Thursday, March 31, 2005

In My Opinion

I don't want to be kept alive by machines. I'm not saying that I wouldn't want to be helped by machines if they would be the means of restoring my life to full or partial normalcy but to be kept alive in a comatose condition for years is something I would not want. Terri probably didn't want that either but machines aren't keeping her alive. Machines aren't breath for her, medicines do not keep her heart beating, she simply lives and the fact that she still lives after nearly 14 days of being denied food and water simply because she is not able to feed herself or, supposedly, know that she is hungry is something that I consider a miracle.

The general process of death for patients whose food and hydration tubes are withdrawn:

# Day 1: The percutaneous endoscopic gastrotomy tube, which is placed through the skin and into the stomach, is removed in a simple surgical procedure. Patients who do not have mental cognition to have a sense of thirst or hunger will not be uncomfortable. [NOTE: Terri DOES have some mental cognition... she is NOT brain dead. Therefore, this process IS uncomfortable for her.]

# Days 3 to 4: Urine output decreases and patients begin to lose normal body secretions. The mouth begins to look dry and the eyes appear sunken. Patients will look thinner because the body tissues have lost fluid. Their heart rate gradually goes up and their blood pressure goes down. In some patients, dehydration releases endorphins in the brain that create a state of euphoria.

# Days 5 to 10: People who are alert have a marked decrease in their alertness. Respiration becomes irregular with periods of very fast and then very slow breathing. Some patients will become restless, while others will be less active. For patients in a persistent vegetative state, there may be no discernible change in their movements.

# Days 10 to Death: Patients do not appear to respond to their environment at all and may appear to be in a coma. Length of death process is determined by how well-nourished patient was and how much body fat and fluid they had when procedure began. May be outward signs of dehydration, such as extremely dry skin. Kidney function declines and toxins begin accumulating in the body. Toxins cause respiratory muscles to fail. Multiple organ systems begin to fail from lack of nutrition.

Not enough is known about the brain to understand just how much Terri knows or feels during this process. Her husband wants her to die, her parents want her to live and would provide for her care. I think they should be allowed to and I think the government, the courts, and the churches should stay out of it. Maybe the fact that she's still living after all this abuse is because it is not God's will that she die.

But that's just my opinion.

***David has just informed me in my comments that Terri's fight is over. I wonder if we've learned anything from this?

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Working on some motivation here.

I've done a search for my shorter britches and shortsleeve blouses, dusted off my earth shoes, gonna put my hair up, and wear a funky pair of earrings in hopes that if I dress a little more spring/summery that it will BE a little more spring/summery. Yesterday the temps were near 80F, whothehell knows what they'll be today cause it's cloudy and the wind's blowin and a-goin.

Let's hope this works cause baseball practice starts tomorrow (if it doesn't rain) and shivering and shaking at ball practice isn't my favorite thing in the world to do.

Ya'll could help me out here by digging out your flowery duds and thinking, SPRING!!
Mind over matter ya know.

Monday, March 28, 2005

The Day After

Our Easter was rainy and nasty so we were indoors with all the little ones and we big ones again this year. Jerri slipped out during a break in the rain and hid plastic eggs for the egg hunters but it didn't take them long to search them out and run back inside with their gatherings to get out of the cold wind.

We did have a really nice dinner. There was a dry-cured whole ham that I had to drive to Marianna to find (I bought the only one in the store). The side dishes included mashed potatoes, a big veggie salad, deviled eggs, cream peas, cornbread dressing (Jerri made this), bread rolls, and a cute little bunny cake made by Jerri for MeriKate's 5th birthday.

The kids were full of chocolate candy so it was a pretty wild afternoon.





I just wish Trish and the girls could have been here.

Saturday, March 26, 2005

Redneck 101

I reckon it's been awhile since I've offered new instructions on Redneck speak so it could be that ya'll are needin a little review.

