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Thursday, June 30, 2011

What Politics Mean to Me

Jarred and I had some good banter last night over potential presidential candidates for the 2012 election.  We're both interested to see who pulls ahead as the forerunner of the Republican party.  Jarred and I always agree politically, but I feel that he's a bit more conservative than I am when it comes to social issues.  But we're par for the course when it comes to fiscal issues.

Yeah.  That's right.  I'm a big bad Republican.  Or so that's what liberal media would have you think.  Here's the three myths about Republicans that bother me the most:

Myth 1:  Republicans are anti-Robin Hoods -- they take from the poor and give to the rich.

No, I don't want the government kicking the 'poor' to the curb and giving tons and tons of money to big businesses.  But I do believe in trickle-down economics.  Give money to businesses, they will be able to use that money to create more jobs that will benefit those in lower tax brackets.

Myth 2:  Republicans are against assistance programs.

No, I don't think government assistance programs are bad.  I just think our government has gotten pretty lax on who is able to be on programs like Medicare.  Spend one hour sitting in your local SSA office and you'll see what I mean.

Myth 3:  Republicans are against women's and gay's rights.

No, not all Republicans are vehemently against abortions and gay marriage.  My opinions?  I believe life begins at conception.  However.  I have never been through the pain of rape or incest.  I believe I have absolutely no right to tell a woman who has gone through such tragedies that she must keep the baby.  If that thinking makes me 'pro-choice', then so be it.  However (again).  I also believe that there should be absolutely no federal funding of abortions.  If a woman decides to end a pregnancy, she pays for it.  Not the American taxpayers.

Gay marriage.  I'm tired of this issues, so let's just say above all, I don't think there should ever be a federal law put in place concerning abortions or gay marriage.  I 100% believe that each state should decide for itself.  If 25 states pass bills allowing gay marriage, I'm cool with that.  Just let the states decide.  That's so important.


My opinions about social issues are never set in stone.  My views on fiscal issues are.  I identify with the Republican party simply because I favor their financial stance above the Democrats'.  The economy is terrible so I believe social opinions are arbitrary at this point.  Let's get the country back on track!

So for that, sorry POTUS, you won't get my vote in 2012, much like you didn't in 2008.


For what it's worth, yes, I believe in the separation of church and state.  But most Americans don't actually understand what that part of the First Amendment really means.  It means the federal government won't establish a national religion.  That means every American has the right to worship any religion they choose, or no religion at all. 

As I am a Christian, I often wonder whether Christian lawmakers have a difficult time forming opinions about issues without taking religion into account.  I try to separate my religious views from my political views and don't let one influence the other.  I'm not sure whether that's the best way to go and I'd be interested to know what Christian lawmakers do.  The Bible tells me how I should live my life and how I should treat others.  While government laws also technically do that too, it's for different reasons. 

One of the 10 Commandments is "Thou shalt not kill" meaning as a Christian, it would be wrong for me to take another person's life.  As a follower of Christ, I should love all people and seek forgiveness rather than vengeance.  Under our government, one can't take another person's life and not pay a price.  These laws are set to keep order in our country.  It's the same laws or commandants -- but they're there for different reasons.  While I agree with both the Commandant and laws that prohibit murder, I don't think the US should have a law against taking another's life because I'm a Christian.  I believe it is morally wrong to kill another human.  I don't think morals and religion are inclusive.

This entire post was spurred by an hour of sifting through my other blog.  I came upon this post with a video.  I think it states perfectly how many Republicans feel.  Jon McNaughton has recently come out with another video about today's Christian.  I think it's worth a watch:


MIA

Alright. I think it's high time I let everyone know what's going on with me and Jarred. We are so excited!

No! We are most definitely not expecting! Yuck and pass thankyouverymuch. Please talk to me again when I'm not still a baby myself.

Nope, We're moving!! And completely happy about it. We'll be on the clear other side of town and in a townhouse. Let me tell you -- it's nice. And worth the extra money.

We've been so unhappy in our current apartment, but weren't sure whether we'd find something else. So Jarred looked in the newspaper and online, found these townhomes, went to view last week and put a deposit down the next day.

Now that we've told our landlord and have most everything squared away, I thought it'd be fine to make the announcement. We are moving very soon.

There are tons of projects to get done, but for now, I've been taking this week to slowly pack our things and purge. While we'll have more space overall, we have fewer closets, so lots of unecessaries are getting tossed.

