couldn't have said it better, Senator King!

with liberty, and JUSTICE for all!

Bernie Madoff, the man whose name is now under Ponzi scheme (aka ripping people off hardcore) in wikipedia, brought to justice by 150 year sentence.

Affirmative Action and it's most recent self-proclaimed creation, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, coming tumbling down like the stinking giant they have become with today's Supreme Court decision in favor of white firefighters in New Haven Connecticut. The conservative majority ruled that it was un-constitutional for the City of New Haven to refuse to validate a test required for firefighter promotions simply because not enough minorities in the testing pool scored high enough to qualify for the promotions. The city feared legislation from minorities but the 5 to 4 vote made history & pulled the Title 7 plug by ruling that avoiding potential discrimination from one group doesn't make it cool to *actually* discriminate against another. D'oh!

"Fear of litigation alone cannot justify an employer's reliance on race to the detriment of individuals who passed the examinations and qualified for promotions," wrote Justice Anthony M. Kennedy.

When an African American can be elected President, there is no longer a necessity to level the playing field for so-called minorities.

JRT lurve

We have had our sweet Tinkerbelle for quite a few years now. She was pregnant with her only litter of puppies when I was pregnant with N3 and she delivered about 8 weeks before me. (N3 took this shot;)!)

We've had our ups and downs as she has worked out her aggression on fences, other dogs, a goat or two, a few cats, and probably a few other things that I'm probably blocking out, but I've come to terms witht the fact that I have no choice in the matter. She's staying and I need to get used to it and love her d*mnit! We will *NEVER*, I repeat, *NEVER, EVER* own another precious JRT, and adamantly warn other against them as well!!!, but she's become part of the Fam just like an abducted-by-a-UFO-cousin, we love her in spite of, or maybe because of, her quirks.

Sweet, true love is what we have here ladies and gentlemen. She doesn't leave N3's side, even sleeping at his feet or on his bean bag next to his bed.

Elvis, eat your heart out

because it's *me* that makes the best peanut butter-banana sandwich. Well, without grilling because N3 likes it better non-grilled and made with home-made sunflower butter instead of peanut butter because there's a little girl at his Montessori school that is allergic to peanuts and it's therefore a 'no peanut' campus. A little local honey also thrown on for good measure to keep the sunbutter sticking together and the allergies at bay. ooh--also on homemade bread to really stick to the ribs ;) YUMMM!

sunbeam/Mom shoutout

sending a shout out to all the wonderful people at Sunbeam and my Mom for buying one for us for my birthday last year, we love, love, love the breadmaker! Those 1-hour quick loaves are sooo super easy and pizza dough without all the work! Heaven! Everything Bagels coming soon . . .

speaking of hooks

check out the crochet hook case I whipped together from Katja Didy wrap scraps on Sunday before heading out on our drive to the State Park for Father's Day hiking. Cute, eh?

and the *Project* bag to haul around the yarn etc, also from Didy wrap scraps, also has a big internal, divided pocket on the inside;)

cloth-a-holic confessions

It's true, in the quest to become a Domestic Diva, a cloth addiction has reared it's ugly head. Seeing N3 when he was wearing them & now watching Miss Squishy playing on her fluffy, cloth diapered little bum *still* just does something for me. Inspiration for creativity perhaps? Seeing her rainbow of dipes drying on the line just makes a mama smile! The crochet hooks have been hard at whipping up summer wool to cover our make-do dipes because she's growing like a weed!

Replacing the flats she's outgrown with flannel receiving blankets and t-shirt sheets cut to size and folded origami style and doubled with an infant pre-fold or too small flat has been taking care of business, but man-oh-man some hemp/cotton jersey or terry would be really nice. Or some hemp/cotton fleece while where dreaming, huh?

However, all the dreams of new cloth for diapers will not get all the fabric and yarn used, as per the New Years goals, or all the jeans, man's shirts, and t-shirts I have re-purposed. Only getting down to business with notebook, sticky notes, and scissors will get the projects planned and cut out, and only sitting down behind the machine and working out the ideas running rampant will get the projects DONE.

Anyway, isn't Miss Squish adorable in her sweet pink diaper/flannel receiving blanket?

just a few seconds later, with mama made wool cover ;), letting the whole neighborhood know how mistreated she is for not getting to play with the camera

and about 60 seconds later, exhausted and finally giving in to a rest

The Braves Fan's Special Day

Father's Day . . .

HIKING!! man-oh-man, The Braves Fan LOVES to hike

but thunder-boomers were threatening, so he kept a close eye on the sky, and sprinkles kept us all cool and movin' quick to get back to car to stop for Blue Bell ice cream on the way home!

and rain, rain, rain it did! check out the double rainbow that we came home too over our house.

we could actually see the entire thing, end to end, but the camera instruction book for a reminder in exactly *how* to take the pics to stitch assist together for a panoramic picture was nowhere to be found

Reaching for the stars

Goals that we set for the Fam back when we rang in the '09 year

1. As a family, we want to live a 'Greener', less packaged life-style and continue toward becoming more self-sufficient. Just thinking about how good all the whole food is going to be for the kids is inspiring and knowing exactly what is in their peanut butter and their body lotion, WOW! This will be one pround Diva if we can pull it off! This means we plan to do the following as often as we can afford in time, effort, and moolah.

• Make things home-made/from scratch as we run out of pre-made/store bought. ie: huge batches of home-made spaghetti sauce to freeze or can, home-made bread, tortillas, chips, crackers, bagels, salsas, shave lotion, laundry detergeant, etc etc
• Recycle garbage & start compost pile/worm bin
• Replacing disposable things with re-usable
• Dry all laundry on the line
• Plant and harvest our garden
• leaving a
• few
• spaces b/c I know I'll come back and edit with more
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2. Pay off as much Debt as possible. ie--make do without, make home-made or trade other goods/services before buying

3. Keep up w/ the family. ie--send cards, pictures, updates, & gifts when appropriate at all holidays and/or at least once a month

4. Family Scraps--ie--get family photo albums going and start scrapbook/memory box for both monkeys

5. Use up fabric and yarn reserves ASAP

prologue--livin' la vida loca

Up side, in side out, livin' la vida loca (yes, that's a Ricky Martin flashback, ha!!) Ahh, life with a 3 year old and a 1 year old is one Crazy Train, man. Although we're not sky-diving or base-jumping, it's a crazy life we lead. Amongst all the hub-bub and uncertainty, this blog is to help me to remember that yesterday is history, tomorrow a mystery, but TODAY is a gift called the present (cheesy like last weekends movie popcorn, I know, but it's either this or the Serenity prayer that bounces off the walls of my brain when trying to grit my teeth through the toddler noise, ha!) Anyway, the blog, she's a work in progress & patience is a virtue, but please drop me a line or comment if you check in, a woman always likes to know she's being spied on;) and a new message occasionally would help this west Texas mama remember that loneliness is just a state of mind.