Monday Morning Musings - Hot And Sweaty

I am not a sweaty person. It takes a lot to make me sweat. But I have been sweating all day and it is snowing outside. They just came a little while ago to take pictures and a video tour of my house to put online. I have been running around like crazy ALL day today cleaning. My house, right now, is so so very fabulously clean. I feel really bad for the first person who makes a mess in it. Cause I'm tellin' you right now, it won't be pretty.



Ya know, I have said before, I am very sensitive to smells and most scented things give me a headache so I use unscented everything. Well, while I was cleaning, I came across a hand cream thing someone gave me once. It is cupcake scented. I really needed some lotion at the time so I thought I would give it a try. Who in their right mind decided to make some kind of lotion that smells like cupcakes? Like I can go around all freakin' day long smelling cupcakes and not be out of my mind craving cupcakes all day. ALL DAY! I had to go wash it off.



I finally put pictures on the digital picture frame my parents gave me for Christmas. It is so fun to watch it. My kids love watching it too.



Last week I went to a viewing of a man in my ward who passed away. Addison was with me. As soon as we got to the point in the line where she could see the casket, she started saying, "PAPA! PAPA!" and was trying to get out of my arms to go over there. I think she was a little disappointed when we actually got to the casket and she found out it wasn't her papa. It was very sad. Poor baby.


Here are the pictures I put on my digital frame. You can click on it to enlarge if you are interested in seeing them.

Flashback Friday - Neighborly

Sam, Cloe, Hallie, Lauren

I found this picture when I was cleaning stuff out. I thought some of you might be interested in seeing it. It appears to have been taken in Sam's room. So then my question would be, what's up with the pink bunny?

Thinkin' Thursday - Rock The Vote

Soooooooooo. What to say, what to say? Let's see, I could do me some thinkin' about a certain topic very much in the spotlight at the moment. Hmmmmmm. Been there done that. If you need a refresher, click here. I will say this. Hmmmm. Maybe I won't say it. Man. I don't know. People aren't going to like it. You know what, what the hey? It's my blog. AGHGHGHGHG! It's pretty deep and......sigh......(chewin' on the fingernail)..........you can't tell, but I have been sitting here for about 10 minutes trying to decided if I want to say it or not. (more time goes by)(a lot more time goes by, accompanied by a lot of talking to one's self)

Sooooo, moving on to other subjects.

I want to talk about the American voting system. I don't like it. I think it is unfair. I think it is unfair that one persons vote is not equal to another persons, just because they live in differing states. I live in a republican state. Which, sure, that's great, I'm a republican and I know that the person I am voting for is going to get the electoral vote for my state. With the last election I tried to make it ok in my mind by saying that I was glad that the republican nominee was able to focus his time and attention and monies on other states, because he knew he had my state in his pocket. I'm not feelin' that way right now. I want someone to feel like they have to campaign heavy and try and win my vote.

I don't think it's fair that voting rules differ from state to state either. Why can't everyone just have all the same rules? That just makes sense to me. And I think everyone should have to use the same kind of equipment to vote with. Please. What century do we live in? Would it really be that hard to get some decent voting machines distributed? (I know, tell Al to divert a little of his Global Warming profit to a "Voting Ballot Equality" cause)(I crack myself up).

And this whole Primary/Caucus thing. I don't like it either.

Let's take the Republican primaries for instance. Some states, the winner gets all the delegates. In some states, they divide them. That's not fair. That means people in one state, their vote counts more than people living in another state.

I don't even understand the entire voting process. Like really, really understand it. I try to. But there are so many.....things....I don't even know what to call them. Stuff. Why does it have to be so complicated? Am I the only one who is confused by the whole thing?

Don't even get me started on the whole superdelegate thing with the Democratic party. What the freak is that about? I have tried. Believe me. So far this is what I get out of it:

1. It doesn't matter how everyday democrats walkin' around on the street like normal people voted, because the superdelegates get to decide the democratic nominee in the end.

2. The superdelegates can vote however they want, they don't have to be the voice of the people.

3. The superdelegates can be bought.

4. If the democratic nominees are trying to "buy" votes from the superdelegates, and they make promises to these people about things they will do if elected to office, well, then, ummmm, I think that would mean that the President of the United States of America would be putting interests of these individuals above the interests of the average American citizen, and who knows what those interests are.

