Now it's been four months...

I can't really call myself a blogger unless I actually BLOG, can I?

My excuse is that my job is busy; it's graduation season. I'm about to send off the Commencement Book to be printed, which will be a relief. It's a huge undertaking, and I'm always totally paranoid that I'm going to leave someone's name off and that it will cause a major brouhaha. I don't like brouhahas. They're just so stressful.

To add to the work stress, the other assistant registrar has been out of work for almost a month now. She's been very sick and ended up being hospitalized twice and having an emergency surgery. She's doing well, which is comforting (I like her a LOT), but since she's so very good at her job, her absence is quite noticeable. There are things that she does that I have NO IDEA how to do. Picking up her slack has been quite the challenge. She's also a delightful lady with a wicked sense of humor, and I miss her.

I took a sleep study in March, and was diagnosed with sleep apnea (no surprise... it kind of runs in the family). The test was like torture. How are you supposed to sleep with an EKG, EEG and a computer monitoring your breathing hooked up to you? I had to ask for assistance to MOVE. VERY not fun. I felt like I was awake all night, but evidently I was able to sleep. I went back last week to have a followup study done in order to calibrate the CPAP device. The CPAP thing is interesting. It's like sleeping in a wind tunnel. Surprisingly, while my movement was still restricted and I still had to have the EKG and EEG hooked up in addition to the CPAP, I slept fairly well. I'm not looking forward to sleeping with that contraption, but I am looking forward to sleeping better, and it seems I can't have one without the other. Now I just have to wait for the script.

I fervently wish I had some photos to share, but I have misplaced my battery charger for my camera, so I don't have a whole lot of photos in a format I can upload. I have a few photos on my phone, so I will try to upload them. That will involve learning HOW to upload to Blogger from my phone, though. :)

Wow. Seriously? 3+ months?

I have been negligent. I was feeling negligent when I got an email, asking me where I was, blogwise speaking. I blame Facebook. It has made me a lazy blogger. I get and give most of my updates via Facebook, so the blog was a little "out of sight, out of mind". Sorry for those of you who are non-facebookers!

Well, things are going well with me, with the exception of some pretty expensive/extensive dental work that's coming up. Work is good. Friends are good. Church is good. I saw Laurel, Chris, and Jeanette at Christmas. Dad wasn't feeling well, so we missed him.

Here are some pics:

Chris hanging out with Erik at the Piedigrossi's house:
Gina, talking on Christmas morning:
Some of the kids and Chris around the Christmas tree (that's Adam, Erik and Heather, then Chris (L-R)):
My lovely sister Laurel:

And some of the group shots of all the kids:

FIRST TRY:

SECOND TRY:

THIRD TRY:

FOURTH TRY:

Yeah, they weren't having any of it! hahaha

... and THIS is why ...

Evidently my last post hurt some feelings and caused some folks in my life to get upset. This is why I don't normally blog about politics. I was concerned that my last post would ruffle feathers, and it did. That was TOTALLY not intentional.

My Dad's a staunch Republican.

My Uncle's a strong Democrat (I'm truly VERY sorry if calling you a liberal was a faux pas -- evidently I don't know what's the difference between a Liberal and a Democrat -- yet ANOTHER reason I should just stay off this topic).

I love both of these men dearly.

Even so, I truly feel that when it comes to government, IN MY OPNION, "less is more". I'm not one of those "drop off the grid and move to Montana and build my own compound" libertarians, but I really do think that the Libertarian philosophy meshes better with my current point of view.

Heck, at this point, if I was still a Republican, what good would it do? When was the last time NY went for a Republican president? I think we're pretty darn blue around these parts. I know it's not PC to say "my vote doesn't count", but in New York State, when it comes to national elections, it really doesn't. The state will go overwhelmingly Democrat whether you like it or not.

So that's it. Probably my last political post. I won't make any guarantees, but I don't think I want to ruffle any more feathers.

(I never thought changing political parties would make so many people so upset. I guess I was naive.)

In closing, I will remind everyone who was so upset at my last post of a quote that is thought to summarize Voltaire's point of view: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." (Specifically, it was written by Evelyn Beatrice Hall (pseud. S. G. Tallentyre) in the biography "The Friends of Voltaire" in 1906.) I just hope the people in my life can find it in their hearts to give me this latitude. I am, after all, a work in progress.

