CurrentMom

It's All Political

Therapy Tuesday

Photo by: DCJohn

 

Today is a week before mid-term elections. Don't worry; this is not a post about whom you should vote for, why one point of view is right versus another, or even just the importance of voting. I thought that I would look at what our politicians say and do in order to get (or remain) where they are.

 

I was so struck this morning by an ad on TV. Even watching ads is a rarity with the miraculous invention of a DVR. One of the best blessings with a DVR is that I can fast-forward through political (and other) ads, as I find they only make me angry.  This one commercial was an exception: it was about why I SHOULD vote for a particular candidate, not why I SHOULD NOT vote for the opponent.

 

The particular commercial was stressing the strengths of the candidate: what this person has done while in office and will continue to do if re-elected. Nowhere in the 30 seconds of screen time were pictures of text that vilify a position that the opponent took thirty years ago or damning video. It was so simple.

I am marveling at this because it is such an exception now. It's sad to think of the fall and Elections, and connote mudslinging. No wonder why our kids have no idea how to resolve conflict: they see conflict being the goal from the highest people all the way down to common denominators.

 

In recent weeks, bullying has made national headlines once again, specifically look at teens with a non-heterosexual orientation. Just looking at advertisements, we don't see images of tolerance and acceptance being shown in rapid succession. We see divisive images and harmful words. 

This point of view is fine for someone who is able to look at both sides of a problem and weigh considerations for each. For children and teens, they aren't able to do this.  Literally. The portion of their brain that serves in decision-making hasn't fully blossomed. (This happens in our mid-20's). Yet our expectations are that our kids and teens know how to make good choices and decisions, but choose not to.

 

Certainly in bullying, it's not such a simple issue as punish the bullies, help the victims. There is a larger world model that needs to change, one where we don't, as adults, reward bullying behavior. Or where both the bully and the victim are counseled, as a bully doesn't just happen to pick on someone for sport.

We must change school systems that promote bullying in subtle ways, such as a teacher showing favoritism to a student. Additionally, parents need to be able to look at warning signs for both kids who are bullies and those that are bullied. This is such a challenge given the demanding forces we all face in everyday life.

 

But changing political ads seems to be a good, solid start.

Red Curry Chicken Crock Pot Recipe

Meal Monday

With the crisp fall breeze, autumn colors and clear skies comes a reunion with my crock pot.  There will come a point in winter when I grow tired of it. I will no longer be able to deal with the multiple containers of leftovers and the sometimes monotone flavor of a crock pot dish. I will yearn for fresh, crisp vegetables that no crock pot recipe can deliver.

But the shortened days and the abundance of root vegetables – which respond so well to slow cooking – do something to my culinary scruples and every year, I reach for the crock pot like an old friend, believing this time, she will reach her full potential.

Working together, and with Cooking Light's list of top Crock Pot recipes, we may make it happen. I have tried two recipes from the list, and have not been disappointed.

My satisfaction is partly due to my altered philosophy. I used to search crock pot recipes based only for their ability to deliver a complete meal in one, but I realize now that that is not their best feature. Crock pots are best for bringing flavors to their heightened intensity that no other kind of cooking can. So, a tiny portion of the time saved by using a crock pot will be dedicated to preparing rice and veggies. No biggie. Turns out it's worth it.

This recipe is an excellent example of the intense and rich flavor slow cooking can bring. The original – Curried Beef Short Ribs is absolutely fabulous. But I wanted to try it with chicken, to reduce the fat and increase the amount of meat. (I had found that my short ribs, while very tasty, offered very little meat per pound.) Below is my altered recipe for red curry chicken. It uses two cuts of chicken – check out the notes in the ingredient list -- and doubles the amount of sauce.

You Always Have Time for Marketing

Startup Sunday

Last week, another entrepreneur said she admired how I always have time for networking and marketing. “I’m so busy,” she said, “I just don’t have time.”

I can’t tell you how many times someone has cancelled on a networking event or lunch, using that excuse. “I have a deadline,” she will email the morning of the event. Or simply, “I’m too busy.”

I’m pretty darn busy too. But I force myself to carve out a few hours for marketing every single week. Here’s why:

If you aren’t actively marketing yourself as an entrepreneur, you are letting the work come to you. Most likely, this work will be lower paying and less rewarding that the work you deliberately set your sights on and attack.

As a solo practitioner who sells writing and editing services to clients, the primary goal of my business is to get better clients and shed the not-so-good clients. Or, to do more work for my best clients and less work for the not-so-fabulous clients.

That’s never going to happen if I passively sit back and complete the projects that clients bring to me, without at least a few hours of planning and thought about what would be my stretch assignments or dream projects – and then setting my feet towards that goal.

Music Lessons

Sharing Saturday

Saxophone. Clarinet. Trumpet. Piano. Violin.

These are the instruments that my children have learned how to play, with varying degrees of success. In some cases, we payed for private lessons. But we also have the incredible gift of vibrant music programs in both our local elementary school and middle school. And my oldest son is taking piano as an elective in high school, in a state-of-the-art piano lab.

We have an amazing instrumental music teacher in our local elementary school who teaches six different instruments to a gaggle of fourth and fifth graders, many of whom have never touched an instrument before in their lives.  In fact, each year the school hosts an instrument "petting zoo" for the whole third grade class, so that each third grader can literally touch each of the available instruments and make a decision about what instrument to play the following year.

True Halloween Confessions: I Hate Crafts

Family Friday

Like most holidays, Halloween just bubbles with opportunities for craft-making.  Cauldrons!  Ghosts!  Skeletons!  Pumpkins!  Cats!  Between costume assembly and outdoor decorating, you could (in theory) spend days on end happily crafting away.

I have a problem though, one that seems to practically spit in the face of American motherhood.  (Bad Mother!  Bad Mother!  Move over, Ayelet Waldman!)

I hate crafts.  And I'm more than just politely "non-crafty"; I truly despise crafts.  I loathe the scissors, the glue, the mess, the overwhelming sense of failure...

I can just hear my husband's rather pedantic analysis: What about crafts do you hate, exactly?  Just saying you hate something isn't very precise.  So I'll clarify:

• I don't hate crafts that other people produce.
• I don't hate people who like making crafts.  
• It's the crafting process that I hate, when I'm the one doing it.  So I hate crafting (the verb), as well as the crafts (nouns) that I produce.  

My children, on the other hand, never met a craft project they didn't love.  Fine.  But now that they want to challenge themselves in this area and need my help to do it, I have none to provide. 

Even at their age, I didn't like crafting, probably because fine motor coordination never numbered among my gifts.  I could spend gobs of time and effort on a given craft, working my clumsy little fingers to exhuastion, with little to show at the end of the day besides a steaming pile of manure.  Way back in nursery school (1970s preschool), the teacher fretted about my lack of manual dexterity, suggesting to my parents that they provide me with lots of little jigsaw puzzles.  Don't know if they heeded this advice; if they did, it obviously didn't help.