5. I think I heard that something like 1/2 of the superdelegates, I can't remember the exact number, are elected officials. Well, last time I checked this is what the United States Constitution said about that:

" ...but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector."

Huuump. Interesting. It all seems a little UN-Democratic to me.

Anyway. It's late. I'm tired. I really have other things I should be doing. And I am FREEZING right now. Did I tell you it snowed here today? Yeah, you heard me. I woke up to SNOW this morning. I'm goin' to get in my nice warm bed now.

Bye Bye Moonwalk, Hello David

So it's late but I just finished watching American Idol, and I HAD to come post. I had to. This is the best performance I have seen on American Idol. Ever. And believe it or not, it's a Michael Jackson song. If you didn't see it, you must watch. You know what, if you did see it, watch it again. And again.

I Went Straight To Youtube

So the title for Emily's Birthday Post is Eight Is Enough. I was shocked when my sister said, "Isn't that from some show you used to watch?" What? There are people out there in the world today who don't know what Eight Is Enough is? You're kidding me. It's only one of the best shows ever. Hello. Just hearing the theme song makes me teary eyed. See, hear for yourself:

EGG-CELLENT

Every Saturday Night before Easter we color eggs for the Easter Bunny to hide. Well this Saturday before Easter was unlike any other Saturday before Easter we have ever experienced. Steve spent all day working on our new house and my mom and I spent all day cleaning the house we are in. When we were all finished for the day, not only were we too tired to make dinner, but there was no way in heck we were making any kind of mess in the kitchen. So we all went out to eat. I was so tired and all the kids needed haircuts and a bath before bed. Coloring eggs in my clean kitchen was the last thing I wanted to do. I was hoping the kids would forget. We were leaving the restaurant and they started asking if we were going to go home and color eggs. I told them we wouldn't be able to do that this year. They freaked out. Then sweet little Aubrey looked at me with the saddest face that was about to break into tears and said, "But mommy, it won't be Easter unless we color eggs." Needless to say, we colored eggs. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and I was glad we did it. On Easter, after church, we went to my mom's house for dinner.

Just in case you didn't see how dang cute my kids are:

Eight Is Enough

Last Thursday Emily turned eight years old. We had a party with her friends. We took them to go see the movie "College Road Trip". That night we went with my mom to eat dinner at a Brazilian restaurant. The next night Emily was able to go to a Blaze game with her dad. Her favorite part of the game? Yelling offensive remarks at the opposing team.

Monday Morning Musings - Clean Sweep

My dear sweet mother is an angel. She spent ALL day Saturday helping me clean my house from top to bottom. I think we underestimated the project. Several hours into it we both had a hard time going on. We did get the whole main floor done and I have never seen my house so sparkly before. I just finished my bedroom this morning because it is on the second level and we just ran out of time on Saturday. I still have the basement to do. I ran out of time to clean out my office and Steve's office which are in the basement. They are major, majorly messy. It is very depressing and that is why they haven't been done yet. My house is supposed to be up for sale today. We'll see how that goes.

My most favorite new cleaning tool is Steve's shop vac. I will never clean without it again. When Zac and I were cleaning out and packing up his room, I used it to suck all the stuff out from under his bed and behind his dresser and shelf. It's like the best thing ever.

I am going to go out and buy my first mop today. WOO HOO! My mom talked me into it. You see, I have this mop phobia. I think they are nasty and disgusting. I can't bear to get it wet and then have to ring it out, or try and wash it when I am finished using it. I just hate to touch a mop. Period. So I have always used old towels because they are clean when I get them wet, I throw it on the floor, do the little mop-shimmy dance, throw it in the washing machine, voila! It's clean again. It is a lot of work doing the shimmy though, I have no carpet except in the 2 offices downstairs, so I have a lot of shimmying to do. I have been able to get over most of my phobias though, so I am giving this one a shot.

I gave away all my fat clothes and suddenly I have found myself, well, fat again. Oops.

As soon as I finish typing this I have to start cleaning my office. So.....anything else you want to know about? Really. I don't mind. I'll just sit here all day typing if you want me to. I have half a mind to just get a big trash bag and start filling it up. I don't care about anything anymore. I just want it done and over with. I am SICK of cleaning.

