"Life, Love, and the Pursuit of Writing Well"
Okay, this doesn’t necessarily happen when you give a child too much chocolate, this is what happens when you give MY child too much chocolate.
HA!
This is Dude. He’s about … 18 months? I have no idea what he’s doing but I’d guess he’s showing off. What really cracks me up is my nephew gets on the floor with him.
Kids are so funny. 😀
(Thanks for sending this to me, Dad. It totally made my day).
Did you?
Kevin and I went to our polling place around 10:00 a.m. this morning. We didn’t leave until 10:40 a.m.
We stood in line for about thirty minutes.
I don’t recall seeing this many people at the polls … ever. I’m not even sure there were this many people at the presidential election in ’08.
I just hope it’s a run away victory for conservatives because if not … well, not to be all doom and gloom on you or anything, but things will get much worse before they get better if the Democrats are left in power for very much longer.
I’m a bit bummed that Dude wasn’t able to vote this go-around. He’ll be 18 in a few weeks, so he just missed this election. I know the boys and I listen to Sean Hannity everyday after school on the ride home, so they are pretty current with what is going on in the world. (And no, not just from a conservative perspective – we talk about issues and try to be fair to everyone. Most times, the Democrats are the ones being crazy, but sometimes, it’s the Republicans, too), and I think Dude would have been interested in voting these mid-terms but, ah well, there’s always 2012.
I signed onto Facebook this morning and one of my high school friends, a liberal, had posted a picture of two people holding signs on his avatar. The signs read:
“I have no problem paying taxes because I’m an adult and that’s part of the deal.”
“War isn’t free. Pay your taxes, Tea Baggers.”
This really annoyed me, mainly because once again, he (and not to just pick on this guy, but I’m addressing liberals in general) don’t get what the Tea Party stands for.
I wrote this in response:
Once again, the Tea Party is not about paying taxes, we need to pay taxes for fundamental programs, but when over HALF of our gross income is going to the gov’t, and we see they’re squandering it, THAT’S the problem. Time to vote in more responsible people. (How many times do we need to explain this?!)
He then commented (and has since removed it Never mind. Facebook hiccup):
“Doesn’t the TEA in Tea party stand for “Taxed Enough Already?”
In which I responded:
Aren’t we taxed enough already? When is it enough? When we’re paying 70%? 80%? We have to draw the line somewhere. How about reforming programs, cutting waste and adjusting/re-evaluating the existing budget. Private citizens are expected to do that, why not the government?
And THAT ladies and gentlemen, is primarily what the Tea Party is all about. Where do we draw the line? When is it enough? The government will continue to tax us – it will never stop, unless we make it stop.
The Tea Party is also about smaller government, more accountability, and sticking to (getting back to!) Constitutional values.
I honestly don’t know why people don’t GET this? Are these concepts so hard to grasp? It boggles my mind that people try and demonize the Tea Party movement when the alternative is … what?
MORE government intrusion, MORE taxes. It’s hard to run on that platform because it just sounds so … insane. I mean, haven’t you noticed that virtually none of the Democratic candidates had a platform to run on this election? It’s because THEY can’t even justify this craziness.
And did you all hear about Obama’s trip to India the day after tomorrow? (Because he’s holding a press conference tomorrow – that should be interesting *cough*). He’s allegedly taking 800 (?!) people and 40 planes (!!) INCLUDING both Air Force Ones. In addition, they are renting 520 rooms at the Taj Mahal.
What in the world is that all about?
How much is this costing the American tax payer, THIS TIME?
And why in the WORLD would he need to take that many people?
It absolutely astounds me that this man is our president.
UPDATE: Well. What an impressive night for Republicans – we took back the House and put several more senators in the Senate. It’s still unbelievable to me that the people of California and Nevada chose to keep Boxer and Reid. Their states are in terrible shape and yet, they elect the same people to do … what. More of the same? It’s like they don’t WANT anything to get better.
It truly baffles my mind.
At any rate, here we go. Republicans are officially on probation. Let’s see what sort of correcting they can do in the next two years. I, personally, am not expecting miracles, but I AM expecting steps in the RIGHT direction. Make it happen, Red, make it happen.
I’d laugh … if this wasn’t SO TRUE!!!!!!!
The insurance adjuster and the roof guy are here to assess our leaky roof.
Our roof was fine, until this past spring, and suddenly, we started noticing water stains on our ceiling. The fireplace has always leaked. Especially when the weather changes – the water seeps through the rocks, which tells us that we probably have a leak around our fireplace chimney, but the ceiling stains? Those were new.
In case you’re just tuning in, we’ve been pretty busy with home improvement projects: replaced old carpet with hardwood floors, bought new sofas, a new media center, painted the bathroom, (will) paint the foyer, replaced plumbing … when you live in a 40-year old house, there are always maintenance issues.
And at the bottom of the list? A new roof. We had talked about getting someone out here this next spring to take a look. But a roofing company made a cold call on us the other day, inspected it, said it was pretty bad (which what else could they say, they want the business, but the ceiling has been leaking and it’s 18 years old, we figured it was time anyway), and called our insurance company to come take a look.
That insurance guy is here now walking around on our roof. I’m curious to hear what he says about it. Is it as bad as the roof guy said? And more importantly, how much will they pay for a new one?
ADDED: The insurance company is recommending a new roof. Though it’s not as bad as the roof guys made it out to be (which is not surprising), it does have problems and of course, it’s leaking. So … looks like we’ll be getting a new roof in the next few weeks. It’s always something.
