Football!

Levi had his first ballgame today! He didn't play a whole lot, but made a really good block at the end of the game. Here's a couple of pictures, just trust me, one of those kids is him (need a better camera for football LOL).

Quote time!

If we didn't live venturously, plucking the wild goat by the beard, and trembling over precipices, we should never be depressed, I've no doubt; but already should be faded, fatalistic and aged.

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)

Growing old is no more than a bad habit which a busy person has no time to form.
Andre Maurois

When marrying, ask yourself this question: Do you believe that you will be able to converse well with this person into your old age? Everything else in marriage is transitory.
Friedrich Nietzsche

All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt.
Charles M. Schulz

Absence diminishes mediocre passions and increases great ones, as the wind extinguishes candles and fans fires.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Don't confuse fame with success. Madonna is one; Helen Keller is the other.
Erma Bombeck

Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.
Thomas Jefferson

Just because it is a good time for them [to call you], doesn't mean it has to be a good time for you [to talk].
Mary Cooper

Salus populi suprema lex esto - The welfare of the people shall be the supreme law.
Missouri state motto

Productive day

I had a very full day yesterday and I loved it! Here's the list:

*Did plenty of school with the kids (yes, I know I shouldn't be surprised by this, but it doesn't always happen)
*Washed Levi's shoes and hat
*Went grocery shopping (my favorite type of shopping!)
*Made lunch with enough for leftovers for today (taco salad, yum)
*Got dressed and ready for work on time (but didn't actually get to go)
*Took the kids to the park
*Took Levi to football practice (and got to watch it)
*Had a fantastic dinner at Sapphires with Doug where we had my friend, Susan, as our waitress (lamb chops with Creole mustard, horseradish, apple, mint sauce)
*Went to Susan's (and Jesse's) house and talked and drank and were just generally merry
*Fell soundly and happily to sleep curled up next to my fantastic boyfriend (my favorite way to sleep)

I would have liked to have made some money, but it was rainy and ick so didn't get to work. But, on the bright side, it allowed time for a wonderful, long, relaxed date. Also, I am not super (read: very bad) at maintaining friendships but I like Susan quite a lot so I was very happy to see her when we walked in.

Breasts in Mourning

I have been intensely interested in lactation for thirteen years and there are very few areas that I have had no contact with. This article by Jesse Bering in Scientific American magazine looks at the involuntary psychological impact of artificial feeding on the mother. It all makes perfect sense; if a baby is born but doesn't nurse, your body would naturally assume it died. Fascinating read.

Breasts in Mourning

Holy Cannoli

The Turner Report: Court documents: Ex-wife claims criminal connected to prominent Missouri Democrats threatened to kill her

Read the link to the investigation details. Corruption, deceit, even bombing. Shady. I'm having a bad politics day. :-(

Disappointed

I am terribly upset about this. Jeff Smith was one of only a very small handful of legislators who I really felt I could trust. I'm afraid this will further diminish my opinion of people who have chosen politics as a career. I truly feel that he went into the field to help his neighbors and was able to accomplish so much while not appearing to bow to the lobbyists. I'm saddened that now I have doubts about the high opinion I had of him. I tell the kids all the time how important it is to keep your word and to be known as someone trustworthy. It is true that once someone has told you a lie, everything else they say or have said comes into question.

From The Turner Report blog:

The Turner Report: FBI wiretap leads to Sen. Jeff Smith's guilty plea
The Turner Report: Jeff Smith: Let's blame it on the dead guy

From his email newsletter:

Dear Friend,

Today, with great sadness and regret, I am resigning from the Missouri Senate.

During my 2004 Congressional race, I became aware of an independent effort to produce two mailers to benefit my campaign. Federal campaign finance law prohibits specific coordination between a campaign and anyone preparing an independent expenditure.

When the independent operator requested funding, I authorized a close friend to raise money for the effort, and my press secretary provided public information about my opponent’s voting record. I withheld my knowledge of these facts during the Federal Election Commission’s 2004 investigation, misleading investigators and filing a false affidavit.

The FEC cleared our campaign of wrongdoing. But in 2009, the government received new information and reopened its investigation. When questioned, I stood by our 2004 account and encouraged my close friend to do so, misleading the authorities. Today I am taking full responsibility for my mistakes, and have pled guilty to obstructing justice.

