Thinking out loud

It has been a awhile since I wrote. Summers are long for me. I never wanted to be one of those parents who had the kids home over the summer then was counting the days until school resumed, but I am one. I am not short on imaginative ideas to keep the kids occupied, but I am short on cash. A lack of money combined with kids with short attention spans makes me not happy. Teachers are trained to work with kids and the kids of course have their pals at school.

The summer has been fun, however. I take the kids to the lake-- there is a little public dock near a local club that I take them to. I have three friends who belong to the club but they don't actually go. At some point I am hoping that one of them will sponsor me in so I can actually go there and volunteer and be active and by the way, enjoy their nice lawn! One of my friends has four children who are good friends with my children and I watch them for her (actually Cloud watches them for her at our house) and they have been fun. A lot of extra work, but never the less, fun.

I have covered two pageants. I was in a couple of pageants several years ago and enjoyed them. I like being on the other side of the camera. A dress store owner has been hinting to me that gravity has not been kind to my hips which I find irritating, but since she is happy that I am writing, I take the good with the bad!

Pageants are wonderful. More than an excuse to launch potential governors, they showcase women who are living and doing thing things in their communities. I have an issue with the swimsuits and have been appointed at large to be Ms. Alaska All American Woman for 2010. My goal is to bring this multi-level pageant to Alaska or at least help women who are in it representing Alaska to be able to go down. You don't have wrestlers competing in the same weight class, and marathon runners don't compete in the same age class. Who would pageant contestants compete in the same class? All American is like this. The two pageants who are up here are fabulous and very different, but they only choose one winner. The judges need to choose the contestant who is most likely to bring home the crown, but this means that a woman who is a size 20 does not really stand a chance against a women who is a size 6. If you look at the women who are winning the national crowns for the other pageants, they are in the 25-40 age range, size 4-8.

Raising money for this will be a challenge. I need to raise 3-5,000 for me to fly down to Florida. I do not have extra cash lying around. I have to raise it. While it seems like a lot to me, if I cannot raise this amount for me to go down, I will have a rough time raising more money to actually get with a talent agency to put this on and bring this pageant up.

My mom is getting married this weekend and I am officiating. It's a "God's eyes ceremony" where she is married but not officially. They have each other as powers of attorney should they get sick and they have everything lined up. Otherwise, if one gets sick, the other may go bankrupt trying to help the other. He's a really, really nice guy. My mopm thought he was shy. LOL After 48 years with my Yosemite Sam-John Wayne type father, he seems shy. He's respectful! But opinionated-- YIKES! Dyed in the wool Republican, and my mother is Progressive, but they get along well. I'm excited to get to officiate. It's a huge honour.