My Story That I Like Best: July 2008

29 July 2008

My Mom the Carpenter

We decided to put in new tile in my kitchen and dining room as another renovation surprise for Stonewall. It was...difficult, to say the least. This conversation should have been an indicator:

My mom: (measuring the pantry) Three and a half feet.

Me: (writing down the measurements) What? Three and a half feet?

My mom: No. No, better make it three feet, six inches.

She's not retarded, she's just blonde.

22 July 2008

Feeling More Pregnant

I feel more pregnant today.

Not in this way:

Or this way:

You have a toight body. Yes! I see that from your toight pants! Yes, you are toight like a toiger.

But more in this way:

21 July 2008

Our "New" House

Stonewall has been in Mississippi for the past two weeks for AT, so I've taken it upon myself to surprise him with a few home improvements when he gets home on Sunday.

(Stonewall, if you're reading this, as I know you do sometimes, just stop now. If you ruin your surprise I'll kick your tush when you get home :) Love you!)

The weekend before this past weekend my mom came over and helped me weed and fix up our "landscaping." (I say "landscaping" because it really isn't.) The previous owners of the house "landscaped" and it is a complete mess. There are bushes literally planted on top of other bushes, no beds just plants planted up against the house...a real mess. So we went through and pulled out bushes that were too close to other bushes and we weeded everything. There is a flower bed in the front yard and we cleaned that up. We have a stone driveway, so we weeded that. Then my mom sprayed weed killer everywhere. We also bought two planted arrangements to put in these big cement vases we have sitting on our front porch.

We had built a kennel in our basement for the pups. Originally, the floor was laminate flooring, but because our basement is damp it kept bubbling up. I came home one day from work a month or so ago and the little brats had torn the flooring to shreds. And not from the outside edges to the middle. No, no. My little angels started in the middle and worked their way out. So we built a wooden floor and painted it with waterproof deck paint and attached that to the kennel. I'd like to see them eat through that.

This weekend my mom helped me paint our bathroom (with Olympic paint which is safe for pregnant women). We painted it a very light mint green color called "Rain Forest." It looks so much prettier than the icky beige color it used to be. Now if only I can get the fugly purple shower/tub replaced...

On Thursday, my mom and dad are going to be installing our new counter!! I'm super excited about this. I've been wanted to replace the counter since day one, but I was always under the impression that would cost at least $1000. Turns out I was so wrong. I was reading Domino the other week and discovered counters can cost under $100. Who knew? I went to Lowe's the next day and bought a new counter. It's marbly looking and is so much better looking than our plain white stained counter that we have now.

I'm so excited! Stonewall is going to be so surprised. Just think what I'll be able to accomplish when he's deployed for a year instead of at AT for 3 weeks!

PS. This is my first time using my online signature! I found a link on Lindsay's website, And We'll Just Laugh Along the Way, to create one. How neat!

18 July 2008

Republicans v. Democrats

I'm really getting tired of the entire Republicans v. Democrats mentality. Not just in the general public, but within our government as well. I mean, I'm not a "Make love, not war and let's all hold hands and sing Kumbaya around the camp fire" kind of girl, but couldn't we please show some loyalty and the meeting of minds on common ground?

I realize we all have different opinions and different points of views and I'm pretty sure that is part of what makes America great. However, sparing back in forth in Congress and having a "My bill is better than your bill" competition isn't making America any better. Plus, bashing one another in the press most definitely does not make for a very stable home front. My goodness, 2nd graders play better than this during recess.

Last week, Bush announced he was lifting the ban on offshore drilling to help ease the cost of oil and gas prices for the American people. The Democrats didn't like this idea saying it wouldn't help us in the short term, nor would it really have any long term positive effects. So then, the Democrats also introduced a bill that would basically force oil companies to drill on federal leases that they already have or give the leases back to the government. The Republicans nixed that one.

Do you see what's happening here? We have two parties offering up the same basic solution: drill on American soil. However, because both the Democrats and the Republicans can all be self-serving, competitive assholes they have to try and beat one another at the expensive of American citizens. It seems to me that if the rest of us have to survive by working on the concept of compromise, maybe our government needs to do the same. HELLO!! YOU ALL HAVE THE SAME BASIC IDEA...MEET IN THE MIDDLE! It can not be your way or the highway every time. You have to learn to work with people, share, mix and match. If children are supposed to grasp this concept by pre-school age, then I should think that elected government officials would have a basic understanding of it by now as well.

