Wednesday, March 30, 2011

It's On!

Does it get any better than hearing the coach say to the other kids at T-ball practice, "Watch how Caden does it"?

If any of you are interested - I can probably get extra tickets for the first game on April 7th.

Yes - the infield is as bad as it looks in this picture.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Run Rick Run

Rick Santorum says  the Social Security system problem in our country could be solved if people started having more children and abortions weren't happening.  Thank you Rick for that  brilliant insight.  (I don't even think he really knows anything about the solvency of Social Security at this time - but he got to relate abortions to Social Security so that's all that matters.)

I promise that every future post won't be about politics - but the fodder I'm getting from some of these folks is too good to pass up.

Newt...again

Now you can probably see why I hope he runs for President.  We could get a year of priceless gems like this.


http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/28/gingrich-fears-atheist-country-dominated-by-radical-islamists/?hpt=T2

Where do I even start?

"Atheist country...dominated by radical Islamists"???  Newt - do you even read your own speeches?  Can anyone else spot the ignorance demonstrated in that statement?

His Catholicism = his Patriotism.  Huh?  I'm not even going to go further into that one.  You can come up with your own caption.

As I've said before...

Run Newt Run!

 

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

All good things must end

Last night at Disney.  Caden is raring to go for more - but his two Dad's are ready to leave while we still have good memories of the entire adventure.

Say what you will about the massive commercialization and over stimulation of Disney - but these three guys had a great time.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Japan

How do we explain what is going on in Japan to a 5 year old - or even to our own selves?  Pictures and videos make us think we can imagine the horror but somehow I suspect it is much worse.

Caden now knows about earthquakes - but seems more interested in how the earth moves during the process than the destruction created from that process.  It's too soon to go into gory detail about what that destruction means.

He was excited to remind me that he has Japanese blood in him (which is true).  I want him to know that you don't have to have Japanese blood to care about what is happening in that country.

No more silly ramblings from me this week.

Our hearts and thoughts are with the people of Japan as they endure this tragedy.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

False alarm

He wasn't sick.  At least nothing that would qualify as a real illness.  The afternoon nap seemed to do the trick.

We now have on our hands a 5 year old who knows he is within a week of going to Disneyland.  He is telling everyone who will listen.  He is also making sure we haven't forgotten.  Have you tried getting a 5 year old to bed the week before going to Disneyland?  Try it sometime - everyone should experience the thrill.  (Not Disneyland - just the trying to get to bed part.)

Doesn't he know Glee is on?

Friday, March 11, 2011

Finally...

It happened.  I think we have our first case of fever for Caden.  I should have never posted about him never being sick.  Can you say "jinx"?

I'm not even completely sure that his current state will qualify as illness.  I mentioned to his teacher this morning that he seems to be lethargic and a little warmer than usual.  She said she would call me if he didn't feel well later on.  Can you guess what happened?  Yes - I got the call a few hours later.  He continues to be lethargic and warm - but that's it.  Is it bad of me to say that I'm loving it.  I feel as if my baby has come back to visit for a while.  He took a nap for the first time in almost three years.  He wanted to lie in bed next to me with his head touching mine.  As much as I felt bad for him, I was also cherishing this brief visit back in time.  It's true what they say about time passing quickly.  He's no longer our baby and has somehow become our little boy.

Even if it's not real sickness - I'm going to hang on to it anyway.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

A couple of rants...

Run Newt Run!
Please do everything you can to encourage Newt Gingrich to run for President.  I want him to be asked this question every day of his campaign.
"Since you fooled around on your first two wives and are now on your third marriage, do you think you should be legally allowed to get married a fourth time?"  (since marriage is so sacred and all)

I'm sure you've read the story today about the NPR executive commenting on Tea Partiers being racist, etc...  Stupid thing for her to say.  I'm not saying what she said was incorrect - but come on lady - you have to know you can't get away with saying it in your position.  She resigns and the calls for NPR Federal funding to be stopped grow louder.  I love my NPR but what very few of the gripes are addressing is that NPR's Federal dollars account for only 2% of their operating budget.  Yes - 2% - not even 20%.  I just wish that people complaining about this would use actual facts when discussing it.

The federal dollars they receive are generally in the form of grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting - which received $420,000,000 from the federal government in FY 2010.   That's a big chunk of money and is a legitimate budget expenditure that should at least be allowed to be discussed when talking where to cut money in the Federal budget.  I'm sure they do great work - but come on - $420 million dollars?  They could take a cut of some sort.  How about starting with the grants to NPR?

