Good Morning!

Good morning all -

I went in for my 1st IV iron treatment yesterday, and although I hated the needle (I am incredibly needle phobic) and it did hurt a bit, I think it is a good thing. After the treatment I thought I felt a little better, but after doing the making dinner, homework, and bedtime scenes; I was pretty worn out - so I chalked up the "feeling better" to having 1 1/2 hours of quiet time, with no children.

However, when I woke up this morning I felt pretty rested, instead of dead on my feet. (Which is pretty amazing since I still had to get up 3 times during the night to use the bathroom) I could also climb the stairs without getting totally out of breath. THAT was a good sign.

SO - As of this morning, and I'm a whole 2 hours into it - I'm feeling a little less run down, and I've already folded the two loads of laundry from yesterday. I go back in for another treatment tomorrow and I'm hoping the good feeling is for real, and not just a fluke... I just made my list of things I'd like to get done today, and my game plan is to try to be productive, while not completely overdoing it - Ya know what I mean? Anyway - I'd better sign off here and get working on my list.

good news and bad news on the baby front

I'll start with the great news - BYU won the BYU/UTAH show down! I had the kick off time wrong and when I tuned in at 2:00, I was shocked to find that I had missed the entire first half of the game. (Normally I would have been in the house listening to the pregame show - and thus would have discover my error MUCH earlier, but the weather was beautiful and I was out trying to help haul sand up the hill into our backyard sandbox. I say TRYING to help, because I couldn't really do much lifting or carrying. I did fill buckets for Tim to haul, and I carried a small bucket back and forth. I figured that I saved Tim maybe one trip (two if you are generous) with my efforts.) Anyway, since the score was 3/3 when I tuned in, I figure I didn't miss TOO much. It was a close game, once again coming down to a last minute score for BYU to take the victory. It was GREAT!

NOW - to the baby news. (The bad news and good news are all kind mixed together in my writing here, but the way I interpret it all is that the BAD news is that there is anything at all to be concerned about, and the GOOD news is that they aren't SO concerned about it that I am in the hospital tonight having some emergency procedure done or something) ANYWAY, back to the story of my day - I had my weekly check up today. I am measuring 36 centimeters, so I'm only 2 weeks behind -which falls into the 'normal' range,so that's all good; but my iron count has gone DOWN. It tested 9.3 today. (It was 10.? 3 weeks ago and should be up in the 13 + range) The midwife was also concerned that I mentioned that on both Friday and Saturday I felt a marked decrease in fetal movement. I hadn't been too alarmed because the "kick count" paper I had said that as long as you got your 10 "kicks" in an hours time, it was OK. Normally when I would do a count, I'd get my 10 kicks in like 10 minutes. Both Friday and Saturday I noticed decreased movement, so I drank some juice and went to lie down and count kicks. I got to 10, but it took between 30 - 45 minutes. That seemed enough of a marked difference for me to mention it when I went in today. Apparently the midwife thought so too, because she ordered a non-stress test. SO - after I got the kids picked up from school and lined up a sitter, I went in for my NST. They said the baby looks OK, but they were "somewhat concerned" by the fact that every time the baby moved, it's heart rate would drop out of the 'normal' range for a second. (They think it could be related to the low iron, since the iron in the blood carries the oxygen.) So - they sent me home with instructions to do regular/diligent kick counts and advised me go in for another test if at anytime I feel concerned.

I got home to find a message on my machine from the midwife. She had been thinking about my low iron all day and after getting the report from the NST felt strongly that I need to do the IV iron treatments twice a week until the baby comes. SO -- tomorrow I get to go back and have my initial IV treatment. wahoo - I can't wait. (being sarcastic here, in case you can't tell) The ONLY positive I see is that maybe I won't be quite so tired all the time... Here's hoping!

Now I need to get to bed and try to get some rest. I was out running from here to there all day today, so I have a lot to try to catch up on tomorrow. Tonight as I was worrying a little about all this baby stuff - I recalled a blessing I had a while back (when I had that horrible rash all over my body and the day I seriously felt like I was having a heart attack) in which I was told that I would deliver a healthy baby. I thought - "great, I'll just rely on that promise and bag all this other stuff for right now." Then I remembered the rest of the blessing. I don't recall word for word, but it was something like "you will have the strength to endure the trials and hardships that lie ahead," and "you will get the proper medial care needed." OK OK! I will try to be patient. Hopefully only TWO MORE WEEKS!!! (less would be OK with me too)

$450 later...

