First Amendment

I’m reasonably sure that right now there are a few million people who are up in arms over the Supreme Court’s decision to side with the appellate court in overturning the verdict against the Westboro Baptist Church protestors. While I sympathize with the families who had to be subjected to what I consider evil torture at a time where they are mourning the loss of their loved ones, from a civic prospective, I have to say that I am glad the Supreme Court upheld that decision.

First and foremost, I have to say that I in no way support the protestors. I think that they are morally wrong for intruding in what should be a moment spent with family and friends, putting to rest those who they have lost. However, I cannot control other people and their morals or values. I cannot control that they hide their own personal convictions  behind a higher being, as to somehow make their opinion seem more “right” or just.

I do have to support their right to protest. The one thing that I respect the most about the First Amendment is the basic right of that amendment. Our freedom to speak our mind,  without fear of some kind of retribution. Michael Douglas said it best in “The American President”: “A symbol of our freedom can’t just be a flag, it must also be a citizen of our country burning that flag in effigy. It must be someone screaming at the top of their lungs something that you find so offensive you would be screaming at the top of your lungs against.” Or something to that effect.

So while I find the actions of the Westboro Baptist “Church” completely offensive and morally and ethically wrong, I cannot say they don’t have the right to do it.

Hot Flashes, Night Sweats and Chin Hairs OH MY!

So, I was at the dollar store today, and they had a bin of tweezers that had a light on the end. What a great idea I thought and threw a pair into my cart.  You see, since I turned 36 last year, I have this hair on my chin. I have been pulling it out with my fingers but it usually takes a few days to get it out. I thought for sure this would make the job just that much easier. However, I have come to realize that this item was invented for women like me, who think that they are aging gracefully, but instead, through the little light on the end of a pair of tweezers, are sucked into a world of chin hairs.

CHIN HAIRS!! CHIN HAIRS! I have a multitude of chin hairs. That evil little light caused me to spend over an hour in the bathroom plucking every last little hair out of my chinny chin chin. How in the world did I go out in public with hairs like that? Why didn’t anyone tell me? I know those hairs were not there this time last year. They arrived, I’m sure, at about the same time the hot flashes did. And the night sweats. I asked for tickets to a concert last year for my birthday, instead I got these wonderful reminders from Mother Nature that I am no longer closer to 21 than I am to 50.

On another note, one where I am not so perplexed over my aging process, it seems that my oldest two sons have officially turned into teenagers overnight.  I mean, I know they are of age to be classified as teenagers, but they were holding on to their youth..still playing outside with friends. Now conversations tend to be about girls, games and girls. At least they talk to me, I should count my blessings. However, 9 times out of 10, if I give them a fact, they now question whether I am telling them the truth or am I talking out of my ass. Simple things too, like the sky is blue. “Are you sure?” UGH! Not many people are privy to the wisdom in my head, and they question it as if I made it up.

But, I can’t really complain. These kids are the light of my life. They make me laugh, rarely make me cry and seldom make me yell. Like I told Luciano, I can count on one finger the number of times I ever had to raise my hand to them, and they know I won’t ever do it now either…since they laugh at the very idea.

My mind is all over the place today, isn’t it? Perhaps it’s because I have been all over the place today.  I had a great time with a couple of friends. We left my three and their two(I say their because they are mother and daughter) at home with a couple of pizzas and video games, and we went out for the afternoon. We had a FABULOUS relaxing lunch and then went and did a little gambling. By the end of the trip, it had only cost $12 for everything. Our lunch, the boys’ lunch, my trip to the dollar store and a personal loan I made earlier so a friend could have cable for his daughter. As well as my many hours playing penny slots. And we each got a box of chocolates too! Now I am just sitting at home(well, laying) watching the Rebels play some basketball. I’m contemplating heading over to Rounder’s for a little video poker tournament, but I might just wait until the 1a.m. Unless I decide that I need to sleep, which I have had two hours over the last 48.

I have to sleep tonight too, as the boys and I are going to take in a hockey game tomorrow. Two rows behind the away team! Got some great seats…since I like to stay as far below the glass as I can. Rebels are going to lose…oh well. Okay, enough rambling, and I am rambling. I’m out. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

My two cents, for what it's worth

I have so much that I want to say about what happened in Tucson this weekend, but the words just aren’t coming out of my head into my fingers. Every story that I hear is so heartbreaking. In time people will want to blame someone, to justify why a young man would walk into a supermarket and harm so many innocent people. But the truth of the matter is, no matter how much rhetoric is spewed, how much anger is out there and how I personally would love to see blame placed…it all comes down to a young man with self- control, who took it upon himself to walk into that Safeway and fire that rifle.

