Memoirs of the Forgetful People

Leon County, Florida Primary Ballot Blog

2010-08-01T20:32:00.025-05:00

Leon County, Florida Primary Ballot Blog (Republican Party)

Don't forget to vote August 24, 2010

This is my take and observations on the candidates on my ballot. I include links where I can but really this is an exercise to help ME decide who to vote for. Hope it helps those others out there researching

United States Senator:

William Escoffey III- a doctor no one has heard of, may have a website but hard to find

William Billy Kogut - (My Pick) Would be a great candidate if he had a prayer and some funding. A founding member of "Judicial Watch", wants to repeal Obama-Care, focus on the constitution.

Marco Rubio - (Almost as good) Has served in the FL House of Rep for 8 years part of that time as Majority whip. Really the only one of the three that has a chance. I have liked most of what I have heard from him in interviews etc. this past year. He is a solid conservative candidate.

US 2nd Congressional District: (lots of good candidates hard to go wrong)

Eddie Hendry - I like Eddie Hendry I've met and talked with him, and listened to some interviews with him. He knows his constitution and is a strong advocate for limited government.

Ron McNeil - An inventor with several small businesses and patents focusing on environmental issues. Ran for this congress seat during and supported by Ronald Reagan. A solid conservative.

Barbara F. Olschner - I agree with most of what she has spoken about but I have 2 criticisms. 1. she is open to tax increases to lower the deficit. 2. she thinks that being a lawyer makes her better qualified.

David Scholl - (My Pick by a hair margin) Retired Air Force pilot with a strong conservative background, good sense of humor, well spoken, has a strong understanding of the constitution and current politics.

Steve Southerland - Funeral Director, has lived in NW FL for a long time. I pretty much agreed with all of his issues as stated on his website. Is against off-shore drilling in FL. A solid conservative.

FL Governor: (this is a tough decision)

Mike McCallister - Ret. Colonel. Can't find a website or any real information on him.

Bill McCollum - (My Pick by a hair margin) Current FL Attorney General, retired-Navy JAG corp., 20 years as US congressman. I haven't liked his total focus on negative campaigning. Very little talk of his position on the issues. On a positive note is endorsed by Jeb Bush, Dick Army and Steve Forbes. In the end I think he will have an edge over Rick in winning the general election.

Rick Scott - Ex-Navy, Lawyer, Founder of two health care companies. I like that he is a political outsider and a self made millionaire. I like his stances on the issues, i.e. limited government, supports Arizona immigration law. I had written off Rick because of accusations about a "Playboy" connection, but after research have realized are not true. Accused but not convicted of fraud.

FL Attorney General

Holly Benson - Secretary of Health Administration, Former head of Dept of Business and Professional Regulation. Was FL House of Representative for 6 years. endorsed by Newt Gingrich. Will continue State law suite against Obama Care, supports AZ immigration law. Strong 2nd amendment and pro-life.

Pam Bondi - (My Pick) Was registered Democrat until 2000. Has worked as an Assistant State Attorney for 18 years. Has served on several councils and chairs as a prosecutor. Endorsed by Sarah Palin. She is my pick because she has the most experience as an Attorney and not a politician.

Jeff Kottkamp - Current Lt. Governor. Was FL House of Representatives for 3 terms. Endorsed by FL Right to Life.

FL 9th House District

Kirk Headley -Perdue - (My Pick) Long term clinical social worker, current owner of a graphic design business. Seems fairly conservative. Has a strong focus on personal responsibility. Seems "level headed"

Ann Yarko - A young recent FSU grad. Wants to "protect state workers." A strong conservative wants to pass stricter illegal immigrant laws and supports lower government spending and tax cuts. I like her ideas but I think she is a little too young and inexperienced.

Circuit Judge, 2nd Circuit Group 9 (Check out this Site)

Eddie Evans - (My Pick) 18 years as district state attorney for Leon, Gadsden, Franklin, and Wakulla Counties, former Mayor of Sopchoppy, auxiliary state trooper. A hard choice but my pick because I tend to lean toward the Prosecutor mind set.

Karen Gievers - strong child advocate and has won several awards because of it.

Barbara Hobbs - liberal judge - admits that her "life experiences" makes a difference in the quality of judge. Has had a lot of different jobs as an attorney, both as a prosecutor and advocate.

Bruce Leinback - VP of Jefferson Historical Society, served as Special Assistant US attorney, US attorney working with Panama Canal, City Attorney for Monticello, Adjunct Professor at FSU, private attorney.

J. Layne Smith - public defender, over 22 years private practice trial attorney

Leon County Commissioner at Large Group 2

Nick Maddox - Former FSU and NFL football player. Real estate Degree. Current VP of Development for Bowden Foundation for Ethical Leadership. Considers himself "a conservative Democrat", is OK with raising taxes, focus on affordable housing in the county.

Rick Malphurs - Former Marine, currently works at family owned CJ Malphurs Septic Service. Has served on local citizen committees. A focus on growing and encouraging small business and limiting county spending. I like Rick definately not a politician.

Scott Matteo - (My Pick) Registered professional engineer. 2nd term Ochlochonee River Soil and Water District Chairman. Favors term limits for commissioners. Promised to not raise taxes. Wants to streamline County permitting. Registered Democrat. Would like a Arts center but not willing to raise taxes to build it.

Cliff Thaell - Has been county commissioner for 16 years. Radical environmentalist. anti-business. Pushed for a Leon County based Health Care program which of course would have had additional taxes.

Tallahassee Mayor

Larry Hendricks - He wants less development and fewer roads. The video interview is entertaining. I'd pick Marks before him.

John Marks - Our current mayor whose main focus has been on trying to get awards for having the "greenest" city. Works full time as a lawyer, part time mayor. Has refused to be interviewed by WFLA and avoids questions at town hall meetings. On a positive note has made Tallahassee parks a priority.

Steve Stewart - (My Pick) Electrical Engineer, realtor, business owner that does marketing and printing. Has focused campaign on reducing Utility rates, making City spending more transparent, and making doing business easier.

Tallahassee City Commissioner Seat 3

Stephen Hogge - Considers himself a political moderate. Silver Life member of the NAACP. Has done a lot of volunteer work for city, even won some awards for it.

Nancy Miller - (My Pick) I met Nancy she seemed very well informed, was well spoken, and has been active in the community and a small business owner.

Bill Rollins - Wants to focus on improving the South side of town. I met Bill, he seems like a nice guy that is fairly well informed and would be OK at this position just probably not as good as Nancy.

Tallahassee City Commissioner Seat 5

Erwin Jackson - (My Pick) I met Erwin at a debate. Not a politician, but very well informed and has a passion for saving money for himself and the city. A poor dresser (a plus in my book) and a OK speaker.

James Moran - FAMU professor of pharmacy. Served in Army. Supports lower taxes, but also a county wide Health Care Program. (how are you going to fund that).

Gil Ziffer - I met Gil at a debate. The current stand in commissioner for someone that quit early. He is smooth well spoken but definitely a politician.

Election 2008

2008-10-11T20:07:00.015-05:00

Here we go again: this is a big one

President (if you know me you should already know where I stand)
Just in case you didn't here is a few things you should know about Obama
- He was the only one in the Illinois state senate (that is 1 out of 100) to vote against a bill to save babies that survive abortions (they were sticking viable living children in a closet to starve to death)
- He kicked off his first campaign in the house of an admitted and proud terrorist William Ayers then sat on two boards with him and helped Mr. Ayers promote one of his books. Ayers is responsible for fire bombing peoples houses and the pentagon. On Sept 11, 2001 Ayers said he didn't go far enough and should have done more (referring to the bombings)

2nd Congressional District
Mark Mulligan (REP) - (MY Pick) General conservative views/ against the recent bailout packages/
Allen Boyd (DEM) - blue dog Democrat, voted for both of the 800 billion dollar Bail Outs/socialist take over of our banks even though he admitted 90% of constituents called or emailed against the bill. I am tired of Allen Boyd, I voted for him before... not again

State Representative - 9th House District
Peter Boulware (REP): (My Pick) General conservative views
Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda (DEM): big time liberal, I heard her say in an interview that one of her top priorities is raising taxes, her other big priority is providing more benefits to state workers.
John Shaw (NPA): One of his primary issues is trying to legalize marijuana

Judges: Unless I know of misconduct by a judge I won't vote for or against their retainment

Circuit Judge, 2nd Circuit, Group 7, (either one sounds like a good choice fairly even)
Lisa Raleigh (My Pick) lot of community service work, prosecuting attorney office
Frank E. Sheffield has a more experience than Lisa, but has mostly just been a trial lawyer

County Judge, Group 5
Nina Ashenafi Richardson: only legal experience as staff counsel for FEA. A lot of community involvement but little court room experience
Sean Desmond: (My Pick) was Assistant State Attorney for Leon and Franklin Counties, and owned his own law firm and worked at another private firm.

