Standing · out · in · the · world

Okay... so I see a whole lot of those commercials geared towards mom's who supposedly stay at home and do nothing but watch tv. (Give me a break, I dont have the baby yet, so I DONT have anything to do besides watch tv... even though I dont just sit and watch tv, anyway...)

To the point: Here is a list of the top 6 things I absolutely cannot stand, do not believe in, and will never purchase for my children. Also, if received as gifts, I will return them promptly...

I haven't decided if I want to list them in order of obscenity yet ... so:

1. http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=2620&e=easylinklanding ... Okay, so I understand that understanding the internet is becoming imperative and necessary especially for my kids generation, but come on! Aren't there better things they can be doing with their time than becoming mindless drones in front of the computer at the age of 2?? Besides, it just teaches them that once they do graduate to the "real" internet they can navigate all over the place because they have been doing it so long already!

2. http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=2341&e=detail&pid=41425&pcat=bulnl ... Again, with the computer AS AN INFANT THOUGH!!! AAAAAGGGGHHH!!!!! Somehow I just don't see how this actually teaches them things. I mean, ugh, I cant put it into words. There have been studies that how infants don't learn as well when looking at animated figures. They need to see human expressions to learn, not cartoon stick figures.

3. http://www.fisher-price.com/us/products/product.asp?id=40693... yes, so by now you are seeing a trend, they ALL revolve around the computer or TV in some fashion. With this one though, the creativity center where "They can turn the stylus into a pencil tool for drawing, a paint brush, crayon, stamper and more, to design, create, print, and assemble all kinds of fun art activities and cool craft projects." What the hell happened to an F-ing REAL piece of paper and frickin marker?!?!?!?! I'm pretty sure I survived having to use ::: GASP::: a wax crayon. I'm pretty sure I probably even ate a few, and look... I'm still here!

4. http://www.vtechkids.com/tvLearning_baby.cfm ... http://www.vtechkids.com/tv_learning.cfm ... I was going to do just one, and then I realized I hate all of them. "I really want Johnny to practice his video games," says the T.V. commercial. i.e. I don't think that we have to know how to READ and WRITE anymore, as long as we become proficient in how to push a few buttons, all will be good in the world. I realize the aim of these games is to teach reading and whatnot, but ever wonder why ADHD is on the rise??? hmmm? (disclaimer: I will be the first to admit that ADHD is a chemical imbalance that in most cases has nothing to do with previous behavioral issues, but I don't see why we have to encourage our kids to be entertained by learning.) Oh, real quick though for the first link. BABY V-SMILE?!?!?!?!?!?!??! WHY WHY WHY do we have to try and teach our BABIES through the computer screen? Are we trying to make them less affectionate and closed off and introverted?

5. http://www.leapfrog.com/en/families/leappad/leappad_learning_system/leappad_readwrite.html ... I have always hated these things. I wont say a lot about them, just that if you are going to teach your child to read give them a book that doesn't allow them to push each and every word and have it read to them. That isn't reading, that is being read to. So, I encourage reading to children, I plan to for a very very long time (I already do and my child wont be born for another 10 weeks... hopefully) At least this way though they are forming a bond with the parent and the parent can help them learn! OR, if they read it themselves, imagine that, they work through it and sound it out and get BETTER at reading when they wont have books doing it for them!

6. http://www.leapfrog.com/en/families/leapster/leapster_learning0/leapster.html ... beating a dead horse... another video game to teach. sigh. I love video games, they're great, but not for learning. I think they should be kept as separate entities. One could be a reward for after the studying is finished.

So that is my rant. I actually get so frustrated seeing these commercials OVER AND OVER AND OVER again, that now I have to change the channel if one is shown. I just really think that we are depriving our children of something truly valuable. I think we are depriving them of several valuable things really. All of these "learning tools" just proves that parents are too distracted and absent and busy to really spend much needed time with their children. I also think that it really does encourage laziness and probably causes attention problems. Think about it. A child grows up "reading" by having the words and pictures dance around a screen for them. What happens when they get in the classroom and all of the sudden the pictures in the books don't move and the words cant all be pronounced by touching them?

I simply refuse to teach my children using these methods. My kids WILL have papers, crayons, markers, paints and brushes; NOT an expensive multi-media device that they sit in front of a screen to use. They will NOT have educational video games. They will DEFINITELY NOT have books that read to them, I will do that and we will read TOGETHER.

I'm telling you, it is the downfall of society.

