Remember last month when we asked you to demand that Congress and the states stop treating part-time workers like chopped liver and provide them with unemployment insurance? Well, after nearly 10,000 of your letters to Congress, the New York Times reported that President-elect Obama and Congressional Democrats are now proposing an extension of unemployment insurance to part-time workers! [1]

Give yourself a high five, then let’s keep the ball rolling, or more aptly, keep that broccoli going down the hatch.

Tell your Congressional Representatives to support the Unemployment Insurance Modernization Act (UIMA) as part of the economic recovery package they’re working on now: Congress is making big decisions, right now, about what to include in the economic recovery package — they need to hear from as many people as possible that this issue should be at the top of their list for inclusion in the recovery package.

The Lowdown: Including the UIMA in the economic recovery package is essential because right now only 37 percent of unemployed workers receive unemployment benefits. That leaves 63% of people out! This is because Unemployment Insurance was created in 1935, but the workforce has changed dramatically since then: There are far more low-wage, part-time, and women workers in the labor market whose incomes are essential to the family budget.

To be an effective safety net, Unemployment Insurance needs to be updated to meet 21st century economic demands on families. Without these updates, the economic recovery package will fall short of supporting working families who will be the engine of our long-term economic success. Current Unemployment Insurance programs that do not cover part-time workers and low-wage workers discriminate against mothers and threaten the economic security of families.

Click here to ask your Congressional Representatives to include the Unemployment Insurance Modernization Act in the American Recovery and Reinvestment plan proposed by Congress and President-Elect Obama:

Post from: Blisstree

Unemployment for Part-Timers! Act Now!

Last July when I went to San Francisco for Blogher’08 I stopped in a tourist shop and picked up some San Francisco Sour Dough Starter. I gave my mother a package and another to a friend.

I kept a package for myself and began following directions. It said to put the starter in a warm dark place for several hours. So, I figured the oven would be great.

My husband preheated the oven for some wings. Plastic bowl melted all in my Sour Dough Starter and my foray into fancy breadmaking was foiled.

Now, it’s probably not that complicated for Marye Audet who writes Baking Delights.

But, for me it’s proven to be quite a challenge.

My good friends made wonderful bread every single day like clockwork. They gave me another starter.

I decided to get creative and added garlic and parmesan cheese to my “sponge” and pretty much killed it. Don’t add that to starter – add that to dough.

I have ruined 3 sets of starters, mainly because I did not understand the steps that involve “the sponge” and “the starter.”

Maybe this has happened to you before – where you read the directions over and over and over and every time you draw a blank. Huh?

I logged onto

All Holiday Cafe to see if Katelyn Thomas could teach me how to use the starter to make more starter and a sponge, but no. She did have a lot to say about Making Gingerbread Houses, but the kids and I already did that.

They say the 4th Starter is the Charm.

No one says that, but, practice makes perfect, right?

When my friend gave me the last starter and announced there could be no more because he was moving to Alabama I Googled Sour Dough Bread and found these great instructions by S. John Ross.

And now I’ve been giving bread away all season. It’s so easy to make two snakes and braid them into a holiday wreath or a candy cane. This would, actually make my friend Jen from Jlogged.com very proud. I even took it as a white elephant gift for my Toastmaster’s party and my Vow counselors loved it.

Making dough has also been keeping my 2 year old Zack out of trouble. He likes to roll and pound and squish and smack it.

Post from: Blisstree

Sour Dough Bread

Susie Homemaker (My Mom) is Coming To-Do-List:

* Steam clean the couches

* Mop floors

* Dust and lemon oil shelves and furniture

* Rake leaves

* Vacuum

* Make a Birthday gift

* Laundry

* Caulk shower

* Clean bathrooms

* OxyClean Zack’s floors

* Kid’s rooms

* Magic Erasure door jams and walls

* 5 Blog Posts (so I can spend time with my parents).

Is anyone going to do the 6 month Oprah and Peter Walsh Clutter-free Challenge?

I’ve been conciencious about working on the clutter. After the show I put 3 pair of shoes in a donation bag I keep perpetually going.
I’ve gone from this:

To This:

Post from: Blisstree

Clean Up Your Messy House!

