It's a Letter Writing Kind of Day

Some days things just get you so mad you have to sit down and write a letter. Lately I've not been bashful about writing letters to my Senators and Congressmen when there's an important Bill up for vote and I want them to know how I feel. Today I wrote a letter to President Bush (see below) for a ZILLION reasons, and a letter to Nan Talese (Senior Vice President of Doubleday and the Publisher and Editorial Director of Nan A. Talese/Doubleday) for her stand against Oprah Winfrey's horrendous and uncalled for second interview with author James Frey. My letter to Ms. Talese was as follows: Dear Ms. Talese: Kudos to you for your strong stand behind the works of James Frey. I read this book long before the Oprah Show deemed it "worthy" and shot it to the bestseller list. I read it at a time when I was having serious drug-related difficulties with my 20-something daughter, and Mr. Frey was kind enough to email me several times and provide me with encouragement and hope. I will never forget how kind and caring he was. I truly admire your willingness to stand up to Oprah, in a time when so many people (particularly her viewers) see her in some God-like role. A recent newspaper article stated, "Talese was unapologetic for publishing the book... and she described Winfrey to him as "holier-than-thou" and her talk-show audience as reminiscent of a 'Roman circus.'" I could not agree with this statement more. Although I can understand why Oprah wanted to clarify whether the book was totally fact / totally fiction / somewhere inbetween, I just cannot get past the horrendous, rude, uncalled for and hurtful way she went about it. The words in the book are the same words in the book that touched her and her viewers' hearts, made them think, brought them insightfulness into the world of addiction. That did NOT change!!! For her to play God over one man's life was just the most dispicable thing I have ever witnessed on television. I have not watched an episode of the Oprah Show since. Her viewers that jumped on the anti-James bandwagon should be ashamed of themselves for not having a mind of their own. I hope there is never a day in my life when another person dictates how I feel or react to a piece of literature or any other style of art. Think about it -- wasn't that one of the ways Hitler and the Taliban came into power? -- not just by dictating what could and could not be read and disposing of works of art and literature they "deemed" inappropriate for society -- but because the population around them LET IT HAPPEN. Oprah's viewers thought James' book was the best thing since sliced bread until Oprah told them to think otherwise. Shame on them. I commend you for continuing to stand behind your decision to publish Mr. Frey's books. but even more for standing up to a woman who has WAY too much power in our world, and abuses that power in ways that historically tells us is just not good for Society as a whole. Sincerely, Within just an hour or so, I received a letter back from Ms. Talese (I'm honored!). It read: Thank you very much for writing and for your additional thoughts. There was a wonderful program on public televison--Bill Moyers--about the media and the war, and it is the same thing : people are afraid to speak the truth. With all good wishes to you, Nan I'm tired of being afraid to speak the truth. Actually -- I'm not so sure that it's being afraid -- it's more like being too complacent to get off our butts and SAY SOMETHING AND SAY IT LOUD! I'm also a firm believer in writing as many positive letters as negative. My response to my email to President Bush is as follows: On behalf of President Bush, thank you for your correspondence. We appreciate hearing your views and welcome your suggestions. Due to the large volume of e-mail received, the White House cannot respond to every message. Thank you again for taking the time to write. Sigh.. I wonder if he sees ANY of the emails? I definitely think we need a new President who is willing to take the blinders off and look America in the eye for a change. Ok, I won't get going on that subject again... I encourage everyone to write write write to every politician that's pissing you off OR doing a great job. I just think they need to know that we (Mr. and Mrs. Average American) are actually AWARE of what's going on...

My letter to President Bush today

Dear President Bush,

 

I voted for you. Please - I ask you nicely and with respect - could you please stop making me regret it?

 

I'm not anti-war, but I am pro-America, and I'm really wishing you were a lot more pro-America and a lot less pro-every-foreign-country-that-isn't-up-to-your-status-quo.

