Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Chopping Blocks and Soap Boxes
L'economie, elle est malade.
Talk about your worst nightmare - reliving SAT prep all over again----
- Entitlement programs are to block grants what deficit is to appropriations.
- If House Bill for $X trillion passes with 224 votes and Senate Bill for $XX billion passes with 52 votes, how many State funded programs will lose their Federal match?
For weeks the citizens of our great nation have tuned in, gaped, scratched their heads, decried taxation, and then tuned out when a bill passed. You know, something was passed - a trillion something - what exactly was cut to add up to those trillions?...eh, who knows.
Apparently Jill Citizen is confident that this debt thing will sort itself out now that something passed.
My friends we are way beyond the mystery of the Hogwart's Sorting hat.
For those who work in the trenches of the Federal government, the reality is vivid. The sorting painful. The impact deep.
It will take the American public several years before the individual citizen appreciates the uncomfortable reality of what was lost and gained.
Which is why I am fascinated by the hue and cry over the slated demise of the House Page Program. Really? This is what gets the moderates to mobilize?
There is a petition. National media. Dueling rumors as to why the program is ending - fiscal vs. scandal.
It feels so "inside the Beltway". Do North Dakotans really care?
I read an impassioned blog post today to save the vaunted Page Program and I couldn't stop laughing. I laughed so hard I cried.
Believer Blogger could not believe that this 200 year-old program that brought 4,000 youth to the Capital over a twenty year period and cost $5 million annually, could possibly be put on the chopping block! For those of you playing at home that is 200 Pages a year at $25,000 per Page.
Believer Blogger and apparently thousands of others are frustrated that a program that inspires engaged citizenry in our youth is being ended at a moment in our history that demands the next generations step up.
We had that - a federally funded national service program annually engaging over a million youth in engaged citizenry. Learn and Serve America. Reduced drop out numbers. Built community playgrounds, gardens, environmental conservation programs. Engaged youth in state and local policy and government. And this twenty year old program was cut in the 2011 fiscal debate prelude to the debt ceiling debate.
Yes, that is bitterness dripping from my text.
Each budget cut is personal.
Every single "ion" in the trillions of dollars in cuts has supported some portion of the population in some way. Perhaps we may not need a set aside program for engaging youth as informed and active citizens - they may not have a choice but to step up.
That is my impassioned blogger moment. At least this hour's impassioned moment.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
The Mother's Day Dilemma
It has come to my attention that I view Mother's Day rather differently than a good deal of mothers.
When the Love of My Life asked what I wanted to do for Mother's Day; I was ready. I laid out a detailed schedule of me time with the occasional drop in by La c and Love of My Life.
"Ookkaayyy." he said. Wisely withholding further comment.
But that "Ookkaayyy." stayed with me.
Was I the only mother on the planet who saw Mother's Day as a day off?
I asked a friend what she was doing for Mother's Day and she replied she had not really thought about it and when was it?
Sigh. That did not help my cause.
Several more inquiries of friends later --- all of whom were planning kidlet filled Mother's Days --- and I knew my place as most selfish mother was set.
In my head I planned a new day. It was all La C all the time. It was bucolic...lazy breakfast, picking flowers on a walk, a picnic, lilting breezes, nap times.
We kind of do that every weekend - minus the picnic - we are so darn tired by the end of the week that the weekend is pretty much a laid back affair following the whim of the tiniest whirling dervish.
And once in a while on those days I wish, fleetingly, for one day of naps when I want one. Or take a walk at greater than a glacial pace. Or a pedicure that doesn't require precision timing to when someone else's nap ends.
So for Mother's Day I am taking the day off. Guilt free.
Because I know that the other 364 days of the year La C is the center of my day...my thoughts...my decisions...my actions...my world.
FASHION P.S. - Below are three outfits to match how you choose to spend your Mother's Day. Whether you are going out to brunch with your mother-in-law, spending the day with the kidlets or taking a personal day you can rock being a chic mom.
When the Love of My Life asked what I wanted to do for Mother's Day; I was ready. I laid out a detailed schedule of me time with the occasional drop in by La c and Love of My Life.
"Ookkaayyy." he said. Wisely withholding further comment.
But that "Ookkaayyy." stayed with me.
Was I the only mother on the planet who saw Mother's Day as a day off?
I asked a friend what she was doing for Mother's Day and she replied she had not really thought about it and when was it?
Sigh. That did not help my cause.
Several more inquiries of friends later --- all of whom were planning kidlet filled Mother's Days --- and I knew my place as most selfish mother was set.
In my head I planned a new day. It was all La C all the time. It was bucolic...lazy breakfast, picking flowers on a walk, a picnic, lilting breezes, nap times.
We kind of do that every weekend - minus the picnic - we are so darn tired by the end of the week that the weekend is pretty much a laid back affair following the whim of the tiniest whirling dervish.
And once in a while on those days I wish, fleetingly, for one day of naps when I want one. Or take a walk at greater than a glacial pace. Or a pedicure that doesn't require precision timing to when someone else's nap ends.
So for Mother's Day I am taking the day off. Guilt free.
Because I know that the other 364 days of the year La C is the center of my day...my thoughts...my decisions...my actions...my world.
