2006 Posts:
Monday, May 22
Monday, June 19
Tuesday, September 12th
Friday, September 15th
Wednesday, September 20th
Wednesday, September 20th, 2006
Signs of the Apocalypse
Apparently the end of the world is coming. First off, I read about in a letter to the editor in my local paper, so it must be true. And it is all because we took God out of our public life. Oh, and the Democrats voted to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance too. Never mind that God wasn't inserted into the Pledge until the 1950s. According to this letter, America had never lost a war until we started taking God out of our public life. I am assuming the letter writer was referring to Viet Nam or perhaps Iraq. Has this guy never heard of the War of 1812? We basically got our asses handed to us. For that matter, we were pretty regularly getting whupped in the Revolutionary War too, until France decided to lend us a few troops and ships at Yorktown. And, let's face it. They didn't do it to be nice guys, they did it because they had been fighting England for HUNDREDS of years and they hated England more than we did. (And Louis put his government in such debt with this that it cost him his crown-with his head still in it.) How is it Americans have such an appalling lack of knowledge of their own history? I am reprinting the letter below. I have removed the names to protect the idiots, oops, I mean innocent.
Satan keeping God out of government
To the editor:
This nation was founded on Christian principles, as evidenced by our Constitution and all the Christian writings and figures engraved on our federal building walls. Since World War II, we have taken God out of our schools and there are great movements to take him out of our government and out of our lives. We are following the nations that did this in our lifetime and are now in ruins. We were the last hope of the world. We were a strong Christian nation that everyone looked to for protection. We never lost a war and defended the rights of all people successfully. What has happened to us? Where are we today?Since World War II, we have not won a war. We are no longer a powerful Christian nation. We have tolerated immorality in the highest offices of this nation. Immorality and anti-Christian activities are running rampant in our society. Profanity and illicit sex are becoming the norm and to believe in God is pushed to the backrooms of our minds. This nation is being brought under the control of Satan, who has the backing of most of the newspapers and television stations of today. Make no mistake, Satan has a powerful position in this nation.
Anti-Christian behavior is now protected by law. We have a legally protected right to sin against God. To be a Christian is becoming very unpopular. This is all predicted in the Bible. We are approaching the end times. Prepare yourselves, it is going to get worse.
Through the course of history, the Bible has always been very accurate. The tribulation is beyond our imagination. The immorality we have today will get much worse. Compare the life we had, even 50 years ago, with the life we have today. This is what Franklin Delano Roosevelt said in his fourth inaugural address in 1945: "The Almighty God has blessed our land in many ways. He has given our people stout hearts and strong arms with which to strike mighty blows for freedom and truth. He has given to our country a faith, which has become the hope of all peoples in an anguished world."
He also said: "As I stand here today, having taken the solemn oath of office in the presence of my fellow countrymen - in the presence of God - I know that it is America's purpose that we shall not fail.
"In the days and in the years that are to come we shall work for a just and honorable peace, a durable peace, as today we work and fight for total victory in war.
"We can and we will achieve such a peace.
"We shall strive for perfection. We shall not achieve it immediately - but we still shall strive. We may make mistakes - but they must never be mistakes, which result from faintness of heart or abandonment of moral principle."
The greatest Democrat of our time (Franklin Delano Roosevelt) knew the importance of God in our lives and government. But in July 2006 in the House of Representatives, 96.5 percent of the Republicans voted to keep the word "God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, but only 20 percent of the Democrats. The Senate and House of Representatives have chaplains opening the sessions in prayer, but does anyone listen?
This need to keep a division between church and state is the biggest scheme Satan is using to keep God out of government. Think about it, we have never had God in our government but only God-fearing men. God-fearing men founded this country, built this country and protected this country. God was so important in the founding of this country that our fathers not only put God in all the important documents and on all federal buildings, but also wanted all citizens, Christians and atheists to carry the scriptures with them at all times. They put "In God We Trust" on all our money.
