Whirlwind

Ever feel like you've been caught in a tornado and it took a long time to set you back down? That's me.

It all started about two weeks ago. I had two appointments and a meeting on top of my usual stuff that week. Then hubby left for 6 days to go deer hunting with his dad. While the two of them were off hunting, my mom came here to hang out and avoid the testosterone that was going to be flying fast and furious up there. I get along great with my mom, but she sure can throw me off my schedule! I'm used to having some time in the evening after Frodo has gone to bed. It's my unwind time. That flew right out the window with mom here. Ugh.

Hubby left on a Wednesday. It was after the appointment days and on the meeting day. Thursday and Friday, I worked. Friday night, Frodo went to a college basketball game with his aunt and cousin. After the game, I had to go pick him up. We got back home after an ice cream stop (who can turn down a hot fudge sundae from Culver's?!?). The next morning, I was up earlier than I wanted to be up. That afternoon, we went to a movie with my sister-in-law and her daughter. Happy Feet is an interesting movie. Then we went to dinner and my niece wanted Frodo to spend the night at her house. My sister-in-law was willing, so off he went. Mom and I and a friend of mine went to a casino where I proceeded to feed the slot machines some cash. They should be well fed now. :P My friend won $100 though, so that was good.

The next day, mom wanted to go shopping. We shopped. After we got home, Frodo came home, then hubby and his dad arrived as well, with blaze orange and guns in tow. My house looks like deer camp bomb exploded. Monday finally rolls around. My head is spinning. Having my father in law around is like having a toddler around. He's always busy and fighting a nap. Just like a toddler. There's good reason I have an only child....

Mom and dad in law stick around until Tuesday. They leave, I try to get my house back to normal, and next thing you know, it's Wednesday and I'm going to work.

Thursday, I'm up to bake a couple pies for Thanksgiving dinner. We have *Anti-Family Thanksgiving* with a group of friends. It started a few years back when Medicine Man was talking on the phone with a dear old friend of his from out-of-state. She was complaining that her family and her hubby's family BOTH wanted her and her hubby and kids at their homes for Thanksgiving and neither was willing to budge. She was frustrated. Medicine Man said, "come up here for Thanksgiving and avoid them all!" So she did. So began Anti-Family Thanksgiving. Ever since then, we have multiple but non-related families together for Turkey Day. It's sooooo much fun. This year's feast was at Aunt Jen's house. (She's really not related, but that's what we call her.) She grilled the turkey and it was FABULOUS. As always, it was a nice time. In fact this year, it was extra nice - the weather was warm and mostly sunny. We actually sat out on the patio for awhile and flipped through the Black Friday ads while the turkey cooked. It was a pleasant treat.

Friday, I was up a little early to do a little shopping. I wasn't one of those *up at 4am* folks. That's just insane. I was up at 7:30 though. I found a few good deals. I was pleasantly surprised at the politeness of the shoppers. Maybe they all had Anti-Family Thanksgivings as well.

That afternoon, the weather was VERY nice, so we put some lights up on the house. Just some white icicle lights topped with a string of blue lights. Usually, I'm the one that is out there all by myself putting these up (and doing the final gutter cleaning of the season). This year I drafted some help by the name of hubby and Frodo. Heh heh. Frodo actually WANTED to get on the roof with us. So I let him. He enjoyed the new perspective of our neighborhood. And he found out he's not terribly fond of heights. Just like his mom.

Saturday, we went to a college hockey game. Frodo had never been to a hockey game before, so that was fun. It was a good game. I also tried catching up on laundry that day.

Sunday, I was flat out EXHAUSTED. I got up, had a cup of coffee, checked my emails, ate a bowl of cereal, then plopped myself on the couch. And fell asleep. After I woke up, I was starting to feel a bit back to normal. Today, however, was what got me completely back to normal. Hubby was sleeping in from working last night and Frodo was off to school. Finally, some time for ME. It was divine. I mostly vegged in front of the computer playing games. (There's a nice selection of free games through msn.)

I'm finally feeling back to normal. Aaahhh.....

I want to know...

...how dumb you have to be to put a rare stamp on an envelope and mail it! I keep seeing this story on news pages, and it's just bugging the heck outta me. If I had a stamp worth $200,000 I think I'd be keeping it in a safe deposit box. Not on my desk with the pens and envelopes.

I wonder if it showed up postage due.

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My man, Russ Feingold, has decided not to run for president in 2008. Darn. He would make a WONDERFUL president. Unfortunately, too many people wouldn't vote for him since he's not the kind to bend over and kiss ass. He's got the most integrity of any politician in Washington. Keep up the great work as a Senator, Russ!

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I went on an eBay binge this weekend. I got Frodo a pair of fleece lined jeans. I have a couple pair of flannel lined jeans, and they are THE BEST!

I also got myself a new bra. Since my surgery last year, I'm enjoying owning bras that don't cost $75 each. I'm enjoying owning bras that look normal and come in more than one color. My current favorite is one from Victoria's Secret - the shaping full-coverage bra from the Body by Victoria line. It's VERY comfortable. Even though I lost 5 pounds of breast tissue in surgery, I'm still a D or DD cup. So I have a bit more trouble finding those in my local store. (Don't know why they think everyone is a B or C cup!)

I also bought some of my favorite body lotion. It's Mary Kay's "Visibly Fit" lotion. It smells sooooo good and leaves my skin nice and smooth.