Oh, I know what will take some time. Maybe by the time I am done with this Addy will be awake and we can eat lunch. I have a new favorite Idol. It is:

(I couldn't find a video without the intro so skip to 1 minute15 seconds to see the performance)

On the subject of American Idol, I am so glad that:

finally went home. I liked her at first, she kind of reminds me of Janice Joplin who sings my most favorite song ever, but I got really tired of her voice after a while.

And I was also so glad that:

was in the bottom 3. I couldn't stand all the hype she got at the beginning, and I didn't think she was that much better than some of the other contestants.

Flashback Friday - Superfreak

Sigh. Yes. I married this man. I found this picture in my storage room the other day when I was going through things. I put it on his desk with a post it note that said "my next flashback Friday". He didn't say anything so I figure it is ok to share him with the world. Or at least with those of you who read my blog. This picture was taken when he was on his mission and he just so happens to be standing in the same spot where Aubrey's bed is now. (Our house was his first missionary apartment)(the room has changed a bit). I also found the below Top Gun-ish picture too. Mmmmmm Mmmmmm baby! I'd take him over Tom Cruise any day (and this one doesn't have to wear lifts in his shoes).

Thinkin' Thursday - Everyone's A Winner!

Man. Is it already Thursday again? This week just kind of disappeared. We decided to put our house up for sale next Monday so I have been crazy this week trying to get stuff packed up and cleaned out and ready to go. I am starting to freak out a little because there is still so much to be done. I have to get it all cleaned out and packed up by tomorrow night because Saturday morning my mom is coming to help me scrub the place clean. Fun times.

This is going to have to be a quick think because I have a lot going on and I have a birthday party right in the middle of it in just a few hours. (Happy 8th B-day to my Princess Emily!)

On Sunday night, as we were discussing the attire for the following day, Emily told me that it didn't matter if she wore green or not because her teacher said that she was going to give everyone that wasn't wearing green a green sticker to wear because there would be no pinching in her class. Now don't get me wrong. I love Emily's teacher. I wish I had her patience and grace. But really, who gave her permission to suck all the fun out of St. Patrick's day? This is also the class where you cannot bring an invitation to a birthday party for anyone in the class if you don't have an invitation to pass out to everyone. I can understand her desire to keep order in her class room and make sure no one feel left out. But this whole "no pinching" on the day-of-all-pinching got me ta thinkin'.

Every thing you do now a days with kids has to be equal. You have a contest, everyone has to be a winner of some sort. You have a sporting event, EVERYBODY gets a trophy, both sides, because there are no winner or losers. Is that really fair? What about the kids who work really hard and do their very best and put forth a great amount of effort to succeed. Is it fair to reward the kid who did really nothing at all in the same way as you reward this other kid who really tried hard?

I mean I know that there are kids out there who have it hard. Life is just unfair for them from the beginning. I just finished reading a book that is a true story of a woman who grew up in extreme poverty with slightly crazy parents. She and her brother and sisters basically had to fend for themselves from the time they were born. They scrounged in trash cans for food to eat. They have grown up now to be very successful adults. The woman who wrote the book is now a journalist who works for MSNBC. I wonder if she and her brother and sisters, if they were born in a different set of circumstances, would they be the same successful people they are today? If they grew up in middle class suburbia where they really didn't have to work hard to achieve, if they were just handed a trophy because they showed up, would they have learned to apply themselves and really work hard?

Is that the problem with kids these days? They just expect to be patted on the back and have someone say great job, and hand them their reward when they really did nothing to earn it? I don't know. It could be part of it.

Some people say competition is unfair because if there is a winner, they are a winner because everyone else is a loser. And no one wants to be a loser. But, competition is a way of life. These kids are going to grow up and enter a world where they will have to compete in order to get good grades in college and get a good job and keep a good job. You hear about "healthy competition". Is competition healthy?

I really don't know what the answer is. I think there has to be some kind of balance somewhere. I just am not sure what that balance is.

I don't know if this made any sense. I really didn't have a clear thought on what I was going to say when I sat down to type it. It just kind of came out. I really have to go now, but I just wanted to give you something to think about today.