Roughing It (Updated)

Nicco made himself a comfy bed:

It is a big-ish plastic bin that normally holds all his soft buddies. He filled it with blankets and lined it with pillows and got it into his little head that it would make a great actual bed. He was terribly upset when I took him to his room at bed time. He insisted that his small bed would be comfy, it would not hurt his neck, he would not wake me up in the middle of the night to take him to his room. There are some things I'm willing to let him experiment with for fun, but I draw the line when I know his experiment will require me getting up in the middle of the night. He started to cry, so I offered a compromise. I would let him "camp" in his tent, in his room, next to his bed. That way if he wants to go to bed, he can do it without waking me up.

He hopped and clapped and giggled and gathered all his stuff to put in his tent for the night.

For now, he's snuggled up comfy and cozy. I guess we'll find out if the experiment is a success or not in the morning. Or in the middle of the night when he decides he wants to sleep in his bed and he comes to get me to help him move.

Morning Update: He made it! He burrowed under his bedspread (which I put on the floor of his tent to make it nice and soft and squishy) and he's surrounded by his pillows and soft buddies. He usually gets up between 7:00 and 8:00, and it is 9:00 and he's finally stirring...I guess the camping experiment was a success. He'll probably want to try it again tonight.

Puppy Love

Today when I picked Nicco up from school, his teacher winked at me, pointed to a cute little red-haired girl, and mouthed the word "girlfriend." She said that Nicco and this little girl were sitting across from each other during circle time, lifting their little hands just an inch or two off their laps to subtly wave at each other, followed by a quiet giggle.

I asked her if this little girl is perhaps named Danielle. Mrs. Ericka confirmed that indeed, the little red-haired girl is Danielle. Last week, I arrived to pick Nicco up a little early and he was still eating lunch. He was sitting at the table with two other girls, Bella and Mackenzie. On the way home, I asked him if he gets to choose where to sit at lunch or if Mrs. Ericka tells them where to sit. He said "My teacher tells me where to sit. She says 'choose a place.'" That didn't tell me what I really wanted to know, so I asked him if he plays with Bella and Mackenzie during free time or outside on the playground. He said "Sometimes. They are my friends, but my best friend is Danielle.( ~sigh~) She's so pretty. I love her."

Megamind

Nicco has been anxiously awaiting the release of Megamind. I don't really know why, other than it being a cartoon movie. He never asks to go to McDonalds but he has been begging me to take him lately because they have Megamind toys. Good thing we don't live in San Francisco! I usually ignore reviews altogether, unless they come from someone I know personally and whose opinion I trust. For some reason, I read several reviews for Megamind and they were so scathingly negative that I was almost convinced to disappoint my boy. Also, before reading the reviews, I wasn't aware of a death scene in the story. It didn't sound like a natural, cycle of life thing like in UP, so I was a little iffy on the movie. Ultimately, I decided that Will Farrell, Tina Fey, and Brad Pitt would probably make up for my misgivings. HA!

Guess what...I was right! The reviews I read said that the humor and the romance was way too grown up for kids, which may be true, but that is always true with kid shows. And besides, kids totally get silliness, if not humor. They also get the ideas of good and bad, love and friendship.

So here's my review: the Good was great, the Bad was funny, the twist making Megamind a somewhat unwilling hero was sweet, and the "tricks" that Minion pulled (ha ha, minion...) tugged on my heart a little. If your kid is begging you to see it, I say go. You'll probably enjoy it as much as you enjoyed the other Dreamworks movies your kids dragged you to.

Post Holiday Visit to Target

I was really only planning to look for a new lampshade and some new flatware, but since when does ANYBODY come out of Target with only what was on the list? The 75% post Halloween clearance sale was, in fact, too good for me to resist. And besides:

This was totally worth $3.00. Any bets on whether Nicco will still be a Super Mario fan when this costume actually fits him? I have my doubts that it will even remain wearable by next Halloween, considering the exuberant Super Mario show he put on last night.

Turns out, money can buy happiness, and yesterday, it only cost me $3.00.

