Politicizing the Pandemic

My colleagues may be speaking for the very loud minority in St. Louis County that has simply had enough of the pandemic and want the freedom to live like we aren't in the middle of a global pandemic.  But I'm speaking for the majority of St. Louis Countians when I say that we feel better with public health officials issuing orders that keep us safe and ensure that our healthcare infrastructure doesn't collapse under the weight of this pandemic.  

By now we all know someone who has lost a loved one to Covid 19.  990 St. Louis Countians and counting have lost their lives.  

Yet our Council sits week after week after week, poking and prodding at the County Executive, making up laws that don't fit in our systems of government, spreading untruths about what our system of government can and should do, all while 990 of our neighbors have lost their lives.  While our hospitals are packed, and our healthcare workers risk their own lives while struggling to keep up to save lives.  

And we sit fighting about power.  

These questions were asked loudly and vociferously in the weeks leading up to the election, and on November 3rd, 60% of St. Louis County told us who they want in charge of this crisis.  And it wasn't the politicians sitting on the Council.  We have a County that will need re-imagining and rebuilding on the other side of this crisis, and all of our energy is better spent finding solutions than continuing to wage an election that was won on November 3rd.  By Dr. Page.  And me.  

accepting what I can't change

Our last Council meeting lasted 16 hours over 6 days.  We received an unprecedented number of public comments (over 2,200, when our prior record was probably 400-ish) in response to a debate all across the state and country: who should be in charge of this pandemic.

In my view, which is the minority on the Council though the majority of St. Louis County, our County Executive, Dr. Page, and our directors of public health should be the ones setting strategy, making decisions, and leading all the rest of us through this public health emergency.  The opposite view believes that politicians should be involved in the decision-making process.

As a general rule, I'd probably agree with that.  But not in an emergency that's exacerbated across our country because those siding with Trump and the republicans have perpetuated some seriously outlandish bullshit about the virus itself and mitigation efforts (including mask wearing and social distancing) intended to control the spread.  Because we're not all on the same page about even the existence of a global pandemic, much less about how we can work together as a community to protect each other, the virus surges uncontrollably outside of St. Louis County. 

The three republicans on the Council were able to convince one of the democrats to join their crusade to strip emergency powers away from our County Executive and directors of our public health department, and their bill passed yesterday.

For weeks, I stressed about this piece of legislation.  I lost sleep over the burning in my gut.  I tried to imagine a compromise and gave advice I thought mind mend some fences.  I even went so far as to consider joining the other side in exchange for dropping a super majority requirement (meaning that it would only require a majority of the Council to continue public safety orders).  This thing ate me alive.

And then the County Executive was like, "I will veto this bill if it passes."  And just like a poof of magic, all of that stress, anxiety, and burn in the gut just disappeared.

And along with it came the realization that, holy crap!, my life doesn't change one iota if this piece of legislation passes.  And with that, I was flooded with other realizations about how I can only control two things in politics.  The first is my vote.  The second is how I use my words and actions to influence others.  What I can't control are others' votes, how others think and view the world, and the ultimate outcome of any piece of legislation.

It's hard for a type-A control freak to cede control, and it's a struggle I've worked on all year.  Maybe this experience with this piece of legislation will open up the door for me to legislate (and live!) completely free of the burden of responsibility over outcomes and others...

common sense gun ordinance

Ann Givens from The Trace gave me a ring a few weeks ago after finding an abc news article from February-ish about the gun ordinance the St. Louis County Council passed just before Covid hit. 

We had a few really great conversations about that particular piece of legislation, what it does and doesn't do, and why it's so important to me that we do more.

Here's her story, https://www.thetrace.org/2020/10/st-louis-county-council-ban-concealed-carry-domestic-abuse/

leading in the age of covid

I have been a member of the St. Louis County Council for a little over a year.  In my first year as a public servant, our county, nation, and every country around the world has been hit with a crisis no one alive has ever dealt with.  In every facet of my life, from mom to global professional and Councilwoman to human being, I have been stretched beyond my abilities on a daily basis.

And yet, I lead.  Every single day in all of these crumbling facets.

I have the unique perspectives of a side-by-side view of how leaders are handling this crisis in both the corporate world (in my day job, I’m a Director of Learning & Development at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, a global law firm with 900 lawyers in 25 countries around the world) and in our government.  I see how leaders and constituents behave in both worlds.  

