sincerest apologies
I offer my sincerest apologies to Chasmyn, to whom I always mean to link, but rarely do. She always remembers to link to me, and it never fails to give me a warm glow to see my link on her blog. Thank you, Chasmyn; for loving me, even with my forgetful ways.

I gravel at your feet

MeMeMeMe

Copying Chasmyn's meme, which she got from Pesky Apostrophe, who got it from Swirlspice et al. I have a digital camera, and it looks like fun. So if the world doesn't begin to end today because aliens crashed into an earthquake, I'll be posting pics tomorrow.

Think of 3 pictures you'd like to see. Leave whatever you'd like to see in the comments. Things around my house, or whatever... something I can take a picture of easily. Once I have enough requests, I'll start posting them. If I can't, or won't, take a picture of something you've requested, I'll let you know.
My addition to this meme: Don't bother asking for shots of the messiest room in my house, or of my bedroom, which happens to be the messiest room in my house. :) You don't really need to see my unmade bed.

Linkbacks: Chasmyn got it from Pesky Apostrophe got it from Swirlspice got it from TwoDolla got it from Erika SnazzyKat got it from Every Tommorow got it from Jen, Kristal and Aubrey who got it from everyone under the sun.

Politics, Politics

There's some interesting, but little mentioned, stuff in the news. Like the plan to close a bunch of bases in Europe and Asia, so we can have a "more active military". I hadn't thought about the defensive role America plays in European countries. I just assumed we got to keep bases in those countries because we were on the winning side in WWII.
There are 2 bills proposing an end to the federal income tax. They both propose a national sales tax instead. Sounds good, no? The experts think the tax would need to be at least 23%. Urgh. So a 99 cent bottle of water in Missouri would cost $1.30. Proponents say the bill would save $3 to $5 trillion dollars by removing the IRS, and that it's a fairer system.
Detractors say the bill would harm individual States, and that the poorest of Americans would suffer the most.

One of the bills suggests a "prebate" program, where people below the poverty level get a check every month to help cover their expected taxes for purchases.
Um, yeah.
Since I don't know squat about economics, (as evidenced by my empty bank account)I'm going to suggest this hair-brained scheme:
Dump the IRS, set a national sales tax at a more reasonable rate, (like the 7.8% that minimum wage earners pay)and throw in a luxury tax. Buy a new car, pay X amount. Buy a gently used car, pay a lower amount. Buy a totally frivolus sailboat, pay a higher amount. Oh, wait. I forgot about all the accountants and government employees who would be not just out of a job, but out of a career. I can see the swarms of homeless accountants now. :P

As If We Don't Have Enough Pets Already

The hubby-man was moving some wood in the back yard and found a tiny little snake hiding under a log. Since we're clearing the yard and moving the shed, the wildlife will have nowhere to hibernate this winter. So the hubby-man brought the snake inside and put it in a cage.
He went back to moving logs, and found another snake.
So then we had a pair of garter snakes taking up temporary residence in Sinbad's transportation cage. (I take Sinbad to L's school at least once a year)
The critter collecting didn't stop there, however; I found a nice juicy green caterpillar munching on my comfrey, too. The caterpillar and the nibbled leaf went into the cage with the snakes.
I just checked on the trio of creatures, and apparantly the caterpillar found the whole confinement thing depressing. He drowned himself in the water bowl. I suppose it's better than death by digestion.

The Unbelievable Nastiness of Hunter

I share my home with 3 cats; and I'm allergic to cats. Not severely allergic, mind you. More like sensitive. So we had Friday, the fat black cat; and now we have a pair of kittens too. Both kittens have a bad habit of drooling in their sleep. Does anyone else have cats who drool? If I wanted animal slobber, I would have gotten a dog.
Anyway, Hunter was sleeping (and drooling) on me a few minutes ago. He suddenly sat up and shook his head -spraying drool right into my eye. So now I'm waiting for the hubby man to put some allergy drops into my eye.

The damn cat strolled off without even so much as an apologetic tail flick.

Sale Of the Century
Hey, it's worth a shot, right? How about some nice inexpensive malachite? These cabs measure 8x10 mm and have nice color banding. Make an offer.


I also have 8x10 moonstones and garnets. The garnets are a great red/burgundy, and are eye clean. Again, make an offer.



