Having It All

I had to repost this article because the topic is on my mind pretty much every day…

Can women have it all?

(and speaking of riddles, how is this still a topic for singular-gender discussion in 2015?)

My opinion is articulated most clearly by Gloria Steinem.

http://apracticalwedding.com/2015/04/feminist-quotes-having-it-all/ (by Maddie Eisenhart)

Instacart App Just Blew My Mind

My dear husband lives with a shrew. (I’ll not mention any names for politeness sake) Said shrew complained about her husband not getting home from the gym in time to get to the grocery store before dinner. (In the shrew’s defense, she’s been in bed for the last two days (sick don’t ya know) and awoke to a home that looked as if, well…as if she’d been in bed for two days instead of running the ship)

Anyway, the husband in this story (are you still paying attention?) pulled up something quite miraculous.

Duh duh duh….INSTACART!

The next thing the shrew knew Instacart was connected to the Whole Foods just down the way and items she knows and loves where being added to the shopping cart. Organic Fuji Apples, 6 please. Ground Allegro Breakfast Blend Coffee, mmmm yes. A fresh piece of salmon from the fish counter, why the heck not?

Two hours later a super nice woman carried the bags of groceries into the kitchen and like a fairy godmother, disappeared into the night. The bags by the way, are all reusable.

And then, to put some icing on the cake, we got an email later in the evening telling us that the dates we ordered had been out of stock (credit) and the broccoli had weighed just under 2 lbs (credit). So not only did we not have to ever leave the house, but the service rocked.

*it should be noted that said husband is telling me that grocery delivery services have existed for ages and i’m no better than a country bumpkin (uh oh, I think I hear that shrew back again)

CitizenFour

In the past few weeks I’ve read over a dozen fantastic books about privacy. Two of my favorites for those of you just starting to investigate post 9/11 America, the Patriot Act and how these both have affected our Constitutional rights (4th Amendment) to privacy can start with these:

• Lost Liberties by Cynthia Brown
• Dragnet Nation by Julia Angwin

And then there’s the provocative and obviously biased, but no less worrisome documentary Citizen Four. For those who read this and say, “But I have nothing to hide.” I ask you to stop and really think about what it means to lose liberty, freedom, protection from being tracked and monitored for no reason. To be unable to protest, to gather, to speak your mind without penalty…  can you still not care?

Food for thought I hope.

My Magical Toilet Paper Holder

For 2.5 years I’ve lived without a tiny, metal tube to hold my toilet paper. Both of my children learned how to use a potty without this magical tube. My husband says he never even noticed we didn’t have one.

And then, just a few months ago…we got one. My toilet paper holder is fantastic. It’s silver, stream-lined and conveniently located right next to my toilet. No more searching about for where someone has put the roll. No more fishing it out of the toilet bowl when one of the little ones has slippery fingers. Best of all, it lifts upward so I can slide a new roll of toilet paper right on without messing about with springs and holes. I’ve never felt so happy as I do these days, ripping off a piece of toilet paper from my magical toilet paper holder.

My husband still hasn’t figured out how to use it since I’ve often come across an empty roll on the holder, but that’s a whole other blog.

It’s Not Worth the Fight

Some kids come to school in Tea brand clothes, other Gap or J.Crew or my favorite, little Mini Boden. Regardless of the label, the children look groomed and coiffed and put together as only amply fed and much-loved children can. But I’m bucking the trend. To hell with that preppy, adorable look. Today, I’m sending the kids to school in something different.

My daughter is wearing a moth-eaten dress that used to be my mother’s. It’s been around since the dinosaurs and some might say it looks…worn.

My son is wearing his pajamas. The same ones he’s worn since Friday and won’t take off.

In the past I’ve cajoled. I’ve pleaded. I’ve demanded sternly with consequences. And all it results in is tears and chaos. So I’m going with the flow.

Bring on the random clothes, the weird outfits, the strange and the marvelous…I’m down with it. It’s just not worth the fight.

A Look at Schoolhouse Electric

When it came time to install lighting in our new home, I knew that I wanted something vintage-inspired for the backhouse. Something that was cool and easy. Something that you wouldn’t even notice, but you’d still get the sense of hey, I want to hang-out in here.  Enter Schoolhouse Electric. Out of Portland, Oregon, everything that Schoolhouse was making at the time fit into the aesthetic I was looking for.

Schoolhouse Electric & Supply Co.