County Commissioner At Large, Group 1
Akin Akinyemi: interesting guy, but leans liberal.
Ed DePuy: (My Pick) I'm sure you've heard commercials against him from the police union, they stretch the truth with their accusations, being that Ed is one of only 2 semi conservatives on the County commission, and the ONLY one to vote against raising property taxes I'm voting for him.

Ocklockonee River Soil & Water Conservation District 1 Supervisor
Brian Acosta (NO) 23 years old, FAMU student, doctors aid
Sean McGlynn (My Pick) 52 years old, B.S. in Biochemistry, Doctorate in Biology, Library director for McGlynn Laboratories Inc

The Amendments: My rule of thumb if I don't understand it I shouldn't be voting for it.

Amendment #1 (YES or NO) [it doesn't really matter]
Eliminates some language already in the constitution that gives the legislature power to limit land ownership of people that are ineligible for US citizenship. This has been around since WWII and has never been used, Yes or No I don't think this Amendment matters.

Amendment #2 (YES)
Florida Marriage Protection Amendment. "Protects marriage as the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife." With Massachusetts and now California legalizing gay marriage, this could help protect Florida.

Amendment #3 (NO/Maybe)
Your property taxes can't go up if you put hurricane shutters or a solar water heater on your house — for example. Any storm-hardening or renewable energy source would be exempt.
I agree with the idea I just don't think this should be in the Florida Constitution, the legislature should do this on their own. I'm OK if you want to vote Yes.

Amendment #4 (NO)
Basically land set aside for conservation (by counties or individuals) get tax breaks.
This sounds nice until you realize everybody elses taxes will be increased to make up the difference. There is a lot of conservation land in Florida (est 9.6 million acres)

Amendment #6 (Yes)
Basically changes the tax law so that marinas and oyster slips are taxed based on what they are being used as instead if the lands potential use (high rise condos). This will help Florida's boating and fishing industry as they are currently being taxed at the lands highest potential. It is like you owned a 10 acre lot with a 3 bedroom house but were taxed like a Walmart because a Walmart "could" fit on your property.

Amendment #8 (NO)
This would allow counties to vote on increasing county sales taxes to support their local Community College.
I just don't want Leon County adding more taxes for one more thing.

Wallstreet Blue Light Special

2008-09-17T20:01:00.005-05:00

The Market is Down way Down... Should I pull all of my $ from the 401K.... NO, I'm bargain shopping.

Today I scaped together what little money I could find to buy a few shares of an S&P 500 ETF index fund. Specifically Rydex S&P 500(RPV). The S&P 500 is down 16% for the year. On average (except for this year) is has gone up 8 - 10% a year. Unless you think that our country will totally collapse it is going to go back up. I would not be suprised if the stock market continues to go down, even for a few months, but at this level the S&P 500 is "cheap".

Birds of a Feather

2008-06-18T22:41:00.002-05:00

For the third time, my friend Sandra and I are pregnant--at the same time. Our daughters were born 2 weeks apart, our sons 2.5 months apart, and now we are about 3.5 months apart. I wanted to take this picture for posterity as it will probably be the last time we have this kinship. She is 38 weeks and I am 23 weeks. She is beginning to have prelabor symptoms and I am nostalgic for this fun bond. I have loved having someone to share this time with and hope we always stick together...even outside of pregnancy.

One thing we haven't talked about....

2008-03-25T21:17:00.005-05:00

About 6 weeks ago, just after we found out we were pregnant, Ellie (who did not know we were expecting unil 4 days ago) asked me if she could name one of the babies in my belly. I laughed and said "What?" She said, "There's two babies in your belly, can I name one of them?" This was amusing, although slightly alarming since she had foreshadowed my pregnancy with Clark a few days before we found out. She has since mentioned either "twins" or "the babies" many times in last 6 weeks, including this morning at breakfast where she said she had decided to name the boy-Darren and the girl Dorrie. Spencer just chuckled.

Well, at about 9:30 this morning we had our first appt. and ultrasound. Dr. B put the wand on my belly and turned the machine on. The first image that came up on the screen was a perfect shot of two sacs and he quickly moved the wand, looked at us with a startled face and started to say " Well...one thing we haven't talked about..." . Now this may have worked for some first timers, but we've seen a few ultrasounds in our day. He looked at our huge eyes and mouths agape, and said "Shoot...I was going to try to prep you...but... Congratulations! You're having twins!" We looked at each other and started laughing. We filled him in on our 5-year-old prophetess and he got a big kick out of it and started telling nurses in the hall. He also requested I bring her in on my next visit so he could meet her and possibly get some lotto numbers :-) Spencer says her spiritual gift shall only be used for good, not state-regulated gambling.

Needless to say, we are shocked, thrilled, scared and excited about having twins. All I can say is God's plans are bigger than ours!

California Facism

2008-03-12T20:13:00.003-05:00

Reason number 324 why I don't want to live in California. Here is a good way to make sure your kids don't get taught crazy things like religion or unbiased history.

California Court Rules Parents Must Have Teaching Credentials to Home School Kids, Friday, March 07, 2008

read the Full Story

Facism:1 : a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition (Websters dict.)

Long Overdue

2008-03-03T23:05:00.007-05:00

I can't believe its March already....especially since I'm getting ready to post Christmas pictures :-) Ellie's class had a very sweet Christmas party. Then there was the Christmas play...which, thanks to Sandra, Ellie had the standard uniform for (no shedding of the sheep this year).

We spent Christmas with all the Mitchells' in Ocala. We decided to be very brave and try to get a group photo of the cousins. The best option was after the Christmas Eve service when they were all still dressed up. By the way, if you've ever wondered what Christmas would look like with 6 children receiving gifts (from many families, check out the MOUNTAIN of gifts behind the kids. It's hard to tell in the picture, but it comes out about 6 feet or so...it was so much fun on Christmas morning. Jay, Jo, Spencer and I all slept on air mattresses in their play room and were totally free game for pouncing early in the morning.

For New Years', the Ocala Mitchells' and Mary's family all came to our house...which was CRAZY FUN! Ellie & Clark got an easel for Christmas and Thatcher and Rylee decided to try it out. Joanna was reminded of why she doesn't have such an easel with paint at the ready. ;-) We also had a very hard freeze while the Keels' were still here and Spencer left the mister on all night to make icicles for the kids. They loved eating them.

Ellie has really enjoyed her easel and for about the first 10 paintings, they all looked the same as in the picture. They were variations on a princess with very long hair. She's very comtemplative as she paints and studies her work often. Clark likes the chalkboard side which we put lower at his height, and try to keep him from eating the
chalk.

Presidential Primaries

2008-01-09T22:05:00.000-05:00

The Republican Primary ... as I see it.

It is a hard pick between all of the Republican Candidates. Most have good qualities that if cobbled together would make a great president. Because of the number of candidates and huge number of issues this is oversimplified. Fox News gives good overviews for more info.

Because the Florida Primary is so early this year (Jan 29) it will really make a difference in who gets elected!!!

In Alphabetical order:

Fred Thompson DROPPED OUT of Race (aka. the guy on Law and Order, my #1 pick)
Experience: Assistant US Attorney in Nashville, TN, private attorney, council on Watergate committee, actor (18 films), 8 years in the Senate, (Chairman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee)
Positives: has 100% Pro-life voting record, strongest conservative in the bunch, Good ideas on Social Security, strong stance against illegal immigration, strong supporter of less government spending and lower taxes.
Negatives: Got in the race late, Has a hard time expressing his opinions on TV

John McCain (aka the Maverick)
Experience: 22 years as Navy pilot, Arizona rep. US House of Representatives since 1982-1986, US Senate 1986-present
Positives: Strong supporter of Troop Surge and finishing work in Iraq, Strong anti-pork/earmarking. War Hero former POW
Negatives: Voted against Bush Tax cuts, Wrote McCain-Finegold which limits free speech possibly more than any other bill ever. Supports radical changes to policy to prevent Gorebal Warming (not misspelled). Wrote McCain-Kennedy would have basically given amnesty to illegal aliens (bill did not pass)
Personal Note: I don't like McCain, he loves the press and will say stuff just to get on camera

Mike Huckabee (aka the Southern Baptist Preacher)
Experience: 1996-2007 governor of Arkansas, past chairman of the National Governors’ Association, Southern Baptist Preacher
Positives: Very Strong Pro Life (as Pro as you can get). Personality, has a great wit and is very likable. Supports the Fair Tax plan, supports Marriage Amendment, Strong 2nd Amendment supporter.
Negatives: Immigration (supports scholarships and instate tuition for illegals), Endorsed by the NEA (national teachers union), Raised taxes a lot more than cut taxes while governor. Very little foreign affairs experience
Personal Note: Jimmy Carter was a Pro-life Southern Baptist too...

