Dear Garrett,
Today you are officially 2 and a half years old. It's hard to believe. Some days it doesn't feel like 2 and a half years have gone by, while other days feel as if it's been more like 5 or 10 years. Days like today when you turn on your keyboard music and say "Dance, Ma, dance" as you bounce around the room doing your own version of the two-step; these days make the last 2 and a half years feel as if I've blinked and we've gone from pregnancy to now. Then there are those nights where you and I have "slept" in the guest room due to your unending cough and I think "he should be atleast 10 by now because tonight has definitely lasted several years." We've come a long way.
These are some of the things that you are doing:
~You talk a lot now and can say pretty much anything we ask you to. You don't always put together sentences, but you can definitely get your point across.
~You love movies and lots of cartoons. You can't ever decide what movie to watch whenever I ask and even after you make your decision, about 5 minutes into the movie you change your mind. I don't fall for that anymore because the one time I did change the movie, you did the same thing 5 minutes into the second movie. Now we just endure a mini-tantrum until you get distracted.
~You have become really attached to Buzz Lightyear and Woody. You won't take a nap or go to bed without both of them (and we cannot lose Woody's hat or nobody gets any sleep until Woody is properly attired with his hat).
~You refuse to eat most vegetables, and pretty much anything that I attempt to serve for supper, but you'll pick up random things on the floor and put them in your mouth. I'll be glad when you stop that.
~Because of your extremely picky taste in food, you're definitely on the thin side for your age. Thankfully you're also on the tall side, so I'm in hopes that your height will discourage bullies in the future.
~You love Daddy and everything about him. Especially digging in his pockets for keys. Every morning when he leaves for work you insist that he not only hug you, but also hug me, which he always does, but if you don't see it happen then you make sure to remind him until he does it again.
~You also love to play "find the body part" game. Except you have to play it with me and not by yourself. I thoroughly love when you ask "where's teeth?" and you shove your entire hand in my mouth.
~You know all of your ABC's and you love playing with your magnetic letters on the refrigerator. You can also count to 13.
~You finally love going to Mother's Day Out. After 6 months of torturing me and your teacher, you no longer throw a fit when I drop you off and I think your breath holding spells at "school" have gone down.
~On the subject of the breath holding, you still do this reguarly at home. According to your doctor you're going to outgrow this by the time you're 3. That gives you 6 months, so let's work on that.
~You're very active, climbing onto everything and doing things without regards to what might happen to you. I've caught you multiple times taking out the "babyproof" outlet cover and trying to put Daddy's keys into the plug-in, who knows how many times you've come close to electrocuting yourself. You also tipped over in your chair at lunch the other day. You hit your head on the outlet behind you, cracked the outlet plate and busted your head open. Thankfully no stitches were needed and you didn't make a hole in the wall. Of course you haven't learned your lesson and still repeatedly try to tip yourself over. Let's hope we don't have to make a trip to the Emergency Room anytime soon.
~Today we went to pick up a pizza at Pizza Hut. We haven't been there in atleast 2 months, probably longer. As I pulled into the parking space, you pointed at the sign and said "pizza!". Their logo does not have a pizza on it and I did not see a pizza anywhere on the outside of the building, so apparently you can already read! :) I guess Pawpaw was right when he told me you were a genius.
The past 2 and a half years have been full of excitement and worry (only on my part) and I'm looking forward to the next 2 and a half years with a lot more firsts. Your first trip to Chuck E. Cheese, your first time to go fishing, your first bike ride on a 2 wheeler, learning how to tie your shoes and write your name. There are so many things you're going to learn over the next few years. I'm excited to get to share them with you.
Let's just try to keep the broken bones and stitches to a minimum.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
A Breakthrough!
As most of you know, we've been having issues with Garrett playing with his poop, as much as I want to phrase that delicately, there really isn't any way to do so. For the past couple of months he was doing this regularly and making huge messes, which obviously frustrated and grossed me out at the same time. I read a few tips for how to handle it, but never really got a chance to implement anything. Well, it's been several weeks since we've had an episode, but I've still been on the alert for the possibility. Today, we finally had a breakthrough. He was supposed to be napping, but about half an hour into naptime, I heard him say "Is it poop?" He tends to ask lots of questions, and phrases many statements into a question. Dread and fear immediately entered my heart upon hearing him say this. I just knew that I was going to walk into his room and see a disgusting sight. Surprisingly, this was his way of letting me know he had pooped, but thankfully hadn't done any investigating on his own. Of course, we then went through the dirty diaper changing routine where he asks me approximately 1000 times "Is it yucky?" Yup, it was yucky. I'm in hopes that he is now officially past the poop-obsession phase. Of course I'm sure we're now moving on to something else to be obsessed about, but really, what could be worse?
