That’s what I’m wondering today over at DC Metro Moms.

Your words of wisdom are welcomed!

The reason that location was a particularly important decision was because we knew that in the not-too-distant future we would be traveling to China to bring home our new PunditBaby and we were thinking about schools.

Our reasoning went like this — if we buy a house in Maryland, we can spend $x more because she will be able to go to the public schools. We assumed if we bought a house in D.C., there was a higher likelihood that we would end up going down the private school road, and would need to be saving money for tuition.

Ahhh, the best laid plans.

The things I loved about the public schools in our neighborhood were the diversity, the historically good reputation AND, for a few grades, PunditGirl would actually be able to walk to school!

As PunditGirl grew older, it became clear to us that there were a variety of reasons why, at least early on, our public school would not be the right place — some personal to her and some at the school. She’s a kid who makes her mind up very quickly and if she has a bad experience at something, forget about trying to convince her to give it a second chance. We worried that there was a pretty good chance she would decide that school was not the place for her if we didn’t find a way to do as much as possible to make the first few years as good as possible.

We know we’re lucky we could even consider this as a choice. When you only have one child to put through school, it’s obviously easier to make those finances work.

The good news is she’s thriving. And whether she stays where she is now or goes into the public school later is a decision we struggle with every year.

But when we decided to become private school parents, there was a consequence I hadn’t bargained on.

I made a lot of good friendships with the mothers at PunditGirl’s preschool — mothers whose daughters were PunditGirl’s good friends, as well, and would be going to the public school. To say there was awkwardness between us as I explained that PunditGirl would not be riding the big yellow school bus with their children would be an understatement. It took us a while to get past that moment where our school decision was not perceived as a critique of theirs.

I understand it’s hard to shake that “private school” stereotype — heck, we had it ourselves. As two parents who are the product of public schools, we wrangled with the decision for a long time. But for now, for PunditGirl it’s the right one. And luckily for us, our friends have come to understand how we ended up being private school parents.

So at least for now, no walking and no big yellow school bus. PunditMom’s Chauffeur Service here, twice a day, every day.

Luckily, that commute is only ten minutes!

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Cross-posted from DC Metro Moms Blog where all the posts today are on the topic of education.

Also, in keeping with the education theme, I’ve got a little something interesting for you to read over at PunditMom Reviews today. I promise, it’s “to die” for!

Plus, I still don’t have a winner over at my post-Halloween book giveaway contest!! Some of you have been SO CLOSE!

I try my best to remember the birthdays of my friends and family, and usually I do a pretty good job — thank goodness for day-timers!

But I was a little surprised when I got an “invitation” to send my birthday wishes to Hillary Clinton — or should I say WI$HE$?

This oh-so personal message popped up in my E-mail in-box urging me to commemorate the 60th birthday of Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton!

Dear Joanne, In 36 years, Hillary and I have shared a lot of birthdays, and each year I’m amazed at everything she has accomplished. This is a very special year: we’re celebrating Hillary’s 60th, and I hope you’ll join me in sending her a birthday message, sharing your wishes for her and your hopes for the coming year. I’ll make sure to share your message with Hillary. And please encourage your friends and family to send their messages as well. You can see my birthday message to Hillary and add your own here: http://www.hillaryclinton.com/birthdaymessage I know how happy Hillary will be to hear from you on her birthday. Thank you for helping me to make her day special. Sincerely, Bill Clinton

Who knew that birthdays were just another way of saying, “I love when you make a political contribution!”

And even though Bill says Hillary would like to hear from me, it’s obviously my wallet she’s more interested in. Maybe somehow Bill found out that Hillary and I are both October birthday girls, or that my stepdaughter’s birthday is the same as hers and that I would have a soft spot for that.

Hey, any port in an election cycle, right?

Well, Happy Belated Birthday, Hillary. Here’s hoping that this greeting will suffice rather than the more “official” one you requested!

Cross-posted from DC Metro Moms Blog.

Check them out at the group blog, as well as their individual places!

This weekend, Elizabeth Edwards said to the Silicon Valley Moms, the DC Metro Moms and the Chicago Moms:

“We don’t get the change we want unless we are willing to work for it.”

A few weeks ago, when Pulitzer Prize winning columnist Connie Schultz spoke to a group of Washington, D.C. news women, she said, (I’m paraphrasing):

Women aren’t likely to get involved in politics until more women start writing about politics.

Do I feel a call to action coming on?

But one little PunditMom can’t do it all. Women writers are still vastly outnumbered when it comes to political coverage and opinion writing. As for working for change, I know most of the time I’m swamped with the daily minutiae of keeping our lives running smoothly (or not, depending on the day). The last thing I need is another item tacked on to the “To Do” list.

But I do have a voice. And so do all of the women I know.

Loud voices. Strong voices. Opinionated voices.

