When I turned 43 a couple of years ago, I seem to sweat in my sleep, although the ob/gyn says I have no other signs of menopause, I wake up with a drenched cotton nightgown and panties I look like I took a dip in a pool! So long to those beautiful short satin night gowns I used to love…. So, to deal with the “glow” of the evening! I am now in the buff. Panties are a real pain! When my 8 year old son is home it is a two nightshirt night, just incase he has a bad dream and sleep on the largest beach towels I can find in my amazingly new bed that I was overdue to get. Leslie is right, sleep is sooooo important. Now, after a 12 year marriage ended in 1994, I still sleep alone. Sweating it out, as they might say! lol!

Like Anne Kreig, I send my son (7 yo) to a waldorf based school here in CA. I and my ex balance the media/movie/plastic world with playmates and I have very few plastic toys. I do find that most homes have wayyyyy toooo much screen time. TV/Computer/XBOX etc. Way to little discussion and talking together. Although I find the LDS religion not my preference, one of my eldest brothers converted and it fits his needs. (I am very thankful that he actually found it!) LDS families have a game for family night where they turn off the TV and spend time together doing whatever the family is really focused on. Outdoor hike, inside games or girls could make jewelry with mom etc. Just spending time together. I try to do that at my home more than one night a week. This was initially tough for me as I was a latch key kid as a child. TV was a escape, but, I have found that my child is calmer and has a greater ability to collect his thoughts and comment/play/be a part of the conversation. I can only see this as a benefit to him as adult. Over stimulation can stunt the imagination, greatly as many studies are telling us each day. Without this imagination or ability to expand our ideas, what will not be created or achieved, what stories not written. TV and the media will always be in digital form for my child to enjoy when he is older. Now is the time to learn how to imagine and create, dream and stretch his mind. The TV and the media can wait…..(well, except for Fred Rogers…) Make believe is never boring! Nor is that picture that you draw or that story you make up or that goal that you score! All with out a screen….TV/computers etc are all tools. They need to be used as such, not as babysitters. It is all about how we look at boring. Art, dance and sport are never boring if you participate! Have your kids or grandkids participate! I was suprised to see Rosie ODonnell on Martha Stewart (tho, I probably should not be…) the other day she also sends her kids to a non-media based school! Her book Crafty U seems to be based on the idea that we should turn off the TV and talk, interact and be withour kids. Seems kind of a simple idea, don’t you think? Art Linkletter found kids to be so entertaining he wrote books and founded TV programs to show us that Kid’s say the darnedest things! Don’t you agree, just listen and you might agree!

I don’t know if I would wait till morning. I would mention in jest as the pants came down. “is that a new style, dear?” refering to the boxers on wrong…. Going to sleep with a ton of questions is not a great position that I hold. I would talk to him, in private, come to lunch in town etc. Talk to him first. I divorced in 2005 and it was not over a woman, it was that he left our marriage long before it was over. Staying with a man because it will deprive you of your beautiful 1.5 million dollar house and Mercedes is not necessarily my route either. Talk to him. I guess in the end, at 45 my sex drive is so high that, talking is not what I would want a man for right this minute anyway….LOL! I would talk to him. No jumping to conculsions.

I feel that Iraq is going thru it’s 4,000 year old temper tantrum. Being one of the oldest inhabited portions of the world, it still has not realized how to live in peace and respect and celebrate its citizens. I watched Charlie Rose last night and was happy to see both Burns and Kilpten (forgive me dexter for misspelling your name) on and giving a history and better progress on the citizens and the “state of the country” than the military and congressmen/women in washington can even with their session and reporting that was done over the last couple of days. I feel that like Burns who quoted a military commander “We need to let them stand up, so that we may stand down.” Burns followed up with how American’s are very “go getting” and will do the actions needed, we, as americans, need to step back, place the government and all the proper parties and put them on notice not the date (although I suggest two years from yesterday) with which we are leaving, but, that they are responsible for their country step up now, get the training for internal country military NOW as it is leaving. If they make the calendar and they miss the dates. We (american military) still have a responsibility at home. Our role as America has changed from fighting wars like WWII to helping countries rebuild, we just must do it in short order and place the responsibility on the country itself. I find that I feel Iraq and its “War” is a prime example of what the United Nations should be doing, not america. I often wonder if because we as a nation step in like this, if it is the basis for many citizens around the world to shun and dislike us as some do. My greatest or biggest fear is that no exit plan will be made, the Iraqi government will not be able in any form to unify the country and we will remain as a presence. No good can come from that. The give a man a fish, he eats for a day, show a man how to fish he eats for life. My greatest or biggest hope is that this 4,000 year old toddler will learn that to complete the puzzle called the country of Iraq as it takes all the pieces to complete and that the “Awaking” of each group that the insurgence or blocking, bombing etc is not giving them the security and balance to live and create a country that they already love and hold dear. (learning how to play with others and when to not play with the bullies!) Just listen to the comments on the internet of how proud the Iraqi people were when their scoccer/football team won a cup! That is the glue that is needed to build a country. B. Walker-Cavalli