Half Price Books is the crappiest place and biggest rip off EVER! We took 14 books in tonight. How much did they give us for them? $4. yeah. A lousy $4!!! There were good books too! Sadly, if we didn't need the $4 to help fund things such as FOOD I would have said screw it and held onto the books. Unfortunately, however, the damn $4 is more worthwhile to us right now. Sigh. I'm trying to sell my worldly possessions and still getting screwed over. I hate college loans (especially the out of state ones that the husband accrued and put us in this bind). NEVER go to school out of state. And to be honest, just question the whole school thing in general. It doesn't always benefit you evidently >:o/

Well it has been a while since I posted I suppose, so may as well stop in and say hello.

Sadly, nothing to report. Yep, I lead an exciting life. Still no job but what else is new. No need to complain or harp on that one. Beating a dead horse and all. The only reason I dont just take a retail job somewhere is that my doctors have told me since I am looking I should just go ahead and avoid them due to the standing all the time thing. Even part time would suck. And I know this because my feet and hands already swell! argh! It seems early for it in my opinion, but then I remember.. oh yeah, Ive never been pregnant before and everyone is different and every pregnancy is different so really you cant base it off of anything.

So that is the only pregnancy bummer. It really really REALLY gets annoying to wake up in the middle of the night and not be able to feel your hand. I figure at night this is mostly due to the fact that I sleep on my arms since I cant sleep on my stomach where my arms always used to rest safely and comfortably under my pillow. Oh, the other bummer: out of the blue one day last week I threw up! I kinda didnt feel really well, and then I KNEW I didnt feel that well and sure enough, blagh. I felt fine the rest of the day and I dont know of anything that would have caused it. You know, the funny thing.. tee hee.. poor Lilly must have been wondering what the hell was happening to her little world because while I was mid-barf I could feel her moving around all over the place startled. (again, yes I find this hilarious.. come on, you cant help but picture a little child sprawling her arms out in an itty bitty space looking horrified because the walls are caving in and constricting). Anyway, other than those two things I am still totally loving being pregnant and it is amazing. I havent yet gotten to the point where the kicks and movements hurt or are annoying, theyre just fascinating. It is fun to see what gets her moving. I embark on the 3rd trimester on Monday. I am going to have a living thing in my arms in no time. How weird is that?

I have been trying to raid my house of anything that can be sold on eBay. Things that will actually sell that is. I research them on ebay beforehand and if others arent selling, then I doubt that if I post the exact same thing, MINE will... so I had 4 things up this last week. 2 play doh sets that we got in college as gifts and never used. A cotton candy machine that was in the same boat and a pair of jeans. I will be happy, but really angry at the same time if I lose a whole bunch of weight all at once and would have fit in those jeans right away after birth. (this I doubt, but still). Anyway all of them sold. Not necessarily for as much as I had hoped, but then I remind myself I had them in my garage sale where they didnt sell and on ebay I am getting roughly 5 times more for them than the garage sale would have yielded. So that is exciting. I am also going to take this damn dining set to Stuff Etc. I have tried posting it on facebook marketplace, the gazette, craigslist, Rockwell's Buy/Sell/Trade thing, and word of mouth. Now here's the thing.. It is a frickin nice dining set. It has a table and 6 chairs that were recently recovered. and I have only been asking $150-$175. AND have agreed to go down from that. WTF?!?!?! Am I the only one that doesnt find that unreasonable? One guy that looked at it even kept saying how he really thought he liked it, and oh it looks like it is in such great shape. Then, never called back. ARGH! So hopefully Stuff Etc. will sell it and we will at least 1. get it the hell out of our house and 2. get some desperately needed money for it. Stuff Etc. prices things really high in my opinion so I think we have a good chance of getting a good deal for it.

Oy, this is pretty long and really not very eventful. I suppose I shall stop because I am in a mood where I could probably just keep typing for a while.

Oh. P.S. If anyone can think of some job I can do (preferably from home even at this point, I would love recommendations). I have thought of baking things and trying to sell them. But you need the money for all of the ingredients first so that doesnt seem realistic right now. Anyway... later.

I couldn't decide if I was feeling well or not this morning so I decided since I was awake I may as well stay up. I used to watch the Today show every morning before I went to work,but since I have not exactly been employed and more recently have been totally exhausted I have not watched it. This morning I did and it reminded me how annoyed at times it can be.

I am certainly not the most educated person as far as politics goes, but I pay attention and follow the current happenings in the country and I am certainly an educated person so I feel I have some valid views when it comes to a lot of what goes on. I dont exactly know how it happened either (except for the fact that I was surrounded by conservative beliefs my whole life) but I am obviously and most definitely Republican and very proud of it. So back to the point... when I was watching the Today show this morning it reminded me of how liberal the media is. I think it is so unfair that the source of our news is so one sided it comes as no surprise people get so angry because of what they are being fed and basically forced to believe.

