Night time at our house is missing something these days.  For the last 16 days we have been completely pacifier (known in our house as a nunny) free.  Mara decided about 3 months ago that she was just plain ol done with them.  She went down for a nap, I gave it to her, she spit it out.  I gave it to her, she spit it out… ok, so I just took it with me when I left, and she hasn’t wanted it since.  Ben on the other hand was pretty attached.  We were going to work on going with out it after his third birthday.  Which happened to be the time when we were making great strides in potty training, and working really hard at not liking our nanny.  SO mom made the executive decision that we didn’t need to throw yet one more major change in the mix.  But two weeks ago, it was big boy bed time.  He was way to big for his toddler bed, and I found an awesome bed on craigslist.  It was time.  We talked about it, and decided that if we wanted cool Batman sheets we needed to talk to Batman (Uncle Matt) about what a big boy had to do to get some.  TURNS OUT, we had to send him our nunny.  So he decided it was worth it, we got out an envelope, put it in, wrote to Batman, from Ben, and put it in the mailbox.  And so farit has been fairly painless, he would say I miss my nunny.  I can’t sleep without my nunny, about 2 minutes before he did go to sleep.  All’s well that ends well.  And when the kids go to bed, nothing needs to be washed or de-dog haired.  Stuffy noses can be avoided via open mouths, and there is no late night searching under beds.  And that for now is my personal definition of freedom.

“What’s that Ben?”
“A robot.”
“Oh! He looks cool, are those his eyes?”
“Yeah and his mouth and his nose”
“Are you going to draw a mouth?”
“Yeah…here is his mouth, his eyebrows and arms. And his nipples.”
“…”
“and his legs.”
The influence breastfeeding has on an almost 3 year old. Robots get nipples. Awesome.

We often spend Monday nights with a friend of the family, and his girlfriend if she is in town.  Over the last couple of months we have had a pretty good time together.  And although most of our conversations stay within polite discussion, every once and a while, we stray over in to that liberal vs conservative hot zone.  So far it has all been in good fun, but everyonce and a while I wonder how good of friends can people become when they are at opposite ends of the spectrum, not even opposite, just not the same side?  Thinking of this made me question my personal definition of these terms we use all the time to define ourselves.  I realized that when I call myself conservative/liberal it is more of a personal definition.  Through my study of American history and the formation of my beliefs, I label both sides through my personal filter.  So being the library worker I am… I decided to do some research.

And wow, the hate and misunderstanding that the web is littered with is hard to sort through.  First I did the basic wikipedia search: Liberalism in America and Conservatism in America.  And while that is a start I wanted more.  So I consulted my colleague via Ask a Librarian.  She helped me find some basic definitions and then I did a datbase search for journal articles. The following is a quote from of  “Challenging the charge of liberal bias in the media: an editor’s response: understand our biases, act as journalists, be a watchdog of the powerful.” by Mike Riley (full citation below)

“What do we really mean when we utter the words “conservative” and “liberal?” Are these words really as bad as everyone seems to think they are? The word “liberal” finds its root in the Latin liberalis, or liber, which means free. Webster’s New World College Dictionary offers this definition, among others: “Favoring political reforms tending toward democracy and personal freedom for the individual; progressive.” Given that cast, liberal sounds more like a concept the Founding Fathers would embrace rather than a description of some clan of pointy-headed evildoers who are regularly excoriated on talk radio.

Maybe being called “liberal” isn’t as bad as it seems.

Examine the roots of the word “conservative.” It comes from the Latin conservativus and is defined as “tending to preserve established traditions or institutions and to resist or oppose any changes in these.” It’s about protecting and preserving the fundamental values of what is right with the world. That doesn’t seem so bad, either.

It requires a little deeper digging to figure out what the fuss is all about. If conservative means protecting the established order and liberal means challenging that order, then the conflict is between preservation vs. change or tradition vs. reform. So it’s a power struggle about who controls the future. The forces of change or the forces of tradition? No wonder people get their underwear so tight in the liberal vs. conservative tug of war. “

I think that it was worth my while to look up some definitions to words and labels we hear tossed about all the time.  The label I apply to myself hasn’t changed, but at least now I understand it better.

