Jessicarrot

Step 1 of the good things that can happen…Check!

Remember when I said this:

The only good thing that can come of this election for me now is for John McCain to pick a solid, healthy running mate who actually represents the Republican party. win the election, and promptly die.

Okay probably not, but it doesn’t matter, because I did. John McCain, that old goat has picked a fantastic running mate.  I had never heard of her before today but along with millions of other people I’ve been Googling her like mad.  Which of her qualifications seals her in my book?  Mom of 5.  That is almost all you have to say.  Her oldest will be serving in Iraq.  McCain has kids who have been there and probably will go there.  I think its safe to say they’ll do right by the military.  Palin is against all the things I’m against and for the things I’m for.  I don’t know if she’ll get Hillary supporters, I mean they had to be crazy in the first place.  But she definitely makes me feel better about this election and seals my vote for McCain.  My first reaction, honestly, was, “Wow, now that is politicing”  I was totally shocked that McCain picked a woman, but once it settled in I realized it was probably the most brilliant move McCain has ever made in politics…I mean aside from somehow securing the nomination when he clearly wasn’t the best candidate.  For the record, I really don’t hope that McCain drops dead and I would never, ever, ever, ever threaten his life.  A NC man was just indicted for threatening to shoot Obama. I think I speak for most North Carolinians in saying I would never hope for anything bad to happen to anyone.  But, lets face it.  McCain is old, might have a heart condition.  Its just physically possible he could pass away of natural causes.  Or he could continue to go strong for another 20 years.  Now I just hope that step 2 happens and McCain/Palin win the election.

My 2 year old will hate me someday for blogging about this, but it was just too funny.  If you are a mom of young children, you know that there is no such thing as privacy.  I stepped out of the shower the other day to find Gabe playing in my room.  He looked up at me, pointed to my breasts and said, “Mom, I want to squish those.”  with a very puzzled expression on his face.  Luckily his attention span is very short and he bounced out of the room so I could get dressed and laugh away…  Yeah, I’m not really worried about his fascination with having his toenails painted.

In college I took only the required math courses but I especially enjoyed one class because there was this female professor that was such a card. She absolutely did not care what the fashion of the day was, she was stuck in pleated “mom jeans” with an afro. She was awesome just because she was so self-assured she could comfortably talk about picking her nose while driving. Now, I am no fashion guru, far from it; But I *try* not to let my look get too dated (at least I hope so). Maybe I’m just blissfully unaware like my math teacher in college… But apparently EVERYTHING in fashion is cyclical. I was doing some on-line shopping over the weekend and I found this disturbing item at Old Navy

And then just now I was looking for a certain type of fabric and look what I stumbled across

This is the front page for Darlington Fabrics “market trends”. I don’t get it. First of all, this photo does not show any fabrics. Ack! Is that a fanny pack she’s wearing? Did I just wake up back in the 1980s or are the pleated mom jeans back in style? I am very disturbed by this.

Everything is funnier with a British accent! (My friend Tiffany posted this one and she’s right, its too funny!)

Turning 30 by Andy Rooney

As I grow in age, I value women who are over 30 most of all. Here are just a few reasons why:

A woman over 30 will never wake you in the middle of the night to ask, “What are you thinking?”. She doesn’t care what you think.

If a woman over 30 doesn’t want to watch the game, she doesn’t sit around whining about it. She does something she wants to do. And, it’s usually something more interesting.

A woman over 30 knows herself well enough to be assured in who she is, what she is, what she wants and from whom. Few women past the age of 30 give a damn what you might think about her or what she’s doing.

Women over 30 are dignified. They seldom have a screaming match with you at the opera or in the middle of an expensive restaurant. Of course, if you deserve it, they won’t hesitate to shoot you, if they think they can get away with it.

A woman over 30 has the self-assurance to introduce you to her women
friends. A younger woman with a man will often ignore even her best friend because she doesn’t trust the guy with other women. Women over 30 couldn’t care less if you’re attracted to her friends because she knows her friends won’t betray her.

Once you get past a wrinkle or two, a woman over 30 is far sexier than her younger counterpart.

Older women are forthright and honest. They’ll tell you right off if you are a jerk if you are acting like one! You don’t ever have to wonder where you stand with her.

Ladies, I apologize. For all those men who say, “Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free.” Here’s an update for you. Nowadays 80% of women are against marriage, why? Because women realize it’s not worth buying an entire Pig, just to get a little sausage.

All but that last paragraph made me think of you Jules, I hope you had a good day!

