Keeping my eye on the gap

I usually blog on Sundays...early when it's quiet in the house, and before Stephanopoulos, Meet the Press,and Face the Nation gets fired up. I'm a political junkie...and think it's very important for the general public to keep up with details of government activities...there is SO much more going on than the Lead Story.

For instance. ...we've ALL heard about New York Governor Eliot Spitzer and his high dollar extra curricular activities...I was outraged along with the rest of the public...not about the sex.. SEX IS SEX and it's just gonna be...I never have felt that it is the moral-meter-reader of mankind. The outrage to me came from the fact that he was on the tax-payers payroll and spending in such a manner, although I've not seen the actual charges and financial statements.

It has come to be known this week, that those exact money charges are what got him outed! Because of the Patriot Act, the government now forces banks to turn over 'suspicious activities' and since Spitzer was drawing out large cash amounts for his 'activities'...the Feds were notified....and hence the scandal came to light.

Now I find it suspicious, that with all the terrorist's huge cash flow allegedly pulsing through the American banking system...it would be a DEMOCRATIC governor who is singled out and hung because of that act. The Patriot Act was enacted by BOTH sides of the aisle to protect us from Osama-type money and the damage it could do.......not for tracking one man's private sexcapades and definitely not for possible POLITICALLY MOTIVATED attacks. I find it mind-boggling that it could be me or you, and just how much of our Constitutional Rights were given up in the trade.

Just food for thought....

Anyway..it's Saturday...and my beloved St Louis Cardinals have come down to our neck of the state, and are playing an exhibition game with our minor league team, the Springfield Cardinals. I can keep an eye on the game, molly AND blog, or clean Molly's room and find that danged old remote! We've lost the sponge bob TV's remote...and THAT'S the TV I want to hook up her 'first computer' to....ah yes...great plans foiled by my molly kate's INCREDIBLE need to hide anything she loves in a safe place! (that, dear readers is a genetically inherited trait from MOM not from the enhanced 21st!)

MY computer was side lined, because my step daughter came visiting and downloaded some japanamation cartoon she follows. I remember her saying it took all night to download, and how frustrated she was with our satellite hi-speed hook up....what I DIDN'T know was that we are limited in bandwidth (something that was NOT brought up when we were talking to the sales people) and because of that download I was now on suspension with the server for 30 days...or I could step up a level. (say it with me...cha-CHING!)

Well, I stepped up, and now am paying a JAGILLION dollars per month for service which is currently not working due to the huge thunderstorms that are rolling thru the weekend. (yes, that's right, more rain-another flash flood warning). I'm relatively sure that this blog won't even make it to post...and MORE frustrated that I had to be on hold for an HOUR just to douse this little fire, and MOST frustrated that I pay that HORRIBLE monthly amount...for about 15 days of service per month!.

No...I think the MOST frustrating is that this is the ONLY alternative I have to dial up...we live in the beautiful Ozark woods of Missouri... on a perfect piece of property six miles from town. Convenience of town close, but real life in the quiet, safe, secure, and serene home in the country.

This is the dues paid for that luxury. AT&T is the only phone service available to us, and they don't think hicks in the woods are worthy of their DSL-attention.(I also have no bars on my AT&T cell here) The other things lacking are not so important...decent restaurants, a big airport and cultural activities....but I can easily travel to satisfy those needs..the hi-speed continues to be my biggest onus.

I did loll around on another rainy day trapped inside and watched a movie this morning. I must have seen it advertised or heard about it from one of you, as it's in my PDA as 'to see'.

Notes on a Scandal is a freaky movie, but one of the main characters (Kate Blanchett) is a teacher and a mom to a teenage daughter and a 10 year old son who happens to have Down Syndrome. (mom ends up hosing a 15 year old student) the actor portraying her son was FABULOUS and my heart was warmed that he was not portrayed as being a totally life-altering defective burden...as was the child on Dr Phil's show this week. One step ahead...and Two steps back seem to be the norm for Hollywood and the news, on how our children are introduced to the general public. *sigh*

There was one line that caught my attention..."keeping an eye on the gap" ...the gap being what you DREAMED your life would be, and what your life actually is.
Interesting mind fodder for another day.

On the home front:

We got a WHOLE SENTENCE out of Molly Kate!! Very Exciting especially since I am at my wit's end with her communication skills!

Daddy and I were trying to get her out the door to the bus, and she had firmly planted feet. We have come to learn that there is no fighting a will like that and we pick our battles. Trying to get to the bus is not the time to battle...so we both stop and try to understand WHAT the big hang-up is!!

She looks at him, points at the coat hooks and says "HO HOR HAT" we're guessing that that means "GET YOUR HAT!"

I told you about her wearing a ball cap whenever she leaves the house with daddy????...and he did not have his on! She has repeated the command...whether or not it is his OR her hat that is needing donned. Yea, we'll take it! We'll
take a little ray of hope, and keep plugging along with it. Her big debut with the microphone, the stage, and her one-word spotlight performance at the Spring Concert has been postponed a week....YAY! we have a little more time to work on
the word 'GORILLA'.

I had one day off this week, and in that day's time had an open-house for a tow-truck driver, (the sarge's truck crapped)landscapers, fence men, and the pool man. There is a lot of work to be done to make my little nest summer ready...
which seems an impossible feat given the fact that the rain has returned.

As much as I've griped about it for the last month, it was a nice quiet start to the morning, Our storms have amazing thunder...one rolled for about 15 minutes non-stop this morning...making for great snuggle-bunny time.

My 'chicken-skin' moments

This week reading Dave Hingsburger's blog "Chewing the Fat". Dave is a guy, who after devoting his life counseling the disabled and their families...found himself needing a wheelchair. He published an email from a
woman who had found him last year while searching for 'weight loss' topics! Too cute that she stumbled onto him, and became like most of us... loyal, daily readers. One year later and guess what?...she's pregnant, and the baby has been diagnosed with Down Syndrome.

Coincidence? I don't think so...sometimes these connections happen for a reason, and I thank God she ran into Dave, and not Dr. Phil.

Texas Law Enforcement:

A little boy from Oklahoma with an all too familiar bald head made the news this week, having breakfast in Dallas with his family. They were on their way to Children's to undergo another round of Chemo. Some CREEP steals the little boy's backpack which contains a PSP, his medical records, and all his medicine. The parents called the Dallas PD, and filed a report...and then headed off for day at the hospital that has just been made WORSE if that's possible. Two hours later, the Dallas PD was again with the family. They delivered not only a new backpack, but a new PSP, many games to go with it, and about $1200.00 they had raised to help defray the cost of replacing the medicine.

I love Law Enforcement...for as much headline heat as they get...they continue to Serve and Protect..and go above and beyond the required duty when it's a heart wrenching scenerio. KUDOS TO DALLAS PD!!

And Finally Albert Pujols. I'm so glad I chose to blog and watch the game. Game 2 started with the ceramonial opening pitch coming from a local boy with DS...and the catcher was Albert Pujols. The homerun king usually plays 1st base...but has a daughter Molly's age who also has DS. He keeps a foundation for us...and with his wife, speak out for DS Awareness. GO #5!! WE LOVE YOU!!

Gotta run....my little miss just walked by me reeking of Aramis aftershave...and I can now hear daddy thundering from the area of his medicine cabinet.....the party never ends.