"That's not fair!"

THAT'S NOT FAIR!!! How many have us have said those words to parents, employers, friends, and spouses, and those of us that are parents from our children!!!! It was a favorite phrase of mine growing up until one day my step dad responded with "LIFE IS NOT FAIR SO GET OVER IT" and continued to say that he never wanted to hear me say that again.. and guess what, that is a phrase that I do not say anymore.
Now as an adult it is easily recognizable that life is not fair. Some people struggle daily to make ends meet while others seem to have wealth fall into their laps - it isn't fair... and it never will be.

But, what I don't understand is why some adults think that life should be fair!!! There are some obscenely rich people in our county and our government wants to tax them more since they make more . In a sense I can see how that would make things more "fair" to those people who cannot or will not provide for themselves, or so those who don't make as much money don't have to pay as much to our government.... BUT!!! how is that "fair" to the people who are having to pay extra in taxes?  Those people earned that money (or at least someone in their family did) so how is that "fair" to them? The top 10% of income earners in the U.S. pay almost 75% of all taxes, with the top 1% paying 40%, and a third of US Citizens do not pay ANY taxes into the government - how is this "FAIR"? Another thought that I had is the top 10% of income earners in America account for 25% of charitable donations... what happens if we tax them more (so we can keep everything fair) they don't have as much $$$ so they don't give as much to charities... so then the government has to pay out more to help those in need...

I had someone tell me one time that they were so excited that the government might start paying for college for students if they did so much charity work or something to that effect... I then asked them where they thought that money to pay for that schooling would come from, and that somewhat stumped them. When I had friends buy cars on the cash for clunkers - granted it was a good deal - all I could think of was that some of what I pay in taxes helped people get into new cars....

When the rich are rich... they start companies that hire people, the buy more stuff which in turns creates more jobs... we want them to be rich!! We want them to stay here and keep their money here and buy all their stuff here!!! Is it hard to watch them continue to make money while many of us are struggling - YES!!! but if they have less money then it could cause a hardship on all of us!

Here are a small list of things that I think every person in the United States needs to remember
1) LIFE IS NOT FAIR - GET OVER IT
2) The world does not revolve around you
3) You are not ENTITLED to ANYTHING except life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness

Life is not fair, it never has been and it never will be.

What I have learned these last 2 weeks

Wow, all of us in Oklahoma have had a taste in really brutal winter weather! With kids being out of school, roads turning into ice skating rinks and setting new record lows in our state, it has been an interesting two weeks!

So what I have learned these past two weeks

1) I would not make a good home-schooling mom... seriously I do not have the patience. I got a workbook for Lucien - it is huge - it is supposed to be a years worth of activities and it has math, reading, science, comprehension... all sorts of good stuff in it! He really enjoys doing it, most of the time, but there are times that he just doesn't even try, doesn't want to try and I just sit there and try not to fume... then I tell him that is the last page and we are done. I think I get the most frustrated when I KNOW that he knows it - as in he did it five minutes ago and for the past week - but now all he says is that he can't do it!!!! Yes we continue to do the workbook, but for those moms and/or dads (or any other relative or friend) that home-schools, you have my shout out to you, because it is HARD!!!!

2) I LOVE the SNOW, and I HATE the COLD!

3) How fast time flies!!! Earlier this week I told Lucien that he has to have a haircut - he was so shaggy and without much protest he agreed! And when I say that he needs a haircut, I mean I have to give him a haircut. So I gave him a haircut - with very little crying involved. Now, when Lucien was little and I had to give him a haircut he would scream and cry and be so upset (same thing when I had to clip his nails... seriously Michael would have to hold him down!!!) and this time he even went and got the chair for him to sit in... and he gave me his opinion on his haircut when we were done (he loved it btw!). Then I looked at my little boy and it hit me again, he is not a baby anymore, when did this happen??? He is supposed to look like this




or even this

But he doesn't... he looks like this!!!!!!

And he is ok with me cutting his hair, and he helps his daddy shovel the driveway (well he uses the snow Michael piles up as a big slide, but I digress), he tells me how beautiful I am and that I am the best mommy in the world (ok so I like those last two). But the time has gone so fast. For some reason that hit me this week.. he is not a baby anymore... he likes to pick out his own clothes and tells me about his "job" and all of his monster trucks and what they can do...

4) I have learned when you make pumpkin bread (or banana or poppeyseed or whatever) you CANNOT fill it up to the very top of a somewhat smaller pan.. it rises... a lot... and bubbles over into your oven and starts to burn and it really smells... and it makes your house really smoky, which makes your husband look up at the smoke alarm in concern. But the bread can be salvaged if your husband can get it out of the oven for you and put it in a bigger pan...

5) I need to buy a sled.

6) I am really happy that Michael has a 4 wheel drive vehicle.

7) I am ecstatic that I have a husband that will shovel my side of the driveway (twice) so I can get out of the garage... though making it into the street is a totally different problem!



This next week the temperature is supposed to warm up, a lot as in up into the mid 60's... I think next week while I will revel in the warmth and the sun, I will learn how very much I hate mud.

Trying again!!

So my last attempt at blogging failed with a big fat F, but I am going to try again. A lot of time has come and gone since my last post, we got Eli and Selena married way out in Portland, and Lin and Jay married at Big Cedar and both were wonderful and fun!!

We were also able to go out to California which was a great vacation (lots of Disneyland) and we got to see Nana G one more time before she went home to the Lord. God's plan is crazy sometime - she wasn't even feeling bad the weekend before we went out there but while there she took a turn for the worse, but we were so glad that we were there so Lucien could see her one more time, she passed away once week after we came back from CA.

We survived the holiday's and we just got done with round one of Snowpalooza 2011 here in T town. With record snowfall and high winds we got our first blizzard... and the city shut down. Now round two is supposed to begin tomorrow so it looks like it will be another short week at work.

Also during my hiatus of blogging, my baby boy turned FIVE!!! I can't believe how fast it has gone, I mean really wasn't he just a baby??? We had his birthday at the Jenks Aquarium and he loved it, as well as all of his friends... seriously we must have had at LEAST 15 to 16 kids there, plus all our family and all of his honorary aunts and uncles, it was crazy. Next year we are probably going to scale it back down, but 5 is a big one and we wanted to really do something big for him so Mission Accomplished!

Also, Izzie got through her first round of chemo for her retinoblastoma but we just found out a week ago that it has come back in her right eye with four more tumors. We are praying for her and my sister and brother in law. At this point we don't know what the doctors are going to propose for treatment for her - the doctor was supposed to call last week and let them know but as of 3:15CST on Monday they still have not heard anything.

Here are a few photos of the past few months.