There are a lot of things the decepta-con members of the GOP can do to stop making conservatives walk around with a elephant shaped cloud over their heads. One of those things crossed my mind today, albeit rather late.

Why why why pick John McCain to run against Barack Obama?

Conservatives don't trust him. He may be a Republican, but he aint no conservative. He's a moderate. If you pit a moderate against someone who is doing a good job of pretending to be a moderate, who is going to win? Shriveled or suave? To be clear, I have immense respect for the service John McCain has given to our country. There is no question that he is a patriot and deserving of honor and respect...but giving him his honor in respect in the form of a GOP nomination. Come on.

John McCain is OLD. I know, this is petty and doesn't affect his ability to run a country barring dementia. But when you are running against a politically young opponent it makes a difference. Something tells me that the pap's aren't following McCain around with a camera while he preens without a shirt on. Recognize that when you are running against cults of personality (this would apply to Hillary as well) you need to at least TRY to be dynamic. Adding a woman to the ticket with a mid-western accent and a notable hairdo just wasn't enough, I'm afraid.
Here's a tip: Next time don't pit a grumpy troll against a willowy soothsayer when the country is looking for something new and fresh. At one point I wondered if McCain was retribution for John Kerry being nominated in the last election.

We might have had a better shot with Romney. That guy could schmooze his way out of Alcatraz.

McCain isn't an educator: What does education have to do with politics? Things aren't always as they seem in politics. One reason people like Rush Limbaugh and the emerging Andrew Wilkow are because of their ability to explain things in a way stupid people like me can understand. McCain needed to stop getting stuck on the same track in debates, and quit sidestepping questions like Obama. He needed to explain to the public why things would and wouldn't work, and where deception was being used. I'm not saying he isn't capable of doing that, because I've read articles where he did, but he just didn't do it for the public.

That was one thing Fred Thompson could have done better in debates, because he has the ability to do it. Instead he sat there like a cranky toad, barely hiding his contempt for the whole process. You're an actor - act dangit! Meanwhile, Ron Paul, an actual conservative came off as a shameless lunatic because he lacks polish, and other Republicans were unwilling to back him up on some issues they should agree on. He looked like the weird kid that the popular kids pretend to befriend momentarily just to make him look like an ass.

It was all a bit painful watching those Republican debates. But not as painful as the presidential debates. I watched all of them and sat on the edge of my seat yelling at both of them for giving non-answers to tough questions, prattling on about their key points when they weren't relevant to the topic, and missing real opportunities for saying what they really mean.

Maybe that's why politics make me so mad. Nobody says what they mean. It's all about looking and sounding a certain way just so you can appease the right people long enough to make your move. We need people who are willing to just say what needs to be said to get some truth out. DC is the wrong initials - Washington BS is more accurate.

Since becoming interested in politics in the past couple of years I have felt like a person without a home, not quite being able to identify with a certain party or group of people because of my mixture of political, environmental, and religious beliefs. But I think with the emergence of the tea party type crowd who are trying to hold back the expansion of government and aren't afraid to demonstrate it, coupled with more of a tendency to distrust the government on the part of those who probably trusted the Bush government expansion and spending more than Obama's, there is a growing place for people like me. Still, I'm trying to figure out where a 23 year old home making mother without a college education (or even a full high school education for that matter) can make a difference. In my spare time I'm working on educating myself at home on things I never learned in school, or probably wouldn't have even if I had been there anyway. During the creepy flag@whitehouse.gov weirdness I posted fliers around my neighborhood asking people to snitch on their friends and family to show their commitment to our government. Hopefully either the sarcasm came through or people were creeped out once they actually thought about it. My little daydream is that my name is in that database somewhere. But what else can I do? What options does a person like me have? Any suggestions?

My commitment is to my God, my family and the best interest of my country, and not whoever holds power and wonder at a particular moment. I admire Ron Paul, but I tell you what, if he encouraged me to snitch on my peers you better believe those same fliers would be plastered on my neighborhood mail drops and walking paths. No matter how good a politician's intentions are when they don't have much power, there is always the possibility of corruption when they are given much power and special interest favors. It's the people's job to hold politicians to their word and call foul when they don't.