We ordered Dude’s cap and gown the other day. I had to measure his height and weigh him in order to get the correct measurements for his gown.
I can’t believe this is happening. Graduation is that milestone, that light at the end of the tunnel you tell your kids they are working toward, the end goal, and here we are, being blinded by that same light because it’s that close.
I opted out of the graduation announcements. They were ugly. (No offense to anyone who orders their announcements through their schools). I will most likely go through Tiny Prints for his announcements. Which means, Kevin and I need to take Dude out to take some pictures so I have some good options when it comes time to order them.
After I placed Dude’s order, Kevin and I got to talking – did we pay for our cap and gown when we were in high school? It seems to me they were borrowed … we used them for the ceremony and then returned them? Does that sound right? I don’t remember paying for our cap and gowns, but then again, I likely wasn’t the one who paid for it, my parents did. I’ll have to ask them because now I’m curious.
Dude’s 18th birthday is coming up soon. I’d like to do something special for him, but I have no clue what that might be. He hasn’t really asked for anything special … maybe I’ll shop some bakers and order a really nice cake this year as opposed to the cookie cake I normally order.
Or maybe I’ll do both. HEY! I’ll order a nice cake and then order Dude his very own cookie cake …
I don’t know. I’ll have to Google some ideas.
The book business is booming. One week, I mailed off close to 30 books!! The boys are being paid for the books they cataloged and if they sell any, then they are responsible for packaging them. If Dude sold more, then Dude drives up to the post office, if Jazz sells more, I take Jazz to the post office.
Orders are slowing down now, but I have about twenty more books to input (Kevin and I bought a bunch from the library book sale) and whenever I add books, that seems to trigger another round of orders, so we’ll see.
We are very grateful to my dad for giving us these books. We’ve made some pretty good money on the venture and though the boys haven’t been paid yet (it’s only a matter of days now, Amazon has started the transfer process, but it usually takes a few days for it credit to our account), I know they really appreciate the opportunity, too. Dude already has plans for some of his money, Jazz hasn’t really said much. Which is weird, because Jazz is usually the kid who can’t stand having money, it burns a hole in his pocket and he can’t wait to spend it.
Maybe he’s outgrowing that impulse. I hope so.
At any rate, the book store has been keeping us really busy.
My main computer has been acting really squirrely, as in, it automatically reboots at random intervals, and now it reboots, but not completely before the system shuts down and starts the process all over again.
I just scanned for viruses today and found a few suspicious-looking things that I was able to clear off my hard drive, but I think I actually messed it up when I reformatted last time. I get a little delete happy and I tend to delete items that are necessary to the operating system. It’s never really acted right since I reformatted last time.
Then again, the power supply has been making some pretty weird noises, so it could be that. (I’ve been having terrible luck with power supplies lately).
So … now what? I will likely try and reformat the stupid thing again (doing it right this time) AND buy a new computer. The one I’m using is about five or six years old, which is ancient in computer world.
Now I get to transfer all of my important files to my laptop so that I can work on client sites. Like I really had time to fool with this right now! Aargh!
Technology is great … when it works, right?
Kevin went to the doctor today. He said it was a bit stupid because they didn’t x-ray his pelvis or do anything other than watch him walk and ask him questions.
I was disappointed. I was hoping we could see how much he had healed in the past months, but no luck.
He’s no longer taking pain medication (actually, he hasn’t taken any pain meds in quite a few months – nothing stronger than an Ibuprofen), and walking a lot better. He still has a problem with his foot drop (he can’t bend his right foot as much as his left foot), which causes him to sort of clip-clop as he walks, but it’s getting better and I’m quite sure he’ll be walking normally again very soon.
In the meantime, the doctors don’t have to see him anymore, that was his last visit.
He was given a clean bill of health, which is pretty amazing considering the man was immobile a mere six months ago.
We have God to thank for his speedy recovery.
Speaking of Kevin’s accident …
Kevin noticed that the woman who hit him and left him for dead? Was charged with a DWI back in August (the accident occurred in April).
We’re not really sure what’s going on, but it sounds like this woman, this dangerous woman who has no business being on the streets and still driving, is out there, free and roaming around.
She had a warrant out for her arrest at one point, but that has since been removed, so we don’t know if this means they have the woman in custody or just what the heck is going on.
Kevin signed some medical release forms so that the prosecutor could have his records on file and use against the woman who hit him, but again, we’re not even sure if she has formally been charged with leaving the scene of an accident.
Kevin has called the prosecutor several times, but they have never returned his calls.
We just want this trouble maker off the streets. She’s obviously a menace and needs to either have her license revoked and/or some jail time.
We just pray she doesn’t kill anyone before that happens.
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One more week, folks.
ONE. MORE. WEEK.
Get out and vote November 2nd. Tell your friends, tell your families … this country needs to get back to core values and away from this crazy administration.
Did you hear that we, the people, AMERICANS, are now considered enemies of this administration?
How is that helpful, Mr. President? How is making offensive statements making our country stronger? How is suggesting that conservatives need to sit at the back of the bus and that we, the enemies, need to be punished helping those poll numbers? (Did you see Obama’s approval rating has dropped to 37%? Ouch). Those kinds of statements are what thugs say, not what the president of the United States of America says.
The hypocrisy is absolutely mind blowing.
Seriously. THIS MADNESS MUST STOP.
Write From Karen 