SURVEY

I normally don't do these surveys, but I needed something to do so that I could procrastinate my reading and homework. So here it is:

What place would you visit if money were no object? The moon or something cool like that.
If you could go back to a certain year in time, what year would you choose? Probably some biblical time period. If you know me, you know why I would choose this.

What immorality do you think is overrated? homosexuality, sexuality, modesty

One thing you could change about yourself? To be more easily satisfied

Death Penalty? For or against? FOR

Abortion? For or against? Personally, I'm against. But I am pro-choice because my morals are my own.

Do you believe in heaven and hell? HELL NO ;o)

Do you think your parents were too strict growing up? Same as above

Best feeling? Love and accomplishment
What was the last compliment you received? "You're the prettiest sub we've ever had"

Are you rude? Sometimes. Most of the time I don't mean to be though.

Do you hold grudges? No. It takes a lot to make me mad enough to hold a grudge.

What is one thing that annoys you? When people are late. That annoys me to no end.

What is one quality that you really appreciate in a person? Faithfulness

Do you sleep naked? Yes. Unless its too cold

Favorite alcoholic drink? Mojitos, but wine is good too.

An object you cant live without: my blackberry, my car

Whats the most expensive thing you own? Soon I will own a $100+ pair of designer jeans thanks to the gift card April gave me for my bday. The most expensive thing I own is my house.
Are you a member of the mile high club? Ewww. No. Bathrooms are not for that.
What would you rather have, a nanny, a housekeeper, a cook, or a chauffeur? Thats easy. A nanny. Housekeeper is a definate close second though.

Would you rather be rich or famous? Duh, Rich. I get asked that question EVERY time I sub; "Mrs. Rich, are you rich?"
Are you a night owl or early to bed person? Im a creature of the night.
Conservative or wild party animal ? Somewhere in the middle. Conservative when I need to be, wild animal when I can be.

Have you ever been hit on by the same sex? Yes. For some reason, I'm a chick magnet.

Been to Canada? Yes
Been to Mexico? Yes
Been to the other side of the world? No
Been to jail? Yes, but only for a field trip. Oh yeah, and once when a friend of mine was dating a loser.
Have you ever fired a gun? Many. AK-47's are awesome.

Finish the sentence:
When I wake up in the morning... I grab a coffee, check my email, and workout.
Tomorrow... is halloween.
I have low tolerance.. for intolerance
Life is... great.
My past is… not as good as my future.
Do you read the newspaper? yes, online. Like 10 times a day. I'm addicted.
Do you think tattoos are cool? No
Do you like being on time? always
What is the greatest amount of alcohol youve had in one sitting Obviously if you drink that much you start losing track and wouldnt be able to answer this question.

Are you nice to everyone no matter what their age, race or gender? I try to be. Unless they are rude like the lady at the Obama Rally (see previous blog post).
Do you know the lyrics to more than 50 songs? Oh yeah. I know the words to everything. Gimme rap, hip hop, country, pop..even Hannah Montana songs :o)
What did the last text message you received say? Private, but it was a hot one from my husband.
What is the last movie you saw? Sex in the City. Not worth the $1 I paid.
Would you kill someone if you had to? I guess, if they were going to harm my kids.
Whos the one person you call when life just sucks that day? Jake

My Poor Children

Am I a bad mom because I despise cheesy holiday decorating? Ok, so I make an exception for Christmas (I have yet to succumb to the outside christmas lights though - those are a waste of energy; as in fossil fuels and the energy it takes to hang them up and take them down), but all the other holidays are lame. A couple of carved pumpkins ("carved" is debatable; a few triangles and whatever type of hole I can punch out for the mouth) is about all the effort that goes into my Halloween decor.

Megan earned $10 from her report card and decided to spend it on some nasty looking spider/skull thingy so that our house could have some sort of Haloween-y look to it. I'm feeling a teensy bit guilty now. Not guilty enough to blow money on more junk that I'm going to have find a place to store for 11 months of the year though.

An Inspiration and a Sourpuss

We went to the Obama rally at UNR this morning. It was really neat to see the man who is quite possibly going to be the next president of the United States. I made sure to point out to our kids that they are watching history, because if he is elected, he will go down in the history books as our first black president. Its surprising how much of an interest and the vast amount of knowledge about the candidates kids now actually have. I was asking my 10 yr old neighbor why she would vote for Obama and she went into specific details about Obamas tax plan and foreign policy intitiatives. When I was 10, all I was thinking about was nintendos and sleepovers.

