Life in the big yellow house has changed quite a bit since I last posted.  I now live there with the kids alone... yup, my 25 year marriage has dissolved.  Right now, I'm smack dab in the middle of the legal part of the divorce but the relationship has ended and I've been dealing with the heartbreak of that for about a year.  The details are sordid and a bit ugly.  The pain of it all was immense; the betrayal deep. Life does go on though and I'm healing and learning to thrive on my own and create a new normal.

So, I've decided this blog can be all about my new life and new adventures in the big yellow house.  It's a new beginning and one I am looking forward to making.  While I know I will not be immune to pain and heartache in the future, I know that I will survive it and thrive despite it all.  I'm looking at this as an opportunity to grow and change and become better than ever!

Lies, Messes and Chores...Oh My!

It seems that every Sunday becomes clean up day at the Big Yellow House.  The weekend starts off on Friday afternoon with big hopes for relaxation, play dates, sleep overs, crafting and fun.  By Sunday morning, reality has set in and the end of the weekend is looming.  Suddenly the house looks like a disaster and all that fun and relaxation has resulted in a messy house.  Of course the kids all blame each other for the messes and whine when they are told to clean their rooms.  I admit it.  Loud encouragement (that sometimes sounds like yelling) ensues.  Chores are doled out and the laundry is started.  The kids eat and the kitchen gets messy and then clean, messy and then clean, messy and then....you get the idea.  Isn't Sunday supposed to be a day of rest?

Today was a typical Sunday.  Laundry was sorted and rooms got cleaned.  Movies were watched, children were fed, games were played.  Lies were also told today.  Sometimes it seems as though the lies, even the little ones, are what gets to me the most.  I can almost take the messy bedrooms and messy kitchen.  The lies are infuriating and something I just can't seem to cope with.  The lies are usually small and stupid - about things that are inconsequential and annoying.  Mia lied about the neopsporin we put on her ears soothing the pain from her earrings.  Hmmm....your ears aren't infected, don't hurt and neosporin doesn't provide pain relief.  Why??  Abe lies about taking out the recycling.  It's still stacked up in the laundry room yet he swears he did it.  Really?  They all say their rooms are clean and yet when we check them, clothes and toys are under the beds.  Crazy!

So yes, a typical Sunday, filled with lies, messes and chores.  OH MY!

Peace, Love and Pomegranates

Kids will be kids or so the saying goes.  Our kids tend to REALLY be kids.  They do things that I never thought of as a child.  They do things I don't think of now!  Sometimes it surprises and amuses me.  Most of the time it just pisses me off.  Yesterday a few of the little lovelies decided to steal pomegranates from a neighbors tree and then proceeded to make a nice big mess of pomegranate juice and seeds all over the driveway of this neighbor.  Nice!  Way to cover your tracks!  What the hell were they thinking?  They came inside covered in juice, laughing about the fun they'd had and off they went to the shower.  They told me it was all from a pomegranate they got from our fridge! I actually believed them until the neighbor showed up at our door.  So now this morning I am tromping off to the neighbors with three kids in tow so they can fess up to their wrong doings and apologize.  Consequences pending...

Rights... or Wrongs

Today we attended a 50th birthday party for a dear friend.  She and her husband have opposing political views and in light of the upcoming election, this topic came up in conversation.  Should we or shouldn't we vote for the people...civil rights vs. money.  Well....the answer is so simple for me. It's people first every.single.time.  Now the fact that I'm a lesbian who is in a committed relationship has something to do with my views.  There is no getting around that.  However, as I listen to people discuss the candidates it comes down to two very simple things - money and civil rights.

 If you choose to vote for Romney, you are choosing a candidate who has openly said he will not support gay rights.  In fact he has said he will fight for a Constitutional Amendment that will limit rights for gay people in our country.  Obama and the Democratic party have taken a stand for equal rights for all.  They have said they will support gay rights, marriage equality etc.  Hmmmm.....do I like this simply because I am a lesbian? I guess so. But I really think it is so much more than that.

 I truly believe that if we don't have equality for ALL people, we won't improve.  We must stand for, fight for and support civil rights for all people to advance as a nation.  Have we learned nothing from our past mistakes?  The way we have treated African Americans, Japanese Americans, Native Americans....did we learn nothing from this? If we are truly to grow and thrive as human beings, we must learn from our mistakes and move forward.  To deny civil rights to any group of Americans is to repeat the mistakes of the past.  To deny civil rights to any minority group, gays included, is say that money is far more important than people.

It saddens me to live in such a great country that is so rich, so privileged, so free and yet so close minded, so blind.  We must take a stand for all people.  We all must have the rights we deserve.