Wordle cooldle

Came across wordle through the blogosphere. Pretty rad. You can have them say whatever you want but I entered my blog address and got thisSome words are hard to see* and you would think all I do is talk about politics. The first one I did had way too many words so I lowered the amount of words and it removed suck which sucks. I wonder if I do it now, do you think suck will reappear? Let's try...Aw, they suck because there was no suck. Suck, suck, suck, SUCK. Let's try again...no dice. 

*it appears this picture will do the click-thru and show it larger...anyone know why that sometimes works but sometimes doesn't?

Free at last

Tug had his Dr. appt today and whoo hoo...he is down to this

a walking cast. He has been on crutches-only for slightly over a long month. He will have this big, bad boy for another 3 weeks, then another Dr. appt, then we shall see. He said he wasn't sure how to walk when he left the Dr. office so he kinda shrugged his shoulders and used his crutches on the way out. At home he has been using a cane sorta thing and has taken a few tentative steps without it. Yeah, I am free at last...and I am pretty sure he is excited to be off crutches too. 

sorry for the blurry picture, the camera decided to focus on something else and I didn't feel like retaking it

Family Service Announcement

FYI to our family...I am going to try and go the exclusively handmade route this year for Christmas. I am letting you know so you take that into consideration when you get us something. Our giving gifts will probably suck so make sure our receiving gifts aren't that great :)

Thanks for cooperating,

r

(i reserve the right to change my mind and buy a generic something or other including but not limited to impersonal gift cards)

The Debate

Any of you able to make it all the way through it? I watched about 30 minutes or so before Tug's head nearly exploded so we changed it. I wonder though, for those who made it through, did Obama ever call McCain anything other than John (aside from the time he called him Tom, or the time he called him Jim but covered it by then saying John again as if he was first addressing the moderator)? McCain referred to him as Senator Obama, Obama kept saying John. Barack, did your mom not teach you any manners? Show some sort of respect to your peer, to a man who served this great country you want to change, ruin, lead, at the very least show some respect to your elder (you know the one you think is facing imminent death, placing Palin one struggling heartbeat away from the Presidency). 

No class I say.

Pink Eye

Any of you know a natural remedy for pink eye? No, I am not turning into a hippie-we haven't established ourselves with a doctor yet and I really don't feel like going to urgent care for {l}'s eye so if you have a tried and true method, please share!

Baby leggings

It's a hybrid really, sort of baby leggings, sort of leg warmers. There isn't a waist area (making it a breeze for diaper changes), but they go up the entire leg, not just the calf (helping keep baby warm). The tutorial called for tube socks and I wasn't quite sure what those were. I ended up buying a package of regular cute socks and one pair of knee-high socks. The regular socks ended up too short, but might be perfect for newbornish age. The knee-highs worked well for {s} who is 14 months. 

She is now ready for Halloween!! I plan on putting them underneath pajamas or thinner pants she wears around the house because, with wood floors, it is getting pretty chilly in here. 

Tutorial here

Actual babylegs here

wow...skirts

Here to check in for WoW? Well, good for you. I went to weigh myself this morning only to find my scale not working—I think it needs a battery. Can you say Divine intervention? Feel free to leave your update, I will update again tomorrow once I have a new battery. 

On to funner things (no, funner ain't a word). 

Erica and her family are here visiting while on their way back to Oregon from Nebraska because her husband had a meeting in Seattle. She dropped him off at a hotel then headed to our house on Monday for some fun. Late Monday we decided we needed to leave the kids with Tug and head to Joann Fabric. We weren't sure what we were going to create but I found a fabric I loved then decided on a skirt. I didn't know how much fabric I would need so I just took what was left on the bolt (a little more than 2 yards) and once home and cutting we realized we actually had enough fabric for 4 skirts so we made the girls (her 2 and 2 of mine, {s} doesn't need one) matching skirts. Last night we were back at the fabric store for half a yard of the contrasting fabric and Erica decided we needed to make little pouches for them as well. They weren't as cute as we had hoped but since it was 1 AM we decided they were good enough. 

Lyrical Geniuses

My sister won an ipod shuffle from her work earlier this year and she gave it to the girls. Later she won another so she gave that to the girls as well. {j} doesn't have his own ipod, but it appears he has taken over one of them. 

Deep in thought, perhaps concentrating on lyrics?

This is the face he makes when he is searching for a song. He often gives one of the earbuds to either Tug or me to listen to while he searches for 'his'* song, and this is the face he makes. He will shake his head no as each song starts until finally...

"Mom, this is my song!" It was manamana from The Muppets. On the pot he was listening to "It's the hard knock life" from Annie.

