first up, these are a few pictures from when my mom, candie, was in town 2 weeks ago.  we had a great time.  these shots are from when we went out to dinner at waterway cafe (have y’all done the twilight dinner?  great food at a GREAT price).

next up: homemade snow cones.  randomly came across an ice shaver on clearance at wal-mart for $5.  as much as i love sno-cones and frozen margaritas, i couldn’t pass it up.  we’ve only used it once, and i couldn’t find the syrup in the store (see a few posts back as to why i couldn’t find anything in the store that day) so i had to make homemade stuff out of kool-aid mix, but i see a great future for this “appliance”.  harper’s been begging me to make it again…maybe tomorrow.

harper finger-painting one morning…always turns into painting her hands.

this is pretty self-explanatory.

ryan and i got to go on a date last night!!  yahoo!  i literally cannot remember the last time we went out on an “official” date.  we went to guanabana’s…i’ve been hearing so many great things about it lately (and also about how long of a wait it always is), so i figured it’d be fun to try on a weeknight.  he leaves for the keys (lobster!) in the morning, so we figured last night was our best bet…first week we’ve had in forever with no sports for either of us.  it was the first time in 3 years we’ve ever paid a babysitter.  she did a great job, but it was SO hard to write that check when we got home!  we’ve always had either family or friends babysit for us, but we kind of feel like we’ve exhausted those resources lately, so that’s why we found someone to pay.

i really, really enjoyed the restaurant, but i was super disappointed with what i ordered.  there were no descriptions below the names of the food.  i’m an idiot, though, because this was pretty self-explanatory… “blue cheese wedge salad”.  it was a quarter-head of iceberg lettuce drizzled with blue cheese and crumbles of blue cheese and bacon, surrounded by cherry tomatoes.  i was SO glad we’d just finished a huge platter of loaded nachos….just ticked that i paid $9 for this so-called “salad”.

lastly, my girls playing in our pillows.  i love love love how they are starting to play together more and more.  harper’s more tolerant and layne is more capable.

rewind on the past few days…

right now i’m sitting at the computer while layne naps and harper watches “carebears nutcracker”.  yes, it is random, but she was with daddy at the library last night.  he said, “that’s what she wanted, so that’s what she got”.

just finished cleaning up a painty mess in the kitchen.  i asked harper if she wanted to fingerpaint…always turns into really just painting her fingers.  she does enjoy actually painting, but i think she likes the messiness of it all more than anything else.

breakfast was Grands cinnamon rolls.  feel like i should start making them every friday.  or at least once a month.  those things are amazing.

last night was the soccer season championship.  we played two games in a row.  it was super fun and i couldn’t believe that i was still moving pretty fast even at the end of the second game.  i felt crappy all day yesterday and was before we started playing i was convinced i would pass out or something.  but when the game started, i felt great.  weird, but very cool.  (we won both games, by the way…the second one in overtime.)  got home around 10:00, gobbled up two slices of chicken pot pie and some cookie dough, and stayed up watching tv until 11:30.

i was super thankful for soccer last night because the past 24 hours had been rough.  on wednesday night layne had a super high fever and couldn’t kick it until i took at trip to cvs around 3:30 AM.  before that she was moaning and tossing and turning and taking turns in bed with me and in the pack n play in our room (ryan had to move to the couch).  it was pretty pitiful.  i happened to have her one year check-up scheduled for yesterday, so it worked out nicely.  doctor says it was probably roseola or something similar.  she had two shots and was SUPER fussy all day…  thank goodness she seems to be doing much better today…pretty much back to her old self.  yesterday she wouldn’t even really eat, and for her, that is a big deal.

wednesday we pretty much hung out here…went to publix in the morning.  harper didn’t nap, so that always makes for an interesting afternoon…no idea why i decided to go to wal-mart before dinnertime.  she was belting out “cruella deville” the whole time we were there.  hopefully the other shoppers thought it was “cute” because i didn’t have the energy to stop the concert.  they’re remodeling the store and it was absolutely ridiculous trying to get through my list…entire departments are in different places or…gone, it seemed.  the stuff that was there was crammed together so tight that it would be hard to get a regular-sized cart through the “aisles”, much less the semi that i was pushing (although it was brand new and super clean and i was excited about that).

i usually try to veer away from talking politics on my blog.  mostly because i’m pretty sure that in 10 years when i’m reading this “journal”, i’ll still feel the same way i do today, so there’s really no point.  however, i do know that there are mabye 20 people who read my blog on a regular basis and share (most of) the same views i do.  my grandpa forwarded me this yesterday and i really really like it and thought some of you would too.  i don’t know anything about robert hall, but i do know that i agree with almost every single thing he said in this article.  enjoy:

“I’m Tired” by Robert A. Hall

 I’ll be 63 soon. Except for one semester in college when jobs were scarce, and a six-month period when I was between jobs, but job-hunting every day, I’ve worked, hard, since I was 18. Despite some health challenges, I still put in 50-hour weeks, and haven’t called in sick in seven or eight years. I make a good salary, but I didn’t inherit my job or my income, and I worked to get where I am. Given the economy, there’s no retirement in sight, and I’m tired. Very tired.

