Yeah, Yeah, Yeah...

Whatever, if no one else is blogging, why should I?

I did get a call from my Aunt Esther and I guess they are coming over tomorrow, I'll let you know tomorrow how that goes... On Boyd's side of the family, I know virtually none of them. I do know Uncle Tom and Aunt Esther though... They came to our wedding, they came to our house a few years back... It will be good to see them. The funny thing is, their son used to live in the same subdivision we did, we never knew it though. I guess Aunt Esther knocked on the door after we had moved though, and the occupents told her we no longer lived there. Who knew...

Christmas...

Kind of dragging this year... :) Finally got the tree up though...



The kids are going to hang the ornaments tomorrow when they get home from school... I'll finish the lights and some of the other things when I get home tomorrow from work. I guess I have to drag the ladder out as well since we bought a bunch of wreaths last January to hang on the windows... Ugghh! The kids are excited though, and that is what makes it all worth it! Taylor wants to bake Jesus a cake though right now. I told her we needed to wait a bit, but then she could, so she is looking forward to that. She helped Carolyn make a cake a few weeks ago, and she's ready! Hope everyone is having a great holiday season! We are, and I know Titus and Jackie are!! Congrats again Titus and Jackie!! Can't wait to see you next summer!!!

CONGRATULATIONS Titus and Jackie!!!

Wedding Bells are ringing again! You can read Jackie's post here:
Titus and Jackie Engaged!!



We are very excited, and of course the kids are ecstatic, not only because Titus and Jackie are getting married, but they also realize it means another trip out to California next summer! :)

Thanksgiving...

I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving! I'm kicking myself because I normally take tons of photos, but alas, I took very few this year... I think it is because the turkey just would NOT get done... :) We went shopping in the morning Thanksgiving day and got home too late, but the 'directions' said the bird would only take 4 and a half hours... Well, 5 hours later, the little timer had not popped out yet!! I finally started using the meat thermometer, when 5:30 rolled around, I was like, "You know, why does it HAVE to be 180 degrees?" It ended up working out okay though because Cory and Jessica did not arrive until about 5:15 and we ended up eating about 6:00.

We had the table set at about 3:00...

Tanner was 'supposed' to be taking pictures... :)

Dinner...

We had a great dinner and a good time though. I guess we will start decorating for Christmas tomorrow and then again on Sunday after church is out. I did actually have to go to the office on Thanksgiving day, but it was only for about 20 minutes... Had to cycle power on a server that was not cooperating remotely... Tis life... The kids all have their "Christmas lists" ready to go and laying on my desk... :) I made the mistake of going to the mall Wednesday, wow, it's almost nauseating... Of course I only go to the mall about 2 or 3 times a year... Luckily my kids know the meaning of the holidays! I think I may have mentioned this before, but it cracks me up. Chance is writing a story about how he murders Santa Clause because he has nothing to do with Christmas, his teacher seemed amused, I wonder if she really was? :)

Movie Night...

I don't watch them that often, but did tonight... The kids had their own they were watching, and Carolyn and I were watching one in my office... Luckily there is a pause button on the remote, I don't think I've watched a movie at home without utilizing that since I've had kids... :) Taylor finally wound down and ended up in her favorite spot, my lap...



I literally watched the last half of the movie in that position! The kids are VERY excited about tomorrow. Carolyn spent all day cooking, so we should have a great meal tomorrow. I have to decide when to get up to put the bird in the oven! Hopefully it's not too early!

I hope that everyone who reads this has a great Thanksgiving! I'll post some pics tomorrow!

The Holidays...

Well, they are here... We have our Thanksgiving dinner planned and everyone is happy about the menu... Of course once that is over, the aspect of dragging all the 'stuff' out of the attic and setting it up was weighing on me until about ten minutes ago... Taylor came into my office with a picture from last year and asked me, "Dad, are we going to do the lights and stuff like we did last year?". Of course I replied, "Yes, of course, do you like them?". To which she replied, "Yes, I can't wait, I'll help you set them up this year Dad."...

Immediately after hearing that, the sense of drudgery passed, now I can't wait either... So soon there will be lights, wreaths, trees, etc all over the house and a great time will be had by all while we decorate our home for the holidays! I do though throughout the endeavour make sure my children know the reason for the season... I'm sure I'll post pics of it all... :)

Birthday Parties...

