Just Swingin'

I wish “swing state” meant we have more playgrounds per capita

1. Who wakes up in the morning with the kids, you or hubby?

I wake up first and Kaline usually comes down with me to get a few cuddles while I’m having my morning coffee. Then she goes back upstairs and she and Carla usually both curl up with Daddy until he wakes up.


2. Do you watch the World Series even if your team isn't in it?

Yes. The only difference is if my team is in it, I’m sitting in front of the TV and don’t do anything distracting. If my team isn’t in the Series, I usually have the game on while I’m scrapbooking of something else.


3. What is the best compliment you have received?

At the risk of making my ego sound insane, but hey, I’m a voter in Ohio so there is a natural lack of ego control, I get compliments often and I don’t weigh any of them as better than the others. When someone pays me a compliment, especially when there is no reason for them to feel obligated to, it always pretty special and I always think the person giving it is pretty special to extend that kindness.


4. Do/did you dress up to take your kids trick or treating?

We don’t take the kids out on Halloween, in fact they usually hide when the trick or treaters start coming to the door. That’s especially good for Carla; there are some sick people who do some cruel things to animals, especially black cats on Halloween. If either of them, but especially Carla got out of the house on Halloween, I’d forget the3 treat giving really fast.


5. Do you have a favorite bible verse? What is it and why?

I don’t have one favorite verse, but I have always been able to find what I need when I open the Bible for some comforting words.

This week’s statements:
1. ___ is my favorite feature
2. Thinking about ___ makes me ___
3. It’s been a long time since______
4. I just don’t understand_____________


My Answers:

1. Frosting is my favorite feature.

2. Thinking about cookies makes me smile.

3. It’s been a long time since I made veggie soup.

4. I just don’t understand why so many people can’t separate their church and their politics.

**  In spite of the rain that we got this morning, David and I foraged out to vote today. We have early voting here in Ohio, but you’ve probably heard that. After all, Ohio is one of the few places with important people in it. Yeah, nothing like living in a swing state to bolster your ego. There are twelve states that matter to the major party candidates for president. The other states minds have already been made up for them and they will have to bore themselves this election with unimportant things like property taxes, school levies and who is running for mayor anyway? In Ohio we get flooded with the presidential attacks on, not a daily or hourly, but constant basis. I keep the TV and radio turned off during the day and David brings in the mail after making a stop at the garbage can to throw away half of it because we both have several glossy, unrecyclable dead trees from both sides and supporting organizations.

Then it’s the baseball playoffs, brought to you by Mitt Romney with special interests by More-Money-Than-You and a guest appearances by President Barack Obama, with notable cameos by Sherrod Brown and Josh Mandel, the combatants for senate. They all want to be in Washington and no one had bothered to mention our libraries which are also on the ballot here in Toledo. Seriously, I fear that most people will either not bother with our local issues or just flip a coin. And why are we disregarding our local issues and races? Why don’t some of us even know about them? Because we’re a swing state! If only one of the tons-to-spend candidates would use some of that time they purchase to drown us in how bad their opponent is could only at least remind us that there are local races on the ballot we need to consider too; I mean how many times do we need to see the same depressing message about “the other guy?” --sigh-- I envy the states that aren’t important; they get to focus their attention on more important things.


**  Over last weekend Kaline found a new…not new, old toy. I’m kind of amazed actually. When she was a kitten her favorite toy was a foam yellow ball that Sheri got for her. Sheri actually got her a tube of foam balls in yellow, green, blue and pink, but the yellow one was her favorite. I’ve heard that cats are color blind, so I never understood how one pastel ball was better than the others. True I gave her the yellow one first and when it was mangy and falling apart I gave her the green one and put the yellow one in the trash. She crawled her little kitten but up the bag and fished it out of the trash! “No green ball, Mommy; the yellow one!” I just could not get her to like any of the other three as much as that mangy yellow ball!

Fast forward a few years, we’re living in Ohio with Daddy and Baggle and there is a new sister. Carla was just over a year old and she had so much kitten still left in her as far as playing goes. Carla wasn’t the fan of foam balls that Kaline was and the foam balls disappeared, as cat toys often do. They usually resurface when furniture is moved. The yellow foam ball never did resurface; until last weekend. Kaline was in the annex room off the kitchen and there was kitty playing noise. She came into the dining room where I was and lo and behold, she was having a second kittenhood with a dirt-marked yellow foam ball! The foam ball would have been here since fall 2009 when Carla was new. Amazing the irony of her finding that particular ball after all this time! I never saw that ball when I cleared that room earlier this year, maybe it came up from the basement. It’s been her favorite toy, again, all this week.



**  If you haven’t had a chance to read yesterday’s blog about my Smash books, check it out! I have some photos of my Smash Archive book pages and a little personal history about smash-style scrapbooks in my family’s history. If you wondered what exactly I meant by “smashing” it should explain, although I welcome any further questions!

A pocket holds the letter from the bank that says the Camaro is paid in full!

Smashing Defined…Sorta