Thursday, November 12, 2009

Just a Quick Update

I know it's been a while since my last blog post. I've been sewing like a mad fiend for an upcoming SCA event. I also started a new blog at Tumblr. As of now, I'm not switching but that could change in the future. If it does, I'll post notification here.

So, I just know what's going through your heads right now. What are you sewing? Well, in the past week I've sewn a princess dress for my youngest daughter and a tunic and vest/coat for my husband. They both came out very well and I can't wait for the event. I would like to sew my dress together but it's been pretty hectic trying to find all our gear. May not have time to sew that new dress.

This week has been History Fair week for my baby goats. They've been putting the display boards and reports together for some time but this week is crunch week...making sure everything is in order and getting ready to actually display their projects. I know! We homeschool! But in order for my kids to get some public speaking, I want them to do this. They will probably only give their presentations to family this year but I'm hoping for more support from other home school families in the area next year.

Well, back to the display boards...
Laugh a lot!

Friday, November 6, 2009

Interesting Thoughts...Well, Some Thoughts, Anyway

As I sat down to devour my 2 hamburgers and gulp my sweet tea, I felt the need to blog. There've been a lot of things going on and I would like to ponder these happenings.

The most publicized story at this point has to the Ft. Hood shooting. My own thoughts on this (gleaned from about 3 different sources and none of them mainstream media) are that this guy was simply trying to keep non-Muslims from going overseas to fight against Muslims. Sure, he may be fighting PTSD, but if you look at what happened,where it happened and the people who were killed or injured, you might come to the same or a similar conclusion. And since I believe that people like those fighting holy wars seek publicity for their acts of violence, I'm saddened by how much we help them. However, if we don't publicize these things, no one will know and no one will even think to be prepared for events such as this happening around them. A necessary evil, I suppose.

Some of the things that you may not know about (b/c of all the hype concerning Ft. Hood) are politcal actions that will affect our taxes, small businesses, insurance for workers at jobs, and I'm sure there are more. Can you believe they are considering a tax on things like hearing aids, pacemakers and other necessary medical items people need. These items already have such a high cost, to add a tax to them is preposterous. Rail against me if you wish (I'll just delete your comments if I find them rude and over the top) but I think we should legalize drugs, tax the hound out of them and require all drug dealers to have a license to distribute. Oh, so you want to import drugs to the USA? Sure, but you have to pay the appropriate exhorbitant fees.

Maine passed a law to forbid same sex marriage. I'm sorry but I believe if you've made a decision to marry someone, you should be allowed to do it, no matter race, color, creed, or lifestyle. I also can't believe some idiot JoP in some southern state (I live in a southern state, btw) refused to perform a marriage for a bi-racial couple! What in the heck is up with that? How stuck in the Civil War Era can you be? I hate to inform people like that but we are such a big country and so varied in ideas and ideals that we have co-mingled.

Speaking of co-mingled... We aren't African, Irish, German, French, Creole, etc anymore. Those terms refer to our ancestors and our heritage. Newsflash people! When you were born into this country, you were born a citizen of the United States of America and you are an American! If you went through the right channels to become an American, guess what! You left your other citizenship behind you! And you are probably happy with that choice b/c you wouldn't have gone through that process if you didn't want it to happen. If you are ashamed to be an American, go live somewhere else. No one's stopping you. It is, after all, the land of the free and the home of the brave. If you don't like the way we do things here, the same applies...just leave. Now if you're some kind of free-loader just trying to get some money you don't have to pay taxes on, recieve healthcare you're not entitled to, and make babies here so you don't have to leave, get with the program and become a citizen legally. I have no problem with my tax dollars helping fellow citizens (that are in need) get the care and help they need but I do have a problem with moochers. If you're just here to mooch and you have no intention of trying to become a citizen, get your lazy butt off our land. You don't belong here. Why don't you belong here? Because you didn't go through the process. You don't know how things work here. You didn't take the time to find out. Our country means nothing to you and therefore you can just trash it as much as you want to. So just leave.

Now if you are an American, please exercise your right to vote. That is so important, not just for electing presidents or governors but especially for the laws they want to pass. These laws affect our way of life, not the people that sit in a certain chair or a certain office. This is supposed to be a government for the people, by the people. If you are a new citizen of our country, read our Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Yeah, it might be like trying to work your way through Leviticus in the Bible but it's worth your time. You signed on to abide by the rules of our country. You ought to know the basis for our system of government. It's important so you can know what your rights are and how you can exercise those rights.

On to a new subject: labels. I absolutely despise labels. But they are, again, a necessary evil. (Seems like there are a lot of those...) If I had to choose a label for myself, it would be "strange new creature". Why? Because I am weird and unique. Ask any of my friends and they will tell you. Also, I wish for God to daily work with me to recreate me (and this is ironic considering my rant above...) to be a better person. So really those above paragraphs should just have said the highlighted bits. OK, so there's no option to highlight. Just mentally edit the "ranting" bits and you'll just about have it. All in all, I'm just really disappointed in our country as a whole. We were not made into a country so we could babysit other countries. We were not made into a country so we could host more visitors than we can afford. Our deficit is too large to be playing around with such large sums of money and the way the officials are throwing more around has me really and truly annoyed. They keep telling us to "do more with less" but honestly! Heaven forbid they do the same thing. Hmmm..there I go again. Well, I guess it's better to rant here than go postal later on in life.
Remember to breathe...

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Too MUCH!







It's been almost a month since I last blogged. Too much info is floating around in my head and it's just overwhelming.
Since my last post we've:
1. started hosting Torah studies in our home on Saturday mornings.
2. hosted a Redwall Feast
3. celebrated our youngest child's 5th birthday
4. started teaching piano lessons to an adult

Starting with number 1, it's interesting how the word "Torah" can create such various reactions. We are studying Torah with one person right now but we hope others will join us as we progress. This person's mother (he's in his late 40's or early 50's) had an absolute cow when he told her we were studying "Torah". I couldn't believe it! Just hearing the word "Torah" caused fear? Then I learned what the word "Torah" means, literally, teaching or instruction. It doesn't mean "law". (Power New Testament 3rd Ed. William J. Morford). Just hearing a Jewish word caused our friend's mother to think he was doing something awful and alien! I couldn't believe how she was so ready to jump on his case just because he was...wait for it...studying? I'm sorry. The man is old enough to make his own decisions. And reacting out of fear rarely accomplishes anything good.

Number 2-Our Redwall Feast took place on October 23. The kids dressed up and planned to read, recite or sing something. I cooked all day long. And we had a beautiful and fun time. Our friend mentioned above came, as well as my mom. We all enjoyed a wonderful visit and some really good food, even if I do say so myself! Rotfl! See the photos above. Noah was Zann Juskarath Taggerung from "The Taggerung", Ro was a molebabe, and Shi was Triss from the book by that name. Noah read the poem that tells about his character. Ro sang a song with me. And Shi read a riddle she learned out of a book. John read a song about brewing October Ale. Rotfl!
Number 3-For Ro's birthday, my mom and Noah were out of town helping my grandmother. But we still had some fun. The day before they left, we let Ro open her gifts. Then on her birthday I made a chocolate chip cake (dyed green) and we frosted it with cream cheese frosting (dyed purple). I let the girls put some of those pre-made candies on top. They had a blast and the cake was really cute. Tasted good, too.
Number 4-I'm really thinking I should focus more on teaching adult piano lessons. By the time you are an adult, you are taking things more seriously and you know how much work you have to put into something, even if it is just for fun. My new student is a real joy. She practices and enjoys it! Love that!
Well, better run. Still have other things to do and must also teach school today! Rock on!
Laugh a Lot!