For those of you who couldn't care less about my child's disgusting habits, here's a little update on our new TV. This weekend we went to "The Dump" and bought a cabinet to sit under our TV and house our DVD collection along with the surround sound receiver, DVD player, and other miscellaneous stuff. (For those who have never heard of "The Dump" it's a local furniture place that sells stuff for pretty cheap. It's huge too, approx. 100,000 square feet!) Obviously we've made the decision not to attempt to put our DVD player and other stuff in the hall closet. The wiring aspect of that scenerio was going to be a nightmare. Keith discovered this when he went into the attic last week in order to get our surround sound wired in. First of all, a 6'5" guy isn't the ideal size for a person to be crawling around in the attic. Secondly, he has a healthy fear of spiders, so that isn't the best place for him. Yes, I said my 6'5" husband is afraid of spiders, and he has every right to be. He was bitten by a brown recluse (fiddleback for all you Texans) a few years ago and got really sick and had to make several trips to the doctor to get it taken care of. It was horrible. He still plans to go back into the attic one more time in order to finish off the surround sound, but we've nixed the plans for our closet turning into DVD headquarters. I actually love this cabinet that we bought and it's plenty big enough to hold all the electronics, plus our DVD collection as well as all the VHS tapes that we still have. We still have to buy one of those radio-frequency remotes though. The doors on the cabinet are wood, not glass, so if they're closed we have no way to control the DVD player with our current remote, if they're opened, we have no way to stop our child from destroying everything inside that cabinet, so the new remote will hopefully take care of all that.
A few things that we've learned in the past week and a half since getting all this new equipment...1. There are lots of digital channels to be picked up with a regular antenna (actually I think our antenna is one that's supposed to pick up digital channels too, but we don't have to pay a monthly fee like we would for satellite or cable!) 2. Blue Ray discs are awesome! There is no comparison between watching an actual Blue Ray disc versus a regular DVD being played on the Blue Ray player. The Blue Ray has excellent picture quality, whereas the regular DVD looks fine, but you don't see the detail like you do on the other. (I still don't plan on buying any more Blue Ray discs until their prices drop considerably.) 3. If you plan on converting to Blue Ray in the next few months, I highly recommend you buy the Playstation 3. It plays Blue Ray discs as well as games and it's the same price as the regular Blue Ray player. We didn't know this, and neither one of us are into video games, but even Keith said that if he had known, he would have definitely bought the Playstation 3 instead because then you have the option of playing games on it as well. 4. Some people look terrible in high def. Especially some of our local news anchors. I now understand why some celebrities don't like the high def movement, they certainly do not look good. This was made even more evident last night while watching the Oscars. Some looked wonderful and you can tell they are just naturally good looking, while others obviously cake on the make up, and in high def, you can tell. Every scar, wrinkle, stretch mark is very noticeable. Remind me to never become a celebrity.
For those of you who couldn't care less about my child's disgusting habits, here's a little update on our new TV. This weekend we went to "The Dump" and bought a cabinet to sit under our TV and house our DVD collection along with the surround sound receiver, DVD player, and other miscellaneous stuff. (For those who have never heard of "The Dump" it's a local furniture place that sells stuff for pretty cheap. It's huge too, approx. 100,000 square feet!) Obviously we've made the decision not to attempt to put our DVD player and other stuff in the hall closet. The wiring aspect of that scenerio was going to be a nightmare. Keith discovered this when he went into the attic last week in order to get our surround sound wired in. First of all, a 6'5" guy isn't the ideal size for a person to be crawling around in the attic. Secondly, he has a healthy fear of spiders, so that isn't the best place for him. Yes, I said my 6'5" husband is afraid of spiders, and he has every right to be. He was bitten by a brown recluse (fiddleback for all you Texans) a few years ago and got really sick and had to make several trips to the doctor to get it taken care of. It was horrible. He still plans to go back into the attic one more time in order to finish off the surround sound, but we've nixed the plans for our closet turning into DVD headquarters. I actually love this cabinet that we bought and it's plenty big enough to hold all the electronics, plus our DVD collection as well as all the VHS tapes that we still have. We still have to buy one of those radio-frequency remotes though. The doors on the cabinet are wood, not glass, so if they're closed we have no way to control the DVD player with our current remote, if they're opened, we have no way to stop our child from destroying everything inside that cabinet, so the new remote will hopefully take care of all that.