Review Lesson # 1


Useful Redneck Phrases:

1. The engine's runnin' but ain't nobody driving = Not overly intelligent.

2. As welcome as a skunk at a lawn party (self-explanatory).

3. Tighter than bark on a tree = Not very generous.

4. Big hat, no cattle = All talk and no action.

5. We've howdied but we ain't shook yet = We've made a brief acquaintance, but not been formally introduced.

6. He thinks the sun come up just to hear him crow = He has a pretty high opinion of himself.

7. She's got tongue enough for ten rows of teeth = That woman can talk.

8. It's so dry the trees are bribin' the dogs = We really could use a little rain around here.

9. Just because a chicken has wings doesn't mean it can fly = Appearances can be deceptive.

10. This ain't my first rodeo = I've been around awhile.

11. He looks like the dog's been keepin' him under the porch = Not the most handsome of men.

12. They ate supper before they said grace = Living in sin.

13. Time to paint your butt white and run with the antelope = Stop arguing and do as you're told.

14. As full of wind as a corn-eating horse = prone to boasting.

15. You can put your boots in the oven, but that doesn't make them biscuits = You can say whatever you want about something, but that doesn't change what it is.

Friday, March 25, 2005

Friday Photos

It was a beautiful spring day down here in L.A. (that's Lexa, Arkansas) and it was a crying damn shame that I was stuck in the office all day. A bigger damned shame that there's rain in the forecast for the whole danged weekend.

Anyhow, I got a little surge of the Spring fever on my way home today and stopped to take a few photos of these 3 old houses that I've been meaning to snap for awhile now. One of them will be covered in Wisteria blooms in a few weeks and I'll take more photos then.

Old houses facinate me cause I try to imagine what sort of family used to live there and what their life must have been like.







Thursday, March 24, 2005

A Mother's Life Is All About Shit.

Think about it, from the time you first become a mother, your life revolves around shit. The first time you lay eyes on them the odds are that they have a loaded diaper waiting for you are about 75 to 1 (approximate calculation folks cause I only had 3 in my survey). Believe me, it escalates from there, the loads get bigger and messier before they finally learn the reason you have a porcelain throne in that little room down the hall and, sisters and brothers, before that occurs you've been through WAR!

I've battled shit for many years. I've scrubbed shit from the walls, from cribs, from the carpet (house and car), the floor, the tub, the sheets, from the bottoms of shoes (mind you, the shoe shit coulda been their shit but there were occasions when it was strange shit from strolling around outdoors), from inside shoes, diaper bags, my clothes, his clothes, their clothes,,,,the list could go on for an eternity I reckon. When you have kids you never run out of shit.

You learn to worry if they don't shit or if they do shit, if it's too much and too often. You know exactly how long that button, or penny should take to pass (the doctor will tell you this the first time the child swallows a foreign object) and you learn to make sure, through intense examinations of the shit, whether it did.

Sometimes I feel like I'm the Queen of shit and if you have children, I'm sure you do too.

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

The only lively conversation in the office in two days:

Tammy comes stumbling down the hall to look into the office of myself and Kay,

Tammy: Did ya'll hear that thump from my office when I fell asleep and my head hit
the desk?

Myself: Naw, we couldn't hear it for the snoring going on back here.

Kay: "Snicker".

It's been mighty slow at the office but my Bookworm skills are improving.

Ya'll bought your eggs for boiling up and dying yet?

Not Front Page News

Yet newsworthy.

* Missing the Point: In January, Richard Graybill, 42, pleaded guilty in Chester County, Pa., to unauthorized use of a vehicle. He had taken a car that had been parked, awaiting repairs, at a shopping center, but he was later discovered by the car's owner when he happened to pull up to the drive-thru window at the Wendy's restaurant where she worked. She confronted him, and he sped away, but he returned a few minutes later and tried to persuade her to sign over the title to him, in that he had put a lot of effort into fixing the car up after he took it. [Philadelphia Inquirer, 1-15-05]

* Richard Arredondo, 18, and two pals had to be rescued by sheriff's personnel in California's San Bernardino National Forest on Feb. 5 after getting lost while mountain biking; on Feb. 6, they went back in to retrieve their bikes, but again got lost and had to be rescued. [Press-Enterprise (Riverside, Calif.), 2-7-05] [Journal of Advanced Nursing press release, 2-24-05]

