Liberals take the fun out of Tradition
October 31, 2007 | Check-in | Comments [2]
I had to post this to you all. It’s from my friend Cynthia who works at the University of Evansville in Southern Indiana. She is perhaps the only Mitt Romney supporter on the entire campus:) The liberal academia up there just about drives her stark raving mad. Even simple interactions with them just boil her blood:)… HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
“Last night some professors had their kids out on campus to trick or treat. And two cute little kids came up to Ann and me and gave US candy. Their dad said that was a tradition they’d started with their kids – to give away instead of get candy. I asked if they also got to trick or treat the usual way too and have people give it to them to keep. He said, well, they get candy at other times ….Meaning no. They don’t. I thought that was just criminal. Poor kids. It’s one thing to do reverse trick or treating too but to not also let them get candy to keep on Halloween …
These academics. He probably read some sociological study that recommended this stupid idea. Probably supposed to make them grow up to be do-gooders who join the Peace Corps. 
What it’ll really do is fill them with resentment and rage and just wait – they’ll pay dad back for this when they get older.:) “
Lainie! Ben! Julie
October 30, 2007 | Ad-MOM-ishments | Comments [1]
I just read your response to my Goodlooking kids post, and you said your blood sugar was 207!! You are definitely diabetic, and it’s serious. Get that under control right away. It sounds like you are doing it. Avoid much starchy foods, breads, and sweets. You know how the tap dance is danced. As you said, you’ve been dieting all of your life. As for your legs. They are pretty, but Carmen, Beth, and Brenda have prettier legs than you and Maria, but you and Maria still have pretty legs. Bill was right, I think I got myself into trouble with those comments. We can’t have everything. I had bad skin all of my life, and here I am 70 years old, and I have adult acne….that stuff I’ve had all of my life. And now 2/3rd’s of my hair has fallen out. I was always proud of my thick hair, and maybe my pride was my problem.
Ben, I’m so sad that you have to go back to work all of those hours. Please stay away from those sandwiches. What about your sugar? Do you test often. Hmmm! I just read your article. The parts I understood were funny.
Read Ben’s article in “silver bullets comics”. Click on “Welcome to Silver Bullet Comics (in red print), and then scroll down, and watch on your right for “meanwhile”, and his article is the third one. There is a picture of little Ben and the big one.
Julie! Loved the photos. Speaking of which. Where are the photos that Luis and I are supposed to get. You know. The ones we took at J. C. Penneys. You surely must have gotten them by now, unless something went wrong.
Welcome to the Existential Vacuum, Ben!
October 30, 2007 | Kudos | No Comments
All I can say is… thank your lucky stars for parents that taught you how to find Meaning in life:
[From an essay by Genrich L. Krasko]
This “sickness” is the loss of meaning in people’s lives. In one of his books (Man’s Search for Ultimate Meaning, p.94.) Viktor Frankl writes:
“Unlike an animal, man is no longer told by drives and instincts what he must do. And in contrast to man in former times, he is no longer told by traditions and values what he should do. Now, knowing neither what he must do nor what he should do, he sometimes does not even know what he basically wishes to do. Instead, he wishes to do what other people do… or he does what other people wish him to do…”
Frankl picked up on the devastating effects that would plague the generations after World War 2 and called the culprit “Meaninglessness”:
“What threatens contemporary man is the alleged meaningfulness of his life, or, as I call it, the existential vacuum within him. And when does this vacuum open up, when does this so often latent vacuum become manifest? In the state of boredom. ”
In this situation when people “lose ground” the old liberal social philosophies also fail. The bitter truth, says Frankl:
“For too long we have been dreaming a dream from which we are now waking up: the dream that if we just improve the socioeconomic situation of people, everything will be okay, people will become happy. The truth is that as the struggle for survival has subsided, the question has emerged: survival for what? Ever more people today have the means to live, but no meaning to live for.”