An Open Letter to the Incoming Congress

This sweeping, historic victory of the American people has been spun and misinterpreted.  I suggest that we all keep their feet to the fire. Write to them, call them, do not sit passively by trusting them to do the right thing. Make them represent you! I am sending the following letter to my representatives and to our leaders in Congress to reaffirm what this victory means:

Dear Congressman/Senator:


I am writing to be sure you do not misinterpret the message we sent to Washington in Tuesday’s historical electoral victory. In the past two days, I have heard and read that this victory was about frustration and anger, inspired by fear. I have heard and read that this was about money from mysterious sources and that a spending blitz spurred this victory. I have heard and read that this was not a referendum on Obama and his agenda. I have heard that it is time for compromise, civility, and common ground.

This is about fear. Legitimate fear. There is an enemy at war with us that our president refuses to name, bows to, and protects in the name of “outreach” and “openness.” We are afraid of weakness before this enemy, we are afraid of insulting and abandoning our allies as our enemy openly calls for and moves toward our ultimate destruction.

This is about frustration. We are frustrated at the willful disregard of our Constitution, our values, and our voices.

We are angry. We are angry at our representatives for going behind closed doors and behind our backs, making deals, bending and changing rules to accomplish goals, directly defying our Constitution and the will of the people.

This is about money—wasteful spending, excessive spending, excessive taxation. We do not buy the lies that cutting spending requires cutting essential programs. Struggling American families have collectively found ways to cut waste in our own budgets without cutting off essential services like our water and power. We demand that you do the same. If you think there aren’t any specific ideas, ask Eric Cantor. Look at the list of programs presented through You Cut. Do that.

Make no mistake, this absolutely is a referendum on Obama and his socialist progressive agenda. We know what happens when you follow this path. We see what happened in Greece, we know where socialism has led Europe, and we refuse to follow our leader off that same cliff. We demand that you, our representatives, immediately stop this agenda.

There is no room for compromise with a man who called us his enemies, who told us to sit in the back, to stop talking and to just listen. There is no room for compromise with a man who has spent two years lying to us, insulting us, and ignoring us. We believe in civility, but we refuse to compromise our Constitution and our values.

This is what we expect from you, our newly elected representatives, to do with the trust we have returned to you:

Do not go to Washington and become part of the “inside crowd.”
Do not accept staffing from Washington insiders (especially if you are a freshman).
No more bailouts. No one is "too big to fail." We learn from failure and come out stronger.
Immediately move to defund Obamacare.
Immediately move to extend the Bush tax cuts – ACROSS THE BOARD – FOR EVERYONE! None of us have received a job from a poor person,  we don’t believe that business owners are evil people.
To those of you in the Senate: Filibuster everything that is against the Constitution.
Do not move towards Obama. Make Obama move to you. Put him on the defensive. Make him veto every bill. He is already going to run against you in 2012, so don’t compromise. We don’t want compromise.

NEVER QUIT, NEVER WAVER – or we WILL FIRE YOU, just as we did many of your predecessors.

Do not tread on us. We are watching, we are listening, and we will come again.

Respectfully,
Tamara

Red Dawn (but in a whole other context...)

This is just the beginning. We're in it for the long haul. Well done, America! Well done.

A Brand New Day

I have a love/hate relationship with John Boehner. Today, I love him:

Boehner took a pointed shot at the president, who has been criticized in recent days by conservatives for an interview with Univision, the Spanish-speaking TV network, in which he used the word “enemies” to describe his political opponents.

The White House clarified the statement Monday, saying he should have referred to them as “opponents.”
Boehner wasn’t having any of it Monday night.
“I have a word to describe these people who have the audacity to fight for our constitution, Mr. President,” Boehner said. “These people aren’t enemies; they are patriots.”

Enemies. The president of the USA called citizens of the nation he supposedly leads Enemies. On a spanish television station. We saw how (Future Speaker of the House?) Boehner responded to that. How will you respond?

