Is one Pledge enough?

I have been watching intently the political process as it takes place in our country. As many of you know, we have been involved in local politics for a long time here in our own little hamlet, and my interest and involvement does not stop there. I will tell you up front, I am not happy with any that are running for president, and when it is time to vote, both in the primary and in November, I will be struggling with what to do.

That said, there has been a controversy stirring regarding Mr. Obama and whether he does or does not put his hand over his heart during the Pledge of Allegiance. Upon further investigation, I found that it was NOT the pledge where he did not put his hand over his heart, but during the National Anthem.

Now, the first thing I will say is this: when I was growing up, we were taught to put our hand over our hearts during the pledge, but NOT during the National Anthem. We were to stand, quietly, with our hands at our sides and sing (or not sing). Now, a big hullaballew is being made over Mr. Obama NOT putting his hand over his heart during a song. I don't have a problem with him NOT doing that. I have a problem over everyone else doing it!

The Star Spangled Banner, while a lovely song with a lovely sentiment (that often will bring me to tears when someone sings it properly!) is not a promise - a pledge - to do something. It is a song describing what our country is and what it stands for. I think taking off my hat, standing at attention, and quietly listening or singing is honor enough.

Regarding the pledge, I have been discussing this with my very opinionated friend AP, and she says that "How many times must one take a pledge? The continual cultural pledging is nothing but propaganda and indoctrination. Why do we home school?" An interesting point. Once I pledge my allegiance to the flag, how come I have to continue to do so? Especially if I haven't stated that I change my mind?

One of my boys (legoboy) stated that one of his teachers at co-op got angry when he wouldn't put his hand over his heart during the Anthem. Ha. I told him next time to have them come find me (since I am almost ALWAYS there) and I would be sure to clarify things with them.

I would be interested in any feedback.

Working out

We joined our local YMCA back in November when it opened. I was such a good girl... going in two to three mornings a week and working out. I would work on 12 weight machines (they call it "Fitlinxx"), and do 10 minutes on the elliptical machine, and 10 on the recumbent bicycle. Then, Christmas came and we went out of town for 10 days. And out went my exercise routine.

I think I've gone four times since New Years. Bad, bad me.

So we went today. I feel like I did a good thing... 12 weight machines, 20 minutes on the treadmill, and 15 on the elliptical. Let's see if I can get back by Saturday!

(I would go during the day, but they have no "child watch" for older kids - ages 6 to 11 - until 4pm. If I leave Little Joe at home while I work out, he won't allow Legoboy and Bubba to get any school work done. I have complained about this many times... reminded them that not ALL kids are in "school" during the day, that there are many of us homeschoolers who are members).

By the way, did I mention my oldest son, Bubba? Now, you can tell HE'S been working out!! Yikes!!

The Return was inevitable

Yes, I am blogging again (HI KATHY!)... she is always happy when I blog something.

My life has been crazy lately. However, I keep repeating that HE is in control. He works everything out, for the best, in HIS timing.

So, I hope to get back to blogging again.

Some of what has gone on I won't get into (not interesting) but some I will...
My wonderful iMac crashed over thanksgiving. Hard drive bit the dust. So, Apple replaced it (free, of course, since we had Apple Care). We also learned the hard way about backing up. I had not backed up my harddrive in about three months. Actually, I had only backed up my Quickbooks, and nothing else. So I lost it all... photos, everything. I am quite bummed about that.

We purchased Leopard (waaahooo! For those who are NOT Mac savvy, Leopard is the new operating system...kind of like Windows is for PC). Love it, love it! One of the lovely new features is Time Machine. Time Machine will back up your ENTIRE hard drive to another source... in our case, that would be an external hard drive. It will do it every hour, if you want. I do it whenever I do something major... download pictures, input invoices, create important documents, etc. I just hook up the external hard drive, and turn on Time Machine.

Well, come January, I noticed I was having problems with several items. So I took it back in to have it looked at. Turns out the new hard drive was biting the dust, so they offered me a brand new laptop. Not "new" but same as my old one, BRAND new... with all the new stuff. Too kewl. I love it! Bad news... most of my back ups on my external hard drive were corrupted due to the bad hard drive. Yikes. They salvaged some, but not much. However, so far this time so good. Yes, I guess I had the "one bad Apple". (yes, bad joke)

I will say, I have had the best (BEST) service ever from Apple. I love being able to go in and talk to a HUMAN being and getting immediate attention. Not spending ages on a phone, pressing 1, then pressing 2, then waiting on hold for the next available person that doesn't speak English as their primary language (no offense, but I would rather deal with someone on my own continent that understands me and I understand them). Groan! I log on to the Apple website, make an appointment to see the local Apple "genius" at the local store, and then go in at my appointed time. You just gotta love it!

Bugman also went on a binge and purchased a 50" Plasma TV! Wow!! Yes, Paula Deen looks different in High Def! To go with this lovely (ah hem) item, we made a trip to Ikea (love that place, but you need a day and a half to shop the store... no wonder they have a restaurant!) and I was able to find a modular "entertainment" unit (glorified bookcases) that I liked (you can see it here). I was able to put together what I liked and as long as Tiny doesn't use the drawers as a staircase, we'll be in good shape.

Here is a picture from our Thanksgiving in Roanoke (Texas!) with our friend, Pat. Look who came to eat with us (LOL!) Pictured are (from left to right): Me, Little Joe, Legoboy, GWB, Bubba, Tiny, and Pat. Bugman took the picture. I have one with him in it, but I hardly ever show myself, so I decided to use this one instead. We were missing Kate, Pat's daughter (she's like Bugman's sister, LOL). Pat is Bugman's Thai Mom (Bugman lived in Thailand for awhile before we were married). Kate was off in sunny CA, while we were freezing and having SNOW!!