Well this week has turned out to be a barrel of monkeys! Poor Nikki complained of a itchy bug bite on Monday and I put some neosporen on it and a bandaid. On Wednesday, she went to the school nurse because it was bleeding. The nurse said it looked like a staph infection and they had already had a few cases of it this year. You gotta love public schools. Anyway, Dan took her to the doctor on the way home from school and he gave her some antibiotics and told her how to take care of it. She came in limping from that. She is home from school again today and tomorrow. She can't go back to school until a doctor clears it. I worry about her and the stress of trying to catch up. I wish we could just ditch the whole going in to school thing. But sadly, that is not an option right now. We are going back to the doctor tomorrow to have them look at it. It is pretty darn gross, that is for sure.
The boys have been seriously addicted to "addictinggames.com" the past couple weeks. I've been pretty concerned about tearing them away from the computer but then I realized that it may just be up to me to take their attention away from it for awhile. I thinking this because I tend to get really stuck on those games as well and when I do, I try to force myself to do something else, get out of the house, clean, anything. Once I'm away from it for a bit, I don't feel the pull to sit down at the computer as badly. I'm hoping this will help them as well. If were a game on the Wii or some other thing, I wouldn't be so worried about it. These games are on the internet and are serious time stealers. I know it because I play them too. Besides, there are all kinds of very strange things on those sites, mostly ads and inappropriate stuff for kids.
My Mom came to visit us for the afternoon. That was fun. We went out to have lunch at the new Shakey's down the street. It is a pretty nice restaurant. I forgot how good Shakey's pizza is. :) The kids liked it, even Nik came along. They played some video games and Jake charmed the girl at the counter to give him a toy that cost more than the tickets he won. It was pretty cute to watch from afar.
Now, I'm just waiting for Tom to get out of the tub. We are going to hit the hay a little early tonight. I'm tired and so is Dan. He likes to read to the boys before bed, but lately he has been too tired to read much at all.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
An Attempt at Serious Writing
First of all, I haven't watched the news since this morning. I came in and told my husband and MIL that I was going to take the whole pill in the morning instead of be tortured bit by bit all day today. So far I am unaware of how the election has panned out but I have my feelings on what will happen.
My thoughts on this whole Proposition 8 Marriage bill? Well, why don't we just abolish state sanctified rituals of marriage and allow whoever wishes to enter into a civil union do so? Marriage is a religious ritual, isn't it? And since we have the separation of church and state thing, which is a whole other post in itself, why is any type of marriage sactified by the state? It really doesn't matter anyway if your religion doesn't forbid it. There are many things that are perfectly legal that are against my own religion and many more for others. I believe that the state needs some sort of record of civil unions for statistics, insurance, and other legal matters, but marriage is a whole other thing. If you want to be married by a particular organization, then you have to follow the rules of that organization. Marriage is only a religious ritual and changes with each religion and through each age. What does it matter (legally) who you are married to? It also has nothing to do with sex. There are many heterosexual couples who don't have sex anymore for whatevery reason. It has to do with a pair of humans raising children to adulthood and taking care of each other throughout there lives. Personally, I would like to see more couples staying together for life, whether they are same sex or not. I would like to see more people keep whatever family they have together not just for the sake of the children they have but their grandchildren, great-grandchildren, daughter and son-in-laws, too.
And now we move on to taxes. Hmmm, where to start.
If we take $1 from everyone for taxes, everyone has an equal stake in what our state or country uses that money for. But the poor man is hit harder by losing his dollar than the rich man and I think everyone agrees that isn't right.
If we take more from the rich than we do from the poor, like we do now, then the rich man has less and less incentive to work and earn the more we take. The government has less and less income each year. And the poor man has an equal vote in what the government pays for and buys. The poor man has no monetary stake in what he votes for. He may vote for things that may be nice but not necessary since he isn't the one who will pay for it. It is essentially taxation without representation for the rich since they are far fewer than the poor, forcing him to pay for services that the poor decide they need.
If we take the same percentage from everyone who earns a living, and allow only those who are earning some kind of living to vote, then we are giving everyone a equal stake in what services out government renders. The poor voter really thinks about the services he is voting for since the more services the government gives, the higher the percentage of taxes come from his paycheck.
As a final note to this, there are fixes for the situation that our country sits in right now. The only problem is that no politician is going to risk his career on fixing them. The fixes need an educated public that will understand and vote on that understanding instead of personal needs and emotional attachment. Our government has taken decent education away from its people and replaced it with trivial information that cannot help them be productive citizens. It has been so long since the schools have taught real economics, history, and politics that few people have the background to understand what is happening. I bet that politicians do understand. I bet that they have read the history of civilisations. I bet the fully comprehend the differences between democratic, republic, communistic, and socialistic governments. It is just that the general public does not and the politicians just don't want to lose their jobs by doing what is right instead of what is popular.