And I have a blog (OK, blogs). And so do lots of the women I know.

And lots of us like to use both. So why not use them for a cause?

Sure, I personally am hoping that the blue voices would be stronger than the red ones. But you know what? I’m betting that there’s a purple voice that could really change this country.

Sally Field was right. If women ran the world, there would be no more wars. So what are we waiting for?

I acknowledge the reality that women probably won’t be running the world in my lifetime, but it’s time to get the change going. It’s time to move in that direction.

If Markos can get his voice heard, it’s time for us to do the same. When he started, he was just a guy with a blog that few had ever heard of. Now, the presidential candidates are all over him.

It’s time for us to take our place in the political discussion and make some real change.

Are you with me?

My head was spinning when I got off the phone after an hour of Q&A. Elizabeth Edwards can really talk the talk, and if her husband John is really going to do the things he says he wants to do, then I know it was a good use of space to put an Edwards ’08 button on my blog.

I had to run out right after the phone call (Saturday night is date night sometimes here at Chez PunditMom!), so I’m still processing and thinking and pundit-izing! But here are some highlights of her comments:

1. The role of being the First Lady is “impossible to imagine.” But if she lands in that spot, one of her goals will be to advocate for military families. As a child of a military family, she knows what it’s like to have loved ones be away and to move from place to place. She doesn’t think military families are being well-served these days, and if she gets to move in to the White House, that’s one of the causes she wants to focus on.

2. We need to get more women registered to vote. If we’re the key to the election, then someone has got to do the work of getting women to sign up and get to the polls.

3. Cancer? “I know there are answers. I don’t know how soon we will find them, but think of the [beneficial] impact on long term care and Medicare there would be.”

4. Let’s put public health care resources in or next to elementary schools instead of putting them in out of the way places, so people can get to them and we can de-stigmatize them.

5. If we built schools and health clinics in the Middle East instead of engaging in a war, and America was seen as a benefactor rather than an invader, think of what we could accomplish in the world.

6. A College for Everyone program. Bold, huh?

There was lots more, especially about health care and her husband’s vision for the country, but I do want to say this — the conversation wasn’t about broad strokes. The details that went along with each idea were astounding. This is a campaign that has thought through how to approach and fund each initiative they’re proposing and they aren’t afraid to explain it.

And as I was listening in on the call with some of the other DC Metro Moms (and IM’ing at the same time — I know, we’re such geeks!), we all had the same thought — where are the details like this from the other campaigns? If we had the chance to ask Hillary or Barack or the others the same questions, would we get the level of thoughtfulness we got this afternoon?

I’d like to find out the answer to that question.

So candidates, if we’re the “key” you need to open the door at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, why not have a sit down with the moms of D.C., Silicon Valley and Chicago. We’ve got lots of blogs, people who read them and we want to know what you have to say — in detail.

Plus, some of us from DC Metro Moms and Chicago Moms Blogs will be in on the meeting by conference call, as well.

I was excited to get the privilege of asking Mrs. Edwards the questions that the DC Moms came up with, so I’m looking forward to sharing all of that with you later tonight and tomorrow (’cause believe it or not, we’ve got a sitter coming right after the call for PunditGirl after that so we can have some grown-up time out!)

BUT, the Silicon Valley moms will be live-blogging the conference over at their place, so if you can, head on over there for the first take on what Elizabeth Edwards has to say on issues that we want to hear about.

I’ll do the post-game show later!

Yes, that may sound a little dangerous, especially for those men who were, until today, blogging virgins, but I hope you’ll take a trip over there to read what the guys have to say.

Mr. PunditMom has a great story about PunditGirl and the intersection of parenting and political history.

I think he’s a natural. Maybe he’ll start his own blog?

Is a couples only blogging retreat in our future? Probably not, but at the least I hope this will help him understand my writing obsession!

The number of blogs dedicated to women discussing and hashing out issues important to mothers seems to be growing everyday — The Soccer Mom Vote, DC Metro Moms Blog, BlogHer, MomsRising and, yes, a little plug for myself over at PunditMom’s Spin Cycle. We’re trying so hard with the right words to express ourselves. But it seems that it’s only when we use our ‘mean girl’ words that we get the attention.

I don’t know of a many news outlets pounding down our doors to learn why we want to express our political views or what those views are. I don’t hear the presidential candidates getting many questions about whether they’re listening to women even when they say we are the key to victory in 2008.

So why is that? Is it my cat fight theory all over again?

Or is it time to adopt the ‘if we can’t beat ‘me, join ‘em’ philosophy.

If we can find a way to make our political views look like a cat fight, maybe we’d be getting some calls from Good Morning, America.

Or is there another way? Help me out here — I’m losing my patience!

On another note, if you’re wondering about how the war in Iraq should end, check out PunditGirl’s thoughts over at the Spin Cycle.