Christmas with the Riets

This evening we had Dave and Sandy and the kids over for Christmas. It was nice to have everyone over Sandy brought over presents from them, and then we ate. I made a brown sugar ham (of course) along with squash and a bunch of other yummy things. Byt the time we got up to the table, Sandy, Jess and I could barely eat anything because we had picket at so much of the ham while we were fixing the kids' plates. The kids had a blast playing with Jess and Ad, and I had fun sitting around talking and visiting with everyone.

Adriaan, Dave, Sandy, and Jessica with all the kids.
Me with Jessica and Adriaan.

The kids opening presents from Sandy and Dave.

Christmas Morning

This morning went great. The kids each got 5 small things, so I didn't feel overwhelmed at the end of the day by all the stuff X 6 kids. 3 from us, 2 from "Santa", plus stockings (yay for Target and their dollar bins full of cute stuff). They had fun opening all their stuff, and then we just hung out around the house for the rest of the afternoon.

The kids waiting on the stairs to come down.

Checking out what's under the tree.

Opening presents.

Hailey and Brooklyn.

Amelia playing with her new castle.

Austin helping Camren out with his new train.

John opening the new back massager I got him.

Christmas Eve. Pt. 2

Every year I get the kids Christmas jammies that they get to open on Christmas Eve and then wear and look all cute for their Christmas morning photos. They looked so adorable, I had to be sure and post pics of them before I head to bed.

Christmas Eve Pt. 1

Today Jacob and Natalie came by to visit with us for a while. They are down to be with Natalies family for Christmas. I am glad that Natalie is from Utah, so that they come down here (from Idaho) more often than they would otherwise. We had fun hanging out and did exciting things like watch the kids sing silly songs they made up and watch Hannah Montana. It was nice to see them and spend time together, since the rest of my family is in California. For some reason I ended up with more pics of Jacob than Natalie. Probably because she was sitting on the couch with Hailey most of the time.

Me and Jacob.

Jacob and Natalie with all the kids.

Jacob with Brooklyn and Camren.

Jacob and Amelia.

Jacob and Hailey.

Freedom Sweet Freedom

One thing I have learned since I started doing daycare is how fabulous it makes your days off. I do daycare M, T, Th and on Wednesdays and Fridays I feel so elated that I can run errands with just one child. On my daycare days I am always at the house because I don't want to drag around an extra people, esp. since one is an infant so then there are baby carriers and diaper bags and all the things that I don't have to deal with anymore. I guess I didn't realize how much I enjoyed the fact that all my kids are older and I can just run out and bring nothing with me but them. So today I am going to enjoy my freedom of having just one at home and get done all the things I have been needing to do. Like running to the store, doing some exchanges, doing some bulk cooking for the freezer, cleaning my room, etc. It may not sound exciting to you, but the fact that it will be so much easier to do today makes it a lot more appealing to me. :)

My Blog By Any Other Name

is still me flapping away just like I do in person.

I'm trying out a new name for my blog. The more I looked at the word Joyful, the more it didn't look like a word anymore. (I know I'm a freak.) Also, for those who know me, I found this to be much more fitting. :)

Not sure 100%, still deciding. Should it be of or for? Something else entirely?

Hmmm . . . .

Comments?

An Actual Full Night's Sleep Really Helps

It's amazing how awake I can be when I go to bed at 10 pm instead of 1 am.

Here's what I have done so far today:
- Find a dentist and schedule appointments for our entire family
- Find a pediatrician and schedule Hailey's 9 year well visit (her b-day is next month)
- Run Brooklyn to school on time so she wouldn't be late (thanks to Christina coming and sitting with Amelia and the 2 boys I watch because we missed the bus because AGAIN I forgot it is Monday, which is 30 min earlier. Grrr!)
- Get a couple loads of laundry done
- Get the entire downstairs spotless, with the exception of the dishes which are in progress
- Finish the book I was reading. "Barefoot" by Elin Hilderbrand. Good book. It was a little hard to get into in the beginning, but then I really enjoyed it.
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The pediatrician and dentist I found are not only in the same parking lot, but they are 5 minutes (if that) from my house! WOO-HOO! I am SUPER excited about that! I hate having to pull the kids out of school because they need a check-up and no one is open in the evening. However, since we are so close, I can just take them in the afternoon right after school. I can also take them in the morning because they both open at 8 and my kids don't have school 'til 9:15. Yay for me!

