Mrs. Bad Example

Here is my Simpson's Avatar. She's got a twitchy eye.



My eye is twitching because I have been a maniac attempting to keep the place spotless for showings. As you probably know, we recently put our house on the market. This action has impressed upon me the importance of decluttering and dusting. I was doing quite well until 2 days ago. That's when my bathroom sink was on the newly cleaned carpet of my newly cleaned master bedroom awaiting a cold water stem and a special piece of metal that would secure the pedestal sink bowl securely to the wall of the bathroom. Apparently the cold water stem that we needed can't be found in any Home Depot and very few hardware stores. We found the part we needed in an Ace Hardware store in Aston, PA. Good Neighbor Leftist was able to fashion the piece of metal to secure the sink from a piece of metal found in Troll's toolbox.

Meanwhile, I am tackling the closets. It is not for the faint of heart. We have 10 years of crap in those closets and Troll is a pack rat. He's sick, man, sick. I have had to enlist the assistance of my Mother In Law to deal with his insanity in the basement and garage. He gets mean and it doesn't faze MIL - - she just threatens him with a broom until he throws the broken stuff away. I'm too tired to do that crap.

The girls are wonderful and actually very long suffering throughout this ordeal. Enter Grizzly Mama - the Mrs. Bad Example of the title of this entry. We as parents sometimes forget that the little ones are watching every single thing we do. They don't forget and the worst part (sometimes) is that they will emulate the parent. Not a good idea lately. I have been cussing entirely too much. I am unhappy and worried and bloated and PMS'ing much too often due to the little 'change' that we all know happens to women of my age. It sucks.

I have decided that there is a very good reason that my house is dusty and cluttered. Here it is: I would rather enjoy spending time with my kids reading and talking and finding answers to burning questions and sitting out on the porch b.s.ing with the neighbor moms while the kids play and have a good time. It's just not WORTH it to stress about the frigging dust. My God! One could dust every single day and the next day the frigging dust is there again. It just doesn't stay un-dusty. One could find it a full time job secretly throwing away Troll's insane, broken keepings in the basement, closets and garage. As if it's not a full enough time job keeping the kids cleaned, fed and in clean clothes with clean beds and getting that curriculum done and running them to all the activities that they are involved in and getting them settled at night at fairly the same time or so.

I would rather have a dusty, cluttered house than have this clean, spotless, and shining, uncluttered house and the effort it takes to keep it that way leaving me as Mrs. Bad Example.

I know it has to be done. Those closets are going to need to be cleaned out and that crap in the basement needs to be gone through, sorted, thrown out and stored again. We can't move all that crap. It would be crazy.

*twitch*

Aesop's Fable Friday

The Archer and the Lion

An archer went up into the hills to have some sport with his bow, and all the animals fled at the sight of him with the exception of the Lion, who stayed behind and challenged him to fight.

The Archer shot an arrow at the Lion and hit him, and said, "There, you see what my messenger can do: just you wait a moment and I'll tackle you myself."

The Lion, however, when he felt the sting of the arrow, ran away as fast as his legs could carry him.

A Fox, who had seen it all happen, said to the Lion, "Come, don't be a coward: why don't you stay and fight?"

But the Lion replied, "You won't get me to stay, not you: why, when he sends a messenger like that before him, he must himself be terrible to deal with."

Moral of the story: Give a wide berth to those who can do damage at a distance.

(Which reminds me of those cool remote controlled bombing drones that we are making use of in the theatre of war...)

Grizzly Review - 'A Short History of Nearly Everything'

This lovely, and hefty, book was written by Bill Bryson. Yes, I know that I was supposed to read the third book about the Danes invasion of England, but it still wasn't available at the library. This was. I finished it - thanks to swimteam practice and the fact that I can actually read at the pool while the girls are playing with their little friends. They only bother me to get something to eat, or tell me that they're going to the girls room, or heading to the playground. It's the most free time I've had in ages, honey.

Anyhoo, my husband The Troll had heard rave reviews on some talk radio show. I spotted it - and it was mine. (for two weeks and then two more...)

This author was bothered by unanswered questions. As I am. I have a little catalog of burning questions in a file somewhere in my brain and when I get an answer to one of them - well - it gets shunted to some other area of my brain where it is promptly forgotten. Grizzly Mama is getting old - the synapses just aint what they used to be.