In the former, we are careful with our words, we respect the opinions of others, and we build consensus because the strongest argument, backed by the best facts, and best presentation wins.  In the latter, old grudges, petty games, and loud vitriolic voices not only bully out the best argument, but also cloud judgment, inform decisions, and stoke flames of intolerance.  

I have to remind myself on a daily basis that I’m here to make the world a better place.  I show up because I believe St. Louis County can be better, more equitable, and a place of opportunity for our people.  But the government on display right now won’t be the path to a better St. Louis County.

I have grappled deeply with trying to balance Council oversight with letting the experts lead us through this public health crisis.  I have been listening to County residents who want their kids back in school and sports (as I do!).  I hear, and agree with, my colleagues arguing that our County Executive doesn’t communicate with us, doesn’t share why decisions are being made with us, and that we’re sick of learning about the goings on of our government in the newspaper.  

I’ve tried to weigh data, CDC guidelines, and the decisions and recommendations of our public health experts (an expertise no one on the St. Louis County Council can claim) with our own need to make decisions about the risks to ourselves and others.  

There are no easy decisions here.  

But at the end of the day, when I weigh all of my perspectives, how we’re handling this crisis at my day job, how government is responding, and the narratives, emotions, and facts swirling through all of it, I see only one path forward.

The loudest voices in our community show up every Tuesday, with hours of public comment, reminding us that they don’t care about our community as much as they care about their personal liberty.  

And it is my responsibility to speak up for the quieter voices, the ones exhausted by the bullying from the highest levels of our government all the way down to the leaders sitting amongst us on this dais.  And the ones that will suffer the most loss of life, opportunity, and basic human needs are the most vulnerable of us, the ones not showing up each Tuesday because they’re the ones already stretched, already suffering, already losing their lives and livelihoods, and they don’t have the bandwidth to express their outrage over mask mandates and having to drive to St. Charles for sports.   

I believe we should vote to allow the County Executive and the Directors of Public Health to make the decisions about emergency powers in this Pandemic and all future emergencies, and I really hope my colleagues will too.

legislating in the twilight zone

I couldn't write about last week until this week because there's been so much to process.  Beginning with a rescheduled Council meeting (WTF!?) and ending the week with the news that our governor and his wife have COVID.  

Yes, a rescheduled Council meeting.  Following 20 minutes of a silent webex meeting, our director came on the line to advise us that the meeting would have to be rescheduled due to a technical error.  Turns out our meeting notice (which, by law, requires 24 hours notice) included the wrong webex link.  (To be honest, it's a miracle that hasn't happened before now.  With so many different links for different audiences in each meeting, what a nightmare!)

Then our meeting was...(this is where I'd like to insert the #SMH emoji).  

The Chair was out of town (on a well-deserved holiday), and our Vice Chair ran her first meeting, and it showed.  On top of the unpracticed chair, we had 440 public comments (which, at 3 minutes a pop, would've made for a really long night).  It took 15 minutes just to sort through all of the motions to limit the comments to two hours.  And that mess set the tone for the whole meeting.

The public comments were a perfect example of the me-me-me centricity of our society today.  "I don't care if there is a global pandemic.  My kids need to be in sports."  "This pandemic is being blown out of proportion.  My kids need to play sports."  "My kid will lose her sports scholarship if she sits out the season."

That last one really gets me.  The first two are so fucking selfish, I just can't.  That latter bit makes me the angriest.  If this is true, and sports scouts aren't finding innovative ways to seek out and reward talent, they are deepening the divide between science, humanity, and the sense that we're in this together.  

And to react, our school districts are moving sports to outer districts with fewer COVID restrictions, and teaching our kids (but only the schools that are predominately white and wealthy (while our schools in lower income school districts don't have this option #systemicracism)) that the rules don't apply to them.

Leading in a crisis is hard for so many reasons, not the least of which being no good answers and a very hazy view of what outcome may be, but because this particular moment is fraught with such divisiveness and viciousness, making decisions at all feels impossible.   

hypocrisy by ordinance

This week in County politics, the youth sports crowd is on the offensive, the municipalities find a path to CARES Act money, one of my friends and allies has turned coat, and I find election season vitriol carrying on.  For me (and many others), the biggest issue is an ordinance proposal on the agenda that would limit the County Executive's power in future pandemics.  

For starters, I hope we won't ever need such an ordinance, and that this pandemic is a once in a century kinda deal.  Secondly, one of the primary reasons we elect an Executive is to lead during a crisis.  And finally, the very party proposing this legislation, which incidentally gives them an outsized voice by requiring a 2/3 majority to continue a state of emergency, doesn't even take the current pandemic seriously.