We're also excited because aside from painting the walls, we can do what we like in our decorating. Sweet!

I'm not sure for how long we will be without Internet, but hopefully since we will be keeping with the same company and will still be living in town, it won't be that long. I know I'll have a lot of happy pictures to post.

We are counting down until our move and can't wait to share everything!

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Faces: Recap


I think you'd be hardpressed to find any clue as to whether we're related.  We've perfected the stink eye and fish lips.


This is the first time in the short Wistful Wife history that there's been a Fill in the Blank Week.  What started off as me taking silly pictures of myself quickly became the inspiration for this project.  I've seen similar prints in magazines and thought it would be fun to blog it.  Almost like photo booth strips. 

I love learning about my camera.  I've still got a long way to go, but for now, I'm having fun taking pictures.  Which is the point of a camera anyway. 

What's in store for the weekend? Well, J and I have a few projects to work on. Sadly, they won't be unveiled for a couple of weeks. In fact there may not be much blogging going on until mid-July. But once we're back in full force, we can't wait to show you what we've been doing!

Happy weekend and I'll be back next week for some short updates and for the 4th!

Friday, June 24, 2011

Faces 5

We're rounding out this Faces Week with Little Sis -- and a special guest appearance by Lou..  Now this is a girl who knows how to give expressions! 

It's been fun creating these silly collages of my family.  Hopefully this won't be the last time I do this project. 

Tune it tomorrow for a special recap of the week!

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Faces: Redeux


Sis snapped pictures of me over the weekend.  Had to make another face collage.  I think I'll entitle this one 'Stink Eyes and Raised Eyebrows'. 

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Faces 4


Oh my. 

Yes, a collage of Sweets had to include a cigar.  And in the middle top picture?  Jarred doesn't paint his nails.  That's Sis holding up the glasses.

I can't say this perfectly describes J, but it's the only range of expressions I can ever capture on a camera. 

Coming up tomorrow, I've got a redeux collage and then we'll be round out Faces Week with a collage of Little Sis.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Faces 3


I like to call this human 'The Mother'.   All of these faces are given on a daily basis.  Mom's a cool crafter and paper artist and she has a blog too

Monday, June 20, 2011

Faces 2


This week at The Wistful Wife, we're featuring faces.  I was so inspired by my impromptu self-photoshoot that I decided to take photos of the rest of the family. 

I'll be featuring one family member collage each day until Friday.  I've even got another collage of myself from pictures that Sis took. 

There's going to be a lot of pictures going on and not much writing.  But everyone needs a break from my words, right?

Today I'm featuring that father o' mine.  I unfortunately got home too late yesterday to post this collage on Father's Day, so it will have to be a day late.  I hope you had a good Father's Day Dad!  Go Deacs!

Friday, June 17, 2011

Bucket Lists and the Release of Fear

I'm a 23-year old housewife.  I'm still a student in college and I feel like I'm missing out on something.  Jarred and I haven't really seen anything.  We haven't really done anything.  We're in our early 20s and live a fairly secluded life. 

I think we're wasting our younger years.




I'm not sure whether I'm having a year of revelations, or a 2-year shy quarter life crisis, or a nervous breakdown, or heck, all three.

Doesn't matter really.


My mother-in-law told us when we first got married to enjoy this time and think about babies when we're older.  There are so many things to experience and yes, children would hinder that.

I know quite a few people (women) who would be absolutely appalled by that statement.  But it's completely true.  Jarred and I have plenty of time to think about kids.

But until then, we're gonna do us.



I dyed my hair red today.  Or, reddish, rather.  My natural color is so dark, I can't really do anything ccompletely crazy since the dye won't take without bleaching my head first.  I couldn't get a decent picture of myself that actually showed the new color:

I think I like it.  I didn't really care what color, I just wanted something different.  I actually wouldn't have minded if it was redder.


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I have a bucket list. 

Did you know that?

