Cannon's Liberty Counsel Rant (see prior entry)

...I've been wanting to unsubscribe to the Liberty Counsel fluff for quite a while but never got around to it. I foolishly accepted their email updates, not knowing what I was really subscribing to. Cannon said it better than I ever could have. It doesn't mean we aren't conservative, because we are, but we are going to vote for the best candidate no matter what side of the aisle he/she sits on.
Good night and good riddance Liberty Counsel!

The Liberty Counsel

This is Cannon, A few months/years ago Kate subscribed to this email deal called "The Liberty Counsel" Because I am in a Hypocratic mood today, I decided to send them a note to see if I could get them to change their minds just like they want to get me to change liberal minds. Every time I get one of these emails I find it offensive on both sides of the aisle, but mostly the punctuation aisle and they must have had a sale on exclamation marks in the sentence store that they never seem to run out of. So I sent them a note:

I am down with preserving the sanctity of the family but will not continue the Liberty Counsel because Every time I look in my junk mail to read your view on how my government is operating I feel like I am reading a message from Al Qaeda that was intended to inspire suicide bombers to strap on their suicide vests and "get to the work of changing political minds." Battle cry's are a great marketing tool, but come on, every time? Do your editors think that if we can yell Allah Achbar loud enough to enough people that we can convince the other side to join our cause. "They don't understand us...we must yell louder!!"

If you are going to fill my junk email box with half truths and hear say and not back it up with anything but fear and terror that my country is going to hell if I do not respond to your junk mail then I say to you...Unsubscribe me. I hope that your mother taught you better than to simply convince other people that you are right in your position by taking the other half of the truth and spinning it back to the uneducated populous.

As I re-read through your constant battle cry vernacular, I notice that the only part of which I would like you to "battle for my family values is the example of how not to persuade with gentle kindness and scientific reason. It is a very thin pancake that only has one side.

As I re-read the junk mail that I get from me it is littered with requests to call or fax my congressman and have them return my country and family values to me!!! I would like the Liberty Counsel to return my Junk mail box to me. I hope that I do not raise my son to be so short sighted or narrow minded as to think that the position which can be inflamed with the most ineffable punctuation wins. The family values I want for me and my neighbors is to never talk like they write to anyone.

The Weekend

Wow, it's March 1st. We had a fun weekend. The Fur Rondy Festival started and we were able to enjoy some of the conviviality. If anyone told me that someday I'd be "enjoying" a carnival and corn dogs in 12 degree weather, I'd have slapped them. But since we live in AK it's not too crazy for people up here to enjoy the Fair in the dead of winter. If you are curious about what Fur Rondy is, check out this link: www.furrondy.net. It's a crazy winter fest heralding the bygone days of the Fur Rendezvous auctions and the Classic start of the Iditarod. Basically it's an excuse to throw a huge party in Anchorage.

I've got a couple pics up of Cannon's finished dresser and night stand. We are still shopping around for hardware. Didn't he do a beautiful job on that furniture?

We got to Skype with the grandparents and that was the highlight of our weekend. It really does bridge a huge distance between our family. Viva la modern technology!

I have loads of laundry to fold while Caleb is napping so gotta run! Happy Monday to you all.

We got fresh snow today. It's just beautiful and white and bright. I think we'll try making a snow man today. It has been a good week.

That green stuff is called grass...

...and it will get green again in a matter of months. I keep reminding myself of this fact.

It's sloppy and dreary outside but life is good up here in the arctic north. Just because it's not possible to play outside doesn't mean we can't have fun inside. We've continued to take Caleb swimming and he continues to be fearless. We also play ball with him in the house and he is a spot on kicker with both right and left feet. If we throw the ball at him, he either kicks it right back at us with great aim or he hits it with either his right or left hand. He's not afraid of it and if it bonks him on the head he just says "Uups, bonk on da noggin" and we go again. He's also enjoying the "Library Lapsit" program. He sings the songs, does all the actions and listens (somewhat restlessly) to the stories. Then he claps the loudest and jumps up and down the loudest at the conclusion of each song or story. He's getting quite big--literally, just big. But there isn't an ounce of fat on him. I'm working on teaching him to share and be gentle because he was trying to give his tiny friend Eden a hug today and made her squawk because he was squeezing her. He's not very prompt about saying "I so sorry" but he'll give a kiss to the "injured" party when he understands that he was the cause of their discomfort. I should have named him Brutus. He's flying through flash cards and getting better about his pronunciation, sadly. I don't ever want him to grow up. His sweet voice and his stumbling sentences and lisps are heart melters everyday. The best is when he wakes from a nap and looks at you with sleepy eyes and while patting the pillow next to him says "Snuggabug?!"

I've learned the hard way that I really need to take it easy with my neck. I was trying to carry on with life as usual. I couldn't figure out why my neck, shoulder and back were so achy, sore and stiff 24/7. It turns out that laundry, dishes, picking up clutter, keeping up with a busy toddler, grocery shopping, exercising and making meals are tasks that I have to scale back on. Way back. I need to ask Cannon for help more often -- it's just a matter of pride and what I feel is shirking my duty. Weird, I know. And how I sleep at night is a huge factor too. Apparently wearing my neck collar at night is okay but during the day I'm supposed to allow the spine to heal and grow stronger by keeping the collar off. So I need to get out of this very un-ergonomic chair and get to bed. I really depend on other people's blogs to keep me from feeling so distant. I shouldn't expect others to keep me updated without giving an update myself.

