Brief Details

• At this very moment I am sitting in a very quiet, very empty house.  Mike took the boys camping with our friend Scott and their 3 girls.  The Dads and the kids HAD to vacate the premises because last night Gina and I hosted a Pure Romance party.  And you know what?  Despite the fact that only one other girl showed up, we had a great time.  I will refrain from going into details about what was purchased out of respect for those involved!
• Remember those pices of furnioture I pauinted for the fundraiser?  They each sold for $550.00 at the auction the other night…and the mini corn home game the kids painted?  $130.oo  I’m already planning what to paint for next year!
• Girls’ Weekend is slowly approaching…and I’m struggling with whether or not to go.  School starts soon and I hate that disconnected feeling I often have after returining from being away from the house and the kids.  It’s like I have a hard time getting bnack into the groove and that concerns me even more since school is starting.  Mike thinks I should go and I have not ruled it out yet.
• If feels like the summer temps have finally arrived!
• I’m extremely angry with my father right now.  Both my sister and I have told my father not to contact us until he goes to therapy.  He hasn’t.
• The boys are done with swimming lessons and they rocked it!!
• We got Rogan’s preschool papers in the mail the other day…he will attend on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00 until 11:15.  We are both very very excited about this.
• Hang on, I need more coffee!
• Listen up!!!  I recently purchased jeans from BUCKLE.  They have so many freaking brands of jeans available and the sales associates are extremely helpful.  Granted the prices are a little high, however, I think we all know by now, great jeans are worth it.  Please be prepared to spend A LOT of time trying on jeans…we were there yesterday for about an hour and a half, and Gina came away with some HOT fucking jeans!!  It was worth it!
• The end.
• Goodbye!

Lacking Literary Inspiration

So I’ll start with this:  As we were driving past a local pet supply shop, McKade pointed out a puppy,  he then says, “I think that’s one of those “poo-dohs”!  “Honey”, I say, “Do you mean a poodle?”  And he says, “Yes a poodle!”  I have to admit, I absolutely love it when, with all innocence, the boys say things wrong!  Oh, and he also asked me not to tell Gina about this because he didn’t want her laughing at it.  He didn’t tell me that I couldn’t blog about it!  Just to be on the safe side, don’t tell him I told you guys!

It’s been a busy week, and frankly, we are at home today trying to be lazy.  We did force ourselves to run for groceries which I have been putting off all week.  But today, luckily some funds were deposited into our account thereby lifting the ban on spending money.  Nice how that happens!

The boys have had swimming lessons all week, and they are kicking ass and taking names!  (Why would anyone “take names after an ass-kicking”?)  I just don’t get it!

I just finished a painting project I did for a local fundraiser.  It’s called Benchmarks.  They provide the naked pine furniture and volunteers then paint whatever piece they choose which then goes into a silent auctions to raise money for a local women’s care center.  Here’s a few pictures of what I did:

The top is découpaged.  This was my first experience with that art form and I really enjoyed it.  The auction is some time in August and between now and then, I think my piece might be placed in a local shop to draw attention to the fund raiser.  The boys also painted some mini corn hole boards.  And I just realized I forgot to take pictures before turning them in.  One of the perks of volunteering is that the artists receive two tickets top the function.  So I’ll be able to take pictures then!  I actually one more piece to work on.  It may not get done, but I can work on it all the way through until next year’s event!  This is a total low pressure volunteer project: the best kind!

OH I ALMOST FORGOT!!  I GOT MY BOOTS!!!!  I saved up and bought a pair and I am damn proud of myself for not using credit to pay!  I shamefully admit that these boots are fucking expensive!!  Here’s another picture:

It’s Friday and I am looking forward to spending some time with Mike this weekend.  It feels like it’s a busy week which did not seem to provide much time for couple time!

Well, that’s all I got!

“She is so going to talk about religion in her blog!”

After recently getting connected with Benchmarks, a local fund raising organization, I started thinking more about my beliefs, my pro-choice stance and my thoughts on religion.

You see, I have not practiced any religion since, um, turning 6.  Hmmm, let’s see, that’s about 29 years ago, and that also coincides with our move to America.  I’m going to take a wild stab at it and say that any religious influence we had in our lives while living in Scotland was brought to us via the grandparents.  My parents did not continue any kind of religious tradition once away from their parents, although from time to time, we were invited by friends to partake in several Jewish celebrations, and we almost always went.

I think if I were forced at gunpoint to had to pick a religion, I would align myself with Judaism.  And I would do so for several reasons:

1. I have many ancestors who are Jewish!
2. Both my Mother and Father are Jewish!
3. I participated in more Jewish celebrations than anything else, unless of course you count Christmas, but I don’t!
4. The Jews are The Chosen People, and come on, how fucking cool is that?
5. I feel ferocious when I think about the Holocaust and what was done to the Jews, knowing that quite possibly one or more of my relatives was greatly affected by this  horrific event.
6. I am more willing to believe that we have not yet seen the coming of “the savior” rather than thinking that Jesus Christ was it.  [And just for the record, in this instance I am WAY more agnostic than anything else...I heard someone use the term "reverent agnostic" once, and frankly that shoe fits really damn well!]
7. The food!
8. They have great hair!
9. I keep (in the loosest sense of the word) Kosher simply because I’m a vegetarian…I don’t eat pork, and I don’t do meat and dairy together, I don’t eat crab, lobster, octopus, clam, swordfish, sturgeon…you see where I’m going with this…I’m Kosher by default!
10. And last but not least, have you seen my nose?!?!?

But seriously, the issue of religion is overwhelming and intriguing all at the same time.  I respect and welcome all definitions of “God” into the conversation.  What I can’t stand is when one religion is held up over all others.  What I can’t stand is when religion is used to infringe upon the safety and well-being of others.

It’s OK in my book to talk about religion.  Shit, it’s OK in my book to talk about anything you damn well want to talk about.  And I am proud of that.  I encourage that and I welcome that.

We can even throw around a few words about abortion and politics.