Happy Birthday, Doug!!!

Wow, forty-two years and I've gotten to spend the last nine with him. Am I a lucky girl, or what? Katie has quite a way of expressing birthday affection.


















As you can see, someone went a little wild with the decorations this year. Doug and I were gone an hour an a half to vote, and the girls spent the entire time taping up balloons and streamers.










































Doug was happy to get a homemade carrot cake (his favorite).

Here we are at Doug's choice of restaurant for his birthday dinner. Poor Mariah is put out that she can't have Tabasco sauce until she is 18! (It's the law, you know).

P.S. This blog is a few days late, but I'm so glad we got to celebrate all day Saturday!

Day Out

The girls were at a youth retreat this weekend, so Doug and I took in a bit of sightseeing in Nashville.
















We drove by a large private high school, which happened to be hosting a huge marching band contest. Doug was pretty nostalgic about his marching band days. He lamented that he didn't stay in DCI longer. All the bands were pretty impressive, though--much more like DCI than the marching band days of our youth. Fun afternoon!















This nice man with a horse and buggy sat on the side of the street, just waiting to give someone a ride.

Here we are, sitting right where Carrie Underwood and Bette Midler have perched!














After some incredible Japanese food, we took a stroll over to catch our first professional hockey game. Here's Doug standing outside the arena in front of the Predator's big air slide.
















Here's the Preds, beating the Columbus Blue Jackets 6-3. I don't know who's more brutal--the players or the fans. Quite an ending to quite a day!

Quote of the Day

Something to consider:

A government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it all away.
Barry Goldwater

Saved by Lipstick!

As if Monday's bill wasn't insulting enough to the American people, the Senate decided to "sweeten" up the deal by adding all sorts of pork to it. Now, in addition to $700 Billion dollars, we the taxpayers will get to pay for all sorts of new programs and projects tacked on.

I guess a couple Senators from Tennessee aren't interested in another term. They may think we'll forget all about it before they come up for reelection in a couple of years, but some prominent and outspoken Tennesseans (and little ol' me) aren't going to let it go.

My Representative voted "no" in the House, so we'll see if he caves or not this next go around. As of now, he's got my vote in November...the first time I've voted for a democrat--ever.

And what about the presidential nominees?

"Let's not call it a bailout, let's call it a rescue," Senator McCain says. Puhleeze. So, if you take a pig, make it even fatter, and put lipstick on it, it's not a 700 Billion Dollar barrel of pork? What happened to, "I'll make 'em famous" for the first person who tried to pass a bill with earmarks?

Senator Obama voted yes on the bill, too. More wasteful spending, billions of dollars to special interests, fiscal help for the rich... Is this the kind of change we need? I don't think so! Talk about "lockstep with Bush."

I'm mad, ya'll...And neither major party candidate will get my vote. Yeah, I know that McCain will still probably take Tennessee in the election, anyway. But this year I'm voting on principle. Hopefully the House will do the same. If ever a bill needed to be killed, it's this one.

If you want a common sense approach to the financial crisis, click here.

Are you the woman in the house?

If you can relate...try this!

Question: What makes a great president?

Or any sort of leader... congressman/woman, mayor, governor. What qualities should we look for?

When I was a little kid, I remember telling my Grandpa Darwin that I thought he should be president. It must have been during the Carter administration and we were sitting there watching some news on TV. I admit, I idolized him. To me, Grandpa was one of the smartest, toughest guys on earth.

Almost thirty years later, I still remember what he said. "I wouldn't want to be president. You have no privacy, no time with your family..." and I think he continued, but my little blond-headed, six-year-old brain was already overloaded.

He didn't WANT to be president? Wow. I'm sure he was amused at the sight of my little blue eyes looking up at him, wide in astonishment. That was the answer I least expected from him.

He had that in common with George Washington. Did you know our first president used much of his personal wealth to finance the revolutionary war? Martha spent the war years supporting her husband, traveling much of the time to be with him where he commanded his troops, rallying other women to join in her efforts to sew the soldiers' shirts and blankets. None of it was a political ploy; they simply were putting country first.

Fast forward about 232 years. I've emailed my representative, senators, and presidential candidate of choice--some of whom will appear on the ballot in a few weeks--and told them they would not get my vote if they voted to spend my hard-earned tax dollars to bail out the incompetent and greedy bankers lobbying for $700 billion dollars. (And I'm so proud of the house democrats and republicans who voted against and defeated the bill today!)

Answer: The people who vote!

It's time to vote in some more senators and representatives (and a president) who have the same attitude of George Washington. They would serve because they believe in the well being of our country and they're willing to sacrifice for it.

No matter which side of the aisle you sit on, you can't help but be disgusted by how things are being run in Washington and your state capitols. It's easy to complain about the government, but the fact is that we are the government. It's not up to "them." It's up to us. I for one, am going to get off my duff.

You with me? Start calling and writing your elected officials, both federal and state. Look at their voting records before you go to your own ballot in a few weeks. Let them know you're going to hold them accountable.

Cookie Monsters

We're hard at work with schooling, but here's a fond memory from our summer break. Mariah and Katie are making "Barefoot" cookies for Doug's old company picnic. Lots of flip-flops! We were staying with dear friends, the Browns, and Michelle let the girls help decorate the night before. It was so cool to be invited, even though Doug doesn't work for them anymore.

I left my purse in the car, so I didn't get any pics of the picnic, but they had awesome blow-up equipment, a snow cone machine, a cotton candy machine, and amazing prizes. It was a hot but beautiful day and we could see Kentucky on the other side of the Ohio River where we played. It was all green and gorgeous. A very fun weekend!

And as a P.S. for Velvet on my previous post: that was actually the sunrise on our way to Casper really early in the AM. But yes, I agree--very pretty. It made it harder to leave.