Bridgewater Soccer Mom's view of the world

As perhaps a sign to my thoughts as to what I want to write this morning, my computer screen went black and published today's entry before I even got a word beyond "think!" Is big brother watching me? Read what I am thinking and then YOU decide. This week some idiot tried to blow up a plane. People have been blowing up planes to make a point for as long as I can remember. As the saying goes "it's statistically the safest way to travel". I haven't checked the statistics, but I admit I feel pretty safe. Usually. I've had a few incidents over the years where I was terrified, but for the most part I know that it is more likely that I'll die on the way to the airport than in the air. In the car, we are usually distracted as we speed up I 78, in a panic about making a flight - or worrying about what we forgot - or calling the neighbor to make sure we closed the garage door (twice we've forgotten!). That is probably more dangerous than anyth

It's that time of year... the presents are opened and we have started to unpack from the bi-annual Christmas trip to the in-laws, but it's too close to Christmas to take down all signs of yuletide. My mother-in-law kindly shared with me her handmade santa collection hand made by a relative as well as many hearts that MIL sewed back when she was a stay-at-homer like me (I imagine). I've already put them out for all to enjoy. It is time to think about 2010. I'll turn 40 this year. I'm still mostly a stay-at-home Mom. I am also quite messy. I am slightly overweight (at least according to WiiFit who still claims "That's overweight" when it has been "measuring"). I'm disorganized. I'm confused. I'm sure there are lots of other things to fix. But in general I am also happy in this disorganized life. I like that, unlike most people I know, I am happy to blow off household duties to be with my friends. I'm glad that when my kids

Hello dear readers! It's late. Everyone else is sleeping. I'm watching the snow fall as I enjoy this peaceful & clean house. I'm not. Instead if panic I am enjoying the tree and being grateful for all I have. I have a wonderful family, incredible friends and a lot of love in my life. I am so blessed with material comforts that I wouldn't know where to begin. Do let me just say the minimum. I'm grateful for this warm and peaceful living room to keep me safe from terrors of the world. I'm loving this tree with the beautiful decorations. MIL and FIL bought it. C and her cousins trimmed it. N added the star with loving help from TÅ. Merry Christmas, my readers both near, dear and anonymous! I wish you happiness in 2010!

OK - so here it goes... today is the shortest day of the year and as usual I have too many things to do. But let's look at the busy weekend instead of stressing about what return got made and what return got forgotten.... and which gifts I want to get, even though I proclaimed myself as done on Friday. We finally got snow this weekend. It was one of the only times I couldn't use my favorite expression, "this state doesn't know from snow!"when forecasters predict a lot on our way. I spent the weekend doing some of my favorite things. N tested for his "high red belt" (1 before black!), then dinner with 2 girl friends, followed by a party, then on Saturday watched C at black belt testing - she didn't test, but was there to be an opponent to others who were. Then I came home, shoveled the driveway - which ended up being a colossal waste of time because it snowed more than I expected through the night - made gingerbread dough, made a great dinner. W

Tomorrow night I am invited to a party where the theme is 80's prom. I am a bit anxious over the whole thing. It is like High School revisited. Unlike in the 1980s, I don't have a date. My husband is refusing to go - and would really be even more adamant about not taking me if he realized the theme was prom.  I can't wear my prom dress... and feel like it is a competition to be able to wear your prom dress from 1980-whatever (although I am guessing lots of the women there went to prom in the 70s). It makes the fact that I am almost 50 pounds more than I was the night of my prom feel even worse when lots of them aren't. And, thanks to the wonderful world of evites I see that I am the ONLY guest going stag. All my insecurities from high school came rushing back to me tonight. Should I go to a party that is making me feel so bad about myself? But shouldn't I have the maturity to muster up the balls to show up to something without a date, if for no other reason to

Originally I was going to blog about Christmas cards. Who is more important - the author or the target audience? (E.g. if you are Christian do you send a Happy Hanukkah card to Jewish friends or do you just send Christmas cards because *you* are Christian it's a greeting from you. Or do you send the watered-down, PC Happy Holidays cards? (I send Merry Christmas - mostly the Ho Ho Ho Santa'ish type)). And then there is the question of a letter. Apparently EVERYTHING is bad form. If you include pictures - if you don't. If you write a letter you are bragging about what you did, and if you don't take the time to write a letter others consider you lazy! This year I had a grammatical error and my pictures upset someone else inadvertently. 'nuf said! I have enough self-inflicted criticism, I don't need to obsess about this! Luckily something else came up for me to think about so that I don't spend another evening thinking about all the (real or imaginary) reasons

Columbine, here?

Once in a while I wish I were somewhere else. This week it was Oslo and Copenhagen. Are you surprised? Probably not. I loved Barak's speech - the way he faced the irony head on. Here are pictures from the Norwegian press of the Obama's visiting the King's castles in Oslo. http://www.vg.no/bildespesial/spesial.php?id=7272 Here are pictures of the demonstrations ("down with A-Bombs" "End American imperialism" etc.) But the torches at the later pictures are Pro-Obama images! http://www.vg.no/bildespesial/spesial.php?id=7271 Here are pictures from the event itself. Most often it isn't helpful that I know Norway... but this week it was!

I went to church yesterday. The minister talked about a near-miracle he had seen by the patience of bank tellers dealing with the poor and infirm in a meaningful way in Somerville last week. He was impressed that even the people in line around him weren't freaking out by a 30 minute wait. He linked it to the week's readings, so maybe it wasn't quite the stretch I thought.... A few weeks ago I was at Somerset Pediatrics with N. It was an appointment to discuss something, not a regular physical, nor a sickness check. The doctor was fantastic! She really listened to me. She observed N and spent a lot of time with us. When we were leaving, I realized that she'd taken nearly 40 minutes with us and I felt very well cared for! As we returned to the waiting room, the woman who had been sitting next to me with her sick son was complaining loudly about the wait - giving me a dirty look - and ranted about how this took too long. I turned to the nurse and asked her to thank the

I knew that if I turned on NPR or read a paper I'd be back in the thick of it. I haven't looked at any BRRSD issues this week, but I don't like what I'm seeing in the papers. First of all - who cares about whether or not Tiger Woods was unfaithful or if he was fighting with his wife about it? Apparently lots of People ! I also don't care about wedding crashers who sneak themselves into the White House. I don't want to know their names (just like I don't want to know the name of the stupid guy with the hot air balloon stunt), or their motives. Isn't sneaking into the White House a felony???? Crashing a wedding with extra good food a the local Marriott is actually just a little ballsy... but as of today I've never done it (we once had a buffet at a restaurant in Spain that apparently was part of an all inclusive breakfast package at a hotel where we weren't staying... oops). I am not happy about troop escalations in Afghanistan . Not because