Thank You!

To all of the men and women who proudly serve in the US Armed Forces, THANK YOU.
To all of the men and women who have given their lives, so my freedom can live on, THANK YOU.
To my father, grandfathers, and uncles who have served our country, THANK YOU.

Clarification

I don't know where people get the idea that I'm not voting... I never said I wasn't voting.

I am going to vote! That gift is too precious to waste - far too many lives have been sacrificed to give me that right to cast a ballot and make my voice heard. I still believe in the system and know that the voice of the people will win, eventually.

Here is what I said on Oct 4th:

**Disclaimer: If you know me, I really don't endorse Repubs or Democrats. Were the election held today, I wouldn't cast my vote for either party or candidate. It is time for a change in Washington.

I've added the emphasis today. I am planning on voting. but on that date, I didn't want to vote for a R or D. There are 14 candidates running for president in Ohio. Contrary to what the media leads us to believe, there are more than 2 political parties in this nation. Unfortunately, money whores in both parties have corrupted the system and have made it virtually impossible for third party candidates to make legitimate entries into our political system as guaranteed by our constitution...Article II Section I:

No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty five years, and been fourteen Years a resident within the United States.

Anyone that meets the above should be able to run. However, money keeps most of the population from running. It's a major expense that most of us cannot afford, including fully qualified people who would make darn good presidents.

Our founding fathers didn't agree with each other and yet knew there was a need for more than one voice. Our country's great history is ripe with variety in view points. New parties were formed when change was needed. Some lasted longer than others; others have evolved through the decades to meet the needs of the country and people at the time. Just look at the many evolutions of the "Progressive" parties in our history. If the people didn't change and demand other parties to represent them, we'd probably be controlled by Federalists and Whigs today, rather than Republicans and Democrats. Things change.

It's time for a change in Washington and the country. I'm not happy with the way things are running and too many Americans are getting thrown under the bus. I call my representatives, I keep up on what they are voting for and against and what they are passing off onto our country. It's not going to be too long before anarchists and rebels are going to take over -- we can't let it get that far. The change has to come from within.

I still haven't made up my mind who I'm going to vote for. It's down to two candidates and I'm praying for guidance. I pray everyday for our country's safety and that people will make a clear-conscience decision when they vote. A vote based on the candidate that best represents their own beliefs and not a vote based on color, gender or promises that won't be granted.

Today, I was planning on voting early, but there are still some state issues and local candidates I need to investigate. But of course, this is Ohio, and from what I hear, it's pretty easy to commit voter fraud, so I probably could have cast more than one ballot, if I wanted to. I want to be sure my vote counts, and frankly, I'm not sure that it will in this election. I really don't want to vote on a machine; I work with computers every day - I know things can go wrong. There are lawsuits still wet from the printer ink just waiting to be handed out on November 5. Give me the paper ballot any day.

I am very hurt by the massive hysteria that stems from some shady, almost Marxist, ideas that are slowly creeping over this country. What I see everyday in the news and in real life breaks my heart for this country. We are at a crossroad and as citizens we must decide the course we are to take next. One road can lead to prosperity, one to the repression of all that our founding fathers held dear. Today I am not convinced the road to prosperity is found in either major candidate.

I feel truly blessed to be born a citizen of the United States; for 232 years, our country is blessed by God. No other nation in the world has experienced what we have gone through, and so many want to be like us. I know how fortunate I am, how fortunate my family is, and most importantly, my daughter is to be born in this country. That alone gives her more advantages than most of the female population of the world. I hate to see her opportunities squandered away because "the government" thinks it knows what's best for her, rather than me and her father.

If you've been a long time reader of my blog, you know that I like to keep things somewhat light and happy, but this election has been festering for a while. Is it any wonder since candidates have been in our faces for the past 2 years? What's also frustrating is the daily phone calls - 5, 6, 7 or more daily. I know I'm not that popular, it's the parties and organizations calling me only because I'm in a "swing state." It's driving me nuts! So to you, long time readers, I hope you can forgive this intrusion into crazytown for a while. I sense there are so many pressures building up and it's got to come out somewhere, not just with me but with our country as a whole.

My wish is for Americans to wake up and see what a bountiful country we have. My wish is for people to see what opportunities are around the corner if you just look. My wish is for people to see and understand that if we slowly let extremist ideas creep into our daily life, it won't be too long before we have nothing left, and we will be left with shadows of what once was. My wish is for people to make a difference and move this country forward in prosperity and with pride. If you don't like this country, you have two options. Make change happen or get out. Nothing is keeping you here. I know for sure, no other place in the world is like our country, and I'm afraid that people won't realize that until it is too late and our freedoms are gone.

