Campaign signs. Sure, the candidates will have them posted on every available surface. That’s just what they do. But…here’s my hang-up….why, oh why do everyday people feel the need to post signs in their yard? Or put stickers on their car? Or tattoo it on their foreheads?

I understand feeling strongly about certain issues. I do! I really, really, reallllly do! But at the same time, I realize that when it comes down to it, nobody cares what my stance is. My opinions, in the long run, are not going to affect theirs. I don’t post signs in my yard that state my feelings.

I feel like some people think having an opinion on the election somehow makes them seem more intelligent or more educated. Hey Bubba….that campaign sign doesn’t raise your IQ. I really hope that each sign posted has come from someone who has a good, thorough understanding of the issues and the candidate’s plans concerning those issues.

If posting publicly makes people feel that they’re making a difference, then great! Good! However…my stance on your stance is:

A) While I do care about the outcome of the election, I do not care one iota what your stance is.

B) Seeing that thing stuck in your sod out front is not going to sway my opinions on the issues.

And, after talking to friends and family about this, I find they have similar views.

I guess what I’m saying will have just as little effect on the world as the campaign yard signs do. But, I just really needed to say that. So thank you.

Now….while I try to digest the fact that while election day is looming over us like a dark cloud and I still get sick when I picture myself actually reaching my hand out at the ballot and voting for either candidate, maybe I’ll go drive around the neighborhood and see which one of them has the most signs out.

**Disclaimer for my ranting: I love you all even if you have campaign junk posted. What I really care about when it comes down to it is how we’re going to survive this mess we’ve gotten ourselves into. Let’s all do our best to conserve where we can and work together on bring our USA back to good. Signs and all ; )

Everyone in the crowd was quickly coming to realize that they didn’t trust either candidate enough to put themselves at risk like that…..and, in turn, realizing that they didn’t trust either of them enough to put their vote of good faith toward that candidate. Over the course of the dream, the general emotion went from excitement to dread to panic to just plain depression. It was a heavy blanket of realization laying upon these people as they accepted that neither candidate earned their trust.

So….it doesn’t take tea leaves, palm reading or a crystal ball to figure out where I stand on this election. During the presidential debate last night, I wasn’t sure whether to laugh, cry, vomit, or take my family and move deep into the mountains never to be seen by other human eyes again. At least the VP debate made me laugh a little. Then again, McCain did take a stab at a hair plug joke. Ugh.

I just hope that after I vote, I won’t sickly regret my decision. I hope that the lesser of the two evils is voted into office….and I hope that we all survive it. I hope that our country can heal itself in so many areas and earn back the trust of its citizens and countries around the world.

Oh….and when can we dispose of this electoral college b.s.?

This one was originally pretty washed out, so I brightened, saturated and sharpened it a bit to bring it to life. I had to fight off some shadows on her face to show off that funny little expression…

This one, aside from being cropped, isn’t touched at all with Photoshop. The light made me happy and her expression is just very Elliott. I like it from my Mom-of-Elliott point of view.

The desaturated background in this one was actually an accident at first, as I meant to click ‘hue/saturation’ rather than ‘desaturate’. But….I liked the accident and went with it.

Yeah, I saw you.  I saw you as you sat with your friends on the Starbucks patio enjoying your morning coffee.  I saw you as you watched the lovely breeze toss your napkin off of your table on onto the ground.  I watched your half-hearted attempt to rise from your chair and make a grab for the napkin…and then your decision to just let it go and sit back down.  Had the napkin been blowing away in a blustery wind, that would have been understandable.  But instead, the napkin lay just feet from you and didn’t move again.  But, it was already gone from your mind as you chatted and laughed with your buddies.  I thank you for leaving one more piece of trash lying aroudnd to pollute our beautiful planet.  Your goofy conversation was far more important than the planet.  Right?

I’m disappointed.  Not just in you, but in everything you represent.  The idea that so many people are too lazy to get off of our fat American butts, squat down and pick up their trash is so very disturbing to me.  Our society has become so self-absorbed that they can’t be bothered to exert themselves for a mere couple of seconds.  It saddens me so.

While I was still feeling the sting from witnessing your napkin drop, I saw another incident that upset me just as much.  A woman was walking through the mall with her lidless soda and a bit of her drink sloshed out onto the mall floor.  She turned, looked at the spill, hesitated as if to decide what should be done….and then just continued walking.  Her indifference nauseated me.  What if a child slipped and fell and busted a head, tooth or nose?  Or somebody’s grandmother slipped, broke a hip and was doomed to life in a nursing home?  But it’s okay….because that soda-spiller’s mission in the mall was far more important than someone else’s well-being.