Season Of Light

My husband put lights on the house this weekend. I am SUPER excited about this because I have NEVER in my entire 28 years of life had lights on a house I lived in. My mom said that Justin says he remembers having lights on our house once when we were little, which is hilarious for 2 reasons: 1. My dad has never put lights on the house, and 2. One time my parents did put lights around the inside of the living room window on our house in Mesa, but considering we moved to CA from AZ when he was only 2, I doubt he remembers that. So my mom says I should just let him think that so get can feel happy that one time we did. I said it's my job as his older sister to inform him that he is on crack and we never had any and since I am 7 years older I would remember it more than him if it had happened. I mean, I don't want to shirk my sisterly duties. (Or miss out on an opportunity to use the word shirk. I mean how often does that come along?)

My dad wouldn't never do it. He always said the house or the tree. Obviously his way of getting out of it because who wants a tree with no lights. If I had been smarter, I would have said fine the house and see what he had to say about that. Then my ex wouldn't ever put any up because he was too lazy and didn't want to do it. 4 years of asking, 4 years of nothing. So I thought I was pretty much resigned to the same fate with John. I kept whining about lights - nothing, pleading about lights - still nothing. Then we went to Walmart and (without a word from me) he just headed over to the Christmas decor section and starting looking through lights. Then debating the different lights. Then PUTTING THEM IN MY CART! I was afraid to say anything, that I might jinx it and they might go back on the shelf. But no, they are now on my house. 8 strands of white icicle lights decorating the first and second story of my house. It looks beautiful. I like to look out the window from the inside and see the icicles hanging down above the window. I'm glad John didn't fall off the tiers of our roof (even though I was sure he would) and kill himself. I had to stay inside because I just couldn't watch. But now I love to drive up to them every time I leave the house. Someday when we have a lot of money (assuming that someday ever comes) I want to be one of those houses COVERED in lights. You know. The houses that everyone drives to see and it has a bazillion (which is totally a word even though spell check says it's not) lights and displays and you have to get out and walk through the yard to see everything. I figure if I add a few things every year, that's the most economical way to do it. For now I will just enjoy my icicles for Christmases to come.

Wii Need Help - Or At Least I Do

Dear John,

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If you're reading this, I want a Wii for Christmas. Yes, you read that right.

ME. The one who's last marriage went down the crapper partly due to the fact that my ex was married to his ps2 and xbox and I was the girl on the side - very far off on the side.

ME. The one that got rid of all of your nintendo and video games and swore that I would never allow any of that in my house again.

Yeah, that me. I really, REALLY want the Wii fit and the DDR (dance dance revolution) that goes with it. They're both really fun and I think I would use them - a lot.

Great. Now I'm justifying nintendo as a weight loss tool.

Call the doctor. I obviously need to be medicated.

(Just make sure you get me the Wii too.)

-

Love,

Your Shel

Ta-Dah!

My blog is now decorated for Christmas. Now on to the rest of the house.
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PS. Don't expect me to add any Christmas music. Not a big fan of most of it. I did make a new playlist of a few of my fave songs on my ipod though, so there.
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PPS. Yay for after Thanksgiving sales. I got a new camera. A Nikon Coolpix P80. For about $200 less than retail. It has 10.1 megapixels and 18x zoom. Which is pretty exciting if you realize that our old camera has 4 megapixels and 3x zoom and is as old as Tyler. Pretty much a fossil. And it cost 3 x's as much as the new one. They sure have come a long way! We also got a new BBQ since ours bit the dust while living in Concord and we had yet to replace it. It is really nice and we got an AWESOME deal on it too. So, Merry Christmas to John and me. Now I just have the kids to worry about.

