FOR THE RECORD: I am politically a moderate.

Dooce made a post about Palin & Liberals vs. Conversatives in general. One part of her blog stuck out to me… I’m going to edit out a few parts so for the whole quote, visit the link:

But what about the family who cannot afford that insurance for their child? The family who can barely make rent, and if they stretch the budget they can eat three meals a day all week, let’s hope nothing bad happens to their kids because then they’re screwed. Kids, go hug your father, he’s off to one of his three jobs, none of which provide him insurance. And it’s not because he’s lazy or unwilling to work, it’s that his family couldn’t afford to send him to college… If giving up more of my paycheck could help get this family adequate healthcare, then PLEASE. TAKE MY F****** MONEY.

This is where I feel there is an unending flaw in the Liberal vs. Conservative logic. Liberals are idealistic and Conservatives and realistic, in my opinion. Liberals see the world / America as it would be if it were better, better, better, and cleaner, cleaner, cleaner, and more fair, fair, fair, etc. Conservatives see the world / America as it is and while they believe it can be better (of course) I feel they recognize that all the above things can be achieved through WORK, WORK, WORK instead of taxes, taxes, taxes.

Liberals see a pretty picture but they don’t want to put in the work to paint it. They want a few individuals that are successful and hard-working to benefit everyone. This is hardly a “fair” America.

There is also that unending assumption that people who are higher class got there by their family name, luck, etc. While this is definitely true sometimes, a large portion of people that got to the top worked their way up there.

And lastly - the assumption that all poorer people needing help are actually hard-working individuals that work 3 jobs, never sleep, and just can’t seem to get their head up above water.

Please. Seriously. Bring yourself out of your idealistic world and back into reality.

While I believe minimum wage should be raised and government assistance should be made available - it is FAR too freely given to those who do not want to work, or who do work but spend their money on the wrong things - drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, etc. I grew up in one of the poorest counties in Kentucky and I have seen this FIRST HAND, unlike an extremely large amount of idealistic Liberals who think these scenarios up in their heads and really have no familiarity with welfare families, WIC, social security checks, etc. Did you also know that often times these families can’t support themselves because they choose not to use FREE birth control and continuously have children they can’t feed? That’s what pisses me off so much. It seems they have no actual knowledge what many of these families are actually like.

Lastly - I know a woman born into poverty & hardship that has 5 children and makes $12,000 a year. $12,000 a year in case you missed that. And you know what? SHE. IS. IN. COLLEGE. Five children to support. And she’s in college. She is graduating with a Masters degree very soon. She asked for help from no one. She made her living by buying from thrift stores, building her own furniture/fixing her own house, and working at a local school. She WORKED her way there without taking anyone’s hand-outs. So don’t tell me that people can’t work their way into an education.

So what I’m trying to say here is that the political gap will never be closed. Liberals think Conservatives want these poor families to suffer and that all of these poor families are that way just because of bad luck, and Conservatives want Liberals to realize that hard work (and proper education) can pull anyone out of that hole.

Let’s stop putting so much money into welfare & start pouring that money into schools. Let’s educate people who are unfortunately born into hardships. Let’s explain to them how to spend money, give them a healthy lunch, and hire teachers who are inspiring and uplifting. Let’s hold the worst schools to higher standards. Let’s teach more vocational skills and life skills (such as cooking, cleaning, and building). THAT would cause the biggest change. Stop paying people off.

*off my soapbox*

When are you going to start making the changes in your life you need to make to be happier, healthier, and more secure with who you are?

When are you going to lose the weight instead of continue complaining about it?

When are you going to leave him instead of letting him beat you down?

When are you going to stop arguing with your parents and try to learn to respect them?

When are you going to laugh more than you cry?

When are you going to walk barefoot in the rain, camp in your backyard, and ride your bike around your neighborhood?

When are you going to stop pretending you’re okay and ask for help?

When are you going to leave your house & go somewhere new & try to meet him or her instead of dreaming about them?

When are you going to let. go. of. it?

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If you’re anything like me - you put off, put off, put off. What happens when we finally run out of those minutes to put it off? What happens when it’s the very end and we realize all the things we should have started trying to do? Why are we so arrogant and think we have so long?

Start today. Start now.

Well, I have Fibrocystic Breast Disease with more fibroadenomas than cysts (there was just one visible cyst on the right breast). Basically, about 75% of both of my breasts is this tissue… the rest of my breasts are more “normal.”

As he felt my breasts he was like, “Wow… that’s a lot of hardened tissue…” and had his nurse feel as well. I think he was slightly surprised at how much of my breast is abnormal like that. When I let other people feel it they’re always like, “Ummmm…” haha.

My breast would look similar to that, except everything above the nipple & on the sides of my boob would be hard/inflamed instead of that one little place.

It will make it a harder for them to find cancer (should I ever get it) but other than that, I need to take Vitamins & watch for changes & do self-exams monthly. And deal with the extreme tenderness (extreme, as in if you touch my breast at ALL, it hurts).

I traced my fingers over the diamond pattern on my gown while waiting for my ultrasound and thought to myself, “I bet a woman found out she had cancer once after wearing this gown…” and imagined her face after she found out, the way she must’ve felt her heart sink, and how tightly she probably squeezed her husband’s hand.

