While that's an interesting idea, why does it remind me of the way returning WW2 vets pushed women out of the workplace? Oh, right, teaching at the K-8 level especially is a female heavy occupation. And while there will be retirements with the state of the economy not improving anytime soon, there will be a lot fewer as teachers work longer due to early retirement being phased out, and the fact that those teachers born in 1960 and later have to wait until they are 67 to retire with full benefits now. And look, not knocking the program, teaching is not as easy as it apparently looks. I left the classroom after 20 years of mostly teaching in working class/poor neighborhood schools. I was worn out and I hadn't been fighting a war prior to entering a classroom. Kudos to those looking to be proactive but there are teachers out of work or fresh out of school who already know what they are doing. What about them?

First of all, I don't get birthdays for dead people. But more importantly, this willful reconstruction of Reagan should make thinking people everywhere take to the web to refute every myth being pushed. Here is a guy that should have been impeached. Iran=Contra? Where is that in this new history? And it was Gorbachev who deserves the lion-share of the credit for bringing down Communism, which, let's be real, was an unsustainable model. Even China had to tweak it with a bit of capitalism. I never voted for the man. Was ridiculed for my stubbornness about his legacy being meh at best and I will never buy into this revisionist ploy.

Americans have always succumbed to violent rhetoric. Especially when times were tough or social changes were coming fast and furious. This idea that we've ever had mindful debate is as much a fiction as the "good old days" when America was a utopia. What happened in Arizona should surprise no one. Our culture is a mean one and we seldom sit up and take notice unless it crosses some imaginary line in the sand. Even when it happens, we rarely take stock for long. Nothing is going to be learned or will change as a result of the shooting. We aren't ready as a people to truly examine, equally own blame and work together. Sadly, things are quite bad enough yet for that to happen.

In every graduating class from medical school, half of them were in the bottom half. The neurologists I dealt with during my late husband's illness ranged from wonderful and caring to blocks of wood who didn't listen to me. One thing I noticed is that many of them tended to focus on the tests they gave exclusively and not listen at all to my observations of what was going on the rest of the time. You need a doctor you can talk to and who can relate to you. This guy clearly wasn't that doctor.

A valid point. I had garage sale at the end of last summer and was trying to get rid of a box full of stuffies the daughters had collected. Asking small coin for them apiece and I watched this woman pick through them and select four out of well over a dozen. When she paid me for them, she remarked how she wished she could afford more. I asked her what she planned to do with them and she explained that she was putting together the children's Christmas stockings at one of the shelters in the city. I gave her the box. I do get the "value" and "sacrifice" thing. When it's my time at issue, or someone just trying to get something for nothing when they can spare the cash, I hold the line. But I have given away a lot of "stuff". Even stuff with a great deal of meaning attached to it - because I can afford to and because I think when we give, it comes back to us. My take only.

I'm curious. Why didn't you just let the couple have it for $10? You only paid $15 originally and actually were asking five dollars more than you paid for it used to start. And you actually wanted the woman to have it too. So why hold out?

I agree with you. Raising the drinking age created a tiered view of adulthood that is almost like those driver's licenses that kids get now, which phase in the privilege. You either are an adult at 18 or you are not. You can't be allowed to marry, have kids, go into debt and fight in wars without also being old enough to drink. Doesn't make sense. But it's making someone money somewhere or keeping someone in a power base or it wouldn't be the law.

She appears to be okay. Still worried that park privileges may be revoked though as she will seize every opportunity to point out that she realizes she should have told us right away and that it will never happen again. The police haven't been called and likely won't. The teen's father was informed however. The children in that family are all mentally challenged to varying degrees with the boy being the highest functioning. Mentally, I would put him at about 9 or 10. My point in telling the story is to make parents aware that things we school are children about will not stick the way we think they should. Kids have their own logic and agendas and that we shouldn't be complacent, thinking we've done our part with programs, talks and safety measures.

The President is working on this as Arne Duncan's quest to scrap public for privatization (charters) and the government dismantling of the current system attests to. A lot is going on in education right now. States are desperate for money and willing to trade away local control for grant money (which Obama has taken from the general funds) and aren't in a position to do much other than give in as the DoE continues on with a slightly revised version of NCLB that will likely make the playing field less level than it is now. Obama is opening up our schools to investors who will strip them as bare as they have every other venture they've been encouraged to plunder in the last 20 years. There was never a golden age of literacy and high school graduation rates in the U.S. We are probably more literate and have more graduates than at any other point. The problem is that we can't decide what we want to do - educate a citizenry or a work force to be exploited.

I am sorry you've lost contact with your granddaughter. You are right though. People come and go from our lives, making their mark and moving on. Life is like that. We can only hope that we are leaving positive marks of our own. Which is sounds to me like you do.