* In 2002, 17 U.S. pilots captured and beaten by Saddam Hussein's forces in the 1991 Gulf War filed a lawsuit asking for nearly $1 billion from Saddam's assets frozen by the United States, and in 2003, a federal judge ruled in their favor. However, an appeals court tossed out the case, citing a 2003 post-invasion law that removed jurisdiction for the lawsuit at the behest of the Bush administration, which wants to reserve the frozen assets for rebuilding Iraq. An even larger irony is that Defense Secretary Rumsfeld has publicly conceded that the Iraqi detainees who were abused in 2003 at the Abu Ghraib prison should be compensated, even though the U.S. pilots endured perhaps worse abuse at the same Abu Ghraib facility in 1991. [Los Angeles Times, 2-15-05]

In ending, I believe I'd have to find a lover who lived in the first floor.

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

WARNING! Chocolate Eggs and Bunnies could result in added poundage!

Don't just take my word for it, look what it's done to the Easter Bunny!


**

**due to the graphic nature of this photo, it should not be viewed by small children.

Sunday, March 20, 2005

What is WRONG with some people?

I know I'm not on top of the news and current events so much these days and perhaps I'm a little late in stating my opinion about a matter that really pisses me off past the point of pisstivity (don't try looking that one up in your dictionary), but sometimes I just have to mull stuff over a bit before I can say what I think without using too many curse words.

We live in a great country, probably the greatest democratic country in the world. Hell, we're diversified to the point that we can barely lay claim to being an English speaking nation. But I gotta tell you folks, some of us are amongst the most narrow, spiteful, minded humans in the world.

They're picking on our cartoon characters people! It's like they don't have enough to do with dishing out the complaints about Janet Jackson showing a little flesh on national tv, they've gotta find something wrong with someone as innocent as SpongeBob!

"Two conservative Christian groups are attacking the cartoon character for allegedly being part of, as one of them put it, a "pro-homosexual video."

A man named Dr. James Dobson, founder of a conservative Christian group called "Focus on the Family" addressed members of Congress at a black tie dinner in Washington celebrating the president's election victory this week. He advised the group that SpongeBob had been included in a pro-homosexual video which was to be mailed to thousands of elementary schools to push a tolerance pledge by kids, including tolerance of differences of what Dr. Dobson called "sexual identity." Dr. Dobson said most of the favorite cartoons of America's kids were in on the plot, Barney and Jimmy Neutron included.

There is a video. It was broadcast in 2002 and has been revised for distribution to schools in March. It does promote tolerance of diversity, but contains no reference to sex, sexual lifestyle, sexual identity or Paris Hilton.

The eight-page long teacher's guide that accompanies that DVD makes three passing references to same-sex parents. It contains generic advice about what teachers should do if kids ask them about atypical homes— like ones with adoptive parents, step-siblings, or grandparents. Teachers are advised to remind kids that everybody's family is different, but they're all based on love.

The Christian group sees the video as an insidious means by which the organization is manipulating and potentially brainwashing kids."

,,,,,,,Keith Olberman, MSNBC News


Dammit, to be great, the country must honestly accept its complex diversity and realize that there is nothing wrong with teaching children that human worth and human equality should not come with a list of exceptions.

It's beyond me to understand why these so-called "family" groups spend so much time scanning the airwaves trying desperately to isolate and obliterate anything they disagree with. Perhaps if they spent less time watching for any signs of flamboyant actions from asexual cartoon characters and spent more quality time with their families, it wouldn't matter what was on television. If these folks are really so narrow minded they can use the "off" button on the freaking tv.

Saturday, March 19, 2005

Not much going on in my neck of the woods.

Still have some sickly folks but I think they may be getting a tad better. I think we'd all be in better health and spirits if this danged weather would decide what it wanted to do. It sucks to have to wear a jacket one day and short sleeves the next. Sometimes even all in the same day!

I had another little altercation with a spider while in the bank drive-thru yesterday. Luckily I only have to use this bank for one of my clients once a month cause maybe by then they'll have forgotten that I was the muttering, cursing, crazy lady banging a book around inside my truck while they were attempting to finish up my deposit. The evil little critter with the eight creepy legs rappeled into my truck window from the roof overhang or somewhere.