My thoughts on this whole Proposition 8 Marriage bill? Well, why don't we just abolish state sanctified rituals of marriage and allow whoever wishes to enter into a civil union do so? Marriage is a religious ritual, isn't it? And since we have the separation of church and state thing, which is a whole other post in itself, why is any type of marriage sactified by the state? It really doesn't matter anyway if your religion doesn't forbid it. There are many things that are perfectly legal that are against my own religion and many more for others. I believe that the state needs some sort of record of civil unions for statistics, insurance, and other legal matters, but marriage is a whole other thing. If you want to be married by a particular organization, then you have to follow the rules of that organization. Marriage is only a religious ritual and changes with each religion and through each age. What does it matter (legally) who you are married to? It also has nothing to do with sex. There are many heterosexual couples who don't have sex anymore for whatevery reason. It has to do with a pair of humans raising children to adulthood and taking care of each other throughout there lives. Personally, I would like to see more couples staying together for life, whether they are same sex or not. I would like to see more people keep whatever family they have together not just for the sake of the children they have but their grandchildren, great-grandchildren, daughter and son-in-laws, too.
And now we move on to taxes. Hmmm, where to start.
If we take $1 from everyone for taxes, everyone has an equal stake in what our state or country uses that money for. But the poor man is hit harder by losing his dollar than the rich man and I think everyone agrees that isn't right.
If we take more from the rich than we do from the poor, like we do now, then the rich man has less and less incentive to work and earn the more we take. The government has less and less income each year. And the poor man has an equal vote in what the government pays for and buys. The poor man has no monetary stake in what he votes for. He may vote for things that may be nice but not necessary since he isn't the one who will pay for it. It is essentially taxation without representation for the rich since they are far fewer than the poor, forcing him to pay for services that the poor decide they need.
If we take the same percentage from everyone who earns a living, and allow only those who are earning some kind of living to vote, then we are giving everyone a equal stake in what services out government renders. The poor voter really thinks about the services he is voting for since the more services the government gives, the higher the percentage of taxes come from his paycheck.
As a final note to this, there are fixes for the situation that our country sits in right now. The only problem is that no politician is going to risk his career on fixing them. The fixes need an educated public that will understand and vote on that understanding instead of personal needs and emotional attachment. Our government has taken decent education away from its people and replaced it with trivial information that cannot help them be productive citizens. It has been so long since the schools have taught real economics, history, and politics that few people have the background to understand what is happening. I bet that politicians do understand. I bet that they have read the history of civilisations. I bet the fully comprehend the differences between democratic, republic, communistic, and socialistic governments. It is just that the general public does not and the politicians just don't want to lose their jobs by doing what is right instead of what is popular.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Halloween Hangover
Halloween is special here. It is the one time a year that we meet all our neighbors. We have an excuse to come to people's door all over the neighborhood. I love sitting on our front porch and handing out candy to all the kids. The come in the cutest costumes, especially the little ones. I love the new Mom's with the babies trick or treating. I did that when Tom was new! He was only 3 weeks old the first time we went trick or treating. I got lots of good candy! :)
Nikki was at school all day and then Dan dropped her off at a friends party on the way home. The boys and I carved pumpkins and decorated the front porch. I decorate for Fall at the beginning of October and then put up the Halloween spooks for the night and take down again the next day. This week, three complete strangers walked by and stopped to tell me that my decorations were so nice and they loved seeing them. It was as if God was trying to tell me to be happy with what I have. Sometimes I can be pretty ungrateful. :( Last night, several people told us that they look forward to trick or treating at our house every year. Ahh!!! How sweet! Next year we have to have more candy. And Dan says he is going to buy little copies of the Constitution to hand out. I think handing out some homeschooling cards would be cool too! ;)
Anyway, the kids had a great time. Nikki really enjoyed her party. The boys said that it was the best Halloween ever! I think we did well. Next year, some of my family and friends need to join us. Pizza, trick or treating, harassing the neighbors, what could be better?!
Nikki was at school all day and then Dan dropped her off at a friends party on the way home. The boys and I carved pumpkins and decorated the front porch. I decorate for Fall at the beginning of October and then put up the Halloween spooks for the night and take down again the next day. This week, three complete strangers walked by and stopped to tell me that my decorations were so nice and they loved seeing them. It was as if God was trying to tell me to be happy with what I have. Sometimes I can be pretty ungrateful. :( Last night, several people told us that they look forward to trick or treating at our house every year. Ahh!!! How sweet! Next year we have to have more candy. And Dan says he is going to buy little copies of the Constitution to hand out. I think handing out some homeschooling cards would be cool too! ;)
Anyway, the kids had a great time. Nikki really enjoyed her party. The boys said that it was the best Halloween ever! I think we did well. Next year, some of my family and friends need to join us. Pizza, trick or treating, harassing the neighbors, what could be better?!