Now for the good stuff:

It's not a good picture, but it's a fabulous gemstone. It's a 7x7 mm rose tourmaline from Brazil. I bought it from the mine owner a few years ago, and it is a true gem quality stone. I'd like to get the $100/ct that I paid for it, but I'll settle for (wince) $45.


5.42 cts of unbelievable blue fluorite. Everyone who sees it thinks it's a sapphire. I paid $25/ct, and bought it from the same Brazillian miner that I mentioned above. Although my direct from the mine price was $135.50, I'll part with it for $80 if you promise you'll set it in something worthy of it's grandeur. It measures slightly over 8x13 mm, and needs a custom setting. Fluorite is not hard enough to stand up to a ring setting. Like tanzanite, it will scratch or chip with daily wear in a ring.

I have other stones, like 3 color andalusite, sapphires (including 2 small padparaschas), amethysts and rutilated quartz. Somewhere in my jewelry lab is a huge aquamarine, and I have a bunch of Lightning Ridge opal rough in a jar in the kitchen. I've been letting it sit dry so that I won't have any surprise cracking when I cut it.
If any of this interests you, feel free to e-mail me at sharon(at)bitparts(dot)org

It was fun while it lasted

(sniff) I had a good run as a stay-home mom. I loved every minute of it. And there's no way to avoid working for a living now. We have $4 in our bank account, so tomorrow I begin my job search. I'll borrow some professional clothes from mom and have Buck trim my hair tonight. Lord it's been a long time since I've done interviews. (sigh)

On the flip side, an extra paycheck will cover the back bills, pay down the credit cards, and give us extra cash for Christmas and such.

Also, once I get the batteries charged for the digital camera, I'll be posting photos of some truly gorgeous gemstones that can be had for a song. I'll probably also be selling my 14k casting grain, ring and sheet stock, settings, and a boatload of sterling silver.

A Short Trip In The WayBack Machine

I've been reading a lot of political blogs today; meaning I've been reading a lot of opinions about speeches and war. Kerry is saying that Bush lives in a fantasy world, and that he would have conducted The War On Terror differently.

So let's take a trip in the WayBack Machine, shall we?
November-December 2000: Bush gets elected, or doesn't -depending on who you read. People gripe, and life moves on.
Late 2001-Early 2002: Congress, intelligence agencies, and the Bush administration figure out whodunnit and create a plan to end a threat. Much discussion ensues, troops are moved, promises are made (We will leave the government of Afghanistan in place, et al.) and America bombs Afghanistan "back to the stone ages".
Most of the people accept this as reasonable. The U.S. supports the Philipinnes, and helps them wipe out a terrorist organization. With Afghanistan's support gone, and the rest of the world horrified over September 11th; Al-Quaida has nowhere left to run. Americans had hope again.
Late 2002-Early 2003: The Bush administration pushes for war with Iraq, insisting Saddam Hussein is a threat to the United States. Troops are moved from Afghanistan and Kosovo, among other places; and prepare to strike Iraq.
April 2003: The "Shock and Awe" campaign begins. Bush flies a fighter jet to an aircraft carrier. Victory is declared.
Summer 2003: Americans are alerted to the news that we are going to be in Iraq for a very long time. The death toll mounts as terrorists cross the borders into Iraq.
Summer 2004: Americans are told that Al-Queida might be operating out of Iraq.

There was a time in the not so distant past when the world was turned against terrorism and military forces from a huge variety of nations had the biggest threats on the run.
Mr. pResident, I too, would have done things differently. Your timing was bad. Your tactics were worse. Your god will not be descending from heaven to take you away. You are not the Messiah; nor are you his messenger. You are a liar and a thief, and I hate you for what you have done to my country.

Do you think of the maimed American soldiers who will take their shattered bodies to the polls and vote your ass out of office? Do you think of the dead, who can't vote at all? Do you think of the families -jobless, homeless, hopeless- who suffer for your pride?
Do you sleep well, Mr. pResident? You certainly looked well rested when you addressed the U.N. yesterday. Perhaps their stony silence kept you awake last night.