Little bastard is in spidey heaven now.(shiver!!)

Thursday, March 17, 2005

Things got a little hectic here for awhile.

Last week the Chick had a viral infection in her mouth and throat and this week Jerri came down with it. It made her so sick the doc had to admit her into the hospital to prevent deydration. My son dropped the Chick off at the office last night and I brought her home with me so we've been doing some major playing around here.

If you have children you already know how much room those little ones can take up in your bed. Last night I shared my bed with a terrorist, the Chick, a Scoobydo toy, a teddy bear, 3 pacifiers (or as the Chick says, Paci-fers), and a sippy cup full of chocolate milk. By mid-night they'd scooted me completely out of the bed so I got up for a bit before I went back to try to find a spot to crawl in and get a few more hours of sleep.

This morning Zach and I quietly slipped out of bed so we could get him ready for school and 5 minutes later I hear this little voice loudly announce, "Good Morning, I wake up!" A bowl and a half of "Frosted Lucky Charms, they're magically delicious", a scrambled egg and one sausage pattie (I think she's making up for being sick and the lost poundage of last week)later, we watched the school bus take Zach away to school and then snuggled in my chair for a morning of cartoons.

Jerri called around 10 to say that she was home and she came out later to stay with us until my son got home. She's still feverish and feeling bad so will be going back to see her doc again tomorrow. Jami and the girls came around 10 and stayed to play with the Chick until around noon also so we've had a pretty busy day.

We had some sad news also yesterday. My oldest daughter found out a couple of weeks ago that she was having another baby and yesterday she became ill and ended up miscarrying. She had just told Jaylen and Jordan that they would be having a new little sister or brother in the fall and now she'll have to break the news to them that God decided differently. Trish had to go this morning for a D&C so my love and my thoughts are with her as she recovers from this life trauma and disappointment.

Ya'll have been asking after the terrorist so I snapped a few pics of him the other morning as he was lazing around waiting for the school bus.

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Just really tired.

Lately I have this feeling of being in over my head all the time. I feel overwhelmed. It's hard to talk about, but it's like I have to please everyone, make everybody think I'm this strong, wonderful person. I feel stuck, always struggling to finish, but never getting to where I want to be. I feel like I've been asleep and I wake up in the middle of a race and I don't even remember leaving the starting gate.

I withhold information about my feelings, so much so that I think the people closest to me have to guess what's really in my mind and heart. But I do this to keep the peace and I'm really getting tired of keeping the peace. It is hard for me to make a direct request or state an opinion because being denied or misunderstood makes me feel unloved and unworthy. I'm sometimes feeling isolated and afraid of people and what they might think but at other times I just don't give a damn what anyone thinks.

I think my soul's just tired. I know the rest of me is.

Maybe I need vitamins.

Monday, March 14, 2005

Ms. Leslie's allowing me an interview too!

She's teasing us with her's though, only answering a question occasionally. But they're good questions and great answers so ya'll go take a peek.

Saturday, March 12, 2005

Adam was kind enough to let me interview him.

Ya'll go take a gander at his answers to my nosy questions over at his site. This youngun has really got it together and is making the best of being so far away from his home in Austrailia. He's getting married soon too so be sure and congratulate he and his wife-to-be, Val.

Friday, March 11, 2005

You're never to old to see something new.

Just when I think I've seen it all I find out I'm wrong.

As I was driving to work this morning a car pulled out from a side road in front of me and a car I was was passing on the 4 lane going into town. Both myself and the other vehicle had to slow down for this due to the bravery of this lady in the hoopty cause she weren't gettin into any sort of hurry. Then the most amazing thing happened, she braked and changed lanes. No warning, no blinker, just a flash of brake lights and the gal moved on over. The rest of my drive into work was spent wondering if the laws of the road had changed again and I missed the boat.

Don't get me wrong, I'm probably not the best driver in the world cause I do tend to get in a zombie zone due to the fact that driving bores the hell outta me. But I do try to obey the traffic laws, at least the ones that I remember. I've even made up a few of my own laws and rules of the road.