Thursday, October 30, 2008
This is Halloween!
Yay!!! I love Halloween. I loved working at the Haunt at Knott's because it was my second favorite holiday, next to Christmas, and just about everyone I know was coming to my Halloween party. :p
We had out Halloween Park day on Monday. I just now got to posting about it because I have been exhausted the past few nights. Seriously. We had a great time though. The boys had been planning their Civil War uniforms for a month and on Monday morning I finally found a jacket for Tom. Of course, it was 90 degrees outside, so they only wore the jackets and hats for about 10 minutes. Maybe it will be cooler tomorrow evening?
I made the coolest house to put in front of my chair and pass out treats from. It was cute and the best thing was it didn't cost me anything. I made it from stuff I already had. The boys costumes only cost about $10 for both, since we found almost all of it from our favorite thrift store. And some of the candy I had from Easter. I got these cool pre-filled eggs for the Easter party, but then we didn't get to go and they just sat there. I passed them out for Halloween. Anytime any of the kids asked what was up with the eggs, I just looked at them like they had lost their minds and said, "What? You don't know about Halloween Eggs? The Halloween Bat comes to YOUR house and hides them, doesn't he?" They already think I'm nuts. This just confirmed it for most of them.
Tomorrow is Halloween. Nikki is going to a party with her friends. Thanks to Anna rescueing me and taking her with her kids! The boys and I are going to carve pumpkins afternoon and put out our spooky decorations. We are going to get out and do the rounds early this year to see if we have better luck. And of course, I will be manning the front porch with the bucket-o-candy.
We had out Halloween Park day on Monday. I just now got to posting about it because I have been exhausted the past few nights. Seriously. We had a great time though. The boys had been planning their Civil War uniforms for a month and on Monday morning I finally found a jacket for Tom. Of course, it was 90 degrees outside, so they only wore the jackets and hats for about 10 minutes. Maybe it will be cooler tomorrow evening?
I made the coolest house to put in front of my chair and pass out treats from. It was cute and the best thing was it didn't cost me anything. I made it from stuff I already had. The boys costumes only cost about $10 for both, since we found almost all of it from our favorite thrift store. And some of the candy I had from Easter. I got these cool pre-filled eggs for the Easter party, but then we didn't get to go and they just sat there. I passed them out for Halloween. Anytime any of the kids asked what was up with the eggs, I just looked at them like they had lost their minds and said, "What? You don't know about Halloween Eggs? The Halloween Bat comes to YOUR house and hides them, doesn't he?" They already think I'm nuts. This just confirmed it for most of them.
Tomorrow is Halloween. Nikki is going to a party with her friends. Thanks to Anna rescueing me and taking her with her kids! The boys and I are going to carve pumpkins afternoon and put out our spooky decorations. We are going to get out and do the rounds early this year to see if we have better luck. And of course, I will be manning the front porch with the bucket-o-candy.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Julian Mining Company Tour
Wednesday was so fun! We went on a Gold Rush Tour at the Julian Mining Company. There is a couple just outside Julian, California that runs this operation. They were so nice. He said that he bought the property about four months ago to make it a living history thing for kids. They do a bunch of different tours. I organized the trip for homeschoolers and have been waiting patiently for two months to go!
They start off by telling the kids that they have come to help work their claim. He asks how they got to California and why. And prompts them to talk about all the ways people did come to California back then. They work the claim a bunch of different ways. The play games like in the Gold Rush days. The dip candles. They made apple cider. And they went on a hay ride while the guy told them a lot about the history of the area. The kids loved it and so did I. It was hot and windy but the area was so pretty and the kids were having so much fun.
After the tour, the boys and I went into Julian and had a late lunch. It was awesome. We got some candy on the way back to the truck and then headed home. It was a long day, but well worth the drive down. I hope we get the chance to do another tour there!
They start off by telling the kids that they have come to help work their claim. He asks how they got to California and why. And prompts them to talk about all the ways people did come to California back then. They work the claim a bunch of different ways. The play games like in the Gold Rush days. The dip candles. They made apple cider. And they went on a hay ride while the guy told them a lot about the history of the area. The kids loved it and so did I. It was hot and windy but the area was so pretty and the kids were having so much fun.
After the tour, the boys and I went into Julian and had a late lunch. It was awesome. We got some candy on the way back to the truck and then headed home. It was a long day, but well worth the drive down. I hope we get the chance to do another tour there!
Monday, October 20, 2008
CHOC/Walk
Another great "Walk in the Park"! On Sunday we got up at the crack of dawn and walked, with our new friend Carissa and her daughters, to Disneyland and did the 5K CHOC/Walk again this year. It was good fun. Our "team" wasn't very big, but we enjoyed ourselves. Our friends and family donated to our team over the past two months. A huge THANK YOU to everyone who donated.
