Happy Thursday

Well I am still feeling sooooooo much better. The old me. Still crazy...but my normal crazy :0)

My only complaint, and then I swear I will stop complaining about my health and starting writing about more interesting things again, is that I have this constant headache. I wake up with it...it's there all day....it never leaves. Maybe a piece of my brain exploded with my little breakdown...HA! It's seems less severe today, but it's still there. As soon as I woke up there it was at the very top of my head, like some little brain fairy poking me with a teeny tiny pitchfork. Maybe if it's less severe today that means in a few days it will be gone.

Soooooo YAY! I feel normal again. And I have absolutely nothing to write about. Doesn't that just figure! LOL! I am sure before the day is over I will have some brilliant words to write...truth be told I haven't seen the news in over a week. I have no idea what is going on in the world....which is ODD for me!! I am a news junkie! I usually even keep up with news on sites like Reporters without Borders, which publishes news your freedom of press loving government won't let you hear. But I am so out of the loop right now that for all I know Hugh Hefner is Obama's running mate and John McCain was found in an alley getting a $20 blow job....ok that was uncalled for...yes, I am definately back! :0)~

But seriously...Hugh Hefner for VP....that could be fun...

Soapbox Momma

First of all I have to give thanks to the rain fairies for finally getting us wet around here. The corn was starting to roll up faster than a doobie at a Grateful Dead concert! And to be quite honest, Mama was getting a bit lazy about watering her humongous flower gardens...whose bright idea was that anyway? So YAY! Rain!! On the downside, I am stuck in the house with all the kids today! But I'll only have 5 today...hopefully we can salvage some of my sanity today so I can decorate the wedding cake. I will post pics tonight!

**Slowly and dramatically stepping onto my soapbox...straightening up my nightgown and smiling...remembering I forgot to brush my teeth**

Why in the hell would you let 31 days go by without calling the police if your 3 year old daughter was missing?? I am following this news tory every day and get angrier and angrier. I can not for the life of me, begin to understand how you allow something like this to happen. My child would not be missing 31 minutes (ok 31 seconds, who am I kidding...I'd freak) before I called the police. And I would be on the phone with the police 24/7 until my child was found! I would be that annoying mother who camps out on the lawn of the police department.....I'd find a way to call the Governor, the President, and maybe even the Prime Minister of England! My face would be in front of every national news camera for every single broadcast!! I would be screaming from every street corner in America that my child is missing and I need help! I would die without knowing my child was safe!!! WTF is wrong with these people? What do you do for 31 days while you know your child is missing? My opinion...drugs! Or perhaps psychotic! If the mother didn't kill this child herself, my money is on drugs. And I am speaking from experience. There was a time in my life when I didn't give a rats ass about the details of my life either. The fog is so heavy over your brain that it might not even occur to you that 31 days has passed, and you might be so f'd up that it doesn't occur to you to panic about the situation. I am not talking about Stoner Sally here...I'm talking hard drugs. This girl is/was messed up on something and her family is protecting her. The mom had originally called 911 to have her daughter arrested for stealing money and a car....this sounds like the act of a desperate addict, don't ya think? The story is that the babysitter took her.....hmmm, while not exactly the smartest thing to do, maybe the babysitter was protecting this child from a psychotic addicted mother! But I think we all know this story is bullshit. This child is gone. Somebody knows why. These people need to step up and tell the truth. What kind of world do we live in?

This poor child. I fear she will not be found alive. I pray that she does.

Escape Route

Well at least it's Friday and that's all I have to say about that. My daycare kids have been here for almost 3 hours and I am already feeling the anxiety creeping up. We are escaping to the city pool....in reality I don't know what's crazier watching 6 children in my home (1 is out today) or taking 6 children to a crowded noisy pool, at my own expense, with gas at $4.10 a gallon, and $2 a head to get into the pool...but I 'll take my chances! LOL! I need an escape, and even if it's only to feel hot sun on my face and cool water on my toes, I'll take it! Plus it's good bribery material for the morning....misbehave = NO POOL....it's not working real well so far! I think they know Miss Jada has lost her marbles and we will be going to the pool regardless....I think I lost this war a long time ago!

So speaking of escapes....yesterday on my way to our play date I cranked up the radio to drown out my screaming toddlers (yes, I do that) and the Rolling Stones were quickly filling up the empty spaces in the car. It was heavenly! I mean lets be honest, does anything lift you out of a fog better than a hot rockin' song?! I have a huge affection for the Stones, they were one of the best acts I have ever seen live. No shit! Watching a quintet of geriatric rockers never miss a lick to the sexiest music on the planet was by far one of the highlights of my life. The night started with Keith Richards, in all his pickled, wrinkled glory standing in a leopard skin coat, cigarette hanging from his lips, ripping up the opening cords to "Satisfaction". We went wild! Even from our nose bleed seats we were screaming like teenage girls....oh wait, I was a teenage girl, 19 in fact...or was I 20?...sorry ADD....and singing at top of our lungs.

Now it seems Ronnie Wood is once again in rehab. I see on TMZ this morning that Steven Adler, former drummer for one of the greatest rock bands that couldn't go the distance - Guns N' Roses - was arrested last night for drugs, one of my all time favorite singers, Scott Weiland is struggling desperately again....the list goes on and on. I think I may have blogged about this before, but it just goes to show that the price of art, creativity, and fame is sometimes not worth the toll it takes on the artist. Famous poets also seem to leave a trail of tears behind them. So many of the greats having given themselves their own dramatic and tragic exit from life. Maybe not being a famous poet isn't a bad thing.

