Caption Contest!!

Ah, the Friday to a nice long holiday weekend....is it crazy that August is over?? Not much planned this weekend....we're going to sand and restain the deck before Mallory's party in a month *GASP!!* I'm starting to landscape some neglected gardens that I wasn't able to get to due to the extremely wet spring and bad-timing in transplanting this summer. It's always something, isn't it??

Alrighty then! Enough of my blathering! This week's contest is on honor of the unofficial end to summer; much BBQing, much beer consuming. So Labor Day, we salute you!!

Have a great weekend and I'll see you TUESDAY!!

Jekyll and Hyde

Yesterday was Jenna's first day of pre-school at the same facility she's been going to since she was 3m old. But now it's official. She's in school. That meant a brand-spankin' new backpack; any one she wanted. The concept of a Pre-K'er needing a backpack still escapes me, but I digress. I didn't get a backpack until I was in 6th grade and that's when the homework started. Did I mention the backpack being the same size as her??

She's been stoked for the last week and literally jumped out of bed this morning. Granted Pre-school is afternoon only 5 days a week but she didn't care. And she was equally stoked when she and Steve came home.

We decided to go over to mom's so Jenna could enlighten her. SHe wanted to use her scooter. As we left she ran over her foot with her scooter and got a surface scratch on her ankle. She sniffled the whole way to mom's.

Once she had her juice box she chatted it up with mom. Once she saw the scratch on her ankle she wanted a band-aid of which it clearly didn't need. That made her pout. She didn't even say goodbye to mom and said she didn't want to ride her scooter home. I had to push Mallory so I basically told her she was SOL, but not in so many words. Then she started to cry and mildly sob.

Mom's hollerin' at me to count to 10, slowly. Two houses down I holler back, "3!"

At the corner Jenna's still crying and dragging her scooter so I pass her and walk ahead. This made her cry even more. I got to the other corner and waited until she was closer then walked up to the house. I got a couple nasty looks from drivers and I'm walking and Jenna's crying.

Eh......

Mal and I got to the house and I waited until Jenna could see me go into the house. She came, still crying, so I told her to go to her time-out corner in the living room. She cried for another 10 minutes.

I went over to her to see what the problem was. She said her ankle hurt. It's been over 30 minutes since she scraped it and she was carrying on like her foot was going to fall off. She said she wanted an ice pack so I told her to get one. Then the phone rang.

It was mom making sure everyone returned to the house alive. I went into Jenna's room to tell her the whole story up to that point. I came back to the living room and got food for Mallory. I started to feed Mallory when Jenna started crying AGAIN.

"What is it this time???"
"You said you'd come back after the phone call!"
"Jenna, I am back. Oh, you meant back to you."
"Yeah!"
"What do you want, Jenna?"
"I want you to hold my icey!"
"Absolutely. NOT!!"

So once again, "Mother Of The Year" is gone until 2025.

Weekend Wrap-up!!

Weight Watcher's Update: I didn't post last week, so after 11 weeks I'm down 25.4# and I cleared my 10% hurdle! Next on the list is my initial goal of 220.

Start: 258

10%: 233

Total: 25.4

Current: 232.6

Goal: 220-ish

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Caption Contest Winner! Out of default this week's winner is Nadine with her, "Oh Yeah right there...a bit to the right....yeeeeaaaahhhh!!!!"

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Absolutely gorgeous weekend for weather; low humidity, low- to mid-80s. Oddly, this weather is about 3-4 weeks too early. This is September weather now. Which makes me a tad fearful for this fall and winter.....

Had mom over Saturday for dinner as it's her birthday today. I grilled some bison burgers, made potato salad, baked beans, grilled some corn on the cob and had chocolate cake for dessert. Yum yum! Mom started to prep Mallory for her birthday in a mere 5w (GASP!!) by introducing her to some cake and frosting. As the pictures clearly show Mallory was readily anticipating it!!

Look at the grin on her face as mom shows her the plate!!She's got it figured out now!!This is Mallory's version of "Peek-a-boo"!!Trying a lime-flavored popsicle....Jenna plowing through her burger....Jenna is all stoked as she started pre-school today. All I can do is shake my head. She's in school now. She's growing up and I have to trust part of her development to someone else and fret about what she'll pick up and learn under peer pressure.

I'm not ready for this.....

Caption Contest!!

It is Friday yet again. Can you believe Labor Day is less than 10 days away??? Where has this summer gone??

This week's contest is CAPTION! Have a great weekend and I'll see you on Monday!

It All Started So Innocently....

Last week my boss and I were discussing acronyms and their meaning and somehow we got on the subject of vanity plates. I mentioned this plate listed below:

Know what it says? Ass Orgy. Now, here's the kicker; this is a State-approved plate. It has been verified by Snopes.

So then I started looking around for plates that have gotten through the DMV radar and been approved. Some are rather ingenious.