Couldn't resist....

Subject: Notice to All Employees......just in case.


As of November 5, 2008, IF President Obama is officially elected to
office, our company will install a few new policies which are in keeping
with his new, inspiring issues of change and fairness:

1. All salespeople will be pooling their sales and bonuses into a common
pool that will be divided equally between all of you. This will serve to
give those of you who are underachieving a 'fair shake.'

2. All low level workers will be pooling their wages, including overtime,
into a common pool, dividing it equally amongst yourselves. This will help
those who are 'too busy for overtime' to reap the rewards from those who
have more spare time and can work extra hours.

3. All top management will now be referred to as 'the government.' We will
not participate in this 'pooling' experience because the law doesn't apply
to us.

4. The 'government' will give eloquent speeches to all employees every
week, encouraging it's workers to continue to work hard 'for the good of
all.'

5. The employees will be thrilled with these new policies because it's
'good to spread the wealth.' Those of you who have underachieved will
finally get an opportunity; those of you who have worked hard and had
success will feel more 'patriotic.'

6. The last few people who were hired should clean out their desks. Don't
feel bad, though, because President Obama will give you free healthcare,
free handouts, free oil for heating your home, free food stamps, and he'll
let you stay in your home for as long as you want even if you can't pay
your mortgage. If you appeal directly to our democratic congress, you
might even get a free flatscreen TV and a coupon for free haircuts
(shouldn't all Americans be entitled to nice looking hair?) !!!

**Note: this was a forward email... rather than pollute my friends and family with FWD messages, I thought this was the way to go!

And now for something Completely Different

Big news in the household yesterday. Izzy lost another tooth! This time the Tooth Fairy remembered to collect the teeth before Izzy woke up!

Also - my pets are getting into the Hallo'een spirit: Baby Cat has a nice little bat to play with.
And the fish love to hide behind the Glow in the Dark sign.


Not much, I know, but I lost my "spooky" box of decorations during one of our moves. I had some really cool stuff like funky black cobweb lace, black lights and my favorite: skull wind chimes. So, for the inside of the house, I've pretty much had to start over collecting fall decorations. I just have some ceramic pumpkins and some other fallish decor to take me through Thanksgiving. Oh, and we can't forget "Shawn" -- he's our scarecrow (Watch the Bounty Hunter episode of Psych and you'll know why we named his Shawn.)


Happy October everyone!

First PC now Politics

I tell ya, this just must be Piss off Skiingred week.
I've seen this email from several sources - too many places to let it go without saying something.

Here is the link to this email / article that's been floating around

My response:
You've got to be kidding me...

Of course the "Test" the author describes is based on high school / college teenage girls, which are well known to be the most vicious of all girls.

Too pretty? You know, it really makes me proud of the fact that I have GROWN UP and can see things as an adult and not be snarky or catty just because someone is born with better looking genes than me. Excuse me for gaining some maturity for seeing past the looks, and looking at what's inside. (Hmm... kinda like Dr. King's message that one day we will look at the content of one's character and not judge them on their skin? )

What's wrong with having a beautiful woman serve in office? Granted, many woman political leaders have not always been "beautiful," so does that mean that only U-G-L-Y women can run for office?

Too confident? Um, wasn't that the whole point of Title IX and other programs back in the 70's? To build up confidence in girls and have them participating WITH boys? Wasn't that part of the reason for getting shoulder-padded women out of the home and into jobs, to show young ladies that you "can do more than just be a housewife"? Weren't our mommies building up our confidence on the "Take your Daughter's To Work Day"? (Oh gee -- that's another issue all in itself with a myriad of problems and consequences.)

Embarrassment? So, what, men have not said or done anything embarrassing? Gerald Ford falling down? Biden telling a man in a wheelchair to stand up? Ken Lay in charge of a company that was totally corrupt and telling everyone it was fine? Christopher Cox letting the SEC get out of control on compainies and their trading practices? What's the percentage of men who were in charge of mortgage and banking firms that approved bad loans in the first place?

ANYONE can make a mistake and be embarrassment. More importanly, ANYONE can step in and take the necessary steps to make a change.