Hubby and I are going to see Motley Crue Sunday night in St. Louis, Cruefest actually, an Ozzfest like event with several bands starting late afternoon, and I am always amazed, every time we see the Crue (yes we are groupies) that those men are still alive, standing before us, full of life and talent and bravado.....they could all so easily be dead. They have all paid a heavy price for their fame in the form of addictions...short of Mick Marrs, who bless his aging heart has suffered tremendous physical illness instead. Yet they soldier on, rockin' their hearts out for us and putting on a fantastic show every single time we see them.

Hopefully we don't come back from this concert with a bun in the oven...LOL....we did last time! Thank God for vasectomies....oh, sorry that was uncalled for. There's just something about sex drugs and rock and roll that just makes ya want to...well you know! LMAO!

I have to confess, Hubby is looking forward to this trip so much, and part of me is dreading it. He can't wait to have some time alone for us to just be "US"...I fear we aren't "US" anymore...we shall see. What if we have nothing to say to each other once we actually have time to say something. I guess that's why God invented beer...which we will be drinking by the gallon at the concert...ok, that's not funny either is it? But true. :0)~ We booked a hotel within walking distance...no DD here, we are gonna party baby! I am definitely ready for THAT!

Sexy Back

Ok I am reading this article, on MSNBC.com, (my morning news of choice) about "Feeling Sexy" and that fact that it's all in the mind. Can I first of all say we must be really freakin' short on news stories if this is #3 on the list of links. Anyhoo...I expected to read an article about confidence and how those who are confident and secure in their own sexuality sort of exude their own brand of sexy....regardless of physical flaws like a few extra pounds or limited height (I mean hey, look at Tom Cruise, that boy is 5' 6" with stilettos on, with a big nose and horse teeth...but the crazy MF is dead sexy!) Personally, I was interested in this article because I am of the full figured variety of women. I prefer to think of my body as full of dangerous curves :0)~ but let's face it, when I look in the mirror what I see is the aftermath of motherhood and the lack any personal time to try and fix it. Sometimes I am perfectly fine with how I look, and other times not so much....but I digress. I clicked on this article, assuming it would be an interesting read. It's not. At all. But I did find a few sentences in here that just about made me spit my coffee out....I just had to share:

Whereas lust tends to limit its reach to particular people or stretches of time (and, like hunger, can presumably be sated via fairly standard channels), sexiness is a state of mind. It is inextricably linked to sex as a concept but wholly separate from fornication.

ROFLMAO!!!! Ok, maybe it's just because she actually used the word fornication I really don't know but that line just cracked me up. And I don't know if I agree....deep down we want to feel sexy right. We want someone else to think we are sexy...and if we are honest with ourselves, don't we have to admit that we want those people to think we are sexy so that perhaps for a split second they will think 'I wonder what a roll in the hay with her would be like?' I suppose that is what she means by sexiness being 'inextricably linked to sex as a concept'. But then how is that wholly separate from fornication (God that word cracks me up! I feel like I am at church camp). Unless perhaps there is a difference between sex and fornication for her. In which case I feel sorry for her, poor thing! I hope she at least gets to fornicate every once in a while. LMAO! Ok that was completely uncalled for! This was just the funniest article to read first thing in the morning!! Of course only I would choose the story about sex over the story about Tony Snow dying, bless his heart.

Ok I have to say in her defense I understand what she is trying to say....it just struck me as extremely hilarious. So back to 'Bringing Sexy Back'. Yes it is a state of mind. I have a girlfriend who is not super model gorgeous at all...but since we were teens she has had men falling all over themselves to be near her. This is the girl who has an entire jewelry chest full of baubles collected from various lovers through her lifetime. There is just something about her. Personally, I have always been on the very curvy side, dare I say maybe even just plain large. And I can also say I have rarely been lonely. I know girls far prettier and skinnier than me that can never find a man. But these same girls are also very insecure, with slumped shoulders and timid speech around a guy. I so badly want to teach them how to throw a little switch in their hips and smile...make eye contact!! Guys aren't as 'programmed' as we like to assume they are, only attracted to the Playboy model or the heroin chic thin waifs. I think ultimately humans are attracted to personality. Yes there is the lust factor, we girls see a hot body and think 'daaaamnnn' but then the hot guy opens his mouth and starts blabbing about how hot his car is and one is instantly tuning him out trying to find an escape route....I have heard my husband and many other men make this comment about some very attractive girls we know "Yeah, she's hot until she opens her mouth...."

Sexy ain't all about what your packin' under your skivvies....It's more about what your packin' in your brain! I like to think I am packing a lot in both places. Ha! Maybe a lot more than I'd like in some places....but you work with what ya got right?!

Noooo Way Maaaan

OMG kids we are wearing weed in our birthday suit! No foolin' just read it on MSNBC.com here's the article: Skin churns out marijuana-like brain chemicals

That's why my skin was always so clear in high school and college :0)~

And further proof that perhaps it's time we solve our recession problem by legalizing a chemical that apparently our body makes anyway. Legalize weed, license people to farm and sell it, tax the ever livin' shit out of it and VOILA...budget problem solved! Plus the hillbillies down south will be upgraded their john boats for bass boats, trading in their 1974 Bronco's for a spiffy 1999 Bravada, and every shack around will have a hot tub out by the well......

