Update: Leehan Family Fund Now Taking Paypal

Please visit the new site set up for online donations for the family of our lost soldier here

10 Guaranteed Methods to Lose a Man, As Seen on The Bachelor

It seems that almost everything on television these days is reality entertainment. While most of it is completely unwatchable (Jersey Shore and Housewives from Anywhere), there are a few that some of us can’t stop watching (even though we wish we could.) For me, it’s The Bachelor. I’ve been watching this insipid show from the very first season and the inevitable spin-offs like The Bachelorette and Bachelor Pad. I can’t help myself and the only explanation that seems to make sense is the escapism of watching 25 women and one jackass make fools of themselves every Monday night.

Maybe it makes me feel better about me or perhaps it’s the only way I stay connected to pop culture considering the rest of my life is filled with homeschooling, gardening, moon-shining, writing, and other 18th century pastimes. Mostly though, I have a desire to reach through the screen and grab these women by the forearms and shake them. It’s no wonder they’re all single. Almost every one of them make the most common and most avoidable mistakes while trying to land a man. Yes, I’ve made them, you’ve made them…who hasn’t? But the question is, why do women continue to make the same blunders that only provoke men to run away screaming? Sisters, learn from others’ experience! The following are 10 solid ways to lose a man.

Continue reading on PJMedia…

Who Said School Was Fun? A Homeschooling Update

I can’t stand it when people only write about positive things as if nothing bad ever happens. It’s kind of like that study about how some people get depressed looking at other people’s happy Facebook photos. That’s not me, but when I read that I immediately posted photos of my messy kitchen because I prefer what’s real. The truth is always funnier, more meaningful and full of promise.

We’ve hit a rough season with homeschool. Suddenly my eager learner doesn’t want to write her sentences, is pushing back hard and refusing to do certain assignments or subversively “not listening” during reading time. At these moments, when I find myself at the end of the day having fought all day long and sick to death of tears and tantrums, I look longingly at the school bus passing by. Yes, it would be easier to send her off to school. I admit, it’s tempting.

It’s also tempting to feel guilty. She would be having more fun at school with friends than here with mom who loses her temper and takes away her skates. I don’t know what happened. We were having fun! This process is constantly fluid. One has to keep changing it up to keep the interest of a 6-year-old and it’s exhausting. I find myself sitting up past midnight trying to figure out what I’m doing wrong and coming up with new ways to make learning fun. For crying out loud we had school in the bathtub the other day! For real! We did face paints and the girls painted ABCs on the tile! How much more fun can it get? But sometimes you still need to sit down with a pencil and a paper and write your dang letters!

I often remember Tiger Mom’s wisdom…mastering a new skill is never fun. Might as well get the yucky part over with and get on to becoming great at something so you can enjoy it. There is merit in that. I play the guitar. Developing callouses is painful. It feels as if your fingertips have been burned in a grease fire. After the pain goes away, you are left with very little feeling in those fingers but now have tools with which to play steel strings and make music. It’s agonizing to get there. (And to stay there one must yell at every future manicurist to leave the callouses alone!) Should I break my brain trying to make tedious copy work fun or should I crack the whip and just see that it gets done? How does one make endless copying fun? It’s not fun. I get that. It’s totally boring and repetitive but it has to be done. End of story. It’s either that or she will grow up to be one of those people who can only type in acronyms. ( idk y  j/k…lol

Unacceptable. Some schools are skipping cursive these days. To quote the DNC’s favorite tee-shirt slogan…WTF?  And clearly most educators have given up on grammar. Have you seen The Bachelor? Not one contestant has ever been introduced to the proper use of “I” and “me” and I think most of them are college grads. Frightening.

The question is, should everything about school be fun? Our science lessons are definitely the most fun. We get to do experiments and watch interesting films and take fun field trips. There are no museums dedicated to handwriting but shouldn’t there be? It’s truly amazing, the written word. It’s what separates us from the beasts of the fields! It pays (some of) my bills! How do I have a child who hates it? But I get it. She can’t do it yet and it’s frustrating and she can’t figure out why mom cares that her “a’s” get made in precisely the right direction and that her letters need better spacing.