 I’m tired of being told that I have to “spread the wealth around” to people who don’t have my work ethic. I’m tired of being told the government will take the money I earned, by force if necessary, and give it to people too lazy or stupid to earn it.

I’m tired of being told that I have to pay more taxes to “keep people in their homes.” Sure, if they lost their jobs or got sick, I’m willing to help. But if they bought McMansions at three times the price of our paid-off, $250,000 condo, on one-third of my salary, then let the left-wing Congress-critters who passed Fannie and Freddie and the Community Reinvestment Act that created the bubble help them with their own money.

I’m tired of being told how bad America is by left-wing millionaires like Michael Moore, George Soros, and Hollywood entertainers who live in luxury because of the opportunities America offers. In thirty years, if they get their way, the United States will have the economy of Zimbabwe, the freedom of the press of China, the crime and violence of Mexico, the tolerance for Christian people of Iran, and the freedom of speech of Venezuela. Won’t multiculturalism be beautiful?

I’m tired of being told that Islam is a “Religion of Peace,” when every day I can read dozens of stories of Muslim men killing their sisters, wives and daughters for their family “honor”; of Muslims rioting over some slight offense; of Muslims murdering Christian and Jews because they aren’t “believers”; of Muslims burning schools for girls; of Muslims stoning teenage rape victims to death for “adultery”; of Muslims mutilating the genitals of little girls; all in the name of Allah, because the Qur’an and Shari’a law tells them to.

I believe “a man should be judged by the content of his character, not by the color of his skin.” I’m tired of being told that “race doesn’t matter” in the post-racial world of Obama, when it’s all that matters in affirmative action jobs, lower college admission and graduation standards for minorities (harming them the most), government contract set-asides, tolerance for the ghetto culture of violence and fatherless children that hurts minorities more than anyone, and in the appointment of US Senators from Illinois.

 I think it’s very cool that we have a black president and that a black child is doing her homework at the desk where Lincoln wrote the emancipation proclamation. I just wish the black president was Condi Rice, or someone who believes more in freedom and the individual and less arrogantly of an all-knowing government. 

I’m tired of a news media that thinks Bush’s fundraising and inaugural expenses were obscene, but that think Obama’s, at triple the cost, were wonderful; that thinks Bush exercising daily was a waste of presidential time, but Obama exercising is a great example for the public to control weight and stress; that picked over every line of Bush’s military records, but never demanded that Kerry release his; that slammed Palin, with two years as governor, for being too inexperienced for VP, but touted Obama with three years as senator as potentially the best president ever.  Wonder why people are dropping their subscriptions or switching to Fox News?  Get a clue. I didn’t vote for Bush in 2000, but the media and Kerry drove me to his camp in 2004. 

I’m tired of being told that out of “tolerance for other cultures” we must let Saudi Arabia use our oil money to fund mosques and madrassa Islamic schools to preach hate in America, while no American group is allowed to fund a church, synagogue, or religious school in Saudi Arabia to teach love and tolerance. 

I’m tired of being told I must lower my living standard to fight global warming, which no one is allowed to debate. My wife and I live in a two-bedroom apartment and carpool together five miles to our jobs. We also own a three-bedroom condo where our daughter and granddaughter live. Our carbon footprint is about 5% of Al Gore’s, and if you’re greener than Gore,you’re green enough.

I’m tired of being told that drug addicts have a disease, and I must help support and treat them, and pay for the damage they do. Did a giant germ rush out of a dark alley, grab them, and stuff white powder up their noses while they tried to fight it off? I don’t think Gay people choose to be Gay, but I damn sure think druggies chose to take drugs. And I’m tired of harassment from cool people treating me like a freak when I tell them I never tried marijuana.

 I’m tired of illegal aliens being called “undocumented workers,” especially the ones who aren’t working, but are living on welfare or crime. What’s next? Calling drug dealers, Undocumented Pharmacists”?  And, no, I’m not against Hispanics. Most of them are Catholic, and it’s been a few hundred years since Catholics wanted to kill me for my religion. I’m willing to fast track for citizenship any Hispanic person, who can speak English, doesn’t have a criminal record and who is self-supporting without family on welfare, or who serves honorably for three years in our military… Those are the citizens we need.

I’m tired of latte liberals and journalists, who would never wear the uniform of the Republic themselves, or let their entitlement-handicapped kids near a recruiting station, trashing our military. They and their kids can sit at home, never having to make split-second decisions under life and death circumstances, and bad mouth better people than themselves. Do bad things happen in war? You bet. Do our troops sometimes misbehave? Sure. Does this compare with the atrocities that were the policy of our enemies for the last fifty years-and still are? Not even close. So here’s the deal.

I’ll let myself be subjected to all the humiliation and abuse that was heaped on terrorists at Abu Ghraib or Gitmo, and the critics can let themselves be subject to captivity by the Muslims who tortured and beheaded Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, or the Muslims who tortured and murdered Marine Lt. Col. William Higgins in Lebanon, or the Muslims who ran the blood-spattered Al Qaeda torture rooms our troops found in Iraq, or the Muslims who cut off the heads of schoolgirls in Indonesia, because the girls were Christian. Then we’ll compare notes. British and American soldiers are the only troops in history that civilians came to for help and handouts, instead of hiding from in fear.