Ok I am joking about the hillbilly surplus, but if people studied this seriously...the reasons our government developed such a propaganda against marijuana in the first place (completely a ploy to further segregate and punish blacks) and the studies that have shown the stoner to be no less dangerous, and usually less, than the local drunk. I don't care for the drunk hanging around all the time either...but it's legal. And every drink I serve at the tavern is taxed for the good of our state and country. My advice...if I were president...make weed legal too. Let all those party animals get jugged up and stoned! There'd be a lot less fighting and lot less unwanted pregnancies....who has the motivation to kick ass or chase ass when you are drunk and stoned....'dude ya got any chips?' LMAO

Yeah yeah I am poking fun at a controversial topic....what else is new. I am all for legalizing pot. I've seen far more fucked up and dangerous drunks in my day. Live and Let Live...and make a little tax money while you are at it!! Hell it was good enough for George Washington!

Hackin' Up The Headlines

If you caught your morning news you are seeing two big headlines today....first of all the Rev. Jesse Jackson wants to cut Obama's nuts off...well ain't that just solidarity for ya?! Good grief. I am sure there are more people who'd like to see Jackson's nuts dipped in batter, deep fat fried and served on a platter. Oh, sorry, that must be the hillbilly comin' out it in me. Hog balls are a delicacy around here....I just have to say that guy gives me gas. Always has. Always running his mouth....what exactly does he do? Actions speak louder than words. Please correct me if I am wrong, but does this man ever do anything that doesn't involve a camera crew following him around? Isn't his face I always see popping up in the latest racial controversy? Does he actually do anything else when there are no major headlines to be captured? He strikes me as the kind of man who wouldn't spare a dime for a homeless man, he'd be the guy growling "Take a bath hippie" Just my opinion....He certainly is no Martin Luther King Jr.

Then there is the JonBenet Ramsey case....can I just say it's about fuckin' time! It would have been nice for the family to receive this apology from the DA's office before Patsy Ramsey had to suffer an agonizing death from cancer. Yeah...good one guys. Way to go. The woman suffers the horrible reality of having her own child murdered in her own home....the fact that she was sexually assaulted only adds to the horror...then you accuse her and her husband of doing it. Convince a town, a state and a nation (thanks to our fact checking, dirt loving media) that they are guilty...everywhere they go for the rest of their lives...suspicion...now one of them is gone and you finally....FINALLY admit that ya fucked up! Good one boys...that's all I can say.

So yeah, I'm bitchy this morning...can ya tell.

Oh and just a correction from my last post (I am leaving it because, well, it's hilarious) but when I was talking about a flagellation situation....uh yeah, I meant farts...you know flatulence. I just had momentary attack of dumbassitis. But to go from flatulence to flagellation...now that's a doosey!

Blog Operas

Some people have TV shows that they look forward to every week, or even every day. They follow the lives of their favorite characters and hope to see certain story lines develop in one direction or another. Since I have small children it's damn near impossible for me to watch TV. I miss it sometimes, but other times I am so busy it doesn't really matter. I have a hard time sitting for an entire 30 minute program anyway. But thanks to the DVR I intentionally pause a show, go do something else for about 15 minutes and then come back to it...this way I can fast forward through all the commercials. (Yeah I definately have ADD ~ LOL!) Before the days of DVR I was a chronic channel flipper. The buttons on my remote were always worn bare. I can not sit and watch a commercial. The downside to be a channel flipper is I would almost always forget what I was originally watching and then miss out on the end of something....ok another ADD sign ya think :0)~

My point is, now that I never have access to the TV anyway, BLOGS have become my drama of choice. I find myself looking forward to new posts everyday and wondering what my favorite characters are up to. I will be laying in bed thinking:

"I wonder if Shannon has come back from her Dad's yet and I wonder if her husband did any laundry?"

"I wonder how the new baby is doing on the Distelfink Farm?"

"What is a piecake anyway? I wonder if Dee and ES will post the recipe?"

"I wonder if 3rd Lady wants to have children?"

"How in the heck do the Bouffard's raise 9 kids and still have any sanity when I am crazy just raising 2?"

"Wouldn't it be awesome to live on an island like Liz in Michigan, and did I win any tulips?"

"Mum-me does such a great job remembering all those funny conversations she has with her kids...I need to write more stuff down!"

"Who is Mr. X anyway and who is his publisher?"

On on and on it goes. Ya'll are my entertainment and inspiration these days! And everyday as soon as I have a free moment I tune in to see the latest developments! Who would have thought 15 years ago when I couldn't miss an episode of Beverly Hills 90210 that today my sole form of entertainment would be real people, no scripts, no plots, just real people living real lives....I love it!

She's a Superfreak!

I've been hearing a lot about Adult ADD lately. I have long suspected that I have problems with this. So I looked up the disorder and took a quiz....Good Lord Almighty!! I am a classic case.

How often do you have trouble wrapping up the final details of a project, once the challenging parts have been done?

How often do you have difficulty getting things in order when you have to do a task that requires organization?

How often do you have problems remembering appointments or obligations?

How often do you fidget or squirm with your hands or your feet when you have to sit down for a long time?

How often do you feel overly active and compelled to do things, like you were driven by a motor?

I had to answer OFTEN and VERY OFTEN to every single one of these questions.....Holy Shit! It's official, I am a basket case!

The site went on to be sure and inform your doctor about other symptoms you may need treatment for such as anxiety and insomnia....well I already take drugs for all that!

I am often beating myself up for forgetting things, and I often get lost in conversations if there are long pauses. My husband is notorious for taking an hour to tell a story. He pauses in between sentences, like most good ole country boys....well 2 seconds of silence and I have already forgotten what we are talking about. I always attributed that to all the weed I smoked in college....:0)

On the other side of that coin, I often talk so fast sometimes I can literally see peoples wheels spinning inside their head trying to keep up with me. I often find myself apologizing for "blabbing on and on..." The fact that I don't talk to very many grown ups in a 24 hour period doesn't help that much either!