Mitt Romney (aka the wealthy Mormon, my #2 pick)
Experience: Former CEO of venture capital firm (Domino's, Staples, and Sealy) Governor of Massachusetts (2002-2006), Credited for turning around Utah winter Olympics from near failure to a success,
Positives: lowered taxes and helped to balance budget in Mass., claims strong pro-life stance, successful businessman, strong health-care plan
Negatives: Is longtime member of the Mormon faith, was once pro-choice, has implied possibly increasing taxes on rich.

Dr. Ron Paul (aka the Libertarian)
Experience: Air-Force flight surgeon, several years in specialist in obstetrics/gynecology, US congress for many years,
Positives: Anti-government control, wants to lower taxes and decrease spending, a federalist, strong Pro-Lifer, wants to reduce the size of government, good health-care ideas
Negatives: Is a nut job. An Isolationist, Wants to take ALL of our troops around the world back to US soil. Basically said Israel is on their own and he wouldn't help if they were attacked.

Rudy Giuliani (aka the country's Mayor)
Experience: assistant attorney general under Regan, US prosecuting attorney n NY, Former two term mayor of NYC
Positives: Turned NYC from a dirty crime-ridden city to clean and low crime, A strong leader during the 911 tragedy, is now strongly against illegal immigration, wants to lower taxes, strong supporter of reduced gov. spending, strong on anti-terrorism
Negatives: weak on 2nd Amendment (outlawed guns in NYC), pre 911 was soft on illegal immigration, strong supporter of gay "rights", use to be pro-choice

Financial Geek continues....

2008-01-04T22:28:00.000-05:00

I hate when I miss opportunities.

Last night after checking my email I did some of my homework on the two stocks I own Regions Financial (RF) and Toyota (TM). Both stocks have been knocked down due to the housing market troubles, but I'm in it for the long term esp. with Regions since it pays a good dividend.

Anyway I saw two articles on Regions Financial that both had just been published after the stock market closed that day. I new in my gut that Regions was headed for a big drop the next day. Being by nature lazy I decided not to do anything and went on to play video games.

The next day it dropped about 3 dollars per share.

What I should have done is sold Regions after reading the news, so I could have bought it back the next afternoon or following trading day after it had taken the major hit. Even if it had continued to drop I would have saved myself 3 dollars a share (minus the trading costs). I could have sold the shares and invested in something that I knew wasn't plunging the next day. Either way I should have sold.

Lesson to Self: Don't be afraid to cut your losses and run. As Jim Cramer says "worry about the downside of a stock the upside will take care of itself"

Our multi-ethnic family

2007-11-29T19:20:00.000-05:00

I saw this fun link on the Walworths' blog that takes your picture, decides which celebrity you most resemble, then morphs your face into theirs. Sounded pretty fun...Darcy and Madeleine were Reese Witherspoon, Nena - Lindsay Lohan, and Jeremy - Bill Gates....pretty good matchups, I thought. Then there's our family. Here's who they thought we most resembled (no joke):

Carey - Lacey Chabert (who?)
Ellie - Rebecca Romijn (Dutch model actress)
Clark - Ai Otsuka (a female Japanese pop-singer)
Spencer - Usher (African American rap/R&B singer)

Our family is bound by neither ethnicity, nationality, race or gender...apparently.

For the financial Geek

2007-11-06T20:53:00.000-05:00

WARNING!!! Boring financial blog Only read if you care about stocks.
OK so I like looking at stocks. I don't really have money to buy stocks but I like to learn and play.
One if not the hardest thing about picking stocks is determining valuation. (how cheap or expensive is a particular stock).

Looking at the ratio of a company's market capitalization (total value of all the company's stock) to its book value (total value of a company's assets) is a good starting point for determining the proper price of a stock. The price determination is more valuable when you also include the total liabilities of a company in the comparison.
I calculated the ratio of the market capitalization to the book value minus the total liabilities for several car companies (compare).
Prices are from 11/4/07

	HMC	TM	NSANY	VLKAY	DAI	GM	F
market cap	67	180	47	29	111	21	18
Assets	105	285	108	194	270	186	278
assets/cap	1.57	1.58	2.30	6.69	2.43	8.86	15.44
liabilities	66	182	78	156	221	191	282
Compare	1.72	1.75	1.57	0.76	2.27	-4.20	-4.50

The results are interesting. It looks like the lowest number (that is not a negative number) would be the best stock value (the cheapest).
First off both GM and Ford have more liabilities than assets would lead me to not buy their stock (how can their stock be worth anything??).
It may be important to look at the companies in there respective regions.
Out of the 3 Japanese companies it looks like Nissan has the cheaper stock
Out of the 3 US companies Daimler Chrysler with less liabilities than assets is the clear winner.
Volkswagen being a European company is kinda by itself and the clear winner out of all of them. Even after subtracting for liabilities the companies assets are 1.3 times the market capitalization. Meaning that if the company ended today and sold off all its assets and paid its debtors first, the stock owners would still make a 30% profit.
I may be selling my TM stock to by VLKAY soon.
I know there are problems with this method as with all valuation methods but it seems like a good starting point.
What do you think? Criticisms and suggestions welcome. I'm still learning.

Halloween Party!

2007-11-05T10:19:00.001-05:00

Some pictures of the Halloween party with our fun friends. They had a great time bobbing for apples, jumping in the "hay" (pine straw) and eating Spencer's delicious homemade caramel apples and white chocolate "ghosts" strawberries. Oh, and I knew I was too busy with hostessing duties when 45 minutes into the party, I noticed Ellie had forgotten to put on half of her costume-the bloomers and shoes. Of, course this was after all the pictures were taken :-) Oh, and isn't Julie creative with her belly? Penelope Jane was born 6 days later!

These are the days...

2007-10-29T23:14:00.001-05:00

Working in the environment I do, I am often reminded by patients (usually after they find out the ages of my children) that these are the most wonderful years. Their eyes light up and this wistful smile spreads across their face as I see them going back in time to the memories of the days when their own children were young. Sometimes, they ask what new milestones mine are accomplishing, or their favorite activities. This usually leads to what their own children are doing now, but its different somehow. I'm grateful for this frequent reminder of how preciously short this phase of my children's lives will be, and that one day a wistful smile will fall on my face.

Politcal Correctness California style.

2007-10-18T19:18:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure why this hasn't made the mainstream news. Political correctness to the extreme.
Read the Whole article HERE
I looked up the actual text of the Law.... Good Grief how does anyone figure out what the laws actually say. Read the text (at your own risk) HERE

BRAVE NEW SCHOOLS
'Mom' and 'Dad' banished by California
Schwarzenegger signs law outlawing terms perceived as negative to 'gays'

Posted: October 13, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger

"Mom and Dad" as well as "husband and wife" effectively have been banned from California schools under a bill signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who with his signature also ordered public schools to allow boys to use girls restrooms and locker rooms, and vice versa, if they choose.

"...Your right hand will hold me fast"

2007-09-22T22:49:00.000-05:00

Our niece, Rylee Mitchell (Jay and Joanna's daughter) is scheduled for open heart surgery on Tuesday 9/25. They are going to correct a congenital hole at the top of her heart. Please pray for her, her doctors and her family. The doctors anticipate she will be in the ICU for about 5-6 days, then going home.

O Lord you have searched me
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down,
you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O Lord.

You hem me in--behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there,
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

How precious to me are your thoughts,
O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you.

Psalm 139:1-18

Good News!

2007-08-30T09:12:00.000-05:00

It's a funny thing when a parent realizes that their children are actually listening. Sometimes, this may be worrisome, sometimes inspirational. We had this experience last week. Our friends, the Walworths', came to visit, which is always fun. One afternoon, the conversation turned to making mistakes and what we should do about them. I was in the middle of an explanation when this happened:

Madeleine : Yeah...if you spill something, like juice or Sprite, you can't go be with God.
(I start to say something about God always loving us....)
Madeleine : Yep...if you spill rootbeer or coffee, you can't go be with God.
(At this point, Ellie who was sitting nearby listening jumps in...)
Ellie: No, no, that's not true! God still loves us even if we do bad stuff. Jesus took the bad stuff away on the cross so we can be with God. Isn't that great?
Madeleine: Oh yeah, that's great!

Simple message. Genuine response.

More getaway pics

2007-07-24T23:18:00.003-05:00

Ellie working on her blowfish impersonation

Panning for gold in Lake Blue Ridge

Ranen comtemplates what goes into his grouper sandwich

This guy tries to make a deal with Clark to let him out.

Ellie really wanted to touch some of the fish.