I can only hope that of all the lessons learned from that tragic event that are learned, the most important is that people need to get along, especially in our nation’s capitol. I think too much time is wasted on NOT getting along, that those who we have elected forget why they are there. We put them there to be our voice, to serve the will of the people. I understand that things are not always going to be done to my liking, but it is for the better of our country. For example, I needed the Healthcare Bill to pass. Now, while it did pass, it didn’t pass the way I would like it to have passed. I need health care now, not in 2014. But, I know that in 2014, I will have health care. The constant arguing, which I sometimes think is just for the sake of arguing, is just a waste of time.

Okay, I’ll step off my soap box now. I have to say that in the last week, I have been sleeping so well.(KNOCK ON WOOD) I have been getting at least 5-6 hours of sleep every night, if not more. I don’t think I have been doing anything differently, maybe it’s just that I am a little bit more at peace lately. I’ve learned to leave things at my bedroom door over the last few weeks, and my bedroom has become a place of peace and solace.

Even my argument with Oscar yesterday didn’t keep me up last night. I have to mention it because it totally explains how dysfunctional our relationship is. As I said in my last blog, Oscar’s parents offered to drive Aaron back to Las Vegas. I was quite thankful, after what I went through last week.

So yesterday, they drove here from California. I called them at 1:30 to see where they were, as Oscar said it takes 8 hours from Visalia.  When I called they said they were approaching stateline, which is about an hour outside of Las Vegas. I asked if they  wanted to drive to my house or meet somewhere, and we agreed to meet at McDonald’s where they always took the kids at 2:30.

I left the house at 2:00, figuring that it would take me 15 minutes to get there, and then I would be there when they got there. Amazingly enough, I got there in less than 10 minutes(and no I wasn’t speeding LOL). There were cops everywhere, and a police motorcycle being loaded onto a tow truck. I put two and two together and figured it was an accident, and being that a cop was involved, his fellow officers all converged to see that everything was okay.

Oscar’s parents pulled in right behind me. Aaron came over to greet me, and we walked back over to their car. We hugged and  our hellos, and then my phone rang. It was Luciano, he was asking me how come I was meeting up with Oscar’s parents there instead of meeting up with them too. He basically was asking me what Oscar wanted him to ask, since I could hear Oscar in the background.

I told Luciano to hand over the phone to his dad, and I got verbally assaulted. Of course I started to cry,  which is what I do when I am mad, sad or angry. I told him that Aaron didn’t want to see him, which was why I had arranged to meet his parents. He said that it was Aaron’s issue, and he would be around when Aaron decided to grow up. I told him to call his mom in 15 minutes and I hung up the phone. Oscar’s mom told me that there was no point in getting upset, that it was what it was, and Oscar would have to fix the problem.

We talked for a few more minutes and I told his parents that Aaron could come to visit anytime they wanted him to. I also told them that there was a non-stop flight from Vegas to Fresno, which was 30 minutes from Visalia. Since Aaron is 15, he is more than old enough to take the flight by himself. Plus, it’s only $100 round trip. We agreed that flying was much easier on both of us, and next time he would fly.

I handed Aaron over his cell phone, but told him that he had to share it with me until my phone was delivered to me. He was totally okay with that and called his cousin Edward to let him know that he made it back to Vegas. We stopped at the grocery store and went shopping, then came home and put everything away. Then I took a nap, surprisingly enough.

Today we just hung around the house. I really wasn’t feeling all that well, my back was really giving me problems today. This happened while I was driving back to Vegas, which was the reason I came back to Vegas, as opposed to driving all the way to California. My whole left side goes numb, as opposed to the three toes on my foot. It’s the weirdest feeling in the world. It goes away, but I have to adjust my body. I know what the issue is, just can’t do anything about it. Unless I get Medicaid, which I won’t do.

But to leave things on a lighter note, the boys have finally given names to the kittens. The two white ones are Snow and Flake. The orange one is named Cheddah, and the black one is named Albino. I know, they are sick, but funny. It was a twenty minute conversation for the name of the black one, and finally Luciano came up with the name. My boys, they just make me laugh so much. I really did something right to be given three great kids.