Oh and I am so disorganized it's not even funny. It drives my MIL nuts! When she came over to help with the babies after they were born, she would help with laundry...she would go through all of our dressers and organize the clothes. I never fold underwear...what's the point...I mean are a few wrinkles in your knickers really a cause for concern? I just toss them in the drawer. Well she would go through and fold all of our drawers of underwear...cracked me up! Anyway, all my paid bills are just tossed in a box, my tupperwear stuff is just thrown in a big drawer, my pots and pans are just tossed in the cabinet and there are piles of things here and there of things that need to be sorted out, like magazines and newspapers. I am just a scatterbrain. Maybe ADD is the reason after all. Either that or they have finally created an excuse for all of us dipshits to use to explain our erratic behavior. I think all I have accomplished is confirming that perhaps there this is a specific reason I am such a dingbat! :0)

I found this too:
Those with ADD also may have trouble with impulsiveness, self-monitoring (knowing when behavior is inappropriate), distractibility, sleeping too much or too little, and a short attention span. However, when interested in something they can stay highly, almost obsessively, focused, according to the ADDA.

Oh that is Me to a T! If I am interested in something, for instance all the FDLS hub-bub, which then led me to a fascination with polygamy, which has then led me to a fascination with survivalists etc....I just get stuck on something until something else interesting and exciting takes over. And I am a chronic underachiever. I made average grades in high school, but scored with the Valedictorian on ACT tests....my teachers always wrote this on my report cards "If Jada would stop talking and pay attention in class she would be much more successful in her studies..." LMAO!

I have always blamed my disorganization and oddness to being artistic...

But I think once again I have found a quiz that confirms it...I'm a freak

She's freaky and I like It!
Justin Timberlake

More Pictures of Illinois Flooding

I just can't help but post more pics as they are coming in of the flooding nearby. These are some arial shots that have been psoted on http://www.stevehardesty.com/ today. Pardon the red marks, those are typed descriptions, but Blogger reduces the pics so much you can't see it.

You aren't hearing about this on your evening news tonight, but the people here will never forget the Flood of 08

Forgotten Flood Victims

There has been a slight falling out in the family....something I am not comfortable discussing publicly yet, but one that I suppose you can file under "Why can't I ever just keep my big mouth shut!" Somebody said something hurtful to me, I told my husband, my husband defended me in a fierce and rather disrespectful manner (ok it's his mom....) and so now they are not speaking. It made for a potentially awkward Father's Day....but it actually turned out wonderfully for us. He woke up yesterday and decided we were going to spend the day just US...the 4 of us. He wanted to got to Evansville IN, about a 2 hour drive, and take the boys to Chuck E. Cheese. We had an awesome time, just by ourselves! And hubby and I talked and talked and felt closer than we had in a long time. I told him not many guys would have done what he did for me, even if I don't necessarily agree how he went about it. Anyhoo hope you all had a fabulous Father's Day!

For those not familiar with Chuck E. Cheese, it is a Pizza place for kids full of games and little rides and activities for kids (and adults :0) The boys had so much fun!

On our way home we decided to take a different route to see the flood waters in Lawrence County IL. You keep hearing about Iowa on your morning news, but nobody is telling you about this little piece of the Earth that has been ravaged. A main water line has broken somewhere underneath this floodwater, and 4 towns are without water....FOUR TOWNS! Our local dairy truckers are hauling truckload after truckload of water instead of milk to try and keep these people sanitary and hydrated. So if you price of milk suddenly goes up, maybe the local news should take a look at the crisis here....


I did not have my camera with me, but what we saw was just amazing and horrifying. Houses underwater and farmland just disappeared into lakes. Dozens of levees have broken along the Wabash and Embarrass River's to create this disaster. There were cars lined up for miles pulled over on the highway gawking at the sight. There were speed boats and jet skis in the flood waters that used to be fertile farm fields, helping victims retrieve items from their homes and surveying the damage. Road signs peeked out just above the water line, indicating that this water was at least 8-10 feet deep. I have found some pictures online that show the flooding my neighbors are enduring. They continue to need your prayers. I think perhaps because this is not a densely populated region, it is not getting media coverage, but these flooded fields are going to affect everyone's pocket book very soon. Much of this corn is grown for ethanol, and often our soy beans are used for bio-diesel as well. More pain at the pump.










Photos are property of Steve Hardesty, please see this site for more photos he has taken of this disaster http://www.stevehardesty.com/

Ignorance Always Prevails - Warning Foul Language!!

Ok, can I just say I am sick and tired, and I mean sick and f'n tired of getting the e-mails about Barak Obama that are nothing more than racist tirades masked as concern for the welfare of America. One of my Aunts is by far the worst at passing these along. I have probably pissed her off this morning because I sent her an e-mail and told her to check her facts, along with a link to http://www.snopes.com/ I never was one who could keep my mouth shut :0)

I can honestly say this has nothing to do with my political beliefs, but everything to do with the integrity in journalism and the political process. Today's e-mail (they seem to be coming daily) states the following "facts"

Obama is an illegitimate child because his father was not divorced from his first wife before he married Obabma's mother

Despite Obama's claims that his father was an atheist, he was in fact Muslim

The e-mail goes on to show many many pictures of Obama visiting with family members in Kenya along with captions that seem to show nothing other than him enjoying his visit and supporting his culture. The e-mail ends with the following:

SINCE CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN, AND THE NEW YORK TIMES WILL NOT SHOW THESE PICTURES, AND WE WONDER WHY NOT, WILL YOU FORWARD THESE TO THE (APPROXIMATE NUMBER) 200 MILLION AMERICANS WHO HAVE INTERNET ACCESS? THANK YOU.