Here are just a few observances I made in the first 45 minutes of the show:

*I realize there are bad things happening in Iraq, but why is that all that we ever see? There are also good things happening in Iraq. I know a lot of men that cant wait to get over there to kick some ass... they're not whining about timeframes and withdrawl deadlines and they are the ones that are going to be there. Why does no one else see how just up and leaving would be the worst idea EVER. I also want to know why people think the war in Iraq was at all avoidable in the first place. I absolutely refuse to believe that any other president, regardless of party affiliation, would have made any different decisions after the 9/11 attacks. Our hypocritical society would have demanded something be done

*If Hillary Clinton gets elected as our next president I will be so disappointed in our society. We may as well have a 12 year old running our government. I would be equally dissatisfied if Barrack Obama is elected.

*The war is not about, nor is it affecting gas or gas prices. Our country gets the bulk of its oil from Canada! Iraq and the Middle East are somewhere around #10 on the list of Oil suppliers. If I see the protestors on the corner of 1st ave and collins rd one more time with their stupid signs and naive views I will get out of my car and kick one of them!!!

*The Jimmy Carter attack on the current administration. The quote that was filtering around in the media is that he said that the current administration is the worst in history. So I was both laughing to myself and still annoyed at the fact that what he said was actually misinterpretted. He did not say it was the worst in history, but that there were points which he felt were not handled well and that he would not blatantly disregard another presidents administration. Now the thing that annoyed me is that the media picked apart the quotes they thought would have the most impact... to benefit the democratic beliefs!

*Rush Limbaugh's parody of Obama was just that... a parody. It was intended for comical enjoyment and Obama himself agreed it was no big deal and he expects that kind of thing because he is running for president. It is Limbaugh's job to make controversial banter. The people that listen to his show are people that are not going to be offended or care one way or the other about what he says.

Well. I think that is all. I usually keep to myself and don't bother commenting on what goes on in the liberal media because I have been around very democratic people for a long time due to the sorority and they go so over the top and get in your face about their views that it just drives me nuts and I cant stand listening to it! I find it unfortunate that our society has turned out as it is. It doesn't matter who is running our country, people are always going to have problems with them. There has never been a perfect president and there never will be. It is an impossible task and I imagine the most difficult job on the planet. I commend any man (or woman) that chooses to take on the task. And.. as totally disgruntled and just disgusted as I would be if Clinton or Obama got elected I wouldn't turn my back on my country like so many other Americans seem to have done with this administration.

"...but working side by side to take us around the unknown curve." ~Lillian Smith

I realized halfway through yesterday that I had a sore throat. Yuck. I didn't get a whole lot of sleep because of this. I got more than I could have I suppose. I hope I'm not actually getting sick and that it is just a weather thing. I always refused to believe Robert when he said that his flu shots prevented him from getting sick at all over the winter months and leading up to them. After experiencing my very first flu shot and having not gotten sick at all myself, I actually kindof believe him!

Today we are going to Washington DC. One of Robert's good high school friends is getting married and we were invited. I am pretty excited since I have never been, and who doesn't love weddings! I didn't do much to prepare for the trip, but we only really have a day to do the whole sightseeing thing so we are pretty much just going to the national mall and picking and choosing which things we spend time at. Our choice was pretty much made for us as far as the Smithsonian's go. The American history museum is closed until 2008 sometime for rennovation. So we shall go to the National history museum instead. Still pretty cool! It's too bad that since 9/11 you cant get tours of the white house without 3 weeks notice and a congressman's approval or something like that. Oh well. At least I can go see it. I LOVE history. I have had more American history the past couple of months than I ever have!

This week has been pretty crappy so I am really looking forward to getting away. The job hunt just plain sucks. I evidently cant even get a job as a secretary because it seems like ALL of them are part time. I applied for a position at my church and if there is a God I will get that. You would think the influence would be a bit closer since it is MY church that I am applying to. Other bummers: I was going all of 2 miles an hour in Michaels parking lot last week while backing up and this little tiny car came out of nowhere so I backed into it. The car is so not even worth getting fixed and the lady even said that she was going to trade it in. So it is safe to say she will totally try to pocket the money from it. My spare tire is what dented it. It was a pretty insignificant dent too in my opinion. It was a little wide, but so shallow I couldn't even see it at first until she pointed it out. I am so annoyed at myself. I was looking the whole time so she must have just been zipping along in the parking lot and didnt bother to honk to let me know she was coming. She would have seen me, I wouldn't have seen her due to the SUV and Van next to me. She was kind enough to honk after I hit her. HELLO!!! What do you think I am going to do, keep backing up when I am fully aware that I am currently on your car?!?! People are SO dumb. I have decided to tell my insurance agent to make sure and write the check out to the repair shop. That way she HAS to get it fixed and cant just go cash it. muahaha.

