Wasting food

While we were on vacation in Florida, we went to a restaurant called CiCi's, which is an all-you-can-eat buffet of pizza, salad, and a few desserts. It was very enjoyable, the food was pretty good, and the price was extremely reasonable.

I have to admit that although I usually finish the crust, or bone, (as my sister calls it) of pizza when I eat it at home, there were so many pizzas to choose from that I left my crusts so I'd have room for other things.

I couldn't believe though, the incredible waste that was left at a table nearby us. Two women ate with three preschool-aged children, and left this. I was so appalled that I actually took a photograph of it. (Click on it to see it larger.) This is enough food to easily feed three adults!

I remember the last time the United States hosted the Olympics, I saw a story on TV about how the world's athletes were appalled to see the way the Americans wasted food; they took way more than they could eat and threw tons of it out. The image I posted here makes me appreciate that in a whole new way.

This wasn't the only table left with an unacceptable amount of leftovers, but it was by far the worst. Our society really is so very wasteful.

When I was growing up, I was encourage to eat past the point of wanting to. I was told that there were starving people in Biafra and I should eat all my food. I believe this contributed to my now inability to stop eating when I am full, and of course, my being overweight. So I encourage my children to stop eating when they've had enough. When we go to a buffet, we always take less, knowing that if we want more we can get up and get some. I get frustrated with my kids on those very rare occasions when they take more than they can eat.

This really made me so sad. And I'm guessing the laws are like those here in CT; the restaurant is not allowed to put all that perfectly good food aside and give it to the homeless, they have to throw it out.

If I knew the names of the women who left this mess, or thought to get their car's license plate number, I'd post it here. This was disgraceful.

Why Homeschool

"Why don't we get the best out of people? Sir Ken Robinson argues that it's because we've been educated to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers. Students with restless minds and bodies -- far from being cultivated for their energy and curiosity -- are ignored or even stigmatized, with terrible consequences. 'We are educating people out of their creativity,' Robinson says. It's a message with deep resonance. Robinson's TEDTalk has been distributed widely around the Web since its release in June 2006. The most popular words framing blog posts on his talk? 'Everyone should watch this."



If you haven't seen it, you should check it out. I saw it a while ago, but am glad to have seen it again; it reminds me that E is special in his own right.

Happy Thanksgiving

I am grateful for my friends who choose to know me and secretly see my snarky side and still let me be part of their lives.
...............Jamie Lee Curtis


To all of you who understand this as it relates to me, Thank You.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

10 Favorite Quotes...on being true to yourself

Don't compromise yourself. You are all you've got.
...............Janis Joplin


I have no regrets. I wouldn't have lived my life the way I did if I was going to worry about what people were going to say.
...............Ingrid Bergman


I'm tough, ambitious, and I know exactly what I want. If that makes me a bitch, okay.
...............Madonna


I'm not going to limit myself just because people won't accept the fact that I can do something else.
...............Dolly Parton


Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.
...............Lucille Ball


I was thought to be "stuck-up". I wasn't. I was just sure of myself. This is and always has been an unforgivable quality to the unsure.
...............Bette Davis


Be bold. If you're going to make an error, make a doozy, and don't be afraid to hit the ball.
...............Billie Jean King


What a lovely surprise to discover how unlonely being alone can be.
...............Ellen Burstyn


It took me a long time not to judge myself through someone else's eyes.
...............Sally Field


It's me who is my enemy
Me who beats me up
Me who makes the monsters
Me who strips my confidence.
...............Paula Cole

5 Favorite Links

SwapaCD
How it works:

• You have original, playable CDs that you do not want to keep.
• You post those CDs to your "CD Tower" to offer to other members
• You add funds to your SwapaCD Money account (this pays the 49-cent transaction fee for each CD you request)
• After you have posted the first 10 CDs to your CD Tower, you get a "gift" credit from SwapaCD to get you started swapping. After that, you earn credits by sending out CDs to others.
• You may order any available CD for 1 credit each (even multidisc or boxed sets)
• If you want a CD that is not currently available, you can place it on your Wish List and we will notify you by email when it is available for you to order. You can even have it sent to you automatically when it becomes available, with no email necessary.
• When a CD is requested from you, we notify you by email, provide the address for you to send it out, and even provide a wrapper!
• Wrap and mail your CD.
• When the requestor receives it, you earn 1 credit. Yes, you pay the postage to send out your CDs, but when you request a CD, the sender ships it to you and you pay only the 49-cent transaction fee (plus 1 CD credit)!
• The CDs you receive from SwapaCD are yours. We hope that you will repost them to share with other members when you have read them, but you can certainly keep them, or give them away. Similarly, the CDs you send out to others belong to their new owners.

If you decide to give SwapaCD a try, I hope you will use the link above. Once you post your 10 CD's I get a free credit!

The Huffington Post
We don't have broadcast TV anymore. We get a really fuzzy channel 10 that none of us bother with, but nothing else. So we watch DVD's only. And my kids sometimes watch videos they borrow from the library.

I also don't get any newspapers or news magazines. So where do I get my news? The Huffington Post.