I'm sure anyone with kids gets the 'Birthday Party' invites brought home... These events are normally at places like Chuck E. Cheese, these places are designed to suck the money out of your wallet... Well, Tanner had one to go to today, so first we had to stop at Wal-Mart to get a gift (which is why people have birthday parties)... Then we dropped Tanner off at Chuck E. Cheese and I asked when to come pick him up, about an hour and a half they said... So Chance, Taylor and I went to eat, still an hour to kill... We went to a few more places, then headed back... Well, Tanner still had a cup full of tokens to use up, so of course I had to get some for Chance and Taylor... So needless to say, four and a half hours after leaving the house this morning we finally made it back home. The kids had 50 cents worth of useless trinkets and I was out fifty bucks... We did have fun though, so I suppose it was worth it, I think though that instead of sending out birthday party invites, people should just send out requests saying, "It's my kids birthday, so if you just send him/her 20 bucks, we won't send your kid an invite to the party"... :) That way everyone wins! I guess that just makes too much sense though... :) I do kind of like that machine that 'draws' the pictures though...

What Are We Doing?

What I mean by that is this, "Christians" argue about so many things, I'm sure that anyone who glimpses into the religion is like: "Umm, no thanks!".

It sickens me as well, I grew up in Baptist churches as most of you know, some may not, but most every church I ever attended ended up getting split down the middle over the most ridiculous of things. Some of the issues were so ridiculous, I could hardly comprehend how a church could split on such things. Of course most of the time I was too young, and had to rely on my parents who were usually at the forefront of such splits. The older I got though, and as I read the Bible, I kept thinking to myself, this isn't right...

Back to the title for a second, are we not here to tell others about Christ? Not argue about things that don't matter? Of course thats where the people start screaming: "It does matter!".... So say them...

My cousin has an interesting post, and I think the root of that discussion is the reason for most of this... Do people not realize that Satan has been unleashed onto the earth, that he is free to do whatever he pleases pretty much? His SOLE purpose is to discredit God and get people to turn away from God? Stunning how few know that. Well, not really, since all the people who do are too busy arguing about the semantics rather than doing what they have been instructed to do...

Here is a postcard I found today on the Internet:



The site:

Post Secret

People send in postcards with their 'secret' admissions, confessions, or whatever... Some are quite sad...

That postcard though is likely the thought of a LOT of people who just have no clue... So all the "Christians" sit around arguing about the stupidest of issues, while there are plenty of souls out there who would love to hear about God... I guess the point of this entire post is, we should stop arguing (not saying we can't discuss), but we should expend our efforts in trying to reach more rather than arguing about the semantics... Satan is a powerful foe...

Christmas Lists...

Anyone with children I'm sure is starting to get "Christmas Lists"...



My own children have been writing their own "lists" for days now... I do tell my own children the true meaning of Christmas, but the commercialization factor is more "in your face" now than ever before... They were putting Christmas items out the day after Halloween in many stores... How many though know the true meaning of Christmas? What if we never even put up a tree or decorated? Most would say we had forsaken Christmas. What if we bought no gifts for anyone, not even those who had given us gifts? I'm sure most would talk about us, referring to us as "Those people"...

Yet how many people even know what the meaning of the holiday is? I'm sure most do, but how many include the meaning of the holiday in the festivities? I love the holiday season, Thanksgiving, where we can all be thankful for our great country and think and reflect on what we are all thankful for. Christmas, where we celebrate the birth of our Lord. Then the celebration of the New Year. I disagree with many of the "things" that are tied to the holidays by the marketers and the people who profit from the holidays, but if you can wade through all of that without getting caught up in it, it can be a great family time...

Dreaded Fall Chores...

The bad thing about having so many trees in your yard in the fall is: leaves! Luckily I don't have to actually bag them like a lot of people do, I just blow them into the woods. I also use my pressure washer to 'blow' them, which works a LOT better than my leaf blower, which I haven't used in several years actually after seeing how well the pressure washer did it...

Before

After (obviously)

I think I need one of those leaf and lawn vacuum's...

Welcome Home Andy!!!

I'm sure your family is jumping up and down with anticipation right now, but less than 3 hours to go... Of course I'm sure you are as well! I hope you all have a wonderful reunion tonight and get to spend LOTS of quality time together over the holidays!

Welcome Home! Thanks for serving your country!

Facts...

You hear it everywhere... "Well, science says x, y and z, so how can you prove God exists?"... Now this new film says, "The Color of the Cross" and they depict Jesus as a black Jew... Who is right and who is wrong? "Well, my version of the Bible is more accurate than yours"... On and on it goes...

