Bring on the men in the white coats

This week has not been a fun one. In fact it has been incredibly insane and it's only Thursday. It is Thursday, right? I thought it was Thursday on Tuesday so who knows what day it really is.

Monday night was my boss's dinner meeting that I had to help facilitate and a fundraiser that a friend of mine was helping to organize. Luckily the two were only 2 blocks away from each other in downtown Boston but it was a late night.

Tuesday was all about Family Fun Night. We had a couple of people over at the house for a few hours after work to do a lot of the prep stuff before this Friday's event at Hannah's school. They were there from about 7:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. and after they left I started working on the video I wanted to do for the anniversary of Uncle Linus's death yesterday. Yes I could have started working on that weeks ago but between being sick, our trip to Washington, DC and Family Fun Night looming over my head it just kept getting pushed off another day and another day and another day.

Wednesday morning was all about Family Fun Night in the morning. I had to organize everything that didn't get done the night before so that it could be distributed to stay-at-home parents who were willing to do some of the work for us. Wednesday afternoon I ended up getting a little bit of a miracle tossed my way when my boss told me I could leave early since it was a holiday. Three extra hours of unexpected time to work on FFN! Woohoo! Lincoln and I met up and headed to the craft store where we figured out how he was going to help me build a mini-sized post office by Friday night.

This morning was all about Family Fun Night again. I still have a lot of prep work for my own room to do and tonight is the monthly PTO meeting so I won't have much time to work on it tonight. I can't skip the meeting because I have to be there to beg, blackmail, and cajole volunteers into working some of the shifts I haven't been able to get covered yet. Luckily tomorrow I took the day off so I have all day to prep before the event.

Even more luckily I have the world's most wonderful husband. He spent hours with us on Tuesday night cutting out hundreds of things for FFN. Wednesday morning he distributed all the "at-home" work to the volunteers and picked them up in the evening. He's building my post office and even doing the spray-painting for me since he's the only one who can make it home when it's warm enough (and there is still daylight) outside to use spray paint. I'll have to do the detail painting on it tomorrow when I'm home.

Kristen, who is a senior in high school, is rounding up a bunch of her soccer teammates for me too so that I have more volunteers. What a life saver!

That's about it around here. All of that on top of work, commuting, Hannah's after-school extra-curricular activities, a babysitter that is sick so we have to make other arrangements, Lincoln running his own business, and just life in general.

Saturday morning, when this is all over, you'll find me curled up in a ball in the corner of the room rocking back and forth and muttering to myself. Just leave me be. I'm sure the nice men in the white coats will be along to get me shortly.

One year later

A year ago today my father called me at work to tell me that my Uncle Linus had died in a car accident. A few days later I was driving to his wake and a song came on the iPod I had playing in the car. It was "Seasons of Love" from the musical RENT. If you're familiar with the song you know that it's all about measuring a year in the life of a person. The song completely broke my heart because I knew that Uncle Linus had been on his way to the VFW later that day for a Veterans' Day celebration and I knew that he had attended the exact same event the year before. When he sat there on November 11, 2007, with all of his friends, he didn't know that he wouldn't be there for the same event the next year. He didn't know that exactly one year later he would die in a tragic car accident. He didn't know that a few weeks after that day when he sat there having coffee and chatting with his friends that it would be his last Thanksgiving, or his last Christmas, or his last birthday. None of us did. When I last saw him a few weeks before he died I never imagined it would be the last time.

Here we are, one year later. We've all made it. We've all been able to celebrate another Thanksgiving and another Christmas and another round of birthdays with those we love. I look back at the past year and everything that I have been blessed with and the times that I've had with my husband and my children and my family and I know that at any time it could all be taken away. Because if we learned nothing else with Uncle Linus's death, I think we all learned that even if you were blessed with 70 of them, it's never enough. A year goes by way too quickly.

He was gone way too soon but we were all the better off for having known him and having him in our lives. In his honor today please go out and hug all of those you love. Let them know how you feel and pretend like every moment could be your last.

I miss you Uncle Linus......

Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the anniversary of Uncle Linus's death. His death has been incredibly rough on me. I didn't get to see Uncle Linus all that often. I probably saw him every year or two when we not only managed to make it back to the Midwest but also made it to Elma to see Dad's side of the family. It's not like I talked with him every day or called him just to chat but I've missed him every single day since he has been gone.

I think a lot of it was the suddenness of his death. He died in a car accident under unexplainable circumstances. Was it icy? Did he have a heart attack? Did a deer run out in front of him? No one knows and no one ever will. He was going about his business like he would any other morning and had plans to go to the Veterans' Day breakfast at the VFW. He never made it there. Gone. Just gone. No explanation. No time to say good-bye. Nothing.

