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Happy Halloween!!!

aka

Happy Halloween!!!

I TOTALLY AGREE!!!

If they know of him at all, many folks think Ben Stein is just a quirky actor/comedian who talks in a monotone. He's also a very intelligent attorney who knows how to put ideas and words together in such a way as to sway juries and make people think clearly. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary

Herewith at this happy time of year, a few confessions from my beating heart: I have no freaking clue who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the cover of People and Us constantly when I am buying my dog biscuits and kitty litter. I often ask the checkers at the grocery stores. They never know who Nick and Jessica are either. Who are they? Will it change my life if I know who they are and why they have broken up? Why are they so important?

I don't know who Lindsay Lohan is either, and I do not care at all about Tom Cruise's wife.

Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked if I am a subversive? Maybe, but I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are.

If this is what it means to be no longer young. It's not so bad.

Next confession: I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don' t feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry Christmas" to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution, and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him?

I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too.

But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her "How could God let something like this Happen?" (regarding Katrina)

Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, "I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives.

And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?"

In light of recent events...terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found recently) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK.

Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about and we said OK.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW."

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell.

Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says.

Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing.

Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing?

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.

so i've decided...

that next time around

if there is a next time around

that i want to have boy twins so i get my boys and i get my 4...they would be eric douglas (although i like eric james better, such is life right?) and gordon trevor (call him trevor)...of course i will admit that i DO want to have another girl because i really want a denna severin...i know i'm crazy...alas, if riley doesn't stop stressing her dad and me out soon she may be our last and i won't get my boy or my denna

love her, yes i do, but oh how i wish she was an easier baby!

update

well, after about another 30-45 min of cook time the carrots, while not exactly how i like them, were cooked enough to eat...my poor kids were in bed late again tonight because of the silly little vegetables!

stupid carrots

so i'm making beef stew tonight for dinner and the stupid carrots, which i added before i added the potatoes, will NOT finish cooking, i want to eat and the stupid carrots are STILL not done!!!

just thought you'd like to know

just for fun, to the tune of part of your world

Look at this bod, isn't it great?

Wouldn't you think that I'd have a date?

Wouldn't you think I'm a girl, a girl who has everything?

Look at these hips--aren't they petite?

Why do guys say that my spirit is sweet?

Wouldn't you think I'd be going out, going out dancing?

I've got faith, divine nature aplenty.

I've got good works and knowledge galore.

You want Integrity--I got plenty.

But who cares? No big deal. I want more.

I want to be where the guys are

I want them to notice, notice me breathing.

Kissing me with those--what's the word again--LIPS!

Kissing your pillow you don't get too far.

Dates are required for real romancing.

What would I give if I could live outside my bedroom.

What would I pay to spend a day on temple ground.

Bet you they'd call if they weren't so intimidated by me.

Bright young maiden, sick of waitin', ready for more!

And I want to know what the others know.

What's a boyfriend, and where can I buy one?

Drive to the beach for some--what's that wordagain--parking (talking!)!

I am so ready, can't they see howI am a woman worth more than 8 cows!

I'm really great, why don't I date?

What's their problem?

insurance...can't pay for it, can't go w/o it

a mild rant here today

we finished filling out the paperwork to pick up the insurance with rich's new company and faxed it in today...rich has been making training pay, which is 60 of his 75 gaurnteed hrs once he's in normal circulation

and that 15 extra hours will basically just cover the insurance that we're picking up, at least i'm used to living w/o it already but seriously...insurance is beyond rediculous!!!

and then of course i've been trying to get some coverage for the girls (rich and i are on a no frills major medical plan) and have yet to hear back from the company so if they're denied coverage it's really going to suck because they'll be past the lack of coverage time period thing and then the new insurance will probably try and pull pre-existing conditions crap on us...oh how i loath insurance companies...but you can't afford to be w/o...so we pay through the nose money that would really make our everyday lives easier with other bills and putting food on our table...but no, we suffer through it because to be w/o it would be too scary...

sometimes i see the logic in socialized medicine, other times, not so much...maybe if they'd put some stringent limitations on medical malpractice suites (like how much a lawyer can make from the case) we'd have less problems with soaring insurance cost and good doctors would be able to afford to practice and offer medical care at a reasonable cost

ok, off my soap box...for now at least

so i'm currently scheming!!!

ways to get the ubah thing up and going out here

i want to do the wally world 3 day sale at each of the wally's in the ut valley, if they've not already been tapped...hopefully they've not been

i may have scored a homeshow yesterday, in which case i want to team up w/ my cutie best friend and work it together and split the spoils of the show...i think we make a great team

i'm going to throw a mystery hostess party on the 1st or 2nd of nov for my new ward...hopefully i'll get a good response and it would rock if i got some shows out of that

i'm going to contact trinity christian back in sc and ask her if she's interested in getting one thing right now for uber cheap since i can order one thing per homeshow for almost nothing...well, not nothing, but much cheaper than 100%

it would beyond rock if we were able to get showings from the mystery hostess party and from the potential party that i may have scored...that would open a whole new market for us if we were able to i think!

i of course need to figure out other ways to get some cold contacts, maybe the byu board or something...but i'm really not good at that kind of thing...but i'll figure it out, i enjoy this so i should try and do it more often LOL, especially before my best friend goes and deserts me to go w/ her dh to his impending internship!!! ;)

just in case you were wondering

i really hate being poor!

i hate wondering sometimes where the money for the bills and food are going to come from...we've all but depleted our savings since moving here and of course our account looks like we have money, but we so totally don't...we have 2 bucks...that's it, thankfully rich gets paid tomorrow

even though he gets paid, i was going over the numbers, and unless i'm totally off, he's only going to be making enough money each month to pay the school loans after taxes, insurance, & other deductions

good thing i have tutor.com but that's still not enough to pay our rent and 1/2 of the utilities, pay the other bills we have, and put food on the table...

oh how i sometimes really hate money...thank goodness for the blessings of paying a full tith!!!

