In my opinion!

My potty training success

2009-02-10T18:42:00.006-05:00

Okay those of you who have read any of my blogs will see that this is a huge departure for me but I have not been inspired by any politics lately.

This is about POTTY TRAINING two of the scariest words for the parents of young toddlers. Make sure they are ready - dry diapers after nap or in the morning, hiding when they poop, or in my opinion anything over 2.5.

I potty trained Rowan at 2.5 and Brody at 2 with great success so here is my process.

1. Get a small potty or a seat to go on the regular toilet and let them play with it for a few months. Both boys dragged the thing around the house for weeks!

2. Let them pick out big kid underwear at the store. Make it a big deal.

3. Stop giving them sippy cups if they carry them around the house or can drink when ever they want. You don't want them having to pee every five minutes.

4. This is the hardest to stick with. TAKE AWAY THE DIAPERS AND DON'T PUT THEM BACK ON!!!!! It will suck for a few days but it will be worth it I promise. Also don't use Pull Ups they are just confusing.

5. Turn on the timer every 30 minutes explain that every time they hear the timer it is time to go on the potty but if they have to go before to tell you. (hopefully he/she won't turn into Pavlov's dog)

6. If they go potty give them a treat and sing a song, do a dance anything to excite them and encourage them to do it again and again. We did M&M's.

7. Sometimes they don't go right away and we would read books for about 10 minutes and then get off the toilet. But don't give a treat just for sitting there!

8. You have to plan to stay home or bring some changes of clothes do not put diapers on to go to the store it will only confuse them and delay the process.

9. They will make mistakes, if it is a pee mess I would have the boys clean it up saying it was their responsibility. It sounds harsh but it really works.

10. Don't show your frustration it will only frustrate them. You have to dedicate at least a week with no variances. This is hard because it is not easy cleaning up bodily fluids for a few days non stop. But with enough praise and encouragement they will do this for you and be proud of themselves.

11. BE CONSISTENT!

After they are trained there will be setbacks every once in a while and just deal with it calmly and with love. We still give Brody treats and he has been potty trained for 8 months!

If you have comments or disagree or have questions go ahead and post!

Why I don't want Caroline Kennedy as the NY Senator!

2009-01-16T13:59:00.007-05:00

First the good things about Caroline Kennedy. She dosen't have a crimnal record. She has never been seen being mean to her kids. I don't think she kicks puppies. She seems like basically a kind hearted person.

Now, why I don't want Caroline Kennedy as the NY Senator.

She has never held a real job. She did work as the Metropolitan Museum of Art as research assistant until she met her husband. She has sat on a few boards raising money and raised lots of money for NYC Schools while director of the Fund for Public Schools. But when you volunteer for things people are not going to tell you what you are doing wrong or how you can better yourself. They are just really happy to have a famous name and people helping them. Having a job when you have to rely on a salary and when others rely on you helps you grow as a human being.

She does have a law degree but I can find no evidence of her ever holding a law job. Ever.

She has been in the public eye for her whole life but what do we know about her? She is so private except when all of a sudden she decides that she should be senator. I feel she thinks because she says jump we should jump. She wants to be senator but won't release her financial records?

She is not artulicate. This youtube clip shows her saying "you know" way more than anyone should. On average 4 time per sentence. This criticism is most likely why she stopped doing interviews.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcDG3rts3dA

I have my speech faults but as of yet I am not up for the senate seat.

She does not represent me. She has never been to Rochester, Syracuse, Buffalo or Uttica before she was basically forced to visit by Gov. Patterson. She has way too much money. Never having to hold a job how can she realize what it is like to struggle? She probably thinks she can relate but I don't agree.

Fran Dresher wants the senate seat, why should she not get it? What is so much better about Caroline that she gets consideration and Fran dosen't? Is it because she is a Kennedy? Is it because she is the daughter of a President? The daughter of a really famous fashion icon? Or is it because Fran Dresher has a really annoying voice?

After all this the main reason I do not want Caroline as the senator is because she is not an elected offical. Andrew Coumo was elected as Atty General, he has lots of political experience and serves all of NY state, not just NYC.

I do think she will get elected becasue she is very well know and can bring a media circus when the election comes up again in 2010 and Patterson probably thinks she can help him get re-elected.