So now that someone is actually up for the second highest position in the world AND has brains, AND is a successful family woman (that's been working outside of the home just like those feminists wanted back in the day) we have to dog on her because she is too pretty and has great gams? How petty is that?

I wonder what Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B Anthony would say about all of this? All of their jail time and rallies about getting women to the polls must have been for naught, then. What would they have thought that less than 100 years after the 19th amendment passed, that a woman could be next in line for the Presidency (yes, I'm including Ferraro in here.) Forget Steinem and others who just want to put men down (apparently because of the fact they are men), and put other women down (apparently for the fact they are women getting along in a "man's world") and focus on the fact that we should be voting someone in who we can rely on to do what's right.

After all, if someone voted for a candidate just because said candidate were a women I think it would negate all of the hard work my grandmothers and women's rights advocates have done in the past. If one voted for a candidate just because he's black, wouldn't that also negate all of the suffering, strikes and deaths that happened during the Civil Rights movement? Get real people, this is the 21st century. The new generations of young adults get it... they don't see race or gender as an issue unless hold-outs from last century's movements make it one.

Oh, wait, maybe the people making the big stink can't get over the fact that Hillary is not a candidate any more and that Peolosi is only 3rd in line, rather than 2nd. Get over it, people. Time to move on.


Must.... get....to... Yoga.... class..... for .... stress.... relief.....



**Disclaimer: If you know me, I really don't endorse Repubs or Democrats. Were the election held today, I wouldn't cast my vote for either party or candidate. It is time for a change in Washington.

Why PC drives me Crazy!

I know a lot of people pour forth everything (and I mean everything) that they are thinking of when they post on their blogs and sites. However, I don't think I have the luxury of doing so. For one, I know that once something goes online it never goes away... it will be there forever and ever, Amen. Also, because of my profession, I feel that I have to be very careful about what I post. Call me paranoid, call me crazy, call me Shirley (as in Shirley, you can't be serious), but one just has to be careful.

With that said, I got a revelation this weekend and I can't let it go.

Earlier this month, I went to the Meet the Teacher night at my daughter's school. No biggie, got lots of great info about the work they are doing this year. But also got updates on the class parties. I found out that the school is not allowing kids to dress up for Halloween. (Apparently that will offend some people who attend the school) Also, the school is not doing any kind of "Fall" celebration. Heaven forbid it looks like the school celebrates some pagan form of the harvest with cider and crunchy leaves as decor. Oh, and there is a "winter" celebration - no Christmas.

Fine. If you want it that way, it's fine. Don't have kids dress up because it could scare and damage others who don't believe in Halloween. Never mind the fact that today's celebrations of Halloween have been so Walmartized and are so far removed from the more traditional religious practice of preparing for All Soul's Day on November 1. In meeting lots of other parents and children at school, I'm guessing that the percentage of students in the building who don't "practice" Halloween is pretty small.

Fine. You don't want to celebrate the fall harvest. (OK, so this could be partly due to budget cuts, but in light of the no Halloween rule, it's a likely scapegoat.) It's not like America's schools are planned around an agrarian calendar and most kids were let out of school to help the family gather in the harvest so they could live through the winter. Oh, wait, they are... so why are we not celebrating the harvest and all the bounties that fall has to offer. (Such as the bean soup at the Bob Evans Festival!)

Fine. You want to take Christmas away, and replace it with happy snowmen and neutral angels. That's OK - we'll celebrate it joyously in our home with our family.

But... don't send home a fund-raiser for the school and with overtly religious messages. Here's what I'm talking about. The school is selling wrapping paper/chocolates/gifts as a fundraiser. They get a shiny catalogue and have to beg and bother relatives (Begger's night, anyone?) to purchase things. There is the obligatory festive red and green paper with non-offensive stars and snowmen and chubby Santas. I couldn't find any mangers or Holy Family images, though.

Imagine my surprise when I turned to pages 14 and 15 and found Chanukah gifts, including blue and silver paper and a chocolate dreidel.

Let me clarify something here: I don't hate the Jewish culture, nor do I want to deny the right for Jews to celebrate. I applaud the company for being capitalistic and including a variety of products to reach the most potential customers. I say let each celebrate to their own desires.

What I don't get is how a holiday that is obviously for religious reasons can be included when a "perverted" version of Christmas has to be included in the catalogue as well. Where are the mangers and "Reason for the Season" wrapping papers? I'll even give you the fact that many people who don't believe in Jesus nor are Christian observe some parts of the Christams holiday with a tree or exchanging gifts. But as far as I know, Chaunukah is only celebrated by those who are Jewish. Please, someone correct me if I am wrong, but I don't see any secular connection to this holiday.