We arrived at 730am but were disappointed to find out that Obama wouldnt speak until 10am. Yikes. Would the kids last that long standing up in a crowd packed like sardines? Nope. The kids behaved well for about the first hour (keep in mind, they hadnt even had breakfast yet), and then we decided to forfit our jam packed spot and walk out into the field so the kids could run around and play. And thats just what they did - in the middle of the baseball field they wrestled, played tag and gymnastics.

A lady sitting next to us turned to Jake and said "Can you control those kids?" to which Jake looked at her, paused for a good 10 seconds, and responded "No. But you are welcome to move."

Maybe it was PMS or something, but I could feel the anger welling up inside me. Just as I was about to go over to her with my mother bear oh-no-you-didn't attitude and explain how my kids were behaving; given how far we had walked, how long we had stood in the crowd, and the fact that we were on a BASEBALL field (not in a restaurant or an art gallery), the singer came on the stage to begin the national anthem. Of course, then I took control of the kids and forced them to stand still during the rest of the rally.

Happy Happy joy joy

Things that made me happy this week:

1. Ive been requested to sub at a certain school a few times recently. Apparently I impressed the principal and now they ask for me all the time. Since I've roved throughout the school, I've visited every class and the kids now know me and love it when I get to sub in their room. Its nice to show up and get hugs from all the students.

2. Being referred to as "tall and slender" by a skinny girl. I think I just saw a pig fly past my window.

3. Sunday turned out to be a really nice family day. First, our neighbors sent over some homemade quesadillas and other mexican food for breakfast. Yummy. Then we went offroading with the kids and a friend of Megans. We stopped at a nice little spot in the woods and had lunch, followed by an improvised baseball game - complete with a branch for a bat and a mini soccer ball as the baseball.

Things that bug me:

1. Although I am adamently opposed to California's Prop 8, it was very annoying to read that the California Teachers Union donated 1 million dollars to the opposition. It kills me to think that the money couldve gone somewhere more useful, like maybe ummm... SCHOOLS. People are putting so much effort and money into this one cause when I think there are so many more important issues that need attention.

2. Megans friend came over yesterday and said that her sister almost got expelled for having a myspace site. Nothing bad on it. It was perfectly innocent. Just apparently against the rules of the private Catholic school they attend. Talk about sticking their nose where it doesnt belong. This is the school overstepping their academic boundaries and entering into what are supposed to be parental responsibilities, if you ask me.

3. I read that some BYU student got his degree taken away from him for taking calendar pictures of shirtless men, which is an honor code violation. Maybe I don't have all the info on this, but apparently the guy had already WALKED at graduation and was told months later that his degree (that had already been granted) would not be recognized by the school. This is an example of an institution abusing its power. What is the statute of limitations on this? What if a student gets his medical degree, and years later (after the student becomes a licensed doctor) the school finds out that he fathered an illegitimate child during this time? Is he suddenly stripped of his medical status?

30 and counting

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October 9th marked my 30th birthday. How depressing. In my mind, you're not technically required to get your stuff together and act like an adult until the age of 30. Any dumb decisions and embarrassing moments could always be attributed to the fact that you were still in your 20's. But not 30. You have no excuses after that.

So I decided to throw a birthday party, just to relish the moment one last time. We rented a nice house up in Tahoe, complete with top of the line everything - pool table, hot tub.. the whole nine yards. I was a little disappointed because a couple of my friends and their husbands came down with whatever was going around, so they weren't able to come. And, of course, there were a few incidents..ahem Andrea.... that maybe we could've done without, but other than that, we had a good time. Below are a few pics. The rest of them can be seen at my myspace: http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=71423154&albumId=2414832





Some of the group






Andrea and I before the festivities

ARRRRRGGGGG

So today is one of the days that I have a billion things to do, but instead Im sitting here posting a blog. I'm so overwhelmed that I don't know where to begin. So I'm just going to procrastinate. Thats something I do not enjoy doing at all. Procrastination eats me alive.

I have so many due dates, deadlines, meetings, and chores that I am turning into a scatterbrain. I began the week thinking it was next week and assuming the kids had minimum day (therefore paying for afterschool care for the both of them yesterday). It wasnt until this morning that I found out I was a week ahead of myself and that the kids, had in fact only been in the afterschool program for a mere 20 minutes by the time I picked them up.