We encountered a exotic species locally known as Sandraeus Bennagium. She is rumored to be nocturnal and is rarely photographed in her natural environment.

Retreating to the hills...

2007-07-24T22:00:00.000-05:00

My three little geologists...

Clark was able to combine his two great loves in life: being outside and physically attached to his daddy.

Ellie gets a lesson on skipping rocks from her Dad (who's got the mad skills)

Ellie created a family of rocks and played here with them for quite a while as the rest of us swam.

We were able to get away this summer, and it was rejuvenating . What made it especially nice was that we were able to do it with friends. We spent the week in a cabin just outside of Blue Ridge, GA. Day activities included hiking in the mountains, swimming and fishing in Lake Blue Ridge, visiting Ducktown (more on that later), playing in the creek behind the cabin, naps, computer games (well, for some of us), some serious Catan-playing and stopping at the Georgia Aquarium on our way back.

Some favorite highlights include:

* Ellie and Adah playing in their "cellar" or the basement/rec room which also was where their bedroom was. I think they liked having a floor all to themselves.
* Ranen trying make friends with Clark. He was often attempting interactions like hugging, petting and sitting beside him, all of which Clark interpreted as signs of agression and immediately began crying. Ranen was persistent though, and by the end of the week, the two were able to coexist more peacefully.
* Ducktown, which is a "environmental train-wreck of a town" where the copper-mining in the 1800's went awry. The result was sulfuric-acid rain that created a barren wasteland of 32,000 acres that took over 100 years to rehabilitate. Spencer loved it and the blackberry bushes nearby that we found had the most ENORMOUS blackberries we've ever seen. Gotta love environmentally-mutated fruit.
* Visiting High Falls State Park, a place I frequented as a student at Mercer. I have fond memories of frolicking on the rocks, wading in the river and having picnics right by the falls. Unfortunately, since then, they have put up fences and signs everywhere forbidding getting in the water or climbing on the rocks. It saddened me to think about all the adventures our children won't be able to participate in to ensure our "safe" world.
* Listening to conversations between Ellie and Adah in the car. They sound so grown-up when conversing on their own.
* Watching my husband and children examining rocks together. Although for Clark, there was a little examining and a lot of throwing :-)
* Discovering that both my children really enjoy rock-climbing. Their Uncle Jay will be proud.
* The Georgia Aquarium (Atlanta)--largest aquarium in the world and very cool. I highly recommend it, but you're better off visiting on a weekday, as the weekends are very crowded. Whale sharks, beluga whales, penguins, huge viewing walls, walk thru tunnels of water, touch pools for the kids.
* "Chillaxin'" with the Bennages'. They rock!

Mom, Is It Real?

2007-07-10T21:04:00.002-05:00

What a great week. I was able to witness the sheer joy that Disney brings on a 5-year-old's face. Clark was intrigued by what he saw, but Ellie was in complete amazement. Many times throughout the day she asked "Mom, is it real?" This is tricky territory for me. I am a big believer in telling kids the truth and explaining things slightly beyond their level, always letting them believe I think they're smart enough to grapple
with it. At first, I would answer in an honest but vague way (not wanting to completely destroy the wonder), something like...." do you think it is? or "it sure looks real, doesn't it?" Ellie wasn't biting. She would corner me into the details until I finally had to admit it wasn't. Toward the middle/end of the day, I found myself answering "Oh yeah, I think it is real". Maybe it was the fatigue of the "feels like" temp of 107, or maybe it was magic of Disney, but I think deep down I just wanted her to believe.

After we left Tampa and our visit with Besta and Papa Chuck, we stopped in Ocala for a visit with the other Mitchells' where the crib is always rockin' . I'm telling you, its like a party every day there. The kids decided they wanted to 'camp-out' in the playroom overnight, and farbeit from a Mitchell to pass up a camp-out. It's amazing what you can do with a sheet, four chairs, some comforters and couple flashlights. Of course, this meant that there was not much sleeping going on, which was good for me the next day when I drove the sleepyheads home to Tally. You know you're tired when you can't even sit up, or finish your cereal bar.

Sugar and Spice...and Pink and Lace

2007-07-02T13:53:00.001-05:00

We had a Tea Party for Ellie's 5th Birthday. I'm not sure who had more fun....Ellie and her friends or me scouring vintage shops, thrift stores and fabric shops. The girls were adorable in their hats, gloves and jewelry sipping their tea/pink lemonade in real china teacups. For me, this birthday signifies a turnover for Ellie. She is now a "big girl". Everything around me tells me so. From having to shop in the "big girl" section of stores, to watching her carefully sip from a china cup, to her asking to call Adah on the phone "just to talk". I am misty-eyed just thinking about it. I know, though, that I will always look back on these pictures and smile as I think about how she still wants her soft blanket and bear before going to bed and needs "hugs, smoochies and kisses" before I can leave her anywhere. Now the tears are flowing freely.

Hair, Hair, Long Beautiful Hair

2007-06-26T22:38:00.004-05:00

Before and After of Clark's first haircut. He's growing up so fast. The past two weeks have been pretty big for him, developmentally speaking. He is now standing and taking a couple quick steps. Many times, he stands up then leaps forward. He is also saying a few words, including "Dada" "Mama" "Uh-Oh" "Psss" (please) and "YeahYeah". He also loves to shake his head "no" and laugh. By far, his best trick is throwing balls, hard and far. We're in early talks with the MLB, NFL and NBA scouts. He's still not sure which one he'll go pro in yet....he's still weighing his options.

Camera Fun

2007-06-20T22:25:00.000-05:00

I'm having fun with our new camera. Ellie loves the movie-taking feature and is usually asking me to video her singing or making Clark laugh. Clark becomes intrigued whenever I bring it out and usually comes after it. He is in a throwing stage right now. Most things he finds he tries to throw....HARD. Plastic balls in his ball pit...good. Phones, glass cups, cameras.....bad.

Ellie's silly streak has come full force lately. She loves to talk in different silly voices (usually while making up stories with her dolls/animals).I wanted to capture some for posterity. We're having fun passing the summertime away.

We picked lots (8lbs) of blueberries at a farm in Havana. Its a family-run farm, and the "grandpa" was supervising, advising, and weighing the day we went. Spencer decided that when he retires, he wants to sit in a rocking chair watching people pick and eat his blueberries on his farm. Looks like we can scale back on 401k/IRA contributions...

Ellie decided after an hour of picking blueberries, that it was too hot, so she only went to large bushes where she could stand under them in the shade and pick the blueberries from the bottom up.

Tis the Season

2007-06-01T09:45:00.000-05:00

This is the time of year when I am grateful for my husband's green thumb. He has cultivated a wonderful garden that includes corn, green beans, cucumbers and tomatoes. Our blueberry bushes are also starting to ripen. Blueberries are fascinating and a lesson in patience. We planted the bushes 3 years ago and this is the first season they have produced fruit (which is normal). I love this opportunity to teach Ellie about sowing/reaping, being patient, how rainfall affects the world, and eating vs. saving. She gets a kick out of watering our garden by the bucketful out of her kiddie pool (trying to ease my conscience about using the pool during a drought.) Here are some pics of the fruits (and vegetables) of Spencer's labor.

The blueberries look like the green shriveled ones for weeks and weeks, then turn blue and double in size in about 48 hours.

Oh, we have (finally) turned digital. I cannot believe I have held out this long. I am like a kid with the coolest toy. The first day, I took pictures ALL DAY. I am not technically inclined and there was a lot of referencing the enormous manual and playing/trying/memorizing, but it's worth all the work. I love it. Oh, and also, now Brian Johnston can't say "A camera that uses film?!?! Are you freakin' kidding me?!" :-)

It wasn't meant to be...

2007-04-18T14:17:00.000-05:00

I'm a little sad today. A dream has ended. A little dream I like to call....Scooby.

It all started a week or so ago when I was perusing Amazon's Friday Sale. I do this most Fridays (for fun - but that's another blog) and I came across this thing called a Scooba. It's a kissin' cousin of the famous irobot "Roomba", the robotic vacuum that takes care of the floors while you sleep, work, watch Food Network...whatever. The geniuses at iRobot finally realized that vacuuming is not the bane of most women's existence....it's mopping. So, they invented the Scooba, which is a robot that WASHES and SCRUBS your floors for you! It is (hold on, I don't want to overstate this) THE BEST INVENTION EVER. I shared this exciting discovery with Spencer and we continued to read up on it(we had never heard of it) and at some point that evening, Spencer's brain was overtaken by an alien evidenced by the next phrase out of his mouth, "Let's get it."