Until next time!

Disaster Trip?

Well,  I’m back in Vegas. The trip was a long one. Things didn’t work out as I had imagined. The drive out to Albuquerque was nice, we hit a snow storm  in between the Hoover Dam and Kingman, AZ. It was seriously snowing hard.

About 50 miles outside of Albuquerque, Darrel started complaining about how he didn’t want to be there, and wanted to head back to Las Vegas. He felt that he was moving to the country. I told him that it was a city, with a reasonable amount of people living there. When we got to the top of the last hill, he saw how big it was and seemed to settle down.

We got to the hotel and all was well until Darrel called the front desk to ask for extra pillows and a blanket. The guy who answered the phone was rude to him, and that set him off again. Then the remote to the TV wasn’t working, so I called the front desk and they told me that it was the batteries and to come up to get new ones. We were going to go find something to eat, so it wasn’t a big deal.

After we got some food, we went back to the hotel, and got ready for bed. I went to open up the sofa sleeper, and it turned out that it was broken. That pissed me off. I called the front desk and got the same guy that had made Darrel mad. He gave me attitude and said we could switch rooms, if we really had to. I told him.

I slept on the couch, which really wasn’t so bad. And when I saw I slept, I really slept. Until 4p.m. the next day. When I woke up, Darrel and Pam wanted to go drive around and see what the city had to offer. They fought pretty much the whole time, which made me really uncomfortable.

We went back to the hotel and Darrel told me that it would be better if I just went on my way. I was a bit shocked, and didn’t know what to do. So I stepped outside and called Tom. He told me that I should stay, which I conveyed to Darrel and Pam. They said that they were both really stressed out, and having me there was not helping the situation because they couldn’t really fight with me around.

So, I packed up my stuff and headed for the highway. I was doing okay, making good time, but I was driving a bit too fast. Sure enough, I got pulled over. My first speeding ticket in over 10 years. The cop was nice about it, as he could have given me a really expensive ticket, but instead gave me a lesser citation. Needless to say, I decided to stop in Flagstaff and get a room for the night.

It was a whopping 1o degrees when I got there. I got a room and fell asleep until about 3am. At that point, since I had slept so much the day before, I was wide awake. I decided to get back on the road and head home to Vegas, instead of driving to California to get Aaron. It was 1 degree outside when I left.

I got about 80 miles down the road when I realized I left my cell phone back at the hotel. I considered turning around and going back, but opted to call when I got home. Besides, I had Aaron’s cell phone with me.

It took me 4 hours to get back to Vegas, but on the plus side, Arizona is an hour ahead of us, so it really was like 3 hours. Tom was sleeping so I went in the other bedroom to lay down for a bit. I did call the hotel and make sure they knew my phone was there. I have to call FedEx today to make sure it gets sent back out to me.

Now it’s 4am, and  I am wide awake. I guess my sleep schedule will be messed up for a bit, but I am getting sleep, which is a good thing. I also learned that you can only help people if they truly want help.

I hopefully will have my phone by tomorrow. I could have gotten a new one, but then I realized that I would lose everyone’s phone numbers.  So, I have to get that phone back.

I guess that’s all for now. I am going to finish watching Steve Wilkos show and try laying back down for a bit.

Andie

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Last night, Tom and I went to Rounder’s to ring in the new year. I actually had half a glass of champagne, and it gave me a headache. LOL I was in bed by 1:15, but Bret woke me up at 1:30…I told him just to walk in, I’d be up, but I had dozed off. We chatted for a few minutes, then he headed home.

As 2010 came to a close, I did think back on the year. It wasn’t the worst year ever, although I have seen better. Some things have changed but for the most part, life has continued on as normal.

This time last year Tom and I were in Virginia. If Tom is not handling the first anniversary of his mom’s passing well, you wouldn’t know it. The only thing that he has said was on Thursday. He sent me to make a bet on North Carolina in the Music City Bowl. He won the bet and said he had to make it because it was the 30^th, and North Carolina was playing and because it was the anniversary, he knew it was going to win. I didn’t handle my mom’s passing as well as he is, but then I tell people that there is a difference between Son/Mom relationships and Daughter/Mom relationships.

I pondered making resolutions this year, and voted against it. If you can’t make the changes the other 364 days of the year, the odds of you being able to do it because it’s the new year are slim to none.

