Limor, Kevin and Jaime all posted their results. I was feeling left out.

You are a Social Liberal (75% permissive) and an… Economic Liberal (13% permissive) You are best described as a: Socialist Link: The Politics Test on OkCupid.com: Free Online Dating Also : The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

Is this surprising to anyone? It wasn’t to me. I think it has a lot to do with my sense of fairness and my “what’s mine is yours” mentality. When I told Kevin my results, he laughed and called me a communist. In all seriousness, if there were a way for communism to work (without it turning complete corrupt) I’d be all for it. Although, maybe communism isn’t quite the right word. What I like is community. I like the idea of living in community with others. Benefiting from each others’ resources and talents. Helping people who need it without worrying about what I am gaining in return. I’ve seen it work on small scales. I’d like to see it work in a large scale.

(By the way, these are the results from round 2 of the test. This one I took without Lexi’s “help”. And I came down even stronger in the socialist camp.)

Leslie Bennetts is the author of the book The Feminine Mistake and says “says women who opt out of the workforce — or never join it in the first place — are putting their financial lives at enormous risk.”

You can read the whole interview here but here are a few quotes that I found intriguing.

Regarding financial planning:

All the investment advisers and financial planners that I talked to said that women have a tremendous tendency to leave these things to men. They may pay the household bills, but they don’t really involve themselves with the larger financial planning of the family.

Regarding becoming a widow:

The average age of widowhood in America is only 55. (according to the AARP)

Regarding the long-term planning and risks of being a stay at home mom;

I am not saying it’s not a valid choice to stay home with your children; I’m saying it’s an extremely dangerous choice and one that works out very badly for many women and their kids. In my book, I say was it really worth it to be home when your second child lost his fourth tooth if something happens to your husband and you end up losing your home entirely? I’ve talked to so many women who find themselves suddenly without a breadwinner and a lot of the adverse consequences of divorce in the society are really a result of the economic impact. Women’s standard of living plummets by 38 percent in cases of divorce, whereas men’s standard of living goes up by 26 percent. But it’s the women and the children who suffer. So I’m not criticizing the inherent worth or value of the decision to be home with your children, but I am saying it’s a very risky choice.

Before I get angry comments from all my stay at home mom friends, let me just say this: I am jealous of your ability to stay at home with your kids. But for me, being a working mom is not a choice because a) we need the income, b) staying at home is not in my nature (trust me, Lexi and I would kill each other if summer break lasted longer than 3 months), and c) while my family always comes first, I love my job and would feel like I was missing something if I wasn’t teaching.

I do agree with what she is saying about women needing to learn about their family finances and being prepared if something were to happen. Just something to think about.

While I am a huge fan of the Olympics there are a few things that really bug me about the games. And I’m not talking the specifics of the Olympics being in China and the craziness that goes with that. I’m talking about the games and the athletes themselves.

(In no particular order):

1. It bothers me that when an athlete from country A doesn’t make the team they get citizenship in country B and play for them - case in point - the women’s volleyball team playing for Georgia is actually from Brazil. (I’m not bothered by people who have dual citizenship, it’s the people who just petition a country to be able to play.)

2. Professional athletes participating. I do not like the basketball players, hockey players, tennis players, etc. that get paid millions to play their sport and then they take a spot on the Olympic team as well. I know that the athletes all consider themselves professionals in their sport (and they should) but it sort of takes the fun out of it when USA brings in all pro basketball players, calls them The Dream Team and stomps everyone else.

3. Why does Michael Phelps get to swim in about 1000 races? Just pick one or two strokes, focus on them and let more people have a shot at participating in the games. You don’t need to swim every race.

I copied this directly from Leah’s blog. Leah is the mother of Angela, who has Down Syndrome. Leah titled her blog post: If you love my kid, you won’t go! And although I probably wouldn’t have gone to this movie anyway, I do love Angela so I put this up on my blog as well.

I bet you’ve seen the trailers for the new movie opening this week “Tropic Thunder”, the new Ben Stiller movie. I’ll bet you thought the trailers were hilarious. I’ll bet you DON’T know what’s really in this movie!

