Multifaceted Mama

Mother’s Day,…
Mother’s Day was just about perfect, which was a refreshing change from my normal day to day life!  We didn’t do much, but it was nice to just be able to relax a little.  We spent the afternoon watching Avatar, which I didn’t think I was going to like, but I LOVED it!  And there were gifts and cards involved which was also nice!  I got a really cute card from Ka’lani, with a little recorded song that was really sweet.  I got another one from Ty & Scott that they recorded “I love you, Mom” ‘s, which Ty likes to play over and over again, apparently loving his own voice!  I got another one from Donovan that he recorded his own message on, which was typically Donovan and hysterical,… not to mention the stuff he wrote in it!  THe hubs also got me a card, one that was uncharacteristically mushy and sweet!  I also got one from Ashley, which almost made me cry!  The boys also gave me a new sewing basket which is AWESOME!  It is about 12″ high, 8″ deep and 8″ wide, and fits a TON of stuff inside!  Corey got me a beautiful silver amethyst ring, pear-shaped with peridots surrounding it.  It is GORGEOUS!  They also got me a funky shiatsu neck massager and a Dymo label maker which is GREAT!  I got a really cute coupon book from Scotty and a recipe book from Ty that the kids in his class all contributed to.  Donovan also gave me a couple bags of fancy chocolates.  Yummy!  All in all, a great day!

Betty White is da bomb,…
I love Betty White anyway, but she was freakin’ hysterical on Saturday Night Live this weekend!  She is dirty, dirty, dirty and she was funny as hell!  She did a skit with Ana Gasteyer and Molly Shannon, the NPR gig.  It was all about her muffins,… HYSTERICAL.  Watch it below,…

Mood: cheerful  Weather: sunny, high of 56°  TV: The Today Show

NOTE: Contents may offend.  If you want to continue the hate, feel free to use the “x” at the upper right hand corner of this window.  NOT INTERESTED!

My heart breaks as I am watching the coverage of the Fort Hood shootings.  So many lives have been lost or ruined today.  13 are dead, including the alleged gunman.  31 more are wounded to varying degrees.  Another suspect is still in custody at this time.

Tragedies like these take a piece from everyone involved, even from those of us watching from afar.  The families of those that were killed will never be the same.  The lives of those who survived will never be the same.  So many lives lost and ruined for something that should never have had to happen.

I’m an Army wife and an Army veteran.  I could never imagine taking the life of any of my brothers and sisters in uniform.  I may not be wearing the uniform today, but in my heart I am and always will be a proud Army soldier.  I understand PTSD, and I understand the angst of war.  I understand the conflict between your personal and religious beliefs and following the orders of your military superiors.  But to turn your weapon on your fellow soldier is never the answer.

The alleged gunman was an active duty major stationed at Fort Hood.  Ironically he was a mental health psychiatrist.  It is alleged that one of his motives may have been a pending deployment to Iraq.  It has also been reported that he is a recent convert to Islam. 

Maybe this is true, maybe it isn’t.  It is too early in the process for that to be anything but a theory at this point.  I don’t care if his religion was a factor or not, whatever his motives and reasoning may have been, HE WAS WRONG.  He had no right to manifest his problems on innocent people the way he did.

I have been on Twitter a lot today, and I am so disgusted by what I am seeing on there.  I find it thoroughly disgusting how quickly people began to use this tragedy to fuel prejudice and hate.  Not everything in this world is about religion, but if this was about his religion, it is completely narrow-minded and prejudicial to judge the religion and all of its followers by the actions of a few.  I have watched these same people use this tragedy as another weapon against Obama, calling him a closet Muslim and a terrorist.  I have watched these people jump on Obama because he used notes in his speech.  BIG FUCKING DEAL!  He used notes, he wanted to be prepared.  Again, BIG FUCKING DEAL!  I just thing there are bigger fucking things to worry about in this world than whether or not Obama used notes when expressing condolences.  I personally see his notes as proof that it was important enough to him to feel he wanted to be prepared.

“Dear Muslims: You are not the victims today. Not if you’re still alive and don’t have any holes in you.”  That is a quote I just read from someone on Twitter.  That is a prime example of why I am so disgusted with these people.  What is that but their hate breeding more hate?  That is nothing more than prejudicial hatred.  Do these people not realize how their words could be used to describe themselves, too?

These people sit in smug superiority behind their screens, safe in their anonymity, while they sit in judgment of all they don’t agree with.  But all they are doing is reacting to hate with more hate.  As a friend said tonight, hate breeds hate.  As they sit there spewing their judgments, their prejudices, and their hates, are they any better than they feel so superior to?

It amazes me how they categorize people into neat little boxes.  A lot of these people I am disgusted by tonight began following me after I had tweeted about a run in I had with a soldier hater in my grocery store parking lot.  Most of them are former military soldiers, like me.  I began realizing soon after that that was where the similarities ended. 