I honestly can't tell if this is simple election season shenanigans, or if anyone in the democratic majority can take this legislation seriously (and the fact that one of the democrats on the Council seems to find fitness here is both baffling and disappointing), but it is truly a piece of trash.

I'll go back to my original points.  A time of crisis is no time to have too many cooks in the kitchen, and giving power to decide whether a pandemic is really an emergency to a bunch of politicians is absurd.  In a time of crisis, an executive can assemble the strongest possible team of experts in whatever the crisis.  In this pandemic, that includes public health experts, humanitarian relief experts, and economic rescue experts.  In the legislative branch, I too can go find my experts, and spend all day every day trying to understand all of these moving pieces...oh wait, no I can't.  I have two kids and another job.  This is the job the executive is elected to do. 

The very best part is that the GOP has downplayed this pandemic since the day it hit our shores.  They have, and continue to, mock mask wearing, flaunt the lack of social distancing, and put their own selfish wants ahead of our collective best interests.  AND they want us to believe they should be the ones making decisions about public policy in future pandemics.  The chutzpah of it all is mind blowing.  

And for the youth sports crowd, I want all of our kids to get back to normal life as soon as possible.  I want the kids in my life back in school, back on the basketball court, and back in the stands supporting each other.  But until we as a society can show that we're listening to public health officials and doing everything we can to mitigate the spread of this disease, and whatever one may come next, I simply do not trust you enough to press to reopen.

Until we can all start being in this thing together, I'm standing strong for the recommendations of the public health experts.

~k

back home on the music box steps

I started this blog during a transformational time in my life.  I was on the heels of a marriage ending, the beginning of a hobby in politics, and learning to live on my own amidst the magic of the Music Box Steps.  

Since that transformation, I've moved to two different time zones, married again, birthed two babies, divorced again, and somehow managed to build a successful career and an equally successful (depending on your viewpoint) hobby in politics.  

As I once again find myself in the middle of a transformation, I feel pulled back to this place, where it all began, and where it fell off when I rerouted my life to become a mom.  

Politics has become a serious side hustle, where I'm Councilwoman on the St. Louis County Council.  It was become all-consuming at times, all-rewarding in others, and a place where I'm consistently awestruck by the viciousness that waits around every corner.  

I need a place to process what it's like to navigate the dirty world of politics, while spending the rest of my time helping people rise to their potential, and to figure out how to see through the haze of hate to stay focused on doing good wherever I can and for as long as I can.

That place is here.  On the Music Box Steps.

~k

the evolution of dog

miss scarlet was the love of my life...just a few short years ago.  her antics tickled me pink, her sweet but sassy little attitude melted my heart, and the way she could brighten my day with a little bat of those baby browns more than made up for how much of a pain in the ass she is.  she was the baby of the house, until the human baby came in and stole her thunder.

for the first week of life with a tiny human, scarlet barked at the baby.  the second week she left the room when the baby was around.  and for the next several months, she gradually learned to tolerate the baby. when food started to drop from above when baby was sitting in the kitchen, scarlet's acceptance took root.  and now that baby is up and around, and starting to play a meek game of tug of war, scarlet is taking on the role of big sister.

i'll probably shed a wee tear of joy when she gives up her spot at the foot of my bed for a warm spot in the bed with the tiny human...someday.

~k

head in sand

and about the environment.

this is something else i just don't get.  even if you think climate change is a hoax (and really? really?), why are you so opposed to cleaning up dirty air, requiring industries to keep paint and oil out of our drinking water and crops, and limiting the amount of crap we all put into landfills?  why?

why is the only dude in my neighborhood that doesn't use the FREE recycling bins provided by our city (a no-sort container for aluminum, glass, paper, plastic, textiles, cardboard, etc) one of those batshit republicans with the "who is john galt" bumper sticker on his old jeep cherokee...right next to the obama as the joker sticker?  because he's making a statement that he doesn't believe in recycling?  or is it that he is so unbelievably selfish he doesn't care that he's leaving a slightly dirtier world to his children?

and do you no-government-ever-at-all people honestly believe that businesses and industries will benevolently pay to dispose of toxic materials because it is the right thing to do?    fuck no.  without regulations, they would be dumping every single toxicity they manufacture into the air, ground, creeks, rivers, lakes and oceans, contaminating everything you breathe, eat, wear, and shit.