It's encouraging to hear such a loud cry from those who still believe in our Constitution and its relevance. It appears to be going through the same disregard that the Bible has in the Christian and para-Christian community, being bent to a particular agenda or meaning, rather than respected for what it really is. Supreme court judges are appointed who will support interpreting the Constitution in the way those who appointed them will agree with, and different factions of Christianity decide which parts of God's word is really His word, and which parts they really could do without. What I find odd about this method of thinking is that in both cases, the document they are discounting and calling antiquated is the same one that gives them anything to stand on in the first place. The Supreme court is given authority by the Constitution. The Christian is given their salvation through faith in the God whose words are written in the Bible. Without the Bible and the story of salvation there is no Christianity. Without the Constitution there is no supreme court.

One thing makes me wonder and percolate when I think about health care in this country right now. It seems that our medical system has already been so changed that the mainstream medical economy is no longer a free market. Without that, it will never run according to supply and demand, and what the buyer can afford to pay. In the real world if the buyer can't afford to buy something, that good or service either becomes so rare and expensive that only a few can afford it, or it crashes. Our medicine prices are so warped that most people really can't afford a simple procedure or appointment without insurance. But insurance is supposed to guard against catastrophic and unexpected events, which is why homeowners insurance doesn't cover gallons of paint at Home Depot and car insurance doesn't cover oil changes. If it did, then the prices of those things would gradually warp out of a free market economy and soon you wouldn't be able to afford to replace your sink or change a flat tire without insurance either. So what we are left with in our mainstream medical economy (I say that because the alternative medicine market is mostly uninsured and still paid for entirely by the buyer) is a system that most people cannot afford without insurance, while the insurance has become so comprehensive in the things it covers that most people can't afford it either.

And why are we so shocked that insurance is so expensive when they are involved in every medical purchase we make? If insurance covers everything, it is no longer insurance, it is a third party in your medical transactions. But what options are we left with when there are government mandates on the horizon that dictate what "acceptable" insurance coverage is, and on top of that you often can't even book an appointment with a doctor before giving them your insurance information. Most doctors offices won't even quote you a price on services, which takes away the free market option of shopping around for the best price. They tell you that you will find out the price when the service is already done, and your insurance will  tell you if they cover it once we charge them.

I guess what my thoughts boil down to is that what do you do when the system is no longer free market, and is quasi socialized already, the prices have no reason to go down at any point, but you don't want anymore government involvement? It seems that without some form of radical change, government takeover is inevitable because they system is so fractured between regulation and privatization already. It's hard to sustain an economy on both principles. One needs to win the tug of war right? We are left with either radical socialization of the system, or radical deregulation of the system. Which seems more likely when you have a chronically ill population (diabetes, heart disease, cancer, prescriptions for everything etc) that is already made dependent on their nanny government programs, which doesn't seem to have much of a clue as to how nutrition actually works, who are being pumped full of chemicals in their foods and cosmetics, who can barely afford for health care as it is, and a rapidly inflating federal and state government that has its mouth open and ready to swallow flailing private industries like insurance and automobiles and money lenders....oh my!

Enough with the fatalism. I think I'm going to go drown my sorrows in some Martha Stewart television and make some pathetic attempts at organization and cleanliness. Ugh....

*Tim and Tara are in the kitchen. Tara is spraying counters and wiping them down around Tim*
Tim: *Sitting in his office a minute later* Ahhhhhemmmm *Clears throat loudly*
Tara: Are you drinking enough water?
Tim: I just grabbed one. It's that spray you sprayed on me
Tara: Yeah. My seventh generation non toxic spray is giving you respiratory problems. Nice. That can go in my conversations
Tim: But I wasn't at my witty best.
Tara: Well the conversation isn't over with. If you keep going I'll keep writing. ......
<later>
Tara: Hey Tim look, Eve got me on a political blog. Come look!
*Tim looks and high fives Tara*
Tim: You're famous.....don't leave me!
Tara: Nonsense. *Thinks for a moment* What's Sarah Palin's husbands name?
Tim: Nobody knows!!!
*Tim and Tara burst into laughter*
Tara: I'll put that into my conversations
Tim: I just want to be witty! LOL....It's Todd by the way. And I'm Tim.

End

My heart doesn't throb for the Republican brand. In reality, I wouldn't be sad if it just went down in flames and took all the decepta-cons with it. Spending ridiculous amounts of money on different things and taking money from other lobbyists than the Democrats does not make you a conservative. Nevertheless, I volunteered to hand out sample ballots for the Republican party with two reservations - leaving my 8 month old at a baby sitter and not being a member of the R party, or even looking anything like a member of the R party. The Democrats working the polls alongside me asked me if I was even allowed to hand out ballots for the Republicans.