*'his' song varies by the day/hour

Can you splain this?

Calling all smart people, I need some help. As I understand it our government does not make money. Well, they can make money as in print it, but they don't make money as in they are not a business. So, how in the world can a government who is not in the business of making money buy companies? PLEASE explain this...I am not asking rhetorically! Also, explain exactly what is going on. Why are we bailing out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and AIG (and what are those companies exactly?) And where exactly is this money coming from? Don't we have a national deficit? Does the government have some sort of nest egg in their sock drawer?

Best I can tell the FM's have been around for a long time but in the '90s Clinton told them they had to approve riskier applicants for housing (via The Community Reinvestment Act). Now, Clinton gets lots of praise for the unprecedented amount of homeowners created during his Presidency but as I see it he created a lot of what is going on now that those riskier people can't pay up. I am NOT trying to be partisan here, I really am trying to understand it. As I see it, if you can't actually afford a house, why are you buying a house? When we bought our first home in 1999 we were approved for around $180,000. I looked at the lender and said "This is how much we can afford for payments, what does that get us?"  We ended up with a $117,000 mortgage. Let me stress that I am in no way responsible with my money. We have way too much credit card debt but it doesn't take a genius to figure out if you can't afford the payments you can't afford the house. Why do I now have to pay for others' mistakes? I can't take my credit card bill to my neighbor and say "Hey, can you be patriotic and pay this for me?" so why is the government doing that for these companies/citizens? And how can our government (us) say that it (we) holds share in these companies? Am I going to get a check at the end of each year when (if) profits are up again. Will I get my very own Mudd Manor soon? 

How can these companies expect their clients to balance their checkbooks when they can't balance their own (as evidenced by them donating nearly $4.3 million to politicians since 2005).

Owning a house isn't a right, it is a privilege. It is a privilege that I currently don't have and might not for a long time, if ever again (Tug is in the construction industry remember).

As for AIG, aren't they an insurance company? What gives? And now there is talk of bailing-out more banks who issued shady loans. Did I go to sleep in America but wake up in some Communist (or Socialist-what's the difference?) country? Isn't this the housing version of Enron and, if so, why were so many people mad then but seem to be accepting of what FM did now?

I am sure I am simplifying this but I really want to understand. Can you explain it, please?

WoW-paging mr linky

AH, I can't find Mr. Linky-what gives. I tried to go to the site but it says it can't be found. Guess we will have to go old school this week...just leave comments.

Overall, decent week. Not as much exercise as I had wanted but I am in a bit of pain. My right knee hurts (from yrs of soccer/running when I was younger I have relatively bad knees) but I can't tell if it is because my hamstring is tight making my knee and calf hurt or my knee being messed up making my hamstring and calf hurt. My left hip also hurts (old labor injury). I think I need to do more elliptical type cardio and less jogging type but that means going to the Y and I haven't been able to drag myself out of bed early lately. Oh the traumas of being fat. 

Cardio: 77 min 

Weight: -1.4 but that is of my 2.4 gain so still 0 with 1 more lb to lose

For Tug

Again my own design (obviously) for the one I love.

I am guessing I will change often so here is a pic to remind me in the future...I forgot to do it with my last background so I am off to redo so I can get that picture. DONE!

 

Woo hoo

How do you like it? I made this here blog template thingamagigy myself!! Can you believe it? I am so excited to have figured this out. There is still some color tweaking to do but, seeing as how I have been at the computer all day, my butt hurts and I need to make some dinner. 

I don't know if I like the background that much...slightly too cutsey but whatev-I MADE IT MYSELF (well, i made it become a background myself-some other internet person made the pattern ;))

And, of course, I have to personalize the header but all those fancy designer people make generic ones for the peeps, so this is my version of generic.

The things they say

On the way home from Mass:

{r} Can we stop and pick up lunch?

me: No, it is only 10. It isn't lunch time.

{r} When it is lunch time can we go out to lunch?

me: Sure, we can go to Ferguson Farm (aka:our house)

{r} whine, whine, pout, scoff, pout, exaggerated sigh...there's nothing to eat there!

me: You can make a sandwich.

{l} Is there any ham left?

me: Should be.

{l} Good, that is my favorite...Brown Sugar Ham** with water added!

Oh the joys of over processed lunch meat.

**I have been corrected...she says Smoked Honey Ham with water added is her favorite

Nightgown

As I said before, I couldn't find any Buckeye fabric when we went to the store a few weeks ago but I did find some plaid flannel that was basically Buckeye colors. The girls requested a nightgown so I used a pattern I already had. It is pretty heavy and {r} squealed "It's cozy!"

I am all about 'if I am making it, it should fit you for years'. 

