Featured Post
Posted by Lizzie on Sep-5-2008
There’s a lot of talk about women’s issues this election cycle. Thanks to Hillary Clinton, and now Sarah Palin, we’re back in the spotlight. In that vein, Congress is pressing for a revote on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which failed to pass previously. McCain has come out again it:
“I am all in favor of pay equity for women, but this kind of legislation, as is typical of what’s being proposed by my friends on the other side of the aisle, opens us up to lawsuits for all kinds of problems,” the expected GOP presidential nominee told reporters. “This is government playing a much, much greater role in the business of a private enterprise system.”
I’ve recently engaged in a half-hearted IT job search - in anticipation of my eventual graduation from the Tech program. There seems to be a little available, but I’ve heard that women are not treated favorably in the IT industry. It would please me, and thousands of other women, tremendously if this actually became law. Would I know that my male counterparts were making more than me? Probably not. But this act would give me recourse should I find out about a pay discrepancy after the fact. As a woman hoping to work in a male-dominated field, I would feel just a little better knowing I had a safety net.
There was some talk that this law isn’t necessary. I beg to differ. I worked with a company (unrelated to the tech field) that cut me a mystery check. When I inquired to what the purpose of the check was, I was told that it was to make up for a pay difference between me and my male counterparts. I had no idea that the men were making that much more per hour than I was, but there was a lawsuit and the settlement agreement was that this company would pay the hourly difference to each female for whatever period of time they agreed to (I think it was 3 months, even though I’d been there for over a year at that point). I left that company not long afterward, but my eyes had been opened. The reasoning for the lower pay was that women are mothers and so are prone to miss work because of their sick children. Men, on the other hand, are more reliable and should be rewarded. Really?
At a time when a major political party has nominated a self-proclaimed “hockey mom” to be vice president, there should be no more “she should get less because she’s a mom”. This woman is seeking a job while parenting 5 children (and potentially helping parent a grandchild) so the reason listed above would apply to her and her pay should be cut significantly. Right? No. Wrong. Her husband will be able to tend to the children while she runs for office and he can tend to the children while she continues to govern Alaska (except that he’s got a full-time job plus an extra job on the side in the summer, but that’s not this issue). It’s only fair that the rest of American women enjoy the same equality in pay as the women who govern them.
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Mar
20
Posted by Lizzie under
family,
irritations
We’ve been spending a lot of time concentrating on baby clothes for Pee Wee’s munchkin. Every time I see some cute little boy’s outfit I want to buy it. Of course, the outfit isn’t any larger than 3 months, so… At any rate we’re looking at cribs finally. I’m still keeping my fingers crossed that the baby won’t come until his due date, but a crib is pretty important. Don’t you think?
We were going to let him sleep in the crib/bassinet combo thing, but have decided against that. I can’t let him have Mags’ crib because it’s a 4-in-one and we’re using that for a toddler bed. So we’re going to have to buy him his own bed. That means that I have to convince Grump to take us to Burlington Coat Factory or Toys ‘R Us to find a crib. Have you seen the crap that Wally world offers? I’m pretty sure it’s full of lead paint. Who wants their children (or grandchildren in my case) to sleep next to lead paint from China? So, we’re looking at a little bit more in price, but higher quality. Plus, the people that work for Burlington Coat Factory are treated much better than those poor folks at Wally World.
Unfortunately, Grump doesn’t want to take us all the way to the town north of us to buy the crib. I’m about up to my eyeballs with that man. He’s making me crazy. For instance, today I found out that he didn’t order delivery for Pee Wee’s new bed. I even argued with the woman at the store that there was delivery, because we specifically talked about it and then found out that he didn’t pay for delivery!!! This man told the woman at the store that we would pick it up Thursday (today) or Friday and guess what…. WE DON’T HAVE A TRUCK!!! So, instead of paying the $30 for delivery the day we ordered the bed and getting the bed the day we expected it he had to go pay for delivery the day the bed was supposed to be delivered. Isn’t that nice?
So, now my poor child has to sleep on that hard-as-a-brick bed until next week sometime. Isn’t that nice? I blame it all on my husband. I hope that my child can sleep between now and then. You never know when that sciatica pain is going to hit. She really needs that pillow top. This man is making her suffer needlessly to save $30 and I don’t appreciate it.