I don't pretend that my voice is the voice of authority, but I do know one thing... God did unleash Satan and his angels on the earth to try and get as many people as they could to turn their backs on God... Not only that, but He gave Satan dominion over the earth... My cousin had an interesting post on this today, Satan Hits a Homerun!, an interesting read...

You hear people talk about the 'end times', people have been talking about that since the day of the Resurrection... Who is to say if we are in the 'end times' or not... Not us!

Maybe we are, maybe not... The only thing we should be concerned with is, "Are you ready?"...

The thing that science cannot 'prove', the thing that people argue about, faith... I think that people who claim to believe in God argue about the stupidest of things... I doubt God is pleased... Of course I don't know that for a fact... What I do though, is read the Bible and use my own judgement... Which God has given me the faculties to do... I've virtually discarded all of the books, opinion pieces, etc that everyone else writes and stick with the Word... I'm so sick of getting tied up in the tedious "Well, you have to understand the Greek"; "You have to know the Hebrew"; etc, etc, etc...

No, you don't... God promised us He would make His Word available to all, you don't need a degree, nor do you need to understand Greek and Hebrew... Of course you can't tell the so-called scholars that...

I'll take the Bible I have and make my own opinions based on what it says... I'm tired of arguing with people about all the "little things"... Of course I'll continue to do so if I disagree, but always in a nice way... :)

I do have an open mind, believe it or not... There are a few things where I do not though: I believe there is a God, I believe that He will one day come back and take us (if we have accepted Him) to heaven if we are still alive, I believe that God gave everyone talents, yet most don't use them... I also believe that God will judge us all some day... It's a fascinating topic, and therefore the arguments...

Heaven...

As I sometimes do during lunch, I went to the bookstore today to look around (I love bookstores)... As I was walking to pay for the only Sidney Sheldon book I haven't read that I picked up on the bargain table, I saw this one on a different bargain table near the checkout:



My old neighbor and I were sitting on her front porch shortly after her son died, and she was telling me about this book. She told me how much it inspired her, but of course I soon forgot the title... Well, now I have it... I read the reviews people gave on Amazon... I should have waited until after I read it, but too late... I'll let you know what I think, just curious if anyone else has read it...

Here is the gist of it:

As he is driving home from a minister's conference, Baptist minister Don Piper collides with a semi-truck that crosses into his lane. He is pronounced dead at the scene. For the next 90 minutes, Piper experiences heaven where he is greeted by those who had influenced him spiritually. He hears beautiful music and feels true peace.
Back on earth, a passing minister who had also been at the conference is led to pray for Don even though he knows the man is dead. Piper miraculously comes back to life and the bliss of heaven is replaced by a long and painful recovery.

Falling Apart...

I know, a lot of posts... Our Country is falling apart though... It's split fairly even though, but the wicked seem to be winning more and more... So why do we lose? Sure, there are the scandals involving Foley and Abramoff, but those are two people... Scandals? You want to talk scandals, I could write for weeks and months about the Democrats involved in scandals... Difference? Media!! The media wants the Democrats to win... The problem is that the people who do want the Country to head in the right direction do nothing... "I'm busy doing the Lord's work"; "I have children to raise"; "I can't find the time what with church and all"... The excuses are endless... It's nauseating!

Well... Here it comes, it will get much worse... Rest assured that the Dems will try to impeach the President, they will raise your taxes, they will try to pull out of Iraq, our Country will be attacked by these extremists, and they will claim victory... I say bring back the 'men' who used to make the tough decisions... Lincoln, Reagan, Roosevelt, etc...

Iran and Syria...

Great! Let's all hold hands now and sing 'Kum Ba Yah'...

Syria and Iran could choose partnership...

The honeymoon hasn't even started... The Dems don't even take control until January... Crap! I guess I'm soon to lose all of my tax cuts as well?? Probably. Will we withdraw? Likely. Will they attempt to impeach the President? Count on it. Will the terrorists attack us again after they do all that? ABSOLUTELY!!!

Cave in to these people? They do not care. Their sole function in life is to DESTROY us. Yet, we voted these fools into power... Not me of course, but Americans did... We are one people, and the majority rules.

These people want nothing more than to see the destruction of America. People are so stupid though... Wow... I cannot believe that people are as stupid as they are... I wonder if these idiots think that now that we have voted the Democrats back into power that they will hate us any less? The answer is NO for the morons that read this... What can you do? Cast your vote and hope the 'leaders' you vote into office give a shit about you... The Democrats have proven for over 50 years that they could give two shits about the people, they only care about their own power...

Need Extra $$$?