Now, a few years later, they’ve expanded their brand into art, furniture and design. It’s a perfect storm for the posh hipster.

Keeping Up with the Jones’

In the 1950’s something called ‘Planned Obolescence’ was built into the American economy. It’s no coincidence that this happened at the same time as the advertising boom we’ve all come to love via Mad Men. Planned Obolescence “is a policy of planning or designing a product with an artificially limited useful life, so it will become obsolete, that is, unfashionable or no longer functional after a certain period of time.” And if you still don’t understand what I’m talking about, take a look at your Apple iPhone.  Just what model do you have?

Planned Obolescence also applies to fashion, automobiles, appliances, technology obviously and just about everything you can think of. It’s a trap that leave us wanting more-more newer-newer as old products give way to something “better.” But is it better? Is that new $2000 coat really any warmer than the one you already have? Does the new dishwasher really make your dishes any cleaner?

I know so many people in debt because of this consumer trap.

So watch out for those feelings of needing to keep up with everybody around you. Maybe it’s cooler to just say no.

A New Year, A New Point of View

This is the year I’m slowing down. I don’t have to do it all. I don’t have to berate and chastise myself for not being the President of Google. I don’t know how to play the saxophone and I will never cure cancer.  So instead of trying to do it all – be everything to all people – run around trying to hustle 75 seconds from a minute, I ask myself, how can I be okay with where I am? With who I am?

I am an explorer. I am a writer. I am a teacher. I am a friend. I am a daughter and a wife. I am fearless. I do not look like Kate Moss and I am not part of the “it” crowd whatever that is. But I am part of the “my” crowd. My life, my footprint, my happiness, my existence, my meaning.

This year I strive to accept and find joy with where I am. To see the glass half full. To be nice to myself inside my head. And to embrace a sense of confidence and peace in being a blip in time.

I urge you to do the same. Wherever you are – stop. Breathe. Be mindful of this exact moment. And remind yourself that life is not a race, not a fight, not a competition. It’s you and me and him and her all on a journey together. And you my friend, are doing awesome!

Hillary Clinton Relationship With GMO’s – Is It True?

For awhile now I’ve admired Hillary; her stamina, her determination to play in the game, her teflon like armor.  But my admiration is waning.  No politician is free from making tough ethical choices in today’s business of politics and fundraising.  Where heavy donors equate greedy, immoral big business and shadowy, back door handshakes.  Where moral decisions are made in a compromised state of mind.  I’m speaking now about Monsanto and Hillary’s affiliation with their nasty GMO’s, animal cruelty, and chemical predilections when it comes to food and farming.  As a woman, did Hilary feel like she had to go to the dark side in order to play in pen?  Even in 2014, it’s a different game for women, a harder and less rewarding game.  But GMO’s?  Surely Hillary understands how damaging genetically modified food is for us? It feels like the Clintons began something that is destroying our health.

It’s past time for a woman in office, but I’m not sure Hillary is the one to do it. She’s strong enough and experienced enough, but her values seem askew from mine. That being said however, I do feel solidarity in our sex. Would I rather vote for a woman who will open the door for countless women to come (even if she makes decisions that seem short-sighted and self-serving) or another man who blah-blah-blah-blah-blah (these males presidents are all starting to run together for me like Leonardo DiCaprio’s model girlfriends).

I understand that the sites below all have their own bias, but it’s food for thought:

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Monsanto-and-Hillary-Clint-by-Linn-Cohen-Cole-090209-290.html

http://www.inquisitr.com/1348356/presidential-hopeful-hillary-clinton-is-pro-gmo-staunch-supporter-of-monsanto-video/

112 Weddings

Unable to relax after another very very very very very very very very very VERY long day, I watched 112 Weddings on HBO. The documentary provides a quick, but honest look at marriage through the eyes of wedding videographer, Doug Block. (who you might recognize from his more well-known, The Kids Grow Up)

Maybe it was my exhaustion, maybe it’s because I’m married, but the movie made laugh and cry. I loved seeing the different types of relationship out there and how they’re different from own…and yet exactly the same.  My favorite part is at the end during wedding #112 when Block captures the true difference between men and women. I won’t spoil it for you so just look for the part when the bride gets taken away by her womenfolk for sage advice and the groom gets the same treat. Can you already predict why this might have tickled my funny bone?

112 Weddings – I give it a happy thumbs up.