Shameless Fundraising Attempt

Remember when you were a child, and you could sell crap door-to-door? Well, nowadays the schools discourage that kind of fund raising. Unfortunately, they still need the money that fund raising brings. L's school sponsors several fund raisers a year; none of them are mandatory. Right now they're selling over priced junk from Mr. Z's. I am not asking you to feel obligated to buy any of this stuff. However; if you'd like some fancy wrapping paper or some neat coffee cup coasters, please let me know. You can see what L is selling at Mr. Z's website, too.

I'm buying the coffee magnets, the adorable snowmen with presents ornaments, and (like I do every year) the milk chocolate menorahs for my nieces.

On a slightly different note; I'm learning how to knit, and I found a pattern for a knitted dreidel. It's cute and useless. One of these days I'm going to get out my wood carving tools and make a pair of dreidels for my nieces.

Spay Day

MoonShadow is getting spayed today. It's an outpatient procedure. I remember when they would keep them over night, at least! Of course, I remember when the vet wouldn't spay unless the cat had experienced a heat cycle. Times have very much changed.

I was worried about Shadow and the anesthesia. Hunter didn't react very well to the anesthesia after his neutering. He was off kilter for days. Shadow is a lot more delicate (at least in appearance), so I worried about her surgery. The vet gave me the option of a pre-anesthesia test, to make sure she could handle the drugs. Woot!

It costs $30, which we really don't have right now. But she's getting the test anyway. I'd rather buy some cheaper food for two weeks, than lose my kitty. It's all about priorities. :) We took this kitten and promised her a good home. We're committed to her having a long and happy life. So a $30 test is part of the deal.
...........

It was a dog day at the vets office. There were two dogs waiting when we came in. Both of them looked at my box of kitty and acted like I'd brought in a treat for them. "Oooh! Fast food!" Their wagging tails seemed to say. "I like Happy Meals!"
MoonShadow stayed in the carrier, on the counter where the dogs couldn't reach her. A third dog lover came in, carrying his unleashed lap dog. He came right up to my cat carrier and held his doggie out to see my cat.
"Look, a black cat! Cat!" he exclaimed.
I wondered if he were any relation to Mr. Rogers.
There's a cat who lives at the vets office. She had been laying next to MoonShadow's carrier, being no threat whatsoever. Mr. Rogers' relative shoved his dog at the other cat next, and loudly proclaimed, "Cat!"
The cat! was free to run, and did so immediately; skittering over MoonShadow's carrier and almost knocking it from the counter.
For the first time ever, I heard MoonShadow hiss. She had her ears back, and she was staring at the dog owner with utter dislike.
Friday would have been so proud.

I turned to give the dog owner The Look. You know, the look that says, "What is your malfunction? Why don't you go sit down, and why isn't that thing on a leash?"
And the nurses whisked MoonShadow away before I could say goodbye.

What The Hell Is Going On In Nepal?

You, like a lot of Americans, might be watching the news for hurricane info. Between reports of wind speeds and storm surges, you'll hear tidbits about Presidential candidates and Martha Stewart resigning herself to jail. What you won't hear about is this: Non-Essential US Embassy Staff, Families Allowed To Leave Troubled Nepal

or this: In Nepal the Maoists are Winning
or even this: Bomb explodes at American Center in Nepal
The American version of the same story: Suspected Rebels Bomb U.S. Center in Nepal

I didn't know the US has been funding Nepal's monarchy. I didn't know the US was training people there. I didn't even know Nepal was in the middle of a civil war.
Gee, and I thought I was moderately well informed.

This City Stinks

I mean it actually stinks. There's an odor that's hanging in the air, and it is foul. My neighborhood smells like fertilizer and smog. The area around L's school smells like sewage and smog. There is nowhere to go to get away from the smell.
We really need some rain.

Gift Certificates
L's school sells gift certificates for a huge number of places. Each company gives a percentage to the school. Most give between 1% and 5%, and with those profits: the school bought $4000 worth of new textbooks. And there's a little family owned restaurant in South City named "Crusoe's". Their food is fabulous, plentiful and cheap. Their bar, dining rooms and outdoor areas are spotlessly clean. And they donate 20% of their gift certificate sales to L's school. (And, presumably, any other schools who sell their gift certificates)
Twenty Percent! And their food is fabulous!

You gotta love the small business owner.

Misc. Stuff

Another picture from Colorado:


L has to make something for the academic fair. That's a science fair to you and I, only more PC. That way you don't get 200 model volcanoes. The students can submit anything that has anything to do with academics.