Vote, Patriots. Be strong, be vigilant. If you are going to the polls today (as opposed to mailing in your ballot) go prepared with your camera. Report any indiscretion. Then, dig in. Cling to your Bible and your gun. Be ready to fight. We've got a long one ahead of us.

P.S. In case you forgot, remember who they are and what they represent:
http://commentarama.blogspot.com/2010/10/election-reminder.html

P.P.S. Happy birthday, Mama! May we all celebrate tonight...

Halloween 2010

Nicco was so excited about Halloween this year. He watched (and enjoyed!) every silly and stupid Halloween special on t.v., counted days, and commented on decorations he saw as we drove around town. I would hear little outbursts like "Pumpkins!" "Witches!" "Spiders" "Ghosts!" whenever we passed houses with the aforementioned decor on their doors or patios. I wanted to go to a pumpkin patch, but the best one is a couple hours away and the nearby one is only open on weekends. With Patrice working on Saturdays, we just never made it, so I let Nicco choose a pumpkin at the supermarket.

There just happened to be a pen on the table when Nicco sat down for lunch, so while he ate, he drew a face on his "lantern."

He refused to touch the guts, but he liked the smell. It's "just like pumpkin pie." (Wha...???)

The finished face, ready for the contest at the neighbors' party.(More on that later...) We had spooky snacks, lunch, and dinner on Halloween day:

Monster fingers

Pumpkin patch

Hot dog mummies

Ghosts in the graveyard (I think it looks more like swamp monsters.)

Our little race car driver eating his ghost

Checking out his "loot"

Nicco thinks that we really don't know it's him in those disguises. When we laugh at the silly glasses, he takes them off and says "It's just me, Nicco!" And when we scream at the scary teeth, he says the same thing.

Our Halloween fun was spread over two days. We could have gone to 4 festivals on Saturday, one at the swim school, one at Nicco's preschool, one at the neighbors', and one at church. They were all scheduled consecutively so we realistically could have attended each of them for at least a little while, and with the level of excitement coming from the kid this year, I actually thought about it. That fleeting thought lasted for about 2 seconds. We decided to be good neighbors and skip the school party. I dressed Nicco up in his racecar driver outfit, and felt like I should be at least festive to some degree. It was too hot to wear my long sleeved "Boo" shirt, so I donned my holey jeans, tank top, mesh and plaid hat (with "redneck" written in mock duct tape across the front) and decided to be a redneck NASCAR mom. It was really awkward when I, in my "costume," actually fit right in. There was quite a crowd of folks, all of whom had been at a birthday party the night before and were all still hungover, and treating the hangover by drinking more beer. I was glad to have Nicco to watch out for so that it wasn't quite so obvious that I just didn't fit in. He had a blast...they had a jumping castle and lots of pets, and he was really excited about the pumpkin contest. Unfortunately for him, I reached my limit and there was no indication that the judging would take place soon, or that they would break out their pinata any time soon, so I packed up my kid and our pumpkin and went home to get ready for the church party.

Some of the ladies did a lip-synch/dance to a witch spell casting song and the young women did a zombie/Thriller dance. They did a good job, but I was glad that I don't really have friends so no one would ask me to participate in such humiliating nonsense. They also had a "tunnel of doom" that we went through 4 or 5 times, games in the cultural hall, and trunk or treat. They had a halloween CD of some kind, and at one point it played Michael Myers' theme song..you know, the creepy Halloween song? Nicco said "Let's get out of here. I don't like that sound." I was surprised that it scared him out of context. When we came home, Nicco ran inside saying "I gotta show Daddy my loot!"

I made my spooky meals on Sunday, and we went trick-or-treating around the neighborhood when the sun went down. I think everyone was out on the streets at the same time, because we only had one trick-or-treater. Now I have "loot" from two outings, plus the candy I bought to give away. I should have left my stash in front of the door, or even brought it along to hand out on our route! Oh well...I suspect we'll manage to eat it all up anyway. At one point, Nicco said "Halloween is going to last forever, because it's SO FUN!"