 

America is in trouble. BIG trouble, Mr. Bush. And I believe you are so taken up with all your war activities that you've forgotten to look out your window. Yes, terrorism scares us all and 9/11 was a wake-up call. But there are other things out here scaring us, Mr. Bush -- and you and your fellow politicians are ignoring them.

 

Young adults who think it's fun to beat people up, bully other children, do anything necessary to get their 5 minutes of fame on YouTube -- that's scarey, Mr. Bush. Our elderly getting pommelled in the face for the sake of a few dollars, not being able to afford medicine that might extend or even save their lives, not being able to go outside their homes for fear of being mugged or abused -- that's scary stuff. Our children are being kidnapped, abused, used in pornography, bullied, victimized by their own parents or neighbors -- that's what's scarey. Or our children who think they need to have a cell phone by age 8, who listen to music that's demoralizing to women, who think saying the F word is good English, who have access to guns or who are victims of drive-by shootings, whose mothers are not old enough to be mothers, whose fathers have disappeared down the street to father other women's babies, whose parents think that being a good role model means being able to brag that they don't just get Welfare, they also have their children on disability -- that scares me silly, Mr. Bush.

 

What else scares me? A Wal-mart that is running our Mom & Pop businesses out of town but who has no respect for it's employees and imports a majority of its goods from China. Fortune 500 companies that now out-source their manufacturing to foreign countries after laying off a huge percentage of their American workers. Fake drugs being manufactured in China and sold in the U.S. that contain no semblance of the original drug but often contains poisonous materials. A justice system that is overwhelmed with stupid lawsuits just filed to see who can get money from whom. Young men who think it's easier to rob from the corner store than it is to get a job. People who think it's easier to scam people on the Internet and steal identities for free money than it is to get an education and a respectable job - that's what's scarey these days, Mr. Bush.

 

Dependence on foreign companies for oil, dependence on foreign lands for our manufacturing process, soon dependence on foreign countries for our vehicles.... it's almost too scarey to think about.

 

Please, Mr. Bush, please turn around and take a look at America. We have people starving right here. We have Gangs in our inner-cities who think our police forces are a joke and do as they like regardless of rules -- the same as you're fighting over in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan or wherever the fight-du-joeur is. We have people without medical insurance, children who can't read, elderly who are prisoners in their own homes -- right here, Mr. Bush.

 

Do you have any idea what your $500 BILLION dollars could have done to help your own country, Mr. Bush? How many manufacturing plants could have gone back into business to create American jobs. How many police forces could get some extra help? How many air conditioners or meals could we provide for the elderly? How many children could have gotten the medicine they need or a book to read or a toy to play with?

 

How many blankets could your $500 billion buy, Mr. Bush? How many nutritious meals? How many books for our public schools? How many bridges could it repair?

 

How many soldiers could we bring back to keep guard against terrorism HERE, Mr. Bush? How many soldiers could we use at our airports for security, at our borders to help with immigration problems, in our inner-cities to fight the war against drugs and gangs?

 

You are my President and I voted for you and I will never show you anything but respect, Mr. Bush. But please hear me -- please hear AMERICA -- WE NEED OUR PRESIDENT TO BE ON OUR SIDE. We need a President to care about what's happening in AMERICA. We need politicians to care about US and our cities and our towns and our neighborhoods.

 

We need our PRIDE back, Mr. Bush. We need our pride in our President and our government back. It's all been both given away and taken away. We don't want to bully the world, Mr. Bush. We just want a decent life for ourselves and our families, especially our children and our elderly.

 

It's time to take a step back from being Presiden to the WORLD, Mr. Bush -- and come back to being President of the United States -- your people NEED you.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

Hot hot hot!