After much anticipation and daydreaming about coming home from errands and finding freshly scrubbed floors, we received it. I about bowled over the poor UPS guy. We charged it and let it loose the next day. What happened next was heartwrenching. Poor Scooba. It wasn't made for our thick, Mexican tile with deep grout areas. It was continually getting stuck, although it makes such a cute "uh-oh" sound that it was hard to be too mad. I had to rescue it (by tapping it) about 10 times as it made its way around our dining room/kitchen. It tried. It spun its wheels, went over extra dirty areas, tried and tried again. But our floor would not relent.

It has taken me a 5 days to let go of the dream I didn't even know existed 2 weeks ago. The only comfort I take is that Scooby is going to a good home. I let the Bennages borrow it, since they seem to have the ideal flooring situation for it. They decided to take him in and give him a good home. Don't worry...I told Ellie he went to nice family with a big farm out in the country where he could wash and scrub free without getting stuck.

I'm going to write the iRobot people and tell them it's time for an AWD Scooba. (Sigh....)

A Whirlwind Tour

2007-03-26T22:56:00.000-05:00

Last night, all four of us were under the roof of our house for the first time in almost 2 weeks. It started with Spencer going out of town for work, then a SLP conference in Birmingham for me, then us meeting in Live Oak for 2 days. We then split up again, me taking the kids to visit Jay, Jo & kids in Ocala, then Mom & Chuck in Tampa for Mom's birthday and Spencer finishing travel work, then going to help out with Hurricane Katrina relief/repair work in Mississippi with our church. We were both tired, travel-weary and happy to all be together again. Our time in Ocala and Tampa was much fun though, as it's always great to see our family.
Clark shows the water fountain he's not afraid at all. He repeatedly attacked it, got water shot up his face, and attacked again. Later on, he actually crawled over these small fountains heading for the bigger ones....very brave this little one is.

Rylee gives Dakoda a little help with the car. I guess she's seen Little Miss Sunshine.... you know what they say....Behind every great boy is a baby girl with a heart condition.

Papa Chuck and Clark compare tongues.....Ellie tries to catch some fish in the lake behind Besta & Papa Chuck's house. Unfortunately, the fish weren't jumping out of the lake to bite her stick (which was a good 2 ft out of the water). She didn't want to put it IN the water as she didn't want to get the stick "yucky".

Tolerating my photo shoot....they are good sports:-)

....Like it's 1999

2007-02-12T23:43:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, Spencer and I were able to spend the weekend with some of our favorite people. Mary, Joanna and I decided that since our 30th birthdays were hurling toward us whether we wanted them to or not, we might as well look forward to it. We decided that we would all get together for a weekend for each 30th. Since Mary and I both had new babies at my 30th, mine was postponed.

For Joanna's (Jan 4th) she chose a fun weekend in Orlando where we went dancing at Pleasure Island, visited Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure and enjoyed a nice dinner --ALL WITHOUT CHILDREN. This itself is no small feat, as there are 8 kids between us (ages 6mo - 6 yrs). We dropped ours off with a nice lady at the Flying J truck stop at I-75/I-4(my mom), and headed to O-town. My abs hurt after this weekend from laughing so much. Some highlights:

*Locking ourselves in the master suite Fri night to get ready for a night out on the town. This involved approx. 2.5 hours of trying on every outfit each person brought, a few bottles of wine, make-up session with Joanna, eventually ordering dinner in because we were taking so long to get ready, laughing as every 30 min or so, one husband would be voted to approach our camp and asked the fated "Are ya'll almost ready yet?"

*The pastor's wife, the missions chairwoman and I losing track of how many glasses of wine we had.

*DANCING--we hit every single club including: 80's, hip-hop, top 40 and (Spencer's favorite) ...techno. At one point, all of stepped outside for a little break and after 5-10 minutes realized that Spencer staying inside and was on the dance floor by himself, busting a move. As Spencer put it...."It was a good song - I didn't want to waste it!"

*Spencer and Jay trying to defend the tower at this cool huge jungle/high rope/cave place. Spencer was disappointed with the design of the high and low water guns and intends to write a strongly worded letter to Universal to make them aware of this design flaw. It did not, however, keep him from attempting a markedly futile attempt to assault the shooters who were armed with stronger water cannons with longer range.

*Spencer always ordering very little food, then finishing Joanna's meal. We realized about halfway into the weekend that he observed how she never finished her meal, and since we couldn't really do take-home boxes, Spencer figured why should he pay for a full meal, when he can order a side salad, then finish Joanna's chicken/steak/panini dish. Much teasing ensued, but he was not deterred as he proudly calculated how much money he had saved.

As I write these, I am reminded how much I LOVE my husband. He always evokes both respect and laughter, often at the same time. I am also reminded of the blessing of friendships, especially as they weather the years with age, memories, tears, laughter and wisdom. I thank God for these women and many others who sharpen and love me.

Christmas fun

2007-01-06T23:11:00.000-05:00

Whew. Our family is slowing emerging from the hubub of Christmas and, after getting our pictures back, can now reflect with some wistfulness on the wonders of the past month.

First Wonders: ICICLES
Spencer decided to protect our orange tree (during the only hard freeze so far) by letting the hose drip on it overnight. The result provided hours of fun for Ellie and amazement at the science of water and ice (which Spencer enjoyed explaining).

Second Wonder: SCHOOL PROGRAM COSTUMES
I wish I knew how to sew, but I don't...yet. I keep saying I will learn. Unfortunately for Ellie, these skills did not come soon enough. She was a "sheep with curly horn" and needed an appropriate costume. After researching on the web, I came upon an idea that was a)cheap b) easy and c)seemed that it would work well. Well, two out of three ain't bad. It consisted of poly fill pillow batting stuck to double-sided tape on white clothes. Suffice it to say that from the moment we got out of the car to the end of the program, more than 80% of the "wool" had fallen off, leaving a trail everywhere from the parking lot up to the church, through the sanctuary, up onto the stage (where other children were picking it up and trying to stick it back on her), back down the stage, and ALL over the pew where she sat with her class (who proceded to throw it at each other throughout the rest of the program). I vascilated between laughing so hard I cried and slinking down in the pew, hoping no one would know I was the slacker mom who couldn't get a decent costume on her child. Here's a picture for posterity (this is right when she arrived with her class, so most of it is still on.). Oh...and notice the high-class professional costumes she's surrounded by!

Third Wonder: PLASTIC ICE SKATING
Tallahassee debuted a new ice-skating rink this year in the downtown plaza. Unfotunately it is FAUX ice...uh....plastic, actually. Ellie has never been ice-skating and was super excited about the adventure. However, when she got there and discovered what it was, she started calling it plastic-skating. She had a great time with her cousins Dylan and Sarah, and caught on pretty quickly. I even laced up, to help Ellie out, but was disappointed. I love skating....on ice. Fun for kids, though. Oh yes, Ellie also sported a splint for the holidays. She had a tiny buckle fracture and had to wear a splint for 2 weeks. Luckily, it didn't slow her down a bit.

Questions and Anwers

2006-12-13T23:02:00.000-05:00

Ahh....the holiday season. In the past week, our family has experienced: Clark being dedicated at church, Ellie's first dentist visit, Clark cutting two new teeth, 4 Christmas parties, baking 250 cookies and Ellie's first professional haircut. Not to mention that I have to figure out how to make Ellie a sheep costume for her school program. She is the "sheep with curly horns". One word - typecasting. Ha!

This year has been wonderful in that Ellie is old enough to understand why we celebrate Christmas. She asks questions daily and, as I answer them, it's a great reminder when I find myself getting bogged down in the details....

The Bug Song

2006-11-16T20:53:00.000-05:00

My daughter likes to make up songs with me to sing at bedtime. This is one we made up that she now keeps requesting to sing all the time. It's not the best but Ellie likes it. /Being musically challanged I have no way of expressing the tune of the song we use.

"The Bug Song"
Do you want to snuggle with a bug in a rug or a bug in a jug (admittedly the weakest line in the song)
...Not me Not me
Do you want to snuggle with a bug in a rug or a bug in a jug
...Not me Not me
Do you want to snuggle with a prickly porkypine and all of his prickles (this is where I poke/tickle like prickles)
...Not me Not me
Do you want to snuggle with a prickly porkypine and all of his prickles
...Not me Not me
Do you want to snuggle with a big oh shark with his big sharp teeth (this is where I say "chomp chomp" and make a chomping motion with arms and fingers)
...Not me Not me
Do you want to snuggle with a big oh shark with his big sharp teeth
...Not me Not me
Do you want to snuggle with a bubble bee in a bubble bee tree (this is where I say "bzz bzz" and poke/tickle)
...Not me Not me
Do you want to snuggle with a bubble bee in a bubble bee tree
...Not me Not me
END

Fun at the Park

2006-11-13T22:44:00.000-05:00

Ellie loves to climb on the this big web thing....she's our Spider Girl.