Does anyone else see the hypocracy here? Am I just a hate-monger?

I'm half tempted (actually about 3/4 tempted) to call into the school and voice my concerns. But I know I'd get the typical "we have no control over what the company puts in their catalogues." By not offending others, do they realize they are offending me by not including our celebrations as well.


Shirley, they can't be serious!

Another Update

Well, the winds were a howlin' last week. I have never experienced anything like it - warm, high-speed winds. Izzy almost got carried away by the grill cover as it got caught up in a draft.
Last week was very tough for many. I know how bad it was for those in Ohio, I can't imagine how destructive Ike was on the gulf coast. My thoughts and prayers go out to all affected by this weather.

It was strange last week at work. So many of my students couldn't get to school - probably the first time for a digital school we've had so much out at once.

Most of the schools here in central Ohio have already used 3 or 4 calamity days. If this winter is anything like last winter - some kids are going to be mighty unhappy about missing spring or summer break to make up for schools.

Enough about the weather -
Here's a link to my daughter's YouTube premier. She's been asking about being on youtube forever, but, thanks to Dateline, I was very careful about what was shown on the camera. I can just see some sicko oogling pink socks or something. Stupid pervs.

Happy Birthday to Chad

So today we celebrated Chad's birthday - Happy Birthday Sweetie - This was the cake this year. Mom does such a good job finding cool things to put on the cake... Buckeyes this year. Very chocolately - YUM! (For those checking in on the skinny blog, I only had a very small piece - portion control portion control)

And speaking of the Bobcats -- how about the first 2.5 quarters of the game on Saturday -- pretty cool, huh?

Right now, Izzy (or Bella as she now prefers to be called) is playing Mario Kart.. that's such a fun game. Chad also got Rockstar for his birthday. It's another winner... who knew that one can get booed off the easy level before the chorus kicks in on "Wanted Dead or Alive"? I have yet to make it to the good parts of the song.

Off to another busy week in this household!

Summer Recap

Well, after a very exciting, adventuresome, and most of all relaxing summer, it's back to the "real world" today for me. Iz is heading back to school on Tuesday. Ahhh... I'll be back to regular postings and catching up on my blogger buddies this coming week.
So, to recap some of the highlights of the summer - what better way to do so in pictures!

Izzy wasn't keeping up with her chores, so ...

We had to put her in the stockade for a while.

Just kidding :) The above are from our trip to the state fair. Here are some more!

Since we got there so early (with great parking thanks to Chad) Izzy was one of the first people on the Giant Slide. I guess it's too much of a hassel to take down each year, so they just leave it up year round.

Chad, who was too chicken to ride the farris wheel!

View of the fairgrounds from the top of the ferris wheel.

The famous butter cow!

Seeing the bright cardinal next to the finch was a cool color combination.

In the butterfly exhibit, they were very active. I was able to get a few good pics before they fluttered away to find another flower.

Go Bobcats! Had to get a pic of this cute kitty for my alma mater.

Yum!

In one of the craft barns, the Ohio Statehouse made out of Legos. In the back you can see some of the downtown Columbus buildings, also made out of Legos. Lake Erie and a model of the fairgrounds was on hand as well.

And, in honor of the Convention that is going on this week....

Eeek! Is this summer going fast or what?

A few last vacation pics.... me an Axl chillin at the Hard Rock

And the beautiful beach at sunset!



We made it back OK - safe and sound, even if our GPS took us in a round-about way through Atlanta! It was such a long drive back home...

Since our vacation, we've just been chilling out. Izzy's been staying up really really late, and getting up really really early, which doesn't leave me much time to sleep, but it's still summer, so it's no biggie.

We took a trip down to our mother's for a day. It was so good to see her - we had a good time, and came home with more stuff then we brought down, including some amazing BBQ and slaw.

Next week, we are off to the state fair... I've heard they are doing Mashed potatoes on a stick this year... There is nothing like "fair food" and it's probably a good thing it only comes around once a year.

Other than that, not much going on... just enjoying the lazy days of summer with some fresh brewed sun tea!

