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Watch it. Please.

I'll return to our regularly scheduled programing of food, photos and family after next week's election. I promise.

Help me understand this

I was reading some political stuff tonight when I was hit by a question that I really have never seen anyone ask or answer before.

Why, in the US, it is considered an employer's responsibility to provide health insurance?

Can anyone explain this for me? So many are questioning in our society whether or not universal health care is socialist, but I would really like to know why health insurance falls into the benefits employers are supposed to provide. Disability insurance I could understand, but health insurance? Does it stem from the fact that a healthy employee is a more productive one? I wonder why it got started because it seems to be a rather silly way to doing things given job turnover and changing economic landscapes.

If Anton and Bethany Gibson (John and Jane Doe is just too boring) get laid off from a company that has HIJ health insurance and hired somewhere with QRS insurance, one insurance company has to do the administrative work to remove them from the rolls, send out letters of prior insurance and whatnot and the other company has to do the work to add them to the insured roster, send out cards and whatnot. Care providers have to spend extra time and money updating insurance information. It seems to be an added layer of duplicated administration that is just wasting money and resources.

Who came up with this system? Do we as Americans really think this is the best we can do? I do not understand why it is considered such a good system of insurance or such a good idea given the changing nature of the workforce in the US. We do not spend our entire careers with one or two companies any more. The average US worker changes jobs rather frequently, meaning we change health insurance rather frequently too, if the new employer even offers it.

Tradition

It is almost time to turn the calendar page to November, and the weather took a dramatic turn today from brisk autumnal splendor to the chill and damp of pre-winter. That got my mind looking ahead to Thanksgiving.

I host a gathering every Thanksgiving of family and friends. It is not that large, about 20 people give or take every year, but it nice. We have hosted at our house for a number of years now, and already traditions have started to become set in stone. My mother-in-law bring morros y christianos. My mother makes grandma's stuffing recipe. Luis' brother brings baklava. I serve apple and pumpkin pies with fresh vanilla whipped cream.

As I have been browsing the latest issue of Gourmet this week, I keep looking at their four Thanksgiving dinner menus. Wouldn't the Roasted Potatoes and Shallots taste good? Look at the Carrot Fennel soup. The Sage and Leek Stuffing sounds really good. Mmmm, a poached pear tart.

What would happen if I took mashed potatoes off the menu and substituted the roasted potatoes or a parsnip puree? Could I experiment with the Pumpkin Tart with Anise Crust without a mutiny on my hands? How offended would my mother be if I suggested trying a different stuffing just one year?

I realized tonight that in these few short years, the menu has become stuck in a tradition that I cannot bend too much without upsetting the others. Even the mere suggestion that I might not make the sacred red Jello with whipped topping was enough to get Luis grumbling. Mess with his mashed potatoes? Yeah, right.

I guess I am just stuck reading about these feasts of foods I will never get to serve at my Thanksgiving table.

I wonder if Grandma ever felt this way?

I am going to ask my aunt to bring her broccoli salad instead of yam dish because I found a recipe for Parmesan Roasted Squash that I will try instead. I think that the yams are something I can mess with without people complaining too much, and I love the crunch of her salad to balance all the soft textured foods. Maybe I can change the green beans from the the creamy dish to a sauteed version with bacon and chestnuts without too much fuss? I love the creamy version, but I need a little bit of change this year.

Look out tradition; I am going give your pedestal a tiny shake this fall.

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In the online world, we dole out virtual hugs with liberality. What is different about real life? Many shy away from physical contact in the real world today. Hugs and embraces are reserved, somehow, for children and lovers.

Yet a greeting from a friend or even an acquaintance that includes a generous hug or quick embrace brightness the day for me. Just today, the hug hello of a friend's mother walking by was a spot of sunshine on a cloudy day. There is the squeeze of a hand of an older person greeting or farewell or just while sitting and talking. Put an arm around the shoulder, even for a moment, of a friend who looks down.

All of these things are the creation of emotion and memory for me. I can still remember sitting and just holding my grandmother's hand or the endearing way she would embrace my hand between both of hers as we parted after my weekly visits to her. I can tell you who I hugged hello at the last event we attended at the Piazza, but I cannot tell you what I ate there, and I go there as much for the wonderful food as anything else.