Clark was diggin' the swing....he was happy and smiling as long as it was moving.

Belated Costume Pics!!

2006-11-13T22:27:00.000-05:00

This was their first Halloween (I mean 'Fall Festival') costume event --- party at the Alley's the night before Halloween. Ellie loved her "white & silver princess" costume, and Clark couldn't get out of his bumblebee bunting soon enough. Not before Mom shot some pictures though!

On Halloween, we went to a big shindig at Celebration Baptist--Clark was relieved to be out of the bunting - especially since it was pushing 80 degrees. Unfotunately for him...that meant he had to wear a sailor hat :-) I know I only have a few years of this.....but I love it!!

The Maze of Amendments

2006-11-02T22:33:00.000-05:00

Local Referendum:
1/2 cent Sales Tax for indigent health care: (This will make Leon County the highest sales tax county in the state, children are not qualified, there is no provision for eliminating the tax if no one signs up, only about 8,000 will qualify, lasts for 15 years)
I vote "NO"
[If you want to give to indigent health care write a check to TMH for 0.5% of your income]

Amendments:
Most Amendments should not even be on the ballot. It should not be so easy to amend the Florida constitution. The State Legislature should handle most of these issues. Most amendments are on the ballot because they couldn't make it through congress. Voters for some odd reason almost always vote yes on amendments which is why we get "pregnant pig" and "bullet train" amendments passed.
For these reasons I vote "NO" on almost all amendments.

NO.1
Changes budget procedures to limit use of nonrecurring revenue. (I agree with the basics of this very complex amendment. If an average person with a Masters Degree can't understand it don't vote for it. This should definitely be in the legislature not an amendment)
I'm voting "NO"

NO. 3
Makes it more difficult to pass amendments [by 60% instead of 50%] (Since I think it is too easy to pass amendments ....)
I'm voting "Yes"

NO. 4
Dedicates $57 mill and more each year to anti-tobacco campaigns (I, like most people, am against kids [and adults] smoking but this should be legislated. That money will come from what now goes to the general budget, and in my opinion is much too much $)
I'm voting "NO"

NO. 6
Increased Homestead Exemption for low-income seniors. (everybody wants to help out low-income seniors [although even wealthy seniors tend to have low "incomes"] but this should be legislated not amended)
I'm voting "NO"

NO. 7
Gives homestead tax break for disabled veterans. (I am all for giving tax breaks to disabled veterans, however this should be legislated not amended)
I'm voting "NO"

NO. 8
Bars eminent domain [government forcibly buying property] for private purposes. i.e. Leon county can't force you to sell your house because they want a Walmart [which earns more taxes] built there instead. (Because this is private citizens rights issue not likely to ever be legislated since it takes power away from the state and local governments...)
I'm voting "Yes"

fin

Vote Judges in Leon County Florida

2006-10-24T20:29:00.000-05:00

Don't forget to vote for or against the Judges. Ok so judges are hard to research because they don't "vote" on issues very often.

Florida Supreme Court Justices (I'm saying No to these because of a personal bias against them because in my opinion they are liberal and activist judges, I found it difficult to due the hard research on them)
Justice R. Fred Lewis (appointed by Lawton Chiles)
(Keep? NO)
Justice Barbara Joan Pariente (appointed by Lawton Chiles)
(Keep? NO)
Justice Peggy A. Quince (appointed by Lawton Chiles)
(Keep? NO)

District Court of Appeal (In contrast to the supreme court, which is very powerful, the appeals courts are less so and unless they make significant bad descisions [like letting convicted murders out in <5>
Judge Edwin B. Browning Jr. (Keep? Yes)
Judge Brad Thomas (Keep? Yes)
Judge Peter D. Webster (Keep? Yes)

County Judge Group 3
Ron Flury (Assistant State Attorney)

John Newton ( Senior Assistant Attorney General in Economic Crimes and Civil Rights)

....with a little help from our friends

2006-10-21T23:20:00.000-05:00

Sometimes, in life, you need a little push from your friends.
Sometimes you need to borrow their power tools.
Sometimes you need a ear to listen to you.
Sometimes you need them to help with a hefty project.
Sometimes you need them to zip up your princess dress.
Sometimes you need them to bring you food or medicine.
Sometimes you need their pick-up truck.
Sometimes you need advice.
Sometimes you need their ESPN.

I guess that's how we get by...

November Elections (Vote in Leon county Florida)

2006-10-19T20:09:00.000-05:00

Don't forget to Vote in the next elections.
Here is the new Sample Ballot
If you are real busy or tend to be out of town some days then go HERE to request a mail-in ballot. (scroll down and fill out the form).

I'm not including the random 3rd 4th and 5th party candidates unless I think they have a chance.

State Elections
US Senator
Katherine Harris (A little crazy, does not handle her staff very well, but I like her politics: anti-abortion, pro Bush tax cut)

Bill Nelson (liberal, pro-abortion, against Bush tax cut )

Governor
Charlie Crist (Better than Jim Davis)

Jim Davis (The second worst attendance record in the US Congress, the worst attendance record in Florida Congress, He got paid too much)
(I couldn't find an image for Zero stars which I rate him as)

Attorney General
Bill McCollum (Jeb Bush's and my pick)

Walter "Skip" Campbell (Carey's dad knew this guy when he was a practicing attorney, "Skip" is an ambulance chasing trial attorney)

Chief Financial Officer
Tom Lee (Florida Senator since 1996, president of senate in 2004, a strong supporter of tax cuts and state frugality)

Alex Sink (A woman with the name "Alex", the wife of governor candidate Bill McBride, seems competent, has a lot of business experience but no political experience making it difficult to predict her decisions.)

Commissioner of Agriculture (I don't like either one)
Charles Bronson (Concentrates on Agriculture, has done some for consumer advocacy, wastes tax dollars, soft on immigration, my reluctant pick)

Eric Copeland (Concentrates on Consumers, A Miami Lawyer and tax-professional, The "Miami-Herald" supports Charles)

Superintendent of Schools
Jackie Pons (Deerlake Middle School principle, awarded national Blue Ribbon School award 2005)

Rosemary N. Palmer (attorney, advocate for disabled children, little to no education experience)

Patricia Sunday (Was on school board)
not much info

County Commissioner District 4
Bryan Desloge (opposes this version of 0.5 cent sales tax, not opposed to other tax increases)

Will Messer (More conservative, against 0.5 cent sales tax, opposes other tax increases)

Ocklocknee River Soil & Water Conservation Dist. 2 Supervisor
Gabriel Johnson (not much info)
?
Scott Matteo (current ORSWC chairman, not much info)

Ocklocknee River Soil & Water Conservation Dist. 3 Supervisor
Thure Caire (scroll down link, current ORSWC supervisor, has a lot of environmental science experience)

Jeffrey Sly (scroll down link, little experience, not much info)

Ocklocknee River Soil & Water Conservation Dist. 4 Supervisor
Brian Acosta (could not find any info, my pick by default)

John Maloney(scoll down link, current law student at FSU, law students don't have time to be county officials)

more to come:

Taking it all in

2006-09-25T16:44:00.001-05:00

We're still here. Spencer OD'd on blogging with the voting stuff and me...well, I'm just lazy, I mean...exceptionally busy. News with us:

Clark, Ellie and I all survived last week with Spencer being gone. I realized I'm either not a great mom or just very spoiled, because it was tough. Luckily, I was able to get out of the house once a day to go somewhere so I didn't have cabin fever with the kids.
Ellie is tall, and big. When did this happen? I don't know. She sure doesn't eat that much.
Our friend Julie took some pictures of the little ones. Too cute . http://juliealley.smugmug.com/gallery/1914647/1

Ellie had her first school field trip last week to the fire station then Chick-fil-a for ice cream. I was able to accompany the class and enjoyed watching Ellie interact with the other kids. It was her day to be the line leader. Now, Ellie has many wonderfully special qualities about her, but I'm not sure this is her strong area. There was a very exuberant boy in her class, always ready for the next adventure. When it was time to line up, he was first in line, ready to go see the EXCITING fire station. Unfortunately for him, Ellie was the line leader. When given permission to go, she proceeded at a tortoise-like pace, taking in all the interesting things around her....bricks on the walls, smells in the air, bugs flying around her.....the poor boy nearly tripped over her multiple times. He was sweet though and took it like a pro. I wished I had a video camera, but hopefully it will make into my permanent memory files. I laughed by myself at my stop-and-smell-the-fire-station child.

VOTE in Leon County!!

2006-08-29T20:01:00.000-05:00

Just for the locals.
Here is a link to multiple local radio debates in MP3 format

Mayor (Not on Primary):
John Marks (I don't agree with a lot of his politics but he is better than the other two.)