1. It is not safe or sanitary to put your lipstick on while driving down a gravel road.

I know this because the last time I did this, I left the road, jumped a ditch, and landed on a turn row in about 8 inches of fine delta dust. BIG POOF of dust, BIG bump and lipstick up my nose taught me a lesson. I didn't figure it would be sanitary to continue to use a lipstick that was then all bent out of shape and that had been up my nose.

2. You will have a tire blow out only when you are alone, on a dark road, and far enough away from home that you have plenty of time to dread the cussin you're gonna get cause hubby had to get off the couch, put his shoes on, and come change it for you. This is still much better than before cell phones when you were alone, on a dark road, and too far away from home to walk, and at the mercy of a deranged madman who may kindly stop to offer you a hand (or a whack).

3. You can drive and beat your kids (who are fighting in the back seat) with your shoe while staying on the road (if it's straight) as well as keep a steady speed. The fact that the steady speed is just a tad more than the speed limit, and there's only one other car on the road, and it's a state trooper, is irrelevant.

4. It doesn't matter if you don't know where you're going or you've gone past where you should be. You CAN turn around. I believe it is perfectly legal to do this in public or private drives as long as there is noone around to complain about it. I've even done it in a car wash.

5. When it's dark and raining really, really hard and you can't see a damned thing, it's not safe to assume that the driveway you are turning into is actually where you think it is. I know this because the guy that had to come out into the rain with a tractor and chain to remove my car which was buried in a muddy cotton field up past the hubcaps told me. In a really loud voice.

6. You should always remember to take your sunshades off when it gets dark so that you can see to drive. You should not assume that the reason you can't see a damned thing is cause it must be blowing up a storm cause you've forgotten that it's gotten late enough that the sun has gone down.

7. Never assume that child safety seats are inescapable. Any 2-year-old can and will escape from them and will then be trying to hug you while you're trying to find a place to pull over to tie em up again before they arrest you.

I hope these little tidbits will increase your knowledge and aid you in becoming a safer driver.

Keep it between the lines!

Wednesday, March 09, 2005

I've never been interviewed before but,,,

Kb asked for volunteers among her readers so I took the bait. (I'm ready for my prize now Kb!)

I know there are few surprises in my replies, I just hope it doesn't put anyone to sleep.

1) We all know that you are hilarious so tell us the most funny,
embarrasing thing that has happened to you or that you did.

I mistakenly thought a little, old, tax client was attempting to molest/attack me a few years ago.

Keep in mind that this all happened in a matter of a very few minutes.

I had prepared his return and was printing it so we could both sign it and suddenly he stood up and reached across my desk towards me, sort of slapping at me. I was thinking, "What the fuck??", and I'm scooting my chair back as he continues to reach forward, slapping at me across the desk. I pushed back in the chair until it hit the wall and just as I started to stand he reached way over and slapped me across my chest, the same second I saw something land at my feet.

The next thing I remember is lying on the floor with him patting my face saying, "mam, are you ok?"

What had landed at my feet was the huge spider that he'd slapped from my shoulder. I'm not sure if it was the spider or the thought that the man was attacking me that made me faint but I musta overloaded there for a second and Poof,,I went down like a brick.

I walked into the house that night after work and told hubby, "You know that fight or flight instinct we supposedly have? ,,,, Fuck, I faint", and I went on to tell him what had happened. He remarked, "Hell Brenda, if he'd told you there was a spider on you, you'd have stripped on the spot and the old guy would have probably had a heart attack."

2) Being the "tax man" has anyone cussed you out over their return and if
so tell us the story.

I think I do pretty well at putting on a professional, know my stuff, front (most of the time) when I'm with a client so I've never had one actually curse me although they've been upset over the amounts of their refunds, or lack thereof.

I did have a couple last year, the first day I opened the tax office for business, that got into a fight with each. Since the ex-husband was Jordanian and I couldn't understand one dang thing he was saying but figured it wasn't good when he had the ex-wife's finger twisting it, I called the cops and had them removed. It was nice to know that the FC police dept. has less than a 5 minute response time. They sent 5, fine, burly officers to my aid.