(Riley, Mike. ”Challenging the charge of liberal bias in the media: an editor’s response: understand our biases, act as journalists, be a watchdog of the powerful.” Nieman Reports 57.2 (Summer 2003): 110(3). Expanded Academic ASAP. Gale. Kansas State University Libraries. 25 Nov. 2008
<http://find.galegroup.com/itx/start.do?prodId=EAIM>.)

So I have a birthday coming up.  Last year 30 seemed old,  but 31 not so bad.  I am not sure how that works.  Maybe I am feeling young in defiance of the junk mail I have been getting lately.  Seriously AARP and Medicare… I am only going to be 31!!!! I have some time yet.   But I think I have figured out the culprit.

I am the oldest of 4 kids.  My brother, Matt and sister, Chrissy are pretty close with me in age, and I was 12 when my brother Eric was born.  Growing up I am pretty sure that Matt and I liked 3 things:  Baseball, digging in dirt, and torturing Chrissy.  I could blog for days about all the um, not so nice things we did.  We were determined to make her a stronger person?  Anyway I am not sure when it was but we signed my sister up to recieve free information about hearing aids by calling the 1-800 number off a commercial.  Which put her on EVERY “oh you’re old so here is some stuff you should buy” list at the time, which apparently generates A LOT of mail.  VERY funny to us, not so funny to my sister.

I think she got me back.

Well how would you put together the concept of window shopping and shopping via the web?  Winternet shopping?  Anyway I do this all the time.  What would I buy at this website if I had all the money in the world…or if I was a hundredaire.  (what can I say I have my sights aimed way high)  Anyway tonight I was webdow shopping and found the Sprig Toys Discover Rig!  If someone wants to buy this for Ben for Xmas…that would rule.  I probably wouldn’t play with it that much….

With our forces combined, my sister and I decided to start a new blog.  We have written for a little while, and feel it is ready four our publics’ consumption.  Check it out.  Let us know what you think!  www.tryanderr.wordpress.com

and it turns out that all 4 of you were right.  I only made it to bed at about 11 on one night.  Every other night since then has been a late one.   But hey one is better than none right?  I’ll keep trying.

So I have no idea what we will get in the mail, watch on tv, answer the phone for after the elections.  Pretty much all the calls I answer will turn out to be just people I know.  The mail will return to being just bills, and TV most of the commercials will return to being just commercial rather than selling me on who lies, doesn’t lie, does raise taxes doesn’t raise taxes, who has fluffy dogs they like to pose with, and who can slander better than who.  And what fun will that be.  I won’t be able to witness the amazing drain of capital that the  US version of democracy is.

So my goal is to ‘hit the hay’ by 10:30pm tonight.  Seriously folks, I have no idea if it will happen, but something has got to change.  Going to sleep at ohhh 1am, and then waking up at 4am for feeding Mara, and then awake for the day by 7:30-8 is ridiculous.  I limit my caffiene intake as Mara told me that she didn’t like twitching.  So for about 2 hours after my am coffee and about 1 hour after my afternoon diet pepsi I am awake.  The rest of the day, zombie mom.  Until about 9pm.  Then I am ohhh i need to do the dishes, mop the floor, upload some pictures, read a book, put away clothes…………. Again, damn ridiculous.  It has been like this for like 2 months.  I look tired.  I feel tired.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

It is early, but most of our holiday celebrations were held this weekend.  We went trick or treating at two different events, and carved our pumpkin!  So today when I was on my way to work I thought… damn those people need to take down their decorations…oh wait.  I have gotten a jump on stealing my kids candy, er celebrating halloween.  Anyway could my kids be any cuter?

Cutest Banana Ever.

He is a real wild animal.

Thinking about how cute I am.

Could I live with those monkeys?

I am taking full advantage of the ability to chose my kids costumes for them.  And they totally rock.

Hope your Halloween is as hopped up on sugar as ours has been so far!

Happy Halloween!