Ten Things To Know About Judge Sonia Sotomayor

Information from a newsletter I receive. It's important to know what going on in our government. How much of this did you know about Judge Sotomayor?

1. Judge Sotomayor would bring more federal judicial experience to the bench than any Supreme Court justice in 100 years. Over her three-decade career, she has served in a wide variety of legal roles, including as a prosecutor, litigator, and judge.

2. Judge Sotomayor is a trailblazer. She was the first Latina to serve on the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and was the youngest member of the court when appointed to the District Court for the Southern District of New York. If confirmed, she will be the first Hispanic to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court.

3. While on the bench, Judge Sotomayor has consistently protected the rights of working Americans, ruling in favor of health benefits and fair wages for workers in several cases.

4. Judge Sotomayor has shown strong support for First Amendment rights, including in cases of religious expression and the rights to assembly and free speech.

5. Judge Sotomayor has a strong record on civil rights cases,ruling for plaintiffs who had been discriminated against based on disability, sex and race.

6. Judge Sotomayor embodies the American dream. Born to Puerto Rican parents, she grew up in a South Bronx housing project and was raised from age nine by a single mother, excelling in school and working her way to graduate summa cum laude from Princeton University and to become an editor of the Law Journal at Yale Law School.

7. In 1995, Judge Sotomayor "saved baseball" when she stopped the owners from illegally changing their bargaining agreement with the players, thereby ending the longest professional sports walk-out in history.

8. Judge Sotomayor ruled in favor of the environment in a case of protecting aquatic life in the vicinity of power plants in 2007, a decision that was overturned by the Roberts Supreme Court.

9. In 1992, Judge Sotomayor was confirmed by the Senate without opposition after being appointed to the bench by George H.W. Bush.

10. Judge Sotomayor is a widely respected legal figure, having been described as "...an outstanding colleague with a keen legal mind," "highly qualified for any position in which wisdom, intelligence, collegiality and good character would be assets," and "a role model of aspiration, discipline, commitment, intellectual prowess and integrity."

A New Way to Look at Home Schooling!

It was supposed to be a blog post, but it got too long! I put it on HubPages instead. 

A New Way to Look at Homeschooling is about how we think we learn. It will help you question beliefs about needing to be in school to learn. It will give you pause to wonder at your hesitations about homeschooling your own children. Do you really need to recreate a classroom in your home to homeschool? Are you really qualified to be your children's teacher?

Check out A New Way To Look At Homeschooling!

A Better Me

I am a better me today because I endured and overcame conflict.

I am a strong and more confident person because I can overcome conflict.
I make the conscious decision to discuss my difficulties, rather than run from them.
I can stand my ground.

I am who I am today because of everything that has occurred in my life.
My experiences have given me the opportunity to be stronger, braver, and look at things in a new light.
I choose to learn from difficulties and succeed.

Many people have conflict in their life, and I am no exception.
However, I refuse to be the victim, nor do I allow the conflict to have adverse effects on me.
I choose, instead, to conquer my conflicts.

I have the choice to be a victim and let conflict win,
 or to overcome conflict and be the victor.
I choose to overcome.

I can endure anything that life throws my way and I make the most of every opportunity.
I continue to apply what I have learned to make my life what I want it to be.

I lend my experience and my strength to others so that they, too, may be victors over their own conflicts.
Today, I will live life as a champion over my conflicts.
I will offer my strength to others and use my experiences to gain a brilliant wisdom.


Self-Reflection Questions:

1. Have I made the conscious choice to overcome adversity?
2. How can I endure difficult situations?
3. How have I grown through my life experiences?

Carrot - Egg - Coffee -A Life lesson in the Kitchen

I saw this the other day, and felt compelled to share. We can choose how we react, and therefore how happy we are in our lives. I spent my childhood like the carrots, and grew up to be an egg. But I hope that as I have been learning to accept myself, embrace life, and be Happy for No Reason, that I am succeeding in being like the coffee... at least most of the time.

Enjoy!

A carrot, an egg, and a cup of coffee…You will never look at a cup of coffee the same way again.

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil; without saying a word.

In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl.

Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, “Tell me what you see.”

“Carrots, eggs, and coffee,” she replied.

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg.

Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma The daughter then asked, “What does it mean, mother?”

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water , they had changed the water.

“Which are you?” she asked her daughter. “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?

Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?

Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to make you happy.

The happiest of people don’t necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way. The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; you can’t go forward in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.

