grocery success, fermented grape juice and Ron Paul

Tuesday, December 18, 2007


grocery success, fermented grape juice and Ron Paul
Current mood: busy

Well, I did it!
I did in fact hustle all three kids off to the grocery store yesterday evening, and complete my lengthy shopping list. I did not lose my mind, bellow madly at anyone, or run screaming from the store while pulling all my hair out. The boys were on excellent (which is relative, but we'll take what we can get) behavior. Babyman was all cozy in the sling, simply looking around peacefully at all the new sights. Eventually he went to sleep. Littleman and Sweetcheeks were driving the "car" on the shopping cart. Those carts steer like a wounded battleship, but they sure are helpful when you have multiple little ones to shop with. I only had to pop Littleman's skull once (not hard, really!) to remind him to quit touching everything on the shelves as we rolled past. Luckily, nothing fell off and smashed on the floor, but we had a few close calls. Seriously though, they were patient and pretty obedient. I breathed a sigh of relief when we hit our last stop in the frozen foods section. I rewarded them at the end of our trip by buying peppermint ice cream, which I later used as a bribe to get them to eat their dinner. (YUM! I really like peppermint stick ice cream). That was the hard part: getting everyone fed and taken care of at home in a somewhat timely fashion. But I muddled through.

I know future trips won't all be so smooth. But at least I know it's possible.

* * *

Tonight we are eating pasta with spaghetti sauce (the sauce was a gift from a friend, and YUM!! It's good), and I decided to open a bottle of wine that I've had around for some time. (It's white, and since Billy doesn't drink white wine, I was waiting for someone else who would drink it with me. Tonight I decided "screw it", and I opened the bottle anyway. I'm thoroughly enjoying a nice cool glass with my dinner). Anyhow, I bring this up because Littleman was asking me about wine, and what it's made of. I let him taste it. He asked me if there's "grapes in there". I told him that yes, wine is basically fermented grape juice. I wish I had a pic of his expression- he looked at my glass so incredulously, as if to say "Why on EARTH would anyone do THAT to a perfectly good glass of grape juice??" LOL- yes, adults are weird. :)

* * *

The day before yesterday was the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. To coincide with that, volunteers for Ron Paul's campaign organized a fundraiser to support his bid for a presidential nomination. They raised over 6 million dollars in one day. If I'm not mistaken, that's a record amount. The vast majority of his supporters are individuals and small donors, rather than the big-money sources that pour funds into more likely candidates. This really is an amazing grass-roots phenomenon.

Now, I have heard many people comment that Ron Paul hasn't got a snowball's chance in hell of getting the republican nomination, let alone of winning the presidency. I've been told that supporting Ron Paul is a waste- of time, of money, of a vote if it comes to that. (I've also been told that voting Libertarian is a "wasted vote"). I would just like to note that such comments really irritate me. No vote is wasted, if you make an informed decision and vote for those you would most like to see win. This idea- that you should never vote for an underdog because your choice would be unlikely to win- is mislead, even manipulated. It is why our screwed up two-party system (two parties as unlike each other as two peas in a pod) continues to thrive. People have been bullied, confused and frightened into believing that they cannot vote for a third party, or else THEY (whichever party is "THEY" to the particular voter) will win! You don't want THEM in office, do you? Don't "waste" your vote! In the same way, people don't want to support Ron Paul. They feel he has no chance of getting the presidential nomination, therefore he's not worth paying any attention to- no matter how much they might agree with his platform.

I'd like to say that I sincerely hope Ron Paul's fundraising successes cause more people to seriously consider him as a possible presidential candidate. It's probably true that someone else will get the republican nomination. Probably. But what if? What if someone new, with fresh, more libertarian ideas and a decentralized, grassroots support system actually gives the rest of these politicians a run for their money? Dare I write it, what if he WON? It's unlikely but I'd like to say it is not impossible. I would like to say that hope is not stone-cold dead in American voters. I'd like to think that we could muster up the balls to vote for an underdog. Even if he Ron Paul does not win, if he does well enough to scare the established system, if he opens more eyes to fresh ideas and other possibilities, then he will have done well. I hope he does well.

* * *
I'm thinking I might do a regular "feature" in my blog: my thumbs-up for the day. Today's thumb-up goes to Hotslings, for their fantastic baby carriers. Check them out.
www.hotslings.com

Chaos has erupted around me and I'm typing so fast my fingers are smoking. OK, not really but I do have to go.