This article makes some very good points about the 2 candidates and life issues.
http://ncregister.com/site/article/14981/

Improvement

Things are much better, I had my doctor check to see if I was healing well and I am. Sunday, the swelling went down a lot and now its almost gone. I did my usual Memorial Day thing of opening up a watermelon, crushing up the fruit and pouring in a bottle of Prosecco, a little citron rum, pink lemonade and an orange cut up. I bring this to a party and voila, its yummy and fun!

Surgery!

I got cut open yesterday afternoon, all along the inside of my cheek. I have had a lump in my cheek for a long time, but was only aware of it some of the time. It was spotted on a cat scan and then again in all of its glory on an MRI. My ENt Dr. got me thoroughly freaked out that it could be salivary gland cancer. Luckily, it turned out to be a benign hemangioma.

The nurses were all cool and the anestheseologist was a jokester, like most of them are whenever I am in the hospital. I have no memory of being put to sleep, I was having great dreams of cuddling with my youngest boy, and then I woke up abruptly and asked them when they were getting started. They had already finished! Getting cut into is never fun, but I am feeling very good that it was no big deal and I am concentrating on healing, taking my vicodin and trying to stay away from beer with vicodin. I hope everyone has a fabulous Memorial Day and be thankful that you don't have one big chipmunk cheek like me. :)

The last week has been a wild one. The gnarly picture you see below are the praying mantis eggs I hatched last Wednesday. These eggs sat quietly in my kitchen for 2 weeks, and then I came downstairs feeling the odd sensation of movement in the room, but not knowing where. I saw the wall absolutely covered with teeny mantis babies! At least 50 were on the wall, another 50 + on the floor and more babies were rapidly pouring out of the sides of the egg. Who knew my unruly Creature would be such a great mantis midwife? He safely carried every single mantis he saw on the floor outside while I worked the wall. Not even one leg was broken in the process and now all of them are happily growing and munching in the yard. I know they are insects but I am oddly attached to them, I'm hyped about my green gardening!

I cut my hair before the oldest childs First Communion and this is the only photo I have right now. The boys are all healthy and mostly happy(er) and its been a great May so far.

6

My second son, Alistair, would have been 6 today. I can't believe how much time has passed, it sounds so cliche--but sometimes it seems like yesterday and sometimes it seems like another person's life. The older boys stayed home from school and we took everyone to the cemetery and released balloons. This year we didn't plant flowers because they just get mowed down ayway. We had 6 balloons, but each small kid held onto their balloon until the last minute and one balloon got away from us in the car. So, it hasn't been a very perfect day, but that's OK. I'm grateful that 6 years ago I became the mother to this precious little soul. I can only hope to see him again one day.

Politics

This is a touchy subject these days of course, and there are big issues like the War and life issues that are so divisive---but I've been reading about Obama & McCain and there are lots of good things about both of them. I don't talk about who I vote for, b/c I find the whole thing so frustrating, I believe in voting Catholic but I am a Democrat for the most part.

Anyway, for the people who think McCain is too old--that man is fierce beyond belief! I think he might be invincible. He has been in 3 plane crashes, 1 power line collison, and then he was in a huge plane fire and explosion & badly injured. That was all before he was a POW for 5 years, according to wikipedia, "He was flying his 23rd bombing mission over North Vietnam, when his A-4E Skyhawk was shot down by a missile over Hanoi.[36][37][38][39] McCain fractured both arms and a leg,[40] and then nearly drowned when he parachuted into Truc Bach Lake in Hanoi.[36] After he regained consciousness, a mob attacked him,[41] crushed his shoulder with a rifle butt, and bayoneted him; he was then transported to Hanoi's main Hoa Loa Prison, nicknamed the "Hanoi Hilton"." And he was tortured and held for 5 years!

What a tough guy! Whether or not you agree with his politics, this man is strong, and if he does have a temper, who could blame him? If you really look at the types of things (outside of military issues) that he and Obama vote for, they have a lot in common. McCain also came out and said he had lost faith in Rumsfeld a year ago. Here is one last thing I admire about McCain,"McCain made attacking the corrupting influence of large-scale contributions — from corporations, labor unions, other organizations, and wealthy individuals — on American politics his signature issue." That doesn't sound very Republican to me.

I hope whoever we end up with that universal health care becomes a reality in a way that's favorable to everyone, with the best possible health care easy to access for all Americans and immigrants.