Well, if you can get your hands on any of the latest holiday toys, it's easily had...

#1: Fisher-Price Elmo T.M.X.

WalMart - $39.97

Of course they are sold out online, but they still ship to local stores... They go for $99.00 each all day long on Ebay, some even fetch higher prices which will likely even go up as Christmas nears... So if you are lucky enough to spot one, buy it!

#2: Air Hogs Radio-Controlled Storm Launcher Vehicle

WalMart - $69.97

Get the battery and charger for $29.97, total outlay: $99.94... Going on Ebay for $159.00, buy an extra charger for $29.97 and snag an extra $20 bucks, going for Ebay with two chargers: $199.99... I actually saw several of these at WalMart today, I may go back and get them... :)

#3: Baby Alive Doll

WalMart - $39.97

If you also buy the 4 accessories that come with the doll, going all day long on Ebay for $120.00 - $140.00... Total outlay for the doll and accessories: $71.69... They had five of these at the WalMart I went to today...

On and on it goes... Guess it depends on where you live as to whether or not they will be available... There was no one fighting over them in Acworth though, although they did not have any of the Elmo's, but I asked one of the clerks and she said they do get them in, but they go pretty quick...

Best Toys 2006...

The Bible in a More Just Language...

Nice...

Article here...

So now we have a PC version of the Bible...

Revelation 12:12 "Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time."

Luckily though, Satan will never prevail...

Revelation 20:1-2 "And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,"

Veteran's Day Trivia...

Can you name the people in our family who have served and are serving in the armed services?

Happy Veteran's Day!!!

GOP Furious About Timing...

So the GOP is furious about the timing of the Rumsfeld resignation??? Huh???

Article Here...

I'm glad they lost now... Are you kidding me?? They all ran away from the President, a couple did not even show up when the President came to campaign for their sorry races... Get out! You can't drown the Captain of the ship and expect him to still be in your corner...

Get over it, come up with a strategy that works, and STOP whining!!!!

Off They Go...

Well, we knew it wouldn't take long for the Race to the White House to begin...

Iowa governor announces White House bid...

I'm not sure who this guy's advisor is, but he should probably go ahead and get rid of him as soon as possible. I mean, would you vote for this idiot:



“Americans sent a clear message on Tuesday. They want leaders who will take this country in a new direction,” Vilsack said in a statement. “They want leaders who share their values, understand their needs, and respect their intelligence. That’s what I’ve done as governor of Iowa, and that’s what I intend to do as president.”

I laughed so hard when I started reading the article, I'm sure the people who sit near me at the office were wondering what was so funny... I mean sure, Americans sent a message, but I don't think it was directed towards old Tommy...

Disappointed???

I thought I would be, but I'm not amazingly enough... I don't really even think the Democrats won, I think the Republicans LOST it!! They have squandered their six years in power and did not deserve to be rewarded for being so incompetent... What we need is a new party I think, a third party... Maybe Joe Lieberman will continue on with the whole Independent party concept and more will follow, probably wishful thinking, but we do need a third party I think...

Frist and Hastert?? Both are incompetent I think! If Frist for one second thinks he has a shot at the Presidency, then we will have affirmation that he indeed IS a complete moron... I can't remember a more incompetent leader of the Senate... If the leaders had also worked more closely with the President, rather than distancing themselves from him so often, maybe they could have together done things differently and would still be in power, but no... "The ship's in trouble, quick let's go drown the Captain" was the mentality instead... Hastert obviously is an incompetent leader, most people didn't even know who he was until the Foley story broke out, if people don't know who the leader is, they are worthless leaders... Yet the Republicans decided to keep that fat idiot at the helm longer than any other Speaker ever! Yeah, it was time for them to lose...

Plus, I think that had they won, they would have been like, "Heh, we didn't manage to do much of anything, yet the people still want us in charge." Then come 2008, the people would have been so pissed off at the Republicans they would have elected Charles Manson as President just to get them out of the White House... I think with the Democrats in charge for the next two years, it will give the Republican candidate a much better shot at the White House in 2008! Or just maybe, there will be a viable Independant candidate who just happens to have the bankroll necessary to buy, I mean win, the White House in 2008...

I also wish Allen would just take it like a man and admit that he lost rather than make us all wait until what? In VA (and Daniel can correct me if I'm wrong) they can't even have a recount until after November 27th I believe... Get over it Allen!! You lost, get out of the way and just let them have the Senate as well... You guys blew it!! Better luck next time!

