Grab Someone and Dance

Go on, you know you want to.

Saturday Linky Goodness

I am actually, for real, sitting on a two hour conference call with work. So instead of posting anything substantive from my own brain, here are some links to good stuff:

The Anchoress has an hysterical (and sad) story about Hillary Clinton's visit to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico, where an image of Mary was miraculously imprinted on cloth in the 16th century. Asks Ms. Clinton "Who painted it?" Sigh.

The Anchoress also recommends this site, and I have to wholeheartedly second that recommendation. It's the story of a young mom who has given birth to a truly miraculous baby, Faith. Faith has anecephaly - she is missing most of her brain. And yet she lives, 32 days after her birth, without a ventilator or any medical help other than a feeding tube. Faith's mom, Myah, was told to abort Faith, as the only value she had was as body parts for other children.

Today is Earth Hour, where we are all to turn out the lights from 8:30 to 9:30pm as a silent reminder that our energy consumption is ruining the planet. Personally, I'm going to turn on every single electric appliance and light in the house for that hour and maybe run the cars in the driveway, but then again I always eat red meat and run the AC really high on Earth Day, so perhaps my celebratory efforts are not always in line with the norm. Do as you see fit.

Why Are These Vegans Sent to Plague Us? "Vegans, you see, exist so that others may feel guilt about something completely normal: the desire to eat food that is tasty, nourishing and appropriate to our physical specifications."

Here's a review of the latest Hollywood dreck for children: Monsters vs. Aliens. Final verdict: "... nifty presentational tricks won’t make the movie less grating or shallow. Even the most advanced 3-D glasses can provide only the illusion of depth."

Check out this great article on How to Read the Bible.

And that's all for today. Have a great Saturday!

If Only

If only someone in this country had the guts to stand up to President Obama and every Democrat in Congress and say the exact same thing as this:



"The truth is ... you have run out of OUR money."

"You cannot spend your way out of recession or borrow your way out of debt."

HT: Instapundit - where else?

Graphic, Isn't It?

If anyone can explain to me how this ultimately helps the economy, I'm all ears. But absent a good explanation, to me this looks like it puts a bullet right in the heart of my childrens' financial future. And I don't like it one single bit.

From The Heritage Foundation. HT: Instapundit.

The End is Near

"Alcohol consumption in Ireland dropped dramatically last year because of the weak economy and cross-border sales in Northern Ireland, bringing average consumption levels in 2008 back to where they were a decade ago, an industry association says."

From The Age.

If the Irish are too poor to get drunk, what is this world coming to?

I. WANT. TO. RUN. AWAY.

When I read something like this - a summary by George Will of the many irresponsible (and in some instances, unconstitutional) things happening in Washington lately.

WANTED: Country full of unpretentious, hard-working citizens that is governed by a small, fiscally responsible group of lawmakers who care more about said citizens then they do their own pocketbooks. Willing to trade dark blue passport in order to secure my children's economic future. Please call The Grass Widow anytime with more information. No Europeans need apply.

Monday Mumbers

Elizabeth at Three Channels has an hysterical post you must read - honestly, if you have time to read just one, skip this one and read hers.

Are you still here? Okay, the theme is numbers - how many times a particular thing has happened as a way to describe recent events in your life.

Here's mine - we've had quite a day so I'll just limit it to that

0 = number of keys waiting for me when I arrived at my new office today just in time for a conference call (they moved us to a new floor on Friday night).

11 = minutes I was late for said call after calling security to let me in.

140 = the decibel level of the HR executive next door to me, while she was discussing whether or not our health insurance covers colonoscopies.

1 = conference call that was cancelled today because the other side still hasn't bothered to read the agreement.

8 = days until the end of the quarter at work.

1 = emergency phone call received by yours truly from school today, telling me we had:

1 = potentially broken elbow attached to Two.

120 = my heart rate as I flew down the freeway to pick up the boys.

80 = approximate speed of the minivan.

5 = minutes we waited before the nurse rushed us in to see the doctor.

45 = the number of gray hairs that grew on my head while we were waiting for the x-rays.

3 = shouts of joy when we discovered his elbow was still intact!

4,000 = pieces of popcorn eaten by Two as part of his "unbroken-elbow" celebration.

2 = hours before I can put the boys to bed and actually start to relax!

A post-script: the funniest part of the whole day came when a colleague called while were were waiting for the x-ray tech. He started laughing as soon as I picked up the phone, since he'd seen my flurry of emails as I started this crazy fire drill. I told him not to laugh at me, and Two interrupted with "who is laughing at me!?" I told him it was Mr. B, who he's talked to before, and he yelled "give me that phone!" He then proceeded to give my colleague a dressing down, shouting "B, are you listening to me? This is NOT FUNNY! Do you know why it is not funny, B? Because I might have a broken arm, that's why!" All the time he was addressing him by his last name only, like some 4ft tall Drill Sergeant. I could only lean against the wall of the x-ray room and laugh.

Where Does it Come From?

The boys, as I've said before, are significantly more creative than Husband and I combined. Examples? Here is Two's latest fad - he loves to build paper airplanes, but he's graduated to making them out of paper towels. And yes, they fly beautifully.

One has learned to weave over the past year - you can see in this picture the progression of his skills. There is a loom at school that the children take turns on; his latest creation, the largest of the three, only took him four art classes to complete.

Where do they get this stuff?