Where to begin? This man goes into just about everything from quarks to The Big Bang theory. From measuring the mass of Earth to Plate Tectonics. From the vastness of the universe to the layers of our planet. From Darwin to Oceans and more. He does so with keen wit and good humor. You'll love this little education - I know I did and I thank Bill Bryson for thinking of writing this book. He was able to travel the globe interviewing many experts who, by the way, seem to have the same keen wit. God bless them all, that's what I say! Awfully good of them to make this knowledge available to us, especially since we've been saddled with this crappy government education.

I leave you with a few examples of Mr. Bryson's take on things and I highly recommend that you read the book.

"Even now as a species we are almost preposterously vulnerable in the wild. Nearly every large animal you can care to name is stronger, faster, and toothier than us."

"Life, it turns out, is infinitely more clever and adaptable than anyone had ever supposed. This is a very good thing, for as we are about the see, we live in a world that doesn't altogether seem to want us here."

"The good news, it appears, is that it takes an awful lot to extinguish a species. The bad news is that the good news can never be counted on. Worse still, it isn't actually necessary to look to space for petrifying danger."

The book is just chock full of goody-goodness and the realization hits that we are but vulnerable specks floating through so vast a universe that is hard to even comprehend, on a tumultuous and often unpredictable planet. The book also illustrates the fits and starts of the human race in our attempts to discover the amazing-ness of it all. The fights and politics of that scientific discovery can often be hilarious and sometimes tragic. How he kept it all straight, and then presented it with some semblance of order, I just don't know. But kudos to him - he did good.

Read the book. I am going to purchase it and stick it on the girls' curriculum.

Grizzly Mama is a Rockin' Girl Blogger!

Karen, of The Thomas Institute has very kindly awarded the 'Rockin' Girl Blogger' award to me.

Here is how pretty it is:






Karen is a homeschooling mother somewhere in the wilds of Texas. Don't Mess With Texas, y'hear?!

Thank you Karen!

Now I get to pick some people to pass the award on to. And here they are:

Tweetey from NBR's Spot.

Zendo Deb from TFS Magnum.

Skye from Ancora Imparo.

Tshsmom from Homeschooling Our Tourettes Kid.

Little Miss Chatterbox from Conservatism with Heart.

Denise from Fast Times @ Homeschool High.

You are some Rockin' Girl Bloggers!!

Alright you Rockin' Girl Bloggers, starting handing that award out like candy!

House Hunting

Over the last several weeks we have been checking out some different areas. We checked New Jersey - it's out. Sorry Jersey! Gun laws suck, there's a liberal in charge in that state, taxes are high, they're smoking nazies. Plus - come on! Jersey??!

Delaware and Maryland next. Anything in Maryland close enough for a commute was way out of our price range. Delaware looked good - and then we refined the search to exclude mobile homes. What little was left was nice (low taxes, too!) but most were on a slab. I need my house to dig into the earth. Need a good anchor. Sorry Delaware and Maryland!

So. It's out to the sticks in PA. One house - cute as could be - looked great on paper. We drove out to take a look at the neighborhood and there it was. Nice yard. However there were freight train tracks directly across the street and about 100 yards down to the end of the street was a HUGE sign. It said, 'Siren will sound one minute before explosion!' Explosion?! I think there might have been a quarry back in there. We've found some real gems, lemme tell ya. Most everything in our price range is grotesque. The near suburbs around Philly, the housing market is just crazy. Twins with no land for a quarter of a million dollars??? Four and five thousand dollars a year for property tax on top of it?? Forget that.

Gotta go further out. You know, Pennsylvania is a beautiful state once you get out of Philly. I grew up in the Rockies and that is a different type of beauty. It's wild and craggy and dry and huge. Here in PA it's rolling hills alternating with fields and woods. Thick woods. Everything is green and lush and round.

So - anyhoo. We went to see a house way the hell out there. All stone construction, 2 full baths, almost a half acre of land. What a friggin mess it is though. It's in our price range and hopefully what we are thinking of offering on it will be taken by the seller. It needs about $12,000 worth of work right off the bat. Taxes are real low - about $900.00 p/year. We filled the truck up with gas while we were out there - 18 cents less per gallon than the cheapest place around here. Car insurance would probably be cut in half.

Our house is going up next Monday. Saint Joseph is ready to be buried in the garden. We are decluttering like crazy - got the basement and garage cleared out this weekend and the girls winter clothes stored. I'm going to work on my clothes now. Then it's up early to swim practice, then library stuff and then a swim meet.

