Have I made it in Perfectville, My first invitation to a Perfectville Christmas Party

When I received an evite from a Perfectville Mom in November, my assumption was that it was another invitation to spend money at a stay at home mom's new venture into selling jewelry or handbags. Opening the evite only to decline and get it out of my inbox with 286 unread messages, imagine my surprise when it was our first invitation to a Perfectville Christmas Party. I let out a loud whew hew, and tripped over my heels on my way to grab my blackberry to email my husband the great news. (note: email is the only way I can get a response from my husband during the work day. He does not answer his work line when he sees my number nor turns on his newly purchased in 2009 first cell phone, but I digress......)
He was equally excited about the invitation as we had both been working hard making new friends in Perfectville. For those of you who do not know, Perfectville is made up of tens of thousands of wonderful men, women and children who were raised here, went to various colleges in state and out, and then returned to either live in the same home where they were raised or purchased another home a couple of blocks away from their parents and siblings. (read: close knit community, of fantastic people who have no need to make any additional friends)
Being the unorganized working mom that I am, I enter the date of the Christmas party with glee in my lotus notes calendar, GREAT I think, nothing else scheduled that Saturday night. So imagine my disappointment when my mom calls the following week to change the time of our family holiday party from 2 to 5 pm on the very day we are to attend our first Perfectville party. The Pville Party begins at 7, oh no, what to do?
No worries, I promptly email the hostess that my husband and I will attend but will be arrive an hour or so late.
On the day of the party, we are dressed and ready to go. We leave Perfectville at 4pm for our family Christmas as it is at least an hour to the nearest relatives home. Our plan, get there by 5pm, spend two wonderful hours with family while daydreaming of meeting our new BFF's from Pville!
Party and time with family wonderful, check
Kids spending the night with grandparents, check (and did I mention AWESOME)
Gas tank filled for the hour drive back to perfectville, check
time to grab a drink prior to party entry, check
We are on our way..........We are in! FINALLY!!!!
A little nervous and anxious we arrive for our entry into our first Perfectville Christmas party. The host and hostes greet us at the door. They are two of the most 'normal' people we've met since moving here and find out later this is because they too are new to the Perfectville life. While my husband and I are true newbies to the area ( a little over a year) the host/hostess have been here for a little over three, an eternity, I think, in Perfectville time.
They are gracious and busy and attending to all of their guests. Thank goodness my husband and I actually like each other, because the only time we are approached by another party goer is when a woman spent 5 minutes trying to figure out my maiden name because she swore she knew me from grade school. When I finally spilled the beans that I was not who she thought me to be as I did not grow up in Perfectville, she promptly exited our conversation. And I thought I was on my best game, guess not!
So how long are we required to stay at the party of the only couple we've met recently who we consider 'normal'? My husband and I agree an hour but end up staying longer because we had beer to finish and great music to groove to.
When we had finally had had enough of each other's company we decided to leave the party with no additional friends! Feeling a little defeated we started for the door, and although defeated on the 'new friend front we decided it was a good night for none the less.
On our way out I am trapped in a conversation with the woman who thought she knew me and two of her friends because my oh so sweet and talkative hubby is engaged with the men in the group. And then it happened, our eyes met from across the room, we both had the same look, the look of longing for something new, something that familiar and yet so comforting look, the longing of something new...............
Before I knew it, I was swept away with the feeling that I had finally found the one I was looking for...................Could it be I just met my new BFF in Perfectville??????????????
More to come........................................................................................................................................................

Bizarre-O World Continues....My Hope for Change

Bizzare-o world continues…………………………………………
For those of you who tune into my blog for the trials and tribulations of being a working mom in perfectville, my apologies for the political rants, but this one I cannot avoid. My promises to get back to my stories of finally making it in perfectville with my invitation to a Christmas party, and a ball, oh my and making a new BFF who is a stay at home mom! Can you believe it? Me neither, but it is true. And now on to my rant

In November, after the election of BO to office, I decided to be a bigger person and try this whole hope thing. I decided to hope for the best in the Obama administration, after all the entire country seems to want this guy to succeed, so I decided to grab a cup of kool aid and hope for a change of heart, my own.
So rather than assuming BO would push this country into socialism, I hoped he would be the centrist he ran as and not push through a radical agenda. I hoped he would use his political capital (popularity) to make tough decisions, many of which his party may disagree, in order to manage the country through this economic crisis. I hoped he would be the change he promised to be. I continued in earnest to hope for my change of heart to no avail for two reasons:

1.) I love this country and believe in its promise to all people and want her to succeed no matter what political party is in the white house, in control of the house or senate.
2.) The historic nature of BO’s election. The people of our country want political discourse to end, and they want this man to succeed more than any other . The election of our first African American President is historic and I too would like to see his success.