Oro Valley trick-or-treat is a different experience from any Halloweens in my past. Many of our neighbors put patio chairs and tables in their driveways to greet the trick-or-treaters. The chatting, laughing, and greetings echoed up and down the streets throughout the neighborhood. It was a sharp contrast to Halloween in Bailey where we had to drive from one house to another. In Littleton it was always way too cold to be sitting out on the porch for trick or treat. Ironically, maybe, "The Devil's Day" renewed my faith in humanity and restored a sense of joy that I've been missing lately with all my election anxiety. Hopefully, this faith and joy will last through Tuesday. 

Terms of Endearment

Last night when we snuggled for sleep, Nicco said "You are a heart. I called you a heart because you are my love."

Earlier today he said "You are my cookie, because you are so sweet."

Tonight when we snuggled for sleep Nicco told me I'm his best mom because "(you) take such good care of me."

I think I'm his best mom because, you know, I'm his only mom. But I'll take the compliment!

Joyeux Anniversaire

Our boy turned 5 today. As the cliche goes, I can hardly believe how fast the time has flown. Last night he said "I can't wait to wake up in the morning, it's going to be....BIRTHDAY TIME!!!"  He's been counting the days for a while, and he was the calendar helper in school on Thursday so he got to count down days to his birthday with the whole class.

Nicco loves balloons. Recently, we went to Cici's pizza on a celebration day and all the kids got a free balloon. When we got home, we warned him to hold on to it so it wouldn't get sucked up and tangled in the fan. Wouldn't you know, not 5 minutes later, we heard the thwap-thwap-thwap of the balloon spinning in the blades of the fan, followed by the inevitable pop. He was devastated. So, for his birthday surprise, I bought a helium tank with 30 balloons (there were some casualties, so we only ended up with 25). I lined them up in a path leading from his bedroom to his stack of presents. He woke up bleary-eyed yet excited and came pitter-pattering down the hallway and gave me a big hug and kiss and said "Thanks for the balloons, Mommy! This is the best day ever!"

 He sorted his balloons by color and shared them with us, but it wasn't long before they were tangled up in one giant bouquet. He dragged those balloons all over the house all day long, like a little puppy. He brought them in the kitchen with him while he helped me bake his cake, he brought them into the office while we talked to Papi and Mamie. He brought them down the hall to the bathroom...you get the idea. The balloons were a big hit.

 We sang the birthday song and Nicco blew out his candles, ate his cake, had a champagne toast, and opened his presents via web-cam with Papi and Mamie.

After lunch, we went to swim class (he was very excited to tell Mr. Eric that it was his birthday) and afterwards, we went to Chuck E. Cheese's, per the Birthday Boy's request. He rode the silly little rides and played a bunch of games. He got a splinter in the falling apart air hockey table, grrr. He decided he wanted to climb and play in the tower that leads to tunnels that wind all around above the arcade. It was hard to keep track of him, but at one point, I heard him crying "Mama!" I couldn't see him and his cries were getting progressively more frantic. We finally located him and tried to lead him to the exit, but he was scared, disoriented, and panicky, so I went up and got him out. My poor baby. His panic rubbed off on me, and before I realized he was beyond being led out, I got the adrenaline rush that comes with the danger/panic and I'm still trying to come down. It was dark when we left Chuck E. Cheese and Nicco said "I was having so much fun, I forgot to look at the mountains." I'm glad he was able to focus on the fun, not the nightmare of being stuck and lost in the tunnel maze!

We arrived back home to the balloons already starting to lose their air. The boy and his daddy are building with his new legos and another birthday is in the books.

VOTE

I sent our ballots in. Did you get yours? You might want to check. Election deadlines "mysteriously" come and go without notice in some places, especially overwhelmingly conservative places. Keep this in mind (from biggovernment.com):

Illinois Soldiers Wait for Ballots, Prisoners Get Hand Delivery
Over 35 counties in Illinois missed the deadline to mail military ballots to our soldiers defending America. But in Chicago, county election officials have taken special steps to ensure that no inmates at the Cook County Jail are unable to cast a ballot.
The Chicago Board of Elections hand delivers ballots to the jail. They don’t even wait for the inmates to apply – they bring the applications with the ballots! Over 2,600 inmates have cast ballots so far – strikingly similiar to the 2,600 soldiers who will likely not recieve a ballot for the Nov 2 election.

