Thanksgiving Catchup

OK, NEXT year I'm springing for the professional pictures!

There were 33 pictures in all originally.
I've edited them for your protection. They're my kids and I love 'em, but seriously, you should thank me.

Kindergarten Is Exhausting!

We usually have 'quiet time' after school. It gives Brett a chance to do his homework and Lili a chance to, well, sleep. She doesn't always sleep, but 8 times out of 10 she usually does end up napping. Usually in mid-activity. It's not unusual for me to find her passed out on the floor, on her ladybug floor pillow or even 1/2 way up on the bed. Guess it kind of just hits her all of a sudden.

If she needs to rest, I'll let her. Just as long as she sleeps at night.

And by the way, she's been in bed for 15 minutes and she's already out cold.

So, yeah, naps are fine.

And, holy crap, I just looked outside. We have a couple inches of snow and it's still coming down.

argh. Wake me up in June.

Did it hurt?

When you fell from Heaven?

Look who got a 75% off Halloween costume :)

think she likes it?

(think I care?)

Birthday Bonanza

Yesterday was my birthday. whoopee.
What I find interesting is that today is my sister-in-law's (Jeff's sister's)birthday.
Tomorrow is her husband's birthday.
And 2 days before my birthday is one of my oldest, dearest friends' birthday.
We're all within 4 years of each other too. (except my brother-in-law-in-law, my sis-in-law robbed the cradle, he's only in his early thirties)
Weird, huh?
I tell you what, my mother-in-law is thrilled I'm sure.
Brett and Jeff's birthdays are within a week of each other in July and her boyfriend's birthday is a few days before theirs.
I guess it's kind of nice for her to get them all out of the way in 2 big groups, but sheesh, it's just kind of strange how we're all clumped together.

I had a nice birthday. I spent the day ALONE. ALL ALONE.
Total and complete bliss.
My kids even went to their after school program, so I didn't see anyone till after 5:00!
My mom did take me to lunch, so add in a free lunch and my day was fabulous!

I'm older than I've ever been, but I'll never be this young again. :)

This One's For You, Meemaw!

Look what came for Lili.

Yipee!

As soon as she saw it, she started running around yelling "Shell Kwan! Shell Kwan!"

Lovely.

As if one in the family wasn't enough.

thoughts...

As I was cleaning the toilets, a thought came to me.
Why can't those little screw/bolt cap things on the base of the toilet be attached in some way?My cats love to play with them, they never, ever seem to stay put and every time I clean, I have to chase them down after they pop off and roll around yet again. I mean, how often do you actually need access to the bolts? Are toilets meant to be mobile?
If we can't get into a harmless toy without screwdrivers, scissors, razor blades and nothing short of a blow torch, why can't toilet manufacturers figure out a way to attach those little suckers?

And before anyone jumps down my throat for any supposed attack on toilet manufacturers, it's just an observation.

**Disclaimer**
I make NO claims whatsoever to be informed in the slightest about the manufacture of plumbing supplies.

Forgive me, but I'm a little over-sensitive.

Rarely do I get any comments at all about how adorable my children are, but I make some 'observations' about a couple of politicians and boy oh boy, anonymous people come out of the woodwork to share their 2 cents about that.

OK, I'm done.

And a big 'Thank You' to Abigail for putting her name to her comments as well as articulating my points better than I actually ever could myself :)

So, seriously, what do you think about those little toilet things??

