Friday, April 30, 2010

1070

I've been reading up on the new immigration law, mostly on Huffington Post...I saw an interesting comment on one article and it lead me to look up some stuff about the man who actually wrote the law...AZ Senator Russel Pearce. ...

  • In October 2006, Russell Pearce forwarded an email from National Alliance, a white separatist group, to a group of supporters. The email titled "Who Rules America" [8] criticized black and white intermixing and Jews in the media for promoting multiculturalism and racial equality, for depicting "any racially conscious White Person" as a bigot, and for presenting the Holocaust as fact.[9] He quickly apologized. The article reports, "He does not agree with the sentiments in the article, but that the title and the first paragraphs about media bias appealed to him. He said the article had been forwarded to him by someone else and he would not have sent it if he had read it in its entirety."[9] He stated in one of his apologies, "Ugly the words contained in it really are. They are not mine and I disavow them completely. Worse still, the website links to a group whose politics are the ugliest imaginable."[9]
  • In April 2008, Pearce sponsored a measure, Senate Bill 1108, that would prohibit students of Arizona universities and community colleges from forming groups based in whole or part on the race of their membership. Pearce said he didn't want students indoctrinated with seditious or anti-American teachings. The bill would ban groups that serve minority interests such as the Mexican American study program and the Black Business Students Association. [10][edit] Personal life

Russell Pearce lives in Mesa, Arizona[11] with his wife, LuAnne. He has five children, Dodi, Sean, Colten, Justin, and Joshua.[1] In 1980, LuAnne filed a petition for dissolution of marriage alleging that he: "is possessed of a violent temper, and has from time to time hit and shoved the wife, the last time being on February 3 [1980], when he grabbed the wife by the throat and threw her down." [12]. However, LuAnne reconciled with her husband and they remain married to this day.


I find it very disturbing that a man who is possibly a white supremacist wrote this new law. I don't support this law in the first place, but I was starting to get sympathetic when Jan Brewer claimed she spent weeks trying to "strengthen it's civil rights protection" and I heard the opinions of people who actually support it. But this whole thing is ridiculous. Illegals are not taking our jobs...they are doing the low paying, hard labor that many Americans think they are above. They are not hurting anyone. I'm truly dissapointed at the lack of respect Arizona is currently showing it's Latino population. What's next? Are we going to make them sew pictures of Mexican flags on their sleeves?!? Damn this stupid bill. I'm going to protest. I think about my good friend Karen, who is an illegal (I think her family is too). She's lived here since she was 12 and recently had twins in AZ (who are American citizens of course). They travel between AZ and Texas a lot so I hate to think what will happen when They get asked for "papers" at the border (you know they will get asked at the border because police probably think many illegals are fleeing AZ because of this law). Will they be deported without their children? Will they be afraid to take their children in for doctors appointments for fear that they will get asked for their papers?

Monday, April 26, 2010

Cookies!


raw almond butter cookies..they turned out well and are super good!

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Chef Ben...


...made me this raw pesto zucchini linguine for dinner last night!
Child prodigy?

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Raw: Day 3


I made some "Coco Crispies" in the dehydrator yesterday out of soaked buckwheat...
I will soak some Brazil nuts today so I can make Vanilla Brazil Nut Milk to eat them with.
Usually Brazil nuts are like eight dollars a pound at sunflower but the only reason I got them was because they were on sale for four dollars a pound.

I also made Jalapeno Corn Tortilla chips in the dehydrator...they may not look great but they are the tastiest raw food i've ever made!!


Made some raw chocolate pudding out of a coconut. It's a little soupy but tastes like real chocolate pudding. yum.


When I get hungry and don't want to eat any more fruit/veggies I just eat a larabar. They are raw and made from nuts and fruits and are super tasty. The cashew cookie is my favorite one.


On Sunday we went to the Blue Nile to get a raw dinner, and I did eat some cooked injera with lentils but I had a raw chile rellano and raw cinnamon rolls (very tasty). Last night I had a little bit of the pasta I made for the kids after a salad, so I'm not 100% raw really. I've learned though, that just because I eat one cooked thing does not mean I've fallen off the wagon. I still try to make every meal/snack count, and I can really tell the difference. Also since i've done this before, I already knew all of the staples I would need from the store and it was a lot less stressful to start eating raw again. I don't have to run to the store and buy 50 things (just a few..) and I don't have to look in a book for an idea everytime I'm hungry (uh and I don't have to buy a dehydrator, juicer, and blender..). I don't know yet how long I'm doing this, just one day at a time so far!!!

p.s. I miss coffeeeeee

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

mission accomplished


Found this in the bench today, forgot I got it at goodwill about a year ago for like $2. Definitely one of my best finds ever! So I learned both hands so far today for this song...


Hopefully I will keep at it and put it together later!! Good thing no one has bought the piano yet (not really surprised...).