When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling.

Live your life so at the end, you’re the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.

*anonymous author

Catching Up

I'm back... but in other places. I have been busy getting other things organized, both online and here at home. We are looking forward to a move, but I don't know exactly when or where as of yet. Just in the pre planning and desire stage at the moment... especially since the electric is dying in our rental one room at a time, and the landlord hasn't "gotten around to it" yet.

Since I haven't been here, I thought I would let you know where I have been!

Children's Craft Ideas has been finally getting some attention. I am happy to say that I have a fantastic new craft posted to it, and several more lined up to come out this week and next. Go check out this Easy Sand Art Project now! You can look forward to such projects as making your own sidewalk chalk and water color paints, as well as tips for teaching your youngster how to use scissors.

I also finally took the plunge into HubPages. I've only got two hubs up so far, but it hasn't even been 24 hours! Give me a break! LOL Check out my profile page, where you can see any hubs I have published. Currently you will find Colorful Pasta Jewelry - Fun and Easy Craft For Any Age and 7 Tips To Beat A Bad Mood prominently displayed there.

I had planned on getting up a new EFT tapping script, but with the news about the change in how you are able to say EFT, I have been processing and avoiding. I learned EFT through the dvds at Gary Craig's site, but I did adjust it to fit my style, and what works for me and the people I am helping. So when I say EFT hence forth I intend it to mean my style of EFT as was inspired by and learned from Gary Craig. I will also most commonly simply refer to EFT as "tapping". Having said such, I will try to get the new tapping script from last week typed up and posted this week. But I am not going to promise where I will post it at! I am really liking HubPages.

Does Watching TV Get Old?

Do you ever just get tired of watching television?

I love having satellite and a DVR. We record our programs and watch them later. This way, we can fast forward through the commercials! We absolutely love this record feature! So we record shows we want to watch when we don't want to watch tv.

The downside? We don't ever feel like watching that much tv! Seriously! We have somehow built up 150 hours of recorded television shows that at some point we really did want to watch. And that is the limit. Now we have a daily crisis of, "OH NO! What can we delete so we can record today's shows?!"

No, we don't sit down and watch the shows. Even at that point we would rather be doing other things. I guess you could say that we have too much we WANT to do, and not enough hours in the day to get it all done! That is when we have a family meeting to prioritize our activities...

Living here, with this heat, and some of the worst scenery we have ever lived with, outside activities are not so close to the top. This is very strange for us. Usually, I have to drag the kids into the house kicking and screaming every day! So what would we rather do inside the house than watch television?

This week the Thomas the Train bin came back out, and every day is filled with tracks, trains, and creative play. The Thomas the Train Round House is often the center of activity, and is a regular part of the track. The stuffed animals are even getting involved, and being rescued by trains. I think some of the trains can even fly through outer space now... it seems the boys upgraded them!


Last week it was the Hot Wheels that filled every room of the house! The boys have been inspired to design tracks for their cars to run. I have to admit I have been pleasantly surprised by their creativity. We had books, and stuffed animals, and even other larger vehicles that became part of the tracks, but not a single piece of furniture was used!
I did have to put my foot down when they started jumping through the air across the living room... luckily there were no cars underfoot at the time!

Before those, it was the box of musical instruments spilled across the living room floor, and several new songs being written and performed each day. Before that it was coloring... and the house has new meaningful wallpaper now! LOL (But the crayons are melting, so we put them away for the year.)

My daughter and I are listening to audio books, and having great talks about everything. And, of course, she never has a sketch pad too far away!

When Is It Too Hot to Be on The Computer?

Is there an actual temperature when it is literally too hot to sit and work at the computer? Sitting at the computer is a fairly inactive thing to do. And if you have a small fan pointed at you, the air movement makes it possible to sit there even at higher temperatures, right? 

I know this is just a heat wave that will be through in a few days, but these will be normal temperatures within a month and a half. While so many of you are being grateful for spring finally having come, and are enjoying the heat waves that brings the temperatures into the upper 70s, it seems strange to hear me complaining about the heat! It seems strange to me too. It is hard for me to keep straight that we are just into May, and have not even gotten to summer yet.

It really is time to move. Another summer of this heat, and my brain might just be fried permanently. I don't know how people can be happy living around here!

And so back to my original question... I think 100 degrees in the house with the air conditioner running full blast in the room is too hot to be working on the computer.

Let me know if you agree or disagree! How hot does it have to be for you to give up the computer?