A few things that we've learned in the past week and a half since getting all this new equipment...1. There are lots of digital channels to be picked up with a regular antenna (actually I think our antenna is one that's supposed to pick up digital channels too, but we don't have to pay a monthly fee like we would for satellite or cable!) 2. Blue Ray discs are awesome! There is no comparison between watching an actual Blue Ray disc versus a regular DVD being played on the Blue Ray player. The Blue Ray has excellent picture quality, whereas the regular DVD looks fine, but you don't see the detail like you do on the other. (I still don't plan on buying any more Blue Ray discs until their prices drop considerably.) 3. If you plan on converting to Blue Ray in the next few months, I highly recommend you buy the Playstation 3. It plays Blue Ray discs as well as games and it's the same price as the regular Blue Ray player. We didn't know this, and neither one of us are into video games, but even Keith said that if he had known, he would have definitely bought the Playstation 3 instead because then you have the option of playing games on it as well. 4. Some people look terrible in high def. Especially some of our local news anchors. I now understand why some celebrities don't like the high def movement, they certainly do not look good. This was made even more evident last night while watching the Oscars. Some looked wonderful and you can tell they are just naturally good looking, while others obviously cake on the make up, and in high def, you can tell. Every scar, wrinkle, stretch mark is very noticeable. Remind me to never become a celebrity.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
We're Going High-Def!
Today we bought something that we've been saving and contemplating for the last 3 years.
A new TV! We headed to Best Buy first thing this morning and hung out for a half hour or so while we debated what all we wanted to buy. We ended up with a Sony 40" flat panel HDTV, a Sony Blu-Ray disc player, a special surge protector-type thing for electronics, and a wall mount for the TV. Best Buy threw in 3 free Blu-Ray discs. They also gave us money off of each product since we were buying several things at once. I am beyond excited since, up until this point, we've been watching our movies and shows on a 19" tube TV from the 80's. I can't wait to see what all I'm missing in all those movies and especially Lost. There are so many scenes where everything is dark and I have no idea what's happening, but I'm sure that is all about to change now that we'll be watching in hi-def.
We learned a few things as we've researched over the last several months. First, the Blu-Ray player will play regular DVD's and upconverts them to be hi-def, so that's nice to know considering that Blu-Ray discs are ridiculously expensive. I'm used to picking up DVD's for 5 bucks at Walmart, I'm not about to start paying $30 or more for one movie. Second, all TV's are the same. If you look at them on the wall at Best Buy or wherever, there are some differences, but ultimately they're all pretty much the same. We got an awesome deal on the Sony which is why we went with that one, plus that's a familiar brand so we're in hopes it will be trustworthy. Of course our current TV is a Hitachi and it's obviously done us well. Third, you can buy a radio-frequency remote control that can be used on anything wherever it's at. For example, our plan is to eventually put the DVD player in our hall closet. Due to the TV being mounted on the wall, we don't really want cables running everywhere or the need for a stand of some kind for the DVD player, so instead we'll have it put away and this remote will work even with the player out of sight in the closet.
I can't wait to get everything hooked up and running. I think Garrett will be in shock when watching all his favorite movies and shows on this big, high-def TV. Hopefully we won't all become complete couch potatoes.
A new TV! We headed to Best Buy first thing this morning and hung out for a half hour or so while we debated what all we wanted to buy. We ended up with a Sony 40" flat panel HDTV, a Sony Blu-Ray disc player, a special surge protector-type thing for electronics, and a wall mount for the TV. Best Buy threw in 3 free Blu-Ray discs. They also gave us money off of each product since we were buying several things at once. I am beyond excited since, up until this point, we've been watching our movies and shows on a 19" tube TV from the 80's. I can't wait to see what all I'm missing in all those movies and especially Lost. There are so many scenes where everything is dark and I have no idea what's happening, but I'm sure that is all about to change now that we'll be watching in hi-def.
