By Popular Demand

A lot of you have expressed interest in my take on the President's speech last night.

And by a lot I mean one of you. Thanks, Kendra!

Let me tell you up front that I did not watch the speech.

Gasp!

It's true. Whenever I listen to Obama all I hear is Charlie Brown's teacher, "wah wah wah hope! wah wah wah change!" However, being the concerned, involved citizen that I am, I did watch some clips and read the transcript.

First, you must understand that Obama's words don't literally mean anything...they are just supposed to sound good. Inspirational even. Therefore, his speeches don't really lend themselves to analysis. Just feelings. If you watched it you probably felt all warm and fuzzy.

So with that being said, here are what I considered the highlights:

1. My favorite line: "I'm proud that we passed the recovery plan free of earmarks..." Oh my. Where do I start? Props to The One for sheer guts. Perhaps we have redefined what an earmark is and I missed it? Or maybe it just depends on what your definition of the word "is" is.

2. I also loved the line: "Not because I believe in bigger government - I don't." Snort followed by loud guffaw.

3. I also noticed that he's been using his focus groups wisely. Did you notice how he threw in all those conservative-y sounding phrases like "America will emerge stronger," "responsibility to ensure that we do not pass on to {our children} a debt they cannot pay," " eliminate wasteful and ineffective programs," "we're also suffering from a deficit of trust," "restoring a sense of honesty and accountability, " "to keep our sacred trust with those who serve [in the military]?" Almost made me forget he's a socialist.

4. Another great line: "...the flow of credit is the lifeblood of our economy." Yeah, that's been the problem. I don't know about you but the lifeblood of my household economy is income-production.

One last thing completely unrelated to the speech.

Could someone PLEASE tell Michelle that she really doesn't have the arms to go sleeveless? Besides, HELLO, it is FEBRUARY!

In Which I Confess My Shame...Part Two

Today I balanced my check register for the first time since October 10, 2008.

Yep. October.

And I don't mean "reconciled to my bank statement." I literally mean I just calculated the balance in my check register.

Yes, I am a CPA. Yes, I have chewed out clients in the past for such irresponsibility.

I could point out that October was when Congress started debating the much-loved TARP bill. I could make a correlation between the government's inability to keep it's own books and mine.

Wes: Hey, where'd all our money go?

Me: (shrug) I dunno. But it really stimulated the economy...I'm sure of that.

But I won't go there.

Unlike our fearless leaders, I will take full personal responsiblity for being a bum.

So, if you are one of my former clients and I ever chewed you out for being loosey-goosey with the check book...my apologies.

In Which I Confess My Shame

I don't know what kind of laundry system you use but let's just say mine isn't working. In fact, I hesitate to use the term "system" to describe the haphazard methodology that I use.

When we built our house I really did put a lot of thought into making laundry easier. I have lots of counter space...lots of cabinets...a hanging rod over my shiny, white, front-loading, high-efficiency washer and dryer...and pretty, yet functional baskets for each family member that sit on top of the washer and dryer. The plan was that as I take clothes out of the dryer I can fold them and place them in their owner's basket.

But what we have here is a failure...of epic proportions.

I now have mountains of neatly folded clothes that I continue to stack in my lovely baskets, and stack and stack and stack. Until the pile falls over behind the shiny, white front-loading, high-effiency washer and dryer and has to be fished out with a broom handle. And re-washed and re-dried.

As a side note..."high-effiency" does not mean it will fold and put away your clothes for you. I know. I was disappointed too.

I have begun to notice that my family lacks laundry putting-away skills. Sadly, I also lack them. I have also begun to notice that my kids wear the same pieces of clothing over and over. I hasten to add that these clothes are not dirty (at least not most of the time.) They have been washed but they are also in those lovely baskets. Which is the only place my kids know to look for clean clothes. On top of the stack, because, you know, there's really no sense in digging to the bottom of the pile and having them all fall behind the washer.

I have tried having my kids put away their clothes. Sadly, this is even worse. Caitlin stuffs all of her clothes into one cubby and then can't find anything. Because it's way to much trouble to dig through the cubby. Much easier to go get the clean clothes from the top of the stack in the basket. With the added bonus that you don't have to put away what you're wearing.

I have foiled her plan.

I spent about and hour and a half today making these:





and placed them here:



Yes, it took an hour and a half. I have the uncanny ability to waste inordinate amounts of time looking industrious while actually accomplishing very little.

It's a gift.

Oh, and if I work for you I never, ever waste time at work!

Memory Monday

He will feed his sheep flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young. Isaiah 40:11(NIV)

I still have some work to do!

I love that He holds the lambs close to his heart. That is so beautiful. And comforting.

Introducing....

Freedom Friday!!

(If I knew how to write code I'd have a cute little button with a flag on it or something. That's on my bucket list--learning to write code, that is, not cute little buttons. )

Here's the deal. This is probably gonna bum some of you out. I've decided to dedicate my Friday posts to discussing the principles of freedom.

Hey, you there, the one that's just about to click to a different blog...please hear me out.

The other day Wes was having a conversation with someone-who-shall-remain-nameless and they were discussing (read: arguing) about the ridiculous stimulus bill that was just passed. Wes was saying that you can't give a tax "cut" to someone who doesn't pay taxes...it's called "welfare" people. So the someone-who-shall-remain-nameless says "I just think we need to return to what our founding father's believed."

So, let me get this straight. This person believes that our founding fathers advocated welfare for the masses. Allow me to quote Benjamin Franklin--

"I am for doing good to the poor, but...I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. I observed...that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer. "

Wow. We as a nation are so disconnected from our roots that we don't even know what the founders believed anymore. So it occured to me that what we need is some education. I don't claim to know everything about the founding fathers but I do read a lot about them. I've decided that it's my responsibility to share the things I learn with you, my bloggy friends, because friends shouldn't let friends be ignorant.

So, I know what you're probably thinking. As Christians we should be more concerned about reaching the lost. This government stuff is so secular, so worldy. As Christians, we should be about the Lord's business. I submit to you that protecting our Constitution IS the Lord's business. Our right to worship as we please depends on it. Do you realize that we the people are liberty's last line of defense?

You and me.

And we're going into battle unarmed.