2009-01-06T22:10:00.000-05:00

WHAT IS WRONG WITH MADONNA????? I used to love, now I hate.

What the F&**)!

2009-01-06T20:59:00.005-05:00

I am so annoyed by the media stories on the death of Jett Travolta. Let the family grieve. I can not imagine how horrible it would be to lose a child. John Travolta and Kelly Preston are no different that you or I
and just need to be left alone for a week maybe two, before the stories start. Let the family at least bury Jett before the hate starts.

Now I am no lover of religion. I believe that in many cases it causes more problems than it solves. I do think down the road questions of if Jett's death could have been prevented should be discussed.

I think it is such a big story now because there is a big backlash against Scientology. People don't like it and think it is a cult etc. Remember Science Christan, Amish and a few other religions are urged not to use modern medicine. And I never hear in the news when people in those communities die. You can't tell me they all die of something that could not be cured. (maybe they are just not famous!)

Just because it is popular to hate Scientology and bash on celebrities lets not forget the humanity. This family is hurting and needs to heal. After a respectful time then lets pose the question - could this death have been prevented. What can be done in the future to stop this. Who is responsible?

As a side note Christians and Jews were (are) persecuted for centuries for their beliefs.

Negative does not work!

2008-10-10T10:38:00.004-04:00

I believe that Republicans are hatemongers! Yes I said it!!! When all their speeches and ideas and stunts fail, they start the hate. At the rallies which I believe should be about how great your candidate is, all they are doing is bashing Obama. Shouldn't he be talking about policy, the war, the economy? Yes, but John McCain and Sarah Palin are not.

Are all people named Hitler bad? I don't think so, yet they are throwing around Obama's middle name Hussein like Barack and Saddam were brothers! At some of the rallies people are yelling "off with his head" and "terrorist". Does John McCain say we are all Americans and should act accordingly, no he laughs and continues his horrible rhetoric. I think he wants the hate. I think he needs the hate.

But what I don't think he realizes or maybe he just doesn't care is that the independent vote he needs to win the election does not like the negative. I have been watching the debates on CNN and every time he went negative the audience responded negatively. CNN has been keeping track of independent Ohio voters and they have little dials that they use to respond to the debate.

I hope that when this election is all done we can get back to the issues, no matter who is president (Obama) and fix our broken country.

VP Debates

2008-10-07T14:56:00.003-04:00

I didn't talk about the VP debates mostly because I was unimpressed. I thought Joe Biden did a good job. I find him even more likable now. I liked the way he did not try to smear John McCain and talked about him respectfully. Even admitting that they are friends. I felt that Sarah Palin was very rehearsed. She even stated that she was not going to answer the questions and she didn't! She kept to her talking points and added her "folksy"crap which truthfully drives me to drink. But not a six pack!

I am very interested in what history will have to say about this election. Will John McCain be show to be a genius? Picking an unknown, inexperienced woman from a state far far away? Or will he be remembered as making the worst mistake of his career. Will Barack Obama be shown as one of the countries shinning stars or will he be remembered for ruining his political career because he did not pick Hillary Clinton?

I look forward to tonight's debates with a little trepidation. The election as of this weekend has gotten so negative I worry that we will not get back to the issues. Will they be arguing over past arguments or will they talk about the economy, the war, health care, taxes. I really hope so. I also hope that John McCain puts away his condescending attitude for one of respect. Barack Obama was selected by 18 million people to represent them, and he is insulting them when he is demeaning to Barack.

2008-10-02T16:11:00.001-04:00

The View oh how I love the View! I feel that me and Joy and Whoopie and Sherry are friends and we hate Elizabeth and wonder why she is hanging around us. Now that I am home, I have to watch. It is my one connection to the adult world during the day.

I am all for having two sides. I think that there are good and bad things about each of the presidential candidates. I think the whole Jeffery Wright thing on the Obama side is crap, I mean why was he friends with that guy, and having him baptize Obama's kids! And I think that John McCain has done some great things in the senate. But when you watch Elizabeth on the View she can not admit that the republicans have ever made a mistake. According to her, Bush has never been wrong, McCain has never been wrong, Palin has never been wrong. And Clinton has never been right, Obama has never been right and Biden has never been right.