The sleeves were supposed to have elastic at the bottom making them poofy but I didn't feel like doing it. I might make a few button holes and run some ribbon through it so they aren't quite so long but {r} doesn't seem to mind. Hopefully this will be a good luck nightgown tonight!!! 

Prayers Please

I am going to hell. No, that is not why I want your prayers. I've come to terms with it...really hoping for that Purgatory option. Anyway, remember me asking for prayers for my brother-in-law due to his silly heart and brain? Well, you can stop. Wait, not stop per se just switch to something else for a day then go back to him (cuz he will still be needing them, surgery coming sometime soon). Could you just maybe, I mean would you be willing to, or if you are praying anyway throw a little one in just until late tomorrow night-pray that the Buckeyes beat USC? Yeah, I just solicited prayers for college football-what of it? Remember my opening statement...what do I have to lose? And besides, Tug needs the Buckeyes to win for his own heart (and a blow-out would really help his blood pressure).  

Yes, I am (mostly) kidding (but kinda serious)

So I can remember

{s} does this awesomely cute, amazingly ugly thing where if you sniff she will try and suck all the air in the world up her nose while crinkling her entire face. Erica got a pretty good picture of it on her first birthday

normally cake and drool aren't coming out of her mouth. Well, I wanted to actually capture her in action...note to self, try a barrette sometime!

WoW

This week was an experimental one, I did it for the benefit of you. Last week I was rather successful eating 'right' and exercising. This week I thought 'Hmm, what if I still exercise but eat whatever I want?' The experiment was very in depth, very scientific-I took no notes and just know that I ate A LOT and drank A LOT of Dr Pepper. In my defense, I was quite starving from the week before. Wait. I don't need a defense, it was an experiment remember. I was the sacrificial lamb...I ruined myself for the greater good. Now you know-you canNOT eat anything you want if you are trying to lose weight by reasoning that you are working out so it is ok. Thanks not needed ;)

Weight: +2.4

Exercise: 140 minutes cardio

Weekly Goal:

Continue exercise-increase to minimum 180 minutes of cardio

Add in upper body weights 3days/week

Back to WW point tracking

Big city livin

I am making a concerted effort to get the kids out of the house more. In Oregon we didn't do much, and there wasn't much to do since we were in a small town. Here we are close to two big cities and are trying to actually get something out of it. Last Thursday I decided we should go to the Farmer's Market.  Looking online I saw that there was a parking garage where you could park for free then take the rail (also free) to the Market. I had never used any sort of public transportation, nor have the kids so we gave it a go. 

Waiting for the rail...

Here comes our ride

The kids were really excited, especially once they saw you can stand up while it is moving

                     And here is {s} enjoying some blueberries


The rail only goes about a mile total and there are about 5 stops along the way. On our way back from the Market, I looked out the window and saw the water at one of the stops so we decided to hop off and take a look around. Here the kids are on a bridge that takes you over the freeway to some museums. 

One of the museums

 is a glass museum so there were a lot of neat glass sculptures on the bridge.

And this is the actual glass museum. There were a couple other museums but we didn't go into any of them. I figured we would save that for another trip. 

Between museums was one of those infinity pools looking out to the Sound. {j} really wanted to get in the water. 

Overall a great time was had...and we came home with cupcakes and kettle popcorn (oh yeah and a small amount of blueberries)-isn't that what everyone gets at the Farmer's Market?
Today I think we will finally make the trip North to Ikea!!

Economic Justice

Whoa, scary stuff!
Barack Obama's Stealth Socialism

Proof is in the Pudding

She said she wasn't scared to ride...The picture begs to differ...

Like the corners of my mind

Jessica had this up on her blog and by leaving her a memory comment I then became tagged...do play along (even if you don't want to post it on your own blog).

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. (If you don't have a blog, or don't want to post, please comment anyway!)

21-schmunty one

OOOh, look what I found. Proper pinky etiquette

Yowzah...

It's an acquired taste. I can dig it!

Hmmm, I think I might have had too much...

I better get outta here, Mom is making her move...ah crap, I think I split my pants.

Awww, she took it away!

for the record, the bottle was empty-despite the look of picture 2

Spilled beans

So Michelle has finally spilled the beans and now I can tell you just who you have been praying for.  Quick synopsis is my brother-in-law (Tug's sister's husband) found out last Thursday that he has some sort of brain issue. That up there is a picture of his brain. That dark area on the upper right shouldn't be there. It might be no big deal, it might be a huge deal. We are praying for the no big deal variety. Unfortunately yesterday they found out he also has a heart issue (an issue he has had since birth and they have known about) that has gotten substantially worse. So, in his future is possible open-heart surgery (very likely) and brain surgery (unsure). 