Kids have not changed much such we were 12 and most of us were perfectly fine babysitters. I taught middle school forever, and the vast majority would have made me wonderful babysitters - if only I hadn't lived on the other side of the city. Whenever there were night duties and I brought my daughter along (she was two and three then), I had no shortage of helping hands and no one broke her. Kids can only learn to be responsible by doing.

I'm surprised whenever I manage to arouse male attention anymore. It's not like it happens often but often enough that I am amused and bemused at the same time. I really don't think am I attractive and certainly not sexy though my husband assures me that I am both but he is biased. I think young men have been schooled by pop culture to look at "old" women in a different light but I am not sure if this is going to be a good or bad thing in the long run for women in general. In the short term, I think it has put undue pressure on us to maintain beauty standards that aren't realistic and has caused some of us to fear aging even more.

You are not being unreasonable. When I taught middle school, the last six weeks were devoted to introducing a few grammar concepts they'd be working on in the next grade and then Shakespeare. The former was a good for them and the latter was just fun. I am glad I don't teach anymore. Trying to strike the balance in the age of "reform" would probably have me contemplating being a checker at Target.

The real reason that bulk stores like Costco might not be good deals is that people don't shop with lists or don't stick to them. There are so many "specials" and other alluring items placed strategically here and there that a person can easily overspend, and this is true of most stores that cater to one-stop shopping like Target, for example. I totally agree about toilet tissue and diapers. You will always use up the first and you can store it under a bed if needs be and diapers never go to waste - though I found that pull-ups were another story. No telling how quickly or slowly a child will train. I was stuck with a full bag, but fortunately my best friend had a little girl 8 months younger, so I had someone to off-load them on.

Mother's Day was wrenching when I was dealing with infertility issues. One time it came around the time of the due date of a miscarried baby, and I had to walk about of mass to sob by the car when the priest asked all the mothers to stand up for a blessing. But my daughter's father was too sick to help her with Mother's Day rituals - ever - so the first true day I had was after I married my second husband and he prompted and assisted her. I never thought much about it though. So many holidays and birthdays and whatnot fall within a year, they were dealt with to the best of my single mom ability, and if I needed an assist, I enlisted friends and family. It's a shame that we don't look out more for single moms around this time of year (or dad's when their day comes in June). I remember helping my nephew shop for his mother. It really is as much for the children as it is for the parent. Happy Mother's Day, my dear.

No big party this year. My daughter's birthday fall during the middle of the summer vacation and it's impossible to schedule an time when her friends can all attend. Plus, she doesn't need a huge party every year. Expense and time/effort aside, she doesn't need twenty (or even 10) new toys and her birth is really a family celebration. We've told her that big parties will happen in the future but that her birthday doesn't have to be the catalyst. I reinforce this with my own childhood experience of two big birthday parties - one at five and the other at 13. That's it. All the rest were family.

It's normal to wonder about all those things and ten's about the age it starts. There isn't much you can do beyond what you are doing. Unless an adoptee finds her birthparents one day, the questions can't be answered, and even having answers doesn't always make it feel better. My younger sister found her birthmother about four years ago and knows the whole story, but it doesn't change anything she felt or experienced before knowing the answers to the questions she had. She still had to feel the doubt and deal with the sense of abandonment and loss. My cousin and his wife are heading to China soon to met their daughter. I thought about you and Punditgirl when I learned their happy news.

I don't text. And this makes me abnormal in the blogging world, I know, but I have no interest in being in any more contact than I already am.

It's a dilemma. I miss having work that pulls me like that though. Just a little. Now and then.

Normally, I find my zen place when confronted with situations where children (who are not mine) are running amuck and I can't do anything about it. I remind myself that others are just as entitled to go about in the world as I am and that sometimes, they might have to bring their kids and if I want true serenity, I should stay home.

Michaels choices don't invalidate other women's choices and it's heartening to hear a woman actually thinking the motherhood thing through in advance. Sigh, the adoption comment? I think a lot of people think that way really. She is hardly alone in her opinion, and it's not a new opinion either. There has always been this sense that people who adopt or foster are heros in some way. Being adopted, I don't think my parents "rescued" me. Their reasons for adoption were purely selfish - they wanted a baby and adoption was their only option. Most people become parents because they just want to be parents regardless of the method. I think the actual baby is sometimes an afterthought even when baby hungry is in the driver's seat.

Patanjali would be so proud! You are using your indifference key:) I am sure I am hidden on many a FB page. It's not the place for a lot of things, but it is important to remember that our personalities are our personalities and they shine through regardless of the medium just as our beliefs, likes and dislikes do. We can't all be Idol vs Dance people or lovers of Glee. Some of us are going to share news and politics and opinions on life.

Most children make the transition just fine. They are really quite adept at navigating socially and often are less concerned about the issues that send parents into panics than you would think.

A vaginal u/s certainly makes a point about just who is in charge, doesn't it? In the case where a woman has been raped, it's like raping her all over again.