I am not a republican.  I am not a conservative.  I am a very liberal Democrat.  I am entirely for same-sex marriage.  I am pro-choice.  I am not a Christian.  AND THAT IS MY RIGHT!  I don’t believe in sitting in judgement of others’ religious beliefs, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or personal politics.  I believe in FREEDOM OF CHOICE!

THAT is why I joined the Army, and that is why I served.  Because I believe in freedom.  Because I don’t believe that sitting in judgement of others promotes freedom.  I don’t think that spewing hate promotes it either. 

I love my country, and I love the freedoms it provides us.  I love the fact that we can have different opinions and be able to talk to them  But why the hell can’t we talk about them with respect?  That is the fucking beauty of this country, the choices we have.  So how come if you don’t fit that ultra-conservative, anti-everything profile, you don’t deserve any respect?

Today was not about Muslims, Obama and the Nation of Islam.  It was about one guy with some serious issues that took his problems out on innocent people.

NEVER fall asleep with Oxygen on your TV.
Some people sleep walk, some people sleep eat.  I apparently sleep channel-surf.  When I fell asleep I was watching NBC and the end of Jimmy Fallon.  When I woke up, the Oxygen network was on and I was viewing a rather large array of,… um,… personal pleasure devices!  It took me a moment to reach the level of clarity necessary to realize that I was lying in bed, snuggled with my little guy, and watching a inhumanly large shocking pink phallus rotating at impossible speeds in impossibly large circles.  It didn’t look like it might be fun; it looked like a hard to explain trip to the ER.  Fortunately for me, the yard ape stayed snuggled and asleep so there were no awkward conversations need at 2am!  I did, however, change the channel.  Cold Case on TNT is a lot easier to deal with at that hour!

Gearing up for NaNoWriMo,…
I am truly hoping that I do better with NaNoWriMo this year than I have the last couple, especially last year.  They tell you to just write, not to edit and change things as you go.  Those things come later, after the month is over.  But when one is anal as I am about such things, that is a tall order!  But they are absolutely right, because my word count for the month was DISMAL!  I have fleshed out a story line, but there is something about it that I just don’t like and I don’t know what it is.  I can only hope it straightens itself out as I write.  Donovan is doing it this year, too, so that should be fun.  I have WAY more faith in my kid than I do me!  You can visit our profiles with the links under my NaNoWriMo badge in the menu under “Mama on the Net”.  We start November 1st!

Finally!
I finally finished all the library books I had out so I can now read A Twisted Ladder by Rhodi Hawk.  I went to DLI in 1990 with her, for Polish, so when I ran across her book on Amazon, I was beyond excited to get it!  She was an incredibly sweet and smart person, so I have no doubt that the book will be great.  It is in the genre of Southern gothic thriller, so I am all about it!

Allergies suck!
Thank goodness no one else in this house was sick to day because I am functioning at the intellectual level of an amoeba at the present moment.  I feel like walking hell!  I don’t get bad allergy attacks often, but when I do, I do it in style.  I started out the morning with great hair, great makeup and feeling semi-okay.  That last for about 40 minutes,… right up until I finished the makeup.  Then the watery eyes and the incessant sneezing began.  And navy blue liner does NOT look stylish when running in streams down one’s cheeks!  It was so very much NOT hot.  So off it came, and with it, my contacts & my nose ring.  I am going to look like Rudolf by the end of the day!  Hot, huh?!  I took a Benedryl and now I feel like I completely stoned!  And NOT in a good way!  I take a single pill, which is half an adult dose and I still am loopy.  Very nice.  So, in short, I can’t be held responsible for any nonsense that you may read here today!

There is nothing I hate more than labels, even though I know sometimes they are necessary.  But labels can be so limiting in someone’s perception of you, or your own perception of yourself.  I hate being put in a box because of what someone labels me.  Just because someone labels you as something doesn’t mean that that is all that you are, or that you are just like everyone else with the same label. 

I have noticed lately on social networking sites a trend among a lot of the military supporters out there, the idea that everyone who avidly supports the troops must be a Christian conservative Republican.  That label couldn’t fit me less!  I don’t like being told what I must be, what I must believe, what I must think, just because I am an Army wife, an Army vet and I support our troops.  I read some of the tweets/statuses they put out there and the condescending tone of them against anyone who doesn’t fit their definition of what a true military supporter is about just annoys me.  It isn’t about a difference of opinion; I both welcome and respect that.  It is about a lack of respect for anyone who doesn’t think just like them.  Isn’t that what this country is supposed to be about?  Freedom of choice?  Then why don’t I also have the freedom to think for myself without judgement?

I have also noticed that if you aren’t mainly a troop support & political poster, you are somehow less worthy.  I just don’t think everything in my life has to be about being an Army wife, or an Army vet, or being pro troop.  There is so much more to life, to me.  I think it is okay to have fun, to twit about whatever, to not have to be serious all the time. 

I am an Army wife, I am an Army veteran, and I do support our troops.  But I am also a wife, a mother, a sister, a friend, a Democrat, and a pagan.  And none of those things make me less of an Army wife, less of an Army veteran, or less supportive of my troops.  Nor do they make me less intelligent, less legitimate, less credible, or less of a good person.