http://www.polimom.com I used to be in the middle, but they keep moving the line! Fri, 19 Mar 2010 12:24:34 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Yesterday, we made "second visits" to the couple of houses that made the cut -- and I brought my camera along so I could show my mother where we're (maybe) going to end up. Considering we ended up making an offer at the end of the day, you might think I'd ... http://www.polimom.com/2010/03/19/priorities/ After months of wrangling, and highlighted by several days of acrimonious debate and political stupidity, the Texas State Board of Education passed a new set of curriculum standards yesterday. There are... um... some problems. Sigh... Since Adorable Child will be entering high school next year, our impending relocation out of Texas seems all ... http://www.polimom.com/2010/03/13/about-those-new-texas-education-standards/ I found the remnants of Adorable Child's Barbie collection this morning.  Only two have survived. There's probably deeper meaning here, but it won't be found at Walmart. http://www.polimom.com/2010/03/10/walmart-and-the-barbie-wars/ One of the charges often made these days is that the American dream is lost -- that unlike generations that have come before us, we and/or our children will not see an increase in the standard of living or quality of life. Every time I come across one of these assertions ... http://www.polimom.com/2010/03/09/great-expectations-and-the-american-dream/ My goodness, things have gotten nasty.  From RealClearPolitics: "Rahm Emanuel is son of the devil's spawn, Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) said. "He is an individual who would sell his mother to get a vote. He would strap his children to the front end of a steam locomotive." Dang!  And these guys supposedly ... http://www.polimom.com/2010/03/08/son-of-the-devils-spawn/ Oh dear.  Coming right on the heels of yesterday's post about trying to run against success, this is not good news for Bill White and his planned campaign for governor. The local unemployment rate shot up to 8.8 percent in January, the Texas Workforce Commission reported this morning. The rate was ... http://www.polimom.com/2010/03/04/houston-drags-down-texas-unemployment-figures/ I have a special email sub-folder which, over the years, has slowly filled with notes, comments, and feedback from one of the most special bloggers I ever encountered online. During fits of funk and blogging boredom, a quick couple of lines might come floating in:  "Dear Polimom, I was very upset ... http://www.polimom.com/2010/03/03/a-closed-folder-a-sad-farewell/ There's lots of commentary out this morning about incumbent Rick Perry's win over Kay Bailey Hutchison in the Texas GOP gubernatorial primary. The general take-away seems to be that Governor Perry benefited from (as Jonathan Martin puts it at the Politico) "an anti-Washington message in an already volatile political environment". I really ... http://www.polimom.com/2010/03/03/running-against-success-in-texas-good-luck-with-that/ Yo!  Congress!  Could you 'splain this please? Nearly $2 billion in money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has been spent on wind power, funding the creation of enough new wind farms to power 2.4 million homes over the past year. But the study found that nearly 80 percent of ... http://www.polimom.com/2010/02/10/the-green-jobs-debacle/ In 2000 -- nearly a decade ago now -- Polimom and Adorable Child returned to the Houston area. We came with nothing. A newly-single mom, I'd left my beloved tiny village in upstate New York;  there simply were no jobs in my field in the area.  So I headed south, where I ... http://www.polimom.com/2010/02/04/gearing-up-for-a-special-good-bye/