Well, we had an adventure here last night. (an expensive one) I sent the kids up the street to return something to a neighbor. I didn't know that they let Jasmine (our dog) out when they left, and she followed them. (I should add here that this isn't really all that unusual. They always let her out with them and she is great at following them - she has been responsible for helping us locate wandering children on numerous occasions.)

The next thing I hear, Aaron comes in the house screaming and crying. "I think Jasmine has a broken leg!!!" I went to investigate and found that Jasmine was limping and bleeding from several spots. Aaron explained to me that they were on their way home after making the delivery. when another neighbor's Pit bull broke loose from where he was tied up, and attacked Jasmine. (They felt terrible, but I don't blame them. Dogs will be dogs, and if Jasmine hadn't been up there - without a leash and adult supervision, it never would have happened.) Anyway, I called the vet and found that they were open for 7 more minutes. Luckily the office is just right down the street and we hurried right over. There were two lacerations that were deep enough and bad enough that she needed to be sedated and stitched up. (There was an third puncture wound that he would have just had us just keep clean until it healed, but since she was already being sedated, he stitched it too.) She got to have a sleep over at the animal hospital last night, and we picked her up this morning as soon as they opened.
Aaron was SO upset and insisted that he couldn't go to school until he had seen that Jasmine was really OK. Since the vet opened at 8:00, I agreed that we could pick her up as soon as they opened and Aaron could be 10 minutes late for school.

So - now Jasmine is home, we are $450 poorer, and I get to spend the next 10 days making sure Bryan doesn't climb on her, that she doesn't lick open her wounds, and that she gets her 2x/day antibiotics and pain medication. Then we get to take her back in to have the stitches removed. FUN FUN FUN

Just point me to my pillow...

I am SO tired! (no, it's not really even that late - but I am completely exhausted!) I totally want to be in bed sleeping right now, but I just took my iron pill, so I'm not supposed to lie down for 30 minutes. Why exactly is that - I would like to know; but just in case it's because the iron is so powerful it will eat a hole right through my esophagus, I'll stay up for 26 more minutes.

Playing the flute with the choir in church today went OK. Not so fabulous that I am concerned that people will be beating down my door to have me play again real soon, but not so horrible that I think everyone is wondering what in world I was doing with a flute in my hands to begin with.

I got a nice surprise last night, which carried over into a blessing for today. My visiting teacher is going to her brother's for Thanksgiving, but she wanted to have her own little dinner (since she doesn't particularly care for he sister in law's cooking), so she and her husband had their big ole feast on Saturday. She made extra on purpose and brought it to me so that I wouldn't have to make dinner today. Can I just tell you how delightful it was throughout the day to be able to think, 'I don't have to make dinner tonight!" Hooray! And clean up was as easy as re-zipping a plethora of Ziploc baggies. It wasn't "needed," but it sure was kind, sweet, thoughtful, nice, and very much appreciated!

Let's see, how many more minutes to go...about 18. I could fold the laundry that is waiting in the dryer (since yesterday), but since I really don't want to, I think I'll plead the 4th. (commandment that is) (of course, some might say I shouldn't be blogging on the Sabbath either, and in general, I don't... but... )

Well, I'm not thinking of much else to say - apparently my remaining brain cells have gone to bed - with or without the rest of me.

until next time -

PS - only 6 more minutes to go! just enough time to shut down the computer, brush my teeth, go to the bathroom AGAIN (only about every 20 - 30 minutes these days)and head off to bed!

Anemia update

Hi-ya'll

I went into the midwives yesterday for my standing appt. They are concerned that my iron count is still so low and we are this close to delivery. She changed me to prescription iron, which is supposed to be more readily absorbed by the body. They will do another finger poke at the next visit, and if not showing marked improvement, they will put me on IV iron treatments. (That was what she was leaning towards this time, but I opted to give the NON-NEEDLE and the "no-babysitter needed while I go to the hospital twice a week" route. I actually worry more about iron poisoning than I do about being a bit low.

I picked up my prescription and started reading the "side effects and "how to use this prescription" information. I loved the one that listed a huge amount of food that are not to be eaten 1 hour before or 2 hours after taking the medication. Um... I'm still supposed to be eating every 2 hours. I thought to myself - ok, I'll take my night dose right before I go to bed. NOPE. "Do not lie down for 30 minutes after taking medication. HELLO!!!!! What a pain! I also read that calcium and zinc block the absorption of Iron. Whoops - I just started taken some after the last blogging babes dinner when Donna told me that magnesium supplements would help me sleep better, and that mag. and calcium together were better than just one or the other. I'll be stopping those particular vitamins until after the iron crisis has passed:)

Only 3 1/2 more weeks. I CAN DO THIS!