Moving on...

The House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi (Democrat), said in an interview on Thursday on CNN that President Bush was a "total failure." So first of all, while I realize that Bush's approval rating is at an all time low of about 28%, Congress's approval rating has also hit a new time low: 18%. (That's according to the AP poll. Gallup has them at an approval rating of 14% and ABC/Washington Post has 23%.) What's even funnier, Nancy, is that Congress consistently has had a lower rating than President Bush. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

Second, Pelosi said this on national television and she isn't the first. Come on, people! You don't have to like the man. You don't have to respect him. But have a little bit of respect for the country you represent and don't diss your leader on national TV. Show some flippin' loyalty to your country. And I'm talking both Democrats and Republicans (and not just in the government, but American citizens as well) when it comes to our President and our national policies. You don't have to like our policies, but disagree respectfully. You can disagree with Bush without throwing him under the bus. Have the common sense to realize that what is said will be heard all over the world. The world is watching as Americans slowly rage war on one another. Pretty soon we won't need terrorism and other countrys to threaten America and her citizens. Americans will be the ones to threaten America and we'll be the ones to destroy each other.

We live in the greatest country. It's about time we all started acting like it.

17 July 2008

Wedding Dresses for Military Brides (and etc.)

I thought this was a great story from Military.com. A bridal shop owner in New Hampshire is giving away 50 wedding dresses today and tomorrow to brides who are active duty or who are engaged to a soldier serving overseas. By the sounds of it, the owner isn't giving away last season's throwaways either. Some of the dresses cost as much as $3000.

My wedding dress was my favorite part of our wedding (aside from the groom, of course). I think for most brides their wedding dresses are their favorite part. However, when you're on a tight budget, as most brides are, the dress can easily be put at the bottom of the list. It's nice to see that a bridal shop owner is supporting our military and military families by trying to take some of the stress out of these brides' biggest day. Especially when they already have the added stress of planning a wedding while they themselves are on active duty or their fiance is deployed.

Now, of course, I do have to show off my wedding dress :) Dude, you totally saw it coming. I love love love my wedding dress. I would seriously wear it to every and any special event if it wasn't so expensive to clean. If Stonewall ever gets elected President or I inherit a country, I will be wearing it to the ball following the inaugurations. I'm pretty sure those are the only two reasons I could have for wearing it again and not being labeled a complete weirdo.

Yes, I wore a pink dress as a bride. The dress itself was called "blush" and then the lace overlay was "rose." Ask anyone who knows me and they'll tell you I'm the kind of person who likes to make people look twice and say, "Wow." I have to be different and stand out. Even the shop owner where I bought the dress said I was the first one to order the dress in blush/rose. Other brides that ordered the dress ordered some variation of white/off-white. (By the way, this isn't a pic of me. This is the pic from Raylia Designs, the dress designer website.)

I've never felt more beautiful in a dress though than I did in this one. I knew as soon as I put it on that this was the dress for me. I walked out of the dressing room and said to my mom, "Okay. We're done shopping. This is my dress." Nothing could have changed my mind.

While I'm on a bragging streak, since I haven't posted about this stuff previously, I'll post about my favorite wedding day accessory: my engagement ring. Stonewall designed my ring. I tried on rings at the store and I told my mom what I liked and she passed the info along to Stonewall. He contacted a designer and sat down with her and designed my ring with my specifications. I think it is the most beautiful ring Stonewall could have gotten me. Even next to rings that cost as much as a car, I would still pick my ring. Its exactly what I wanted in a ring that I will be wearing for the rest of my life.

14 July 2008

My Week 17 Baby Belly

11 July 2008

From the Brits

10 July 2008

WWJD...Watch Star Wars

I love that my husband is a dork (just like me, actually.) He does not ask himself, "What Would Jesus Do?" No, my husband asks, "What Would Obi Wan Do?"

Our Chihuahua and Pomeranian have Jedi skills, but the Jack Russell is a Youngling. I am still a Padawan...apparently. Stonewall would be our Jedi Master, of course.

No, really...all the cool people want to hang out with us. :)

09 July 2008

Wordless Wednesday: Guitar Hero Aerosmith

Last week we got Guitar Hero Aerosmith and as I predicted it is AWESOME! We bought the guitar with the game, so now we have two guitars and we can have duels. My mom, sister, and her friend came over last week to try it out.

Stonewall and my sister getting ready to battle it out.

As you can see, my sister whooped Stonewall's a$$.