Days 2, 3, and 4

Why is it that time just flies by you when you are on vacation! So far, so good. Only one trip to the ER; Izzy woke this morning (well before the Urgentcare places were open) with a bad pain in her ear. All I can say is that I am so thankful we have insurance! I can't imagine what we'd have to go through should our health care become socialized :) We were out of there in about 30 min from start to finish. But she is doing better and is cleared for swimming.

We didn't go swimming today -- I was a bit crispy. Yes, on my previous expeditions to the white sandy beaches I wore a big hat, shades, sat under an umbrella when possible, wore SPF 70, and still got burnt! I am not made for the sun, that's for sho'!

Dancing in the surf! I was amazed how clear the water was -- the blues and greens are not exaggerated in the photo! On Monday, I caught a fish with my bare hands (OK, it was only about 2 inches long, but still...) Tuesday, we saw a jelly fish in the water. I guess I should check to see how dangerous they are!

Below is the beach from Sandestin, looking to the East. Pretty crowded! The waves were very smooth on Monday when we went, but were a bit rough Tuesday. Izzy just loved using the boogie board and I was glad to see she was getting the hang of it! She really took to the waves :)

Izzy just loved the sand! We buried her... the tide was coming in, so we didn't get much of her covered before it washed away! I have never seen as much sand on one person as the amount that stuck to Izzy. She was still covered after we used the beach showers before the ride home. Sand sand everywhere!
Another cool thing we see almost every day -- jets flying overhead from Eglin AFB. I have absolutely no idea which kinds are flying overhead, but they are loud, fast and neat to look at.

On Wednesday we took a brief excursion to Jolee Island... not much but pines and Florida brush, but a few paths winding around. At one end, there was a pretty cool lookout over a small strip of beach looking towards the Choctawhatchee Bay. - My daughter the pirate!
This is the view of the Bay from the Pirate's roost.
Later today, we when to the Baytowne Village Wharf - some really cute speciality shops and restaurants! It wasn't too crowded during the day. As we were leaving, we wandered into a pottery place where you can paint your own pieces. I chose to do a tile with our name on it and Izzy chose a princess. Chad didn't do one of his own, but he did help Izzy. I think he was happy to be in the AC, though. (I thought Ohio could get humid at times, but it's nothing like here! Very hot and humid in the day.) After you paint your piece, they glaze and fire it overnight, so we'll see how it turnes out tomorrow! I think I found a new hobby -- the task of painting was so relaxing!

One last thing before I go for now...

There was this cool invention on the Wharf where you can shrink your kids to pocket size. Of course, we jumped on the chance to shrink Izzy! :)

We're here!

We've been on the road for what seems like ages, and that was before we even got here. Our journey actually started last Thursday. We drove by this basket on the way up to our family reunion... it just amazes me each time I see this huge basket pop up out of the landscape outside of Newark OH.

The trip was LOOOOONG, but well worth it to see the view from our backyard. I really don't know much about the ol' Scottish game of golf, but I believe this is the 16th hole tee of some really nice course :) There is a placid pond / water hazard between two of the holes. Below, looking to the right off our back patio. Following, looking to the left. Just beyond the trees in the lower image, you can see the Choctawhatchee Bay.


So, how did we get here? Lots of driving in the car... We were up at the (some would say "butt") crack of dawn, loading up the cars. Turns out, Chad is quite chipper in the AM.


Izzy - not so much. This is how she spent much of the trip: Sometimes she coloured:

And sometimes she played the DS.


We saw many cool sites on the way down, drove through some pretty quaint Alabama towns and had a pretty good drive. Unfortunately, most of the pics I snapped from the car were either too blurry (Still trying to get the hang of the camera's settings) or were snapped when a car was passing by, blocking the view of what I was trying to capture. I did manage to get on of the "Basketbowl Lanes" -- Looks like a fun time!


More on what the house looks like and what there is to do (other than golf!) later. I leave you with a pic of our evening visitors. By the way there were walking, I'm guessing they'll stop by about the same time each night!

Vacation time!

Just a few hours to go...

we'll be on our way to the sunny beaches of the gulf coast for a week long trip.... will keep my peeps posted as internet is available...


Hope everyone had a great 4th of July! At least, enjoying time with family and friends... life is too short to do otherwise :-)

Summer's Here, officially!