Who do you want running this country? God-fearing men or men who are feared?
Have the Democrats changed so much since World War II? I don't think so. It is the Liberal Party that has infiltrated the Democratic Party and is taking over. The rest are following like sheep led to the slaughter. Today FDR would be a Republican.
However, I digress. The other reason I know that end times are here, is my friend Sarah (ed: Not her real name) had 3 of the 4 signs of the Apocalypse in her own home this weekend. Fire, Flood, & Famine. All we need is a good mouse infestation and we have pestilence & the end times, ladies and gentlemen. Please exit the world in an orderly manner. No pushing or shoving.
Sarah is a classic over-achiever. She gives 200% all the time to everything she is doing. She sleeps about 4 hours a night and gets up and does things like paint the bathroom before her husband rises at a more normal hour of say, 7 AM. Anyway, since she is an over-achiever, she often multi-tasks. This weekend, she started running water in the double sinks in her kitchen. Then she ran upstairs to do a quick errand. And promptly got involved with something up there. Her three dogs started running into the room and barking and whining. (Visions of Lassie and "Timmie fell down the well" keep going through my mind at this point.) Silly mortal, she keeps blowing them off, wondering what their problem is. When she finally got downstairs, she had water about 4 inches deep (not to mention suds) all over her hardwood kitchen floor. Hubby was not home at the time to see her scurrying around her house, putting every towel in her house on her kitchen floor. When she went to check the damage in the basement, she remembered she had a wet/dry vac, which she proceeded to use downstairs. After she has moved things away from the dripping and finished with the wet/dry vac, hubby came home. Now, hubby is the mellow sort. He says being a Marine in Viet Nam was good training for marriage to Sarah, but again, I digress.
After finishing the clean-up from this mishap, Sarah decides she wants some popcorn because she is hungry. (Ahhh, famine.) So, she pops some microwave popcorn. And promptly sets it on fire. So, in the space of a few hours, in Mendota Heights, Minnesota, we have had Flood, Famine, and Fire. We are one infestation from the end of the world, folks.
(ed: I thought the four horsemen of the apocalypse were Death, War, Pestilence, and Famine. I guess they're the writer of the letter quoted above, Sarah, George W. Bush, and Howard "The Screamer" Dean. Figures.)
Have you ever heard the song "I Feel Lucky" by Mary Chapin Carpenter? The whole song is about a woman who sees nothing but bad omens and she stubbornly clings to the belief that she feels lucky. (By the end of the song she wins the lottery, but that is not germane to my thesis. So, let's just ignore that little fact and live blissfully in my world right now, okay.)
My day has started off much like the one in the song. Not that I actually read my horoscope and it said "the stars are stacked against you, girl, you better get back in bed" but perhaps if I had read that, I could have avoided a great deal of trouble that seems to want to come my way today. Lily has started sleeping in until about 6:15 to 6:30. Today, it was 7:45 (Ed - I could have sworn it was 6:45 am, and she left the house at 7:15, but either way, we're 12 minutes (on a very good day) from her bus stop - and September ain't good days). So, naturally, I woke up at 7:45. Guess I'm not catching that 7:20 bus. So, I drive. Again. Oh, and did I mention the migraine I woke up with and I haven't yet picked up my new migraine meds from the pharmacist yet. Yeah, I feel lucky.
After a quick stop for coffee at the Kwik Trip (it amazes me to find gourmet coffee & creamers at a gas station/convenience store. I paid $0.73 for something that would have cost me almost $4 at Caribou.) Got to work only 5 minutes late. Got in the door and promptly spilled most of what remained in my cup down my front. On top of it being a colossal waste of good caffeine, I had to go and try to rinse out my shirt. Oh, and reload the caffeine. Sigh. The stars are stacked against me, indeed. At least the migraine seems to have retreated.
