Threading beads on a string ...

Housework.
Love it (vacuuming).
Hate it (everything else).
The toilets are icky, the vanities sticky.
The hardwood floors needs a thorough hands-and-knees vinegar scrubbing; the tubs need a rubbing -- with a sanitizing concoction.
Housework.
It's like threading beads on a string with no knot at the end.
Which makes me wonder: does Governor Sarah Palin scrub her tubs and toilets? Does she do her own laundry?
I'm thinking: probably not.
And so there's the great divide. It's simply easier for a woman to work outside the home if she also doesn't have the home duties waiting for her when she gets back.
Case in point: My dearest spousal unit complained this Wednesday last that I stayed at school until 7 p.m. (I had lots to do. Really. Teaching isn't a 7 to 3 job. Seriously.) And, wouldn't you know, when I did arrive at 7 p.m. no one had eaten. Because, apparently, the mom wasn't home to do the cooking.
Now, in all fairness, I should say, because it is simply the absolute truth, that my husband does, indeed, rattle the pans more than most men ... but that night, because I hadn't arrived to notice that he was peeling the potatoes, he hadn't attempted to assemble a dinner at all.
Do we women get accolades from our husbands when we're assembling the lasagna?
I think not.
Wonder where Palin stands on this issue.

Palin a dynamo at the podium ...

The election drama thickens. Last night I watched McCain's Veep approach the podium and wow the assembly.
This gal has gumption. She's poised and articulate and passionate in her philosophies.
I am excited for the Oct. 2 vice-presidential debates.
Watching debates has always entranced me. How DO these people think so quickly?
It will be interesting when the "rubber hits the road" to see if Palin can hold her own against Biden.
I have a feeling she just might be able to do it.

Political race is revving up ...

Wow. Wow. Wow.
Normally, I'm not a political junkie. Sure, I'm interested, just not obsessed.
Until now.
First, there was Barack Obama's impassioned DNC speech before 80,000 folks in Colorado. What an orator the Illinois senator is. For forty five minutes I was riveted to my television screen. Riveted. Impressed with his words and his vision. Happy ... no, scratch that ... elated ... ELATED that he finally did some firing back to GOP misclaims. No, there will not be a raising of middle class taxes. ("I will cut taxes for 95 percent of all working families. Because in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle class.") Refuted the Republicans' claim that he isn't patriotic. ("We are the party of Roosevelt. We are the party of Kennedy. So don't tell me that Democrats won't defend this country. I will never hesitate to defend this nation.")
An absolutely stunning, STUNNING speech that was more State of the Union than convention rhetoric.
And then, just when I thought I couldn't be happier (thank goodness there's change coming!), Senator McCain announces his running mate, Sarah Palin, governor from Alaska.
Sarah Who?
Former mayor of what town?
A town of how many? There are more moose and elk there than people.
My first response: McCain just shot himself in the foot. No one knows who this Palin woman is. Surely people won't elect a Veep who had a whopping 900 people vote her in for mayor. I had 400 more votes than that when I was elected to a school board seat.
I thought: Obama just won the presidency.
That was my first response.
Since that first response, I've talked to people (two sisters-in-law and a grocery checkout clerk). They like this Sarah-Who. Why, because she's pretty? This I want to ask, but it seems kind of snotty-pants. You know nothing about her, so why do you like her? This I do ask. And the response I hear is this: "I heard she might be anti-abortion. I won't vote for anyone who is pro-choice." (So much for the McCain camp thinking the maverick will get Hillary's voters.)

Ah, I think: Single-issue voters.
Voters who don't read the paper, don't watch real news programming, don't understand, really, that politics is never about a single issue. Don't try to understand. Just go out and vote for a particular candidate all because of one embedded conviction.

Now that I just don't get.

But I'm listening. And, yes, I'll be watching the Republican National Convention every night, too.
I'm what's called a Big Picture thinker.