Here's a partial bit of it:

Travel all across the U.S.
Travel to Canada
Travel to the U.K.
Take a cruise
See the Northern Lights
Scuba dive in the Great Barrier Reef
Ride a mechanical bull
Ride in a helicopter
Gamble in a casino
Be able to understand and communicate basic French and ASL
Fly first class
Make all my own Christmas ornaments
Pet an elephant
Have a weird pet, like a goat or chicken
Read 100 books in a years time
Learn to use my camera
Own a Louis Vuitton bag
Own a MacBook
Get healthy
Retire to the coast
Own a home
See a musical on Broadway
Learn to make good homemade brownies
Rescue a pet from a shelter
Raise children
Earn my degree
Participate in an art show
Complete a quilt
Learn to really sew
Keep a blog/YouTube channel going for years
See Starry Night at the MoMA in NYC

There are many others things I want to do and there are specifics to the ones I listed.  Jarred and I talked last night and I told him I'd like to travel.  I want to see the West Coast and I want to see Niagra Falls and I want to see a volcano.  And that's just things to do in North America. 

I'd like to be able to look back on my twenties and realize all the things we've done!  Traveling doesn't make a full life for everyone, but maybe it will for me.  I think bucket lists are so important.  They give us something to look forward to and something to strive for. 

I think I'll get started on my list this weekend by making some brownies.  I've wanted to learn how to make homemade brownies since I've only eaten the box mix variety and honestly, I had no idea homemade brownies were real.


Maybe I should document every time I complete something on my bucket list?  It's not as difficult as it seems.  All it takes is a decision to visit England for a week or take an Alaskan cruise.  All the details are irrelevant.  Just do!



"Every man dies – Not every man really lives.” -William Ross

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Faces


YouTube channel in the works!  Be looking for updates!

It was a lazy past week here at Wistful Wife - thus the reason for the lack of updates.  Oh yeah, and I house sat this past weekend. 

So everything is back to normal for this week.  Went to the grocery store and spent double the amount I normally do in order to buy a (pardon my French) sh*t-ton of health food.  I even bought brussel sprouts.  Yeah.  Little Sis opened my eyes to the fabulosity that is Bitchin' Kitchen, hosted by Nadia G.  She's my new favorite lady because Nadia told me I had nothing to fear when it comes to weird vegetables.  And she was so right. 

Guess what we're having again tonight!  Yeah.  Brussel sprouts.  Garlic roasted brussel sprouts.  Want the recipe?

You're welcome.


Now most of the things that I get really excited about online, I didn't find on my own.  As if my Pinterest account wasn't already an indication of that. 

Anyway, I like to give credit where it's due, and this week, Little Sis is getting a lot of love.  I've been interested in getting some kind of vlogging in the works but haven't really had the equipment.  I still might not, I don't know.  But ever since we bought our Rebel, I've been wanting to try out the video feature on myself.  And Sis showed me the brilliance that is Nerimon, or as YouTube search reveals:  Alex Reads Twilight.  I genuinely appreciate people who are actually funny.  And this guy is hilarious without being a douche.

Inspiration to start a YouTube channel to accompany this blog?  Why yes!  I've taken video of the fish tank and of Louie, but I've yet to turn our camera on myself.  Obviously I love hearing myself talk.  I mean, I have a blog for goodness sake.  Vlogging would just be another way I could feed my narcissism.  All that's needed is a tune-up of the way I film and edit my videos and we'll be in business! 

So what's on the agenda for the rest of the week?  I'll probably post something or another about those dreaded brussel sprouts and I'm thinking a book review would be in order.  Then I'll moan and complain about the plans Jarred and I have had (and I've been mentioning on here) that have been pushed back a week.  Bummer city. 

Oh yeah, and I guess I should say something about my display of silly faces at the top of the post:

My face.  It's so great, you need it nine times.

Au revoir!

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Partial Vent - Excusez Moi

I unfortunately read this article from Yahoo.

Makes me pretty mad.

Even though I took a course where we covered mortgages and talked extensively about the financial crisis, I won't pretend to remember hardly anything learned, but I get the gist of the article.  But I'm not really talking about the financial aspects of it. 

I'm talking about how mad it makes me that these people did stupid, stupid things like take out second mortgages for ridiculous reasons and now they're underwater.  Now it's a waiting game the article calls 'foreclosure limbo' where homeowners are waiting for the courts to decide whether to foreclose or not.  But until then, these people get to go right on living comfortably in their homes minus a mortgage payment.  One woman, who bought a home in '98 for $135K refinanced twice and took out a second  mortgage to expand her business.  Now she's in the hole $600K when the house is now only worth $235K.  This woman says that the foreclosure limbo is 'hell'. 

