What we've been up to

It's been too long since I've posted. I've gotten back into a workout routine and post regularly on eDiets again. I even signed up for a challenge there. With that and posting on the unschooling yahoo groups, I've neglected my blog a bit.

A few weekends ago my friend Sarah and I took all the kids to the Prairie Celebration at Rock Springs. It's a festival of the way of life of how things were done in the past... many things in our area. We went last year... so we knew it would be good. We saw the raptor show again... and this time we were able to see the dulcimers play (that was really cool) and there was a Celtic fusion band there called the Emerald Underground.

THEY WERE AWESOME! I've always loved Celtic music because of my Irish heritage... and this just added that extra rock-n-roll sound to it... I can't tell you how good it was... it gave me chills.

Last weekend we went to the Arts In The Park in Central Park. Lots of fabulous artistry there! I bought a woven purse (the only booth that didn't have it over my price range)... it's just beautiful. I was really drawn to all of the fiber art booths... because I have always loved fabrics and textiles. I've been sewing and working with textiles since I was 5. We had a fabulous lunch with my friend SL and the kids at an Italian restaurant downtown. We even stopped at one of the local art galleries and I bought the adorable little hanging tea light lamps... which I wired to my railing on my porch. I now need to pick up some tea lights at the store and sit out on my porch in the evening and enjoy them (though it's darn cold here right now!.... it's supposed to warm up by the weekend).

Awana started at church on Sunday. I'm starting to take over the responsibilities of the Awana office... some things need tweaking but I'm not going to push it.

Oh, the new homeschool co-op  started a few weeks ago. My daughter is taking karate there... and she's just loving it.

We're just keeping active and getting out and enjoying life. It's getting chilly and I'll be coming up on the time where I struggle with seasonal depression... time to break out the light box. But with the exercise, the healthy diet, lots of water, supplements, the light box, and getting out and doing thing (we're going to try cross country skiing this year)... I'm hoping that the depression doesn't hit me so hard this year.

STOP THE HATE MAIL!

So I received this email from a lady I know from church. I responded to it because I don't agree with passing around this sort-of thing. I got a nasty email back from her daughter (who thought I had sent her some virus or something... it wasn't the case... there was no attachment in my email). Anyhow, the point is... that I'm sick of Christians passing this crap around the internet!!!!!!!

USPS New Stamp

This one is impossible to believe. Scroll down for the text.If there is only one thing you forward today.....let it be this!

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of PanAm Flight 103!

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993!

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the Marine barracks in Lebanon!

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the military barracks in Saudi Arabia!

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the American Embassies in Africa!

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the USS COLE!

REMEMBER the MUSLIM attack on the Twin Towers on 9/11/2001!

REMEMBER all the AMERICAN lives that were lost in those vicious MUSLIM attacks!

Now the United States Postal Service REMEMBERS and HONORS the EID MUSLIM holiday season with a commemorative first class holiday postage stamp.

REMEMBER to adamantly and vocally BOYCOTT this stamp when purchasing your stamps at the post office.

To use this stamp would be a slap in the face to all those AMERICANS who died at the hands of those whom this stamp honors.

REMEMBER to pass this along to every patriotic AMERICAN you know.

Here was my reply:

I can't say that I agree with the way of thinking in this email. Those Muslim attacks were by radicals... most not citizens of this country. What about all of the killings by Christians done in the name of God? There are MANY Patriotic Americans who ARE Muslim, too. Let's honor the diversity that this country has... and the freedom of religion that wars have been fought for.

Here is the nasty email I received back from her daughter:

All through time there have been factions-- caused by religion, race, geography, law, money, politics, more recently sexual orientation as well.

No one denies a lot more harm than good has been done in the past of mankind-- the Holocaust, forced death trails, evictions, mass murders from ignorance or greed.

But life moves on. Even those things we say affect us deeply only do so on a cerebral level, and too few of us use more than a tiny part of our inner brains. Most of our attention is caught up in bills, food preparation and family.

So if it's all the same to you, I'll thank you to stay out of my e-mail--freedom of speech is just as devoutly praised in this country as freedom of religion, and came first in the constitution for a reason.

With all that said, I don't give a damn what's on a flipping stamp. I'm pissed off that you dared send me a virus through what was intended to be a conscientious objection to the endless senselessness of a president all people with a modicum of intelligence wished would somehow manage to keep us out of war for the next little while. I think we're all sick of hearing about the death toll, of all involved.

Here is my reply to that:

Now that I check the original email sent by _____ (who is your mom... right ______?... your email is the same as the girl named as ______ in the email _____ sent)... there was an attachment to the email that I didn't open. I also checked my response email and there is no attachment forwarded. So if you received a virus from the email about the stamp then it would have been from the original email which you also received... directly from your mom (that's if you are _____... if not then _____ has your email address as her daughter's email address).

You may not care what's on a stamp, and that's fine. But this email is being passed around, spreading hate (very reminiscent of the way Asian Americans were treated during and after the Vietnam War), and the email IS about a stamp. Not about "a conscientious objection to the endless senselessness of a president, all people with a modicum of intelligence wished would somehow manage to keep us out of war for the next little while."

I am so sick of this kind-of crap floating around the internet and through email! Should we bring up the Crusades where thousands of people were killed because they were a different religion. I'm sick of being grouped into the mix of these kind of people when I say that I'm a Christian. This is NOT spreading the love of Jesus!

Oh, and what got me the most about her reply was this "I think we're all sick of hearing about the death toll, of all involved." OMG! Are you serious! Do you want to say that to the parents of soldiers coming home in a box!? *&q#$&*$&@#$*!!!!!!