FASHION P.S. - Below are three outfits to match how you choose to spend your Mother's Day. Whether you are going out to brunch with your mother-in-law, spending the day with the kidlets or taking a personal day you can rock being a chic mom.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Casual Friday in the Non-Profit / Federal Government World
This past Monday was the annual White House Easter Egg Roll. When the lottery results for tickets were announced --- and phooey, no we did not get one...par for the course apparently as we are discovering that La C's luck with lotteries bites but anyhoo --- some thrilled to the gills mother actually posted an inquiry on the local parents' listserve asking for guidance on what her precious darlings should wear to the event.
Give back your tickets now. Seriously.
My blood pressure cannot take repeating here what the original poster thought might be appropriate nor what the majority of posters thought would be appropriate. Needless to say, I did not agree.
In the annoyingly hypnotic words of Dora the Explorer, "Where are we going?!"
To the White House. The home of the leader of the largest democracy on the globe.
Hit it Aretha!
R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
Parents wear dress pants, sports coats, modest sundresses, etc. Little tykes in khakis and polos and little misses in sundresses. Or some approximation of the suggestions above.
But for the love of all the civility that is ebbing from our society, this isn't a trip to Target.
Do not wear flip flops. Do not even dream of donning a tank top with different colored straps - it is called a strapless bra people and they are $9.99 at your beloved Target.
Do. Not. Chew. Gum.
I know it will either be stinking hot or pouring rain (it alternates such weather every year without fail). I know it will be crowded. I know the wait in line to get in is interminable.
Does not matter.
Remember there will be photographic evidence that you looked better at your third cousin once removed's 50th birthday party than you did on the South Lawn of the White House.
Just something to think about.
So long story short - this same dress code question rises with the sun every Friday morning of the hot and humid Washington, DC summer. Once you have slogged your way to the office sweating and dry heaving you sit at your desk shivering under the arctic blast of the air conditioning.
The key is layering. Every DC fashionista worth her salt has this mantra written in lipstick across her bathroom mirror.
The day of the peekaboo camisole is over. Today, these babies are loud and proud. Wear a cami that can be seen sans blazer/cardigan on your commute. This means investing in a strapless bra - absolutely essential. Throw on the outer layer the second the first chilling tendrils of air brush your sweat glistened skin - this means as the front door of your office building comes in to view.
The other key to DC summers is that casual Friday is a bit of a myth. It really only exists in the non-profit /consulting /government arena. The legal/lobbyist/financial sector....well you are rather S** out of luck. We'd be more empathetic but you do get those lovely bonuses....
Below are two sets of casual Friday ideas for those offices that allow and encourage it. I leave it to you to know the lay of the land in your own office. I have taken a simple set of staples as the base of the outfit and used color schemes and accessories to create the vibe.
While you may not be enamored with these outfits, I ask that you take away one thing from today's blog post -- neither of these two outfits contain denim.
That is all.
Give back your tickets now. Seriously.
My blood pressure cannot take repeating here what the original poster thought might be appropriate nor what the majority of posters thought would be appropriate. Needless to say, I did not agree.
In the annoyingly hypnotic words of Dora the Explorer, "Where are we going?!"
To the White House. The home of the leader of the largest democracy on the globe.
Hit it Aretha!
R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
Parents wear dress pants, sports coats, modest sundresses, etc. Little tykes in khakis and polos and little misses in sundresses. Or some approximation of the suggestions above.
But for the love of all the civility that is ebbing from our society, this isn't a trip to Target.
Do not wear flip flops. Do not even dream of donning a tank top with different colored straps - it is called a strapless bra people and they are $9.99 at your beloved Target.
Do. Not. Chew. Gum.
I know it will either be stinking hot or pouring rain (it alternates such weather every year without fail). I know it will be crowded. I know the wait in line to get in is interminable.
Does not matter.
Remember there will be photographic evidence that you looked better at your third cousin once removed's 50th birthday party than you did on the South Lawn of the White House.
Just something to think about.
So long story short - this same dress code question rises with the sun every Friday morning of the hot and humid Washington, DC summer. Once you have slogged your way to the office sweating and dry heaving you sit at your desk shivering under the arctic blast of the air conditioning.
The key is layering. Every DC fashionista worth her salt has this mantra written in lipstick across her bathroom mirror.
The day of the peekaboo camisole is over. Today, these babies are loud and proud. Wear a cami that can be seen sans blazer/cardigan on your commute. This means investing in a strapless bra - absolutely essential. Throw on the outer layer the second the first chilling tendrils of air brush your sweat glistened skin - this means as the front door of your office building comes in to view.
The other key to DC summers is that casual Friday is a bit of a myth. It really only exists in the non-profit /consulting /government arena. The legal/lobbyist/financial sector....well you are rather S** out of luck. We'd be more empathetic but you do get those lovely bonuses....
Below are two sets of casual Friday ideas for those offices that allow and encourage it. I leave it to you to know the lay of the land in your own office. I have taken a simple set of staples as the base of the outfit and used color schemes and accessories to create the vibe.
While you may not be enamored with these outfits, I ask that you take away one thing from today's blog post -- neither of these two outfits contain denim.
That is all.
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