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Friday, March 4, 2011

Huckabee - part deux

Really Mike?  You think mentioning that Hollywood is glamorizing single mothers when Natalie Portman shows her pregnant self in public is something a potential Presidential candidate (or anyone for that matter) should be commenting on?.  What do you want her to do - stay in the closet?  Oh - I forgot - your base will eat this stuff up.

I'm sure he will be responding to my questions any minute now.

on another note...The other two guys in this house went skiing today.  Caden went down his first black diamond run - by mistake - and with Kevin of course.  Kevin said it took a while but Caden made it down all by himself and with no tears.  If I would have been there - the tears and cussing would have been coming from me.  It's probably a good thing I didn't go.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Free Speech Reigns

Thank goodness.

Today's Supreme Court ruling in favor of free speech for Westboro Baptist Church was a victory for free speech in general.  Deplorable speech by an individual or group can be disgusting - and trust me - their's is.  This group does not engage in physical violence - nor do they try to incite violence.  They simply stand around singing vile songs and holding even viler signs.  In this particular case, they were able to show that they had stayed within the physical constraints imposed upon them by local law enforcement and did not violate any other local laws.  They neither threatened or caused physical harm to anyone.  Free Speech that doesn't encourage or incite violence must be allowed - no matter how revolting.

The members of this family that won today's ruling wish I would die.  How touching - and to think they don't even know me.  (I seem to get a lot of people who don't even know me wanting to have some control over my personal life.)  (reference the post about Mike Huckabee from yesterday).

This is a perfect example of the Supreme Court telling the government to stay out of people's lives - when they aren't breaking the law.  Where is the praise from the Republicans and Tea Partiers?  Isn't this what they are all about?  Less government intrusion and more adherence to the U.S. Constitution?

You can't have it both ways.  You are either for Free Speech - or you aren't.

I am.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Let the pandering begin...

Mike Huckabee is a liar (hiding behind his title as Southern Baptist minister).  He knew exactly what he was doing today when he made the false statement about President Obama growing up in Kenya.

"One thing that I do know is his having grown up in Kenya, his view of the Brits, for example, very different than the average American ... his perspective as growing up in Kenya with a Kenyan father and grandfather, their view of the Mau Mau Revolution in Kenya is very different than ours because he probably grew up hearing that the British are a bunch of imperialists who persecuted his grandfather."

Please Mike - at least be honest and admit that you are pandering to the legions of people who are so mad that a black man is President that they will believe anything.  You call yourself a "Man of God".  Please - if God exists - he/she is ashamed of you today.  I realize that you said later that you 'misspoke' and really meant Indonesia - but how do you bring the "view of the Mau Mau Revolution" to Indonesia? You are a liar and are depending on the fact that the people you are trying to reach will only hear the part about Kenya and turn that into a negative for Obama.  The truth is never important to you.

Huckabee is the same man who thinks my son is part of a "social experiment".  Of course he has never met me or my son but feels he is qualified to speak about my family.  At least I have his own statements to form an opinion about him.  He knows nothing about me.  On some level I hope he runs for President because I want the country to fully understand what this man represents.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised at his statements since he is a Baptist minister.

Should I repeat the reasons why I no longer call myself Baptist?  I'll just let the words "Mike Huckabee" sum it up.

and just in case anyone is still wondering...Obama never grew up in Kenya.

School auction

No - we're not auctioning off a school.  It's that time of the year when schools in our area (Private and Public) are gearing up for their annual big fundraising event.

This is something new to my family.  I don't think my local public school had large fundraising programs in place that got the parents involved.  Of course this would have been quite a while ago in small town South Texas and it might have actually happened - but I don't remember it.  (I do remember selling magazine subscriptions for the band to help buy new uniforms.) Yes - I was in the band (back when it was cool to be in the band).  Yes - there was a time when it was cool to be in the band.

Anyway..now days, elementary schools have year round campaigns to augment all types of programs and teacher salaries.  Caden's school has their annual campaign geared primarily towards scholarships and teacher development.  Someone actually said to me, "why do you have to raise more money when your tuition is so high?"  It's been a lesson for me also.  Having a student teacher ratio of 7:1 costs money - and even more than the annual tuition covers.  I can see why these fundraising programs are so important to the local public schools since their government funds are constantly being cut (and they aren't even expecting such a low student/teacher ratio).

I've somehow gotten very involved in Caden's school's big event.  I think I mentioned one time before that I'm trying to act all eager and involved this first year - so I won't feel obligated as much in later years.  Do the math - he's just in Preschool and this school goes through High School.  That means the potential of 13 more years of volunteering.   (oops - I began a sentence with "that"...my blog - my grammar.)



Just my two cents...