A Day at the Fair

It's state fair time again, and this year is the last year it will be held in Lincoln. We thought we should go since we surely will not be driving all the way to Grand Island for the fair next year.

Fairs are all about eating fried food and snacks. We enjoyed funnel cakes, cheese on a stick, pizza, grater taters, fried pickles, fried Twinkies, and snow cones. We also saw lots of livestock. It's sad that we live in Nebraska but only see livestock up close at the fair. Soren loved the chickens and walked around flapping her wings and saying, "cock a doodle doo!" for the rest of the day. Of course, what fair would be complete without listening to all the kids say, "I want one of those ______!" and "Can we go on the ___________?" and "Why do they get __________ and we don't?"

After more than 5 hours we were all sufficiently tired, crabby, thirsty, and headache ridden. It's really good to be home, for sure.

Brody's Ear

When Brody was an infant he was plagued with ear infections. Despite the fact that I nursed him for over a year and he rarely went to daycare his first year of life, Brody was "blessed" with his daddy's ear canals and thus every little runny nose led directly to an ear infection. He got tubes in his ears at 11 months and had his tonsils and adenoids out at 20 months.

Five years later, he still had a hole in his ear drum, an unfortunate side effect of tubes. This morning, Brody was put to sleep while the doctor cut a little piece of fat from his ear lobe and stitched it onto his ear drum, thus fixing the hole. Daddy went along with Brody on his "adventure" as he has for all of Brody's journeys through anesthesia. Brody barfed a lot afterwards and Colby locked his keys in his car, but other than that Brody did great. It's now 8pm, and Brody is pretty much normal after spending the afternoon chillin' on the couch with his puke bag watching iCarly, Ben 10, and some other favorites. He was such a big boy today, so I rewarded him a two new G.I. Joe guys.

Want Welfare? Pee In a Cup

I've been seeing this quiz on Facebook that asks people to vote on whether or not they think people who apply for food stamps or other welfare should have to take a drug test first. Everyone I've seen who has taken the quiz had voted yes, that they think we should force the poor and destitute to piss in a cup before getting their EBT card for food. It's not like they're already disappointed and embarrassed to be applying for welfare anyway. Let's make them do a urine test just to add a little more misery.

Most people are citing the example of the "woman with 4 kids who pays for her groceries with food stamps then drives away in her nice car." First of all, this fictional character probably wouldn't even have transportation if not for food stamps. Second of all, this is a hugely broad generalization of a welfare recipient, especially in this economy. The picture so many of us have in our heads of the lazy, good for nothing, fertile Myrtle is just that: a picture. I also know people who have abused the welfare system, but that doesn't convince me that we should enact a racist, classist (is that a word? spell check says no), and sexist policy. We should, in fact, never enact laws that specifically place judgement on a discriminated class in our society (poor, women, minorities). Let those with means abuse all the meth they want, but by god those weasels in the welfare line are pissing in a cup ASAP.

And what about all the other people who receive welfare: elderly, farmers, corporations? Should we drug test them all? What about the rest of us? We all use tax-funded facilities every day: roads, libraries, schools, parks, pools, etc. Should we all be drug tested? Where would it end? Oh, I know. With rich white guys.

A Short Reflection on Michelle Obama's Shorts

So, why are Michelle Obama's shorts all over the news? Seriously, is this 1915? Are we in Afghanistan? The woman is hot. She has great legs. Let her wear shorts. Now, moving on. . .

House guest

We have a new roommate. His name is Cody. Cody is a grad student at UNL who can't get into his apartment until the beginning of September. His wife and kids are living in Norfolk while he works on his Master's degree in Sociology. Given that Colby has best the house guest of our friends and family, we felt that we needed to repay the karma.

Cody is not only our house guest; he's also our friend. We've known Cody for probably close to 15 years. He's funny, smart, kind, and friendly. The kids really like having him around. It's someone new to listen to their stories. Yesterday they kept asking me, "When is Cody coming home?" but didn't ask once about Daddy. On Tuesday he made us a feast of enchiladas and rice.

It's nice to have a live-in friend, but I'm sure he'll be glad to have his own crib. He'll be even happier when his wife and kids move to Lincoln later in the spring, and we'll be happy to have Cody and his family close to us.