Yesterday on Katie Couric when Plain could not name one newspaper that she reads, Elizabeth said I think she did the right thing by not endorsing a paper. What!??
I feel that she is like the talking heads on CNN or FOX or MSNBC whose job it is to say only good things and spin the stupid stuff they do in to something that seems smart.

Dillon the other day remind me of the dumbining. Which is when you are pregnant or just gave birth your IQ is much lower than it was pre baby. For example we took IQ tests a few years back and I beat Dillon by about 6 points. We took the same test when I was pregnant with Rowan and my IQ dropped about 20 points! And once when I was pregnant with Brody we were watching Wheel of Fortune and and the clue was hum-a-dity( (written like i said it) and I am like what is a hum-a-dity and Dillon almost fell off the chair and said not hum-a-dity it's humidity hue-mid-ity.

My point being maybe Sarah Palin is in the mist of the dumbining. I mean my own IQ has never recovered after two kids and I can't imagine how her is after five and she just had her last baby. So maybe after a few more months the mist will lift and she will be this great VP candidate and America will forget all the silly things she has said and her poll numbers will go back up, and the democrats will be screwed. But i doubt it!

Update

2008-10-02T08:47:00.000-04:00

Just an update, yesterday on Larry King Live Ben Stein who is an economist and former speech writer to Nixon stated that Paulson received 1.2 billion dollars from Goldman Sachs and he received that money for starting the sub prime business in that company. If that is not a crime I don't know what is.

2008-10-01T13:48:00.001-04:00

No Golden Parachutes! The definition is - A golden parachute is a contractual agreement between a company and an employee (usually an upper executive) specifying that the employee will receive certain significant benefits if employment is terminated.

So when someone retires or gets fired they receive major cash! When Enron went under and people lost jobs and all of their retirement the Enron executives all got their golden parachute.

Now when we are in such crisis and both Obama and McCain are calling for no more golden parachutes. But will they stick to their guns? I just read today that Alan Fishman of Washington Mutual is getting 19 million dollars as he leaves the company. Has he been there working hard for 20 or 30 years?? No he has only been there 3, yes 3 weeks!!!! 3 weeks people! Kerry Killinger the WM CEO who was in charge of the bank when it was giving all the bad mortgages is getting 54 million dollars over the next 5 years. And the guys who ran fannie and freddie are getting 24 million.

That is insane. I don't want the government to give wall street any money. Let it collapse and let the good companies rise up and continue being good companies. I feel it is Bush, Cheney, Paulson and Bernanke trying to bail out all their friends. Paulson by the way had his own golden parachute when he left Goldman Sachs.

2008-09-29T13:09:00.001-04:00

Yesterday Dillon and I saw Cake! It was awesome. One of the few bands that sounds better live than on their CD's. Probably the most popular song is Going the Distance. Also I just read that their song
Short Skirt/Long Jacket is part of the theme song to Chuck on NBC. Pretty cool, check them out on itunes if you can.

My kids had a good friend come and watch them when we went to the concert and as we left I was expecting NO MOMMY don't go or can't I go with you??? But we barely got a don't let the door hit you on the way out! They grow so fast!

Now the debates.

I believe that Barack Obama won. Mostly because John McCain spent a lot of time talking down to Barack Obama. If he is trying to broaden his base and get the independents and more conservative dems he needs to not be dismissive to the other candidate. There are alot of undecided voters and his conceit and his condescending voice are so unappealing. John McCain saying over and over that Barack Obama doesn't understand this or that made me think about his very inexperienced running mate. Who by the way debates on Thursday!!!!

Also he could not even look in Barack Obama's direction! That to me seems weak.

I am feeling some hope as McCain/Palin poll numbers go down. I really just want to encourage people to vote on the issues, not because McCain reminds you of your grampy or because Sarah Palin is as cute as a button.

Silly McCain

2008-09-26T15:51:00.002-04:00

Now McCain just looks silly. First he declared a stop to the campaign during the Wall Street crisis, and he was not going to debate.

Now he is already in Mississippi for the debates! Is the crisis over? No. Did he stop campaigning? No he just campaigned differently in Washington. Is he going to debate? Yes!

What probably seemed like a good idea to him early in the morning before his cup of coffee, in my opinion failed. It is said that he did this to look more like a leader, I don't believe it worked.