To put this in context, I'm 23 and grew up in Oregon around hippies and surfers. If you know what indie means, that's me. I have tattoos. There are big spiral 4 gauge earrings coming out of my head. My blue hair pokes out from a homemade slouchy knit organic cotton hat. My zip up Cold War Kids concert hoodie has hand-sewn U2 patches on it. I smell like incense and shop at Whole Foods. My clean diesel VW has an Apple sticker on it (next to Ron Paul...I'm still looking for a Jesus related sticker that is acceptably devoid of dorky Christian culture) and reusable shopping bags that say "I used to be a plastic bottle". My house is cleaned with chemical free products and I make sure to tell everybody about how evil big pharma and genetically modified foods are. I think you get the picture. But the truth is that I believe in limited government, personal liberties, the Constitution, the free market and personal responsibility. I'm also a big fan of helping one another out and charity work, but I disagree with the government being the vehicle for charity because it is ineffective, inefficient and so easily corrupted because there is very little accountability. When you shower people with cash that they didn't have to earn or have to be responsible for once it leaves their hands, do you think they are going to make sure it stretches as far as it can? I think not. Those wasteful buffoons in Washington needed to be kicked to the curb. But I'm getting off topic....

So, pulling up to the polls I started getting nervous. What if the Republican I was taking over for didn't believe I was her replacement? Should I have dressed in something other than skinny jeans, wife beater tank and concert hoodie?....maybe something other than sandals? Well it was too late to turn back. As I walked up to the ballot people the Dems immediately came after me with their ballots. After establishing that I was there for the Repubs and relieving the other volunteer of her duty, I was given a small pep talk by her and left to my own survival with the two Dems that were working as well.

Suddenly, my fellow volunteers as well as the exit poller were staring at me, agape.

"There's no way you're a Republican" one of them said
"You're right, I'm not." I replied "I'm a Libertarian but I'm here for the conservative candidates"
"Don't you know that Libertarians are closer to being Democrats than Republicans?" One guy asked
Without bothering to sound like a credible grown-up, I asked him "What are you smoking?I'm for limited government, what are YOU for?"

The day pretty much progressed on that note for three hours. I overheard the exit poller tell the female Dem that there was no way people were going to believe I was handing out Republican ballots. They asked me, mostly jokingly, if I was a Democrat planted there. They asked me if I was sure I was allowed to hand out ballots for the Republicans if I looked like....me. After being mistaken for the one with the blue ballots over and over again, I offered to switch ballots with my new friends. People kept coming straight to me for the Democratic ballots and then looked confused as  they walked off with the wrong one, or vice versa as they departed from the respectable looking people with a Democrat ballot.

Because we had nothing better to do during slow times outside the polls we had friendly conversation and they quizzed me on my views, trying to figure out exactly what planet I was from. Apparently all conservatives are supposed to be angry, rich, earth hating, old men. The fact that I didn't come in followed by a cloud of toxic exhaust while chopping the flowers off plants seemed to confuse everyone. When they realized I was a fan of treating our planet and environment well, and against factory farming and cruel treatment of animals, they asked if I was sure I wasn't on their side. My reply was basically this:

"I'm for any ideas that actually help us create clean, sustainable energy and help keep our environment as clean as possible.....as long as the ideas are good and effective ones, and not some stupid idea like ethanol under a veil of doogoodery, dreamed up by rich dirtbags who want to take over the economy and government through doom and gloom crisis rhetoric. We are paying farmers to not grow crops that could be feeding people, subsidizing corn, changing the genetic makeup of the foods people are eating, and using two units of energy to create one unit of ethanol. It's a retarded idea and I refuse to support retarded ideas just for the sake of sounding like I care more than the other person."

When they realized I was for legalized marijuana their eyes fell out of their heads.

"It's about personal liberty," I said "Not about looking cool." If someone wants to grow a native and fast growing plant in their back yard for their own enjoyment, without harming others, create a small business revolving around the botany of the hemp plant, or help treat sick patients, I say the federal government can keep its money sniffing nose out of their business."

