Keep on swimming, swimming, swimming...

Been out of work for 10 months now. Ugh. It feels like forever. And it's very frustrating. Yet somehow, I manage to keep myself incredibly busy. There's the kids, there's the whole taking every single little job that comes my way regardless of the pay thing (which ends up never being worth it because the time required to do these little jobs is extremely disproportionate to the pay), training and fundraising for the upcoming LifeCycle ride, dealing with lots of fun legal issues, school...geez! How would I manage even if I *had* a job???

The hours and hours of job searching, just to not even end up with interviews is frustrating and sad. Web and print design jobs are *not* going to pay the bills either - not when everyone else is broke too! I've been trying that route.

So, what am I going to do? Well, I'm not entirely sure yet. But I know that it's not likely to be waiting for someone to see my worth and give me a job. I'm going to have to create my own job. The trick is finding a niche market that I can be excited enough about that my ADHD doesn't cause me to just check out after a few days.

I *think* I may have discovered the thing I can do, but it's going to require a lot of hard work, a business plan and probably some investors willing to take a chance on my idea. I'm not yet ready to reveal what my plan is, but the wheels are in motion and I'm confident it's going to come together in fairly short order. And I'm REALLY excited about it!

With that, I shall sign off. More later!

A few thoughts on my President.

I've loved Obama since I first heard him speak. I think his oratory skills, and his OWN "Hope" for change in Washington really is what got him elected.

But let's face it. From most perspectives, it looks like he's just bent over and taken it up the ass from the Republicants (please replace that 'a' with a 'u' and you'll have a far more accurate description from my vantage point. Oh, was this supposed to be a family site? No one told me).

On the other hand, I believe he walked into a nearly impossible situation. The world expected him to fix the monumental blunders of the past 8 years simply by snapping his fingers - *poof* magic! It's all disappeared and our idyllic lives may now begin. We expected too much. I think *he* expected too much!

Washington has been nearing a stalemate for a loooooong time now. But with a R-heavy Senate and a D-President, we should have seen a lot of this coming. Obama is/was an idealist, from what I can tell. He really *wants* to create the change he campaigned on. He has been stymied at every turn. He would get criticized by Republicans if he was unwilling to compromise. And if he was willing to compromise, he would get criticized by the Democrats. How the heck is the guy supposed to get anything done at ALL???

I have to wonder at this point if it's even POSSIBLE to change what's going on in Washington. Is it time to revolt? Is it time for the people to say "This isn't right! You people need to start representing US and not big business!" What all SHOULD we be demanding? I know it's not what we've got right now, and it's not what I'm hearing the Republicans demand!

I feel bad for Obama.

Whew! We made it!

Camping! Well, it was certainly a trip we'll be talking about for a long time! That's good, right?

First two nights were fairly uneventful. We found our way to our campsites, somehow figured out how to build a fire, got our tent set up, had meals cooked over an open flame...it was all good.

But the third night, at our campsite near Yosemite, we had...a BEAR...run through. I knew we'd be fine. The bear was chased off into the woods by other campers, and we all had our food stored away properly. But the kids were completely and utterly freaked out and scared out of their minds. You know those cartoons where they depict fear by having knees knocking together? Yeah, that's what was happening...plus sobbing and begging to go home. The compromise was that we got in the car, drove down to Oakhurst, and slept in the car - with the promise that they would "Harden the f*&k up" (words on a bracelet given to me by a good friend).

The next night was totally uneventful. Even our drive back into Yosemite, hiking, etc. We started back home, going through the valley. JUST as we got to the uppermost viewpoint (the valley side of the long tunnel, if you're familiar with the area) the car's hybrid electrical system warning light pops on! WHAT??? It's running FINE! We've had no drops in power, no "pops", no indications that anything might be wrong!

But this is the last spot where we will have phone service for another 45-50 miles or so. My sister-in-law texts us the phone number for the nearest Toyota dealer and they tell me that I should be able to nurse the car down there (about 85 miles, as it turns out) on just the gas engine, but that I'm looking at repairs ranging anywhere from $550 for a busted inverter pump, or $4,000 (!!!!!!!!!) for a dead hybrid battery! So I'm pretty well freaked out at this point.

We finally manage to get down to Clovis (where the dealer is located), but the service area is closed now. So we had to stay the night in a hotel. I gotta say, having a shower that evening made ALL the difference in the world!

I took the car in to the service department first thing in the morning, and luckily it turned out to just be the inverter pump. BUT they won't have the part in for several more days. So they agree to pay for a rental car so we can get home and so I can come back and pick up the car in a week.

Here's the thing though...have I mentioned that I'm currently unemployed? And on Food Stamps? Yeah. I've no idea where I'm going to come up with this money.

Wish me luck! The adventure continues!

Camping preparations! OCD much?

I mentioned in an earlier post that the kids & I are going camping next week. Now, you need to realize that, except for camping out with 2500 cyclists and roadies a couple of years ago during the AIDS LifeCycle, I don't think I've been camping since I was about 10 years old. And I'm not so sure it was real wilderness camping. It may have been cabins...in a campground...with lots of other kids & camp counselors and tons of supervision.

Did I mention that we're REALLY camping? Tents & sleeping bags type camping? Making your food over a fire (which you have to build yourself, btw) camping? OOOF! What HAVE I gotten myself into?

Well, I figure it's gonna be an adventure of epic proportions at the very least. I'm totally excited about it...and the kids were too. Until...

