Yes, We Can!!!

We did it! Go Obama--our next president!

Anxiously Waiting

Hope everybody voted today! Now I'm glued to CNN waiting for results.

Starbucks was giving out free coffee today if you told them you voted. I took advantage of that offer at two different locations.

Election

With the election in two weeks and a day, it's hard to focus on anything else--even if you're a first grader. Our students will also "vote" for a new president as part of a schools-wide election. When I asked one of my first graders who he would vote for, he choose Obama, of course. I asked him why he would like to vote for Obama and here is the short of it.

"He's brown and has a man helper."

I just thought it was pretty funny.

Electric Orange

Did I mention how much I love my new juicer? Since I've started juicing this weekend, I've made several different kinds of juices and smoothies. Here's what I made for my after-dinner snack and it'll be my breakfast tomorrow too. The juice came out bright orange and it's vibrantly sweet.

Electric Orange juice
2 servings

6 carrots
1 orange
1 apple

Juice the carrots with the orange and apple! That's it!

My apologies

My apologies for my recent lack of blogging! The last month has been very hectic! I meant to blog about the corn maze we took Norton to but that hasn't happened yet. I would have had a great blog post because we almost went to a rally in Scranton, Pa today with the Bidens and the Clintons! But Eric and I were both feeling a bit under the weather so we opted to stay home and relax today.

Last weekend, we celebrated my thirtieth birthday! Woo hoo! We partied with friends on my actual birthday and the following day, Eric took me to New York to see Mamma Mia and have dinner at Candle 79. The show was great and dinner was amazing.

Yesterday, we used up some of our wedding gift cards to buy a Breville juicer. So we spent our lazy Sunday making juice, napping, and making matzah ball soup.

I owe you guys a real blog post one of these days with actual photos and all. Excuse my laziness as of late.

Watch out for 'em hot peppers!

I should be blogging about what could have been an awesome salad, all put together without the help of a recipe. It was black beans and fresh corn, tomatoes and green bell pepper, avocados too. Some garlic and onion and why not a small red hot pepper for a little spice? As my salad was just about ready to be dressed, my face started feeling hot. And it was red. My nose was burning and my lips too. Then my face got swollen a bit and the splotchy red started to appear on other parts of my body, my shoulder and my hand. I had to send Eric out to get me some Benadryl so I could get some relief. I washed my face and used my Neti pot to get rid of some of those spicy irritants! I drank some ricemilk too.

Unfortunately, I had to throw the entire salad away. With all of that spice of one small pepper, not only did it taste like fire, but it wasn't worth dying.

I don't even know what kind of pepper it is. It came in a box of assorted hot peppers from the farmer market. I think the whole container has to go in the trash now.

My hands still feel hot but I'm definitely feeling better than I was--

Thanks to my darling hubby who, while on a quest for Benadryl, brought me home some Purely Decadent ice cream.

How we spent our Labor Day weekend

Around the middle of last week, upon realizing that Eric and I had no plans at all during our upcoming three day weekend, I suggested we spend that time painting our bedroom. Though not a fun chore, we decided it was the only time in the near future that we had to undertake this job. No sooner than we had started collecting paint samples did the bbq and other party invitations start rolling in. We were invited to three barbeques and (I to) one shopping excursion. Unfortunately, we missed all but one of those events (and that was only because the party was walking distance away)!

We painted our bedroom a Martha Stewart color called "Mixing Pot." It reminds me of a buttercream. It really is a pretty color and it's a nice change from the aqua that was on our walls and ceiling before that! After putting our bedroom back together today, we set up our new duvet and other bedding accessories which we received as shower gifts back in May. As Eric stated earlier this evening, now our bed looks like a hotel room bed!

Now summer really has come to an end...back to school tomorrow for me!

McCain's Dangerous Choice

Anybody see Obama's acceptance speech the other night? I thought it was amazing. I was riveted to that tv taking in every word he spoke.

Friday morning, I was shaking my head in disgust when McCain introduced his running mate.

Today I got this email from Move On which I found to be very informative. I'm cutting and pasting the info below.

Dear MoveOn member,

Yesterday was John McCain's 72nd birthday. If elected, he'd be the oldest president ever inaugurated. And after months of slamming Barack Obama for "inexperience," here's who John McCain has chosen to be one heartbeat away from the presidency: a right-wing religious conservative with no foreign policy experience, who until recently was mayor of a town of 9,000 people.

Huh?

