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The House and Obamacare - Two Wrongs Don't Make a Right

9/19/2013

American Flag over San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge

The ideal days of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington are far behind us as Republicans in the House try to finally get rid of the Affordable Care Act by defunding it while funding a higher national debt.

I wish Mr. Smith would return.

Better yet, I wish our politicians would actually work for us rather than themselves and their parties.

Current political motto: Self ~ Party ~ Unions/Corporations ~ Lobbyists ~ Constituents

My ideal political motto: Constituents ~ Party ~ Self

You can find my take on the current Stopgap funding bill vote coming up on Friday in my article on Yahoo! News.

I would love your opinion.

Mary Kathryn Johnson
Author ~ Entrepreneur ~ Mom

@SayBumpandTweet
Everything MommyLoves
Say Bump and Take a Left

2 Comments

I Woke Up Today

9/3/2013

11 Comments

Sequoia High Sierra Camp - Waking up to beauty!

I woke up today.
Today is my birthday.
Today is another day with no mistakes...yet.
Today's mistakes will certainly lead to tomorrow's wisdom.
I hope I wake up tomorrow to apply one, and learn from the other...again.

Today, I appreciate breathing.
Breathing leads to laughing, and I absolutely LOVE laughing!
The laughter of my kids is the best.
When they make me laugh with an inside joke, I can't believe how lucky I was to wake up.

The sunshine, fog, heat, rain and snow are all welcome when I wake up.
I woke up to sun, then walked the dogs today.
I woke up, and was thankful for the amazing man who has been waking up by my side for 30 years.
Flaws and all, I'm glad he puts up with mine too.
I'm glad I know the difference between annoying flaws and downright dangerous ones, and hope the same for you!

I woke up today, and finished my 50th year of waking up.
Here's to year 51...may I wake up to greet every day of it.

Thanks for sharing the days with me, and here's to waking up tomorrow.
See you then.

Mary Kathryn Johnson
Author ~ Entrepreneur ~ Mom

@SayBumpandTweet
Everything MommyLoves
Say Bump and Take a Left

11 Comments

Old MacDonald Had a Labratory, E-I-E-I-O

8/6/2013

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I have to give credit where credit is due. When our dinner conversation last night turned to the news of the day, which included scientists creating beef in a lab, my youngest, Riley, said, "Mom we won't have red barns in the country anymore, we will just have white lab buildings."

Here again...out of the mouths of babes.

Hubby started talking about 30 years from now, sitting around the table saying, "You can't even tell it's not real."

My oldest corrected Dad on the fact that it will still be real, etc., then said, "I hope I'm not sitting at this table still in 30 years." (can you tell he just turned 15?!)

*Sniff* Mom moment when I realize he will be grown and gone sooner rather than later.

Seriously, though...fast forward 30+ years, and we will no longer have packaged meats and butcher shops in supermarkets. We will probably have egg cartons along side, beef cartons, chicken cartons and pork cartons, all packaged with stem cells, and we will have a countertop growth chamber for our protein staples. We won't even need to be scientists to grow our own meat. The patented stem cell growth system will be automated, like a bread maker. Only, this will be a meat maker, and the scientists who patented the process and the meat maker will be leading the NASDAC in genetic engineering growth stocks.

Will this solve the world hunger crisis?

Probably not. (The world will always be divided into the haves, and the have-nots.)

So, before you run out and invest in this scientist's company during it's initial IPO, think about the other things that will be affected by this "manufactured beef":

What's going to happen to the fertilizer industry?
Where are we going to get our leather products?
Where do we get the bovine stem cells? *hint - pregnant cow embryos anyone?
How do we handle spontaneous genetic mutations in our kitchen that produce green hamburger patties?
What do we do with all the grassland now available? *hint - anyone need more GMO soybeans?

Don't say my 11yo and I didn't warn you.

Mary Kathryn Johnson
Author ~ Entrepreneur ~ Mom

@SayBumpandTweet
Everything MommyLoves
Say Bump and Take a Left

0 Comments

05 Things I'll Do Before Turning 50. If I'm Not Dead, I'm Not Done.

6/17/2013

2 Comments

Right before chopping off 10 inches!

2013 is the culmination of my 50th year of life. All my over 50 Pixel Pals are nodding their heads saying, "Been there, Done that." Of course, they know I'm only half way through this journey, and can understand my taking stock to see what's coming around the bend.

I, like all others before me, am feeling the clock ticking faster, and am responding with trying to do more by this mid-century mark. So, here is my 05 by 50 list for your reading and laughing pleasure.

Go Skydiving
Appreciate my curves enough so that I can walk on a beach in a bathing suit without sucking in my stomach
Chop off my long hair and donate it (DONE!)
Finish one of my novels
Pay my monthly mortgage from writing

I'll keep you posted as time goes by. I have until September 2013 to do these five things!