Coming out of the (POLITICAL) closet...

Well, I was raised in a Conservative Republican Home. My dear uncle (I really do love him dearly) is a raging (raving?) Liberal. I actually really like hearing both sides of the debates and issues. I don't only want to hear things from people who agree with me. It gets boring.

Although I've been a registered Republican for 20 years, I've come to believe that NO single political party really "fits" my beliefs. I have been feeling a bit of "drift" away from the Republican party line for quite some time now, and didn't feel comfortable still officially carrying that label. And I have always known I'm not a Democrat.

I did some research. I did some soul-searching.

And I came to the conclusion that I'm a rare breed: a pro-life Libertarian. And yes, I think you can be both pro-life AND a Libertarian.

You see, I believe that abortion is wrong. I really do believe it is murder. HOWEVER, I don't believe I have the RIGHT to press that belief onto someone else. This issue was the LAST thing tying me to the Republican party, and a few months ago, I realized that my belief that you can have a moral belief without trying to legislate and impose that morality on others is exactly what makes me a Libertarian (in my opinion).

And I don't believe that repealing Roe v. Wade is the way to reduce the number of abortions performed in this country. Personally, I believe that the BEST way to reduce the number of abortions in this country is education (including pregnancy PREVENTION first and foremost). And I REALLY think that everyone involved -- both "pro-life" and "pro-choice" -- would agree that everyone would be better off if we could reduce the number of abortions (no one LIKES abortion!).

I think that before someone has an abortion, they should have a sonogram (preferably one of those newfangled 3-D sonograms) so they KNOW what they will be aborting. A woman should know exactly how developed her baby is (what organs have formed, what functions and processes have already started in its tiny body, etc) so that she can make an informed choice. I believe that funding for places like Planned Parenthood should not exceed the funding for places like CareNet (http://www.care-net.org/). In fact, I think everyone would be well-served if these two groups could find a way to work together.

The funny thing is, I remember when I was a kid, my friends' dad was a Libertarian and we thought he was NUTS (politically). What irony.

I am APPALLED.

When I'm going to eat fast food, I frequently opt for Burger King, because I know it's flame broiled, and that makes me think it's a teeny tiny bit better than fried burgers.

Well, I have been disabused of that notion. I went to the BK web site and looked up two of my favorite sandwiches, the Whopper Jr. and the Big Fish.

Well, The Whopper Jr’s 370 calories! If you skip the mayo, it’s 290 calories. And that’s before you add fries or a drink!!! And I NEVER skip the mayo.

The Big Fish is 650 calories!!! That’s half a day’s calories in ONE sandwich! Ack! I’m ruined!

That’s AWFUL.

Rant over. Back to your life.

PARASOLS!

Well, my cousin Seth is getting married soon, and Laurel and I weren't able to make it to Amanda's shower. Aunt Lucille sent me parasols (the favors) so we could take some photos with them. Here they are:

Deep Thoughts...

OK. Sometimes weird things occur to me. They're quite random.

Today, when I was getting ready for work, I was thinking of words that end in "-ender". Think about it... there are quite a few words in the English language that end in "-ender".

A
B - bender
C
D - dender? not so much.
E
F - fender
G - gender
H
I
J
K - not in English, but in Danish kender means "connoisseur"
L - lender
M - mender
N
O
P - pender? one who pends? (not really a word in English, but it sounds like one)
Q
R - render
S - sender
T - tender
U - Upender (thanks, Auntie Lu!)
V - vendor (I know, it's not spelled right, but it sounds the same)
W - wender? one who wends? (not really a word in English, but it sounds like one); Weekender! (thanks, Auntie Lu!)
X Y Z

Oh, and two for the price of one: fender-bender! (thanks, Auntie Lu!)
I know... I know... I'm a dork. (haha)

Gardening with Cory and Camryn

OK. So Laurel was the one who was really gardening. I don't garden. I avoid it like the plague. (I hate all the weeding!) But, I helped with the girls while she did all the shoveling. Hey -- don't judge me. It's HER house. (tee hee!)

Camryn was playing camera-shy, and Cory was in a good mood (and trying to "make fire"; I guess she learned about flint recently). It made for an interesting afternoon.

And then came the bubbles. We love bubbles. The second pic of Cam blowing bubbles is kind of fuzzy, but it's the only one that I was able to catch her making decent bubblage.