It’s a struggle. I have nothing profound to say here since I’m in the middle of it. It might get better and it might get worse. But we’re pushing ahead either way. As I write this I am watching Waiting For Superman which is helping my guilt a little. I can’t possibly do  worse than the public school system. If you haven’t seen this documentary it’s on Netflix now for instant play so check it out.

If any of you have any thoughts on my challenges, please chime in below. Tomorrow I’m going to try a behavior chart. Oh frabjous day!

UPDATE: The behavior chart has worked surprisingly well this morning. We got through our writing assignment with no whining. Whether it will continue to work is a mystery.

Political Plastic Surgery Report: Someone’s Had a Nose Job…

This is hilarious. John Kerry, a known fan of botox and other cosmetic surgery (if you recall during the 2004 election he went from sharpei to smooth as silk in a month) is at it again.

before Botox

After Botox

 

 

 

 

 

 

I particularly love the cover-up. Kerry wants us to believe he was playing ice hockey when he “broke his nose.” Yeah, okay. I know he’s a hockey fan, but does he play bare-headed? Did he get into a fight on the ice where they ripped off their helmets and he got socked in the face? Highly suspect. More likely, Kerry just got home from a little “rejuvenating” treatment at his favorite spa. You tell me what you think. Here are some nose job bruises to compare.

In Defense of Starting an Argument in Public for Humanity’s Greater Good

A few days ago, I took my kids to one of those places with giant inflatable slides that sane people avoid. My best friend was in town for her once-a-year visit home and in order to show the kids a “good time” took them to inflatable kid heaven, otherwise known as The Jump Zone.

It’s always a mistake, with the noise level and the creeping panic attacks (“Is my kid ever going to come out of there and if not, will I fit because I didn’t squeeze into my Spanx today?”)  This time was no exception. I had a truth-moment that will be forever etched on my soul that announced over the loudspeaker in my brain, “Society is doomed. Most people are idiots.” My father says he came to this conclusion many years ago and there’s no big news in it.  I always held out hope that the majority of the idiots were the ones who landed on the news for tattooing their ex with depictions of excrement or on the Maury Povich show with a 200 pound eight-year-old. Most people, I thought, are your neighbors who are sane, decent folks. Not so! It turns out the world is littered with mopes and I have proof.

Continue reading at PJMedia…

Jimmy Crack Corn and….

This year (or I should say last year) has been difficult. It’s been a long time since I’ve wanted to write anything and mostly I’ve been focusing on my contributions to PJMedia. Not only have I started homeschooling my five-year-old but my cousin lost her husband in Afghanistan and it’s just been a lot to take. The whole family is in a state of grief and if you’ve ever grieved you know it can take many forms. For me it always causes the inability to act…a desire to climb under the sheets and stay there indefinitely, an inability to live up to the expectations I or others have set for me and a desire to lock myself away from everyone and everything that I don’t absolutely have to do.

So the blog takes a back seat. Even writing, which I’ve always loved and has always come easily, is difficult….stunted…wanting and worse…boring. I read what I’ve written lately and cringe. But writing something is better than nothing I guess. I sometimes wonder who the heck is reading this? And why? And I like to pretend that no one is reading it and these words simply go out into a void filled with other characters and floating letters that jumble together and move outwardly into space. Weird, right? Word.

So everyone I meet wants to know who I support in the primary. This makes me want to swear. I honestly don’t care anymore. I think we have zero shot at beating the big Zero at this point. I had high hopes early on but with the assassination of Herman Cain my hopes were smashed. I now am deciding what I need to do for my family to get through another four years dedicated to the destruction of American free markets. Should I buy some chickens? A goat? What might have seemed like a ridiculous notion a few years ago is now not so silly.

