Kid-losophy 101

A lot of parents out there can probably relate to what I am about to post.  It must be in the little kid DNA to live by the motto: "If one person won't give me the answer I want, I will just go ask somebody that will."

Which brings me to a little problem we have been dealing with lately.  The Bear has gotten in to the habit of asking me or Daddy for something (or to do something) then, when the first askee does not give him the answer he is wanting, he will go to the other parent seeking a more pleasing result.  When that doesn't work in his favor, he resorts to guerrilla tactics:  Do it anyway, then say "Mom (or Dad) said I could!"  Oh yeah . . . the ol' throw the other parent under the bus modus operandi.

Some times I just want to ask him: "Okay, you DO know that Dad and I know each other, right?  And that we occasionally talk to each other?"

This is one of those kid things that even though it is as aggravating as crap, it is still hard not to smile at.  And appreciate his obvious determination.

Tenacity is, for the most part, an admirable trait.  Except when it is being exercised on parents.

WOW! Where'd it GO?

Every once in a while I think of an interesting topic to blog about and, yes, it is something other than politics. But before I can get my butt in front of the computer something else diverts me . . .  "Oh look! a bunny!" . . . so my blogging gets scattered to the . . . well, I forget about it.

But with a new year approaching and several interesting things to ponder, I'm going to try to get back on the blogging wagon.

I have a short list deskside that I will be referring to in the near future as I know you all are awaiting with bated breath!

Bear Fu

I loved my Bear being a baby. But it was a full time job.

Now that he is getting older and getting involved in his own activities (just needs me to chauffeur), it gets more fun every year.  Last year we did soccer and T-ball.  This year we are doing T-ball and karate!

And the Bear loves him some karate.

He is enthusiastic, to say the least.  We had to mention to him after class the other night that he should let the instructor lead the class.  And not every suggestion by the instructor is meant to be replied to.  We will continue to work on minimizing his verbosity during karate.

I'll post some pictures as soon as I get them downloaded.  I ordered his karate uniform from KarateDepot.com and got it at a great price!

Mr. Obama Goes to Cairo

Barack Obama, during his Cairo speech, said: "I know, too, that Islam has always been a part of America 's story."

AN AMERICAN CITIZEN'S RESPONSE:

Dear Mr. Obama:

Were those Muslims that were in America when the Pilgrims first landed? Funny, I thought they were Native American Indians.

Were those Muslims that celebrated the first Thanksgiving day? Sorry again, those were Pilgrims and Native American Indians.

Can you show me one Muslim signature on the United States Constitution?

. . . Declaration of Independence?

. . . Bill of Rights?

Didn't think so.

Did Muslims fight for this country's freedom from England? No.

Did Muslims fight during the Civil War to free the slaves in America? No, they did not. In fact, Muslims to this day are still the largest traffickers in human slavery. Your own half brother, a devout Muslim, still advocates slavery himself, even though Muslims of Arabic descent refer to black Muslims as "pug nosed slaves." Says a lot of what the Muslim world really thinks of your family's "rich Islamic heritage,"
doesn't it Mr. Obama?

Where were Muslims during the Civil Rights era of this country? Not present. There are no pictures or media accounts of Muslims walking side by side with Martin Luther King, Jr. or helping to advance the cause of Civil Rights.

Where were Muslims during this country's Woman's Suffrage era? Again, not present. In fact, devout Muslims demand that women are subservient to men in the Islamic culture. So much so, that often they are beaten for not wearing the 'hajib' or for talking to a man who is not a direct family member or their husband. Yep, the Muslims are all for women's rights, aren't they?

Where were Muslims during World War II? They were aligned with Adolf Hitler. The Muslim grand mufti himself met with Adolf Hitler, reviewed the troops and accepted support from the Nazi's in killing Jews.

Mr. Obama, where were Muslims on Sept. 11th, 2001? If they weren't flying planes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon or a field in Pennsylvania killing nearly 3,000 people on our own soil, they were rejoicing in the Middle East. No one can dispute the pictures shown from all parts of the Muslim world celebrating on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and other cable news networks that day. Strangely, the very "moderate" Muslims whose asses you bent over backwards to kiss in Cairo, Egypt on June 4th were stone cold silent post-9/11. To many Americans, their silence has meant approval for the acts of that day.

What about those Barbary pirates. They were Muslim.

Now we can add November 5, 2009 - the slaughter of American soldiers at Fort Hood by a Muslim major who was a doctor and a psychiatrist who was supposed to be counseling soldiers returning from battle in Iraq and Afghanistan.

And THAT, Mr. Obama, is the "rich heritage" Muslims have in America.

Do the math, you morons!!!

Here is a prime example of WHY the US Postal Service is going broke and its employees are going to be getting pink slips by the dozens.

