There Can be Miracles

I can't watch tv or listen the news anymore. It's depressing. We're on the verge of some sort of financial crisis that is going to throw the country into a recession, a depression or my taxes and my children's taxes are going to skyrocket for the next 40 years, I'll never be able to sell my house, if Obama becomes president, life as I know it is over, if John McCain becomes president, life as I know it is over too. Gees, I can't take anymore.

So, I'm going John Stossell on you.

A woman called into the radio station I was listening to the other day to tell the following story. I won't do it justice I'm sure, but I'll give you the gist.

Her baby girl was diagnosed with 100% hearing loss in both ears at just a day or two old. They did not know why as there had been no history of this in their family. So they spent months putting the poor baby through all sorts of test, mri's etc.... to no avail. They said she would never hear. The insurance company would not pay for the hearing aids which are apparently very expensive, so in order for the family to qualify for Medicaid, the mother had to quit her job. They got the hearing aids and then the baby got an ear infection and couldn't wear them for a while.

One day she (the baby) was sitting on the floor in the kitchen playing, the father dropped a pot and the baby started crying. Of course they thought she must have felt the vibration or something, but they started testing in other ways and for some totally unexplained reason they found the little girl had regained full hearing in one ear. Perfect hearing.

I listened to this story and blubbered like the girl I am. I was so touched. Folks, I bet if you try, you can find someone in your circle who can tell you a touching and inspiring story like this. And I bet if you try, you can find another person after that. Why aren't these the things were talking about? I'm going to try and find as many of these kinds of stories and post them here. I don't know about you, but these are the things I need to be dwelling on, not the financial crisis we are facing that I have no control over or all of the other negative things that are being reported on the news every minute of every day.

When the mother had finished her story, the DJ played a song just for her. A song that I have always loved, from the movie, "The Prince of Thieves" which makes me tear up every time. Take a listen.

The Best Country Ever

I'm going crazy listening to all the election coverage, and like everyone I am ready for it to be over. Like I've said before, I try to listen to both sides, left and right because I want to be informed and well rounded. Although I'm learning that you have to take what they (by they I mean the media) all say with a grain of salt. It is ridiculous how the they spins things to make their candidate seem like the better choice (and in some cases to make their candidate seem like God). Yesterday I heard some rumblings about bringing back The Fairness Doctrine and about choked on my own tongue.

One of the many things I love about this country is that we can talk about whatever we want. There's a voice for the left, there a voice for the right, there's a voice for the conspiracy theorists, there's a voice for the Mickey Mouse for President people . I love it. So while you may not have the same political views as me (you know who you are), we should all be thankful for the fact that we can express our views without having our tongue cut out.

Have you ever known a person who you knew for a fact was not very nice, or you work with a person who is an expert at tooting their own horn but in fact does no actual work? But you are the only one who seems to notice this? Everyone else thinks this person is wonderful? So you start questioning your sanity? Maybe you are just a negative person who only sees the bad in people?

Is this just me or has anyone else experienced this?

Traitor

I let my husband pick the movie this weekend and he picked Traitor. Hmmm, I think his movie choosing rights are hereby revoked. The movie stars, Don Cheadle as an Islamic Jihad terrorist with a twist (don't want to spoil it). So that right there should tell you that this is not the feel good movie of the year. I mean, I know there are people who hate the USA and want to kill kill kill us, but do I really need to go watch a movie about it when I am supposed to be escaping from reality? Thanks, but I'll pass.

Now Dave likes to complain about my poor movie choices and true, I did once bring home Secretary and I did drag him to the movie theatre on a Saturday night to see The Wedding Date, but he is responsible for Never Die Alone, Next, Gods & Generals (which he maintains is good but is in fact, a major snooze fest) and 10,000 BC.

If you have seen any of those movies, then I think you would agree that I win.

random thoughts.

I bought a PedEgg. I love it. It has changed the life of my feet. Seriously, you would not know they are my feet. Callouses are a thing of the past. Buy a PedEgg. They 10 bucks at Bed, Bath and Beyond and you can get them in pink with a portion of the proceeds going to breast cancer research.