Perhaps you know her?  Maybe you guys had a Meeting of Indifferent Minds that morning and planned your disregard for the world around you?

I would like to introduce you to another man who crossed my path days later.  His name is ‘That homeless guy that’s always on the corner’.  I’m sure you’ve seen him.  Maybe you should introduce yourself, for I think he might have something to teach you.

As I sat at the redlight, he crossed the street on the far side from me.  I watched him and wondered about his life…and then I saw him go around a car, the long way to his destination.  What was he doing?  He was moving a car bumper out of the road so noone would damage their car hitting it or have a wreck while dodging it.  I’m pretty sure he didn’t do this for his own benefit, as he doesn’t drive.  He did it for others without hesitating for a moment to decide if it would put him out a few seconds of his life.

The urge I had to get out of my car and thank him strongly rivaled the urge I had that morning at Starbucks to get out of my car and go shove your discarded napkin down your throat.

Your fellow human being,

Abbie

This afternoon I was out weeding my garden (which is coming along so nicely, by the way) and I got to witness the interaction between a meddlesome cat and a mockingbird protecting its nest.  I can’t help but laugh every time I get to see this go down.  The cat is all cool and minding his cat business when suddenly there’s a mean ol’ mockingbird swooping down and screaming at the cat to stay away from those birdie babies!  Man, they can get vicious and man, is it funny to watch a cat run, jump and twist away from that angry bird.  Joke’s on the bird though, because this same cat took another mockingbird out of midair the other day.  I didn’t witness it, but my neighbor tells me that one second the bird is swooping and putting on its mean act and the next….the cat is having dinner.  Man, do I love nature.

I had the opportunity while I was in the garden to get to know my neighbors’ daughter, who is about my age.  Turns out we have a whole lot of things in common and it was so refreshing to find someone so close to home with the same outlook on so many things.  Who would have guessed a new friend was right here under my nose for the past 9 months.  We both breastfeed past a year, have co-slept with our babies, cloth diapered our babies, wear our babies….it goes on and on.  As rarely as I get out and meet people, it was just really fun to find a friend right next door.

We continued our outdoor day with cooking out.  Shayne and I are one mean burger-makin’ team.  Tonight’s burgers were possibly some of the best I’ve ever tasted!  Yay us!

I’m sad that the truly enjoyable weather is almost gone.  We’re supposed to hit 100 degrees on Monday and stay in mid to upper 90s the rest of the week.  Welcome, summer.  I look forward to you baking my grass dry as a bone, killing my garden and making my car seats capable of 3rd degree burns!

For those of you who haven’t seen it….this is a fun little video…

I can’t WAIT to get this!!!! This does take the place of a gym membership…..right???

I’m about to head out to the post office to ship out clips and then we’re going to scope out possible locations for Alex’s upcoming birthday party. He’s going to be 6, wants a Transformers cake and party and plans to invite his entire class. We’ve got an enormous yard and plenty of room for a big crowd of kids and parents…but I just can’t picture dozens of people trampling in and out of the house to use the bathroom. See, Shayne and I don’t cope well with messes and/or chaos within the walls of our home. So, back to today…we’re scoping out party venues and avoiding Chuck E. Cheese like the plague it is.

One thing I haven’t told you all about is my tendency to have very odd and random dreams. Night after night, my brain amazes me with the whacked out stuff it amuses itself with at night. Last night…goats. Freakishly large ones. See, in my dream we were at out my mother’s house in the country and spotted a couple of beautiful little fawns out in the treeline. In an effort to see them better, we went out on her back porch and sat quietly. Well, apparently I was dreaming in Disney mode because they began to approach us out of curiosity…but! As they drew nearer, we notice they were no longer fawns, but goats. The nearer they came, the larger they came and by the time they reached us they were horse-sized goats. Now that is disturbing stuff. Know why? Because there’s one more thing you don’t know about it…and it’s that goats give me bigtime heebie-jeebies. (What’s up with those eyes???) The dream was rather uneventful after that…just these freakish horse-sized creepy goats staring us down with an alien-like presence. And nobody found that unsettling but me. Silly old me.

Happy weekend, everyone!

Guys who wear their jeans so huge and so low, that they literally have to hold them up while walking…sometimes this even requires both hands. Sounds like a very efficient way to shop to me.

People who walk with a limp on purpose because it makes them look cool. Or tough. Or like a halfwit. Whatever look they’re going for. I’m still not sure on that one…

Nascar shirts. Especially the ones that look like they haven’t been washed in 4.7 years. Oh and by the way….they weren’t intended to double as maternity fashion.