Give me a fuckin' break!! Those pictures did nothing but show this man on a family visit. How is his pride in his culture any different than our "German Beer Fests" "Mardi Gras" "St. Patrick's Day" "Valentines Day".....These are all celebrations of white culture I suppose they don't count. White people supporting their heritage isn't dangerous...but God forbid an African American support his culture and family history!! If I go to Germany and trace the steps of my ancestors and meet with distant relatives, does that make me a racist pig who believes whites are superior. Fuck no it doesn't. This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen. And it pisses me off! Have we stooped to such a low that an intelligent, free thinking American citizen cannot display pride in his roots and aspire to become the President of the United States? Are we not the melting pot of the world? Wasn't this country founded on the principle that any man, from any land could come here and live in freedom?

Oh and let's just address the facts listed in this e-mail and compare....

He might be an illegitimate child. SFW??? In this day and age, how many people also fall under this category? I mean are we stooping that low? The fact that this detail of his life could in any way sway someones determination of his ability to be a leader just makes me cringe in shame at the ignorance of some of my fellow Americans

His dad is Muslim...maybe Good God people, has the Bush Administration scared ya'll stupid?? Do you think that every Muslim individual on this Earth is a terrorist? Get a life! And get an education while you are at it! It's one thing to have an educated opinion on something, but if you were educated on this matter you would see how ridiculous and contradicting this whole idea is.

And lets just lay out some of my own dirty laundry here to compare and contrast. If we are going to be judged by the sins of our fathers here's where I fit it in:

My Dad has been married 5 times
He has 3 children by 2 different women
He was in and out of my life during my childhood
He never paid child support
He is an alcoholic
He has been in prison twice
He drives a lawn mower to the bar because he no longer has a driver's license
He is a mess

So what is your opinion of me now? If you have been reading my blog and now have learned these facts about my father, has your opinion of me changed? Does the fact that I still love my father despite his shortcomings make you think that I am in some way a dangerous person, or derelict in my responsibilities as he tends to be? If so you can kiss off ;0) But I would venture to bet any intelligent person reading this, especially those who have been reading my blog for quite some time, do not hold me accountable for the sins of my father. So why is Barak Obama's father's possible religious beliefs of any relevance to his campaign??

Oh but my FAVORITE Obama FACT is that when he gets in office he is going to send all of our money to his Mother Country .....good one....nice....scare the shit out of every little old lady in the country....First off, in my opinion, Africa could use a little more support, from the world in general!!! But do you really think our government would stand for someone just pumping all our tax dollars into another country? What happened to democracy? Is Obama immune from impeachment...NO! Why is it so easy to scare the citizens of our country, especially my small town country folk, family and neighbors??? Why do people just believe all the lies that are spoon fed to them from ignorant people who talk straight out of their ass rather than actually researching FACTS? Is it so much easier to believe a lie than put forth the energy it would require to form your own opinion by spending 10 minutes looking up the truth for yourself?

For the record I would be just as pissed if these type of lies kept hitting my e-mail about John McCain. I don't care who you are voting for as long as you exercise your right to do so...but at least vote based on facts!

For the record...the man I described, my father, is a my Aunt's oldest brother. I guess she ain't runnin' for President anytime soon either! LMAO!

24 Pints of Sweet and 3 Inches of Sour

Since we were rained out (or should I say rained in) I put up 24 pints of strawberry jam and 5 quarts of rhubarb, made 2 rhubarb pies and a strawberry cake...with a house full of kids. Let's just say this did nothing for the 'diet'!!!

We got another 3 inches + of rain last night. The road just east of us (about 1/4 mile) is completely washed out by the creek that runs along our property. I heard on the news this morning the the county just east of us, Lawrence County, is being evacuated. The levees broke last night along the Wabash River. So now not only is much of Jasper County under water but now Lawrence County is being rapidly flooded. All residents are being asked to evacuate immediately. I cannot imagine such a nightmare. How would you pick and choose what to take with you, knowing you might loose everything. I suppose my photos would be the most important things.....

I live in a tri-county triangle, I can literally walk on foot to Jasper County to the North and Clay County to the West, I live in Richland County. We have been very fortunate here so far. Although it's hard to say yet how this is going to affect the harvest this fall. My family had not yet put any beans out, so that is a good thing, although it's getting late in the season. Corn may not fare so well this year. I have a feeling 2008 is going to be one of those years that become legend amongst the small rural communities around here. Last year we had a drought so badly that we actually ended up buying hay from Texas to feed the cattle....farming is such a gamble. Last year we were begging for rain....now we just want it to stop!! It looks like we will now get a break from the rains, at least until the weekend comes.

Thank you for all the prayers. The people in my neighboring counties still need them....if the Wabash River gets loose, as it seems to have done in Lawrence County, it will be horrifying.

How High's the Water Mama?

Ten feet high and risin'
Johnny Cash

Well add insult to injury today, it is now raining and we are expected to get 2-3 inches this afternoon. The ground is so saturated that there is no way it can soak in and the river is going to once again burst at the seams, expanding even further than it already has. As I am writing this I can hear the rain pounding my windows. My weather radio is sounding alarm after alarm regarding severe thunderstorms and flash flooding. Fortunately for us we live in a higher elevation, but we have been flooded in here before, there is a creek running along our property that has swollen and trapped us on our hill. More worrisome is the cattle, which sometimes do not seem to have the good sense to get to higher ground or refuse to leave their babies behind who might be trapped. Retrieving them after the waters have subsided is a gruesome task.