My Last Political Post

Yes, I know this is supposed to be a blog about our China adoption.
At the very least it's supposed to be a blog about my children, my family.
And I think that this election (as with all elections, but this one most especially) is about my family.
I'm not the biggest John McCain or even Republican fan in the world.
I used to spurn voting because it's just a decision between one lying hypocrite or another.
It might shock you, but my main concern at this time is NOT the economy.
My main concern is the morality of this country.
The basic values and morals of the candidates and what their administration will do to my family, not necessarily for my family.
As someone said yesterday: "It's NOT the economy stupid, it's CHARACTER." Amen.
Of course I want my husband to be employed and I want us to have money and a retirement fund and I want the US dollar to be strong.
But what I want MORE than financial security is a moral society.
I want people of character, morals and basic 'good' to lead our country.
And while I know that's probably not going to happen because basically 'politician' and 'moral' is an oxymoron, I don't think that 'change' is necessarily a good thing.
Just look at our country.
We're not allowed to pray in school, we can't talk about God, we can't say the word 'Christmas', we can't even say the word Jesus (unless we're swearing), and soon we won't be able to call our parents 'mom' and 'dad' or ourselves 'husband' and 'wife'. We don't teach the constitution or about the founding fathers, we wash over history. We're SO all-fired concerned about maybe, possibly offending someone that we're becoming a Stepford society where everything's accepted as long as 'they're not hurting anyone.'
Bull.
I'm just sick of it.
I'm not politically correct and I. Don't. Care.

I'm not trying to change anyone's minds or even be informative. I guess I'm just trying to vent, get my opinion across, for what it's worth.

If you don't like it, you don't have to read it. I'm not here to pander. period.
told you I wasn't politically correct.

The following excerpt is from: http://www.heraldextra.com

IN OUR VIEW: Barack Obama's socialist agenda

Daily Herald

Some have accused Sen. Barack Obama of being a socialist. But the truth may be worse.
A regular socialist would at least have the guts to clearly label his policy of nationalizing industries.
Obama and the Democrats appear to be seeking this goal by stealth.
True socialists just want to run the economy.
Obama and his allies have their eyes on your freedom.
Whatever tag is hung on Obama, his election would herald a massive redistribution of wealth and power to the government. If jobs are created, they will be government jobs, which do not create wealth but only spend taxpayers' money.

The candidate himself has been intoning with moderation. But the truth began to surface in his passing comment to "Joe the Plumber."
At an Ohio campaign appearance, Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, the plumber told Obama he was worried that the Democrat's tax proposals would prevent him from buying the business that he works for. Obama's reply was that he wanted to "spread the wealth around."
The candidate's far-left reputation was further reinforced after an interview surfaced from a Chicago radio station.
In it Obama lamented that the Supreme Court had "never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth, and of more basic issues such as political and economic justice in society." He said it was "one of the tragedies of the civil rights movement" that it lost track "of the political and community organizing and activities on the ground that are able to put together the actual coalition of powers through which you bring about redistributive change."
"Redistributive change" is jargon for government seizure of wealth, followed by handouts to selected social causes. And Obama is all for redistribution of your money.

The National Journal has rated Obama as the most liberal U.S. senator -- more liberal than Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an open socialist.

Look, for instance, at Obama's tax plans.
He is touting tax cuts for 95 percent of Americans.
But that is mathematically impossible. As the Tax Foundation has pointed out, 40 percent of the population pays no income taxes. That means a President Obama would be sending handouts averaging $2,000 to millions of people.
How will he get it?
By taxing the upper 5 percent.
History shows that this is financial suicide. To state what should be obvious, the rich pay their way. The richest 5 percent pay 60 percent of all income taxes.
Moreover, tax increases inflict their biggest harm not on Wall Street sharks but on productive small businesses.
Some estimates indicate that the Obama plan would raise taxes on 1.3 million small businesses (like Joe the Plumber's) that do so much to drive economic growth.
Discourage entrepreneurs from pursuing their dreams, and you'll kill jobs.

Obama's tax schemes will spread not the wealth but the pain.