In other news, my future grandson has some really cute booties and I’ll have to take some pictures to share. I’m pretty sure his little feet will come out wearing a (baby) size two because his mama’s got some flat, funky feet and I’m not really sure, but I bet his daddy’s got some ugly boats floating at the bottom of his legs. I pray that my grandson will at least inherit the cuteness of my feet.
It’s the least that he deserves after today.
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Mar
19
Posted by Lizzie under
Featured,
family,
sinful pleasures
Since we’re entering a recession (or in the midst of one, depending on who you ask) it’s a good idea to consider going a little “green” to save some “green” (or whatever color your money is). There are a few simple ideas listed here, including: riding to work, switching to tankless water heaters, choosing to plant trees in a community park as a family outing (or new hobby as the article mentions). Whether you’re trying to save some money or save the planet, every little bit helps.
This past summer we added more insulation to the exterior of our home and had our furnace and AC tuned up. Recently, we had maintenance on our old washer and dryer- instead of buying a new one. Because we just added to what we already have it cost a lot less. With regards to our siding and insulation, our heating and electric bills have been about 25% less than usual, even with the higher amount of snow fall this year.
We’ve also decided to plant another tree in our yard- to shade our house and keep the cooling bills down. We have three really tall maple trees in our front and side so I want to put one in the back of the house. Since our yard is so big we can afford to do that.
Other things that we’ve been doing is recycling aluminum and buying milk with recyclable bottles (I don’t know if it’s available all over, but ours comes from a local dairy that supplies our regular grocery). We also compost every available thing we can (kitchen waste, non-glossy paper, dog hair from the vacuum). That keeps our trash to a minimum.
My next task will be to switch to greener home products. I’ve learned a lot of different cleaning “recipes” from watching “How Clean is Your House” on BBC America. I really feel that I can get my house clean enough without all of those potentially hazardous chemicals mucking up my air.
I’m not sure what else we’ll try. Maybe the tankless water heater, after our warranty is expired with our current one. I’ve seen those on home improvement shows and am pretty impressed with them. Anything that will keep our operating costs to a minimum, but not really interfere with our quality of life. I hate to say it, but I’m not going communal for all of this. One little step at a time.
That’s all it takes, right?
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Mar
19
Posted by Lizzie under
Living with Pain,
family,
health&wellness,
irritations
I was wrong when I wrote that everything was going well with Pee Wee. We went for her “growth” check ultrasound yesterday and they noticed that there was some “funneling”. Seems that is just a fancy term for the cervix opening from the inside. So it was only seen through a transvaginal ultrasound. The tech wanted us to wait for the doctor to see what we should do.
Now, Pee Wee and I both said that the fetal/maternal medicine doctors knew her cervix had opened (though we both assumed it was obvious from eyeball examination) and that’s why she was on restricted movement, blah blah blah. We ended up talking to one of the doctors on the clinic staff who had actually come in to check on Pee Wee when she was in the hospital.
This is where I was wrong. I thought we had some decent doctors here. Um, huh?
First, the doctor didn’t recognize Pee Wee. Secondly, she informed us that she didn’t have the ultrasound that was done at the hospital and so couldn’t compare the two. She wanted to admit Pee Wee again. Well, before we told her she’d already been in the hospital. Didn’t these people share notes?
So, we ended up going over to the hospital so the fetal/maternal medicine specialists could do the same flippin’ ultrasound to tell us - FOUR HOURS LATER - that Pee Wee’s cervix was exactly the same as when she was discharged three weeks ago. Before we left, I made sure to talk with another doctor from the clinic and request that the records from the hospital be forwarded over. This doctor assured me that all the records were sent over this time and were previously. Really? Well, why were we here then?
See, Pee Wee’s appointment was late in the day. The doctor’s office closes at 5 pm. The doctor would have had to stay over to about 5:15 pm to compare the two ultrasounds and find out that NOTHING HAD CHANGED and she probably would have missed drinks with the girls. Much better to drive our financial costs up and cause us inconvenience than to stay for a few minutes longer.
Anyway, when it was all done, I was mentally exhausted. Yes, Pee Wee was aggravated too, but she lets me do all the worrying and get worked up. I went up to bed and imagined I was sleeping on a memory foam mattress, fell right to sleep and then woke up sore from head to foot. Yes, my tension followed me through the night. Lovely. I wonder if I can charge the clinic for that? Wouldn’t that be nice.
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