Grizzly Mama is tired! Wish us luck.

Grizzly Assessment of the Initial Benchmark Assessment Report

Please click the title to read the entire report. It's certainly not all bad news. In fact, I think identifying success and failure - with an eye to correcting the failure - is a valid exercise. It's what America does best. Let's take a quick look.

Current U.S. strategy -- the New Way Forward -- recognizes that the fulfillment of commitments by both the U.S. and Iraqi Governments will be necessary to achieving our common goal: a democratic Iraq that can govern, defend, and sustain itself, and be an ally in the War on Terror. The building of a strong strategic partnership with the Iraqi Government will be an important part of the effort to achieve this end state, which remains a long-term goal, and requires the application of all elements of national power, including especially diplomatic, economic, and political power.

I'm with 'em on this. Totally, emphatically with 'em. Now for the Congressional Benchmarks with a very important piece of the whole that we cannot, EVER, forget:

The Iraqi leaders face a challenging situation, and they and their families run great risks on a daily basis.

The Iraqi leaders are risking their very lives and fortunes to make Iraq a strong and free nation. (Sound familiar? "And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.") The Iraqi are no slouches when it comes to courage.

Onward and upward.

1. Forming a Constitutional Review Committee and then completing the constitutional review.

Assessment: The Government of Iraq has made satisfactory progress toward forming a Constitutional Review Committee (CRC) and then completing the constitutional review.

2. Enacting and implementing legislation on de-Ba’athification reform.

Assessment: The Government of Iraq has not made satisfactory progress toward enacting and implementing legislation on de-Ba’athification reform.

3. Enacting and implementing legislation to ensure the equitable distribution of hydrocarbon resources to the people of Iraq without regard to the sect or ethnicity of recipients, and enacting and implementing legislation to ensure that the energy resources of Iraq benefit Sunni Arabs, Shi’a Arabs, Kurds, and other Iraqi citizens in an equitable manner.

Assessment: The current status is unsatisfactory, but it is too early to tell whether the Government of Iraq will enact and implement legislation to ensure the equitable distribution of hydrocarbon resources to all Iraqis.

4. Enacting and implementing legislation on procedures to form semi-autonomous regions.

Assessment: The Government of Iraq has made satisfactory progress toward enacting and implementing legislation on procedures to form semi-autonomous regions.

5. Enacting and implementing legislation establishing an Independent High Electoral Commission, provincial elections law, provincial council authorities, and a date for provincial elections.

Assessment: There are multiple components to this benchmark, each deserving its own assessment:

Establishing the IHEC Commission: The Government of Iraq has made satisfactory progress toward establishing an IHEC Commission. The Commission has been established.
Elections Law: The Government of Iraq has not made satisfactory progress toward establishing a provincial elections law. Drafting of the law has just begun.
Provincial Council Authorities: The Government of Iraq has not made satisfactory progress toward establishing provincial council authorities. The COR is working on legislation, which has had its second reading; however, the COR committee continues to work on revisions to the draft law, and it remains unclear when the legislation will come to a third and final vote by the full COR.
Provincial Elections Date: The Government of Iraq has not made satisfactory progress toward establishing a date for provincial elections. Legislation required for setting the date has not been enacted.

6. Enacting and implementing legislation addressing amnesty.

Assessment: The prerequisites for a successful general amnesty are not present; however, in the current security environment, it is not clear that such action should be a near-term Iraqi goal.

7. Enacting and implementing legislation establishing a strong militia disarmament program to ensure that such security forces are accountable only to the central government and loyal to the constitution of Iraq.

Assessment: The prerequisites for a successful militia disarmament program are not present. In fact, international experts, including the U.N., have expressed reservations to advancing this proposal at the present time. The U.N. DDR Advisory Mission to Baghdad Report (April 25 - May 2, 2007) stated, “The Iraq environment makes it most unlikely that traditional DDR can take place, and planning should take this into account.” AND: The current plan and strategy calls for the passage of such legislation when the necessary conditions are present

8. Establishing supporting political, media, economic, and services committees in support of the Baghdad Security Plan.

Assessment: The Government of Iraq has made satisfactory progress toward establishing supporting political, media, economic, and services committees in support of the Baghdad Security Plan.

9. Providing three trained and ready Iraqi brigades to support Baghdad operations.

Assessment: The Government of Iraq has made satisfactory progress toward providing three trained and ready Iraqi brigades to support Baghdad operations.