But it doesn't stop there.
Obama and the Democrats plan to let the Bush tax cuts expire in 2010, which means a tax increase for you.
The senator doesn't count the tax cut expiration as a tax hike, but that's exactly what it is.
The tax question is but one example of what Obama's "redistributive justice" would mean.
What he and his fellow Democrats really want to redistribute is freedom, from abolishing secret ballots in organized labor to a reinstitution of the outmoded Fairness Doctrine to suppress conservative views on radio and broadcast TV.
In the early days of electronic media, the Federal Communications Commission ruled that broadcasters who give opinions on the airwaves must give equal time to opposing opinions.
The first result was that TV and radio stations shied away from any but the blandest ideas.
The second was that politicians used the rule to intimidate their political opponents. Overall, the public marketplace of ideas was diminished.
The Reagan Administration scuttled the Fairness Doctrine because the airwaves had become just one of many ways to get out a message. The proliferation of cable, satellite and Internet, for example, have created an abundance of channels over which virtually any opinion can be conveyed.
The Democrats want to reinstitute the Fairness Doctrine to shut down popular conservative radio commentators like Rush Limbaugh. The move would disproportionately affect conservative programming because liberal talk shows have relatively small audiences. Liberalism just doesn't compete well in the market of ideas.

Don't start thinking that the courts will protect you.
With a liberal Congress, Obama will be able to push through his judges of choice.
The liberal media and the government bureaucracy will be egging him on. There's little he could not do if he wished, and by all indications he wishes a lot.
Imagine, for example, Hillary Clinton on the Supreme Court engaging in "redistributive justice," and the federal government managing your health care.

Make no mistake: Obamaism aspires to dominate American life.

As Obama said himself in a revealing moment: "If you're going to be in the way of change, get out of the way - we're pushing you aside. Very politely of course. That's how we win elections."

Even now, more indications of Obama's real attitudes are bubbling up.
The Los Angeles Times holds a videotape that reportedly shows Obama raising a toast to former PLO mouthpiece Rashid Khalidi at a party in Chicago.
Khalidi was closely connected to unsavory characters in the Middle East, including sponsors of terrorism. (Denials of Khalidi's connections are conclusively debunked at
http://obamatoast.notlong.com)
Looking on as Obama raised his glass were two familiar cronies -- Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, who were part of the domestic terror group that bombed the New York Police Department, the U.S. Capitol and the Pentagon in the 1970s.

More will likely be revealed about Obama after the election.
A theory has been advanced, for example, that Ayers, the domestic terrorist, was the ghostwriter of Obama's memoir, "Dreams From My Father."
The common linguistic threads identified by Purdue Ph.D. Jack Cashill are too strong to be ignored. (See http://obamabook.notlong.com for Cashill's analysis.)
Before 1990, when Barack Obama signed the deal to write his book, he had written close to nothing.
Then, five years later, this untested 33-year-old produced what Time Magazine called -- with a straight face -- "the best-written memoir ever produced by an American politician."
The book is infused with Ayers's distinctive literary style.

The only question now is which distinctive style Americans will send to the White House.
If it's Obama, brace yourself for a major push toward a socialist America that leaves Franklin Roosevelt in the dust.

This is a scary, scary election.
As anyone who knows me knows, I AM NOT A POLITICAL PERSON. I try NOT to watch the news, I shy away from any political discussions, I just don't like it at all.
However, in light of the vast changes that this election may bring about, I can't not share the truth.
I can't sit by and passively let a major catastrophe take place in this country without trying to do what I can to help to put things to light.

Democrat, Republican, whatever.

I just want this country to remain the greatest country in the world.

God Bless America.

now off to cling to my guns and religion...both of which I'm still able to do. at this point...

Halloween 2008

Death, Belle and Shikamaru

Belle cozying up to Death. (Death as played by 'JOHN!' I told you she just loves JOHN!)

Nice hair, huh? Do you know how many people thought that was really her hair? Seriously?

Let's see...by the time of this picture she had already worn her costume once just around the house, then Thursday night to a community party (where she won 4th place, by the way), then to school, then to Meemaw and Peepaw's, then trick or treating, then finally to Big Meemaw's. pshew. She was one tuckered out princess.