The Bachelor turns out to be the biggest LOSER!

There was a time that I swore I would never become victim to reality television... that seems like an eternity ago now. The latest reality demon to pull me in was the Bachelor. Now in all honesty, I've only watched snippits of prior seasons and happened to watch the last season finale of the Bachelorette. That's where I, as well as many other folks, became a Jason Mesnick fan. That's where we watched evil DeAnna strike him down, sending him home roseless and an emotional wreck. (we later learn that Jason deserves an Oscar when it comes to emotional breakdowns) To me, he came across as a sincere, good guy, and I felt so sorry for him.
On this season of the Bachelor, we watched Jason go through many bright, beautiful women, eliminating them all down to two, Melissa and Molly. I myself have been a big Melissa fan the entire show, she IS from Dallas, after all, and as cute as she can be. She has a bubbly, fun personality and was just charming. Nothing against Molly, she held several of those attributes as well, but Melissa just shined a bit brighter, to me. In the end, Jason thought so too, or so we thought! After giving Melissa the last rose and sending Molly on her way, Jason then decides that "he still has feelings for Molly" and dumps Melissa in front of millions on national television.
I feel just as suckered as Melissa, and I didn't even date the dude! What a creep he is. I also have to feel that something is just a "little off" with Molly for her to even consider giving Jason a second chance. I was so hoping that Molly was gonna give him the hand! I'll never quite understand, that if his feelings for Molly were SO deep, why he chose Melissa - I'm assuming, neither will she. Who'd have thought the Bachelor would turn out to be the BIGGEST LOSER!?

Spending OOPS! I mean Stimulus bill...

For the past couple of days I've found myself watching cspan and have found it quite entertaining. It's comical the way the fools in Washington are scurrying around trying to pass this Stimulus bill in order to "stimulate" the economy. According to figures that have been posted at various sites, the grand total is equivalent to borrowing $10,520 from EVERY family in America, and keep in mind, this 800 and some odd BILLION will have to be paid back! And the bill is loaded with all kinds of things that touch on getting our economy back on track. For instance, $150 million to repair the Smithsonian should provide a multitude of jobs -- don't you think? And extending Medicaid by $89 BILLION and food stamps by $20 BILLION gives the unemployed great incentive to get out and find employment. $650 million for digital-TV coupons; $90 million to educate “vulnerable populations” Now, I'm not totally against the vouchers, but c'mon, $90 million to educate "vulnerable populations"? What does that even mean?! I don't know about where you are, but for the past six months at least we've had commercial after commercial telling us to prepare for DTV. I've heard "talk" of things such as funding for ATV trails, yes, that's what I said, ATV trails. In Texas, we call those pastures, or dirt roads, not much funding needed for that. This bill is speckled with PORK. Can you smell the bacon?? None of these things, as well as others, will do anything to promote, provide, or stablize jobs for the American people. What's really bad is that we are tacking on all of this debt and our children and grandchildren are inheriting it, and for what?? We are being robbed, and in a blatant way. Pelosi, Reid? -- hope you're happy!



Check out the rest of the stimulus bill here.

Michael Phelps - busted!

Seriously, I was/am a HUGE Michael Phelps fan, he is what even started my interest in watching the Olympics last year. Before, I never had the desire. I watched almost every event faithfully and was almost sad when it came to an end. I'm sure by now you have all seen the dreaded photo of Phelps taking a hit from the bong (the media sounds so archaic when referring to it as a marijuana pipe, it's a freakin' bong!) When I first saw the photo, I didn't feel disappointed, I felt a feeling of, "how could you be SO stupid?!" Did he really think that NO one was going to seize the opportunity to present this to the media? And the way the media is attempting to crucify him, give me a break! I understand that in doing this he touched upon some moral clauses in some of his contracts, but should we REALLY hold celebrities, athletes, and such to a higher standard than we do ourselves or other commoners such as ourselves? First of all, this isn't something I would discuss with my children at the dinner table, and if the media would quit flashing it every 30 minutes, our kids would be none the wiser, IF it was truly their concern that he's letting so many children down. Secondly, I want my children to understand that none of us, even celebs, are without flaws and faults. IF I choose to discuss this with my children, I don't want them to think Michael is a horrible person, he just did a stupid thing and made a mistake. And no one that I know is immune to that. So, I say, lay off of MP. I'm sure he regrets this 10x over. He has to live with that, not us.

OK, so I may need to chill...

We have been SUPER busy lately with Girl Scouts, school, and sporting events. As of late, I totally feel like I barely have time to do much with myself (my roots can testify to that) let alone take on anything extra. Well, middle daughter brings home a sheet for me to fill out for the Spring softball league. Now don't get me wrong, I could totally make time for this, but middle daughter doesn't have an athletic bone in her body! Not only that, she's not the outdoorsy type and whines if we say.... go to the zoo in 70 degree weather. I understand that it is supposed to be "fun" and that it's all a learning experience, but the mother in me wants to save her from any kind of disappointment and bad emotions that "may" occur. I'm very proud that she has the confidence to even consider it, and seems totally excited at the prospect -- for now, anyway. She's VERY artistic, and talented in so many other ways. I can so see it now though, she in her twenties, us having an argument over some silly thing that young adults argue with their parents about, and hearing, "it's all because YOU didn't let ME play softball when I was 8!" Can't you just hear it??.... So, I will take her to sign ups, and maybe she will surprise me. If not, I will be that comforting, protective mother that I set out to be initially, but had to step aside to allow her to grow... Hope it works out...