I work in an "unincorporated" town . . . what bearing this has on the federal postal service, I have no idea but the postal employees credit that fact with their idiotic policy about which I am going to gripe.

My employer has a post office box at the local post office.  I picked up the mail today to see a notice of postal box fee due and owing.  I went to the counter and asked if the fee is waived because our office is not serviced by a postal delivery person.

The answer? No.

Okay. So not only do they NOT delivery our mail to our address which in turn requires us to have apost office box but they are FORCING us to pay the box rental fee.

No wonder UPS and FedEx are kicking the USPS out of business. The USPS sucks.

Skanks for the Memories

I know I'm a little bit behind on this one - it is appropriately and thankfully old news.

Butt . . .

After having done my research and truly prepared myself for an objective opinion of the latest "Bachelor" installment, I can honestly say that Jake is a douche. And a oblivious one at that.

I need to qualify this entire post by admitting that I viewed very little of the show itself.  I have gleaned much of my information from the show's website, Chris Harrison's recaps, and entertainment blogs. Because quite frankly, watching the show is a complete exercise in nausea for me. But I still appreciate the entertainment value in that silly little theater of the absurd.

I thought to be a pilot one had to be at least halfway intelligent.  Apparently Lil Jake was doing all the thinking whilst the show was in production because even if Vienna (sausage!!! har har har) wasn't the PT of all time, she came in a pretty close 2nd.  With her bleached out hair and cock-eyed face, she is gonna turn out to be all kinds of heinous in a few years. I'm just sayin . . .

Anyhoo, on to the next season with Ali as the completely spontaneously chosen Bachelorette. ;o)

Who's the Hero

I was just reading the "manifesto" of Andrew Joseph Stack, the man that flew his small plane into the Eschelon building in Austin, Texas last week.

Before reading it, I had heard that Stack's adult daughter, who now lives in Norway, made the comment that his actions were inappropriate but that he was a hero.

Your dad was no hero, chick.

What he was and what he represents is a horrifying truth in America: with the way the IRS does business this type of event should not come as a shock.

If you don't know someone who has had difficulties with the IRS, then you are in the minority.  If you have had problems with the IRS yourself, don't consider yourself special.  It's pretty common in our country with the current IRS policies and procedures.

In fact, I have personally experienced the IRS meat grinder. Several years ago, due to false information filed by a former spouse, my husband and I filed our tax return only to be notified that our refund was being withheld to pay $2,400 in past due taxes and penalties.  After doing the necessary research and submitting all the proving documentation, it was apparent that the past due taxes were not our responsibility.  That, in fact, our refund should not have been withheld.

You'd think.

It took almost EIGHTEEN (18) MONTHS of telephone calls with dozens of different IRS offices and departments and people and letter after letter after letter repeating THE SAME INFORMATION before the IRS finally acknowledged that, Yes . . . we are entitled to our refund and the back taxes were the sole responsibility of the former spouse.

But . . . we did not get our refund. The IRS advised us that since we did not prove BEFORE the tax refund garnishment that the debt was not ours, then we had no refund coming to us. According to the IRS, we should have proven the debt was not ours before we even knew about it. When the taxpayer owes money to the IRS, he could lose everything if it is not paid. If the IRS owes the taxpayer money, there is no hurry to pay if it gets paid at all.

In the end, we both felt like we had been run over by a truck but at least we did not owe the IRS any money.  We got screwed out of our refund and felt relief that that was all they were going to do. That was a big wake up call . . . the voluntary taxes from decades ago are now mandatory and are being used against us. And in the case of Mr. Stack, caused a senseless and avoidable tragedy.

I empathize with Mr. Stack's frustration and feelings of hopelessness at the hands of the IRS and its inane policies. But he was no hero.

The gentleman killed in the building after the plane crashed was Vernon Hunter.  His son took issue with Stack's daughter's "hero" comment.  As should we all.

"My Dad served two tours in Vietnam. My Dad was the hero."

Yes, sir. He was.

Quote of the Day

"Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote that he is not making a present or a compliment to please an individual -- or at least that he ought not so to do; but that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country."  ~ Samuel Adams

I am so not HERE

because I am so already on vacation in my mind.

We have already made all our reservations for our July vacation so now all I have to do is think about it and plan for it and pine for it to already be here.

Five months is a dadgum long time to think about an event that will last 10 short days.

I need to find me a hobby to distract myself.

Call me cRaZy but . . .

but I am so stinking jealous of the East coast. They are just getting pummeled by snowstorms. And I write this in hopes that everyone has electricity and heat and food. And books.