My concern is with the families to the North of us. They have been hit so hard, this is going to hurt them badly. Very badly.

The Flood of 2008

The storms I wrote about in my last entry ended up producing 9 inches of rain about 15 miles north of us, causing an entire county to close all roads and homes to be sandbagged. Fields of freshly planted corn and beans now stand as lakes with waters as deep as 10 feet near the Embarras River. It is a frightening sight, one that has never been seen at this magnitude in history. The national news made a minor mention of the flooding in Indiana this morning, but not a word was spoken about Jasper County Illinois. Here is what we saw from the highway:

This family's home (above pics) is sandbagged, we saw them hauling much of their belongings out on car trailers last night, I didn't have my camera with me at the time. It was sad. Hopefully the waters won't rise any higher, or they may loose their home.

If you look closely in the pic above you can see a stop sign on the left. Follow the high line wires across the picture...this is a road, completely submerged in several feet of water. We estimated that out in the middle of the 'lake' we were only seeing the top half of high line poles...

I have blogged before about our favorite spot down by the river at the local park. Here it is. We normally play along the treeline beyond that pole lamp. It is more than halfway underwater. We were standing in the access road we use to walk there. In the top picture my boys and two of their friends are throwing rocks in the water....can you see the top of the blue trash can peeking out in the center right of the picture? My children were amazed that our special spot was now a lake!

Sadly this is not the worst of the flooding. These were areas that are accessible. There are hundreds of people completely shut off from any available roads, and there is a small town in Jasper County, Ste. Marie, that is completely cut off. There is no way to get into or out of there today. This is the worst recorded flooding on the history books. We are a farming community....this is completely devastating. These people need your prayers.

Summer in Southern Illinois

Here in the Midwest we are used to weather changes at the drop of a dime. In fact the old saying goes "If you don't like the weather in Southern Illinois, wait 10 minutes..." it's always changing. Yesterday started out as a beautiful sunny morning, but weather forecasters were warning us that the afternoon and evening would be producing storms of catastrophic proportions. The radar was clear, not a speck of rain to be seen for hundreds of miles, but with cold air from Canada and hot air from the Gulf always clashing in this area no radar was needed to predict how the day would end up.

I took the kids strawberry picking in the morning and we enjoyed the sun and the breeze, but by late afternoon this is how the sky began to look. I knew the storm was traveling to the north of us, and these pictures are from my front porch, facing the north, but I got some wicked shots of the sky as it belched out it's protest of summer heat waves....


Watching these tails hang down I was quite certain this storm was producing tornadoes somewhere beyond our tree line...the wind was calm and quiet at our house, which is always and eerie feeling when the sky looks like this.

Reports have yet to come on in if any twisters actually touched down, but I snapped this rotating mass...it was traveling away from us as it formed. The trees hid the 'cone' and the picture doesn't do it justice, but it was an awesome and frightening sight.

And the sky grows dark.....

This swirling hole in the sky rotated just above us....It was a bit like looking through the eye of a hurricane.

Eventually the strong winds did reach us from a different storm later in the night. Our hay fields and wheat have just layed over. They look very sad and dejected today. It's as if the giant feet of God tromped right through them smashing them into the earth.

My husband captured a twister with his cell phone on his way home from work, and if we can ever find the cord to upload the pics, this will be the first place I start. It is amazing....wicked...terrifying.

Summer in Southern Illinois has arrived.

Into the Wild

I have been meaning to blog about this movie for a few days and have never found the time. I had read about it on a few websites, and it has been an inspiration to someone I know. So much so in fact he began a cross country journey of his own. I had to see it!!

If you haven't seen the movie, I highly recommend it. It taps into the core of the human spirit and is a true story about a man who fed his wanderlust to the ultimate extreme. A young man whose ideals and visions for the human race were full of compassion, hospitality and solidarity...in addition to solitude. He had very little use for money, success or recognition. He believed that careers were a '20th century inventions' and that "The core of mans' spirit comes from new experiences". If you haven't seen the movie stop reading here because I might spoil it for you.

This man set off on a journey with no map, no money, no intended course....just the journey of life. To me that alone is an inspiration. Before I had a family I often dreamed of just hopping in my car and just going...drive to wherever end up anywhere. To sleep under a different sky every day until I had satisfied my lust for going. Obviously this little fantasy didn't figure in $4 gas prices LOL! Or how I would fund my journey even in the best of economies. But Chris didn't need money. He traveled by thumb and wisdom. Shed his former identity and named himself Alexander Supertramp. I find this idea not only just completely kick ass, but refreshing as well. Haven't we all wanted to be someone else, just for a while?

His travels eventually inspire him to take on the ultimate human challenge. Surviving Alaska, alone, in the wild with very little equipment to do so. In the end he didn't survive, but perhaps that was his destiny. Not a failure on the part of a fool, as some see it, but the destination of a modern day prophet. The final chapter in the inspiring story of Christopher McCandless.

Just like anything I find interest in, I have obsessively researched this story ever since I saw the last frame of the movie. In fact, I finished the movie at 11 p.m and found myself out here on the computer Googling until 12:30 a.m. The more I read the more my inspiration was dashed and clouded with anger at those who, I feel, misunderstood him. So many chalking this inspiring story up to nothing more than the psychotic downfall of an untreated schizophrenic. This led me to ponder these thoughts.

What if that theory is true? Schizophrenia. Does it diminish the inspiration? Does it change the face of Alexander Supertramp? Does it change this story from an epic journey of self discovery to one of insane wandering with a tragic ending? Not for me. Who is to say why one person's reality is not valid? My mother's illness taught me this one truth...it was real to her.

