Looks Like We're Moving.......Again!

Ugh......I hate moving. You'd never believe it by how many times I've done it, but I really do. There is nothing I want more than to own my own home and know that I never have to move again, unless I really want or need to.

We've been in our current house a little under 15 months, and have had nothing but trouble since moving in. If it's not the nosy, nitpicky neighbors, it is the homeowners association. And you'll pardon me if I put a HUGE emphasis on the word ASS in "association". I really don't understand what the neighbors have to whine, er, complain about anyway. We are up at 6:30 in the morning and let our dogs out to pee.....and they are quiet little dogs who don't raise much of a fuss. We are all our the door by 7:15 am and are usually gone from 10-12 hours. When we get home in the evening the dogs get taken for a walk, and are let out again for a half hour before we go to bed. No big deal, right? Apparently, wrong. We've had 3 seperate complaints lodged about dog noise from this one snooty, irritating lady who lives across the back alley from us. Plus, we've been fined for running an office out of our home, which we don't.......and havn't for months.....but we still keep getting fines and notices for it. No one wants to bother coming and inspecting the house to see that we arent running a business from there. Heck, we're hardly ever there. Stupid neighbor lady. I really don't know what her problem is.

Ugh, so the bottom line is she has made our lives completely miserable since we moved in.....complaint after complaint that is completely unfounded and not followed up on by the HOA. They just blindly take her at her word and either fine us, or fine the guy that owns the house. Well, I guess the HOA has decided to hit this guy where it hurts. They have told the guy that owns our house that they are fining him $500 a month until we move out. Needless to say, we fully expect to have our months notice handed to us on the first of March.

I was really hoping that we didn't have to move until the boys were out of school, but I guess that is not meant to be.

Where's the Beef? Not in Mississippi!

If you think your lawmakers pass some rather bizarre bills, I'd like you to meet State Rep. W.T. Mayhall Jr. of Mississippi.

The Republican lawmaker stirred up the legislative pot a little more than usual last week when he introduced a bill that would make it illegal for restaurants to serve obese customers in his home state.

According to the wording of the bill, scales will appear at the door of restaurants that seat five or more patrons, and folks with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher won’t be allowed to be served. And to comply with government regulations, restaurants will have to keep records of patrons' BMIs.

Naturally, the mainstream news media jumped on this story like a hungry fish on a night crawler. Rep. Mayhall couldn't be serious, could he?

Well, sort of. It seems that Mayall, a retired pharmaceutical salesman, was appalled that so many of his constituents were tipping the scales at what he called dangerous levels.

Therefore, in order to protect folks from the dangers of oversize cheeseburgers, curly fries, loaded pizzas and cream puffs, he introduced the law to stop the abuse of calories right at the front door of the restaurants. Mayhall said that he hopes the bill will “call attention to the serious problem of obesity and what it is costing the Medicare system.”

Predictably, all hell broke loose from every corner of the state as well as the nation. Restaurant owners reminded the legislature that they don't want to be saddled with the burden of deciding who is too plump to be served in their business.
Imagine trying to convince a 300-pound construction worker to step on the scales or be subjected to a body-mass measurement in order to be served. Most patrons will more than likely tell the host or hostess to shove the scales and BMI measuring device in an area where the sun don't shine.

The Coalition of Fat Rights Activists (COFRA) – yes, there is such an organization - is calling on the Mississippi House of Representatives to withdraw the bill, pointing out that restaurant employees are no more qualified to judge a person's BMI than an auto mechanic or pipe fitter.

Besides, COFRA pointed out, under some body-mass index standards, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and actor Brad Pitt wouldn't be allowed to eat in a Mississippi restaurant because of their muscular build. I can just picture a 110-pound hostess telling Governor Terminator that he can't enjoy today's rib-eye special because he's overweight. “I'll be back,” he reminds her.

For what it's worth, I probably would be rejected at the Jackson, Mississippi Waffle House, too. I have yet to lose the "baby fat" that came along with my youngest son.....four years ago.

Just because someone is overweight doesn't mean they're unhealthy. In fact, due to their metabolism, some people can gain weight by just looking at a strawberry shortcake.

While Rep. Mayhall's bill might have been a tongue-in-cheek effort to highlight what he perceives as a problem in his state, he should have known better. People all over the nation are getting tired of laws being passed for the “common good” of society. Individual rights seem to be flying out the window.

Hopefully, the Legislature across the rest of the country will take heed of the Mississippi fiasco and not try to pass a similar law. If they do, I suggest we stage a protest at the state house cafeteria and hold the cooks hostage until the bill is either withdrawn or defeated in committee.

