Another "Blog" Post

I'm not sure if you've heard of this website, but there is actually a blog committed to posting misuses of quotation marks. You can check it out at http://quotation-marks.blogspot.com/. It is maintained by a girl from Holland Christian. I happened to check it out after reading about it I think in the Sentinel. Looks like she's also made a name for herself in some other publications. Anyway, when buying some wine stoppers for a Christmas gift (from Meijer, Lindsey), Joe and I both laughed when we read the back of the box. My guess is that either a person in a foreign country typed the label or Lindsey with her pregnant brain typed it (only kidding Lin:) ). Aside from the bad grammar, I noticed that it was also in quotes, so Isent it to Bethany to post on her site. She must not have liked it enough to post on her site, but I think it's funny so I decided to post it!

Donkeys and Elephants and Brad...Oh, My

Ok, so right off the bat you can probably guess from my title that I'm talking about politics...and Brad (as if we haven't heard enough about politics in the news lately!). And right off the bat it might sound as if I'm throwing Brad under the bus. I'm really not. The title popped into my head when I was thinking about the MANY political emails that were circulating today among our friends. It normally is, and today was no different, that it is Brad against "us" ("us" meaning everyone else). So that is why Brad is the lucky one that gets his name put into the title. Ok, so maybe "against" wasn't the right word. It is just that Brad tends to offer a different perspective to the rest of us (that may or may not be stuck in our ways).

I can get so tired of hearing about politics, yet it's such an important part of our lives that how could I ignore what's going on and still call myself a concerned American? I think that the reason our friends (be sure to note that I am including Joe and me in that group as well) argue over politics is because we all see the importance of politics and feel passionately about our views. It's not that we're trying make others look stupid or trying to upset our friends. I guess it's good to argue/discuss if it either opens your mind to new ideas or if it affirms what you already believe.

Turkey Weekend

Ahhhh...that is the sound of me relaxing this weekend away from work. It's been very nice thus far. Joe, Elv and I went to put bait down (woo hoo) on Wednesday night at Joe's dad's property which turned out to be quite a bumpy ride! It had rained the night before and had continued raining all day, so needless to say the field was terribly muddy. When we first started driving through the mud I wasn't holding on to Elv and he went flying up so hight that his head was only inches away from hitting the ceiling of the truck. I then held on to him the rest of the ride out to the back of the property, but we were still bouncing around pretty good (good thing we were all buckled up safely:) ). Yesterday we ate lots of good food and today I've been putting Christmas decorations out while Joe's been cleaning up his truck (from all the mud) and hunting. Tomorrow morning I might sit with Joe in the woods while he hunts...we'll see once if I feel like waking up early.

If you're interested in an update on our Christmas card--we ordered one! Thanks to Heidi for helping us get a photo where all three of us look decent. I won't spoil the surprise by posting "the" pic that we selected, but posted is a similar pic. For those lucky enough to receive a photo card from us, you can be surprised now once you receive it:).

One last comment...I must really be craving vacation. Last night I had a dream that I was in Mexico and there was this huge icecream buffet with all the best icecream flavors and toppings available. Then, before I could eat it I woke up. That part of it was very disappointing...hmm...maybe I'll have to go have some icecream:)

Hunting Widow

Well, it's that time of year again...that time when Joe leaves me to "bond" with nature and with "the guys". For some reason he thinks that driving 10 hours to sit in the woods, not shower, and sleep on a little cot in a tiny portable cabin is fun! To me a vacation is sitting in the sun, enjoying great food (and drinks), and having good entertainment. We obviously have different ideas of a perfect vacation. What I find odd though is that Joe sincerely loves hunting type trips and enjoys sun and sand trips. I asked him last night if he could only take one vacation a year, which would he choose and he said he did not want to answer that. I probably don't want to know the answer:) I'm not jealous of what type of vacation he is on, although I am jealous that he is on vacation...ahh...vacation...a good thought to end on.

Pyramids at Panera

So we were at Panera Bread tonight and the people at the table next to us were discussing their "business" and the various perks they possess from this job. What is this company they were discussing you might wonder? It was one of those "get rich by practically doing nothing online pyramid scandels". Sorry to those that are a part of one of those or have been in the past, but I think they're stupid. Ok, maybe that was a bit harsh, but they're just so odd. I can't evene count the number of times that Joe has been "hit up" by various members of these groups. Apparently he has "sucker" written on his forehead or he just looks like a nice guy. Many of the times he has been approaced it has been while he's been waiting for me while I shop--maybe it is a sign that I shouldn't shop so much, nah that couldn't be! Seeing this group tonight brought on a conversation between us about how everyone in this world wants an easy way to live a fabulous life. Who wants to work for it? Everyone just wants a handout. I can't say that I'm any better than anyone else...I too wish for a perfect life full of "stuff". I too suffer from affluenza (i.e. the shopping comment made moments ago). How do we heal ourselves from this? When are we going to start comparing ourselves to those with less than us rather than those with more than us and how can we be a help to them, instead of always trying to help ourselves?!?

Poor Lindsey!

So yesterday morning I received a call from a co-worker shortly after 8am that she was going to be late for work due to an accident on 131. I thought to myself, poor girl, there always seems to be accidents on 131 around that time in the morning. How annoying! At lunch time I happen to check Lindsey's blog and read that she had been one of the cars in the accident! To make matters worse, she had forgotten her cell phone that morning! She was the last car in a line up of 3 involved in the accident. The guy that she hit let her use his phone, but the only number she knew was Darrell's, (and her parents in NY but what are they going to do?) however, Darrell's cell was dead so she couldn't even talk to him! That would be a rough start to the day. At that point you almost want to just turn around and go home because of the fear that your day could get even worse. Thankfully Lindsey (and her unborn baby) weren't hurt, her car isn't too damaged, and she didn't get a ticket. I have never been in an accident (when I was driving) and hopefully (knock on wood) I won't be any time soon!

Who knew it would be so difficult!

So this year I decided for once to order Christmas cards ahead of time instead of buying them last minute. In the past when I have received cute cards in the mail with endearing family photos I have vowed that the next year I too would have one of these cards. While at my family's house this week I forgot to have a family member take the photo for us, so Monday night Joe, Elv and I all put on our Christmas best and got ready to strike a pose. However, we were missing one important element--a photographer! We didn't want that to stand in our way, so we propped the camera up on a table and proceeded with the photo session. Elvis was the main problem, for some reason he didn't understand us when we told him to look at the camera--imagine that! Finally we got one where he was looking at the camera, but then part of Joe's head was cut off. So then we got another one where Elv was somewhat looking at the camera, but when I put it in the Christmas card layout, part of Joe's head was again cut off (the picture seen here)! By the time I realized it, we had already changed. So alas, we still don't have a family Christmas pic. Elv has some good individual pics from last winter, but Joe thinks we should have the whole family on it. So continues the journey to creating our perfect Christmas photo. We'll see once if we can get an acceptable photo in time to order Christmas cards--or there's always next year:)