Get a life, lady.  You did something really stupid and now owe almost 3 times the amount your house is worth.  Yet you figure you don't need to make another mortgage payment because who gives a damn!  You're already screwed!

And yet there are so many people like Jarred and me that want nothing more than to have a mortgage payment.  Because most of the people that are in homes now obviously don't deserve them and don't appreciate them.


Alright.

I'm done with that vent.

Jarred and I are fine with where we are right now and in fact, we probably won't be buying a home anytime soon.  We both are in agreement that we'd much rather save a lot more money to be able to afford something we could call home indefinitely.  I don't want a little bitty starter home.  We want something that we can grow into from the start.  Yeah, it's going to take longer but you better believe that we'll appreciate it more than any of my friends that are in homes already.

Today is the 96th birthday of Les Paul, maker of guitars. Go onto Google's front page and you can record your own song.  This is my little bit of strumming....

And that's that peoples!

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

A Hot Day for Failed Photos

It's hotter than you-know-where outside.  Seriously.  I was in my car before noon and when I got to my destination, my back was dripping sweat.  And I had the air conditioning on full-blast.  Figures.

I haven't found the time to really read through my camera manual yet; I've just skimmed the more important parts.  But I think I've taken some pretty good photos still.  My problem in editing software.  Don't really know what I'm doing.  I fiddle until I think it looks good.  Not professional-looking, but I love the outcome nonetheless.

Photos don't always come out perfect, even with an expensive camera.  I tried taking photos of myself and Lou on his birthday and failed miserably.  It's hard to hold a bulky camera with one hand and have a 30 pound dog in the other arm.

We tried.  We really did.  And Lou was a trooper.  But alas, the pictures weren't up to par.  But of course I'm still going to post them!




Lou is still cute as a button with all his missing teeth.  Poor puppy!


So today I wanted to redeem myself and heck, it's one pretty day outside.  So I let him and Baby out to play.  Or to sniff around.  Whatever.




These two are so hilarious.

The next few days are looking to be pretty uneventful, but maybe busy???  We don't have any definite plans, but I'm beginning to deep clean the apartment and finished up our bedroom last night.  I'm wanting the start on the second bedroom tonight or over the weekend when Jarred's free, 'cause I need HELP.  There are spiders in that room and I'm not running back and forth to get a pair of Jarred's shoes to squash them with.  He's just going to have to be there to do it for me.

Which reminds me, whenever I call Jarred to come kill a spider, he always recites a part of The Woman Song, sung by Rodney Carrington on the Bob and Tom Show.  It has some adult content, but it's fairly tame. 

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Summers

Summers are good for:

1.  Reading.  I'm currently into the book Wicked.  Mom and Dad bought me the book when I was in high school and I never got past the first chapter because I didn't understand what was going on or some of the adult concepts/themes.  Little older, little wiser, I can read it just fine now.

2.  Baking.  We're having a cheesy spinach bake for dinner tonight.  Making me hungry just thinking about it.

3.  Grilled cheese.  That's probably what I'll be having for lunch.  We just don't keep lunch foods in our home since we normally have leftovers.  We don't today.  Whoops.

4.  Crafting.  Yeah, I'm not done with my quilt and my predictions of the quilting taking a month or so are pretty spot on.  It may be much longer depending on mine and Jarred's situation.  <----- More on that at a later time.  It's nothing bad!  Promise!

5.  Catching up on cleaning?  I'm trying.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Happy Birthday Baby Boy!

Today is Louie's birthday.  He turns 9 years old.  :sniff:

He's spent the day relaxing and left Mommy a little present while I was out shopping.  He's so selfless, even on his birthday!

We got him new food/water bowls that sit on a platform so he doesn't have to bend over so much to eat.  He also got a new bouncy ball and will be treated to some bacon later tonight.

 With his bright red lei.


 Loves exploring outside


 Silly.


 Playing the Staring game with Daddy.


 So sweet!


The sound of the camera scared him and he came running for Mom.


This is the second birthday you've spent with us.  I was a little worried about adopting a dog, but I don't think we've ever made a better decision.  You were most deserving of a home where you would be showered with hugs, kisses, and goodies.  You weren't too sure about us for the first few months, but you finally got settled in and it seems like you're not even the same dog. 

No matter what, you will always be considered our first born.  You are my constant companion; always by my side.  Happy birthday LouieBoo!  You are one loved pup!


"The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is his dog." --George Graham Vest