But first, we'll have lunch.

Even writing this makes me hungry.

Losing the Family Patriarch

OK, I guess I'm ready to sit and write about this now.....

On the 21 of January, 2008 our family lost a wonderful man. A man who was father to 7 (one of them being a nephew that he raised), grandfather to more than 40 grandkids and their spouses, and great-grandfather to more than 40 more.

My grandfather, Max Court, was the epitome of a wonderful grandfather. He showed equal love to all his grandkids, taught us wonderful lessons and was ever vocal about his faith in the gospel and beliefs in the church. He was a great athlete; playing softball and riding a bike well into his 60's. He had an immaculate yard and fabulous vegetable garden. And he seemed to be in his element when his tiny, 2 bedroom house was overrun with family.

I have a lifetime of memories about he and my grandmother (who we lost almost 9 years ago). My grandpa had a huge impact on my family's life.....and I mean my personal little family. He baptized me when I was 8 yrs old. He was the one who gave my first son a name and blessing......and he's the one who baptized my husband when he joined the church back in 1999.

He would tease, torment and grill every boyfriend I ever brought around in high school. He instilled in me a love of the gospel and a deep rooted respect for the priesthood. I think I got my love of crossword and jigsaw puzzles from him. I named my middle son after him, which brought him to tears when we shared with him our boy's name. And he sang the most wonderful old cowboy ballads. But my favorite song he would sing to me when I was little was called "Daddy's little girl". It was a song that Elvis used to sing, but my grandpa would always substitute the word "daddy" with the word "grandpa". I'm going to miss him. And it makes my heart happy to know that his last words to me were, "I love you sweetheart. You're a good girl."

Finding Your Passion

I learned something last night. When you love something, you crave it. You cant get enough of it. You get it, but it's never enough. You need it. More of it. Then, you get it, you're doing it and I can see your entire facial expression change. Your demeanor, everything.

I'm talking about Andrew doing taekwon do, people.

This kid LOVES the sport. Everything about it. Running until you cant breathe, and then pushing yourself to run more. Kicking and punching with everything you've got in you. He doesn't have the word 'quit' in him. Even when he's sore as heck, and his foot is all bandaged up, he still begged to go to practice, then to 'just stand in at the back of the dojang, then just join in on warmups, then patterns, then sparring with his team. He can't get enough.

I watch these boys play. The passion, the drive. These kids give their entire beings into the sport. I love it. I could watch it for hours up on hours. They don't care if people are watching them screw up, they just give it their all and who gives a crap what other people think.

So, this carefree passion they all have, where does it go?

You grow up, and suddenly no matter how it makes you feel, or how great you can be at something, that no longer matters. You suddenly care what this STRANGER thinks of you. How you look, how you do whatever it is that you're doing.....Why?

I take my kids for a walk. We take Giant steps. We walk backwards. We do stupid made up karate moves while stepping. I don't give a flying fig who is watching me, or what they may think of me. I'm not doing it for them. I'm doing it for me. For the kids. We enjoy ourselves. We race, we walk sooooo slow. We hide behind trees and scare each other. Of course, so the person driving by is glaring at me shaking his head. 'Why doesn't she grow up?' I'm sure he's thinking. But guess what? I am grown! And, I'd thumb my nose at you if I cared enough to take the time to do so. How grown up is that?

I don't understand, for the life of me, why people place such value on how other people perceive them. Why does it matter? What is going to change in your own personal world if the 2 people driving down the street approve of your behavior while you're playing in your yard with your kids? Is the world going to stop if they don't approve? Glory! What if they even talk about you as they drive away? Oh my Gosh!

You rule your world. Only you. You are the one responsible for your own happiness, and unfortunately, your own misery as well. People casually passing judgement on you will not make one bit of difference at the end of the day. I promise.

Loud Noises

This is what I think about people:

People thrive on chaos. As much as they claim to despise it. As much as they claim to hate it, and they try to avoid it at all costs....they frigging thrive on it. They enjoy it. They secretly wish for more. I know they do. I know I do.

I don't claim to hate it, or despise it, or even try to avoid it. I love it. I welcome it. The more chaotic my home is, the better I seem to function. I'm not talking wild crazy, unadulterated chaos that people get hurt in, I'm just talking about loud, noisy, crazy kids, clutter, phones ringing off the hook, kids banging on the front door, normal stuff like that.

If I came home to a completely quiet and orderly house everyday, Id have to check my pulse. I'd be in Hell for sure.