Of course, L wants to make something spectacular. He wanted to make a battle bot. We told him he could make a battle bot without the weapons. You can't bring weapons to school. But last night I had a brilliant idea.

L's favorite drink is caffeine free Pepsi. (Oh, he is so the son of his father. Sigh) Anyway, I think he should build an automatic soda can opener. It would have an actual use after the fair, and the materials would cost a lot less. Buck would like him to build a can washer and crusher. Nice, since washing and crushing cans is one of L's chores.
I think L will like the opener idea better.
We'll see. I'm presenting both ideas to him after school. And he can always build his battle bot. Although we've hit an obstacle there. L wants to use his K'Nex robotics kit controller. K'Nex used to sell a chip programmer, but they've taken them off the market because Dish TV is afraid people will use them to hack their satellite boxes. Never mind that they're incompatible. Dish TV sued everybody, and K'Nex is one of the companies that decided it was just too much trouble. I guess they'd rather spend their money developing toys. I can't say I blame them. I'd rather develop toys than pay lawyers any day.

The Interesting Story About North Korea

If you've read or watched the news you probably know about this already. If not, here's a synopsis:
September 9th is the Anniversary of North Koreas founding. Like our own independence Day, they celebrate with explosions and displays of military power. (In America, it's called air shows) Everybody loves it.

Ok, so on Thursday, South Korea reported an explosion in North Korea. They claimed there was a mushroom shaped cloud 2.1 to 2.5 miles in diameter. They claimed there was a crater that could be seen from a satellite. And they claimed seismic activity was consistent with two explosions; one at 11 p.m. Wednesday and on at 1 a.m. Thursday.

NEIC doesn't list any recent earthquakes in North Korea. I couldn't find any satellite images featuring a new crater. Doesn't mean nothing happened. Just means I haven't found evidence with my little pc and dial-up connection.

And there's the question of censorship. If this (these?) blast(s) happened on Wednesday/Thursday, why did South Korea wait until after Sept. 11th to announce it/them?

Quotes From Around The Blogosphere
"Democracy is not a spectator sport"

"Ivan bears down on Florida. After three hurricanes, I don't think chads will be hanging. Let's just hope the power is working for those brand-new electronic machines. You know they won't think of battery backups."

"I say - if it's in the toilet you can't eat it.
Is it bad that I even have that phrase in my vocabulary?"

Tomorrow Is My Cousins' Birthday

Oh, and it's a big-deal day for the rest of America too. I wanted to point out, though, that about 1 in every 365 people you meet will have a birthday on September 11th. These people feel a little lost on their birthday. My cousin -the child of an immigrant- is ashamed of his birthday now. He's embarrassed.

So I'm writing today to say that tomorrow I will remember him. I will send love and cake his way (he lives 2 doors down) as he steps into Teenhood. Yes, tomorrow my cousin turns 13.
If he were Jewish, he would get a rite of manhood. He's Catholic, and he got his rite of manhood when he was 10. The day he learned to shut up about his special day.

We all experience loss, it's part of life. Fortunately, his loss is temporary. After all; how many people remember the date of "The day that will live in infamy"? I think it was December 6th. But I'm not sure. Pearl Harbor happened before I was born. The history books say that a bunch of planes bombed a military base, ships sank, people were traumatized, and people died. The history books say America changed that day. I don't know how America was before then.

My Grandma can tell me more about growing up during the Depression than she can about Pearl Harbor and the war that followed.
I guess my point is that History remembers war, but People remember life. It's our own little slice of it that touches us most deeply.

I remember the planes and the horror and the fear for my child. And I also remember that tomorrow 10 Million Americans will have a birthday. One of them is my cousin.

Open Mouthed In Wonder

President Bush visited my state again, dammit. Amid the rhetoric, he had this to say:

"We've got an issue in America. Too many good docs are getting out of business. Too many OB-GYNs aren't able to practice their love with women all across this country."

I am not kidding you. But wait, there's more. V.P. Dick Cheney was in Iowa yesterday, and boy did he say the wrong thing:

"It's absolutely essential that eight weeks from today, on November 2nd, we make the right choice, because if we make the wrong choice then the danger is that we'll get hit again," the vice president said, "that we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States, and that we'll fall back into the pre-9/11 mind-set, if you will, that in fact these terrorist attacks are just criminal acts and that we are not really at war."