First, the recap of my Spring Reading List:
* Enchanting Pleasures Eloisa James (419)
* The Naked Marquis Sally MacKenzie (349)
* Diary of a Wimpy Kid Jeff Kinney (217)
* I'm Ready for my Movie Contract: A Get Fuzzy Collection! (128)
* The Lost Duke of Wyndham Julia Quinn (371)
* Story Telling Tori Spelling (276)
* Miss Manner's Basic Training Miss Manners (174)
* McKettrick's Heart Linda Lael Miller (378)
* McKettrick's Pride Linda Lael Miller (378)
* McKettrick's Luck Linda Lael Miller (378)
* The McKettrick Way Linda Lael Miller (248)
* Vanished Karen Robards (396)
* Scent of Darkness Christina Dodd (400)
* An Inconvenient Book Glenn Beck (295)
* Mine Till Midnight Lisa Kleypas (360)
* Secret Societies ...and How They Affect Our LIves Today Sylvia Browne (225)

I'm really too tired to add right now - I don't have the page count. I've a few books I'm saving for our summer vacation, Twilight is one of them. It's killing me not starting that one now, but I know I need a good one for the beach.

We are heading off next month to the Gulf Coast of Florida (Fla-ri-da, as one of my roommates used to say) I'm very excited, although not looking forward to the gas bills on the way down. Good thing I'm not planning much other than sitting myself on the beach for the whole vacation. Of course, I'll be under an umbrella, wearing cover-ups, a BIG hat, and about 90 SPF sun block. I have yet to find 90, but I'm sure it's out there somewhere.

Since it's officially summer today, I guess that means that spring cleaning time is over (Yay!) Here's my last organizing of spring - my purse. We'll purses, actually. It got a little out of hand having 4, for different occasions, so I'm not down to ONE . Remember that scene in Breakfast Club where Allison dumps out her purse, it was kinda like that.

• A 10 Commandments coloring page
• Receipt from June 2006
  
• An 8 in Wrench
  
• pencils, sharpened, unsharpened and mechanical
  
• A Subway gift card
• A Sally Beauty Card (expired)
  
• In the health department:
  
• 6 tampons
• Deodorant (it fell apart when I opened the lid)
  
• 2 bottles of hand sanitizer
• about 9 Ricola cough drops
• a big tin of salve
• band aid (unused)
  
• various wet naps from BW3
• an ipod
• pens
  
• old calendar from 2007
• animal print notebook
  
• Rosary and prayer book
• assorted change
  
• keys
  
• and many other receipts that were too faded to read
  

I guess you could say I'm a pack rat. I'd reply that I'm well prepared.


Hope everyone has a good summer!

What Skii Chad and Izzy have been doing...

Chad:
Golf
Poker
A bit more golf

Izzy:
Playing
Losing teeth
Reading
Playing

Skii:
Grading
Knitting
More Grading
Facebook
Cleaning house
and Grading


More updates once this month is over...

SpringSpringSpring

OK - I've been working on a project for work and enjoying the lovely spring weather. So until things calm down a bit, I probably won't be posting much. I love this time of year... the mornings have been very cool - perfect for snuggling under the covers. Anywho, I came across the strangest show the other night - Secret talents of the stars. Dude, give me Circus of the Stars any day - this show was just weird. Here's the clip I tuned to. Man, this is just weird.

I'm not a fool, are you?

Yes - April Fool's with a 6 year old is just funny (I had chocolate for breakfast before you got up (1.5 second pause) APRIL FOOL'S!)

And speaking of fools - I honestly don't know how this guy did this with a straight face for this long.... Enjoy!

Hello and welcome to Politics 2008

Well ladies and gentlemen it's just about been settled now. We have our choice of McCain the Liberal or Barack Hussein Obama. The choice between these two is SO VERY DIFFICULT! I mean do I take the liberal baby killer or the liberal war guy? Neither is a fiscal conservative and both will SPEND this wonderful country of ours into oblivion. I'm so glad there are only 8 more months until the election of one of these two WONDERFUL candidates.
So democrat, republican, repubocrat, or demolican? Take your pick cause it's all the same in the end. However I'll tell you my money is on you know who...

OK I'm so very tired of writing this shite that I require repose. Hope everyone has a wonderful day and remember November is right around the corner...

what's up?

Uh, not much here...our baby is with her Nona for the week (Spring Break - which I don't get this year) Pretty quiet around the house...

What's up with American Idol? Tonight's show is just not doing it for me... still catching up on the DVR as I write this... Part of it may be that I feel incredibly OLD hearing the songs they choose (their birth year.) Back in 1987 I was playing atari and learning how to use our new-fangled VCR, and these kids were just born. Ugh! I can't believe that some of the contestants are still in the game. They have the Beatles, I think they should do some Zeppelin one week - that would be pretty cool.

