I promise I won't post any more politically motivated posts after next Monday... I just need to get this all out of my system right now!
Okay... rant over... ahhh, time for some Diet Coke.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
For the Politcally Stupid People Out There
Click HERE to listen to this 3 minute clip from the Howard Stern show. It's rated G, so no worries about content.
You know, I could rant and rant and rant some more about this, but I'm just going to let it speak for itself... thanks Jill for sending this my way!
You know, I could rant and rant and rant some more about this, but I'm just going to let it speak for itself... thanks Jill for sending this my way!
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Finally... a Liberal Democrat I can agree with...
From the Los Angeles Times
Opinion
Protecting marriage to protect children
Marriage as a human institution is constantly evolving. But in all societies, marriage shapes the rights and obligations of parenthood.
By David BlankenhornSeptember 19, 2008
I'm a liberal Democrat. And I do not favor same-sex marriage. Do those positions sound contradictory? To me, they fit together.
Many seem to believe that marriage is simply a private love relationship between two people. They accept this view, in part, because Americans have increasingly emphasized and come to value the intimate, emotional side of marriage, and in part because almost all opinion leaders today, from journalists to judges, strongly embrace this position. That's certainly the idea that underpinned the California Supreme Court's legalization of same-sex marriage.
But I spent a year studying the history and anthropology of marriage, and I've come to a different conclusion.
Marriage as a human institution is constantly evolving, and many of its features vary across groups and cultures. But there is one constant. In all societies, marriage shapes the rights and obligations of parenthood. Among us humans, the scholars report, marriage is not primarily a license to have sex. Nor is it primarily a license to receive benefits or social recognition. It is primarily a license to have children.
In this sense, marriage is a gift that society bestows on its next generation. Marriage (and only marriage) unites the three core dimensions of parenthood -- biological, social and legal -- into one pro-child form: the married couple. Marriage says to a child: The man and the woman whose sexual union made you will also be there to love and raise you. Marriage says to society as a whole: For every child born, there is a recognized mother and a father, accountable to the child and to each other.
These days, because of the gay marriage debate, one can be sent to bed without supper for saying such things. But until very recently, almost no one denied this core fact about marriage. Summing up the cross-cultural evidence, the anthropologist Helen Fisher in 1992 put it simply: "People wed primarily to reproduce." The philosopher and Nobel laureate Bertrand Russell, certainly no friend of conventional sexual morality, was only repeating the obvious a few decades earlier when he concluded that "it is through children alone that sexual relations become important to society, and worthy to be taken cognizance of by a legal institution."
Marriage is society's most pro-child institution. In 2002 -- just moments before it became highly unfashionable to say so -- a team of researchers from Child Trends, a nonpartisan research center, reported that "family structure clearly matters for children, and the family structure that helps children the most is a family headed by two biological parents in a low-conflict marriage."
All our scholarly instruments seem to agree: For healthy development, what a child needs more than anything else is the mother and father who together made the child, who love the child and love each other.
For these reasons, children have the right, insofar as society can make it possible, to know and to be cared for by the two parents who brought them into this world. The foundational human rights document in the world today regarding children, the 1989 U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, specifically guarantees children this right. The last time I checked, liberals like me were supposed to be in favor of internationally recognized human rights, particularly concerning children, who are typically society's most voiceless and vulnerable group. Or have I now said something I shouldn't?
Every child being raised by gay or lesbian couples will be denied his birthright to both parents who made him. Every single one. Moreover, losing that right will not be a consequence of something that at least most of us view as tragic, such as a marriage that didn't last, or an unexpected pregnancy where the father-to-be has no intention of sticking around. On the contrary, in the case of same-sex marriage and the children of those unions, it will be explained to everyone, including the children, that something wonderful has happened!
For me, what we are encouraged or permitted to say, or not say, to one another about what our society owes its children is crucially important in the debate over initiatives like California's Proposition 8, which would reinstate marriage's customary man-woman form. Do you think that every child deserves his mother and father, with adoption available for those children whose natural parents cannot care for them? Do you suspect that fathers and mothers are different from one another? Do you imagine that biological ties matter to children? How many parents per child is best? Do you think that "two" is a better answer than one, three, four or whatever? If you do, be careful. In making the case for same-sex marriage, more than a few grown-ups will be quite willing to question your integrity and goodwill. Children, of course, are rarely consulted.