We just got the letters in the mail from the kid’s school telling us that school will start 15 minutes earlier this year and which teachers our kids will have.  Tonight is back-to-school night.  Hila is so excited she slept with her backpack last night.  I told her that her teacher’s name was Mrs. Duncan and she said, “Duncan rhymes with Pumpkin.”  Good way to remember!  I think she’s ready for Kindergarten despite being just shy of 5 years old.  Asher will have his same teacher from last year.  We were hoping the kids would get the same teacher, but alas… nothing can be easy with public school.  I think I’m more bummed than the kids about summer’s end.  I know I’m starting them out in school but I’m so tempted to just not show up on the first day and decide to home school.  I hate giving up control of my children’s entire day.  And I’m not super happy with the way kids are being pushed to be little adults so fast.  Writing prompts in Kindergarten?  I remember those in AP English in HS.  Anyway my days will be sans two of my kids in the near future but 100x’s more complicated.  Why whine about things you aren’t doing anything about?  PTA meeting tomorrow night… blah.

BJay is reading the book “Mormon Scientist The Life and Faith of Henry Eyring.” That is Henry Eyring Sr., the father of President Eyring of the first presidency. This book was practically written for BJay. In fact, skimming it there are quite a few points that I know I’ve heard him state on several occasions. Ordinarily I’d be bored by such a book, but my interest was piqued when BJay quoted to me a passage where Eyring is quoting Brigham Young on the subject of creation. Its a brilliant quote, and again backs up just about everything BJay has ever said about creationism, which is why he was so excited about it. But the very end hit me over the head like a brick,

“…If we understood the process of creation there would be no mystery about it, it would all be reasonable and plain, for the is no mystery except to the ignorant.” (Journal of Discourses 14:116)

I guess this proves my ignorance because I am totally blown away. I mean, to take this out of a religious context, a good mystery is only good if the writer is able to disorganize the facts enough so that you are “ignorant” until the writer wants to clue you in. Now for some reason, although I’ve heard this hymn before I was really moved by this poetry just this past Sunday:

#285 God Moves in a Mysterious Way

1. God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform.

He plants his footsteps on the sea And rides upon the storm.

2. Ye fearful saints fresh courage take; the clouds ye so much dread

Are big with mercy and shall break In blessings on your head.

3. His purposes will ripen fast, Unfolding every hour;

The bud my have a bitter taste, But sweet will be the flower.

4. Blind unbelief is sure to err And scan his works in vain;

God is His own interpreter, and He will make it plain.

I’m not up for a discussion about creation. I mean, that is so small potatoes. This concept is wide-open huge and also very, very obvious. If you are not a Mormon, I don’t imagine you will be reading my blog (unless you are my Grandma, who is practically Mormon by association) but in case there is the odd-straggler let me introduce to you a very important concept. Eternal progression. Very important–its the idea that our purpose in life is to actually progress spiritually, intellectually, emotionally. This means that this life, this world isn’t just a holding tank for prospective heavenly choir boys and girls. We’re here because God actually planned this thing out. Now if you were here before I even started, way to go you’re in the majority of people smarter and more intuitive than me. If not, here you go:

You know that feeling you get when you figure something out, the light bulb, the ah-ha moment? There is nothing under the sun (any sun in the vast expanse of space for that matter) that we don’t have the power or capacity to understand. There are no mysteries so deep and vast that we can’t grasp. Everything can be explained. And when these things are revealed, they will be as plain and logical as basic arithmetic. I normally don’t spell things out like this. Pointing out the obvious has always felt insulting to me. But I think that is why I’m learning, time and again this simple and beautiful message: The truth is plain. Sometimes you have to be made ignorant in order to feel the full effect of the mystery. We don’t have the benefit of remembering who and what we were before this life and the afterlife is pretty much a mystery. Between science and religion God has given us disorganized facts. Our job is to stumble along as best we can, find and piece as many of the pieces as we can and then be prepared to be completely amazed when the truth is made plain to us in the end.

If you want to know which commercials are most effective for marketing a product, bring some young children with you to Wal-Mart.  You don’t even have to enter the toy isle to do this test.  Any isle will work.  I use the Wal-Mart pharmacy and I’m surprised every time we go in that isle how my children’s precious little minds have been brainwashed into thinking that we need Zyrtec, Mucinex, and Prilosec OTC.  The candy section at the check-out is of course a favorite place to spot a well advertised candy.  Nothing about the packaging or description of these candies is at all appealing, but they recognize it from some fun add so they want it.  More surprising though is the cleaning isle where they beg for airwick air freshener and sundry toilet wands.  ??  Now I can get in to a good cleaning product, by why and how do children get convinced they need them?  I bet you are judging me for how much television I let my kids watch.  Probably too much, but oldest automatically turns off the TV after about an hour.  Someone convinced him that TV rots your brain so he doesn’t want to over do it… Apparently even an hour at a time can get in and take hold.