First Day of School

Alas, the first day of school has arrived and not a moment too soon. The boys were really starting to become couch potatoes. All of my suggestions for activities were, "Boring." Fighting was rampant.

My morning began at 5:45 am with a shower. Dade has to be up by 6:15 am, and luckily Colby can wake him up before leaving for work. With all the other kids asleep (and a convenient list of the morning's requirements posted on the wall by yours truly) Dade was dressed, fed, and groomed with time to spare before leaving for the bus at 7:15 am. Last year we didn't even get up until 7:30 am, so it is quite an adjustment for Dade and Mom. The outfit worn on the first day of school was always a big deal for me. Dade chose the ugliest shirt in his drawers (mom's opinion). It's a hand me down. The previous owner's mom told me her son loved the shirt, too, even though she thought it was hideous.

Brody and the girls were up before 7 am. We had breakfast, got dressed, and brushed teeth with plenty of time left over for t.v. Brody rather appropriately picked out his Arnold Eagles shirt for the first day of school. I drove Brody to the drop off point a few blocks from his new school. He refused to let us walk with him to the front door. He also said that he's not going to walk with Evie next year when she's in kindergarten. Nice. In the end, I was thankful for Brody's stubborn streak as the rain started to pour immediately after our return to the van. I'm only hoping Brody made it into the school before getting his new shoes drenched. As soon as Brody took off for the front of the school, Soren started crying for her "Bro Bro". It was quite an unexpected reaction from her. I guess she really liked having him home.



In other news, Soren is wearing undies today. She's already wet one pair, and I'm sure the current pair is headed for soaked land, as well. She just doesn't get peeing in the potty yet, but at least she knows where poop goes (not in a tissue and handed to mommy, right Nathan?).

Weekend Recap

We left Saturday morning for Le Mars, IA to visit our friends there. We hadn't seen their new house, even though they've lived there for over a year. I figured it was about time. We also had a great excuse to go up that way: Colby and the boys had tickets to WWE wrestling in Sioux City. Colby's dad got the tickets, so he met them in Sioux City for the main event. The boys got autographs from a few wrestlers, and Dade got his photo taken with R-Truth (what's up?).

Meanwhile, I got to hang out with my friend Jessica, and our kids got to spend hours and hours doing what kids do. Evie and Jessica's daughter are close in age and had a great time. Soren loved to follow them around like a little third wheel. It was so nice to visit, eat fresh corn from their garden, and watch our kids play. That's what great friendships are built on!

Preschool Has Begun

Last week we started back into our preschool lessons. Evelyn seems to be much more excited about it this year. We started with A, of course, but A is interesting because it makes different sounds (acorn vs. ant). Next week the boys go back to school. I don't think they would be as impressed with my teaching caliber as Evie is.

What Day Is It??? GREEN DAY!!

Holy shit, Green Day kicks ass. I could end the blog there and not need another word. Colby and I took our first trip alone together in probably 5 years to Kansas City last night to see Franz Ferdinand and Green Day in concert at the Sprint Center. Before we even left Lincoln, I got sick. I felt like barfing and was achy and exhausted. I still feel bad today. But nothing was going to stop me from going to see Green Day. The show was phenomenal! Colby and I have been Green Day fans for a long time, so it was a really nice way to reminisce about our high school years, college days, kid days, and the present. Green Day has been around as long as we have been together. If I could go to the show in Omaha tonight I would.

Come on, Obama. Act like You've Got a Pair

The Prez is really starting to piss me off. I realize one must have a degree of reverence and empathy with all people when one is the Prez. One must let the wackos yell about keeping "your government hands off my Medicare." One must let Big Pharma have its voice. But please, Prez, stand up. Stand up for what you promised in your campaign. Stand up for the millions of Americans who die every year because they are denied health care. Stand up against Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, and Rush Limbaugh. Stand up against class warfare. Be the voice of the little man/woman. You were eloquent. You were decisive. You were the champion of the have nots. WERE.