Kim O'Connor (two words Coo Coo)

Larry Hendricks (Redneck, is articulate and intelligent I just disagree with most of his positions)

County Commissioner (Dist. 4 Leon county) (These are all good candidates)
Bo Bludworth (I like him, he has never been a politician before, and done some cool stuff)

Bryan Desloge (by far the richest candidate, good candidate but not as good as Bo)

Will Messer (Seems like a good conservative candidate)

County Commissioner at Large, Group 2 (listen to their debate)
John Griffin (against 1cent leon sales tax, for police/sheriff consolidation, first time in politics)

Cliff Thaell (for 1cent leon sales tax, against police/sheriff consolidation)

County Judge Group 3 (hard to choose)
Ron Flury (former prosecuter)

John Newton (lifetime member of NAACP.....need I say more....)

Lisa Raleigh (former prosecuter)

MORE TO COME

VOTE in Florida!!!

2006-08-23T20:29:00.000-05:00

It is that time of year again... Where we cringe at the ridiculous number of radio and TV election ads and random people flash their signs and wave at you like you knew them. All the candidates seem to be pro-family, pro-schools, pro-business, pro-environment, pro-sunshine, pro-oxygen and pro-baby chicks. I'm still waiting for the candidate that is against all these things.
Check your SAMPLE BALLOT
Here is my own candidate ratings.

Governor (Primary): (A change of heart...After more detailed research I'm switching my pick to Charlie....barely, see hyper links)
Charlie Christ (weird guy, agree with some of his positions, seems more honest than Gallagher, I'm reluctantly voting for him)

Tom Gallagher (a little too slimy, I agree with most of his current spoken politics, "used to be" pro-abortion)

US Senator (Primary):
LeRoy Collins Jr. (I don't know and can't find much on this guy)
Katherine Harris (former pick for the primary although not much chance of winning the overall election)

William "Will" McBride (I didn't realize that I knew him until BP pointed it out, I like him, my new pick)

Peter Monroe

Chief financial Officer for Florida (This is a new state position to vote for, hard to choose)
Milt Bauguess (is Competent, not a lawyer, not a career politician)

Randy Johnson (is Qualified, Reducing Home owner's insurance is his central platform)

Tom Lee (former State Senator for several years, is being backed by Jeb Bush, my pick)

MORE TO COME

Backpack-backpack

2006-08-22T12:33:00.000-05:00

Ellie started school last week. She's attending a wonderful school, Community Christian, and enjoying it immensely. Her favorite aspects appear to be:

a bean bag game (every day, this is the first report I receive---the status of the game and who won)
Spanish class (she was able to name 4 colors and count to 5)
her backpack (an admittedly vastly oversized one---considering it only transports her snack, juice and 1 envelope - one day, she lost her snack in the maze of all the pockets. Its main redeeming quality is that it's purple just like Dora the Explorer's)

I, however, had a more difficult first week. I came home the first day, and as I was putting Clark down for his morning nap, I glanced in her room. It was dark, neat and empty....so, of course, the tears came. Yesterday she mentioned being a little sad because someone didn't want to play with her for some activity. I almost cried again. I'm not sure how I'm going to get through 12 years of this. Luckily, I shouldn't have post-partum hormones for most of those years :-)

We had a fun weekend in Tampa 2 weekends ago. We got see my brother and his family (who we're shamelessly trying to convince to move to Tallahassee), my step-brothers, Chuck's sister Pat who flew in for the occasion (Chuck's 60th birthday). It was a man-cooking fest on the patio. There was a smoker(pork butt), a grill (sausages) and giant steamer (crabs) and a big pot on the burner of the grill (clams). At any given time, there were at least 2-3 men out there sweating in 100 degree heat with furrowed brows discussing times & temperatures with various electronic devices beeping to keep them updated with time and temperature statuses. The women watched from the air-conditioned living room and congratulated ourselves on being smart enough to be the gender that cooks INSIDE.

Mondaynight's Full Quiver

2006-08-10T12:53:00.000-05:00

Darcy took these pics this past monday night at our house....man oh man...and this isn't even all of them.....

Like little dominoes..... Ranen Bennage, Nena Walworth, Cash Alley and Clark (Looks like Clark is the instigator & Ranen is smart enough to get out of the way)

How cute are the mondaynight kids. L to R: Adah Bennage, Jackson Alley, Madeleine Walworth, Ellie, Lindsey Lehman and Libby Alley. Uncle Michael appears to be the King of this cold land where prince and princesses must wear snow hats.

All I can say is....Nena and Jackson have their own little harems going on :-)

Pee Chalky Jew & Bad Guys

2006-08-06T20:28:00.000-05:00

"Life moves pretty fast....if you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."
-Ferris Bueller

I love vacations. It's the chance to stop our cooking/cleaning/scheduled life/fixing things around the house (Spencer) and just enjoy each other and perhaps some fun surroundings. We recently got to enjoy the Ron Jon Surf Resort at Cocoa Beach with Jay (Spencer's bro) Joanna and their ever-growing brood---Dakoda, Skyler, Thatcher and Riley. Here are some highlights:

Floating on an innertube in the lazy river trying to avoid the random water features that dump/pour/spray water on me (and Spencer,using Clark like a shield, trying to push me into them)
The beach at dusk as a storm was beginning to roll in.
Ellie & Skyler---these two just LOVE each other....they have some mystical connection that the rest of the family is not in on.
The pure joy of 4 cousins riotously laughing with each other covered in sticky watermelon juice

Trying to suppress laughter at all the various "things" dropped over the balcony while the adults were distracted (watermelon rinds, Skyler's pee)
Playing Dance Dance Revolution with Jo in the arcade after the kids went to bed (BTW, our mad skills were heightened by a few glasses of wine--and we dominated the 'tweens hanging out there)
Trying to figure out what Thatcher (2) was saying. His most frequent utterance was "pee chalky jew". Before you berate Jay & Jo on their antisemitic teaching, this was Thatcherese for "Please may I have some chocolate juice (chocolate milk)" That kid is just plain funny. I tried to help him by breaking off pieces of his biscuit...he looked at me with a mad face and said "Ah Ca, ba ga" (translated by Jo: Aunt Carey, bad guy) We almost peed our pants from laughig so hard. Is that kid from Spencer's gene pool or what.
Watching Riley (9mo) eat her breakfast, which consisted of crawling around on the floor under the table eating the feast of Cheerios that the other kids dropped.
Comforting Ellie as she cried when she realized she was leaving her cousins. This is a highlight only because I realized what a blessing it is to have such a close family relationship. I pray these cousins will always be close to each other.

Supergirl and Clark

2006-07-23T22:11:00.000-05:00

Ellie finished swim lessons last week. She did great and now more readily puts her head underwater and "kicks on the top with supergirl arms!" intermittently. Unfortunately for her (and her teacher) Ellie wore her swim vest a too long and became overly comfortable in the 'vertical' position, which her teacher explained makes it more difficult to retrain her body to go horizontal for swimming. This was worsened by the fact that she realized about halfway through lessons that she is tall enough to walk in the shallow end. Her cautiousness naturally leads her to walk around the pool instead of trying to swim across it. We will keep practicing and there's always next summer...

Clark is transitioning from newborn to baby. With every little change, I get nostalgic. I cried a little putting away his newborn clothes that no longer fit. It's as if I look at Ellie and realize he will be 4 practically overnight. He loves to watch Ellie and even his toys now. He still doesn't like the car seat, but he's mellowing a little. He loves his big sister and she loves him. Here they are having some quality "tummy time"

Over the Rainbow Dirge

2006-07-19T19:59:00.000-05:00

People often plan the songs they want played at weddings, anniversaries, and parties.
Have you ever thought of what songs you want played at your funeral?
For me, one song I want played is "Somewhere over the rainbow" by hawaiian singer Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwoole. It is one of the most haunting (in a good way) songs I have ever heard. The idea of somewhere over the rainbow makes me think of heaven and the hymn "I'll fly away".
Carey has said that she wants the song by Michael W. Smith. "This is your Time.", a song I like as well. She hopes that she can "swim in the sea, drink of the deep." Message in the song: living life to its fullness to the glory of God.
Carey also likes Pierce Pettis', "We will meet again." about meeting our loved ones in heaven.

Ecclesiastes 7:2 "It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of every man; the living should take this to heart."

And the winner is......

2006-07-01T17:09:00.000-05:00

We have a tie for our caption contest. Our winners are:

"You're going to put that thermometer where?!"
by Michelle Rutherford

and

"Help! They've captured me and make funny faces at me and make me ride in a CAR SEAT!!!"
by Darcy Walworth

Thanks to all the contributors...they were funny. The winners can let me know what yummy treat they would like!