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PPPS. Sorry, I just love writing these. Remember when you were younger and you'd pass notes in school and you'd have a zillion ps's at the end of your notes? I do, cause I have a huge box of all my old notes from friends and boyfriends from jr. high and high school. Yes I am a freak and I save everything. Then again, maybe I could compile them as a book and sell them and strike it rich. Hey, I can dream, right?

The Aftermath

I enjoyed last night. It was more fun than the disaster I had waiting for me when I got up this morning! There's a reason I only photographed one corner of my kitchen. Sigh. Off to work.

Thanksgiving Pictures and Deets

We had our Thanksgiving today instead of Thursday, so that we could have it with my ex's family. I had Sandy and Dave, and Jessica and Adriaan. My family had Thanksgiving in AZ and we weren't invited, so we wanted to wait so we could have family. On Thursday, we just went out to dinner (Denny's) and a movie (Wall.E at Movies 8 in Provo) and then drove around looking at Christmas lights. It was nice. I am glad we waited. I did all the cooking, because I love cooking if I am having people over. Chris (my ex's other brother) and Great Gma and Gpa Anderson were supposed to come, but Gpa's leg was bothering him and he took some meds that made him loopy and Chris had to take care of him, so we really missed getting to see them. The food was great and so was the company. I really enjoyed just sitting around visiting and watching the kids play with their Aunt and Uncle. Our menu was:

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Herb Crusted Turkey

Warm Sweet Potato and Spinach Salad

Sage and Walnut Potatoes Au Gratin

Stuffing with Root Vegetables

Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Chocolate and Mint Cookies

Maple Sugar Biscuits

Celebration Cake

Pumpkin Pie

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Everything was great. The potatoes were my favorite of all. I think the kids liked dessert best - big surprise there. I loved having everyone over. Like how my menu looks like an arrow pointing to the pictures? I didn't even do that on purpose, that's how talented I am. Here are some pics. I couldn't get the mosiac site to work. Enjoy!

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Brooklyn and Hailey being silly with Aunt Jessica.

Camren being cute.

Brooklyn with Grandma Sandy.

Austin being cute.

Hailey with Grandma Sandy.

My fantastic Celebration cake with shredded apple
and carrot and homemade frosting. Mmmmm!

Tyler enjoying my chocolate and mint cookies.

Hailey with Uncle Adriaan.

Brooklyn and Amelia with Grandpa Dave.

All the kids at the kid table.

Somebody Peed My Bed And Demo Drama

What's worse than your child peeing their bed? Said child peeing YOUR bed. Yes, you read that right. I went to bed around 1am last night. Sometime after that, Amelia (age 3) came and got in bed with me. I was ok with that. She does that all the time. She had been dry for several nights now, so I didn't get up and take her potty (which I usually do before I let her get in bed with me) I just snuggled her in. Well a little after 2 I woke up suddenly. I rearranged Amelia, who was not practically on top of me and realized that she was wet. When I went to move her I realized that I was wet too - as in soaked to the skin. Then I got out of the bed and realized that 3/4 of my bed was wet as well. Fab-u-lous. So I woke up John and I changed her clothes, then changed my clothes while my husband stripped the bed. Problem? I don't have a water proof mattress pad on MY bed, because I don't pee the bed. So my mattress was soaked too. So my husband headed downstairs to sleep the rest of the night on the family room couch. I, on the other hand, can't sleep anywhere except a bed. So I wrangled myself into the sliver of bed on John's side that wasn't peed and slept there. After finding a big fat old comforter to lay over my mattress, of course. After a while, I was able to fall asleep, but it was definitely not a restful night of sleep. So now I am in a sleep-deprived coma, self medicating with Diet Coke, trying to finish the laundry (along with all my extra clothes and bedding from last night) and also write the 4-5 songs I need for my demo.

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Oh yeah, that's right. I thought that I could just do cover songs on my demo. I had worked them and worked them, and had them all ready to go. Well, apparently that's all fine and dandy for handing out to get gigs and such, but if you want to submit it to a producer it has to be original material. So in all my work this week. I have 1 1/2 songs with lyrics and no music, and a melody to one song that has no lyrics. Yay for me. Not. I downloaded Mixcraft and a couple other programs that will hopefully help me out. So far I have done a couple songs on Mixcraft, but nothing actually useable. Not for what I am trying to do anyway. I hope I get through this wall soon, because I had hoped to do the recording next month and my coach books a week and a half in advance. Looks like this may be my first project of the New Year. Grrrr.