Robert Kaplan (1994), a noted American journalist gives a vivid picture of the existential vacuum that has engulfed America:
“When voter turnout decreases to around 50 percent at the same time the middle class is spending astounding sums in gambling casinos and state lotteries, joining private health clubs and using large amounts of stimulants and anti-depressants, one can legitimately be concerned about the state of American society. We have become voyeurs and escapists. Many of us don’t play sports but love watching great athletes with great physical attributes. It is because people find so little in themselves that they fill their world with celebrities. The masses avoid important national and international news because much of it is tragic, even as they show an unlimited appetite for the details of Princess Diana’s death.”
Pop would be proud of you for seeing the wastefulness of gambling and lotteries. He always pounded on that horn:)
I’m Back
October 30, 2007 | Check-in | No Comments
I have returned to a cash register. After searching far and wide for any job that would fill the $200-$300 dollar lack in my current pay level at Leggett & Platt, I had no choice but to return to the register position at Kum & Go. The good is that I’m avoiding overnights working 4 hour shifts during the week. The bad is that I’m working 4 hour shifts during the week and an 8 hour shift on Saturday’s.
Believe it or not, I miss my kids.
Anyway. Having returned I am reminded once again of the varied and interesting lifestyles people choose to live. Which in turn has solidified my belief in a few truths:
The Lottery, in any form, is evil. It perpetuates poverty, provides false hope, and corrupts goverments.
You’re never to young to be addicted to a substance.
A bad attitude at work really makes things hard for yourself and others. (The ladies I work with have a second job called “bad mouth the other worker(s)”, it’s really annoying)
And convenience store sandwiches are just as addictive as nicotine. I Love’em!
Ah those Bengals!
October 29, 2007 | Kid Brag | Comments [1]
I have attached the League Standings here! League Stats
9AM
Oct 27
Bengals performed their 5th shutout of the season.
Adam-Michael Polhemus gets 7 tackles.
The winless Steelers go home with a 14 – 0 loss.
Playoffs begin Monday Oct 29.
Game 1: The Saints and 49ers will each play either the Panthers or the Steelers for the wild card
Game 2: Nov 5 The winners of Game 1 will face the Falcons or the Bengals.
Game 3: The winners of Game 2 will play for the Championship at The Spain Park HS Field…
THE FALL FLING
October 28, 2007 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Last night was the annual Fall Fling put on by the Primary. It was the event where everybody dresses up in their Halloween costumes (minus masks, because they scare the little ones, right Buddy), and it’s held outside, unless it rains, and then it’s inside. It rained! Anyway, there are lots of games to play for candy, like bean bag toss and fishing for ducks, etc. I think there was a cake walk. I wasn’t there. I elected to stay at home, away from the noise and confusion. Jordan looked so pretty, dressed up in her Chinese dress, and her face painted white (she was a geisha) and hair pinned up, with two knitting needles holding it in place. Tehla was a Fairy Princess, likewise a friend of Jordan’s, who would live with us if we would let her. Another of Jordan’s friends, Michelle, was dressed up like Hermione (sp?) in Harry Potter, and she had the HAIR, except her’s is dark brown. Jason was dressed up like a Muslim Jihadist! Carmen had on a black shirt with “Happy Halloween” on the front, and I asked Maria what she was. She was dressed in jeans and a brown shirt. She pulled a little plastic taco out of her pocket (that is part of a toy kitchen food set of Teyla’s) and held it out. And I said, “you’re a Mexican”, and she said, “I’m and Illigal Alian.”
country living
October 27, 2007 | Uncategorized | Comments [1]
I created a design of an entryway with plants and pots etc . that will be on the cover of country living magazine in april. I will try to figure out how to show the cover then.
“August 14, 1976…All Is As It Was Except…YOU ARE THERE-ere-ere…”
October 23, 2007 | Nostalgia | Comments [3]
The Worldwide Web never ceases to amaze me even after the past fifteen years that I’ve been fooling around with it.
I was working here in my hotel room in Wichita, listening to music on Rhapsody. Specifically, I was listening to a live-recording compendium from the band YES, which most of the older folks in the family remember well. I noticed that some of the tracks were from a 1976 concert in Detroit, and that made me remember that I had seen that tour, the Chicago stop, when I was attending college at Beloit College.