A few days ago Madeline built something that looked just like this. She then said, "look! It's Walmart!" (like the Walmart logo) AND she said," Walmart is for GOOD people!"
So of course we were really confused/freaked out haha. We don't shop there, and don't really watch tv so how did she learn this?? Occasionally I was letting her watch Nickelodeon so she probably saw a Walmart commercial a couple times (how does it go..good prices for good people??) So her watching tv is no more. I will only let her watch movies on netflix with no commercials. As Nathan's mom said...mission accomplished, from cradle to grave..! What a sad day when you realize how easily your kids are being influenced like this. Time to put up a good fight for the next 20 years....

Monday, April 12, 2010

Progress


Clearing out the clutter is hard work emotionally...I know I don't need the 4 perfumes I kept on my dresser but at the same time I can't choose one! I will just use them up and not buy more than one at a time from now on. I made very good progress though. The top drawer is empty except for a box with important papers in it.


The real progress is in the closet. Cleared everything off of the shelf and donated it. Obviously it was stuff I was not using if it was just sitting up there. Just so you know, a lot of my clothes are in dirty pile!! I didn't just keep 5 things...though that would be nice. The hard part for me is the shoes. I know I don't need four pairs of boots...but cannot choose one or two. Also I have five pairs of heels and haven't decided which ones to keep...the rest are: tennis shoes I actually wear, one pair of black flats, and one pair of old sandals. I guess I don't need those hangers anymore too...I should have taken a before picture so you could see how bare the hooks are now (three bags and a couple belts) it was too much before!


Instead of getting rid of this pair of jeans I recycled them into shorts!! Now I don't need a new pair for the summer and they were free (sorta)!



I made this dumb thing instead of studying for my math final. That's how I procrastinate. Well that and reading stupid (helpful?..) stuff online! It's fun to paint when there are no expectations. I think I might finger paint next time.

Friday, April 9, 2010

Genius/Future Architect???


Maddie told me, "look mom I made an oca-gon house."


and then not-so-genius me had this in the fridge for a few days..

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Playin with rocks






We got some good old rocks in a pail to play with!

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

easter


So last weekend was fun, mainly because I was not forced to be in any weird holiday celebration. We spent all day just relaxing and eating a picnic at the park on Sunday with Nathan's family and it was the best. Then we went on a family bike ride, which we've been doing everyday since last week (except Wed.). I think I want to try and squeeze in a million picnics before it gets too hot because its a good way to spend time with people and not be out buying crap or sitting at home stressed about cleaning up messes and homework.


We painted brown eggs for easter and tricked the kids by giving them fruit snacks as "candy"....but then also gave them candy....


Down with plastic easter "grass"!!!


I put up my beloved ragtime sounding piano on craigslist finally. Its time to get rid of it because it's jst too big and ugly...although I love the sound of it. We might take my moms piano though because I love having a piano/want the kids to play piano.

Getting rid of this is part of my 100 things challenge..even though I plan on replacing it with another one. But my mom's piano is about half this size. Just a very simple piano.

Of course, I personally probably still own 1,000 things, but it's nice to set the bar high so that I can really get rid of the unessecary. Last week we've been dropping stuff off at goodwill practically everyday. Nathan has even pared down to the basics which is hard to beleive since he hardly had anything to begin with (besides the loads of tools in the garage).

So far i've gotten rid of:
half of my clothes
maybe a 1/3 of my shoes
all purses except 4 (2 clutches, book bag, reg purse)
hats, belts, scarves, I never wore
fit all sewing stuff into a small box, kept some good scrap fabric
half of my crafting supplies
tons of old school papers, books (going to scan old photos soon so i dont have 2 boxes lying around)
everything on my dresser (jewlry I didnt wear, perfume, trays)
all makeup except basics (foundation, blush, brushes, mascara, 2 eyeshadow cases and glitter and red lipstick for those special occasions haha)
tons of socks, old tights
random decorations
kitchen stuff
tons of old sheets/blankets
games
lots of random crap!

I hope to continue this process for a while until I learn to let go of even most of the things I decided to keep (like my 50 hair acessories....) and my new goal is to stop buying stuff...and if I need something to look for it at goodwill.

http://mnmlist.com/



Wednesday, March 31, 2010

The good old days


This week i've been sorting out all of my old pictures and school memories. I have about three or four small boxes of stuff that was just sitting in the closet, mostly pictures and cards. I think I'm going to scan the pictures and important cards/notes and store them online through the Google server thingy so I don't have to worry about storing everything on a hard drive that could break and I won't have all of this extra clutter in the closet anymore...its not really the physical
item that matters anyway, just the memories they bring back, and here are some good ones...


Yes, this is Marie Welker. Good job Marie!



Not sure why I have two, maybe this is why Ms. Scott gave me the book to keep.


This is Bernard, from Tempe High as is Bernard and Terrance who used to rap at the assemblies.


I don't remember Bobby, but this one was just funny.


Then I got a good laugh at some later work...