As strange as it feels for me to say this - me, someone who easily gets touched out after a decade of small children climbing on her and tugging at her - there is not enough touch in our society today.

We all know babies need skin to skin contact, need touch. So do adults.

Why?

Why does a toddler put glue in his hair?

Why are two muffins in the pan always darker than the rest?

Why is universal public education a right, but universal public health insurance is socialism?

Why does mama always eat the burnt piece of bacon?

Why is the bed with the folded laundry on it more fun to bounce on than any other bed?

Why it is human nature to always look forward to what is coming next instead of enjoying what is happening right now?

Why is it okay for the state to mandate the Christian version of marriage being between a man and a woman, but allow still divorce, the antithesis of Christian marriage?

Why is there never a sharp pencil in the house?

Why can I never find a nail clippers even though we own three pair?

Why do I cut it so close to the freeze date every year before pulling out my tomatoes?

Why do tomatoes ripen so well in the house even when picked totally green?

Why does coffee smell nothing like it tastes?

Why am I sitting in the office on a lovely fall day?

Eavesdropping

Have you ever sat and read random blogs? It is people watching and eavesdropping rolled together.

While doing a search in Google, one link took me to a blog post about Elinore and Andrew's trip to India. I have no clue who Elinore and Andrew may be, but Elinore writes an interesting blog post. I just wasted ten minutes reading about their adventures traveling in India on a modest budget.

PSA - It is important to remember that anyone could be reading our blogs. Nothing online is private. It you would not say something at the Thanksgiving dinner table or to your friends at a party, do not type it out online. You never know who could be eavesdropping.

Never too big

No matter how big our children grow, they really never change. They are always our babies.

Vincent was sick yesterday. He woke with a bad headache and by mid-afternoon was full out sick. I spent more time holding him and cuddling yesterday than he had let me do all summer long. Just like his toddler self, all he wanted to do was lay on top of me. He is better today, so I am settling for quick hugs and his fishy lipped kisses, but I know my snuggly little boy is still there.

As for Abigail, my great big girl is thrilled to bits by her new footie pajamas. At the moment, my youngest and oldest are laying here in fleece footie jammies, and it warms my heart. Closing my eyes, I can still see the toddler she was nine years ago, snuggled up asleep in the red jammies with navy stars her brother now wears as he sleeps next to her. Nine years from now, will he wear the green jammies with St Bernards on them?

Randomness

Friday afternoon randomness:

~ When a man is wearing a shirt and tie, he needs to leave the baseball cap at home. There are many types of hats; pick something more appropriate please.

~ The E button on my keyboard is not working well today, and it is driving me bonkers.

~ I love the fact that if there is something on TV that I really, really want to see (like last night's debate), I can find it online now. That is one of the best internet advances of the last few years. I do like listening to the Daily Show while working out. Jon Stewart is da bomb.

~ Speaking of working out, I want to join the Y again. Simon is older, and I could leave him with Luis to go workout. I love using the Precor there and zoning out for 30 minutes. I can use the Nordic Track at home, but then I worry about bonking Simon with it while he walks around. If I try to workout while he naps, it is guaranteed that he will wake up 15 minutes into it.

~ I want a fountain pen again. I had one in college that I loved, but misplaced it my junior year and never replaced it. I do like the way the ink flows on paper when writing with a fountain pen, so contemplative.

~ Do not buy Hershey's anymore. They are no longer putting cocoa butter in their chocolate, turning it from milk chocolate to simply chocolate candy. Inferior product. Stupid idea.

~ So, I watched the debate. Loved Biden. Was happy Palin did not have any gaffes. It was an interesting performance by both of them. Would someone please tell her to lay off the folksy shtick, though? Gotcha, betcha, winking at the camera. These are inappropriate for the national political arena. Cut the crap and tell me what you believe, Palin. I believe there is a fairly good politician under all of that acting, so please let her out. Also, oh boy, you could tell when Biden was annoyed. That giant smile and all the scratching his neck. I wanted to tell him to stop fidgeting.

~ Coco Lopez is bleeping addictive. A spoonful into my cafe con leche is so very good. Too bad it probably has like 500 calories per tablespoon. I swear I could eat the entire can.