Im annoyed at some other things but I figure I am already so cynical at the moment that any more would just sound like whining. As if this whole post hasnt already accomplished that. Oh well.

I really need something to go right for me here. I am losing faith in a lot of things and I have always considered myself very optimistic and lifting. I just cant deal with much more hardships or negative situations. sigh.

It's almost all packed!! I think I have been more on top of things this time around. Then again, I dont exactly have a job taking attention away from packing like last time. We move into our house in 2 days. We get the truck tomorrow to start loading and then close at 9am on Friday. I am SO excited. This house is so fabulous. I just cant even believe we lucked out enough to get it! Yay!!!

Lets see, I have teo pending job applications out right now. One with HACAP for a healthy Marriages Coordinator position and the other is at hand in hand daycare as an assistant teacher. I really really want the job with HACAP. If my degree is worth or made for anything, it is that job. I dont need a social license, I dont need an ECE degree, I dont need 50 years of experience. I just need me and a related Bachelor degree. Liek I said, it totally falls under my studies. I think it would be so interesting. It wouldnt even really deal with the people that much, just all of the program implementing and researching. I sure hope I get considered for it. Everything would be in the exact place it needs to be!

Other news this month, I got back from my trip to Boston (2 days late due to flight cancellation). It was fantastic. Sarah and Karen are jsut the greatest people. Sarah's family was so gracious. One of the best nights was when we cooked our own lobster! too much fun (although it was very sad to have to kill them and everything)

This was my first trip to the east coast. Strangely Robert and I are going again at the end of April for a friends wedding. We will be in Baltimore/DC. That will be pretty cool. However between that and the house my credit card is hurting. I would really love it if we could just, oh, win the lottery. Yes, that would be okay with me.

ho hum. Oh, I am in this continuing education photography class. It was my birthday present from Robert. How cool is that!!! It is going to be so much fun. The professor is hilarious and obviously very knowledgable (that looks like its spelled wrong). Anyway. All of this is mainly due to the fact that I desperately want the Nikon D80 digital SLR camera. :::drool:::: It is the most beautiful camera I have ever seen. And at the low price of $1299.99 its just so affordable. yeah, joking. But it would so be worth the money.

www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/D80/D80A.HTM#

sigh. beautiful. Some day. I hope. Otherwise I am checking out a couple ebay auctions for a pentax 35mm SLR. We I just love photography. I would get a job doing that if it didnt take so much start up cost. I have had friends say they want me to photograph their weddings (oh course they werent serious, but it was a nice compliment to receive) Its a fun hobby, but I know I couldnt make it a living.

OKay, off to meet the realtor at our house for the final walk-through. then more packing and cleaning here. joy.

So one thing I have found about not having a job yet and thus sorting through all of my old stuff is that I miss it. Yes I miss my old stuff and everything it symbolizes. I have so many wonderful memories but I miss being in that exact moment of what is happening. I miss the house. Its not that I miss the house as it is, I mean, its just a house. But the people in that house and the everyday mundane activities that took place. Those are the things I really miss the most. I loved formals and house parties and greek week and all too, but I just miss being able to walk into the next room and have 5 girls sitting around watching movies or talking or goofing off by dresing up into strange clothes and taking pictures just because boredom had gotten the best of them (and they didnt feel homework was necessary quite yet). Everyone takes for granted what they have at the moment they have it. And once that moment has passed, it is gone forever and you cant get it back. As much as I am totally ready to really jump into that "next stage" of life, I would love more than anything to go back and experience everything again. I would appreciate it so much more. sigh. I will be the first one of the bandwagon for testing when a time machine gets invented. Until then I guess I am just going to have to rely on my plethora of pictures, all of my random shit that I can't seem to find homes for in this apartment, and the hope that I dont lose touch with all of those people that mean more than the world to me.

oh p.s. I really need to find a job, the solitude I experience throughout the day is getting to me!

So! The husband and I decided we needed to get rid of some of our crap! So why not try and make a little money off of our random shit!!! We started off with these 5 listings (it really is random, no theme or anything to what we are getting rid of!)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=180073224207&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=008

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=180073227034&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=008

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=180073229850&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=008

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=180073233022&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=008

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=180073234664&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=008

How great is that!!! I hope they all sell. That would make it even more great. But it is really exciting because it makes me want to find some things that are much cooler and might actually stand a better chance of selling. My money is on the FIJI jug. I dont have many doubts that it will sell. I just hope some people are way interested and the price goes up up up!!

yay for hopefully getting some money from our old crap!