We learned a few things as we've researched over the last several months. First, the Blu-Ray player will play regular DVD's and upconverts them to be hi-def, so that's nice to know considering that Blu-Ray discs are ridiculously expensive. I'm used to picking up DVD's for 5 bucks at Walmart, I'm not about to start paying $30 or more for one movie. Second, all TV's are the same. If you look at them on the wall at Best Buy or wherever, there are some differences, but ultimately they're all pretty much the same. We got an awesome deal on the Sony which is why we went with that one, plus that's a familiar brand so we're in hopes it will be trustworthy. Of course our current TV is a Hitachi and it's obviously done us well. Third, you can buy a radio-frequency remote control that can be used on anything wherever it's at. For example, our plan is to eventually put the DVD player in our hall closet. Due to the TV being mounted on the wall, we don't really want cables running everywhere or the need for a stand of some kind for the DVD player, so instead we'll have it put away and this remote will work even with the player out of sight in the closet.
I can't wait to get everything hooked up and running. I think Garrett will be in shock when watching all his favorite movies and shows on this big, high-def TV. Hopefully we won't all become complete couch potatoes.
Friday, February 8, 2008
The Zoo
Around noon today my cell phone rang. It was Keith calling to tell us to get ready to go to the zoo. He took the afternoon off, picked us up and we headed off to the zoo. We debated which one to go to, Dallas or Fort Worth. Garrett and I went to the Dallas Zoo last spring and I really liked it whereas Keith had been to the Fort Worth Zoo when he was a kid and wanted to go back. Considering that both closed at 4:00 we didn't have a lot of time to discuss it, but his desire to go back to the Fort Worth Zoo won. I was glad because Garrett fell asleep in the car and since Fort Worth is about an hour's drive for us, he was able to get in a little bit of a nap before we got there.
In order to get Garrett's cooperation with getting ready for the zoo, I told him we were going to see elephants so he needed to change his clothes. After that it was all he wanted to talk about. He kept grabbing my hand and attempting to drag me to the door so we could go see "elfents". He woke up from his nap in the car with about 15 minutes to spare before arriving at the zoo and he immediately started crying because we weren't seeing elephants.
We got to the zoo with about 2 and a half hours until closing time, which is honestly plenty of time for a 2 year old. The first animals to see when walking into this zoo were the gorillas. Keith walked Garrett up to the plexi-glass partition where one of the gorillas was sitting, they were close enough to get a real good look at him. Garrett immediately covered his face and turned away, he never cried, but it was like that was too close for comfort and he didn't want to see gorillas in that proximity.
As much as he wanted to see the elephants, he acted pretty indifferent when we reached their area. He pointed and waved at them, which he was doing to all the animals, but no overt sign of excitement. He waved at the zebras so much, I half expected to see one of them lift up a hoof and wave back.
I've been watching too many cartoons.
There were a few interesting moments while there. First, the hippo was out of the water. I've never seen a hippo not in the water, they are huge! I definitely would not want to fall down underneath him. Secondly, the bear was very funny. He stood on his hind legs almost directly underneath where visitors were looking at him. I think he was begging for food. Third, we apparently approached the lion's den/area/cage right around feeding time and lion was roaring for his food, very interesting and Garrett loved it. We also saw a mom fall down while holding her baby girl, thankfully her husband was right there and neither one was seriously hurt, but I could totally see myself doing that, heck, I have done that, minus the part where I was holding my child, thankfully that hasn't happened...yet.
We really enjoyed our day at the zoo. I'm so glad that the weather was nice, we were all able to wear short sleeves and never once got the slightest bit chilly. I'm looking forward to doing this again real soon. Although next time I probably will push for the Dallas Zoo, it's so much closer and there's not much of a difference in my opinion, although if Garrett falls asleep in the car like today, then the drive to Fort Worth might be worthwhile.
In order to get Garrett's cooperation with getting ready for the zoo, I told him we were going to see elephants so he needed to change his clothes. After that it was all he wanted to talk about. He kept grabbing my hand and attempting to drag me to the door so we could go see "elfents". He woke up from his nap in the car with about 15 minutes to spare before arriving at the zoo and he immediately started crying because we weren't seeing elephants.
