Like Father, Like Son

Holy Cow....

Do my boys....

know how to...

sleep or what?

Apparently one must

keep their mouth open

to get some sleep around here!

I've Joined the Ranks...

Well, with much prodding, my husband finally got me to get a new phone...a new iPhone 3G nonetheless. I really didn't want/think I need so much phone but....HOLY COW!!! This phone is amazing. In fact, it's so amazing it's scary!


What made me shrug my shoulders and say "fine, I'll take the phone" (can you believe so much arm twisting from Jason to get this phone? I really didn't want a new phone and didn't find the need to jump on the iPhone bandwagon!!!!) is that I was wanting an MP3 player for Christmas and this phone basically is an iPod as well.

But I can also check my email, get on the internet and see the internet exactly as if I were on my home computer, I have a calculator (and low-and-behold, my favorite calculator just died so perfect timing), a calendar, phone (I guess that is the main point of an iPhone), oh and I'm so excited because I downloaded an App (application for those non-iPhone users) that is a grocery list. You can't imagine how exciting that is to me!


So anyhow, I promptly went home and whipped up a carrying case so I can through it in my purse. It matches this purse here.


Anyhoo, I have SO much to blog about: Lawyer's birthday was Tuesday and his small party is on Saturday, the caterpillars that are eating my mandarin orange tree to nothing and they look like snakes, a few recipes and some random things. Oh and I might throw in a few more thoughts on the upcoming election.

Did you check out the t-shirt here, here, here and here? Buy one today...Kelly will be finished selling these in the next few weeks, just in time for you to wear your shirt proudly before the big election!!

My Heart is Hurting...

I received an email yesterday morning for a prayer request for a family that I don't know. The family had a little boy about Lawyer's age that was struggling with a tumor that had taken over his sweet little body. When I read their Caring Bridge post (it's a blog of sorts for families that have serious illnesses/disease as a way to share what they are going through and to get support), my heart was so sad for them. I saw the pictures of their beautiful baby boy healthy and happy and then swollen and broken with disease. I cried, no I sobbed, for this family. All I could think of was, what if that were my child, what would I do, how would I feel? They asked for prayers since they were told their child might not make it but a few more hours....HOURS!!! And yet they were resolved to the fact that Jesus was calling their child home and I believe they were feeling that peace.

I'm so sad to say that after I was praying for a miracle, something, anything, to save their sweet boy, this child went home to be with the Lord yesterday afternoon.

I haven't been able to shake the sadness I feel for the family. I have tears as I type this. I looked at Lawyer yesterday after I received the news and thought, why am I sitting here on the internet when my child is full of life and wants to play? And it was with that thought that I got up from my chair, reached for my child and hugged him tight and told him I loved him. I did it because I know that's my blessing in life, my baby boy. And I did it for this family that can no longer do such a thing.

Last night, I kissed my little boy a hundred times over and told him I loved him just as much. I kissed his cheeks, his forehead and his pouty red lips while he was sleeping, whispering that I loved him. This morning, as Lawyer wanted me to carry him (a challenging feat since he's almost as big as I am) I was delighted and I squeezed him and kissed on him some more. I told Jason while I was holding him that I couldn't imagine waking up this morning and not getting the chance to see/talk/smell/hold/love on this child of ours. I couldn't imagine one day he's there and the next day no more.

The only joy is that this child, Cole was his name, that this family lost, is not hurting or suffering anymore. He doesn't have to be poked or prodded by unfamiliar people in unfamiliar hospital rooms. He's dancing and singing with Jesus as we speak and, after reading what the family wrote, I know that they know that too.

Please pray for Cole's family. And if you want to visit their Caring Bridge blog to send them encouraging words, please do so. I know that the family feels everyone's prayers.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/coleruotsala

My Apologies to Mrs. Karenina

Well, I've tried, and twice at that, but I just can not get into Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. I find the language of the times (late 1800's since that's when it was written) both beautiful and hard to follow. I love the love story in the book (although, not really, since I'm not for having affairs!) but the political aspect is just boring and long-winded.

I only reached about 250 pages into this book, of the 1000 pages that it is. And I'm sorry Mrs. Karenina. For all the praise that has been spoken about you, I just can't stick with you. Maybe third time will be a charm but today, I just can't concentrate enough nor do I have enough time and patience to devote to you. And in true French fashion in your particular Russian era, I bid you adieu.

Buy a Shirt!!!!

Hey everyone, I know it's hard to believe I'm doing another post in one day but I wanted to show you a shirt that Kelly Moore from Kelly Moore Photography is selling on her blog. This is for those Republicans that want to want to SHOW their support. All proceeds will go to support the (as Kelly puts it) the candidate that would wear this shirt.

I designed the shirt and she is taking pre-orders so head on over to Kelly's blog (and check out her amazing photography) and buy a shirt to show your support!!!!

Babies, Guns and Jesus....I'll support these issues at stake!!!!

Kelly Moore Photography http://kellymoorephotography.com/mooreblog/

You better believe I will wear this shirt as soon as I get one!

Death & Taxes

Well, forget about the death part of my title, I thought just plain, old "Taxes" sounded ultra-boring.

Today's little post is about, surprise surprise, our upcoming election. I thought I'd give a little insight to what lower taxes means as a whole to our country.