On a slight bragging note, I worked really hard on Wednesday. I cleaned my kitchen really quite thoroughly. I even cleaned out and reorganized the pantry. (i was tired of having 4 things fall out on me every time I tried to get out the one thing I needed:) I really do love having a clean house, it is just SO MUCH WORK! And it just doesn't last! In fact, after I spend most of the day cleaning the kitchen, Katrina spilled a FULL pitcher of Kool-aid on the newly mopped floor. (I don't usually buy kool-aid anymore, but I found it while organizing and decided to make it as a special 'treat.' Suffice it to say, re-mopping the floor was the resulting treat.) Then Aaron dumped his full dinner plate of mashed potatoes with Chicken gravy on the floor. (He was trying to shovel his food in a bit too fast I guess.) Luckily Jasmine (the dog) helped with cleanup on that one. Regardless - I was very proud of the work I got done.

ICK

I had an interesting conversation at the pet store Monday. I had noticed for the past couple days that our fish were acting very lethargic, and I noticed little white specks on them - like someone had dusted them with powder or something.
I tested the water and found it dangerously high in nitrates, so I did the 25% water change, and checked the filter - only to discover that it was totally gross anddefinitely needing to be changed. I didn't have a replacement filter, so off I went the pet store. While there I asked the clerk if there was anything else I should be doing to try to help these fish. The conversation went something like this:

ME: My fish are acting very lethargic and they have little white spots all over them.

CLERK: ICK

ME: Ya - it is pretty gross. Do you know what would cause that?

CLERK: ICK

ME: (Thinking, "ya, we already established that it's icky") So... is there something I need to be doing?

CLERK: You need to get rid of the Ick.

ME: OH, Ick is the name of the disease?? How do I take care of it?

CLERK: (pointing to some general location of the store) - ICK Guard

I followed the direction of her point until I finally located some fish medicine looking products and located the elusive Ick Guard. It sure would've helped if the clerk had spoken in full sentences. I'm not really complaining though - they really know their stuff at that store - which is why I only buy my fish and fish supplies there. They may not have the greatest people or communication skills, but they really know their fish!

Weekend Report

That almost makes it sound like I have exciting news to report - no such luck...just regular run of the mill stuff.

First and foremost - I'd like to send out a big blogging welcome to my little sister. She has been bitten by the blogging bug. She will be a "journal type blogger" like me. It's just such a convenient way to keep a record of the daily happenings and a great way to keep track of what close friends and family are up to. If you happen to know my sister and want to check in on her site to see what she's up to these days, you can check her out at: http://musicmom-of-5.blogspot.com/

And now - the weekend:

Friday night Tim and I got a sitter and went to the evening get together of the babbling blogger babes. We were small in numbers this time, and the only other husband able to attend was Donna's husband, so I'm not so sure how Tim felt about hanging with the babes - but as ever, he was a wonderful sport. I agree with the consensus of everyone there that Golden Coral is certainly the better venue. Chuck-a-rama was just packed and SO NOISY! It really makes it difficult to visit and get to know people when you can't hear what anyone is saying...

Saturday - Believe it or not, I'm having a hard time even thinking of what I did Saturday. Tim had a scouting Pow-wow that he went to all morning. I know I got some laundry folded and put away. Oh yea - we drove up the canyon to look at the log house that Tim bid on. After seeing it - I'm not quite as anxious to pack up and move there. Lots more neighbors that I imagined there would be... It's not that I'm exactly anti-social, I just like my privacy and space. The yard was also somewhat disappointing, with most of the property on a very steep mountainside. Tim and I talked about all the "improvements" we would want to do to the house to make it more pleasant to live in. The home is bank owned now, and since the owner passed away owing more than the home is currently worth, we are now just waiting for the bank to assign an agent to oversee the sale, then we'll see if they accept our low ball offer.