Other than that, there is not much going on here. I am patiently waiting for the launch of OWN…the Oprah Winfrey Network. I know, it’s a little silly, but a lot of the shows look really interesting.  I also think it’s funny that Oprah had to get her own network so that Gayle could have her own talk show. What a friendship the two of them have.  I envy it just a little bit.

So, I am going to go lay down and watch some TV, possibly take a nap. It’s Saturday, which is tournament day. It just doesn’t feel like a Saturday though. I wonder how long it’s going to take to make everything back to normal. Hopefully soon, as  I don’t like not knowing what day of the week it is.

Til later!

A Quiet Night at Home

Last night I got some much needed sleep.  I don’t remember falling asleep, but I know I woke up two minutes before my alarm was set to go off. It was nice to rest without having a bad dream, being woken up by some kind of pain or some other insane reason. I have to say it wasn’t without a little help though. I had said that if I didn’t sleep last night, I would hunt down a sleeping pill, but a little Xanax did wonders.

Will I sleep tonight? Most likely I will, since I did so much physical labor today. We had the carpet replaced, and while the guys did an amazing job moving some furniture, I couldn’t just sit around and let them do it themselves. I told them to do most of the house and go to lunch and I would make sure the last room was cleared out so they could finish fast. I enlisted the help of some extra kids from the neighborhood so we just knocked it out. I know I did more than I should have but that’s the way I am. It’ll be okay, the boys are going to their dad’s tomorrow so I will have some time to rest.

Dinner last night was so much fun. It was so nice to have everyone together enjoying themselves. We all ate way too much, which is so easy to do at Claim Jumper. The portions there are always extreme. Normally, I order the pot roast, but I went outside the box and got some nice tri tip. It was amazing. And yes,  everyone made fun of me for eating my vegetables first. I can’t help it, they are my favorite.

So it’s just a quiet night at home. Tom is sitting next to me watching the news. Luciano has been sleeping since about 6 p.m. Colin is playing the Wii, just training his dragon.  It’s very cold and rainy outside, and there is a slim chance for snow flurries to fall later on tonight.

Tomorrow I have a few errands to run, then I will be home for the weekend. I am so not going out for New Year’s, since this town can get a little more than crazy. I know Pat is going out to the Strip, and I wish him lots of luck with that. I did it once and it will never happen again.

That’s about it for now.  

Tuesday December 28, 2010

Yesterday I took a few of my friends out to run errands. They don’t have a car, and it’s the least I can do to help out. Every morning, I run down my list of friends and think when the last time I had contact with them, and if everything is good with them. I know who likes to chat and who doesn’t. Sometimes I never make it down the list as I get stuck on someone when I am checking to make sure everything is good with them. This was the case yesterday. Now because of it, I have a future adventure on my hands.

We went shopping for winter jackets. Well, they needed jackets; I still needed to get some sneakers for Tom and myself. So we first went to Burlington Coat Factory. I didn’t realize that they had such a good deal on Sketchers. Normally, I have one pair of shoes for Fall/Winter, Spring/Summer but I actually bought myself two pair!

We also stopped off to get their mail at the post office. Turns out there was an important letter there, and because of it, they have to be in Albuquerque next week. Guess who is going on a road trip?

It’s odd how much I love to drive. It took me FOREVER to get my license, after the car accident when I was almost 16. I didn’t get it until I was 23 and the only reason I started driving in the first place was because I was home alone with the boys when they were babies and we ran out of milk. The sound of your child crying can pretty much get you to do anything.

Anyway, I love a good long drive. It just soothes my soul. It’s like Listening to a good song you haven’t heard in a really long time. Give me 5 hours on the road and my mind is back to where I need it to be.

For those who are interested, I STILL have not gotten any sleep.  Don’t worry; my mind really doesn’t start to get affected by the lack of sleep until I have been without at least 3 days of sleep.  I have only not slept in two days, so I am good for at least another 24 hours.

We have a carpet guy coming later today to give an estimate on the carpet to be replaced. It’s just easier to replace it, like I said before. Its old carpet and I’d like to start new.  After that, I have dinner plans with several friends, and I plan on having a blast. We’re dining at Claim Jumper tonight, and I will let you know how it goes.

Today seems like a good day to end with a life lesson. Since this blog is mostly about friends, we’ll make it the theme. People deserve a second chance, but not a third.

Until tomorrow.

Andie