Disgraceful does not begin to describe the Illinois Election system.

Fantastic, right?
Vote, my fellow patriots, then tune in to CNN to watch the head 'splosions.

Let Me Know If You Need Anything...

My boys are snuggling. The Daddy is on the couch in his comfy shorts, The Boo is in his jammie bottoms, on top of the pile o'stuff on top of The Daddy. They're watching NASCAR. Nicco said to The Daddy,"Just let me know if you need anything, and I'll tell Mommy."

Harvest!

Here's the inside of my cactus fruit. I looked it up, and it seems to be called either pitaya or dragon fruit. It looks just like the inside of the dragon fruit, but it doesn't have the characteristic "prominent scales" on the outside that give it the name. Apparently, people just eat it like any fruit. For some reason, that scares me a little. I don't know why I think my fruit is poison...

I went ahead and took a tiny little bite and it tastes like a mild and less juicy kiwi. The texture with the seeds is especially kiwi-esque.

Now I know.

Harvest?

This is what my cactus flower turned into. A fruit.

Are You Ready? (Updated with a link for easy sharing)

November 2 is coming soon. Did you get your ballot? If you are on the vote by mail list, make sure you get your ballot. You should have it now. Do you know how you're going to vote? I won't tell you what to do, I don't subscribe to the Black Panther Party tactics of billy clubs and violence to either convince people how to vote or to prevent them from voting against my philosophy, but I will provide a handy dandy little reminder of what Dear Leader and his regime of Czars and Czarinas have done (for? to?) us over the past couple of years: (Thanks to the bloggers at Commentarama for the compilation...here's the web address if you want to pass it along in short form. http://commentarama.blogspot.com/2010/10/election-reminder.html)

Democratic Hate

• Demonizing the Tea Party as racists and Nazis, and lying to manufacture “evidence.”
• Demonizing a cop as racist for arresting a Grade A jackass who happened to be black.
• Demonizing insurance companies to pass ObamaCare.
• Demonizing drug companies to pass ObamaCare.
• Demonizing employers to pass ObamaCare.
• Demonizing doctors to pass ObamaCare.
• Demonizing Arizona on the immigration issue.
• Demonizing banks to pass Financial Reform.
• Demonizing oil companies to pass cap and trade.
• Demonizing Republicans because. . . well, because.
• Demonizing all Christians when a whacko shot an abortion doctor.
• Demonizing Mormons when California voted against gay marriage.
• Demonizing Israel to appease their anti-Semitism wing.
• Demonizing “right wingers” and Christians when a whacko shot up the Holocaust museum.
• Demonizing Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, George Bush, etc. etc.
• Demonizing John Boehner because they ran out of other people to hate.

ObamaCare

• Which relies on destroying Medicare for financing.
• Which forces people to buy insurance and will cause everyone to lose their current plan, despite Democratic lies to the contrary.
• Which will bankrupt the country.
• Which is a huge sop to insurers.
• Which does nothing to contain costs.
• Which does nothing to improve the quality of care.
• Which will lead to rationing.
• Excluding union plans and raising the limits on the Cadillac tax in union-friendly states.
• The abortion distortion in ObamaCare, which exposed “pro-life” Democrats as anything but. . . and now suing to stop their opponents from advertising this fact.
• Giving exemptions from ObamaCare to large, well-connected companies like McDonalds and 27 others.