McCandless was and continues to be such an inspiration to people across the globe. I refuse to let the theory that he was simply insane take away from his genius theories about human life and love, or his spirit of adventure. Did Picasso's illness change his works of art to blobs on a canvas? Did Syd Barrett's journey to madness diminish his mark on the history of rock music? Does John Nash's insanity belittle his prestige as a Nobel Prize Winner?

No.

Regardless of the reason, Alexander Supertramp will forever be one of those people I hold in my soul as an inspiration and an example of how a human life should be lived.

"If we admit that human life can be ruled by reason, then all possibility of life is destroyed."— Chris McCandless

Feeding the Flock

Saturday nights I usually turn in my order pad for an apron and cook at the tavern instead of waiting tables. We always have a large rush after church and spend the next several hours preparing dozens of platefuls of fried chicken, whole catfish, burgers, fries, chops and salads....along with about 100 hundred other combinations. However last night we found ourselves filling box after box of to-go containers to send out to the fields. We have had such a miserable planting season that the farmers dared not leave their tractors even for an hour to clean up and go to church. Women came in one after the other to pick up bags and boxes full of hot meals to deliver to their husbands, sons, daughters, fathers, and perhaps for themselves to eat before they crawled back in the cab and put another row of seed in the ground. Some of these farmers are going on their second and third re-plant of corn this season after the weather washed away their first attempts at success. The rain has delayed the wheat harvest, and the sacks of seed for beans have not even been opened.

There was something extremely satisfying about knowing that the work of my hands was going to provide sustenance for the men and women who labor so hard to feed their families, mine and yours. Life is hard for the small farmer these days as corporate farms have eaten up available ground and tax breaks, and the government favors these big corporations who can contribute to their campaigns and causes. Yet these families just keep plugging along....mostly because they know no other way of life. Around here, the land you are turning and trying to make a living from was most likely the same land your great grandfather turned with a horse and plow. 100 years ago a farmer with land of his own made a very nice living for his family, and perhaps could even be considered wealthy. Today the farmer is too poor to be rich and too rich to be poor. Land = Assets, but Land does not = Cash Flow....financial aid for college students, for example, is not available to these families, even if the profit brought home at the end of the year is less than $20K. It is an impossible predicament...yet generation after generation the keys to the tractor are passed down and another young family throws the dice in the gamble that is the farm.

As my night was ending and I stepped outside for a quick smoke (yes, yes I know...), I watched as a thunderstorm was brewing in the south, fiercely growing and dumping rain on many of the fields that had been once again been freshly planted. I wondered how many of those raindrops hid the tears and sweat rolling off of the face of the beaten down men and women who never give up. They are nothing if not resilient. I am proud to call them my friends and neighbors.

What Happened...In my opinion

First I just have to say that I am not at all surprised that someone within the Bush Administration has finally burst out of the closet with tales of deceit and corruption, screaming in anger at the One Man who was supposed to unify this country and create positive change for the American People. I am just surprised it's taken this long.

This blog, of course, should begin with a huge confession. I voted for Bush in 2000. *ashamed face*.

As a young, lower middle class girl, voting in her very first presidential election I found myself drawn to the this Texas Cowboy with his flawed speech, his 'everyman' bravado and his shoot from the hip mentality. I fell for it...hook line and sinker. He seemed like a refreshing change from the 'politics as usual' Clinton administration. However, experience and maturity has shown me that any presidency looks like 'politics as usual' after 8 years. I think the office itself corrupts even the best of men. And clearly Clinton wasn't the best of men before he sat in the Oval Office....I was tired of the scandals and the corruption...I was looking for change. And Bush reminded me of my Grandpa. Straight talkin', fast shootin' George. Despite all my liberal views and hippie love mentality, I fell for him. Oh how I have lived to regret that single moment in the voting booth.

Clearly Scott McClellan lived to regret his faith in George W. Bush as well. The excerpts I have read so far from What Happened have more than confirmed most of my suspicions and fears about this administration. As I watched our soldiers march off to war, and as the body count began to rack up the, the sick feeling in my stomach deepened fearing that his motives were far from justified. The idea that we had sent our young men and women to that battle field and lied to them about their true purpose. The fact that mother's and father's buried their children ~ on both sides of this war ~ sacrificial lambs to a lie, pissed me off. The fact that my best friend spent 15 months over there, miserable and disillusioned about her government and the Army, pissed me off. I am still pissed off! And fought with everything I had to get him out of office in 2004...all the while knowing that Americans historically do not boot out a sitting president in the middle of a war...a fact I wondered if Mr. President was keenly aware of before he set foot in Iraqi sand.


Then there is the CIA scandal. This entire drama fascinated me from the beginning and I long suspected that at the least the Vice President was at the root of this scandal if not the President. Clearly we can see the full picture now through McClellan's eyes. Am I surprised? No. Do I wish that perhaps I could have lived in ignorance and not had to face the fact that my suspicions were true? Yes. I do believe that the full weight and consequence of this one incident is lost on the American people. If allow even one time for our CIA operatives to be fed to the enemy, even if only in theory (fortunately she was yanked from her undercover position before this hit the news), we are defeating the purpose of the CIA and the security of our nation. If the President and his administration can sleep easy at night knowing they declassified information, purposely, to protect the scoundrels within their closets, to distract from their failing war mission, to distract the American people from the fact that they are failing at their job, and risk the safety of the few people who sacrifice their entire lives to protecting our national security, then I fear for our nation as a democracy. This man is dangerous. I used to blame a lot of this on Chaney, thinking *hoping* in some ways that Bush was more of the dim witted second banana in this sitcom, with Chaney pulling the puppet strings. I think this book makes it very clear that Mr. Bush is far more capable of deception and destruction than I gave him credit for.