We got to the zoo with about 2 and a half hours until closing time, which is honestly plenty of time for a 2 year old. The first animals to see when walking into this zoo were the gorillas. Keith walked Garrett up to the plexi-glass partition where one of the gorillas was sitting, they were close enough to get a real good look at him. Garrett immediately covered his face and turned away, he never cried, but it was like that was too close for comfort and he didn't want to see gorillas in that proximity.
As much as he wanted to see the elephants, he acted pretty indifferent when we reached their area. He pointed and waved at them, which he was doing to all the animals, but no overt sign of excitement. He waved at the zebras so much, I half expected to see one of them lift up a hoof and wave back.
I've been watching too many cartoons.
There were a few interesting moments while there. First, the hippo was out of the water. I've never seen a hippo not in the water, they are huge! I definitely would not want to fall down underneath him. Secondly, the bear was very funny. He stood on his hind legs almost directly underneath where visitors were looking at him. I think he was begging for food. Third, we apparently approached the lion's den/area/cage right around feeding time and lion was roaring for his food, very interesting and Garrett loved it. We also saw a mom fall down while holding her baby girl, thankfully her husband was right there and neither one was seriously hurt, but I could totally see myself doing that, heck, I have done that, minus the part where I was holding my child, thankfully that hasn't happened...yet.
We really enjoyed our day at the zoo. I'm so glad that the weather was nice, we were all able to wear short sleeves and never once got the slightest bit chilly. I'm looking forward to doing this again real soon. Although next time I probably will push for the Dallas Zoo, it's so much closer and there's not much of a difference in my opinion, although if Garrett falls asleep in the car like today, then the drive to Fort Worth might be worthwhile.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Politics
Today I went to this site~http://www.wqad.com/Global/link.asp?L=259460~and took their quiz for the candidate who comes the closest to agreeing with me on the "important" issues.
First off, I took the quiz twice because I accidentally closed it down before I had the chance to really study my results. The second time I took it, my results were different, so either I changed my answers on some of these questions or something screwed up, but the first time I took it, I matched the closest with John McCain, the second time I took it, I matched with Mitt Romney. Not too much of a difference, but they are different people so if I'm going to use the results of a website quiz in order to determine who I need to vote for, then I need some consistency!
Of course I'm not really going to base my vote on what a website says, but I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who do. The one thing that did stay the same in my results was that I'm more compatible with Clinton than Obama, which I found interesting because I think if I was forced at gunpoint to choose one of them, I would probably pick Obama (or maybe death because I'm so radically different from either one of them).
The questions that this quiz deems important were pretty interesting. The way they were worded confused me somewhat, so, while I may have answered one way, my real answer may have been different if the question was more clear. I've also never really sat down and contemplated some of these questions, so it showed me that I really need to think about these issues more. I don't know what my opinion is on immigration. I should have one since I live in Texas where the English language is becoming extinct, but I worked for 4 years with ESL students, many of which had parents who were here illegally. Having faces and names makes the situation a little different. I don't think our country should be a free for all where anyone and everyone can come, take part in free education, free healthcare, sometimes even earning Social Security, and yet never learn English or take the time to try. If you're going to live here, speak the language, don't expect everyone to be able to accomodate you.
I also have no idea what to think about universal health care. I'm of the mindset that it's probably not going to be for the best. And that's hard for me to admit because I'm about to lose my current insurance and pay double what I was paying for sub-par coverage, so in that respect it would be nice to have something available from the government. But I think it would result in the medical community becoming very lax as well as yards and yards of redtape in order to get the treatments necessary for what ails you (ie a hangnail).
Of course there's also the standard questions about abortion (against), death penalty (for), gun control (against), but then there's a question about line-item vetoes and whether or not the President should be able to veto one thing out of a bill without vetoing the whole bill. Is this really a big issue? And if so, why? Why does it matter if a president wants to veto one thing but allow the rest of the bill to pass? I guess I'm living in my own little world since I'm not seeing the need for including this in a quiz about politics.
