight into the catcher's stomach. She was on the ground for a very long time but recovered. I felt horrible. I begged my parents to take me out of the league. It was close to the end of the season so they convinced me to finish it. I guessed they were hoping I'd get over it. I still haven't really. Then I went to ONE team sport try-out in high school (field hockey) and immediately decided that I wasn't fond of doing sit-ups in the mud at 7:30 on a Saturday morning. So that was that for team sports.

However, I am somewhat competitive. Inwardly competitive. Usually, I'm just competing with myself and thinking I should be as good as someone else. I couldn't see myself talking smack or trying to compete for team position or ranking. I'd just fester inside. Therefore, Bikram Yoga is that perfect balance between of being challenging enough to keep me interested and not so competitive that I just implode due to the pressure of being good enough. I have only me to answer to and I'm learning not to be so hard on myself.

So today was a good day. And it's true what the instructors say about muscle memory! I've done this type of yoga off and on since 2001 but thought because I took 15 months off from it, I might not be able to do it any longer. However, I did pretty well. I couldn't get to the same point in the poses that I could prior to taking my hiatus but overall, I'm satisfied with myself. AND I didn't sit half of the class out due to the heat (this had happened previously when returning from a couple months break)! Now I just need to figure out a way to fit this into my schedule.

YAY, yoga!

Politics Wed -- Postponed

Due to work obligations and lil' Monkey coming down with a cold (Where is this kid getting all of these germs?! At least, it's just a head cold and no diarrhea this time!), Politics Wednesday will be postponed until next week.

In the meantime, I said last week that I was going to cover Education this week. However, from our poll, it looks like I'm the only one that voted for it. So should I cover the Environment or Tax Reform next week, or keep on with the Education?

Strange Bedfellows

We just recently started the lovey concept with lil' Monkey, just prior to him getting sick as a matter of fact. We allowed one soft rattle shaped like a monkey (go figure) to be in his crib starting around Christmastime. But his monkey rattle was one of the first causalties during his illness. It along with a few other toys were quarantined in the to-be-washed bag which took me a long time to go through! He's been endowed with so many toys!

So Monkey has replaced his monkey with a new lovey or shall I say loveys (is that the plural form of lovey?). And they're kinda strange really. He's decided that his toy hammer is a source of comfort as well as the rubber ducky we usually have in the bathtub. Seems like two very strange bedfellows, if you ask me. But whatever works, right?

I was wondering, how many parents out there let their child take a lovey with them to sleep? And if so, what kind of lovey do they prefer? And for those with older children, did the lovey become an issue later?

Miss Pissy Pants, would you like some more whine?

Lately, as anyone who has read this blog has probably noticed, I've been more than a little whiny. I've been whiny, needy, tired, angry, pissy and not just on this blog, at home and in life in general. Needless to say, DH hasn't been a happy camper either living with Miss Pissy Pants 24-7.

I think I've gone into a mental and emotional downward spiral and I've been trying to figure out what to do.

The year didn't get off to a great start with Monkey's illness, then my semi-vacation to my cousin's wedding was good but getting there was a nightmare (I missed my flight) and then this latest resolve that we're hunkering down to wait out the housing market didn't help.

Plus, we've come to the conclusion that in order to use what space we have to its maximum potential we'll need to get rid of some cats (we have 4, contemplating dwindling that number to 1). The cats, or the "Girls" as I used to so affectionately call them, were my babies prior to my son's birth but with lil' Monkey in the picture, I haven't been a very good cat mommy. With that in mind and the fact that we're just not comfortable with Monkey crawling around in the massive amounts of hair deposited in our basement by the Girls, we're going to have to make the hard decision to give some of them up. I dread this decision but I understand it's necessary. I'm just going to have to DO IT and never give another thought to where they might be or what happened to them. Or else I'll just drive myself insane.

So I feel somewhat justified in my pissy demeanor. But I've GOT to get out of this somehow. I think I'll have some wine with my whine tonight and go to bed early.

Bitter about clutter and the housing market

Feeling a little bitter tonight. Yet grateful for what we DO have.

My bitterness comes from the reality that has slowly set in recently about our housing situation. You see, DH and I bought our home at the peak of the housing market when seller's were still raping buyers and taking the highest bidder. Now the prices in our neighborhood have slumped far past what we can afford to pay out in order to move.

This realization of not being able to sell our house and move into a bigger one any time soon makes me bitter. I'm talking 5 years possibly if things keep getting worse with the housing market. Which means having a second child will cramp our living situation severely. That just plain sucks. Sure, we could manage and most likely will have to manage. There are plenty of people out there with less than what we have and they have more than one child -- some of them managing quite well, others not so much.