BBC News The Week in Pictures
I also get my news from the BBC. The page I love most is the week in pictures. And actually I try to look at each day in pictures. It makes the rest of the world more than just an idea.


The National Weather Service
Yeah, there are other places to get your weather. But they all get it from here.


TravelZoo
This is one mailing list you really do want to be on: "The Travelzoo Top 20 is the definitive list of the week’s best travel deals. Every week, our team researches, evaluates and recommends hundreds of airfare, hotel, vacation package, cruise and rental car deals. Only the most competitive make the Top 20. Our Test Booking Center confirms the accuracy and availability of every deal before the list goes out."

Why Homeschool?

Big Brother is watching...

Surveillance cameras rolling inside our local schools is nothing new, but what's taking place inside Demarest's public schools is truly cutting edge: a live feed from more than two dozen cameras with a direct connection to the police.

Read the whole thing here.

I quit my job

I've been freelancing for a woman for a several months now. She actually sent me home with a mac so I could work when she needs me to. It's been really wonderful to make some extra money for us, and I really do like what I do.

Recently though, my client discovered she has breast cancer. So she started farming out her work, so that she can have the next few weeks unencumbered. She gave me two jobs to work on. One for a local Chamber of Commerce, and another for a car dealership which does a weekly newspaper ad. I knew the next couple of weeks would be very full and somewhat stressful, but I felt I owed it to my client to be there for her. Plus, to be honest, all those billable hours would be really nice.

Well after several days of working on the Chamber of Commerce thing, my client added up the hours and decided it would be best to give the job back to them. Apparently even paying me at less than what she was billing, she would lose money. It was a combination of reasons, really. The customer made many changes which had not been included in the original quote, and passing the thing on further down the line meant communication was being lost; kind of like the telephone game. So I spent four hours on something before I was told that it needed to be completely redesigned, at which time I spent another four hours redesigning it. If my client had not been ill and distracted, I'm sure the information would have been passed on correctly the first time around, but that was not the case, and I spent a lot of time doing work which was wrong. So in the end she (rightly) decided it was best to give the job back to the agency and let them deal with it.

Then we have the car thing. These folks are completely unprofessional. I'm not going into the details of the whole thing, but the bottom line is they were supposed to have had the ad all approved so I could upload it to the newspaper by noon on Thursday, and Friday at 5:30 is when I was finally able to upload it.

So I told my client that I would not be able cover the car ad for her until she returned to working full time. It would make me a slave to the house on Thursdays and Fridays and wasn't fair to the boys. So Saturday morning she came and took her computer back so she could give it to someone who could cover for her.

My feelings are so mixed. Bottom line is that I made a choice to stay home and raise my children, and homeschool them, and to expect them to entertain themselves two days a week for the next several was not fair. Not to mention that we would have to cancel plans already made for those days.

I also feel frustrated that my client left feeling that I took way longer to do the work than she would have. I know this would not be the case had she been her normal self - instructions would not have been missed, and I certainly would not have had to spend the enormous amount of time I had to gathering all the files together from all the different places she had it stored. I only hope that when she is herself again that she is able to see that I am still valuable to her, and that the time I spent on all her work is justified. "If you always do your best, there is no way you can judge yourself." Man, this book rocks. It is my life preserver.

There is also a piece of me which feels proud on a couple of levels. First, I have my priorities straight. Second, I feel that car dealership and the agency who represented them really were unprofessional. I refuse to work with people who don't respect me, especially after I explained my circumstances to make sure they were okay with my time limitations.

Finally though, I am dealing with the whole money thing. It doesn't seem fair that society judges people on their worth according to their monetary worth. And that that viewpoint is so prevalent that it has rubbed off on me, even though consciously I know I what I contribute to my family is worth more than some extra money. If I could just get my husband on board with that...

Why Homeschool?

Crap, it just gets worse and worse...

Safford [Arizona] Middle School officials did not violate the civil rights of a 13-year-old Safford girl when they forced her to disrobe and expose her breasts and pubic area four years ago while looking for a drug, according to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling.

Read the whole thing here.

Why Homeschool?

In school, children have no First Amendment rights...

"In light of the history of American public education, it cannot seriously be suggested that the First Amendment 'freedom of speech' encompasses a student’s right to speak in public schools. Early public schools gave total control to teachers, who expected obedience and respect from students. And courts routinely deferred to schools’ authority to make rules and to discipline students for violating those rules…"
- Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas

Here is more of his nonsense.

Why Homeschool?

Writing “I love Alex” on a school gymnasium wall brought a 12-year-old the same punishment as if she had made terrorist threats.

Here's the full story.

Valuable Sunscreen Information

In a new investigation of 786 name-brand sunscreens, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) found widespread evidence that many products on the market are not safe and effective, including one of every eight high-SPF sunscreens that does not protect from UVA radiation...

Read more about this very important information here.

I am shocked to find some of the sunscreens I use are not only ineffective in blocking all bad rays, but are actually hazardous to my children!

I am pleased to have found the EWG website and will be looking through it more carefully very soon.