On the other side Barack was calm and rational. I think his comment that the president should be able to handle more than one thing at a time was inspired.

His wanting to always debate and by that, forcing John McCain to go back on his statement that he would not debate shows who looks like the real leader.

Why I won't vote for McCain

2008-09-25T14:20:00.002-04:00

Why I won't vote for McCain...

Sarah Palin.

I think it was such an irresponsible act to choose a person with so little experience with other countries, politicians and issues. I also think she is extremely conservative and I can't understand why women in general would vote for her. Especially the Hillary supporters.

Things she is for...

1. No abortion even in the case of incest or rape - unless she has been raped by a stranger or relative and is carrying the rapists child Sarah has no idea how traumatic this is for the mother, it should be the choice of the victim to have the baby. Being forced to carry the baby to term makes her a victim all over again.
1a. She is against birth control!!!! I can't add enough exclamation marks. She wants to teach abstinence, outlaw birth control and abortion. Who is going to be taking care of all these babies that are going to be had? She could not even get her point across to her own daughter Bristol who is having a baby and going to be marring the father. Who by the way was dating another girl when he got Bristol pregnant and now they are going to be married? At 18?
1b. She cut funding for halfway houses for pregnant teenagers by more than 20%.

2. She is for teaching creationism in schools - creationism says that because there is a gap in the science of evolution, there was divine intervention. Also that the earth is 10,000 years old and dinosaurs did not exist or were put here to trick people or the people lived with dinosaurs. In 2005 Arkansas, Louisiana and Pennsylvania went to the Federal Courts and tried to get this taught or co-taught in schools, after evidence on both sides it was found that evolution was correct and creationism was unconstitutional to teach.

3. She is a governor of a state, but its Alaska I am not saying that some states are more important than others, but it's Alaska! She has only been out the the country once and she says it was to Iraq but it was really to Kuwait. She can meet all the foreign leaders she wants this week but that does not make up for it. When asked any questions about foreign policy she has her talking points but does not really say anything except what a maverick John McCain is. She is not doing the shows, Meet the Press or any other non scripted show. Why? She is uninformed.

4. Shooting wolves out of airplanes... come on. She is also for semi automatic weapons. I am all for people having guns if they want to hunt but what do you need a semi automatic weapon for? A rabbit? A deer? A moose? A squirrel? A Person?

5. Watch the Katie Couric interview with Sarah it is laughable.

John MaCain has had cancer 4 times, people die suddenly from cancer all the time (my dad died at 72 from brain cancer with 10 days notice) do we really want this woman as President of the United States?

My first blog

2008-09-20T19:59:00.001-04:00

This is my very first blog. I have thought about writing one for years, and now that I am staying home I thought there is no time like the present.

I taught music for 9 years in a city school here and after alot of going back and forth I realize I just don't like to teach. Imagine that!! So I quit my job and am now staying home with my two boys trying valiently to keep them intertained. There are lots of trips to the museum and playground now that it is nice, but what I am going to do in the winter I just don't know.

I will be writing about lots of different things in this blog. I am very interested in politics. I love to watch TV and read really smuty bodice rippers! I also love the paranormal romance novels. Vampires, shapeshifters, demons ect.

I think I will be focusing on the election for the next few postings because it is so important. The main thing is to get out and vote no matter what.

I can't believe that there are women who don't vote. I actually know some and I get so mad. We have not had the right long enough to sit on our asses and let other people make decisioins for us. And if you don't vote you don't get to complain that our leaders are doing a bad job. I think not voting is irresponsible. One vote does make a difference - Flordia anyone???

Some say the reason they don't vote is they don't know the issues, well watch CNN for a little while, that is all they are focusing on.

I am for Barak Obama, I voted from him in the primarys, but I do love Hillary. And I was sorry for her that she didn't win. Weird I know. And I get why he didn't pick her as his running mate, I mean there was alot of mud slinging and that would be hard to get over. I also think that Hillary and Bill would get very bossy once they were in the white house and maybe forget who was really president.

I do have to admit that when McCain picked Palin as his running mate I got really worried because as you know the world fell in love with her. Not me, but I will keep that for another post.

Please come back and tell your friends. I promise this will never be dull.