However, I'm a complete clutter-phobe so space is really important to me. After having lil' Monkey, our house has been invaded with the tons of stuff required to raise a little one (and some things not so much required but loved by him). So space in our home is at a premium now. My once sparse home with lots of visible floor, cabinet and wall space is no longer.

Plus, working from home, I need one area of the house to be a home office. Both DH and I are accustomed to using our computers simultaneously (I work while he plays WoW -- or sometimes works as well). So really we need an entire room for our home office, not just a desk tucked away somewhere like the kitchen or family room (plus that would set off my clutter alarm). Therefore, our office eliminates one of the rooms in our house. Luckily for us, the previous owners finished the basement and there's technically a bedroom down there (which used to be our office). This room will probably become our office again when/if child number two comes along and we need to give up the bedroom next to lil' Monkey's bedroom. This means I'll need to run up two flights of stairs if our little ones wake up screaming into the baby monitor and I'm working downstairs! This also means we'll need to put the guest bed and my sewing machine/table into storage. Which means during the Holidays, our relatives will either need to use an Aerobed or get a hotel room. It all just seems to snowball -- all because of the housing market!

Now I've re-read what is written above and here is where the grateful part comes in ...

At least, we HAVE a house, we HAVE jobs, we HAVE cars, we HAVE a computer for each of us, we HAVE a sewing machine, we HAVE all the furniture and clothes we could ask for ... we have EVERYTHING we truly need (and plenty of nice-to-haves). I can't in good conscious act like a "have not" when in fact we have a lot.

So after watching part of that 20/20 special on t.v. last night about anger, instead of just being bitter and angry about our housing/clutter situation, I'm trying to refocus my angst to what I CAN do. So for the next few months, I'll be spending some time weeding through my closets, cabinets, etc. to see where I can make space so at the very least, the clutter won't feel like it's closing in on me. I can take my bitter butt to Goodwill and give the things I don't appreciate anymore or no longer need or can't wear to those who truly are in need.

Anyone a size 10 in need of business suit pants, jackets or shirts?

Funny Quote -- Week of 1/21/08

From the Mom-101 blog post about what each presidential candidate has on their sites about families specifically (the entire post is great, well, unless as the author points out "Skip This One if You've Got an Elephant Bumper Sticker on the SUV")

The funny quote for this week:

"Because as we all know, Jesus said, 'Ignore the mothers for they are not as important as the gun lobby.'"

LOL! I apologize to my Republican friends but as an Independent who leans to the left, this is hilarious.

She did go on to say: "Now I'm not saying that everyone is going to be pro-choice. But man, shouldn't everyone be pro-family? I mean they didn't even mention the FMLA. Try googling any GOP candidate with FMLA."

Any working mother should really read this post and the references she makes to the sites she researched. It may have just changed my mind about this race. We'll see.

In effort not to offend anymore, I will try to keep the rest of the posts apolitical until next Wednesday. :)

Politics Wed -- The Issues: Iraq

There's so much information on this topic so I'm going to present the history of Iraq and then the Iraqi War numbers.

HISTORY

PARAPHRASED AND QUOTED FROM WIKIPEDIA

You may remember something about Mesopotamia (3000 B.C.) and the Tigris and Euphrates rivers from your high school history class or perhaps earth sciences. This is the area that Iraq exists within today. It was inhabited by the Sumerians, then the Babylonians (no, not the people from Babylon 5), then the Assyrians, then the Persians, so forth and so on. Alexander the Great and the Greeks took over at one point in time as well. In other words, lots of cultures and peoples have called this land their own over the centuries.

The longest period of rule was by the Ottoman Empire, from roughly the 16th century until World War I. At that time, the Ottomans sided with the Germans and the Central Powers in the war. The British captured Baghdad in 1917 and an armistice was signed in 1918. “On 11 November 1920 it became a League of Nations mandate under British control with the name ‘State of Iraq’.” The British turned it into a monarchy and did not take into account the different ethnic groups when dividing it up into territories (especially the Kurds and Assyrians to the north, meaning they supported the Sunni population mainly). During the Brits occupation, the Shi’ites and the Kurds fought for independence. British occupation came to an end in 1932 when the mandate officially ended.

In 1948, Iraq was a part of the war against the newly formed State of Israel. Iraq never signed the cease-fire agreement. They did however sign the Baghdad Pact in 1956 which allied them with Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and the United Kingdom. The Pact “committed the nations to mutual cooperation and protection, as well as non-intervention in each other's affairs.”

