I'm moving

Yeah, most of you know this by now, but I'm moving to Wordpress. Here's my new address. I could import all of my old Blogspot posts, but why?? Why not start fresh?

http://heathertyfeatherty.wordpress.com/

Stop it, Angela

Here it is, two hours later and I'm still on the internet! Angela gave me a cool blog to read, and then another, and then some more. Then I had to cry about Audrey's story, and read some more....and now it's 10:00 and it's way past my bedtime!

I want to try to remember to write about my Lutheran upbringing tomorrow because it's so different than what I read from Down South. Not in a bad way, just more like Garrison Keeler. Did I spell that right?

For my Democrat friend Sara

I never did reply to your last post about reconciling my views with my voting record, so I thought I'd do it here instead. I think the jist of what you said was it doesn't make sense to you because it sounds like I am putting my bank balance ahead of the Greater Good, or something to that effect?

So I've thought about it, why do I feel that way, and I think it's because I really am OK with what I contribute to our economy and government right now. I take home about 50% of my paycheck, so I give the government roughly 40% after my investments and Flex accounts. I feel this contribution is fairly hefty.

My dissatisfaction comes in how the government spends this money, and everyone else's. Our schools are an abomination. I hate the property-taxes-tied-to-school-funding system we have. I have never dealt with anyone in any branch of the government (granted, my exposure to them is relatively small, thank God) who works harder than they need to and goes above and beyond the call of their position. I know I'm generalizing, but such is life. So while I have no problem giving the government the money I'm giving them, I'm disgusted with how they've wasted it and how they've chosen to spend it. And I certainly don't want them chosing to spend more of my money, since they haven't proven themselves capable of the job yet.

So, until they prove themselves worth of a bigger paycheck, I am voting for less government and reform in spending. I do believe McCain will do that. I would vote Libertarian but I could also pee into the wind and see how far it goes, right?

That being said, I will always do what I can to help anyone who needs help. I think we have an obligation to help those who can't help themselves. But as a lifestyle, entitlement programs help no one. In my mind they should be a hand up, not a handout. And I think we definitely need healthcare reform, I like Germany's system the best. My parents and brothers lived in Canada and saw firsthand what that system is like. Oh, and I'd like to be able to invest my own social security funds for my retirement.

So, that's about it. I can't remember what else I had to respond to?

Pretty earrings

Cooper is so sweet at bedtime. I lay down with him before he falls asleep and it's the best time we have together. Tonight right before he fell asleep, when he was quiet and his eyes were closed, he suddenly turned to me and said "I like your earrings. They're pretty."

I wear the same diamond studs every day, never change them. I don't know why he decided to compliment me on them tonight, maybe he'd heard someone compliment someone on their earrings today? I don't know, I gave him an extra long squeeze for that. Then of course he started the "I love you", "no, I love you", "No, I love you!" game, and that's always a really fun one.

Sweet sweet boys!

Wood

Ahhh, raising boys. This is a funny story, I forgot to write it down when it happened and today I was reminded of it. A while ago, months ago maybe?, I was changing Cooper's diaper and when I opened it he had -er- an erection. I must have said "oh, look who has wood!" and went on about my business. Well, a week ago Cooper was sitting in the bathtub, pulling on his penis (as usual for any boy in a bathtub). I was sitting on the toilet, reading a magazine.

He suddenly says to me "Mommy, I have wood in my butt!"

I said "Wood? How'd you get wood in your butt?" and went to check it out, alarmed that he might have stuck a stick in his bum or mulch or something. Hey, anything is possible. No, when I peaked over the bathtub edge, he was holding his penis, and looking for the wood. I just cracked up and told him that it was just an expression, he didn't have any wood in his bum, etc.

So this afternoon after naptime, he was sitting on the couch kind of grouchy and he said his pee-pee hurt. I went to change his diaper, thinking maybe he had a little rash or something, and sure enough - he had wood. And this time, he said "I have wood in my pants." Oh my golly, I need to really change my language around him.