Samantha Pierce

A veteran mom pal of mine takes on the sleeping through the night thing I blogged about . She talks about what worked for her family and says, " That is my story and I am sticking to it. "

You know I've been saying for years that the only difference between ghetto black folk and rednecks is location. Turns out I was right .

Snails faster than DSL ? Comments here . I can almost believe it. Thanks for the heads up Gil. Here's another: Pigeon Wireless Internet actually faster than ADSL

When did getting your baby to sleep through the night become the holy grail to which all new parents are supposed to aspire? I've been wondering about this for a while now. Reading TulipGirl's round up of posts about Gary Ezzo and the various incarnations of his highly suspect parenting books brought it back to the fore front of my mind. I can understand a new parent's desire to get some much needed sleep but it seems to me that people obsess about it way too much. Kids will sleep through the night when they are ready. Why stress yourself and your kid out trying all kinds of tricks to get them to do something that they are not ready for?

Hey it's Thursday again! How did that happen? It has been one of those weeks where I found myself trying to think of something to be thankful for. There had to be something and there was so here goes. I'm thankful for/that: God's grace and mercy. I'm a live. I have a nice comfy bed with warm sheets and blankets. There is now dialogue when the boys fight over toys. Isaiah: No, no, no. Mine, mine, mine. Ethan: No! Stop that! Isaiah no!. I have a roof over my head, even if it leaks. Some of my yellow tulips survived whoever or whatever attacked them the other day. The rest of the tulips are at the beginning of a beautiful display. Grandparents who think it's fun to have their grandkids pounce on them at 7 o'clock in the morning. What are you thankful for?

The more I read about the handcuffing of the five year old girl in Florida and the more I think about it the less conflicted I feel about this kid being hauled off in handcuffs. I had to go to school with kids like this little girl. They didn't know how to act. Their parents (usually just mom) didn't teach them how to behave because they didn't know how to act either. Their kids would act up in school and cause all kinds of problems and all you could get out of them was, don't touch my baby. If cops had showed up at my elementary school and hauled off the trouble makers in cuffs I would have breathed a sigh of relief that I no longer had to put up with the little tyrants. Their behaviour was a real shock to me coming from another country. Where I had come from every teacher kept a rod or belt in plain view in the classroom. Any body who acted up got beat. If you really acted up you got sent to the headmaster or headmistress to get beat. Then when you got home you got

Steven J. Kelso Sr. is blogging about just that at A Face Made 4 Radio . Every once in a while I think I should blog about interracial relationships seeing as I'm in one and all. However, I keep coming up against the realisation that I don't really care. I don't go through life thinking of my marriage as an interracial marriage. It's just my marriage. I certainly don't carry around pen and paper to tally up the number of interracial couples I see on TV or in movies (on the rare occasion I actually get to see a movie). I do wonder about the racial identity of my kids though. Are they white or are they black? Will they be allowed by the society we live in to self identify as one or the other? Why can't they be both? Or something else entirely? And why is it that some will insist that they can only be black? (I am always amazed by the rainbow of colour that counts as black.) Culturally the kids are set. My mom and dad are gleefully training up their grandkids to be

Today was one of those days that make me wish I could afford to pay somebody else to raise my kids for me. Or at least to do all of the cooking, cleaning, and laundry. One of the little hellions is in bed already the other two will be in bed in another half hour or so. Then I'll be able to sit still for a bit. Then I'll spend some quality time with my weights. I need all of the strength I can muster to deal with these children.

I have mixed feelings about this , the handcuffing of a 5 year old girl who had a tantrum at school. My dad's a special ed teacher. His students are a few years older than this little girl but he's got kids trying this kind of stuff with him every day. He's a three hundred pound black man. Dad is in the unsavory position every day of protecting himself and his students from the violence of other students. The parents of his students aren't much better than their children when it comes to knowing how to act. Generally the first thing they do when their children act up is threaten the teacher, the school, and anybody else they can think of. Holding their children responsible for their actions generally doesn't cross their minds. So what are teachers supposed to do when children are acting up and their hands have been tied by parents, the law, and fear of litigation? Pretty much anything they try will be construed as abuse by someone. In this case it seems to me that t

Too Black to be Just! The Mifflin High School Fiasco To begin, I ask which is more important: To be black or to be just? Were it reported that a white official had used the “N-word” in referring to a black, I am confident that black people would take to the streets in protest, clamoring for the removal of that white official. There would not have been any caution and judiciousness—a concern to get at the facts. It would probably not matter how much good for blacks that the white had done in the past. This would all be done in the name of self-respect, black pride or African pride or what have you. Moreover, it is almost certain that Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton would fly in as a show of support. When a white person crosses that line, the heads of white folks must roll. In the case at hand, we have the rape of a black girl—a disabled black girl, who was left bleeding. Rape is despicable enough. But the rape of disabled girl is utterly heinous. However, this heinous deed has no

Hey it's Thursday! How did that happen? Any way, I'm thankful for/that: Warm weather. Being able to take one of the winter blankets off of the bed. I made it to New York City and back driving for the first time by myself in one piece. The Brooklyn Botanical Garden . Absolutely beautiful! It rained yesterday. Nice neighbours. Update: I thought of a few other things to be thankful about. I don't have allergies to pollen. There's a yellow green powdery film all over the car right now that almost makes me want to cry for allergy sufferers. My post baby gut is shrinking. I just noticed. The crunches, weight work, yardwork, and walks to the park are paying off. What are you thankful for?