It's the littlest things, sometimes.

Sometimes, the littlest things make me happy.

And sometimes, I don't even realize HOW happy they'll make me until after the fact.

I knew I wanted to pick up a new shower curtain liner. But I kept forgetting. Well, last week I remembered. And I was right. Every time I get in the shower, I smile because I have that nice, new, shiny shower curtain (no, it's not really shiny).

It's SUCH a great spring cleaning item -- takes almost no time at all, and it's almost not worth the time and effort of trying to get the old one clean again! I recommend it highly! :)

Religion.

Well, now that I've blogged about politics, why not religion? :)

Well, we had a bible study last night, and part of the class we discussed the word "religion". We read different dictionary definitions, and those all seemed... inadequate. Then, Bret quoted this statement:

"Religion is practical piety, rightly directed"

I really like that one. I'm not sure where he found it, but I think it's a good start.

The first chapter of James has one of the most useful discussions about "religion" I've ever found.

19My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen,
slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. 21Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
22Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.
26If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. 27Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

I've bolded the bits that I think are most salient.

• Be quick to listen.
• Be slow to speak.
• Be slow to anger.
• Get rid of the moral filth that's crept into your life.
• Accept the Word.
• Don't just accept the Word as a concept, DO it.
• Control your tongue.
• Take care of others - espeically those who are less fortunate and the helpless.
• Keep yourself pure. Be careful about those slippery slopes.

That's a tall order, but it's do-able. Almost all of these involve self-control when you think about it.

Well, I'm no scholar. I don't think I have any answers past this point.

Politics...

OK. I don't usually blog about politics.

However, there's one issue that's really getting to me lately. That's Hillary's backing of the "vacation from the federal gas tax". Um... can anyone say PANDERING? Seriously.

The federal gas tax is $0.18. Yes, that's right. Eighteen cents.

Lifting that tax wouldn't do much for anyone's budget. If you have a 12-gallon gas tank and fill your car twice a week, it amounts to less than $5.00 per week. That's really NOT a significant amount, and if you fill your 12-gallon tank once a week, it's around $2.16.

Since I'm a once-a-week tank filler, Hillary's grand scheme MIGHT allow me to go to the movies once a month. Really, now, we're talking about $9 per month.

Finally, who ever said that the gas companies would pass the savings on to the consumer? They are in business to make money. I would be shocked if they actually passed those savings on to us.

And, when it goes back on in the Fall, it's going to HURT for prices to go up $0.18 all at once.

Just my opinion...

Some new pics at the Carousel

It's April 2nd.

April 2nd. It's my mother's birthday. She should have been 65 today.

Instead, she's been gone for almost 15 years.

It's a rough day.

More snow.

This is my second Spring in Central New York.



I'm still not used to snow in April. (I know it's still March, but you get the point.)



This was a pic I took while driving to work this morning. Don't worry. I was stopped at a traffic light.

Easterish 2008

Well, I saw Chris, Gina, and the kids the Saturday before Easter (March 22). Here are some photos of the day:

Matthew dyeing an egg:

Erik, Heather, Adam, and Elizabeth's elbow:

Gina, Matthew, Erik, Heather, Adam, and Elizabeth:

Elizabeth:

Erik:

Adam:

Gina & Heather:

Heather, Adam, Erik (trying to look scary), and Elizabeth... all squishing in:

Adam, Heather, Elizabeth, and Erik on Erik's new bunk bed:


Aunt Laurel sent TWISTER! They had a BLAST!

Oh Good GRAVY!

Did you see my post about the statue with the snow on it a couple of posts ago?

Well, someone STOLE HIM from campus!

There was another statue on campus, and they stole that one, too!

What is going ON around here???

Snowfall Totals

Well, I just found a list of snowfall totals in our region online.

SNOWFALL TOTALS
Redfield 370.0" as of March 10
West Leyden 178.6" as of February 28
Point Rock 177.5" as of March 12
Westernville 147.4" as of March 11
Syracuse 107.1" as of March 10
Salisbury 105.7" as of February 28
Dolgeville 100.4" as of February 28
Utica (Official) 90.8" as of March 10
Whitesboro 90.5" as of March 10
Port Leyden 88.5" as of February 6
New Hartford 86.3" as of March 10
Steuben 83.9" as of January 22
Sherburne 76.5" as of February 28

So, my town has had over 90 inches of snow so far. That's more than 7 FEET of snow. And last year, we had snow through mid-April. We could still break the 100-inch mark! (I hope not!!!!)