After a tirade on my part about one of my bosses at Starbucks telling me I needed to learn to "play the corporate game, or I wasn't going anywhere" they decided they needed to take me in to lecture on being genuine at their company. I mean, excuse me, but I refuse to spew a bunch of BS just to pet some upper management ego, and lie to them when asked if I think certain ideas are good. Dude, the green tea latte was a HORRIBLE idea. There is no way I could in good conscience play the corporate game and tell my regional manager that I thought it was green and oh so delicious. Barf. Enough with corporate games,  I won't keep my mouth shut if I believe something is stupid.

At one point, they were trying to talk quietly but I could still hear them discussing different races and how they vote. "We are losing this election based on who we've seen come in today. We need the asians to come out and vote. Were are they? Where are the blacks and hispanics? They must not live in this neighborhood. Man....the southeast asians always vote Democrat. Was that lady Algerian? They usually vote Democrat too." Isn't this the generalization and "racist" talk that the Dems keep accusing the conservatives of? After hearing quite a bit of that I started claiming certain new arrivals at the polls as my own. "There's a guy in a truck, must be voting Republican....oh, trophy wife, I got this one. They've  got kids, don't bother asking if they wants your ballot." The hilarious thing was that the blacks that walked up were having Democratic ballots waved at them and more of them took the Republican ballot in with them. Oops. There was one lady who marched right up to me and grabbed a ballot, took a closer look at it, shuddered in horror, and handed it straight back. LOL.

I enjoyed the company of the people I spent the afternoon with. They were friendly human beings just like me and you. It's good to put a face on what usually crops up in your mind as some faceless enemy.

I could go on for a lot longer about the personal exchanges between myself and the "other side" but the fact is, I truly believe that more people my age would identify with the conservative ideas I hold if they were educated better about what they really mean and the history of politics in our country and other countries. Having younger faces and ideas in the mix wouldn't hurt at all either, since most people my age just don't identify with stodgy, wrinkly old men. It's not about being fashionable in your politics though. Trying to make yourself feel better than other people (and I still fail to see what makes you superior by advocating taking more of other people's money and doling it out to whoever the government decides is deserving), and being conservative doesn't mean that you hate charity and the earth and people that aren't white. The reason I was so mad about the volunteerism push on our television shows isn't because I hate volunteer work. It's because I hate the idea of our television shows being infiltrated by propaganda style ideology. What's next? "Marge, I never would have survived my doughnut induced heart attack had I not gotten government health care"?

Young people need to be educated on the mistakes of the past, to know that a government molded society isn't in the best interest of the people, to remember that people fled to this country in the first place to escape a controlling, over taxing government. We still have a Constitution, and I think that our government has abused time and time again. If they want to get around it they need to change it first, and we need to hold our politicians accountable as they raid the prosperity of the future and flush it down a government regulated toilet.

The other day, Tim brought home a mac laptop from church to work on that was the same vintage as mine. Pulling it from the bag, he looked over at me as I was typing away on my own mac. He displayed the laptop for me to see and said that "this is what a normal mac looks like, see?" and grinned in my direction.

"Why, Timothy, I don't know what you are talking about" I replied. He has such a weird sense of humor.

It looks pretty normal to me. Missing a few keys is like missing a few teeth. It happens with age.

*Tim and Tara sit on the couch watching football. Tim is rifling through old credit card statements and receipts and throwing them away. He points out interesting receipts like one from the Waldorf Astoria and The Odyssius hotel. Tara responds with smiles and memories from the receipts, and becomes distracted as Tim points out a Godiva receipt*

Tim: Godiva receipt!
Tara: .........
Tim: I said, GODIVA receipt <laughs>
Tara: Ahhh, sorry. 
Tim: <mocking himself> What, you want credit for it TWICE?
Tara: <bursts out laughing>

End scene

Tim and Tara stand in the living room conversing

Tim: I have to wait to see the Redskins play on Monday
Tara: The Redskins are playing on monday night? <sarcastically> That should be a riveting game
Tim: <smiles> Ouch, I'm going to need a hug to recover from that comment!
Tara: Don't worry sweetie, just because you are a Redskins fan, their suckage doesn't reflect negatively on you
Tim: <evil grin> I know. If the Redskins reflected on me they would be good
<Tara bursts out laughing>