Here's to the next 50 years!

What did you do, or will you do by the time you turn 50?

Mary Kathryn Johnson
Author ~ Entrepreneur ~ Mom

@SayBumpandTweet
Everything MommyLoves
Say Bump and Take a Left

All that is left! LOVE IT!

2 Comments

Give A Man A Gun

4/29/2013

4 Comments

Mary Kathryn Johnson
Author ~ Entrepreneur ~ Mom

@SayBumpandTweet
Everything MommyLoves
Say Bump and Take a Left

4 Comments

I Hate Weeding

3/27/2013

2 Comments

I am lucky enough to have a partner who loves yard work.

Unfortunately that wonderful, incredibly patient man is also a Tax Man, and is incognito until April 15, but the weeds don't know that. So, every spring, the boys and I start the yearly clean-up of our yard. It's the least we can do since he works 16 hours a day, 7 days a week. I dread the chore at first, but as I get into a rhythm, it's wonderfully satisfying and cathartic. Am I that messed up that I find writing material amongst the weeds?!

After a full day of weeding, my hands represent my future 80 year old self, and my back complains louder than my hands......now on to the laundry with a head cleared of weeds just like the yard.

What are your chore comparisons?

Mary Kathryn Johnson
Author ~ Entrepreneur ~ Mom

@SayBumpandTweet
Everything MommyLoves
Say Bump and Take a Left

2 Comments

Hope Faith Courage

3/18/2013

6 Comments

Hope is wishing you could change your life.

Faith is believing you could change your life.

Courage is changing your life.

The ONLY requirement for change is Courage. All else is pavement of the path to courage.

What in your life do you have the courage to change?

Mary Kathryn Johnson
Author ~ Entrepreneur ~ Mom

@SayBumpandTweet
Everything MommyLoves
Say Bump and Take a Left

6 Comments

You

2/4/2013

6 Comments

Are you getting discouraged with your goal to lose weight or get healthy in 2013, just like every other year? Well, I have a secret that could just be the magic pill!

Ready?

This isn't a call to...follow this particular weight loss technique, and you, too, could look like me! If you looked like me, there would be two of us, and you would have to be the evil twin.

Find what is right for YOU!

How? Start by sitting down, taking a deep breath, and shutting up! That includes your thoughts, don't let them shout at you that you should be vacuuming, or fixing dinner, or writing that blogpost, or finding out what your silent toddler is up to...well, that one you better listen to. Go ahead, I'll wait.

When you sit and listen, you just might see where you need to put the most energy to make yourself a better version of yourself.

Is it what you eat?
Is it how fast you eat?
Is it how often you eat?
Is it your activity level? (or lack thereof)
Is it your activity frequency? (or lack thereof)
Is it your triggers to eat, like stress, boredom, TV watching, picking off the kids' plates, tasting while cooking?
Is it your late night snacking?
Is it that you DON'T eating breakfast?

I guarantee that if you sit quietly for a few minutes a day, and focus on just one change you want to make in your life, you will start acting toward that change. It takes 21 days of daily focus to change a habit. We have passed that date in the New Year, and will pass it again next month, and next year.

You might as well focus now for long term change, because no "diet" will help you maintain a healthy lifestyle once you lose weight. Only your daily focus will do that.

If, after listening quietly, you find that you are just fine the way you are, then Fantastic! I bet you have more to learn in life, because you are human, by the way, and that means decidedly not perfect. There must be something you need to do to improve upon that amazing package? Internal and external change have their roots in your mind and attitude every time.

So sit and listen at least once a day. Call it whatever you want...taking a breath...me time...meditation...finding your smile...calming down so you don't spew at someone...whatever! We all need a moment, and if that moment moves us forward toward our goals,

THAT'S THE POINT!

Mary Kathryn Johnson
Author ~ Entrepreneur ~ Mom

@SayBumpandTweet
MommyLoves to Chat!
Everything MommyLoves
Say Bump and Take a Left

6 Comments

Yes

12/27/2012

10 Comments

I have learned quite a few things this year, and have learned to actually live many more that I already knew. Here goes...

