The Three Faces of Shoog

In honor of my monthly self-portraits (and unwavering narcissism), I thought I'd take myself in three different angles, literally and figuratively. Like you, I wear different faces at different times in my life. It's not that I'm trying to be different Sugar's to different people... not anymore, anyway... It's just that different environments or groups of friends tend to coax one part or another out of me. I enjoy having all those facets to myself... even if every now and then it gets a little crowded in here.

Please ignore the fluffiness of a month's worth of cookie dough and merlot indulgence...

Congratulations President Obama

Let me say it once again, just in case you weren't here yesterday... I have hope for our country. And just in case you didn't read this, please know that I do not lay my hope at the foot of one man or one party. All that aside, tonight is a bittersweet night for me, and I'm sure for many others.

I am not an Obama fan. I can say that without so much as a twitch in my typing hands. I can also say with the greatest confidence that it has nothing to do with the color of his skin. It makes me happy to see that we, as a whole, have moved past that ugliness. I know there are still some cancers in this world... haters that will say awful things, but for the most part, we are really becoming the melting pot that so many of us have always dreamed of.

So yeah, it's a bittersweet. I'm pleased in one regard, yet disappointed in another. One thing is for sure... Senator Obama played a good game and brought many to the rally. I hope that the next four years prove to move our country forward...

Well played, Barack.

Hope

I have hope in life. It's a hope that comes from knowing that whatever the outcome on Tuesday... or Wednesday... or God forbid, later than that... whatever the outcome, my hope for this country and faith in her people remains. It is the people of the country, after all, that send representatives to Washington. It is the people who rally behind a man. It is the people that have the power to say enough.

In these last few days, as the election tightens up, some rats have been jumping ship, just in case. That phenomena is always amazing to me. Those are the people that I wonder about. They go where they think they will have the most to gain. They were not undecided. They always knew who they were backing. Themselves. But the real undecideds... the ones that have been courted for so many weeks now... the people that some wonder how they could not already have a decision... they are the reason I feel a renewed sense of hope.

I know that I am not on one side or the other merely for the sake of sticking to a party. I even took some quizzes with multiple questions on issues. I wasn't 100% in lock-step with my candidate of choice, but we were only separated on two questions on the same issue. I know of one undecided who also took an issues quiz. She was split right down the middle. I don't envy her tomorrow.

But I wonder, with so many people's beliefs about life and the role of government falling on both sides, left and right, is the notion of red states versus blue states going to hold much longer? How many times have I heard the talking heads on news shows call some states purple? A third camp is becoming more identifiable and making for a great conversation. I know there will always be crazies from the far sides of both the Republican and Democratic parties. But the ones that want to have logical conversations on how we are going to be good stewards of this country for the next generation? Who is representing these purples?

And that's where my hope lies... in the people that will come up to speak for those that are not getting their questions answered... the people that know that this is more than the next four or the last eight... the people that love this country more than one party or one man. My hope lies in the real change that is coming. Not the one that we'll vote for or against on Tuesday. The hope in the people and the palpable change in the air...

Sunday Nights

I always dreamed of a home that all my children would come to dinner to on Sunday nights. They would come first with friends... then with serious boyfriends... then with families of their own. And each time I opened the door, I would be a little older, but always with the same smile seeing my children and their children bloom and thrive in life.

That's what I'd imagined.

I'm still sad that I don't have that traditional life for them to all come home to. We are, after all, unconventional. In our family, Thanksgivings have been spent at amusement parks and restaurants, sometimes at the homes of our friends and families. Christmas decorating is put off until the last moment so that we can have birthday cakes for the babies while their actual parties happen in June on half birthdays. We just do things a little different at our house. It's not that crazy... just not conventional.

But Sunday Nights. I always imagined that would be a tradition that we could build on as our family grew. The weekly habit would bring us together not only physically, but emotionally... spiritually... and became stronger as a unit. That's not how things are right now.

But that doesn't stop me from hoping...

NaBloPoMo or NaNoWriMo?

Always up for a challenge… that’s me…

So this month, there are two Get Up and Go challenges happening. The National Blog Post Month and National Novel Writing Month. The first is about posts – one a day for the whole month of November. The second is geared more towards the completion of a novel. I’m not really sure what kind of book you could write in a month… and I’m sure there are nuances to this particular challenge. There *have* to be… Anyone? Well, anyway, I think I might just write a few thousand words a day as a writing exercise, which I had originally intended to do with this blog.

And that leads me to my question and poll:

When I was at BlogHer08 in San Francisco last summer, I met and heard from many women that had started their blogs as a way to get to the book inside of them, either as a writing exercise or a platform builder. I am happy to admit that I fall into that category. But there were also tons of blog writers that do product reviews, travel blogs, and social forums, as well. Each of us had a primary reason for jumping in to the blogoshpere. Like many projects, some have morphed into something that is a glimmer of that first spark. Others have stayed the course, but may be the third, fourth, or fifth project of a blogger.

So what about you? What got you going?

I’m going to attempt a post a day. Maybe in there, I’ll talk about the story in my head and how my month of writing is coming along. Anyone else feeling up to the challenge? Share your links in the comment section so we can all follow along.

FYI: I’m also going to see if I can get NaMoSleMo off the ground. That’s National Month to Sleep More. I made that one up… ;-)

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