and is it such a bad idea to invest in the manufacturing jobs of tomorrow?  i mean, get a clue.  coal mines, oil fields, and all that is dirty is going away (and honestly, do you really want to work in any of those nasty ass industries?).  we need to invest in clean energy, renewables, and the related maintenance technologies so that china doesn't take that market.  the world is going green.  period.  we can either lead the way or we can resist ourselves into a dark, dirty, uninhabitable, bankrupt america that looks more like the districts of panem than the country we see today.

yeah, yeah, yeah, "we don't have the money".  we have the money, we just spend it poorly...no argument there.  the difference between you and me and money is that you blew it when you took down the economy and started (and want to keep blowing it on) unnecessary and strategically bankrupt wars and tax breaks for people who don't reinvest those savings in america.  i'd rather spend it to clean up, rebuild, educate and rehire america.

it would be awesome if you'd get your head out of your ass so we could all work together, to really talk about where we can intelligently reallocate our limited funds, and get this ship turned in the right direction.  but so long as you're focused on the earth being 6,000 years old, regulating my uterus, and stockpiling assault weapons to protect yourself from the muslim president, there's no way we can have an intelligent conversation with you...because you are proof that we aren't spending enough money on education.

~k

the hearing

[benghazi was] "the worst tragedy since 9/11".  wow, what color is the sky in rand paul's world?

does he get the newspaper at his house?  or own a television, or computer?  i guess no one ever told him about the wars that've been killing americans for 12 years, newtown, connecticut, or the hostages killed in algeria this week.

i've never quite been able to wrap my mind around this benghazi "scandal".  our embassy was attacked.  four american diplomats died.  yes, it was a terrible tragedy.  but it happened in the most dangerous part of the world...to people who accepted that as a possible outcome when they signed up for a post in _libya_.

there's a special kind of someone who wants so desperately to see the world become a better place, he's willing to put his life on the line to help birth a new democracy.  someone who wanted to build a democracy in a region that's been ravaged throughout history, and conditioned to fear and even hate a country he loves.  that was christopher stevens.  he didn't want to die.  he didn't want his comprades to die either.  no one did.  and no one meant for this to happen.  it is a terrible tragedy, and a loss to all americans.  and yes, mistakes were made, security was sparse, and the negligence cost four americans their lives, but this witch-hunt by senate republicans is incomprehensible.

this is the same fucking party that bullshit its way into a war with iraq...a war, incidentally, that has cost 4488 american lives.  and now they demand that heads must roll because the declassified talking points provided to the morning-show-stooge (i'm sorry madame ambassador--i don't actually think you a stooge. it's mere wordery) were "misleading".  the effrontery exceeds my comprehension.

like, i don't even know what else to say...

~k

guns and rules

i don't get the whole guns thing.  at all.

i don't care if you have guns.  have all the guns you want.  shoot every deer and pheasant between here and mt. rushmore for all i care.  have two guns.  five.  ten even.  i. do. not. care.  but tell me why it is that a background check bears any resemblance to an infringement of your constitutional rights.  tell me why a ban on high capacity magazines and the amount of ammunition you can buy is akin to being packed naked into an overcrowded box car and shipped to a camp that will kill you.  and then tell me why--and i want a really good reason--why any civilian has any need whatsoever for military weapons (cuz i know you're not hunting with them).

from where i sit, the only thing i can come up with is paranoia.

maybe it's paranoia that the neighbor (or the neighbor's kid) is going to rob you and set your house on fire. or maybe it's fear that the government is going to come throw you out of their own home.  or both.  either way, what the fuck kind of fear is defining your life?

stop.  think about this.  could the government become so oppressive that it storms into your home and makes a slave of you and your family?   fuck. no. it. couldn't.  this country is too big, has waaaaaaay too many people, and waaaaay too strong of a standing armed forces.  and even if something powerful enough to overtake our government and army (not a even a real live socialist kenyan muslim president could pull that off) does exist, the arsenal in the basement isn't going to do shit for you.  and more likely than the government takeover, is the possibility that your arsenal could be used (accidentally or otherwise) to cause you and others great devastation.  think about that for a minute.

and then let's talk about your constitutional rights.

if you still want guns, have your guns.  but get the same kind of licensing i am required to own and operate a _car_ (this is such a "duh" for me). i mean...will people without a license be able to get a gun?  i'm sure.  but we have to start somewhere.  keeping gun ownership from the people who have proven themselves to be bad or mentally unstable (and let experts in the fields of criminals and insanity define who that it) is the smart thing to do.  making sure that people with guns are educated about them is the smart thing to do.  limiting the number of rounds in a magazine could save a life, five lives, maybe even 10 or 20.  how is that not worth the minor inconvenience to you to having to reload before blowing the guts out of the next deer that happens into the slaughter?

guns are really dangerous.  they need rules.  and, frankly, anyone objecting to reasonable gun safety rules seems pretty irrational.  and those of you vociferously objecting to gun safety rules...well, you look like a fucking whack job.