Randall and Ryker were 'starving', so they asked for Tortillas. Yes, everyone in the world knows that tortillas will stave off any hunger pains. They are 'that' filling. Ryker dropped his on the floor, Randall laughed at him. Ryker then snatched Randall's tortilla and smacked him in the head with it. Randall stopped laughing. Randall then lectured Ryker on how that was not good manners to smack someone with their own tortilla. I guess you should use your own? Yes, when attacking someone with a tortilla, one should most definitely use theirs, and no one else's. They've since moved on from tortilla smacking, to watching TV. All is forgiven and forgotten about the spat while ago. Of course, until the next hunger pain strikes and they ask for another tortilla. Maybe next time I'll hand them each one, and a helmet to go with it.

I have one kid who's a little more subdued. He never makes any noise to contribute to the chaos factor at our house, so that's not really a valid point. He never adds to the noise, except when he's aggravating someone else. They scream quite loudly. So, maybe in a round about way he does contribute. He plays Guitar Hero most of his spare time. He tries to get me to play. I finally relent and play. I've never really played the XBox. I have no clue how to work the guitar. The colorful control sticks, the whammy bar, the star power, all that crap. Confusion at it's best. So, he gives me the run down. Match your fingers on the guitar color pads to the colors on the screen. Whammy bar makes funky sounds to your music. So we decide to play head to head. He shows me which side of the screen is my guitar. The audience is booing really loudly. At which point the game stops itself and tells me "You Suck". Apparently Andrew has beat me. I whine how unfair that is. He says that is the point of the game. No it isn't. The point of this game is to teach me how to play, not murder me. He promises not to do it again. So we start another song, I fumble around, he bets me and I "suck" again.

He grins.

I smack him.

He makes some whooping noise and flicks his fingers in my face.

I tell him I'm never playing Guitar Hero again with him. He is a bully, a cheater! A murderer!

He laughs and says he'll sucker me again.

And, he probably will.


Kids crack me up and kill me at the same time.

My kids, especially since there are three of them and they are all boys, are louder than your average household full of kids. I dont mind my kids hanging out making noise. I dont mind their friends, for the most part. Of course, some of them get on my nerves, but that's anywhere. They are funny, silly, stupid at times, goofy, chicken, boring, and most importantly, loud. They fit right in with me. Hopefully when all is said and done, Ive passed on a few more of my traits than just the loud factor.

They are so hilarious. So annoying. Yes, I can admit my kids are annoying. It's part of what makes me tick. I can call them brats, and whine about them to my friends, yet at the end of the day, those loud, annoying little pains in my ass are what make my world go round.

You know what grinds my gears?????

OK, I realize that at 31 I should not be so cynical and jaded about people and stuff.....but lately I've turned into a cranky old women. So, for your reading pleasure, here are a list of things that grind my gears.

1. Employees of stores who stand right outside to doors to light up on their smoke breaks... ensuring that my children and I get plently of second hand smoke immediately upon leaving the store. Never mind their sectioned off/benched area to the side. Apparently those 20 steps are too far away. Or there are the employees in stores who stand in a group chatting, forcing customers to go over and interrupt their conversation in order to get service. ( I have been known to go up and ask fully uniformed employees 'Excuse me are you working today')

2. Impatient people who press the crosswalk button overandoverandoverandover while waiting for the light to change. News flash moron! All you need to do is press it once and the funky computermathingamajig tells the light to switch to "crossing" when the light changes. It doesn't speed it up with each and every press and BEEEEEEP of the button.

3. The self centered little teenagers at the local high school who don't give a flying fig that anyone else is on the sidewalks, at the next table in a restaurant, standing in line at the movie theatre next to them or anywhere else. They proceed to fling swear words at an alarming rate, yet unsurprisingly bland usage in their regular banter (methinks they could use a thesaurus... not that they'd know what to do with one). I can't believe that in my 30's I'm even going to type this... but in my day, as much of a snot nosed brat that I was, I was still respectful of my language around others.

4. The amount of clueless adults, never mind teens, who don't give a darn about our city anymore! Every day I see people tossing gargage (sometimes full drinks) into the greenery at the train station, in the park, outside the stores and restaurants. There is a garbage can not 5 feet away, yet it's so much cooler to just toss your crap on the ground!! Then there are the a-holes who think that our city is their own personal urinal.

5. The lack of basic manners that people do not have. NO please, thank you, excuse me, pardon me, etc. Spitting on the ground. Gross. Or even worse blowing snot out of your nose onto the sidewalk. Ick. General disrespect for public property. I was sitting in front of the Wal-Mart at Christmas and these three kids about 13 or 14 tipped the outside garbage can over right in front of the store. I turned to my kids and told them if I ever saw them doing something like that I would kick their asses. But the good boys that they are they got out of the van and put it right side and picked up the garbage.