Bangs riding high and stiff, proud of their 1980s heritage.

Families that travel in packs. You’ll see a couple, their kids maybe, 3 maiden aunts, 2 great-uncles and a grandmother…and they just came for a loaf of bread. Do you really have that little to do with your life? I’m all about family time, but really…?

There was a woman there carrying a baby that was approximately 3 months old. The woman was wearing a tank top and shorts…and enormous bear paw slippers. I have 2 hang-ups with this one. A) How dangerous is it to navigate in those huge things while precariously balancing a tiny baby on your shoulder? B) Were they ANY easier to put on than, say…a pair of flip-flops?

Parents who actually go INTO the school cafeteria in the morning in their pajamas. Really? I understand rushed mornings. I do. My thoughts: If you can’t get dressed in time to go in public, then stay in your car and just drop your child off. OR…perhaps take the extra time to get ready while your child eats breakfast at home instead.

Back to Wal-Mart. I have to hit upon the slack jaw/blank stare once more. The severity of this occurrence seems to vary from town to town, but there’s never a shortage of it in any Wal-Mart. You’ve seen them…these people, they wander slowly around, expressionless…except for the jaw hanging loosely open. Are they even aware of where they are? Or why they came? Or were they just transplanted directly into Wal-Mart from another planet and are experiencing sensory overload as they experience the…the…the…nirvana that is Wal-Mart? Just step aside, people. The rest of us have a common goal…get in and get out. ASAP.

Let’s take this outside. To the parking lot, to be specific. When those people who worked so hard and long on constructing that said lot painting those pretty lines on the asphalt…it was for your benefit. Not only do they guide you in which direction you should be driving, but they also tell you exactly where to place your vehicle. It was really very kind of them. Yet people disrespect the asphalt painters and without fail, you find 45% of people cannot muster the effort to park between those perfect lines.

Couples that wear matching clothes. On purpose. And think they’re cute.

I’ve noticed several cases of 40-50 year old men tucking wife-beater shirts into their high-waisted jeans that taper down to their hiking boots. Wow.

Well, me oh my. Upon reading this, I find that it sounds an awful lot like a rant. I try to not rant as much as possible…but Wal-Mart can be quite inspiring.

I ran in (it’s cold!), went straight to the spool I needed and was on my way to check out when I saw a very familiar face headed for the same checkout line. Had my chauffeur not been anxiously awaiting my return, this would have been one of those run-ins I would have avoided by abrubtly turning down a floral aisle and ducking until the coast was clear, but today was not a day that I had that luxury. I put on a smile and said a big hello to her…..Miss Popularity from my school days. From kindergarten to senior year, she ruled as ‘the popular girl’. She was pretty, sweet, smart and oh-so-perfect. Always. The kind of girl you couldn’t help but like…and resent a little. She looked fabulous…as always. She flashed a big smile and we made small talk as we waited in line. She had had a new baby girl since the last time I saw her, so that gave us something to chat about other than the ‘What have you been doing for the past 13 years?’ weirdness that nobody wants to get into. We had completely run out of things to say and were standing there at risk of a highly awkward moment of silence when we both blurted out, “Hey, we should get together some time and let the girls play!”

Really?

Yes, we had been friends. We cheered together (shhh! Don’t EVER speak of that again! ) and had sleepovers, but we just never had that type of friendship that just clicked. So now, 13 years later, we’re speaking of attempting to rekindle something that was never really there?

Who knows? Maybe one of us will decide to make that call and plan a playdate of sorts. Maybe now that we’re in our 30s (really? wow.) and we have motherhood in common, we could really have a great visit? Who knows? It could be great! But most likely, it was just an empty promise made in an awkward moment. And I think deep down, we both recognized that fact and accepted it.

Strange, though, how you can look into a face that has aged 13 years….13 years without seeing that face…..and it’s still so familiar…and so comfortable. Life is fun that way, I suppose.

For remembering that that helpless little baby’s body is fighting like hell to kill of some mean infection and she needs your love and care.

For remembering that mom’s have a really amazing way of knowing what’s going on with their child and that maybe instead of talking over Mom or talking down to her, you should listen to her and know that she knows that child like no other; that she knows better than anyone what’s going on with that baby at that moment.

For remembering that 40 million of us out there have no insurance….but that doesn’t make us lesser people. We’re human beings that still get sick…insurance or not.

For remembering that a baby’s life and well-being is more important than your lawsuit paranoia.

Thank you for caring about the little ones out there! They need us all!