Democratic Corruption

• It seems that every member of the Congressional Black Caucus is up on ethics charges, from taking dirty money (Charlie Goodtime Rangel) to sending stimulus money to relative’s banks (Maxine Waters) to awarding scholarships to ineligible family members (Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson and Rep. Sanford Bishop).
• Chris Dodd’s sweetheart deal with Countrywide.
• Stimulus money paid in non-existent districts for fake jobs.
• Stimulus money used to pay Hillary Clinton’s campaign debt.
• Stimulus money that went to dead people.
• Stimulus money that went to people in jail.
• No one in the Obama administration paying their taxes.
• Pelosi’s private plane.
• Pelosi’s drinks bill.
• Michelle Obama’s high class vacation-a-rama.
• The Louisiana Purchase.
• The Cornhusker Compromise.
• Medicare money for certain districts in Florida.
• A hospital for Chris Dodd’s vote on ObamaCare.
• Special treatment for Kaiser Permanente, the biggest provider in Pelosi’s district.
• Sestak Jobgate and a whiff of Clinton.
• Romanoff Jobgate.
• Climategate, and Obama’s affirmation of the falsified data.
• Algore Rapegate.
• Democrats Jim Moran (Va), Peter Visclosky (Ind.), and John Murtha (Hell) directing $137 million in defense contracts to clients of a lobbyist who funneled more than $380,000 in illegal campaign contributions to them.

Electoral Manipulation

• ACORN voter fraud.
• Manipulating Massachusetts electoral laws to keep Ted Kennedy’s seat Democratic and help pass ObamaCare.
• Running fake Tea Party candidates to hurt Republican chances in November. . . now proven in Michigan, New Jersey and Nevada (more to come).
• Trying to manipulate the electoral systems in several states to tilt the playing field toward Democrats.

Twisted Nominees

• Marxist and racist Van Jones.
• Maoist White House Communications Director Anita Dunn.
• Pedophile Safe Schools Czar Kevin Jennings.
• Unqualified Supreme Court nominee the Latina Red Sonia Sotomayor.
• Unqualified Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan.

Raping the Treasury

• The trillion dollar union/Democratic-interest-group giveaway known as the Stimulus bill and its dozen sequels.
• The trillion dollar Big Bank giveaway know as the TARP, the TALP and so on.
• Approving and then lying about $1.2 billion in bonuses to AIG.
• Authorizing massive salaries to the officers of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, both of which escaped regulation.
• The consumer and small bank screw job known as Financial Reform, a sop to huge banks and other Democratic donors.
• Effectively handing the Treasury to Goldman Sachs.
• “Saved or created” fake jobs.
• The attempt to tax “carbon,” i.e. everything on the planet.
• Not going a week without a taxpayer funded vacation or round of golf.

Economic Record

• Permanent 9% official unemployment, 17% real unemployment.
• Spending so much that our deficits have become a national security issue.
• Entertaining Stephen Colbert rather than voting to extend the Bush tax cuts, i.e. raising taxes on all of us.
• 269 bank failures so far, with 829 more on the worry list.
• Record foreclosures.

Weak on Terror

• “Man made disasters.”
• Refusal to recognize the "Islam" in Islamic terrorism.
• Losing the war in Afghanistan and sending troops for a fruitless last push before surrendering.
• Putting Navy SEALS on a show trial.
• Trying to move terrorism trials to New York City. . . so terrorists can be near their new mosque.

Racism

• Inexplicably (lol!) dropping slam dunk lawsuits against racist Black Panthers who tried to intimidate voters.
• Constant whining about racism. . . everything is racism.

Anti-Americanism/Pro-Muslimism

• Apologizing to Arabs and blaming the United States for their hatred of us.
• Feigning ignorance of what could have motivated a Muslim to attack US soldiers at Fort Hood, and warning Americans not to hold this against Muslims.
• NASA’s new role as center for Muslim outreach.
• Democratic support of the Nazi memorial in the heart of Jerusalem. . . wait, I mean the triumphal mosque at Ground Zero.

Pro-Illegal Immigration

• Suing Arizona to stop it from enforcing a law the Federal Government is obligated to enforce.
• Trying to boycott Arizona.
• Reporting Arizona’s law to the United Nations as a human rights violation.
• Refusing to protect the border and instead putting up signs warning Americans to avoid nearby national parks.