OK - that's about it for now... Happy Tuesday!

Update: What kind of song did David A choose? I don't get it.

Update II: just saw David Cook... AWESOME! He's got my vote.

Easter Sunday

Hope everyone had a good Easter!
If you don't happen to celebrate the day, I hope your Sunday was warm and relaxing!

Housekeeping....

Yeah! Happy Spring!

More spring cleaning... last night, I spent about 4 hours organizing my office. I thought it was going to take me only about 90 min. or so, but I got a little distracted looking at the books and reorganizing them. All 592 of them. That doesn't really seem like a lot -- but those were just the ones in the office. There are more stashed here and there throughout the house.

When I unpacked the boxes, I just put them on the shelves because I wanted to get it done... now I'm happy to say they are organized! The Christie's are all cozy in one spot...my romances are all happy in love together...my classic lit books are pondering away in their own shelf...my dictionaries and grammar books (I have a tendency to acquire old dictionaries and old skool grammar books - New word for the 1930's: atomic)... my children's lit section is growing... Such a relief to have them all organized!

While I was organizing, I did miss American Idol... heard it was quite an upset! Apparently, the DVR taped Survivor over AI - so I didn't get to see the results. O well. Life goes on.

Our Baby Cat kept hanging around the office -- never knew he was a book worm. Here he is checking out the shelf before I add the beat poets and autographed books.


And here he is deciding which of the fiction to peruse.

Baby Cat is dismayed by the mess... honestly, they started out all stacked up nice and neat, but you know how rowdy the romance books can get! They just didn't want to stay in line.


While we are on the subject of books, here is the fall/winter recap list, so I can start anew for spring:

• Where Is He Now? Jennifer Green (357)
• Desperate Duchessess Eloisa James (384)
• Big Boned Meg Cabot (280)
• Size 14 Is Not Fat, Either Meg Cabot (344)
• Talk Nerdy to Me Vicki Lewis Thompson (357)
• An Affair Before ChristmasEloisa James (388)
• The Devil Who Tamed Her Johanna Lindsey (354p)
• The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression Amity Shlaes (464)
• Tangled Up In You Rachel Gibson (384)
• Queen Of Babble Meg Cabot (307)
• Consent to Kill - Vince Flynn (465)
• Then Came You Lisa Kleypas (371)
• The Nanny Diaries - Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus (368)
• Suddenly You - Lisa Kleypas (375)
• Ready or Not- Meg Cabot (238p)

If my math is right that's about 5156 pages... man, working during the day really cuts out of my reading time!

Why am I obsessed with books, I have no idea -- I just love 'em! The tactile experience, the smells of old books, the crisp pages - all just add to the joy of reading.

Happy Reading!

Chuck Norris

Normally I don't listen to morning radio shows, just because, well, they are usually boring. Until I found Dave and Jimmy. These guys are hysterical! Here is one of their songs - I heard it in the car the other day, and had to pull over I was laughing so hard. It's up on their web site, and youtube.

Enjoy Chuck Norris!

What's all that white stuff?

Remember that keyboard problem I was having with the letter C? Well, apparently that wasn't the only computer issue we were having. The power supply went kaput on our main computer, and instead of replacing the proprietary power part from Sony and pay for labor, it was actually cheaper to by a new tower. SO, now I am working with Vista (say it with me - OSX wannabe) for the first time, and trying to get programs and gear to work.

With that said, I now present our few images from the "Blizzard of 08" Last weekend, Columbus got a record 20.4 inches of snow. I think most of that ended up drifting in our yard. Here is what's outside our back door: (that's a 22 in drift - for the close-ups click HERE.)

And this is what I saw when I opened the Garage to shovel. Mind you, this was about 5 hours after Chad left for work, it was maybe 2-3 inches at 6 am.

That's about 8 inches of snow to shovel, and it was still coming down! I started to do half the garage so Chad could pull the car back in. See, I'm a good wife who was thinking about her man. Thinking that if he could get in the garage, he could shovel behind my car in case I had to leave the next day. Well, he ended up staying over at work since "no one" could come in to cover his shift. Not only did he have to stay late, but he had to go in earlier due to the time change. What this means -- Skii shoveled the whole drive! Whoopee! See, I told you I was a good wife!

I wanted burgers for dinner, but could barely see the Grill for the cool pyramids stacking up.

