What Happens When You Cut Back on Social Media - You Get Things Done!!!

I know I spend a lot of time on social media.  Finally being home for many days in a row and working on cleaning and decluttering the house for Confirmation last weekend, I was forced to get off social media and do more things that were on my to do list.  The house got mostly cleaned (except for a couple non-public areas), more real meals were made (with the help of my daughters and MIL and even today (our crockpot and stockpot)).

Having moved forward this week, we are trying to finish up school for the year, get the filing under control and decluttering some more before we have another weekend activity.  For my birthday I got a new label maker (handheld) because my old one only printed half of the words and I have been using it to label files and set up a filing system for all my homeschooling information and ideas.  About 1:30 today,  I ran it completely out of label tape.  Hoping I can find some at Shopko this afternoon so I can keep going with this project.

Next up is the office purging and filing.  Better get two label refills for that one.  Once the office is doing better,  Also making a list of curriculum to purchase for next year at the homeschool conference that is next weekend.  Always feels good when I have purchases our curriculum and can start planning out our next year.  Hard to believe but I have one graduating in 2 years and all three kids will graduate within 4 years.

Sadly, I have not posted on my blog for over 13 months!  Vowing to change that and hopefully spend a  little less time on Facebook.  I have always dreamt of writing and while I still want to write a book (I have ideas and notes started for two of them), I think blogging is a great foray into that realm to see if I really have as much to say as I think I do.

Hoping to set up a blog calendar of topics so I am reminded to blog more regularly.  Look for more pictures, more recipes (LOVE Pinterest ) and maybe even more political commentary (you can skip if you don't want to read it).

Civic Involvement - Time to Make a Difference

Today we participated in the County Convention for our political party.  During County Convention, we elected delegates to the District and State Conventions.  We also adopted a few more planks to our platform.  It feels good to be involved in the political process.

Growing up my mom dutifully served on the local election board and worked the polls each general and primary election.  However, I was never involved in politics of any sort.  I don't remember when I first voted but I don't think it was until after I was married 20 years ago.  Since getting married, to someone who is involved in politics, I have become immersed in the process.  Participating in local and state events, campaigns and even working on getting bills introduced into the state legislature.

I will not be one of those who complain about the system, then don't do anything to change it.  We get what we deserve, when we let others participate in the process and sit idly by.  The presidential election this year is far from decided.  There is still time to get involved.  Campaign for the cause you are interested in.  Help a candidate that you support and believe in his/her ideas.  If nothing else, get a yard sign, or write a letter to the editor, share your thoughts in a blog post.  If everyone got involved, we wouldn't be in the huge mess the federal government is in fiscally.  For too many years and generations, we have abdicated our responsibilities with regards to civics and we see what is coming down the pike for our children and future grandchildren.  It is time to get involved.

Did Ya Miss Me?

It has been 13 months since I blogged.  How bad is that?

Life gets hectic and while I come up with a lot of blog posts ideas in my mind, I rarely find (I mean make) the time to blog.  Probably because I feel it has to be something important or newsworthy or something worthing of making commentary on (ie. a current event).

I do a pretty good job of taking a lot of photos and need to do a better job of sharing them here. Business, homeschooling, church and other commitments keep our family on the go, a lot but we try to do as much as  we can as a family.  Today, we waited a bit before deciding, but did attend Homeschool Day at the Capitol in Des Moines and listened to several speakers.  Bill Federer has an almost encyclopedic knowledge of history and we could have listened to him all day.  We also listened to Steve Deace, who challenged us to not become complacent in being active in the political arena and being devoted to protecting our freedoms and not just talking about it once a year and not being eternally vigilant the rest of the time.

I hope to get on a regular schedule for blogging, so perhaps you will see more posts from me.

Maddening Mondays - Are You Politically Active????

Since I have been busy rearranging furniture in my house and attending to other family matters, I haven't given a lot of time or thought to what I would blog about here today. I decided to pose the question - Are you politically active?

If someone had asked me this 20 years ago or even 10 years ago, I would have answered NO. Sometime in the last 5-10 years, my husband started getting more politically involved, so the natural result was that I did too. It started with watching certain TV talk shows and listening to radio shows. Once I became more aware of how the system worked and what the parties and organizations stood for, I realized that I could do my part to effect change at a grassroots level.

The logical first step was to identify the party affiliation that most closely resembled my views. For me, that was the Republican Party (at the time). I had previously been registered with the Democratic Party (because my parents were). Same for my husband. As time goes on, I realize that I still identify with some of the Republican Party platform, but am an Independent in other areas.

The next step was to do my civic duty and vote in the elections. The general elections, the primary elections, the school board elections, the special elections. While I may not have seen the desired outcomes, I had hoped for, I did participate.

During the last Presidential elections, my husband and I attended the Iowa Straw Poll. Neither of us had attended this before, but we enjoyed it and learned a lot. Later on we attended our county's caucus.

Most recently my husband was a delegate to our county convention and our three kids were junior delegates. My husband was selected as a District Delegate and a State Delegate. The kids are also Junior Delegates to the District and State Conventions. The kids are starting this process much earlier than I ever did.

Another thing that has been an education for me is to get involved with legislation at the grassroots level. Rallying support for an issue, developing a bill, seeing it introduced at the state level and the process it goes through to become a law, has been a great educational tool, both for myself and our children. Great civics lessons.

The advent of the internet and blogging has increased the amount of information on issues significantly and allows you to easily gather information about a topic. Blogging allows you to share your thoughts and get others feedback.

A quote I have read: "All it takes for evil to flourish, is for good men to do nothing." This is not an exact quote and I have been unable to locate the exact author of the quote, but some attribute it to Edmund Burke. I realized that if I am not going to be active and do something, then I have no right to complain if I don't like what is happening in my world. Given the events of the last 2.5 years with our nation's economy, political climate, financial uncertainty and a slide away from the Constitutional principles set forth by our founding fathers, I feel the need to become politically active, not only for the sake of myself, but for my children and future generations that follow.

So my final thought, are you politically active? If the answer is no, I must ask, why not?

Re: My Mary Pride Post

I recently had some additional comments on my posting about the Mary Pride article. I have made additional comments in the comments section. Please feel free to read them if you are so inclined.

Mary Pride Speaks Out

http://www.home-school.com/news/huckabee.html

The link above, is to an article put out by Mary Pride of Practical Homeschooling which details a number of things about various presidential candidates and their views/supposed views on homeschooling. It references a number of things that I have read elsewhere in various publications, newsletters, blogs etc. Please read. It discusses the homeschooling movement being linked to Huckabees success and do we want to be yoked with that if he makes decisions we don't want to be tied to. Thought provoking in the least.

Would love to hear your comments.

Did You Hear Glenn Beck tonight?

Glenn Beck was on a roll tonight. He was talking about all the insane things that are going on right now. He said "Our capital is moving to Mexico City and we've got Stalin in a pantsuit running for President!" The more I listen to him, the more I like him.

His website is www.Glennbeck.com

I am not sure if there is a transcript, but I think there will be. At least I read one from September 11, 2007 regarding terrorists casing American schools to learn the disaster preparedness response so that they can kill more people when the parents show up to get their children after an attack on a school. It went on to talk about how they would target the heartland, where no one expects it and feels safe, because the emergency response would take longer. Really scary stuff.