I, at one time, considered myself to be fairly domestic. But, as time went on and I ended up with 4 kids (2 teenagers now left at home) 3 cats, 2 dogs, and a pack rat for a husband and the fact that I work 3rd shift, my inner "Domestic Goddess" ran a way screaming!! One day I got tired of hearing "I don't have anything to wear", "There's nothing to eat" and "Why don't we have any more clean towels" I threw up my hands and made the announcement that ALL domestic appliances ie: washer/dryer, dishwasher, vaccuum, and pots/pans are now all considered "community property" and if you all want things done I guess you better learn how to use them!! Today, although my house is never "clean" it is liveable and no one complains they have nothing to eat or wear and I get to sleep a little later!! Maybe some day my inner "Domestic Goddess" will return. I am cautiously opptomistic.

I love my kids deeply and if you had asked me 20 years ago if I would stay home I would've said NO WAY! But now that my youngest 2 are in high school I would stay home in a heart beat! (I find that teenagers need much more "watching" than 3 year olds..LOL) I was fortunate enough to have worked days before I had 3 kids then I worked second shift when they were babies and when the 4th one turned 3 I went to third shift where I have been for the last 12 years. I find if you have the disciplin it's as close as you can get to being a stay at home mom and still work full time!!

I have to agree with you scott. Obama has barely been in office for 6 months! How can he be expected to fix a problem that has grown for years and finally exploded? What was Bush doing for the 8 years in office? Oh yeah...pumping billions of dollars into the Iraq war and not paying attention to what was going on in his own country! Maybe if he had put the money and time and effort into this country instead of taking over another one we wouldn't be in the mess we are today!

I also have a 15 year old daughter studying her driver's manual for her learner's permit as we speak! She is my last out of 4 and I'm sure the last vestegis' of my previously auburn hair will disinagrate during the next year!!..LOL!!!

This is my husband's observation of the local job market. He has been laid off for about 8 months now. He was management in an industry that relied on construction. This piece is meant to be funny, however, I find is some ways based in truth. I am getting burnt out of reading the same 12 jobs in the want ads. "Work from home!" (Pay us to *bleep* you over.) "RN" (Never knew there were so many sick people with nobody to look after them.) "C+ Programmer/Entry Level" (Must have 12 years of experience in C+, must have managed up to 60 people, and must be willing to work for $7.50 an hour.) "Management" (Must have former CEO credentials and be willing to take on the responsibilities of a CEO, but work for $7.50 an hour.) "Teaher's Aide" (Must have Masters, Doctorate preferred, in education of the unwilling and unteachable. Must work for $3.20 an hour plus tips.) "Mystery Shopper" (It's a mystery what this job entails, because after you pay the $45.00 to get your mystery shopper credentials, there just seems to never be anywhere wanting to hire a consultant to shop their stores and report back about the experiences. Commonly referred to as a scam.) "Warehouse Worker" (Must have 25 years experience pulling small part orders, shipping and receiving, packaging, logistical support, and be willing to work odd hours. Odd hours entail shifts starting at 2:30 AM and ending at 2:42 AM, then back in at 4AM and back out at 4:04 AM, sometimes including a shift between the hours of 12:01 AM and 12:10 AM, and you must be willing to travel, relocate, have a valid CDL, reliable transportation to work, be drug free, and swear an oath of allegiance to Satan and some guy named Stan in order to receive your forklift operators license. Must pay for training in forklift operation, and have your own forklift. Pays $8.00 an hour for three hours a day, then $7.50 an hour thereafter. Also must speak three dialects of Rozwi, a Zimbabwean language.) "Consultant" (Another mystery job which requires a passport, fluency in Rhodesian sign language, three chickens, no aversions to ritual sacrifice, and an ability to be four places at once. Pay is commensurate with experience, meaning that if you have less than fifty years of experience, we'll pay you as little as we can get away with. It won't be enough to feed a kid and pay for a car, but all of us have to make choices.) "Sales, No Cold Calling!" (You'll stand at the counter all day, putting up with angry people. Typically called customer service, but we don't believe in that philosophy, so we call you sales. Your pay will be $4.50 an hour plus commission, with commission only coming after 90 days, and only after the first $200,000 dollars in sales. You will be selling pencils and stress balls to Wican pain therapists and cancer patients.) "Tired of the same old grind?!" (So are we. So we take out useless ads in the paper advertising jobs as though they are the greatest thing since sliced bread. Our jobs typically consist of selling snow cones at the local AAA baseball team's games. Pay consists of free snow cones and any change you find in the men's and women's restrooms.) "STOP! Now that we have your attention..." (We'll continue to waste your time with arbitrarily chosen language, misspellings, and promotion of a job that has nothing to do with reality. Nobody mentioned pay, for a reason.) "Laborer" (Do stuff nobody else wants to do, for one tenth of the pay of the next closest guy in line, and take more guff than anyone else in the company. We love our employees so much, we stick to the federal minimums as far as break schedules. You will work overtime, have to lift heavy weight, in a hot environment, and adhere to all safety standards even though we don't. We'll pay you, if you survive, at least enough to take the bus to and from work seven days a week. Must have a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering.) So, there it is. The list.

We went on vacation for a week a couple of years ago to Key West..No computer, laptop, iphone, etc. After a couple of days I got so anxious that I made my husband find me the closest local library so I could check my email, bank account, etc...What a way to live! LOL!!