I am anxious to read this book in it's entirety. I am sure there will be more on this topic...my brain is swimming with thoughts of 911, Bin Laden, Gas Prices etc...but right now I need to go fix a loaf of cinnamon toast for the hungry masses! :0)

Gay Marriage....my thoughts

I realize this post my offend some of my readers and perhaps even cost me a few. But since I am never one to shy away from voicing my opinion, I feel I must relay my elation regarding the overturning of the Gay Marriage Ban in California! Yay! First of all let me state, I am a Christian, and I realize that traditionally my religion denounces homosexuality. However, while I am deeply spiritual, and very active in my church, I don't feel that I am particularly religious. I think I have blogged about this before. Or maybe that was my MySpace blog...but anyhoo, anyone who knows me pretty much knows I am extremely liberal on these matters. And while I don't intend to sway the opinions of anyone else, no one will sway me either. Let me tell you why.

When I was a little girl, my best friend, we'll call her Suzy, was different than me. While my walls were plastered with posters of Corey Haim and New Kids on the Block, hers were bare. While I spent countless hours preparing myself for my first kiss, practicing on my pillow, my hand, my dolls...and a lot of those posters...she just laughed at me. I was boy crazy for as long as I can remember. My very first boyfriend was in Kindergarten and we were gonna get married and live happily ever after...which lasted for about a month, until I moved to a different town. (Last I heard my first love was in prison these days...nice...I went for the bad boys from the start!) I was always in love with someone! Often more than one at a time! Boys, boys, boys. But not Suzy!

I don't remember when I first learned what the definition of 'gay' was...but I do know that I always knew Suzy was gay. Until 7th grade she never ever spoke of it, but I was her best friend, I knew. I vividly remember the day, one summer, we were sitting outside of our school, we had been playing in the empty parking lot, and she said "Would you still be my friend if I thought I might be gay?" And I can remember stating matter of factly that "I already knew that". She looked at me with such surprise! "YOU DID?" Well of course I did. Perhaps I knew it before she did. And in fact I knew that she was in love with our P.E. teacher, long before she professed it to me. I caught the long stares and giddy excitement when she was around this woman. She had a crush, the same as I had a crush on Scott, Ryan, Eric and Jeremy (all at the same time of course!).

Nobody will ever convince me that this child 'chose' to be gay. Nobody can ever make me believe that this little girl 'chose' a 'deviant' lifestyle....She was born this way. The same way I was born a "Hot Lips Houlihan"...

Now Suzy comes from a Baptist background, her father was even a Baptist minister for a time, although not often in the picture. So Suzy has dealt with deep rooted guilt and shame all of her life, feeling that she was somehow evil and destined for hell. She has gone through more than one period of her life where she has vowed to 'live straight'. However, as a witness to most of these periods, this is Suzy at her darkest, most depressed self. Trying to 'live straight' has nearly killed her a time or two. This is not who she is. And it never will be.

Today Suzy has a wonderful life, far more exciting than mine, in the big city! She has a wonderful companion, a drop dead gorgeous blonde that I am sure most guys would kill for! LOL! And she is happy. She is living the life she was destined to live. I firmly believe this. And as far as my own religious beliefs on this matter, that is an entirely different blog. But my motto is, live as Christ lived. I never saw Christ screaming at, spitting on, or beating a homosexual. I never heard Christ say that love, in any form, is evil. To me, Love is Love. And we should Live and Let Live. And I pray for the day when Suzy can live as a married woman, the same as me, with same benifits and recognition as me.

P.S. I love you 'Suzy!'

Cow Farts and Carpools

This spring Mother Nature has wreaked enough havoc on the planet to claim an estimated 150,000 lives in Asia alone. There have been numerous deaths in the US from killer storms and tornadoes, volcanoes exploding in Chile, wildfires.... She is quaking, storming, fuming mad at the citizens who inhabit her for the destruction they have caused to her serene and balanced structure.

Sometimes I wonder what the ultimate price is going to be for all of our technological and industrial advances. And even as I sit here, being hypocritical, with my SUV parked in the driveway, and my trash burning in the barrel out by the cow lot (we do not have trash service out here in the boonies), letting my 4 year old play video games while I veg out in front of the computer for a while...I wonder if it will be my children and grandchildren who will pay the ultimate price.

I have made many strides, especially considering the area I live in, to try to go green. Florescent bulbs in every socket, all of our appliances are Energy Star rated, I make several of my own cleaners (for the kids sake also), I opt for paperless billing, I try to reduce our use of disposable table service, I recycle rain water for my flowers, I have given up my daily soak in the big garden tub and replaced it with shower except for the occasional 'pamper me' nights, we raise and eat much of our own produce, I bring my own canvas grocery bags to the store and I try to be mindful of the things I throw away and their potential for re-use. However, when you live in the boonies, there are some things that are just not practical. I can't walk or ride my bike anywhere except the local cemetery or grain mill. Cow's are a fact of life around here, even though they say they are a major contributor to global warming....cow farts = ozone depletion...and frankly I will start to feel guilty about that one the day McDonald's stops serving Big Mac's...but in all seriousness, I try to be mindful of what I can do to help the cause. And hopefully I will pass it on to my children. But is it too late? That is always the question in the back of my mind. Are all our efforts fruitless and pointless now? Was it our parents and grandparents generation's that unknowingly pushed the boulder off the cliff? Are we simply holding toothpicks in the air to hold it back?......I hope not.