Just VOTE already!!!

We voted today. It was surprisingly busy for an early voting place. We didn't have to really wait long, but there was a steady line going through. It makes me shudder to think what the lines will be like on November 4th. Some people that I have talked to have some qualms about whether or not the early votes will be counted properly, so they are waiting until the actual day. I never really thought of that. I guess it could potentially happen, but I seriously doubt it. Everything looked official, and there was a machine that you fed your ballot into at the end that kept a count of how many votes had been cast. My ballot made 4788. My son said it was around 4000 when he went in to vote this morning. It looks like they are averaging about 1,000 early votes a day.
And this is a relatively small town, so....?

Also, when I got home from work this afternoon my big pumpkin on our front porch had been stolen and there was a ransom note taped to my front door. HAHA!! It was Stephen and Hannia, and they want cold hard cash to bring my pumpkin back home safely. Hilarious!!! I got a HUGE kick out of that. But before you think my son and his wife are evil, I actually told Stephen this weekend to come by and get the pumpkin since I am not going to be home for Halloween. I just didn't expect a ransom note.

Other Halloween stuff: Erica is headed to Nashville with a group of friends to celebrate there.
The theme of their party is "80's videos". I really tried to get her to dress up as one of the Robert Palmer girls. You remember them? The short tight black dresses, pulled back hair, and red lipstick. It would be an easy costume to pull together. But she has opted instead to go for the Olivia Newton John look from "lets get physical" song. She has the tights, leg warmers and head band all ready to go. I know they will have a blast.

I HAVE A GOAT!!!!

No, really, seriously I actually got a goat!!! I have been wanting a goat for a long time, because I love animals, and the bottom line is that goats are just cool! But anyway, Stephen and Hannia bought me a goat via a donation program called IHF which can be found here:

http://www.ihfonline.org/

My goat... my real live actual goat has been taken to a needy family in the East Central Pokot region of Africa where she will provide milk, cheese, and potential breeding of other goats to help feed these hungry people. This was my birthday present, but apparently it takes quite a long time to transport the goat to the family, and have a volunteer go out and get a picture of my goat. My real live actual goat. I have a picture, and no, those lovely goats at the top of this post are not her. When (if) I ever figure out how to scan something with this new-fangled printer/scanner/fax device that we just got, I will definitely post a picture of MY goat. She is beautiful. And she is standing with a member of the family that is taking care of her, too. I say that with vagueness only because the person with my goat looks kind of like a man, but is also wearing a dress, so we aren't quite sure....?

But anyway, I own a goat and that makes me happy. And she doesn't live here where we would struggle with the problems of how to get somebody to take care of her whenever we travel, and THAT makes my husband happy. And she is usefully providing a family with milk and cheese, so I can only imagine that they are happy too. Its a happy situation all the way around. You just can't beat that!!!

Ready for it to be over...

I am so ready for this election to be over. And no, I'm not going to start in more political stuff, I promise. But its all wearing thin and it will be nice when its all done with. We have decided to go do the early voting thing again this year. Really, its so nice. You walk right up, do your thing, and walk back out in mere minutes. The last presidential election that I voted on the actual election day, I kid you not, I waited in a long line that wound around the building for an eternity. Since then our county has made it easy to vote early, so we plan to take care of that this week.

Which brings me to what I really wanted to say....My son takes this stuff really seriously. And it makes me proud of him, that he cares about the process. His political views are very similar to ours (fairly liberal). But he took the time, and made the effort to do some research to figure out the political standings of pretty much every candidate that will be on our local ballot. I'm talking about city commissioners, judges, etc...The whole bunch of them. And while I actually do make the effort to know what I'm voting for in the major elections, I generally have NO real clue as to who the rest of the people are in these small local elections. I will this time around though. He is enlightening us as to who stands for/believes in/votes for what. In fact, he is coming over tomorrow evening to give us the scoop on his picks (and the whys) before we head over to the early voting polls on Wednesday. This makes me happy.

And while I am bragging about my beloved son, I need to tell you something else: My son and his wife are going to be Power Puff girls for Halloween....HAHAHAHA! And IF I can get my hands on some pictures of them in full costume, I WILL post them here. Of course, we are going to be out of town, but I am trusting Hannia to be sure to get some good shots.





I think Stephen is planning to be the orange-haired one, named Blossom.

Getting Excited

I am getting excited about our upcoming trip to NYC next weekend. In fact, I will be en route this time next Saturday. Yay! One of the things that I am most looking forward to is the Village Halloween Parade on Halloween night. Its supposed to be one of the biggest Halloween celebrations in the WORLD! How cool is that? I've looked through some of the photos from previous years, and its definitely NOT for kids. It looks like more of a Mardi Gras type of celebration. Some of the peeps were buck-naked with nothing but body paint on, and apparently in the parade, that is acceptable. HAHA! I read that if you show up in costume, you can join the parade. I think I would rather stay in one spot and watch. If you walk the parade route, you would miss too much. But you can pretty much guarantee that I will be there on the 31st.