Snow!

These pics are from the other day. I forgot I had taken them, so I don't remember when. Some time during the beginning of this month, because they were right after my Halloween pics on my camera. The kids enjoyed the snow, how ever little of it there actually was. It didn't last past 10am, but they had fun playing in it before school. We don't have any now, but I bet they will have a blast once it starts coming down and staying. And I'll enjoy watching them from the living room window. :)

6 Month Itch

(my house, sans landscaping)

Lately I have been feeling like I want to move again. I know that people will look at me like I just sprouted 2 heads for saying that, considering we moved into this house 6 months ago, but I do. Last spring (before we found this house) we went to Tennessee for spring break. We don't know anyone there, we just went for fun. Cause apparently fun for me is a 30+ hour drive with 6 kids. Hey, at least we had dvd. Anyway, with all the sight-seeing and house looking we did, I really fell in love with the area. I especially fell in love with Spring Hill and the Williamson County area. It is beautiful and close to Nashville and has the best school district in the entire state. The house that we really liked didn't end up working out (they needed someone right away and didn't want to hold it, we needed to wait a couple months 'til the kids were out of school) and so we stayed here. We didn't want to keep wasting money on the house we were renting in Stansbury (because the deal to buy it had fallen through) so we decided to move to the house we are in now. We got a great deal, it's in a fabulous neighborhood with beautiful views that I have posted on here from my porch and bedroom. My ward is great, I have friends here, the school is good. But yet, I am still not happy here. I find myself thinking all the time about Tenn. and how I wanted to move there. I get online to check my email and end up cruising the Nashville housing section on craigslist. I don't know what it is. My family and friends think I am crazy for moving all the time. In the last 10 years since graduating high school (yes, I said 10. ugh.) I have moved 15 times. I am not kidding. Before you freak out, 10 of those moves were within the first 5 years. Ok, I guess that may make you freak out more. Anyway, I guess I am just a wanderer at heart. I haven't found anywhere that I want to stay. I haven't lived anywhere that I just felt like, oh this feels like home to me. Like I could really stay here for a while. I have loved all the houses we have lived in, but after a while I just start feeling like ok, where to next? I feel somewhat bad for my kids because they have gone to a different school every year, but at the same time they are great at adapting and making friends. They have never complained, or said they wished they could stay where they were, or had any problems adjusting to where they were. Well, the boys have had problems in school, (but I don't think that has anything to do with moving. I think I need to have them evaluated for ADHD- Tyler and Austin, and learning disabilities - Camren.). I don't know. we have been talking about Tennessee. With me working on getting my demo together and hoping to get something going there, I don't think that where we live is very conducive to anything happening. I have connections to some people in the music industry in Nashville, but in talking to them they have told me the same thing. You need to come out here if you want your career to go anywhere. After all, Utah is not exactly a country singing mecca or anything. Does that make me selfish? I don't know. I am sure my family would say so, but then again my family criticizes everything I have ever done my entire life, so it's hard to be objective. I think that supposing that things do work out, it would be great for my family. If not, well maybe we would really like it there. Or move again, which is nothing new there. I have several houses that I want to go take a look at next weekend. My kids are off for Thanksgiving, and since I am not welcome to spend the holiday with my family, I am working on convincing John to take us to Tennessee for Thanksgiving. We didn't get a whole lot of sight seeing done when we were there the last time 'cause it rained part of the time and we were mainly looking at houses. So maybe we could go see all the sights and then look at houses on Saturday. I already have the kids on my side. They loved it there when we went before and like the idea that we could get a large enough property there to have animals (aka: horses and chickens). I just have to get John to warm up to the idea of it. (The trip, not moving there). Actually he told me as soon as I get the tracks laid down for my cd, and send it to my producer contact in Nashville, he would be willing to move out there. Kait said it will probably take a couple weeks to get my cd together. He looked online today and actually found a hospital that is very close to several of the houses I like that has several openings that he is qualified for. He is going to call and talk to them about their first assist positions tomorrow. They are a couple hours ahead of us, so hr was closed before he found the listings. So I guess it is just wait and see. In the mean time, I am going to be working on my cd non stop and get that wrapped up asap. I have been putting it off for too long, but I finally have put together a long list of performance ready songs I can record. I am only going to use about 5, but I like to have a lot of choices to narrow down to those 5 so I have been compiling and working nonstop.