A handicapped person with a sense of humor:

Another handicapped person with an even better sense of humor for using a classic South Park reference:

A green-conscious person:

And its counter-part:

My friend, Nicole, is a nurse and used to work on a cardiac floor. She wanted to get a plate that said "IV PUSH" but the DMV wouldn't approve it becuase of its drug reference. HOwever, I did see a plate that read "RX DLR"; Drug Dealer. How did that one get through?

The new Nebraska plates consist of three letters and three numbers. Apparently the new letter sequence coming out consists of "WTF ..." and many people are refusing the plates. Personally, I would LOVE to have a plate that just said "WTF".

Have you seen any creative plates out on the road?

The Olympics

I'm protesting the Olympics. A little late to be typing this.....

Having an international event of this magnitude in a country like China comes as complete lie to me.

Here is a closed nation, a Communist nation, that is trying to put on such a front, a phony front at that, and it just makes me sick.

Starting things off was the opening ceremonies when the little girl lip synched because the face of the actual singer wasn't pretty enough. Sure, at our huge sporting events the acts are lip synched but it's the actual artist singing.

The Chinese governement is going so far as to squelch any protests and is clearing out the homeless to give the false image that they are in control and eveything is all hunky-dory.

I think what bothers me the most is the human rights issues with this country; creating false crimes to arrest people. I belong to Voice Of The Martyrs, a non-profit organization that raises awareness of the crimes committed against Underground House Churches and its fellow followers, condeming them for following Christ and denouncing their National Religion.

I write letters of encouragement to imprisoned pastors and believers of Christ as they endure torture and lengthy sentences. I admire these people for having the faith and courage to stand up for Christ in the face of adversity.

Ask yourself this: would you defend Jesus if you were threated with death of either yourself or your family? Would you renounce your faith in Him if faced with this in order to protect yourself or your family?

I don't think I could. Yet these people do on a daily basis. They strongly and proudly profess their love, faith, and devotion to the Lord. I was emailed the following story today about a pastor in China who was arrested because he was behind the Olympic Prayer Bands that have been circulated around the world.

Inspiration for Olympic Prayer Band Arrested

Pastor Zhang “Bike” Mingxuan, known for traveling across China on a bicycle to evangelize, was arrested by Chinese police just two days before the Olympics began. Pastor Bike was the inspiration for the recent partnership between The Voice of the Martyrs and China Aid Association to create the Olympic Prayer Band.

Earlier this year, Pastor Bike pleaded with VOM staff to ask Christians to pray for persecuted Christians in China during the Olympics. The pastor voluntarily preaches the gospel openly in China despite being persecuted. He has asked for his identity to be revealed to bring continued attention to the persecution of Christians in Communist China.

Thanks to Pastor Bike’s inspiration and the commitment of concerned Christians across the United States, more than 800,000 prayer bands have been circulated. On Aug. 6, Pastor Bike was arrested while trying to deliver medicine to his ailing wife. His wife and another pastor were also arrested. We have also learned this week that Chinese officials are opening a full investigation of the Olympic Prayer Bands that were distributed to house church members within China. Despite this increased pressure from Chinese authorities, Chinese Christians continue to ask for prayer and to make their plight known.
Order your Prayer Bands today!As the Olympics goes on, the harassment of Chinese evangelists continues to increase. Please help remind others to pray for persecuted Christians like Pastor Bike by ordering your prayer bands today!

More about Pastor BikePastor Bike, president of the Chinese House Church Alliance, rode his bike more than 10,000 miles, visiting 24 Chinese provinces to introduce nonbelievers to Jesus Christ. Armed with a Bible and his business card, which declared “Believe in Jesus, Earn Eternal Life,” Pastor Bike brought the gospel to thousands of people. He and other Chinese evangelists have been repeatedly harassed by Chinese officials during this Olympic year. Please pray for the release of Pastor Bike and his wife.

Knot Head

I've been keeping you all updated on the progress of Mallory and her mobility, and, my subsequent concern of her being this mobile at such a young age.

And I've said that Jenna didn't even start crawling until 10 months, walking at 14 months. Granted, Mallory is a bit smaller than Jenna so there's less of her to move.

But I had read in the past that the longer a baby waits to walk, the better. Vision is better, reflexes are better, muscles are stronger.

People think it's a good thing that Mallory is walking.

No, no it isn't.

Mainly it's becuase she's growing up too quickly. With Jenna we wanted her to grow up so we could watch it. With Mallory we want her to slow waaaaaaaaay down. Alas, tis not meant to be.

So here is physical proof that children should not walk until after they've turned a year old. The oldest one (on her right/your left) happened last week when she lost her balance at daycare and whacked her head on the end of the rocking chair. The newest one (on her left/your right) happened Sunday when she was walking down the hall and lost her balance and whacked her head on the corner of a door frame. Steve had his back turned and heard it, but I saw it.

It wasn't a pretty sight.

Steve chimes in, all perky, "So can I call her 'Knot Head' now??"

*sigh* "Yes, Steve.....you may now call her 'Knot Head'."