Gettin' back into the normal swing of things...

December kept me WAY busy. I love the holidays and all they bring , but in some ways, I'm also relieved to see them go. I just feel like a chicken with my head cut off, running from here to there, getting the shopping done, attending parties, school events, preparing for our own family events, that I truly get exhausted.


Makenna, my middle daughter, turned 8 this December. We had a slumber party with 11 girls, much better than the grand total of 20 last year, and she had a good time. A week or so before her birthday, she did the most awesome thing. She donated her hair to Locks of Love! I was so proud of her for doing such a caring thing for others. Even though she's starting to go through a "talking back, uggghhh noise making, stomping away phase",(better be anyway) she has the biggest heart.

We try to make it to the Adolphus Children's Christmas parade in Dallas every year. We actually missed last year so we were super excited to go this year. It's never a disappointment. I'm a sucker for parades, though. The kids loved it. For Dallas, it's a pretty good production. Not quite Macy's, but it sure works.

I host Christmas at our house every year. This year we didn't have the crowd that we normally would. I was really afraid it wouldn't feel quite right without an overcrowded house, but it really turned out to be very enjoyable. I didn't feel nearly as stressed the day of as I usually do, that in itself made it nice.

A good friend of mine flew in from Michigan and spent New Year's Eve with us. We didn't do much this year, just a quiet night at home watching the ball drop while munching out on snacks. It was nice, but quiet. Not a bad way to ring in the new year, I suppose.

I hope everyone else had a great Christmas and an awesome start to 2009!

6 things that make me happy!

I've been tagged by fellow blogger Chris at What's in Sissy's Head? I have to list 6 things that make me happy! Luckily, today is a good day so I can do this with some ease...

1. My children and everything about them. No matter what my mood might be, without a doubt one of them will do SOMETHING in a day that will make me smile.

2. Diet Coke. It's the way I get my day started, and without it, my whole day seems to be off course.

3. Being productive. I love the feeling at the end of a day when I can reflect back on the events of that day and truly feel like I've accomplished a lot.

4. My friends. I don't really have what I would consider an "abundance" of them, but the ones I do have, I absolutely treasure.

5. Christmas. I love everything about the holiday. The giving, the music, the lights and decorations, the parades, just every little thing about it.

6. Church. It seems like even on days that I don't feel like going, I'm always glad that I did.

Now, I shall tag a few :)

I wish I could write the rules sometimes...

I'm in a very irritable mood today, and the way the day is playing out certainly isn't helping. My middle daughter has a birthday coming up, so we've been planning. Last year the school district's policy was that you must send an invitation to either ALL students, ALL of the girls, or ALL of the boys, in the class. Ok, no big deal. You assume that not all will show anyway. I was wrong there! Still, that was ok, I was prepared for a large number, just in case. So in preparation for the party this year, I send the teacher an email to obtain a list of names for all of the girls in daughter's class. She responds informing me that we can't pass out invitations at all at school. I took that as she meant that "WE", meaning myself or daughter, could not pass them out, which I was already aware of that. Then I proceeded to email her back and informed her that I was aware of that, but I would send them with daughter for her, the teacher, to pass out. Her next response confused me even more. I'm beginning to get frustrated at this point so decided to just call the school and ask. I spoke to someone in the office who told me that the district policy had changed entirely and that absolutely NO invitations were permitted to be passed out on school grounds at all now, BUT, she said kids do anyway, and that if daughter wanted to pass them out after school, she would not get reprimanded. This phone call took place in between email responses back and forth with me and the teacher. I then emailed the teacher and told her what I was told by one of the office staffers, not realizing that could possibly make her feel that I was overriding her at the time. I merely called out of confusion, but I had a feeling that's what she might've been feeling when I received her response to what I was told. Her response just oozed with "how dare you!"
Her response: k.... well then I guess it is okay.
Probably an hour or so later, I received another email from the teacher informing me that she contacted the principal and confirmed that absolutely NO invitations are allowed to be given on school property, and that she was sorry for any miscommunication.
Now, first of all... what a silly policy! How on earth are parents supposed to allow their children to invite other children to their parties? I, for one, would never send my child to someone's home on a verbal invite alone without talking first to parents and wanting details.
Second, who makes these rules anyway? This is a real dumb one, if you ask me. I always thought it was a bit much to have to invite ALL of the girls before, but I get that they required that to avoid bruised feelings. I'd take that policy over the new No Invitations At All policy any day.
I guess our only option is to get the individual students to give daughter their addresses and/or phone numbers in order to mail invitations out. I just hope they give reliable information, they are only 7, after all.
Like things aren't complicated enough sometimes, ya know? Then, every now and then, someone thinks they get a bright idea, and start changing rules. And seriously, when I was growing up, I was invited to some parties, others, I was not. I lived. We all survived that. To me, that's just life. I teach my children that there will be times that one of them will be invited to something that the others can't go to, and it's the same for all of them. That's just LIFE. I wonder sometimes how much damage rather than good we are doing their generation by always trying to cushion their feelings?...