Worth the Reminder and the Read

Hey troops!
It's been a while between posts but this came across my email today and I felt compelled to share it. I rarely forward emails but this one is worth a look.
If it offends you, I won't apologize. I will, however, say a little prayer for you and your skewed sensibilities because, I assure you, they don't match mine. For everyone else - God Bless you for being in your right mind.

*******************************
My great great grandfather watched as his friends died in the Civil
War, my grandfather watched as his friends died in WW I, and my father
served and watched as his friends died in WWII. I served and watched
as my friends died in Vietnam .
None of them died for the Mexican Flag.
Everyone died for the U.S. flag.
In Texas , a student raised a Mexican flag on a school flag pole;
another student took it down. Guess who was expelled...the kid who
took it down.
Kids in high school in California were sent home this year on Cinco de
Mayo because they wore T-shirts with the American flag printed on them.

Enough is enough.

The below e-mail message needs to be viewed by every American; and
every American needs to stand up for America .
We've bent over to appease the America-haters long enough.
I'm taking a stand.
I'm standing up because the hundreds of thousands who died fighting in
wars for this country, and for the U.S. flag can't stand up.
And shame on anyone who tries to make this a racist message.
Let me make this perfectly clear!
THIS IS MY COUNTRY!
And, because I make This statement
DOES NOT
Mean I'm against immigration!!!
YOU ARE WELCOME HERE, IN MY COUNTRY!

Welcome!
To come through legally:

1. Get a sponsor!

2. Get a place to lay your   head!

3. Get a job!

4. Live By OUR Rules!

5. Pay YOUR Taxes!

And

6. Learn the LANGUAGE like immigrants have in the past!!!

AND

7. Please don't demand that we hand over our lifetime savings of Social Security Funds to you.


If you don't want to forward this for fear of offending someone,

Then YOU'RE PART OF THE PROBLEM!

When will AMERICANS STOP giving away THEIR RIGHTS???
We've gone so far the other way...

bent over backwards not to offend anyone.


But it seems no one cares about the


AMERICAN CITIZEN

that's being offended!


WAKE UP America !!!

Happy Easter!!!

Happy Easter everyone! 

We hope you're all enjoying a wonderful Spring day wherever you may be and a happy Easter along with it. It's sunny and 63 here - the first sunny day we've had in recent memory and it's lovely. Brenda and Greg, Dan and Josh were here to help us celebrate with Easter brunch. I had to do the brunch thing because Josh's bus back to Duluth left at 1:10 so dinner wasn't gonna work. So, I did my best to put out a spread that would rival Granite City, and all things considered, I think I did okay. Of course I have a ton of fruit salad and cheesy hash browns left but we'll cope.
The photo here is of my Easter decor. The little boxes were the place holders for each of us (a little mini basket of sorts) and the green glass bowl holds chocolate eggs and jellybeans. I figure we'll overdose on Chocolate sometime Tuesday. 
Josh will be back home for good in 3 weeks (not sure where the school year went but it sure flew by fast) and hopefully by then Spring will truly be here for good as well.
We'll probably be seeing Dan again in a couple of weeks for Payton's first birthday party so that will be nice. After that, the month of May pretty much disappears with something planned for nearly every weekend. Other than Payton's birthday (Josh's too for that matter), I have my card stamping event for the troops next weekend, Josh moves home the 13th and on the 15th Rich and I are going to a wine and pizza tasting at a local vineyard (Elk River) for our anniversary. At this point, I think the 20th may be open but that could be a myth, and then we're looking at Memorial Day. Hold onto your lug nuts kids...we're in for a wild ride!
Who knows what the rest of the summer will hold. Not much travel I'd wager. With gas prices going through the roof, I anticipate a LOT of staying at home to save money. Considering the fact that it costs us nearly $100 in gas just to go as far as Fargo and back, that gets to be a bit spendy for a weekend. We'll see what happens I guess, but it would help if Rich could find a different job. In the meantime I'm going to assume we'll be staying home most of the summer. Not all bad really - if I can get Rich out on his bike on a regular basis we could have some fun exploring the trails and getting some much needed exercise.
Now that Brenda and Greg are home I'm hoping we can spend more time this summer tooling around with them. The only problem I see there is that Rich and I are REALLY out of shape so we need to get some "training time" in before we go out with them or we're likely to keel over prematurely. This would not be a pretty sight.

And... on that note...I'm going for a walk with the dog!
Enjoy the rest of your Easter!

So long Spring Break, hello Spring?

Hello!
Josh goes back to Duluth today, or I guess I should say, I'm taking him back today. He's been home all week which has been very entertaining and Dan came over for dinner last weekend so that was a nice treat.
Now we begin that last long stretch before Easter and then the end of the school year. On the upside, our snow seems to be steadily melting and it's been fairly warm and sunny lately which is SO very much appreciated. We even had a little steady rain last night so that's made inroads in the level of snow in the yard. We're down to only 2 1/2 feet of snow at the end of the driveway now! Whoohoo! I've heard whisperings of more white stuff for this week but I'm choosing to play ostrich and just change the station I'm listening to. I figure the odds of finding one that will tell me what I want to hear are just as good as the odds of finding one that's right.
Rich is now contemplating a new job search for reasons I'm not allowed to go into here but with any luck we can turn things around again and maybe even find something closer to home. We both drive 15 plus miles one way every day so reducing some of the mileage would be a blessing.
I'm happy where I am but am also insanely busy. My one week lull at the beginning of every month has temporarily (I hope) disappeared in the wake of several large and time -consuming projects that are not normally on my monthly radar. I love all of the variety and we've had some recent personnel changes in our department too that are shaking things up a bit. I'm too busy to worry much about it but it's also nowhere near as frightening as what I've experienced in the past.
On the home front, we're pretty dull. I bought a new bicycle in February (wishful thinking I know) but I am dying to get out on it just as soon as the snow is gone and I can go for a ride without freezing my butt off. Walking in the 40s is entirely different than whizzing along on a bike in those temps. Anyway, Spring is more than welcome to arrive anytime!
On another, more crafty side of things, I'm organizing another card-making event for the troops in May. So far I have 11 people signed up and am hoping to recruit at least that many more. I did this last year and we managed to donate over 400 cards to the US troops through an organization called Operation Write Home. This year we're making 10 new cards (2 of each card) and half of them get sent to the troops. You can do the math...the more people I have to participate the more cards we send. Anyway, I'm having fun organizing all of that. Complete details are on my 5inkyfingers stamping blog if you're interested, know someone who might be interested, or want to help out in any way.
Well, I better quit here and roust the college kid. He said something about needing groceries yesterday and we're picking up another friend to take him back with us at 12:30 so the next couple of hours could be a bit of a whirlwind.
Hope everyone is doing well!
Later!