I am also curious about how the Amtrak adventure is going to go. We decided to try out the train mode of travel just this once and see if its any less of a hassle than flying. I have heard good reviews, and some really bad ones about Amtrak, so we shall see. One thing I did read over and over is that the schedules are a reference point only. We are scheduled to arrive in NYC at 7:30 pm. I've been told that if we make it by 11:00 pm then we should consider ourselves lucky...haha. Oh well, we have left that first evening open, so at least I won't be panicking that we are going to miss something. If it takes that long, but I have the option to get up and walk around while we travel (like to the dining car, or whatever) then I would still consider it a bonus.
I HATE being stuck in an airplane seat for hours on end. Besides, when you figure in that we have to drive for 2 hours to Raleigh just to get to the airport....well, it really IS a hassle.

Anyway, we have tons of things that we want to see and do. I will take a lot of pictures to share, even at the risk of looking like a stupid tourist....LOL. I need to spend some time this week trying to figure out what to pack. Apparently the days are going to be nice, and the nights very chilly. Of course, with my hot flash temperament, I could easily wear a bikini in sub-zero climates and feel perfectly comfortable, so its probably not going to be as difficult to pack as I am imagining.

Marshmallows

Marshmallow is a strange word, isn't it? Its one of those words that I would love to know how it came to be used. Maybe I should get my son, the linguist, to research that one. And while my daughter, the biologist, probably doesn't know or care about the origin of the word, I have to tell you that she made us a huge pan of homemade marshmallows last night. Homemade, like from scratch!!! And I also feel compelled to tell you that if you think you know what marshmallows taste like, you don't. Not really. Not until you taste these homemade ones. Oh My Lord they are GOOD! When she first poured the batch into the pan to cool it was all thick, heavy and sticky. Kind of like marshmallow cream. I questioned her about that, but she told me to be patient and just wait and see. So we took off to go to the gym for a while, and when we came back, and she started cutting it up into pieces (that are then rolled in powdered sugar for even more extra yummy-ness). I got a chance to taste one. And she was right, they puffed right up all light and fluffy with the exact same texture as a marshmallow out of the bag. Only tastier. I never knew you could make these at home.

ETA: Ah ha, I looked it up on my own. Marshmallow is a plant that grows near salty marshes. The root of the marshmallow plant used to be used to make the puffy confection. Nowadays, people mostly use gelatin, but the name stuck. So, there you go.

If I offended...

If I offended anyone by this post: "How can this be?", then I apologize. I didn't mean to call anyone who voted for Bush stupid. There are several members of our own family who probably voted for Bush, and none of them are stupid. What I meant to imply was that it is incredibly stupid, and incomprehensible to me that the woman I was referring to thought Obama was an "Arab". I still feel that way. I would defend my position that this woman is stupid, right to my death.

It is probably not a good idea to blog about heated subjects like politics (or religion) on a public forum. But this upcoming election is a huge and important event, and I guess it is weighing on a lot of people's minds. It is mine for sure. And I am grateful that we live in a place where people are entitled to make their own decisions, and cast their own vote. Its one of the things that make this a great country. What makes me angry, sad, and fearful for our fate as human beings on this planet is that people would base their choice on something as arbitrary as race. In today's world so many of us are bi-racial, or multi-racial (is that even a word??) that it baffles my brain and makes my head hurt to think that someone would vote based on that. You all certainly have the right to vote for whichever candidate you prefer. But please, please for all that is Holy base your preference on the issues at hand, the stance your candidate takes on current affairs, and NOT because you don't like the color of his skin, or whereabouts that his parents might come from.

And if you happen to think that Obama is tangled up in some twisted, far-reaching conspiracy to sneak a muslim into power so that the middle east can make a beeline for world domination, then please.....dear Lord, PLEASE go and get yourself some help. They make medications for that kind of thing now.

Yesterday

I had one of those fantabulous days yesterday. My daughter came home to visit right around lunchtime, and I invited my son and daughter-in-law over to eat with us. I made chicken quesadillas and flan. Authentically Mexican food. For a daughter-in-law who is authentically Latino. And who can cook. It was something I had never tried to make before, and if you know me at all, you know that I am VERY tentative in the kitchen. I know I complain about how much I HATE to cook. And I do, seriously, but its mainly because I never learned how other than by trial and error on my own (emphasis on the word "error" here). My mother was a NON-cooker for the most part. She, bless her heart, had the ability to burn and scorch even stuff out of a can. So I feel out of my element in the kitchen. Ill-at-ease, and always vigilent for the next disaster to strike (oh and they do...they always do). But yesterday, my attempts at Mexican food turned out pretty good. Well, there was the one failed flan on Sunday night, but I got up super early and rushed out to the grocery store to buy the ingredients to try again. Monday morning's flan turned out fine.

Anyway, everybody ate, and nobody died, although I always am suspicious that people just eat my cooking out of politeness. But then, last night, we all congregated again to chat and to play cards, and they asked me....ME....the non-cooking, fearful of the kitchen woman if they could heat up the left-overs and eat again!! And that made me happy.