Extreme Makeover Home Edition – with hottie Ty Pennington – is filming in Maricar’s neighborhood.

Maricar is the writer of Keeping the Castle here at b5media.

It will be a rare opportunity to get another perspective of what goes on behind the scenes of miracle makeover television, so stop by her first three posts and then subscribe so you don’t miss it.
Extreme Makeover Home Edition in Mid-Michigan
Extreme Makeover Home Edition: The House
Extreme Makeover Home Edition: Saturday’s Progress.

In other parts of the World Y from Joy Unexpected found no joy when Trading Spaces came to her neighborhood, she found it was boring and inconvenient.

Image Source: Maricar at Keeping the Castle.

Post from: Blisstree

Keeping The Castle & Extreme Makeover

You know what I find fascinating?

The religious conservatives, by which I mean the specific people in my life, who have always been the biggest influences on my own Internal Mommy Wars are in full, unequivocal support of Sarah Palin and have no doubts that can be both an effective mother and vice president.

Then why do you doubt that I can be both a great mom and fulfill my professional ambitions using the gifts and the calling God gave me? I wondered, as I lay sobbing during one yoga practice last week. If there is some distinction between she and I – and our worthiness for my family’s support – I don’t get it.

My whole motherhood and professional, experience would have been vastly different had these same people in my life been as unquestioningly supportive of me and my abilities to do both as they have been about Sarah Palin.

The economic and emotional toll of my own internal Mommy Wars can be added up to include: poverty and massive amounts of debt including a bankruptcy, unbelievable strain on my marriage almost leading to divorce, addiction to anxiety medication including a hospitalization that incurred yet more debt, severe post partum depression, not to mention the decision to stop having children so I could return to work without debilitating guilt and extreme economic “sacrifice” sooner.

But, at least I was a “good mom,” according to the specific narrow definition my family and cultural influences – religious conservatives, represented by Sarah Palin – have held out as the one virtue I must live up to above all.

Go figure.

They don’t even know her, they’ve never met her, they’ve never seen her with her children, they know very little about her politics even. Yet, they support her without reservation, judgement or criticism. If only I’d been worthy of the same support.

Thank God for Sarah Palin - I’m choosing to make their full support of Sarah Palin apply to ME and all other women. Her mission is no more important than mine, her abilities to both be a good mother and ambitious in her work is no more developed, her values no more sacred, and above all – she is no more entitled than the rest of the working mothers of this nation to respect, equal pay and working hours that adjust to acknowledge the existence of a family.

I’m choosing to let go of their judgement that has so effected my choices. It’s quite liberating really. Its like releasing a burden that has weighed heavily on my soul and tainted my experience of motherhood.

My motherhood experience has been about unnecessary guilt and sacrifice – false choices really. False choices that have made me teeter on a fence between working and motherhood, judgement and approval, fear and love, economic stability and poverty as sacrifice, powerfulness and powerlessness, economic independence and social acceptance - it’s not as though choosing to not work to be a good mom to acquire the currency of their social acceptance and approval came without serious consequences.

Forgive them for they know not what they do. I want to be free of their criticism and judgement, therefore I forgive it.

I don’t think they knew. They didn’t know they would feel this positively and supportive about a working mother character. They may or may not realize the kind of inner-turmoil they’ve caused in my own emotional life. Likely, it is only a reflection of their own inner conflict about themselves – not really about me at all.

I’m going to expect them to feel the same about my abilities as they feel about Sarah Palin’s and if they choose not to, well, this time I’ll perceive that choice as their failure, instead of my own. I’ll figure out a way not to internalize it.

Surely, I had this power all along – lots of other women have done it – but I wasn’t strong enough to apply it. So, I forgive me too.

Thank God for Sarah Palin, she’s liberating me from a social construct and false choices and a deep inner conflict about working and motherhood.

Image source: JohnMcCain.com

Post from: Blisstree

Thank God For Sarah Palin

I don’t mind cooking. It’s growing on me actually. I like to create and be creative and I’m actually a pretty dang good cook.

I tend to make food I wish I were rich enough to order in a restaurant every night.

I’m going to share my cooking trick with you:

Google your ingredients.

Go to the Google search window and enter whatever ingredients you already have: tomatoes + asparagus + chicken or beef + broccoli + mushrooms.

