Playing the Election Glad Game

When things start getting ugly, there's no better game than the Glad Game. I'm betting that someone's going to win and someone's going to lose. So, instead of spending the next four to eight years complaining, we should start thinking about who we are not voting for and try to play the Glad Game. Neither candidate is pure evil. There are good things about all four people involved and their families. Think of those things so that if your vote doesn't happen to lead to a victory, we can still find a way to get through it.

The Sounds on the car go....

"te-te-te, clink,clink, DING, te-te-te-te-te-te, clink, DING DING....."

That's kind of the pattern of sounds my car makes while driving down S. 7th. The "te-te-te" sounds are probably because of some missing parts that may or may not be important. The "DING"s are probably from a toy that I can not possible find without taking the car apart but are only heard when we hit a bump. And the "clink"s are a mystery but probably have something to do with the "te-te"s.

Pray for LaLa (Lucy named our car)and that she will make it for a little while longer.

This great fall

I can not tell you how bad I needed to see this today. Trust me, it gets better with each viewing. I go from laughing to feeling bad about the injuries to laughing harder. It's a roller coaster of emotions that even the professionals can't handle.

The Phelps Minute

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

LPM

This weekend I attended Beth Moore Live in San Antonio. It was a very refreshing time to spend with 10,000 other women. The praise was amazing. I love live music of almost any type but when "that" note is hit during a song to God it almost takes your breath away. I wish there was video of that to post but after much searching I have nothing. Right now my spiritual struggle is with my emotions so this was a great weekend for me at least chip away at some things. Beth Moore is in a lot of ways on dangerous ground because she has a following in the Christian women community. It's really easy for us to put people on pedestals and end up worshiping the person that's teaching us about worship. Obviously I don't know her personally but after doing several of her studies and reading her blog I really think that she is grounded. Her personality is not as grounded and she's a tad on the crazy side which under most circumstances would really turn me off but her insight to the Bible is amazing and her relationship with her daughters is really inspiring. She's not for everyone but I think the good outweighs the quirky.

Olympics day 5

Now that we've found the perfect antenna configuration so we can at least tell what country is in what lane, I can finally start enjoying the Olympics. I missed the big relay a few nights ago so I was excited to watch M.Phelps last night in two races. What's the point of watching when you're going to win by that much? My favorite part was the announcer insisting over and over that Phelps would make the other swimmers look like boys. Speaking of of little ones, we watched the gymnastics with mixed emotions. I would rather have silver and not be torn away from my family. Here is a blog about the scenario that is pretty much exactly what I was thinking and I can't do a cartwheel either. Seriously, they are still pretty amazing.

Things I can rely on

Here are a few things I can rely on happening.
1) There's going to be someone pulled over near my house.
2) Someone will puke on me.
3) I will cry at the end of Pollyanna.
4) After tailing a car, I will then call the driver and tell them to give me the vacuum in their trunk.

I did not know that all four things would happen in one day and that #1 would include many guns, #2 would include my face, #3 would teach me to be glad yet again and #4 well, it was my vacuum.

Social Experiments

Well, this weekend was our biannual yard sale. It was a doozy. Not only was it over 100 degrees, we also had a great thunderstorm that ended in us wringing out our clothes. This is my second yard sale in a row that I 'cleaned up' by frantically throwing stuff on a porch. One of my friends (not naming names here) has been known to put some pretty interesting things in our sales. I mean, I'll probably never buy a pair of thong underwear from a yard sale. Somehow she sells it. She has sold more underwear and used bathroom products than I've ever thought possible. So when I saw that this time she was selling ovulation predictors I decided to throw in a box of cheap tampons to see if they'd sell. They sold! I sold a cheap box of tampons for $1 but couldn't sell my old recliner for $5. Something is either very wrong or oh-so-right. You be the judge.

On another note.....I love bargaining as much as the next person...BUT when someone comes up to me and says 'how 'bout I give you $1 for all of these cd's instead of $2 each because I don't even know if my husband wants them' I about lose it. If you don't know if he'll like them then don't buy them but it's not our fault that you don't know if something will look good on you, or if you don't know if your daughter is having a boy or a girl. When a onsie costs $.25 just take the risk. It's a yard sale for pete's sake.

Hopefully everyone knows that this photo is not from my yard sale even though it's felt like that sometimes.

Lars and the Real Girl

Seriously, watch it. It's one of the best movies I've seen in a while. It's sweet, sad (not too sad), funny and inspiring.

This Song

After totally crying on the season 2 finale of Grey's Anatomy, I had to get the Snow Patrol song Chasing Cars. Since it was from a cheesy romance-drama, I didn't have much hope in their whole album. The whole thing isn't great but how many are anymore? This song though is on it's third round of being all I can listen to. I really like Martha's voice here but don't like everything that she sings which is the way I feel about her brother Rufus.

Oscar Nominees

This past weekend I finally watched There Will Be Blood. When it came out everyone kept talking about milkshakes. Note that movie really has nothing to do with milkshakes. I knew that. I believe that you should not be allowed to use a catch phrase until you've seen the movie. So now, many months later I can be all about the milkshakes and I can appreciate this SNL sketch even more than before.

Richard Steven Millhouse Legg

He goes by Steve and we throw in the Millhouse when we want him to feel more prestigious. This is exactly how he should feel this Father's Day. My dad is known for his line of poems "Ode to...." so I thought I would write one for him today.

Ode to Steve.

What do you get for a man that's no fool?
He has three sheds and owns almost every tool.

He's spent much time out in the forest.
And when he is down all he needs is Chuck Norris.

But that's why he has a dvr and the Dish.
Recording Dallas and Walker fulfills every wish.

Oh, the stories he can tell but most I can't repeat.
If you ever get a chance then you're in for quite a treat.