Good ol' summer in southwestern Ohio...harumph! The temp today is about 98 degrees with 70 percent humidity. It's so hot that when you go outside, it's like walking into a furnace. At the back of my mind I am constantly thinking of people who are living in this area without air conditioning. I just can't imagine how they survive. If we still had our New Hampshire room airconditioners, I'd be donating them for sure. Brayden's babysitter overslept this morning, so Brayden came to my house today instead of tomorrow. Poor little guy has a nasty, phlemmy cough, but that didn't do one thing to change that sweet little disposition. We had a very good day. We went outside this morning and I hooked up the hose and let him water the flowers -- Gramma and the grass got far more water than the flowers did, but oh well -- we had fun. This afternoon when it was too hot to go out in the sun, we went out on the back deck (which has a canopy) and I brought out a tupperware container full of water, a spoon and a measuring cup. I stripped Brayden, diaper and all, and just let him have at the water. I ended up refilling the container about 6 times, but he had so much fun splashing around in that little bit of water! We stayed outside for more than an hour, which is amazing, considering the heat. Jeff is home sick again, same cold as Brayden. He seems a bit better today, but still feels real punky and tired. Because Brayden was here, my To Do list was small today. Here's what I've gotten done: -- 1 load of laundry -- Put clean dishes away (with Brayden's help) -- Reload dishwasher (with Brayden's help) -- Vac kitchen (with Brayden's help) -- Make bed -- Quilt - got in about an hour while he was taking his nap -- Put toys away after Brayden left Dinner tonight is hot dogs, rolls and salad. Too tired to do much else, and it's too hot to turn the oven on!

Car Shopping and Today's To Do List

It's finally time to buy a NEW CAR! YAY! I have no idea what I want, but I do know I want something that gets 30+ mpg. Our mechanic (the world's BEST mechanic) wants me to buy American, and I will look at what's available. I did see an ad for a 2008 Taurus Crossover that I liked, but not sure if it's in my budget. I won't be able to go out looking for a few days -- waiting for the $$$ to come in to pay for the car. Instead of a car loan, we take a loan from our stock savings plan, and then the interest is paid back to us, rather than the credit union. The car payment is actually the same and comes right out of Jeff's paycheck - but the interest actually goes into our stock savings account. Since GE stock isn't doing well at the moment (or for the past several years - harumph!), this makes total sense financially. So meanwhile I'll be on the web looking at different cars. Nearby we have an "AutoMall" which has a dealership for literally every car maker, and is "one stop shopping". Quite convenient to shop for a new car this way! I was planning on going car shopping today, but now have to wait for the $$$ to come in, so it's time for a new To Do List. Here's what I plan on getting done today: MONDAY'S TO DO LIST -- Clean upstairs bathrooms -- Empty all upstairs trash -- Spend afternoon quilting -- Dishes out of dishwasher -- Sweep Kitchen floor I really need to vac and dust upstairs, but Jeff is home sick today with a nasty cold and cough, and I don't want to stir up dust and make him cough more. So my day just got a whole lot easier! The downstairs is still clean so nothing major to do there other than keep the kitchen cleaned up. DINNER ideas - Hmm...with Jeff sick it needs to be something simple, but it's WAY too hot to make soup. I have some leftover roasted chicken, so maybe I will make a stir fry with chicken, green peppers (from the garden!), green beans (also from the garden!), onions, garlic (good for his cold) and noodles, all with a light sauce made just from some chicken stock and ?? not sure what yet. That will be light enough for this nasty hot weather and without milk or cream so it won't aggravate his cough.

Another round of colds?!? No no no!