Who is Sarah Palin? Here's some basic background:

• She was elected Alaska's governor a little over a year and a half ago. Her previous office was mayor of Wasilla, a small town outside Anchorage. She has no foreign policy experience.¹
  
• Palin is strongly anti-choice, opposing abortion even in the case of rape or incest.²
  
• She supported right-wing extremist Pat Buchanan for president in 2000. ³
  
• Palin thinks creationism should be taught in public schools.⁴
  
• She's doesn't think humans are the cause of climate change.⁵
  
• She's solidly in line with John McCain's "Big Oil first" energy policy. She's pushed hard for more oil drilling and says renewables won't be ready for years. She also sued the Bush administration for listing polar bears as an endangered species—she was worried it would interfere with more oil drilling in Alaska.⁶
• How closely did John McCain vet this choice? He met Sarah Palin once at a meeting. They spoke a second time, last Sunday, when he called her about being vice-president. Then he offered her the position.⁷

This is information the American people need to see. Please take a moment to forward this email to your friends and family.

We also asked Alaska MoveOn members what the rest of us should know about their governor. The response was striking. Here's a sample:

She is really just a mayor from a small town outside Anchorage who has been a governor for only 1.5 years, and has ZERO national and international experience. I shudder to think that she could be the person taking that 3AM call on the White House hotline, and the one who could potentially be charged with leading the US in the volatile international scene that exists today. —Rose M., Fairbanks, AK

She is VERY, VERY conservative, and far from perfect. She's a hunter and fisherwoman, but votes against the environment again and again. She ran on ethics reform, but is currently under investigation for several charges involving hiring and firing of state officials. She has NO experience beyond Alaska. —Christine B., Denali Park, AK

As an Alaskan and a feminist, I am beyond words at this announcement. Palin is not a feminist, and she is not the reformer she claims to be. —Karen L., Anchorage, AK

Alaskans, collectively, are just as stunned as the rest of the nation. She is doing well running our State, but is totally inexperienced on the national level, and very much unequipped to run the nation, if it came to that. She is as far right as one can get, which has already been communicated on the news. In our office of thirty employees (dems, republicans, and nonpartisans), not one person feels she is ready for the V.P. position.—Sherry C., Anchorage, AK

She's vehemently anti-choice and doesn't care about protecting our natural resources, even though she has worked as a fisherman. McCain chose her to pick up the Hillary voters, but Palin is no Hillary. —Marina L., Juneau, AK

I think she's far too inexperienced to be in this position. I'm all for a woman in the White House, but not one who hasn't done anything to deserve it. There are far many other women who have worked their way up and have much more experience that would have been better choices. This is a patronizing decision on John McCain's part- and insulting to females everywhere that he would assume he'll get our vote by putting "A Woman" in that position.—Jennifer M., Anchorage, AK

So Governor Palin is a staunch anti-choice religious conservative. She's a global warming denier who shares John McCain's commitment to Big Oil. And she's dramatically inexperienced.

In picking Sarah Palin, John McCain has made the religious right very happy. And he's made a very dangerous decision for our country.

In the next few days, many Americans will be wondering what McCain's vice-presidential choice means. Please pass this information along to your friends and family.

Thanks for all you do.

–Ilyse, Noah, Justin, Karin and the rest of the team

Sources:

1. "Sarah Palin," Wikipedia, Accessed August 29, 2008
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin

2. "McCain Selects Anti-Choice Sarah Palin as Running Mate," NARAL Pro-Choice America, August 29, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17515&id=13661-10389487-obf5gyx&t=1

3. "Sarah Palin, Buchananite," The Nation, August 29, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17736&id=13661-10389487-obf5gyx&t=2

4. "'Creation science' enters the race," Anchorage Daily News, October 27, 2006
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17737&id=13661-10389487-obf5gyx&t=3

5. "Palin buys climate denial PR spin—ignores science," Huffington Post, August 29, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17517&id=13661-10389487-obf5gyx&t=4

6. "McCain VP Pick Completes Shift to Bush Energy Policy," Sierra Club, August 29, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17518&id=13661-10389487-obf5gyx&t=5

"Choice of Palin Promises Failed Energy Policies of the Past," League of Conservation Voters, August 29, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17519&id=13661-10389487-obf5gyx&t=6

"Protecting polar bears gets in way of drilling for oil, says governor," The Times of London, May 23, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17520&id=13661-10389487-obf5gyx&t=7

7 "McCain met Palin once before yesterday," MSNBC, August 29, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=21119&id=13661-10389487-obf5gyx&t=8

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