The liberal philosopher Isaiah Berlin famously argued that, in many cases, the real conflict we face is not good versus bad but good versus good. Reducing homophobia is good. Protecting the birthright of the child is good. How should we reason together as a society when these two good things conflict?
Here is my reasoning. I reject homophobia and believe in the equal dignity of gay and lesbian love. Because I also believe with all my heart in the right of the child to the mother and father who made her, I believe that we as a society should seek to maintain and to strengthen the only human institution -- marriage -- that is specifically intended to safeguard that right and make it real for our children.
Legalized same-sex marriage almost certainly benefits those same-sex couples who choose to marry, as well as the children being raised in those homes. But changing the meaning of marriage to accommodate homosexual orientation further and perhaps definitively undermines for all of us the very thing -- the gift, the birthright -- that is marriage's most distinctive contribution to human society. That's a change that, in the final analysis, I cannot support.
David Blankenhorn is president of the New York-based Institute for American Values and the author of "The Future of Marriage."
Opinion
Protecting marriage to protect children
Marriage as a human institution is constantly evolving. But in all societies, marriage shapes the rights and obligations of parenthood.
By David BlankenhornSeptember 19, 2008
I'm a liberal Democrat. And I do not favor same-sex marriage. Do those positions sound contradictory? To me, they fit together.
Many seem to believe that marriage is simply a private love relationship between two people. They accept this view, in part, because Americans have increasingly emphasized and come to value the intimate, emotional side of marriage, and in part because almost all opinion leaders today, from journalists to judges, strongly embrace this position. That's certainly the idea that underpinned the California Supreme Court's legalization of same-sex marriage.
But I spent a year studying the history and anthropology of marriage, and I've come to a different conclusion.
Marriage as a human institution is constantly evolving, and many of its features vary across groups and cultures. But there is one constant. In all societies, marriage shapes the rights and obligations of parenthood. Among us humans, the scholars report, marriage is not primarily a license to have sex. Nor is it primarily a license to receive benefits or social recognition. It is primarily a license to have children.
In this sense, marriage is a gift that society bestows on its next generation. Marriage (and only marriage) unites the three core dimensions of parenthood -- biological, social and legal -- into one pro-child form: the married couple. Marriage says to a child: The man and the woman whose sexual union made you will also be there to love and raise you. Marriage says to society as a whole: For every child born, there is a recognized mother and a father, accountable to the child and to each other.
These days, because of the gay marriage debate, one can be sent to bed without supper for saying such things. But until very recently, almost no one denied this core fact about marriage. Summing up the cross-cultural evidence, the anthropologist Helen Fisher in 1992 put it simply: "People wed primarily to reproduce." The philosopher and Nobel laureate Bertrand Russell, certainly no friend of conventional sexual morality, was only repeating the obvious a few decades earlier when he concluded that "it is through children alone that sexual relations become important to society, and worthy to be taken cognizance of by a legal institution."
Marriage is society's most pro-child institution. In 2002 -- just moments before it became highly unfashionable to say so -- a team of researchers from Child Trends, a nonpartisan research center, reported that "family structure clearly matters for children, and the family structure that helps children the most is a family headed by two biological parents in a low-conflict marriage."
All our scholarly instruments seem to agree: For healthy development, what a child needs more than anything else is the mother and father who together made the child, who love the child and love each other.
For these reasons, children have the right, insofar as society can make it possible, to know and to be cared for by the two parents who brought them into this world. The foundational human rights document in the world today regarding children, the 1989 U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, specifically guarantees children this right. The last time I checked, liberals like me were supposed to be in favor of internationally recognized human rights, particularly concerning children, who are typically society's most voiceless and vulnerable group. Or have I now said something I shouldn't?