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Ok, since I talk like I type, I better go! More to come. :)

No I Didn't Die

but I've been so tired lately, I feel like I'm about to keel over. I need to start going to bed earlier! Between 12 and 2 am doesn't work so well when you have to get up at 7. It is so hard because I am totally a night person.

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I have been babysitting Barrett (2 yrs.) and Carter (2 mo.) for a couple weeks now. My kids are really enjoying having them around and Amelia is liking having someone to play with while all the other kids are at school. I am looking forward to having some spending money, to get some things we need around here but haven't had the money for.

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I got my piano tuned on the 4th. I have had it for 3 years and hadn't had it done, but according to the guy that did the tuning, it had been probably 30 years since it had been tuned. It sounds so much better now. It is still about 10 cents off, but he said I should wait til spring to have him raise the pitch again, because if you do too much at once you can break strings and things. He also fixed my keys that were sticking. So I am back to practicing every day and working on my playing. It has probably been a year since I have REALLY played, because of the tone and sticking keys. It is really hard to play songs without the F above Middle C.

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On the 7th, the kids' school had family skate night at Classic in Sandy. We went and had a blast. The kids hadn't skated before, so it was pretty entertaining to watch them. Out of all of them Amelia did the best. LOL! The next best would probably be Tyler. He was able to stay on his feet most of the time. Hailey and Austin had the hardest time because of their feet size. The skates that go over your shoes were too small to wear with their shoes, so they tried wearing them with socks, which hurt their feet. They tried the regular skates, but couldn't manage to stay up on them. So I don't think they had as much fun as they could have. Brooklyn and Camren did ok. They fell from time to time, but for the most part shuffled around the rink and waved their arms everywhere singing along to the music. It was pretty funny to watch. They were in their own little world.

John and I are thinking about going to Wal-Mart or Target and getting some kid skates. I figured they could practice in the church parking lot or something 'til they were better.

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On Saturday we took the kids to see Madagascar 2. It was fun, because we didn't tell the kids we were going. We just had them get ready to leave and told them it was a surprise where we were going. When we got to the theatre, Camren was all "Are we going to see a movie?". Duh. I made the kids stand with me while John got the tickets, so the kids didn't know what they were going to see. Then after we got all settled in our seats, John went for popcorn. I had a purse full of candy that John had got at Smiths, so we enjoyed mini snickers bars, peanut butter cups, and strawberry twizzlers. (Well I didn't enjoy any twizzlers - Yuck!) The kids had a blast and were laughing their heads off. The movie was great. I enjoyed it too.

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Random:

- Today is early day and I actually remembered. I am feeling pretty impressed with myself.

- It is raining, so I think it may snow later on.

- I feel like screaming because once again Brooklyn can't find her backpack. I mean, how many places could it possibly be? I don't understand how she can lose it all the time. It's not like it is small.

- I really need to go fold about 4 loads of laundry, but I'm having a hard time psyching myself up to it. I'll get to it though, because the baskets are in my room and taking up my side of the room.

- Weight Watchers yogurt is really good. Which is saying something because I don't like yogurt.

- I really can't wait 'til John gets his settlement check and we have money. Yay for HUGE settlement checks! At least there is one good thing that will come out of his injury. It will be nice to do things like get glasses for the 3 big kids, who really need them. Or get more contacts for me 'cause I'm out and I'm tired of wearing my glasses.

- I think I slept about 3 hours last night. I didn't fall asleep til after 2 and then I woke up every hour or half hour. I don' t know why. I am so tired now. Maybe after Brooklyn leaves Amelia and I will take a nap together.