Politics are ridiculous. But I'm completely fascinated with this whole Sarah Palin thing. I've listened to more talk radio in the last few weeks than I have in the last two years. I'm not kidding. I can tell you all about just about every talk show host on XM America Left, America Right and Fox News, who they are and what they think about Sarah Palin.

Sidenote - there is also a show on XM 165 in the morning that is called "Coast to Coast" where people call in and talk about alien lore and other alien theories. (Yes Alison, this is like vampire lore!) They don't talk about Sarah Palin, but sometimes I need a break from the mudslinging. And it is so entertaining. It's like the talk show version of "Weekly World News" Never know, maybe Sarah Palin is an ALIEN.

Things are going really well for my husband right now and I think he might be moving his office out of my flex room. Yeah! I might celebrate by buying a treadmill to put in there. Or I might bake a chocolate cake and eat it all myself.

We're leaving for Florida in 39 days. No kids. 8 days. Cannot wait. I'll be sippin' Mai Tai's by the pool baby. Don't care if I get dressed in anything but a bathing suit the entire week.

It's our fiscal year end this month at work and every day feels like a month-end close. I'm exhausted.

The kids are back into school full swing. I've been getting to work early again. It feels like fall. I want to go pick out my pumpkin for Halloween and some apple cider.

Becca has enrolled in an Irish Step Dancing Class. It's expensive.

Today is September 11. I didn't even realize it until I got in the car and turned on the radio this morning. I felt bad. Remember what things were like in this country before that day?

Bye Bye Babies

It's been a bad month for kitties in my family.

First, my brother and his wife went on vacation a couple weeks ago and my dad was stopping in to check their cat, Alex, for them while they were gone. Well, Alex got really sick during that week and my poor dad and to take him to the vet and he had to be put to sleep. It was pretty awful for my sensitive pop. He felt so bad about having to do that while my brother was out of town. And the whole situation really got to me as well. The idea of going on vacation and coming home to an empty house that was once occupied by your furry friend without getting to say goodbye, just breaks my heart. I love my animals so much. Ugh.

Then my mom's cat, Ally, got really sick and quit eating. She spent last weekend in the kitty hospital having an IV drip to try and flush her system. It turns out she had kidney disease possibly due to an underdeveloped kidney that caused undue stress on her other healthy kidney. She came home on Sunday, but she just couldn't seem to recover, still would not eat and this afternoon she had to be put to sleep as well. She was only 8. My mom is obviously pretty upset. I can't believe she's gone. It happened really fast.

I got her for my brother as a birthday gift. She came from my friend Katie's family farm in Alma. I drove all the way up there to get her and she was the size of a guinea pig, I swear. She rode home sleeping on my lap. And when my brother moved to Phoenix, my mom adopted her. She really was a sweet baby and had the most bizarre habit of licking plastic shopping bags. She loved them and when you came home from grocery shopping, she would stalk you until she could get her paws on a bag. It was weird, but endearing. If can find those first pictures, I will scan them in and post them. For now, the pictures below will have to do. (I don't have any pics of Alex).

Bye bye sweet babies. Say hi to my Chiquita for me.

School Days, School Days

It's here. Tomorrow is the first day of school. Today is the end of the lazy days of summer.

I have mixed feelings about it this year. It's always nice to get back on a schedule, but I kind of dread the homework. You know, the assignments where my 8 year old is supposed to invent an entirely unique and new toy? Or my 13 year old has to make a full size dummy of a famous person and then interview him/her? Yeah, try doing that kind of project with a kid and tell me where the line is between helping him and doing it for him.

I also am pretty sad to see summer go this year. After the winter we had last year, I feel like we deserve two summers. And this summer did not last long enough. Oh well, time marches on I suppose.

So I will mourn the passing of summer for a few days and then I'll start getting excited about going to the cider mill, and picking apples, and hunting for a pumpkin, and getting our Halloween costumes ready, and the colors.

It's what comes after fall that I don't want to think about!