About 7 weeks before Linus died my Grandma passed away. That was the last time I got to see Uncle Linus. Despite the sad circumstances of Grandma's death it was nice to see all of my cousins (there are 25 of us) and all of my aunts and uncles (all 7 of them plus my Dad). After Grandma's funeral my Dad and his siblings were sitting at a table in the garage going through all the condolence cards that had been left at the church. With that many people working on it they certainly didn't need my help but I sat down at the table anyway and happened to sit across from Linus. He and I worked together and had a nice little chat. Afterwards he was laughing because I recorded the Elma siren (which goes off every day at 7 a.m., 12 noon, and 6 p.m.) on my Palm Treo and set it as my ring tone. The Elma siren is something I always associate with going to visit Grandma so at the time it seemed very appropriate despite the fact that having a fire siren for a ring tone isn't terribly practical. Uncle Linus loved it. He called my phone multiple times and would crack up every time it rang. As others came out of the house he would have me show them what I did.

And that was the last time I saw him alive. Before that I don't know how long it had been since I had seen him. As much as I miss Grandma Lentz her passing was such a blessing for me - and I suspect many of my cousins as well - because we got to spend one last visit with Uncle Linus. At Grandma's wake he gave me a huge hug and held me tight. That's what I remember. That hug and that project with the condolence cards and that silly ring tone. And I am so grateful for all of that because that time was so special and I will take that with me always.

I miss you Uncle Linus.

Queen of Procrastination

I am chairing the Family Fun Night event at Hannah's school on Friday, November 13th. In addition to being in charge of the entire event I am also in charge of one of the rooms - the history of Communication - and guess what, I didn't start working on it until today. Oh yeah, I'm the queen of procrastination. For one, it's a boring topic. I thought it might be fun but it's really not. I'm doing sections on Morse Code, the U.S. Postal Service, Pony Express, text and instant messages, and the phone. Ugh.

I have participated in Family Fun Night two other times. The first year, which was the other year that I chaired the event, we had a theme of Exploring the Continents. I had Antarctica and we had snow cones, a penguin craft, and snowball fights with cotton balls and penguin beach balls. The second year, which had a Science theme, I did the Astronomy room and I, along with Lincoln and another mom, created a night sky in one of the class rooms. We turned off all the lights and hung black panels from the ceiling with white Christmas lights. We had orange lights through out the "night sky" which made up different constellations. As you went into the room you received a list of constellations you were supposed to find. The kids loved it. Out in the hallway we also had a scale and how to figure out how much you'd weigh on different planets and a craft where you could make your own star finder. We also had a "I wish I may, wish I might" form that kids could fill out and hang up showing all of their wishes. See, now those sound cool, right?

Communications....not so much.

Once I finish getting it all together I'll have to fill you in but right now it's a total work in progress. The important thing is I'm okay being the lamest room. Let the other rooms be the rock stars. I can handle it.

Who knew this was such a science....and does it even really make a difference?

For my birthday in August my friend Melissa got me some Leinenkugel beer glasses with laser etchings on the bottom. It was supposed to "do something to enhance the flavor of the beer" is what she told me. (She's rather specific, isn't she?)

Chili's is now advertising on their coasters the "Perfect Beer Glass" made by the Samuel Adams brewing company.

What makes it perfect you ask?

1. Bead inside rim creates turbulence to release flavor and aromas as beer enters mouth.
2. Narrow top retains the hop aroma and sustains the head.
3. Rounded shape collects aromas.
4. Thinner walls and rounded shape maintain proper beer temperature longer.
5. Laser etchings on bottom creates bubbles for constant aroma release. (That's what she was trying to explain!!)
6. Outward turned lip delivers beer to front of tongue where sweetness (malt) is tasted.

I don't know why but I am truly impressed that people actually research this shit and feel bad that I just take these things for granted. And to think of all those years I wasted drinking out of a plastic cup at a keg party in college.

A perfect score

Hannah received a perfect score on her recent book report. Not only did she get 100% but she got rave reviews from the teacher including "Your project and presentation were well prepared and executed! I'm so proud of you!" and "You worked very hard I can tell! Fabulous job!"

Not only are Lincoln and I incredibly proud of her but she is incredibly proud of herself and that's even better in my book. She really did work hard on this project and the book - Bridge to Terabithia - was much more advanced than many of the other kids. What a great job.

A hollow victory

Tonight I received a mass email forward sent by a Republican friend of Lincoln's. I responded to the forward and we engaged in a bit of back and forth via email. While I enjoyed the mental exercise after two weeks in an illness fog, he didn't put up much of a fight. It wasn't a terribly satisfactory victory.