The results will be delicious and you won’t have to think of a recipe to cook. Which really, is the worst part of making dinner.

Post from: Blisstree

Best Recipe EVER!

Thanks to the tireless work of AAUW members and supporters for more than a decade, the House of Representatives passed (247-178) the Paycheck Fairness Act (H.R. 1338) last week.

All Democrats present voted for the bill, and 14 Republicans crossed the aisle to vote yes in favor of equal pay. See how your representative voted, and contact your representative about their vote. Thank the representatives who supported the Paycheck Fairness Act. Express your extreme disappointment to those representatives who voted against this bill, and urge them to support pay equity legislation in the future.

Celebrate AAUW’s success in the passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act! Visit AAUW’s website to read the in-depth story of the steps and strategies leading up to the bill’s passage and AAUW’s instrumental role in this victory. See pictures of AAUW leading the charge, capping off a fight that lasted more than a decade, and learn more about the role you and thousands of AAUW members and supporters across the nation played in this win for pay equity. Download a copy of the article for your branch and state newsletters. Then, visit our blog to let us know what you think of this success.

Thousands of Action Network subscribers sent multiple messages to their representatives in favor of this legislation, and AAUW’s Capitol Hill Lobby Corps visited many congressional offices to represent the support of AAUW members across the nation. In addition, AAUW coordinated a sign-on letter for 200 national, state, and local coalition partners to show Congress the widespread support for the bill.

If enacted, the Paycheck Fairness Act would update and strengthen the Equal Pay Act of 1963, closing loop holes and improving the law’s effectiveness. Equal pay for equal work is a simple matter of justice for women, and the House passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act is a critical step forward in our goal to close the persistent and sizable wage gaps between men and women.

Take Action!

To contact your representative regarding his or her vote on the Paycheck Fairness Act, just click on the “Take Action” link in the upper right corner or copy and paste the following URL into your Internet browser. Then, follow the instructions to send your message. http://capwiz.com/aauw/issues/alert/?alertid=11770306&type=CO

AAUW continues to have “I am the face of pay equity” signs and stickers available for use at AAUW events. Visit AAUW’s Pay Equity webpage and download the Pay Equity Resource Kit for ideas, tips, and resources to use in your community throughout the year.

Post from: Blisstree

YAY! Equal PAY!

Today is the last day of my family vacation. My brother, who I only see once a year, left this morning. My other brother, who I only see once a year, left last night.

Bitter. Sweet.

Sweet cause I did get to see them and we’ve had a great time with virtually no drama – but bitter because I have to leave them and won’t see them for a year. SAD.

But really, really bitter because I have to DRIVE home. UGH!!!

I do. not. want. to. drive. home.

Even in a black shiny Chevy Tahoe Hybrid with XM radio and a DVD player and a Navigational System – I do not want to drive for 24 (really it took us 30 hours)!

There’s always this groovy anticipation when you’re driving TO grandma’s house. But driving home – we turned off the air conditioner to save money so we’re driving home to a sweltering East Texas stuffy house and the only thing to anticipate is going back to work.

but, then I have yet to take a single day of my vacation off of work. Didn’t want to miss the opportunity to drive traffic to my site during BlogHer and had to blog about our cool Hybrid experience and well, going home I feel I need a vacation.

Well, off to tourist in Park City, walking around touristy stores with no money to buy anything is always fun.

Then back here to load up 2 times more stuff than we came with – my mother suited us out with food storage in case the economy goes really, really bad – it’s a Mormon thing. Man, I wish I was nicer to my mother as a teenager.

Wish I was nicer to my dad too. Aren’t they cute grandparents now? Such fun and nice and generous and happy and good people.

Post from: Blisstree

Last Day Vacation

I’m a huge fan (I watch for you, not for the kids) and I think you really should be Time’s Person of the Year, as I suggested and you should win an Emmy because you’re have about the only show on TV I can still watch with my kids.

After the most recent cupcake episode where you very tensely said you didn’t want the kids to put the frosting on so they wouldn’t get dirty . . . well, I want to offer you a little advice about dirty kids. Not because I think you should be perfect – I prefer flawed people – but because you’ll enjoy motherhood more and for sure the kids will enjoy childhood more.