~k

the light of my life

but i wanted a baby, and not just any baby, but the baby i got.  she's exactly who i've dreamed of having in my life.  my beautiful, sweet, little buddy.  i get to show her the world and teach her about life, and then watch her go off and live her own.  i love life with her.  and i wouldn't trade it in for anything.

~k

frost's disappointment

it never even occurred to me to make a resolution this new year.  sure, there are things i'd like to do differently (eating a bit healthier (not that i'm a terribly unhealthy eater, but i could use a few more fruits and veggies), being a bit more patient with my husband (it's really hard to live with a child in an adult-sized body), working out a little more, and writing a lot more), but committing to such things in resolution form...it's just more of a commitment than i can make right now.

the writing thing, though...i really, really, really want to write more.  i feel like i can't seem to find my voice.  i mean, i have lots of mommy tales to tell.  i have lots of political rants in my head.  but i can't find the inclination to put them into words.  wtf!?  it seems like it all went to shit when i left los angeles.  is it because i left my voice on the music box steps?  i've thought about changing the name of my blog, or perhaps starting another, but i would really rather find another way to unleash my muse because 'notes from the music box steps' feels such a part of me.

or maybe it's just my way of hanging onto the life i left behind???

i miss los angeles every single day (especially in the winter).  i miss the random smell of jasmine in the air.  i miss my friends.  i miss my bumpy road, 4100, dusty's, and that it never got cold.  i miss my deck, schneider, and living on the music box steps.  and while there are certainly things i really love about my new life, i'm starting to worry that i intentionally chose the road most travelled, and that maybe, just maybe, it's made all the wrong difference...

~k

it defies mind

all day i have wept.  in waves of course, but i have wept all day.  i cannot even begin to wrap my mind around what the parents are going through right now...just 10 days shy of every kid's favorite eve of the year.

or those other kids. that entire community.  everyone gearing up to celebrate the holidays in grand fashion...a spirit stopped dead in its tracks by an inconceivable act of terror.  how can this be?

all day i have searched to try to understand how this can be.  in the deepest depths of my soul, there exists not even an inkling of a place dark enough to begin to comprehend the depravity that one must possess to walk into an elementary school with an arsenal of semi-automatic weapons and open indiscriminate fire on the most innocent of us.  those wide-eyed, trusting, and beautiful little babies...20 of which are no longer with us, and all the rest that have to live life after today.  how can this be?

i can't remember my heart ever more broken for another...for so many others.  i weep still, and i think part of me always will.

~k

believing

four years ago, i lived on this blog during the dog days of two very long obama campaings.  from texas to indiana to south dakota, mt. rushmore and yellowstone, terra naomi on constant repeat for nearly 3,000 miles...and in california for the final stretch and the astounding victory.  every word, every emotion, every captured moment lives somewhere in these notes from the music box steps.

that campaign changed my life.  it gave me the kind of hope that digs deep into your soul and never stops burning, though sometimes the burn's of the more dimly sort. 2008 was my renaissance year, a year weaved in and out of the excitement of barack obama. 

these past four years have been remarkably changey, for me and the country.  we've been through some shit times, have had our hearts broken, our spirit broken, have been through wars, big moves, giant set-backs, big failures, and some pretty fucking amazing accomplishments-after a lot of dusting ourselves off and trying and trying again.

and here we are, 60 days left in the chance to finish what we started.  we've got a couple of big hurdles...a coupla debates, a european financial crisis that has zip to do with us but could bring us to our knees overnight, and the rampant fucktardery in these here united states.  but we are america (and me), and we don't quit.  no matter how dark the days, we know that just over that next hill lies a burgeoning sun, and we march toward that light with our heads high and our swords drawn.  the journey we all started with barack obama...we're only half-way to goal and we owe it to ourselves, our president, and our country to get the whole way we intended when we set out together.

good thing i have hope, of the ever burning sort...because i still believe in america, in the american dream, in a better tomorrow, and in president obama's leading our way there.

forward.