10. Providing Iraqi commanders with all authorities to execute this plan and to make tactical and operational decisions in consultation with U.S. Commanders without political intervention to include the authority to pursue all extremists including Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias.

Assessment: The Government of Iraq has not made satisfactory progress toward providing Iraqi commanders with all authorities to execute this plan and to make tactical and operational decisions in consultation with U.S. Commanders without political intervention to include the authority to pursue all extremists including Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias.

11. Ensuring that Iraqi Security Forces are providing even-handed enforcement of the law.

Assessment: The Government of Iraq has not at this time made satisfactory progress in ensuring that Iraqi Security Forces are providing even-handed enforcement of the law; however, there has been significant progress in achieving increased even-handedness through the use of coalition partnering and embedded-transition teams with Iraqi Security Force units.

12. Ensuring that, as Prime Minister Maliki was quoted by President Bush as saying, “the Baghdad Security Plan will not provide a safe haven for any outlaws, regardless of [their] sectarian or political affiliation.”

Assessment: The Government of Iraq has made satisfactory progress in ensuring the Baghdad Security Plan does not provide a safe haven for any outlaws, regardless of their sectarian or political affiliations.

13. Reducing the level of sectarian violence in Iraq and eliminating militia control of local security.

Assessment: The Government of Iraq ‑‑ with substantial Coalition assistance ‑‑ has made satisfactory progress toward reducing sectarian violence but has shown unsatisfactory progress towards eliminating militia control of local security.

14. Establishing all of the planned joint security stations (JSSs) in neighborhoods across Baghdad.

Assessment: The Government of Iraq -- with substantial Coalition assistance -- has made satisfactory progress toward establishing the planned JSSs in Baghdad.

15. Increasing the number of Iraqi security forces units capable of operating independently.

Assessment: The Iraqi Government has made unsatisfactory progress toward increasing the number of Iraqi Security Forces units capable of operating independently. (However:) ISF performance has generally been adequate, particularly when units are partnered with Coalition Forces.

16. Ensuring that the rights of minority political parties in the Iraqi legislature are protected.

Assessment: The Government of Iraq has made satisfactory progress toward ensuring that the rights of minority political parties in the Iraqi legislature are protected.

17. Allocating and spending $10 billion in Iraqi revenues for reconstruction projects, including delivery of essential services, on an equitable basis.

Assessment: The Iraqi Government is making satisfactory progress in allocating funds to ministries and provinces, but even if the full $10 billion capital budget is allocated, spending units will not be able to spend all these funds by the end of 2007.

18. Ensuring that Iraq’s political authorities are not undermining or making false accusations against members of the ISF.

Assessment: The Government of Iraq has made unsatisfactory progress in ensuring that Iraq’s political authorities are not undermining or making false accusations against members of the ISF.

The special Grizzly Assessment concludes:

Progress is being made in an environment that is fraught with danger due to foreign influences with the motivation of causing deadly failure. Coalition forces, along with increasingly independent Iraqi forces, are hacking their way together through this dangerous jungle filled with snakes armed with suicide bombs. God bless them - they are doing a great job. All of them. I believe that a reassessment, which I thought I heard is slated for September of 2007, will show substantial improvement.

I understand that we need to look closely at the progress in Iraq and also categorize it. However, I am most puzzled by the demands of my Congress - as they are seemingly incapable of hacking their own way through a paper bag. How dare they stand in judgement of the real people who are putting their very real lives on the line dealing with the hellish reality of neighboring moslem dictatorships and their attempts to create chaos. I am offended by my Congress and I will not vote for any of the incumbents for a long time to come. What about our Congress and their complete lack of benchmarks?

Iraq needs more time and our support.

God Bless America. God Bless a free Iraq.

My Girls

I don't need no money, fortune, or fame.














I've got all the riches baby, a Grizzly Mama can claim.















I guess you'd say















What can make me feel this way?

My girls

Aesop's Fable Friday

The Man and His Two Sweethearts

A Man, whose hair was turning grey, had two Sweethearts, an old woman and a young one.

The elder didn't like having him look so much younger than herself; so, whenever he came to see her, she pulled the dark hairs out of his head to make him look old.

The younger didn't like him to look older than herself, and pulled out the grey hairs, to make him look young.

Between them, they left not a hair on his head, and he became perfectly bald.

Moral of the story: He who gives in to others' wants will have no principles of his own.