Ben Stiller and his team put a lot of thought into this movie, trying to be very careful to not cross the lines on racial humor. They wouldn’t want to offend anyone of color or other nationalities in fear of loosing a lot of money in the movie.

But people who are intellectually disabled are fair game in the world of Hollywood. The word “retard” is the whole sub-plot for the movie. The term “Going full retard” has been coined and it’s been announced there will soon be a line of t-shirts appearing in your local stores with the term plastered across the front. If you take every time the word “retard” is used in the movie and replace it with the “n” word, or any other racial slur, the movie would be banned in the U.S!

And that, my friends and family, is what Angela has to look forward to when school starts. (Last year it was Napolean Dynamite pens that talked, with one of the phrases being “you retard!” which, after complaints, were quickly pulled off the shelves and banned by schools across the country.)

Yes, the movie is rated R, so young kids shouldn’t be seeing it. But they will. And their teen siblings and parents who DO see it will be coming home repeating what they think is a funny phrase, and kids will be coming to school with it. They’ll love the t-shirts as well.

I don’t understand how in the world it’s ok to to belittle this population of people, but if they were using the “N” word, or any other racial slur, it would be all over the news! Our countries schools have a zero tolerance policy against racial harassment, and you won’t hear certain words thrown around the hallways of your child’s school. But you WILL hear “retard” on a regular basis.

I know there are plenty of you who feel I’m overreacting. Well, apparently I’m with the 3 million other families in the country who are FURIOUS this film has been allowed to be produced the way it has. You can expect to see national and local protests about this film, as those of us who are overreacting demand that our children, brothers, sisters, cousins, and loved ones get the same respect that everyone else in the country gets, including illegal immigrants. That they aren’t set up for yet MORE harassment by teens who think it’s funny to mock our children because Hollywood has encouraged them to do so.

I hear the word by friends and family members all the time. I hear the “short bus” jokes. Most of the time I’ll call someone on the carpet about it, but sometimes I won’t. Sometimes I just get tired of constantly having to defend my child against the people who are supposed to care. Their lame responses of “I wasn’t meaning HER, it was just a joke!” Well, HELLO!!! Who do you MEAN then? Who are you comparing yourself or others to when you toss those words around? And my personal favorite “It just slipped out”. Funny…words that aren’t part of my every day vocabulary don’t “just slip out”!

My child, and millions like her, are intellectually disabled (that’s the proper term, by the way…”retarded” is going out the window because it’s become such a hateful slang term. School districts aren’t even putting it on their paperwork anymore!) Just as people of color don’t have a choice of what color skin they were born with, children with intellectual disabilities don’t have a choice but to ride “the short bus”, and so they become the brunt of your jokes. I’ve watched people who’s own children ride “the short bus” make the same jokes, without even realizing (or caring) that it’s at the expense of his/her own children. “Oh, but they think it’s funny too!” Do they really? Or are they laughing along while inside they squirm with discomfort?

These people don’t have a choice to have the medical term “Mental retardation” plastered all over their medical records. Those with syndromes such as Down Syndrome can’t even hide behind a “normal” appearance. It’s plastered on their face, leaving them open to hateful ridicule by their peers, and yes, even their family members.

So, if you’ve seen the trailers, and thought, “That looks like a fun movie to see!” Please don’t. My child…your grandchild, your niece, your cousin, your friend…. and those like her, deserve the respect more then Ben Stiller and his team deserve a few bucks!

Dakota county likes their storm sirens. A lot. If it rains, if their is flooding, a chance of flooding, thunderstorms, if it’s storming in Iowa, if it’s windy, if it’s anything but 70 degrees and sunny, the sirens go off.

It’s the city that cried wolf.

1. Last night we watched Juno, again. If you haven’t seen this movie yet, you are missing out my friend. We also bought the soundtrack, which if you don’t like the movie, the soundtrack alone is a good enough reason to watch it.