Sunday - the annual primary program! The kids did a great job and things went as smoothly as can be expected or hoped for. I really do enjoy working with the children. Some days the energy level required makes me pretty tired, and it is a bit hard on my voice - but I love it anyway! Next Sunday I'll start teaching them the songs for their part of the Christmas program.
Another Sunday note - the ward choir is singing next Sunday and they asked me to play the accompanying flute part. Now, back in my high school days, I was pretty good on my flute. The trouble is that I haven't practiced at all for years and years and years. My mouth muscles are in no shape to play. I can play the fingerings without any trouble at all, but it sure doesn't sound very clear and beautiful. (more along the lines of breathy, screechy, and not clear.) I'm hoping that if I continue to practice this week - a little everyday, that it will go okay on Sunday. What I worry about is that since it already isn't great, when I get in front of everyone, I'll be extra nervous so it is only going to be worse. I'm a little concerned, but I guess I'll just have to do my best, and if it is really bad, they will learn to not ask me to play my flute in public.

Monday - Today is the day I get to start digging out from under the "weekend of little or no cleaning" mess. Ya gotta love Mondays, eh?

Here's hoping it's a great week!

hola'

Yesterday was a rather roller-coastery type day. (as far as productivity went, not emotionally)

I had a rough time getting going in the morning. (I blame this one on my husband) Tim saw a house for sale that I think I would love to live in. It is smaller than our house now, so maybe I'm crazy, but it is a log home, up the canyon, in a gated community, on almost 2 acre (1.8) of land. (some flat, some on the the mountain side) I have always wanted a mountain cabin retreat - and this is close enough we could just live in it year round. (no, the picture is NOT of the house in question, just one I found online) Tim sent in a low-ball offer, then he went of to work. After he left, I started my usual "jumping in head first" mentality and started trying to figure out how everything would work. The home is 15 minutes out of town, so my first decision was what to do in regard to Aaron's schooling. I went back and forth between homeschooling and switching to the Charter School that is in that town. The Charter school is great. I'm certain I would be absolutely satisfied with the school should we get in. I'm just a bit leery of the 30 minutes (more in snowy winter conditions) commuting time it would take me to pick him up everyday. (I figure Tim could drop him off on the way to work.)

When Tim got home and I told him that I had such a hard time getting started because I was plotting the ins and outs of this move - he just laughed at me. "You DO know that the chances of us getting this house are SLIM to NONE..." Yea, I know that, but I still have this need to be semi-mentally prepared, just in case. And after thinking about it all morning yesterday, I really think I'd like it. I know I'd love the mountain surroundings, the land for my kids to run and play, and the "out of the city" lifestyle. I'd have to be more organized, cause it would be HORRIBLE to have to make a 30 minute + "milk run" to the store.

ANYWAY... I finally got it in gear about 11:00 and I went wild. Got both upstairs bathrooms cleaned, Trina's room cleaned, and my daily load of laundry washed. THEN I got sidetracked when a friend called. This is the friend who just calls to chat...about a whole lot of nothing, until the battery on my phone dies - thus ending the phone call. That put a cramp in my speed cleaning, and she was still talking strong when the boy I babysit on Mondays and Thursdays was dropped off. This little guy, "G," is fine - as long as I hold him the entire time. NOT really conducive to getting work done...

By the time G left, 1 1/2 hours later, I wasn't really fired up to clean anymore. I worked on the kitchen anyway, and got it mostly done. Then I did carpool pick up, and because it is such beautiful weather right now, I took the kids to the park and let them play for an hour. (I'll miss this gorgeous weather... a storm is due to blow in on Sunday, so I'm trying to take full advantage while I can.

Next came dinner, homework, bedtime etc... After we got everyone into bed, I turned on the BYU game and while listening to it, I made a bunch of freezer meals. I'm trying to get ready for the upcoming weeks. I figure I should have meals in the freezer for the couple weeks before and after the baby. Extra lean ground beef was on sale this week so I bought a big chunk of it and last night was my "ground beef meals" assembly night. I assembled and froze BBQ meatballs, meatloaf, tator tot casserole, sloppy joes, and cooked ground beef to use in tacos or taco salad.

I was a nice way to use my football game time - and I was THRILLED with the game. It got close at the end, but amazingly enough, I didn't really get tense. I felt pretty confident that BYU would hold TCU - and they did. I sure hope Gooch (spelling??) isn't hurt too badly.

Today I'm planning to finish the ground beef by making chili and stuffed peppers, plus one of the pork chop recipes - and if I really have the get up and go to sdo it, I'll also do the pasta dishes (spinach lasagna and cheese stuffed manicotti) Then I'll take a break until next week, when I'll start tackling the chicken recipes.

Wow - I've been rambling for quite a while here... I need to get my duff off the computer and get to work!

Later -

Halloween picture....