The last question I found to be very interesting. It states "Should teachers receive pay based on the performance of their students". Why would someone think this should be how teachers are paid? Don't we realize that there are many, many students who are not going to be successful in the classroom regardless of who their teacher is? They could have Mrs. Polly Perfect who does absolutely everything the way she should, including spending hours of her own time tutoring, and yet the child would fail at the end of the year. That's just how people are. Paying teachers based on their students' performance is just wrong and backwards. That would be like paying my husband, the auditor, based on how successful his clients are. All businesses need an accountant, whether they're a multi-billion dollar business, or barely breaking even, he's still going to help them with their books and his pay should not be based on their success or lack thereof. The same goes for students, all of them need teachers, some are going to be successful if a cat was teaching them and others won't be successful no matter what happens. On that issue is where I guess I would vote for Obama or Ron Paul, they're apparently the only ones that agree with me, which is sad.
I honestly don't know who I will vote for. I'm 99.9% sure that I will be voting Republican (atleast for the Presidential election). Not because I'm someone who will only vote for a candidate based on their party affiliation, but because Republicans most often believe what I do on many issues. I wish there was a candidate out there who I agreed with 100% on everything, but that isn't the case. I just have to decide what things are the "most important" to me and what will impact my family the hardest, along with who do I feel would do the best from God's perspective. Yes, I know that many believe in the separation of church and state, but I'm not ok with electing someone who will systematically take away our freedom of religion. That's typically not an issue deemed worthy for these quizzes, but it is important to me. I find it laughable that we have court cases going all the way to the Supreme Court in regards to whether or not we should take "under God" out of our pledge, or if it's ok for a student to pray in school or at school functions. I'll tell you this, if my child(ren) decides to pray in school or before a school function and someone tries to sue us, I will be livid! Because they are infringing on his freedom of religion, if you don't want to hear it, then cover your ears. He isn't a paid school official doing it with the blessing of the school district, he's a student, doing something he feels lead to do. I wouldn't sue someone for saying a "Hail Mary" in front of me. I'm not Catholic, but if they feel the need to recite that, then they can go right ahead, they won't be offending me one bit. (Off soapbox)
I would love it if we were somehow able to get to know these politicians on a more personal level before we had to elect them to run our country for 4-8 years. But unless they're willing to come over for supper, I don't see that happening.
First off, I took the quiz twice because I accidentally closed it down before I had the chance to really study my results. The second time I took it, my results were different, so either I changed my answers on some of these questions or something screwed up, but the first time I took it, I matched the closest with John McCain, the second time I took it, I matched with Mitt Romney. Not too much of a difference, but they are different people so if I'm going to use the results of a website quiz in order to determine who I need to vote for, then I need some consistency!
Of course I'm not really going to base my vote on what a website says, but I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who do. The one thing that did stay the same in my results was that I'm more compatible with Clinton than Obama, which I found interesting because I think if I was forced at gunpoint to choose one of them, I would probably pick Obama (or maybe death because I'm so radically different from either one of them).
The questions that this quiz deems important were pretty interesting. The way they were worded confused me somewhat, so, while I may have answered one way, my real answer may have been different if the question was more clear. I've also never really sat down and contemplated some of these questions, so it showed me that I really need to think about these issues more. I don't know what my opinion is on immigration. I should have one since I live in Texas where the English language is becoming extinct, but I worked for 4 years with ESL students, many of which had parents who were here illegally. Having faces and names makes the situation a little different. I don't think our country should be a free for all where anyone and everyone can come, take part in free education, free healthcare, sometimes even earning Social Security, and yet never learn English or take the time to try. If you're going to live here, speak the language, don't expect everyone to be able to accomodate you.
I also have no idea what to think about universal health care. I'm of the mindset that it's probably not going to be for the best. And that's hard for me to admit because I'm about to lose my current insurance and pay double what I was paying for sub-par coverage, so in that respect it would be nice to have something available from the government. But I think it would result in the medical community becoming very lax as well as yards and yards of redtape in order to get the treatments necessary for what ails you (ie a hangnail).
Of course there's also the standard questions about abortion (against), death penalty (for), gun control (against), but then there's a question about line-item vetoes and whether or not the President should be able to veto one thing out of a bill without vetoing the whole bill. Is this really a big issue? And if so, why? Why does it matter if a president wants to veto one thing but allow the rest of the bill to pass? I guess I'm living in my own little world since I'm not seeing the need for including this in a quiz about politics.