The Cates - of 'Why Homeschool' - were kind enough to send me an interesting link that pertains to Aesop's Fables. Apparently, a bunch of orangutans confirmed a well known Aesop's Fable about The Crow and the Pitcher. If you recall, the thirsty Crow comes across a half full pitcher of water but cannot reach it because the opening is too narrow and her beak is too short. She hits upon a clever solution to the problem, and the clever orangutans have done something very similar in real life.

Thank you to the Cates for sharing this article with us!

Happy 4th of July

And God bless America!!

Here are some pics of our big day. You've all been wanting to see the bike. My neighbor, who restores Harleys for a living, chopped up several old bikes and welded many of the pieces back together to make a bicycle built for 4! He and the girlies - along with his daughter (a homeschooled friend of the girls) - were to ride it today. It didn't quite work out. The devil is in the sprockets and chains. Plus he didn't have time to get the handle bars on. They made it about 2 blocks and it was back to the drawing board.

Here they are in the alley waiting for the final touches:


So we watched the local parade. What a trip that was. Not as big as in past years, but still a lot of fun. Maybe they will ride the bike next year in the parade.

The Grand Marshall approaches:















A band!:















A bunch of people on an old fashioned Philadelphia Trolley:


















People in our community:
















A pretty funky looking old fire truck:
















Here's a boat that's part of the river rescue guys:

















And the line of fire-trucks and ambulances was really long - they were very noisy, too. They all had their sirens on and kept honking their air horns - what a racket!!




















The elder daughter made her shirt that says, 'Honor the Stars and Stripes." The younger daughter's shirt says, 'What Part of Red, White and Blue Don't You Get?' Patriotic little imps!:

















The elder daughter chose to jump on the trampoline and the younger chose to have her face painted at the activities after the parade:


















Our fireworks were rained out - postponed until this coming Saturday evening. It poured right as we were to set off walking to the display!! We were all very tired after our lovely bbq. Pork ribs, burgers, hotdogs, potato salad, tomatos in olive oil and garlic, and corn on the cob. Yum, YUM!! Many of our neighbors were out with their families too. The kids all play together and the grownups sit around and chat. We, of course, reflect on our freedom and speak of our appreciation to the men and women who sacrificed (and still sacrifice) all.

My Favorite 'Father' - Abouna - Has Tagged Me.

I have been tagged by Abouna. He is an Orthodox Catholic Priest in the USofA. We share many similarities in our political and religious outlook on life. He is one of the few (can count on one hand..) men 'of the cloth' that I like.

1) Name your favorite band and singer. (The singer can’t be from the band): Band: The Who. Singer: Tom Petty. (Although this changes from hour to hour depending on my mood.)

2) Favorite historical politician (domestic)? (Historical = Dead): Oh dear heavens. This is tough. Ummmmmm - Thomas Jefferson. There.

3) Favorite historical politician (International)? Winston Churchill

4) You’re giving a Hollywood pitch (25 words or less) about your Blog - GO
No nonsense homeschooling mother in the City of Brotherly Love. She's got a mop and she knows how to use it.

5) Other than where you live now, what city do you like?: Santa Fe, New Mexico.

6) Favorite modern politician? (In office now): Tom Tancredo the guy believes in securing the borders.

7) Are you a Wilsonian Idealist or Nixonian Realist in foreign policy?: I am neither. From what I can gather searching the definitions of these labels, I just don't fit. I am a "Grizzly Mama - Don't Give Me Any Crap Or I'll Send My Aircraft Carriers To Your Shores" type of foreign policy gal.

8) Favorite obscure movie?: I don't know any obscure movies. Oh! Maybe - 'Where the Buffalo Roam.'

9) What is your favorite restaurant?: The Vale-Rio diner in Phoenixville, PA. Still open 24 hours a day and still have the jukeboxes at every table - and they work. (I also do adore those appetizer ribs at The Outback Steak House.) Actually - there are quite a few and it depends, once again, on my mood. I love to eat out.

10) Choose a music video on YouTube. Why that one?: I tried looking for a music video and was distracted by this video translated by MEMRI. You just have to check this out:
Muslim says God Bless America.

If you feel like answering - do!!

Have a blessed Independence Day celebration. I will post pics of the girls tomorrow evening of them marching (actually - riding a bicycle made for 5 that one of our neighbors welded together and spray painted red, white, and blue...) in the local parade if I can.