Trying to change my heart and hope for the best I knew would be difficult at best, I have never trusted BO, his agenda and his rapid rise to fame, but I could not put a finger on why I distrusted him so.
There was something so disturbing about the way in which he was basically an unknown in 2002, has little or no experience that prepares him to lead the US, and his unprecedented popularity. I thought President Clinton had people snowed, but this guy, he has people worshiping him. But still I hoped for his success and his ability to show good judgment on behalf of all Americans.
Soon after BO’s election I came to the realization there was not enough collective hope in the world that would provide me the change of heart I so desperately wanted. This became abundantly clear to me when I finally figured out what it was about BO that bothered me so, bothered me so much that I longed for another Clinton Presidency. And this realization was again brought so starkly to my attention today, so I sat down to write about it.……….Regardless of BO’s agenda or unprecedented and unquestioned popularity, his lack of respect for the office of the President of The United States is the one thing that bothers me most, and the one thing I cannot get over. Take the following few examples:
1.) It is a longstanding tradition that each outgoing president have a private conversation with the incoming president. A conversation in which only the two people (up until this point, the two men) sit together to have an off the record and private conversation regarding the unique position/responsibilities the new president is about to take on. This tradition is so honored by those who hold office because there are so few people who have had this honor and responsibility. Think about this, BO is only the 44th man to hold this office, 44 that is it. Only 43 other men have had this awesome responsibility prior, so this conversation is a unique opportunity. BO showing such a lack of regard for the office, and hence (in my opinion) the lack of judgment required to be the president, leaks the details of this conversation to someone who leaks the details to the press. Nice. Had this been his only misstep, I’d say keep hope alive, but it wasn’t. Consider the next example.
2.) In another traditional gesture the Bush White House held a luncheon with all living presidents and a brief press conference/photo op took place in the Oval office. President Bush waived off the press indicating the event was over, at which time President elect Obama summoned them back for his own press conference. Again, an utter lack of respect for the sitting president. Whether you agree or not with this man and his policies, show him the respect he deserves simply by holding the office. Do you think W found it easy being in the same room with two men, (BO and Carter) who have done nothing but trash his administration over and over again, and yet W showed respect to the former and elect president. Again these situations are ones many would consider extremely minor incidents had they not been capped of today, and finally ending my hope for change……………….
3.) In another traditional gesture, when a foreign leader meets with a new sitting President of the US, gifts are exchanged. This is the first official meeting of two world leaders, in this case, Britain’s Gordon Brown. Clearly Mr. Brown took much time in choosing a gift that would signify the importance of the relationship between our two countries and he chose the following for President Obama:
a. An ornamental pen holder made from the timbers of the Victorian anti-slave ship the HMS Gannett which by the way is the sister ship of the HMS Resolute. The significance is that the HMS Resolute's timbers were carved to make the President’s oval office desk. WOW, What thought aput into the gift to be presented as the European leader chosen to meet with BO first. So now it is time for our President’s gift to Mr. Brown. Wait for it……………a box set of 25 classic American movies. Are you kidding me???? This is an appropriate traditional symbolic gift for a world leader. I guess in BO’s mind it is. Again it may seem small to most, but for me it signifies two important things I cannot seem to get over, his lack of respect for the office of our President and the traditions it holds as well as his lack of judgment. Did he run this gift past anyone prior to presenting it? And if he did, what kind of judgment do those around him have? (and no I do not believe he or Michele went out to purchase the gift)
b. And if all of this weren’t enough to snub our most loyal ally, he returns a bust of Winston Churchill given to President Bush as a gift to AMERICA after the 9/11 attacks. It was not a gift to Bush, it was a gift to us and he returns it. Again great judgment BO!!!! What’s next, insulting our other most loyal ally, Israel, oh I forgot, he’s already working on approving almost $90M to help Hamas! Yikes, bizarre-o world continues.
And even more bizarre is the lack of media coverage on this guy. Have you seen the most recent ‘investigative report’ by the NY Times:
Is Obama going Gray (already stressed or no longer dyeing his hair)?
How can you get the same sculpted arms as Michelle Obama?
What is the administrations drink of choice? Coke or Pepsi
Oh my, I cannot wait to find out the answer to these and other pertinent questions given the state of our economy!!!! Instead of continuing to hope for my change of heart I will instead hope for a change of leadership in the House and Senate so Bizarre-o world will at least move out of over drive.