I *heart* eBay.

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Have a happy Sunday everyone!

I saw the coolest...

...bumper sticker today. It looked like this:

















How neat is that? You can find it at this website.

Thanks to the guy driving the black Subaru down the highway yesterday for that eye opener.

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As Veterans Day approaches tommorow, remember you CAN honor the warriors without honoring a war. Many warriors have come home and started work protesting the war. You can read about them at many websites including:

Veterans Against the Iraq War

Iraq Veterans Against the War

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America

Vietnam Veterans Against the War

Military Families Speak Out

Veterans for Peace

Veterans for America

Bring Them Home Now

And veterans and their families opposing war are not limited to the United States:

Military Families Against the War

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My many, many thanks to all the warriors who have served in our nation's armed services.

Aaah....

So THIS is what it feels like to have a non-stolen election? I like it.

Election ads are DONE. Hooray!

The House of Representatives is in Democratic hands! Hooray!

Everyone I voted for yesterday won. Hooray! But two statewide referenda went a direction I DIDN'T want them to go. :( I'm disappointed with my fellow state residents. I'm shocked at how hateful and spiteful and narrow-minded they showed themselves to be. At least the folks in Arizona got it right. A big round of applause to Arizonans!!!

My ballot was sooooo full of races and referenda, it had two sides. Yes, I still vote on a paper ballot. I like that too. It's an optical scanner system. I hope we never go to the touchscreen stuff. I'm too apprehensive about how insecure they are.

Sporadic problems happened during voting yesterday. You can read a collection of them here. The more you know about the tactics some people use to intimidate voters, the more you will know they can't use them on you!

I think yesterday was a good practice for the 2008 presidential election. I believe voters are becoming more educated about their local laws regarding voting. It's definitely a good start.

Election Day is here!

It's Election Day. The time of year we as Americans can change who is in power if we aren't happy, or keep who is in power if we are.



If you don't know where to vote, or think your polling place may have changed, check here to find where you are to go to cast your vote. You can also visit that website's Search By State section for information regarding voting in your state.

Another fantastic Election Day resource is the Election Protection 365 program. You can read about the program through the link, but I do want to mention their Voter Assistance Hotline. It's 1-866-OUR-VOTE. Write down that number and take it with you. If you encounter or observe any voting problem, call that number. There have been many reported cases in the past in regards to intimidation practices, problems with electronic voting machines, and other issues that make it difficult for some voters to access the polls. This phone number provides a resource to help those that need it in regards to voting.

And lastly, if you encounter any problems, after calling the Voter Assistance Hotline, you are encouraged to share your story at the Voter Story website. It was set up as a central clearing house for voting problems to be reported.

Enjoy the chance to speak your voice today!

Gonna start off with a couple vents...

First vent - I had a post going here. All typed up. Not done yet. I tried to access another website in a second window I had open, and *poof* everything is frozen. I get a pop-up box - "Windows has encounterd an error. Would you like to report this error to Microsoft?"

Well no shit, I wanna report this error! And who else can I yell at about it? And what the heck does my reporting of this error even accomplish? And why did everything I just typed get lost now?!?!? Argh!!!!

My other vent - If you're gonna cut me off in traffic on the freeway, you damn well better be going the speed limit I was going before you cut me off! And just because someone has a stalled car waaaaaay off the shoulder of the road does NOT give you reason to slam on your brakes and cause a huge accident just because you wanted to see what that person was doing. And my all-time number one driving chant: SLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT. There are quite a few people in the city tonight that hopefully are growing huge warts on their noses after I wished that upon them today for their lack of driving skills.

You would think I was PMSing, but I'm not. Thank goodness. Becuase otherwise I'd probably be another news story.

Aaaahhh... I feel better now.

I'm stressing out a bit about next week's mid-term elections. I really have nothing personally invested in it - I'm not a canditate, nor do I play one on tv. I'm mostly worried about this election being stolen like so many others have been. No, I'm not a "sore loser". I've just been reading Greg Palast* too much lately. I was reading it last night, and Frodo came to me and asked me what the book was about. I tried my best to explain to him that the part I was reading was about some people cheating in elections. He asked, "How can they cheat?" I put it in a context he would understand - elementary school student council elections. His eyes got huge as he realized there were people in the world who were dishonest about something like that. He said it was impossible to cheat in the student council election - each student only got one piece of paper to write their two choices. Even fourth grade student council has a paper trail....

Speaking of explaining things to Frodo - I do have a funny story.

I was sitting on the couch the other day, working on a cross stitch piece. (That's my *crafty* thing I do. I can't wrap my mind around knitting, lol.) I don't even remember how this conversation started.... Frodo says something about, "Well, of course I'm a lot like you mom, you made me.".

Dh jumps in saying he had some input as well.

Ds stops and looks at him.... I'm thinking, oh no, here it comes. Time for THE big discussion! I'm running all sorts of possible questions and answers in my head. Will I need to draw diagrams? I hope not. I can't draw.

Dh says, "Yeah. You know, I told them I wanted a kid that behaved well, had a good sense of humor, and a great laugh."

"Them?" replies ds.

"Yep. At Babies R Us. What do you think they sell there? At Toys R Us, it's toys. So at Babies R Us, it must be babies!"

Enjoy the giggle!

*post edited on 11/7/06 to correct the link. The prior link took you someplace else. All better now!