Every child being raised by gay or lesbian couples will be denied his birthright to both parents who made him. Every single one. Moreover, losing that right will not be a consequence of something that at least most of us view as tragic, such as a marriage that didn't last, or an unexpected pregnancy where the father-to-be has no intention of sticking around. On the contrary, in the case of same-sex marriage and the children of those unions, it will be explained to everyone, including the children, that something wonderful has happened!
For me, what we are encouraged or permitted to say, or not say, to one another about what our society owes its children is crucially important in the debate over initiatives like California's Proposition 8, which would reinstate marriage's customary man-woman form. Do you think that every child deserves his mother and father, with adoption available for those children whose natural parents cannot care for them? Do you suspect that fathers and mothers are different from one another? Do you imagine that biological ties matter to children? How many parents per child is best? Do you think that "two" is a better answer than one, three, four or whatever? If you do, be careful. In making the case for same-sex marriage, more than a few grown-ups will be quite willing to question your integrity and goodwill. Children, of course, are rarely consulted.
The liberal philosopher Isaiah Berlin famously argued that, in many cases, the real conflict we face is not good versus bad but good versus good. Reducing homophobia is good. Protecting the birthright of the child is good. How should we reason together as a society when these two good things conflict?
Here is my reasoning. I reject homophobia and believe in the equal dignity of gay and lesbian love. Because I also believe with all my heart in the right of the child to the mother and father who made her, I believe that we as a society should seek to maintain and to strengthen the only human institution -- marriage -- that is specifically intended to safeguard that right and make it real for our children.
Legalized same-sex marriage almost certainly benefits those same-sex couples who choose to marry, as well as the children being raised in those homes. But changing the meaning of marriage to accommodate homosexual orientation further and perhaps definitively undermines for all of us the very thing -- the gift, the birthright -- that is marriage's most distinctive contribution to human society. That's a change that, in the final analysis, I cannot support.
David Blankenhorn is president of the New York-based Institute for American Values and the author of "The Future of Marriage."
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Halloween Part One
Tonight was our Trunk Or Treat Party at the Church. Last night at 10 p.m. I officially finished the three Halloween Costumes for the younger kids.... whew... what a relief! This is the one and probably only Halloween that my kids are dressed up in a matching theme, so I'm going to milk all the photos out of it that I possibly can!
I ended up making Megan's headband from a coat hanger and lots of cute ribbon and flowers. I now know that Eric and I will be able to support ourselves in retirement if our 401k never recovers... we can work the Renaissance Fair Circuit... I will make these... and he knows how make a mean looking wooden sword that little boys will go crazy over.
Check out those Sweet Thomas Light Up Sandals that are clearly too small... but still manage to find their way onto Brayden's feet more often than not....
Megan and Dorothy.... wait a minute... where did Toto go? 
Brayden had no problem with the concept of Trick or Treating this year... He had a great time! And now I have a whole extra week of snitching Halloween candy from my kids... just when we get rid of all the good stuff, we'll get some more on Friday night!
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Lofty Ambitions
I blame the designers on Project Runway for my current predicament. Watching that show over the last 2 months has given me the itch to do some sewing... My favorite designers Korto and Leanne make it look so darn easy and even FUN! This project has been anything but fun....
I've spent two whole days sewing Megan's dress and this is all I have to show for my efforts:
Yes, it's coming along, but Ispent wasted 4 hours on Monday sewing the bodice and back pieces in all wrong. It wasn't until I put it on Megan Monday evening that I realized my mistake. So, I had to pick it all apart and start over again on Tuesday morning.... I still need to do the back closure, hem the sleeves and bottom and hand stitch some decorative trim all over it...
I haven't even started on the boys' tunics yet. I'm praying that they go smoothly and I won't do anything really stupid because I don't have any more time for costly mistakes!
On the exercise front, I do have better news. I've started working on "brick training" this week. (Brick Training is when you train for two events back to back as you would do them in the race.) Monday, I rode the bike for 45 minutes and then got on the treadmill. I managed to squeak out 2 miles before my knees screamed, "enough!" and Tuesday, I swam for 20 minutes and then got on the bike and rode for 30 minutes. The swim to bike transition isn't hard at all... maybe it's because you have a buffer zone in there where you spend time putting on your shoes. The bike to run transition is KILLER... so that will be my main focus over the next week. Today is my "off" day for training, so I'm going to spend 30 minutes with my Yoga DVD and then hit the sewing machine again.