Halloween Part 2 - The Party

Tonight we had our party. The kids had a blast. I made mummy hot dogs and radish eyeballs. I made eyeballs with powdered sugar donuts too, but I don't know what happened to that picture. Em and I took the kids trick or treating up and down my street. It started sprinkling so we didn't want to be out too long. Plus I live on a long street and know all my neighbors (they're all in my ward but 2) and the last time I took my kids trick or treating for a long time they ended up with over 10 lbs. of candy. I didn't want that again, because you know who really eats it. LOL! Robyn and Joe came while we were out and Robyn came and found us. Henry was the cutest little pea pod ever, but I didn't get any pics, because when we got back to the house Robyn changed him and then he didn't put it back on. I will get some from her though.

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After that, we came back to the house and the kids had treats and I rented the new Tinkerbell movie that had just come out. After everyone was home, we headed over to my friend Christina's house so the kids could go trick or treating there. The kids were excited because she was handing out big sheets of stickers, which they love. After that we were supposed to go to my ex-in laws so they could see the kids, but it was so late that I called and we agreed that I will take them tomorrow instead. I'm glad I did, because within 30 seconds of calling, Brooklyn totally puked in my truck. Seems while everyone was visiting and not paying attention, she ate almost all her Halloween candy. Nice. Luckily we were at the end of our street. We pulled into the driveway and I grabbed her out of the truck. She stood at the edge of our yard and puked what looked like a fountain of chocolate. Talk about curing my craving for Halloween candy! I showered her (in her Sleeping Beauty dress) and then sent all the kids to bed. I could have lived without that part of the evening.

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It was fun to hang out and visit. This was the first year that I have done anything for Halloween, because it's not my favorite holiday. However, Em and I decided that we will have to do this again next year (assuming we're still here) and I totally agree. I think I had as much fun as the kids did.

Halloween Part 1 - Dressing Up

This morning the kids got all dressed up for their Halloween parties at school. (Well, except Amelia who's not in school, but I did let her wear her costume to Wal-Mart.) Tyler and Hailey were nurses because they wanted to be like their dad (say it with me, awwww). Austin was Buzz Lightyear, Camren was Peter Pan (and made the cutest most perfect one you ever saw), Brooklyn was Sleeping Beauty (the costume was to big, but I let her wear it anyway because she wanted to wear it so bad) and Amelia was - of course - Cinderella. For Amelia and Brooklyn, it wasn't any different than any other day, because they probably wear those dresses 3 out of 7 days a week. I don't normally let them wear them out of the house though. Anyway, the kids are super excited because tonight I am having my best friend Emily and her kids, Hailey's best friend Mya and her twin (Austin's friend) David, Hailey's friend Aubrey and Robyn and Joe (and Henry) over for a Halloween party. So I have a lot of final shopping and cooking to do. I'll be back later with party pics.

Happy Halloween

Changing Political Parties

Why I'm Voting Democrat

I'm voting Democrat because like most Americans I trust lawyers more than anyone else; I think only lawyers should run the government, and all the Democrat Leaders are lawyers: Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Joe Biden, John Edwards, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Leader Harry Reid, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and John Kerry, to name just a few. (Al Gore dropped out of Law School, so I don't trust him as much, except on Global Warming.)

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I'm voting Democrat because the Democrats support the trial lawyers and I think this country needs more lawsuits and less tort reform. And I know the trial lawyers' contributions have a thing to do with it.

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I'm voting Democrat because Congress has done such a wonderful job under Democrat leadership the last two years, that I want a lot more of the same.

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I'm voting Democrat because I want to get my health care from the same competent, efficient, cost-effective, customer-service-focused folks who run the US Post Office, the Pentagon, FEMA and the state Registry of Motor Vehicles.

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I'm voting Democrat because I'm way too irresponsible to own a gun, and I know that my local police are all I need to protect me from murderers and thieves.

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I'm voting Democrat because Sen. Obama has promised to cut the taxes of 95% of American workers, including the 30% who don't pay taxes, who are part of the 50% of taxpayers who pay a grand total of 2.9% of federal income taxes each year. It is only right, fair and patriotic that the 10% of workers who pay 70% of federal taxes each year pay even more, by golly.