Assaults on Freedom of Speech

• Joining Muslim countries to work toward a UN resolution proclaiming blasphemous speech a human rights crime.
• Remaining silent when South Park creators were threatened by Muslims.
• Attempting to take away free speech of corporations.
• Attempting to regulate talk radio through the Fairness Doctrine, dressed up as local content laws.
• Attempting to regulate the internet through Net Neutrality regulations.
• Pelosi’s McCarthy-esque calls for investigations of Democratic opponents.
• Telling Molly Norris she should go into hiding rather than going after the people threatening her.

Faux ”Environmentalism” Exposed

• Ridiculous Copenhagen non-agreement.
• Wiping out central California’s farmland.
• The total mishandling of the BP disaster.
• Suppressing BP data to hide what really happened.
• Proving that leftist groups care about electing Democrats, not the causes they are using as Trojan horses.

Embarrassing Us

• Regifting in Britain.
• Abandoning our foreign allies.
• Bowing to foreign leaders.
• Sending Geithner to beg the Chinese to keep buying our bonds.
• Teleprompter in Chief.
• Scaring the hell out of New Yorkers with Air Force One joy ride.
• The arrogance of accepting the Nobel Prize for anticipatory good deeds.
• Joe Biden

And just in case you like to pretend to be a liberal at the office and you want to discourage your kooky liberal friends from voting, here are some of the most popular (albeit stupid) complaints about the Democrats from the left:

• The Democrats were too interested in bipartisanship for the sake of bipartisanship than in passing the best possible legislation.
• ObamaCare didn’t go far enough because the Democrats sold out to the health insurance lobby and the Republicans.
• The Democrats didn’t do anything to help the environment. They didn’t pass cap and trade, and Copenhagen was a disaster because the U.S. refused to push for a world treaty against polluters like India, China and Brazil.
• Harry Reid used the threat of filibuster (a false threat when he had 60 votes) to stop or slow everything the Democrats should have done.
• Obama never gave benefits to gays in the Federal government, which he could have done by Executive Order, he failed to stand up for gay marriage, and the Democrats didn’t even try to end "don't ask, don't tell."
• The Democrats did nothing to reform the immigration system.
• The Democrats got into bed with Wall Street, taking their money and selling out consumers to banks.
• The Democrats did nothing to stop the mortgage crisis.
• The Democrats didn’t bail out states like Michigan and California with federal money.
• Obama’s reliance on teleprompters chafes at their delusions about his brilliance.
• He’s not cool, he’s an elitist.
• He didn’t save the economy.
• He did nothing to punish BP, all he did was go on vacation.
• He didn’t get us out of Afghanistan.

There you have it. Pass it along to your friends, and make sure everyone votes!!!

Severe Weather (Updated)

The weather report on the news last night warned us to be prepared for a severe storm today. They said that even though it will look and feel nice in the morning, don't be fooled, and send the kiddos to school with rain gear. By the time they are coming home, they'll be glad for an umbrella. Although I have to say an umbrella would have been useless once the storm finally hit! In my experience, umbrellas don't protect you from horizontal rain. Rush Limbaugh was interrupted with an emergency broadcast about the severe weather warning while I was on my way to pick Nicco up from school.

We watched and waited all day as the clouds built up slowly. Around 4:30, they stopped building and started rolling. I love that. I've had my windows open all day letting the breeze and fresh air in--it's the first time I've been able to open my windows since about May. When the storm hit, I forgot about my open bedroom window and now I have a soaked floor and wet wall. I also have a puddle in my breakfast nook.

Here are my roof waterfalls and street waves. I'm disappointed that the camera didn't quite capture the waves rolling across the street. Now that the thunder and lightning have stopped, I kind of want to take Nicco out to splash in the puddles!