I think Rush Limbaugh says it best: "I feel liberated. I'm just going to tell you as plainly as I can why. I no longer am going to have to carry the water for people who I don't think deserve having their water carried."

He's right... The Republicans currently in charge have been carried by a faithful base, the talk shows who somehow managed to keep the base energized, and the bloggers who also helped contribute in keeping the base motivated even as they watched the 'political capital' get squandered at every turn... Even though I did vote Republican down the ticket yesterday, I'm now glad that the entire base did not... Maybe the ones who did not were the smart ones, we'll see... I know a lot is at stake, but there comes a time...

Lame Duck...

I think it will happen... President Bush will soon be a 'lame duck'... I can't say I'm surprised, we'll see though the tallies are still coming in, but the people have spoken... Of course most of the people speaking are complete morons, but what can you do? It is what it is... We survived Carter's presidency, hopefully we will survive this... Of course the stakes are high, we'll see...

Breakfast of Champions...

See if you can locate Chance and Taylor...

(Not to leave Tanner out, he has made all A's except for one B last period since he started school... :) They are all good students though... Now just to figure out where I'm going to send them for Middle School... Uggh!

I Voted, Did You?

I think that people who do not vote should have their right to vote taken away... Say if a person has not voted for 10 years or something, then just strip them of their right to vote since they obviously don't care...

The Rainier and Colder the Better...

Hopefully it pours down rain tomorrow and is cold all day long... Statistics show that Democrats do not like to venture to the polls in inclement weather...



Statistics that have a track record, like the one above, I can live with... These polls however are a different story... So many are within the margin of error and I am beginning to question the 'correctness' of them anyway, we'll see how that works out...

Oh, and if you are planning to vote Democrat you no longer even have to go to the polls. The Democratic National Convention this year has rolled out a new program where they will be sending mobile polls to your place of residence... They will give you a ballot and allow you to then vote in the safety and comfort of your home... It sounds like a pretty sweet deal, I hope the Republicans soon follow suit... The best part is you don't have to even notify anyone, they will just show up... This year, since it's the first year, they will also be giving out $50 gift cards to the store of your choice... Sweet deal! So I'll be slogging to the polls in the rain, and if you are planning to vote Democrat you don't even have to leave your house??? I hope the Republicans catch up with the superior Democrats by the 2008 election...

Republicans Are Out...

That's what anyone would think anyway reading the headlines: NYT "G.O.P. Glum as It Struggles to Hold Congress" and Newsweek "GOP Looking for a Lifeboat" are just two of the many... Republicans give up on House, focus on trying to maintain the Senate, on and on it goes...

I would offer though, that many of the polls I look at are within the margin of error... Does that not mean it's a tossup?? Why yes, it does! How scientific are polls these days anyway? Over half of the people I know do not even have land lines anymore, they only have cell phones, so they are never polled, yet they all vote. I would dare say many people under say 35 only have cell phones these days, so they all are not included in any of the polling, so is the polling data even relevant? I've saved a lot of these polls coming down the backstretch and I'll compare them to the actual results and we'll see just how correct the polls were in general.

I think there are basically three crowds of people though that will be voting:

1.) People who hate Bush so much that they are voting Democrat and could care less what the consequences would be (or idiots as I call them)
2.) People who love Bush and will vote Republican no matter what
3.) People (like myself) who disagree with how the Republicans have used their power over the past six years, but realize what a disaster it would be for the Democrats to take control

I do think there will be a high turnout for this midterm election, it will be interesting to see how high it is...

One thing that does irritate me, is the "phone calls" from candidates and you answer the phone and its: "Hi, this is Bob, I'm running for whatever, I would really appreciate your vote." Huh?? Don't call me at night just so I can listen to a recorded message... I actually started to put together a list of the people who did call me, I've had 12 so far, and was going to vote for whoever was running against them... Then I scrapped that idea because I'm voting all Republican because I think the Democrats winning anything would be disastrous... We'll see what happens, I'll be glued to the TV Tuesday evening and all day Wednesday... (I'm taking the day off Wednesday just so I can watch the potential circus unfold)...

42%...

There is that number yet again, confirming what some of us have known all along... According to a recent Harris Poll, 42% of Americans are not completely sure whether or not there is a God...

Which could explain I guess why nearly half of Americans vote Democratic... If people are not sure there is even a God, then it would explain why they could care less about some of the issues pointed out by Daniel's recent post: Vote Nov. 7 & Vote RED!

It's astounding reading some people's opinions on the topic of whether or not there is a God, but this one takes the cake I think: There is no God...