Well I finally deleted my old livejournal account. Before I deleted it I copied and pasted every single entry since Feb 2002(when I started it) into a word file. The reason I didnt delete it before is because I had wanted to do just that. Now I have it safely saved on the computer until I can decide how I want to print all 250+ pages of it. Oy.

Christmas was a lot of fun. Husbands family was fun as always and we played some cool games (when I say cool I mean the usual, but with their rules. My mommy gave me sewing machine and kitchenaid food chopper. Now I can sew and, well, use the food chopper for food. Im honestly really excited about the sewing machine. I have wanted/needed one for a while now. I have quite a few projects lined up already. One of which is the hawaiian shirt I started for husband. He has been nagging since I started it that it isnt done yet. IMPATIENT!!! Shirts are actually pretty detailed and without the proper materials it was proving to be a challenge!

New Years was fun but totally uneventful. I mean REALLY uneventful. Husband and I rented movies and watched those. Around 7 my brother came over to join us. Not that Bobby (I think I will make it a new years resolution to figure out what the hell to refer to my husband as!!!) anyway... not that he likes going to the bars but there really wasnt much point in going out anywhere since 1. we dont really know anyone here yet to celebrate with and 2. we didnt want to try to afford how much something cool would have cost.

So not much else has gone on in our world really. We worked on the guest room a little more today since it is the bulk of what is left to be dealt with. We took some books to half price books to sell in for some money. HA. $15. $15 for like, 8 books. One of the books alone cost me $40 just a year and a half ago. Oh well. I guess it is not taking up space here anymore and we at least got something for it. Now we just need to add selling stuff to our ebay accounts and we can hopefully get rid of some other junk. That and I need to sort through my stuff now. that will take days. I have accumulated a whole lot of stuff that I havent been able to part with but havent known what to do with either. Hopefully I will be able to come up with solutions now.

Oh the house we watned is still on the market so I totally need to call up some loan officers and figure out how we can get it. I want it sooo badly. I love it. And.. its been on the market forever now. So either something is wrong with it that we dont know about or it is just waiting for us! Also have other calls to make and inquire about.

Well.. I am off to organize. God willing I will lack my pack-rat-idness for at least a couple of hours....

oh. p.s. i have decided to take up another hobby! I am going to make my own cards. it sounds lame, but they are really cool! Kindof like scrapbooking but with greeting cards instead? sure.

The packing has been going pretty well. We have managed to fill our 10x10 guest room three quarters full of boxes. holy crap, we have a lot of stuff. I had to take a break to make some fudge for my secret santa gift at work (CHEAPER) but I am going to go finish up packing most of the kitchen. Its going to be just me this week so its not like I need the full aray of my kitchen accessories.

Speaking of it just being me next week... eep! I am pretty sure I should sleep until 3pm tomorrow just to make up for the guaranteed lack of sleep I shall get the rest of the week. I just dont know why I am so darn scared to be home alone. But, alas, I am petrified and wake up every hour.

So, in other news, the end of the week/weekend thus far has pretty much sucked. hardcore. I used the fabulous facebook to post a bit of a going away party (first real tip off I suppose, if I had to make up my own going away party, there is a problem I would think). But anyway, I wanted to see my friends somewhere we could all get together at the same time one last time before we are no longer Ames residents. Well I feel dumb. Of the 150 people I invited to it... guess how many came. Just take a wild, off the top of the head guess... wanna know? .. 2. 2 people. 2 of the what I thought was many FRIENDS I had made in the 5 and a half years I have been in this town. (I will take a moment to note how wonderful and fabulous these 2 friends are that did come and I love them very much) BUT on the other side, Im sorry but you cant blame me for being upset. I fully and totally understand people that are far away and cant come. I would not even allow people to drive from far distances jsut to come back, Im sure at some point in our lives we will see each other again! But so many of my friends were in Ames. and there were even a good handful that said they were going to come out. I called. no one ever came. Or even called me. a phone call saying, "hey, Im really sorry but it looks like Im not going to be able to come out afterall, I really value you as a person and hope we can get together sometime soon" would have made me feel just fine. But to be totally stranded by the people who I thought cared about me, just devastating. I am pretty sure I cried... no, sobbed for a good hour before I went to bed and even some after I woke up this morning. well I guess it serves me right for thinking that people actually enjoyed my company or having ever met me. It is good to know if I dropped dead, no one would give two shits.