But I miss having a good ole dump of snow once in a while.  I grew up in the Panhandle of Texas and we got at least three big snows every winter. Very rarely did they hit on Christmas (as scheduled) but we still got our fill of wintertime fun growing up.

Now that I am living so far south in central Texas, I'm lucky if I see the teeny tiny itsy bitsy little frozen bits in the air before they melt on their way down.  How the heck I am supposed to build a snowman THAT way? I gotta have something to work with, people!

Re-evaluation Time

Wait, is re-evaluation even a real word?  Been in the legal biz too long cuz we just make 'em up as we go along.

After surviving (and I literally mean "survive" in every sense of the word) a horrible 2008-early 2009, we are now actually coming out of the darkness of those days.  And with this emergence we have come to some new realizations. And just affirmed some old stuff we already knew.

First, the old news is that together we can make it through anything life throws at us. We're pretty damn tough. Sometimes even tougher than we think we're capable of.

Second old news is that even when our faith is weak, it is a lot stronger than others. And out of the difficult times we always come out more committed to our faith and our Lord. He truly never deserts us - - we just sometimes let the hard times block Him from our line of sight.

New news is that we have shuffled up our priorities so that enjoyment of life as a family makes it closer to the top of the list.  In the past we have put too much emphasis on new stuff, better stuff, top of the line stuff. Well, we're gonna start livin' on the cheap from now on. Guess what? I don't need a new truck every two years. And neither does the Hubster. Because we have a new goal.

Something that brings our little family immense joy is a place.  And our resources are going to be re-prioritized so that we will have a home at this place.  It's not a goal that is going to be accomplished overnight but it is a goal that brings excitement just in its simple undertaking.  I can only imagine the joy to be experienced in the actual work to get to the goal.

God is good all the time.  All the time God is good.

hmmmm . . . now THERE'S an ass-scratcher for ya

Liberals have been and continue to blame Bush for the sad state of our nation's economy, etc.

um, excuse me. Yes. Hasn't Congress been controlled by Democrats for the past 4 years (+ 2001 and 2002)?

Ergo, Democrats had the legislative muscle, not the sitting president, to pass worthwhile reforms.

Nobody else does the blame game so well. Huh, Martha?

Reality Smack Upside the Head

I am beyond GLEEFUL that Scooter Brown won the Senate race in Massachusetts last night.

Beyond. frickin. gleeful.

And while we all know that liberals/leftists/socialists live in their own media-saturated reality, last night's victory for Brown should have felt like the proverbial cast iron skillet upside their brain pans. They can talk their political mumbo jumbo all they want and twist it any way they think will work it to their best advantage but the rest of us OUT HERE IN THE REAL WORLD WHO HOLD VOTER CARDS know the real score.

Obama and his agenda and his henchpeople (HI, NANCY!!!!) are going down in flames. Pucker up, buttercups. Time to kiss that revolting 30 pound stack of pages you call "reform" Good-Bye.  All of you swung sooooooooo far to the left that you actually believed that the ignorant masses were following you.

More and more conservatives are moving closer to center that the Independents will soon be making or breaking all the elections.

Word to the whooped: you need to distance yourself fast and far from Obama and his radical agenda or you will find yourself losing. Again.

Word to the 2nd winded: don't miss this GOLDEN opportunity to set the Republican party strongly on its feet and show the nation that we are the only hope for CONSERVATIVE government, conservative taxes, and conservative choices that benefit everyone.

November 2010 elections are gonna ROCK!!!

2010: The First Blog of a New Decade

I wish I had something exciting and interesting to blog about for the smancy title but . . . . nope. I got nothin.

I do have a few little tidbits that are floating around in my medicinal haze (Tylenol Flu):

Massachusetts' Senate Race - I am so sick (literally) and frickin tired of hearing the liberal gag-me media referring to the open senate seat as "Kennedy's seat." For the love of pete, IT IS NOT KENNEDY'S SEAT, YOU OBLIVIOUS LIBERAL MORONS!!!!! It is MASSACHUSETTS' Senate seat that WILL be decided by the CITIZENS OF MASSACHUSETTS!!!

(I love screaming in print, lots less coughing.)

Chuggingtons - Alas, another wonderful train-inspired cast of characters imported from Britian that the Bear is newly crazy about. Of course, it offers all manner of licensed paraphenalia to drain the parental units' wallets: DVDs, toys, books, clothing, etc.  And to be honest, I am enjoying it myself.

Haiti - I understand looting of food and clothing. I mean, come on, they lost everything. I do not understand the looting of home entertainment electronics because I'm guessing there are no available electrical outlets and, no walls for said outlets.

facebook - meh. I'm finding the same "clique-ness" out there as was prevalent in junior high and high school. Why bother with the friend requests? Oh. I see. It's all about the numbers.

I'm goin back to bed.