I've spent two whole days sewing Megan's dress and this is all I have to show for my efforts:
Yes, it's coming along, but I
I haven't even started on the boys' tunics yet. I'm praying that they go smoothly and I won't do anything really stupid because I don't have any more time for costly mistakes!
On the exercise front, I do have better news. I've started working on "brick training" this week. (Brick Training is when you train for two events back to back as you would do them in the race.) Monday, I rode the bike for 45 minutes and then got on the treadmill. I managed to squeak out 2 miles before my knees screamed, "enough!" and Tuesday, I swam for 20 minutes and then got on the bike and rode for 30 minutes. The swim to bike transition isn't hard at all... maybe it's because you have a buffer zone in there where you spend time putting on your shoes. The bike to run transition is KILLER... so that will be my main focus over the next week. Today is my "off" day for training, so I'm going to spend 30 minutes with my Yoga DVD and then hit the sewing machine again.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Solitary Confinement
Reality has come crashing down on me this weekend.
I have my triathlon in 2 weeks and I'm not nearly as prepared as I want to be. (I don't want to be the last one in my age group crossing the finish....)
AND....
I've started making 3 Halloween Costumes from scratch... which didn't seem bad until I realized that we have our Ward Halloween Party in SIX days.... so one whole week of sewing time I thought I had to work on these costumes just vanished into thin air!
So, if you try to call me this week and keep getting the machine, it's probably because I'm either at the gym working out, or I'm at the sewing machine working like mad! Leave me a message, and I'll get back to you after next Saturday night!
Wish me Luck! I'm going to need it to pull this off!
I have my triathlon in 2 weeks and I'm not nearly as prepared as I want to be. (I don't want to be the last one in my age group crossing the finish....)
AND....
I've started making 3 Halloween Costumes from scratch... which didn't seem bad until I realized that we have our Ward Halloween Party in SIX days.... so one whole week of sewing time I thought I had to work on these costumes just vanished into thin air!
So, if you try to call me this week and keep getting the machine, it's probably because I'm either at the gym working out, or I'm at the sewing machine working like mad! Leave me a message, and I'll get back to you after next Saturday night!
Wish me Luck! I'm going to need it to pull this off!
Friday, October 17, 2008
A Worthy Cause
I just found out about this Benefit Concert for Nie Nie. Her two daughters are going to be singing in it too! Tickets are $15 a piece. Click HERE for more information on how this came about.
I totally want to go to this, but not sure if I can swing it. Anyone local out there interested in making it a Girl's Night Out? Do you think our husbands would murder us for loading the kids up on sugary sweets at Trunk-or-Treat and then dumping them to run off to a concert??? Do you think we could get decent seats if we walk in the door at 6:55 (since Trunk or Treat goes until 6 p.m.)?
Let's talk....
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Honesty is the Best Policy
Today I was coming home from an errand and I got Brayden out of his carseat. He was chewing on something and I hadn't remembered giving him any food while in the car. I asked him to open his mouth so I could see what he was chewing on, and he complied, but when I looked inside I couldn't see anything. He closed his mouth again and resumed his "chewing"... I asked him to open up again, same thing... couldn't figure out what he had in his mouth. Finally, I asked him, "what is it you are chewing on, huh?" His reply? "A Booger." Figures....
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
The Costume Quest
Why is Halloween such a pain in the butt? I hate figuring out what my kids are going to be for Halloween and they have very strong opinions about the subject that don't always jive with mine... costume buying is always such a power struggle. At first, I told everyone that we were going to make costumes or reuse ones from the supplies we already have... I have LOTS of old costumes and other things that I could furnish a decent costume for every member of my family without spending a dime, but that did NOT go over very well.... so we are compromising, but I hope I don't regret it....
this is what we've come up with so far:
Megan: She is copying her cousin Lyndi and when we went to Joann's to see if they had anything that she would like, she picked out the same pattern as Lyndi. I am not as skilled as Molly in sewing, so I will be making the simplest dress of the four (the lavender one minus the hat). She picked out a baby blue fabric with sparkles, but there wasn't enough, so we switched to red satin, which is her favorite color anyway. I don't think the sewing will be too awful... I'm just dreading the cutting. 
