I Didn't Say It

"In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress."

-John Adams

Global Warming

I Did It

I joined Face Book at the repeated urging of my friend, Mrs. Bickerson. What finally convinced me is her claim that together we could start to silence the crazy liberal voices.

I still hear them.

But, if you are on Face Book and you want to visit me on Face Book, please do!

Thoughts from the Jr. High

Speaker 1: My family is considering the adoption of a Haitian orphan.

Speaker 2: Oh, how sad! Think of how that kid will feel when he finds out he's adopted.

Speaker 3: That's why you don't tell him until he's an adult.

(No, I am not related to any speaker.)

Going Rogue

Really, really good read. I believe this woman is intelligent, practical and a hard worker. She really did get "The Chicago Treatment" after the election, being bogged down with bogus ethics complaints so that she and her staff were unable to govern. Sarah's father is quoted as saying something like, "She's not quitting - she's reloading."

I'm supportive of normal people with real job experiences and real families being in politics. Unfortunately, because of the enormous publicity (fair or not), erratic schedules and high stress, we tend to get politicians who are less in touch with normal America. Why? I think it's because of the difficulty of trying to raise a family in that environment.

I have a good friend from high school who always espoused high political ambitions - until he married a lovely lady and had three wonderful children. I still think he might run for office someday. I'd vote for him.

Instructor's Response

Mr. Rachel'sInstructor emailed me today to apologize for the incident and said that since Rachel is such a good student, she would not be needing extra credit.

Flying Paper Attack

Rachel was accidentally assaulted today with a flying sheet of paper during school. It came flying out of the hand of one of her instructors, who had become frustrated with another student, pounded his fist on the podium and tossed his notes out toward the class. Rachel sat in the front row and received the brunt of the attack.

I just emailed her instructor to ask if Rachel would be receiving extra credit for participation in that social experiment.

I hope that instructor has a sense of humor. (I end many posts with that sentence.) It's the hope of my life. We all need a better sense of humor.

Sex Ed

Quinn is taking a sex ed/abstinence education class for the next couple of weeks at his school. They have written homework. Quinn is complaining because "Whoever heard of sex homework? I mean, what do you have to know? I already know everything! Except I didn't know about some stuff. But that stuff sounds boring anyway. I just dozed off today in that lesson. Get me outta this class!!!"

Man versus Food

Have you seen the show on the Food Network? Quinn has. Today at Steak n Shake he swallowed his last bite of the double steakburger with fries, pushed away his plate, threw down his napkin and shouted, "MAN WINS!"

Readers, let it be known that my son is not a professional eater. He often spills ketchup on his shirt and forgets to wipe his mouth.

Advice

When shopping at Aldi, do not scream - not even a little scream. Not even if it was in response to having dropped a dozen eggs on the floor.

Judge

Rachel just wrote an essay for her Careers and Applied Technology class that she wants to be a Judge when she grows up. That's ironic, because her brother just accidentally assaulted a circuit court judge Wednesday night at youth group.

Well, Quinn did purposefully throw the plastic ball at my head and scream, "DODGE BALL!!" but it was an accident that it bounced off of me and hit Mrs. CircuitCourtJudge full in the face. (I did make him apologize.)

I hope she has a sense of humor.

Virtual March for Life

Can't make it to DC for the annual March for Life? Well, no worries, just sign up here for the Virtual March for Life. You get to choose your own Avatar and everything. Very cool. This is my Avatar (though I would have liked it to have a more trendy style and longer hair . . .).

Retina

The kids and I had our bi-annual eye exams, complete with retina scans. We learned that Rachel joins only 2% of the population in having a secondary artery running to her optic nerve in her right eye.

"This could come in handy," said the eye doctor, "if, for instance, she would have a stroke or injury to the main artery. It's like she has a back-up system."

I should have stuck with my initial, "Interesting . . . " response. But I couldn't. I had to add, " . . . more useful than a superfluous nipple!"

Maybe Dr. Eyedoctor will forget my comment before we return in two years.

Gifts

Rachel (whose birthday is coming up) asked me yesterday, "Mom, what are my gifts?" I told her she had three but they were going to be a surprise and I hadn't even wrapped them yet. I told her she would find out on her birthday.

With great confusion in her voice she said, "What?! I have gifts and you know about them but you won't tell me?! How long have you known about them? And what are you talking about, 'you need to wrap them?!' These are MY spiritual gifts!"

(Oh, spiritual gifts!) After much giggling, we shared a much more serious conversation.

A Good Resolution

I'm considering the adoption of this suggestion.

Between the Lines

Quinn has a friend over this morning. His mother just called to tell me that her son recently had his cast removed following a broken arm and that he should be mindful of his physical limitations. Immediately, it registered with me that Quinn must beat the heck out of her son when he plays there. I don't know if it's true, but now I must investigate.

Question

Listening . . .

C.S. Lewis said "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world."

Pirates!

Did we tell you about the pirate-themed birthday party for Mike? We bought swords for all my nephews and some of the men. It was the greatest fight of pirate birthday party history. Most of the kids wore eye patches, which made them even easier to battle - AAAARGH!

Wedding Picture

Congrats to Matthew and Emily!

Speaking of Education . . .

Someone was telling me a story about a college stunt his father found out about. This someone stated, "Dad was so shocked he almost had a cornea!"

Sorry, Boss

I cannot vote for a sales tax increase meant for balancing school budgets in tough times when there is no guarantee that the tax will ever be discontinued or that property taxes will really decrease.

Report Cards

The kids brought home report cards today (mostly As!). Quinn received "satisfactory" marks for all behavior standards with the exception of "Speaks at appropriate times," for which he received "N" for "needs improvement."

In jest, I said, "Son, you need to open up some more and participate in classroom discussions even when the teacher does not explicitly call upon you. Don't be shy about sharing your opinion with others."

Not detecting the satire, Quinn looked at me with all seriousness and replied, "I know it, Mom. I'll try to do better."

(Speech-language therapy was one of the better investments we ever made in that boy.)

OK!

"To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men." — Abraham Lincoln
(Not a sin I'm often accused of)

Do you have a New Year's Resolution?

I think we are about to have a New Year's Revolution!

ACDC

Quinn's show choir director asked the kids to list their favorite songs on a slip of paper. Quinn wrote "ACDC: I Have Big Balls." He also signed his name.

I guess we should have curtailed the radio surfing over Christmas break.

Curves Trivia

While working out this morning, I tried making sense of the trivia question posted. It read (seriously):

Which has more cervical vertebrae?

A. mouse
B. man
C. giraffe
D. all of the above

"More than what?" I asked the manager.
She could not say, except to reply, "The answer is D. all of the above."
Well, that clears things up! They all have more cervical vertebrae.

Upon further investigation, I learned that all mammals have seven cervical vertebrae, with the exception of manatees and sloths.

Hangin'

Just chillin' with some friends back home. Four hours flew by like nobody's business.