I remembered that it was at the Hawthorne Racetrack in Cicero, Illinois just west of Chi-town proper, so I Googled it.
Lo and behold, someone has put up the entire program from that concert, including some photographs, notes with recollections of folks who attended, etc.! All the other acts that played that day are listed as well – Gary Wright, Peter Frampton, Lynyrd Skynyrd – so I know this is precisely the performance that I attended, it was an all day “festival” kind of affair, we stood in line for HOURS just to get in.
The weather was hot, but tolerable, and the day was sunny and bright. I remember YES’ lead singer, Jon Anderson, making the remark about “the sun” being the lighting-man for that day (he was always into all this mystical junk about the sun, etc.)
Well, you youngsters who might be looking on, look upon something of your eldest brother’s/uncle’s/grandpa’s history, and laugh!
Don’t forget “Button, Button”
October 20, 2007 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Ben, That tickles me that other families like to play “Fruit Basket”. I don’t even know where the idea came from. Anybody know? We were talking about some of our favorite home evenings last Monday, and Luis said he enjoyed the puppet show by Bill and Ben. I thought my sides would split, when Beth used little Ben (five months old) for a prop. She called it, “Ben making cookies.” She had all the supplies, like bowls, and a hand-cranking egg beater, etc. Ben just sat on her lap, making hilarious faces, while she went through the whole little skit. She made it more amusing, by throwing the eggshells in the batter, etc. She’s quite a comic! But, we know that!
And remember “Button, Button”? One person has the button. Everyone holds out their hands clasped together. The person with the button slips his hand through each person’s hands, and drops off the button secretly. Meanwhile, one person is outside, and can’t look. They have to come in, and they have one, two, or three guesses as to who has the button, depending on how many are playing. Remember?
We have FHE now, but we gave up trying to play anything, because Teyla is entirely too disruptive. She has to grow up a little more.
Fruit Basket Turnover: The Legacy Lives ON!
October 19, 2007 | Uncategorized | Comments [2]
Mom, I just thought you’d like to know that the legacy of our favorite FHE activity lives on. I went hometeaching the other night to a part-member less active family and the lesson was on having FHE. As part of the lesson I taught the boys (ages 8 and 9) how to play Fruit Basket Turn Over. They LOVED it and had to play many many many rounds before we could leave. I was actually surprised that nobody else knew how to play.
It’s also not the only family I’ve taught it to. Our really good friends, the Vanhooses, who have 4 children, were very glad to have a game that could incorporate all of their kids.
So anyway, just thought you’d like to know that your efforts to have FHE were not spent in vain. I remember the games and the lessons, and now that legacy has been passed on not only to my children, but others as well.
Good job Mom and Dad!
Love you
Congrats
October 17, 2007 | Uncategorized | No Comments
To the Bengals’ continuing success. Sorry Adam-Michael didn’t get in on the last rumble! Buddy, you could easily have been a sports-journelist. I love reading your reports. In fact, I think you should write these reports up for the coach and give them to him. huh?
Bengals continue the carnage
October 17, 2007 | Kid Brag | No Comments
Tuesday night, Hoover East football stadium. Cool breeze and the smell of chili-cheese nachos, hot dogs and grass rubbed around on a fresh patent leather pigskin football. That is football. Around here the best announcers have a tinge of Southern Baptist fire and brimstone preaching in their voices and tonight was no exception.
The Bengals took the field to stretch their record to 5-1. Still smarting from the loss 2 weeks ago to the Falcons and feeling more competent with their victory over the Saints, they focussed their anxieties on the Panthers… a team they had shutout in their first game 12-0. The Panthers had improved though just like all the other teams in their conference. They boasted a huge front line of 11 year olds headed up by one of Adam-Michael ’s close schoolmates ‘Caleb’. 5′6″ and 208 pounds of offensive and defensive tackle. YES! He IS that large.