This event has humbled me. I have done some significant introspection and that has been the hardest part: coming to terms with my own poor judgments and mistakes.
I apologize to my constituents, my staff, my Senate colleagues, my supporters, and to Congressman Carnahan. I am sorry to be leaving an institution I dearly love and the chance to represent a City with so much potential. Most importantly, I apologize to my family for not living up to what you expect of me, or what I expect of myself.

But I’m proud of my work in the Senate. With the help of my legislative staff, colleagues, and issue advocates, I believe I positively impacted several policy areas. I worked to create the Missouri Teaching Fellows Program to bring top-notch teachers to struggling school districts, expanded early childhood education for impoverished City children, and helped add $5M in bonuses to the salaries of City teachers whose students make exceptional academic progress.

My office spent many hours working with advocates for eco-friendly policies. I led the drive to pass a Green Sales Tax Holiday for energy-efficient appliances, a tax deduction for home energy audits, and a mandate that Missouri increase its energy efficiency standard for state buildings.

Working with the Fathers Support Center of St. Louis, I sponsored and passed two bills that will transform our child-support system. One will help fathers struggling to pay child support avoid felony convictions and jail time by creating “fathering courts” to help non-violent offenders find jobs and resume support payments, saving the state millions in incarceration costs. The second will reduce erroneous paternity judgments and ensure that men with DNA tests showing non-paternity will no longer have to pay for children who are not theirs.

Finally, I helped successfully defend Missouri’s Historic Preservation Tax Credit, which has done more than any other program to revitalize formerly dilapidated urban neighborhoods, creating jobs and putting abandoned buildings back onto the tax rolls.

I hope that my Senate tenure, albeit brief, is remembered as productive and beneficial to those I served. I thank my colleagues with whom I worked on the above as well as my trusted and loyal aides: Stacy Morse, Christine Brauner, Johnny Little, and Kailey Burger.

I am saddened by the thought that some may give up on politics because I let them down. I was blessed to have so many amazing volunteers who worked to support me with no political experience and developed a passion for activism through their work. Today I fear that some of them – some of you – may feel as if your efforts were in vain. But they were not.

If you helped in my election to office, my 3-on-3 basketball tournament and community fair, my MLK Jr. Blvd. cleanup, or other programs I promoted, please don’t let my mistakes sour you on active civic involvement. There are no perfect people and no perfect candidates, but I hope you’ll find a candidate or a cause in which you believe and fight for it with the same zeal you fought for me. Because the real tragedy of my lapses would be if they discouraged people like you from civic engagement.
Mary Pickford once said that failure is not falling down but staying down. I won’t run for office again, but I’ll stay active in the causes that animate me – from urban education to preserving historic neighborhoods to providing health care for all – to try and help the City I love continue its return to the glory of its past.
Thank you for being a part of my life the last few years. I deeply regret the mistakes that have forced my resignation, but I hope you will balance them against the totality of my service, and that we can work together again in the future.
Best,
Jeff

Undesirable effects

I pride myself on a few things, some important, like my parenting. I think I've done a swell job here. I actually enjoy spending time with the kidlets and others do as well. Also, I have a pretty darn good work ethic. I am active in politics and research my positions before blindly following a candidate or issue.

The silliest of my prideful talents, though is my athletic ability. I'm not a super athlete, but I have areas of natural skill. I can throw and catch reasonably well, particularly a football. Imagine my shock and disappointment when this weekend I tried to do the one thing I am good at without having to put out a lot of effort and failed. For some reason, I was so weak, I could barely complete a 30ish yard pass when normally, I can do much better.

After some thought, I think I've figured it out. It makes sense, but I've just never put it together until now. Women are weakest when menstruating. I love the female cycle and the complexities and strength it brings. I've always been aware of the pain tolerance variances at different points during the cycle. When ovulating, women have a much higher pain tolerance than at any other time during the month. Tattooing, piercing, and waxing, for instance are much easier at this time and much harder during menstruation. The inner strength and sense of wonder and appreciation associated with menstruating always empower me and make me feel a connectedness that I don't feel at other times of the month. Imagine my chagrin when I realized there is a negative consequence to menstruating - I can't throw a ball as far.

Not earth-shattering or even enough to make me change my love for the system, but still. Sheesh, I don't like being physically weak even if internally I feel stronger.