Mittens Romneycare isn’t going to save this nation and it’s almost a certainty now that he will be the nominee. I actually think Ron Paul is the closest thing to a real conservative…yes I know he’s batshit crazy but consider the other options! But I don’t even think I’ll be voting in the primary because I care so little about any of them. Do you know I’ve never stayed home for a primary (even though IL never counts)? Never. First time. And I don’t care. The GOP clearly wants to see the country burn and until we can change the GOP from the inside out, we’re screwed. They’ll never give us a decent candidate. Today’s GOP would never have nominated Ronald Reagan. Consider that. We’ve been infiltrated at the highest levels.

As to the other big news, some Marines peeing on dead Taliban, don’t get me started. I’m sorry, did they decapitate them first while alive and broadcast it on the internet? Or did they drag them through the streets, burn their bodies and hang them from a bridge? Did they strap explosives to children and send them into public to die? Did they rig toys with bombs so little children would pick them up and lose their lives? No? Well let me know when that happens because until it does we are still better than them even when we’re pissing on their bodies.

Has Hillary Clinton considered what those Marines had been through before this incident? How many friends had they lost? How many grieving widows with fatherless children have they consoled? How many brothers have they held in their arms as they breathed their last because of the enemy? The Taliban is still the enemy right? Because if so, what the hell are we talking about? This is a non-story. And Hillary Clinton made it a story by commenting about her disgust. Well fine. I’m disgusted with her for not having the good sense to investigate before making stupid assumptions. Further, if we don’t start treating the enemy like the enemy and our Marines like OUR Marines, then we might as well go home. It’s the reason people like Corey Clagget are sitting in prison…for killing terrorists on the battlefield. This country is in the shitter, excuse the expression, and nothing makes me angrier than watching the best among us maligned and their honor impugned.

So can you count on me for daily doses of my thoughts? Definitely not. But thanks for sticking around when I do have some. Maybe you can chime in below with the stuff you don’t care about.

How To Make Beer: Our Family Discovers the Lost Art of Home-Brewing

The subject of home brewing keeps popping up everywhere I look. Maybe it’s because I’ve recently started making my own beer and so it’s in the front of my brain, or maybe it’s because tone-deaf bureaucrats keep hiking taxes on liquor. (Like the one that just passed in Illinois increasing the tax by 50% on all alcohol sales.) Either way, the art of home brewing is intriguing, easier than expected, and produces extremely satisfying results while saving hundreds of dollars on your liquor budget.

Continue reading on PJMedia…

Taking On Media Hypocrisy: HillBuzz & Mrs. Fox Interviews Larry Sinclair

Since Sharon Bialek came forward with her weak story about what supposedly occurred between her and Herman Cain, the media has treated her like a heroic victim. She has appeared on all the morning shows, talk shows and been interviewed by many big media outlets. Larry Sinclair, on the other hand, has only been able to tell his story of sex and drugs with then Senator Barack Obama to a handful of conspiracy types. Sinclair has never been taken as seriously as Sharon Bialek even though both of their stories have the elements the media is usually interested in. Sex, salaciousness and a high profile politician.

The media, starting with Ben Smith at Politico, would not report Sinclair’s claims that he performed oral sex on Obama while Obama did drugs because of Sinclair’s criminal past. But Politico had no problem printing many stories of Sinclair’s past transgressions to delegitimize his story. It’s unfortunate the media didn’t do the same with the Duke rape accuser before siding with her prematurely.

Since Bialek came forward, no media outlet except WLS-AM in Chicago has done any investigation into her past or asked questions about the legitimacy of her claims. Each media outlet has reported her unsubstantiated claims as truth and asked Cain to comment on it as if it happened.

To date, Obama has never been asked by any major news outlet what his connection was with Larry Sinclair. They have ignored Sinclair entirely. Our 2 hour interview is an attempt to right that and let Sinclair have his say and allow you to speculate on it’s truthfulness in the same way you’ve been asked to speculate on the claims made by Bialek.

Click here to hear the interview with Larry Sinclair