Aren't they cute? (and I'm not prejudice at all... okay, maybe just a little) I only wish Bryan had felt better so we could have had Pooh bear too. Oh well. We are all still on a basic sugar high around here. I'm starting to think that might just have something to do with the headache I seem to have adopted of late.

I have so much around the house that needs to be done, and I just don't feel like doing any of it. I just hate that! Hopefully I'll find some motivation to get moving at some point during the day, but if not, I'm pretty confident the work will still be waiting for me tomorrow. (and the next day... and the next.... That's the thing I've discovered about housework - it is incredibly patient. it just waits and waits and waits for you - multiplying as it waits, of course)

Until later -

Hooray! a productive day!!!

Yesterday afternoon I finally decided Bryan wasn't getting much better and I wasn't prepared to head into the weekend without finding out if there was something the doctor could do for him. We got an appt. and found that he had a red throat - didn't bother testing for strep since both ears were red and inflamed, and the antibiotic prescribed for the ears would also clear up the throat if it did happen to be bacterial.

To make a long story shorter - after his evening and morning doses of antibiotics, I haven't had to hold Bryan all day and it has been GREAT!

Right now the kitchen is clean (clean enough at any rate), master bedroom floor is clean and vacuumed, both kids room's have been cleaned and vacuumed (no, I can't say "clean", because Aaron has friends over and they are all playing something in his room, and I haven't had the courage to go see the damage...), the hall has been picked (shoveled) up and vacuumed, stairs vacuumed, front room picked up and vacuumed, downstairs hall and laundry room picked up and swept, dryer cleaned out (meaning the scrubbing out of the melted on crayon that I discovered when I took the last load out of said dryer), and the load of laundry that is now spotted with red crayon has been pre-treated, soaked, and is in the washer now - hopefully getting rid of all the little crayon 'chicken pox.'
Let's see - anything else? packed up all the Halloween costumes and decor and Tim hauled them back downstairs for me... Oh, and I spent some time finishing up stuff I needed to do for the upcoming primary program. That reminds me - I need to run over the final copy to the primary president's house... I also need to decide what's for dinner and get that started... and I need to make a run to the grocery store to pick up mild since we are getting low and tomorrow is Sunday... Oh and I really need to clean/vacuum out the van - I fear there may be some science experiments alive and well in there...

That's about it. I'm feeling pretty good about it all - even knowing that 1) it should never have gotten as bad as it was, but the fact is that I've done basically nothing all week except hold a sick little bubba, so I got pretty behind on everything... 2) if left unchecked, all the hard work will be undone within a matter of hours, and I'll be looking at doing it all again (well, hopefully minus the 'crayon in the dryer' fiasco) on Monday... and 3) in a non-pregnant, non-anemic state I could have gotten all this and more done in a whole lot less time - but hey. I am CELEBRATING!!! GO ME!!!!

I have to throw in - GO COUGARS!!! They kicked some Colorado butt today! Final score was 35 - 16 (I was listening to the game while working.) Every once in a while I worry that the football team isn't really as good as they appear to be - more that the other teams in the conference are just pretty bad; but I don't worry for long. I think they are a really good team! I also look at how young some of our fantastic players are and I'm feeling pretty confident that BYU has some really great years ahead of them...

My opinion on school vouchers

Just for the record, I am voting FOR prop 1.

I believe that the majority of public school teachers are working wonders with what they have to work with, but I absolutely believe that competition is necessary in order to give the public schools an incentive to continually strive to improve their services.

Case in point: my local neighborhood school. 2 years ago 8 families (from my ward alone) pulled their kids from the local school and put them into private (1 family) or charter schools. That is a lot for one 5 block area. If my counting is correct, it pulled 20 or 21 students from the school, and I'm not counting another family with 4 school age children who were on the waiting list for a charter school but didn't get in.) I can only assume that similar things were happening in other neighborhoods nearby. This mass exodus made the local school stop and ask WHY? They contacted families to find out why they were leaving the school. The reasons they found were that charter schools (and private schools) have a more challenging curriculum; provide leveled learning in math, reading, and spelling; offer art, music, science, PE, and Spanish all included as part of the regular curriculum; have better overall discipline (including uniforms) and an overall environment more conducive to learning.