The last question I found to be very interesting. It states "Should teachers receive pay based on the performance of their students". Why would someone think this should be how teachers are paid? Don't we realize that there are many, many students who are not going to be successful in the classroom regardless of who their teacher is? They could have Mrs. Polly Perfect who does absolutely everything the way she should, including spending hours of her own time tutoring, and yet the child would fail at the end of the year. That's just how people are. Paying teachers based on their students' performance is just wrong and backwards. That would be like paying my husband, the auditor, based on how successful his clients are. All businesses need an accountant, whether they're a multi-billion dollar business, or barely breaking even, he's still going to help them with their books and his pay should not be based on their success or lack thereof. The same goes for students, all of them need teachers, some are going to be successful if a cat was teaching them and others won't be successful no matter what happens. On that issue is where I guess I would vote for Obama or Ron Paul, they're apparently the only ones that agree with me, which is sad.
I honestly don't know who I will vote for. I'm 99.9% sure that I will be voting Republican (atleast for the Presidential election). Not because I'm someone who will only vote for a candidate based on their party affiliation, but because Republicans most often believe what I do on many issues. I wish there was a candidate out there who I agreed with 100% on everything, but that isn't the case. I just have to decide what things are the "most important" to me and what will impact my family the hardest, along with who do I feel would do the best from God's perspective. Yes, I know that many believe in the separation of church and state, but I'm not ok with electing someone who will systematically take away our freedom of religion. That's typically not an issue deemed worthy for these quizzes, but it is important to me. I find it laughable that we have court cases going all the way to the Supreme Court in regards to whether or not we should take "under God" out of our pledge, or if it's ok for a student to pray in school or at school functions. I'll tell you this, if my child(ren) decides to pray in school or before a school function and someone tries to sue us, I will be livid! Because they are infringing on his freedom of religion, if you don't want to hear it, then cover your ears. He isn't a paid school official doing it with the blessing of the school district, he's a student, doing something he feels lead to do. I wouldn't sue someone for saying a "Hail Mary" in front of me. I'm not Catholic, but if they feel the need to recite that, then they can go right ahead, they won't be offending me one bit. (Off soapbox)
I would love it if we were somehow able to get to know these politicians on a more personal level before we had to elect them to run our country for 4-8 years. But unless they're willing to come over for supper, I don't see that happening.
Friday, February 1, 2008
More Random
~Garrett hasn't slept through the entire night in atleast a week. I'm a bit on the frazzled side.
~I can't believe it's already February. Only 11 months worth of shopping until Christmas.
~I think G's Woody doll took a dip in the toilet today, but I can't be certain about it. He got a bath in Clorox to be on the safe side (Woody, not Garrett).
~What is up with the toilet obsession? If G isn't trying to play in it, then he's wanting to sit on it. The sitting is fine, except nothing productive happens, he just sits there and attempts to unwind the entire roll of TP. I'm spending a lot more time in the bathroom lately than I really would prefer.
~Does anyone have a good tip on how to get kids to eat their vegetables?
~I don't understand the internet or how it works. How does my laptop somehow pick up a wireless signal that can connect me with my parents via a webcam? That's just amazing.
~My insurance is about to change and almost double in price. Yikes! Insurance companies are a scam. If I knew that I would get treatment at a hospital without having proof of insurance ahead of time, I probably wouldn't even waste my money on that bit of ridiculousness. But movies like "John Q" are a good reality check for the fact that I would probably be left to die somewhere without insurance, so sign me up.
~Keith and I moved into our house 5 years ago today. It was the same day that the shuttle "Columbia" met its fate. We were standing in line at U-Haul in Mesquite when we first heard about it. The majority of the wreckage landed in and around Nacogdoches, where I went to college. I heard from many people that day who told me story after story of the near misses from all that debris in Nac.
~On a somewhat related note, don't use U-Haul. They're terrible.
~I can't believe we've lived in this house for 5 years and I still haven't hung any curtains. I gotta get on the decorating ball.
~Last night's episode of "Lost" was really good! I'm very interested to see how this season is going to play out. In reality, we didn't get many questions answered, but instead, added numerous questions to our list. I know some of you (Grace) don't like that and get very frustrated that the Lost creators are stingy with the information that they share. I, however, feel that the questions and uncertainty are what make "Lost" the ultimate in television. I have to watch just to see what tidbit of information they might reveal and I thoroughly enjoy the additions to my list of questions. The only thing that could upset me is if, for some reason, the show ended without addressing these questions. I'm really looking forward to this season. And the writers strike better end soon if they know what's good for them.