3) What is one thing that you would love for your husband to do without
you having to tell him?


Just know me. I've lived with this man for nearly 34 years and I can honestly say he knows nothing about me. Not my shoe size, not my favorite color,,Nothing!!

4) What is the one thing that your husband does that makes you want to hit
him over the head and bury him in the yard?

On quite a few days that would be when I wake up and he's breathing.

5) If you could change one thing about yourself overnight what would it be?

I'd be slim and trim again.

If any 5 folks are willing to be interviewed by me, let me know in my comments and I'll ask away.

Tuesday, March 08, 2005

I just love 'prises!

On Sunday Jerri and Jami were going to pick up a couple of things in town and they left Krysten and MeriKate here with me with a promise to bring them back a 'prise. I told them to bring me a 'prise too.

So they did.



Monday, March 07, 2005

You know you're from Arkansas if,,,,,,,,,,,



1. "How 'bout them Hogs" is a common phrase around your house.

2. Everyone you know has been on a "Float Trip".

3. "Vacation" means driving to Hot Springs or maybe even Branson.

4. You've seen all the biggest bands ten years AFTER they were popular.

5. You measure distance in minutes rather than miles. For example, "Well,
Conway's only 20 minutes away."

6. Up North to you means Missouri.

7. The phrase "I'm going to the Lake this weekend" only means one thing.

8. You know several people who have hit a deer.

9. You think Arkansas is spelled with an "aw" at the end.

10.Your school classes were canceled because of cold.

11.You consider riding a mechanical bull true entertainment!

12.Your school classes were canceled because of heat.

13.You instinctively ask someone you've just met, "What High School did you
go to?"

14.You've had to switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day.

15.You think ethanol makes your truck "run a lot better."

16.You know what's knee-high by the Fourth of July.

17.You see people wear bib overalls at funerals.

18.You see a car running in the parking lot at the store with no one in it,
no matter what time of the year.

19.You know in your heart that Arkansas can beat Texas in football.

20.You end your sentences with an unnecessary preposition. Example:
"Where's my coat at?"

21.All the festivals across the state are named after a fruit, vegetable,
animal or grain.

22.You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both
unlocked.

23.You think of the major four food groups as beef, pork, catfish, and
Sweet Tea.

24.You carry jumper cables in your car and know that everyone else should.

25.You went to roller skating parties as a kid.

26.You only own four spices: salt, pepper, ranch and ketchup.

27.You eat dinner at noon and supper at night.

28.You think sexy lingerie is tube socks and a T-shirt.

29.The local paper covers national and international headlines in one
column, but requires six pages for sports.

30.You think I-40 is spelled and pronounced "ah fahty".

31.You'll pay for your kids way through college unless they want to go to
UT.

32.You think that "deer season" is a National Holiday.

33.You know that you can't get anywhere without going through Little Rock
first.

34.You can't think of anything better than sitting on the porch in the
middle of the summer during a thunderstorm.

35. You know what time to be home for curfew - not because of the law, but
because of the mosquitos!

36.You've said, "It's not the heat, it's the humidity."

37.You know all four seasons: Almost Summer, Summer, Still Summer and
Football.

38.You know if another Arkansan is from the Ozarks, Northern, Central, or
Southern part of AR as soon as they open their mouth.

39.You know that Bill Clinton, Ted Danson's wife, and John Grisham are all
from Arkansas.

40.You failed World Geography in school because you thought Paris, London,
Bismark & Nashville were cities in Arkansas (& they are!)

41.You think a traffic jam is ten cars waiting to pass a tractor.

42.You know what "Wooooo Pig Sooie" means.

Sunday, March 06, 2005

Busy Baby Weekend.

It's been a wonderful weekend for being outdoors so that's where we've been.


PopPop had lots of help with planting his tree!

Saturday, March 05, 2005

It amazes me.

Almost 2 weeks ago, Jerri stopped by the office and she'd been crying. The results of one of the tests they do in early pregnancy for genetic defects had come back with high levels of something which wasn't the norm. After reading about these tests, we discovered that the percentage of false positive results are in the 90 percentile but as her doctor could see the state of worry she was in, he sent her to Little Rock for a different sort of ultrasound.