UPDATE:

After the thunder and lightning stopped, we had two brilliant rainbows, "one in the mountain and one coming right out of the top!" After the second rainbow faded with the setting sun, the clouds rolled back in and the thunder cracked, and the skies emptied again. I never took Nicco outside to play in the puddles, so he played in the house puddle instead. The bad thing about the storm is that the pool temperature dropped to 74 degrees. {{Brrrrrr}}

Pictures from The Big Ride

Over the Hill, a.k.a. Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Well, the day didn't go exactly as I planned. I planned to get my last few things done in time to have the cake fresh out of the oven when the Daddy walked in around noon. I was just getting my computer ready for work at 8:00 this morning when there was a knock on the patio door--The Guys were home! While we were happy to see them, it meant my list went out the window. Oh well. Patrice and Dan were pretty exhausted after a week of riding, not to mention getting up at 4:00 a.m. to beat the heat for their final ride, but there was no rest! They had to return the bikes and get a few other things done, and Patrice had to take care of some business at the working house. I wanted him to be able to rest, but I was glad to have the opportunity to "surprise" him with his cake when he got back. Nicco was a big help.

My cake got a little bit stuck in the pan this time. We tested some of the broken spots, and the July cake is still my best ever. I guess I didn't learn enough to repeat the outcome. Oh well, I think this one will do!

On Patrice's actual birthday, Nicco pulled out our stash of candles and asked me how old Daddy is so that he could count the candles. When I said forty, he replied "Forty, WHAT???!!!?? That's a lot of candles." He spent the next two days counting and sorting 40 candles. He counted by ones, twos, and tens. He figured out that there are four tens in forty, and there were four different colors in the candle box, so he sorted out ten of each color and lined them up in groups of ten.

Nicco was right, that's a lot of candles.

So, is forty still "over the hill," or is it the "new thirty?" Either way, it's a lot of candles.

Forty happy birthdays down, hopefully at least forty more to come!

That is So NOT What I Was Thinking...

At about 7:00 this morning, Nicco popped his little head up, tapped me on my head and asked, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" My mind raced with all the things I was thinking...I need to take a shower before I go to work so that when I'm done, we can run to the Home Depot quickly to do the Kids' Workshop project and get home in time to get the birthday cake in the oven so the fresh baking smell will be wafting through the house when Daddy comes home, I have to finish cleaning up in the bedroom, bathroom, and office, I need to do some laundry, sweep the patio, water the citrus trees, bring the trash can in, get fresh ice going, skim the pool...so if that's what you're thinking, then yes. But somehow, I doubted Nicco had those things on his mind. I asked what he was thinking.

"Well, you know, since Daddy isn't home, you still have some time to practice Mario."

Man of the House

When Patrice left on The Big Ride earlier this week, he told Nicco to be good and take care of Mama. As I tucked him in on our first night without the Daddy, he told me I could sleep in his bed all night since Daddy isn't here. I told him I would be okay and he said, "Just to remind you, you can stay in my bed all night. There's room for two. Don't worry."

He fell asleep and I stayed up. When I was ready, I retired to my own bed. At about three in the morning, I heard the unmistakable shuffle of little feet, inevitably followed by a gentle tap-tapping on my head. When I awoke, Nicco, two inches from my face, said "Don't you remember what I told you about sleeping in my bed?" I told him just to sleep in my bed with me instead.

The next morning he reminded me again that I need to sleep all night with him since Daddy isn't here. I told him he could sleep in my bed until Daddy gets back, but he insisted it was his job to take care of me, so I had to sleep in his bed so he could watch over me. I did manage to convince him that he could protect me from my room, so each of the last few nights I've been sleeping with this:

It's a king sized bed. I've been clinging to inches of space in my king sized bed. Each night I set up his nest on Daddy's side, but by the time I get to bed, I only have inches. If I try sleeping on Daddy's side, he senses my presence and scootches over until he is on top of me, or until he has pushed me so that I only have inches.

On one checking in phone call, Patrice asked Nicco if he was watching out for Mama, and as I was only a few feet away, he confirmed "He's right here." (Nicco doesn't quite get gender of pronouns yet.) He's been taking his man-of-the-house role very seriously.