Ian: He has waffled back and forth between a Star Wars Clone Trooper, Zorro or Robin (from Teen Titans). None of those costumes were going to be easy or cheap. When Megan described what she was doing, he decided we could do a "renaissance" style for him as well.... this is what he ended up picking out. His tunic will be red and gold and once I look through the instructions, I will decided which pattern to use (based on which one is the easiest to sew!)
Brayden: I found this costume at Costco in CA for $20. He loves Power Rangers and he LOVES the color Red. I love the sewn in muscles! 
But now that he has seen what Megan and Ian have chosen, he wants what they are having, so I might be making two boys tunics.... two dragon slayers/knights costumes and then saving the Power Ranger Costume for a Christmas present for Brayden.... he LOVES dressing up, so it would be a really appropriate gift for him. I would really love to have one Halloween where my kids all go together in some kind of theme... so far it's NEVER happened!
Thank heavens Taylor is "too old" for all this costume business.... I hope he doesn't decide on October 29 that he wants to dress up too.... then I will really lose it!
Monday, October 13, 2008
Miscellaneous
Just got back last night from our trip to California. We were originally planning to stay through Sunday and drive home Monday, but Eric had some work issues that couldn't wait another day. I HATE travelling on Sunday, but the Lord blessed us nonetheless... we set a record for time exactly 12 hours (the trip up took 13 1/4). Not sure what the big difference was except that we didn't take Highway 12 (and never will ever again) and we ate our lunch in the car while we drove. We only had a mile or two of Sunday night traffic coming back into Phoenix and saw no accidents (or really any cops, either.) But to our visitors who like to speed on I-10... beware... photo radar cameras have been installed in several spots just outside the Phoenix Metro area and a radar detector won't save you on this one! Thank goodness I was only going 5 over the limit when we passed the first one!
Over the last 10 days we've logged 1802 miles and used 106 gallons of gas (average price for gas was $3.49... ouch!) We visited 1 great grandma, 4 grandparents, seven aunts and uncles, nine cousins, and all of Eric's long lost friends from High School!
There are lots of things I plan to blog about from the trip... I'm not sure they will end up being in any kind of chronilogical order, but that's okay... you'll never know the difference, right? And hopefully Eric will find the time to blog about his last trip out with the Scouts soon... just before we left for CA, he and Taylor went canoeing on the Colorado River and have some fun and harrowing tales to share from the trip!
Over the last 10 days we've logged 1802 miles and used 106 gallons of gas (average price for gas was $3.49... ouch!) We visited 1 great grandma, 4 grandparents, seven aunts and uncles, nine cousins, and all of Eric's long lost friends from High School!
There are lots of things I plan to blog about from the trip... I'm not sure they will end up being in any kind of chronilogical order, but that's okay... you'll never know the difference, right? And hopefully Eric will find the time to blog about his last trip out with the Scouts soon... just before we left for CA, he and Taylor went canoeing on the Colorado River and have some fun and harrowing tales to share from the trip!
Friday, October 10, 2008
Fast Forward 20 Years
What is the purpose of High School Reunions? Seriously... I was wondering that very thing all evening long... We paid $130 for a night out with about 100 other Armijo High School graduates from 1988 and it was interesting! We went to the local country club and had a fabulous buffet dinner, but they charged me for 2 diet cokes at the bar.... after $130 up front, I didn't expect to pay for a soda!
Luckily, we quickly found the (non drinking) mormon girls to hang out with! They were fun for me to get to know! They had some fun memories that I hadn't heard before! 