They did the ultrasound yesterday (Friday) and Mom is calmer now cause it appears that the baby is fine. In fact, SHE is so fine that it took forever to click a pic of her face because she kept covering it with her hands every time they'd move the wand as if to say, "Ya'll better be gettin yourselves outta my face here".

Yep, we're having granddaughter # 7 (big grin).



Friday, March 04, 2005

I reckon I'm just lazy

And I'm still in a "mood" after the irritations of last week, and there's very little going on around here other than work and coming home to more work.

I came in from work the other night, with both arms loaded with groceries, to the sounds of Hubby and Zach groaning from hunger, and the bird bitching just because they were bitching. The scene didn't make for good blog fodder, I promise.

There is this little matter,

BC/AD or BCE/CE?

BCE stands for "Before the common era." It is eventually expected to replace BC, which means "Before Christ." CE stands for "Common Era." It is a relatively new term that is experiencing increased usage and is eventually expected to replace AD.

The reason for this?

Some theologians and other authors felt that non-religious, neutral terms like CE and BCE would be less offensive to the non-Christian majority. Forcing a Hindu, for example, to use AD and BC might be seen by some as coercing them to acknowledge the supremacy of the Christian God and of Jesus Christ.

I don't know about ya'll but the entire idea is offensive to me. The very basis that our Country was built on is being shattered because our history and our culture is offensive to a few who chose to come here. When a U.S. citizen visits another country with a different culture, are we not expected to respect their ways in order not to offend?

It offends me that prayer is not allowed in our schools or our courts. I offends me that a few would dare to complain because our Pledge of Allegiance includes reference to a Christian God. I believe in separation of church and state in that politics shouldn't be preached from the pulpit but we're allowing things to get way out of hand and I'm wondering where things will end up if they continue this way.

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Happy Birthday John!!

The Art Project entry.

Zach decided he wanted to enter an Art Contest they're having at school next week. Knowing that this is a child who thinks a drawing of a stick deer with blood running down his leg (which I first mistakenly thought was red pee) from a hunter's bullet is great art, I distracted him from his normal artistic endeavers with my scrapbook cut-outs and some markers and glue.

Here's the result, bloodless, thank goodness.

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

Happy 53rd PopPop!

Cause I'm a good wife and all that, I ordered, had shipped overnight, scrubbed, and prepared (for the first time!) 6 lbs of Prince Edward Island mussels for the hubby's birthday. I even made a cake AND I snooped for a month to find out just which handheld GPS he wanted and ordered it so that it arrived on time too. I think I'm an especially good wife too since I feel like my face is swollen up like one of those freaky balloon people and I did the cooking deeds even after having been in and out of the bed most of the day. Even my teeth and gums hurt. I'm lucky that I had the day off work to snuggle in the bed before tackling all that other stuff.

Now the dishes are in the dishwasher, the leftover mussels have been removed from their shells and bagged with broth and put into the freezer, and I'm thinking about how good that bed will feel again in about an hour or so.

Oh,,and my cell phone replacement came in today.

I hope everyone's Tuesday was better than their Monday and that their Wednesday will be super!


You Might Be a Redneck if,,,,,,,

(2004 Edition)

Your standard of living improves when you go camping.

You have jacked up your home to look for a dog.

You have a relative living in your garage.

Your neighbor has ever asked to borrow a quart of beer.

There is a belch on your answering machine greeting.

You have rebuilt a carburetor while sitting on the commode.

None of the tires on your van are the same size.

You hold the hood of your car with your head while you work on it.

Your local beauty salon also fixes cars.

Your doghouse and your living room have the same shag carpet.

You've slow danced in the Waffle House.

Starting your car involves popping the hood.

Your garbage man is confused about what goes and what stays.

You whistle at women in church.

You actually wear shoes your dog brought home.

You've been in a fist fight at a yard sale.

You carry a fly swatter in the front seat of the car so you can reach the kids in the back. (I have SO done this, it's much more humane than a shoe!)