2. This year is the summer Olympics. The games start on August 8. I love watching the Olympics. The summer Olympics especially. Gymnastics, swimming, diving, track & field, all good. I’m also excited to watch it with Lexi. I think she’ll enjoy watching the games, especially the gymnastics and maybe even some of the diving.

Apparently NBC considers mothers who have adopted “non-moms“.

Please feel free to let NBC and their sponsers know how you feel about this. I did.

Update: See the comment from Rebecca B. Apparently they have re-worded the title of “non-moms” to “adopting moms” which isn’t much better in my opinion. I won’t introduce my child as my “adopted child” and I don’t expect him/her to introduce me as their “adopting mom”. Do the moms have to have a category? Can’t they just be moms?

Update #2: Apparently the adoptive community made a pretty big stink about this. I know that nearly everyone on the forum I participate in registered a complaint and it by Friday it was posted on about 20 different blogs but I guess we were a big enough voice to prompt a blog entry on E!’s website. Feels good to know that speaking up can still make a difference.

Recently, I’ve switched from using paper or plastic bags to bringing my own canvas bags. People making comments like this and this got me thinking about how ridiculous it is to not be using canvas bags. But what really pushed me over the edge was standing in line at Wal-Mart (so NOT a fan of that store, but it’s a great place for random teacher-type things) and watching the women in front of me fill her cart with about 25 plastic bags. I’m not kidding. She was buying tons of chips for some party and the cashier was putting one bag of chips per plastic bag. At that point I pulled one of the canvas bags off the rack and added it to my purchase.

Since then I’ve gotten 2 more canvas bags and I love having them. I’ve noticed several things:

1. The Target grocery people become skilled baggers when faced with the challenge of fitting a cart load of stuff into 3 bags (side note: Have you seen how terrible Target cashiers are a bagging groceries? Sometimes I have to look away it’s so painful to watch).

2. I buy less stuff because I keep thinking “will it all fit in my bags?”

3. They have longer straps so I can carry them over my shoulder leaving my hands free to carry Lexi. I can carry 3 canvas bags, Lexi and a 12-pack of soda in one trip.

4. Lexi loves to carry them around the store as her purse.

Seriously, if you have ever thought about switching, just do it, it’s not nearly the pain in the butt that I thought it would be. I’m really not sure why it took me this long to switch. In high school, I was a total tree hugger. I carried my backpack with me everywhere. I always declined the bag at the store and loaded everything into my backpack. I’m not sure why I stopped. Glad I went back though.

“Low-income urban students know they attend substandard, second-tier schools that lack the technology, resources and extracurricular programs commonplace in schools of more affluent communities. And yet we continue to expect these students to prioritize education when budgetary and funding inequities demonstrate that urban education is neither a local, state, or national priority.”
Will Okun, Chicago high school teacher

Just think about that for a minute….

(quote stolen directly from Tim’s blog)

I was listening to NPR today and they had this short blurb on about the effects of breastfeeding. You’ll have to listen to the clip but basically the doctor they interviewed said that there aren’t many more benefits that breast fed babies receive over non-breast fed. There were two medical issues that were benefits (and no, allergies was not one) and the interview also stated that the bonding process was not affect by whether or not the mother nursed. This statement actually made sense to me. I don’t think the bonding process depends on nursing. I think it depends on physical touch, feeding, interaction and general care of the baby.

Okay, before everyone starts yelling at me, let me just say this. I nursed Lexi. I nursed her until she was 10 months and quit on her own (all though, I was planning on her being done at a year - extended nursing is not for me). But this interview does give mothers a ray of hope. Working moms who can’t nurse, moms who never quite got the hang of it, moms who couldn’t for medical reasons. All the moms who feel like they did their baby an injustice when nursing moms or breast-feeding advocates start talking about the wonders of breastmilk and how the best thing you can do for your baby is to nurse and it’s too bad they weren’t able to. Maybe it won’t be such a big deal if a mom chooses not to (or can’t) nurse.

Although, I do agree that when it comes down to it - price, convenience, and the fact that if my body makes milk, it’s probably good for my kid, but I’m not going to worry so much that I won’t be able to nurse the next baby.