Netroots Nation, Asperger's, marital ups & downs... and fluoride

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday May 27, 2013 · 9:13 AM PDT

2013/05/27 · 09:13

Meet me at NN this year!

I was a lurker here from 2003-2009, and I'd intended to be a more regular diarist when I joined. Then I was raising three young boys, working part-time, moving again, and negotiating the Asperger's world with my oldest son, and I realized DK couldn't be a priority.

But this year I'm taking four days to attend Netroots Nation. It's a big step. My three-year-old has never spent a night away from me (wish my husband luck!). As the kids get older and more independent, I'd like to spend more time on political activism.

I believe parents in the 25-45 age range are underrepresented, since we're usually so preoccupied with the children, work, and barely keeping up with household chores & errands. Add in choir, baseball, gymnastics, PTA, fundraising, co-op preschool, and a kid on the autism spectrum... well, it's no wonder we don't post here more often!

I've been making progress on the home front-- Kaiser is covering my son's therapy, the kids are registered for good schools in the fall, and I'm happy with a job in my field (study abroad) with wages & hours that fit my schedule (only 12-15 per week). I'm even keeping up with the news on DK, TPM, ThinkProgress, Rachel Maddow, Daily Show, etc. My marriage might be a bit less functional (how can I focus on everything at once?), but we've agreed to seek counseling together, so I think there's hope.

Anyway, all this is to say: My name is Aurelia, I'm a mother of three in Portland, and I'd love to meet some new friends in San Jose next month!

Aurelia

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday August 03, 2010 · 8:22 PM PDT

2010/08/03 · 20:22

My new idea is a toy rental business. I'm the mother of three young children, and there are plenty of new toys that always attract their attention. My company will be a try-before-you-buy thing. It will be useful for toys the children really want at the moment, but will lose interest in quickly. It could also be useful for families on vacation here, so they wouldn't have to pack so much stuff. In addition to local people, I'll try to sign up hotels, doctor and dentist offices, cafes, oil change places, etc. They could keep toys on hand as a perk, to attract more parents to their businesses. Each toybox will have five or six toys (safe, no choking hazards, no bad paint, no recalled stuff), and I'll eventually customize the boxes by age and maybe even by gender. The membership fees will mostly go toward sanitizing, replacing and repairing toys (and hopefully a bit of profit, someday).

Aurelia

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday February 24, 2010 · 3:49 PM PST

2010/02/24 · 15:49

I gave birth to a baby last month, which is often a very expensive experience. It only cost me about $300. Mostly because we have "good" insurance, but also because we made relatively inexpensive choices.

For my entire pregnancy, including labor and delivery, I saw a certified nurse midwife instead of an OB/GYN. I did deliver my son at the hospital, but without any medication or intervention. I wanted a topical anesthetic for a few stitches afterwards, and a couple ibuprofin pills, but that was all.

Aurelia

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday October 18, 2009 · 2:32 PM PDT

2009/10/18 · 14:32

I'm really tired of moving. In the nine years since I met my husband, we've moved from Arizona to California to Colorado to Wisconsin back to Colorado, and now we're moving to Oregon. These state-to-state moves take a ton of time, energy and money. And it's getting even harder, since we have two small children (and a third on the way). So, we're expecting this to be the last one, at least for many years.

My husband is a software developer, and the moves have almost all been work-related (except the last one from WI to CO-- that was to be closer to family). He's been hired to handle HR and financial software for Lane County, based in Eugene... which is surprising, given that Oregon's unemployment rate is pretty high, and this is a taxpayer-funded job. But it's the right kind of work for him, and we like the Northwest, and it's a liberal college town, not too big or too small, with enough rain that I (hopefully) won't have to water the garden anymore. We figure it will be a good place to put down some roots.

Aurelia

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday September 12, 2009 · 9:00 AM PDT

2009/09/12 · 09:00

I know this isn't the first diary on this topic, but I hope it's okay to publish it anyway. Let's consider the idea that we would provide taxpayer-funded health care to anyone, regardless of citizenship or residency status. First of all, we already do. (And by "we", I mean medical professionals in this country; I'm not one myself.) If someone gets in a car crash and is brought into the ER on the verge of death, do you think we're going to wait for a birth certificate or passport before treating them? No. Stabilize first, ask questions later. If a woman comes into the ER in childbirth, the baby is crowning, will we send her back out the door? Nope. Deliver the baby.

So let's ask the Republicans exactly what they mean by "health care". Would they let a little girl bleed to death in the waiting room, just because her parents brought her here illegally? That's not really what they're saying, is it? (Well, I wouldn't put it past Glenn Beck, but I mean average Republicans.)

Aurelia

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday July 28, 2009 · 8:21 AM PDT

2009/07/28 · 08:21

A lot of you were probably already aware of this, but I was surprised by the chart I just saw in the latest issue of National Geographic. It said that while the US executed 37 people in 2008, China executed 1,718 (although that was only the "official" number-- the real number could have been much higher, according to the Dui Hua Foundation). This number is supposedly down significantly from past years, due to an overhaul of their capital punishment system in 2007, but it still seems extremely high. People are still being executed for non-violent crimes such as drug dealing and embezzling.

Aurelia

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday June 11, 2009 · 8:14 PM PDT

2009/06/11 · 20:14

I wasn't planning to write another diary anytime soon, but I keep thinking about the polls that suggest the South is out of touch from the rest of the USA. Really not on the same wavelength these days. And it makes me curious.

So I need you all to educate me as to why it would be so horrible if the South (and/or Texas) voted to secede from the union. If they want to get away from us, why not just let them?

I think it might be a good thing. They could give their citizens six months' warning or something, so the progressives would have a chance to move to other states if they wanted (or Republicans from other states could move in). They'd end up with an even higher concentration of conservatives. And then, after a year or two, wouldn't they realize how much they miss us? And need us?

Aurelia

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday June 06, 2009 · 6:04 PM PDT

2009/06/06 · 18:04

I have finally created an account. My number will identify me as a newbie, but in fact, I've been reading regularly since 2003. I marched in San Francisco to protest the Iraq war, and I supported Howard Dean, and I read Talking Points Memo and DailyKos to keep myself informed. I just wanted to offer a few points to demonstrate a bit of who I am and what I believe. I try to keep the big picture in mind and not get too caught up in the little stuff.

Poll

450 votes Show Results

Should we prepare for a population crash?

450 votes Vote Now!

Should we prepare for a population crash?

Yes; build a bunker and stockpile it with food, water, candles, etc.

22 votes

Yes; buy some land, put a trailer on it, dig a well and start growing food.

100 votes

Yes; both of the above, and buy guns to defend your homestead from the less-prepared.

109 votes

No; if it happens, it will mostly affect the third world.

104 votes

No; President Obama is taking care of everything.

51 votes

No; things are fine and dandy, what are you talking about?

64 votes

RSS

Netroots Nation, Asperger's, marital ups & downs... and fluoride

Starting a small business

Incentives to reduce unnecessary medical procedures?

Relocating to Eugene, OR

"Health care" for illegal immigrants

China's capital punishment rate

Why not let Texas and the South secede?

After six years of lurking here... (updated x2)