Cannon is working on refinishing a beautiful dresser and night stand that our neighbor was getting rid of. He's making it look like a deep cherry wood set of furniture. I'll take some pics and post them. It is a labor of love and he's spending a lot of time sanding, treating, staining, sanding...should be finished by the end of this week. Our house really stinks. I'm glad none of you live close enough to visit. With the pipes breaking in November and subsequent mold, there's a bit of a cabin smell. Couple that with wood stain smells and you've got a whopper of a stench. I can't wait until we can open the windows and doors and bring fresh arctic breezes through the house.

My friends and I are planning our 2nd year of participating in the "Pink Cheeks Triathlon" the first weekend in May. I can't do the whole thing because of my neck but I've got a team. Ruthie will swim, I'll bike and Jess will run. It will be great fun! There are some new girls in the ward who want to join this year so we should have a good gaggle of girls. We just have to come up with a team name. Any ideas?

One of the best things to look forward to is that Cannon is going to Hawaii again on business at the end of March. Actually he's going on Caleb's birthday. I remember spending Caleb's birthday without Cannon last year. We've got an option to go with Cannon this year and I think we're going to take it. Cannon will be at work during the day but we'll be able to celebrate Caleb's birthday together as a family, take in some sand and sun...just relax...so I think we're going to do it. I'm going to look up local museums or kid friendly places that I can take Caleb during the day. We are for sure going to ride the trolley and hunt down as many aquariums as we can find. Mostly we'll go swimming, but not in the ocean. It scares me. We'll stick with the pool.

That is the update: fun almost-3-year-old, stinky house, cool project, cluttery house, triathlon training and Hawaii on the Horizon.

p.s. For any of you Phoenix dwellers I checked out Hawaiian Airlines and you can get a roundtrip ticket from Phoenix to Honolulu Dep 3/31, Ret 4/5 for $400. That is so cheap!

Another day in paradise

Shoveling the drive and brushing teeth. Doesn't get more exciting than that!

T is for Truck and Tuesday

We went to Sally's today to find some books for Caleb. We came home with books and a "Grave Digger" monster truck that he couldn't part with...well, not peacefully anyway. And I can't exactly wrestle a yelling, flopping 40lb almost-3-year-old with a busted neck. Besides, I was happy to have found some excellent books for him and he was happy to have found the truck.

Our morning was busy with the gym, Great Harvest to pick up some Popeye Bread (it's out of this world), the hospital to pick up some pamphlets on neck/shoulder stretching exercises, gas station and then Sallys. What a productive morning. Now it's off to take a nap.

What's your Tuesday been like?

eager anticipation

The delicious dough has been taste tested and approved...

It is currently chilling in the refrigerator...

The heart and train cookie cutters are patiently waiting to slice and shape...

We are so excited to make and bake Grandma Stoddard's Sugar Cookies.
They are the best cookies in the universe!
I'm sharing the recipe with you so that you have something to look forward to, just like we do!

* * * * *
Okay, the cookies are done and oh, so delicious. Caleb was quite the helper and after cutting out the cookies he wanted to play in the flour. So I didn't ask for his help with frosting the cookies. We delivered a few plates of green trains and pink hearts to our friends tonight. Valentines Day is around the corner!

Not Phoenix Weather

Cannon is in Phoenix. He left yesterday. Caleb has been asking "Where's daddy?" every 30 min or so. He also says "Daddy's in da sky, in da airpane!" And then there's the "Call daddy?" request every 45 min or so. Caleb misses his hero. He adores his daddy. They have so much fun together. No one is going to be more excited to see Cannon than me but Caleb is going to be showing his enthusiasm much more exuberantly, as only an almost 3 year old can when we pick daddy up this weekend. Fortunately, the sun is shining here. I have a hard time living here but Cannon's absence doesn't impact me quite as deeply when the sun is shining.

Before he left we played indoors and did some work on the house.

Generally my routine is to hit the gym first thing but today I gave myself a break. My neck and shoulders have been sore for a full week so I've got my neck brace on, trying to let my muscles rest a bit. We made valentines for the grandparents/g-grandparents, made dutch macaroni, ran an errand at Walgreens and found the perfect ball for swimming at the pool, played trains and went outside to build a snow man. The snow is too dry to build one. But we had a great time anyway.

We'll see if we can keep ourselves distracted this week while Cannon is gone. This is Cannon's first business trip of many to come this Spring and Summer...

Fix a tire

The other day I took our car to the mechanic to get the tire fixed. Turned out that a couple of studs had caused a couple major air leaks. Caleb wanted to watch the mechanic the entire time and was big eyed and speechless. When we got home, he promptly gathered his cars and jets and would bring each one to me, saying "Fix a tire"? I would say "Yes, fix the tire!" After a little while, he came and grabbed my hand and walked me into the living room. He had gathered a bunch of cars and propped each one up on a "jack" (the jacks were game pieces) so that he could fix the tires. He is very observant and I have a feeling that he'll be getting some sort of engineering and applied science degree since he clearly has the "applied science" thing down. Or maybe he'll be a mechanic. Whatever he does, he'll be good at it--just like his dad. They are both into mechanical things and fixing stuff...