6. Kids/teens that just mosey across the streets when and where they please. Yeah, don't use the cross walk kid.....like you're too important to obey the law. And God forbid you should honk at them to get their attention. If you do that....well....refer to #3 on my list here.

7. Parents who loudly scream at, threaten, demean, discipline or in any other way degrade their children in public. It makes me so sad for those little babies. if this is how the parents act in public, I can only imagine what goes on behind closed doors.

8. People who are in front of you in the grocery line, and decide to continue shopping after they have all there stuff on the belt. I mean I understand when you forget on thing, and you run back real fast to go get it, but don't put all your stuff on the belt, then walk off, be gone for another 5-10 minutes while you go back and fill another shopping cart. If you need that much stuff, get the heck out of the line, and finish your shoppong instead of holding up the line..and then not even apologize to the people in the line or the cashier, who by the way was recieving death glares because it's not like she could help someone else..because ALL YOUR STUFF WAS ON THE BELT, AND NO ONE ELSE CAN PUT THEIR STUFF UP THERE!!!

OK, I think you get the point, and I am sure that I could have an entire month worth of blogs dedicated to this, but here's my bottom line: Respect others and the world around you. Realize that we are all human beings and we are all the same. Everyone is entitled to love and be loved. So, if you want to be treated well, offer everyone else that same courtesy. (I will now get off my soapbox)

Apparently the Savior had a response to my last blog entry

Dear Children,

It has come to my attention that many of you are upset that folks are taking My name out of the season. Maybe you've forgotten that I wasn't actually born during this time of the year and that it was some of your predecessors who decided to celebrate My birthday on what was actually a time of pagan festival. Although I do appreciate being remembered anytime.

How I personally feel about this celebration can probably be most easily understood by those of you who have been blessed with children of your own. I don't care what you call the day. If you want to celebrate My birth, just GET ALONG AND LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

Now, having said that let Me go on. If it bothers you that the town in which you live doesn't allow a scene depicting My birth, then just get rid of a couple of Santas and snowmen and put in a small Nativity scene on your own front lawn. If all My followers did that there wouldn't be any need for such a scene on the town square because there would be many of them all around town.

Stop worrying about the fact that people are calling the tree a holiday tree, instead of a Christmas tree. It was I who made all trees. You can remember Me anytime you see any tree. Decorate a grape vine if you wish: I actually spoke of that one in a teaching, explaining who I am in relation to you and what each of our tasks were. If you have forgotten that one, look up John 15: 1 - 8.

If you want to give Me a present in remembrance of My birth here is my wish list. Choose something from it:

1. Instead of writing protest letters objecting to the way My birthday is being celebrated, write letters of love and hope to soldiers away from home. They are terribly afraid and lonely this time of year. I know, they tell Me all the time.

2. Visit someone in a nursing home. You don't have to know them personally. They just need to know that someone cares about them .

3. Instead of writing George complaining about the wording on the cards his staff sent out this year, why don't you write and tell him that you'll be praying for him and his family this year. Then follow up. It will be nice hearing from you again.

4. Instead of giving your children a lot of gifts you can't afford and they don't need, spend time with them. Tell them the story of My birth, and why I came to live with you down here. Hold them in your arms and remind them that I love them.

5. Did you know that someone in your town will attempt to take their own life this season because they feel so alone and hopeless? Since you don't know who that person is, try giving everyone you meet a warm smile; it could make the difference.

6. Instead of nit picking about what the retailer in your town calls the holiday, be patient with the people who work there. Give them a warm smile and a kind word. Even if they aren't allowed to wish you a "Merry Christ mas" that doesn't keep you from wishing them one. Then stop shopping there on Sunday. If the store didn't make so much money on that day they'd close and let their employees spend the day at home with their families.

7. If you really want to make a difference, support a missionary-- especially one who takes My love and Good News to those who have never heard My name.

8. Here's a good one. There are individuals and whole families in your town who not only will have no "Christmas" tree, but neither will they have any presents to give or receive. If you don't know them, buy some food and a few gifts and give them to the Salvation Army or some other charity which believes in Me and they will make the delivery for you.

9. Finally, if you want to make a statement about your belief in and loyalty to Me, then behave like a Christian. Don't do things in secret that you wouldn't do in My presence. Let people know by your actions that you are one of mine.

Don't forget; I am God and can take care of Myself. Just love Me and do what I have told you to do. I'll take care of all the rest. Check out the list above and get to work; time is short. I'll help you, but the ball is now in your court. And do have a most blessed Christmas with all those whom you love and remember,

I LOVE YOU,
JESUS