Running up the middle was near impossible on offense, and on defense… holding the Panther’s running backs to less than 3 yards a carry when they pushed over the back of the 6th grade behemoth was a feat similar to surviving a Fat Albert attack in a championship Buck Buck game. Yet the Bengals did hang on.
In the second quarter, Roman Virciglio handed off to the fleet-footed Marlon Humphrey for a routine off-tackle jaunt to the left (yes, opposite Caleb’s position) and he cut outside for a 55 yard touchdown run. They held us for the extra point. No more scores until the 4th quarter where we decided passing might be fun for a change. Roman threw an out pattern pass to Tyler Duffey for a 15 yard gain and 2 plays later he found Marlon wide open on a post pattern for another 25 yard touchdown… again no extra point.
We kicked off and recovered the ball immediately. Then, our very first play after winning a kickoff prize, we coughed a fumble right back to them.
Well the Panthers got inspired. Eyeing our Monster defense with so many people on the line and realizing that we could pass on them, they threw a pass of their own over the left corner and scored on a combo 65 yard pass and run.
[I must stop here to interject that Adam-Michael was on the bench during that series since they have to rotate out their players and he was completely furious that he couldn't be in there to intercept that pass:).]
The Panthers were elated. It was now only 12-6. They had a chance until… until…
Yes folks, the onside kick they attempted was futile. Griffin Selby fell on it immediately and with 1 minute left in the game, Marlon Humphrey cut back up field from a left toss to nail the coffin shut. Virciglio ran in the extra point and the Bengals bowed to the crowd with a 19-6 victory.
The Steelers are next and over 10 days away… stay tuned!
Good Looking kids
October 16, 2007 | Kid Brag | Comments [1]
Bill observes that I may have blundered when I said Lainie had the prettiest face and hair of any of my girls. Lainie was quick to point out to Bill that I said “girls” and of course, we all know that Bill has the prettiest face and hair of all!! Let me see if I can ease out of this.
Somehow, I was blessed with nine absolutely beautiful and adorable babies. I have the photographs to prove it. By the time all of you reached your twenties and thirties, you were good-looking. Bill did have really good hair, and a cute face.
Bill, I meant to tell you before I left that you are VERY good-looking now. You look different somehow. Your teeth? Your hair is just beautiful. You have glided very gracefully into your fifties. You do, in fact, look better than I have ever seen you since you were a little boy.
Buddy, naturally, had an attribute that he and he alone was given. The Lord knew I would be nuts over dimples, and so He gave Buddy one from his Uncle Alex, and one from his Uncle Buddy, inasmuch as they only had one each. Buddy had a perfect physique. Not just from dancing, but naturally. He reminded me so much of my Uncle Frank. In fact, I have a photograph of my Uncle Frank just before he went overseas in WWII, and Buddy favors him very much.
Lainie has always had the pretty hair and face. She was so very beautiful as a young woman.
Beth has the gorgeous figure and pretty legs. She also has very beautiful eyes.
Brenda was the prettiest little teenager I ever laid my eyes on. I could hardly believe she was mine, except I knew that she was Peurto Rican through and through. She has the prettiest olive skin, and lovely dark hair.
Tony was such a perfect-looking baby. just the cutest little thing in the world. Tony was and is just plain good-looking. His best feature is his beautiful legs. I mean really pretty. Buddy, too.
But Carmen. She wins the leg contest. Without a doubt, I have never seen such beautiful legs anywhere. And of course, she was a dazzeller, too, in her earlier years. She’s so pretty now, when she dresses up, and her hair is healthy and shiny and thank goodness she gets it from the Hispanic genes in her.
Ben leaned way toward the Hispanic side, and I was shocked when his Patriarchal Blessing said he was from Ephraim. I really expected his lineage to be from Manassah. His hair has turned black, black, BLACK!! It’s so pretty, and I can tell he won’t go bald, either. None of my boys will be bald, except Tony, who is bald by choice. Ben has the fabulous legs. Absolutely beautiful. They are identical to Tony’s. Where do all of these beautiful legs come from? Even on the boys? Luis is bow-legged. My legs were pretty, but they were short, not long and lithe, like Carmen and Maria, and Beth.