I also found out that Jake will most likely be working 50 hours a week for at least 4-6 months. Its making me think that taking classes next semester, working PT and taking full responsibility of the kids, is not feasible.

So I'm seriously considering postponing the Masters degree. I hate to do that, since I am not one to give up. But I'm also not the type that is happy with a C. C's are average and I'm not average. So I will have to give this some serious thought as next semester approaches.

I'm a crack... I mean blackberry addict.

I tend to get to tired of things before I can get addicted to them. I've never tried any sort of drug, so I can't say that I wouldn't get addicted to anything, but as for everything else, I can't imagine getting hooked. Too much of anything and I quickly grow to despise it and never touch it again for a long period of time. Whether it be alcohol, a certain food, a store, a routine, etc.. Once I notice that "stuck in a rut" feeling, its all over.

However, I absolutely cannot function without my blackberry. It has achieved what nothing else could. My complete inability to live without it. My emails, my text messages, my news, my various facebook and myspace alerts - everything. I guess thats why people call them crackberries, right?

Religuous

For the first time in YEARS, Jake and I went to the movie theatre and caught Bill Maher's new documentary-style flick, "Religuous". Its a movie poking fun at all the crazy and illogical beliefs of all the different religions. Obviously he's preaching to the choir, because I highly doubt any devout follower of any faith is going to put themselves in a situation that might make them question their beliefs. Just like most Atheists aren't willing to give a door to door missionary the time of day. The reason I am posting this blog is not to go off on religion, but because it was nice to finally see that there are many people out there who think the same way I do.

I was surprised at how articulate and intelligent Bill Maher is. Back when I was a non-questioning Republican, I couldn't stand the guy. However, after seeing his movie, my perspective has changed.

Its no secret that I am non-religious. I personally have no use for it. However, it wasn't until recently that I was able to "come out of the closet" regarding my heathen status. I was afraid that people would judge me, wouldn't like me, or wouldn't let their kids play with my kids. So, I chose to keep my views to myself. Now I realize that my opinion is just as valid as anyone else's. If people choose to dislike me for this, its their loss, because I have a lot more to offer than my rejection of a god (or better said - an organized religion). I'm not saying that people of faith are wrong. In fact, I hope they are right! Bill Maher says it perfectly when he says that religious people are selling an invisible product that can only be verified when you die. They are selling certainty when it is absolutely indisputable that there is no certainty about it.

Bill Maher makes the point that 16% of the population in the US would describe themselves as I do. That's a larger minority than gays, blacks, Jews, etc..!! Yet we are widely unrepresented in every aspect of government.

He makes the argument that religion is the root of all evil. I'm not sure I totally agree with him, because religion is inherently meant to do good. However, virtually every war in the history of the planet can be attributed to faith. Its a "If you re not with us, you're against us" type attitude. If life ends on Earth, I have no doubt that it will be due to the self-fulfilling prophecy of those foolishly thinking they are doing it for their god.

Some of the points that I really enjoyed:

1. Before modern Christianity, there are various references to other supposed "chosen ones" that had similar situations; all born on Dec 25, were crucified, arose, walked on water etc.. Obviously its a story that's been told and retold throughout times. Jesus was no different. Its just regurgitated folklore.

2. In one of his last lines, Maher says: Anyone that tells you that they know they are right, is obviously wrong. Because unless they have some sort of superpower that I don't have, they don't know.

They have faith that they are right. Faith is hope, not certainty.

3. Why does God always have to go to someone in private and tell them to spread his message? It'd be a lot more effective if he did it himself. The way it is now, the chosen ones tend to gain notoriety, fame, elaborate living quarters, etc.. Maher interviews a black pastor who touts that he does not get paid a salary from the church (as all figureheads tend to do). However, he has on a $2000 suit and "lizard skin" shoes. Hmmm... I might add that to my list of "get rich quick" schemes. Except this one actually works!!

4. He points out that while most of us believe that our country was founded on Christianity, many of our founders have been quoted saying the following:

"Lighthouses are more useful than churches" and "The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason."- Ben Franklin

"The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme Being as His father, in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter." - Thomas Jefferson

"During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry, and persecution." - James Madison

"The question before the human race is, whether the God of nature shall govern the world by his own laws, or whether priests and kings shall rule it by fictitious miracles." - John Adams

5. And lastly, the movie reminds me of a quote I read recently.

I contend we are both atheists; I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours. -- Stephen F. Roberts