The entertainment for the evening was pretty good. They passed out all kinds of awards from "sexiest" to "traveled farthest to get here" to "most kids" (We didn't win that one, but Keri pictured above did!) Eric was only slightly annoyed that I didn't nominate him for "sexiest".... This is part of the Nevada Street Gang... Eric with Hank and Georgie.... they couldn't stop laughing about past escapades they had as kids! The funniest thing about talking to all these guys is that they remembered how nice and accomodating Eric's parents were... Eric's house was the central meeting point for most playdates and other "posse" related activity... they shot hoops, jumped on the tramp and consumed Mom's cookies and homemade bread with reckless abandon. They also broke a few windows over the years and I'm sure they broke some furniture too....
Here's Eric with Paul and Gary - old seminary pals.... there were way more people that we know there than we anticipated...
About 10 p.m. I started to get bored... everyone else (besides about 10 of us) were smashed at this point and the 80's music was starting to bug... I took this picture of the centerpiece on the table while I tried to keep myself entertained for the last little while....
All in all, it was worthwhile! Eric really enjoyed reconnecting with friends he hadn't seen in 20 years... and who knew, one of his best friends actually lives in Dublin... and we both lived there for a few years and didn't even know it... it really is a small world!
Monday, October 6, 2008
Time Warp
Saturday night we attended Eric's 20th High School Reunion. Talk about a blast from the past... the DJ played all kinds of 80's music for the 1988 graduates! I have some fun pictures, but not sure how soon we'll be able to add them since we are at the grandparents house right now hanging out. We've spent the weekend hanging out with family and today we are playing with legos and watching movies. I brought my scrapbooking stuff and tomorrow I'm breaking it out so I can scrapbook our trip to Maui from two years ago! Yes, I'm behind, but someday I'll catch up! Wednesday we are going to the City (San Francisco) to visit the Exploritorium and Golden Gate Park. I've already wished I packed long jeans... with it being 100 degrees at home, we still aren't wearing long pants yet, but it gets pretty chilly here in the evenings. I'm enjoying it, but I don't want to get too used to it, because I have less than a week before I go back to the hot desert. I don't have to re-acclimate to the desert again! Okay, time to play... I'm on VACATION!
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Almost There
I've been packing the kids' suitcases for our trip to visit the family and I realized something absolutely WONDERFUL! No more packing diapers!!! ...Or wipes!!!! They take half the suitcase space in Brayden's bag and I often don't get through a whole trip without having to buy more, but we are done with that now! Not even a pull-up for bedtime! YIPPEE!!!
We are almost to the point of being able to travel without all the nuisances of babyhood. I'm NOT bringing a porta-crib, or a stroller, or diapers.... I'm just down to a car seat and a sippy cup.
We hit the road at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow... for 12 glorious [insert heavy sarcasm] hours of desert and brown (dead) rolling hills. The end result will be worth it and I FINALLY got the car's DVD player working this morning (talk about cutting it close) and we road tested it while I ran my last minute errands today. So far, so good....
Time to get back to the laundry... why is it a never ending process?
We are almost to the point of being able to travel without all the nuisances of babyhood. I'm NOT bringing a porta-crib, or a stroller, or diapers.... I'm just down to a car seat and a sippy cup.
We hit the road at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow... for 12 glorious [insert heavy sarcasm] hours of desert and brown (dead) rolling hills. The end result will be worth it and I FINALLY got the car's DVD player working this morning (talk about cutting it close) and we road tested it while I ran my last minute errands today. So far, so good....
Time to get back to the laundry... why is it a never ending process?
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Zombie
Yesterday I did something that I haven't done in Years...
I rented movies from this cool place...
I'm finally getting around to that Chick Flick Blog Request I made months ago! Click Here to look at the comments section for some really good recommendations.
Then after kids were in bed I watched this...
LOVED IT!!! And for the record, MY bridesmaid's dresses were WAY better than most of these! (There was one that resembled mine, but no exact matches!) This one is worth buying... I could see myself watching it over and over again...Then, I decided that I would move upstairs and watch the second movie in my room, so if I fell asleep, no big deal....
I enjoyed this but not as much as I liked 27 Dresses. I felt like it was so similar to My Best Friend's Wedding... way too predictable!I didn't fall asleep until somewhere in the neighborhood of 1:30 this morning.... ugh.... time to break out this: 
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