And then Maria, who has the prettiest eyes of all. Green! Her hair is also healthy and shiny and pretty, and she has such a pretty slendar figure, and pretty legs. Yes, there’s those legs again.
Where did all of you come from? Where? On top of the looks have the amazing talents.
Bill, did I make it worse, or did I wiggle out?
The Things Kids Say
October 16, 2007 | Uncategorized | No Comments
We need a new category: Kidspeak, or something like that. Teyla says something almost everyday that either astounds me, or makes me smile, or just plain amuses me. For instance, yesterday, she was watching TV, and I interrupted her. She said “Shhhhh, Nana. Be Quiet!………ZIP IT!!” What should I have done with such disrespect, when I was so surprised and amused. Tonight, she informed me that it was time to test my blood. She likes to see me do that. She pulled out my chair, bowed gracefully, and said, “Your Majesty. TV, no doubt.
Today was temple day. I was posted in the Celestial room, when the endowlment session with twenty young men and women came through on their way to the MTC. What a huge spiritual feeling in that room! Young men and women have to be pure and virtuous now. There can be no mistake of a sexual nature, and then repentance. It is no longer allowed. So it is gratifying to know that there are still so many young people being raised up by righteous parents who keep the commandments, and are ready to serve the Lord when the time arrives. I love being in the temple more and more.
I have to be tested for Thyroid. Nancy was right, Bill. I have the two symptoms: hair falling out, and brittle fingernails cracking. It still may just be the medicine.
Beth, if you are reading this: You were so sure I was on something else besides the medicine the doctor gave me when I was so zoned out on that Sunday at your house. No, I was only on what I was given. It was much too strong. When I got home, he cut the mg. in half. I was doing crazy things. One thing was at the breakfast table I was wrapping up a piece of burned toast, and I told Luis I had to send it to you for your birthday. Then, Luis found me with a whole package of frozen sausage trying to chop it up. I told him I was going to make speghetti. Anyway, I take less medicine now, and I went through horrible withdrawals again, but I’m OK. I can handle it. But I absolutely was only on prescribed medicine, and I missed EVERYTHING. I missed seeing my friends in first ward, I missed seeing Crystal and the baby, and visiting with Sandy, because I hardly knew what was going on around me.
I FOUND IT!!
October 12, 2007 | Uncategorized | Comments [1]
The expensive bracelet that Dad gave me for Christmas last year, missing for about three months.
Making comments
October 12, 2007 | Uncategorized | Comments [2]
I want to make comments on everything, because I have the time, but once I log in, I don’t know where to go, because I seem to have no choice but to post something. So…Here are some comments. Lainie….About your Job. I know you love it.
I have to tell you that the most beautiful years of a woman’s life can be in her forties. Look at Beth. She is the prettiest I have ever seen her. She dropped those forty pounds, and is getting compliments right and left. You are so absolutely pretty. You do in fact have the prettiest hair and face of any of my girls. Stop thinking that young and beautiful has it made.
My prettiest years were from 44 to 49. When I hit fifty I let it slide, and it’s been downhill all the way. It just depends on what you really want. Fifty just sounded so awful to me that I didn’t want to face it. All in the attitude.
Julie’s snake story. Chuckles. I have never heard of a snake actually doing the chasing. I’m so glad that rattlesnake didn’t chase Teyla and me!! The shoelace? So funny.
Buddy…Your description of those ball games are page turners if you were writing a novel about them. There’s an idea.
Hooray for Adam-Michael’s team!!
I adore the pictures. I wish Carmen could figure out how to put up the photos of Teyla. She has a whole drawer full of costumes, and she is so precious in them all!! She will be a fairy princess for Halloween. And Jordan is all set to be a Chinese Lady (with an ugly claw hand)
Lainie….Casey is gorgeous. Will some of the rest of you please send Casey at least a card. It will only take a few minutes if you haven’t already done it. She needs her family desperately.
Jordan adores Lainie-Beth’s artwork.