We can not talk about the upcoming vote.
But I can explain to him the meaning of "air quotes".

If I were there I would toast an O'Douls with him.
But the chances he's still be sober are very slim.

It's impossible to explain what my dad means to me.
There are too many stories to write here, you see.

Some are funny to all. Some are funny to us.
He wants his hair buzz cut so that it's no fuss.

Just thought I would throw that in.
Cause that's what he'd do in that situa-shin.

So to my own, on a day that's for dads
For the last 31 years you've been pretty rad.

Tim Russert

Oh, I loved this guy. I think that he might have been my favorite person on television. It has been a tradition for my family to watch Meet the Press while we get ready on Sunday mornings. I don't know how this election will be watchable without his whiteboard tallies. I've never seen anyone get so excited about a whiteboard. I can't say much more than what everyone else is saying on tv right now about him.

I loved hearing him talk about his dad. But, for Father's Day here is a clip of him talking about his son. I know that tomorrow is a hard day for everyone that has lost their father.



I hope to be a parent that gets that kind of respect from my kids.

FORGET IT!

Well, I can safely say that I am not capable of being a vegetarian. At least not at this point in my life. I'll still try to buy better meat and maybe eat less of it but life is too short to give up something that tastes so good.

Gone Baby Gone

In the past few weeks at church we've been talking about hospitality. Today we focused on our neighbors. We watched the movie Gone Baby Gone a couple of nights ago and I keep thinking about how much of this is what we are talking about. Even though this is just a story, it's still a somewhat accurate depiction of how so many live. In my neighborhood people are addicted to drugs, people are hungry, people are poor and kids are in the middle of it. They are paying the price of bad choices and bad circumstances. So what do we do? Part of me wants to not allow my children to ever play outside without leashes and to have them sleep with us every night. The other part of me knows that we need to be part of a community. We have responsiblities. Who's going to help if we don't? The person that Casey Affleck's character is sitting with at the end of the movie reminded me that we can't change people but we can help them.

I don't know if this video will work or not but it's a clip from the Today Show about a man that was hit by two cars on a busy street and it took over a minute for someone to stop and help. The expert says that part of the reason for this is our lack of community.


Connecting Caring Communities

NOTE: Gone Baby Gone is not a family friendly movie. It's hard to watch or even think about some of the things that happen. I still think it is worth it. The story is challenging and makes you think. That's what a good story does.

Veg challenge

For the month of June my brother, parents, Kevin and I are not going to eat red meat and possibly any meat. We are all doing it for different reasons so I won't speak for them. I am doing it because of animal treatment. Not in a PETA kind of way but I just wanted to step back for a month and try to think about things. I do believe that God intended for us to eat meat and that we would have to kill an animal to get the meat. I also think that God intended for us to care for animals. If you've ever driven I-5 in California between the Bay Area and L.A. you've probably considered becoming a vegetarian. Knowing where your meat comes from and how that animal is treated isn't just about animal rights as much as it could be about your own health. The hormone/antibiotic-free labels are popping up more commonly now because it's something to be concerned about. These types of meats cost quite a bit more but if you cut the amount of meat that you consume per week you would be able to afford it and the benefits would definitely be worth it.

I don't plan on continuing past the month. I can't imagine a life without steak, Chick-fil-a or hot dogs at a BBQ. But, I am committed to being more aware of what I'm eating. Plus this gives me a good opportunity to get those 9-13 servings of fruits and vegetables that we're supposed to be getting per day.
Eating, drinking, breathing and just living are scary things these days. I don't want to spend a lot of time being worried about them but if there are easy changes I can make then why not? I also want to say that I'll still buy food that's not perfect because budgets are tight and choices are slim in this town. Relationships are always more important than anything else so it's more important for us to eat together than to be concerned about what we eat. Also, before anyone thinks I am 'greenier than thou', know that I drank a 44oz coke yesterday and dreamed of a bacon cheeseburger from Rick and Carolyn's. Right now my goal is like it was with recycling. I'm going halvsies.
On a side note, basically this is my ideal way of living. I know, nerdy-hippie.

Two Books and a Movie

http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifFirst Book: The Power of Play. This book was a great reminder of what my kids really need to be doing. It made me realize that what I really need to do is think back to the things that made me happy when I was a kid and not try to elaborate too much. Since reading the book I have noticed that my two kids are actually much happier riding their bikes or playing in dirt than they are trying to figure out whatever electronic toy I bought them to help them learn the alphabet.

Second Book: Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography. This was a small step up from People magazine but just as addicting. I think that the author had an obvious agenda but the stuff about Scientology, if even 75% true, is pretty scary. Since I have spent most of my younger years with a huge crush on Maverick, I was relieved to have some certain rumors quenched. But, the whole Scientology thing is putting a damper on the volleyball scene I have always appreciated.

Movie: Juno. We loved it! Usually when I have high expectations for a movie I am disappointed. This was not one of those situations. We really, really enjoyed it. I might have to watch it again before it goes back into Blockbuster's greedy little hands.

WITWIML?

That's short for Where in the World is Matt Lauer? Otherwise known as my favorite week of the Today show. There's other great weeks but this is by far the most exciting. It's over now and it was so great. We incorrectly guessed 4 of the 5 locations so that made me feel super smart and we always learn so much about places we will never be able to visit but who knows? right? So as another great week wraps up with a killer performance by the one and only Niel Diamond I want to say Well done Matt, Well done.

Theme Songs

There are not many TV show theme songs that you can sing along to these days. These are some of the classics.

Sha-na-na-na









There are too many to list but here is a link to see a list of the top 50 of all time.

Things I'd Like to do today

1. Get my house clean using some sort of magic.

2. Win any amount money legally.

3. Wrap my kids in Charmin so they could go one day without a scratch or bruise.

4. This....