The monarchy established by the British was overthrown by the “Free Officers”, a military group inspired by the words of an Egyptian leader named Nassar who criticized the legitimacy of the monarchy. At that time, the Baghdad Pact ceased and a republic was formed.

At one point in the 60’s, Iraq tried to challenge the sovereignty of Kuwait when it gained independence from the British but was forced to back down by the British. They would continue to have border disputes with Kuwait and Iran well into the 70’s. “In retrospect, the 1970s can be seen as a high point in Iraq's modern history. A new, young, technocratic elite was governing the country and the fast-growing economy brought prosperity and stability.”

In 1979, the president at that time resigned and this was the point that Saddam Hussein took over the country. Territorial disputes with Iran resulted in an eight year war with Iran that in the end was won by neither side. The invasion of Kuwait in 1990 would result in the Gulf War. After the Gulf War, the United Nations would impose economic sanctions on the country “providing for a full trade embargo, excluding medical supplies, food and other items of humanitarian necessity”. These sanctions “were linked to removal of weapons of mass destruction by Resolution 687”.

And think we all remember what happened starting in May 2003. If not, Wikipedia has more information on it here.

THE NUMBERS

According to Friends Committee on National Legislation (as of 6/2006):

CASUALTIES

ARMED FORCES

U.S. Killed -- 2,500
U.S. Wounded -- 18,356
U.S. MIA -- 1

U.K. Killed -- 113
U.K. Wounded -- 83
U.K. MIA -- 0

IRAQI Killed -- 6,400
IRAQI Wounded -- Unknown

CIVILIANS

IRAQI
Killed -- 5000
Wounded -- 8000

COALITION CIVILIANS & CONTRACTORS Killed -- 337 (from 36 different countries)

JOURNALISTS -- 99

UNITED NATIONS -- 16

COST OF WAR

Original estimate: 25 billion to fight; $4 billion/month
Cost as of 6/2006: $480 billion

Post-war Reconstruction donations (in millions)

U.S. -- $550
UK -- $330
Australia -- $100
Japan -- $100
Spain -- $56
Norway -- $21
Netherlands -- $21

---

According to WIKIPEDIA:

CASUALTIES

ARMED FORCES

U.S. Killed -- 3,921
U.S. Wounded 8,691 (medical air transport required)
U.S. Wounded 19,970 (no medical air transport required)

NOTE: Of all the wounded 12,912 were unable to return to duty within 72 hours.

IRAQI Security forces and police: 6,327 police and 3,463 soldiers killed

CIVILIANS

JOURNALISTS: 114 (plus 40 media support workers)

CONTRACTORS: 933 (both U.S. and other countries)

AID WORKERS: 95

COST OF WAR

$474 billion has been spent as of 12/2007

SOAPBOX AREA!!

After reading the history of Iraq and understanding it a little more clearly, I'm thinking to myself, why are WE cleaning this mess up? The British started it, it's THEIR BLOODY mess! Okay, okay, that's probably unreasonable. I really like British people, British music, Monty Python and London was fabulous. :) So please, no hate mail.

But more seriously, I never did agree with this war. The link of Saddam Hussein to 911 was disproven by the September 11 commission so that reason is out the window (unlike so many people tout) and no WMDs were found. So why do I think we're in this war? War is big money, for the consulting companies and all of the people who have their hands in the pockets of the President, Vice President (hello, Halliburton) and the rest of the politicians in Washington.

As for the whole concept "if you don't support the war, you don't support our troops" -- please, stop for a minute and really give that some thought. How is putting them in harm's way in a war which didn't really need to be started SUPPORTING THEM? Wouldn't it make more sense that supporting them would mean returning them to their family and friends in ONE piece with all of their senses in tact?

Now that being said, I do think our troops are doing an excellent job with what they've been given. They just need leaders that can come up with a better resolution than throw more bodies at it. And truth be told, they NEED to finish that job because if not, we'll end up with another unstable area like Afghanistan (see section named "Soviet invasion and civil war" within this page) which has been determined as a "terrorist breeding ground". Then we'd be no better than those darned Brits! Again, Brits, just kidding! Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more!

The thing that makes me most angry about this is the money being spent on it. We could use that money for really important things HERE in AMERICA. Education for one (which I will be covering next week). How about that immigration problem? Or Homeland Security? Bring the troops home and secure the borders?

Wow, okay I think I've gone far enough. I'm guessing this post isn't very "flame retardant". I expect I'll be getting a few comments on this one. :)