When Is Your Birthday?

Stevie Wonder's birthday song has become the anthem for most birthday parties. We even rock to it at church.

Why is today a special day for us, when we should be honoring our mothers on our birthdays. After all, it was our birth mothers who actually did the hard work. We only had to allow the doctor to pat our bottoms...and then the antics began.

So what's the plan for birthday celebrations. A friend of mine told me that for his birthday, he had a milk and cookies party. He and one of his female friends, decorated his house, bought a variety of milk products (fat free, low fat, whole milk, soy, etc, etc, etc), and expensive cookies (some costing as much as $4.00 each).

I've also had friends who had theme parties for their birthday celebration: 70's Throwback, Inspector Gadget parties, It's Not Halloween Costume Party, etc.

Since my birthday falls in the winter, (yes, it does sometimes rain in L.A.) it's difficult for me to give the kind of party I love. I love to barbecue, and have the celebration start during the daylight hours and go on through the night. Having friends over, enjoying music, good food, playing cards (mostly BidWhist and Spades), and toasting the birthday girl with champagne, washed down with cake from Hansen's bakery.

It really doesn't matter, when your birthday is...because every day is a blessing. To that end, I wish you a Happy Birthday, and a fantastic life, filled with good health, great love, and peace.

How Do You Feel About Liposuction?

A few days ago, I watched an episode of Nip/Tuck. In this episode, an older woman (I'm guessing late 60's) underwent a beauty makeover. (I think that's what they call it). The gist of the story is that her husband was dying and he wanted to make it easier for her to find her next husband -- talk about an unselfish act of love. At the end of the show, she was shown in a form fitting dress -- I must admit, she looked good for a soon to be 70 year old.

Isn't it interesting how things just cross your mind. I guess it's true what they say about idle minds...so I guess I'll share a bit of the devilish side of me. I've seen the results of liposuction first-hand on a few friends. In the first case, two sisters decided to undergo liposuction and body resculpturing. Their results were fantastic. Prior to the surgery, they released a predetermined amount of weight (I don't use the word diet). The surgery was simply used to tighten their abs and slim down their thighs.

In the second case, the patient thought she could use liposuction and body resculpturing to make her thinner. Unfortunately, that never works. There is no way that surgeons can remove significant (15 - 20 lbs) amounts of fat from your body. The second patient looked just like she did before the $8k was given to the surgeon. Why didn't the surgeon share this information with her before he took her money? If he did, why did she still elect to undergo the procedure?

Sometimes, I wonder about people and their thought processes, don't you?

I Want to Create a New Position in President Obama's Cabinet - "Birth Czar".

Lately, the gossip columns have been filled with articles about the Octo-Mom. Although I don't read those types of magazines, or watch those types of "tattle shows", perhaps on a subconsious level, the messages have seemed into my (so called) higher sense of self. To that end, I questioned myself. What would I do if I had 14 children? I guess the first thing I would do if I gave birth to 14 children, is to ask someone to commit me to an insane asylum.

Yes, it's true, I love children (especially my own) -- however, would I willingly and knowingly give birth to multiple children? Heck no! It's a good thing I don't curse -- I guess I'd have an earful for parents who are ill equipped to rear multiple children.

Why would an unemployed mother with 6 children want more children?

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with large families. Why would any person want to bring more children into an already crowded household? I don't know this for a fact, but I've heard that foster parents can only have 2 children in a room? Why are foster parents held to a higher standard that birthparents?

I know this may sound mean and perhaps even too autocratic for America, but shouldn't there be some type of test for parenting? We can't drive, get married, or even do certain types of work without a license. Why not have a license to give birth? I kind of like that idea... Birth Czar....hmmm - nominate me for that position.

If I were "birth czar", I would not give license to adolescents, or those parents already on some type of public assistance. It's not fair that those of us who work, have a portion of our taxes to care for "professional baby-makers". You know who I'm talking about; people who know that having more babies means more money coming in, care of the hard working, highly taxed, middle class.

Isn't it time that we stood up to people like Octo-Mom? Instead of making them the celebrity du jour, let's do something to encourage these people to become financially self-sufficient. Sure, I've heard of the so called "welfare-to-work" program, but how many people are actual participants, and what are the program qualifications?

According to what I've read about Octo-Mom, she is college educated, and has a trade. Instead of giving her money to stay at home and take care of her children (some of who are disabled), why not mandate that she get a job? Octo-Mom is not disabled (unless her low self esteem is a disability), she should be encouraged to get a job, and labeled personal non gratis on the talk show circuit as well as the gossip circuit. The media, including Oprah, Dr. Phil, et al, should refuse to give her any media attention. Sure, there are some people who get a kick out of the absurdity of it all, (a la the current intrigue with so called reality tv), however, who really cares about Suleman and her antics? It's the children who deserve our concern, not some wanna be celebrity look alike.