Mom vs. the Dot: Making it COUNT!

My 7-year-old daughter reported in sick today. My first thought (besides making her comfortable) was woohoo!  No school!  Yep - I think I'm happier than the kids.  Is that possible? I can do this and that and the other thing I've been putting off for months! One thing I wanted to try was making homemade potato soup.  My Betty Crocker cookbook has it marked as a "Fast" recipe. Let me tell you what. Between my sick child's needs, which she bellows through a megaphone so I can hear her from the living room and tend to her every need, my three-year-old's shenanigans, the phone ringing (no, I don't have time to talk to the dentist's office), and my four-year-old's desire to make a separate recipe at the same time, things went crazy!!  I just wanted some homemade potato soup.  I will not pretend that I was making the soup for my sick child, because I knew before I made it that she would never eat it.  I live in a house full of picky eaters. ...

President Obama, in his speech given on Halloween Day in Rhode Island, said the following (during minutes 13-15): "Sometimes, someone, usually mom, leaves the workplace to stay home with the kids, which then leaves her earning a lower wage for the rest of her life as a result.   That’s not a choice we want Americans to make.” When exactly did all Americans fork over their ability to make choices for themselves to the government? Why does the President think that it is his duty to make decisions for us? Is it because we can't think for ourselves? Does he think I don't know that being a stay-at-home mom generates zero income? Believe me, I know what it means to live on one income. My husband and I made the choice together, as the best option for our family. I understand this speech was about how women can be a valuable asset to the workforce.  I get that.  I am an adult with a college degree in education, one of Washington's favorite stomping (c...