THIS is what a dirty kid looks like.

Now in the face of this you have two choices. One is to discipline them good so they never even think about getting dirty again, and the other is to laugh and throw some mud back at them.

Now, being realistic about your obvious anxiety and discomfort in the face of disorganization, messes, and dirt, I realize a mud fight with the twins and sextuplets is probably out of the question.

However, the beauty of children is that they – and their clothes – are WASHABLE.

This is my friend OxyClean. I regularly have a child’s clothing soaking in it for a week. I’m a much lazier housekeeper than you, I don’t stain treat and I don’t scrub, if a week in OxyClean doesn’t do the trick, then I’m not above throwing it out. But, it’s good stuff – Ainsley was wearing her favorite white outfit during our spontaneous mudfight and it came clean.

There’s no way on God’s Green Earth that I would want to do laundry for 10 people, and you obviously deserve the Good Housekeeping Award for keeping a house of 10 people presentable enough to be on TV every day.

But, dirty and messy kids really isn’t the end of the world.

It can be pretty fun.

Image Source: Empowering Girls: So Sioux Me

Post from: Blisstree

Kate Gosselin & Dirty Kids

I was checking my statistics for Blog Fabulous when I noticed my story Anal Retentive Compulsions in 2008 was still being read. How’s that for accountability?

That was my story where I declared my New Year’s Resolution to get be so organized I could be classified as anal retentive compulsive, you know like Kate Gosselin and my mother.

It’s July. I looked around my office and the exact same pile of clutter was shoved in my drawer. The same exact pile of “get to this later” was in the same basket it’s been in for literally YEARS. Still no filing system.

In fact, the top of my desk had become – things I haven’t yet hung up in here and things I wanted to write about but hadn’t had time.

Is it any wonder my daughter’s room periodically needs to be excavated? <

Here’s one thing I know for sure – if you continually feel bad about something one thing you can do to stop feeling bad is to “just do it.”

Examples: Feel bad every time you smoke – Quit. Feel guilty when you don’t work out – Work Out.

Feel like working somewhere else when all I wanted was an office space of your own? Organize It.

I did. It took me 8 hours. No joke. It’s got files. It’s not cluttered. The stuff is hung on the walls. There’s a system. The “stuff to do later” got done – even if it cost money.

Here’s what I noticed about my messes:

The reason I didn’t do it before amounts to $8. I had attempted to buy an $8 file hanger thing for my desk drawer numerous times, but it always put me over my budget. It’s been in the cart 5 times, I put it back. Stupid isn’t it? For 7 months I couldn’t make spending that $8 important enough.

Then when I discovered the file hanger wouldn’t fit that drawer anyway and had to use the other filing cabinet.

How minor are the things I allow to distract me.

The other thing I’ve noticed is a genetic/generational tendency to believe I have to keep things or I’m wasting them and I might never get anything to replace it. I think this is about my grandparent’s depression-era anxiety and my “always be prepared” Mormon upbringing. I come by it honestly. During my grandfather’s eulogy they said, Viola you’ve inherited the biggest scrap yard in all of East Texas. And their children, my parents and aunts and uncles, are overflowing with stored crap from the 70s, 80s and 90s.

Remember Suze Orman says you can not have room for new things in your life if there is so much cluttering it up.

I have everything I need. I have enough. I can get more things, even if I no longer have a use for this. I told myself as I threw stuff, basically garbage, away I’d been keeping “just in case.”

(Okay, don’t tell anyone – this is my dirty little secret – I didn’t actually throw most of it away – I stuck it in bags where it will stay for several months, just in case my need for it returns, or until I find it a good home with a needy family – baby steps. That’s in line with reduce, reuse, recycle though – right?)

It’s July. It was a New YEARs Resolution. That means I accomplished my goal a full 5 months ahead of my deadline. (Still to go a more efficient electronic organization system for emails, passwords, receipts, etc. I don’t delete most of my email either, “just in case”. )

Do you remember what YOUR New Year’s Resolution was?

Don’t feel bad – there’s still plenty of time.

Source of Images: Empowering Girls: So Sioux Me

Post from: Blisstree

Resolutions Revisited