Rhiannon had her first volleyball match for the year last night. She also discovered the challenges of team sports for the first time. She got pulled from two different games for another girl, who, according to my admittedly biased source, was put in because she whined she wasn't playing enough. To be fair, the coach also pulled her own daughter one of the times. Still, it was very painful for her to be pulled twice. Personally, I didn't think it was fair, as there were two girls that played for the entirety of the two matches that were not doing very well by the end. In my opinion, should have pulled one or both of them instead.
However, I was a good mommy and explained to Rhiannon that is part of team sports. Sometimes you ride the bench. She wasn't the only one (admittedly, she was the only one pulled twice). I told her to tell her coach if she thought it was unfair and see what she says. We'll see if this is a one-time thing or if she continues to get pulled. I hate to see it happen, because I think it will kill her joy of the game and she won't go out for it next year. Volleyball is the only sport Rhiannon plays
Yesterday, Lily went to the vet. She weighed 19 pounds. The vet thought that was pretty good. Maybe a pound overweight, but not enough to worry about in a puppy.
That afternoon, John called me because Lily had managed to climb inside Daisy's 36 pound bag of Beneful (which had NOT been taken out to the garage as it was supposed to, but that's another story) and eat enough that she couldn't get her fat self back out the hole in the bag. After being rescued from her self-imposed prison, she then proceeded to crap copious amounts (all in the back yard, thank God.)
Figuring she must be full after eating that much, we didn't feed her supper. However, Lily had other ideas. She attempted to liberate Jack's Big and Tasty burger from the couch, where he had foolishly placed it. Jack won that fight. The boy WILL fight for his food. After her escapades (and on a very full stomach), Lily slept very well last night.
Today, John called me. Asked me if raw potatoes are poisonous to dogs. Not that I have heard. Seems our gluttonous hound today got herself into a bag of potatoes (Yukon Golds) and ate a 1/2 of a large baking potato. Said dog is again outside, where one would assume she is crapping that out as well.
I swear to God, that dog understood the vet and now she is binging and purging. Great, I have a bulimic dog
I realize that girls are going through alot of physical and mental changes as the go through puberty. Really, I do. I remember spoiling for a fight and my mother refusing to oblige me. I'd storm into the kitchen, full of piss and vinegar, looking for a fight. My mother is a calm, middle-child type. She just ignored me until I'd storm off and slam my bedroom door. I figure at that point, she either wiped her brow or grinned in triumph at frustrating me again. Probably both.
Rhiannon doesn't have THAT particular problem. When Rhiannon is spoiling for a fight, I generally oblige. And make her sorry she decided to vent her spleen in my presence. She has two modes of operation. Mode 1: She is planning to do something and I make a suggestion as to a method of operation. Rhiannon doesn't like said method. Instead of simply saying, "No, mother, I am going to do it this way," she proceeds to have a melt-down; complete with stomping, crying, and shrieking. Now, had someone other than her mother had made the suggestion, she would have calmly considered and perhaps even taken the suggestion. Now, it wouldn't be so bad (except for my blood pressure) if Rhiannon chose only to act this way at home. But this little performance has been known to occur at Girl Scout meetings. Luckily we are a small group, with three of the four families being close friends. I must admit, though, it is pretty amusing to see the other 12 year old girls looking at Rhiannon in awe at her confrontation with me. I think my temper scares them. Not that they have ever really seen it.
Mode 2 consists of refusing to take responsibility for her actions and the ever popular "Whatever." This method she employed yesterday to great effect. On Thursday night, just after washing my hair, I discovered my hairbrush was missing from the bathroom. Now, only Rhiannon and I use it, so I knew who to blame even without John telling me that he had told her to put it back in the bathroom earlier in the day. Now, it was 11 o'clock and I just wanted to brush out my wet hair and go to bed. No joy. So, I go roust yon young careless one from her slumber. Her reaction? "I put it back. Not my problem." And she proceeds to go back to sleep. I tell her she is grounded off the computer for a week. "Whatever." Grrrrrrr . . . Now, John will tell you that you do NOT want to piss me off and then go to sleep. I can NOT sleep when I am angry and spend the time calming myself by devising retribution and payment from the offending party. A fact that John discovered the hard way. But that is what he gets from taking marital advice from a single guy. But that is a whole other story.