Last night I was sent into the dark place in my head. The place I go when I need to yell at somebody who isn't present. And I couldn't immediately figure out just why I was SO mad. It was just a public service announcement clumsily interjecting itself into one of the best episodes of the Office, like, ever. But still, it was only about volunteering. It wasn't like we were being asked to join the "special" police and spy on our friends or anything. But still, I found myself angrier over this event than many that have occurred lately that carry so much more weight and implications for me and my family. We ended up cracking open and splitting another beer and watching project runway instead of going to bed so we could cool our jets off a little bit before going to bed (which was another annoyance in itself because the DVR is messed up and just as they were going to announce the winner and loser it froze up again and we had to watch it in fast forward after messing around with it for 5 minutes). But I was so distracted that when they told us the nature of the challenge this week I totally missed ALL of it and had to ask Tim what was going on. LOL.

So after thinking about it and talking with Tim I think I now get why I was so mad about volunteerism. Which, by the way, is my dirty word for now. Anything that strikes me as bad will be nicknamed volunteerism. It will be transformed into an expletive because by making it a joke it will look sillier in my mind and be less annoying. Aaaanyway, now that the night has passed and my thoughts have gone with whatever my dreams held (some sort of scavenger hunt around a fantasy house my parents own for a phone number to a property owner....yeah. I don't get it either) they may or may not come back together to form a coherent statement, but here goes.

On the surface, while you're watching your TV show and suddenly it gets awkward and the characters are trying to be cool about acting out an after school special type scene, it just seems silly. But the reality is that this was a coordinated effort, headed by the White House itself, across multiple TV shows to push a message from the President/government. How are we to know if this isn't a precedent for a much larger effort to indoctrinate us with other agendas of theirs? Do we want the government placing messages in our entertainment like product placement is used? Oh look, a Ford. Oh listen, they are telling me that the Stasi is out for my good. Doesn't it strike you as creepy when the government comes up with an agenda and the networks consent to slipping it (ungracefully in the case of The Office) into their shows? When you establish a precedent or a new power for the government, it stands to reason that even if you like the ends that the means provide, that those aren't the only ends the power can be used for. If you liked Bush passing the patriot act because you trusted Bush and not because you trusted the act itself, what faith can you have in future administrations not using that for evil?

When you grant special powers to the government they rarely are given back, and a new administration comes in, or new ideas are pushed through the current one, and suddenly what you liked before rears its ugly head. How can you guarantee that when the Federal Government is unconstitutionally given the power to control our health care that they won't ration and force you to act a certain way in order to get health care? It's all possible. You have to put faith in the administration that they won't use their massive power in a way you don't like. When you look at the way our Constitution, which was designed to ensure that the government would not start making us work for it instead of the other way around, is being ignored and twisted and poo poohed as being antiquated, remember that when the founding document of our country is violated, nothing is sacred. What our government is telling us is that they are above the law and they are the experts. They know best. Let mommy take care of you because you don't know any better. Use your seatbelt. Wear your helmet. Buy your health insurance. Otherwise mommy will get upset and you'll get spanked with a tax! So even if provisions are put in a bill which will grant the government, and the provisions are supposed to protect you from this and that, how can you have trust that they will be honored? Not even the Constitution is honored! But I'm getting off topic

There is no other word for the government sliding into areas of our lives it need not be in and delivering its message, than propaganda. What is even worse though is that people are so willing to just go along with it. It's the networks that allowed it in. They could have said no, and they may have been demonized like Fox News has been for not just going along with the White House's predetermined messages, but still they would have their independence. Now they look like tools. I'm sure this isn't the first time this has happened. In the Woodrow Wilson era many White House tentacles made it into private life. They even controlled what magazines and newspapers were able to publish. If you didn't comply with their demands, particularly in not badmouthing the administration or War in any way, and they would shut you down and intercept your publications. And that's what the Progressive movement gave us. A government that was above the law. It does make sense though that a progressive administration would feel that way because the roots of the movement are wound around the idea that the State is the hand of God. That the politicans are the modern clergy. Richard Ely said that "God works through the State in carrying out His purposes more universally than through any other institution." If you feel like the State is working for God then it logically follows that it would be guiding and directing every aspect of society.