I really enjoy this event. Next year, I'm going to try to do a better job of leading my team and get more members. It is a very early AM event and a long walk, but it is so worth it. I love seeing all the teams and their signs and banners. So many people who have lost their children and so many that have had CHOC's help with their childs illness. It warms my heart. My boys don't like to get up early and they really hate to get up and go like we have to when we do this each year. And the park is not open, so there are no rides. Last year, we had passes so we could go in afterwards and go on some rides but this year we don't. I promised them a Lego set if they could get up and do the whole walk without a lot of complaining. They did above and beyond the call of duty this year. We walked from our house and back as well as the 5K, so that is a total of 5 miles! There was no crying or whining! Well, there was from ME!
And I'm going to work on getting more people to donate small amounts. I know it is hard to donate but this is a great cause and if I could get a dollar from everyone I know? Wow! It would be great.
So, here are the pictures! There aren't too many because my camera has had it and was causing me grief!
I really enjoy this event. Next year, I'm going to try to do a better job of leading my team and get more members. It is a very early AM event and a long walk, but it is so worth it. I love seeing all the teams and their signs and banners. So many people who have lost their children and so many that have had CHOC's help with their childs illness. It warms my heart. My boys don't like to get up early and they really hate to get up and go like we have to when we do this each year. And the park is not open, so there are no rides. Last year, we had passes so we could go in afterwards and go on some rides but this year we don't. I promised them a Lego set if they could get up and do the whole walk without a lot of complaining. They did above and beyond the call of duty this year. We walked from our house and back as well as the 5K, so that is a total of 5 miles! There was no crying or whining! Well, there was from ME!
And I'm going to work on getting more people to donate small amounts. I know it is hard to donate but this is a great cause and if I could get a dollar from everyone I know? Wow! It would be great.
So, here are the pictures! There aren't too many because my camera has had it and was causing me grief!
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Oh, no! I'm IT!
Thanks to http://2toomanyhats.blogspot.com/ I've been tagged!
So...let's see...seven random facts about me...
1. I was born a poor black child. No really, it's a quote from one of my favorite movies.
2. I love to fry corn tortillas put cheddar cheese on them and catsup and eat WAY too many of them with beer.
3. I LOVE watering the yard all alone in the morning or after dinner. It is just so peaceful and I meet some of my nicer neighbors.
4. I once ran topless by all the windows at the Spires on Ball and Euclid. It was a dare and I could not say no.
5. I was boy crazy from the age of 14 or so through my 20's. I would say I still am, but my husband fills my view. He is SO darn handsome!
6. Yes, I still sleep with my teddy bear (Edward Tiberius Bear) that I got from my Grandpa Roy when I was five.
7. I still dream about running spotlight on Fantasmic! "Ready Spots 1 and 4 in frame 2...Go." And the shackle drop! Yay!
And who shall I tag? I can see myself going around the circle...duck...duck...duck...goose!
http://kellyrosehirt.blogspot.com/
http://iamajacknut.blogspot.com/
http://edgeofinsanityryp.blogspot.com/
http://barefootinadventurers.blogspot.com/
http://www.rachelraves.blogspot.com/
http://maiasreality.blogspot.com/
http://kariessliceofheaven.blogspot.com/
I did it! Ok, finding people's blogs and copying and pasting about drove me into a panic. There has GOT to be a better way.
So...let's see...seven random facts about me...1. I was born a poor black child. No really, it's a quote from one of my favorite movies.
2. I love to fry corn tortillas put cheddar cheese on them and catsup and eat WAY too many of them with beer.
3. I LOVE watering the yard all alone in the morning or after dinner. It is just so peaceful and I meet some of my nicer neighbors.
4. I once ran topless by all the windows at the Spires on Ball and Euclid. It was a dare and I could not say no.
5. I was boy crazy from the age of 14 or so through my 20's. I would say I still am, but my husband fills my view. He is SO darn handsome!
6. Yes, I still sleep with my teddy bear (Edward Tiberius Bear) that I got from my Grandpa Roy when I was five.
7. I still dream about running spotlight on Fantasmic! "Ready Spots 1 and 4 in frame 2...Go." And the shackle drop! Yay!
And who shall I tag? I can see myself going around the circle...duck...duck...duck...goose!
http://kellyrosehirt.blogspot.com/
http://iamajacknut.blogspot.com/
http://edgeofinsanityryp.blogspot.com/
http://barefootinadventurers.blogspot.com/
http://www.rachelraves.blogspot.com/
http://maiasreality.blogspot.com/
http://kariessliceofheaven.blogspot.com/
I did it! Ok, finding people's blogs and copying and pasting about drove me into a panic. There has GOT to be a better way.
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