Kyle XY

have you seen this show yet?

before we moved from sc i saw a few episodes and was fairly intrigued by it

i haven't seen one since we moved so i of course have NO idea what's going on and don't care enough to go look up a website that would tell me LOL

i must admit thought, that if it were one of the many shows that get cancelled i'd be ticked because then we'd NEVER know...and that would drive me nuts

just thought ya'd like to know

so my 1st real creation is done...

i made a sweater for my kiddo...originally it was supposed to be for aj, but i made it too short, i always forget how tall the little stinker is and since we don't want her belly showing it's going to riley...

it took a bit of time to complete because i had to redo one of the sleeves 3 times...the 1st two times i got like almost all of the way done (1st time all i had left was back stitching to bind off, 2nd time i was just starting the ribbing) and realized i'd put it on wrong and so i had to completely take it all the way out and redo it...but the 3rd time was the charm and it was right...

stitched up the seam of the sleeves and sides and viola a little royal blue sweater

next time i'm going to use a softer and smaller yarn though, but this one will be nice and warm still...i'm going to try to put in a cable next time too i think...now i'm off to the website to see what free patterns i can find that i'm interested in!!!

13 October 2001

One of the greatest days ever

why you may ask

well i shall tell you

i had the utter joy of marrying the most amazing man on the face of the planet in the winter quarters temple for time and all eternity

pretty good reason for that day to be one of the greatest ever huh?

sometimes i'm smart LOL

Sooo we're trying out vonage for our phone system and we got the wireless router thingy because il's have a comp too and we all have to have net access...for whatever reason when my il's comp was hooked hard line into the router (it is a router for up to 4 hard lines and 4 wireless links) the net would NOT work on their comp...the only think i could think was that it was some funky issue w/ their os (it's an older system)...seriously the only thing i could come up w/ because it worked fine hooked into my comp

anywho...mil got a wireless adapter/receiver and together we hooked it up to her comp today, ok, so i did and she held the plate for me so that i could screw the device into place LOL

and lo and behold they now have internet access...AND i encrypted the wlan so it's at least not easy to get into, hopefully no hackers live in the neighborhood!

now if i can just get my $95 dell laptop i got from the surplus sale and the hp that my sis gave me working and hooked up w/ wifi cards i'd really be rockin' and rollin!

hey look at me...i'm being "domestic" and "crafty"!!!

So after we got here, my mil was knitting, something i've not done but always wanted to learn...so she taught me...i can do the simple knit stich and purl stitch...but it, like crocheting hurts my hands...not as bad, but it still does

so one day while running errands i went to joann's w/ mil because she wanted to get some yarn, right across the isle from the yarn she was looking at was "the sweater machine"

http://www.bond-america.com/products/usm.html

let's just say i was intrigued

it had no price so i toted it up to the front for a price check...$150 BUT i was given a coupon for 50% off one regular priced item 10-7 through 10-9, that would make it only $75...much easier price to swallow imo

so i carried around my coupon for over a week and thought about it, showed it to rich, who thinks i'm silly but we all know that i am, so on the 9th i went and bought said item from joann's!!!

they have a 90 day return policy so long as you have the receipt so i bought a skein of yarn and came home to try it out w/o using the exhaustable resources in the kit.

i watched the dvd

set up the machine

started in w/ my yarn

i got very frustrated at first because i accidentally had too small of a plate in place for the yarn that i was using (which i figured out the next day when i tried the next size up in plates) so the machine kept jamming....driving me bonkers in the process...i was hating the stupid thing...then i decided to screw the cable stitch that i was trying to do and just do the straight stitch...when i did that i very quickly made aj a small, very non-fancy, afgan...pretty much just her size LOL

the next morning i tried the larger plate and was able to VERY easily do the cable stitch i was trying the night before and had almost no problems doing it at all...i was starting to love the machine...later that day i got some unworsted yarn (wool yarn that's not been shrunk) and tried my hand at making a purse that i would then shrink upon completion (called felting)

i made said purse and did a beautiful cable pattern in it and everything...mil was super impressed and starting to think she needs to buy a sweater machien too LOL...so we shrunk/felted the purse...it turned out really cute, like an evening bag size...sadly the cable felted so much that you can't see it very well...in the future if i do it again i'll do the cable in a different color i think...but i'm seriously in great like nay dare i say i borderline love my knitting machine!!!!

just call me the domestic/crafty diva LOL

i'm back i'm back i'm back...

FINALLY

i still have a few boxes that i need to just decide what to do w/ their contents, but w/ the help of my sister and my sweet hubby on various occasions it's mostly done!

i am currently sitting on my kitchen floor on my comp as the il's comp is still down here and on the comp table, and can i just say that tile floor is cold...

my sweet hubby got to come home for a few days so it was soooo nice to get to see him, he had to go back to sim today but should be able to come back home on monday and then he's all mine until the 14th and then it all depends on his ioe schedule from there...i'm soooo hoping that they're still stacked and he'll be able to be home for a bit of time...aj cried when we dropped him off at the airport today, she did not want her daddy to leave w/o her...very sad i'm tellin' ya

not this friday but next is our 5 yr anniversary...we're still trying to figure out what we want to do, we don't want to spend too much money but we still want to do something...kwim?

well, i'm starting to FREEZE so i'll bring this entry to a close, i'm sure i'll have more interesting things to say later

one can hope right ;)