When the State becomes mommy, or Father Fed then what you get is the State drifting into your personal life. For those who advocate small government and personal freedoms the last thing you want is the State leaving Washington and their public buildings and entering your home. You begin to feel claustrophobic inside the ever expanding government sphere. The State is in our schools. It is in our paychecks. It is in our retirement. Our exhaust pipes. Our toilets. Hair salons. Wall street. Banks. Money lenders. Food. Doctor's office. There are taxes on everything. If you want to earn money, you get taxed. If you want to spend money you get taxed. If you want to save money for retirement (if you have anything left after social security getting forcefully taken from you) and then use it you get taxed. If you want to own property you get taxed. So where do you go to get away from it all? If you have cable (and got taxed for it) you can settle down to your favorite tv show and ignore the health care debate, and the politics, and the frustration for 30 minutes. But there the State is. In your tv show as well. Suddenly it becomes too much. The last straw. You think to yourself, I am not a child. And yet there the State is, playing mommy the moral compass. Can I have a moment of peace in my own living room without the government trying to tell me what to do? Is this going to keep happening? What other kind of product placement will the networks let in from the Obama administration? It starts as something benign like volunteerism because if you react poorly to the government telling you to volunteer then you are a bad person. You are selfish and hate volunteering. And it's hard to put your finger on what just bothered you about that.

Like I said before though - it was a coordinated effort. Not just a few isolated cases. It was headed by the White House to push their agenda, not some nonprofit organization or paying advertiser. Sure, volunteerism may not offend you, but what if they were pushing say.....abstinence. Or.....the Iraq war. Stick any pending law or bill or agenda that you may disagree with in the place of volunteerism and see how you feel about the government getting into the airwaves too.

So as a Libertarian I think my bad reaction was something akin to claustrophobia. The State cinched a little closer into my life and it was just enough that I felt a pinch. But what can you do? I don't know. I don't know. What I do know is that I want to figure it out myself. I don't want Father Fed holding the handlebars on my bike for me while I wobble around fearfully.

*Tim and Tara are watching House - A patient is laying in his hospital bed and gasps

Patient: I went to the bathroom
Foreman: He lost control of his bowels
Tara: He didn't go to the bathroom. If he had, he wouldn't have pooped in his bed
Tim: It's like the wisdom of a 7 year old

End scene

I have so much to say.

Unfortunately over the course of the day I forgot all of it.

I think it might be partially caused by the cranky baby screaming in my ear.

One thing I can say is that the  New Moon soundtrack is pretty darn good.

Nurse: Tobacco?
Tara: Nope
Nurse: Alcohol?
Tara: Therapeutically
Nurse: Lol, What does that mean?
Tara: A beer a day
Nurse: We'll put "social drinking"
Tara: Sure. In my livingroom. With my husband. With netflix.
Nurse: Gotta make it sound interesting. Are you sexually active?
Tara: Oh yeah.

*pointing to bottle of riesling on the counter*
Tim: Is that cooking wine?
Tara: No that's drinking wine.
Tim: Oh. Have you been drinking it during the day?
Tara: No. I just bought it today
Tim: That's what I figured. But it wouldn't surprise me if you were
Tara: That's the life of a housewife, baby. *Tara has been watching Mad Men*

This is something I was writing a while ago and my browser had an error while I was writing it. I thought it was lost but now that I open livejournal up it seems to be saved in a draft! So even though I didn't finish my thoughts on the topic I will post it anyway because it took me at least 15 minutes of my life to type this out


I'm really grateful for the study edition of the ESV Bible we have. It has great information and commentary to help you understand things better. And I need help. Until we got this Bible I could never get through Isaiah because I could never tell what the hell was going on.
So, based on my reading of Luke chapter 6 and the notes that went along with it I thought I would jot down some of the interesting things that stood out to me.

"6 On another Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered. 7 And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse him. 8 But he knew their thoughts, and he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come and stand here.” And he rose and stood there. 9 And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” 10 And after looking around at them all he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” And he did so, and his hand was restored. 11 But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus."

