I remember that when Lady Ali went to school there were no school uniforms. I was angry when the school board began discussing uniforms. I had grown up going to private schools from Kindergarten to High School and hated wearing a uniform every day.� I wanted my daughter to have some freedom and be able to express herself through her clothing.

Now that Peanut is in school all elementary school students wear uniforms. The school board is going to vote next year on uniforms for the higher grades. I’m still not sure how I feel about that. I think it’s OK for children up to the fifth grade to be dressed the same. After that they should have more choice.

I’d even be happier if I could shop for discount clothing that starts at $17.95 or less. Quality clothing at that price will make it easy to shop for back to school clothing. Imagine that on top of those low prices that there are special sales too!

I may even look for clothing for Lady Ali as she just started Grad school. She loves to find bargains and if I can tell her that I got her some cheap clothing that looks great and she’ll be thrilled! There’s even a 10% discount for back to school shopping going on right now. There’s some beautiful pieces too like dress pants and a nice sweater that Lady Ali would look good.

Today, 45 years to the day of the March on Washington DC when Martin Luther King spoke his famous “I Have A Dream” speech, Barack Obama will be accepting the the Democratic party’s Presidential nomination in Denver Colorado.

I was only a few months old during that important day in history but I was taught about it by my parents, in school and later on in life researched it for myself. The march took on great meaning for me as I learned about Women’s Rights, especially the Suffrage movement. It also took on great meaning because of my own beliefs in civil rights for all.

As someone who now has chronic illnesses I have learned that wanting equality does not mean the same as wanting special rights. It means having the basic human rights that are given to others.

Barack Obama does not base his candicacy on his race,� but on this historic day you cannot help but think back to a day when people had to organize to fight for equality in employment and freedom to gather and protest.

When you’re moving someone out of state and don’t have any contacts there it’s difficult to find a place to live. You can either go back and forth before you get settled to search for a home, condo or apartment or move everything, put it in storage and stay in a hotel. Either way it stressful and costly.

My In-Laws moved to Arizona and had no idea about where to live. Too bad I didn’t know about this unique way to find a Tucson realtor.

And when my dreams come true I and Hubby can take a look at Honolulu realtors!

Peanut is in fourth grade now. She has homework every night except Fridays. She’s used to this as last year it was the same thing. But she isn’t used to her homework taking about 45 minutes to an hour to do. Do I think it’s excessive? Absolutely not!

She has to read for 20 minutes and answer three questions about what she read. That takes up most of her time. Reading is something that I expect Peanut to do anyway. The good thing is that she enjoys reading and doesn’t look at it as a chore.

The rest of her homework so far has been spelling and math. For spelling, each day she has a different assignment to do. For example on Mondays she has to write the words three times each. Math is either work sheets or working on her multiplication tables.

What’s so bad then? Peanut has a way of milking it. She drags things out by whining and complaining. She says she’s hungry after she’s had her snack first thing when she gets home from school. Her hand hurts from writing.

It’s started already and it’s just the second week of school. The new routine for homework is this:

1. Eat a snack
2. Get your planner and supplies ready on the kitchen table
3. Do your math and spelling first
4. Set your timer for reading
5. Answer the questions on reading
6. If there’s complaints or it’s not complete by dinner, no TV
7. If it happens a second time, no computer or TV
8. Third day, no video games, computer or TV

We don’t play when it comes to homework here.