Say "Yes" and allow your children to be children as often as possible, unless what they want will harm them or someone else. Sometimes saying "No" becomes a habit we need to break.
Children and adults are moved by and respond to compassionate reasoning over yelling every time, and can see in your eyes if your faking.
Those who don't respond right away, probably expect and are more familiar with the yelling, so they need the compassion even more.
Show those you love that they are loved whenever the opportunity arises, not because that might be your last chance to do so, but because you actually love them.
People actually get the opposite of what they want when they don't make their own educated decisions, and instead, follow blindly whatever group will lead them.
Those older than you almost always have a wisdom worth listening to if you just close your mouth and open your heart.
"Normal" people are just not eccentric enough to imagine and create the advancements the world has enjoyed. Thank goodness enough of those "eccentric" people have not been drugged normal yet so we can continue advancing as a civilization.
It's almost always NOT about you.
When it is about you, say and show you are sorry.
The focus of your daily attention is your current reality and the foundation of your future.
That future becomes your new reality much faster than you expect.
The focus of your daily attention is also your child's current reality, and becomes the foundation for the future reality of your grandchildren.
Making a child smile brings more light and warmth to life than anything else.
It is our choices, not our talents that show who we truly are. (Okay, I stole that one from Dumbledore, but it bears repeating daily!)
Having someone in your life who has been present throughout most of your history, and still likes you is an amazing gift.
Tomorrow is another day with no mistakes in it. (Okay, I stole that one from Miss Stacy, but I still have to go to sleep repeating it.)

I would greatly appreciate any other wisdom you can share as we say good bye to one year, and my learning continues in another.

Mary Kathryn Johnson
Author ~ Entrepreneur ~ Mom

@SayBumpandTweet
MommyLoves to Chat!
Everything MommyLoves
Say Bump and Take a Left

10 Comments

Mindful Me

8/20/2012

6 Comments

Life-changing milestones just around the corner are making me more mindful of the time I have in front of me. The hourglass is running out, and if I live to 100, I'm half way there. Yes, I'm in my 50th year on this planet...if I lived on any others, I don't remember.

I also have a child just starting high school. Talk about a milestone...letting go. I feel very strongly the lyrical meaning of "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free" by Sting. I am preparing to set him free, and it's scary and exciting all at the same time...just like when gave birth to him.

I now understand I must be more mindful of my actions, not just in parenting, but in everything I do.

I am one of those types who can get sucked into the black hole of links imbedded in everything I read online, so my day could easily pass by me faster than a toddler escaping his mother. Consequently, online is the one area I must fight to stay mindful every minute. To this end, I have started putting every little thing I need to accomplish each day on my calendar, and I adhere to my "social media posting/reading" time slot more strictly than any other. Because there are several wonderful writers whose posts I visit and comment often, I will need to make time to seek out, and read new writers weekly in order to expand my mental horizons with new information and opinions. I now know why posts and books are getting shorter and shorter - supply is following demand. I also use HootSuite to schedule regular postings to both Facebook and Twitter, and keep them scheduled at least 5 days in advance.

My mindfulness is also being applied to my writing. I have always been a "project" person - I get ideas, and if I don't write them down or record them on my iPhone while driving, they are lost forever...or until I happen to experience the same impetus to think of them again. This more than anything else has allowed me to get more writing done in a shorter amount of time! Since I am sort of a procrastinator...okay a lot of...even though I love to write, it is much easier to read. I can use a deadline as an excuses to lollygag all day, and power through my work at the last minute. With my new mindfulness that life is running out, I only allow myself this laziness occasionally, rather than weekly.

Back to my 14 year old...I only have 1460 days until he goes to college. Actually, I only have 12,030 HOURS of my son's time over the next four years until I let him loose on the world to make his own mark. (Yes, I'm also showing my OCD in having calculated this number four years in advance, considering extra time for weekends and holidays and only 6 hours during the school days, but if I'm confessing my procrastination, I might as well go all the way.) This number really made me sit up and say, "What?!" like I did when I heard Bill say what he did with Monica was not considered sex. I must have heard that wrong, I'm sorry, calculated that wrong...I don't understand...How could I only have mere hours left for my son to wake up every day to a breakfast I make, and go to sleep every night to my "L'amo"...? What about my youngest? He's turning 11 next month, and middle school goes by in a blink!

Hence, my mindfulness in everything I do. I won't overreact to this realization that I'm like Wile E. Coyote chasing after my Road Runner of a life. I won't wait outside the bathroom door while my oldest is inside taking a shower just to say, "I Love You" when he comes out - he told me that was creepy. I won't write for hours on end because I have so much to say, and so little time - my weak bladder muscles won't allow that.

I will simply be mindful of my thoughts and actions, and exercise my power of choice. I don't have time or energy to waste on petty thoughts, conversations and deeds. Life and love are too beautiful to cast a shadow on the world through my heedless actions.

How do you keep yourself mindful of all you want to accomplish and enjoy each day?

Mary Kathryn Johnson
Author ~ Entrepreneur ~ Mom

@SayBumpandTweet
MommyLoves to Chat!
Everything MommyLoves
Say Bump and Take a Left

6 Comments

<<Previous

The House and Obamacare - Two Wrongs Don't Make a Right

I Woke Up Today

Old MacDonald Had a Labratory, E-I-E-I-O

05 Things I'll Do Before Turning 50. If I'm Not Dead, I'm Not Done.

Give A Man A Gun

I Hate Weeding

Hope Faith Courage

You

Yes

Mindful Me

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