So basically these guys are camping out, waiting for Jesus to do something they can peg as illegal. But he knew what they were doing because he could see their thoughts. And he poses a question to the men who hate him about whether or not you should do evil or good to others on the Sabbath. The hateful Pharisees were so clouded in their pride and legalism that they couldn't see the true spirit of their God. If they could, then they would be rejoicing that Jesus had some and was healing so many sick. Instead, they were staking out his good deeds to be able to accuse him of Sabbath crimes. Kind of ironic, considering that Jesus is like....God....and God made the sabbath. Lol. So, the part that I thought was awesome was that Jesus made it so the man with the withered hand got healed, and the Pharisees had nothing to accuse Jesus of. Instead of touching the man or doing anything at all he just tells the guy to stick out his hand, and it's miraculously healed. No work done in order to heal it either, which is what the Pharisees were waiting for. And if Jesus were sinful he would have been like "eat that, dirtbags!" but I'm pretty sure that's not what happened. The Pharisees get totally pissed off and started plotting to do something to Jesus.

12 In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. 13 And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles: 14 Simon, whom he named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, 15 and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot, 16 and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

Something that never would have occurred to me without the commentary is that you have Matthew, who is a tax collector and employee of the Romans, and you also have Simon the zealot in the group. Apparently the Zealots were a political group who were radically opposed to Roman rule. It would be like having a group of people including an IRA member and a British soldier, or a Ron Paul intern and an Obama intern - and the only reason they are getting along is because of Jesus. Pretty incredible!

Well I've been meaning to update this for the last couple of days but never got around to it. But it worked out just fine because Tim fixed my shift key and it's much easier for me to capitalize things. Bad grammar makes me cranky, and it's a shame to have to annoy yourself.

So what's new today? Well, as I type Clover is pooping. There is something very cute about Clover farts. Pardon me if you are offended by words like poop and fart, but since you're here I assume you have some sort of interest in my life, and frankly - as a wife and mother - my life is saturated with poop.....and farts.

I'm beginning adventures in weaning Clover off mommy milk. Trying various things to keep her nourished and healthy, while not irritating her little guts too much. Dairy doesn't agree with her, and I won't touch soy for various reasons. So while she will still have some mommy milk, I won't be making enough for her entire existence. Right now I'm experimenting with a mixture of almond milk, homemade coconut milk, and hemp milk. The almond is for the protein and a lighter ingredient. The coconut milk has good fats for her to grow on and makes things a little creamier. And the hemp milk has omega three and six fatty acids which are needed for her brain. The hemp milk also contains vitamins, minerals, and all ten amino acids. Hopefully she takes a liking to it. It's hard to tell because she tends to not really like eating in the first place. I am also giving her egg yolks when she will take them, dates, little amounts of applesauce, pears, banana, quinoa, and rice cereal before I ran out. But she isn't always a fan of taking solids so it's kind of hit and miss on that one. I think her favorite thing is a fresh soft boiled egg yolk, but she did like a fruit and rice cereal concoction I made her.

Recently I investigated the whole DHA/ARA in formula thing and was appalled that they are pedaling that as a good thing. The stuff they are putting in the formula is not the same thing she would get from breast milk, and is more harmful than helpful. On top of that they use hexane to extract it from the fungus they grow the stuff on, and hexane is a highly toxic byproduct of making gasoline. It is also used to extract soy milk. Thankfully there is a product out there called Baby's Only formula that isn't putting the fake fatty acids in their formula. As long as the baby gets omega three and six they should have the building blocks needed for their fast growing brains, I believe.
Being an avid label reader and nutrition researcher is both a blessing and a curse. Knowledge can be kind of heavy.

I have some bat shaped pieces of cardboard I hacked out of some recycling bin boxes that I'm using to make Clover a "bat-mobile" you know...like a mobile.....with bats. Recently I had a failure in sewing. Inspired by Coraline, I set out to make clover a stuffed octopus-like doll. It had four legs and I sewed it out of some cheap, awful terrycloth. So after sewing it inside out, I tried to turn it right side out and nothing NOTHING worked to turn the legs right side out.. So now they are stuck inside the body and all that shows is four little nubs coming out of the bottom. Clover seems to like her little stuffed quadrapus amputee all the same. I embroidered a face on it so it constantly looks a little peeved. Must be the fact that his legs are stuck inside his head.

today clover and i are working on the meaning of the word "no"
later will come "get a grip"

nuff said

today i decided to enjoy the nice weather with clover and take her out to the yard. we headed out, her in her walker, me with a blanket, some coffee and the scarlet letter. ah, the sun's rays were working their magic - reviving me after a long night of stomach cramps and feverish tossing on the couch. clover was happily bouncing around in her walker and throwing her toys on the grass. i was lounging on the little blanket, reading the book to clover and sipping my happy cup of french pressed half-caf.

