You have the power - Please use it for good and not evil

In the 2000 presidential election women represented 52 percent of the electorate but as many as 22 million unmarried women did not vote that year,

It took a long hard fight for women to get the vote. Please don't give up your rights. We are the majority and we can make the world better and tell men what to do, all we have to do is seize that power and make use of it, in other words get your butt out there and vote.

If you haven't decided how to vote try this siteWorld's Smallest Political Quiz

And just becuase I was whizzing around the political sites this morning and ran into this article, I have to publish it. They Pry Them from Our Cold Dead Fingers by Sharon Harris:"Interesting look at Gun Conrol and School Busses.

If you haven't registered to vote yet you can do so online at JustVote's home page

In Answer to Lydias question I find all this stuff by looking at other peoples blogs. Other people who have much more time than I do to go scouring the web for such gems as the swift elves. I found the coincidence theory one at Blondesense which is still one of my personal favorite blogs.( See link on left)

As for children at the grocery store. The path to sanity is to first admit to yourself that you are the one who has given your children the option of running around and driving you crazy. They are just little kids and can not make these decisions by themselves unless you let them. The not buying them anything was a good start but you missed the beat them/and or torture them when you got home step. Remember punishment only needs to have three qualifications in order to be acceptable. #1: The kids must not like it, #2: It must be something useful #3: It can be completed in a reasonable amount of time, (I don't believe in grounding as that just punishes the parents). Unless of course you are just going to beat them, which can be fun but gets monotonous when done daily.

#1 is easy. Cleaning rooms, doing housework, gardening, writing "I will not leave mommy's side in a store ever again" 25-100 times. Mowing lawns, painting houses. Anything that will make yourlife easier or prettier through their hard labor. Taking things away accomplishes very little, hard labor is a much better way to achieve your purpose and it helps build a childs self esteem because they manage to complete a task they will need when they are older. This type of chore covers all three aspects of the punishment faze and will generally get them to respond especially if you manage to force them to do what ever it is until it is perfect and right. If they end up spending all evening on one task that is their choice. You can not cave or this punishment is meaningless and you might as well just beat them. And remember to be heartless. If they are cleaning the bathroom and forget to wipe the piss off that is running down the front of the toilet show them and make them do it same with streaks and spots on the glass. You don't have to be mean you can enjoy the punishment and use it as a teaching tool. Kids appreciate doing something correctly but few parents are will willing to be heartless enough to show them were they mess up. You just let it slide and soon you have an 18 year old who hasn't got a clue.

Other shopping tips I have learned.

give them each a quarter or a dollar depending on what you can afford Make sure they are wearing pants with pockets. Place money in pockets as you enter the store. Tell children that if they stay next to you and keep their hands in their pockets With the money in their hands the whole time you are in the store they can keep the money. Make sure you take away money when they disobey. You have enough kids for this to work because the little ones will get to keep their money and blaze and lindy won't want to lose it. You can also tell them that if they last through 5-10 trips without losing the money you will take them shopping just the two of you to spend what they have earned Or Kelly can which ever they choose. This way they set goals and the prize is just being with you how cheap is that.

When going grocery shopping and curing the "I wants" I used to do my grocery shopping at a store with a small ice cream parlor next door. Before we would enter the grocery store we would go to the ice cream store and get a hot dog and a small coke or cone. The 3 of us would split it so that we each got enough for it to be special but not a meal. Since they had already received treats on the way in and were feeling warm and loved and filled with ice cream or coke they rarely bothered me for anything else. BY giving it to them before we went in they knew what behavior was expected of them and I wasn't using it as a threat holding it over their heads and having to remind them of it continuously. I showed them by treating them before the store that I trusted that they would be honorable enough to act appropriately and because They knew that they did.

Other more extreme ways to cure the run arounds which are enjoyable but a little strange. Start singing rounds with your kids or make up family songs make it just so much fun to be with you that they go no where else.

When deciding that this is all to much trouble and you might as well let them run around what could it possibly hurt. Remember it was only 6 months or so ago since the last little girl (Age 12)was assaulted and molested at Target on a Saturday with 100s of people in the store that didn't even notice. Yes she was there with her parents but was allowed to walk around by herself. I'll bet she doesn't do that any more and the video on it can still be found online. Is this what you want in our childs future.

On to other things. If you would take pictures of Cristal's work and either scan them or bring them to me I will make her a web site for advertising her art. And promo her on my web stie at no charge until she starts becoming famous or at least supporting herself through her art. That way you have done something for her and if she continues to paint your house it just gives her more finished product to display on the website and in her portfolio. So I hereby absolve you of all guilt. Just help her get the pictures together and you have done your part. The encouragement you have given her Is worth so much more I am sure.

You may notice that this blog now has a search bar and a some google ads on it. I am trying this out and who knows it may even make money. Should it actually do so I will let you all know so we can work out a feasible way to split the money after it pays site fees for maintaining the site itself which I currently pay for. The fairest way so far that I have considered splitting the money is based on actual posts and word count of each writer. If you want to know your word count etc. edit your profile to show profile and it will show you totals. I figure this way the money would be split according to participation. So if you want more money, when, and if we start earning it "write more". Evil Bitch aren't I.