Trip to the Capitol

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Lessons From a Juice Box

This morning while the kids ate their pancakes, I was doing the Mommy thing and opening up straws for their 100% fruit juice boxes. As I passed out the juice boxes, Evelyn started to make fun of Dade because his juice box was dented. "Your box is messed up Dade," she kept saying. Actually, I gave Dade the "messed up" juice box knowing the others would complain about it. I had to say a few times, "Evelyn the juice inside the dented box is yummy just like yours. Just because the outside is dented it doesn't mean the juice inside is bad." Hmmmmm. A reflection on life from a juice box. Dade proceeded to say, "Yes Evie, you can't judge a book by its cover."

Kids can be picky. They don't want the dented juice box or the bruised apple. Even though it may taste the same, they think it's worse because of flaws. In a culture so obsessed with how people look on the outside, I hope that this morning a little bit of compassion was consumed along with the juice. Maybe that's just wishful thinking, but I think some of life's lessons come along in odd ways. I know that at least Dade got it.

Boobah

Soren has the nickname Boobah which comes from the name of a kids show on PBS. The show is reminiscent of Teletubbies but is much crazier. The Boobahs make farting sounds. I'm not sure how the nickname stuck considering that we never watched the show. In any case, all the kids had a nickname during toddlerhood, and Soren's just happens to be Boobah. Dade was Dader Tot; Brody was Noo Noo, Noodle, or Noony; and Evelyn was Peapod.

My little Boobah just happens to be about the sweetest thing in the world. No offense to Evelyn who is also a sweetie (but with major 'tude).

Feeling Blue?

I just read an article on journalstar.com that stated this: The (Gallup) survey of 1,035 Nebraskans during the first six months of 2009 showed 43 percent favoring Democrats and 42 percent favoring Republicans. That prompted Gallup to move Nebraska from a "lean Republican" state in 2008 to a "competitive" state.

I think this is purely a testament to how much people hate George W. Bush and his cronies. Bush II has pissed off so many Republicans that they'd rather identify as Democrats. One man has done so much damage not only to our country but to his own party. Sure, people think that Obama is going to take away their guns and use them to kill fetuses, but even that isn't as bad as the WWBD (what would Bushie do?) Republicans.

With so many Nebraskans feeling blue I only hope the Democrats and the Prez (I call him that cuz he's black) don't screw it up.

Happy Birthday Prez! Nebraska's gift to you? Blue and hopefully lots of it.

Hope He's Right

I just finished reading James Carville's 40 More Years. While not my favorite of his books, Carville makes some good arguments as to why he believes people are fed up with Republicans. Mostly, he says, the problem is that Republicans wanted to win the election in 2000 so badly that they decided to play to the small, right wing constituency, get them to the polls in droves, and then cater to their wishes. Problem is, when you cater to such a small (and quickly shrinking) constituency of older white Christians you're leaving so many people not only pissed off but worse off.

As you can see, a lot of the books I read are neither long or intellectual. I like books that are direct, thought provoking, and relevant but not dry. I tried to read a really interesting book about American history that reflected on how looking at our past should've led the Bushies to better decisions about our future, but it was just too, well, history-ish. I have the attention span of a child at church.

I want to leave you with these thoughts from page 173 of Mr. Carville's book:

That's the classic difference between a Republican and a Democrat. Republicans exist to protect what people have, and Democrats exist to help people have the opportunity to acquire the things that they need. Civil rights, education, woman's rights, opportunity, health care, you name it. The Republicans are a party that is designed to protect wealth. We should always strive to be a party that is designed to help people attain riches, of which money is only one part. We move for financial security but, more than that, family security, and security from fear and threat.

The Weekend

The weekend is over, and another busy week lies ahead. Nana Connie and Pop Pop Dean came to visit, and our one and only nephew Ethan stayed with us for a few nights. We spent the weekend in Nana's hotel swimming pool. We went out to eat and went to the farmer's market. Sunday, after all our company was gone, it was back to the reality of laundry and home improvement. Colby finally put a screen door up on our french doors, so now we can have a nice breeze come through the house. He made a screen for the kitchen window but has a few more to make for the basement. We also bought a new screen door for the front door, but I think that just may be a two man job.

This week I have to visit the dentist for a filling. Yuck. You know how much I love needles. I guess after having my wisdom teeth pulled I should have no fear of a minor little filling.

Colby's friend Aaron and his wife will be visiting us. We haven't seen Aaron since we lived in Norfolk, and we have never met his wife. It will be nice to have some grown ups in the house for a play date.