As a result, the neighborhood school started offering a form of leveled learning for math and offering art and additional music classes as after school activities. They are working with the district to try to redistribute the low income and ESL students more evenly between the local schools. (because our neighborhood school was new and had a lower student population than some other schools, it got the lions share of the students when another school (low income area) closed its doors 3 years ago . Our local school saw a drastic rise in gang behavior (yes, this is an elementary school), drug activity, non-English speaking students (one boy in my ward was 1 of 7 "English as the primary language" students out of 31 in his 1st grade class.), and overall behavioral problems.

The simple fact of the matter is - that because parents were looking for (and choosing) other alternatives for their children, the school stepped up and made some positive changes to the services they were providing the students.

Opponents to Prop 1 would have us believe that the public schools are going to lose huge amounts of money if these vouchers are allowed. I don't believe it. I don't believe that a massive swarm of families will pull their students from the public schools just because there is now a voucher. (believe me, I looked into private school for Aaron, and even with the $3000 maximum voucher amount - which we wouldn't qualify for - Private school would be a major strain on our finances. We might be able to swing it for one child, but not all of our children. Luckily, our charter school has been everything I want, and it doesn't cost me thousands of dollars every month. It does costs me MY TIME in fulfilling my required volunteer hours, plus any monetary amounts that I choose to donate during fundraising activities)

Parents are pulling their children from the public schools because they feel that it is important to give their children the best educational opportunity they can. I believe that instead of spending so much money trying to fight the vouchers, teachers unions should be focusing on what improvements could be made so that parents don't feel the need to look for other alternatives. No one who feels that their student is getting a good quality, free education, is going to pull their child out and put them into an environment that is much harder on the parent. I'm telling you the truth, it takes a whole lot more effort on my part to have my son in a charter school than it would be to have him in the public school. However, there is no question in my mind that it is absolutely the better place for him to be.

So - although I don't have the credentials of some, and I don't write as eloquently as others, I believe that competition is good for everybody. It pushes us to continually look for ways to improve. I believe in parents having options. I believe that if the schools (or more appropriately the unions) are feeling threatened by vouchers, they should question WHY they feel threatened and aim to fix the problems, instead of trying to eliminate the competition.

And THAT, as they say, - is MY OPINION.

I'm still here.

Here it is, almost Saturday again with no posting all week. I actually even had things I wanted to post, but unfortunately, I never found the time (at the same time I had the energy) to do the actual posting. I have just really been struggling just to survive the basics.

I went to my midwife appt. yesterday and they were glad to see that I gained 3 lbs in two weeks. I'm still measuring 4 weeks small, but since the ultrasound said everything was okay, she said she'll not worry about it. I told her about how I'm always feeling out of breath and like I just can't get enough oxygen. Her guess was that I'm still anemic - the iron helps create hemoglobin which carries the oxygen. They did a finger poke and sure enough, still anemic. I'm thinking it must be something to do with an absorption problem, since I'm taking plenty of supplements... Maybe I'll try to do a bit of "research" on the matter today.

Halloween went well. I took a photo of the kids in their costumes and with their pumpkins, but I don't know how to upload them (or it download them???) - in other words, I don't know how to get them from the camera to the computer. SO... one of these days I'll have Tim do it, and I'll post it. Bryan wasn't included in the Halloween festivities because he is still pretty sick. (Not sick enough that I have taken him to the Dr, but sick enough that I just spend the majority of every day holding him. Not very conducive to cleaning or other homemaking duties... In fact, I'm doing the 1 1/2 hand typing thing right now while holding him...

I have decided that I hate politics. I was reading various candidates websites in order to attempt to be an informed voter - instead I just got really depressed about the state of the world we live in. All the fighting, mudslinging, backbiting, dishonesty, selfishness, etc... Who do you believe? SO much of it is he said she said stuff, or they list the way a candidate votes, and it looks terrible, but then you check with the person who looks so bad, and they give their reasons for voting the way they did and it makes sense... you know what I mean?? I think this is one reason I don't have TV (we have a TV that the kids watch movies on, but because we live so close to the mountain, we don't get any regular TV reception, and I won't pay for cable), don't watch the news, don't read the paper, and basically I stay pretty clueless. I do listen to KSL news radio when the alarm goes off in the morning and will often catch the top news stories at the top of the hour, and that is plenty for me. It is enough that I kind of know an overview of what's happening in the world, without it depressing me.:)

I just started posting my opinion on school vouchers here as another paragraph, but it was getting a little too long and a bit too opinionated for this laid back/update on my non-eventful week post, do I just copied it into another post that I'll throw up here in a few minutes.

Well, if I can pry Bryan off my lap, I need to try to get the house sort of picked up before we head into the weekend.