almost caught up

*sigh* i am almost caught up and now it is after 1am so i am most likely done posting for the night. upcoming posts shall include our vacation journal, a rundown of our vehicle shuffle last week, an update on my volunteer work and business ventures, and possibly some general ramblings. who knows what i might come up with these days... (especially in the middle of the night like this.)

ENJOY

Fourth of July Prep

as we just arrived home friday about noonish, we needed to get started on preperations for our fourth of july party the next day. i know, who plans to go out of town right before hosting a party? apparently, i do... saturday morning was more of the same prep work, followed by a trip to walmart, and more prep work. it wasn't all that bad though, cuz we had lots of hands pitching in to help, so it went fairly quickly and smoothly. 5 pm rolled around and guests began to arrive. we were almost ready, which is a triumph for us as we are never on time. the pools were set up and filled with water, the shade was set above the bigger of the pools and the food was mostly all prepped. all the kids had a blast (as far as i know) playing in the water and a few of the adults got in too. i was even able to step in for a couple minutes here and there. later that evening we decided to drive to calipat to see their fireworks display and set off some fireworks of our own. we missed the city fireworks, but we were able to set off our own safely and legally (mostly). all in all, it was a successful gathering. (i think) :)

Stop Taking Our Money!!

ugh... where to even begin with the state of our state... california is in bad shape and the governor seems to be taking it out on the wrong people. i do not agree with the areas that he is cutting his spending. i feel as though he is trimming the meat, not the fat. i do not think that the education of our states children should be sliced apart because the government of the state cannot manage to maintain a working budget. i understand that cuts need to be made, but i believe they can be made in other places. also, my family as well as friends of mine are department of corrections families. we are suffering a 15% reduction in pay already and are facing the possibility of an additional 5% cut. where are the cuts to the chp and their salaries? where are the cuts to the inmates? unfortunately, i am not big on inmate rights and benefits, so i believe a lot of money can be saved there. i do not think the inmates deserve better health care than the working, productive people of this state, and yet they do. they are first in line to see specialists of any kind. they are not required to pay any out of pocket expenses or co-pays. they receive better health care than the people of the state that are on medical. the message there is that if you are ill and cant afford your healthcare, do something to get yourself thrown in prison for a short stint and get your medical bills on the tab of the state of california. then when you get out, you are healthy with no medical bills looming over you as so many people incur.

anyway, i am ranting and raving about this much more than i should, but it just baffles me to believe that the deficit is so very large... i know when i balance my budget, if there is a deficit i certainly don't allow it to grow exponentially. i fix it and balance it again, so that it will be right for the following month. how is it that every year the deficit grows and grows? who knows....(obviously not the governor and his peeps...)

a month?? how can it have already been a month?

um, i had no idea that it has been a month since i have updated my blog... um, i need like an alarm or reminder or something that will ding at me and say "hey, dodo, inquiring minds want to know..." :) anyway, wow, it's been a long time and we have been up to a lot since my last post.

we took a road trip to colorado springs, colorado, by way of the petrified national forest in arizona and albuquerque, new mexico. i will post a seperate blog about the vacation. i started a journal while we were on vacation, i just need to finish it and post it from my blackberry. (hopefully sometime this year, as we all know how prompt i am).

so to briefly overveiw that last month, we went on vacation, came home from vacation, went on a mini vacation, had a fourth of july party, played the vehicle shuffle all of the week following the fourth and now here we are.... lol, my month in a nutshell... i guess people would like to know more huh??? i'll see what i can come up with.

The Day the Earth Stood Still

in 1951 a movie was made. "the day the earth stood still." it was about the human race destroying the planet earth and a council of beings from other worlds decided that in order to save the planet, the race needed to be destroyed and allow the planet to heal...  1951... this movie was remade in 2008 and i just watched it for the first time a few days ago.  why is it that we had a sense of this in 1951 and are in the situation that we are in as of 2009. over fifty years have elapsed since the original version of the movie and yet we have continued on this path of destruction... something to think about....

Going Back to Go Forward

for lack of motivation to get anything else around the house done, i am sitting in front of the computer contemplating what to blog about and have decided that the topic of the moment will be "going back about 50 years."  in this day in society, it is unlikely that people think of going back as a way of going forward. i, however, tend to believe that we must go back before we can go forward. what has happened to respect, politeness, common courtesy and the importance of family and friends. 50 years ago, there would be kids playing together in the neighborhood, parents sitting on the front porch watching all the kids (not just their own) and you knew all your neighbors names and could borrow a cup of sugar without question.  today, in order for any neighborhood kids to play together, you have to schedule a play date.  you often don't know the names of your neighbors. i have lived in the same house for over 7 years now and don't know my neighbors by name and would certainly not feel comfortable enough to go knocking on the door for a cup of sugar. it never occurred to me until after i had kids of my own, that community, camaraderie and good old fashioned neighborly goodness was lost and more importantly that we need to find it. 

society seems to be so focused on the importance of independence and success that we seem to have lost sight of what is important. kindness, generosity and raising our kids with respect and values. we are such a busy nation that we don't even have time in our children's day at school to include music and art. we as a people have placed academia over all else. can this system be part of our children's issues with low self esteem and a sense of failure. some children do not excel in academics, however are amazing artists and musicians. unfortunately, they may never know their talents because they were never provided the opportunity to explore those areas of learning and expression. they were merely handed textbooks and schedules. these are the areas that the artists and expressionists may feel failure.

i think it is time for us to take a step back and look at where we have come from, where we are, and where it is that we want to go.

Board meeting 5.30.09

We had our first board meeting today! Little hands learning and family resource center will be applying for nonprofit status and incorporation status within the month. I am very excited that my board and I are on the same page about most things. It will be wonderful to see the progress throughout the summer as we begin submitting our paperwork and grant proposals.
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