Oh, and have I mentioned how HAPPY I am that I don't live in Redfield???

Yay!!! Diet Sprite!

The lunch cart that's down the hall from my office has a somewhat limited selection. It's just a lunch cart, after all.

Well, if you don't want to drink regular soda, it's even worse. The ONLY choices were diet Coke and a diet tea drink that was over $2 a bottle. Or water. I don't buy water by the bottle; I buy it in bulk at the supermarket.

I've been asking them for months to get some other type of diet soda in the cooler. I mean, even in the soda machines, all they ever have is diet Coke. There's ONE machine on campus that sometimes has diet Dr Pepper, but at least one time, I went to get diet Dr Pepper and got full-sugar VAULT. Blech!

So, I went down the hall to get something for lunch today, and they had DIET SPRITE in the cooler! WOOOOO HOOOOOOO!

I am a happy woman! (And evidently easy to please! ha!)

Kid Logic.

If you know me, you know I love language, and I love words.

Well, Cory came out with a new one. She was trying to say "last night", but it came out as "yesternight". I love this! When I asked her to repeat it, she said, "Aunt Lynn... you know... yesternight. Like yestermorning and yesterday".

Gotta love that kid and her 5-year-old logic!

HA! I know this guy!

OK. Here's another YouTube video. HOWEVER, in this one, I actually know the guy who's playing the sheriff! (I have no idea who the guy being arrested is!)

His name is Craig, and he used to go to my church before he moved to Arizona. Looks like he's enjoying himself, doesn't it?

Happy Leap Day!

Well... here we are. Another Leap Day.

Yesterday, I was watching the CBS morning news, and they had a couple on air who were full-term with their first baby. The wife was born on Leap Day, and she was going in on Leap Day to have the baby induced.

Interesting. I always thought it would be cool to be born on Leap Day. Now I'm not so sure. When I was a kid, I already complained about sharing my birthday with my sister... I can't imagine how much I would have complained about sharing it every four years! (ha!)

I read that the Greeks consider getting married in a Leap Year to be bad luck. Go figure. (http://news.wedding.auz.com/rumors/greek-leap-year/) I wonder if that's true? Anyone know? Anyone care?

Did you know (random Leap Year factoid) that Leap Years are not held exactly every four years? A year is NOT really 365.25 days long. It's actually about 11 minutes and 14 seconds short of being "exactly" 365.25 days long. So... to make up for it, they skip it three times every 400 years. I just KNOW you're dying to know HOW they do this. Well, a century year can only be a Leap Year IF it's evenly divisible by 400. So... 1700, 1800, and 1900 were not Leap Years, but 1600, 2000, and 2400 are (or was/will be) Leap Years.

The easy way to remember it is:
if a "regular" year is evenly divisible by 4 (evenly), it's a Leap Year.
if a "century" year is evenly divisible by 400, it is a Leap Year.

So... at this rate, the calendar year and the solar year are only "off" by 30 seconds. At this rate, it will take about 3,300 years until the calendar year and the solar year are "off" by a day.

Fascinating stuff, right?

Snow on a Statue

The school put up a temporary statue that I can see from my office. In the most recent snow storm, he collected an interesting amount of snow. It looks kind of like a snow afro.

Mor Mor's Needlework

My maternal grandmother made an absolutely gorgeous needlework wall hanging back in 1938. It is amazing. (Mor Mor in Swedish means "mother's mother"... "grandmother") After she passed away, my mother hung the piece in our family home.

After my mother passed away, the piece got put away... it was very hard to look at. At the time, it felt more bitter than sweet.

Very unfortunately, while it was in storage, there was damage made. Some of the damage may have been from insects (although that doesn't make much sense to me. It was indoors, and nothing else had insect damage), and some of the damage may have been due to improper framing. (The person who framed it placed the glass directly on the fabric, and didn't use all archival-quality materials.)

So, in the end, there was damage done to the far right side of the piece.

I *WISH* I had taken a before photo. I'm kicking myself that I neglected to do that! But... here are some "after" shots. There are close-ups of each side, so you can see the damage and how the restoration compares to the unaffected side, and a photo of the entire piece.

I'm sure once I get it reframed, you won't even notice the restorations! I'm THRILLED with the work that was done!