~"Evan Almighty" was a cute movie. Thanks to those who recommended it.
~I can't believe Heath Ledger is dead. I loved him in "10 Things I Hate About You". Don't laugh, I was only 21 when that movie came out and I thought it was cute. I also had no clue that he was a druggie. I read a lot of "People" and that has never been hinted at as far as I know. I wonder what's going to happen to the new Batman movie that's supposed to come out soon where he plays the Joker.
~If you haven't heard the new country song "You're Gonna Miss This" by Trace Adkins, you should try to listen to it. I really like it and cry every time I hear it. Here are the words to the chorus, I try to think about them whenever I've had a really tough day with Garrett:
You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this
~I can't believe it's already February. Only 11 months worth of shopping until Christmas.
~I think G's Woody doll took a dip in the toilet today, but I can't be certain about it. He got a bath in Clorox to be on the safe side (Woody, not Garrett).
~What is up with the toilet obsession? If G isn't trying to play in it, then he's wanting to sit on it. The sitting is fine, except nothing productive happens, he just sits there and attempts to unwind the entire roll of TP. I'm spending a lot more time in the bathroom lately than I really would prefer.
~Does anyone have a good tip on how to get kids to eat their vegetables?
~I don't understand the internet or how it works. How does my laptop somehow pick up a wireless signal that can connect me with my parents via a webcam? That's just amazing.
~My insurance is about to change and almost double in price. Yikes! Insurance companies are a scam. If I knew that I would get treatment at a hospital without having proof of insurance ahead of time, I probably wouldn't even waste my money on that bit of ridiculousness. But movies like "John Q" are a good reality check for the fact that I would probably be left to die somewhere without insurance, so sign me up.
~Keith and I moved into our house 5 years ago today. It was the same day that the shuttle "Columbia" met its fate. We were standing in line at U-Haul in Mesquite when we first heard about it. The majority of the wreckage landed in and around Nacogdoches, where I went to college. I heard from many people that day who told me story after story of the near misses from all that debris in Nac.
~On a somewhat related note, don't use U-Haul. They're terrible.
~I can't believe we've lived in this house for 5 years and I still haven't hung any curtains. I gotta get on the decorating ball.
~Last night's episode of "Lost" was really good! I'm very interested to see how this season is going to play out. In reality, we didn't get many questions answered, but instead, added numerous questions to our list. I know some of you (Grace) don't like that and get very frustrated that the Lost creators are stingy with the information that they share. I, however, feel that the questions and uncertainty are what make "Lost" the ultimate in television. I have to watch just to see what tidbit of information they might reveal and I thoroughly enjoy the additions to my list of questions. The only thing that could upset me is if, for some reason, the show ended without addressing these questions. I'm really looking forward to this season. And the writers strike better end soon if they know what's good for them.
~"Evan Almighty" was a cute movie. Thanks to those who recommended it.
~I can't believe Heath Ledger is dead. I loved him in "10 Things I Hate About You". Don't laugh, I was only 21 when that movie came out and I thought it was cute. I also had no clue that he was a druggie. I read a lot of "People" and that has never been hinted at as far as I know. I wonder what's going to happen to the new Batman movie that's supposed to come out soon where he plays the Joker.
~If you haven't heard the new country song "You're Gonna Miss This" by Trace Adkins, you should try to listen to it. I really like it and cry every time I hear it. Here are the words to the chorus, I try to think about them whenever I've had a really tough day with Garrett:
You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Prayer Update
Tonight during the blessing over supper, I squinted one eye open to make sure that Garrett hadn't covered himself, or the table, in ketchup, or something equally as messy. He caught me looking at him and immediately pulled his index finger up to his lips and said "Sssshhhhh, Momma!" in a very loud whisper. I'm not sure if he was telling me that so I wouldn't say anything about him having his eyes opened (they're never shut during prayer, he's not quite to that point yet), or if he mistook the fact that I was looking at him as if I was about to say something and interrupt Daddy's prayer.
After Keith said amen, Garrett immediately launched into his own prayer. This time including Momma.
I think he secretly read my last blog.
After Keith said amen, Garrett immediately launched into his own prayer. This time including Momma.
I think he secretly read my last blog.
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