Red-headed mermaids and MOMs

2006-06-28T14:05:00.000-05:00

I suppose every mother has a moment where she realizes that she is officially a MOM. Not just a woman who has birthed a child, but a full-on MOM. The kind who can change a diaper in her sleep, miraculously produce (or improvise) a tissue or wipe, sense that her child is up to trouble and reprimand them while carrying on an indepth conversation with another person....you know...a MOM.

I had one of those moments the night before Ellie's birthday party. She had been spending the week with her Mimi & Papa (Spencer's parents) and I was talking to her on the phone. My mom and I were in the process of making her 'mermaid' cake and I had already frosted the cupcakes for her hair yellow. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Guess what? Mom and Besta are making a mermaid cake for your party tomorrow!
Ellie: OOhhhhhh!!! With red hair???
Me: ......no! with yellow hair!!!!!! (trying to sound very excited about the yellow hair)
Ellie: (in a sad low voice, trying not to cry) but...mom....mermaids have red hair.
Me: .........oh.....silly....mommy was just kidding.....of course she has red hair.

And there it was. I had become a woman who scrapes off yellow icing and makes new red icing.

Here are some pics of the party

(Your Caption Here)

2006-06-16T14:40:00.000-05:00

This picture is too funny and we couldn't decide on a caption...so we decided to let you do it. Send us your caption (by way of comment) and the best caption will win something yummy....:-)

Laziness and Electro-shock Therapy

2006-06-15T14:20:00.000-05:00

Ellie's 4th birthday is coming up. After discussing some different options, she decided she wanted a mermaid party These occasions always bring out conflicting sides in me. The creative side (by far, the weakest of the sides) wants to do super-fun things like transform the living room with blue balloons and shiny paper, have the kids wear mermaid costumes, etc. The cheaper side (which gets stronger the longer I'm married to Spencer) wants to do all that for no money. And then there's the lazy side. This is the freakishly strong side that beats the other sides into submission. The lazy side entices me with things like: "Have the party at the park so you don't have to clean your house" and " Have hamburgers and hotdogs so Spencer can help in food preparation" and "Have the party near a lake so you don't have to come up with lots of elaborate games to entertain the kids (both young and old)". So.....we're having a party at Maclay Gardens lake/beach where we will be serving hamburgers and hotdogs (and a mermaid cake)...can I blame it on having a 6 week old? ....I can?....Oh good.....

Speaking of the 6 week old...Clark is a cutie and we can even squeeze a smile out after he eats. Most people comment that he's starting to look more like Spencer as he gets older (I agree). He sleeps at night, usually only waking up once or maybe twice, and goes right back to sleep....what more could I ask for right? Well.....greedy human that I am, I wish he liked his car seat. He hates it. It's as if the car seat is testing out electro-shock therapy on him whenever he is forced into it. He much prefers to be held- all the time. Now, this may not be a problem if I loved being at home. I, however, love GOING OUT. I enjoy the park, the mall, going out to eat, friends' houses, even grocery shopping. This week Ellie has been going to VBS every morning which has allowed me some time to run errands(mostly related to her birthday). I was hoping maybe he just needed to "get used to" his car seat and going out. Nope. Is this God's way of lettting me know I need to be OK with being home?

Tips on how Not to Paint a Garage Floor

2006-05-29T09:14:00.000-05:00

A week ago I started to paint my garage floor. Not an easy task since my garage is mostly full. 2 main reasons to paint the garage floor.
1. It is easier to clean
2. It looks nicer.
The first thing I did was move all the stuff in the garage including the large book shelves over to one half making sure that anything touching the floor was plastic or something not easily damaged by water. I also threw a tarp over some of the cardboard boxes.

Tip 1. If you want to paint your garage floor do it before you put anything in the garage.
After moving everything I used a friend's (Mark's) pressure washer to clean the floor. The advantage to first using a pressure washer (especially if your floor was as dirty as mine) it allows you to see the oils stains more clearly so you know were to concentrate the acid cleaner. Using less acid is a good thing. After pressure washing and then acid cleaning (almost everywhere needed the acid ) I waited over night for the floor to dry.

My first mistake. When I went to Lowes to get the floor paint I went straight to the paint desk and said I wanted to paint my garage floor.
He handed me the Quikrete brochure. When I saw that the "semi/transparent stain" can make concrete look like real stone I was hooked. I am a sucker for a pretty rock. I chose a light blue color thinking "yeah blue granite garage".

Tip 2. Do not use "semi/transparent stain" on your garage floor. It will not look like natural stone. Most garage floors have too many stains and stuff which show through the semi/transparent stain . It would probably look great on a cement walk near your pool or in a garden but not in a garage.
There were a few different ways to apply the concrete stain, listed in the brochure. The first one I tried was using a paint roller.

Tip 3. Do Not use a Paint roller to apply semi/transparent stain. No matter how hard I tried it make lots of streaks and roller marks. Also the stain is very "thin" and spills and drips easily. Leaving drip spots on the concrete, even after you paint roll over it.
After I finished staining half the garage I had second and third thoughts and almost bought some different solid paint but the cheaper and lazy side of me won out and stuck with what I had.
After letting the stain dry for 24 hours I used 2 coats of the high gloss sealer.
The Brochure says it is optional, but if you are using the stain stuff for a garage the high gloss sealer is a must. I realized after moving everything over to the other side of the garage and pressurewashing where ever there was the blue stain that didn't have a high gloss coat the water soaked right in.
Tip 4. On the other side of the garage I used a half gallon gardening water sprayer (one of the methods recommended in the brochure) which makes a fine mist. It was great for the middle of the floor and definitely created a more even and "prettier" look with the stain. It also easily got on the side walls any time I came close. (I'll have to repaint several spots on my garage wall). To avoid more wall staining I used a roller just along the edges and finished everything else with the sprayer.

After finishing there is sort of line in the middle of the garage where I stopped and started again
I have about a 400 suare ft. garage.
I used about 1.7 gallons of the stain, 1 gallon of the acid (could have used a little more) and about 0.7 gallons of the high gloss sealer.

In the end it turned out OK. hopefully it won't hurt resale value.

friends...then and now

2006-05-28T20:48:00.000-05:00

I am amazed at how fast the past 4 years have gone by. Or for that matter, the past 10. It was 10 years ago that I first came to Tallahassee. Today we went to the Kagys' for a rockin picnic/party. Ellie and 9 of her closest friends had a blast in the big blow-up pool & huge slip 'n slide. (Oh to have 3 acres for a super-cool back yard party) I watched her and the other kids and realized that our kids now have their own sub-group and own group dynamic. The "Mondaynight kids". Hard to believe there were 10 kids in the pool and 5 infants under 4 months old just waiting for their chance to jump in. I know it will happen sooner than I want. My, how we are propagating the earth.

When did this happen? Weren't we just back at the BSU hanging out between classes, debating pretty much anything and watching the Flying J's in concert? Back when Sandra, Christopher, Mark and Brian all had a lot more hair and nobody was even close to being married. Now these are the same people who put a roof over our head (literally), remodel our house, bring us groceries when I'm too sick to make it to the store, and take advantage of teachable moments for Ellie when we're not right there. I love our friends. I love that some still call me Careybuck. I love that we call each other in the middle of the night to announce the arrival of babies. I love that we can mercilessly beat each other at games with serious smack-talk and no one remembers later. I love that Brian Janek seriously injured himself (twice!) helping us with our house...and never sued us. :-) This is the body of Christ.

Baby Pictures

2006-05-19T17:36:00.000-05:00

Here is a link to several baby pictures of Clark that Julie Alley took. It is on a coolwebsite called Smugmug.

This is the actual Clark picture link:
http://juliealley.smugmug.com/gallery/1466061

To ad or not to ad?

2006-05-19T17:27:00.000-05:00

The question is "should I add ads to my blog?". I'm leaning towards "yes". Granted few if anyone will ever read this blog, except maybe future employees and stalkers, but maybe I can make a few cents off them. I've run the numbers and assuming a significant increase in blog traffic, over a 10 year period I might could make enough money to fund my next bubble gum purchase (assuming the price of gum does not increase with inflation). Honestly if anyone is anoyed or offended by ads on my blog please comment and I can always remove them. As for now I'm looking forward to that piece of gum.

Lazy or Paranoid??

2006-05-13T09:25:00.000-05:00

Well we did it we are finally in the blogasphere. The main reason we have not been on is because well I am lazy and typing stuff in a computer is what I do at work. The other reason is that this is one more way for other people to watch you. I know that nothing is private anymore and that just about anyone can get just about anything about you on the web, but having a blog just makes it that easier. For instance now potential employers can go and look at my blog and see "Oh well this guy is a right wing conservative and a Christian, we don't need those kinda crazies in our company" Now I've done it for sure, I've typed it in ensureing that Google, NBC, ABC, CBS and many others will never hire me.