 I’m tired of people telling me that their party has a corner on virtue and the other party has a corner on corruption. Read the papers-bums are bipartisan. And I’m tired of people telling me we need bipartisanship. I live in Illinois, where the “Illinois Combine” of Democrats has worked to loot the public for years. Not to mention the tax cheats in Obama’s cabinet as well.

I’m tired of hearing wealthy athletes, entertainers, and politicians of both parties talking about innocent mistakes, stupid mistakes or youthful mistakes, when we all know they think their only mistake was getting caught. I’m tired of people with a sense of entitlement, rich or poor.

Speaking of poor, I’m tired of hearing people with air-conditioned homes, color TVs and two cars called poor. The majority of Americans didn’t have that in 1970, but we didn’t know we were “poor.” The poverty pimps have to keep changing the definition of poor to keep the dollars flowing.

I’m real tired of people who don’t take responsibility for their lives And actions. I’m tired of hearing them blame the government, or discrimination,or big-whatever for their problems.

 Yes, I’m damn tired. But I’m also glad to be 63. Because, mostly, I’m not going to have to see the world these people are making. I’m just sorry for my granddaughter.

Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam veteran who served five terms in the Massachusetts State Senate.

we had a good weekend.  ryan came home early from work on friday afternoon, so we took the girls out to eat (well, we took ourselves out to eat and the girls had to come too).  so nice not to have to cook.  after the kids were in bed, ryan and i watched “the curious case of benjamin buttons”.  i was a mess.  the movie was good (although the 80-year old baby thing really disturbed me), but something about the concept really depressed me.  don’t know if i was being hormonal or what, but i couln’t stop crying even after it ended…i cried myself to sleep.

saturday morning harper and i went to the pool while layne took her morning nap so ryan could have some time to himself to relax.  it was so nice.  it’s great that she’s such a good swimmer now because i can just lay on a chair and watch her.  i did have to jump in once after her (yes, i had my suit on) because she got caught upside down in her floaty and she got freaked out, but other than that, it was pretty relaxing.  there are usually alot of people at the pool on saturdays, but we went early enough that those people weren’t up yet.  by the time we left, there were 4 or 5 others, but they were all just lying in the sun so harper still had the pool to herself.

later, i went to the grocery store to get all the stuff i’d need to ryan’s birthday dinner on sunday.  took a short nap…not as long as i’d have liked because the thunder was really loud and it woke the girls up early from their naps.  harper watched lady and the tramp and then both girls played for a little while outside in the little pool in the rain.  after layne went to bed, harper helped me make a cheesecake.  

we were actually on time for church yesterday which is a RARE occurance, so that was nice.  pastor is working through the book of James right now and i love it…so practical and deep at the same time.  went to a quick lunch with kathleen and brian and jonas…the place is small and it was packed and the kids were antsy…good company, though. 

except for 45 minutes at the gym (which was awesome, because it was me and 2 other people in the whole place!), the rest of my day was spent getting ready for ryan’s birthday dinner…peeling potatoes, chopping veggies for the salad, making another cake (chocolate mayonnaise), picking up, vaccuming, etc…  we just had a few close friends over…didn’t want a huge crowd.  i made all of ryan’s favorites (that i cook) and it turned out to be a pretty southern meal: meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans with bacon, fried okra, rolls, and salad.  yummy!  it was the first “real plate” dinner we’ve had here in awile…since we got rid of our big table, and i was a little worried about people having to eat off their laps, but it worked out fine.  it was  a nice time of just talking and being entertained by the kiddos.

ryan’s actual birthday is today.  he’s 31.  i hate when his birthday comes because that means mine is only 5 months away.  i’m so not ready to be 31.  anyway, i need to run and make him a card and pick up a little before the girls wake up.  we went to the pool this morning, so hopefully they’ll nap a little longer than usual.

tomorrow, a post in honor of the birthday boy man.

one of my favorite things to do is go to thrift stores.  the biggest and best i’ve ever been to is in lake worth.  it’s called world thrift.  i’ve blogged about it before.  when our kids were smaller (and layne didn’t exist), my friend kathleen and i would go at least once a month.  nowadays i really only get down there probably once every 3 or 4 months.  i could easily spend hours there looking through everything they have.  here’s why:

it’s HUGE.  this picture only shows half the store.  it’s basically like wal-mart without the beauty products or makeup or food.

here are the goods i got today.  i’ve done better, but today was a good day.

stand-up toy (what are those things called, anyway?), including 3 interchangeable tops $6; magna-doodle with shape magnets $2; j.crew pants $5; banana republic pants (with the tags on!) $10; american eagle pants $8 [all these are for ryan for work]; sleeper for layne $1; princess towel $4; forever 21 tape t-shirt $4; j.crew rugby $3.  woo-hoo!