~k  

recessing losers

dear congress: i hate your fucking guts. i hope every last one of your stinking asses gets fired this november. 

best regards,

~k

the chikin debacle

i really do feel guilty about eating gay-hating-chicken, but it's so flippin' delicious i just can't resist.

i'm sorry.

~k

preposterous chutzpah

so, i'm pissed now.  33 times the house of ill repute has pushed through a bill they damn well know has absolutely no chance of getting anywhere.  this same mother fucking congress that, after firing up millions of bat-shit voters, went on and on and on about how they were going to focus everything on jobs, jobs, jobs.  and since those clowns have taken over the circus, the economy has slowed.  less jobs are being created, the unemployment rate is climbing again, and we're headed into yet another round of economic trials and tribulations...as europe tries to weather its storm. 

we are in dire straits here.  our economy and society are so far out of whack that we need serious, smart, mathy, wonky, _thinking_ people in government.  people who can work together to solve problems, re-invigorate industry, repair our schools and roads (even if that means telling unions who get in the way of progress to go fuck themselves), put some balance back into our economy, some harmony into our society, and try to strike some semblance of fairness.  our democracy exists when the people are represented by the people.  and that's not what we have right now.

america has become a land where the people are represented by the very few with a whole lot of dough (see oligarchy).  we are a land of morons, completely duped into clinging onto and fighting over nonsensical issues (see blow jobs, birth certificates, religious differences, whether climate change is happening, why a waiting period and background check to purchase a semi-automatic weapon is equivalent to tyranny) whilst policies and laws are being bought--at very high prices (see k street)--for the benefit of people of great wealth. and for what? job creation? bullshit. if mitt romney and his richy rich friends were investing their money back into america, there would be more jobs here. not only are they not investing it in america, they aren't even keeping it in this country.

why does mitt romney need to keep money in offshore accounts?  so he doesn't have to invest a small fraction of those dollars into america's coffers?  doesn't he already have a house with an elevator?  what the fuck else does that guy need?  would it really kill mitt to help support america's schools and repair and rebuild her roads?  or to help us get out of this ruinous financial black hole we find ourselves in right now?  the guy that doesn't even have pride enough in his country to share some of his wealth toward america's greatness now wants to be its leader. and people are actually considering voting for him...

~k

the shitshow on the hill

does anyone else remember john boehner crying about how his house of representatives was going to focus on getting america back to work?  "jobs, jobs, jobs, it's all we should be focusing on. not this frivolous nonsense our democratic colleagues have been working on the past two years".  (i paraphrase).  what a bunch of bullshit.

how many times has boner's precious house voted to repeal the affordable care act?  let's see...33.  33 fucking times, when they damn well know that bill will get nowhere.  even if it were to miraculously get through the senate, there's no way in hades president obama is _EVER_ going to sign away his signature piece of legislation, legislation that has been appropriately passed and whose legality has been confirmed by a conservative supreme court.

we can argue about the merits of the bill till the cows come home (i, personally, am in favor of something far more liberal but would've happily settled for the public option i didn't get for the sake of lame compromise), but the law is here and it's here to stay.  the mandate, whether a tax or not, is the only way the very popular provisions (pre-existing conditions coverage, parental coverage till 26, subsidies for lower-income families, insurance exchanges, etc.) can exist.  the mandate--i might remind y'all--was a republican idea, one that embraces its "personal responsibility" mantra, so i don't understand why in the eff it's all of a sudden a shining example of the socialist government take-over (oh wait, yes i do, it's because president obama signed it into law).

my point of all of this being...that the republican-controlled house of representatives seems to care more about wasting taxpayer time and money on frivolous and vindictive actions than on getting america back to work.  i hope this great effort results in all of their asses being kicked the fuck to the curb this november.

~k

p.s. i created one job this month...which is one more than mitt romney.  yay me.

onward to jeans

bebe came 12 weeks ago today.  in the past 12 weeks, i've lost 40-ish pounds (the last 3-5 are hanging on for dear life as the scale moves to and from my goal).  i even started doing measurements in addition to the weight checks because, now that i'm working out again, i have to consider that muscle weighs more than fat.  i'm out of maternity clothes and back into my regular clothes--albeit a bit more snuggly.

so...tomorrow will be my first attempt at jeans.  i'm super scared.  i'm not going to even attempt my skinny jeans (i initially gave myself till my birthday (in november) for the skinny jeans, but based on the rampant speed at which the preggo pounds have melted, i've backed the skinny jeans goal to labor day), but i am going to try for a pair of my favorite jeans from the good ole days...

wish me luck! 

~k