And suddenly all the frustrating pain I am going to have to endure for years to come didn’t really matter.

It just doesn’t really matter at all, really…

Eyebrows are sisters, not twins.

As much as I try to remember that statement, I cannot help but obsess!

In much more important news, MiMi had some weird swallowing thing going on last night. And although she’s eating, drinking, and using the restroom (and acting normally now) I’m still slightly concerned.

And another random tidbit - Billy & I celebrated two years since we met each other yesterday with candy & cards… it was just a special little way of remembering our first date.

If I lived in a place my entire life and throughout my life my house got flooded multiple times, I lost possessions multiple times, my life was in danger multiple times, and I was always wondering when the next hurricane, flood, or tornado was going to hit (and my home insurance was high) - I would move.

Here it goes again with the hurricanes hitting around New Orleans…

We get to spend millions of dollars again to make sure everyone is safe, evacuated, fed, and has a shelter. Millions of dollars down the drain. Again.

All I can keep thinking about is that if every area that has a history of being hit by hurricanes frequently & dramatically was declared a “dead area” and residents were forced to move to somewhere safer - we wouldn’t keep having this same tragic repeat of houses and lives and businesses being destroyed & then have to use millions of dollars worth of resources just to put people back in their homes and then have it all happen again.

My analogy would be this. Think about living in a house that every year gets struck by lightning and burns to the ground. Your neighbors all have to pay for this house every time it happens & they rebuild it for you. You know there is a very high possibility of your house being struck continuously without fail… but you stubbornly stay there anyway and make your neighbors repeatedly mourn and pay because you refuse to leave.

That is my analogy. I don’t think it makes sense AT ALL to live in a place so prone to damage and destruction.

Now - I know we can’t always predict where natural disasters will strike but when they happen over & over & over again and statistically put a red mark on the city you’re living in… isn’t it your own choice to live there and accept the consequences? Why does the whole nation have to grieve because of everything we lose every time this happens? If the people weren’t there, there would be nothing to mourn over.

Everyone acts like it’s some big surprise / horrible traumatic event every time this happens. Like it’s something new? I seriously turn on the news and I’m like, “Oh… here it goes again…” I’m just dead to it because it’s so predictable to me.

I have friends that live down there, the first one that comes to mind is Krista (a girl I absolutely adore, by the way) and I respect that that is her home but honestly, I feel like the rebuilding is going to become pointless and it’s getting old to me. I don’t suppose it’s possible for everyone to move that far North & out of danger… sigh…

I am fully prepared to accept tomatoes in the face for this one, but I stand where I stand. For the record - I don’t think “these people” are dumb at all, I know they just love their homes & have history there - but sometimes I think safety needs to come first. Don’t live at the base of a volcano and then freak out when it erupts… it doesn’t make sense.

Odd…

When I swallow (and only when I swallow) my throat on the left side feels extremely sore, and has for the past 3 days. I don’t see any blisters when I look down it but it’s definitely hurting each time I swallow (food or no food). If it keeps up I’ll have to go to the doctor… seems strange for it to hurt so much on one side like that?

I also have a doctor’s appointment September 3rd with a specialist here that treats women with breast abnormalities/cancer/etc. He is supposed to be one of the best. You may remember a couple of years ago that I went to the doctor because I had a hard “mass” in my left breast. And it was large. I’m not talking about a pea-size lump. I’m talking about if I lifted my arm and you pressed on the top of my breast, you felt a two inch piece of hard tissue underneath my skin. And it was painful when poked/felt.

I ended up getting an ultrasound & seeing two different doctors, neither of which gave my little mass a name or really figured out what it was - they just figured out what it wasn’t, which was cancer. However, they didn’t take a biopsy (which I found odd) and they told me little about what to expect.

Well, in the past year I’ve lost 25 lbs. Now that I’ve lost that weight, you can not only feel the “place” again, but you can feel more of them - in both breasts. And they’re painful. They make my boobs extremely tender.

So I’m off to a new doctor for a new diagnosis/treatment plan. The thing is, these masses are so big that if they have to remove them, it’s going to leave me seriously disfigured (since the places aren’t consistent and my breasts are rather small to begin with). I don’t know… I’m done talking about it. There is worse going on in the world.

It’s a long weekend! YESSSSS

A couple of posts ago I spoke about Stephanie and Christian Nielson and how they got into a plane crash, severely injuring and burning both of their bodies.

Today (Thursday) is Nie Nie Day and I am participating. This beautiful family has remained so strong and faithful during this horrible tragedy and I would love for readers of my blog to give back to them.

I am asking for donations for the Nie Recovery fund. Please participate. Stephanie’s entire appearance is going to be almost unrecognizable and her children are young & need their mom and dad and it’s just one of the saddest stories I’ve ever heard of something awful happening to good people. It is, however, breeding love and action. So let us all honor this family with donations.

I will not post on my blog again until I have raised at least $50 in honor of this family. I have faith that my visitors can and will help out (even if it’s $1) and we can aid in the care for the children and hospital bills.

EDIT: WE MET OUR GOAL! I AM DONATING THE MONEY TODAY (8/29)

To Participate in Nie Nie Day:
Click here