You can click on this image if you want to see a it enlarged.

My New Desktop Sorter!

Well, we were reorganizing our office at work to make room for a temp who will be here for about eight weeks. One of the things we "got rid of" was a gnarly old metal desktop sorter thingie. It was scratched, rusty, and, well, gnarly. I kind of loved it as is, but I saw some potential in it to be pretty, too.

So, here it is... in UC colors (blue and ORANGE). There's some pink on it, too, but it's mostly blue & orange.

My goal is to get people to use the orange section as an inbox... hence the big huge honking "IN" with arrows.

Products used:
Bazzill cardstock
Chatterbox paper
Tim Holtz/Distress ink - black soot
Heidi Swapp ghost frame
Basic Grey chipboard letters
Chipboard arrows... ????
Ranger spray ink (on chipboard)
Glossy Accents (on chipboard)
Matte Accents
Rhonna Farrer flourish stamps
Staples
Grosgrain Ribbon
Elmer's spray adhesive

I used Matte Accents and glue dots to adhere the chipboard letters. The spray ink kind of warped them, so I had to also clamp them down while the glue dots "dried".

Another COOOOL YouTube video!

I saw this video on the morning news, and decided I just HAD to post it to my blog! The news folks said specifically that the dolphins just did this naturally; no one taught them to do it. Enjoy!

Find Your Candidate!

Are you still undecided? There's a pretty cool Q-and-A that can help you decipher which candidates are closer to your personal beliefs.

My Word for 2008

OK. There's a "thing" that some scrapbookers do at the start of a year. They choose a word that is supposed to be their "theme word" for the year.

I didn't do it last year; I thought it was hokey.

This year, I actually have a word in mind.

REBUILD.

In sports, they have "rebuilding years". Usually for a college team, it's when your star players have graduated and you have to start from scratch again.

Well, that's kind of where I am.

When I moved to my new area, it took me several months to find a job. I tried to start my job search before I arrived here, but no one really wanted to talk to me until I arrived. And once I arrived, I couldn't find an opening -- not even at WalMart! I finally found a good job, and I really like it, but being out of work for so long was rough financially. I'm digging out, but I will be OK.

I am also rebuilding relationships -- I have a new church that I'm getting acquainted with (and really enjoying), and I am making friends. I'm getting to know my coworkers. I'm getting to know my colleagues in other offices, and have already participated in a search committee to hire a new staff member in my office.

This whole year is a fresh start for all that and more. I'm really excited to see how it all shapes up!

Cool Quote

I found this quote on Ali Edwards' blog. I thought it was really cool:

To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury; and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable; and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; to listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart; to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasion, hurry never; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious grow up through the common. This is to be my symphony.

William Henry Channing

AWESOME Pool & Domino Video

This was just too awesome to NOT share!



Isn't it cool?

Some Thoughts About God and American Culture

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary. I think it's pretty insightful.

(Ben Stein):

Herewith at this happy time of year, a few confessions from my beating heart:

I have no freaking clue who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the cover of People and Us constantly when I am buying my dog biscuits and kitty litter. I often ask the checkers at the grocery stores. They never know who Nick and Jessica are either. Who are they? Will it change my life if I know who they are and why they have broken up? Why are they so important? I don't know who Lindsay Lohan is, either, and I do not care at all about Tom Cruise's wife.

Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked if I am a subversive? Maybe, but I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are. Is this what it means to be no longer young? It's not so bad.

Next confession: I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees. It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry Christmas" to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him?

I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.

Billy Graham's daughter Anne was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her"How could God let something like this happen?" (regarding Katrina) Anne gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, "I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we'vebeen telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?"In light of recent events...terrorist attacks, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK. Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves. Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW." Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says .

My Best Regards.

Camryn's First Fireworks show

Camryn saw her first fireworks in the end of July. This photo was her FIRST glimpse of fireworks... BEFORE she heard the "bang".

Once she heard the noise, she wasn't so sure she liked them as much, but she went to another show in the end of September, and did a bit better. She still held on to Laurel like her life depended on it, but she was smiling and saying "ooooooh!".

They were ready for their closeups... and I obliged.

MATTHEW

(yes, I know... not my best work, but he was laying down at the time.)

ADAM

























ERIK

























HEATHER

























ELIZABETH


























CORRINE
























CAMRYN