Rosie O'Donnell

I really love Rosie O'Donnell. I've liked her ever since she had her own talk show. I'm not one to watch TV much during the afternoon hours, but I'd catch it when I can. Then when she joined The View I actually started taping it (yes VHS, no TiVo here). I'd watch the episode from the day before as I got dressed each morning.

Rosie did a terrific job holding her own against Donald Trump. That whole thing was a huge fiasco. It started here with Rosie just being Rosie:


And this was the result:


Here was Rosie's response:


More from Donald:


and more:


and finally Barbara Walters chimed in:


Rosie stayed composed through the whole thing and Donald lost it. I have to throw this one in. It's off topic, but I saw it on SNL live when it showed, and it's hysterical, and Donald Trump deserves it:


Anyhow, back to the fact that I love her, and I was really sad to hear the announcement that she was not going to be returning to The View. She was a real asset and brought attention to the war when others would not. Also I felt that the format of having Elisabeth the Bush cult-member, and Rosie debating, was a great way to show the reality of what is happening out there compared to the crap GW is dishing out.

It was sad for me to watch her slowly lose her composure over the last few weeks. And I am very sad that she has left the show. I actually had the argument with Elisabeth on tape and was flabbergasted to watch it. Check it out for yourself.



I read Rosie's book Find Me. It's a fabulous book and made me fall in love with her even more. It's a terrific read whether you are a fan or not. The story she tells is definitely worth reading. And it let me in on why she was really leaving the show. As much as many of us love her and what and who she represents, she really is just a person hiding behind a mask.

Perhaps that's why I love her so much. She's me on national television: a fat woman with a big heart who grew up in New York and keeps sticking her foot in her mouth.

As I read the book I kept folding corners of pages over to return to. Who would've thought that Rosie O'Donnell would have quotes worth remembering?

Two of my favorites:

"There are things that happen in your own life that you'll never resolve; you just keep shaping and reshaping them like a sculptor."

"Fat is a protector; anyone can tell you that. I didn't like being 'thin'. I felt like people could come too close."

The book is full of them. It's so easy to see why people love her. And why so many keep in touch.

Why Homeschool?

Bullies.

Why Homeschool?

The video and sound fall out of sync along the way, so just listen.

The Four Agreements

I had been frustrated with some of the relationships in my life the last few weeks. So when I joined Paperback Swap I put The Four Agreements on my wish list. Somehow, even though there were two other people wishing for that book ahead of me, the book was sent to me, and from someone in the next town over, so it arrived in two days. It's amazing how when we really need something it shows up.

This book is like a bible to me. It's like therapy without having to spend years getting to the crux of the matter. I can't speak highly enough of it. I had borrowed it from a friend and read it once before, but owning it is great. I can fold over pages and go back and read my favorite passages over and over.

I'm going to list some of my favorite passages here. The ones that are helping me put myself back in order this time around.

"Being impeccable with your word is not using the word against yourself. If I see you in the street and I call you stupid, it appears that I'm using the word against you. but really I'm using my word against myself, because you're going to hate me for this, and your hating me is not good for me. Therefore, if I get angry and with my word send all that emotional poison to you, I'm using the word against myself."

"Your opinion is nothing but your point of view. It is not necessarily true."

"Nothing other people do is because of you. It is because of themselves. All people live in their own dream, in their own mind; they are in a completely different world from the one we live in. When we take something personally, we make the assumption that they know what is in our world, and we try to impose our world on their world."

"Whatever you think, whatever you feel, I know it is your problem and not my problem. It is the way you see the world. It is nothing personal, because you are dealing with yourself, not with me. Others are going to have their own belief system, so nothing they think about me is really about me, but it is about them."

"If you get mad at me, I know you are dealing with yourself. I am the excuse for you to get mad."

"Humans are addicted to suffering at different levels and to different degrees, and we support each other in maintaining these addictions. Humans agree to help each other suffer. If you have the need to be abused you will find it easy to be abused by others. Likewise, if you are with people who need to suffer, something in you makes you abuse them. It is as if they have a note on their back that says 'Please kick me'. They are asking for justification for their suffering. Their addiction to suffering is nothing but an agreement that is reinforced every day."

"If others are not treating you with love and respect, it is a gift if they walk away from you."

"If others feel they have to change you, that means they don't love you just the way you are. So why be with someone if you're not the way he or she wants you to be?"

"If you always do your best there is no way you can judge yourself."

These passages speak to me on different levels. I can see myself as both the person thinking others cause her pain, and the person thinking she causes others'. It has been a huge weight off my shoulders to know I'm not responsible for what other people think, even in response to something I may have done. It's also making it a lot easier to "forgive" people for things, because I now know that what they did was not because of me.

I can only control how I look at things. And doing a good job of it makes life so much more heartening. I know that through all of my challenges in all of my relationships, I have truly tried my best. My best to be a good friend, my best to open up and let people in, and my best to use words to express myself as clearly as I'm capable of. So I therefore can't judge myself. And that's a huge load off my mind.

I have been living at peace for the last week or so and it feels really good. I hope to stay here for a long time. And hopefully it will be easier now that I own the book.

I have even made my other blog public again.