Here's some of the sights we saw when we were there.
The Golden Gate Bridge
I am so lucky to have such a wonderful and colorful family! Thank you for some beautiful memories!
Tomorrow is the BIG game between the Mighty Buckeyes and that team from up north. In our household, it is a day when the earth stops it's rotating and revolving and nothing else matters. We do not take phone calls. We do not schedule play dates. We do nothing but eat, live and breath Ohio State football. If we win, life is as it should be. If we lose, we're like the groundhog and you will not see us for another six weeks.
We've been invited to the neighbor's for their version of "Kegs and Eggs." I've volunteered to put together a Bloody Mary bar. Here's my shopping list:
GO BUCKEYES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I heard a story on NPR the other day that there are STILL cases in the Catholic church of priests molesting children and being reported to higher ups. The higher ups then do nothing with the information (except maybe destroy it). The police are not contacted and the priest is not removed from contact with children. This latest case involves Father Daniel McCormack (the molestor) and Cardinal Frances George (one of the guys turning a blind eye), who was just elected president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
I shot an email off to my local parish’s priest asking him to whom I may write a letter expressing my outrage and here’s what I found out. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops vote from within their ranks for the new President of USCCB. If you wish to put something into writing, please write to:
Mr. Jimmy M. Lago, Chancellor
Archdiocese of Chicago
The Pastoral Center
P.O. Box 1979
Chicago, IL 60690
I plan on doing that. Any other Catholics out there who feel the same should let these people know that we will not tolerate the abuse or the failure of the church to root it out and address it. Until I see a systematic change in our church, I am going to assume that all priests are pedofiles (how can I be assured they’re not, if the organization is more worried about covering it up than protecting our children) and my kids will NEVER be alone with a priest.
I'm auditing a database management course this term and I feel a lot like this guy (except I don't want the pretty girl). Here's some sql code I just wrote:
YUCK! I can barely look at this picture! Read on for the joke of the day....
How many University of Michigan students does it take to change a light bulb?
Two. One to do it and another one to claim they did it just as well as any Ivy League school.
Why did Michigan change their field from grass to artificial turf?
To keep the Michigan cheerleaders from grazing at half time.
There are some people in this world who have placed themselves above the rest of us and are continually adding to an invisible list in their heads of tasks or duties beneath their self-imposed grandiose status. Irene Némirovsky wrote about this eloquently in her book Suite Francaise, which I highly recommend. Today, when I innocently asked a professor if he had already made a copy of my timesheet, he went on and on about what a ludicrous thought this was. Imagine him standing in front of a copy machine for five seconds of professorial time!
In Suite Francaise, the first half is about the Nazi invasion of Paris. The Parisians are fleeing out of the city and the ones who struggle the most are the upper class. Their skewed notion that money, fame, and social status entitle them to more than their fellow countrymen during a mass exodus with food shortages, air raids, etc. is comical.
I strive for the opposite in my life. I will perform the most menial tasks and hopefully do so without complaining. There is nothing that I expect someone else to do that I will not do, or learn to do, myself. I am certain that no amount of wealth, fame, or rise in social status (however unlikely) will change this. So? Who wants their toilet cleaned?
Just received this from the proud father. He thinks his son's performance in this video is the reason the housing market in our neighborhood has frozen....
My husband has threatened/ promised that, should I make an addition to the family in canine form, he will begin to take unapproved ski trips as often as he likes. I'm thinking he already does this. He goes out west at least once or twice during a season and takes another handful of day trips in the area. 
He's very financially conservative which should curtail him from taking many more trips. That, plus the guilt of leaving us more frequently, should keep things at status quo regardless of a new four-legged family member. Lastly, the threat of skiing more will only affect our family from November through March but we'll have a pooch year-round. It doesn't sound like a bad deal. Right?
Here's what scares me though - it will be I who has to come home every day to let the dog out, take him to the vet, arrange for care when we vacation, take him for walks, pick up poop in the yard, etc. I won't be able to even think about asking Scott to help with any of this. If I do, I can hear the lecture already.
Should I do it? I love dogs. The kids are at a perfect age and will also get a lot of enjoyment out of it. Even Scott, who will pretend like he doesn't, will warm up to it. He grew up with dogs and loved every minute of it.
I'll keep you posted......
OK. Here's what I do. When someone asks me to volunteer for almost ANYTHING, I say yes without hesitation. That's just how I am. I like to help out. This works out well most of the time for all parties involved. I feel good about contributing in my community, and people get what they need.
About three to four times a year (I don't keep track on purpose), I say yes to too many different things and something falls through the cracks. This happened today. I volunteered to work at the school bookfair and didn't show up. This happened even after writing it in my daytimer, on the fridge calendar, and getting a reminder phone call.
After cooking all day yesterday for my Halloween party, making it to my children's Halloween parade, making a dip for my daughter's class party, going to my database class and to work, and then today; cleaning up the party aftermath, meeting a contractor who will be quoting us on a new roof and painting, preparing a casserole for the teachers at my children's school, putting in a couple hours at work, arriving for early pick-up, and trying to remember piano lesson and conferences tonight (which I had to arrange a babysitter for), I could not keep the bookfair in my feeble brain.
The worst part about it is I flaked on the same woman at least a few times before this so my reputation is sealed. It doesn't matter if I remembered and fulfilled 95% of the committments I made. The only thing people will remember is, "That flake, Ellie couldn't even remember to show up for a two-hour shift at her children's bookfair!" It's almost better to be unreliable all the time because it's a whole lot less effort and a person like that has a reputation about as good as mine. It's a small town and word will be out by this time tomorrow for sure. It sounds paranoid, I know, but it is so true. I might as well tape a scarlet "F" (for flake) on my shirt whenever I show my face in public. Poor me!