I can't get to my blog with Firefox. I keep getting redirected to the Blogger sign in page. I can get to the blog from Explorer though. What is up with that?

Check out moralhealth.com . It's a blog by a professor hubby has worked with. He's a very interesting and intelligent man so put on your thinking cap and go visit his blog. Here are some excerpts to whet your appetite. Romantic Love vs Religious Convictions I cannot think of anything more futile than trying to prove the existence of God. I also think it equally silly for people to think that they have an argument that conclusively shows that God does not exist. You know the kind: If God were omniscient and omnipotent, then he could create a rock that he couldn’t lift. But if he can’t left that rock, then he isn’t omnipotent. Clearly, the problem of evil is a very serious issue. But to treat it as a slam-dunk against the idea that God cannot at once be omni benevolent, omniscient, and omnipotent strikes me as really foolish. Truth as Meanness* “Well, I am just telling the truth”. From this utterance it is supposed to follow that one is justified in saying what one says. H

The drought is over! Tulip Girl is back! The kids are learning how to work American toilets . Nothing from her hubby yet though. :(

I'll be heading home today. I had hoped to be on the road already but life is conspiring against me. New York City is an awesome place to visit but I don't think I could live here again. Way too many people for me. I've been countrified [I can't believe that that is a real word that the spell checker knows!] by my years in central New York.

...been so sick that you wished you could just hurry up and throw up and get it all over with? Ugh

Part of the dust up over the Conservative Brotherhood was the claim that it was impeding progress to some ideal racially colourblind society. But here's the deal. I can think of at least one instance where racial colourblindness does a disservice to a lot of Americans. Cosmetics. I have a friend who is a Mary Kay consultant. I've been a friend and customer of hers for a few years now. In the beginning we would try out the standard makeup colour combinations with some interesting results. Often these combinations didn't take into account the darker skin tones in the human population. Over the years my friend has worked to come up with colour combinations that work well with my skin colour. For decades the cosmetics industry was colourblind. Their products where geared towards the only colour they saw, white. They were blind to all others. In recent years the industry has begun to realise that they could make more money by expanding their customer base to include women of v

The kids and I off on a trek to grandma's and grandpa's house in NYC. They've got dial-up so I won't have as much access to the blog as I like. Don't go changing the world while I'm gone okay?

I'm thankful for/that: The daffodils in bloom. The fragrant hyacinth that is almost in full bloom. Bird song. Isaiah didn't hurt himself trying to ride his Tonka truck off the front porch steps. He went airborne head over heels but only got some dirty water in his hair. Not a scratch on him otherwise. Sophia is learning to crawl. So far she mostly just backs herself up under the furniture. She does make it up onto her knees to rock back and forth for a bit before she belly flops. She also seems to be slowly working her way up to sleeping through the night (which will shortly be derailed by teething). Picnics in the park on Sunday afternoons after church with friends. Ethan likes to tackle Isaiah. This comes in handy when Isaiah takes off running and I really don't want to chase him or when he gets too far ahead of me in the park. Friends with lots of daylilies in their yards who like to share. I don't say/write everything that pops into my head. Self censorship is a bea

Unfortunately for me it's on the west coast. Santa Clara, CA on July 30, 2005. Check out Blogher.org for the skinny.

Britney Spears is having a baby . Big whoop. So are millions of other women.

Chocolate Covered Banana's "People I'd Like to Meet Wishlist" reminded me that I wanted to do a post about some of the things I want to do some day (as in the day the kids are old enough to be put to work helping me out). Some of these require a bit more money than we have now and a bit more time than I can spare from chasing kids around the house and down the street. The possible. Bee keeping. I really love the idea of having my own source of honey and bees wax and making my own special blend of honey. Raise chickens. Hubby did this when he was a kid and I would love to get the kids started on it some day. It will teach them some responsibility and we won't have to buy eggs or chicken at the store. Grow vegetables. Our current location is too shady and wet for vegetables. The first year we lived here I tried to grow sweet corn but the kids next door kept knocking it over with their basketball. They moved out but the backyard is still not very hospitable to growi