then i felt a tickle on my leg

this was about when i realized why i don't sit in the yard

although not the most vile of creatures, the daddy longlegs will still give me a jolt if found on my body. mid sentence, i spied such a creature on my leg and did the only thing that seemed natural at the time. i swatted at it violently with whatever was handy - which happened to be the old and tattered book i was holding. daddy held on for dear life as a swatted with all my might in a panic. one of my swats resulted in half the book being ripped away from the other half right up the spine. pages one through 106 flew into the driveway while the rest still remained in my hand.
after finally disposing of the evil intruder i picked up the carnage on the driveway. the odds of me enjoying any more time on the lawn were about negative twenty by then. as obama might put it " the time....for enjoying the morning....is over. the time...for running like a little girl...is now."

now i've finished the book and am looking for a purpose for its remains besides lining the recycling bin.

in other news, the football season has officially begun. don't expect me to acknowledge anyone between one and bedtime on sundays.
at the moment all three of my fantasy teams are winning. to celebrate the opening day of sunday football i made bacon at breakfast and we split a pint of rogue hazelnut brown nectar ale during the redskins game. after they lost i made chicken noodle soup from scratch to revive tim.

clover is grinning at me from the floor. it kills! 

hilarious moment of the day goes to clover getting naked in whole foods. i had her sitting in the shopping cart seat and she wanted to be picked up, so i pulled her out of there and noticed that her pants were partway off. figuring this was because she is too skinny for her pants and they always sag down anyway, i kept pulling her out. but her pants remained firmly in the seat of the shopping cart. meanwhile people are walking by in the dairy aisle making double takes as i attempt to free her pants with one hand and hold her in the other, and her little diaper is hanging out. realizing it was futile, i just left the pants in the seat and pulled her the rest of the way out. thinking the pants would surely come free now, i continued yanking on them to no avail. they had become wedged in a crack in the little flap that goes down for the child to sit on. i mean they were wedged! i had to keep working them out until they finally came free, and i sighed in relief that it wasn't her leg that had become pinched in the crack. so naked clover and i walked one aisle over, which was considerably less busy, and i tried putting pants on her for the first time while holding her.

on the topic of pants, have you ever had someone who was obviously on the same path as you throughout a whole shopping trip? really, there is a correlation between those two thoughts. give me a chance to explain. there was  this lady today who kept thwarting me everywhere i went. it was like she was one step ahead of me the whole time. but the first thing i noticed about her in the beginning of the trip was her pants. they were awful! granted, they matched the rest of her whole ensemble, but they caught my attention for some reason. there was nothing obviously wrong about the pants. you could tell from looking at them though that she was probably (excuse me for a moment if you are offended by stereotyping)  hilldwelling hick that shares a cabin with her mulleted girlfriend. i say this as a person who came from good hilldwelling hick stock. the pants matched her birkenstocks and tucked in multi-sponsor stamped marathon participant shirt. they were navy blue, ultra high-waisted, far too liberally draped in the butt, and at least 20 years off the rack. and the legs that filled the pants walked like they belonged to a man with a purpose. they looked something like these, but with less hang, tighter in the lower leg, and more of a khaki feel.

still, i can't pinpoint why i was so drawn to stare at the pants, but it may have had something to do with the fact that every corner i turned they were there to greet me, firmly planted in front of the grocery item that i wanted. and not going anywhere before they were ready, let me tell you! how long can you stare at amy's frozen burritos and stuffed pasta varieties before making a decision? i for one, had made my decision, but had plenty of time to ponder it before being granted access to the freezer case by the pants. same thing in the next aisle with the tomato sauce. and the next aisle with the crackers and tea. i managed to shake her at the vitamins though while she veered off into the bread section. sweet liberation!

on a side note, i of all people have nothing against a good thrift store clothing find. but some garments are best left to die a peaceful death

today i cleaned off the front of my oven. it reminded me that i have never cleaned out the inside of my oven. and worse, i have never taken everything out of my fridge and scrubbed it down. just did spot cleaning where things leaked.

there is probably a simple explanation for this. growing up, my mom subjected me to horrifying fridge cleaning expeditions. most of the things i pulled from the drawers and the vortex of the back of the fridge were completely unidentifiable. lots of green and orange liquids in produce bags and fuzzy mounds  in containers that used to hold leftovers. blech.