I recently was talking to a certain family member about this exact subject and his/her (this is to protect the innocent, or not-so-innocent...you know who you are!) take on receiving lower taxes was this....it's not going to amount to a hill of beans to me personally (this may not be verbatim but it's what I took away from the conversation). This person truly thought that the lowering of THEIR taxes didn't seem like a big deal in the scope of things. So, in true Amii fashion, let's take a look at what lower taxes for our country will mean as a WHOLE. I am NOT an economist, although I did want to be one at a particular time in my life (I LOVED my economics classes a lot) but I understand basics of how economics works and I'm also pretty much someone who is logical. Logical economics...it almost sounds contradictory to our current situation here in the US!!

1) Lower taxes mean that each individuals/families will have a greater NET worth because they will have more money in their pockets after taxes.

2) Said money allows you to do one of two things (or both)....Spend it or Save it

3) Said "saved" money gives you greater peace-of-mind about your future...you now can save up that money for a house, a car or your child's education, without feeling much of a crunch because you technically just got a raise due to your lower income taxes. (Here's a little secret though...the government really doesn't want you to save it, they want you to....see number 4.)

4) Said "spending" money allows just that...for you to spend it. So let's look at the bigger picture of you spending your extra net pay money.

When YOU go to the store and buy, let's say, a new TV because you have that extra income money (from lower taxes) you think that it is only benefiting you, right? WRONG...if you have extra money and you are spending it, don't you think that at least SOME of the other 300 million plus people in the US are doing exactly the same thing?

So let's look at it this way...let's say 150 million Americans, due to their greater NET (by the way, see below for what this means if you don't already know) worth buy the same $1000 television that they wouldn't have bought unless they had that extra take-home pay. Did you know that all of a sudden, the sales of 150 million TV's just added to our growth in our economy? The more money spent within our economy means that there is prosperity. Prosperity means that all of a sudden there is higher demand of "stuff " (ie, cars, houses, sweaters, ring pops, whatever). Higher demand means more jobs. More jobs means lower jobless rate. Lower jobless rate means less welfare applicants. Less welfare applicants means less tax burden on Americans. The more money that is pumped into our economy also means that we are digging ourselves out of our nation's ridiculous deficit.

Look at it this way....let's say 100 million Americans each made $50,000 (called your GROSS income) with a 30% tax rate. So, if you were to look at it by an hourly rate, you think you're making about $24.00 per hour (if you work 40 hours a week/52 weeks a year). WRONG. When you deduct the 30% tax rate from your GROSS income of $50,000, you get your NET income of only $35,000. Sadly it's the way taxes work (but let me re-iterate that I do believe that some taxes are necessary for such things, since our country as a whole benefits from it, as our national defense...that's the only way we have the military). So now you don't make approximately $24.00 per hour, you really make about $17.00 per hour. So what if tax rates dropped 5%? Well your net worth will be $2500 more per year than it was before. Doesn't sound like that's much to make a difference? Well, let's look at the big picture again with 100 million other Americans making $2500 more per year in their NET pay. If you calculate that up, it equates to about $2.5 billion MORE money per year that our country has as spendable money. And that's only if everything were exactly as my above example.

So to summarize, lower taxes may not "amount to a hill of beans" to you but as a whole it means A LOT to our nation. Next we're going to talk about our energy crisis and what it means to me and how I think McCain/Palin WILL be the go-to people on this subject when they get elected.

Vote McCain/Palin for President and Vice-President!

Oh and by the way, to those that don't like Sarah Palin, my personal feelings are that you, subconsciously, don't like her because she's pretty and smart. Quit being jealous...I'll vote in a smart, beautiful woman, particularly Sarah Palin. Oh and I would way rather have a mother of 5 in the office any day of the week. If you are a mother, you know what I mean! Way to be both smart and pretty, Mrs. Palin! Lord help us should we have ever had manly dictator like Hilary voted in!

Fall Ball with the Cubbies

I think Fall Ball is my favorite compared to the traditional spring baseball season. Everything is so relaxed - it's way more about having fun (or maybe it's just that I think it's more fun because Lawyer isn't crying at every single game and practice).

Lawyer plays for the Cubs - Jason's beloved baseball team. I like the Cubs team this season really only because Lawyer gets to wear a blue/white/red shirt that really sets off his fair skin/light eyes/pink lips really well.

That's a pretty good judge of how well a team is in my book, wait, wouldn't that technically be considered "judging a book by it's cover"? Hmm, I shall ponder this the remainder of my day...

Anyhow, Lawyer's game on Saturday was lots of fun. It was somewhat cool and overcast, thanks to Ike (the hurricane, not my great uncle, which I don't even have a great uncle named Ike). The tiny kids were all over the place, except my poor child isn't so tiny....look at that giant 3 year old in the mix of those tiny 3 year olds!

Since Lawyer is so tall and really has such great conversation skills, especially for a 3 year old (I know adults that SUCK at conversation!), he always looks so much older and more mature-acting than a lot of other 3 year olds his age. Maybe I'm just biased but I see an 8 year old preparing to knock the ball out of the park, not my baby that's three!!

Look at that form (and look at those shoes...he picked out his shoes that morning)!

I think his favorite part of baseball is getting to get popcorn, bubble gum and a hot dog from the concession stand, although I don't know of any other reason to play/watch baseball besides that one reason.

The nifty little (or huge) baseball-plex has these cool bright blue awnings and metal bleachers that go perfect with Lawyer's uniform and his pretty blue eyes.

What a cute little ball player...he even has a swagger about him when he walks as if telling those that pass by that "yeah, I know I'm cool". Oh and check out the dirt on his butt...he was getting dirty on the field!

Way to go Cubbies, I never know if y'all are winning or losing but I sure have fun watching y'all play!