Their dad. Yeah. Their dad is afraid of trying new things. He's not exactly the adventurous type. He's afraid of the water. Told the kids he couldn't float. They were afraid to go in our pool for the first 2 years we lived here. Now their starting to really learn to swim and it's great!

But in the last few days their dad's been telling them about how hard camping is, that they might run into bears, the weather could be bad, all sorts of things. So they're beginning to get a little bit less excited now. They're worried...mainly about bears.

It's hard to combat that. I can tell them about the precautions we'll take, the very miniscule chance that we'll even SEE a bear, tell them how to act if we DO see a bear, etc. But they've already got that fear in their heads.

Regardless, I fully intend to show them as great a time as I possibly can. MY one fear is that it ends up being boring and too hard and they don't end up enjoying themselves.

I guess I have one other fear: Having enough food. I sat down over the last couple of days and planned meals, including a couple of snacks, for each day we'll be gone. I made a list of everything we needed to take. And I went to the market today. I SWEAR I didn't buy things that were not on that list. Yet I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I bought WAY too much food. Now, if we had a big SUV for the 3 of us and all our gear, that would be one thing. But all we have is a little 2001 Prius, with a half-way decent trunk...into which we need to fit all that camping gear (tent, chairs, stove, utensils, sleeping bags, pillows, etc.) AND food.

Perhaps the solution is to just take a ton of ziploc baggies filled with individual portions that I do up before we leave, hope that I figure enough for us not to go hungry, and leave the rest at home. Yes? ACK! I'm thinking something along the lines of LifeCycle-style packing: All your gear for each day stored in one really big bag...7 bags in your luggage. Or in our case, 5 bags of food for each of us, portioned out into sub bags for each meal & snack.

Oy, I feel my OCD coming on full force!

This is gonna be interesting.

Let's be honest...

I like stirring the pot. I get a little perverse pleasure out of seeing certain kinds of people get all in a huff over something I've said - especially when it was truly meant completely innocently. At the same time, I get really annoyed at intractable, heel-digging "ideals".

I don't pretend that some of my political and religious beliefs are shared by many others. I'm liberal. Really liberal. I'm not a Democrat. I'm an Independent. But it pisses me off that I don't get a real vote in the Primaries because of this (yeah, I'm even annoyed at the fact that we don't get more than 2 choices on the ticket at the end of the day either...grrrrr).

But I absolutely believe in the right, and even duty, of the public to engage in conversations about the issues facing this country - us, as individuals in this country - today. So when someone on my Facebook page says he's going to block posts from anyone who posts anything minutely political, I get annoyed.

Look, there's no question that we're all entitled to have whatever we do or do not want appearing on our homepages. But this person was suggesting that those of us that post our opinions shouldn't do so because our views aren't shared by all - regardless of our political leanings. I couldn't disagree more.

This person also suggested that a forum such as Facebook was inappropriate for such "discussion". Again, I couldn't disagree more. I personally find a place like Facebook to be PRECISELY one of the MOST appropriate forums to generate conversation.

What it comes down to for me is this: The only way for there to ever be change in this country is if we, the People, get involved. Even if it's simply having conversations amongst ourselves - between people who happen to agree, but even more importantly between people who disagree! For how else are the various "sides" going to find common ground except to discuss the issues from all perspectives?

Wouldn't it be nice if Washington could figure out how to do that as well? Then again, if the humble masses are incapable of doing so, why should they?

SALE! Quick, ends tomorrow!

The kids & I are going hiking this next week. I figured it was the cheapest way to still give us a vacation away from home. We're borrowing camping equipment from friends and neighbors, and packing tons of food (yes, we'll find the food lockers at the campgrounds so we don't attract bears! But I realized a few days ago that the kids & I didn't really have any hiking-appropriate shoes. Their dad pretty much just buys them Vans-style shoes. They're great for school, and of course I'm not going to complain since I can't afford to buy them shoes at ALL right now. But it was a concern. So I asked him if he'd be willing to find hiking shoes for them before we go. He agreed (WOW!), but understandably didn't want to spend $50-$60/pair for shoes they'd use this one week then outgrow before getting to use them again.

Well, since I needed a pair as well, and being unemployed I don't HAVE much money to spend, I went hunting for a deal yesterday. Tried the big sporting goods store at the mall - nothing under $100. Awesome. I don't know why I even bothered. But then I went to the Big 5 not too far away. They had a GREAT sale going on!! Select shoes (and other items in the store as well) were at deep discounts! I managed to get these shoes for $20 for each of us! Ok ok...the kids are gonna kill me that we all have THE SAME SHOE! I took them over for the kids to try on at their dad's and my DD's first comment was "Mom, I'm not really into brown shoes. Couldn't you get them in pink? Maybe with Hello Kitty on them?" Ummmm...nope. We're gonna be shoe triplets.

All that to say that if you're needing any camping or sport supplies, head on over to Big 5 right now and see about this sale. I've been immensely pleased with them the last few months! Even got air mattresses for $20 back in June.

One caveat: These are cheap-ish shoes. Not bad quality, so far as I've been able to determine. But the interior foot cushioning leaves a bit to be desired. I recommend getting insoles for support and comfort. They don't need to be the expensive ones though. Just a simple, little insert at Rite Aid would do (3 for $15).

Vote for my friend!

April & I have known each other since attending an arts high school together. We've had a few ups & downs in our friendship, but I'm very happy to be able to call her "friend". She writes a truly excellent blog. I know I've got a grand total of 2 followers here (LOL), but you should still check her out and vote for her page. She's been nominated as a Top 25 SoCalMom blogger (rightfully so, I might add)

Vote here.