To get a better story, the full story, check out her post. 

PLEASE, if possible, keep Max in your prayers. Thanks!! 

Release the hounds

Wow, did you watch Sarah Palin last night? Yowzah, she had some real zingers in there. It really made Tug and I laugh, but I am wondering if all of them were truly necessary. LOVED the 'here's a man who has written two memoirs but not one important piece of legislation'. True dat!! One thing I don't get is the media's focus on 'Is she qualified or ready to be the President'. Are you serious folks? If I hear this one more time I think I am going to explode. HELLO, this woman is running for VP, not President. Yes, that puts her a heart beat away from the Presidency...do you recall who the Democrats are asking you to put in the White House, not as the VP but as the President himself. Not only does Obama have NO executive experience (zip, zero, nada-as said last night, he has never even run a business) but he also has little national experience. The media truly do think we are idiots who can't think and discern things for ourselves, and they must think we are too foolish to recognize their bias and hypocrisy. (update, looks like scbarb is noticing the same, she also has a link to video of Palin's speech)

Also, I have heard how wonderful Obama is because he has said the issue of Bristol Palin being pregnant is 'off limits'. Wow, what a great man. Seriously though, I wonder if his mind would be changed had his own mom not been 18 and unmarried when she became pregnant with him (and I think he should thank God, or Rev. Wright, that that was in the '60's when abortion was illegal and not in 1974, who knows if the great messiah would have been allowed his right to life).

And speaking of girls handing out zingers, check them out

They were very excited to get their gi's last night! I told them to smile but they refused saying they needed to look mean.

They were showing me what they did during class...I think this is part of learning how to fall?! {l} is on top

WoW-what week is this anyway?

So this week was a decent one. I decided to sort of start Weight Watchers. I say sort of because I haven't actually enrolled. A long time ago a friend who had previously done WW gave me her old points counter so I looked online and saw what my points should be and am trying to stick to it. I don't know exactly what my points should be since different sites said different numbers and I don't know the real rules (I think if you exercise you get to get more points but I am not adding them back in). I did decide though that for my sanity I would have one free night per week, provided I exercised and ate well the rest of the week. I was just going to do a free meal but thought better of it. I also have some WW dessert thingys that I am eating basically every night, regardless of my points total ;) I do need to increase my water intake. 

Exercise done: 185 minutes cardio

Pounds lost: -5.1

Weekly goals:

Continue with WW 

Continue cardio routine

Increase water

 

Since Shelly Asked

And since I have nothing else to talk about...
Via email, Shelly asked "Can you explain your ohio craziness? I think people from ohio are the only fans – you break the mold."  That's right baby, I break the mold. It all started long ago when a little Mexican gal met some White dude from Ohio while both were in the Navy. They got married and blah, blah, blah to the important part-I was born.  Well, that White dude raised us (until I was about 8) as lovers of the great state of OHIO though we lived far away in El Paso, TX...I was (am) a Browns fan, an Indians fan and a Buckeye fan and most of my family (on my dad's side) still live in OH. Lo and behold I found a fellow Browns, Indians and Buckeye fan while in college at New Mexico State University. Tug's mom is from Mansfield, OH and his dad is from Ashland, OH so he too was raised an OHIO fan, though he was born and raised in Albuquerque, NM. Actually the first night we kissed (we had known each other for about a year prior) I had on an Indian's hat and he said I looked like Omar Vizquel...I think he thought that was a compliment, I didn't. Anyhoo, we are now raising our kids right-as fellow Buckeye lovers (of all the teams, we only truly follow them) and they certainly know how to chant "Oh, we don't give a damn for the whole state of Michigan". 

I had hoped to post an awesome picture I recently found-I was about 4, my sister 6 and we were both wearing long sleeved Snoopy shirts and Snoopy is holding a pennant that says Ohio State but I made the mistake of letting the kids look at it and now I don't know where it is. Instead, I will leave you with my greatest mistake, my one big regret in life. 

{my mom still lives at that address so I am redding it out}

Instead of going to The Ohio State University I chickened out and decided it was too far (and was going to cost too much) so I instead went to Texas A&M. My sophomore year I transferred to NMSU so if that could stay the same (since that is where I met Tug) I wish I would have gone to OSU for my freshman year. 

O-H

Happy Birthday

We are so sad that we don't get to spend the day with you, especially since it is the HUGE SIX-O but 

Happy Birthday Mom (grandma) 

Growing up you used to say our birthday present to you was us going back to school...so, YOU set the precedence of us not actually buying you gifts ;) and, I bet you wish we weren't gone on your birthday now, especially since we are so far away!

We love you!!!