My sister's friend getting ready to lose to me. What can I say...I rock.

My mom and Stonewall trying to out-do each other.

07 July 2008

Oil, OPEC, and the Presidential Election

Before I even start this post/rant of mine, I would just like to say that I am by no means well versed in politics and all the political topics that are now surrounding the upcoming presidential election. However, I will do my duty as an American citizen and vote for our next President. Therefore, I'm trying to learn more about what I feel are the "important" topics, so I can participate in all the fun debates/discussions that will crop up at get-togethers and what nots as the election draws nearer. I'm hoping that this post will not necessarily inform others, but rather bring on comments that will help me better understand the topic at hand.

Obviously, one of the biggest issues our Presidential candidates will be debating this year is oil and rising oil costs. After all, we're all getting a bit sick and tired of paying $4.00 for a gallon of gas and $4.79 for a gallon of oil to heat our houses. (A quick side note: In European countries gas is over $8.00 a gallon. I'm not going to bitch about gas prices anymore. That would be ungrateful and and just plain silly. I'm going to be happy I'm not European. (Another side note: American citizens are not even taxed the average gas tax. We are soooo far below the average its not even funny if your not American. Check that out here at the OPEC website and stop the complaining about gas prices and Republicans unfairly taxing us.))

This is what I don't understand: Democrats are blasting the Republicans for such high and rising oil costs. I've seen articles and political ads that blame Republicans for the fact that oil costs have risen so high and are still rising. So, when did Republicans start setting oil prices?

I was under the impression OPEC set the prices for oil. And last time I looked the United States was not a member of OPEC. President Bush was not attending their meetings and asking them to raise the oil prices. Republicans in our government were not voting at OPEC meetings to raise the oil prices. So tell me, how do Republicans raise the price of oil? How are the Republicans at fault for rising oil costs?

I've heard some argue that its the war in Iraq that cause such high oil prices. Okay, but not entirely the Republicans fault. 58% of Democrats who voted to authorize the use of US armed forces against Iraq voted "Yea." (And don't even give me the whole, "Well, I didn't know exactly what I was voting for." If you don't know exactly what you are voting for then you shouldn't be voting and you definitely shouldn't have been running for President, Hilary!! Do your research and read the TITLE of the resolution! Stupid...) Also, according to National Geographic, while Iraq supposedly has huge underground oil reserves it only produces about a fifth of what Saudi Arabia produces. We're not at war with Saudi Arabia.

Still though, how does the war (apparently the complete fault of the Republicans) itself actually cause higher oil prices? Were we getting that much more oil from Iraq prior to the war? Was Iraq the biggest supplier of oil before 2003?

Let's not forget that the USA is not the only country to use oil. If this war is about oil, do you think we're the only ones over there fighting for it? Publicly...yes. But the only ones, period...absolutely not. American citizens are one of the biggest groups to use oil and to use the high quantity that we use. So even if the war is about oil, its about protecting the oil that the American citizens need and use to live in daily life. Or do you walk to your Democratic political meetings and war protests, Obama?

Back to the original topic...since the Republicans were not the only ones to vote "Yea" to the war, let's take that off the table. How are they still responsible for oil costs? America is not the only country is purchase oil. I have a hard time believing those in OPEC sit around and say, "Hey, dude. Let's totally piss off America and raise oil prices. I mean, I know England, Canada, France, Japan, Russia...well, hell, all developed countries and even those who are still trying to develop themselves buy oil also, but, think about it dude, let's piss off the USA. Raise oil prices. And we'll blame the Republicans."

Really, this isn't just an American issue. Rising oil costs are all over the world. To blame Republicans for oil being at the price it is...well, its silly and uneducated and it makes no sense whatsoever. To me, anyway. It seems more like a supply and demand kind of thing. We're (as in the world/Earthlings) getting to the point where we are demanding more than can be supplied. We're not at the end of our oil supply yet, but those who are well versed in the Earth's oil usage and supply are predicting we'll have reached the halfway mark by 2030, give or take a few years. After that, it will be even harder and more expensive to drill the second half of our oil supply. The less we have, but the more we want, the more expensive its gonna be. I'm pretty sure that's Economics 101, not the Republicans.

03 July 2008

Living In a Box With Rita's

I had Rita's for the very first time this afternoon.

Yeah, ok...so I've never seen Top Gun and I've never eaten Rita's Italian Ice before. I swear I do not live in a box. I've made it this far in life I must be doing something right.