So, I braid my hair and go to bed. Young foolish girl finds the hairbrush the next morning and calls me at work to tell me it was behind the toilet in the bathroom. Yeah, That's putting it away. She's looking to get ungrounded, since she found the hairbrush. After being told she is being punished not so much for losing the hairbrush as for her attitude of "it's not my problem", ungrateful, surly, parasitic child # 1 apologizes for her attitude. Then when informed that the punishment stands for at least today and we'd talk about whether or not she would continue to be grounded off the computer later, the savant-like child says "Whatever" in the lovely snotty little tone she gets and hangs up on me. She has inherited her father's ability to continue digging the hole long after it is prudent to start filling. I swear to you, the child is not going to live to be 15.
At what age can you no longer call yourself "young?" When I was in my late teens and 20s, the answer seemed obvious. Young was me. Middle-aged was my parents. To be old, you had to be older than my grandparents. And what a horrible concept that was. Middle-aged is so . . . boring. Middle-of-the road. Staid. Very uncool. I am not any of those.
But now, my grandparents and my dad are gone and my mom is 73. (And oh, how thrilled she'd be to know I put that out for all and sundry to see.) I have a nearly-teen-aged daughter. In years, she may still be pre-teen, but her attitude is definitely teen-age. She is constantly giving me reasons to call my mother and apologize for my youth. Take Rhiannon's first slumber party. After dealing with 6 pre-teen girls and their assorted arguments and hurt feelings, I called my mother and apologized for all my slumber parties. My mother's response? "Does that include the ones with the boys?" No, mom, those weren't slumber parties, nobody slept, just stayed at the house until the wee small hours. And I see I am going to have a whole new category of things to apologize for in the future. Thanks. Sigh. Boy, is she getting her revenge.
As far as Rhiannon is concerned, I am always wrong. Any suggestion I make for her to alter her planned course results in a melt-down of truly global proportions. Usually in public. She has my temper and her father's stubborn. Such a good combination. And do you think I react like a reasonable person and just walk away? Do I strike you as a reasonable person? At least, not when in conflict with my daughter. At least she throws me the bone that I am considered one of the few "cool" middle school moms. Sadly, I remember that being a "cool mom" is a far cry from being actually "cool".
I don't know any of the songs on the top 40. Heck, I probably don't know any of the songs on the hot 100. Unless you are talking about the country charts. Which I also thought was for old people when I was a kid.
Today my coworker (I'll call her Fifi-there is some vengeance for you) was talking about how she and a friend used to argue about what the song "Everything I Do, I Do It For You" by Bryan Adams was about. In junior high. Sigh. I was married when that song came out. My husband went to a Bryan Adams concert in 1982. When Fifi was 3. Harumph.
Hubby also notes with some consternation that he can now find a woman who was born after he was legal to drink - and take her out for a drink. Legally. Mind you, hubby is well aware that if he does that, he will be bound for parts unknown (er, or his parts will be bound for the unknown, while he stays here to suffer a slow, lingering, painful death).
Just a general note from the management: The boss is back, in her infrequent style. Posts will be as and when, added at the top, and with my usual interjections. Comments to her are welcome - and will be filtered accordingly. She can be emailed at the flip goddess at hotmail dot com - and the flip goddess is all one word. Abusive e-mail or that which you might otherwise think is funny to send in an attempt to harrass her will be filtered through me - and you'll get yours, rest assured. I'll simply pass it on, and let her have her way with you. And then you'll be looking for a way out...
NOTE:
This will likely be under construction for some time to come. Please bear with my husband as he gets his act together and figures out how to display what I want.