Brayden came down with another cold over the weekend, poor little guy. And as of this afternoon, Jeff has announced that he is also feeling punky and believes he's on his way to getting sick as well. It's only been in the past week or so that I feel as if I'm finally over that horrendous bout of bronchitis/borderline pneumonia from a few months ago -- and here it comes again! UGH! Just the thought of being that sick again is making me crazy! I have washed my hands a zillion times today with anti-bacteria soap. I am driving Jeff crazy because every time he touches something -- coffee pot, door knobs, telephone, remote -- I'm right behind him with a Clorox-wipe! And - drum roll - I have announced that I am sleeping in the guest room tonight. He's starting to cough and hack and I do NOT want those germs landing on me all night! I'm not sure Jeff understands how serious I am about this. I was SO sick that last time -- sicker than I ever remember being in my life -- and I just don't want to go through that again! So, for the first time in 30 years, we're intentionally going to be sleeping in separate beds. Aside from Jeff's cold, today was a nice quiet day. I spent several hours in my quilt room, got all caught up on laundry, made a nice roast chicken dinner, and watched the NASCAR race. Jeff and I are both in a fantasy NASCAR game on ESPN -- and I am real pleased to announce that I am STILL in first place :) I do a lot of reading during the week, pay attention to qualifying and practices, pay attention to who's trying to get into the Top 12 for the Chase, and make good solid decisions. Of course, "things happen" but I've been in the #1 slot for the past 4 out of 5 weeks, so I'm doing something right. Jeff is now in 3rd place, but has been as low as 8th! Our weather here in southwestern Ohio is nothing but NASTY. They've just changed the upcoming week's forecast to very high 90's to low 100's for the entire week! UGH! Of course this area has very high humidity as well, so when you go outside it feels like there is absolutely no air to breath. On the days I have Brayden it will be difficult to keep him in the house, but going outside is just plain unhealthy. Last big news -- I'm going CAR SHOPPING this week! Finally! I followed Jeff over to the mechanic's to pick up his car on Friday, and my car spewed out big puffs of gray smoke the entire way. When we got back to the house, I got out of the car and said, "That's it. I'm not driving this anymore." It is absolutely on it's last legs and I am not going to break down along the road in 100 degree weather. So I am going to drive Jeff to work on Tuesday morning so I can have his car, and hi ho hi ho, car shopping I go. I just need to test drive a few and pick out what I want, get everything drawn up, and Jeff will stop after work and sign the paperwork. Done deal. I can't wait! I have been without a reliable car for WAY too long. There's just no reason why we haven't bought one long before this!!! But - no more complaining. I'm getting one this week, and I'm really happy about it. I had test driven the Ford Fusion and really really liked it, but now I'm thinking about getting something smaller and better on gas. I would like to drive up to New England and visit Tricia and Paul, so gas prices are a consideration. We'll see!!!

Saturday To Do List - NOTHING!

I am officially taking today OFF! Wow - the past two days have been hectic, babysitting for Brayden and preparing food and house for the poker party last night. The food was a great success -- meatball subs followed by the Ice Cream Sandwich Cake. Man food! Our electricity went out around 11pm, but because we have a candle-chandalier in the dining room, the guys continued to play by candlelight! The game broke up around 12:30am. Me, I fell asleep at 7:30, woke up around 10pm! I was just plain worn out from babysitting for Brayden (who was just a titch fussy -- I think he's coming down with another cold or perhaps it's allergies?) and cleaning house and cooking. Didn't spend the evening quilting as I anticipated, but now I'm all rested up and ready to rock n' roll in the quilt room today! The house is exceptionally clean, I've got a refrigerator (and freezer) full of meatballs, it's way too hot outside to do any yard or garden work (high 90's with very high humidity) so..... I plan on doing a whole lot of nothing today and resting up afterwards! Yippy!!! I love days like this! OK, one exception - I do want to change sheets on the masterbedroom and guest room beds. But that's no big deal and won't take me 30 minutes total. I'm going to go get that done as soon as I post this, and then it's an official NO HOUSEWORK OR COOKING kind of day. YAY! A note about the Ice Cream cake (recipe below). I thought it was a bit over-the-top sweet for my taste. The men loved it. I also think it definitely needed chopped nuts in the chocolate filling. It was VERY easy to make -- took a total of about 15 minutes, and froze nicely. Before wrapping the aluminum foil up and over the top, I put six toothpicks on the top to help tent the foil so it wouldn't pull off the frosting before it froze. That worked well. I also took it out of the freezer once it was frozen, and patched and missing frosting spots, moved it off the alum foil and onto a platter, then put alum foil over the top (still with toothpicks). This cake easily serves 12 as you do not want to cut big thick pieces -- just too rich for that! But otherwise, it's a good recipe. Scale of 1 to 10 I think I'll rate it a 7, but I think the guys would rate it a 9.