Wow. Did I read that correctly? Did the Vice President of the United States threaten us with a terrorist attack? Did he actually imply that our country would be hit by terrorists, and that the US would do nothing in return if John Kerry were president?

The Last Year of Grade School Is A Very Hard Year

It really is. This year L gets to adopt a kindergartener, attend special 8th grader events practically every month, do 30 hours of service work, and pick a High School.

It's that last one I want to write about; although any of them would make for an interesting story.
L wants to attend CBC with all his heart. He has to pick a back up school, just in case he doesn't get in to CBC. That's the stressful part for me. How do I find another school which so perfectly fits his needs? (More like how do I find a school we can afford which fits his needs?) There are a few that are simply out of our budget. Even with me working a 9-5 job, we don't have an extra $13,000 plus clothes, gas, lunch money and the trappings of teenhood. The money just isn't there. Some of the schools are too far away. I'm not willing to get L out of bed at 5:00 am to get him to school by 8:00 am. When would he sleep? Some of the schools are strongly oriented towards athletics. L is not an athletic person. He's the son of a Geek and an Artist.
I can't choose his school for him, he must decide for himself.

There's something else I won't make him do. I won't make him get Confirmed. For the non-Catholics out there, Confirmation is a sacrament where a person chooses to commit him/her self to God and the Catholic faith. Most Catholic parents have their children baptized into Catholicism at a very young age; far too young for the child to choose the religion themselves. So Confirmation is literally a confirming of your parent's choice. It's you saying, "Yes, I want to be Catholic, that's my calling."
Well, we're not Catholic. L was baptized Catholic, and he's spent 8 years attending a Catholic school. He's gone to church and received the sacraments of First Penance and First Communion. He had no trouble with those. He wanted to fit in with his class, so he did it along with all of them. But he's not sure if he wants to receive Confirmation. He knows he doesn't want to be Catholic, so taking the sacrament of Confirmation would be lying to the Church and himself. L is an honest child. It doesn't seem right for him to lie. (To which I agree wholeheartedly, BTW) And, if he gets confirmed, he's almost certain to get into CBC. His academics are good. His test scores are through the roof. His teachers like him. Several influential people have said they would write to the principal of CBC and tell him how wonderful L is; and what a valuable addition to the school L would be. He fits the bill for their desired diversity. And, please Gods-Goddesses-Universe Itself, CBC is right for my son.
CBC chooses students who are Catholic first, students who attended Catholic schools but are not Catholic second, and students who are not Christian at all third. If there's any room left. Last year there were 100 students on their waiting list.
So we pick a back up and pray that L chooses to be confirmed; because he wants it, not because he lied.

Backyard Critters

So tell me again why the great outdoors has so many critters, because it can't possibly be just for my entertainment. Other people must suffer too, right?

There's a spider who spins her meal catcher at our back door. We call her big ugly. Because she's big and ugly. I say she because the females are generally larger than the males, and this critter is about the size of a nickel.
Anyway, when I went to the grocery store last night, she had already started on her web. I know it takes a lot of calories to spin a web, so I was very careful in opening the back door. I didn't want to ruin an hour's worth of work. I did my shopping and came back home, but on the way through the back yard, I somehow got a slug in my sandal. Oh My Gods, it was so gross. It was a tiny slug, and my big toe had squished it. To reiterate: it was gross. Like freakishly disgusting.
And I still had a whole yard to walk through. And a monster spider to get past. And my toe was now sticking to my sandal, as if someone had put a piece of double-sided tape there.
So, making faces of disgust, I came in the front door with my arms full of groceries and let the menfolks know that they would be retrieving the rest of the food. Because I stepped on a slug and it's squishing in my sandal.
They both burst out laughing.
Yeah, frickin' hilarious. (actually, it was pretty funny in a how-much-can-the-universe-gross-you-out sort of way)

As of this morning, Big Ugly had not removed her web. I had to break her anchor thread and let the web lift on the breeze before L would leave the house.

Linky Love
Somebody new linked me! I found her through my site stats. As usual, this new person in my cyber-life is more spiritual, more eloquent and more positive than myself. I don't know why y'all keep adding me to your blogrolls, but thank you. I'm honored. :)