It started by him forwarding an email about all the reasons why Obama scares the man who originally wrote the email. The email itself is too long - and not worthy - of reposting but here is an excerpt:

• You scare me because after months of exposure, I know nothing about you.
• You scare me because I do not know how you paid for your expensive Ivy League education and your upscale lifestyle and housing with no visible signs of support.
• You scare me because you lack humility and "class", always blaming others.
• You scare me because you did not spend the formative years of youth growing up in America and culturally you are not an American.
• You scare me because the media gives you a free pass on everything you do.
• Finally, you scare me because if you serve a second term I will probably not feel safe in writing a similar letter in 8 years.

Admittedly my first response was quite snotty but I figured I'd exercise my brain a little after that. Here is our interchange. My comment are in blue and his are in red (cute, huh?)

You scare me because you believe this shit.

You will see as time goes by. I respect your opinion.

I'm sorry, I should have said "You scare me because you forward on fear tactics and hate mongering with untrue "facts" and false information. That would have been more polite.

I am trying to save the lemmings from the pied piper. Better to be cautious then drink it all in without question.

I fully agree. As long as the lemmings don't just start following a different pied piper. Drinking it all in without question goes both ways. The letter was meant to inflame, cause fear, and raise the ire of people who may be too lazy to do their own research It provided no facts, no back up documentation, and provided no outlet for gaining knowledge. I'm not saying some of the information below might not be true. Just that the guy's tactic is the cowards way to fight the battle - much less the war - he's trying to wage on that which he does not agree.

Well Obama scares me for all the same reasons.

Which is why both sides should take a step back, take a deep breath, and start looking at the facts and not the sound bites. I'm sure if you truly had all the facts in front of you there may be some things that you agree with on the "Obama" side. I'm a Democrat but there are certainly times that I concede - albeit grudgingly sometimes - that they're wrong and the Republicans are right (no pun intended). Today's society is all about filling the time on 24-hour news channels and bringing in the ad dollars. Sensationalism is a great way to make money but not a great way to run a country. If the American people give into that the country is then, in fact, run by the media and not the elected politicians. "For the people, by the people" then becomes "for the money, by the media". I don't care who is in power, that's not how I want my country run.

No response from him after that. Can you see why that wasn't a very satisfactory exchange?

Now, here is how I would like to respond to the selection from the original email above.

CAUTION: contains lots of snottiness and plenty of sarcasm.

• You scare me because after months of exposure, I know nothing about you. (Feel free to pick up a newspaper, a magazine, browse a few non-partisan websites, read an auto-biography....really, anything that gets your head out of your ass.)
• You scare me because I do not know how you paid for your expensive Ivy League education and your upscale lifestyle and housing with no visible signs of support. (He probably took out student loans like other hard-working college kids, he was a lawyer and had a job, and failing all that, he was married to a woman who made almost $300,000 a year. If that's your idea of "no visible signs of support" then I'd love to see what your salary is, Sir. Wiping your ass with dollar bills must get tiresome after awhile. Does it chafe?)
• You scare me because you lack humility and "class", always blaming others. (I prefer to think of it as confidence, "lacking in 'class" is a distinction typically made by a person who feels he is above others in society and therefore not worthy of the term himself, and depending on what he's blaming on others (something the person purposely left out of the email), some of that shit is the mess George W. Bush left behind and rightfully should be blamed on others.)
• You scare me because you did not spend the formative years of youth growing up in America and culturally you are not an American. (This one is a loaded accusation. Is he trying, like many have, to give the impression that Obama is a Muslim - which he is not - and therefore a terrorist threat? Putting aside that obvious racism (religious-ism?) ask yourself how the question would be different if the President was the son of a military man (such as John McCain) and had spent his "formative years" living on an air force base in Germany or Guam or Japan. Would that make him less American? I don't know if John McCain lived overseas during his "formative years" but if he had I'm sure the same author would be touting that as a "multi-culturalism experience" and not a threat to the United States. Hypocrisy is a wonder part of American culture so congratulations to you, Sir.)
• You scare me because the media gives you a free pass on everything you do. (I'm sorry. I didn't realize that Fox News, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh had gone off the air. How did I miss that memo?)
• Finally, you scare me because if you serve a second term I will probably not feel safe in writing a similar letter in 8 years. (A strong, emotional closing to clinch the fear factor. Well done. Who knows, you could be right. But I would worry less about that and more about the fact that courtesy of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney your phone may be tapped right now by right of the Patriot Act. Maybe you should go check that out and stop writing these transparently ill-researched, intentionally inflammatory emails. As a matter of fact, 'Big Brother' might be looking over your shoulder right now. You better watch out.....big bad Obama has access to that shit now.)

And now I'll be stepping down off my soapbox. Unfortunately it wasn't the brain work-out I was hoping for. I didn't even break a sweat.