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I'm voting Democrat because Sen. Obama has promised to take away the secret ballot in union elections, and I think the union bosses should know if a working man or woman is with them, or against them.

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I'm voting Democrat because Sen. Obama has over three years experience in the Federal Government, and "Hope" is a great strategy.

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I'm voting Democrat because Sen. Obama voted "present" instead of "yes" or "no" over 120 times in the Illinois State Senate, and I think we need a decisive president.

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I'm voting Democrat because I think that drilling for American oil is foolish when we can buy all the oil we need from the Middle East .

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I'm voting Democrat because I think windmills (except off Hyannis Port ) are a better answer to reliable, clean energy than Nuclear Energy.

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I'm voting Democrat because I don't think we give enough to other countries in foreign aid.I'm voting Democrat because I'm for putting up barriers to free trade, as they did in 1930 with the Smoot-Hawley bill. That made things much better then.

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I'm voting Democrat because I miss the high unemployment, inflation and interest rates of the Jimmy Carter years.

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I'm voting Democrat because parents shouldn't get to choose the school their kids go to. Parents should leave their children's education to the teachers and stay out of it.

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I'm voting Democrat because I think this is the perfect time to raise the Capital Gains tax and drive investment money out of the stock market.

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I'm voting Democrat because I believe oil companies' profits of 4% on a gallon of gas are obscene, but the government taxing the same gallon of gas at 15% isn't.

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I'm voting Democrat because I believe the government will do a better job of spending the money I earn than I would, and I want the government to spread my wealth around to those who earn less or nothing.

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I'm voting Democrat because freedom of speech is fine as long as nobody is offended by it.

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I'm voting Democrat because, when we pull out of Iraq , I trust that the bad guys will stop what they're doing because they will think we're good people.

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I'm voting Democrat because I believe that people who can't tell us if it will rain on Friday CAN tell us that the polar ice caps will melt away in ten years if I don't start driving a Prius.

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I'm voting Democrat because I'm not concerned about restoring partial birth abortions so long as we keep all death row murderers alive.

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I'm voting Democrat because I believe that small businesses should not be allowed to make a profit. They need to break even and give the rest away to the government for redistribution to people who didn't start businesses.

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I'm voting Democrat because I believe the law is what judges say it is, and not what legislators say -- or the Constitution.

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I'm voting Democrat because the media would call me a racist if I didn't.

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Robert A. Hall

10 Places To See Before You're 10

I was reading an article entitled "10 Places to See Before You're 10". It said "Family vacations should be fun, of course, but we always hope they’ll do more—kindle an interest, inspire a career, or at least pry them away from computer screens. Here are 10 U.S. sites guaranteed to rock young worlds. "

I was surprised to see that I had been to all but 3 of them. Most of them I probably went to because I grew up in California. Colonial Williamsburg and Ellis Island I went to on a 2 week trip back east with band. I guess I better get some traveling in, if I want to cross #1, 9 & 10 off my list.

You can click on the names below to link to articles about the sites. Enjoy!

1. American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland
2. Colonial Williamsburg, Williamsburg, Virginia
3. Disneyland
4. Ellis Island, New York City
5. Grand Canyon, Arizona
6. Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles
7. Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey, California
8. Muir Woods, Marin County, California
9. Niagara Falls, New York and Ontario
10. Sears Tower, Chicago

Coming Up

Oh yeah. I forgot to mention that my schedule is up for a change starting next week. So much for sleeping in 'til 8. Starting next Wednesday I will be babysitting 2 brothers, ages 2 and 6 weeks. I have been so baby hungry and am totally excited to get to babysit a newborn. I am also glad that Amelia will have someone to play with in the afternoon after Brooklyn goes to kindergarten. The downside? They will be coming to my house at 7:20am, so I will have to start getting up early. At least it is only 2 days a week. It will be a big change for me. When John and I got married, Camren (our youngest boy) was 2 1/2 so I have never had a baby boy before. I'm excited!