The expansion of the Conservative Brotherhood has caught the attention of Wizbang . Predictably some folk don't like it. We're racist, uncle toms, and what not for getting to together to share common ideas and goals. Whatever. That hood rat un-Christian part of my personality just rolled her eyes, sucked her teeth, and said bite me. These people can fuss and name call all they want. I'm not going to change just to suit them. Some others of the Brotherhood have laid the smack down quite nicely over in the comments at Wizbang. They've also blogged about it. I particularly like Baldilocks' opening line, " Some people get nervous when too many blacks gather in one place. " That gave me a good laugh. It's something one of my sisters would say. ***** Update: Ambra and Booker Rising comment as well. ***** Check out the rest of the Brotherhood. La Shawn Barber Booker Rising Michael D. Cobb Bowen Tavares Forby Demond S. Hunter Michael H. King Ambra Nykol

My Bible study has been going through the book of Acts for over a year now. This Thursday we'll be studying the last half of the last chapter. We haven't decided what to do after that. Anyone care to offer any suggestions on what to study next?

Now this is an interesting quiz I found via Messy Christian . My results: Your results for Christian Traditions Selector 1: Baptist (Reformed/Particular/Calvinistic) (100%) 2: Methodist/Wesleyan/Nazarene (87%) 3: Congregational/United Church of Christ (85%) 4: Anglican/Episcopal/Church of England (81%) 5: Presbyterian/Reformed (81%) 6: Eastern Orthodox (69%) 7: Lutheran (69%) 8: Baptist (non-Calvinistic)/Plymouth Brethren/Fundamentalist (63%) 9: Church of Christ/Campbellite (63%) 10: Pentecostal/Charismatic/Assemblies of God (63%) 11: Anabaptist (Mennonite/Quaker etc.) (61%) 12: Roman Catholic (45%) 13: Seventh-Day Adventist (42%) When I was a little kid I thought my family was Baptist because our church baptized people (full dunk in the ocean). We were really more like Pentecostal Charismatic Anglicans (I think). When we came to the states we landed in a Reformed Pentecostal Charismatic church with Anglican influences. These days I lean more to the Reformed end of things

Some people have gotten upset at La Shawn Barber over her post about the death of the Pope . They are so upset and so offended that they are writing her emails to let her know that they are delinking her blog. First, the differences between Catholic and Protestant Christians are not new. Second, La Shawn's comments didn't come anywhere near the shameful Catholic bashing that too many other Christians like to engage in. Three, um what did you expect from a non-Catholic Christian? A whole sale endorsement of catholic doctrine? Four, this over the top reaction is as bad as the Catholic bashing that other Christians engage in. Many years ago, when I was still deep in my young and somewhat foolish stage, I thought it was appropriate to berate every Catholic I came across over things like praying to saints, the definition of a saint, communion, the immaculate conception of Mary, how many children Mary had, and a lot of other things that Protestants and Catholics disagree about. A f

I'm thankful for/that: The gorgeous spring weather we've been having. I played hooky from the blog to enjoy it. I'm a "stay-at-home" mom who can take advantage of these beautiful spring days whenever I want. A nice quiet neighbourhood to walk in where I can hear the birds sing. My taxes are done. I played hooky from the blog to finish them. The basement didn't flood with all the rain over the weekend. Isaiah seems to be learning that making a mad dash for the middle of the road every time he's outside is not conducive to his good health. He took off down the driveway for the road yesterday but actually stopped when I told him to. (For the first time ever.) What are you thankful for?

I found links to this and this last night on Amy Ridenour's blog . (She wrote another post on it this morning.) Which then led me to this . Apparently some Canadian bigwigs are trying to cover their butts by denying Canadian citizens access to information about said bigwigs' corruption. To that end the Canadian government is threatening to take legal action against Canadian citizens who link to or mention the US website that had the audacity to publish the report of the corruption. This is like a scene out of the novels I read in high school that featured totalitarian governments trying to control the flow of information to their citizens. Here's the post that started it all . See here for follow up posts . Are they really going to prosecute their citizens for [ gasp ] reading the wrong blogs. Or for writing about the wrong things on their blogs? Could this be us if attempts by the feds to regulate what is said on blogs succeeds? Update: Comment from a Canadian in the

(1:37 PM EST) Fox News is reporting that the Italian news has reported that the Pope has died. No official announcement has been made yet by the Vatican. (1:45 PM EST) I didn't think this news would make me cry but I've been tearing up off and on for the last 15 minutes. Fox News is reporting that the Vatican says his heart and brain are still functioning. (1:59 PM EST) The singing in St. Peter's Square has been beautiful. Official word from the Vatican is that the Pope isn't gone yet but will be soon. (2:22 PM EST) FoxNews.com story . There's a rosary service going on in the square right now. (2:37 PM EST) Ramblings' Journal has a round up . (2:40 PM EST) Fox News was just showing people gathered in Krakow singing outside of the Pope's old house. I recognised the melodies of some of the songs they were singing. (2:50 PM EST) Looks like everyone is waiting for the other shoe to drop now. I'll throw some of my own reflections into the mix. John Paul II is