Oh, and remember the aforementioned new computer? I made a little movie on how Izzy and I made some snow ice cream. Apologies in advance for the lack of sound and the quality - I made it in about 5 minutes.

Let me tell you, that was the first time I can recall making homemade ice cream from snow. One taste, though, brought back so many good memories of the days I worked at TropicalSno (shaved ice with flavors) Our vanilla ice cream made my taste buds pop from the sweet texture... yum!

Enjoy!

Hurray for Spring!

OK - so Spring isn't for another 17 days or so, but we just had to take advantage of the nice breezy weather today. At one point it was 66 lovely degrees. But this won't last long -- cold weather is right ahead of us. So, what did we do on this fine day? Cornhole! My dad made this awesome set for us (Thanks, Dad!) and we finally got a chance to set it up! Here are some shots:



And just so you don't think the entire household is a fan of the Steelers, here is a shot of the other board (my personal favorite!)



It's going to be a fun summer!

Rhyme and Reason have left the building... (or; stuff that's been happening lately.)

OK - there really is no one topic for this post... I guess I ould just give lots of excuses for why I haven't posted lately, but I don't want to waste your time. (By the way, the "see" button on my laptop is not working at 100% so for missed letters - my sinere apologies!)

I tried to take a pi ture with my new camera of the Eclipse Wednesday night. Yeah, apparently, my camera must not like the ombination of cold and low batteries, becasue this is what I got:

(Insert jokes here about what it looks like)
When I realized the zoom wasn't big enough on my camera, I tried for the video amera that takes stills, but the battery was dead. Anyway, it was very kool to see the eklipse - red moon and all. The night was krystal klear - very beautiful with a dusting of snow on the ground.

Quite different from last night, when it was icy and snowy mix... I peeked out after American Idol was on (why didn't they put Josiah through! He was so much better than the other ones they put in the top 24!) It was strange, being out so late and it being so bright, because of the dim streetlights boun ing off the snow! Hang on a minute....

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Yeah! I got the C key fixed!! Good ol' duct tape!

OK, where was I?

Oh, our house -- here is a lovely pic of the finished home!







I do want to get some better pictures, but I think I'll wait till the weather gets a bit nicer. Here is one of our kitchen -- I LOVE my kitchen and all of the beautiful cabinet spaces (maple - toffee stain)









And what the heck... here is one of our living room... I need some ideas for the back wall -- I don't want to paint or to change too much with the walls until we have our 1 year inspection, but at least it gives me ideas for what I could do. Step into my living room:

I'm so nosy -- wouldn't it be cool to have a site where you could just peek into people's houses? I'm one of those people who will look into open windows as we are driving by (so leave your curtains closed if you don't want anybody to see!) Ohh - love google image search: http://tinyurl.com/2zjlgr



Oh, and here's one of our BabyCat in my favorite chair:






Just finished the book The Forgotton Man: A New History of the Great Depression. Worth reading! I'm going to start reading more on FDR... yeah, apparently, he wasn't the nice guy that they taught us about back in grade school! It's a good read and very informative! Kind of spooky how history is repeating itself.

TV: What I'm watching now... I've gotten back into Days. If I can't watch it, I listen to it on my radio when I work.. it's one of those Weather Band / AM/FM/ TV 2-13 ones, so it picks up NBC quite well. I've been watching that show for EVER, and it amazes me how many character have SORAS. Let 's hope the writing gets better now that the strike is over.


American Idol: Not seeing a definite favorite this year, hard to get totally into just now - Once the top 12 or 10 is named, it will get much better. I do like Alexandrea, Brooke, Amanda and Syesha. Wasn't that just aweful how they voted Garrett off --just "hey how ya doing? It's nice to be here, but you have to go home now" Could you be any more abrubt, Ryan? Garrett wasn't one of my faves, even if he was from Ohio, but still... give the kid a break!

Jane Austen: Yeah! PBS is showing her stories on Sunday Masterpiece for the next few weeks. I have a bunch saved up to watch.


Survivor is getting better... was sad to see Yao-man go, but this should be an interesting season.

Now that Psych and Monk are over, guess I'll just have to watch the re-runs until the summer! Love Psych -- have I mentioned before how hot Shawn and Gus are?


And if you haven't seen this post on Castro by DG, it's a tear-jerker. And yes, we really did see him at Hometown Buffet tonight! Castro must like the American food buffet experience!


OK -- that's enough rambling for now...

L8r G8r!