My Schedule

My husband says all the time that I don't have a schedule or practice any time management. He thinks that because I'm just sitting at the house (not kidding) so how could I not get everything done that I need to every day. Well, I just don't feel like I need to be slaving away every second I am awake. I want to enjoy my day too. Here is my "schedule". Let's see what you think.

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7am - Alarm goes off. Think about how horrified I am that it is still dark outside and that I am still sooo tired. Go back to sleep.

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8 am - Get up for real.

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8 - 840am - Wake up the 4 older kids. Make sure they get dressed, clean their rooms, make their beds, and straighten up any messes they have left around the house from the night before. Load them on the bus and off to school. (They eat breakfast at school - major morning stress reducer!)

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840 - 10am - Get Brooklyn and Amelia dressed. Strip Amelia's bed if I need to (We are in the middle of night training. Days are done. Yay!) and throw sheets in the wash. Get the girls breakfast. Check all my email accounts, facebook, myspace, friends blogs, etc. while the girls are eating. Eat breakfast myself if I feel like it.

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10 - 11am - Do quick straightening up of house. Take out something for dinner if I need to (ie. meat that needs to thaw). Make sure Brooklyn knows where her backpack and shoes are (daily problem here -esp. the shoes) and put them by the front door.

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11am - 12pm - Make lunch for the girls. Eat something if I feel like it. While they are eating, take a shower. After they are done eating, let them watch cartoons (about 30 min.) while I get dressed, do hair, etc.

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12 - 1pm - Get Brooklyn ready and out the door to the bus. Get Amelia cleaned up from lunch. Put Amelia down for a nap (or attempt to, depending on the day). Sometimes, instead of nap time we go hang out at Robyn's house for a couple hours.

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1 - 330pm - Do any real cleaning around the house (ie. vacuuming, scrubbing). Fold any laundry I have while watching my shows I dvr'ed from the night before while the kids were still awake. Run any loads of laundry I have. If Amelia is not napping, I will run any errands I have while I only have 1 kid home.

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330 - 8pm - Check email for a few minutes. Eat something for lunch. 5 older kids get home from school. John gets home from work (usually right after the kids). Kids finish any chores they have that are undone. Start homework and reading time. Run any errands with John that we need to do together. Start dinner. Feed John and the kids dinner. Kids do their kitchen chores. Get the kids jammied, teeth brushed and in bed.

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8 - 10pm - Finally sit down and eat dinner. (Sometimes I eat with everyone, depending on how crazy the evening is). Sit around and relax with John for a little while. Maybe do some cleaning. Maybe some reading or watch a movie together (ie. me watching it while he sleeps on the couch next to me).

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10pm - 12am - Play on the computer. Answer any emails. Do my food journal for my online group. Check out ksl.com and craigslist. Plan any things I have to do tomorrow. Think about what I want to do for dinner tomorrow, in case I need to get anything the next day. Take it out then, if I want to do a homemade freezer meal, so it can thaw.

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12 -1am - Finally go to bed. I have a real hard time falling asleep, so sometimes it's not til 2am.

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Repeat the next day.

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Well, that's what I do in a day. Give or take, depending on the day. The last couple days I have been painting some furniture for a friend (table, chairs, buffet) and the kids have been out of school. That always throws me off. Well I better get back on track, and get some stuff done before lunch time.

Technical Difficulties

Sorry I had to take the links out of my SSM post. I am new at the whole linking thing and it is just not happening. I will keep working on it and hopefully figure it out.

Austin's Baptism

Today was Austin's baptism. He turned 8 back in July, but we had been working on some issues before he was ready (read: stealing every piece of candy in sight, no matter where he was) and we decided he was finally ready to take the plunge - literally. It was a stake baptism, but the only ones there from our ward were Austin and a girl from his class, so that was nice. My family wasn't able to come out, but I did have Robyn and Joe there. Emily also came, and my ex's family came (minus him, of course). It was nice to have everyone there. It was a special day and it was nice to have everyone back to the house for lunch. It turned out that today was the first snowfall of the year, but not a lot. Still it was pretty exciting to the kids. I am proud of Austin that he made the decision that he wanted to be baptized. Great day. 3 down, 3 to go. :)